Due modelli per due versioni? Niccolò da Reggio e lo pseudo galenico de theriaca ad Pisonem

Two models for two versions? Niccolò da Reggio and the pseudo-Galenic de theriaca ad Pisonem · Two Latin translations of the de theriaca ad Pisonem attributed to Galen are preserved: one containing also the recipe for the antidote ascribed to Andromachus the Younger, thus called ‘long’, the other, in which this recipe is not translated, called ‘short’. Both are attributed to Niccolò of Reggio by the manuscripts, but the short translation solely by one of the three witnesses which preserve it, and for this reason the attribution to Niccolò has been questioned. This paper confirms the attribution of the short translation to Niccolò as well, on the basis of lexical and stylistic coincidences with the long translation; it then compares the two versions in order to understand why Niccolò returned to translate the treatise, given that this translator was not in the habit of revising his own translations and this practice seemed until now to be attested only for isolated cases. Comparison of the two versions with each other and with the Greek tradition shows that in the common part the short version presents a plenior and more correct text, and that, some worse readings and omissions in the long one can be attributed to the Greek manuscript used as a model. This allows us to conclude that Niccolò returned to translate the de theriaca ad Pisonem because he had come into possession of a better codex, while the stylistic homogeneity between the two versions suggests that the revision was not made long after the first translation.