ever, have been of any notable value, except, perhaps, the celebrated translations by Politian and Leopardi, and Schweighäuser's separate edition of 1798,^[1] which is still the last independent critical text,^[2] and has been reprinted by most subsequent editors, even Schenkl, although the latter has added much useful critical material in his notes, especially those which indicate the probable sources of such passages as seem to be derived from the four books of the Discourses, and in particular has arranged the apparatus criticus in more convenient terms.

The sigla which Schenkl has devised for Schweighäuser's apparatus, and which may occasionally be employed below, are the following: