Reconstructing Pliny's Comment on Apion Plistonices (Nat. praef. 25)

Abstract

The passage concerning the grammarian Apion Plistonices in the preface to Pliny's Natural History (praef. 25) is corrupt. The present article attempts to restore the wanting title of Apion's book, conjecturing that this was Apion's well-known (Greek Text), a history of Egypt. The article also deals with numerous other text-critical and interpretative problems that have confronted scholars working on praef. 25 from the late fifteenth century.