Reading the Text:
Line 26 (Medea 685)

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Notes on line 26:

This line is very important to scholars, because it shows the presence and later correction of a previously unrecorded error in the text. The scribe originally wrote the phrase in infernis which was deleted and replaced by the later editor with desertis, the reading which is accepted today.

Notice that desertis, the text inserted above the line, is in a different handwriting than the original text. This is, of course, the hand of the corrector rather than the scribe; the letter forms are noticably different, yet similar to the half-uncial script used by the scribe.

Medea verse 685:

After correction, the line reads:

squamifera latebris turba desertis adest.

The line as originally written by the scribe would read:

squamifera latebris turba in infernis adest.

Next: Line 27