Marston MS 153     Hautecombe [?], s. XII 2/4
Ambrose, De paradiso, De Cain et Abel, etc.

1.  ff. 1r-28r  Incipit liber beati ambrosii mediolanensis episcopi.  De
paradiso.  Et plantauit deus paradisum in eden secundum orientem; et posuit
ibi hominem quem finxit.  De paradiso adoriundus sermo.  non mediocrem
estum nobis uidetur incutere...Si uero spiritualia seminauerimus.  ea
que sunt spiritualia metemus.  f. 28v ruled, but blank

Ambrose, De paradiso; C. Schenkl, ed., CSEL, vol. 32, 1 (1896) pp.
263-326 (f. 9 bis contains 6.31-32 of the printed text [p. 288, line 3 -
p. 289, line 21], a passage omitted by the original scribe and added on the
inserted leaf by a slightly later hand).

2.  ff. 29r-56r  Explicit de paradiso.  Incipit de cain et abel.  De paradiso
in superioribus pro captu nostro ut potuimus quod dominus infudit.  sensus
inuenit digessimus.  in quibus adam atque eue lapsus est comprehensus...quod
se redemisset uel sera actione penitentie.  nisi eum prematura pena
rapuisset.  Explicit.

Ambrose, De Cain et Abel; Schenkl, op. cit., pp. 337-409.

3.  ff. 56r-70r  Incipit adhortatio uirginitatis sancti ambrosii
episcopi.
Qui ad conuiuium magnum inuitantur.  apoforeta secum deferre [corrected from
referre] consuerunt.  Ego ad bononiense inuitatus conuiuium...christo domino
placentes.  et integrum spiritum earum animam et corpus sine querele loco.
usque in diem domini nostri ihesu christi filii tui seruare digneris.  amen.

Ambrose, Exhortatio virginitatis; PL 16.335-64.

4.  ff. 70r-83r  Incipit liber beati ambrosii de uirginitate ad
ambrosium.
Commendas michi pignus tuum quod eque est meum ambrosi.  domini sacram.  et pio
affectu eius tibi asseris...per illam uenerabilem gloriam trinitatis.
cui est honor et gloria.  perpetuitas patri deo et filio. et spiritui sancto.
a seculis et nunc et semper et in omnia secula seculorum.  Amen.

Ambrose, De institutione virginis; PL 16.305-34 and M. Salvati, ed.,
Scritti sulla verginita, Corona patrum salesiana, ser. lat. 6 (Turin,
1955) pp. 168-297.

5.  f. 83r-v  Various notes including:  Nulla Dies habeat quin lignea
ducta supersit/ Non decet ignauium preteriisse diem.  [Walther,
Sprichwoerter, no. 18894].

Parchment, ff. iii (paper) + 84 (1-83; f. 9 bis is a near contemporary
insertion) + iii (paper), 330 x 235 (ff. 1-28: 250 x 175; ff. 29-83:
270-265 x 185-180) mm.  2 columns, ca. 31 lines. Single vertical bounding
lines, ruled in hard point on hair side.  Remains of prickings in upper,
lower and outer margins.
I 8, II 8 (+ 1 leaf, 9 bis), III-IV 6, V-X 8, XI 8 (-7, no loss of
text).  Scribe 1 (see below) places catchwords along lower edge under inner
column.
Written by two scribes in late caroline minuscule.  Scribe 1 (ff. 1r-61r):
preference for uncial d, angular abbreviation strokes, and a slightly
larger module of script than that used by Scribe 2 (ff. 61r-83r).
Plain red initials, 6- to 4-line, with small "pearls" on the thin strokes
of the letters, introduce each text.  Headings in red.  Instructions to
rubricator and guide letters.
Heavily stained but with no loss of text.
Binding:  Italy, s. xix#i#n.  Half bound with a brown calf spine and
goatskin corners, bright pink paper sides and red edges.  Three green,
gold-tooled labels on the spine:  "Manuscri," "S Ambrosi de Cain" and
"Seculi XII."  Bound in the same distinctive style as Marston MSS 50, 125,
128, 135, 151, 158, 159 and 197, all of Hautecombe provenance.

Written in the second quarter of the 12th century, perhaps at the Cistercian
abbey of Hautecombe to which it belonged; early ex libris, s. XII-XIII, on f.
83r:  "liber sancte marie [with later addition, much damaged and faded
written over erasure:]  Altecumbee in Sabaudia Monasterii Ord. Cisterciensium
emptus fuit a canonico Taurinensi presbitero cardinalis [?] titulis [?]
s. Maximi in quinto Philippo Amadeo Millo anno Domini 1766 [this information
not verified]."  Additional notes, s. xvi-xvii, on f. 83r-v,
record the entry of monks into the abbey of Hautecombe; another ex libris,
s. xvi-xvii, written on f. 83v. Located in the ancient diocese of Geneva,
the abbey was founded toward the beginning of the 12th century by monks
from the abbey of Aulps (see R. Clair, "Les origines de l'abbaye 
d'Hautecombe," Melanges a la memoire du Pere Anselme Dimier [Arbois, 1982-87]
tome II, v. 4, pp. 615-27). Marston MS 153 has the characteristic
bright pink binding of the books of Monseigneur Hyacinthe della Torre who 
acquired and rebound a group of twelve manuscripts from Hautecombe at the
beginning of the 19th century (see Leclercq, 1951, p. 75).  Belonged to the
Biblioteca del Seminario Metropolitano in Turin (Leclercq, op. cit., p.
76, no. 13: number in red crayon on front pastedown).  Acquired from 
Maggs Bros. of London in 1957 by L. C. Witten (inv. no. 1598), who sold
it the same year to Thomas E. Marston (bookplate).

secundo folio:  que multiplicat

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 81, no. 153.

Barbara A. Shailor