Philosophical Works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Vol. 2

» Beyond the aids which I have just mentioned, it fell to my lot, in the first part of Book I of De Clementia, to use a collation of the Codex of the Amplonian Library at Portam Cæli, in Erfurt, most diligently prepared and shared with me by that most learned man, and for many years a very dear friend of mine, Matthias, directing Professor of the Leiningen-Grünstadt Gymnasium. That parchment codex, of the XII century as it seems, not yet used by any of the editors, is written in lonely minuscules, i.e., small letters, not cursive. The capital letters at the beginning of periods are partly capitals, and partly (and most of them) uncials. It consists of 110 leaves, or rather 219 pages, in quarto format. It contains the first 52 Letters of Seneca: De Clementia I, chapters 1-18 inclusive: the Letters of the Apostle Paul to Seneca: and finally an epitaph and excerpts. It is written with diligence and care. Written by another hand, one reads: H. dei gra Rex Anglie dns Hyberny | dux Normany et Aquitany Comes Andeg | D: lto in Xpo Fratri Vlrico. I owe this description of the codex to the aforementioned friend, who concludes, both from the form of the letters and from the added words, that it is a product of the XII century. It certainly contains readings that are not to be despised. Hoping, however, to obtain a greater harvest from critical books (since I knew that many learned men had devoted their efforts to Seneca in the hundred years and more that had elapsed since Jo. Frid. Gronovius), I spent much time in unfolding and examining them, with the assistance of that most humane young man, J. G. Brandes of Hamburg, who was then staying in Göttingen for the sake of liberal studies. In truth, they provided me with little help. For if you set aside those most learned and ingenious men, while they were yet alive, J. M. Heusinger and Triller—the one the director of the Eisenach Gymnasium, the other a Professor at Wittenberg—you will hardly find one or two