In this chapter Nongbri seeks evidence from ancient letter collections of separate letters being shorn of their introductory and concluding material and then recombined to form composite letters. Scholars have long posited that this is what has happened to 2 Corinthians, but not much in the way of evidence for this sort of procedure has been produced until more recently. Here is a sample:
The critical edition of Jerome's Latin translation of Pachomiana includes eleven 'letters'. The first seven items carry titles beginning epistu!a patris nostri Pachomii, and the eighth item epistu!a patris Pachomii. The last three items, however, have titles of a rather different format: number 9: verba per litteras patris nostri Pachomii, number 10: verba quae locutus est pater noster Pachomius, and number 11: verba patris nostri Pachomii.
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In the more recently discovered manuscripts of letters of Pachomius, some of these letters are divided differently. A Greek parchment roll of Pachomius' letters in the Chester Beatty Library (W 145) places no division between Jerome's letters 1 and 2, and includes additionally only letters 3, 7, 10, and, as a 'stand alone' letter, first half of Jerome's letter 11 (now generally referred to as 11a). In another Coptic papyrus codex at the Chester Beatty Library (Ac. 2556), we find (in this order): the second half of Jerome's letter 11 (now generally designated 11b), letter 10, the first half ofJerome's letter 11 (11a), the first half ofJerome's letter 9 (9a), and finally the second half of Jerome's letter 9 (9b) clearly marked as a separate letter. It seems that either Jerome or his exemplar (or one of its ancestors) combined the originally separate 9a and 9b and 11a and 11b to form longer, composite 'letters' within the collection. Similarly, either letters 1 and 2 were originally a single letter that was later divided, or (more likely) the two were originally independent and later combined to form a composite letter in some manuscripts.
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In the more recently discovered manuscripts of letters of Pachomius, some of these letters are divided differently. A Greek parchment roll of Pachomius' letters in the Chester Beatty Library (W 145) places no division between Jerome's letters 1 and 2, and includes additionally only letters 3, 7, 10, and, as a 'stand alone' letter, first half of Jerome's letter 11 (now generally referred to as 11a). In another Coptic papyrus codex at the Chester Beatty Library (Ac. 2556), we find (in this order): the second half of Jerome's letter 11 (now generally designated 11b), letter 10, the first half ofJerome's letter 11 (11a), the first half ofJerome's letter 9 (9a), and finally the second half of Jerome's letter 9 (9b) clearly marked as a separate letter. It seems that either Jerome or his exemplar (or one of its ancestors) combined the originally separate 9a and 9b and 11a and 11b to form longer, composite 'letters' within the collection. Similarly, either letters 1 and 2 were originally a single letter that was later divided, or (more likely) the two were originally independent and later combined to form a composite letter in some manuscripts.
To my mind, the Ignatian corpus provides another ready-made example. The short recension, in Syriac, includes the epistles to Polycarp, the Ephesians, and the Romans; but one of these letters actually includes material from the epistle to the Trallians, known from the middle recension. No matter which way the arrow of directionality points on this one, material from one letter has found its way into another letter.
Nongbri also discusses Ciceronian epistles and letter collections known from the papyri.
Ben.