Ambrosianus A 78 sup. – Ab

Previous descriptions: Martini, Bassi (1906, 15).

Reproductions: –

Family: d² / h

Siglum: Ab

Shelfmark: Ambrosianus A 78 sup.

Date: End of the 15th or beginning of the 16th century.

Format: paper, 207×144 mm, II + 223 ff.

Material: the paper is in a good condition, but the book’s spine is damaged.

Binding: original, wood covered in leather.

Watermarks: it is possible to find a watermark of an eagle in a circle throughout the manuscript (e.g. on ff. 3/8, 22/29, 55/56, 85/86, 165/166, 205/206, etc.); unfortunately I could not find it in repertories, but the one that comes closest to it is Briquet 205 (Florence 1514).

Scribes: Pollux’s entire work was copied by Demetrius DamilasDemetrius Damilas (RGK I 93 = II 127 = III 160).

Annotations: on f. Ir an unknown hand wrote Iulij Pollucis onomasticon / codex ... manu : Patavij / emptus 1603; on f. 223v Luca BonfioLuca Bonfio (or Bonfiglio) wrote τοῦ Λουκᾶ τοῦ Βωμφίου καὶ τῶν φίλων ‘[it belongs] to Luca Bonfio and friends’, and again on the rear cover τοῦ Λουκᾶ τοῦ Βωμφίου καὶ τῶν φίλων τῶν σπουδαίων.

1 (1r‒223v) Pollux, Onomasticon. No title. The work itself is preceded by an exhaustive summary of all ten books, covering ff. 1r–15v (see also Laurentianus plut. 58.26Laur. plut. 58.26 and Neapolitanus II D 30Neap. II D 30). On f. 16r Pollux’s work begins, preceded by the Prefatory EpigramPrefatory epigram (Pollux) entitled Πολυδεύκους ἔπη εἰς Κόμωδον τὸν βασιλέα (incipit χρυσοῦ μεταλλεῦ καὶ γεωργὲ σπερμάτων, explicit ἂν εὐσέβειαν τοῖς πόνοις κεραννύεις). Incipit: ὦ παῖ πατρὸς ἀγαθοῦ (1.1). Explicit: κόρημα, κιβωτόν καὶ λήϊνον (10.192). Contains books 1 (ff. 16r‒52r), 2 (ff. 52r‒77v), 3 (ff. 77v‒91r), 4 (ff. 91v‒110v), 5 (ff. 110v‒121v), 6 (ff. 121v‒141v), 7 (ff. 141v‒157r), 8 (ff. 157r‒179v), 9 (ff. 179v‒201v), and 10 (ff. 201v‒223v). Chapter titles and initial letters are rubricated. On f. 223v, at the end of the work, the scribe copied the Closing EpigramClosing epigram (Pollux) in dodecasyllables.

As the two subscriptions on f. 223v and on the rear paste-down indicate, the manuscript belonged to the library of the Paduan clergyman Luca Bonfio (or Bonfiglio). Born in Padua in 1470 to a noble family who had been forced to flee from Bologna, he died in the same place in 1540 after spending most of his life between Padua and Venice, where his friend and protector Pietro Bembo (1470–1547) lived; he was then buried in the church of Santa Giustina (for his life see DBI 12.25–6). The origin of this manuscript is unclear, but since it shares some conjunctive errors with Laurentianus plut. 58.26Laur. plut. 58.26 (Fz), it is possible that Demetrius Damilas copied it from this witness, which belonged to Alexius CeladenusAlexius Celadenus, in the third quarter of the 15th century in Rome (on the library and life of Celadenus, see Speranzi 2011, 114–5), where Demetrius worked as a copyist and printer. Ab was then sold in Padua in 1603 to the Ambrosiana Library of Milan in 1603 (which would open to the public in 1609), along with four other manuscripts belonging to Bonfio’s library: Ambr. B 12 sup.Ambr. B 12 sup., Ambr. E 39 sup.Ambr. E 39 sup., Ambr. L 116 sup.Ambr. L 116 sup., and Ambr. A 200 inf.Ambr. A 200 inf. (see Giacomelli 2020, 216).