Porson e il testo dell’Ecuba di Euripide

The paper analyses the two editions of the Hecuba of Euripides published by Richard Porson in 1797 and 1802, paying special attention to Porson’s conjectures on the text of the play. Hermann discussed Porson’s first edition in his own edition of 1800. Contrary to commonly accepted wisdom, and to Hermann’s later statements, Hermann’s initial reaction was quite favourable to Porson’s conjectures. Hermann accepted more than half of them in his text of 1800, and selected all those commonly accepted in recent edition. Hermann was also the first scholar to attempt a formulation of Porson’s law, a fact which prompted, and in some way influenced, Porson’s own formulation in 1802. The paper also analyses the reception of Porson’s and Hermann’s emendations in later editions of the Hecuba, and discusses the different concepts and forms of apparati critici adopted in the nineteenth century.