De ‖ Paradiso ‖ Commentarius; ‖ Scriptus ante annos prope sep- ‖ tingentos à Mose Bar-Cepha Syro; Episcopo ‖ in Beth-Raman, & Beth-Ceno; ac Curatore ‖ rerum sacrarum in Mozal, hoc est Seleucia ‖ Parthorum. ‖ Inuenies Lector in hoc cōmentario, præter alia multa lectu & digna ‖ & iucunda, plurimos etiam peregrinos scriptores citatos. ‖ ADIECTA EST ETIAM DIVI BASILII CAE- ‖ sariensis Episcopi greek:λειτουργια siue greek:αναφορα ex vetustissimo ‖ codice Syrica lingua scripto. ‖ PRAETEREA professiones fidei duæ, altera Mosis Mar- ‖ deni Iacobitæ, Legati Patriarchæ Antiocheni: altera Sulacȩ ‖ siue Siud Nestoriani, designati Patriarchȩ Nestorianorum. ‖ Ad hæc duæ Epistulæ populi Nestoriani ad Pontificem Rom. quarum altera ‖ ex Seleucia Parthorum: altera ex Ierusalem scripta est. ‖ Omnia ex Syrica lingua nuper tralata per ANDREAM ‖ MASIVM Bruxellanum. ‖ ANTVERPIÆ, ‖ Ex officina Christophori Plantini. ‖ M.D.LXIX. Plena piel 18x12 cm, 276 pp. Online bibliographical references: Note 1 Latin translation by Andreas Masius of Syriac texts, the most important being the treatise on the Paradise by Bar Cepha (pages 12-226). Added are the Anaphora divi Basilii episcopi Caesareae Cappadociae (pages 235-254), and the short Precatio divi Basilii, qua solet operatus sacris uti apud Deum (pages 254-256). Note 2 The treatise on the Paradise is a litteral and mystical commentary on chapters 2 and 3 of the Genesis. The author quotes not only St. Basilius, St. Cyrillus of Antiochia, and St. Joannes Chrysostomus, but also Jacobite theologians and the writings of heretics which have been lost (cf Biographie Nationale [de Belgique], 13, Column 122). Note 3 In the dedicatory letter preceding the treatise and dated 1 August 1567, Masius explains how the previous year, being sick, he had translated the text out of tedium. The Syriac manuscript itself (now lost) he had acquired during a stay with the brothers Henrici a Rec in Italy, at Recce, from a certain Moses Mardenus Antiochenus. Details are also given about Bar Cepha and the authors he quotes. Note 4 In the dedicatory letter to Busbequius, preceding the Anaphora, and dated 9 August 1567, Masius specifies that his translation of the Anaphora was made many years ago, at the urging of Julius Pflug, priest at Nuremberg, from a very old Syriac manuscript (also lost) he had bought from a not specified Syrian. Follows a long egression on the Jacobite and Nestorian churches. Note 5 The text was in the possession of Plantin as early as the second half of 1567, but he had difficulties in getting the approbatio from the censor, who was very lazy on the job: in a letter of 17 March 1568 to Masius Plantin had to declare that he was still unsuccessful in trying to recover the manuscript from the priest in order to send it to Brussels for the privilege (Corr., III, no. 354). Note 6 Listed in M 296, folio 4v (De Paradiso per Andream Masium versus, f[euilles] 17½, [price:] stuivers 4), and M 164, folio 9r.