In a previous article I attempted to show the relationship between the most important MSS. of the Aethiopica, and to fix the basis on which the text ought to be built. The object of the present enquiry is to go more deeply into the history of the Xylander MS., which was only lightly touched upon then, and to estimate the value of another MS., which received no treatment at all.

Diophant was the classical Greek author who was the last to become known in Christian Europe. Figures who passed on Diophant's writings decisively were Regiomontan, Scheubel, Ramus, Joachim Camerarius the elder, and the Wittenberg mathematicians Praetorius, Dieterich and Schuler. The first Diophant edition, a translation into Latin, was published by Xylander in Basel in 1575. In the forword Xylander mentions all the details about how he managed to take possession of Dudith's mansucript. Xylander's publication is more than (...) a mere translation since he transformed Diophant's symbolism into the common symbolism of his own age and added extensive comments. Xylanders edition was the only one existing until the one of Bachet was published in 1621. (shrink)