This article deals with a minor treatise on optics composed in later antiquity (probably between the fourth and sixth centuries). It was known to Byzantine scholars in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and circulated widely in Western Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The Greek title of the treatise is $ \Kappa \epsilon \phi \acute \alpha\lambda \alpha\iota \alpha \, \tau \overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\frown}$}}{\omega}\nu\, o \pi\tau\iota\kappa\overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\frown}$}}{\omega}\nu\,\upsilon\pi o\theta\acute\epsilon\sigma\epsilon\omega\nu $ (Summary of the Basic Principles of Optics), or Capita opticorum, as rendered by Egnazio Danti (1536–86), the sole Latin translator (I.1 below). Fourteen propositions on optics and the theory of vision are first stated and elaborated in a brief and informal way. Wilbur R. Knorr, who describes...

Geminus was a Greek author, probably from Rhodes, who was active in the first century b.c.¹ He may have been a Stoic since he was familiar with the ideas of Posidonius of Apamea (ca. 135–ca. 50 b.c.), whose Meteorologica he epitomized.² Geminus also wrote works on mathematics and optics, which survive mainly in quotations in the commentary by Proclus (ca. 410–485 a.d.) on Euclid’s Elements.³ This article will deal with the only work by Geminus to survive independently, namely, an elementary survey of astronomy entitled the $ \Epsilon \iota \sigma \alpha \gamma \omega \gamma \grave\eta \ \epsilon \iota \varsigma \ \tau \grave \alpha\ \phi \alpha \iota \nu \acute o\mu \epsilon \nu \alpha $ (Elementa astronomiae),⁴ and also with an excerpt from it misattributed to...

The voyage which Hanno, a native of Carthage, took along the coast of West Africa “when the power of Carthage flourished” (i.e., before 200 b.c.)¹ is known to us through two categories of independent sources.

To the first category belongs the Hannonis Periplus, an undated Greek text, describing the voyage from beginning to end. The complete title, $ \Alpha \nu \nu \omega \nu o\varsigma \,\Kappa\alpha \rho \chi \eta \delta o\nu \acute\iota \omega \nu \,\beta \alpha \sigma \iota \lambda \acute\epsilon \omega \varsigma \,\pi \epsilon \rho \acute\iota \pi \lambda o\upsilon \varsigma \,\tau \overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\frown}$}}{\omega}\nu\,\upsilon\pi\grave\epsilon\rho\,\tau\grave\alpha\varsigma\,'\Eta\rho\alpha\kappa\lambda\acute\epsilon o\upsilon\varsigma\,\sigma\tau\acute\eta\lambda\alpha\varsigma\,\Lambda\iota\beta\upsilon\kappa\overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\frown}$}}{\omega}\nu\,\tau\overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\frown}$}}{\eta}\varsigma\,\gamma\overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\frown}$}}{\eta}\varsigma\,\mu\epsilon\rho\overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\frown}$}}{\omega}\nu $ , $ o\nu \,\kappa \alpha \grave\iota \,\alpha \nu \acute\epsilon \theta \eta \kappa \epsilon \,\epsilon \nu \,\tau \overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\frown}$}}{\omega}\,\tau o\overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\frown}$}}{\upsilon}\,\Kappa \rho \acute o\nu o\upsilon\,\tau\epsilon\mu\acute\epsilon\nu\varepsilon\iota\,\delta\eta\lambdao\overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\frown}$}}{\upsilon}\nu\tau\alpha\,\tau\acute\alpha\delta\epsilon $ (“The Sea-Voyage of Hanno, King of the Carthaginians, around the Libyan Regions of the Earth beyond the Pillars of Heracles, which he also set up in the shrine of Cronos, stating as follows”) indicates that this work is a Greek...

Themistius (ca. 317–ca. 385 a.d.) is a complex figure in the history of later Greek philosophy and the wider intellectual history of the later Roman Empire. His life fell into two distinct phases. The first, up to 355, involved the study, and later teaching, at Constantinople of the major works of Aristotle and Plato. The second saw Themistius hold high office in the Eastern capital under a succession of mainly Christian emperors, often addressing them in epideictic orations that displayed classical learning without any Christian commitment. Themistius thus actively continued the traditions of Greek philosophy and literature.

His reputation...

Thucydides, the son of Olorus, was the author of a contemporary history of the Peloponnesian War (431–404 b.c.) known simply as the ‘Iστορίαι or Ξυγγραϕή (Latin Historiae) and comprising eight books. Through his mother he belonged to the Athenian aristocratic family of the Philaïdae; his father’s family, however, was Thracian, and throughout his life Thucydides maintained connections with that country. His mother’s family was traditionally conservative and opposed to the popular policy of Pericles, a fact which makes the strong Periclean bias of the Historiae somewhat surprising.

Early in the war Thucydides caught the plague, but he recovered. He...

Gaius Sallustius Crispus (86–35 b.c.) was the earliest Roman historian whose works became sufficiently well established in the literary culture to survive in part the fall of the Empire. Of the quadriga of authors central to the education of the later Empire, Virgil and Cicero are the great and magisterial figures whose names have never faded from the consciousness of the West; Terence and Sallust, on the other hand, are known to few readers today and in their own lifetimes were not commanding presences. Yet their texts were used continuously in the past to educate the young in the...

The Addenda follow the order of the original article (CTC 3.173–93) and consist of a) additional material for the Fortuna and Bibliography, b) another manuscript of a commentary already known, and c) two new commentaries.

Add the following information:

p. 173a5.

The authorship of the De arboribus remains controversial. Richter and Hentz attribute it to a late anonymous compiler, whereas Goujard defends the traditional Columellian authorship.¹

p. 174a43.

Apart from the Ambrosianus (A) and Sangermanensis (S), which contain the whole work, there are several medieval excerpts, two of which survive in ninth-century manuscripts.²

p. 174b19.

Several parallels can be...

The Addenda, which are arranged in the order of the original article (CTC 6.87–174), consist of a) material for the Fortuna, Bibliography and Composite Editions, b) information and bibliography for commentaries already known, and c) a new commentary.

p. 93 n. 45. Replace with:

On the manuscripts of the maiora, see Römer xi–lxviii. On the early editions, see Mendell 349–78.

Add the following items:

p. 97b.

H. W. Benario, “Recent Work on Tacitus: 1974–1983,” Classical World 80 (1986–87) 73–147; Benario, “Recent Work on Tacitus: 1984–1993,” ibid. 89 (1995–96) 91–162; F. Römer...

The Addenda et Corrigenda are arranged in the order of the original article (CTC 6.175–84) and comprise additional material for the Fortuna and Bibliography.

p. 176b3–24. Replace with:

The Anglo-Saxon Bede (d. 735) included anonymous borrowings from the Epitoma rei militaris in several of his works; he stands as the first medieval author known to have used Vegetius.¹ Two generations later, Alcuin (d. 804) wove a passage from the Epitoma into a letter addressed to Charlemagne.² In the ninth century, the Epitoma came into prominence on the Continent owing to the Carolingian cultural renewal. Vegetius gave men of...

The Addenda et Corrigenda follow the order of the original article (CTC 7.75–196), which has been revised and supplemented by two recent volumes: Kristeller’s Iter italicum, vol. 6 (Leiden, 1992) and James Hankins’ Repertorium brunianum: A Critical Guide to the Writings of Leonardo Bruni, vol. 1: Handlist of Manuscripts (Rome, 1997). I owe special thanks to Dott. Giorgio Piras for reporting a Vatican witness of Filelfo’s Lacedaemoniorum respublica, and to Dr. Gerard Boter for sharing his discovery of Hieronymus Verlenius’ translation from the Memorabilia and communicating relevant bibliography.

p. 87b44. Correct “p. 000 n. 5 above” to read “p....