Il volgarizzamento di Tucidide del manoscritto Sessoriano 442 e la traduzione del De bello Peloponnensium di Lorenzo Valla

This paper discusses the ms. Sessoriano 442 (a. 1540) in the Central National Library of Rome, containing the first Italian translation of Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War. As one or more pages at the beginning are missing, the ms. remains untitled and anonymous. The wording reveals that the translator used Lorenzo Valla’s Latin translation of Thucydides (a. 1452) as source text, and that he took it from the editio princeps (1482?). Furthermore, some hints (marginalia, variant readings) suggest he possibly also made use of a Greek manuscript and the copy of Valla’s translation now Cors. 43 E 23. A codicological description of the ms. is included in the appendix.