Studies in the Transmission of Latin Texts: Volume I: Quintus Curtius Rufus and Dictys Cretensis

by S. P. Oakley

Overview

This volume offers a comprehensive study of all the known manuscripts and incunables of two works: the history of Alexander the Great written by Quintus Curtius Rufus, probably in the first century AD, and the translation into Latin by Lucius Septimius of the spoof history of the Trojan War, allegedly written at the time of that war by a certain Dictys Cretensis. Drawing on in excess of 200 witnesses, the analysis reveals how the text of Curtius in all our extant manuscripts descends from one damaged copy that survived from the Roman Empire into the Middle Ages, and how the text of Dictys survived in two such copies. It demonstrates that clear and decisive results can be achieved by application of the so-called stemmatic method, and how the application of those results will lead to several improvements to our standard text of Dictys. As well as determining which manuscripts future editors should use in editing these texts and examining them in detail, it also offers equally full discussion of those which will not be needed, establishing many localizations and derivations. The result is a large body of material that will help deepen our knowledge of the transmission of classical Latin texts, especially in the Renaissance, as well as our knowledge of scribal practice and of techniques that can be deployed in the genealogical study of manuscripts and incunables.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198848721
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/23/2020
Pages:	534
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 6.40(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

S. P. Oakley, Kennedy Professor of Latin, University of Cambridge; Fellow of Emmanuel College

Stephen Oakley, FBA, was born in Dorset and educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he studied for the Classical Tripos and for his Ph.D. He has since taught at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and the University of Reading, and is currently Kennedy Professor of Latin in the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Emmanuel College.

Table of Contents

Alphabetical Check-List of Sigla1. Introduction: Method of InvestigationQUINTUS CURTIUS RUFUS2. The Extant Manuscripts and Incunables2.1. General2.2. Manuscripts that do not consist of excerpts2.3. Manuscripts containing excerpts2.4. Lost or unidentified manuscripts2.5. Incunabular editions2.6. Sigla2.7. Portions collated3. The Progress of Scholarship4. Curtius in Northern Europe in the Middle Ages: The Primary Witnesses4.1. General4.2. Ω4.3. Π4.4. Σ4.5. D4.6. S4.7. The Florilegium Angelicum5. Curtius in Northern Europe in the Middle Ages: The Family of B6. The Italian Tradition: Br's Family6.1. General6.2. Br and A6.3. A, Petrarch, and Br s family: the problem6.4. α6.5. Other descendants of Br7. The Italian Tradition: Descendants of Q8. The Italian Tradition: *d8.1. General8.2. The errors of *d8.3. *d(a)8.4. *d(b)8.5. *d(a), *d(b)(i), and the family of Pg in book 108.6. *d(c)8.7. *d(d)8.8. *d(c) and (d) and α in 3.1 4.28.9. *d(c) in books 5 and 68.10. Vx and Wk8.11. The origin of *d9. The Italian Tradition: Descendants of C9.1. Introduction9.2. The beginning of the text9.3. The middle of the text9.4. The end of the text10. The Italian Tradition: The Edition of Vindelinus de Spira and its Progeny11. The Shape of the Textual Tradition of Curtius11.1. The extant manuscripts in overview11.2. Curtius in mediaeval lists and catalogues11.3. Curtius and mediaeval authors12. Consequences for Editors of Curtius13. End-Notes to Curtius13.1. Lost or unidentified manuscripts13.2. The poem Armipotentis Alexandri13.3. Interpolations from JustinDICTYS CRETENSIS14. The Witnesses14.1. Extant manuscripts14.2. Lost manuscript14.3. Paraphrase14.4. Excerpts not found at end of text of Dares14.5. Quotations14.6. Incunabular editions14.7. Sigla14.8. Portions collated15. The Progress of Scholarship16. The Epistle and the Prologue17. The Codex Aesinas18. The Family Γ18.1. The wider family18.2. G, its descendants, and close relatives18.3. β18.4. Hy19. The Family of E19.1. Earlier treatments19.2. E's uncorrected errors19.3. Θ19.4. N and its descendants19.5. Ec and the descendants of E19.6. D[HaTo]19.7. Vo19.8. The family of E at the end of the text19.9. The family of E at the beginning of the text20. Manuscripts Known Only from Catalogue Entries21. The Shape of the Tradition: Dictys in the Middle Ages22. The Archetype23. Editing Dictys24. Excerpts of Dictys in Manuscripts of Dares25. End-Notes to Dictys25.1. Enoch of Ascoli and the codex Aesinas25.2. The opening of the epistle25.3. The family of G/Ga in Dares

Editorial Reviews

"the vast and minute erudition accumulated on these pages will keep all students of textual transmission well occupied" — Christopher Whitton, Greece & Rome

From the Publisher