Per lo studio della tradizione manoscritta dell'Economico di Senofonte: eliminatio codicum descriptorum

The text of Xenophon’s Oeconomicus has been handed down to us in 43 manuscripts, written over a period ranging from the beginning of the 14th century to the middle of the 16th century. Unravelling the relationships between these manuscripts, which are chronologically close to each other, is not an easy task, and the researchers who have produced critical editions of the Oeconomicus over the last century (E. C. Marchant, P. Chantraine, J. Gil) have given up trying to identify stemmatic criteria likely to guide textual choices and have taken refuge in eclecticism. The eliminatio codicum descriptorum itself, the first necessary stage of the recensio, has not yet been carried out : Chantraine in his edition knows of 21 mss, but he is unaware that of these 21 mss 13 are codices descripti. The present study, the result of a comprehensive examination of the manuscript tradition, aims to fill this gap in scholarship, showing that of the 43 known mss, 32 should be considered as apographs of other preserved codices. The task of a future editor of the Oeconomicus is thus greatly clarified and simplified. The article indicates the direct or indirect derivation of these 32 codices from five primary witnesses (Urb. gr. 95, Laur. plut. 80.13, Marc. gr. Z. 511, Laur. plut. 55.21, Guelf. August. 2° 71.19). On the other hand, five other primary witnesses (Urb. gr. 93, Vat. Reg. gr. 96, Lipsiensis Rep. I 46, Matrit. RAH 9/2170, Vindob. Hist. gr. 95) have remained without descendants. The last ms (Heidelberg, UB, Pal. gr. 129) contains only brief extracts.