Knowledge of ancient literature must always rest on the standards of editing and criticism of Greek and Latin texts that have come down in a corrupt and sometimes mutilated state. Early in the 19th century great advances were made in this field of classical studies. Angelo Cardinal Mai (1782–1854) published hitherto unknown Greek and Latin texts, including much of Cicero’s De republica, from newly discovered palimpsests. A.I. Bekker, as well as editing many unknown Greek texts in the Paris collections (see above The new German humanism), was able, by use of newly discovered earlier ... (100 of 12,663 words)The rise of textual criticism