Rev 18:3 [Textus Receptus]
ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς πέπωκεν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη καὶ οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς μετ’ αὐτῆς ἐπόρνευσαν καὶ οἱ ἔμποροι τῆς γῆς ἐκ τῆς δυνάμεως τοῦ στρήνους αὐτῆς ἐπλούτησαν
Critical Apparatus :
A Textual Commentary On Revelation 18:3
(a) In some places Lachmann really follows none of the Greek authorities on which he avowedly relies. This may be seen re peatedly in the latter chapters of the Apocalypse : in such cases he considered that the combined testimony of the other authorities was sufficient to warrant the introduction of the readings which he adopts : it would, however, on any principles of criticism, have been well if the Greek copies which contain the reading as he gives it, had been mentioned.
In some places in his larger edition, Lachmann introduces a critical correction of the authorities, the actual reading of which he had given in his smaller. Thus in Rev. xviii. 3, the reading of the oldest authorities is, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ οἴνου τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς πέπτωκαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, “because by reason of the wrath of her fornication all the nations have fallen” (see Jerem. li. 4 and 49). And thus the passage stood in Lachmann’s earlier edition . In the larger, however, the word πέπτωκαν is corrected into πέπωκαν ; no authority is cited for this change, and it seems to be on the ground of the reading of the version of Jerome and the supposed nature of the case . But still choice is introduced instead of the simple following of authorities. But there was no need to depart from the best attested and most ancient reading, for it has sufficient witnesses. πέπτωκαν is supported by A and C, while B (Cod. Basilianus) and ten others have the cognate reading πέπτωκασιν ; and this is the meaning found in the Memphitic and Æthiopic versions. The most ancient reading has been variously changed in later documents ; thus the oldest copies of Jerome’s version (e. g. the Codices Amiatinus and Fuldensis) read, “quia de ira fornicationis ejus biberunt omnes gentes ” (the modern Vulgate has “de vino iræ fornicationis”), – reading the Greek as if they had Lachmann’s text before them, or as if πέπτωκαν had been misapprehended. In some documents (most indeed) τοῦ οἴνου is inserted before τοῦ θυμοῦ (as in Rev. xiv. 8), and thus the reading of the common text seems to have sprung up, “because by reason of the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nations have drunk” (as found also in the modern Clementine Vulgate). The omission of toll oľvov is sufficiently warranted ; and thus the ancient reading in all its parts may be retained without correction, on grounds of inferential reasoning. And, in fact, what is the line of argument? whether it be most likely that translators and recent copyists mistook πέπτωκαν for πέπωκαν (which they judged to be the sense of the passage),* or whether the transcribers of the more ancient Greek MSS . were unitedly mistaken, and that the two mutually confirming and corroborating readings πέπτωκαν and πεπτώκασιν were alike mere mistake : the reading thence arising being also somewhat the more difficult of the two.
It may be asked, without any desire to be censorious, whether Lachmann has not in this and similar passages shown some tendency to indulge in subjectiveness? It is difficult not to do this, at least in some measure, and thus it can be no cause for surprise if traces of this feeling are found in every critical work.
* The following is the note of Lachmann referring to πέπτωκαν παντα τα εθνη in his text : “ πεπτωκαν (sic πεπωκε 5 ) παντα τα εθνη A C ϛ om. h. ” By the mark “ϛ” Lachmann designates the Elzevir text ; by “h,” he signifies the citations of the Apocalypse found in the writings of Primasius. Thus the version of Jerome at the foot of the page, was the only authority for the word given in the text.
(S. P. Tregelles, An Account of the Printed Text of the Greek New Testament, pp. 108-109)