ABSTRACT
I Introduction* Some years ago the recipient of this Festschrift wrote an article which should be compulsory reading for all scholars and students working in the area of later ancient texts.* 1 In it he argues against the conventional view that indirectly transmitted texts (i.e., texts cited by a later ancient author) differ so often from their directly transmit ted counterparts (i.e., texts preserved in a manuscript tradition) because the author recording them was quoting from memory or taking the wording over from an anterior inaccurate source. Against this view he advocated the thesis that ancient authors were not con strained by the practice of accurate quotation that has become mandatory in modem times, but rather practise the ‘art of misquota tion', i.e., when citing a text they not seldom deliberately introduce alterations for various reasons consonant with their own concerns. Consequently the indirect tradition, while undoubtedly remaining interesting and valuable in its own right, is of restricted usefulness in the establishment of the original text.2
