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Some of the fragments quoted by ancient scholars were able to be integrated by scholars in the nineteenth century.
Thus for example two separate quotes by Athenaeus were united by Theodor Bergk to form fr. 362.
Three separate sources were combined to form fr. 350, as mentioned above, including a prose paraphrase from Strabo that first needed to be restored to its original meter, a synthesis achieved by the united efforts of Otto Hoffmann, Karl Otfried Muller and Franz Heinrich Ludolf Ahrens.
The discovery of the Oxyrhynchus papyri towards the end of the nineteenth century dramatically increased the scope of scholarly research.
In fact, eight important fragments have now been compiled from papyri-fr. s 9, 38A, 42, 45, 34, 129, 130 and most recently S262.
These fragments typically feature lacunae or gaps that scholars fill with ' educated guesses ', including for example a " brilliant supplement " by Maurice Bowra in fr. 34, a hymn to the Dioscuri that includes a description of St Elmo's fire in the ship's rigging.
Working with only eight letters ( or pro ... tr ... ntes ), Bowra conjured up a phrase that brilliantly develops the meaning and the euphony of the poem ( or proton ' ontrechontes ), describing luminescence " running along the forestays ".
Bowra's ability to single out important information is legendary and it is demonstrated in an anecdote about his days at Oxford.
He and some colleagues had stripped naked for a swim in the river when they were surprised by a party of ladies out for a stroll.
Bowra's colleagues made haste to cover their private parts ; Bowra merely covered his head.
Asked about this afterwards, the scholar observed: " I don't know about you, Gentlemen, but in Oxford I at least am known by my face.

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