Textus Originalis
DE FRAGMENTIS LIBRORUM VI—X.
Libri quinque inde a sexto libro usque ad undecimum in omnibus Diodori codicibus, qui quidem adhuc cogniti sunt, desiderantur. Horum librorum fragmenta paulatim haud pauca collecta debemus pluribus hominibus doctis. Stephanus in sua editione anni 1559 unum, qui huc spectat, locum (p. 847 = frag. VI 1) affert ex Eusebio depromptum, cui proximus editor Rhodomanus (a. 1604) nihil addidit nisi duo frusta (p. 352—354 = frag. VII 9 et VII 5) ex Georgio Syncello requisita, quamquam interea Fulvius Ursinus (Antverp. 1582) excerpta quae dicuntur Constantiniana περὶ πρεσβειῶν ediderat.*) Hinc atque de excerptis περὶ ἀρετῆς καὶ κακίας ab Henrico Valesio (Paris. 1634) editis**) ea, quae Diodori sunt, Wesselingius in editionem suam (a. 1746) redegit. Tum hoc saeculo Angelus Mai inter excerpta περὶ γνωμῶν, quae in palimpsesto codice Vaticano (Graec. 73) saec. X indaga-
*) Eadem in altero codice (Monacensi 185 saec. XVI), ubi inscribuntur περὶ πρέσβεων, detexit Schweighäuser, et quae pertinent ad Diodori libros, cum editoribus Bipontinis communicavit (ed. Diod. Bipont. vol. IV praef.). **) ex codice Turonico saec. X, quem Nic. Fabr. Peirescius ex insula Cyprio redemerat; hunc iterum contulit E. Gros (edit. Diod. Paris. 1844, vol. II praef.) atque Iulius Wollenberg.
Traduzione
English — scholarly
ARETHE Knowledge Engineering DivisionON THE FRAGMENTS OF BOOKS VI—X.
The five books from the sixth to the eleventh are missing in all manuscripts of Diodorus that have so far been discovered. We owe the gradual collection of not a few fragments of these books to several learned men. Stephanus in his edition of 1559 cites one passage that pertains to this (p. 847 = frag. VI 1) taken from Eusebius; the next editor, Rhodomanus (in 1604), added nothing but two pieces (pp. 352—354 = frag. VII 9 and VII 5) obtained from George Syncellus, although in the meantime Fulvius Ursinus (Antwerp 1582) had published the so-called Constantinian excerpts περὶ πρεσβειῶν.*) From these and from the excerpts περὶ ἀρετῆς καὶ κακίας edited by Henry Valesius (Paris 1634)**), Wesseling in his edition (1746) compiled those that belong to Diodorus. Then in this century, Angelo Mai, among the excerpts περὶ γνωμῶν which he discovered in a Vatican palimpsest (Graec. 73) of the 10th century,
*) The same [excerpts] were discovered in another codex (Monacensis 185 of the 16th century), where they are entitled περὶ πρέσβεων, by Schweighäuser, and he communicated those pertaining to Diodorus' books to the Bipontine editors (ed. Diod. Bipont. vol. IV praef.). **) from a Tours codex of the 10th century, which Nic. Fabr. Peirescius had bought from the island of Cyprus; this was again collated by E. Gros (edit. Diod. Paris. 1844, vol. II praef.) and by Julius Wollenberg.
Commentario Arethe
Libri quinque inde a sexto libro usque ad undecimum... desiderantur
Books VI–X of Diodorus' Bibliotheca Historica are entirely lost in direct manuscript transmission. They survive only in fragments: excerpts preserved by later authors (Eusebius, George Syncellus), Byzantine encyclopedic projects (the Constantinian Excerpta compiled under Constantine VII Porphyrogennetus, r. 945–959), and a Vatican palimpsest. This is one of the great losses of classical literature — these books covered the period from the Trojan War to the Persian Wars, including crucial material on archaic Greek colonization of Sicily and southern Italy.
Stephanus in sua editione anni 1559
Henri Estienne (Henricus Stephanus, 1528–1598), the great Genevan printer-scholar, produced the editio princeps of Diodorus' fragments in his 1559 edition. The publication history of Diodorus is a case study in how classical texts were gradually recovered: Stephanus (1559), Rhodomanus (1604), Fulvius Ursinus (1582, Constantinian excerpts), Henricus Valesius (1634, excerpts from a Tours codex), Wesseling (1746, synthesis), Angelo Mai (1827, Vatican palimpsest), and finally Dindorf/Müller (1842, Paris edition with systematic arrangement).
excerpta περὶ γνωμῶν... in palimpsesto codice Vaticano (Graec. 73) saec. X
The Vatican palimpsest (Vaticanus graecus 73) is a 10th-century manuscript where Diodorus text was scraped off and overwritten. Angelo Mai (1782–1854), the legendary Vatican librarian, used chemical reagents to read the undertext — a method that, as Mendelssohn lamented, left the manuscript 'so greatly affected by Mai's chemicals that I myself could read almost nothing.' This is one of the tragedies of early palimpsest recovery: the reagents (typically gallic acid and iron sulfate) permanently darkened and damaged the parchment. Modern multispectral imaging can now read many palimpsests non-destructively.