YALE UNIVERSITY
BEINECKE RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY
GENERAL COLLECTION OF RARE BOOKS AND
MANUSCRIPTS
MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE MANUSCRIPTS
Marston MS 212 Central Italy, s. XV med-3/4
Macrobius, Saturnalia
ff. 1r-110r Liber saturnalium Macrobij de diuersis moribus et
consuetudinibus antiquorum et dicitur cena philosophorum incipit
feliciter.
[M]ultas variasque res in hac uita nobis Eustachi fili natura conciliauit sed
nulla nos magis quam eorum qui e nobis essent procreati...pari ergo ratione
infixum corpori pecudis lunari re [remainder of word smudged] humori.
[Greek]. Macrobij theodixij Saturnaliorum liber septimus et ultimus
explicit. f. 110v ruled, but blank
J. Willis, ed., Teubner, v. 1 (1970) pp. 1-461. Numerous contemporary
marginalia, including names of classical authors quoted in text. Many
Greek passages, but not all, entered by an accomplished contemporary hand
that sometimes writes more Greek than that quoted in standard editions
of the text (e.g., f. 60r).
Paper (thick; watermarks, in gutter: unidentified mountain; a dragon
perhaps similar in design to those produced in Ferrara in 1440s-50s, cf.
Piccard Drache II.538-72), ff. i (paper) + ii (contemporary parchment
endleaves) + 110 + i (paper), 295 x 216 (210 x 125) mm. 40 long lines.
Double vertical and horizontal bounding lines (Derolez 13.36). Ruled in
hard point on verso.
I-XI 10. Horizontal catchwords in center of lower margin.
Copied in humanistic cursive by a single scribe, above top line.
Headings and some plain initials in red.
Ink has corroded through many leaves; minor loss of text.
Binding: Italy, s. xix. Brick red goatskin, blind-tooled. Bound in
the same style as MS 450 and Marston MSS 72, 86, 181, 182 for the
Guarnieri-Balleani library (Iesi), with the first three probably by the
same binder. Written in ink on tail edge: "MACROB." Two front
parchment endleaves, presumably reused from the early binding given the
patterns of rust stains and wormholes, consist of undated ecclesiastical
records from the diocese of Cesena.
Written in Central Italy in the middle or third quarter of the 15th century,
perhaps in the diocese of Cesena to judge from the contents of the
parchment flyleaves. Probably owned by the humanist Stefano Guarnieri
(d. 1495; U. Nicolini, "Stefano Guarnieri da Osimo cancelliere a Perugia dal
1466 al 1488," L'Umanesimo umbro: atti del IX convegno di studi umbri -
Gubbio 22-23 settembre 1974 [Perugia, 1977] pp. 307-23), since the manuscript
bears the characteristic binding of the Guarnieri-Balleani library at Iesi
(see above). For other Beinecke manuscripts either copied, annotated and/or
owned by Guarnieri, see catalogue entries for MS 450, Index V of this
volume under Guarnieri-Balleani library, as well as C. Annibaldi, L'Agricola
e la Germania di Cornelio Tacito (Iesi, 1907) pp. 4-10. Marston MS 212
has been corrected and annotated by several unidentified contemporary
hands, one of which also annotated Marston MS 116. Purchased from C. A.
Stonehill in 1956 by Thomas E. Marston (bookplate).
secundo folio: [feri]atum deputant
Bibliography: Faye and Bond, p. 88, no. 212.
Barbara A. Shailor