Marston MS 134     Northern Italy, s. XV/XVI

Boniohannes de Messana, Quadripartitus figurarum moralium



ff. 1r-92r  Quadripartitus Apologus Cyrilli Episcopi
[Hierusalem 

crossed out] poete in quo Speculum omnis sapientie relucet.  

[prologue:]  Secundum Aristotelis sententiam in problematibus suis:  

Quamquam Exemplis in ostendendo gaudeant omnes in disciplinis moralibus...

per somnium feriamus.  [table, f. 2r:]  Capitula prime partis. 

[chapter numbers and folio references are contemporary

additions:]  1. Semper disce et in extremis horis sapientie magis stude.

fo 3/  2. Nihil sibi homo est sine sapientia f. 4/...27 In bono nomine uirtutum,

tetragono semper uige.  fo 26/ [text, f. 2v:]  Semper disce et in extremis

horis magis stude.  Liber primus.  Vulpes decrepita ardens cupidine plus

sciendi, querendo magistrum membris grauioribus sui corporis itineris

adijt graue pondus...et dementius tanto facit, quanto letalius se perdit.

Quibus dictis libidinosissimum passerem reliquit.  Explicit
quatripartitus

[sic] apologus cyrilli poete laureati.  f. 92v blank


   Boniohannes de Messana (previously attributed to Ps.-Cyrillus),

Quadripartitus figurarum moralium, with a table of contents preceding

each book; Kaeppeli, SOPMA, v. 1, no. 699 (Marston MS 134 listed on p. 252

as Yale University, Reinecke [sic] Library Marston 67);  Bloomfield,

Virtues and Vices, no. 5372.  Text printed by J. G. T. Graesse,

Bibliothek des litterarischen Vereins in Stuttgart 148 (1880) pp. 3-118.



   Paper (watermarks, in gutter:  similar to Piccard Waage VI.29-31;

unidentified anchor in a circle with linking ring at top, the whole surmounted

by a star), ff. i (paper) + 93 (ii, 1-92) + i (paper), 202 x 148 (140 x 100)

mm.  Ca. 21-23 long lines.  Frame-ruled in pale ink or lead.

   I 12 (-1, 2; 3 = ii, -4; all missing leaves precede beginning of text on 

f. 1), II-III 12, IV (-9; no loss of text), V-VIII 12 (+ 1 leaf tipped in at

end).  Quires signed with letters of alphabet (A-H) in lower right corner,

recto.

   Written by a single scribe in neat, even humanistic cursive.

   Plain initials, 3- to 1-line, and headings in red.

   Binding:  Italy, s. xix.  "Alla rustica" paper case.



Written in Northern Italy at the end of the 15th or beginning of the 16th

century.  Partially effaced inscription in lower

margin, f. 1r, indicates it belonged (s. xvi?) to the monastery of San

Salvatore in Pavia (Cottineau, v. 2, cols. 2237-38).  Provenance

otherwise unknown.  Purchased from Renzo Rizzi of Milan in 1957 by L. C.

Witten (inv. no. 1702), who sold it the same year to Thomas E. Marston

(bookplate).


secundo folio:  luxurie



Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 79, no. 134.

Barbara A. Shailor