Marston MS 80     Northern Italy, s. XV 1/4
Virtues and Vices, exempla


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1. ff. 1r-33r  //Declamatio. 3 a. lex. Incesta saxo deiciatur. 
Cassus. Incesta id est poluta a consanguineo uel ab allio saxo 
deiciatur id est proiciatur de ymo saxo...utilitate et honore 
spiritualli pro exaltanda anima.  f. 33v: short unidentified 
texts

Commentary on selections from Seneca the Elder, Controversiae,
beginning imperfectly in I.3; M. Winterbottom, ed. and tr., 
The Elder Seneca:  Declamations, 2 vols., Loeb ser. (Cambridge, 
1974). Selections in the following order:  Bk. I:  ff. 1r-5v 
(I.3-8); Bk. II: ff. 6r-14v (II.1-2, 4, 3, 5-7); Bk. III:  ff. 
14v-23v (III.1-9); Bk. IV: ff. 24r-27r (IV.1, 6-8); Bk. V:  
ff. 27v-32r (V.1-5, 7-8, with 7 followed by two quotes from 
Valerius Maximus); Bk. VI:  ff. 32v-33v (VI.4,3, continued on 
f. 32r).  After each lex, given in red in the heading, there 
follows a brief discussion of the selection with sections labelled:  
cassus, exemplum, questio, and/or determinatio.

2. ff. 34r-73v  Incipiunt exempla ad diuersas materias recolecta 
ex diuersis libbris. et primo de uana gloria mundi. millesimo 
cccc o. x o. 28 o madij.  Vbi primo de potentia magna alexandri 
quem sibi totum mundum subiecit...nichil satis est eque mallum 
in magistratibus iudicans [?] inopiam et auariciam.  Nota 
superius exempla ccc#t#a. 

300 exempla from various sources, including Jerome, Ovid, 
Solinus, Isidore, Valerius Maximus, Gesta Romanorum, Macrobius, 
Peter Comestor, Josephus, Albertus Magnus, Ambrose, Suetonius, 
Seneca, Cicero, Boethius, Augustine, Frontinus, Anselm, Remigius, 
Fulgentius, Pliny, Benedict, Pompeius Trogus, Aulus Gellius, 
Vegetius.  Text incomplete:  five leaves missing between ff. 56-57.  
Two types of rubrics help to order the text:  the first are headings 
in the text for the main topics, the second are in the margins to 
subdivide the major headings (e.g., f. 38v: De fidelitate, followed 
by de medico, de cane, de seruis, de cane [bis]; f. 59v:  De 
humilitate, followed by de capra, de corona, de vulpe).  The 
compiler has marked the conclusion of each 100 exempla with a rubric.  
On f. 37v, an unidentified sonnet in Italian, 14-lines: "Questa e 
quella uerita che tuto uince/ che Iullio cessar fece esser si
grande/...Sotto tal ducca e millitar legrecca/ che ama la uita 
altrui piu che la soa altecca."

3. ff. 74r-87v  Incipit liber esopi.  [first fable:]  De gallo 
et Iaspide.  Dum rigido, fodit, ore fymum, dum queritat escam/ dum
stupet, inuenta, iaspide, gallus ait/...tu gallo stollidum, tu Iaspide,
pulcra sophye/ Dona noctes, stolido, nil sapit ista segges.  [prose 
commentary:] Nota fabullam.  Ccum [sic] gallus, quadam uice, 
peteret escam in fymo, inuenit margaritam, ualde lucidam et preclaram, 
et stupens ait...Dicit auctor quod per gallum debes intelligere 
stultum qui spernit diligenda...set pocius a sapiente...[final fable, 
f. 87v:]  De muliere que fuit priuata uiro.  Erant uir et uxor 
qui se inuicem adeo...ipsa mullier ligauit// [catchwords:  
capistrum ad collum eius]

Gualterus Angelicus, Fabulae 1-18, 24-25, 59, 19, 21-22, 20, 23, 
26-33, 60, 34-42, 45-46, 43-44, 65 (ending imperfectly);  K. McKenzie
and W. A. Oldfather, eds., Ysopet-Avionnet:  The Latin and French 
Texts in University of Illinois Studies in Language and Literature 
5 (1919).  For the first two fables the poem is followed by a prose 
commentary; for the remaining fables there is only the prose commentary 
which usually incorporates quotes from the fable and concludes with 
the moralitas.

4. ff. 88r-106v  Incipiunt aliqua miraculla gloriosse uirginis marie.
De aue maria.  Legitur quod fuit quidam monachus ellectus episcopus 
qui uadens ad curiam...et ecce quedam arbor nata est ad capud sepulcri 
sui, in cuius follijs erat ipsam salutatio descripta .s. aue maria.

More than 100 extracts about the Virgin Mary, and other topics, with
rubrics running:  De aue maria; qualiter beata uirgo liberauit seruum
suum...; quomodo beata uirgo liberauit fideles a saracenis; de aue 
maria...de saccullo peccatorum; de arbore nata cum follijs ubi erat
aue maria.  Sources quoted include:  Petrus Alphonsus, Augustine, 
Jerome, Valerius Maximus, Ovid, Seneca, Jacobus de Vitriaco.

5. ff. 107r-126v  Incipiunt aliqua exempla extracta de libbris 
dyalogorum. De abstinencia.  Uenantij quondam patricij, in saroie 
[sic] partibus, villa fuit, in qua collonus eius fillium honoratum 
nomine habuit...[concludes in extract de iudicantibus que recta non 
sunt:] defectus et uitam mallam meruerunt, commendabuntur et 
iustifficabuntur.

Extracts about virtues and vices derived primarily from Gregory the
Great, Dialogi (ff. 107r-117r), but supplemented with later 
material (e.g., selections about the life of St. Francis, ff. 
120r-121r). A. de Voguee, ed., Gregoire le Grand:  Dialogues in 
Sources chretiennes  Introduction = 251 (1978); Libri I-III = 160 
(1979); Liber IV, Index, Tables = 265 (1980).  The extracts from 
Gregory begin in the following order, with rubrics cited from 
manuscript and page references from v. 2 of printed text:  f. 107r, 
I.1.1-2 De abstinencia (pp. 18-20); f. 107r-v, I.3.2-4  De 
obbedientia serpentis (pp. 34-36); f. 107v, I.4.7 De monialli 
que comedit latucam  (pp. 42-44); f. 107v, I.4.8 De uerbo dei 
(p. 44); f. 107v, I.5.2 De lampadibus plenis aqua (pp. 58-60)....

6. ff. 127r-132r  Infrascripte sunt alique extractiones de moribus 
et uita phylosophorum.  Fertur quod talles phylosophus assianus dum 
semel nocte quadam duceretur extra domum a uetulla ut asstra 
conscideraret...[concludes in life of Secundus:] quid est quod amarum 
dulce facit, ait, fames.  quid est quod hominem lapssum fieri non sinit, 
ait, lucrum.

Exempla drawn from Walter Burley, De vita et moribus philosophorum,
including direct quotations, paraphrases and explanations;  H. Knust, 
ed., Bibliothek des litterarischen Vereins in Stuttgart 177 
(Tuebingen, 1886) pp. 2-395 (the extracts occur in the following order
of the printed text: 1-8, 10-12, 17-20, 22, 30, 37, 50, 90, 94-96, 
100, 104-05, 108, 110-111, 115, 117-18, 121-22).  Marston MS 80 listed 
in J. Prelog, "Die Handschriften und Drucker von Walter Burley Liber 
de vita et moribus philosophorum," Codices manuscripti 9 (1983) 
p. 7, no. 134. The section devoted to each philosopher or group of 
philosophers is usually introduced by a descriptive rubric (e.g., 
Thales:  De gratia refferente; Chilon:  De amicicia; Bias:  
De prudencia; Epmenides: De dormitione; Crates:  De divicijs 
despicientibus; Diogenes, De paupertate).

7. ff. 132v-150v  Additional exempla arranged thematically (e.g., 
De fortuna, De sagacitate pugne, De fortitudine, etc.) drawn from 
Leo, Augustine, Ambrose, Vitae patrum, Gregory, Bede, Valerius 
Maximus, Boethius, Jerome, Walter Burley, Cicero.

8. f. 151r  [Heading:]  Versus e [leaf torn]/ [epitaph:] Helpes 
dicta fui, siculle regionis alump[na]./ Porticibus sacris iam nunc 
peregrina quiesco/Iudicis eterni testifficata tronum.

3-line epitaph; Walther, Initia, no. 7695 (cf. 5352).

9. f. 151r  Hac sunt in fossa, bede uenerabilli ossa.

Epitaphium Bedae; Bertalot, no. 2038; cf. Walther, Initia, no.
7438.

10. f. 151r  [Heading:]  Epitaphium supra sepulcrum gloriossi 
geronimi/[epitaph:]  Hic dux doctorum, iacet et flos presbiterorum/
Sanctus geronimus, set ei locus, est nimis ymmus/ Hic tu discrete 
catholice, sine facete/ Dic ueniens aue, desuper ire caue/

4-line epitaph for St. Jerome.

11. f. 151r  [Heading:]  epitaphium pro. Io./  [epitaph:] Curia, 
conscilium, tunc ciuem, tera [sic] fidelem/ Amisisse suum, 
t doluit numerossa parentem/... Bis sex adiunctis, rapit cum 
uita Iohanni/ Sambuco cupiens, meliores pergere in auras.

8-line epitaph for Johannes Sambucus [?].

12. f. 151r  [Heading:]  epitaphium domini nicolai episcopi et 
comitis tergesti ordinis minorum/  [epitaph:] Heu memorande pater 
fatum Nicolae luisti./ Presule quo digno, claruit hec patria/...
** ue sumus alme pater, pro nobis ora beatis/ Precibus afficimur 
ad tua sacra Vale, amen./ [colophon:] Mileximo quatrigentesimo. 
sextodecimo, Die lune 13#o. mensis [?] ** in die octauo epiphanie 
hora sexta. migrauit ad dominum.

10-line epitaph for Nicolaus de Tergesto, O. F. M. (d. 1416), 
bp. of Trieste; see Eubel, v. 1, p. 477.

13. f. 151v  [Heading damaged:]  ***arce./ [epitaph:] Frigida 
francisci lapis, hic tegit ossa petrarce/ Suscipe uirgo parens 
animam o sate uirgine parce/ Fessaque iam terris, celli, 
requiescat in arce.

3-line epitaph for Francesco Petrarch; A. Solerti, ed., Le vite di
Dante, Petrarca e Boccaccio scritte fino al secolo decimosesto
(Milan, 1904) pp. 297, 319, 326, 355.

14. f. 151v  Epitaphium senecce.  Cura labor, meritum sumpti, 
pro munere honores/ Ite post hac allias solicitate animas/ Me. 
procul a nobis deus euocat illicet actis/ Rebus terenis, hospita 
tera ualle.

4-line epitaph for Seneca; A. Riese, ed., Anthologia latina
(Leipzig, 1906) v. 2, p. 138, no. 667.

15. f. 151v  [Heading:]  Franciscus petrarcha in de remedijs 
utriusque fortune.  [text:]  Mors exillium luctus et dollor non 
sunt suplicia. Set tributa viuendi.

Although the heading states that this quotation is from Petrarch, 
De remediis utriusque fortunae, we have been unable to locate 
it in that text.

16. f. 151v  [No heading, text begins:]  O tu qui transsis 
dominum rogitare memento/ Pro me qui iaceo, tumullatus in hoc 
monumento/ Tu qui tumullum cernis, cur non mortallia spernis/
Quod tu es fui, et quod sum in posterum eris/
Talli namque domo, clauditur omnis homo.

Unidentified 5-line epitaph.

17. f. 151v  [Heading:]  Epitaffium dantis.  [text:] Iura monarchie, 
superos, flagetonta, lacusque/lustrando.  cecini, uoluerunt fata, 
quousque/...hic claudor dantes, patrijs exterus ab oris/Quem 
genuit parui, florencia mater amoris. Bernardo di Canaccio 
Scannabecchi [?], 6-line epitaph for Dante; Enciclopedia dantesca, 
v. 2, p. 711; G. P. Marchi, "Per l'attribuzione a Rinaldo da 
Villafranca dell'epitafio di Dante 'Iura monarchie'," Vestigia:  
Studi in onore di G. Billanovich (Rome, 1984) v. 2, pp. 417-28.

18. f. 151v  [Heading, damaged:]  epitaffium uer[gi]llij.  [text:]
Mantua me genuit, calabri rapuere tenent/ Nunc tenore cecini pascua 
rura duces/ Ac ne missa [?]. carens uicijs eneydos esset./ Inuidia 
celleri, fata tullere neque.

4-line epitaph for Vergil; verses 1-2 printed in C. Hardie, ed.,
Vitae vergilianae antiquae (Oxford, 1957) p. 14.

	Paper (coarse, thick; watermarks, in gutter:  similar to Briquet 
Monts 11854 and unidentified mountain?), i (paper) + 151 (foliation 
by scribe in red: .Carta. 3a. - .Carta. 190 a., but with leaves 1-2, 
59-64, 96-127 missing and no foliation present on f. 191; modern 
pencil foliation 1-151) + i (paper), 216 x 145 (165 x 100-115) mm. 
42-48 long lines or lines of verse.  Frame-ruled in lead or ink; 
prickings at corners of written space. 
	I 16 (-1, 2, 3), II-III 16, IV 16 (-12 through 16 between 
ff. 56-57; original foliation skips from 58 to 65), V 16 (-1), VI 16 
(two? quires missing between ff. 87-88; original foliation skips from 
95 to 128), VII-X 16.  Horizontal catchwords, in decorated rectangular 
brackets, in black and/or red, center of lower margin, verso.
	Written by a single scribe in semi-cursive gothic bookhand, above
top line.  Arts. 8-18 added by one or more contemporary hands.
	2-line plain initials, paragraph marks and headings, in red, 
throughout; some marginalia in red.
	Folio 151 damaged, with loss of text.
	Binding:  Italy [?], s. xix.  Limp vellum case made from a 
document; text not legible, but docketing note visible under ultra-
violet light on upper cover:  "N. 167."

Written in Northern Italy in the first quarter of the 15th century, 
probably ca. 1410 (the date given on f. 34r, art. 2) to 1416 (when 
the miscellaneous texts on f. 151r-v may have been added; cf. art. 12).  
The codex appears to have been owner-produced for an individual 
interested in a wide range of exempla on virtues and vices.  Early 
provenance otherwise  unknown.  Unidentified "5" in a circle and "7", 
both in pencil, on front pastedown.  Purchased from C. A. Stonehill 
(nos. "10867" and "1984" on front and rear pastedowns) in 1953 by 
Thomas E. Marston (bookplate).

secundo folio:  Deffenssio

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 73, no. 80.
	Ullman, p. 456, no. 50.
	Dutschke, pp. 176-77, no. 70.

Barbara A. Shailor