In the interval between the first (2009) and the second (2019) Teubner editions of the Aeneid, I had the chance to repeatedly rethink the text of Virgil. In the Critical Notes (Berlin-Boston 2016), I collected some observations in support of the choices I had made in difficult passages. Continuing along the same path, I set out to investigate the work of four eminent editors of the past – Nicolaus Heinsius, Heyne, Ribbeck, and Sabbadini – in order to understand their guiding principles. These scholars are indeed the true protagonists of the critical process that led to the emancipation of Virgil’s text from the false idols of the vulgate.
The first three chapters of the present book aim to provide a coherent outline, almost a history, of the path towards the establishment of Virgil’s critical text start- ing from the mid-seventeenth century. These are the steps and missteps of a journey through progress and brilliant intuitions, yet also through regress and careless omis- sions. Those predecessors often turn out to be wise precursors, even if sometimes only a faint echo of their thoughts survives. Bernard of Chartres allegedly claimed that we are like dwarfs standing on the shoulders of past giants. This reminds us that if we can hope to see farther than them, it is not because we have keener vision, but because we are lifted up and benefit from our higher standpoint.