Textus Originalis
observavit: quamvis pullus lacerque sit margo, medium ipsum folium (297) quodam modo defensum tectumque fuisse facile ex eius munditia perspicitur. qua re venit in opinionem aliquamdiu folium aliquod affixum fuisse, quod efficeret, ne id quod nunc est ultimum (297) laederetur. Hoc folium iam diu abscissum cum foliis 295—297 olim effecit dimidium quaternionem, ut supra diximus, litteris Af insignitum. Pro certo igitur habendum est codicis D et primum et ultimum folium hominum temporumque iniuriis perditum esse et id, ut videtur, ante saeculum XIII, quo alter librarius folia quinquaginta unum renovans damna codicis sarcienda susceperat. Quo explorato simul constat omnes codices, qui librum quintum tribus paragraphis omissis in vocabulo κατέσχεν finiunt, ortos esse ex codice D. Sunt vero hi: Coislinianus codex 149 chartaceus foliorum formae A maximae 780 scriptus saeculo XV (continet libros I—V atque XI—XV): 'in eo sunt lectionum discrimina multa, quorum specimen in bibliotheca Coisliniana dedimus p. 214; hunc codicem consulat, si quis novam editionem parare velit' Montfaucon biblioth. p. 1057. Collationem huius libri a Camusato factam publici iuris fecit Wesselingius. Mutinensis codex III. F. 7 (in folio) bibliothecae Estensis, in quo post librum quintum haec invenitur subscriptio: Μιχαὴλ Ἀποστόλης Βυζάντιος μετὰ τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς αὑτοῦ πατρίδος πενίᾳ συζῶν καὶ τήνδε τὴν βίβλον μισϑῷ ἐν Κρήτῃ ἐξέγραψεν, collatus est in usum Camusati ab L. A. Muratorio; sed nisi forte Wesselingi editio parum est accurata, nimis festinanter eum munere suo functum esse cum alia tum id ostendit, quod
Traduzione
English — scholarly
ARETHE Knowledge Engineering Divisionobserved: although the margin is dark and torn, it is easy to perceive from its cleanness that the center of the leaf itself (fol. 297) was somehow protected and covered. From this he came to the conclusion that for some time another leaf had been attached to it, which served to protect what is now the final leaf (297) from damage. This leaf, long since cut away, together with folia 295–297 once formed a half-quire, as we said above, marked with the letters Af. It must therefore be considered certain that both the first and the last leaf of codex D were destroyed by the ravages of men and time — and this, as it seems, before the thirteenth century, when a second scribe undertook to repair the codex's losses by restoring fifty-one leaves. With this established, it simultaneously follows that all manuscripts which end Book V at the word κατέσχεν, omitting three paragraphs, originated from codex D. These are the following: The Coislinianus codex 149, a paper manuscript of 780 leaves in large folio format, written in the fifteenth century (containing Books I–V and XI–XV): 'in it are found many variant readings, a specimen of which we have given in the Bibliotheca Coisliniana, p. 214; let anyone who wishes to prepare a new edition consult this codex' — Montfaucon, Bibliotheca, p. 1057. The collation of this manuscript, made by Camussat, was published by Wesseling. The Mutinensis codex III. F. 7 (in folio) of the Estense Library, in which, after the fifth book, the following subscriptio is found: 'Michael Apostoles, a Byzantine, living in poverty after the fall of his fatherland, copied this book for hire in Crete.' It was collated for the use of Camussat by L. A. Muratori; but unless Wesseling's edition is somehow inaccurate, that Muratori discharged his task too hastily is shown among other things by the fact that
Commentario Arethe
pullus lacerque sit margo, medium ipsum folium (297) quodam modo defensum
Schneider's observation is a masterpiece of forensic codicology: the contrast between the darkened, torn margins and the clean center of the last leaf proves that another leaf once covered it — like a protective flyleaf. This absent leaf, now lost, once bore the continuation and conclusion of Diodorus' text. Vogel uses this physical evidence to build an airtight genealogical argument: every manuscript that lacks these final paragraphs must descend from D after this leaf was lost.
Μιχαὴλ Ἀποστόλης Βυζάντιος μετὰ τὴν ἅλωσιν τῆς αὑτοῦ πατρίδος
Michael Apostoles (c. 1422–1480), a Byzantine scholar who fled Constantinople after its fall to the Ottomans in 1453. His subscriptio is a deeply poignant historical document in its own right: 'Michael Apostoles, a Byzantine, living in poverty after the fall of his fatherland, copied this book for hire in Crete.' In a single sentence, it captures the tragedy of the Byzantine diaspora — learned men reduced to copying manuscripts as day-laborers to survive. Apostoles' copies, made in Crete (then under Venetian rule), became crucial links in the transmission of Greek texts to the West.