Purser—On a London MS. of Cicero’s Letters. 387 
these gnomic constructions, see ‘‘ Public School Latin Grammar,” 
§ 214. 2. 
1x. 16. 8. Effugere autem si uelim nonnullorum acute aut facete 
dictorum famam fama ingenii mihi est abicienda. So Victorius, fol- 
lowed by Gebbard and Baiter; but subsequently Victorius rejected 
Jamam, as the word is omitted by M, and adopted the vulg. offensconem, 
comparing Verr. 1. 103, offensionem negligentiae uitare atque effugere 
non possim. It means, ‘‘the annoyance caused by my sharp sayings.” 
It is highly remarkable that / reads offensionem ; and makes me think 
that 2, though undoubtedly of the same family as M, is related to it 
only collaterally, not in a direct line. H and Pal. Sext. read opznio- 
nem ‘‘reputation,” as Quintil. 2. 12. 5, adfert et ista res opinionem: 
cf. Tac, Dial. 15. But I question if this is a Ciceronian usage of the 
word. 
1x. 16. 4. Heads Hic uersus Plautinus est hic est—wrongly, no 
doubt. But it is easy to see how the corruption arose, Plautin altered 
to Plautin?. 
Ix. 16.7. H reads just as in M—Quem tu mihi popilium quem 
denarium narras? quem tiro tarichi patinam. 
1x. 16. 7. A few lines further on H has—Puto enim te audisse, 
si forte ad nos omnia perferuntur illos apud me declamitare me apud 
eos cenitare. Baiter tells us M omits from apud to eos (or clos, as he 
reads). Victorius says these words are absent from all the mss. he has 
seen; but Manutius informs us they were in two old mss., and arc 
testified to by scholia he had. They are most unlikely to have been 
invented, and the omission may be easily explained ex homoeoteleuto. 
1x. 20. 1. habierunt non omnem, M; Nam, Graev., Baiter; nos, 
Klotz; nunc, Orelli. The word is omitted by H altogether. The read- 
ing of Orelli is probably right, as we do not require a negative, while 
we do require an antithesis to antea; and nunc (ne) might readily fall 
out after nt. 
Ix. 20.2. H reads just as in M—Nos iam ex artis tantum habe- 
mus, &c. Wesenberg (Km. Alt., p. 80) considers exquisitae artis the 
certain reading, comparing x. 29, where M reads ben for beniuolentia. 
But it does so at the end of a line. I imagine a word is lost after 
artis signifying ‘‘rules,” ‘‘ maxims,” e.g. praeceptis; ¢f. Hor. Sat., 
2, 4, 2. 
Ix. 21.1. Ain tandem? Insanire tibi uideris M; In tantum insa- 
nire uideris tibi H. This is an emendation, and a bad one, on the 
part of the copyist of H. 
Ix. 22. 38. Is Connus uocatus est H; uocitatus est M, h. The 
latter, as the rarer word, is most likely to be right. It is quite 
an allowable form; cf. Rab. Post. 23. 
Ix, 26. 3. si quis quidquid quaereret M; si quis quid quaereret H. 
I do not think Cicero would use guisquds indefinitely, as is found in legal 
