Pseudo-Phalaris (& others), Epistolae

Pseudo-Phalaris (& others), Epistolae

Contents

1. ff. 1r-52r Pseudo-Phalaris, Epistolae

f. 1r FRANCISCI ARRETINI PHALARIDIS AGRIGENTINI EPISTOLARUM TRADUCTIO AD ILLUSTREM PRINCIPEM MALATES TAM NOVELLUM DE MALATESTIS INCIPIT PROHEMIUM. VELLEM MALATESTA NOVEL le princeps ... f. 52r ... qui miserit laudem consecuturam. FINIS.

2. ff. 52r-53v Franciscus Aretinus, Elegia

f. 52r FRANCISCI ARRETINI ELEGIA. IN QUA MUSAM ALLOQUITVR ROGATQUE. UT LIBELLUM SUUM EPISTOLARUM DIOGENIS REDDAT PIO SECUNDO PONTIFICI MAXIMO INCIPIT FOELICITER. Ad Vaticani praeclara palatia Petri vade precor ... f. 53v Candidus exuperes serius astra pie.

3. ff. 53v-76v Pseudo-Diogenes Sinopensis, Epistolae

f. 53v AD SANCTISSIMUM ET CLEMENTISSIMUM PATREM ET DOMINUM PIUM SECVNDUM PONTIFICEM MAXIMUM IN DIOGENES PHILOSOPHI EPISTOLAS FRANCISCI ARRETINI PRAEFATIO INCIPIT. DIOGENIS PHILOSOPHI EPISTOLAS nuper a me ... f. 55r ... Nunc ad ipsum Diogenem veniamus. EPISTOLA PRIMA DIOGENIS PHILOSOPHI. AUDIO quod iniquo animo feras ... f. 76v ... secundum Simonidem difficile est: polliceri autem perfacile. FINIS.

4. ff. 76v-91v Pseudo-Brutus, Epistolae

f. 76v SANCTISSIMO DOMINO NICOLAO PAPAE QUINTO REMITIUS CUM DEVOTIONE REVERENTIAE VOTUM. SOLENT BEATISSIME PATER quiinvigilant ... f. 77v ... nimirum et proculdubio caras/habebit. f. 78r MITRIDATES MITRIDATI NEPOTI SALUTEM PLURIMAM DICIT BRUTI epistolas iterum et saepius sum admiratus ... MITRIDATIS COLLECTIO EPISTOLARUM BRUTI. BRUTUS PERGAMENIS. AUDIO vos Dolobellae dedisse pecunias ... f. 91v ... id eos denegare necesse est. FINIS.

5. ff. 91v-111r Pseudo-Hippocrates Epistolae

f. 91v PRAEFATIO IN QUASDAM EPISTOLAS YPOCRATIS MEDICINAE ARTIS PERITISSIMI E GRAECO IN LATINUM CONVERSAS PER ... AD NICOLAUM. V. SUMMUM PONTIFICEM. PHILIPPUS MEDIOLANENSIS VIR inter medentes nostri temporis ... f. 92v ...eas romano sermone loquentes audire dignetur. Rex regum magnus Artaxerses ... f. 111r ... Quare ad utriusque huiusmodi facultatis cognitionem accedere velis. VALE. FINIS DEO GRATIAS. o H.S.

c.1460

1 volume 112 ll. (last bl.). 8vo. 21 1/2 x 15 cm. On vellum. Original stamped leather Venetian binding over wooden boards, rebacked: parts of three out of four brass and leather clasps remain. Margins slightly cropped. Written in a clear humanistic hand, 26 lines to a page. Illuminated in a fine humanistic style, closely resembling that of MS. No. 115 (Lactantius, 1466), described by M. R. James in his 'Catalogue of the McClean Bequest' in the Fitzwilliam Museum, which is known to be by Giovanni Gobellini de Lins who has signed that example. f. 1 in our MS. has an illuminated V, with decorated borders in three margins. of branchwork on red, green and blue grounds; in the inner marginal border are two birds, and in the lower border two cupids supporting a blank shield surrounded by a wreath. On fol. 4v is a smaller illuminated P in a similar style. Other capitals in alternate red and blue, headings in red.

Purchased 1909.

Franciscus Aretinus has been identified with Francesco Accolti of Arezzo [1418-1483], the jurist, but the G.K.W. and others consider that he was Francesco Griffolini. The translator of the last two collections of letters is known from the printed edition to have been Rinuccio da Castiglione. The Phalaris Letters were first printed in Rome in 1470, and the others in Florence in 1487. Novello Malatesta, Lord of Cesena, died in 1465.

This manuscript was lot 34 in the Phillipps sale at Sotheby's on 6 June 1898, being sold for 10 pounds 10 shillings.

Catalogue description modified in 2014. For original description, see S.A.J. Moorat, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1962-1973).