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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009
The bilingual Philoxenus Glossary drew some of its materials from Festus de Signif. Verb. and occasionally mentions his name. Its Festus glosses have been collected in a Jena dissertation by Dammann. The Abolita Glossary (if we may so term the collection enclosed within square brackets in Corp. Gloss. Lat. IV. pp. 4–198) seems to have begun (in its original arrangement) with Festus excerpts. Before we can glean from these two glossaries every available scrap of evidence about Festus, we must try to complete and correct them. For of the Philoxenus Glossary (Philox.) we have practically only one MS., and that of the ninth century. It must have omitted many items and perverted the words of many others. The Abolita Glossary (Abol.) was associated (but not mixed up) with another, the Abstrusa Glossary (Abstr.), in Spain, and this composite collection (Abstr.-Abol.) passed into Italy. The MSS. are, we may say, only two, and of each a certain number of leaves are missing. The older and better MS. (Vat.), an uncial codex of the eighth century, was written apparently in Central Italy; the other (Cass.) was written two centuries later at Monte Cassino. They show us Abol. not in its original form, but rearranged in a not too strict alphabetical order (between AB- and ABC-). The St. Gall Glossary was compiled from (1) Philox., (2) the composite Abstr.-Abol., and supplies some of those Festus glosses of Philox. and Abol. which are omitted in our MSS. It seems to have been a Bobbio compilation (but see below). Our best MS. was written in rude uncials at St. Gall in the eighth century.
page 190 note 1 With this geographical gloss may be compared another, probably from the same collection, (333, 50) Spania Citerior: adhuc et ad nos; Ulterior: longe nobis. The compiler was not a Spaniard nor an Italian. On the third of the Spaniard nor an Italian. On the third of the Gallia trio, Togata Gallia, see Thes. Gloss.
page 193 note 1 The Abstrusa gloss Falarica has its right form in Ampl. I., whereas all other glossaries derive from a source with the wrong form artae for (h)astae.
page 199 note 1 Scribes unfamiliar (as were most scribes) with Greek omit these. My notes from a Bodleian MS. (Auct. T. ii. 24) of the expanded form of our glossary (Abav. major) show that the true version of 366, 51 is Muscinarius: inutilis, $f$χρηστσς and of 390, 7 Scuotit: cattat, βρàσσει So these are Philox. glosses, and we must not change inutilis to mutilus. This MS. has for 388, 5 Rura: agros, uilla, possessio uel tellus, rupes uel petrae.
