Parisinus graecus 2649 – Pr

Previous descriptions: Omont (1888, 18); Jackson (1999/2000, 88); Muratore (2009 vol. 2, 102–3); Speranzi (2015, 281–5); Sandri (2023, 87–8).

Reproductions: Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Family: d²

Siglum: Pr

Shelfmark: Parisinus graecus 2649

Date: End of the 15th century (more exactly, 1492‒1494, see Speranzi 2015, 289)

Format: paper, 206×140 mm, III + 212 ff.

Material: the binding is badly damaged, but the rest of the volume seems to be in good condition.

Binding: 18th century, badly damaged.

Watermarks: crowned eagle, very close to Briquet 91 (Florence 1494 and 1507). It is very difficult to check the watermarks in this manuscript because of the poor condition of the binding.

Scribes: A: 1v, f. 2r upper margin, marginal notes on ff. 2v–3v, 4v–5r, 11r–v, Anonymus VindobonensisAnonymus Vindobonensis; B: ff. 2r–18r, 19v–70r l.18; C: 70r l.18–78r, 80r–172r, Arsenius ApostolisArsenius Apostolis (RGK I 27 = II 38 = III 46); D: ff. 174r–212r, Marcus MusurusMarcus Musurus (RGK I 265 = II 359 = III 433). E: on ff. 139v, 140v, 141v, 156r, 178v, 179v, 182v, 194r–195r, 196r, 197rv, 198v, 200r–201r notes by Ianus LascarisIanus Lascaris (RGK II 197 = III 245). For the identification of the hands see Speranzi (2015, 283–4).

Annotations: on f. Ir a later hand of a librarian wrote ‘codex hic Lascarinus fuit, ut patet ex chirographo quod tegmini inscriptum est. Λ^σ’; on f. 174r the hand of Matthaeus DevarisMatthaeus Devaris wrote ἀδελφὰ δοκεῖ ταῦτα τοῖς Ἐπικτήτου δόγμασι.

1 (2r–172r) Pollux, Onomasticon. No title. Incipit: θεὸς καὶ θεοί (1.5) preceded by a summary. In the upper margin of f. 2r is the subscriptionSubscription (Pollux) (Bethe 1900–1937 vol. 1, 1) added by another hand, the same that wrote the letter to Commodus (Poll. 1.1–2) on f. 1v. Explicit: κόρημα, κιβωτόν, καὶ λήινον (10.192). Contains books 1 (ff. 2r‒26v), 2 (ff. 27r‒47r), 3 (ff. 47r‒57v), 4 (ff. 57v‒71v), 5 (ff. 71v‒78v), 6 (ff. 80r‒95v), 7 (95v‒110r), 8 (110r‒121v), 9 (ff. 121v‒151v), and 10 (ff. 151v‒172r). Ff. 18r l.6–19r were left blank, the text ends at ξυήλην τὴν (1.137) and begins again at ἀήττητοι (1.157); Book 5 ends at ἐνειργασμένα καὶ τὰς μετοχάς    (5.149) on f. 78r l.5, then this folio is blank, as are ff. 78v–79v, after which the words καὶ ὑποψακάζειν λέγουσι (6.20) begin without a book title. The same gaps are in Parisinus graecus 2648Par. gr. 2648 (Pg).

ff. 172v–173r: blank.

f. 173v: the note ‘ἀδελφα δοκεῖ ταῦτα τοῖς Ἐπικτήτου δόγμασιν’

2 (174r–184r) Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, De rebus suis. Title: Μάρκου Ἀντωνίνου ἐκ τῶν καθ’ἑαυτόν. Incipit: ἴδιον ἀνθρώπου φιλεῖν (7.22). Explicit: ὅμως τούτου κατεφρόνησαν (12.34).

3 (184r–192v) <Hero Alexandrinus, Geometrica>. No title. Incipit: καθὼς ἡμᾶς ὁ παλαιὸς διδάσκει λόγος (2.1). Explicit: εἴποις εἴτε σχοινία εἴτε ἄλλο τι τοιοῦτον (17.4) Edited in Heiberg (1903, 172–448).

4 (193r–201v) Cocondrius, De tropis. Title: Κονκοδρίου περὶ τρόπων. Incipit: τρόπος ἐστὶ φράσις ἐκβεβεκυῖα (782.4). Explicit: ἀμφίβολον γὰρ πότερον βοῶν ἢ τῶν βοῶν (798.7). Edited in Rhetores Graeci vol. 8, 783–98.

5 (201v–207r) Manuel Moschopulus, De vocum passionibus. Title: τοῦ σοφωτάτου Ἐμμανουὴλ τοῦ Μοσχοπούλου περὶ τῶν παθημάτων τῶν λέξεων. Edited in Schäfer (1811).

6 (207r–212r) Lesbonax, De figuris. Title: Λεσβώνακτος περὶ σχημάτων. Edited in Blank (1988), where this codex has the siglum La.

212v: blank.

The manuscript consists of two codicological units, the first containing the Onomasticon (ff. 1–173), the second Marcus Aurelius, Heron, and three grammatical treatises (see Speranzi 2015, 282). Scribe A, the Anonymus Vindobonensis, used Laurentianus plut. 56.12Laur. plut. 56.12 (Xd) as the antigraphon for his integrations (the most important of which is the subscription ἰστέον ὅτι τὰ ἐν τοῖς πέντε βιβλίοις: see Bethe 1900–1937 vol. 1, 1). The latter may have been part of the Medici library and also contains some notes in Anonymus’ hand (see Speranzi 2015, 286–7). It is therefore most likely that Pr was written in Florence between 1492 and 1494, before the departure of Lascaris and after the arrival of Marcus Musurus and Arsenius Apostolis from Crete. LascarisIanus Lascaris’ ownership is clearly proven by the presence of his, now lost, monogram Λ^σ, as revealed by the note on f. Ir (see Jackson 1999/2000, 88). The manuscript came into the possession of Cardinal Niccolò RidolfiNiccolò Ridolfi (see Muratore 2009 vol. 1, 102–3) between the years 1527 and 1534. In the hand of Matthaeus Devaris are the list of contents on f. IIr and a note on f. 174r. Ridolfi’s library was then transferred to France by Caterina de’ MediciCaterina de’ Medici in 1558 (see Muratore 2009 vol. 1, 157–173, 313–36). Pr’s text of Pollux is derived from Vaticanus Graecus 2226Vat. gr. 2226 (G), whose marginal notes it also preserves. Pr is also related to Pg, as the aforementioned gaps show. The integrations made by hand A at the beginning of Book 1 are drawn from Laurentianus plut. 56.12Laur. plut. 56.12 (Xd), which belongs to the x family.