THE OLDER SCHOLIA TO AESCHYLUS\u27S PERSAE. (GREEK TEXT) (TRAGEDY, BYZANTINE, COMMENTARIES)

The purpose of the dissertation is to provide a full and accurate text of the older Byzantine or A-scholia and Aeschylus\u27s Persae as a basis for examining the question whether those scholia are of independent value for the correction and elucidation of the text of the play, or are merely Byzantine elaborations of the Medicean scholia (of acknowledged ancient descent) found uniquely in the oldest surviving manuscript of Aeschylus, the codex Florence, Laurentianus 32. 9 (the Mediceus). The writer collated in full twenty-four manuscripts certainly known or reasonably presumed to contain the older scholia on the Persae, as well as the older scholia on that play in the editio princeps and four others for the sake of their variant readings and corrections. The resultant text of the scholia was not formulated on the principle of eliminatio codicum descriptorum; rather the writer strove to choose the most convincing reading whatever the source, while reporting the significant variants in the apparatus. In addition to the scholia adjudged to be A- or older Byzantine the text presents all the marginal notes found in the manuscripts, as well as a selection of their more important glosses. A new text of the Persae scholia and glosses of the Mediceus (from a fresh collation) is also provided for comparative purposes. In the Introduction the writer traces the history of the scholarly controversies concerning the comparative value of the texts and scholia of the Byzantine and Medicean traditions. The question of the manuscript sources of the earlier editions is dealt with, and their inadequacy demonstrated as to both range and numbers. All the manuscripts (the Mediceus included) are discussed, and their contents analyzed. Instances where the readings of the older scholia seem superior to those of the Medicean are cited, and a list of older scholia not replicated in the Mediceus that are possibly of ancient origin is given. The writer concludes that the older Byzantine or A- scholia, while their present form is undoubted the result of Medieval elaboration, are indeed independent of those of the Mediceus, having been derived from some collateral codex or codices