in the margin of a copy of the Lyons
edition. The rough draft of his notes, however, upon Books x.-xvi.,
which afterwards came into the hands of Baluze, is preserved in the
Paris library (Lat. 8538 A), in which he continually ascribes
different readings to these MSS., the alteration corresponding with a
change in his own conjecture. It is, therefore, obvious that he
invented the readings in order to strengthen his own corrections. The
book, which he termed his _Crusellinus_, may well be his copy of the
Lyons edition of 1545 (number 8665 in the sale-catalogue of Baluze),
which is described as _cum notis et emendationibus MSS. manu ejusdem
Bosii_.[24]

The oldest evidence now existing for any works of Cicero is to be
found in palimpsests written in the 4th or 5th century. The most
interesting of these, now in the Vatican (Lat. 5757), discovered by
Angelo Mai in 1822, contains the treatise _de Republica_, only known
from this source. Fragments of the lost speeches _pro Tullio_ and _pro
Scauro_ were discovered in two Milan and Turin palimpsests. The
Vatican also possesses an important palimpsest of the _Verrines_ (Reg.
2077). A palimpsest containing fragments of various orations was
recently destroyed by the fire at the Turin library. The works _de
Oratore_ and _Orator_ are well represented by ancient MSS., the two
best known being one at Avranches (_Abrincensis_ 238) and a Harleian
MS. (2736), both written in the 9th century. The _Brutus_ is only
known from 15th-century transcripts of the lost _cod. Lodensis_.

The oldest MS. of any speeches, or indeed of any work of Cicero's,
apart from the palimpsests, belongs to the Chapter-house of St Peter's
in Rome (H. 25). It contains the speeches _in Pisonem_, _pro Fonteio_,
_pro Flacco_ and the _Philippics_. The earlier part of the MS. was
written in the 8th century. The Paris library has two 9th-century
MSS., viz. 7774 A. containing _in Verrem_ (_Act._ ii.), iv. and v.,
and 7794, containing the _post reditum_ speeches, together with those
_pro Sestio_, _in Vatinium_, _de provinciis consularibus_, _pro
Balbo_, _pro Caelio_. The only other 9th-century MS. of the speeches
is now in Lord Leicester's library at Holkham, No. 387.[25] It
originally belonged to Cluny, being No. 498 in the old catalogue. It
contains in a mutilated form the speeches _in Catilinam_, _pro
Ligario_, _pro rege Deiotaro_ and _in Verrem_ (