Beinecke MS 255               Southern Italy, s. XV^^ex
Oppian, Halieutica, etc. (in Greek)

1. ff. iii verso-iv verso Table for Oppian, Halieutica (in a
later hand of the 16th century?); f. v blank

2. f. 1 r-v[Top of folio where heading should be is blank.]
[[Greek]]
[Greek].

     Anonymous Life of Oppian; A. Westermann, ed., [Greek] (Brunswick,
1845) pp. 63-65; the text is followed by a summary of the work and a list
of fish included in the work.

3. ff. 2r-61r[Greek].
[Greek]/
[Greek]/
[Greek].  [explicit:]
[Greek]/ [Greek].

     Oppian of Anazarbos, Halieutica.  The order of the text is distorted:
I.1-66; 380-543; 67-379; I.544-III.189; IV.562-619; III.198-IV.561; IV.620-end.
See F. Fajen, Ueberlieferungsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zu den Halieutika
des Oppian in Beitraege zur klassischen Philologie 32 (Meisenheim am Glan,
1969) p. 19, no. 62 (y^^2); A. W. Mair, ed., Oppian, Colluthus, Tryphiodorus
with an English Translation (Loeb Classical Library, 1928) pp. 200-515;
A. Zumbo, "Collazione dei MSS. y^^2 et b degli Halieutika
di Oppiano," in Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Bollettino dei
Classici, ser. 3, fasc. 1 (1980) pp. 63-92.

4. ff. 61v-96v[Greek].  [here begins
an anonymous life of Oppian in the same manner as in no. 2 above, but it
is more abbreviated and ends after only 18 lines:]
[Greek].  [text begins:]
[[Greek]][Greek]/
[Greek]/
[Greek].  [explicit:]
[Greek].  ff. 97r-100r blank; see art. 8 for f. 100v

     Oppianus of Apamea, Cynegetica; see Mair, op. cit., pp. 2-199;
A. Zumbo, "Un nuovo manuscritto dei Cynegetica pseudo-oppianei," in
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Bollettino dei Classici, ser. 3, fasc. 2
(1981) pp. 95-103 [siglum [Greek]].

5. ff. 101r-106r[Greek].
[[Greek]][Greek]/
[Greek]/
[Greek].  [explicit:]  [Greek].

     Colluthus, Raptus Helenae; W. Weinberger, ed., Tryphiodori et Colluthi
carmina (Stuttgart, 1969) pp. 39-58.

6. ff. 106r-115v[Greek].  [[Greek]]
[Greek]/
[Greek].  [explicit:]
[Greek].  See art. 8 for
ff. 116r and 121v; ff. 116v-121r blank

     Tryphiodorus, Troiae Halosis; Weinberger, op. cit., pp. 3-33.
For a collation, see E. Livrea, "Un nuovo codice di Trifiodoro," in
Scritti in onore di Salvatore Pugliatti (Milan, 1978) v. 5,
pp. 501-08 [siglum [Greek]].

7. ff. 122r-137v [Greek].  [text begins:]
[[Greek]]
[Greek].  [explicit:]
[Greek].  f. 138r-v blank

     Dionysius Periegetes, Description of the habitable world (De situ
orbis).  For text and accompanying scholia (which appear only on f. 122)
see G. Bernhardy, ed., Geographi graeci minores (Leipzig, 1828) v. 1,
pp. 9-63 (text), p. 316 (scholia).

8. A sixteenth-century hand has added brief notices, based on the Suidas,
regarding Colluthus (f. 100v), Tryphiodorus (f. 116r), and Dionysius
(f. 121v).

     Paper (watermarks similar to Briquet Chapeau 3397 for leaves with text, and
to Harlfinger Cloche 31 for blank pages), ff. i (paper) + iv (contemporary
paper) + 138 (foliation with Greek numerals ff. 1-60 only) + iv (contemporary
paper) + i (paper), 319 x 215
(223 x 120) mm.  Written in 29 long lines, frame-ruled in ink; single bounding
lines, sometimes with additional vertical ruling on certain leaves
(ff. 1-22, 122) in outer margin, to form a narrow second column for
scholia; prickings at upper, lower and outer edges of folio.
     I-XVI^^8, XVII^^10.  Arabic numerals for quire signatures below lower right
corner of written space, recto.
     Text was written by a single scribe.  A later hand, bold and ill-formed,
supplied the table of contents (ff. iii verso-iv verso), minor
marginal notations and the foliation in the upper right corner (for
ff. 1-60).
     Tinted drawing of Oppian writing his poem while contemplating fish in a
nearby stream occurs on f. 1v (perhaps an amateur copy of an author portrait);
one simple 6-line initial in red and black penwork, f. 2r; headings in red.
     Binding:  s. xix.  Title in ink on fore edge.  Tan calf case with
deep geometric indentations, blind-tooled, with a dark blue,
gold-tooled calf label.  Similar to the bindings of MSS 256 and 258.  Possibly
bound by Whitaker (we thank A. R. A. Hobson for this information).

Written in Southern Italy, probably in the area of Otranto (according to
A. Zumbo), at the end of the 15th century; early provenance
unknown.  Belonged to Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford (1766-1827; no.
76, in his sale catalogue and on spine; note on f. i verso).  Sold to Bohn;
bought by Sir Thomas Phillipps (no. 6435, on spine).  Purchased from L. C.
Witten with funds from the Jacob Ziskind Charitable Trust in 1957 (MS 41).

Bibliography:  Faye and Bond, p. 46, no. 255.
     Ziskind Catalogue, p. 51.

Barbara A. Shailor