o f c e r t a in r e f e r e n c e s w h ic h P ie r C a n d id o D e c e m b rio (1 3 9 9 - 1 4 7 7 ) h a d e n t e r e d in h is d ia r y, d e s c r ib in g a m a n u s c r ip t w h ic h h e sa y s h e h a d a c tu a lly s e e n a n d h a n d le d a t R o m e in t h e y e a r 1 4 5 5, a n d w h ic h c o n ta in e d, in t h e fo llo w in g o r d e r, ( l ) t h e Germania, (2 ) t h e Agricola, (3 ) t h e Dialogus, a n d (4 ) t h e Suetonius f r a g m e n t. C o n firm a tio n o f th i s s u g g e s tio n c a m e to h a n d w h e n S a b b a d in i a n n o u n c e d, in 1 901, t h e d is c o v e ry in a n A m b ro s ia n M S. o f t h e m in o r w o rk s o f T a c itu s w e re p r o d u c e d a f t e r t h e y e a r 1 4 60. b o u n d u p w ith t h e Dialogus a n d t h e Germania- t h e w o rd s Hic anti quissimum exemplar finit et hoc integrum videtur.1 T h e o b v io u s in f e r e n c e fro m th i s n o te w as t h a t, in s te a d o t b e in g c o p ie d b y o r fo r E n o c h a t H e r s f e l d, t h e anti quissimum exemplar h a d a c tu a lly m a d e its w a y fro m H e r s f e l d to I t a ly, w h e r e a s a m a t t e r o f f a c t s e v e ra l M S S.
W h e n i t fe ll to m e to e d i t t h e Dialogus fo r t h e O x fo rd P re s s (1 8 9 3 ) I c a lle d a t t e n t i o n to a n e g le c te d b u t n o t u n im p o r t a n t c o d e x n o w in t h e B ritis h M u s e u m, w h ic h c o n ta in s a t t h e e n d o f t h e S u e to n iu s f r a g m e n t De Grammaticis et llhetoribus-a tr e a t i s e g e n e r a lly fo u n d in f i f te e n th - e e n t u r y M S S.
B u t h e r e c o m e s in a n in s ta n c e o f t h e g ra d u a l g r o w th o f k n o w le d g e.
T ill r e c e n t l y i t w as u n d e r s to o d t h a t w h a t h e b r o u g h t b a c k w ith h im to R o m e in 1455 w as o n ly a co p y ot t h e H e r s f e ld o rig in a l. INTRODUCTION w e o w e t h e re c o v e r y o f t h e lo s t ■works o f T a c itu s. It was in 1451 that Enoch of Ascoli was sent into Northern Europe by Pope Nicholas V to search for Greek and Latin books, and notwithstanding the scepticism of some scholars, it has long been a generally received tradition that it is to this mission of Enoch’s that In any case, its recovery followed a few years before Poggio’s death. In the interval, however, the Hersfeld brother crossed the Alps more than once again, and in the course of telling him what he thought of him for his failure to fulfil his promise, Poggio may have been able to get the facts about the book he had so greatly coveted. But the volume never arrived, and Poggio left Rome ( 1452) without the sight of it. occurs towards the end of the year 1425, when we find Poggio rejoicing in the offer that had been made him bv a Hersfeld monk of a codex containing certain unknown works of Tacitus : aliqua opera Cornelii Tacili nobis ignola. The first trace of the existence of such a MS. They have long been known to depend on a single manuscript, and it is part of the romance of their rediscovery that a portion of that manuscript came to light again only ten years ago in a small Italian town. This is especially the case with the minor works of Tacitus. INTRODUCTION E vei Ry one knows by what a slender thread of transmission some of the greatest of the literary monuments of antiquity have come down to modern times. THE DIALOGUS OF PUBLIUS CO R N E LIUS T A C I T U S T R A N SL A T E D BY W IL L IA M PETERSON, H O N O R A R Y DO CT O R O F L E T T E R S IN T H E UNIVERSITYĪIcGILL U NI V E RS IT Y, M O N T R E A L L O N D O N : W ILLIA M H EIN E>IA N N N E W Y O R K : T H E M A C M I L L A N CO. GERMANICUS CAESAR, CAPITOLIN E M U SEU M, POME Presented to TH E LIBRARY of VICTORIA UNIVERSITY Toronto by
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