Tu produxisti nos intra luminis oras.”
The fragments of the Annals of Ennius, as the text is arranged by Merula, have been translated into Italian by Bernardo Philippini, and published at Rome in 1659, along with his Poesie. I know of no other translations of these fragments.
PLAUTUS.
There can be no doubt that even the oldest MSS. of Plautus were early corrupted by transcribers, and varied essentially from each other. Varro, in his book De Analogiâ, ascribes some phrase of which he did not approve, in the Truculentus, to the negligence of copyists. The Latin comedies, written in the age of Plautus, were designed to be represented on the stage, and not to be read at home. It is [pg A-22]therefore, probable, that, during the reign of the Republic at least, there were few copies of Plautus’s plays, except those delivered to the actors. The dramas were generally purchased by the Ædiles, for the purpose of amusing the people during the celebration of certain festivals. As soon as the poet’s agreement was concluded with the Ædile, he lost his right of property in the play, and frequently all concern in its success. It seems probable, therefore, that even during the life of the author, these magistrates, or censors employed by them, altered the verses at their own discretion, or sent the comedy for alteration to the author: But there is no doubt that, after his death, the actors changed and modelled the piece according to their own fancy, or the prevailing taste of the public, just as Cibber and Garrick wrought on the plays of Shakspeare. Hence new prologues, adapted to circumstances, were prefixed—whole verses were suppressed, and lines properly belonging to one play, were often transferred to another. This corruption of MSS. is sufficiently evinced by the circumstance, that the most ancient grammarians frequently cite verses as from a play of Plautus, which can now no longer be found in the drama quoted. Thus, a line cited by Festus and Servius, from the Miles, does not appear in any MSS. or ancient edition of that comedy, though, in the more recent impressions, it has been inserted in what was judged to be its proper place[574], Farther—Plautus, and indeed the old Latin writers in general, were much corrupted by transcribers in the middle ages, who were not fully acquainted with the variations which had taken place in the language, and to whom the Latin of the age of Constantine was more familiar than that of the Scipios. They were often puzzled and confused by finding a letter, as c, for example, introduced into a word which they had been accustomed to spell with a g, and they not unfrequently were totally ignorant of the import or signification of ancient words. In a fragment of Turpilius, a character in one of the comedies says, “Qui mea verba venatur pestis arcedat;” now, the transcriber being ignorant of the verb arcedat, wrote ars cedat, which converts the passage into nonsense[575].
The comedies of Plautus are frequently cited by writers of the fourteenth century, particularly by Petrarch, who mentions the amusement which he had derived from the Casina[576]. Previous, however, to the time of Poggio, only eight of them were known, and we consequently find that the old MSS. of the fourteenth century just contain eight comedies[577]. By means, however, of Nicolas of Treves, whom Poggio had employed to search the monasteries of Germany, twelve more were discovered. The plays thus brought to light were the Bacchides, Menæchmi, Mostellaria, Miles Gloriosus, Mercator, Pseudolus, Pœnulus, Persa, Rudens, Stichus, Trinummus, Truculentus. As soon as Poggio heard of this valuable and important discovery, he urged the Cardinal Ursini to despatch a special messenger, in order to convey the treasure in safety to Rome. His instances, however, were not attended to, and the MSS. of the comedies did not arrive till two years afterwards, in the year 1428, under the charge of Nicolas of Treves himself[578]. They were seized by the Cardinal immediately after they had been brought to Italy. This proceeding Poggio highly resented; and having in vain solicited their restoration, he accused Ursini of attempting to make it be believed that Plautus had been recovered by his exertions, and at his own expense[579]. At length, by the intervention of Lorenzo, the brother of Cosmo de Medici, the Cardinal was persuaded to intrust the precious volume to Niccolo Niccoli, who got it carefully transcribed. Niccolo, however, detained it at Florence long after the copy from it had been made; and we find his friend Ambrosio of Camaldoli using the most earnest entreaties on the part of the Cardinal for its restitution.—“Cardinalis Ursinus Plautum suum recipere cupit. Non video quam ob causam, Plautum illi restituere non debeas, quem olim transcripsisti. Oro, ut amicissimo homini geratur mos[580].” The original MS. was at length restored to the Cardinal, after whose death it fell into the possession of Lorenzo de Medici, and thus came to form a part of the Medicean library. The copy taken by [pg A-23]Niccolo Niccoli was transferred, on his decease, along with his other books, to the convent of St Mark.
From a transcript of this copy, which contained the twelve newly-recovered plays, and from MSS. of the other eight comedies, which were more common and current, Georgius Merula, the disciple of Filelfo, and one of the greatest Latin scholars of the age, formed the first edition of the plays of Plautus, which was printed by J. de Colonia and Vindelin de Spira, at Venice, 1472, folio, and reprinted in 1482 at Trevisa. It would appear that Merula had not enjoyed direct access to the original MS. brought from Germany, or to the copy deposited in the Marcian library; for he says, in his dedication to the Bishop of Pavia, “that there was but one MS. of Plautus, from which, as an archetype, all the copies which could be procured were derived; and if, by any means,” he continues, “I could have laid my hands on it, the Bacchides, Mostellaria, Menæchmi, Miles, and Mercator, might have been rendered more correct; for the copies of these comedies, taken from the original MS., had been much corrupted in successive transcriptions; but the copies I have procured of the last seven comedies have not been so much tampered with by the critics, and therefore will be found more accurate.” Merula then compares his toil, in amending the corrupt text, to the labours of Hercules. His edition has usually been accounted the editio princeps of Plautus; but I think it is clear, that at least eight of the comedies had been printed previously: Harles informs us, that Morelli, in one of his letters, had thus written to him:—“There is an edition of Plautus which I think equally ancient with the Venetian one of 1472; it is sine ullâ notâ, and has neither numerals, signatures, nor catch-words. It contains the following plays: Amphitryo, Asinaria, Aulularia, Captivi, Curculio, Casina, Cistellaria, Epidicus[581].” Now, it will be remarked, that these were the eight comedies current in Italy before the important discovery of the remaining twelve, made by Nicholas of Treves, in Germany; and the presumption is, that they were printed previous to the date of the edition of Merula, because by that time the newly-recovered comedies having got into circulation, it is not likely that any editor would have given to the world an imperfect edition of only eight comedies, when the whole dramas were accessible, and had excited so much interest in the mind of the public.
Eusebius Scutarius, a scholar of Merula, took charge of an edition, which was amended from that of his master, and was printed in 1490, Milan, folio, and reprinted at Venice 1495.
In 1499, an edition was brought out at Venice, by the united labour of Petrus Valla, and Bernard Saracenus. To these, succeeded the edition of Jo. Bapt. Pius, at Milan, 1500, with a preface by Phillip Beroald. Taubman says, that “omnes editiones mangonum manus esse passas ex quo Saracenus et Pius regnum et tyrannidem in literis habuere.” In the Strasburg impression, 1508, the text of Scutari has been followed, and about the same time there were several reprints of the editions of Valla and Pius.
The edition of Charpentier, in 1513, was prepared from a collation of different editions, as the editor had no MSS.; but the editions of Pius and Saracenus were chiefly employed. Charpentier has prefixed arguments, and has divided the lines better than any of his predecessors; and he has also arranged the scenes, particularly those of the Mostellaria, to greater advantage.