So how did the classical Latin become so incoherent? According to McClintock, a 15th century
typesetter likely scrambled part of Cicero's De Finibus in order to provide placeholder text to
mockup various fonts for a type specimen book. Whether a medieval typesetter chose to garble a
well-known (but non-Biblical—that would have been sacrilegious) text, or whether a quirk in the
1914 Loeb Edition inspired a graphic designer, it's admittedly an odd way for Cicero to sail into the 21st century. MORE>