Chapter 3.—How Pronunciation Serves to Remove Ambiguity.  Different Kinds of Interrogation.

6.  And all the directions that I have given about ambiguous punctuations are to be observed likewise in the case of doubtful pronunciations.  For these too, unless the fault lies in the carelessness of the reader, are corrected either by the rule of faith, or by a reference to the preceding or succeeding context; or if neither of these methods is applied with success, they will remain doubtful, but so that the reader will not be in fault in whatever way he may pronounce them.  For example, if our faith that God will not bring any charges against His elect, and that Christ will not condemn His elect, did not stand in the way, this passage, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” might be pronounced in such a way as to make what follows an answer to this question, “God who justifieth,” and to make a second question, “Who is he that condemneth?” with the answer, “Christ Jesus who died.”136    Rom. viii. 33, 34.  But as it would be the height of madness to believe this, the passage will be pronounced in such a way as to make the first part a question of inquiry,137    Percontatio. and the second a rhetorical interrogative.138    Interrogatio.  Now the ancients said that the difference between an inquiry and an interrogative was this, that an inquiry admits of many answers, but to an interrogative the answer must be either “No” or “Yes.”139    The English language has no two words expressing the shades of meaning assigned by Augustin to percontatio and interrogatio respectively.  The passage will be pronounced, then, in such a way that after the inquiry, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” what follows will be put as an interrogative:  “Shall God who justifieth?”—the answer “No” being understood.  And in the same way we shall have the inquiry, “Who is he that condemneth?” and the answer here again in the form of an interrogative, “Is it Christ who died? yea, rather, who is risen again? who is even at the right hand of God? who also maketh intercession for us?”—the answer “No” being understood to every one of these questions.  On the other hand, in that passage where the apostle says, “What shall we say then?  That the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained to righteousness;”140    Rom. ix. 30. unless after the inquiry, “What shall we say then?” what follows were given as the answer to this question:  “That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness;” it would not be in harmony with the succeeding context.  But with whatever tone of voice one may choose to pronounce that saying of Nathanael’s, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”141    John i. 47.—whether with that of a man who gives an affirmative answer, so that “out of Nazareth” is the only part that belongs to the interrogation, or with that of a man who asks the whole question with doubt and hesitation,—I do not see how a difference can be made.  But neither sense is opposed to faith.

7.  There is, again, an ambiguity arising out of the doubtful sound of syllables; and this of course has relation to pronunciation.  For example, in the passage, “My bone [os meum] was not hid from Thee, which Thou didst make in secret,”142    Ps. cxxxix. 16.  “My substance was not hid from Thee when I was made in secret” (A.V.). it is not clear to the reader whether he should take the word os as short or long.  If he make it short, it is the singular of ossa [bones]; if he make it long, it is the singular of ora [mouths].  Now difficulties such as this are cleared up by looking into the original tongue, for in the Greek we find not στόμα [mouth], but ὁστέον [bone].  And for this reason the vulgar idiom is frequently more useful in conveying the sense than the pure speech of the educated.  For I would rather have the barbarism, non est absconditum a te ossum meum,143    My bone was not hid from Thee. than have the passage in better Latin, but the sense less clear.  But sometimes when the sound of a syllable is doubtful, it is decided by a word near it belonging to the same sentence.  As, for example, that saying of the apostle, “Of the which I tell you before [prædico], as I have also told you in time past [prœdixi], that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”144    Gal. v. 21.  Now if he had only said, “Of the which I tell you before [quæ prædico vobis],” and had not added, “as I have also told you in time past [sicut prœdixi],” we could not know without going back to the original whether in the word prædico the middle syllable should be pronounced long or short.  But as it is, it is clear that it should be pronounced long; for he does not say, sicut prœdicavi, but sicut prædixi.

CAPUT III. Qua ratione expediatur ambiguitas ex pronuntiatione. Percontatio et interrogatio quo differant.

6. Quaecumque autem de ambiguis distinctionibus diximus, eadem observanda sunt et in ambiguis pronuntiationibus. Nam et ipsae nisi lectoris nimia vitientur incuria, aut regulis fidei corriguntur, aut praecedentis vel consequentis contextione sermonis; aut si neutrum horum adhibetur ad correctionem, nihilominus dubiae remanebunt, ut quolibet modo lector pronuntiaverit, non sit in culpa. Nisi enim fides revocet, qua credimus Deum non accusaturum adversus electos suos, et Christum non condemnaturum electos suos, potest illud sic pronuntiari, Quis accusabit adversus electos Dei? ut hanc interrogationem quasi responsio subsequatur, Deus qui justificat. Et iterum interrogetur, Quis est qui condemnat? et respondeatur, Christus Jesus qui mortuus est. Quod credere quia dementissimum est, ita pronuntiabitur, ut praecedat percontatio, sequatur interrogatio. Inter percontationem autem et interrogationem hoc veteres interesse dixerunt, quod ad percontationem multa responderi possunt; ad interrogationem vero, aut Non, aut Etiam. Pronuntiabitur ergo ita, ut post percontationem qua dicimus, Quis accusabit adversus electos Dei? illud quod sequitur sono interrogantis enuntietur, Deus qui justificat? ut tacite respondeatur, Non: et item percontemur, Quis est qui condemnat? rursusque interrogemus, Christus Jesus qui mortuus est, magis autem qui resurrexit, qui est in dextera Dei, qui et interpellat pro nobis (Rom. VIII, 33, 34)? ut ubique tacite respondeatur, Non. At vero illo loco ubi ait, Quid ergo dicemus? Quia gentes quae non sectabantur justitiam, apprehenderunt justitiam (Rom. IX, 30); nisi post percontationem qua dictum est, Quid ergo dicemus? responsio subjiciatur, Quia gentes quae non sectabantur justitiam, apprehenderunt justitiam, textus consequens non cohaerebit. Qualibet autem voce pronuntietur illud quod Nathanael dixit, A Nazareth potest aliquid boni esse (Joan. I, 46), sive affirmantis, ut illud solum ad interrogationem pertineat quod ait, A Nazareth? sive totum cum dubitatione interrogantis; non video quomodo discernatur: uterque autem sensus 0068 fidem non impedit.

7. Est etiam ambiguitas in sono dubio syllabarum, et haec utique ad pronuntiationem pertinens. Nam quod scriptum est, Non est absconditum a te os meum, quod fecisti in abscondito (Psal. CXXXVIII, 15), non elucet legenti utrum correpta littera os pronuntiet, an producta. Si enim corripiat, ab eo quod sunt ossa; si autem producat, ab eo quod sunt ora, intelligitur numerus singularis. Sed talia linguae praecedentis inspectione dijudicantur: nam in Graeco non στόμα, sed ὀστέον positum est. Unde plerumque loquendi consuetudo vulgaris utilior est significandis rebus, quam integritas litterata. Mallem quippe cum barbarismo dici, Non est absconditum a te ossum meum, quam ut ideo esset minus apertum, quia magis latinum est. Sed aliquando dubius syllabae sonus etiam vicino verbo ad eamdem sententiam pertinente dijudicatur: sicut est illud Apostoli, Quae praedico vobis, sicut praedixi, quoniam qui talia agunt, regnum Dei non possidebunt (Galat. V, 21). Si tantummodo dixisset, Quae praedico vobis, neque subjunxisset, sicut praedixi, nonnisi ad codicem praecedentis linguae recurrendum esset, ut cognosceremus utrum in eo quod dixit, praedico, producenda an corripienda esset media syllaba: nunc autem manifestum est producendam esse; non enim ait, Sicut praedicavi, sed sicut praedixi.