Each of the readings or apparatus variants of a lemma are indicated with the <rdg>tag. It is the most complex of those that make up each <app>.

A <rdg>tag, in addition to containing the reading in the content node, must always indicate with the attribute @wit (witness) the reference to the abbreviations of the manuscripts or authorities that give this reading, separated by a blank space and with the hash # in front.

It is very important to remember that the values we introduce in the @wit attribute must correspond to the @xml:id we have assigned in the document header, in the <sourceDesc>, to each of our <witness>. Cf. List of witnesses. In the examples below you can see that inside @wit both <witness> appearing within <listWit> and the ones appearing within any other <listBibl> are listed in the same way within @wit.

Each <rdg> can also contain extra information about the witnesses offering that reading with <witDetail> (cf. <witDetail> for more information about its syntax). It can also include texts that do not constitute the proper reading, with <term>.

Let us consider some examples:

<l n="312">Interea patriis olim uagus exul ab oris</l>
<l n="313">Oedipodionides
	<app>
		<lem>furto</lem>
		<rdg wit="#ω #Hill">furto</rdg>
		<rdg wit="#b #Hall">furtim</rdg>
	</app>
deserta pererrat</l>
<l n="314">Aoniae. Iam iamque
	<app>
		<lem>animis</lem>
		<rdg wit="#O #Q #Baehrens">animus</rdg>
		<rdg wit="#Σ">animo</rdg>
		<rdg wit="#P #W #Müller1882">animi
			<witDetail wit="#Müller1882">p. 16</witDetail>
		</rdg>
	</app>
male debita regna</l>
<l n="315">concipit, et longum signis cunctantibus annum</l>
<l n="316">stare gemit. Tenet una dies noctesque recursans</l>
<l n="317">cura uirum, si quando humilem
	<app>
		<lem>decedere</lem>
		<rdg wit="#δ #O #rvl #Tvl">descendere</rdg>
	</app>
regno</l>

Three very common modes of apparatus can be seen in the above passage:

• The one in verse 317, the third, has only one variant, and those manuscripts that contain it are indicated in the @wit of the <rdg> . The order in which these abbreviations are placed depends on our reference edition, preferably in alphabetical order, listing first manuscripts and then modern authorities.
• The example in verse 313, the first one, lists two variants, but the first indicates which witnesses attest the lemma, so the content node in the <lem> and in the first <rdg> is the same. This case of a positive apparatus is not usually necessary except in exceptional cases.
• Verse 314, the second one, has three variants, but the third needs to provide extra information about one of the witnesses giving that reading, and therefore has a <witDetail> with the text that needs to be added.

<l n="218">Haec sator astrorum iamdudum
	<app>
		<lem>e</lem>
		<rdg wit="#b #P #Hill1983 #Hall">e</rdg>
		<rdg wit="#B #rs #Ts">de</rdg>
		<rdg wit="#r #T #ω"><term>om.</term></rdg>
	</app>
uertice mundi</l>

<l n="368">inuisus uitaeque nocens
	 <app>
		<lem>haec uulnera</lem>
		<rdg wit="#Hall"><term>add.</term> qui</rdg>
	</app>
cerno</l>

This second example contains two different verses which use the <term> tag to include in the apparatus a text which is not the reading itself, but an explanation or text by the editor. These terms will be in Latin, and will preferably be identical to those used in our reference edition. It may also be used to insert any further symbols or informative text.