Commentary

Summary

Title The three sources for this colloquium had significantly different titles: L has the A version of the title, S has the B version, which Estienne found in only one of his source manuscripts (Stephanus 1573: 235), and Estienne’s other source manuscript had a reduced version of the A title (lines 3 and 5 only). The first two lines of the A version are likely to be a later addition because they appear only in Latin; they are important for understanding the history of this text (see above, section 1.2.5). There are parallels for the rest of the title in the ME, H, and C versions of the colloquia; see commentary on ME 1n and 3a. The Greek title for the original colloquium was probably περὶ ὁμιλίας καθημερινῆς (see commentary on ME 3a); the A version of the title of LS is probably descended from that, with the addition of the nominative συναναστροφή/conversatio at the end as a vocabulary item. Presumably συναναστροφή replaced ὁμιλία because it was morphologically equivalent to Latin conversatio, though in meaning it is a less good equivalent. The fourth line, καθημερινή/cottidiana, now agrees with the last line (συναναστροφή/conversatio), but if the original form of this title was as above, the adjective originally agreed with the preceding rather than the following noun.

Title B ἀρχώμεθα γράφειν/incipiamus scribere: This is a formulaic phrase, on which see the commentary on ME 1n.