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III

MANUSCRIPTS AND EDITIONS OF SUETONIUS

A. Manuscripts

MANUSCRIPTS of Suetonius in immense numbers are to be found in the various libraries of Europe and Great Britain. Many of them have been thoroughly collated and carefully appraised, but there is still no general consensus of opinion regarding the classification of individual manuscripts and the relationship which exists between certain of the more important ones and those which, until more recent years, were considered of little or no authority in establishing the text of Suetonius. This is particularly true of manuscripts of the fifteenth century. Their real value and their relation to other manuscripts are yet to be determined by means of even more extensive collations than have been published. Among the more valuable manuscripts, the following are now pretty generally recognized.1

M.-Codex Memmianus, of the ninth century, now Parisinus 6115, in the National Library in Paris. From Tours, where it was known in the twelfth century, it came into the possession of Henri de Mesmes in the sixteenth century and is still known as Memmianus, though it bore other names, as Turonensis, Pithoeanus, at different times. It next came into

1 For discussions and other references than those here given, see K. L. Roth, Praefatio, XX ff.; C. L. Smith, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, XII (1901), 19 ff., XVI (1905), 1 ff.; A. A. Howard, Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, XII (1901), 261 ff.; M. L. Preud'homme, Troisième Étude sur l'Histoire du Texte de Suétone de Vita Caesarum, Brussels, 1904; M. Ihm, editio maior, 1907, Praefatio, VII ff.

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Émeric Bigot's library, which was purchased in 1706 for the library which now contains the precious manuscript. It is the oldest and most reliable, by common agreement, of all the manuscripts as yet discovered and examined. It lacks the dedicatory epistle, which was known in the sixth century, the title of the Lives and the first part of the Julius. The first five words of our present text, Annum agens sextum decimum patrem, are written in red ink, in capitals, and the initial A is higher than the other letters, thus indicating the loss of the first part of the text before the manuscript was written.

G.-Codex Gudianus 268, of the eleventh century, in Wolfenbüttel. This is the Gudianus II of F. A. Wolf, who made no use of it. It was first carefully inspected by August Becker, and was found to be so closely related to M as even to have copyists' errors in common with M, from which other manuscripts are free. The results of Becker's studies are to be found in his Quaestiones Criticae, published in 1862. The manuscript was, apparently, derived from an original closely resembling that of M, if not actually from the same one.

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g. Codex Monacensis 5977, of the fifteenth century, now in the Royal Library, Munich. It lacks part of the last chapter of Domitianus, and gives other evidence of having been copied from a codex that was mutilated towards the end. Ihm thought it was copied from G in 1456, while C. L. Smith was inclined to think it was a copy of the immediate archetype of G, which had become mutilated, in the meantime, towards the end.1

V. Codex Vaticanus 1904, of the eleventh or twelfth century, in the Library of the Vatican; the Vaticanus of Lipsius and Torrentius. It has survived in a somewhat mutilated condition, ending with decreta sua re in Caligula 3.3. It is marred by many careless errors of the copyist, as well as by lacunæ, so that it is, in general, far surpassed by M, although

1 See Ihm, Praef., XIII; Harv. Stud. in Cl. Phil., XII (1901), 22, 42.

of assistance in individual instances. Ihm pronounced it more reliable than G and most trustworthy after M, with which it is very often in agreement.1

L. - Codex Laurentianus LXVIII. 7, of the eleventh or twelfth century, in the Mediceo-Laurentian Library in Florence; cited by the older editors as Mediceus III. It often has the same correct readings and the same errors as M; but much more frequently it departs from M and inclines to agree with Mediceus I. Its close relationship with V has also been demonstrated. Suetonius begins fol. 73, following Caesar's

Commentaries.

B. Editions

The editions of the Lives of the Caesars have been very numerous since the fifteenth century. More than two hundred were published between the years 1470 and 1829.2

The Editiones Principes were published, two at Rome in 1470, one at Venice in 1471.

Among the earlier editions may be mentioned those of Filippo Beroaldo, Bologna, 1493; Desiderius Erasmus, Basel, 1518; Robert Estienne, Paris, 1543; Isaac Casaubon, Geneva, 1595, and Paris, 1610; Johann Georg Greffe (Graeve), Utrecht, 1672, 1691, 1703; Samuel Pitiscus, Utrecht, 1690; Johann Friedrich Gronov, Leyden, 1698; Pieter Burman, Amsterdam, 1736; Johann August Ernesti, Leipzig, 1748, 1775; Franz van Oudendorp, Leyden, 1751.

Of the more important later editions the following may be mentioned: Friedrich August Wolf, Leipzig, 1802; D. C. G. Baumgarten-Crusius, Leipzig, 1816-1818, containing valuable indices; Karl Benedict Hase, Paris, 1828; Karl Ludwig Roth, Leipzig, 1858; M. L. Preud'homme, Groningen,

1 See August Becker in Symbola Phil. Bonn., 687 ff.

2 See Jahrb. f. Phil., suppl. III (1834), 142 ff. Cf. also K. B. Hase, I, Praefatio, XXII ff.; K. L. Roth, Praefatio, XIX; M. Ihm, editio maior, Praefatio, LXI ff.; A. Macé, Essai sur Suétone, 25 ff.

1906; Maximilian Ihm, editio maior, Leipzig, 1907, ed. minor, 1908; John Carew Rolfe, New York, 1914, with translation.

The following editions of selected Lives are noteworthy : Harry Thurston Peck, Gai Suetoni Tranquilli de Vita Caesarum libri duo2, New York, 1893; Evelyn S. Shuckburgh, C. Suetoni Tranquilli Divus Augustus, Cambridge, 1896; H. Smilda, C. Suetonii Tranquilli Vita Divi Claudi, Groningen, 1896; Cornelius Hofstee, C. Suetonii Tranquilli Vitae Galbae, Othonis, Vitellii, Groningen, 1898; Joseph B. Pike, Gai Suetoni Tranquilli de Vita Caesarum libri III-VI, Boston, 1903.

DE VITA CAESARURARY

LIBER I.

DIVUS IULIUS

1 Annum agens sextum decimum patrem amisit; se-
quentibusque consulibus flamen Dialis destinatus dimissa
Cossutia, quae familia equestri sed admodum dives prae-
textato desponsata fuerat, Corneliam Cinnae quater con-
sulis filiam duxit uxorem, ex qua illi mox Iulia nata est; 5
neque ut repudiaret compelli a dictatore Sulla ullo modo
2 potuit. Quare et sacerdotio et uxoris dote et gentilicis
hereditatibus multatus diversarum partium habebatur,
ut etiam discedere e medio et quamquam morbo quar-
tanae adgravante prope per singulas noctes commutare 10
latebras cogeretur seque ab inquisitoribus pecunia redi-
meret, donec per virgines Vestales perque Mamercum
Aemilium et Aurelium Cottam propinquos et adfines
3 suos veniam impetravit. Satis constat Sullam, cum de-
precantibus amicissimis et ornatissimis viris aliquamdiu 15
denegasset atque illi pertinaciter contenderent, expug-
natum tandem proclamasse sive divinitus sive aliqua.
coniectura: vincerent ac sibi haberent, dum
modo scirent eum quem incolumem tanto
opere cuperent quandoque optimatium parti-20

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