For a long time the Pastor of Hermas was known to scholars only in a Latin version, occurring in several MSS. with but slight variations. But within recent times the difficulty of settling the text has been increased by the discovery of various MSS. A Latin translation has been edited, widely differing from the common version. Then a Greek MS. was said to have been found in Mount Athos, of which Simonides affirmed that he brought away a portion of the original and a copy of the rest. Then a MS. of the Pastor of Hermas was found at the end of the Sinaitic Codex of Tischendorf. And in addition to all these, there is an Æthiopic translation. The discussion of the value of these discoveries is one of the most difficult that can fall to the lot of critics; for it involves not merely an examination of peculiar forms of words and similar criteria, but an investigation into statements made by Simonides and Tischendorf respecting events in their own lives. But whatever may be the conclusions at which the critic arrives, the general reader does not gain or lose much. In all the Greek and Latin forms the Pastor of Hermas is substantially the same. There are many minute differences; but there are scarcely any of importance—perhaps we should say none. In this translation the text of Hilgenfeld, which is based on the Sinaitic Codex, has been followed. The letters _Vat._ mean the Vatican manuscript, the one from which the common or vulgate version was usually printed. The letters _Pal._ mean the manuscript edited by Dressel, which contains the Latin version, differing considerably from the common version. The letters _Lips._ refer to the manuscript, partly original and partly copied, furnished by Simonides from Athos. The text of Anger and Dindorf (Lips. 1856) has been used, though reference has also been made to the text of Tischendorf in Dressel. The letters _Sin._ refer to the Sinaitic Codex, as given in Dressel and in Hilgenfeld’s notes. The letters _Æth._ refer to the Æthiopic version, edited, with a Latin translation, by Antonius D’Abbadie. Leipzig 1860. No attempt has been made to give even a tithe of the various readings. Only the most important have been noted. Footnote 1530: Comment. in Rom. [xvi. 14], lib. x. 31. Footnote 1531: _Hist. Eccl._ iii. 3. Footnote 1532: _De Viris Illustribus_, c. x. Footnote 1533: _Contra Hæres._ iv. 20, 2. Footnote 1534: _Strom._ i. xxix. p. 426. Footnote 1535: _Ut supra._ Footnote 1536: _De Pudicitia_, c. xx., also c. x.; _De Oratione_, c. xvi. BOOK FIRST.—VISIONS. VISION FIRST. AGAINST FILTHY AND PROUD THOUGHTS, AND THE CARELESSNESS OF HERMAS IN CHASTISING HIS SONS. CHAP. I.