Textus Originalis
DE CODICIBUS LIBRORUM XI—XII.
ἔχουσι * κατοικεῖν ἅπαντας ἐν τῇ Μεσσηνίᾳ. | 77, 4 λογισάμενοι* τοῦ πολλὰς μυριάδας ἀποβαλεῖν τῶν ἰδίων. | λογισάμενοι διὰ τὸ (διότι scripsi) τούτους οὐ δυνατὸν ἀνελεῖν ἄνευ τοῦ πολλὰς . . . . 84, 2* ἀξιόλογόν τι κατεργάσασθαι. | ἔσπευδεν ἀξιόλογόν τι κατεργάσασθαι 89, 2 σπινθῆρας | πηγάς 90, 4 ἔτη ὀλίγα πάλιν ἐξέπεσον | ἔτη ἓξ ἐξέπεσον XII 15, 2 ὁ νόμος | ὁ νόμος οὗτος 29, 1 ἐν ᾗ | καθ᾿ ἣν 36, 1 τέσσαρα | τεσσαράκοντα 54, 4 ἐξέπεμψαν ναῦς ἑκατόν. | ἐξέπεμψαν ναῦς εἴκοσι = Thuc. 3, 86. προσελάβοντο ναῦς ἑκατόν. | προσελάβοντο ναῦς εἴκοσι. 54, 6 ἐκ τριήρων πεντήκοντα καὶ διακοσίων. | ἐκ τριήρων ὀγδοήκοντα. 57, 4 deest | οἱ δὲ — ἐνιαυτόν unus praebet P 60, 1 προχειρισάμενοι στρατηγὸν μετὰ νεῶν τριάκοντα καὶ στρατιωτῶν ἱκανῶν.* | προχειρισάμενοι — ἱκανῶν ἐξαπέστειλαν 63, 5 ἱκανούς | ἱκανοὺς προσθέντες τούτοις.
Praestat ergo singulari virtute codex P omnibus ceteris libris adhuc ab editoribus adhibitis; etiam pluris esset, nisi ille Gregorius πᾶσαν τήνδε βίβλον περιελθὼν stilo suo inquinavisset. Nam menda leviora, quae ille feliciter correxit, facili negotio etiam ex ceteris
Traduzione
English — scholarly
ARETHE Knowledge Engineering DivisionON THE MANUSCRIPTS OF BOOKS XI—XII.
ἔχουσι * κατοικεῖν ἅπαντας ἐν τῇ Μεσσηνίᾳ. | 77, 4 λογισάμενοι* τοῦ πολλὰς μυριάδας ἀποβαλεῖν τῶν ἰδίων. | λογισάμενοι διὰ τὸ (διότι scripsi) τούτους οὐ δυνατὸν ἀνελεῖν ἄνευ τοῦ πολλὰς . . . . 84, 2* ἀξιόλογόν τι κατεργάσασθαι. | ἔσπευδεν ἀξιόλογόν τι κατεργάσασθαι 89, 2 σπινθῆρας | πηγάς 90, 4 ἔτη ὀλίγα πάλιν ἐξέπεσον | ἔτη ἓξ ἐξέπεσον XII 15, 2 ὁ νόμος | ὁ νόμος οὗτος 29, 1 ἐν ᾗ | καθ᾿ ἣν 36, 1 τέσσαρα | τεσσαράκοντα 54, 4 ἐξέπεμψαν ναῦς ἑκατόν. | ἐξέπεμψαν ναῦς εἴκοσι = Thuc. 3, 86. προσελάβοντο ναῦς ἑκατόν. | προσελάβοντο ναῦς εἴκοσι. 54, 6 ἐκ τριήρων πεντήκοντα καὶ διακοσίων. | ἐκ τριήρων ὀγδοήκοντα. 57, 4 deest | οἱ δὲ — ἐνιαυτόν unus praebet P 60, 1 προχειρισάμενοι στρατηγὸν μετὰ νεῶν τριάκοντα καὶ στρατιωτῶν ἱκανῶν.* | προχειρισάμενοι — ἱκανῶν ἐξαπέστειλαν 63, 5 ἱκανούς | ἱκανοὺς προσθέντες τούτοις.
Therefore, by its singular excellence, codex P surpasses all other books hitherto used by editors; it would be even more valuable, had not that Gregory, 'having gone through this entire book,' contaminated it with his pen. For the lighter errors, which he felicitously corrected, could have been corrected with ease also from the other
Commentario Arethe
Gregory... πᾶσαν τήνδε βίβλον περιελθών stilo suo inquinavisset
Vogel's judgment on the monk Gregory is devastating: 'having gone through this entire book, [he] contaminated it with his pen' (stilo suo inquinavisset). The verb 'inquinare' ('to pollute, contaminate') is a strong term in philological Latin. Gregory corrected scribal errors — sometimes felicitously, but more often he introduced new corruptions. The fundamental problem: Gregory's corrections are sometimes indistinguishable from the original scribe's hand, making it impossible to reconstruct the pre-Gregory state of the text. This is 'contamination' in the Lachmannian sense: the mixing of traditions that destroys the clean stemmatic signal.