Baffling question from the OG.
Q: Codex Berinensis, a Florentine copy of an ancient Roman medical treatise, in undated but contains clues to when it was produced. Its first 80 pages are by a single copyist, but the remaining 20 are by three different copyists, which indicate some significant disruption. Since a letter in handwriting identified as that of the 4th copyist mentions a plague that killed many people in Florence in 1148, Codex Berinensis was probably produced in that year.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the hypothesis that Codex Berinensis was produced in 1148?
A. Irrelevant.
B. Length of plague is irrelevant.
C. Speed of scribes copying is irrelevant.
D. So what? The 4th copyist would very well be copying this treatise in 1150, two years after the plague.
E. Potentially suggests that each copyist rapidly died off during the plague, hence each copyist copying less than his predecessor.
I don't know. Apparently D is the right answer, but I dispute that. What does everyone think?
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sunman
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