Abstract
The Institutes of Gaius, a manual of Roman law written in the second half of the 2nd century AD, have been transmitted in their entirety by the palimpsest of the Verona Chapter Library XV (13), from the 6th century, but we also have two fragmentary witnesses of Egyptian provenance : the P.Oxy. XVII 2103, from the 3rd century, and the PSI XI 1182, from the 6th century. Challenged by the comparison of textual variants found in the palimpsest and papyri, some editors of the Institutes have preferred to present the texts of the manuscripts synoptically in separate columns, as if they were different redactions of the work, perhaps by Gaius himself. However, although each manuscript is an independent witness, the analysis of textual discrepancies still makes it possible to distinguish between exact and corrupt lessons, and to explain them by the distorting factors most typical of textual tradition. The three manuscripts, which do indeed have differences, but above all perfect coincidences, must therefore be used to establish a single, authentic text of the Institutes of Gaius.
