Harley MS 4375/3

Contents:

Valerius Maximus, translated by Simon de Hesdin and Nicolas de Gonesse, Les Fais et les Dis des Romains et de autres gens (the sixth of 6 volumes):

ff. 173r-178v: Book 8 (continued from Harley 4375/2);

ff. 179r-264v: Book 9, Vices.

This copy of the work is now bound in 6 volumes; the other volumes are Harley 4374/1, Harley 4374/2, Harley 4374/3, Harley 4375/1 and Harley 4375/2.

Decoration:

1 full-page miniature, in colours and gold (f. 179r). 15 small column-wide miniatures with large decorated initials and column-wide three-sided or partial foliate borders, in colours and gold (ff. 196v, 213v, 226r, 228r, 233r, 235r, 237v, 240v, 242r, 245r, 249v, 255r, 257v, 258v, 261r). Large decorated initials, in colours and gold. Small initials in gold with blue pen-flourishing or in blue with red pen-flourishing. Line fillers decorated in gold and blue. Capital letters highlighted in yellow.

The subjects of the miniatures are:

Book 9:

f. 179r: Chapter 1 (in 3 tiers), upper tier: Sergius Arata exhibits his hanging baths to his friends and inspects the artificial reserves that he has constructed for fish; mid tier: the son of Aesopus feasts on the most costly singing birds; the Roman women plead for the repeal of the Oppian law forbidding female extravagance; lower tier: Sardanapalus, King of Assyria, clothed in women's attire, sits spinning among his wives, then burns himself and his possessions when he loses power;

f. 196v: Chapter 2, Sulla acts cruelly by taking revenge on the Romans (above); Hannibal crossing a bridge with his army (below);

f. 213v: Chapter 3, Alexander has Clitus murdered with a spear and Lysimachus fed to the lions;

f. 226r: Chapter 4, Septimuleius carries his friend Gracchus' head on a spear;

f. 228r: Chapter 5, Drusus has Philippus grabbed in the Senate and thrown into prison for interrupting his speech;

f. 233r: Chapter 6, Tatius bribes the daughter of Spurius Tarpeius, who has come out of the city to fetch water, to let the Sabines through the gate into the citadel;

f. 235r: Chapter 7, Violent acts and rioting in Rome;

f. 237v: Chapter 8, Caesar with his army in Brundisium, about to set sail for Apollonia;

f. 240v: Chapter 9, Cinna is mistakenly killed next to the funeral pyre of Julius Caesar;

f. 242r: Chapter 10: The Tusculans and Romans (above); Queen Tomyris has Cyrus beheaded and his head put in a tub of blood;

f. 245r: Chapter 11; Tullia has her carriage drive over the body of her father, Servius Tullius; a king holds out a golden orb to a kneeling figure;

f. 249v: Chapter 12, Tullus Hostilius is killed by lightning and his house is burned (above); a woman dies from joy when her son returns safely from battle (below)

f. 255r: Chapter 13, Xerxes crying over the young men in his army; Gnaeus Carbo tries to delay his execution;

f. 257v: Chapter 13, King Masinissa and his guard dogs; Dionusius the tyrant, in bed;

f. 258v: Chapter 14, Pompeus with Vibius and Publicus (above); Laodice has Antiochus murdered and passes off Artemon as her husband;

f. 261r: Chapter 15, Julius Caesar after his victory over Pompeius in Spain.