Marston MS 93           Florence, s. XV 3/4
George of Trebizond, Isagoge dialectica, etc.

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1.  front pastedown:  
[Greek].

Passage from Philostratus, Vita Apollonii, 8, 7, 56; A. Westermann, ed. 
(Paris, 1849).

2.  ff. 1r-30v  Clarissimi et doctissimi uiri georgii trapezuntii dialecticorum
opus ad artem dicendi attinens. [preface:] Multa sunt mi petre. que
faciunt vt omni cura omnique diligentia cogitem ... Quod si facies nec
te preceptionis nostre nec me mei laboris poenitebit. [text, f. 1v:]
Dialectica. Dialectica igitur est diligens disserendi ratio: disserere uero
nemo poterit diligenter ... et maiorum scientia rerum non abiecta uere
doctus sis et uidearis. Vale. Doctissimi et latinarum graecarumque litterarum
peritissimi georgii trabezuntii de dialecticis opus explicitum est. [Greek].

George of Trebizond, Isagoge dialectica, with his preface to
Petrus Gambacurta; J. Monfasani, ed., Collectanea Trapezuntiana:
Texts, Documents, and Bibliographies of George of Trebizond, Medieval
and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 25 (Binghamton, 1984) pp. 309-11
(preface) and pp. 473-77 (list of 55 manuscripts and printed editions
including Marston MS 93 [no. 12], which is also described on p. 37).

3.  ff. 31r-37r  De locis sophisticis ex aristotele excerptio.  Disputatio
est inter duos contentio per ratiocinationem ad propositum
obtinendum...questio que est multiplex.  fallacie uero causa est
multiplex interogatio. Compendium [corrected from Compennium] de
sophisticis locis explicitum est.  [Greek].

Extracts from Aristotle, De sophisticis elenchis, in an unidentified
Latin translation.

4.  f. 37v  Full-page diagram in red, with inscriptions in black, of
A, E, I, O syllogisms.

5.  ff. 38r-40r  De inuentione medii termini erga qualemcumque
conclusionem.
Ad unamquamque conclusionem syllogizandam opus est adhibere medium
termimum...Ex his patet particularem negatiuam posse syllogizari secundum
omnes figuras.  Finis.

6.  f. 40r  Sciendum quod in prima figura ubi conluditur
particularis...ergo aliquod rudibile est homo.  ff. 40v-41v blank

Unidentified paragraph on logic, followed by a diagram, in
red and black, of contraria and contradictoria.

7.  f. 42r  Diuo principi federico monpheltrio m. philethicus.
Nulla tuum nomen poterit delere uetustas/
Belligeri Princeps martis Alumne dei/...
Sed quia ditasti multos federice poetas/
Incipe praxiteles iamque beare viros.

Martinus Phileticus (ca. 1430-ca. 1490), 14-line poem to Federico
da Montefeltro of Urbino, written in the hand of the author; not
listed in Bertalot.

Parchment (speckled), ff. iv (two contemporary parchment bifolia;
i = front pastedown) + 40 + iv (including ff. 41-42; two contemporary
parchment bifolia; iii is missing, iv = back pastedown), 196 x 133
(128 x 83) mm.  28 long lines.  Single vertical bounding lines
full length (Derolez 13.11).  Ruled in hard point on the flesh side;
two additional rulings for catchwords.
I-IV 10.  Horizontal catchwords near gutter (Derolez 12.4).
Art. 1 in a small and regular Greek minuscule script; arts. 2-6 in
humanistic cursive script, below top line, by a single scribe who also
added marginalia; art. 7 in humanistic cursive by a different scribe.
One illuminated initial of poor quality, gold, 3-line,
on blue, green, and pink ground.  Rubrics and marginal key words
(for ff. 1r-6r, 31r only; e. g., nomen, uerbum, etc.) in pale red.
Plain blue intials in art. 2; red or blue elsewhere.
Binding:  Italy, s. xv (attributed to Florence or Tuscany by De
Marinis, La legatura, v. 1, p. 102, no. 1021).  Original sewing on three
tawed skin, slit straps laid in channels on the outside of wooden boards
and nailed.  The spine is lined with leather between sewing supports.
Covered in brown sheepskin with corner tongues and blind-tooled with
concentric frames, one filled with rope interlace, and a rope interlace
square on a point in the central panel.  Annular dots are colored with
gold or copper, now green.  Spine:  very faint diapering with triple
fillets.  There are five round bosses on each board and two fastenings,
leaf-shaped catches on the lower board and the upper one cut in for fabric
straps.  The front board is detached; one boss wanting.

Written in Florence in the third quarter of the 15th century; according to
A. C. de la Mare art. 7 is in the hand of Martinus Phileticus, who
accompanied his student Battista Sforza to Urbino when she married
Federico da Montefeltro (see art. 7); art. 1 on the front pastedown and a few
marginal annotations in Greek were added by the same scribe who copied
portions of Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Monac. graec. 537 (see
Monfesani, op. cit., pl. V, lines 2-9) and of El Escorial [Greek]-III-1.
Ownership inscriptions in two
different hands on f. ii recto:  "A. Nicolao thermio Archipresbitero
balneoregiensi [Bagnorea] Hic Dialecticorum Liber de dicendi Arte
pro .xxx.#t#a carlenorum pretio: emptus est.  Anno domini M#o cccc Lxxxxvj.
xv#o Kalendas decembris Alexandri vj. pontificis maximj."  and "Ex
dono auctoris A. D. MCCCCXCVII Jacobus Macchiauellius."  Notes, in
French, on f. iii recto and verso concerning George of Trebizond, with
citations from "Morery Diet. Edit. 1702" and Leone Allacci (1586-1669),
Paolo Giovio (1483-1552), Vossius.  Unidentified "4" in pencil on f. ii
recto.  Purchased from C. A. Stonehill (inv. no. 11386)
in 1955 by Thomas E. Marston (bookplate).

secundo folio:  elementa sunt

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 75, no. 93.

Barbara A. Shailor