Page:Correspondence of Marcus Cornelius Fronto volume 1 Haines 1919.djvu/13



, the first edition of Fronto in English, has been a work of more than ordinary difficulty. Before a satisfactory translation could be attempted a new text had to be formed based on the labours of Studemund, Brakman, and Hauler. The single MS., which alone is available, is part of a palimpsest in two volumes made up of leaves from various old MSS., the Fronto leaves being arranged anyhow, besides being incomplete, full of lacunae and erasures, and generally difficult, sometimes impossible, to decipher. A first-hand acquaintance with the original, which is partly at Milan and partly at Rome, has been impossible, and the facsimile of the Vatican portion will be seen, by anyone who inspects it, to be of small use to an editor.

Little could have been done for a fundamental improvement of Naber's standard text without Dr. Hauler's numerous contributions to its recension, based upon his laborious examination of the Codex, v