PREFACE

...Albertus, whose authority and words, even when not named, were often used by Petrus Crescentiensis. I omitted mentioning this in individual places, however, because I only finally obtained the volume of Albertus to use from the kindness of the distinguished Heyne, after I had nearly finished my commentaries on Palladius. The comparison of Albertus’s books On Vegetables from the 1651 Lyon edition of the fifth volume brought me so much utility for interpreting and correcting Palladius that I hope many readers who handle my commentaries will also think better in the future of the man’s erudition and the use of Albertus’s books. I would have preferred to compare the older editions of Albertus; but the generosity of my friend Heyne could provide only the Lyon edition.

Finally, the extent to which I have profited from the Wernsdorf edition of the Carmen de Insitione Poem on Grafting, inserted into Volume VI of the Poëtae latini minores Minor Latin Poets, will be demonstrated by our own annotations.

In the books of Palladius, a much greater variety of readings in the manuscripts was found than in Cato, Varro, and Columella; I think this diversity must be traced back to the fact that Palladius’s Compendium was read and transcribed much more frequently than those exemplars from which Aemilianus had expressed his own. Therefore, each of the scribes of these books exhibits his own peculiar readings in many places, even while agreeing with the best versions in others. Thus, for book IV, title XIII, section 3, only the codex inspected by Wassius, along with Isidore and the one who copied Isidore into Vincent, exhibits the reading.