Pérez Vega, Ana María

idUS. Depósito de Investigación Universidad de Sevilla

Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2004.07.59O. Pecere, A. Stramaglia, Studi apuleiani. Note di aggiornamento di L.Graverini.   Cassino:  Edizioni dell' Università degli Studi di Cassino,2003.  Pp. 300.  ISBN 88-8317-012-1.  Reviewed by Ana Pérez Vega, Universidad de Sevilla (apvega@terra.es)Word count: 1001 wordsThis book consists mainly of a collection of previously published articles on Apuleius,written by Oronzo Pecere and Antonio Stramaglia and edited by the University of Cassino.They have been gathered on the basis of their authors and the topic, but there is a complexvariety of approaches. To a certain extent, it is true that, as Graverini points out (p. 179),none of these studies, which appeared from 1984 to 1996, is completely outdated: they arestill worth reading. Regarding the need to re-publish them, the authors adduce as mainreasons the difficulty of finding the original articles, as well as the opportunity to presentthem in a more refined version. There have been, however, minor changes within thearticles: updating has been limited to Graverini's notes at the end of the volume.The first chapter, "Esemplari con subscriptiones e tradizione dei testi latini. L'ApuleioLaur. 68, 2", was published in C. Questa - R. Raffaelli (eds.), Atti del convegnointernazionale "Il libro e il testo" (Urbino, 20-23 settembre 1982), Urbino 1984, 111-137.This article draws on the traditional idea (proposed by Keil) that the whole text ofApuleius' opera maiora-Metamorphoses, Apologia, Florida- depends on one singlemanuscript, Laurentianus 68.2 (Florence). This codex is enriched by valuablesubscriptions, essential to the elucidation of the history of its manuscript transmission; theone at the end of Metamorphoses IX is particularly interesting for it mentions a reviser,Sallustius, and two revisions: in Rome, 395, and Constantinople, 397. Pecere analyses thecircumstances of Sallustius' work, which indeed must have affected the result, as well asthe meaning of the subscriptions with the view to reconstructing the history of the extanttext. The analysis of the facts is well documented, and some of the hypotheses are wellfounded. In spite of the abundant bibliography on the history of Montecassino, codex F,and the transmission of Apuleius work in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages-cf. pp.180-181-, P.'s article is still interesting.The following chapter, also by Oronzo Pecere, entitled "Qualche riflessione sulla tradizionedi Apuleio a Montecassino", appeared in G. Cavallo (ed.), Le strade del testo, Bari 1987,99-124. It is certainly the most relevant and revolutionary article in this collection: he wasthe first to question Robertson's stemma for Apuleius' major work and to propose a newhypothesis. F is not the origin of all other manuscripts; in fact, both the Assisi fragment -C-and the antenato of class I derive directly from the model of the Laurentianus. In that case,the relative importance of the manuscripts would change considerably, inasmuch asmanuscripts such as A would no longer serve just to confirm some readings in its model orto support conjectures, but would be first-hand documents of the manuscript tradition.There is another far-reaching hypothesis: P. contemplates the possibility that there might bea lacuna between Metamorphoses and Florida (the reproduction of F's 183v and 184r onBryn Mawr Classical Review 2004.07.59 http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2004/2004-07-59.html1 de 3 22/10/2014 10:29pages 297-98 will be very helpful for those wishing to draw their own conclusions).Although the author thinks it is more likely that the beginning of Florida is missing, hishypothesis is the starting point for de Danielle van Mal-Maeder's curious idea that the lastbook of Metamorphoses was lost.1 Graverini aptly evaluates the impact of this article (pp.183-184): at the beginning, there was a drastic change in the estimation of C and themanuscripts of class I, especially A, (see GCA 1995, 14), but this has evolved into a moretraditional attitude, contrary to P.'s thesis, as in, for instance, Magnaldi (MAGNALDI, G. -GIANOTTI, G.F. (eds.), Apuleio, Storia del testo e interpretazioni, Alessandria 2000, 31).The following chapter, by Antonio Stramaglia, is a probe into a kind of text the author laterstudied in his remarkable book Res inauditae, incredulae (Bari, 1999). The main point of"Aspetti di letteratura fantastica in Apuleio. Zatchlas Aegyptius propheta primarius e lascena di necromanzia nella novella di Telifrone (met. 2,27-30)" -- originally in AFLB 33,1990, 159-220 -- consisted of a penetrating analysis of the final episode of Thelyphron'sstory in terms of narrative technique, especially with regard to the articulation of this storyabout necromancy and the dead coming back to life by means of various fantastic motifs.In "Otri e proverbi in Apuleio, met. 2,32 - 3,18" (ZPE 99, 1993, 37-40) Antonio Stramagliaand Francesca Brancaleone offered an interesting, yet brief, reflection on the use ofproverbs, relating to the wineskin in the famous episode in which Lucius kills the threeillusory thieves."Apuleio come auctor" (Studi Umanistici Piceni 16, 1996, 137-161), by A. Stramaglia,studies Apuleius' authority as a literary author and exemplary stylist, not in theRenaissance, which has received close attention (e.g. D'Amico en RenQ 37, 1984,351-392), but in Late Antiquity until the beginnings of the Middle Ages.Less momentous are "Prisciano e l'Epitoma historiarum di Apuleio", by Stramaglia, onPriscian's knowledge of Apuleius' work and the meaning of his quotations, (RFIC 124,1996, 192-198), and Annamaria Di Piro's appendix: "Le Metamorfosi di Apuleio nellatradizione indiretta. I testi" (Invigilata Lucernis 17, 1995, 55-76), which gathers thepassages where Apuleius narrative works have been cited.Part of the interest of this re-edition lies in the possibility of reconsidering how criticismhas evolved in recent years: Gaverini's note di aggiornamento (pp. 179-202), acommentated bibliography, assesses the evolution of Apuleian studies regarding theaforementioned articles. This is the only true novelty of the book, being a valuable study initself, in spite of its thematic limitations.The book also contains fine and useful illustrations of fragments of the codices and anoutstanding updated bibliography (54 pages), as well as helpful indices of quoted passages,manuscripts, names and a general index. To sum up, this volume enables the reader toconsult some of the most influential articles on diverse aspects of Apuleius' work and couldbe a handy tool for the philologist interested in this author. The update by Graverini andthe superb indices definitely enhance the value of the book.Notes:1.   Mal-Maeder, D. van, "Lector, intende: laetaberis. The Enigma of the last Book ofApuleius' Metamorphoses," in Hofmann, H. - Zimmerman, M. (eds.), Groningen Colloquiaon the Novel VIII, Groningen 1997, 87-118.Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2004.07.59 http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2004/2004-07-59.html2 de 3 22/10/2014 10:29ReadLatestIndex for2004Change GreekDisplay ArchivesBooks Available forReviewBMCRHomeHTML generated at 13:29:29, Friday, 03 April 2009Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2004.07.59 http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2004/2004-07-59.html3 de 3 22/10/2014 10:29

O. Pecere, A. Stamaglia, Studi apuleiani

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O. Pecere, A. Stamaglia, Studi apuleiani

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idUS. Depósito de Investigación Universidad de Sevilla