On the Usefulness of the Parts, Vol. II

A phototypic reproduction of this codex is available in the edition of Hippocratic works curated by Hugo Kuehlewein, vol. I (appendix). Its readings generally agree with the Urbinas; but in many places they were changed by a second hand, with an inferior exemplar, as it seems, being used instead of what the scribe himself had written.

3. Laurentianus plut. LXXIV, 4 (L). It is a paper codex written partly in the fourteenth and partly in the fifteenth century, consisting of two parts differing somewhat in age. For one part, being the older, comprises fol. 21a—98b, fol. 115a—122b, fol. 125a—138b, fol. 159a—247b, the other being much more recent fol. 1a—20b, fol. 99a—114b, fol. 123a—124b, fol. 139a—158b. It appears, therefore, that a sufficiently large part of the old codex perished due to the ravages of time, and that it was supplied by a scribe of a more recent age, lest the book be incomplete. For this reason, the reliability of the two parts of the codex is far different: the readings that the older part exhibits are generally of great value, while the readings of the more recent part are generally of none. What is more? These agree so closely with codex Parisinus 2148 that the scribe who supplied the Laurentianus seems to have copied either this or its archetype or apograph. This is also confirmed by the fact that the same lacuna, by which the Parisinus is mutilated at p. 394, 4—422, 10, is also detected in the Laurentianus. Since these things are so, I had the seventh book of the more recent part collated by Hugo Tschierschky, and the entire older part was collated by the same person, except for books four and seventeen, which Otto Staehlin of Munich had already examined at my request beforehand.

That the Laurentianus codex is to be held in high regard for establishing the text is demonstrated by very many places, in which it alone preserved the true reading. I will bring forward for the sake of example: p. 102, 19 διὰ τί why, 111, 17 ἐμήνυσαν they revealed, 112, 20 γ’ at least/indeed, 118, 12 αὐτοῖς to them, 142, 22 συνήθη accustomed/habitual, 150, 24 τούτου of this, 153, 15 θεῖν to run, 174, 2 ἡδονῶν of pleasures, 176, 23 τοῦ κόσμου of the world, 197, 14 ἐνάργειαν clarity/evidence, 310, 21 πιλητοῖς felted/pressed, 461, 8 ἐκδεξομένῳ expecting/receiving, 9 φαντασιωθησομένῳ about to be imagined, 359, 19 ἐκποριοῦσας providing, 463, 5 μέν πως in some way. 465, 7 ἀπέτεινεν οὖν therefore it stretched, 474, 25 ἡ γάρ τοι for indeed (also Orib.), 476, 1 ἡ λεπτὴ μῆνιγξ the thin membrane (hiatus is avoided), 479, 10 τό τ’ ὀστοῦν the bone, 482, 4 ἀμφότεραι both, 12 αὐτῆς of it, 19 τινα some, 484, 24 τινα εἶναι τῆς some to be of the, 492, 10 πάνυ τι very much (also Orib.), 20 συνανασπᾷ draws up together (also Orib.), 493, 7 τοσοῦτον so much, 495, 16 οἷον such as, 19 ἃς which.

If you were to examine the other readings of the Laurentianus, you would easily understand...