By Elaine M. Coury

Description

This unique textbook features a reproduction of the Phormio of the Bembinus Manuscript, with each of the 50 pages faces with a description to enable the students to experience the novelty and pleasure of reading a fourth-century manuscript. The text contains an edited version of the play, notes, and vocabulary.

Comments and Reviews

The idea behind this student edition of Phormio and its companion volume is immediately attractive: it places in the hands of undergraduates not only an annotated text but also photographs (of excellent quality) of the oldest manuscript of Terence, the Bembine Codex, along with a transcription thereof, in order to introduce the student not only to one of the liveliest of Terrence's plays but also the study of paleography. The charms of the Phormio are obvious: indeed a third incarnation of the story (via Moliere) was a hit in both London and New York in the 1970s as the Young Vic's Scapino!

— Niall W. Slater
The Classical Outlook

Dr. Elaine M. Coury, Associate Professor of Classics at Newman College, St. Louis, MO (1982), has produced a new textbook, Phormio: A Comedy by Terrence. This textbook is unique in that in it is reproduced the Phormio of the Bembinus Manuscript (Codex Vat. Lat. 3226, folios 53-76). Each of the 50 pages of the Codex is faced with a transcription to enable students to experience the pleasure and the novelty of reading a fourth-century AD manuscript. The text also contains an edited version of Phormio, notes, and vocabulary. This text has the potential to revitalize interest in Latin and paleography.

— APA Newsletter