Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

A catalogue of Western manuscripts and papyri at Cambridge University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum and selected Cambridge colleges

Cambridge, Trinity College, MS R.1.42

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12033

Contents

Introduction: This manuscript, produced in the second half of the 15th century, contains three of the comedies of Aristophanes, Plutus, Nubes and Ranae (Wealth, Clouds and Frogs). It was copied in the town of Rethymnon in Crete by the prolific Cretan scribe Michael Lygizos, who wrote a colophon on f. 192v. The manuscript begins with a brief biography of Aristophanes, and the first two plays (Plutus and Nubes) are each preceded by a prefatory hypothesis and list of the dramatis personae, and accompanied by interlinear glosses and marginal scholia. The Ranae is less fully supported, appearing with only the dramatis personae and interlinear glosses. The scholia derive from the tradition incorporating the work of the Byzantine scholars of the 14th century. An unusual amount is known about the manuscript's provenance, beginning with the identification of the scribe and place of production. Lygizos, who worked at times in various different places in Crete, was one of a considerable number of scribes in the island in the second half of the 15th century who produced Greek books for the Italian market, and is known to have collaborated on copying projects with several others. This book itself probably soon reached Italy, given the presence of a note in a 15th-century hand identifying it as the property of one Luca (f. 195v). Luca's note mentions that the book might be claimed from him by one Aldo, and another hand of similar date has written a list of Greek books on the same page which had apparently been sold, one to a person named Leoniceno, another to a Giorgio Molino and the remainder to Aldo, for fifteen gold coins. Some conjectures may be made as to these individual's identities. A Greek manuscript copied in Venetian-ruled Crete is likely to have reached Italy via Venice, and the language of Luca's note would be consistent with Venetian dialect. The purchase of Greek books by a person named Aldo, quite possibly in Venetian territory, in the late 15th or early 16th century suggests that the person mentioned may have been Aldus Manutius (Aldo Manuzio) (1449/50-1515), the most important printer of Greek texts in the Italian Renaissance, who established his press in Venice in 1494. More tenuously, the Leoniceno mentioned here could be the Italian humanist scholar Niccolò Leoniceno (1428-1524). In 1513 the manuscript was in the possession of the prominent German scholar Beatus Rhenanus, then living in Basle, who added a note recording his ownership on f. 3r. Another early owner who left a note recording his possession of the manuscript was a Dominican friar named Iohannes Cunanus (f. 192v). In the 18th century it came into the possession of the classicist Richard-François-Philippe Brunck, who used it in his edition of the plays of Aristophanes. As a result of the French Revolution, Brunck lost the royal pension he had received for his scholarly work and was forced to sell his books. It was subsequently bought, along with other books from Brunck's collection, by the theologian George Butler, Fellow of Sidney Sussex College and later Dean of Peterborough and headmaster of Harrow. He gave the manuscript to the classicist Richard Porson, who described it as one of his own, but on Porson's death it was returned to Butler, whose son would eventually donate it to Trinity College. Dr Christopher Wright

Language(s): Greek

1. ff. 1r-1v, line 7
Life of Aristophanes
Rubric: f. 1r Βίος Ἀριστοφάνους
Incipit: f. 1r Αριστοφάνης ὁ κωμωδοποιὸς, γένος μὲν ἦν Ἀθηναῖος: πατρὸς Φιλίππου· μητρὸς δὲ Ζηνοδώρας
Explicit: f. 1v ὅπερ οὐχὶ πεσεῖται· ζητοῦσαι, ψυχὴν εὗρον Ἀριστοφάνους
2. f. 1v, line 7-f. 2r, line 18
Hypothesis to Plutus
Rubric: f. 1v Ὑπόθεσις τοῦ πρώτου δράματος
Incipit: f. 1v Βουλόμενος Αριστοφάνης σκώψαι τοὺς Ἀθηναίους
Explicit: f. 2r ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσοι βίου χρηστοῦ ἀντεχόμενοι, πένητες ἦσαν

TLG 5041.014

3. f. 2r, line 19-f. 2v
Dramatis personae to Plutus
Rubric: f. 2r Ἐπιγέγραπται δὲ τὸ δράμα, Πλοῦτος Ἀριστοφάνους· τὰ δὲ πρόσωπα αὐτοῦ ἔστι ταῦτα
Incipit: f. 2r-2v Καρίων θεράπων· Χρέμυλος δεσπότης
Explicit: f. 2v σχετλιάζων καὶ δυσφορῶν, λέγει τοῦτο
4. ff. 3r-60r
Aristophanes, Plutus
Filiation: The manuscript was used in the preparation of Brunck's edition.
Incipit: f. 3r Ὡς ἀργαλέον πρᾶγμ’ ἐστίν ὦ Ζεῦ καὶ θεοί
Explicit: f. 60r δεῖ γὰρ κατόπιν τούτων ἄδοντας ἕπεσθαι
Final rubric: f. 60r Τέλος τοῦ πρώτου δράματος

TLG 0019.029

5. ff. 3r-60r
Scholia in Plutum (scholia recentiora)

Selections; interlinear glosses and marginal scholia

TLG 5014.031

6. ff. 60v-61r, line 16
Hypothesis to Nubes
Rubric: f. 60v Προθεωρία τοῦ δευτέρου δράματος
Incipit: f. 60v Ἄνυτος καὶ Μέλιτος Σωκράτει τῶ σωφρονίσκου βασκίναντες
Explicit: f. 61r αἔρα· νεφέλας· καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα

TLG 5041.015

7. f. 61r, line 17-f. 61v
Dramatis personae to Nubes
Rubric: f. 61r Τὰ τοῦ δράματος πρόσωπα
Incipit: f. 61r Στρεψιάδης· Φειδιππίδης
Explicit: f. 61v ταῦτα φησὶ· καὶ σχετλιάζων, βοᾶ
8. ff. 62r-127v
Aristophanes, Nubes
Filiation: The manuscript was used in the preparation of Brunck's edition.
Incipit: f. 62r Ἰοὺ ἰοὺ· ὦ Ζεῦ βασιλεῦ τὸ χρῆμα τῶν νυκτῶν
Explicit: f. 127v κεχόρευται γὰρ μετρίως τό γε τήμερον ἡμῖν

TLG 0019.021

f. 128r-128v is blank

9. ff. 62r-127v
Scholia in Nubes (scholia recentiora Eustathii, Thomae Magistri et Triclinii)

Selections; interlinear glosses and marginal scholia

TLG 5014.005

10. f. 129r, lines 1-8
Dramatis personae to Ranae
Rubric: f. 129r Τὰ τοῦ δράματος πρόσωπα
Incipit: f. 129r Ξανθίας ὃς προλογίζει
Explicit: f. 129r Εὐριπίδης· Αἰσχύλος· Πλούτων
11. f. 129r, line 9-f. 192v, line 10
Aristophanes, Ranae
Filiation: The manuscript was used in the preparation of Brunck's edition.
Incipit: f. 129r Εἴπω τι τῶν εἰωθότων ὦ δέσποτα
Explicit: f. 192v κἄλλος ὁ βουλόμενος τούτων πατρίοις ἐν ἀρούραις

TLG 0019.027

12. ff. 62r-127v
Scholia in Ranas (scholia recentiora Thomae Magistri, Triclinii et anonyma)

Selections; interlinear glosses

TLG 5014.029

13.
Colophon: f. 192v, lines 11-12 Μιχαὴλ ὁ τοῦ Λυγγειῆ πενία συζῶν· ἐξέγραψεν, ἐν Ῥυθύμνη Κρήτης

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Western paper, folded in octavo. Watermark: Bull's head ( c. 90 × 54 mm. ) in the gutter, similar to Briquet 14766. This example is dated to 1477.
Extent: Codex: ii + 195 + ii leaves. 207 × 143 mm.
Foliation: The manuscript is foliated with the numbers [ii] + 1-195 + [iii-iv], in Arabic numerals, in pencil, recto, upper right.

Collation

The manuscript consists of 24 quires, of which one is a quinion and the rest are quaternia.

  • Quires 1-178 ff. 1-136
  • Quire 1810 ff. 137-146
  • Quires 19-248 ff. 147-195

There are quire signatures in Arabic numerals, in pencil, on the first folio of each quire, recto, lower right.

Condition

There is slight water staining and areas of dirt.

Layout

ff. 3r-60r, 62r-127v, 129r-192v A single column of 11 lines, spaced for the inclusion of interlinear glosses. 135 × 95 mm.

ff. 1r-2v, 60v-61v A single column of 21-23 lines. 140 × 80 mm.

Hand(s)

The manuscript was copied by Hand A in mixed minuscule script with variable slant, in black ink, with little variation in letter size.

Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings appear throughout the line. Breathings are round and mute iota is subscript or absent. Use of the double dot is functional only. Accents are sometimes joined to letters, breathings and abbreviations.

The small x-shaped kappa is present.

Punctuation used includes the middle and upper points, middle comma, question mark and full stop.

Headings and interlinear glosses are written in the same style in red ink.

Additions

On the left pastedown is an ownership note of R.F.P. Brunck: ‘Ex libris Brunck M.S. Plutus, Nubes, Ranae’, followed by a note giving a reference to p. 147 of Brunck's edition of Aristophanes, where this manuscript is described.

There is an ownership note of Beatus Rhenanus on f. 1r: ‘Sum Beati Rhenani Selati Tribonorum’, and another on f. 3r, written in Basle in 1513: ‘Sum Beati Rhenani. Nec muto dominum. Basilaea. AN. M.D.XIII’.

On f. 192v is an ownership note of Iohannes Cunanus: ‘Liber iste pertinet fratre Iohanne Cunani ordinis predicatorum’, and a note another note on this folio, probably by the same hand.

On f. 195v is an ownership note added by Luca: ‘Questo libro è de mi Luca. Se Aldo non miel tole’.

At the end of each play a count of a number of folios has been added in Greek, with inconsistencies and innacuracies. That on f. 60r gives the number 50 (νʹ), that on f. 127v the number 127 (ρκζʹ), and that on f. 192v the number 54 (νδʹ). The second clearly represents the total number of folios in the manuscript up to that point, while the third is apparently intended to represent the number of folios occupied by the play ending at this point, while the first could represent either, but the writer of these notes evidently misunderstood ν, the Greek numeral 50, as being the numeral 60, which would correctly be ξ.

There are occasional brief notes and pen-trials in Greek (e.g. ff. 193r-194v, 195v).

There is a brief list in Latin of the titles of some Greek texts on f. 194v. On f. 195v another hand has written a list of Greek books sold to people named Aldo (perhaps Aldus Manutius (1449/50-1515) ), Leoniceno (perhaps Niccolò Leoniceno (1428-1524) ) and Giorgio Molino.

A series of mathematical equations have been written on [ii].

The number 447 is marked on f. 1r.

Binding

19th-century full leather binding over couched-laminate boards, with marbled pastedowns. There is decorative gold tooling on the boards and the spine. The title ‘Aristophanes Comoediae IV. MS’ is tooled in gold on a green label on the spine.

214 × 155 × 35 mm.

Accompanying Material

A bookplate on the left pastedown records the manuscript's donation to Trinity College by Henry Montagu Butler in 1876.

A number of documents relating to the manuscript are inserted between ff. [i] and [ii]:

  • A note in Latin, dated 4 March 1878, recording its history as the property successively of R.F.P. Brunck, George Butler, Porson, Butler's son and Henry Montagu Butler, and the latter's donation of it to Trinity College.
  • A biographical note on Beatus Rhenanus.
  • An excerpt from Brunck's edition of Aristophanes, p. 147, describing this manuscript.
  • A biographical note dated 1858 on Michael Apostoles (PLP 1201), wrongly described as ‘the son of Lyngas’ and apparently erroneously identified as the scribe of this manuscript.

History

Origin: The manuscript was copied in Rethymnon in Crete by Michael Lygizos (PLP 15194; RGK I 282, II 386, III 465), as indicated by his colophon on f. 192v. It can be dated to the second half of the 15th century, the period of activity of the scribe (his dated manuscripts were produced in 1464-1475). This is consistent with the watermarks.

Provenance and Acquisition

Owned by one Luca , as indicated by his note on f. 195v.

Owned by the German humanist scholar and book collector Beatus Rhenanus (1485-1547) of Sélestat (Schlettstadt), apparently acquired by him in 1513, when he lived in Basle, as indicated by his note on f. 3r.

Owned by the Dominican friar Iohannes Cunanus , as indicated by his note on f. 192v.

Owned by the French classicist Richard-François-Philippe Brunck (1729-1803) , as indicated by the note on the left pastedown, and used by him for his edition of Aristophanes.

Bought in Rotterdam by George Butler (1774-1853) , then Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, as recorded by a note pasted into the front of the manuscript (see also Venn BTLR790G).

Lent or given by Butler to the classicist Richard Porson (1759-1808) , who described the book as his own, but returned to Butler on Porson's death by his executors.

By descent from Butler to his sons George Butler (1819-1890) and Henry Montagu Butler (1833-1918) .

Given to Trinity College by Henry Montagu Butler in 1876.

Additional Information

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

    Comoediae, , (Strasbourg, 1783) The western manuscripts in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge: a descriptive catalogue, James, M. R. (Cambridge, 2, Cambridge University Press, 1901) The Cretan manuscripts of Thucydides The Classical Quarterly, Powell, J. E. (32, 103-108, 1938) Eine Aristophaneshandschrift und ihre Besitzer Komododragmata, Gelzer, T. (29-46, 1967) Appunti sulla circolazione del Pluto di Aristofane in età umanistica (II). I codici misti Segno e testo, Muttini, Micol (17, 305-363, 2019) Appunti sulla circolazione del Pluto di Aristofane in età umanistica (I). Gli apografi dei vetustiores e delle recensioni bizantine Revue d'histoire des textes, Muttini, Micol (14, 1-40, 2019)

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

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Cambridge Digital Library

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