The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part 10

middle of it. But the space is not narrower than in P. Rylands 28, a certain instance of a double leaf, though no doubt the book to which that belonged was not nearly so bulky as the one under consideration; moreover, there is a crease, though not a deep one, in this space, and the fold is in the right direction, i. e. it would make the verso lie uppermost in the quire. Several other considerations support the theory of the double leaf as against the double column: (1) Single columns were apparently customary in papyrus books in Egypt. (2) In a book composed of leaves with double columns, the second column on every page should have an even number; but here the number of the second column would be odd. (3) Column i of the recto stands higher by nearly a line than Column ii. Contiguous columns were not, indeed, always kept parallel, but an inequality would be more liable to occur if the columns did not stand side by side on the same page. The balance of probability, therefore, inclines to the supposition that Column ii recto is the page preceding Column i verso. If this be correct, it is likely that the column was of no great height, and it may be estimated at about twenty lines at most.

In Fragment 1, numbered on the recto 139, so little is preserved that no reconstruction is practicable. On the recto the words "Truly I say to you" original: "ἀμὴν ὑ[μῖν λέ]γω" show that the Saviour is speaking, and a similar inference is probably to be drawn from the second person plural "you" original: "ὑμεῖς", which is the only complete word on the verso. Between this leaf and Fragment 2 there was a wide interval, the next pagination number preserved being 174, at the top of Fragment 2 verso i. If, as we have supposed, this page was preceded by Column ii of the recto, the number to be restored there is 1[73]. The subject of that column is again not clear. Seemingly it describes an appearance in a vision of Jesus, who speaks words of comfort or exhortation, but the occasion and the person addressed remain in doubt. That the incident to which the passage relates is the walking on the sea (Matthew xiv. 25 sqq., Mark vi. 48 sqq.) seems unlikely, and the reference is perhaps to something not reported in the Canonical Gospels. Dr. Bartlet, after suggesting that the lines expand the account of the Call of Peter contained in Luke v. 1–10 by a description of a supplementary commission given in a nocturnal vision, now inclines to the view that they relate to a vision of consolation and encouragement following Peter's Fall. Either of these explanations, if adopted, would have an important bearing on the problem of the identity of the work to which the fragment belongs; see below, pages 4–5. The next column (2 verso i) is not more extensive, but enough is preserved to indicate that questions were being addressed to Christ concerning the nature of His mission and teaching. Apart from the phrase "new doctrine," however (compare Mark i. 27), the language finds no evident parallels in the pages of the Evangelists.