Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

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

Cambridge, University Library, MS Ff.5.8

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12188

Contents

Introduction: The manuscript Ff.5.8 is a 12th or 13th century parchment copy of the treatise by Aristotle, Rhetoric (Ars rhetorica), on the art of persuasion. Identified as witness F of the textual tradition (see Kassel 1971, Der Text der aristotelischen Rhetorik ), it is the second oldest manuscript copy of Aristotle's treatise, after Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, grec 1741 (siglum A, dated to the second half of 10th century). The Cambridge manuscript bears some marginal comments by Demetrios Chalkondyles (ca. 1424 - ca. 1511), one of the most eminent Greek émigré scholars active in Italy. The manuscript was owned by the humanist Antonio Seripando (1476-1531), who inherited the library of Aulus Janus Parrhasius (1470-1522). The unusual oblong format suggests an Italian origin, although the characteristics of the writing are attributable to a Constantinopolitan background. The manuscript is the progenitor of the richest branch of the textual tradition in terms of number of descendants, and six preserved manuscripts are direct copies of it (see the stemma in Kassel 1971): Vatican City, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, Palatinus gr. 23 (sigled Z); Vatican City, Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, Vaticanus gr. 1340 (Y); Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Baroccianus 133 ; Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Matr. 4684 (de Andrés 134); Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, grec 2038 (D); Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Laur. Plut. 31.14. Dr Matteo Di Franco

Language(s): Greek with few notes in Latin

ff. 3r-108v
Aristotle , Rhetoric Ars rhetorica
Rubric: f. 3r Ἀριστοτέλους τέχνης ῥητορικῆς πρῶτον
Incipit: f. 3r Ἡ ῥητορική ἐστὶν ἀντίστροφος τῆ διαλεκτικῆ· ἀμφότεραι γὰρ περὶ τοιούτων τινῶν εἰσὶν
Explicit: f. 108v τελευτὴ δὲ τῆς λέξεως ἁρμόττει, ἡ ἀσύνδετος ὅπως ἐπίλογος ἀλλὰ μὴ λόγος ἦ· εἴρηκα· ἀκηκόατε· ἔχετε· κρίνατε
Final rubric: f. 108v τέλος Ἀριστοτέλους τέχνης ῥητορικῆς

TLG 0086.038

  • Book 1: ff. 3r-42r
  • Book 2: ff. 42r-81v (the beginning is wrongly marked on f. 27v: περὶ τοῦ δικανικοῦ εἴδους τῆς ῥητορικῆς βιβλίον δεύτερον, and again correctly on f. 42r: βιβλίον τῆς ῥητορικῆς Ἀριστοτέλους δεύτερον)
  • Book 3: ff. 81v-108v

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Parchment, medium thickness, medium quality, arranged flesh-to-flesh and hair-to-hair with flesh outermost (FHHF).
Extent: Codex: i + 2 + 107 + 1 + i leaves., 230 × 125 mm.
Foliation: The leaves are foliated in pencil in Arabic numerals in the upper right-hand corner, recto.

Collation

The manuscript consists of one single bifolium, 13 quaternions and one bifolium. The outermost folios are reinforced by strips of paper.

  • 1 paper flyleaf
  • Quire 11 ff. 1r-2v
  • Quires 2-148 ff. 3r-106v
  • Quire 154 ff. 107r-110v
  • 1 paper flyleaf

A note on the collation is on the inside back cover.

There are two sequences of quire signatures: original quire signatures in Greek numerals in brown ink on the first recto, lower corner right, from f. 3r (α) to f. 107r (ιδ); early quire signatures following the Greek alphabet, in red ink on the last verso, lower corner right, from f. 10v (α) to f. 106v (ν). A bifolium signature with Latin letters and Arabic numerals is added on the upper corner right in brown ink by a Western hand, from f. 3r (a1) to f. 108r (o2). The signatures of quires 2-4 (a-c) comprise numbers from 1 to 5, the last quire (o) comprises numbers 1 and 2, the remaining from 1 to 4.

Condition

In fair condition; the corners of the book block are worn and rounded, afew stains are present throughout the text block along with some abrasion to inks where there is water staining. f. 109 is cut in half lengthwise and shows purple staining that could possibly be mould.

Layout

ff. 3r-108v: 175-180 × 60-65 mm. 33 lines per page. Pricked in the outer margins. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, type Leroy 32C1 .

Hand(s)

Hand A: the manuscript was written in a mixed minuscule with writing hanging from the line, characterized by enlargements of the letters with a circular base element (epsilon, delta, omicron, sigma, phi, omega), enlarged kappa traced in three strokes, alpha with narrow eyelet and stretched downwards. The writing appears regular and tidy, more loose in the last folios.

Lemmata written in red ink by Demetrios Chalkondyles (ca. 1424 - ca. 1511) (RGK I, 105): e.g. ff. 3v, 6v, 7r, 14r, 52r, 60v, 61v, etc.

Occasional annotations by an additional Hand C, e.g. on ff. 3r, 5r, 6r, etc.

Annotations by an additional Hand D, e.g. on ff. 7v, 8r, 8v, 14v, etc.

Decoration

Small headpiece outlined in by the copyist in brown in on f. 27v wrongly marking the second book.

Simple friezes on f. 27v along with the headpiece, and on f. 42r at the beginning of book 2.

Thick red-ink initial on f. 3r; initials in brown ink on ff. 27v, 42r and 81v.

Additions

  • f. 1r: title ‘Aristotelis Rhetorica ad’ by the same hand as the note of possession on f. 108v; on the upper margin ‘31’ and the classmark.
  • f. 42r: a reader has annotated the beginning of the second book on the left margin as ‘Γ’ (i.e. the third) because of the erroneous indication on f. 27v (cf. Kassel 1971, Der Text der aristotelischen Rhetorik , p. 50).
  • ff. 72r and 74r-74v: annotations in Latin.
  • f. 108v: note of possession ‘Antonoij Seripandi ex Iani Parrhasij testamento’.
  • f. 109v: a note on the number of folios of the manuscript repeated three times by three different hand: ‘εἰσὶ τὰ φύλλα τούτου τοῦ βιβλίου ἑκατὸν ὀκτώ’

Binding

Rebound by Douglas Cockerell and Son (Grantchester) in July 1969; the title and the classmark are tooled on the spine. The classmark and the title (‘Aristot. Rhetoric M. S.’) of the 18th century binding are glued on the inside of the front cover.

239 × 134 × 41 mm.

History

Origin: The paleographical characteristics suggest that the manuscript was copied between the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century. The oblong format would suggest that it came from southern Italy echoing Latin manuscripts of the area, but from a palaeographical point of view the scribal origin could be ; Constantinopole (cf. Prato 1991, I manoscritti greci dei secoli XIII e XIV: note paleografiche, p. 136).

Provenance and Acquisition

The manuscript was owned by the Neapolitan humanist Antonio Seripando (1476-1531) , as stated in the note on f. 108v: ‘Antonij Seripandi ex Jani Parrhasii testamento’. Seripando inherited the library of the humanist Aulus Janus Parrhasius (1470-1522) .

At Seripando’s death, his books passed on to his brother, Cardinal Girolamo Seripando (1493-1563) .

Bequeathed by Girolamo Seripando to the Augustinian convent of San Giovanni a Carbonara in Naples. Before being declared a 'Royal Library' by King Ferdinand IV of Naples in 1792, the convent library was predated on several occasions and in some instances manuscripts and books were sold by the monks themselves.

A certain date of accession is not known, however the manuscript was probably acquired during the librarianship of John Laughton (d. 1712) (1689-1712).

Additional Information

Record Sources

Description (2019) draws on A catalogue of the Manuscripts preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, vol. 2, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1857, p. 481 and J. Wiesner's record in P. Moraux, Aristoteles Graecus, Walter De Gruyter, Berlin-New York, 1976, pp. 103-104.

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.

Bibliography

    A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the library of the University of Cambridge, (Cambridge, 2, Cambridge University Press, 1857) Inventaire des manuscrits grecs d'Aristote: et de ses commentateurs: contribution à l'histoire du texte d'Aristote, Wartelle, André (Paris, Société d'édition Les belles lettres, 1963) Le scoperte a Bobbio nel 1493: vicende di codici e fortuna di testi Italia Medioevale e Umanistica, Ferrari, Mirella (13, 139-180, 1970) Die Textgeschichte der Pseudo-Aristotelischen Schrift Peri Atomōn Grammōn: ein kodikologisch- kulturgeschichtlicher Beitrag zur Klärung der Überlieferungsverhältnisse im Corpus Aristotelicum, Harlfinger, Dieter (Amsterdan, Hakkert, 1971) Text der aristotelischen Rhetorik, Kassel, R. (Berlin; New York, De Gruyter, 1971) Griechische Schreiber der Renaissance Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici, Wiesner, J.Victor, U. (n.s. 8-9, 51-66, 1971) Aristoteles Graecus: die griechischen Manuskripte des Aristoteles, Moraux, Paul (Berlin, De Gruyter, 1976) Inventaire des manuscrits grecs d'Aristote et de ses commentateurs: contribution à l'histoire du texte d'Aristote. Supplément, Argyropoulou, Rōxanē D.Karas, Giannēs (Paris, Belles Lettres, 1980) Cambridge University Library: a history. [1], From the beginnings to the Copyright Act of Queen Anne, Oates, J. C. T. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986) History of Aristotle's Rhetoric: with a bibliography of early printings, Brandes, P. D. (Metuchen ; London, Scarecrow, 1989) I manoscritti greci dei secoli XIII e XIV: note paleografiche Paleografia e codicologia greca (Atti del II Colloquio internazionale Berlino-Wolfenbüttel, 17-20 ottobre 1983), Prato, Giancarlo (Alessandria, 131-149, Edizioni dell'Orso, 1991) La tradition manuscrite de la Rhétorique à Alexandre: prolégomènes à une nouvelle édition critique Revue d'Histoire des Textes, Chiron, Pierre (17-69, 2001)

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The Polonsky Foundation

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