Can I pose a question to any of our readers who might have access to knowledge about the current state of the Herculaneum texts:
Nearby, Hiram posts a link to an article he wrote about Philodemus On Music. Some of the material for his article comes (I understand) from "Les Epicurens" edited by Daniel Delattre. I have a copy of that myself, but I don't read French, so I can't read the details as to what part of the reconstruction of the text is speculative and part is firm. I see that the section on Music contains over sixty pages of small print, of which I will attach pictures of the first page below. I am also attaching a summary of a Cambridge publication which indicates that the surviving text was in poor condition.
This is a general question that has occurred to me ever since I heard of the DeLattre book, and isn't limited to this current discussion of Philodemus on Music. Can someone who is familiar with the state of academic research and DeLattre's publications enlighten me on this question:
I find it difficult to understand how (1) so much material appears to survive from Herculaneum to be translated into French, but (2) so little of that same material appears to available in English. Perhaps this is just the result of my own lack of research, but I find the situation difficult to understand.
I gather that the DeLattre book was published in 2010, and it appears to have a great deal material from Philodemus and even Epicurus himself (some forty pages from "On Nature") that I have never seen in English. Is it possible that the French just care about Epicurus more than do English-speakers? Or is there some other explanation why DeLattre has so much more text than do English publications on Epicurus?
Thanks very much!
