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THEOPHRASTUS ON STONES
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The Greek text which is printed here is almost the same as the one established by Wimmer, but a few minor changes have been made. The three Vatican manuscripts have been collated, as well as the editions of Aldus, Turnebus, Furlanus, Heinsius, De Laet, Hill, and Schneider. All the important variations in the manuscripts and some of the conjectures made by the editors are listed in the critical notes, and the differences between this text and Wimmer's text have also been included. Though the traditional numbering of the sections of the text has been retained, some adjustments have been made in the paragraphs of the translation where the usual divisions between the sections appear to be illogical.
In this translation an attempt has been made to give a clear and simple English version, but at the same time to keep as close as possible to the actual words of the Greek text. In this respect the translation differs from the rather free version of Hill, who reflected the spirit of his times and in many passages preferred elegance of expression to accuracy of statement. Nevertheless, because of the very compressed style of Theophrastus, certain passages in the present translation are of necessity expanded paraphrases of the Greek text. The difficult problem of the translation of the Greek names of mineral substances has been treated in the following way. Names of mineral substances, particularly those of precious stones, for which no exact English equivalent could be found are simply transliterated, and appear in italics in the translation, and the question of their identification is discussed in the Commentary. Names for which an exact English equivalent could be given are so translated and do not appear in italics. Generally the Greek spelling of proper names has been used, but wherever the Latin or the English spelling is customary, this has been preferred; thus Theophrastus and Athens are written instead of Theophrastos and Athenai.
It has generally been thought that the treatise is a fragment of a very much larger work. A possible explanation of the lacunae, and perhaps of the marked lack of literary style, may be found in an account given by Strabo,21 who describes the fate of the manuscript books of Theophrastus after his death, and the later un-
21 Geography, Book XIII, chap, i, sec. 54.
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