PREFACE.

only to backtrack later. Finally, F. Gu. Schneidewin added to the great benefits he had already bestowed upon my work by recommending to me someone who remained more constant than the others in his promise. Once this person understood and approved of my plan, his only condition was that I should deliver the edition of Macrobius not only emended, as I had intended, but also explained. I felt I had to concede this, although I was well aware of how difficult this would be, especially since I was lacking the most necessary books. I acquired what I could; I examined what had been previously annotated regarding Macrobius and accepted what was suitable; for the few things that seemed necessary for a proper understanding of each passage, I added them myself. In June of the year 1846, the Commentaries on the Dream of Scipio, having been treated in this manner up to the end, were sent to the press. Toward the end of the year, when seven sheets had been completed, the work was delayed for about six months as I was occupied with another urgent task that could not be postponed. At the same time, F. Osann sent me his own codex of the Commentaries on the Dream of Scipio and the excerpts he had taken from two others; he did not begrudge the fact that I had taken over the plan of editing the Macrobian Commentaries together with the fragments of Cicero’s On the Republic. From these, I added whatever could be inserted into my own work for that very reason, so that not everything would have to be changed, and when the opportunity arose, I expanded the annotations from certain books that had meanwhile come into my possession. I was then permitted to use a portion of the Planudean version in print, for which I am indebted to G. Hermann and Gersdorf, for the interrupted printing was resumed before I came into possession of the Augsburg codex (see prolegomena, p. XLVIII et seq.). Finally, Th. Presselius, at my request, examined the Parisian excerpts of the treatise on the differences and similarities of the Greek and Latin verb. I owe the Viennese excerpts and that fragment on the verb—which I felt should be added as it was largely taken from this book—to the Analecta Grammatica edited by Joseph von Eichenfeld and Stephan Endlicher. I omitted the name of the latter for the sake of brevity, following the lead of others, nor do I fear that the learned partner in that work will take offense at this. Compare the prolegomena, p. XIII et seq. Although what I have narrated here has generally been mentioned in the appropriate places, I nevertheless thought I would be granted the indulgence to gather these things here as if to be viewed at a single glance, so that it might appear more clearly that very many men, excelling no less in humanity and generosity than in learning—to whom I pay deserved gratitude with a mindful heart—have excellently aided my work, and that I, since I undertook this task, have never rested, sparing neither labor nor expense to acquire the proper apparatus,