MANUSCRIPTS  .—The

chief MSS. of Plautus belong to two families, which are proved by the errors which they have in common to be descended from a single source (Sicker, " Novae quaestiones plautinae," in Philologus suppl. xi . 2 ; 1908) : (i.) that represented by the fragmentary palimpsest of the Ambrosias_ Library at Milan (A, 4th century A.D.), discovered in 1815 by Cardinal Mai and now accessible in the A pograph of Studemund, edited by Seyffert (1889) ; (ii.) that represented by the Palatine MSS . (P, loth-12th century), viz . B, now in the Vatican, containing all the twenty plays preceded by the spurious Querolus; C, now at Heidelberg, containing the last twelve plays, i.e . Bacchides-Truculentus; D, now in the Vatican, containing the Amphitruo, Asinaria, Aulularia, half of the Captivi and the last twelve plays: to the same family belong the following less important MSS.: E (at Milan), V (at Leiden), J (in the British Museum), 0 (in the Vatican) . EDi tioxs.—The editio princeps, based mainly on a transcript of D, was printed at Venice, 1472: the first scientific text, based on B, C and D, was that of Camerarius, completed 1552, in whose steps followed Lambinus (with a commentary which is still useful), 1576; Taubmann, 1605-1621; Pareus (a meritorious edition), 1619 and 1623; Guyet, edited by Marolles, 1658; Gronovius (the " Vulgate "), 1664-1684; then, after the lapse of more than a century, came the editions of Bothe, 1809-1811; Naudet, 1830; and Weise, 1837-1848 . A new era began with the great critical edition of certain plays by Ritschl, 1848-1854, in which a collation of A was used; a revised and completed form of this work was commenced by Ritschl himself and continued by his disciples Goetz, Loewe and Schoell, 1871-1894: and of this an entirely rewritten editio minor by Goetz and Schoell appeared in 1893-1896 (continued by a 2nd ed. of Fasciculus ii. in 1904), which is still the most useful of modern editions for a critical study of the text, exhibiting, as it does, the MS. tradition with only such emendations as are securely established by the results of modern investigation . The other modern editions of the text are those of Fleckeisen (containing ten plays, excellent for his time), 1859; Ussing (with a commentary), 1875-1887, 2nd ed. of vol. iii . 1888; Leo (a very important work), 1895-1896; Lindsay, 1904-1905 . Among modern editions of separate plays with commentaries the following are probably the most useful: Amphitruo by Palmer, 1890, and Havet, 1895; Asinaria by Gray, 1894; Aulularia by Wagner, 1866 and 1876; Captivi by Brix, 6th ed., revised by Niemeyer, 191o; an English edition of this work by Sonnenschein (with introduction on prosody), 1880; same play by Lindsay (with metrical introduction), 1900; Epidicus by Gray, 1893; Menaechmi by Brix, 4th ed., revised by Niemeyer, 1891; Miles gloriosus by Lorenz, 2nd ed., 1886; by Brix, 3rd ed., revised by Niemeyer, 1901; by Tyrrell, 3rd ed., 1894; Mostellaria by Lorenz, 2nd ed., 1883; by Sonnenschein, 2nd ed., 1907; Pseudolus by Lorenz, 1876; Rudens by Sonnenschein, 1891, editio minor (with a metrical appendix), 1901; Trinummus (with a metrical introduction) by Brix, 5th ed., revised by Niemeyer, 1907; by Gray, 1897; Truculentus by Spengel and Studemund, 1898 .