A heading tells you how to approach the next paragraph before you have read a word of it. In an edition of an old text, first establish whose contribution that heading represents.
Read the edition’s explanation
Look in the introduction or editorial note for information about section titles, paragraph divisions and numbering. Do not assume that every visible heading was present in the manuscript used by the editor.
Conversely, do not assume that all headings are modern additions. The edition should be the starting point for checking the particular case.
Try reading without the label
For a study exercise, cover a heading and summarise the following paragraph in one sentence. Then compare your summary with the heading. Notice what the editor’s wording emphasises and what your first reading noticed.
This exercise tests your response to presentation; it does not prove that the editor’s interpretation is wrong.
Keep attribution clear in your notes
If the heading is editorial, describe it as the editor’s heading. If its origin is uncertain, preserve that uncertainty rather than citing it as direct evidence for an ancient author’s terminology.
Pair this habit with asking who speaks in a historical text. Voices enter a reading through introductions, labels and apparatus as well as through the translated passage itself.