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Abstract

This dissertation traces the tradition of Orator, Cicero’s late work on oratorical style, through the Middle Ages. During that time and due to mechanical losses, the text circulated in a reduced or mutilus form consisting of only the middle half and tail-end of the treatise. An early chapter (1) covers the tradition of the text as fragmentary quotations in other Classical and Late Antique authors. The core of my project, however, is a full codicological examination and catalogue (Appendix C) of the fifty-four surviving manuscript witnesses to this mutilus text. Proceeding from that research, I present the stemmatic relationships of the manuscripts, the geographic and chronological spread of the text, and the creation of two separate vulgate versions by early Italian humanists (Chapters 2 and 3). I present an edition of and commentary on a version of the text created by the early 15th c. schoolmaster Gasparino Barzizza, whose conjectures have long been praised by editors (Appendix A). I edit and classify the marginal and paratextual additions made by medieval readers to show how and why they read the text (Appendix B). Beyond the obvious contributions to textual criticism and the history of rhetoric, my dissertation demonstrates, through the lens of a single text, many of the various Ciceronianisms and Ciceros that existed in Latin intellectual history in the over a millennium and a half following his death.

Details

1010268
Literature indexing term
Title
Cicero’s Incomplete Orator: The Transmission and Reception of the Mutilus Text
Number of pages
767
Degree date
2019
School code
0779
Source
DAI-A 81/5(E), Dissertation Abstracts International
ISBN
9781392541876
Committee member
Ross, Jill
University/institution
University of Toronto (Canada)
Department
Medieval Studies
University location
Canada -- Ontario, CA
Degree
Ph.D.
Source type
Dissertation or Thesis
Language
English
Document type
Dissertation/Thesis
Dissertation/thesis number
27539686
ProQuest document ID
2316054724
Document URL
https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/cicero-s-incomplete-orator-transmission-reception/docview/2316054724/se-2?accountid=208611
Copyright
Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works.
Database
ProQuest One Academic