A rigorous scholarly study of the litis instrumentis in Demosthenes, revealing how ancient formulas were used and transmitted.
This inaugural philological dissertation examines the litis instrumenta found in the Demosthenic orations, focusing on how these legal formulas were inserted, transmitted, and sometimes altered in manuscript codices. It weighs authority, manuscript evidence, and the work of later commentators to distinguish genuine phrases from what may have been added later, and to understand the implications for attribution and interpretation.
- Learn how different manuscript traditions influence the forms and placement of legal formulas.
- See how editors determine genuine material versus later interpolations in famous speeches.
- Explore how arguments about testimony, adoption, and civic status appear in the texts.
- Understand the methodological approach scholars use to test authenticity and establish textual history.
Ideal for readers of classical rhetoric, editorial theory, and Demosthenes, this edition offers a careful, methodical look at the foundations of Demosthenian texts and their legal formulas.