Georgics ; Aeneid ; and other Latin verse : [manuscript]
Creator
Virgil
Contributor
Virgil. Georgica Virgil Aeneis Morris, William, 1834-1896, former owner Cockerell, Sydney Carlyle, Sir, 1867-1962, former owner Bennett, Richard, 1849-1930, former owner Winans, Ross, 1850-1912, former owner Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Manuscript. HM 1036
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Description
f. 1. [List of noble and plebian Roman families]. Incipit: Familię Nobiles Romanorum, Hostilii, Iunii ex quibus Brutus, Vallerii. Explicit: Terrentii, Aurelii, Porcii. Latin. Note added in a later cursive hand. f. 1. Vita Livii. Incipit: Titus Livius auctor presentis operis hystoriographus. Explicit: Et hodie patavii cernitur eius saxeus tumulus in monasterio sancte Iustine cum huiuscemodi saxo incisis litteris. Latin. E. Pellegrin, ed., "Notes sur quelques manuscrits de textes classiques latins conservés à la Bibliothèque Vaticane," Revue d'Histoire des Textes 1 (1971) 190 with proof offered by the epigraphic inscription on Livy's tomb "in the monastery of St. Giustina in Padua." Added in the same hand as the first text. f. 1. [Jerome] Epistula 53 ad Paulinum. Incipit: Ad Titum Livium lacteo eloquentie fonte manantem [sic]. Explicit: ut urbem tantam ingressi aliud extra urbem quererent. Rubric: Idem in prologo genesis. Latin. Excerpt from Jerome, Epistula 53 ad Paulinum. I. Hilberg, ed., S. Hieronymi Epistulae. CSEL 54 (Vienna 1910) 443-44. Added in the same hand as the first two texts. f. 1. [Giovanni Antonio Porcelli Pandoni?] [Descriptio gratiarum per porcelium Vatem Romanum Poem]. Incipit: Sunt nudę carites niveo de marmore at illas/ Diva columna suis edibus intus habet. Explicit: Inde aliter cecus placida sub matre cupido/ Inde voluptates inde alimenta dei. Rubric: Descriptio gratiarum per porcelium Vatem Romanum. Latin. Same poem in Vatican, Pal. lat. 907, f. 103v, in 10 verses; here in 12 verses attributed to Giovanni Antonio Porcelli Pandoni (ca. 1405-after January 1485), protégé of Pius II. Added in a humanistic hand. f. 1v. [Servius] [Mauri Servii Honorati Gamatici [?] In tria Virgilii opera expositio incipit et Primo In Bucolica]. Incipit: Bucolica ut ferunt inde dicta a custodia boum. Explicit: fluctu tam littora. Necque saxosas inter decurrunt flumina valles. Rubric: Mauri Servii Honorati Gamatici [?] In tria Virgilii opera expositio incipit et Primo In Bucolica. Latin. Other creator(s): Commentarii in Vergilii Bucolica et Georgica. G. Thilo, ed., Servii grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii Bucolica et Georgica Commentarii (Leipzig 1887) 1-4. Added in a cursive hand, s. XVI. ff. 2-37v. [Vergil] [Georgics]. Incipit: Quid faciat letas segetes quo sidere terram. Explicit: Corporaque ipsa bovum frondoso desere luco [erased catchword:] Post ubi//. Rubric: Publii maronis vergilii Georgicorum liber primus. Latin. R. A. B. Mynors, ed., P. Vergili Maronis opera (Oxford 1969) 29-100, breaking defectively in 4, 543. Here preceded by the Pseudo Ovidian verses, " Versus ovidii super libro Gergicorum [sic] virgilii primo, Quid faciat letas segetes que sidera servet . . . Et docuit messes cum magno fedore [sic] reddi," edited in A. Riese, ed., Anthologia latina (Leipzig 1894-1906) n. 2. ff. 38-204. [Vergil] [Aeneid]. Incipit: Arma virumque cano troie qui primus ab horis. Explicit: Vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbras. Latin. Mynors, 103-422, with 2 leaves missing after f. 104, containing Book 6, 1-105. The entire text is preceded by an Argumentum generale, " Primum habet libicam veniant ut troes in urbem . . . Ultimum imponit bello turni nece finem." The books of the Aeneid are preceded by Pseudo Ovidian verses, edited in Anthol. lat., n. 1. f. 204. [Praefatio Aeneidis]. Incipit: Ille ego qui quondam gracili modulatus avena. Explicit: Gratum opus agricolis At nec horrentia martis. Arma virumque cano. Latin. C. Hardie, ed., Vitae Vergilianae Antiquae (Oxford 1966) 16. Although the text constitutes an introduction to the Aeneid, it is nontheless a preface. f. 204r-v. [Vergil] [Aeneid, excerpt]. Incipit: Aut ignibus egro dedere/ Iamque adeo super unus eram cum limina veste. Explicit: Talia iactabam et furiata mente ferebar/ Cum michi se non ante, alia. Latin. Aeneid, 2, 566-589, the episode of the encounter with Helen in burning Troy, supposedly suppressed by Virgil's friends, Tucca and Varius, and thus not copied in the normal sequence on f. 61; here copied straight on after the preceding text, i.e. the Praefatio Aeneidis. f. 204v. [Verses]. Incipit: Nocte pluit tota redeunt spectacula mane. Latin. Five sets of verses: Nocte pluit tota redeunt spectacula mane/ Divisum imperium cum iove cesar habens [2 verses; Anthol. lat., n. 256]; Hos ego versiculos feci tulit alter honorem/ Sic vos non vobis vellera fertis oves/ Sic vos non vobis mellificatis apes [3 verses; Anthol. lat. n. 257; 2 verses added in the margin in a noting hand:] Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves/ Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves; [space] Meonium quisquis romanus nescit homerum . . . Hec grais constant singula trina michi [6 verses; Anthol. lat. n. 674a]; [space] Sus iuvenis serpens casum venere sub unum . . . Hic fremit ille gemit sibilat hic moriens [4 verses; Anthol. lat. n. 160, footnote]. f. 205. [Martial] [Epigrammata]. Incipit: Si memini fuerant tibi quatuor helia dentes. Explicit: Nil istic quod agat tertia tussis habet. Latin. W. Heraeus, ed., M. Valerii Martialis Epigrammaton liber (Leipzig 1929) 15, here n. 1, 19. ff. 205-206. [Verses]. Incipit: Ergone supremis potuit vox improba verbis. Latin. Six sets of verses: Ergone supremis potuit vox improba verbis . . . Laudetur vigeat placeat relegatur ametur [36 verses; Anthol. lat. n. 672]; [space] Mantua me genuit calabri rapuere tenet nunc . . . [12 distichs with epitaphs of Vergil, Anthol. lat. nn. 506 bis-516, 518; followed straight on by:] Cedite romani scriptores cedite grai/ Nescio quid maius nascitur yliade [2 verses; Propertius, Elegiae, 3, 32, 65-66; Anthol. lat. n. 264]; Defensor patrie iuvenum fortissimus ethor [sic] . . . Condidit et merens hac tumulavit humo [10 verses; Anthol. lat. n. 631]; Hic iacet arpinas manibus tumulatus amici . . . Tullius eternis vulneribus lacerat [6 verses; Anthol. lat. n. 603]; Corpus in hoc tumulo magni ciceronis humatum . . . Suppliciisque [sic] datis prestiti incolumen [6 verses; Anthol. lat. n. 604]. f. 206v. [Carmen in honorem Pii secundi papae]. Incipit: Quid miser invidia Martini tempora carpis. Explicit: Et sua Pius nostris secula quisque probet. Latin. Twenty-eight verses added in a humanistic hand copied in palimpsest over as many as 3 erased texts: 2 short prose pieces and an epitaph (see next text). f. 206v. [Epitaph of Bolesława Chrobrego (992-1025)]. Incipit: Hic iacet in tumba princeps generosa columba/ Cabri tu es dictus sis in evum benedictus. Explicit: Propter Luctamen sit tibi salus amen. Latin. Epitaph of Bolesławła Chrobrego (992-1025): one of the underlying texts on the palimpsested leaf that contains the preceding poem in honor of Pius II (?) on its surface. f. 207r-v. [Aulus Gellius]. [Noctes Atticae]. Incipit: Reprehendit higinus virgilium correcturumque eum fuisse putavit quod in libro vi scriptum est. Explicit: de pirrho importune missus est quem virgilius procul dubio exempturus inquit. Rubric: Augelius [sic] notium acticarum libro 9 foliis 115. Latin. P. K. Marshall, ed., A. Gellii Noctes Atticae (Oxford 1968) 1:318-20, here 10, 16. Medical recipe added on f. 207v in a noting hand. Title from printed catalog. Support: Parchment. Script: Gothic. Layout: Collation beginning with f. 2: 1-2⁸ 3-4¹⁰(through f. 37) 5-12⁸ 13⁸(-4, 5 after f. 104) 14-17⁸ 18⁶ 19-25⁸ 26⁶. Catchwords, some cropped, in the center of the lower margin in the script of the text. 31 long lines, ruled in lead, triple bounding lines on the left, single bounding lines on the right. Decoration: Two miniatures by different artists: that on f. 2 (Georgics), 90 x 85 mm., in a simple blue frame done by the more competent artist, of a peasant ploughing his field with 2 oxen; in the hills behind, a deer and a castle; the 3-line initial beginning the Georgics set in the upper right corner of the miniature; L-shaped border of lush blue, green, dusky pink, lavender and orange acanthus leaves growing out from and around a narrow colored bar, with a putto sitting in the leaves at the top; the whole decorated with gold balls. The second miniature, f. 38 (Aeneid), 140 x 65 mm., enclosed in a frame of the same acanthus border as above and placed in the lower margin, done in a linear fashion with very little modelling, and depicting Aeneas (?) in armor, holding a standard, or an eagle displayed sable, and riding a white horse towards the sea, where 2 galleons are afloat. The 8-line historiated initial beginning the Aeneid, set directly above the miniature, shows the crenellated walls of Troy in flames; border in the same style of acanthus leaves along the inner margin. Other Decoration: Initials for the book divisions of the Georgics and the Aeneid and the initials for the first arguments of the 2 works, usually 14-line (but possibly 18-to 2-line), in white-patterned and self-shaded blue, dusky pink or orange infilled with colored acanthus leaves on painted gold or black grounds, the whole placed on burnished gold grounds and decorated with gold balls. Initials for arguments, 4- to 2-line (that on f. 204, 6-line) in burnished gold with fine blue harping and beading. On ff. 204v-206, 2-line initials alternating red with purple harping and beading or blue with red. Early foliation, s. XVI?, begins at 17 on current f. 2, suggesting the loss of 2 quires, perhaps containing the Bucolics. Assigned Date: s. XV1. Input into Digital Scriptorium by: C. W. Dutschke, 7/31/2012. Cataloged from existing description: C. W. Dutschke with the assistance of R. H. Rouse et al., Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library (San Marino, 1989). Bound by J. Leighton in brown morocco; gilt edges. HM 1036. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
Written in Italy, perhaps in Florence as suggested by the style of the initials, in the first half of the fifteenth century. Belonged to William Morris (1834-96); his bookplate on the front pastedown and cataloguing notes in the hand of Sir Sydney Cockerell tipped in the front of the volume. Morris' manuscripts sold at his death to Richard Bennett; this manuscript among those re-sold by Bennett, Sotheby's, 5 December 1898 n. 1194 to Heppinstal. Purchased by Henry E. Huntington from the Ross C. Winans collection through G. D. Smith in January 1918.
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