Marston MS 278     Florence, ca. 1425-30
Cicero, Partitiones oratoriae; Topica, etc.

I. 1.  ff. 1r-37r  M. Tul. Ciceronis partitionum oratoriarum liber
incipit.
Studeo mi pater latine ex te audire ea quae mihi tu de ratione dicendi
graece tradidisti...ex tuis praeclarissimis muneribus nullum maius expecto.
M. T. Ciceronis de partitionibus oratoriis ad c. filium liber
explicit.

Cicero, Partitiones oratoriae; W. Friedrich, ed., Teubner, v. 2 (1902)
pp. 389-424.  Abbreviations for names of interlocutors (Cl, Tul, C,
T) in
red.  Text is divided by headings, in red, and decorative initials as follows:
Cicero (f. 1v), De praeceptis orationis (ch. 8, sect. 27; f. 7v), De
quaestione (ch. 18, sect. 61, f. 15v).  Spaces for Greek left unfilled.

2. ff. 37v-63v  M. Tul. Ciceronis ad C. Trebatium iure consultum topica
incipiunt.  Maiores nos res scribere ingressos.  C. Trebati et his libris
quos breui tempore satis multos...quod quasi mancipio debuimus ornamenta
quaedam uoluimus non debita accedere.  M. T. Ciceronis Topica ad .C.
Trebatium expliciunt feliciter.  f. 64r-v ruled, but blank

Cicero, Topica; Friedrich, op. cit., pp. 425-49.  Spaces left blank
for Greek words, some of which have been filled with words written in 
Roman letters; decorative initials to designate text divisions occur at 
beginnings of ch. 4, sect. 25; ch. 5, sect. 26; ch. 8, sect. 33; ch. 8, 
sect. 35; ch. 10, sect. 41; ch. 11, sect. 46; ch. 11, sect. 47; ch. 11, sect. 
50; ch. 15, sect. 53; ch. 14, sect. 58; ch. 16, sect. 62; ch. 16, sect. 63;
ch. 17, sect. 65; ch. 18, sect. 67; ch. 18, sect. 68; ch. 18, sect. 71;
ch. 19, sect. 73; ch. 21, sect. 79 (2 initials); ch. 21, sect. 81; ch. 24,
sect. 90.

II. 3.  ff. 65r-87r  P. Rutilii Lupi schemata dianoeas ex graeco uorsa
Gorgia.
Prosapodosis.  Hoc schema duobus modis fieri et tractari potest.  Nam
sententiis duabus aut pluribus propositis...hos necessitudine opitulandi
astrinxit hosque ignotos iuxta beniuolentiae causa inlesit.  P. Rutilii.
Lupi. schemata. dianoeas. ex. graeco. Gorgia. uorsa. explicit.

P. Rutilius Lupus, De figuris sententiarum et elocutionis; edited with
prolegomena and commentary by E. Brooks (Leiden, 1970) text on pp. 5-45.
Greek terms are written by the scribe in Roman capitals; a second person,
probably the same person who wrote arts. 5-6, neatly wrote the Greek words
in the margins.  The second scribe exhibits a better knowledge of Greek
than the first, who often transliterated the Greek words into Roman letters
incorrectly.  This is one of the earlier manuscript witnesses to the text of
Rutilius Lupus, which was rediscovered about the same time as Petronius and
which was first noted in a letter of Ambrogio Traversari to Niccolo
Niccoli datable to 1421.  See A. C. de la Mare, "The Return of Petronius
to Italy,"  Medieval Learning and Literature:  Essays Presented to Richard
William Hunt, ed. J. J. G. Alexander and M. T. Gibson (Oxford, 1976)
pp. 220-54.

4.  ff. 87r-108v  Incipit Romani Aquilae.  Rhetoricos.  Petis longioris morae
ac diligentiae quam pro angustis temporis quo me profecto urget. ideoque postea
plenum hoc tibi munus reddemus...M. Tullio. nec dum copiam imitamur in 
nimietatem incidamus cauendum est.  Explicit Aquilae.

Aquila Romanus, De figuris sententiarum et elocutionis; K. Halm, ed.,
Rhetores Latini Minores, Teubner (1863) pp. 22-37.  The hand which has added
Greek words in the margins is that of the second scribe who copied arts. 5-6.

5.  f. 109r-v  [I]n monosyllabis inspiciendum utrum finalis breuis sit an
longa.  Si longa est praeire debet trocheus.  quae tamen apta est conclusio
pendente adhuc sensu...bona clausula fit; Sed In hac clausula cauendum // ne
pro trocheo spondeus ponatur. 

Martianus Capella, De figuris sententiarum et elocutionis, extracts from
V.520 and 522; A. Dick, ed., Teubner (1925) pp. 257-59.  Followed by an 
unidentified text on f. 109v:  "Item non corrigas caput uersus heroici 
finemque.  Quinque longas et totidem breues non improbes.  Trocheum triplicem
ascondes...et istud est praedicare inter humanas dictiones.

6.  ff. 109v-110v  Priscianus.  de figuris numerorum.  [S]ciendum quod quom
ab uno ad mille mille [sic] numeri notentur apud latinos non plus tredecim eos
figuris notari inuenimus.  Nam principales reperiuntur quater singuli
tam ante quinarios...dicitur ut dardanus docet scrupulos esse idest sex
siliquae dragma siue argenteus scripuli tres.  Vncia//  ff. 111r-114v ruled,
but blank

Priscian, De figuris numerorum (quos antiquissimi habent codices), sections
1-10 only and omitting portions of the long Greek quotations.  H. Keil,
ed., Grammatici Latini, v. 3, Teubner (1859) pp. 405-08.  The same scribe who
wrote arts. 5-6 added the Greek words in the margins of arts. 3-4.

Composed of two distinct parts;  parchment, ff. iii (paper) + ii 
(parchment) + i (contemporary parchment) + 114 + ii (parchment) + iii (paper),
189 x 117 mm.
Part I: ff. 1-64, written space = 129 x 81 mm.  21 long lines.  Double
vertical and single horizontal bounding lines, full length and full width
(Derolez 13.33).  Ruled in hard point on hair side.  Remains of
prickings in upper, lower, and outer margins.  I-VI 10, VII 4.  Letters of the
alphabet (A-F) with a single dot on each side of the letter serve as quire
signatures in lower right corner of verso and lower left corner of recto 
(e. g., .A. on ff. 10v and 11r).  Written in a well formed round humanistic 
script by a single scribe, above top line.  Illumination in the early style
of Bartolomeo di Antonio Varnucci (1410-79).  Two large illuminated
initials (ff. 1r and 37v), 5-line, gold on blue, green and peach
ground with white vine-stem ornament, touched with green and white dots.
On f. 1r a partial border incorporating a butterfly, grasshopper,
moth, and a flying putto with bow and arrow who appears to be
propelled by lozenge-shaped blue clouds. 25 small initials, 2-line, gold on 
blue, green and peach ground with white vine-stem ornament and white
dots.  Headings in pale red, the first on f. 1r partially obscured by
the decoration.
Part II:  ff. 65-114, written space = 131 x 72 mm.  20 long lines.
Double vertical and single (or double) upper horizontal bounding lines
(Derolez 13.33 and 35).  Ruled in hard point on hair side.  Remains of
prickings in upper, lower and outer margins.  I-V 10.  Catchwords in
lower margin, right of center (Derolez 12.2).  Scribe 1 wrote arts. 3-4
in a neat round humanistic script, above top line.  Scribe 2 added arts.
5-6 in an upright humanistic script bordering on cursive; he also added
the Greek words in the margins for arts. 3-4.  Display headings and
key grammar words in majuscules; no decoration or rubrication.
Binding:  France, s. xix.  Bound in red goatskin, blind- and gold-tooled,
by L. Guetant.  Gilt edges.

Part I was written in Florence and decorated by Bartolomeo Varnucci early
in his career, probably ca. 1425-30; the style of the illumination is
very close to three of his manuscripts dated to 1426:  Vatican City,
Vat. Pal. Lat. 1516 (Cicero, philosophical works); Florence, Bib. Laur.
plut. 76, 35 (Seneca, philosophical works); Vatican City, Vat. lat.
2208 (Seneca, Epistolae);  see A. C. de la Mare, New
Research,
p. 398, n. 17.  Arts. 3-4 of Part II appear to be contemporary,
but the portions by Scribe 2 (arts. 5-6 and Greek marginalia) may be
a later addition.  Although a modern note in pencil on f. i verso
states:  "Cicero (Nu. 33 Mss.).  Aus Sammlung C. de Medici.  LB 83557,"
we have not located the manuscript in the inventories published by
F. Ames-Lewis ("The Inventories of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici's Library,"
La Bibliofilia 84 [1982] pp. 103-42) nor is there an ex-libris inscription
of Piero de' Medici.  With respect to the text, Marston MS 278 contains the
same contents in arts. 1-6, in the same order and with the same series of
extracts from Martianus Capella, Priscian and an unidentified text, as
Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Reg. lat. 2062, which is also
an early 15th-century manuscript from Italy (see E. Pellegrin, et al.,
Les manuscrits classiques latins de la Bibliotheque Vaticane 2,1 [Paris, 
1978] pp. 494-95); Marston MS 278 is, however, lacking the commentaries of
Antonio Loschi on Cicero's orations added at the conclusion of the Vatican
codex.  Rectangular white tag with gold border on
f. i recto:  "aee" and "ade" written in ink, s. xix.  "253" in pencil on 
f. i verso and "Impr. Temp. N o 21-del 3-3-933" and "3555" (erased)
on final flyleaf, recto.  Belonged to Thomas E. Marston (bookplate);
his source and date of acquisition unknown.

secundo folio:  [f. 2:]  uocas locos
[f. 66:]  grauis ad

Barbara A. Shailor