Critical Notes to a Psellian Silentium

Among the thirty-eight orations by Michael Psellos collected in the first Teubner volume dedicated to him, 1 the fourth one is a σελέντιος λόγος 2 speaking about the fasting (νηστεία), containing also a brief reference to a situation of war and alliance with “the people beyond the Danube – τὸ ὑπὲρ τὸν Ἴστρον ἔθνος” (l. 142). 3 Since the two critic editions are full of gaps and wrong reading from the manuscript, these failings must be filled by basing upon both the studies on Byzantine scholarship developed in the last twenty years and a new careful reading of the manuscript. The text was handed down only by the Laur. 57.40 (L in Psellos’ traditions), 4 at. fols. 198v-202v; both the editions did not take into account manuscript’s peculiarities and their apparatus are incomplete.