Le scansioni interne della ‘Regula pastoralis’ di Gregorio Masgno: impostazioni d’autore e aggiustamenti di tradizione

In the prologue of his Regula pastoralis, Gregory the Great explains the structure of the work and provides a summary of its contents: first, the requirements for a good bishop; second, his way of life; third, topics he can use in preaching; fourth, the consciousness a bishop is expected to have of his frailty. Although this quadripartite plan is explicitly declared, these four arguments find no formal highlight inside the work. In the oldest manuscript (Troyes, BM, 504) the text is merely divided in chapters, without any major partition; the same happens in the greater part of later witnesses. However, several medieval editors of the Regula introduced divisions, in order to allow the reader to better consult the book. When it happens, the most frequent structure is bipartite, with an unique division at chapter 23. In this passage, Gregory provides a list of the topics the bishop is expected to use in preaching; the list could be (improperly) intended as a second summary, and several copyists introduced in this point the incipit of a second part (or a second book). Furthermore, in some manuscript we find a quadripartite structure, which applies to the text the thematic indications of Gregory’s prologue; this structure prevailed in the printed tradition, thanks to the widespread incunable by Michael Furter (1496), was inherited by Maurists’ edition, and is currently used for quoting.