YALE UNIVERSITY
BEINECKE RARE BOOK AND MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY
GENERAL COLLECTION OF RARE BOOKS AND
MANUSCRIPTS
MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE MANUSCRIPTS
Beinecke MS 450 Central France [?], s. XII^^1/4
Juvenal, Satires, with scholia
1. f. 1r a. [2 lines written along upper edge:] Quinque sunt partes
satirarum. Reprehensiua, derisoria, hortatiua, deprecatiua, laudatiua...et
postea ternarium.
b. [in column below:] In principio huius libri uidendum est de uita
poete qualis fuit. Iuuenalis fuit aquinas id est de aquino oppido. Incertum
est an fuisset filius libertini...et ita lassant me audiendo malas scripturas
illorum. sed ero ego semper auditor tantum [?] s. non [ending incomplete?].
a. Notes on the genre of satire; b. notes on the life of Juvenal, followed
by notes on titulus, qualitas carminis, materia, intentio scribentis, etc.
Apparently the introduction to scholia (art. 3).
2. ff. 1v-65v Semper ego auditor tantum nunquam ne reponam/ vexatus totiens
rauci theseide codri/...Vt qui fortis erit sit felicissimus idem/ Vt leti
faleris omnes et torquibus omnes.
Juvenal, Satirae I-XVI; W. V. Clausen, ed., OCT (1959) pp. 37-175. The
text of the satires is written in a narrow column in the center left of the page
with generous space between lines; the first letter of each verse is set to the
left of text. According to G. M. Parassoglou, "A Yale Manuscript of Juvenal,"
Rheinisches Museum fuer Philologie N. F. 117 (1974) pp. 334-49, MS 450
belongs to the [Greek] class of texts established by U. Knoche,
Handschriftliche Grundlagen des Juvenaltextes, Philologus Suppl. 33, 1
(Leipzig, 1940) pp. x-xi. Original bifolios lost between ff. 1 and 3, 4 and 6;
text of Satire I. 27-84 and II. 146-III.32 is still missing, but text of Satire
I. 85-143 and II. 88-145 has been supplied on leaves written in s. xv,
now ff. 2 and 5 in
manuscript. Lines 165-66 are missing from Satire XI; a humanist has added 165
at bottom of written space on f. 48v. A similar situation occurs with Satire
XIII. 34 on f. 52r. Line 239 of Satire XIV was omitted from the text (f. 60r),
but is given in the scholia.
3. ff. 1v-65v Descensus ad litteram. Ipsi poete cum deberent scribere
utilia scribunt inutilia. et patiar ego istud..., A. teseide nomen est
patronomicum femininum ut eneide..., B. Codrus malus poeta fuit qui scripsit
fabula [sic] de teseo..., C. toga est quoddam genus uestis extense
usque ad talos... [conclusion of scholia, f. 65v, mostly illegible].
Extensive scholia and interlinear glosses with numerous abbreviations;
the scholia do not agree for the most part with the scholia vetustiora. Internal
evidence suggests that they were written later than the mid-8th century and
possibly after 896. See W. S. Anderson, "The Marston Manuscript of Juvenal,"
Traditio 13 (1957) pp. 407-14; CTC, v. 3, Juvenalis, Addenda et Corrigenda,
pp. 432-33. The scholia is mostly written in a narrow column in the outer
margin, but also extends into the inner and upper margins; most segments of
scholia are keyed to the text by letters of the alphabet or tie marks.
Parchment (shiny), ff. i (paper) + 65 + i (paper), 268 x 165 (192 x 78) mm.
Written in 29 lines of widely spaced verse. Ruled with hard point on hair-side
before folding; horizontal rulings for text extend across conjugate leaves
through gutter; double vertical and single horizontal bounding lines full
length and full across; additional vertical ruling to delineate outer
edge of column for scholia. Prickings in all margins except inner.
I^^8 (-2, 3, 6, 7 with ff. 2 and 5 replacements, s.xv), II-VII^^8, VIII^^12
(-4, no loss of text). Catchwords center of lower margin.
Written by a single scribe in a small bookhand; interlinear glosses and
scholia by same scribe in a cramped and abbreviated script, ff. 2 and 5 in two
sizes of humanistic bookhand.
Red initial, 4-line, infilled with modest arabesque motifs (cf. J. J. G.
Alexander, "Scribes as Artists: The Arabesque Initial in Twelfth-Century
English Manuscripts," in Medieval Scribes, Manuscripts and Libraries, Essays
Presented to N. R. Ker ed. M. B. Parks and A. G. Watson [London, 1978] pl.
116 of Oxford, Bodl. Lib. MS Bodley 391); spaces left for other initials at
beginning of each satire; rubrication for scholia on ff. 2r. Simple drawing of
racecourse in circus appears on f. 9r.
Binding: s. xviii-xix [?]. Brick-red goatskin, blind-tooled. Characteristic
binding of the Guarnieri-Balleani library in Iesi, Italy.
Written in the first quarter of the 12th century probably in Central France,
but the preparation of parchment and the use of the meridional abbreviation for
qui may suggest an origin in Southern France or Northern Italy. An
inscription, s. xiv-xv, visible under ultraviolet light, in lower margin on f.
1r: "Iste liber est fratris Joachini Bononiensis de ordine fratrum
predicatorum" indicates that the manuscript was in Italy at this time. Owned
in the 15th century by an unidentified Italian humanist who replaced missing
leaves of the text. Shelfmarks: "L-II-9 Giovenale" in pencil on front
pastedown and "L II 9" on front flyleaf; "2957" in pencil on front flyleaf.
Note of Thomas E. Marston on front pastedown: "From the Guarnieri-Ct. Balleani
Library at Iesi; library formed c. 1450--purchased from Balleani heirs through
Rosenbach in Feb. 1952. The fifteenth century leaves are not in the hand of
Stefano Guarnieri--compare 1st leaves of Cicero de Finibus Bonorum." Since the
manuscript was sold at Sotheby's 19 Dec. 1929 (no. 844), it is not clear how
Rosenbach acquired it from the Balleani heirs in 1952. Presented to Yale in
1959 by Thomas E. Marston (bookplate).
Bibliography: Faye and Bond, p. 68, no. 33 (while in T. E. Marston's
collection).
Exhibition Catalogue, p. 185, no. 11.
B. Munk Olsen, L'etude des auteurs classiques latins aux XI^^e et XII^^e
siecles, v. 1 (Paris, 1982) pp. 578-79.
Barbara A. Shailor