Minor Latin poets; with introductions and English translations

INTRODUCTION TOof the Duke of Sermoneta at Rome in 1891. V andR, both written in the sixteenth century, are indirectlyand independently derived from an archetypefound at Bobbio in 1494 or 1493. This archetypemay be conjectured to have been written inLombardic characters in the eighth or ninth century ;but it has been lost since its removal from Bobbioin 1706. In 1495 Inghiramius, surnamed Phaedrusof Volaterra, afterwards librarian at the Vatican,made a copy of it at Bobbio and took it to Rome before1506. About that time the poet Sannazaro hadbrought with him from France to Italy the newlydiscoveredHalieutica of Ovid and Cynegetica ofGrattius and of Nemesianus ; and in his enthusiasmfor new works he either acquired or transcribedPhaedrus' copy of the manuscript. According toBaehrens and to Vessereau, V is Sannazaro's copy,though, according to Hosius, the descent of V istraceable back through Sannazaro and then throughPhaedrus to the codex Bobiensis. The ViennaMS. is on paper, of the sixteenth century, bound upat the end of a volume immediately after Ovid'sHalieutica, also on paper and preceded by sevenolder manuscripts on vellum of smaller dimensionsthan the paper MSS. Among these vellum MSS.certain lines of Eucheria and another copy of theHalieutica, -svith Sidonius Apollinaris and Grattius,with the actual poems whichhave been identifiedSannazaro brought from France.The editio princeps published by Battista Pioat Bologna in 1520 has a value for determining thetext, as it represents Phaedrus' copy according toHosius, and thus offers a testimony earlier thanSannazaro's copy and its derivative V.762