Beinecke MS 742
Italy, s. XV2
Paulus Diaconus, Festus

1.	ff. 1r-67r	M. Eutropii clarissimi historici de gestis Romanorum  liber primus incipit. 
Primus in Italia, ut quibusdam placet, regnavit Ianus. Deinde Saturnus Iovem filium e 
Grecia fugiens in civitate, que eius nomine Saturnia dicta est, cuius ruine hactenus 
cernuntur in finibus Tuscie haud procul ab Urbe ... Huius errori Germanus patriarcha non 
consentiens a propria sede depulsus est et eius in loco Anastasius presbiter ordinatus est. 
Explicit liber Eutropii.

Paulus Diaconus (d. after 744), Historia Romana (adaptation and continuation of Eutropius [s. 
IV], Breviarium ab Urbe condita), with the additional Book 17. H. Droysen, ed., MGH, 
Auctores Antiquissimi, v. 2: Eutropius (1879), pp. 6-405. The edition Droysen in MGH, 
Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum (1879), contains only the Paulus Diaconus 
text but lacks Book 17 . On f. 40r: Explicit liber decimus. Hucusque historiam Eutropius 
composuit. Cui tamen aliqua Paulus Diaconus addidit iubente domina Adilperga, christianissima 
Beneventi ductrice, coniuge domini Archi sapientissimi principis. Deinde que sequuntur idem 
Paulus ex diversis auctoribus proprio stilo connexuit. 

2.	ff. 67v-73r	Rufi Festi pio Valentino imperatori compendiosa abbreviatio historie 
Romane incipit feliciter. Pio perpetuo domino Valentiniano imperatori et semper Augusto 
Rufus Festus v(ir) c(larissimus). Brevi fieri clemencia tua precepit. Parebo libens preceptis, 
quippe cui desit facultas latius eloquendi; ac morem secutus calculatorum, qui ingentes 
summas ceris brevioribus exprimunt, res gestas signabo, non eloquar ... Maneat modo 
concessa dei nutu, cui credis et creditus es, numine indulta felicitas, ut hanc ingentem 
sicut de Gothis etiam Babylonie tibi palma pacis accedat. Explicit breviarium Festi Rufi 
etc.		ff. 73v-75v ruled but blank
	
Festus (s. IV), Breviarium historiae Romanae. J.W. Eadie, ed. (London, 1967), pp. 45-69. Our 
manuscript contains the version à.


Paper, ff. I + 75 + I, 290 x 215 mm. In-4ø folding. Watermark: crossbow??

I-VII10 (ff. 1-70), VIII6 (-6, ff. 71-75). Signatures of the type "a1-a5" (in majuscule or 
minuscule), written on the outer bounding-lines, from "a" to "h". Long vertical catchwords along 
the inner bounding-lines, beginning close to the text area.

Ruled in lead for one column of 38 lines above top line, 165 x 105 mm. Pricking in the upper and 
lower margins. Ruling type 11.

Copied by one hand in Humanistica Cursiva Libraria under Gothic influence (d mostly Uncial).

Pale red headings. Gothic calligraphic initials in brown ink of various sizes, with guide-letters in 
the left margin: 3 lines at the head of each paragraph (art. 1 only), 6-7 lines at the opening of each 
Book.

Binding s. XIX: brown-black marbled paper over pasteboard.

Numerous underlinings  and contemporary marginal captions and notes in Gothica Semihybrida 
Currens throughout the manuscript, written by probably two German readers. Pointing hands. On  
the front paste-down the s. XVIII/XIX name of the owner "Frid. Creuzer" (Georg Friedrich 
Creuzer, professor of classical philology at Heidelberg, 1771-1858; see Deutsche Biographische 
Enzyklopaedie, v. 2 [Munich etc., 1995], p. 400); on the facing page a note in Latin by the same 
about the texts in this manuscript; at the bottom of the front paste-down the printed bookplate of 
A.N.L. Munby (1913-1974; see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, v. 39 [2004], pp. 732-
733). Collection of Bernard M. Rosenthal, San Francisco (MS 40). Purchased from him on the 
Edwin J. Beinecke Fund.

Albert Derolez

R 20.02.09