YALE UNIVERSITY
BEINECKE RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY
GENERAL COLLECTION OF RARE BOOKS AND
MANUSCRIPTS
PRE-1600 MANUSCRIPTS
Marston MS 42 Italy, 1406
Statius, Thebais
1. ff. 1r-117r Sursuli papiriani Statij Tolosani thebaidos Incipit liber
primus. Fraternas acies, alternaque regna prophanis/ decertata odijs,
sontesque euoluere thebas/...Mox tibi si quis adhuc pretendit nubila
liuor./ Occidet. et mariti post me referentur honores. [colophon:]
Papirij surculi Statij tholosani thebaidos liber xij#u#s et ultimus
explicit. die 8 Martij 1406.
Statius, Thebais; A. Klotz, ed., Teubner (1908), rev. ed. Th. C.
Klinnert (1973) pp. 1-475. Text here is accompanied by marginal glosses
added by scribe on ff. 1r-17v (e.g., f. 1r on line 15: "Atque adeo. Autor
deliberat se tractaturum de bello duorum fratrum. scilicet. etheoclis et
polinicis"); a later hand has entered a few variant readings and marginal
notes (e.g., f. 1r on line 2: "uel sontis").
2. ff. 117r-118r [Summary of the 12 books, in 12 lines:] Soluitur in
primo fratrum concordia libro/ Denegat et fedus. repetitaque regna
secundus/...Vltimus ogigias dat theseum uincere thebas. [argumenta for
Bks. 2-5, 7-12:] At maia genitus superas remeabat ad auras./ Excitusque
herebo iam seuus laius ibat./...Mox ille infrendens optat. uocatque creonta./
Quem sternit bello. graiorumque immolat umbris. f. 118v blank
Klotz and Klinnert, op.cit., for argumenta, pp. 476-82.
Paper (watermarks, obscured by text: similar in type to Piccard
Horn VI.110-29), ff. ii (paper) + 118 + ii (paper), 298 x 217 (200 x 85)
mm. Ca. 41 lines of verse for art. 1; 2 columns of verse for art. 2.
Single horizontal bounding lines ruled in pencil. Prickings in upper,
lower, and outer margins.
I-VII 16. VIII 6. Catchwords centered along lower edge, verso.
Written by several scribes in scripts ranging from calligraphic
mercantesca to a more formal gothic bookhand.
One garishly painted initial, 16-line, red and blue divided with
penwork designs in both colors. Spaces left for decorative initials at
beginning of remaining books are unfilled. For ff. 1r-13r only:
headings, paragraph marks, underlining of passages glossed in marginalia
and running headlines, all in red; for ff. 1r-16v: first letter of each
verse touched with yellow.
Binding: England, s. xx. Quarter bound in alum tawed pigskin,
blind-tooled, over oak boards. Title, in ink, on head edge: "Statij.
thebaidos." Title on spine: "Statii Thebais/ MS. 1406."
Written in Italy in 1406 (colophon, art. 1); some annotations by an
Italian hand, s. XV#e#x. Belonged to Ercole Silva, conte di Biandrate
(in the province of Novara; 1756-1840; bookplate). From the collection
of Ambroise de Firmin-Didot (1790-1876; booklabel dated 1850); his sale
1883, no. 11 (unverified). Bookplate of C. S. Ascherson (d. 1945); note
in pencil on his bookplate that the manuscript was in the Allen sale
(Sotheby's, 30 January 1920, no. 101). Modern notes in pencil, on
f. i recto "744" and "149;" on second rear flyleaf, recto: "rs/-/-"
and "19302." Purchased from C. A. Stonehill in 1952 by Thomas E.
Marston.
secundo folio: Indue
Bibliography: Faye and Bond, p. 69, no. 42.
Barbara A. Shailor