The Wichita daily eagle., 1897-12-16
sayings which aged men remembered
hearing reported as theword Of Jesus but
which the evangelist had not mentioned.

sayings which aged men remembered
hearing reported as theword Of Jesus but
| which the evangelist had not mentioned.
MENANDER AND SAPPHO.
James S. Cotton writes: The discov-
cry of the Greek papyri in Egypt prom
ises to reveal a new world to the classi-
cal scholar and to all interested in prim-
| tive Christianity. No other depository
keeps 50 carefully the secrets that have
been intrusted to it as does the land OF
Egypt It's rainless climate, its desert
through thousands Of years alike the in
scriptions and paintings on stone and
The writing on fragile rolls OF papyrus.
| What has already been CLEANED from
this storehouse Of the past is only an
inkling Of what still remains to be found
if the work of exploration be carried out
in accordance with scientific methods.
Up to the middle OF the present CEN
tury it may be said that the extent Of
Creek and Latinliterature known to the
moder world was identical with that
known 10 the csholars Of the Renais-
sance No new author and no fresh
book has come to light since the 'An-
nails" of Tacitus were found, early in the
Sixteenth century. OF Homer, for ex-
ample, there is no authority earlier than
than the tenth century, while for the
plays Of Aeschylus and Sophocles we
have nothing but simple codex writ
ten in the eleventh century.
Nearly all our old manuscripts are on
parchment or vellum, which is practi-
cally an indestructible material. SO
substantial is it that it will endure TO be
written upon second time, after the
first surface has been washed and
scraped. Sometimes the original writ
ing can be deciphered beneath the later
yet gained from this Parchment, or
palimp.est, as twice written upon vel
lum is called, is a Roman law book
which was found underlying some writ
ings of st. Jerome on manuscript at
Verona, in 1916. 1t was likewise on an
other palimpsest found in the monastery
OF Mount Sinai that an oldSyriac version
o.. the Gospels was recently discovered.
Another hope of scholars rested upon
the excavations at Pompeii and Hercu-
laneum. But it is now ascef tanned that
tne destruction OF Pompeii was too COM
plete to leave uninjured anything 80
Herculaneum the case is otherwise.
This town was overwhelmed. not by
ashes, but by flow OF lava, which
threw a wall and roof over what II COW
cred. Unfortunately upon thi. roof Of
lava stand the modern villages OF
Portici and Resina, now suburbs OF
Naples, and consequently few excava-
rious have been made here, as compar ed
| with Pompeii. An important find. how
! ever, was made at Herculaneum in 1852
although the papyri did not prove OF
great value.
But very different is it with the papyri
| that have been found in Egypt. Besides
fragments OF Homer, Sophocles, Pl2.o
and Demosthenes, Egypt has already
disclosed 10 US three unknown authors
Hypereides, Herondas and Bacchylides
"a well as waik of Aristotle. and the
most important OF these have been
brought to light within the last half doz-
en- years.
All these discoveries were due, so tc
speak, to happy accident. The papyri
were purchased from dealers in Egypt
who are among the most crafty or the
human race, and naturally no informa
| ton is vouchsafed about their actual
provenance At this time there com
menced a systematic search for papyri
! conducted with a due record of the 10
cality, the approximate age and all the
surrounding circumstances, and which
| has now resulted in the great find just
| made. Here, as in other branches o.
scientific Egyptology, the name OF Dr
| Petrie stands out conspicuously. II was
while he was excavating the site o.
Tanis or Zoar for the Egypt Exploration
Fund that his attention was attracted
| to the cubject. He found there, amons