INTRODUCTION 



times only a consensus of several MSS. of the more 

 reliable kind. Vulg. = the textus receptus of the early 

 editions. Of FTx MayhofF says : " lectiones ita tantum 

 adnotatae sunt, ut e silentio nihil co)icludendum sit." 

 The edition of Dalecamp (1587) has in the margin : 



(1) readings of a lost MS. ; (2) readings of a lost 

 edition or conjectures of an miknown scholar. 



In the critical notes (1) is called " cod. Dal." and 



(2) " vet. Dal." 



As to the value of these MSS., I have generally 

 followed Mayhoff. The method adopted in fixing 

 the text has been to accept as correct the parts where 

 Detlefsen and MayhofF agree, except in a few places 

 where internal evidence or the text of Dioscorides 

 pointed to another reading. Where these two 

 editors differ I have tried to choose the HkeHer of 

 the two readings. If I felt that neither alternative 

 could be accepted, I have sometimes ventured on 

 an emendation suggested by a fViend or thought out 

 by myself, but never, I hope, where a reasonable 

 reading is found in at least one MS. of fair authority. 

 Such a method as this would be unsafe were it not 

 for the fact that Mayhoffs apparatus criticus is both 

 full and trustworthy. 



Although one who has not collated, or at least 

 personally examined,the MSS.in Mayhoffs apparatus, 

 cannot claim to appreciate fully their relative im- 

 portance, yet he must acquire, as he studies their 

 various readings, some conception of the weight to be 

 attached to them. Such a critic, however, should 

 exercise even greater caution than the critic fully 

 equipped for his task. For his judgment, however 

 gi-eat his knowledge is of PHnian usage, of the 

 parallel passages in Theophrastus and Dioscorides, 



