Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 7886

Germanicus: Aratea; Aratus Latinus

Aratea text: Germanicus, Aratea; Scholia Basileensia; Aratus Latinus

Parchment — iii + 36 + i(?) ff. fols. — 250 × 206 mm — Corbie — s. IX²

Support: I⁸ (ff. 1-8), II⁶ (ff. 9-14), III² (ff. 15-16), IV⁸ (ff. 17-24), V⁸ (ff. 25-32), VI4 (ff. 33-36). Quire marks, 8v-I, 16v-"II",24v-"III", 32v-"IIII".Previous foliation on ff. 15-35 in arabic numerals (1-21)

Script: Caroline minuscule

Hands: Several similar hands working, changing oft withing the first folios (Sessions by a more experienced scribe giving the lead for less elegant hands (?). The most of the Aratus Latinus written by one hand. Initial at the beginning of paragraphs. Greek words kept in greek characters; OR ligature; e-caudata; final m usually abbreviated; oms for omnes; quod - qd; et for et, but not exclusively; RT ligarute; t[ur] abbreviation; p[ro] abbreviation; sometimes an open A. Bishop (Script of Corbie, p. 11) notes that the same scribe who wrote leading sections in Paris lat. 7886, took part also in writing atleast eleven more Corbie MS, and in six of them was again the scribe who gave a lead.

Binding: Modern 19th c. binding.

History: Supposed to be from Corbie by Bischoff based on codicological features. See Bischoff "Hadoard und die Klassiker-Handschriften aus Corbie", in Mittelalterliche Studien I (Stuttgart, 1966), p. 49. — The manuscript was most probably in the 11th c. in the vicinity of Strasbourg as it was used to correct Bern, Bürgerbibliothek MS 88. Sees E. S. Lott, The textual Tradition of the Aratea, RHT 11 (1981): 147-158, (p. 150). — Before arriving in the BnF belonged to the collection of Claude Dupuy - note on the f.1r: "Claudii Puteani".

Selected bibliography:B. Bischoff, Hadoardus and the Manuscripts of Classical Authors from Corbie, in Didaskaliae. Studies in Honor of Anselm M. Albareda, ed. by S. Prete, New York 1961, pp. 41-57 [ = id., Hadoard und die Klassikerhandschriften aus Corbie, in id., Mittelalterliche Studien, vol. I, Stuttgart 1966, pp. 49-63] — T. A. M. Bishop, The script of Corbie: a Criterion. Amsterdam 1972, in: Varia Codicologica, Essays presented to G. I. Lieftinck, pp. 9-16. — D. Ganz, Corbie in the Carolingian Renaissance, Sigmaringen: Thorbecke, 1990, pp. 153-4. — M. B. Olsen, "Chronique des manuscrits classiques latins (IXe-XIIe s.), II," Revue d'Histoire des Textes, 24 (1994): 199-249 (p. 215). — M. Haffner, Ein antiker Sternbilderzyklus und seine Tradierung in Handschriften vom frühen Mittelalter bis zum Humanismus, Hildesheim: Olms, 1997.

1ra-14ra Germanicus: Aratea ›Claudii caesatis arati phoenomena‹

(1ra-12vb) vv. 1-583 Ad ioue principium magno deduxit aratus … — … quodsine nube caua solis uia forte latebit.

(1r-11v) Scholia Basileensia Queritur quare ab ioue coepit et non a musis ut homerus … — … et ostendisse lacte mirate effusum est circuli albi species.

(12vb-14ra) Fragment IV Iuppiter est illo leto magis hic ubi solis … — … Haec eadem tibi signa dabunt non inrita pisces. ›Claudii caesaris arati phomena explicit. Arati genus‹

14ra Calendar/ computus verse Bissena mensium uertigine uoluitur annis … — … Per nonas idus decurrens atque kalendas. Ed. Baker and Lapidge 1995, p. 384.

14ra-14vb Collatio Alexandri et Dindimi

(14ra) Alcuin. Dedicatory poem to Charlemagne Gens bragmanna quidem miris quae moribus extit … — … Albinus misit munera parua tuus. Munk Olsen, Auteurs classiques II, p. 377.

(14ra-14vb) Two letters between Alexander and Dindimi, the latter unfinished: ›Alexandri regis macedonum et Dindimi regis bracmanorum de philosophia per litteras facta conlatio‹ Sepe ad aura [e]s meas fando peruenit rationem uitae … — … Nec gelidos aquarum cursus[…]

D. J. A. Ross, "A Check-list of MSS of Three Alexander Texts: The Julius Valerius Epitome, the Epistola ad Aristotelem and the Collatio cum Dindimo" Scriptorium 10 (1956): 127-132. G. Cary "A Note on the Medieval History of the Collatio Alexandri cum Dindimo," Classica et Mediaevalia, 15 (1954): 124-9. T. Pritchard, "The Collatio Alexandri et Dindimi: A Revised Text," Classica et Mediaevalia 46 (1995): 255-283 (not using this manuscript). M- Steinmann, "Die Collatio Alexandri et Dindimi – eine annotierte Arbeitsbibliographie," Göttinger Forum für Altertumswissenschaft 4 (2001) 51-84

15ra-36rb Aratus Latinus

(15ra-16rb) AL, I Arati ea quae uidentur ›Arati ea quae uidentur‹ Ostensionem quoque de quibus uidentur oportet fieri … — … ut nihil te latere possit quorum ab eo dicta sunt.

(16rb) AL, II (Eratosthenis "De circa exornatione stellarum et ethymologia de quibus videntur", no division from the previous text) eratostenis de circa exornatione stellarum ethimologia de quibus uidentur. Haec autem sunt ad aquilonem septentrio maior … — … laepus nauis fluuius pisces V stellae.

(16rb-16va) AL, II A (Ipparchus "De magnitudine et positione <in>errantium stellarum", no division from the previous text) ipparcus de magnitudine et positione errantium stellarum. Constat autem in aquilonio semisphaerio haec … — … aquilo ac ries taurus gemini.

(16va-17rb) AL, III (no division from the previous text) quibus arati uidentur, quedam sunt secundum caeli stellarum … — … aliud quia simili modo in id ipsum suggerunt.

(17rb-18ra) AL, Alia descriptio praefationis Subtus terra ubi adornantur VII nauis centaurus … — … occidit uero et serpentarius usque ad genua.

(18ra) AL, II B (Eratosthenes de exornatione et proprietate sermonum quibus uidentur et Ipparchi de magnitudine […] A [E] ratosthenes de exornatione et proprietate sermonum quibus uidentur et ipparchi de magnitudine de inerrrantium stellarum secundum qualiter sunt circumuenientia secundum ipparchum et eratosthenen septentrio maior … — … nec non sagittarium pisces cetus orionem.

(18ra-b) AL, IV Descriptio duorum semispheriorum Habet autem ponderetotum medio terrae terranum … — … ipsa enim in medio iacet duobus semispheriis.

(18rb-18va) AL, V Arati genus ›Arati genus‹ Aratus patris quidem est athinodori matris autem dolithophile … — … Repperimus autem illum et super. ›Explicit‹ Rest of the folio left blank.

(19ra) AL, VI Prefacio Arati ›Preclara ostensio sacri uoluminis‹ Nam quecum mihi caelestem propinaret ad miniculum … — … Tu autem cum sapia[enti] hic intelliges.

(19ra-20va) AL, VII Involutio sphaerae (19ra-20va) AL, VII.1 Hic est stellarum ordo utrorumque circulorum septentriones duplices … — … per septenarium numerum siguram indicant circulorum. (20va) AL, VII.2 Septem circuli erratici quorum caelestes stellas haec sunt … — … et mortalis conscientia ridet et mundus inperitus. ›Explicit.‹

(20va-36rb) AL, VIII ›Incipit‹ An ioue incipimus quem umquam uiri relinqui … — … in annum umquam reliquimus continentem in caelos signum. ›Arati quae uidentur.‹

36rb-36vb Three calendar/ computus verses Appear in many Mss including in Cologne Dombibliothek, MS 186, ff. 119r-v (the last poem has a different ending).

(36rb) Primus romanas ordinis iane kalendas … — … mensis tumque december ad est.

(36rb) ›Iterum uersus de dierum singulorum mensium‹ Dira patet iani romanis ianua bellis … — … Vnde [de] cember amat te genialis hiems.

(36va) ›Tetrasticon autenticum de singulis mensibus‹ Hic iani mensis sacer est … — … quem medio cancri sydera letauiret. … Unfinished originally the remaining verses added by a later (18th c. hand?) exp. "Nunc tibi cum domino ludere verna licet".

Catalogued by: Ivana Dobcheva

(last change: 2018-05-31)

How to quote: Ivana Dobcheva, 'Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS lat. 7886 - Aratea Digital ' (https://github.com/ivanadob/aratea-data/blob/master/data/descriptions/desc__paris_bnf_lat_7886.xml last update: 2018-05-31).