INTRODUCTION 



lationship of R, the fifteenth-century group, to S 

 and A. Van Buren ^ thinks the R family to be 

 descended from A, to which they often bear close 

 resemblance when S and A differ. The most recent 

 and thorough treatment of the manuscript tradition 

 is that of Sobel,^ whose ingenious and carefully 

 constructed stemma ^ shows, through a series of lost 

 archetypes, the descent of representative members 

 of the R class from a common ancestor (Sobel's (3) ; 

 the relationship of J to jR through a better line of 

 descent from the same early ancestor ; the descent 

 of S and A from a common archetype, S inheriting 

 the better readings through an intermediary copy 

 of mixed parentage ; and the descent of them all 

 from an ultimate archetype (Sobel's w) written after 

 the fifth century. The vexed question as to how and 

 when the De Arboribus became inserted in the Res 

 Rustica is likewise discussed by Sobel.^ 



Columella's works were edited many times in the 

 century following the introduction of printing, 

 usually in company with Cato, Varro, and Palladiiis.^ 

 The editio pmiceps, edited by George Merula, was 

 printed at Venice by Nicolas Jenson, in a collection 

 of Rei Rusiicae Scriptores, in the year 1472. This was 



* A. W. Van Buren, " The Text oi ColumeUa.," Suppl. Papers 

 of the Am. Sch. of Class. Stud, in Rome, Vol. I, pp. 189-190. 



^ Ragnar Sobel, Studia Columelliana Palaeographica et 

 Critica, Goteborg, 1928. 

 ^ Op. cit., p. 15. 



* Op. cit., pp. 15-21. Cf. J. Trotsky, " Studien zur 

 Ueberlieferungsgeschichte Columellas," Raccolta . . . Ra- 

 morino (Pubblicazioni della Universita Cattoliea del Sacro 

 Cuore, Vol. VII, Milano), p. 449f. 



* Only the most important editions are here named. For a 

 full account of the early editions, see Schneider's Rei Rusiicae 

 Scriptores, Vol. II. 2, pp. 5-15, and Vol. IV. 1, pp. 73-80. 



