Marston MS 279     Verona [?], 1430s
Justinus, Epitoma historiarum Pompei Trogi, etc.

I. 1. ff. 1r-2v  The original text on f. 1r-v was Seneca, Phaedra 353-58,
360-404, 359:  "// Nihil immune est.  odiumque perit/ Cum iussit amor
ueteres cedunt...[f. 1v:]  Regia.  seuis modus quis est flammis."  The recto,
however, has been mostly erased and another hand has added:  "Non ignara
mali miseris sucurere disco" (Vergil, Aeneid l.630) as well as some other
verses no longer legible.  Folio 2r contains another passage from Seneca,
Phaedra 717-41:  "// Non ipse toto magnus occeano pater/ Tantum expirarit
sceleris.  o silue:  o furor...Conferat tecum decus omne priscum//" f. 2v
[in another hand]:  "//postera cum primum sparge musa/ in modo mihi similis
qui fui tempore belli/ Dic mihi musa uirum troie qui primus aboris
[sic]/ [in
another hand:] Dic mihi musa//."

II. 2 ff. 3r-130r Liber primus iustini feliciter incipit. Cum multi ex
romanis etiam consularis dignitatis uiri res romanas...ac ferum legibus ad
cultiorem uite usum traductum in formam prouincie redegit.  Finis.  f.
130v blank

Justinus, Epitoma historiarum Pompei Trogi; F. Ruehl and O. Seel,
eds., Teubner (1972) pp. 1-302.  Minor discrepancies in the text include: 
f. 68v (beginning of Bk. 19), the introductory initial is omitted and the
running headlines giving the book number still read 18; f. 102r (beginning
of Bk. 33), decorative initial is omitted, but the numbering continues,
still one off;  f. 113r, a decorative initial marks Bk. 38.8.2 ("Tunc in
egypto mortuo..."); f. 124r, Bk. 43.l.1-2 is omitted. The text has been
corrected and annotated by several contemporary hands throughout.

Parchment, ff. i (paper) + ii (contemporary parchment, ff. 1-2) + 128 
(modern foliation 3-130) + i (paper).
Part I:  ff. 1-2 (palimpsest), 243 x 167 (165 x 98) mm.  26 lines of
verse.  Double horizontal and vertical bounding lines (Derolez 13.36); ruled
in hard point on hair side.  Written by several scribes (see art. 1) in
humanistic bookhand; for the passages from Seneca, the initial letter for
each verse is set between vertical bounding lines.
Part II: ff. 3-130, 245 x 169 (163 x 100) mm.  34 long lines.  Double
horizontal and vertical bounding lines (Derolez 13.36).  Ruled in hard point
on hair side.  Prickings in upper, lower and outer margins (Derolez 18.1).
I-XII 10, XIII 8.  Horizontal catchwords written across inner vertical
rulings (Derolez 12.3).  Written by a single scribe, below top line, in 
humanistic bookhand that sits somewhat above the ruled line; the conclusion
of the text on ff. 129v-130r was added by a different hand.  One large
illuminated initial, f. 3r, 9-line, pink with white highlights on irregular
angular ground, blue with white filigree and a thin white line outlining the
ground.  Filled with a stylized interlacing pattern of white vine-stem, white
with green and yellow shading against gold ground.  This initial is in the
same style as those in London, B. L. Add. 12012 (we thank A. C. de la Mare
for this information), but in different colors.  Numerous small initials,
3-line, yellow, on blue or blue and pink grounds with white filigree.  Initial
heading in gold; running headlines for book numbers in red.
Binding:  Italy, s. xix.  Rigid vellum binding, gold-tooled.  Traces
of turn-ins and bosses from earlier binding on f. 130 and possibly on f. 1.

Written in Italy, probably in Verona in the 1430s. Contemporary
inscription, in gold, in upper margin of f. 2r in Part I:  "Ceneura
[sic] a
nogarolis scripsi manu mea immaculata" was apparently added by Genevra
Nogarola (1419-1465?; Cosenza, v. 3, p. 2484; R. Avesani, Verona nel
Quattrocento. La civilta delle lettere [Verona e il suo territorio IV, 2]
1984, pp. 60-76, with this manuscript cited on p. 63). The script of this
inscription does not, however, seem to correspond to other hands in either
Part I or II. Since the design of the initial on f. 3r (see above) is close to 
those in London, B.L. Add. 12012, a manuscript of Justinus copied in 1433 for
Martino Rizzoni (tutor to the Nogarola sisters), Part II was probably
written and decorated in Verona in the same period. It is not clear at
what point Parts I and II were joined together.  Note, s. xv, partially
visible under ultra-violet light on f. 130v:  "* * * qui in loco est
brac[?]dini * * */ * * * Antonius de [?]zen[?]b[us?]* * *."  Clipping from an
unidentified sale catalogue, in German, in library files.  Acquired from
L. C. Witten in 1954 by Thomas E. Marston (bookplate).

secundo folio: [Part II:]  ademit

Barbara A. Shailor