Aratea text: Hyginus, De astronomia; Germanicus (excerpts); Cicero (excerpts); Revised Aratus Latinus (excerpts)

Parchment — i + 22 fols. + i — Italy or France — s. XII² / s. XIII^1/4

Script: Praegothica.

Binding waste (fragments): two double leaves used as pastedowns on the front and back boards with flyleaves. Text: Julianus Toletanus, Prognosticon futuri saeculi. Origin: Italy (?), s. XI.

History: Based on the palaeographical evidence the manuscript can be dated to the twelfth century. Viré (1986) suggested a French origin. For an Italian origin or at least provenance speak the fragments written in a 15th-century Italian Rotunda, and the fact that the sequence of texts (and extracts) is reproduced in 15th-century manuscript, Vienna ÖNB, Cod. 3394, which is North Italian, probably Paduan manuscript. — The manuscript was purchased by the Walters Art Gallery in 1947 from E.P. Goldschmidt, cat 44. (1937), no 12; cat 82 (1947), no. 1 (see Faye / Bond).

Selected literature: Blume, Dieter, Mechthild Haffner, and Wolfgang Metzger. Sternbilder des Mittelalters: der gemalte Himmel zwischen Wissenschaft und Phantasie. Vol. I, 1: Text und Katalog der Handschriften. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2012, 193-198. — Faye, C. U., and W. H. Bond. Supplement to the Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. New York: Bibliogr. Soc. America, 1962. — Fitzgerald, Wilma. ‘Nugae Hygianae’. In Essays in Honour of Anton Charles Pegis, edited by Reginald O’Donnell, 193–204. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1974. — Lippincott, Kristen. ‘Between Text and Image. Incident and Accident in the History of Astronomical and Astrological Illustration’. In L’art de La Renaissance Entre Science et Magie, edited by Philippe Morel, 3–34. Rome: Somogy, 2006. — Lippincott, Kristen. Entry in the Saxl Project. — McGurk, Patrick. Catalogue of Astrological and Mythological Illuminated Manuscripts of the Latin Middle Ages: 4. Astrological Manuscripts in Italian Libraries (Other than Rome). Vol. 4. Fritz Saxl. Verzeichnis Astrologischer Und Mythologischer Illustrierter Handschriften Des Lateinischen Mittelalters. London, 1966, pp. XXII-XXIV. — Miner, Dorothy E. ‘Since De Ricci. Western Illuminated Manuscripts Acquired since 1934’. Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 31–32 (1969 1968): 40–123. — Saxl, Fritz. Lectures. Vol. 1. 2 vols. London: Warburg institute, 1957, pp. 103, 108. — Viré, Ghislaine. Informatique et classement des manuscrits: Essai méthodologique sur le de Astronomia d’Hygin. Sources et Instruments. Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres. Université Libre de Bruxelles 8. Brussels: Univ. de Bruxelles, 1986. — Viré, Ghislaine. ‘La transmission du De astronomia d’Hygin jusqu’au XIIIe siècle’. Revue d’histoire des textes 11 (1981): 159–276, esp. 163. — Zucker, Arnaud. ‘Exploring the Relevance of the Star-Positions in the Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts of Hyginus’ De Astronomia’. In Certissima Signa. A Venice Conference on Greek and Latin Astronomical Texts, edited by Filippomaria Pontani, 153–212. Venice: Ca’Foscari, 2017.

1r-18r Hyginus: De astronomia

• (1r-4v) Lib. 1 Etsi te studio gramatice artis inductum … — … eodem perueniant casus.

• (4v-5r) Lib. 2 (openning) Sed quoniam quae nobis de terrae positione dicenda fuerunt … — … cum pisce qui notius uocatur.

• (5r-14r) Lib. 3 Igitur incipiamus a polo boreo protinus discere … — … exoritur cum piscibus et est omnino stellarum XII.

• (14r-18r) Lib. 4 (wihtout the openning and sections 8-11, 13 to the end) In estiuo circulo de quo primum dicere instituimus … — … sic igitur orientibus XII signis reliqua corpora occidere et exoriri uidentur. Skip sections 8-11 on the rotaion of the world together with the fixed stars around the poles, the zodiacal band cut in half by the horizon etc. moving straight to the paranatellonta section 12 (17r-18r).

18r-19r Excerptum de astrologia Duo sunt extremi vertices mundi quos appellant polos … — … usque decurrit accipies. ›Explicit.‹

19r Germanicus: Aratea (vv. 434, 435-436) "Sub geminis prochion fulgentia lumina pandit. Sors sua cuique data semel assignata tuentur. Imoti loca nec longo mutatuntur in euo."

19r Cicero: Aratea (vv. 222-226) "Antecanem graio prochion qui nomine fertur. Hec sunt quae transes nocturno tempore signa. Legitumo cernes celi substancium. Eternumque uolens mundi pernoscere motum. Namque per bis sex signorum labier orbem."

19r-20r Hyginus: On the planets based partly on De astronomia, Lib. 2, cap. XLII. Septem sunt quae uocantur erratice quorum prima est saturni nomine pheton … — … absides altissima in capricorno. On the lower margin of f. 19r: hic celo ornatur trahitur noctemque diemque.

20r Cicero: Aratea (vv. 227-232) Quinque solent stelle simili ratione notari … — … He faciunt magnos longinqui temporis annos.

20r Germanicus: Aratea (vv. 437-445) ›Aratus‹ [E] t stellae via diuersa lege feruntur … — … tempus et ipse labor, patiantur facta [!] docebit.

20v Excerpt on Praesepis signa, probably taken from the Revised Aratus Latinus Sidera quae gentiles presepe et asinos uocauerunt … — … una cum presepi suo inter astra collocauerint. Preceding the text an illustration of Presepe on the lower margin of f. 20r.

20v Si uis scire in quo anno cicli stella saturni sit fac hos modo … — … et quodcumque signum est in illo est saturnus.

20v Si uis scire quo signo stella iouis sit fac hoc modo … — … quando conputes et in eo signo iupiter erit.

21r Si uis scire quod stella mercurii sit fac hoc modo … — … et inuenies signum in quo ille est positus.

21r Excerpt from the Revised Aratus Latinus (Luna) Luna bigam habere dicitur siue propter uelocitatem … — … certissima habetur aurarum. Preceding the text an illustration of Luna, personificated as a woman on a biga carrage on the lower margin of f. 20v.

21v Excerpt from the Revised Aratus Latinus (Sol) with omissions Sol dum per trecentos sexaginta et V dies et quadrantem zodiaci ambitum lustret … — … si pallidus in nigras nubes occidat aquilonem significat. On f. 21r space left on the lower text field probably for illustration of the Sol.

21v-22r Hyginus: Excerpt from De astronomia, Lib. 4, cap. 3 (on the path of the sun on the zodiac, as on f. 15v) Sol transiens ab ariete ad chelas efficit sex mensium … — … alter per lucem exigat.

22r Cicero: Excerpt from De inventione (definitions of virtus, prudentia, memoria, intelligentia etc.) Virtus est animi habius naturae … — … Amicitia est uoluntas erga aliquem rerum bonarum illius ipsius causa, quem diligit, cum eius pari voluntate.

22v Pen trials.

Catalogued by: Ivana Dobcheva