Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries: Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.8.7

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12016

Introduction: This Greek manuscript contains three texts, by Hermias and Julian the Emperor. The first text, Hermias' Satire on the Profane Philosophers (the date is uncertain, perhaps ca. 200 CE) is an ironical exposition of the contradictions in the theories of the major ancient philosophers and philosophical schools. The remaining two texts, by the Roman emperor Julian (331-363 CE), are the Hymn to king Helios dedicated to Sallust, an oration in praise of the Sun, and the Misopogon (literally "Beard-hater"), a satirical work written against the people of Antioch, who did not understand Julian's paganism (the beard of the title being a reference to the "philosophical" beard of the emperor). The manuscript was written by one of the more prolific Greek scribes of the 16th c., Andreas Darmarios. Darmarios, also a dealer of manuscripts, had his headquarters in Venice, but travelled frequently in Europe in order to sell and copy manuscripts. During one of his sojourns in Spain, in 1576, he copied MS Trinity O.8.7, while he was in prison (see T. Martínez Manzano, Historia del fondo manuscrito griego de la Universidad de Salamanca (Salamanca, 2015), pp. 208-209). In the space of 15 days Darmarios copied these texts by Hermias and Julian four times over (see M.L. Sosower, 'Some Manuscripts in the Biblioteca Nacional correctly and incorrectly attributed to Camillus Venetus, in The legacy of Bernard de Montfaucon: three hundred years of studies on Greek handwriting, ed. by A. Bravo García, I. Pérez Martín, J.S. Codoñer (Turnhout, 2010), pp. 217-232, 791-797: 223): he completed El Escorial, Real Biblioteca, y.III.12 on 17th November; Trinity O.8.7 on 20th November, Munich, Bayerische Staatsbiliothek, Cod. Gr. 339 on 26th November, and Munich, Bayerische Staatsbiliothek, gr. 305 (only Julian's texts) on 1st December. Dr Erika Elia

Language(s): Greek

1. ff. 1r-11r

Hermias, Satire on the Profane Philosophers Irrisio gentilium philosophorum

Rubric: f. 1r Ἑρμείου τοῦ φιλοσόφου διασυρμὸς τῶν ἔξω φιλοσόφων

Incipit: f. 1r Παῦλος ὁ μακάριος ἀπόστολος τοῖς τὴν Ἑλλάδα τὴν Λακωνικὴν παροικοῦσι Κορινθίοις γράφων

Explicit: f. 11r καὶ λόγῳ σαφεῖ βεβαιούμενον.

Final rubric: f. 11r Τέλος σὺν θεῷ

TLG 0531.001; CPG 1113

ff. 11v-12v are blank

2. ff. 13r-51v

Julian, Emperor of Rome, Hymn to king Helios dedicated to Sallust De Sole ad Salustium

Rubric: f. 13r Ἰουλιανοῦ καίσαρος εἰς τὸν βασιλέα Ἥλιον, πρὸς Σαλουστῖνον

Incipit: f. 13r Προσήκειν ὑπολαμβάνω τοῦ λόγου τοῦδε

Explicit: f. 51v καὶ πολυτελεῖς περιόδους

TLG 2003.011

3. ff. 52r-74r

Julian, Emperor of Rome, Misopogon

Rubric: f. 52r Ἰουλιανοῦ αὐτοκράτορος καίσαρος Ἀντιοχικός ἢ μισοπώγων

Incipit: f. 52r Ἀνακρέοντι τῷ ποιητῇ πολλὰ ἐποιήθην[sic] μέλη χαρίεντα

Explicit: f. 74r ὁ δὲ πολλῶν ἀντάξιος ἑτέρων||

The text ends incomplete at C. Lacombrade (ed.), L'empereur Julien. Oeuvres complètes, 2.2 (Paris, 1964), p. 178 l. 3

TLG 2003.012

f. 74v is blank

4. f. 74r

Colophon

Colophon: f. 74r Ὑπὸ Ἀνδρέου Δαρμαρίου τοῦ Ἐπιδαυρίου σὺν Θεῷ εἴληφε τέρμα ἐν τῷ ἔτει ͵αφοϛ΄ νοεμβρίου κ^ῃ

5. ff. [iv] recto-[xiii] verso

Blank leaves

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Western paper, folded in quarto. Watermarks: ff. [i]-[iii], [xiii] The later endleaves have a watermark in the gutter, not clearly visible. ff. 1-74, [iv]-[xiii] Latin cross in a shield; under it letters ‘ IP(?) ’ ( ca. 50 × 30 mm. ), in the gutter, without exact parallels in the main repertoires. This type of watermark, such as Sosower Croix latine 5-31 , are dated to the 8th and 9th decade of the 16th c.

Extent: Codex: iii + 74 + 9 + i leaves. 217 × 150 mm.

Foliation:

Modern pencil foliation, in Arabic numerals, in the upper margin right from 1 to 74; three blank leaves at the beginning (ff. [ii] and [iii] are still attached to one another along the lower edge) and ten at the end of the manuscript are unnumbered: [i]-[iii] + 1-74 + [iv]-[xiii].

Collation

The manuscript consists of sexternions. The last quire (7) has lost one leaf without loss of text.

Quire 1² ff. [i]-[ii]
Quires 2-7¹² ff. 1-72
Quire 8^12-1 ff. 73-[xi]
1 endleaf f. [xii]

Greek signatures in brown ink by the scribe's hand, in the centre of the lower margin of the first leaf recto of the quires, from α΄ (1, f. 13r) to ϛ΄ (6, f. 73r). On ff. 13r-72v, horizontal catchwords by the scribe's hand, in the lower margin of the last verso of the quires.

Condition

The manuscript is in fair condition. On ff. 37-42 there is a tear on the upper margin of the leaves, near the gutter. Two of the three later endleaves at the beginning of the manuscript, ff. [ii] and [iii], are still attached one to another along the lower edge, having never been cut (in the images only ff. [ii] recto and [iii] verso are visible). There is a tear on f. [iii].

Layout

A single column of 13 lines. 135 × 90 mm.

Hand(s)

ff. 1r-11r, 13r-74r Hand A: the texts have been copied by Andreas Darmarios (1540-after 1587) , (Ἀνδρέας Δαρμάριος, RGK I, 13 [the manuscript is indicated as Cant. Trin. C. O.3.7]. See also RGK II, 21; RGK III, 22), who signed the copy on 20th November 1576.

The text, as well as titles and initials, are written in a light brown ink. Some marginalia are in red ink.

Decoration

On ff. 1r and 13r there are two friezes with a rope motif in brown ink. On f. 52r there are three small linear undulated friezes, the central one with clovers at both ends.

Initials in ekthesis are decorated with a vegetal motif, see ff. 1r, 13r and 52r.

Small crosses are traced after the titles and at the end of the texts, see e.g. ff. 1r and 11r.

Additions

On the left pastedown is written the present shelfmark of the manuscript ‘ O.8.7.’

On f. 1r in the right margin, are written in brown ink the number, ‘ 155’, and older shelfmark, ‘ C 24’, of the Gale collection, and another shelfmark, ‘ O.14.24’ which has been erased.

Binding

Western modern binding. Paper cover over millboard. On the spine are pasted three paper labels with the shelfmark. 223 × 155 × 16 mm.

The spine is damaged, the quires are exposed.

History

Origin:

The manuscript was copied and signed by the Greek scribe Andreas Darmarios on 20th November 1576 in Spain. In the colophon of the manuscript Darmarios did not mention the place; three days before, however, he had signed in Toledo MS El Escorial, Real Biblioteca, y.III.12, which he had copied from an exemplar of the library of the Cardinal of Burgos, Francisco Mendoza, as he wrote on its colophon (see M.L. Sosower, 'Some Manuscripts in the Biblioteca Nacional correctly and incorrectly attributed to Camillus Venetus', in The legacy of Bernard de Montfaucon: three hundred years of studies on Greek handwriting, ed. by A. Bravo García, I. Pérez Martín, J.S. Codoñer (Turnhout, 2010), pp. 217-232, 791-797, p. 223).

Provenance and Acquisition

The manucript is thought to have been sold by Darmarios to Isaac Casaubon (1559-1614) , probably in Geneva, around 1584 (see E. Craster, 'Casaubon’s Greek Manuscripts', Bodleian Quarterly Record 5 (1926-1928), pp. 97-100 (p. 99, no. 22); Sosower (2010), p. 225; L. Calvié, 'Le commerce transalpin du copiste-libraire vénitien Andréas Darmarios entre 1582 et 1585, Revue d'Histoire des Textes 15 (2020), pp. 89-168 (pp. 115-119).

It was subsequently part of the collection of the antiquary Thomas Gale (ca. 1635-1702) (no. 155). It appears among Thomas Gale's Greek manuscripts in E. Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ, (Oxoniæ, 1697), p. 188, where it appears as 2 items: no. 5933 (99) ‘Hermiae Irrisio Gentilium’, and no. 5934 (100) ‘Juliani Oratio in Solem, Ejusdem Oratio qui titulus Misopogon’

It was donated to Trinity College by Roger Gale (1672-1744) in 1738. The Trinity College bookplate is glued on the lower margin of f. 1r.

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description (2020) draws partly on M. R. James, The Western Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College Cambridge (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1902), vol. 3, p. 394.

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)

Casaubon’s Greek Manuscripts Bodleian Quarterly Record, Craster, E. (5, 97-100, 1926)

La tradition manuscrite et les éditions des discours de l'empereur Julien Université de Gand. Recueil de travaux publiés par la Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres, Bidez, J. (Gand; Paris, Van Rysselberghe and Rombaut, Champion, 1929)

L'Empereur Julien. Œuvres complètes. Tome II - 2e partie Collection des universités de France, Julian, (Paris, Sociéte d'édition "Les Belles Lettres", 1964)

Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten, 800-1600. I. Grossbritannien Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Byzantinistik, Gamillscheg, ErnstHarlfinger, Dieter (Wien, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1981)

Spigolature dagli ultimi codici vaticani greci Bollettino della Badia greca di Grottaferrata., Lilla, S. (52, 259-281, 1998)

Some Manuscripts in the Biblioteca Nacional correctly and incorrectly attributed to Camillus Venetus The legacy of Bernard de Montfaucon: three hundred years of studies on Greek handwriting. Proceedings of the Seventh International Colloquium of Greek Palaeography (Madrid-Salamanca, 15-20 September 2008) Bibliologia, Sosower, Mark L. (Turnhout, 217-232, 791-797, Brepols, 2010)

Historia del fondo manuscrito griego de la Universidad de Salamanca Obras de referencia, Martínez Manzano, T. (Salamanca, Universidad de Salamanca, 2015)

Le commerce transalpin du copiste-libraire vénitien Andréas Darmarios entre 1582 et 1585 Revue d'Histoire des Textes, Calvié, L. (15, 89-168, 2020)

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.8.7

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