CRITICAL INTRODUCTION

1. MANUSCRIPTS

The On the Administration of the Empire Latin title: De Administrando Imperio is preserved in four manuscripts.^1^ Three of these contain the full text, the fourth a part only. These manuscripts are:

P = Parisinus Greek codex 2009: a codexAn ancient manuscript in book form, rather than a scroll. on vellumHigh-quality writing surface made from calfskin., consisting of 211 numbered leaves.^2^ There are also some additional leaves: 4 at the beginning of the manuscript (3 vellum, 1 paper), and 7 at the end (4 paper, 3 vellum). The leaves vary in size between approximately 23.8 cm — 24 cm by 15 cm. The first three of the additional leaves are blank. On the rectoThe front side of a leaf in a manuscript. of the fourth is a Greek table of contents for the codex, written in a later hand;^3^ on the versoThe back side of a leaf in a manuscript. of the same leaf is a small slip of paper glued down, inscribed with the table of contents in Latin.^4^ On the first numbered page begins the first Greek text, which covers 4 pages (folios 1^r^—2^v^); it is entitled: "Letter of Pythagoras to Laïs," and is followed, still on folio 2^v^, by a table which relates to it. The "Letter" and table have been published from this manuscript by P. Tannery.^5^ At folio 3^r^ begins the text of On the Administration of the Empire, which finishes at folio 211^r^. This text originally constituted an independent codex, with which the "Letter of Pythagoras" was subsequently bound, as is clear from the facts: a) that the numbering of the quaternionsThe gathered "booklets" of pages that make up a manuscript, usually consisting of four folded sheets.

^1^ See Gy. Moravcsik, "The Manuscript Tradition of the De administrando imperio," Yearbook of the Society for Byzantine Studies original Greek: 'Επετηρὶς 'Εταιρείας Βυζαντινῶν Σπουδῶν, 7 (1930), pp. 138—152.
^2^ See H. Omont, Summary Inventory of the Greek Manuscripts of the National Library original French: Inventaire sommaire des manuscrits grecs de la Bibliothèque Nationale, vol. II (Paris, 1888), p. 178.
^3^ "Of Constantine, Emperor of the Romans, to Romanus his own son and co-emperor: an account of nations and geography and various histories aimed at the correct administration of the Roman Empire. No. 21." original Greek: «Κωνσταντίν(ου) βασιλέ(ως) 'Ρωμαί(ων) πρὸς 'Ρωμαν(ὸν) τὸν ἴδιον υἱὸν καὶ συμβασιλέα ἐθνογραφία κ(αὶ) χωρογραφία κ(αὶ) ποικίλη τὶς ἱστορία τείνουσα πρὸς ὀρθὴν διοίκησιν τ(ῆς) 'Ρωμαί(ων) βασιλεί(ας) No. 21.»
^4^ "Codex 1783. Parchment, 13th century. Letter of Pythagoras to Laïs with his table regarding life and disease, victory and defeat and other matters, finding and losing, profit and loss, the good and bad path. Of Emperor Constantine to his son the Emperor Romanus Porphyrogenitus. It is the book On Administering the Empire, which Meursius edited. Ms. 1240." original Latin: «Codex 1783. Membr. 13. saec. Epistola Pythagorae ad Laidem cum laterculo eiusdem de vita et morbo, victory et clade aliisque rebus, inventione et amissione, lucro et damno, bona via et mala. Constantini Imperatoris ad Romanum filium Porphyrogenitum Imperatorem. Est liber de administrando imperio, quem edidit Meursius. Ms. 1240.»
^5^ "Notes on fragments of arithmetic onomatomancy," Notes and Extracts of the Manuscripts of the National Library and Other Libraries original French: Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale et autres bibliothèques, vol. XXXI. Part 2, (Paris, 1886), pp. 231—260; cf. K. I. Dyobuniotes, "Onomatomancy," In Memory of Spyridon Lambros original Greek: Εἰς μνήμην Σπυρίδωνος Λάμπρου, (Athens, 1935), pp. 491—494.