There are four MSS. of Hero contained in the British Museum. Two belong
to the Harleian Collection: they are numbered 5605 and 5589, and are
assigned, the first to the fifteenth, the second to the sixteenth
century; they are distinguished in the table below by the letters _a_
and _b_. The others are among the Burney MSS., (108 and 81), and are
both assigned to the sixteenth century: they are cited as _c_ and _d_.
Of these MSS. the first and third, (_a_ and _c_), are by far the most
trustworthy: they generally supply the clauses missing in the printed
text, and often furnish emendations of passages otherwise corrupt.
The other two agree, for the most part, with each other, and with the
printed text, both in the omission of numerous clauses and in the
grossest errors in individual words. It is thus rendered probable that
the defects of the Paris edition are in great measure due, not to the
Editors, but to the MS. followed.
In the following table of emendations made in the text of Hero as it
appears in the _Veterum Mathematicorum Opera_, those only have been
noticed which appeared curious or important. Many more have been passed
over in which the correction was obvious even without the aid of any
MS. The references are to the page and line of the Paris edition.
Page and | |
Line of | |
Paris | |
edition. | Reading of Paris Text. | Reading adopted.
------------+--------------------------+----------------------------
147 - 29 | συκίαν _a b d_. | σικύαν _c_.
150 - 10 | ἐκφανείας | ἐπιφανείας _a b c d_.
— - 34 | τὴν—διαστολὴν | κατὰ τὴν—διαστολὴν _a_.
151 - 8 | μυκτῆρσιν _d_. | μυκτῆρσιν ἀέρος _a b c_.
— - 51 | ὅσας | ὅσαι _a b c d_.
153 - 6 | βαθύτερον _d_. | βαρύτερον _a b c_.
— - 23 | στεγνὸν _d_. | στενὸν _a c_.
155 - 3 | ἀντέχον _a c d_. | ἀντέχων _b_.
156 - 1 | πνυκτικὸς _a b_. | πνικτικὸς _c_.
| | Commandine reads
| | πνευματικὸς.
— - 24 | ἀλλὰ τὸ μὴ _c_. | ἀλλὰ τῷ μὴ _a b d_.
— - 26 | ἀντεπεξίοντος | ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐπεξίοντος _a b_
| | _c d_.
159 - 17 | τὸ ἐν τῷ ὑγρῷ | τὸ ἐν ἀυτῷ ὑγρὸν _a c_.
| (τὸ εν τῷ ὑγρον _b_.) |
161 - 2 | ἰσθμὸς | ἠθμὸς. This correction,
| | adopted originally on the
| | conjecture of Professor
| | Malden, is supported by the
| | variations of the MSS.; _a_
| | reads ἱθμος, _b_ ἡθμος. In
| | like manner elsewhere read
| | ἠθμοειδή, &c. for ἰσθμοειδή.
— - 20 | ἐκκεκρυήσεται | οὐκ ἐκρυήσεται
| (so all the MSS.) |
170 - 30 | ἐκείνοις | ἔκεινον _a b c_.
172 - 17 | κατέχοντος _c_. | κατέχοντες _a b_.
— - 18 | ἐὰν δὲ ἄνω ὄντος | ἐὰν δὲ ἀνῶμεν ἔτι ἄνω ὄντος
| | _a b c_.
— - 30 | ἴσον, ἐὰν | ὅσον ἐὰν _a b c_.
173 - 20–24 | This passage is unintelligible as it stands. It should
| be read (with _a b c_) as follows:—
|
| Ἐγχέωμεν οὖν καὶ εἰς τὴν ΜΝΞΟ βάσιν καὶ εἰς τὸν ΠΡ
| κρατῆρα τὸν οἶνον ὥστε πλήρη εἶναι τὸν ΠΡ κρατῆρα,
| καὶ τὴν ΜΝΞΟ βάσιν πεπληρῶσθαι ἄχρι τοῦ Η στομίου
| τοῦ σωλῆνος· τούτου δὲ γενομένου, καὶ φραγέντος
| τοῦ Ε, οὐ διὰ τοῦ ΚΛ σωλῆνος, &c. In the printed
| text all the words from τὸν οἶνον to τὸν κρατῆρα
| inclusive are omitted; so is the οὐ after φραγέντος.
| In the translation the MSS. have been departed from
| in reading “as high as the mouth of the tube G H,”
| instead of “as high as the mouth G of the tube G H.”
| The latter reading is clearly inconsistent with the
| argument.
174 - 3 | εἰσχωρεῖ καὶ διὰ τοῦ | εἰσχωρεῖν καὶ διὰ τοῦ Υ
| τρήματος | τρήματος _a b c_.
— - 13 | ὁ Κ, ὁ κενὼν | ὁ Κ ἔνων _a b c_.
177 - 1 | ἀνακεκαμφθέντα ἀγγεῖα | ἀνακεκάμφθω εἰς τὰ ἀγγεῖα
| | _c_. _a b_ have ἀνακεκάμφω.
— - 24 | The printed text is here quite unintelligible.
| We find (beginning of § 24 in translation) these
| words:—ἔστω σμηρισμάτιον ᾧ ἐὰν βουλώμεθα λόγῳ· ἔστω
| δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ οἴνου διπλάσιον. The opening sentence
| should be as follows: Ἀγγείου ὄντος κενοῦ καὶ ἑτέρου
| οἶνον ἔχοντος, ὅσον ἐὰν ὕδωρ εἰς τὸ κενὸν ἀγγεῖον
| ἐμβάλωμεν, τοσοῦτον διὰ κρουνοῦ ληψόμεθα κεκραμένον
| ᾧ ἐὰν βουλώμεθα εἶναι λόγῳ· ἔστω δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ οἴνου
| διπλάσιον. So _a c_: _b d_ agree with the text.
180 - 11 | Omit τρίτου with _a c_: _b d_ agree with the text
| in retaining the word, which is unintelligible.
192 - 3 | ἐπιληφθέντα _b d_. | ἐπειληθέντα _c_.
| | _a_ has ἐπειληφθέντα.
193 - 26 | ἀποδεδεμένοι | ἀποδεδομένοι _a b c d_.
195 - 7 | ἀποδεδόσθω | ἀποδεδέσθω _a b c d_.
197 - 6 | ἄνω _a b c d_. | κάτω, which is given in
| | the margin of _d_, is
| | necessary to the sense.
200 - 8 | Read ἐναρμοσθεὶς εἰς τὸ σφαίριον φερέτω εἰς τὴν χώνην,
| καὶ ἐμβεβλήσθω εἰς τὸ σφαίριον ὕδωρ. So all the MSS.
| In the text all from φερέτω to σφαίριον inclusive is
| omitted.
— - 14 | After ὑγρὸν add καὶ ἀναπληρώσει τὸν κενωθέντα τόπον.
| So _a b c_.
202 - 20 | The last clause of § 50 (of the translation) is
| unintelligible as it stands in the printed text.
| For στρέφειν εἰς τὴν χώραν _a_ and _c_ give εἰς τὴν
| σφαῖραν. In the translation σφαῖραν is preferred to
| χώραν, and εἰς omitted.
205 - 10 } | Clauses of considerable length are missing in the
206 - 10 } | text from the usual cause. They are supplied in
185 - 11 } | the translation.
212 | The arrangement of the three plans for self-acting
| lamps has been altered in conformity with _a_ and _c_;
| _b_ and _d_, agreeing with the printed text.
216 - 26 | ἐκπίπτοντος | εἰσπίπτοντος _a_.
223 - 7 | ΓΔ (CD) | ΕΖ (EF): this change has
| | been made on conjecture.
— - 16 | Before ὥστε ἢ has been inserted, without support
| from the MSS. The passage is otherwise
| self-contradictory.
226 - 23 | διηνοιγμένον _a b c d_. | διενηνεγμένον?
227 - 21 | This passage is corrupt, but the MSS. give no light.
228 - 8 | ἐκτὸς | ἐντὸς _a b c d_.
— - 41 | ἐν τοῖς αὐλοῖς _a b c d_.| τοῖς ἐν τοῖς αὐλοῖς?
229 - 30–40 | The reading of the text is evidently corrupt here,
| but the MSS. do not supply means for correcting it: μίας
| οὔσης may be a corruption of μενούσης; Hero speaks
| elsewhere of a περόνη μένουσα.
232 - 14 | The text and all the MSS. read ὑπὸ; nevertheless ὑπὲρ
| has been substituted in the translation. If the holes X
| and R were _beneath_ the partition, the action of the
| tubes would fail.
[Illustration: Decorative floral border]