Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 596/455

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 11873

Introduction: The manuscript contains a collection of Greek texts on rhetoric, by Hermogenes (ca. 160-before 230 CE), Hephaestion (2nd c. CE), and Dionysius of Halicarnassus (ca. 60 - after 7 BCE). Hermogenes, a rhetorician born in Tarsos, is known as the author of a series of treatises on rhetoric, which enjoyed a great success, becoming canonical texts for the teaching of rhetoric in Byzantium, being read and commented on until the Renaissance. The Alexandrian grammarian Hephaestion wrote a treatise On Metres in 48 books, which was reduced to an Enchiridion, a ‘ handbook’, in a single book, present in this manuscript with other texts by him. The manuscript, on the basis of the script and of the watermarks, is datable to the second half of the 15th century. One scribe started the copy and another, with a more informal script, took over, and wrote a commentary in Latin at the end of the manuscript. Dr Erika Elia

Language(s): Greek and Latin

1. ff. 2r-21r

Hermogenes, De statibus

Incipit: || f. 2r ⟨ [με]⟩ταξὺ τούτων ἐστίν, οἷον ἔγραψεν ὁ Περικλῆς

Explicit: f. 21r l. 20 νόμον ἐφόρεσε τὰ χρυσία

The text starts imperfectly at H. Rabe, Hermogenis opera, Leipzig 1913 (repr. 1969), pp. 28-92: section 1 l. 61

TLG 0592.002

2. ff. 21r-36v

On invention, books. 1-3 De inventione, 1-3

Rubric: f. 21r l. 21 Ἑρμογένους τέχνης ῥητορικῆς περὶ εὑρέσεως

Incipit: f. 21r Περὶ προοιμίων τόμος α^ος. Ἡ πρώτη καὶ καλλίστη τῶν προοιμίων εὕρεσις

Explicit: f. 36v δύνασαι πάλιν ἀνεμποδίστως.

The text is attributed to Hermogenes , but is considered spurious

TLG 0592.003

ff. 37r-40v are blank

3. ff. 41r-101v

Hermogenes, On ideas 1-2 ch. 9 De ideis 1-2.9

Rubric: f. 41r Ἑρμογένους περὶ ἰδεῶν

Incipit: f. 41r ⟨ Ε⟩ἴπερ ἄλλο τι τῷ ῥήτορι

Explicit: f. 101v Ἀλλὰ λεκτέον ἤδη περὶ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ πολιτικοῦ

Final rubric: f. 101v Ἑρμογένους περὶ ἰδεῶν τέλος

The text comprises the first book, and the second until chapter 9

TLG 0592.004

4. ff. 102r-116r

Hephaestion, Enchiridion de metris

Rubric: f. 102r Ἡφαιστίωνος ἐγχειρίδιον

Incipit: f. 102r ⟨ Β⟩ραχεῖά ἐστι συλλαβὴ ἡ ἔχουσα βραχὺ φωνῆεν

Explicit: f. 116r l. 1 περὶ δὲ ποιήματος ἑξῆς ῥητέον.

Two leaves, ff. 106-107, the text follows the order ff. 5v-7r-7v-6r-6v-8r

TLG 1402.001

5. ff. 116r-116v

⟨ Hephaestion⟩ , Introductio metrica

Incipit: f. 116r l. 2 ⟨Τ⟩ῶν ποιημάτων τὰ μέν ἐστι κατὰ στίχον

Explicit: f. 116v l. 26 καὶ ἐπῳδικῶς γεγράφθαι δοκεῖν.

The text follows the preceding one, by the same author, with no title; the initial, which was probably intended to be traced in red ink, is missing; a later hand traced in the margin a sign in black ink where the new text starts, probably in order to indicate this

TLG 1402.002

6. ff. 116r-121v

Hephaestion, De poematis

Rubric: f. 116v l. 27 (margin) Περὶ στίχων Ἡφαιστίωνος

Incipit: f. 116v l. 27 ⟨Σ⟩τίχος ἐστὶ ποσὸν μέγεθος μέτρου

Explicit: f. 121v l. 10 ὅπερ ἦν τῶν ἴσων κόλων[sic] τῷ ἐπιρρήματι.

The title has been written by the scribe in the margin, in brown ink

TLG 1402.003

7. ff. 121v-122v

Hephaestion, De signis

Incipit: f. 121v l. 11 ⟨Τ⟩ὰ σημεῖα τὰ παρὰ τοῖς ποιηταῖς

Explicit: f. 122v l. 10 διὰ τούτων δηλούντων ἡμῶν, ὅτι ἀνταποδίδοται.

The text follows the preceding one with no title

TLG 1402.004

8. f. 122v

Scholion (from Scholia A) on Hephaestion's Encheiridion 2, 1

Incipit: f. 122v l. 11 Συναλοιφὴ κατὰ τρόπους ζ΄ γίνεται απλοῦς μὲν γ΄

Explicit: f. 122v l. 21 ᾖ μεταξύ.

The text follows the preceding one with no title

M. Consbruch, Hephaestionis enchiridion cum commentariis veteribus, Leipzig 1906, pp. 107 l. 1-108 l. 2

9. ff. 122v-123r

Animals of the Greek gods

Rubric: f. 122v l. 22 Τὰ τοῖς θεοῖς ἀνατιθέμενα ζῷα

Incipit: f. 122v Ἡ γλαὺξ τῇ Ἀθηνᾷ· ἡ νῆσσα τῷ Ποσειδῶνι

Explicit: f. 123r l. 11 ἢ ἰχθὺν εἰς Ἑλλήσποντον.

10. f. 123r

Grammatical diagram

Rubric: f. 123r l. 12 Πάθη λέξεων

Incipit: f. 123r Ἀττικὸν πρόσθεσις θέλω ἐθέλω

Explicit: f. 123r μετάθεσις κραδία καρδία.

11. f. 123v-124v

Scholia B on Hephaestion, book 2, 3-4, excerpt

Incipit: f. 123v Ἐπιπλοκή ἐστι τοῦ μέτρου τὸ ἀνώτερον γένος

Explicit: f. 124v τῶν συζυγιῶν τὸ κόμμα ἐστίν.

M. Consbruch, Hephaestionis enchiridion cum commentariis veteribus, Leipzig 1906, pp. 257-262 l. 18

12. ff. 125r-122v

Dionysius, of Halicarnassus, De compositione verborum (epitome), extract, with notes in Latin

Incipit: f. 125r Ἔστι δὴ τῆς συνθέσεως ἔργα

Explicit: f. 125r l. 29 συντιθέναι δεξιῶς τὰ ὀνόματα.

Only a part: L. Radermacher, H. Usener, Dionysii Halicarnasei quae exstant, 6, Leipzig 1929 (repr. 1965), pp. 145-194: sect. 2 l. 9-4 l. 23

After the Greek extract there are a series of notes in Latin and Greek by the same hand, ff. 125r-[134]v, inc. ‘ Tria sunt συνθετικῆς ἐπιστἠμης officia’ (which seems to be a tentative translation of De compositione verborum (epitome), section 6)

TLG 0081.013

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: ff. 2-[134], [III]-[VIII] Western paper, folded in quarto. Watermarks: ff. 2-30, 41-111, 112/123 Ladder with 4 rungs ( ca. 50 × 23 mm. ) in the gutter, comparable to Briquet Échelle 5905 , which is dated to 1450-1452 and 1453-1454, and to Harlfinger Échelle 14 , which is dated to 1484. ff. 33/38 Eagle ( ca. 50 × 45 mm. ) in the gutter, not entirely visible, comparable to the types Briquet Aigle 82 , which is dated to 1479, and Harlfinger Aigle 21-22 , which are dated to 1495 and ± 1495. ff. 35-36 Scissors ( ca. 50 × 45 mm. ) in the gutter, not entirely visible, comparable to the types Briquet Ciseaux 3767 , which is dated to 1479 and 1483, and Harlfinger Ciseaux 83 , which is dated to 1456. ff. 113-122, 124, 125-134, [III-{VII] Cardinal's hat ( ca. 40 × 35 mm. ) in the gutter, not entirely visible, the visible details are too few to try an identification; the lower part, which is best visible, is comparable to the type Harlfinger Chapeau 17-18 , which are dated to 1475 and 1479. ff. [I]-II Western paper, folded in octavo. Watermark: A watermark with a rooster (?) in a circle surmounted by grapes and letters (‘ I V I ’?) is faintly visible on f. [I] recto. It looks like a later watermark. Paper leaves have been pasted on ff. [I]-II, therefore it is not possible to see clearly.

Extent: Codex: i + 2 + 130 + 6 + i leaves. ca. 215 × ca. 145 mm.

Foliation:

Foliation in ink on the top right hand corner recto, starting from 2; ff. 1, 10 are missing; the numbers 118-119 do not appear in the sequence, but no leaves are missing; the numbers 132 and 134 are not visible any more due to damage. At the beginning there are two endleaves (only on the second the numeral II is visible), at the end there are 6 unnumbered blank leaves (ff. [III]-[VIII]; ff. [a] and [b] are two unnumbered later endleaves, which were added with the binding; [a] + [I]-II + 2-9, 11-117, 120-131, [132], 133, [134] + [III]-[VIII] + [b]

Collation

Quire 1 is a bifolium formed of endleaves of a paper with different format and age from the rest of the manuscript. Quire 2 was a quinion which lost a bifolium (ff. [1]/[10]), with loss of text. Quire 8 is a quinion in which a single leaf of smaller dimension was inserted (f. 67).

One later endleaf [a]
Quire 1² ff. [I]-II
Quire 2^10-2 ff. 2-9
Quire 3¹² ff. 11-22
Quire 4⁸ ff. 23-30
Quire 5¹⁰ ff. 31-40
Quire 6¹² ff. 41-52
Quire 7¹⁰ ff. 53-62
Quire 8¹⁰⁺¹ ff. 63-73
Quire 9¹⁰ ff. 74-83
Quire 10⁸ ff. 84-91
Quires 11-12¹⁰ ff. 92-111
Quire 13¹⁰⁺¹ ff. 112-117, 120-124
Quire 14¹⁰ ff. 125-[134]
Quire 15⁶ ff. [III]-[VIII]

Modern numbering of the quires in pencil, from 4 ( f. 31r) to 13 ( f. 125r), in the lower right corner of the recto of the first leaves of the quires.

The remains of quire numbering in ink are visible throughout: the quires are indicated with Greek or Latin letters, and the first 4 leaves are numbered 1 to 4: the series is not immediately understandable:

γ f. 23r
c (or a round ε?) f. 41r, see also c2 f. 42r
d f. 53r
δ 4 f. 66r
ε f. 74r
ϛ 2 f. 85r
ζ f. 92r.

Condition

The manuscript is in fair condition. There are water and humidity stains throughout, but the text is always readable. The first and last leaves, ff. [I] recto and [VIII] verso, are very stained. In order to reinforce them, paper leaves have been pasted to ff. [I]-II; paper strips have been pasted to the external margin of ff. 2-3 and [VII]-[VIII]. The bifolium formed by ff. 106-107 has been bound inside out, generating disorder in the succession of the text; this happened before the foliation was written, as it does not reflect the correct order of the text. Paper is soft at the corners of the leaves.

Layout

ff. 2r-6r A single column of 26 lines. ca. 145 × 85 mm.

ff. 7r-124v A single column of 28 lines. ca. 150 × 90 mm.

ff. 125r-[134]v A single column of 35-38 lines, blank margins on the left and lower part of the leaves. ca. 190 × ca. 105-115 mm.

Hand(s)

f. 2r-6v l. 9 Hand A: a humanistic, round minuscule script of small and regular size, neat and tidy, vertical, which can be included in the group of Greek scripts of the 15th century similar to the hand of Manuel Chrysoloras (it is comparbale to the ‘sober group’ in P. Eleuteri, P. Canart, Scrittura greca nell'Umanesimo italiano, Milano 1991).

The text is written in brown ink.

f. 6r l. 10-36v, 41r-[134]v Hand B: a minuscule script slanting to the right, fluent, with many ligatures, also datable to the 15th century and associated with a more ‘ recherché’ class of scripts. The scribe does not write iota subscript.

From f. 125r the script becomes more rapid, almost nervous, and slants more decidely to the right. Although M. R. James thought it a later hand, the coincidence of forms and ligatures indicate that it is still hand B: for example triangular phi, round sigma of larger size, the ligatures epsilon-omega with epsilon reduced to a loop, tau-alpha from below et c. Hand B writes also the Latin text from f. 125r.

The text is written in brown ink.

Decoration

Sometimes, to mark the passage from one text to another, the scribe traced very simple friezes as line fillers, see ff. 21r, 122v.

Additions

Another hand wrote notes in the lower margins of ff. 105v-107v, to indicate the correct order of the text (bifolium 106-107 erroneously bound inside out, see Condition).

On the left pastedown is written the present shelfmark, ‘ 596’ in brown ink; below ‘ Printed Cat. 1036’, with the number of the manuscript in E. Bernard, Catalogi Manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae, Oxoniae 1697; the number 1036 is written also on f. [I] recto.

On ff. [I] recto and II recto a table of contents of the manuscript is written in Greek, with references to the foliation; the same hand (John Caius?) wrote annotations in Greek and Latin on f. [VIII] verso: the last one mentions John Caius, ‘ (?) suo dono (?) Johanni Caii’.

Binding

Modern western binding. Full leather cover over millboard. Blind tooling on the boards (a triple line frame), and on the boards' edges. On the spine are pasted two paper labels with the two shelfmarks ‘ 455’ (in red) and ‘ 596’. 230 × 152 × 30 mm.

There are scrape marks on the covers.

History

Origin:

The manuscript was copied by two contemporary hands probably in the second half of the 15th century, as indicated by the watermarks and the scripts.

Provenance and Acquisition

The manuscript was owned by John Caius (1510-1573) (see Grierson 1978, p. 521).

The manuscript was donated to the College Library by John Caius . On the left pastedown and on f. [I] recto (with handwritten shelfmark in red ink, ‘ 455’) is pasted the Gonville and Caius College bookplate.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description (2021) draws partly on M. R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Gonville and Caius College, vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1908, pp. 628-629.

Availability

Visitors to Gonville and Caius College who wish to consult Lower Library material are required to apply to the Library in advance of their visit. For information on eligibility and admission procedures see: Gonville and Caius College: Library Information.

Bibliography

Hephaestionis Alexandrini. Enchiridion.Accedunt Terentianus Maurus De syllabis et metris, et Procli Chrestomathia grammatica., (Oxonii, e Typographeo academico, 1855)

A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Gonville and Caius College, James, M. R. (Cambridge, University Press, 1908, 2)

John Caius' Library Biographical history of Gonville and Caius College, 1349-1897 : containing a list of all known members of the college from the foundation to the present time, with biographical notes, Grierson,, P. (Cambridge, 7, University Press, 1978)

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, MS 596/455

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