Victoria Zimmerl-Panagl: Videtur nobis in sermone revivescere... Preparing a new critical edition of Ambrose´s orationes funebres

The orationes funebres, the first (Christian) latin funeral speeches, which Ambrose, bishop of Milan, held for the emperors Valentinian II and Theodosius I, but also for his brother Satyrus, are important documents not only for philologists and theologists, but also for historians. Preparing a new critical edition of them (but also of Ambrose´s De virginibus, De virginitate and De viduis) for the CSEL raises a lot of questions concerning the genus of those speeches, their context, and also concerning their manuscript tradition. Manuscripts which were neglected by former editors, seem to be important for the reconstruction of the original text and lead to new questions. Some of them shall be presented in the paper.