Perusinus I 108 – Pe

Previous descriptions: Proietti (2016, 183–90). See also Hoffmann (1982, 730–45); Hoffmann (1983, 129–30).

Reproductions: –

Family: d²

Siglum: Pe

Shelfmark: Perusinus I 108

Date: Third quarter of the 15th century

Format: paper, 210×144 mm, III+356 ff.

Material: in a good state of conservation.

Binding: original leather-covered wood. The binding was most probably made in Crete in the workshop of Michael Apostolis in Crete, see Hoffmann (1982, 730–5).

Watermarks: the watermarks, examined in detail in Proietti (2016, 184–5), suggest a dating to the third quarter of the 15th century.

Scribes: A: ff. 1r–24v; B: ff. 25r–80v, 121r–124r l. 13; C: ff. 137r–334v Anonymus MA StefecAnonymus MA Stefec, identification in Proietti (2016, 185), on the hand see Stefec (2014, 197); D: ff. 335r–350v Michael ApostolisMichael Apostolis (RGK I 278 = II 379 = III 454), identification in Young (1953, 18); E: ff. 351r–354v, Theodorus GazesTheodorus Gazes (RGK I 128 = II 167 = III 211).

Annotations: –

1 (ff. 1r‒120r). Pollux, Onomasticon. Title: ἀρχὴ τοῦ Πολυδεύκους βιβλίων ὀνομαστικῶν. Incipit: ὦ παῖ πατρὸς ἀγαθοῦ (1.1). Explicit: ἀριστεία καὶ ἐπινίκια (6.186). It contains books 1 (ff. 1r‒36v), 2 (ff. 36v‒60v), 3 (ff. 60v‒73r), 4 (ff. 73r–89v), 5 (ff. 89v‒101r), and 6 (ff. 101v‒120r). The work is not mutilated, but was left incomplete. There is also a gap after κεφαλαλγία (4.184), where almost half of. 89r was left blank. Books 4 resumes with ἐρεῖς δὲ μαῖα (4.208) and continues to the end; f. 120v is blank.

2 (ff. 121r–143r) Treatises on metrics. (ff. 121r–130r) <Appendix Dionysiaca>, edited in Consbruch (1971, 307–18.6); (ff. 137r) <Helias Monachus, Liber de metris>, edited in Studemund (1886, 173.15–174); (ff. 137r–138r) <Commentarii de hexametro>, edited in Consbruch (1971, 352.7–25); (138r) <Anonymi ambrosiani de re metrica>, edited in Studemund (1886, 216–7); (138r–139v) <Helias Monachus, Liber de metris, appendix 2>, edited in Studemund (1886, 184); (139r–140r) <Dionysii qui fertur tractatus de pedibus>, edited in Studemund (1886, 161.10–162); (140r–142r); <Helias Monachus, Liber de metris>, edited in Studemund (1886, 171.28–172.11, 175–176.21); (142r–143r) <Exegesis in Hephaestionis Enchiridion> edited in Studemund (1886, 71–72.2).

3 (ff. 144r–207v) Xenophon, Cyropaedia. From the beginning up to 3.3.58.

4 (ff. 271r–334v) Xenophon, Anabasis. From the beginning up to 4.8.18.    

5 (ff. 208r–268v) Xenophon, Anabasis 4.8.18–7.8.26.

6 (ff. 269r–270bisv) Theognis, Elegiae 1.1–145. Edited in Young (1971). See also Ferreri (2021, 89–90), with further bibliography, and Aleotti (2022).

7 (ff. 335r–350v) Alphabetical lexicon on syntax. Title: ἀρχὴ σὺν θεῷ τῶν ἁπλῶν συντάξεων τῶν ῥημάτων κατὰ ἀλφάβητον ἤτοι κατὰ στοιχεῖον. Incipit: ἀγάλλομαι δοτικῇ. Explicit: ὡραΐζω αἰτιατικῇ.

7 (ff. 351r–345r) [Aristoteles], Epistulae. Edited in Hercher (1873, 172–4).

The manuscript was produced in the atelier of Michael Apostolis in Crete (see Binding). As suggested by Ferreri (2021, 90), it can be dated between 1465 and 1478, a dating confirmed by the examination of the watermarks. Francesco MaturanzioFrancesco Maturanzio (ca. 1443–1518; on his life see DBI 72.338–41 and Proietti 2016, 4–17), a humanist from Perugia, owned the manuscript and probably acquired it during his journey to Greece, when he spent ten days in Crete in 1473, so it is possible that the manuscript was already completed in 1473. Vaticanus Palatinus graecus 149Vat. Pal. gr. 149 (Vp), copied in Crete by Arsenius Apostolis, Michael’s son, in the last years of the 15th century, certainly after 1491, probably derives indirectly from Pe; in Vp there are the same gaps as in Pe and many of the same errors, but Arsenius could not have used the latter manuscript, since it was then in the possession of Maturanzio. We must therefore assume the existence of an intermediary witness between the two manuscripts.