Translator's preface
THE Latin text of this volume has been set up from that of the ninth edition (1908) of Book I., and the eighth edition (1894) of Book II., by Weissenborn and Müller, except that the Periochae have been reprinted from the text of Rossbach (1910). But the spelling is that adopted by Professors Conway and Walters in their critical edition of Books I.-V. (Oxford, 1914), which is the source also of a number of readings which differ from those given in the Weissenborn-Müller text, and has furnished, besides, the materials from which the textual notes have been drawn up. I have aimed to indicate every instance where the reading printed does not rest on the authority of one or more of the good MSS., and to give the author of the emendation. The MSS. are often cited by the symbols given in the Oxford edition, but for brevity's sake I have usually employed two of my own, viz. ω and ς. The former means “ such of the good MSS. as are not cited for other readings,” the latter “one or more of the inferior MSS. and early printed editions.” Anyone who wishes more specific information regarding the source of a variant will consult [p. viii] the elaborate apparatus of the Oxford text, whose editors have placed all students of the first decade under lasting obligations by their thorough and minute report of the MSS. With the publication of their second volume there will be available for the first time an adequate diplomatic basis for the criticism of Books I.-X. I have utilized throughout the translations by Philemon Holland, George Baker, and Canon Roberts, and have occasionally borrowed a happy expression from the commentaries of Edwards, Conway, and others, mentioned in the introduction. The unpretentious notes in the college edition of my former teacher, the late Professor Greenough, have been particularly useful in pointing out the significance of the word-order. Acknowledgments are also due to my colleagues, Professors Fairclough, Hempl, Cooper, and Briggs, and to Professor Noyes of the University of California, each of whom has given me some good suggestions.B. O. F.
Stanford University, California.
1919.
[p. ix]
