Tregelles (1844) on h.t. in Codices A, C

In S. P. Tregelles' first serious work, The Book of Revelation in Greek (1844), he made his first attempt at textual criticism of a NT book, and attempted to base his text solely or nearly completely on ancient manuscripts.   Since Codex B is missing Revelation, and Aleph had not been procured and published, Tregelles relied on Codex A mainly, supplemented by Codex C (where extant) and also a few readings from Codex Basilianus (Vatican 2066, then unpublished), and the later MS 38 (Vatican 579).

Even though Tregelles was one of the most extreme textual critics, insisting on preferring the readings of the oldest MSS over all other evidences, he lists some 20 cases where he recognized that even the combined witness of both A and C were still in error, even though they were in agreement.  Most of these were misspellings (itacisms etc.), but one notable exception was identified by Tregelles as a certain homoeoteleuton type error, Rev. 13:7:

13:6-7 :

  ........................................................................................και ηνοιξεν το
  στομα αυτου εις βλασφημιαν προς τον θεον βλασφημησαι το ονομα
  αυτου και την σκηνην αυτου και τους εν τω ουρανω σκηνουντας
  και εδοθη αυτω πολεμον ποιησαι μετα των αγιων και νικησαι αυτους
  και εδοθη αυτω εξουσια επι πασαν φυλην και γλωσσαν και εθνος

Tregelles seems still to have mis-identified this omission itself, perhaps by naivity, since he actually describes it as a homoeoarcton (similar line beginning) error.

" - omitted from the similar beginning of two clauses; the transcriber's eye must have past from one και εδοθη to the other. " (Tregelles, Introduction, p. xxxiii)

In fact it is not homoeoarcton.  Its a very strong and ordinary homoeoteleuton error (i.e., similar line ending), and it could have arisen from a half-dozen different line-ending arrangements:

 ............   και ηνοιξεν το στομα αυ-

του εις βλασφημιαν προς τον θεον 

βλασφημησαι το ονομα αυτου και τ-

ηνσκηνην αυτου και τους εν τω ου-

ρανω σκηνουντας  και εδοθη αυτω 

πολεμον ποιησαι μετα των αγιων κ-

αι νικησαι αυτους  και εδοθη αυτω

εξουσια επι πασαν φυλην και γλωσ

σαν και εθνος

(example alignment at 26/52 chars per line) 

This could in fact have arisen independently from two different master-copies with entirely different alignments, still resulting in the exact same final text in both Codex A and Codex C.   Because this is such an easily reproduced error, which could have happened in two dozen different configurations, there is no need to assume any dependency or mixture between them. 

Five years later (1849), when completely overhauling his Greek and English text, Tregelles maintained the same opinion.  In his English footnote he writes;

" The clause 'And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them,' is omitted in the most ancient MSS, A and C, and also by Irenaeus; but as all the ancient versions contain them, the omission was probably occasioned by the two following clauses (in the Greek) commencing with precisely the same words; a transcriber, in such cases continually passed from one clause to another."

 Tregelles also retains the line in his final GNT (1857) Volume 6 (p. 982), noting in the apparatus the following:

[include] Aleph, 1 mg.2  rubr. 7. 38. Q.  91. 95. Vulg. Memph. Aeth. Prms. Eraz.  Cmpl. | ad fin. ver. post ethnos Syr. | om. AC. 1*. 14. P. Arm. Zoh. Iren. 326.

mr.scrivener