The Extant Works of Macrobius, Vol. 2

1650. (R) ^k). In correcting the words of the writer, I have followed the method which I explained in that preface on page xi, and in the Greek [passages] I have relied almost everywhere on the authority of codex P. There is hardly any need to warn that I have very rarely indulged in conjectures, both in these and in the words of the poets and ancient Latin writers; since, in such an author, one does not look so much for what the true form of those fragments might be, as what it was in those copies which he had before his eyes: nor am I sufficiently skilled in the art of metrics, nor sufficiently equipped with the resources necessary to thoroughly correct those fragments. ⁵) Thus, since the numbers not infrequently suffer from defects,

$k$) Ottobonian 2052. "Altaemps," parchment, square format, 14th or 15th century. Subscription: Macrobii Theodosii viri illustrissimi conviviorum tertii diei liber explicit.

⁴) This parchment codex of square format, 10th century, written in two columns, contains from folio XLI onwards books I-III of the Saturnalia, with the first words: "Multas variasque in hac vita," omitted, and in book II the added subscription: MACROBII THEODOSII V. C. ET INL. CONVIVIORVM PRIMI DIEI SATVRNALIORVM EXPLICIT, [and] in book III merely: Explicit.

In the same library the learned gentleman saw the [following] codices:

a) Reginensis 1647. parchment, square format, 15th century. "Collegii Sociis Iesu Olomneii; Catal. mscr. 1604." Inscription: Macrobii Theodosii liber primus incipit de Saturnalibus. The last words of the Saturnalia are read on folio CLIII. On folio CLV follows book VII up to c. 12, § 29.

b) Reginensis 1983. paper, very large format, 15th century. Subscription: MACROBII THEODOSII VIRI CONSVLARIS ET ILLVSTRIS CONVIVIORVM TERTII DIEI FINIT.

Finally, at Padua, in the library of St. Anthony, he saw a fragment of six folios of the 10th century, which begins with the words: MACROBII AMBROSII THEODOSII QVINCIES CSVLIS (i.e. V. C.) ET INLVSTRIS AD EVSTATIVM FILIVM SVVM SATVRNALIORVM LIB. INCIPIT. Then the same [text] inserts through many [passages] "therefore to the Saturnalia of such exchanges (I, 11, 50.)" and ends with the words (I, 15, 20.): initia mensium id ē Kalendas huic deae consecravit feliciter.

⁵) When all was already printed, there came into my hands the book of Eduard Munk which is entitled On the Atellan Farces (Leipzig, 1840). There, on pages 143 sq., I found the verses of Pomponius which are read in Sat. VI, 4, 13, arranged as follows:

In the same place is read the fragment from the Transalpine Gauls (Sat. VI, 9, 4.) and on page 146 the fragment of the farce which is entitled Maevia (Sat. I, 4, 22.) without any discrepancy, but to this second fragment it is noted that the word dies is counted twice for one syllable. The fragment of Novius (Sat. I, 10, 3.) on page 184 is read with the order of words changed:

and the fragment of Mummius (Sat. I, 10, 3.)—whom Munk calls Memmius or Mummius—on page 186: