Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.3.18

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 11984

Introduction: Trinity College, MS O.3.18 is a late 17th-century copy of the two surving treatises by Autolycus of Pitane (2nd century BCE): On Risings and Settings and On the Moving Sphere (defective). The greater part of the manuscript is blank (ff. 178r-v and 182r are not imaged); the texts begin at f. 109r and runs on rectos only up to f. 141r. Each folio is divided into two halves: the upper one is meant to receive the Greek text and the lower one to receive the Arabic version, but the latter is present only on f. 109r. According to Mogenet's (1950) study on textual tradition, the first treatise in this manuscript was partially copied from Oxford, Bodleian Library, Barocci MS 166 (dated late 15th century), and it was meant to be a preparatory material for a new edition. The manuscript was donated to Trinity College by Roger Gale in 1738, the eldest son of the Fellow of Trinity and Dean of York Thomas Gale, who was also an antiquarian. Dr Matteo Di Franco

Language(s): Greek

1. ff. 109r-138r

Autolycus, On Risings and Settings De ortibus et occasibus

Rubric: f. 109r Αυτολύκου περὶ ἐπιτολῶν καὶ δύσεων βιβλίον πρῶτον

Incipit: f. 109r Τῶν ἀπλανῶν ἀστέρων αἱ ἐπιτολαί τε καὶ δύσεις, αἱ μὲν λέγονται ἀληθιναί, αἱ δὲ φαινόμεναι· τῶν δὲ ἀληθινῶν ἑῶα μέν ἐστιν ἐπιτολή, ὅταν ἅμα τῷ ἡλίῳ ἀνατέλλοντι ἄστρόν τι συνανατέλλη

Explicit: f. 138r πλείονα ἄρα χρόνον κρύψιν ἄξει τὸ εʹ ἄστρον, ἐν ᾧ ὁ ἥλιος τὴν μγλʹ περιφέρειαν διαπορεύεται, καὶ ἔστι μείζων δύο ζωδίων

Book 1: ff. 109r-123r; Book 2: ff. 123r-141r

translation of incipit into Arabic on f. 109r

TLG 1210.002

2. ff. 139r-141r

Autolycus, On the Moving Sphere (1-4, line 1 ed. Mogenet 1950) De ortibus et occasibus

Rubric: f. 139r Αυτολύκου περὶ σφαίρας κινουμένης

Incipit: f. 139r Ὁμαλῶς λέγεται φέρεσθαι σημεῖα ὅταν ἐν ἴσῳ χρόνῳ ἴσα τε ἢ καὶ ὅμοια μεγέθη διεξέρχηται. ἐὰν δὲ ἐπί τινος γραμμῆς, φερόμενόν τι σημεῖον ὁμαλῶς δύο γραμμὰς διεξέλθη

Explicit: f. 141r Δ. Ἐὰν ἐν σφαίρᾳ μένων μεσημβρινὸς κύκλος πρὸς ἀρθὰς ὢν τῷ ἄξονι ὁρίζῃ τό τε||

TLG 1210.001

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: ff. 1-183, Western paper, folded in folio. Watermark: Horn in a shield ( 70 × 45 mm. ) mid of the folio comparable to Heawood, 2673-2674, 2686-2687, dated 1670s-1680s.

Extent: Codex: i + 183 + i leaves. 295 × 185 mm.

Foliation: [a] + [i] + [1], 2-183 + [ii]. Modern foliation in pencil in Arabic numerals, recto, lower right corner. [a] is a stub from pastedown.

Collation

The binding of the volume is too tight to determine the collation.

Condition

In good condition.

Layout

ff. 109r-141r: written space 130 × 157 mm. 20-24 lines per page

Hand(s)

Hand A: ff. 109r-136r, 139r-141r are copied in a minuscule script, by a Western scholar.

Hand B: ff. 136r-138r are copied in a minuscule script, by a second Western scholar.

Binding

The manuscript has been rebacked, reusing the 18th-century couched laminate board covered in brown leather, tooled in blind. The spine is in light brown leather with raised bands. The endleaves ff. [i] and [ii] are taken from two untrimmed folios of Johann Magirus, Corona virtutum moralium, Frankfurt 1601.

300 × 200 × 20 mm.

History

Origin: The manuscript was written in the 1670s or 1680s.

Provenance and Acquisition

The manuscript was in possession of the antiquarian Thomas Gale (ca. 1635-1702) , Fellow of Trinity and Dean of York. The manuscript is marked as H.9 No. 323 on f. [1]r. The manuscript is number 6081 in Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ (1697).

Donated to Trinity College by Thomas's son Roger Gale (1672-1744) in 1738.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description (2020) draws on M.R. James, The Western Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1902), vol. 3 ,p. 201.

Availability

Visitors to Trinity College who wish to consult Special Collections material are required to apply to the Library in advance of their visit. For information on eligibility and admission procedures see: Trinity College: Information for Readers.

Bibliography

The western manuscripts in the library of Trinity College: a descriptive catalogue, James, M.R. (Cambridge, 3, Cambridge University Press, 1902)

Autolycus de Pitane: histoire du texte, , (Louvain, Bibliothèque de l'Université, Bureau du Receuil; Publications Universitaires de Louvain, 1950)

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, Trinity College, MS O.3.18

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