This is the second volume of II.1 (adespota) of the Corpus of Latin and Greek Philosophical Papyri (and ostraca); it contains ten editions, one of which (4) is quite extensive (almost half the volume) and another of which (2) does not actually include an edition. One papyrus (5) appears complete here for the first time. These texts are somehow connected to philosophy, but their exact status is not clear: five (4, 5, 7, 8, and 10) allow fairly certain attribution to schools. The other papyri treat rhetoric, music, errors in the exercise of technai and Plato.
1. O. Berol. inv. 12318 (edited by G. Bastianini and R.M. Piccione, excavated at Philadelphia in 1909). This ostracon is part of the so-called ‘archive of Kleitorios’, which could consist of school texts. Its text – complete – has connections to progymnasmata (very interesting for such an early composition) and ‘mirror of princes’ literature and treats the difference between nobility of birth and that of actions, which is interesting given its early date (late third century bce).
2. P. Berol. inv. 9908 (= BKT II, pp. 52–3; credited to the redaction as a whole, excavated at Theadelphia in 1902). The text is not actually published here; it is some kind of philosophical treatise with extensive citations from Plato, so extensive that there is no text apart from them that is worth commenting on. A complete text can be found at Plato (author #80) T110 in CPF I.1*** vol 2. pp. 508–12, edited by M.W. Haslam (with plate; this vol. too contains a plate).
3. P. Berol. inv. 21213 (=BKT IX 117, edd. Bastianini and D. Sedley, purchased or excavated in 1910). A Hellenistic Platonist arguing that Plato's dialogues are the best sources for Socrates’ biography. It is now dated to the late second century ce. This edition is Bastianini and Sedley's second sailing, after their first at CPF I.1*** 96 2T, pp. 771–3 and G. Verhasselt's edition in the FGrHistCont project (IV A.8 1138).
4. P. Duke inv. 777 + P. Köln inv. 907 + P. Gen. inv. 271 (edd. Bastianini and Haslam, second century ce, pieces acquired at different times in the 1950s). This lengthy papyrus (19 columns reconstructable to some extent with 27 unplaced fragments) is apparently some kind of Cynic collection: it contains a dialogue between Alexander and a Brahmin and a version of [Heraclitus], Ep. 7. The first part is closely related to Palladius’ De Gentibus Indiae et Bragmanibus, from which it can be extensively supplemented, though the two are not identical. The second text too shows differences from the later tradition. Scholars working on this papyrus will need editions of Palladius and [Heraclitus’] Letters to hand. (Note that on the plate the upper left part of column 2 is on one of the pieces of papyrus labelled ‘Col. I.’)
5. P. Fay. 337 (ed. V. Piano, excavated from Theadelphia, first or second century ce): a Stoic on religion? This is the first full edition of this papyrus, which was only described and partially transcribed by B.P. Grenfell and A.S. Hunt, while Piano published more, but not all, in a previous article. Earlier interest was centred on a fragment of Euripides, which R. Kannicht and B. Snell edited as an adespoton, ΙΙ 455 TrGF.
6. P. Hib. 13 (edd. F. Maltomini and M. Perkams, excavated in 1902): a non-Aristoxenian musical treatise, which was previously ascribed to Hippas (M. Edwards, adopted in CPF I 1**) and Alcidamas (by A. Brancacci after W. Crönert). The present editors discard all these attempts and question the traditional pre-Aristoxenean dating of its composition, though they consider it likely. Absence of Aristoxenus’ categories is not evidence they did not exist, especially in such a brief text about such a shadowy subject. I wonder if ἄνδ]ρ̣α̣ϲ̣: is right at the beginning of l. 19; it would match the scribe's habit of trying to end each line with a word and appears to fit the lacuna.
7. P. Mil. Vogliano inv. 1241 recto (ed. A. Giavatto, excavated at Narthumis in 1935). A Stoic text about moral progress. The text of this edition was first published by F. Decleva Caizzi and M.S. Funghi in the Studi e testi companion series to the CPF (in Aristoxenica, Menandrea, Fragmenta Philosophica, STCPF 3, 1988, 85–124); it is here reprinted with updates and a new commentary.
8. P. Oxy. 3655 (edd. G. Iovine and C. Capuccino) contains a dialogue about the Megarian Stilpo, Alcimus (one of his students), and probably Metrocles the Cynic, ascribed in the ed. pr. (Sedley) to Stilpon's Metrocles or Metrocles’ Chreiai with suggestive arguments.
9. PSI 152 (ed. E. Falaschi, unknown provenance, acquired in/before 1913): a treatise about causes for the failures of technitai. The editor thinks it may have to do with the reason that stochastic technai are such. I wonder if the topic could be the exact ones, thought always to achieve their goals, so failures to do so is more interesting than in the cases of stochastic technai, where occasional failure is expected. The focus on emotions as causes of failure might sound a Stoic note (n.b. ἀτονία).
10. PSI 1400 (ed. Perkams, sixth or seventh century ce, unknown provenance, acquired in/before 1938), a difficult Neoplatonic treatise on the movement of celestial bodies. The apparently poor intellectual content and grammar stand in striking contrast to the quality of the codex. In l. 9, ⸌ἀπο⸍γράμματι (an addendum lexicis) certainly looks right from the photo; ignoring the addition is implausible.
The quality of the volume's production is generally high. There is an errata sheet for the list of collaborators on p. xxii inserted into the right place. Additionally, the plate for 4 came in several pieces inserted into the book, not bound into place as a fold-out (as other plates were); I do not know if this was intentional. The plates are clear and well printed. I noticed a handful of inconsequential typos (a few false or missing breathings and a false accent on a name).
Different editors follow their own interests and distribute material differently between introduction and commentary. Treatment is generally full, though sometimes knowledge of the bibliography seems assumed (especially in 4, understandable given its length, and 9). Translations and bibliographies are reliable and complete as far as I could check. All in all, a worthy contribution to this long-running series and a very useful point of departure for further study.
