Marston MS 49     Italy, 1476
Unidentified grammatical treatise, Vita vergiliana, etc.



I. 1. ff. 1r-29r  //uos ipsi ut nunquam secus dictum sit.  Tu mihi
familiaris es.  ego te utor familiariter.  Tu mihi amicus es:  ego 
te amico utor:  Tu mihi magister es:  ornatius dicitur ego te magistro 
utor:  ego te...admirationis ratione mutata atque id omne exemplo 
cuius curiculum uno ac trigesimo die conficitur.  Primus itaque dies 
kalende erunt Martij ij sexto nonas//  ff. 29v-30v ruled, but blank

Unidentified grammatical text, imperfect at beginning and end, which
draws heavily on the Elegantiolae of Agostino Dati and also perhaps 
on Lorenzo Valla, Elegantiae and Niccolo Perotti, Rudimenta and 
Cornucopiae (I thank W. K. Percival for his help with the texts in 
this manuscript). The work consists of miscellaneous comments on word 
usage presented as a series of documenta; primarily distinctions 
between synonyms (e.g., "familiaris/amicus," "munus/officium,"
"intelligo/animadverto") and notes on the stylistic superiority of 
certain Latin constructions over others (e.g., when giving a person's 
place of origin, one should use "Atheniensis" rather than "de Athenis").  
The text quotes examples from Cicero, Aulus Gellius, Juvenal,
Livy, Terence, Priscian, Servius, Donatus, Nonius Marcellus (rubrics 
with the names of these authors in outer margins).

II. 2. ff. 31r-52v  .P. Virgilij Maronis poete Maximi Vita foeliciter
incipit.  .P.  Virgilius Maro parentibus modicis fuit, et precipue 
patre: quem quidam opificem figulum...que in georgicis intentio quisque 
finis fuerit:  nec minus etiam in Eneide:  Hic est finis de ipso
carmine.

Vita virgiliana:  "Donatus auctus;" for this text and a full account
of its transmission see K. Bayer, in Vergil Landleben...Vergil-Viten,
ed. J. and M. Goette (Munich, 1970) pp. 214-40, 350-70, 659-89 (with 
notes), 746-51.

3. ff. 53r-54v  In Exponendis Auctoribus hec consideranda sunt:  Vita
poete.  Titulus operis.  Qualitas carmis [sic]:  Intentio scribentis.
Numerus librorum:  Ordo librorum:  Explanatio:  Virgilij uita hec est:
Patre Marone...ut cuncta Virgilij maronis secreta nouisse diuino quodam
modo credatur:  Explicit de ipso carmine.

Preface to Servius' In Vergilii Aeneidos libros Commentarius, with
substantial abridgements:  the first portion of the text is drawn directly
from the Vita Seruii at the beginning of the Servius commentary; the
remainder consists of selections taken from Servius' preface.
Seruianorum in Vergilii Carmina Commentariorum Editionis Harvardianae,
vol. 2 (1946) pp. 1 (lines 1-10), 4-5 (parts of lines 75-97).  The final
seven lines of text in the manuscript are unidentified.

4. ff. 54v-74r  Pes in metro dicitur quod pedis fungitur officio  
Metra enim per pedes quodamodo [sic] incedunt:  Pedes alij dicuntur.  
alij vero nothi...[f. 62r:]  apud poetas per lectionem facile 
deprendimus:  et hec de primis syllabis dicta sufficiant.  De medijs 
Syllabis sequitur. Que uero syllaba in medio constiterit isdem ferme 
deprenditur modis...[f. 67v:] Quare de ultimis iam dicere pergamus: 
De ultimis. syllabis. sequitur. A.  finita casualia per rectos 
casus corripiuntur ut syllaba.  musa. illa...Octauus modus est:  quom 
breuem uocalem sequitur.  Z.  Est .H. longa in hoc Mezenti ducis exuuias:
Breuis in hoc nemorosa. [iaz crossed out] iazintus [sic]. 
[colophon:]  [Greek].  die. 9. Iulij 1476.  Finis.

Leonicenus Omnibonus (ca. 1412-ca.1480), De arte metrica.  Cf.
Bursill-Hall, Census, citing only two manuscript copies:  166.27.5; 
166.61.8; the treatise also occurs in Beinecke MS 66, art. 1; Rome, 
Biblioteca Angelica, 1371; Venice, Biblioteca Marciana, Cod. Lat. XIII, 
23 (= 4414); Verona, Biblioteca Comunale 2813.  Portions of the text 
are derived from Servius' Commentarius in artem Donati:  ff. 57r 
(line 7)-58r (line 15) = H. Keil, ed., Grammatici latini (Leipzig, 
1855-1923) v. 4, p. 423 (lines 11-34); ff. 72v (line 17)-74r = Keil, 
op. cit., p. 424 (lines 10-36) and p. 425 (1-4).

5. ff. 74v-75v  Senatui populoque romano:  Lentulus sal:  D. Aparuit 
temporibus istis:  et adhuc est homo magne uirtutis nominatus christus 
iesus:  qui dicitur a gentibus propheta veritatis...In colloquio grauis: 
rarus:  et modestus:  speciosus forma inter filios hominum.  Hic est 
finis epistole. quam misit lentulus  .S.P.Q.R. de conditione domini 
nostri iesu christi. ff. 76r-80v ruled, but blank; quotation in 
contemporary humanistic hand on f. 79v:  "Homo sum et humani nihil a 
me alienum esse puto."  [Walther, Sprichwoerter, v. 2, 11108].

Ps.-Lentulus, Epistola de conditione Domini nostri Iesu Christi;
E. von Dobschuetz, "Christusbilder," in Texte und Untersuchungen 
zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, 18 (1899), text on 
p. 319**. For additional bibliography and an English translation 
see C. E. Lutz, "The Letter of Lentulus describing Christ,"  
Gazette 50 (1976) pp. 91-97.

	Composed of two parts of similar format that were bound 
together soon after being produced.
	Part I:  ff. 1-30, paper (watermarks, buried in gutter:  
similar to Briquet Oiseau 12128 and 12130), 204 x 125 (132 x 76) 
mm.  20 long lines. Double vertical bounding lines, ruled in lead or, 
later in manuscript, hard point; rulings for text in ink.  Prickings 
in upper and inner margins; single pricking in outer margin, 7 mm. 
above upper ruling.  I-III 10 (at least one quire missing at beginning).  
Vertical catchwords on inner ruling (Derolez 12.5 and 12.6) 
often on verso of first leaf of each bifolium; horizontal catchwords 
on red scrolls in center of lower margin, final verso (Derolez 12.1). 
Written by a single scribe in humanistic cursive, below top line. 
Plain intials (1-line), headings, initial strokes, and marginalia 
in red.
	Part II:  ff. 31-80, paper (watermarks, buried in gutter:  
similar in general design to Harlfinger Balance 31; final quire has 
same watermarks as in Part I), 205 x 129 (129 x 72) mm. 20 long lines. 
Double vertical bounding lines in lead; rulings for text in ink. 
Prickings in upper and lower margins; single pricking in outer margin, 
7 mm. above upper ruling.  I-V 10.  Vertical catchwords as in Part I 
and to mark end of gatherings; quire and leaf signatures (later 
addition).  Arts. 2-4 in humanistic cursive, below top line; art. 5 
in a more formal humanistic bookhand.  Arts. 2-4:  plain initials, 
headings, and initial strokes in red. Binding:  Italy, s. xv. 
Two pairs of tunnels in the edges of the boards, and the supports 
laced into one or the other of them to channels in the outside and 
nailed.  Partly resewn. Boards sharply bevelled, with the fore-edge 
bevel broken off the upper board.  Quarter vellum binding, a later 
addition. Title in ink on lower board, partially visible under 
ultra-violet light:  "Vita Vergilii [another word illegible]/ 
Documenta." Later title in ink on spine:  "Varia man. scr./ vetera" 
and what appears to be a monogram or shelf-mark with letters 
I, F, O, T, H in ink on vellum addition.

Written in Italy; Part II is dated 1476 (art. 4) and Part I, which 
has the same watermarks as the final quire of Part II, is contemporary 
to it.  Early provenance unknown. Miscellaneous notes, sketches of 
scrolls, and pen trials by at least two hands, s. xv-xvi, on f. 80v.  
The same later hand may have written both "Palladiorun [?]" in the 
lower margin of f. 1r and the title on the vellum addition.  
Purchased from C. A. Stonehill (inv. no. 13709) in 1958 by Thomas 
E. Marston (bookplate).

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, pp. 69-70, no. 49.

Barbara A. Shailor