Royal MS 12 C IV

TREATISES on astronomical and historical subjects (artt. 1-3 being written continuously and without rubrics), in Latin, viz.: 1. 'Yginus de spera mundi' (so old table of contents): the treatise called Poetica Astronomica of Hyginus the [1st-2nd cent. ?] mythologist. The MS. was not collated for Bunte's edition (Leipzig, 1875). Like the other MSS., it is defective at the end. Not divided into books. The arrangement of the writing is peculiar, ff. 1-27 being written in two columns, and the outer column in a small hand as if a commentary on the text. What it contains, however, is a large portion of the text (lib. ii, capp. 2-43), which should be inserted at f. 12, between the words 'lectori' and 'Igitur incipiemus'. From f. 28 to the end the work is in single column. Beg. 'Iginus Fabio suo salutem. Etsi te studio'; ends 'ccc sexaginta quinque dies suo cursu transigit'. A few notes in the margin are in the hand of Patrick Young, librarian to James I. f. 1.

2. Description of the position of the constellations. Beg. 'Duo sunt extremi uertices mundi'. Another copy with additional matter is in 13 A. XI, f. 104. f. 37.

3. Description of the planets, circles, &c., being an extract from the commentary of Macrobius on the Somnium Scipionis, lib. i, cap. xiv, 21, to cap. xviii, 14, ed. Eyssenhardt (Teubner Ser. 1868), pp. 532-546. Beg. 'Videamus que sunt hec duo nomina'. Probably incomplete. f. 38.

4. Incipiunt capitula libri primi hystorie gentis Longobardorum', and after the table 'Incipit ipse liber a Paulo quodam monacho de monte Cassini editus': the Historia Lombardorum of Paulus Warnefridi, al. Paulus Diaconus, a monk of Monte Cassino (d. circ. 797), in six books-by a rubricator's error the last two are numbered vi, vii. Waitz (Mon. Germ. Hisi., Scriptores Rerum Langob., Hanover, 1878, cf. Neues Archiv, Hanover, 1876, i, p. 535) classes the MS. in his apparatus as D. 7. For another copy closely allied to this see 15 C. VI, art. 5. Beg. 'Septemtrionalis plaga quanto magis ab Qstu solis remota est'. f. 44.

5. 'Incipiunt gesta Alexandri regis magni Macedonum' : the abridgement of Julius Valerius' translation from Pseudo-Callisthenes, printed by Zacher, Iul. Valerii Epitome (Halle, 1867). For a full description see Ward, Cat. of Romances, i, p. 112. Beg. 'Egypti sapientes sati genere diuino'; ends 'erecta est sepultura'. Followed, as in 15 C. VI (cf. 13 A. 1, ff. 51, 78), by a note 'Vixit autem annos ... Alexander rex genus Iouis fecit A.B.A.N. et quem orbis uniuersus ferro superare non potuit, uino et ueneno superatus atque extinctus occubuit', epitaph in four hexameters beg. 'Primus Alexander Pillea natus in urbe' with note, and colophon 'Explicit ortus uita gestaque Alexandri regis magni Macedonum'. f. 138.

6. Epigram on Alexander (cf. 15 C. VI, art. 7), here arranged as two stanzas of eight and twelve hexameters. Beg. 'Quicquid in humanis constat uirtutibus altis,. ends 'Succubuit leto sumpto cum melle ueneno'. f. 160.

7. 'Incipit epistola Alexandri regismagni Macedonum ad magistrum suum Aristotelem' : the supposititious Epistola de mirabilibus Indiae (cf. 13 A. 1, f. 52, 15 C. VI, art. 8) printed in Cockayne's Narratiunculae (1861), p. 51, and elsewhere (see Cat. of Rom. l.c.). Beg. 'Semper memor tui etiam inter dubia'; ends 'statuimus monumentum ut quamdiu seculi uoluitur orbita nominis mei fama habeatur in gloria. Explicit epistola Alexandri regis magni Macedonum, qua[m] misit ad magistrum suum Aristotelem'. f. 160 b.

Vellum; ff. i = 170. 8³/₄ in. x 6 in. XII cent. Gatherings, artt. 1-3, i-iii⁸, iv¹⁰, v⁹; art. 4, i-xi⁸, xii⁷; artt. 5-7, i⁶, ii, iii⁸, iv¹². A fresh numeration begins with artt. 4 and 5. Sec. fol. 'et quemadmodum'. Initials in colours. Belonged to Rochester Priory, 'Liber de claustro Roffensi per G. cellerarium' (f. 1), mentioned in the Textus Roffensis cat. (Archaeol. Cant. vi, p. 127) as well as in the cat. of 1202, in 5 B. XII. Old Royal press-mark 'no. 410' (Westm. invent of 1542, Add. MS. 25469, f. 30); cat. of 1666, f. 19 b; CMA. 8351, 8495.