Marcianus graecus Z 520 (= 774) – V / Xc

Previous descriptions: Mioni (1985, 389‒90).

Reproductions: –

Family: c / x

Siglum: V / Xc

Shelfmark: Marcianus graecus Z 520

Date: Middle of the 15th century

Format: paper, 220×145 mm, I+235 ff.

Material: good state of conservation.

Binding: not original.

Watermarks: ff. 20/21, a star, similar to Briquet 6024 (Augsburg 1423); ff. 153/154, an anvil with a cross, Briquet 5955 (Augsburg 1418, Ratisbona 1459), the same watermark as in Marcianus graecus Z 529Marc. gr. Z 529 (Xa); ff. 190/193, a dragon, similar to Briquet 2643 (Geneva 1443).

Scribes: A: ff. Iv‒18v, 188r‒197v Leo AtrapesLeo Atrapes (RGK II 328 = III 383); B: ff. 25r‒65r, 81r‒183v; C: 65v‒78v; D: f. 79v; E: 204r‒234v.

Annotations: –

1 (f. Iv) Theodorus Prodromus, eight epigrams on Gregorius of Nazianzus. Title: τοῦ Θεοδώρου τοῦ Προδρόμου τετραστιχὰ ἰαμβεῖα καὶ ἡρῶα εἰς τὸν Θεολόγον. Edited in Sajdak (1914, 259–63, nos. 1, 2, 9, 13, 15, 18, 19, 21).

2 (ff. 1r‒18v) Plato, Socratis apologia. Title: Σωκράτους ἀπολογία.

ff. 19r‒24v: blank.

3 (ff. 25r‒78v) Cleomedes, De motu circulari corporum caelestium. Title: Κλεομήδους κυκλικῆς θεωρίας. Incipit: κόσμος ἐστὶ σύστημα. Explicit: ἐκ τῶν ποσειδονίου εἴληπται. In the margins are some drawings of geometrical figures and several short scholia. Edited in Todd (1990).

f. 79r: blank.

4 (f. 79v) some moral aphorisms with many deletions and rewritings.

f. 80: blank (only a pencil exercise in its verso).

5 (ff. 81r‒183v) Pollux, Onomasticon. Title: Ἰούλιος Πολυδεύκης Κομόδῳ Καίσαρι χαίρειν. Πολυδεύκους Ὀνομαστικῶν πρῶτον. Incipit: ὦ παῖ πατρὸς ἀγαθοῦ (1.1). Contains books 1 (ff. 81r‒116v), 2 (ff. 116v‒149v), 3 (ff. 150r‒172r), and 4 (ff. 172r‒183v), and the letters to Commodus from books 5 and 8 (f. 183v).

ff. 184r‒187v: blank

6 (ff. 188r‒197v) <Plutarchus, Moralia>. No title. (ff. 188r‒189r) De virtute et vitio, (ff. 189r‒190v) An virtus doceri possit, (ff. 190v‒195v) De amore prolis, (ff. 195v‒197v) De invidia et odio.

ff. 198r‒203v: blank.

7 (f. 204r‒v) Two poems on the Mother of God. (f. 204r) Incipit: τρεῖς ἑκατοντάδες. Explicit: θεοῦ τὸ κρεῖττον τοῦ βροτοῦ τὸ δεύτερον. (f. 204r‒v) Incipit: ἄσπορον ἁγνοτάτην. Explicit: ὥριον ὡραιόπαιδα.

8 (f. 204v) Five epigrams on death: AP 10.69, 10.85, 10.88, 10.105 and 7.342.

9 (ff. 205r‒209r) Phocylides, Sententiae. Edited in Young (1971).

10 (ff. 209r‒210v) Pythagoras, Versus aurei. Edited in Young (1971).

11 (ff. 210v‒235v) Theognides, Elegiae. Edited in Young (1971). In the margins of ff. 210v–211r were added AP 9.27, 10.27, 9.48, 9.53, and 10.43, followed by the names of the Egyptian months. In the margins of ff. 213v–214r are excerpts from <Epictetus, Encheiridion> (33.9, 33.12, 5b.1, 27.1 and 48b.2), edited in Boter (2007).

The manuscript was written in the middle of the 15th century, likely in the second quarter, according to the watermarks. It belonged to BessarionBessarion’s library, although it is not mentioned in the cardinal’s munus, but in the inventory of 1474 (see Labowsky 1979, 183) as number 33 of trunk B, ‘Phocilidis, Theognidis, Polucis et alia quaedam, in papyris’. This codex was donated by Bessarion with his entire library by Bessarion to the Republic of Venice, and it is part of the main collection of the Biblioteca Marciana (or Bibliotheca sancti Marci); see Labowski (1979, 3–38) and M. Zorzi (1987). Concerning the text of Pollux, V / Xc belongs to c, the third family of Bethe, but shares the same antigraphon as Parisinus graecus 2670Par. gr. 2670 (A) at the beginning of Book 1, whereas later it depends on a witness belonging to the x group, hence the appropriate change of siglum.