X

PREFACE.

Leonicenus' name is inscribed on fol. 122; furthermore, it is read on fol. 121: "no. VIII of the fifth chest, no. 8, Galen on the members of humans." That the Aldine edition was expressed from this codex is apparent not only from the fact that the context of the words, such as the Aldine provides, agrees with it in almost all places, but also because in the codex one still encounters here and there those notes that printers use to indicate the end of a page or leaf, just as after the word ὄνυχος of a nail on p. 10, 9 there is a straight line in the codex, by which word the first leaf of the Aldine ends; likewise, after the word ταῦτα these things on p. 19, 23 a similar line was drawn, by which the end of the second leaf might be noted, and so very often.

Although this codex served as the foundation for those who prepared the first edition, it has nevertheless been examined again by me, not without fruit. For there are not lacking places where the good reading of the codex was passed over by Aldus or his associates, for example, the codex correctly exhibits p. 44, 6 δέ γε but indeed, 47, 15 τὴν the, 70, 22 γ’ at least, 25 διαφωνοῦμεν we disagree, 92, 13 ἡ σύνθεσις the composition, 94, 10 ἀπήγαγε he led away, 121, 21 προσπαραθεῖναι to place alongside additionally, 122, 26 μελῶν of the limbs, 140, 9 διπλοῦν double, 141, 18 ὡς ὁ παρελθὼν as the one who passed by, 150, 5 ἐκτείνειν τε and to stretch out, 179, 8 αὐτῶν of them, 182, 22 μείζονι in the greater, 23 ἐλάττονι in the smaller, 26 μηδὲ nor, 183, 13 ἅπασιν to all.

In its quality, however, it is much inferior to the others. And it is first corrupted by that kind of vice which is brought about by the omission of many words. For very often the scribe, deceived by the similarity of letters, wandered from one word to another, omitting what lies between them. Examples of such negligence exist on p. 196, 21; 241, 9; 343, 11; 363, 25; 372, 26; 455, 3; 474, 1; 485, 20. But that lacuna of much larger scope, by which a great part of the seventh book from p. 394, 4 "of the stomach" up to p. 422, 10 "of the heart" was swallowed, seems to have been already in the archetype. It was supplied by Caio Britanno from a codex unknown to me in the edition of the various works of Galen, which he published at Basel in the year 1544. Furthermore, it suffers from every other kind of error with which nodding scribes are wont to sin, so that in very many places it departs from the others that have preserved the true reading. The examples are: