A commentary on Quintinus' Insulae Melitae Descriptio

Abstract

This dissertation does not include any material used in my B.A. (Hons.) Dissertation. In that Dissertation I included a historic introduction to Quintinus and his Insulae Melita Descriptio; I re-edited with emendations his work as it appears in the first edition, i.e . the Lyons one of 1536; I procduced an English translation; and included in the notes references both to emendations of Quintinus and to the translators of Quintinus where these have gone wrong. I had deliberately left out a complete commentary for this Dissertation since research for B.A.(Hons.) Degree had to be limited to a required level. Thiss Commentary therefore contains: l. Notes illustrating the text in its historical and cultural meaning. Under the latter are included allusions and references to Classical writers. These indeed show the general background of Quintinus' Classic education, especially when he is clearly echoing the Classics, as in his repeated use of phrases from Pliny's Natural History which, like many of his Age, he must have known very well. The main authors quoted, .apart from Pliny, are Cicero, Virgil, Ovid and Livy. Abbreviations of Classical references are according to the Oxford Latin Dictionary and Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon, where these are given. 2. Notes containing references to Quintius' book re-published by various editorsd after the author's own edition, right down to the XVIIIth. Cent. These references are meant to show the importance attached to Quintius all along over a period covering almost three hundred years.