The ancienteſt of all is that of the Library of M. Colbert, which contains part of Exodus, Numbers, and Leviticus, of the Tranſlation of the Septuagint, with Lines call'd Obeli and Aſteriſks, as we find them in the Hexapla of Origen.

'Tis pretended that the Divines of Louvain paſs'd the ſame judgment upon the miſplacing this obelus 150 years ago: but they have only ſaid that the Manuſcripts of [Robert] Stephens had the Text of the 7ᵗʰ Verſe entire, and ſo as 'tis printed, unleſs the obelus be placed wrong: I would my ſelf ſay as much, tho' I maintain that it is in its true place.

In A.D. 1550, Robert Stephens gave a third edition to the world, on a larger ſcale: in which he diſtinguiſhed the different Greek MSS, which he had collated, by Greek letters (β, γ, &c.) and the various readings by an obelus, and ſemi-parentheſis, or crotchet; which, wherever inſerted, were meant to denote, that, from the word, before which the obelus was placed, to the ſtation where the ſemi-parentheſis was found, in the Greek text, the whole of that verſe, or verſes, word, or words, was wanting in the particular MSS cited in the margin.

He, therefore, publiſhed another edition. In this he made few alterations in the text itſelf, but ſhewed by obeluſes and aſteriſks, where it differed from the Septuagint, or the Hebrew.

Dr. W[hite] has here given those readings which, according to the opinion of [Johann Jakob] Griesbach, ought to make a part of the text; he has rejected, or at least stigmatized with the obelus, those which, on the evidence of the most antient MSS. and versions, are not intitled to admission; …

The text of the Philoxenian as revised by Thomas [of Harqel] is furnished with obeli and asterisks. Most of the MSS. too have critical remarks and readings in the margin.

In the Septuagint column, additions, to which nothing corresponded in the Hebrew, were marked by an obelus prefixed (÷ … ⸔); omissions, where words standing in the Hebrew were not represented in the Greek, were filled in by him, usually from Theodotion, and noted similarly by an asterisk (※ … ⸔). [Footnote 1: The sign ⸔ indicates the close of the words to which the obelus or asterisk refers.]

The critical marks introduced by Origen were retained in the Syro-Hexapla, so that every page contained asterisks and obeli: …

Moreover, owing to a deficient understanding of the characteristics of the individual manuscripts, I have not included in this analysis those readings that are lacking in MT [Masoretic Text] but are in Syh [the Syro-Hexapla] without an obelus. … In all probability, the obeli were more readily discarded than the asterisks given that the attitudes towards the text made deletion somewhat taboo: unlike the asterisked portions, the obelised readings had already been part of the Church's text.

And, with respect to the Homer of Aristarchus, it is to be considered, that besides the lines, sentences, and long passages, to which that Herod of critics affixed his obelus (†) or stiletto, there were entire books which he found no use on obelising piecemeal; because it was not this line or that line into which he wished to thrust his dagger, but the whole rabble of lines—"tag, rag, and bobtail."

I have translated the Oxford Classical Text of C[harles] Hude (3rd edn., Oxford, 1927), except at the places marked in the translation with an obelus (†), which refer the interested reader to a note in the Textual Notes.

The obeli (†) bring the letter into alignment with the Irish ninth century illuminated gospel manuscript, the Book of Kells: on the recto of folio 219, there are four red obeli that run down the middle of the page between the lines, and others around the margins. As such, these obeli thus correspond to the 'cardinal' and 'doubtful points' … also found in the letter.

Note: Square brackets […] indicate editorial excisions from the text, and angled brackets <…> editorial additions, while obeli † show that the text is unsound and that the translation gives only an opinion of what Livy might have been saying at that point.

Obelus

Meaning

Noun

Synonyms