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Manuscript Traditions and the Transmission of Ovid's Works

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Manuscript Traditions and the Transmission of Ovid's Works CHAPTER FOURTEEN MANUSCRIPT TRADITIONS AND THE TRANSMISSION OF OVID'S WORKS John Richmond Introduction 1 All study of Ovid ultimately is based on our imperfect knowledge of what he actually wrote. That knowledge depends almost entirely on some hundreds of manuscripts preserved in a multitude of libraries, situated for the most part in Western Europe. The versions of the text that they give all differ to a greater or lesser degree, and schol­ ars must try to divine the errors that obscure the truth. In places where the manuscripts disagree none of them may be right, 2 and even where they are unanimous there is no guarantee that what they show is what Ovid wrote. 3 This chapter will give a sketch of the complex process by which the poems came down to us, first look­ ing generally at the common factors in the process, and then exam­ ining in more detail the different traditions of the various works or groups of works. It will not be possible to discuss all the special problems that occur in the extensive ramifications of the tradition. 1 Unless otherwise stated, all sigla, collations, and line numbers are taken from the standard text-editions listed in the General Bibliography. The dating of manuscripts occasions differences of opinions among scholars: the dates I give have often been influenced by Munk Olsen (1982-89). In indicating the contents of manuscripts I have usually ignored minor omissions. Unless otherwise indicated manuscripts from Antwerp are in the Museum Plantin-Moretus, from Berlin are in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Preussischer Kulturbesitz), from Brussels are in the Bibliotheque Royale, from F1orence are in the Bibliotheca Medicea Laurenziana, from London are in the British Library, from Milan are in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, from Oxford are in the Bodleian Library, from Paris are in the Bibliotheque Nationale, from St. Gall are in the Stiftsbibliothek. In the Bibliography to save space I have not included particulars of editions of works by Ovid and other ancient authors referred to in this chapter by the editor's name with place and date of publication. 2 Thus at Ars 1.620 the manuscripts give subetur, subitur, sudetur, cauatur, salitur­ all are wrong. 3 E.g., Met. 1.580: the eridanus of all the manuscripts is wrong. 444 JOHN RICHMOND General 1. Before the Carolingian Renaissance Scholia; inscriptions; quotations in ancient books; late antique codices The history of the transmission of Ovid's works in the centuries after their publication is wrapped in obscurity. In the prefatory epigram, he tells us that his Amores appeared in a first edition in five books, and that the present edition in three books omitted some poems con­ tained in the earlier edition. Nothing can be identified as belonging to the first edition.4 The 'single' Heroides (1-14---ifthey are all Ovid's) inspired replies written by Sabinus (Am. 2.18.27); Ovid, it seems, then wrote three sets of double epistles (16-21), so publication was in at least two stages.5 He claims he burned his unrevised Metamorphoses in disgust as he went into exile, but that copies survived at Rome (Tr. 1.7.13-30). He asked that six verses extenuating faults (Tr. 1. 7.35-40) be prefixed to those copies, and Luck6 believes that they were prefixed to the first edition. They are found written in some manuscripts before (or occasionally after) the Metamorphoses, though editors usually (and rightly, I believe), omit them as additions by scribes. 7 Some scholars think this lack of formal 'publication' may explain the existence of differing versions of a few passages in the long poem. There is a brief discussion later in this chapter. The Fasti, as they have been transmitted, show (almost exclusively in Book 1) signs of revision after the death of Augustus (AD. 14) to permit a new dedication to Germanicus.8 The poems of Tristia 1, 3-5 and Ex Ponto l-3 may have been sent individually to their recipients: in 4 See Boyd, chapter 3 above; for further speculation on the first edition and the complex question of the chronology of the Amores, see Oliver (1945) and McKeown I :74-89 (with references to other discussions). 5 See Knox, chapter 4 above. 6 Luck 2:67. 7 Munari (195 7) indicates the manuscripts containing them; thus of his 40 Vatican manuscripts they are contained in Vat. lat. 2781 (s. XIV-XV), Vat. lat. 5179 (s. XIII1), Vat. lat. 5859 (a. 1275), Chis. H.Vl.203 (s. XV), Chis. H.VII.230 (s. XIV), Ottob. lat. 3313 (s. XI), Pal. lat. 1663 (s. XIII-XIV), Pal. lat. 1664 (s. XIII). 8 At Tr. 2.549 Ovid states that the Fasti were dedicated to Augustus, but incom­ plete at the time of his exile (cf. Bomer, F. I: 17-19); it seems to be a fair infer­ ence that they had not yet been published. We cannot decide on the evidence we possess how far Ovid progressed in writing the planned twelve books, how much was published, and when (see Miller, chapter 6 above). .
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