secondary readings. In some cases, at least, the opposite changes may well have been impossible. Thus a knowledge of normal scribal tendencies may in many cases indicate the direction of a textual change. And once the direction of the change is known, the original reading can be determined. This principle will be illustrated in some of the examples treated in chapter 8. A second general principle of internal evidence is that of the level of difficulty of two or more readings. In such cases, the “more