In this essay, the structure and content of theiones, a mid-thirteenthcentury collection of sophismata ascribed to a ‘Magister Ricardus’, are described. It is then argued that the text of the Abstractiones itself together with its “descendant” works present us with a case of textual evolution: the main text appears itself to be the result of patchwork and development, with each manuscript in effect a variation of the work; the descendant works continue the job of modifying the text, now so selectively (...) and radically that they can no longer be described as versions of the Abstractiones itself. (shrink)