Parisinus graecus 2648 – Pg

Previous descriptions: Omont (1888, 18); Turyn (1957, 40); Muratore (2009 vol. 2, 117–8).

Reproductions: Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Family: d²

Siglum: Pg

Shelfmark: Parisinus graecus 2648

Date: Last quarter of the 15th century

Format: paper, 218×145 mm, 229 ff.

Material: the paper is in a good state of conservation.

Binding: original, in leather. The front cover has a decorated six-pointed star.

Watermarks: Günther (1995, 86) accurately examined the watermarks. In the Pollux’s section there are a letter m with a cross above, i.e. Briquet 8350 (Palermo 1443); a cardinal’s hat, similar to Briquet 3391 (Florence 1491); a bell, i.e. Briquet 3984 (Udine 1435, Venice 1436–1437), which allows us to date the manuscript between 1435 and 1491.

Scribes: there are three hands in the manuscript. A: ff. 1–160r (the Onomasticon section); B: ff. 161r–229v; C: Nicolaus SophianusNicolaus Sophianus (RGK I 318 = II 437 = III 517), who integrated the missing text at the end of f. 17v.

Annotations: –

1 (ff. 1r–160v) Pollux, Onomasticon. Incipit: θεὸς καὶ θεοί (1.5), preceded by a summary of the book. Explicit: κόρημα, κιβωτόν, καὶ λήινον (10.192). It contains books 1 (ff. 1r‒27v), 2 (ff. 27v‒49r), 3 (ff. 49r‒59v), 4 (ff. 59v‒74v), 5 (ff. 74v‒), 6 (ff. ‒96r), 7 (96r‒108r), 8 (108v‒126v), 9 (ff. 127r‒144r), and 10 (ff. 144r‒160r). Ff. 18r–19r were left blank, the text ends at ξυήλην τὴν (1.137) and begins again at ἀήττητοι (1.157), a later hand C wrote from Λακωνικήν (1.137) to τοὺς πολέμους (1.139), but it would seem that he did not finish his work; Book 5 ends at ἐνειργασμένα (5.149) and immediately after that, without any sign of gaps or any book title, begin the words καὶ ὑποψακάζειν λέγουσι (6.20). The same gap can be observed in Parisinus graecus 2649Par. gr. 2649 (Pr).

2 (f. 1r) letter by Matthaeus DevarisMatthaeus Devaris (RGK II 364 = III 440) to Cardinal Niccolò Ridolfi.

f. 160v: blank.

3 (ff. 161r–213r) Euripides, Hecuba. Title: Εὐριπίδου πρῶτον βιβλίον. Incipit: ἥκω νεκρῶν (1). Explicit: στερρὰ γὰρ ἀνάγκη (1295). Preceded by the dramatis personae. In the margins and between lines there are Moschopulean scholia to the tragedy: see Günther (1995, 86). This set of scholia is still unedited; some can be found in Dindorf (1863).

ff. 213v–214r: blank.

4 (215r–229v) Disticha Catonis translated into Greek by Maximus Planudes. Title: Κάτωνος Ῥωμαίου γνῶμαι παρωνε(..)τικαὶ δίστιχοι. ἃς μετήνεγκεν ἐκ τῆς Λατίνων φωνῆς εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα διάλεκτον Μάξιμος μοναχὸς ὁ Πλανούδης. Incipit: ἀναπολήσας ἐγώ (ep. 1). Explicit: σύνδυο ταῦτα τιθεῖσα (4.49). Edited in Ortoleva (1992). The text is accompanied by some glosses.

The manuscript can be dated to the last quarter of the 15th century. It belonged to the library of Cardinal Niccolò RidolfiNiccolò Ridolfi (see Muratore 2009 vol. 2, 117–8) and was then transferred to France by Caterina de’ MediciCaterina de’ Medici in 1558 along with his manuscript collection (see Muratore 2009 vol. 1, 313–36). On f. 1 Matthaeus Devaris, the cardinal’s librarian, wrote a letter to him:

Ματθαῖος τῷ δεσπότῃ. εὐπορεῖν τινὸς κτήματος λέγεται οὐχ ὁ ἓν καὶ μόνον ἔχων, ἀλλ’ ὁ πολλαπλάσια κεκτημένος, διόπερ καὶ σοὶ παντοίων βιβλίων κατασκευαζομένῳ βιβλιοθήκην οὐχ ἁπλὰ τὰ βιβλία ἀλλὰ πολλαπλάσια προσήκει κεκτῆσθαι. ἔρρωσο.

Matthaeus to the master. It is said that a man is not rich when he possesses something in a single number, but rather when he possesses it in a multiple number. Therefore, for you who are setting up a library with every kind of book, it is fitting that you should have not just single copies but multiple ones. Be in good health.

Devaris is most likely alluding here to the fact that Ridolfi’s library already contained several copies of Pollux, which can be identified as Parisinus graecus 2649Par. gr. 2649 (Pr), Parisinus graecus 2670Par. gr. 2670 (A), and Parisinus graecus 1868Par. gr. 1868 (Pa). It must be said that the last two offer a better text of Pollux than Pg, which is a descendant of Vaticanus graecus 2226Vat. gr. 2226 (G), whose marginal notes it also preserves. Pg is also related to Pr, as the aforementioned gaps show.