5. The text of the previous editions indicates that someone deliberately abridged and edited the book, omitting these passages—the additions found in our manuscript—and also altering the wording of certain statements so that the text would read smoothly and appear coherent, with no sign of omission or deficiency. This is the matter we shall examine in the following section.

The second perspective: The nature of these additions

There are two possibilities:

The first is that the author originally composed the treatise in the form in which it was printed and became widely known, and then incorporated the additions found in our manuscript. This would mean that our manuscript represents the book’s second version, while the version previously used for publication was its first. The latter circulated among copyists and was therefore reproduced in numerous manuscripts.

The second is that he composed the book from the outset as it appears in our manuscript, after which someone deliberately abridged and edited it. The second possibility is more likely, for several reasons:

1. The introduction to the abridged previous editions contains an indication of this, for it reads: “This is an abridged treatise containing a collection of comprehensive statements concerning…” whereas the complete manuscript reads: “This is a treatise comprising a collection of comprehensive statements concerning…”

It therefore appears that the word “abridged” was added by the person who selected material from the book or edited it. It is exceedingly unlikely that it formed part of the author’s original wording and that he later removed it merely because he had made additions, however numerous they may have been.

2. The editing and selection extended even to the author’s preamble, which bears no relation to