Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Vol. LIV: Augustini Epistulae Pars I

THE EDITOR TO THE KIND READER, SALUTATIONS

Although I intend to explain the rationale and plan of this edition with due diligence only after the entire work has been brought to its conclusion, it is nonetheless necessary to prefix a few things to this first volume. First, I want those who use this edition to know that the second volume (= vol. LV), containing letters LXXI—CXX, will be published in 1911; the third (= vol. LVI), which will contain the remaining letters, indices, and prolegomena, will be made public two years later.

In establishing the words of Jerome, conjecture was rarely necessary. If the text of this edition nevertheless differs significantly from the common text, it is because, as I examined the manuscripts and either brought them into use for the first time or, if I am not mistaken, evaluated them more accurately, I obtained very rich and rewarding results. Regarding orthography, I chose to follow the best manuscripts rather than strive for total consistency. Among the manuscripts that are of any value, not a single one contains all the letters. There exist sufficiently extensive bodies of selected letters, and there exist manuscripts of which each contains many or only a very few letters. Finally, there exist certain excerpts from Jerome’s letters compiled as early as the sixth century, though their value is greatly diminished by the carelessness of the scribes. Furthermore, the state of the manuscripts is such that not even one or two are entirely free from interpolations. On the contrary, even in the oldest books, we detect passages that are either interpolated or seriously corrupted. Add to this that, quite often, individual parts of the same manuscript are not of equal value. The symbols I have used to denote individual manuscripts are quite numerous, but they are arranged so that each manuscript is always designated by the same symbol throughout the entire scope of the edition. I have chosen to group the readings of previous editions under the symbol $\varsigma$.