Elenchus manuscriptorum codicum Lactantii

LIST OF THE MANUSCRIPTS

OF THE CODICES OF LACTANTIUS.

MANUSCRIPT CODICES:

The Balliol manuscript codex, at Oxford in England, containing the seven books of the Divine Institutes, and the book

On the Wrath of God. Thom. Sparke used it in the Oxford edition of the year 1684.

BALUZIANUS, that is, the manuscript codex of the most distinguished and most learned man Étienne Baluze of Tulle, of good quality, 400 years old. In it are the book On the Anger of God, beginning from chapter 8, and the book On the Workmanship of God. This codex is now in the Royal Library, in octavo format, number 2967: you may see it below.

A manuscript codex of the Divine Institutes seen by BARTHIUS, of which, however, very few variant readings were excerpted by Barthius.

The manuscript codex which BETULEIUS used in the edition that was issued after his death in the year 1563; Betuleius, however, seems to have used this manuscript sparingly.

BODLEIANUS, at Oxford, containing the books of the Divine Institutes, with the Epitome, and On the Anger of God, and On the Workmanship of God. A very good codex, which Thomas Sparke used in the edition of 1614. The variant readings begin only with the second book of the Divine Institutes.

Two codices of the monastery of St SAVIOUR AT BOLOGNA, of which the older is said to be a thousand years old, but to me, judging from a specimen, it does not seem to exceed the age of 900 years; for the letters are not square nor capitals; rather they are similar to the Royal manuscript of 900 years, marked 3735. It is indeed of good quality; and it sometimes differs from the rest, and has some interpolations. Specimens of this most ancient codex have been published by Leo Allatius in the Etruscan Antiquities; by the most distinguished Dom Bernard de Montfaucon in the Diarium Italicum and in the Palaeographia Graeca; and also by Dom Nicolas le Nourry, vol. 2 of the Apparatus ad Bibliothecam SS. Patrum, p. 616.

The other BOLOGNA copy is more recent, but not unequal to the former. Both were collated and rather often cited by Thomasius, whom Isaeus follows. Joan. B. le Brun had many more variant readings of both these manuscript codices, noted by Latino Latini in the margin of his own Lactantius, through the care and zeal of a learned man, PIERRE HÉMARD of Étampes, advocate in the Parlement of Paris. A similar copy, and that the autograph of Latino Latini, Lenglet had from the most celebrated Library of St Geneviève. Latini himself, indeed, had not collated the Bologna manuscripts: but he had received their various readings, in the year 1558, from Miguel Tomás Taxaquet, who is none other than Thomasius, the editor of Lactantius. On this see below under TAXAQ.

The codex of M. Jean le BEUF, member of the Royal Academy of Inscriptions, contains only the two little books On the Anger of God and On the Workmanship of God. It seems to have been written in the fourteenth century.

The manuscript codex of Jean-Baptiste LE BRUN of Rouen, 400 years old, comprising the seven books of the Divine Institutes, the books On the Anger of God and On the Workmanship of God. In its margin are written the various readings of another manuscript codex for the seven books of the Divine Institutes.

CAMERACENSES: two codices on parchment; one of the ninth or at least the tenth century, but so mutilated that it can be read only with the greatest effort and care. It contains the seven books of the Institutes: almost everywhere it has the Greek excellently written in square letters. The other was written at the beginning of the fifteenth century, and in it are contained the 7 books of the Institutes, and the little books On the Anger and On the Workmanship of God, or On the Formation of Man. The Greek is present, sometimes quite well written, sometimes in the common Latin script.

A manuscript codex of the Library of the most celebrated University of CAMBRIDGE, written in the year of the Lord 1465 in the venerable Monastery of Subiaco, as is noted at the end of the same codex; and it contains the seven books of the Divine Institutes, and the books On the Anger of God and On the Workmanship of God: thus it was written there in the very year in which the first edition was printed at Subiaco. The Cambridge editor saw it. This codex was not copied from the first Subiaco edition, from which it differs greatly, as is clear from the various readings which the Cambridge editor cites from it.

Various readings of a very good manuscript codex collected by Theodore

Canter; which were lent to Gallaeus.

A codex on parchment, written out in the middle of the fifteenth century, and quite neatly written. This the Reverend Father Fulgentius, librarian of the Library of the Capuchin Fathers of Paris at the convent of St Honoratus, lent to me, out of the kindness in which he excels. The Greek in it is elegantly written; it is not, however, present in all the books. In this codex are read the little books On the Anger and On the Workmanship of God.

An ancient manuscript codex of the highest quality, similar in almost everything to the very ancient Bologna codex, most accurately collated by Jo Cauci, comprising the books of the Divine Institutes, On the Anger of God, and On the Workmanship of God. The variant readings of this codex were of use to Gallaeus.

A manuscript codex of the college of Corpus Christi at Oxford, containing the books of the Divine Institutes, On the Anger of God, and On the Workmanship of God. Thomas Spark made use of it, though sparingly.

Two manuscript codices, of 400 and 300 years, belonging to the most learned and most courteous Godfrey Clermont of Amsterdam, chaplain to the Dutch ambassadors in France, in the year 1715; who, when he heard at Paris from the illustrious Étienne Baluze that Jean-Baptiste le Brun was engaged in publishing an edition of Lactantius collated with and corrected from the manuscript codices, on returning to Amsterdam most kindly sent the two to Jean-Baptiste le Brun for his use, together with two printed editions; for which reason this edition of ours owes him much.

A manuscript codex of the Colbert Library, 800 years old, no. 1297, from which that celebrated book of Lactantius On the Deaths of the Persecutors came to light through the care of the most illustrious and also most learned Étienne Baluze; this manuscript Jean-Baptiste le Brun again collated most accurately, and Lenglet himself devoted the greatest care and his zeal to it in comparing it with the printed editions, and he noticed many things passed over by others. There are other codices: of these, one, which appears to be 700 years old, no. 2679, was written at Venice; another of 500 years, no. 5173, written in the diocese of Le Puy; three others of 300 years, namely no. 3573, written at Bologna, and the other two, no. 4095 and no. 4495, comprising the books of the Divine Institutes and the books On the Anger of God and On the Workmanship of God; one likewise of 300 years written at Bologna, no. 1975, containing only the seven books of the Divine Institutes; and another, likewise of 300 years, no. 6210, written at Florence, containing the books On the Anger of God and On the Workmanship of God. There is also another, which is 800 years old, no. 1336, which has nothing from Lactantius, but a poem on the Phoenix under the name of Lactantius. But all these Colbert codices are today in the Royal Library: we shall shortly give a list of them and their age.

A manuscript codex of the Divine Institutes and of the book On the Workmanship of God, seen by Colomiès: its variant readings are very few.

The Cologne codex, whose variant readings the Cologne editor of the year 1544 very often brings forward: Lenglet made use of this edition.

The Cottonian manuscript codex at Oxford, comprising the books of the Divine Institutes, the first (as it seems) being removed, some variant readings of which Spark added in his Oxford edition of the year 1684.

Two manuscript codices, whose variant readings Jacques Cujas sent to Tornesius. Tornesius used these in the edition of the year 1579.

A manuscript codex of the Library of Emmanuel College at Cambridge, copied in the year of the Lord 1424, as is clear from the subscription added at the end, and it is far more correct than the other Cambridge codex. It comprises the books of the Divine Institutes, and On the Anger of God and On the Workmanship of God. The Cambridge editor collated it, and prefixed its variant readings to his edition.

An old manuscript codex, which Desiderius Erasmus once used. Its variant readings are very few, except for the book On the Workmanship of God, which Erasmus illustrated with a few notes in the edition of this little book of the year 1529, and of the others which were printed afterwards,

both separately and in certain editions of Lactantius.

A very ancient codex, which Georg Erhard used; but Gallaeus extracted only a very few variant readings from it.

He whose name is quite often read in the notes was Petrus Francius, professor of eloquence in the illustrious school of the city of Amsterdam, whose library was distinguished not so much by the number of its volumes as by the manuscript notes of this most learned man scattered through every book. He died, I think, in the year 1704, and his literary collection was put up for sale at Amsterdam in the year 1705, at the shop of Hendrik Wetstein, bookseller. His annotations and conjectures on Lactantius Jean-Baptiste Le Brun had obtained from Monsieur de Clermont, a Dutchman.

A codex of 300 years of the metropolitan church of St Gatianus of Tours, whose variant readings, and those of the manuscript codex of Marmoutier, were sent to Jean-Baptiste Le Brun by Jacques-Christophe Garreau, a learned and devout man, and born for the public good.

The Gotha manuscript codex of the Most Serene Duke of Saxony is about 400 years old, and contains the seven books of the Institutes, and the books On the Wrath of God and On the Workmanship of God. Cellarius, Heumann and Bünemann used it.

The manuscript codex of Claude Ménard, about which J. F. Gronovius writes thus: Having come upon, at Angers in the house of Claude Ménard, some parchments not very old, I began to collate them, such as they were, and found readings which I judged preferable to the common ones. He emended from this manuscript only a number of passages of the first two books of the Divine Institutes, in his book of Observations on the ecclesiastical writers.

Five Guelf. or Wolff. manuscript codices of Wolfenbüttel, partly from the Gudian Library, but whose variant readings Bünemann was unable to obtain. Perhaps someone will be more fortunate.

The manuscript codex of Janus Guilielmus, or at least one collated by him, of no slight antiquity. It contains the books of the Divine Institutes, On the Wrath of God, and On the Workmanship of God; Gallaeus had some of its variant readings.

One paper codex of Adrianus Junius, rector of the Amsterdam school in the new quarter of the city. This codex, written in a very ugly hand from an excellent archetype, was lent to Gallaeus by Hadrianus Junius. But Thomas Crenius examined it more carefully.

Three paper manuscript codices of the University of Leipzig, about 300 years old, of which one is of the best quality and agrees with the most ancient. They contain the books of the Divine Institutes, On the Wrath of God and On the Workmanship of God, except one, in which the last two are missing. Cellarius and Bünemann used them.

The Royal London codex, of On the Wrath of God, a copy of which Bünemann obtained from a friend.

A manuscript codex of 500 years of the Greater Monastery, in French Marmoutier, of the Order of St Benedict, of the Congregation of St Maur, near Tours.

The Merton manuscript codex at Oxford, whose variant readings, but too sparingly, Sparke reports in his Oxford edition; it begins only with the third book of the Divine Institutes and runs to the end of the book On the Workmanship of God.

From the library of the College of Navarre at Paris, a manuscript codex of 300 years, comprising the books of the Divine Institutes, On the Wrath of God, and On the Workmanship of God.

The Palatine parchment codex, containing the books of the Divine Institutes, whose variant readings Isaac Vossius supplied to Gallaeus.

The manuscript codex of Francisco Peña, a Spaniard, auditor of the Roman Rota, of no low quality, comprising the books of the Divine Institutes, On the Wrath of God, and On the Workmanship of God. Isaeus collated it, but did not indicate of what age it is.

Manuscript codices of the library of the Most Christian King, of which two are of 900 years and of the best quality, the first no. 3735, and the other no. 3736, which formerly belonged to the library of the celebrated Dupuy: this one Johannes Opsopoeus once collated in some Greek passages of the Sibyls, and the rest were collated by Jean Le Brun; one of 400 years, no. 3976, and another

of 300 years, no. 3739, of the best quality; one of 300 years, no. 3737; another of 300 years, no. 3741, of the best quality; one of 300 years, no. 3740, with outstanding pictures, in which there is also the Epitome of the Divine Institutes; another copied at Mantua in the year 1428, no. 3977; another of about 300 years, no. 3738, copied from a good archetype; another of 200 or 250 years, no. 3742. Two others of about 300 years, no. 3978 and no. 3979, containing only Lactantius' books On the Wrath of God and On the Workmanship of God, or the Formation of Man.

All these manuscripts, as well as the Colbertine ones, were collated by Jean-Baptiste Le Brun; we give here a list of them, in the order in which they now stand, namely:

No. 1662. A parchment manuscript, formerly Claude Dupuy's: the seven books of the Institutes of Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius, the book On the Wrath of God, the book On the Workmanship of God, the Epitome of the Divine Institutes; a manuscript in folio written in the ninth century.

No. 1663. A parchment manuscript: seven books On False Religion, but the end of the sixth of the Divine Institutes and the greatest part of the seventh are missing; written in the ninth century, in folio.

No. 1664. A manuscript on parchment: the seven books of Firmianus Lactantius On False Religion, and the same author's book to Demetrianus On the Workmanship of God; written partly in the twelfth, partly in the fourteenth century, in folio.

No. 1665. A parchment manuscript: the seven books of the Divine Institutes of Firmianus Lactantius; written towards the end of the fourteenth century, in folio.

No. 1666. A paper manuscript: the seven books of the Divine Institutes against the Gentiles of Firmianus Lactantius, the book On the Workmanship of God, or the Formation of Man; written at Mantua in the year 1428, in folio.

No. 1667. A paper manuscript, formerly Colbertine: the seven books of the Divine Institutes of Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius; written in the year 1463, in folio.

No. 1668. A manuscript partly of parchment, partly of paper: the seven books of the Divine Institutes of Firmianus Lactantius; written in the fifteenth century, in folio.

No. 1669. A parchment manuscript, formerly Colbertine: the seven books of the Divine Institutes of Firmianus Lactantius. There is appended an extract from St Augustine's twentieth book of the City of God, on the Last Judgement; On the Wrath of God, On the Workmanship of God; written in the fifteenth century, in folio.

No. 1670. A parchment manuscript, formerly Colbertine: the seven books of the Divine Institutes of Firmianus Lactantius. There are appended a fragment on the Last Judgement, the book On the Wrath of God, the book On the Workmanship of God; written in the fifteenth century, in folio.

No. 1671. A parchment manuscript, formerly Dupuy's: the seven books of the Divine Institutes of Firmianus Lactantius, On the Wrath of God, On the Workmanship of God, the poem on the Phoenix, the poem on the Resurrection, the Epitome of the Divine Institutes; written in the fifteenth century, in folio.

No. 1672. A parchment manuscript: the seven books of the Divine Institutes of Firmianus Lactantius. Two poems are placed before them, one on the Day of the Last Judgement, by an anonymous author, the other on the Day of the Lord's Resurrection, attributed to Lactantius. There are appended a fragment on the Last Judgement from St Augustine's twentieth book of the City of God, the book On the Wrath of God, On the Workmanship of God; written in the fifteenth century, in folio.

No. 1673. A parchment manuscript: the seven books of the Divine Institutes of Firmianus Lactantius; here and there in the margin are added notes of the Reverend Father Giovanni Maria Brasichelli, Master of the Sacred Apostolic Palace; written towards the end of the fifteenth century, in folio. (But Brasichelli's notes, which are published below, were written at the beginning of the seventeenth century.)

No. 1674. A parchment manuscript: the seven books of the Divine Institutes of Firmianus Lactantius, the beginning of which is missing; On the Divine Wrath, On the Workmanship of God, or the Formation of Man, the poem on the Phoenix, on the day of God's Resurrection; written towards the end of the fifteenth century, in folio.

No. 1675. A paper manuscript: the seven books of the Divine Institutes against the Gentiles of Lactantius Firmianus, On the Wrath of God, On the Workmanship of God, the Epitome, On Reason

a fragment of the book, more recent: written in a rough hand, in folio.

No. 1676. A paper codex: the book of Firmianus Lactantius on the Wrath of God: written in the fifteenth century, in folio.

No. 1677. A parchment codex: the book of Firmianus Lactantius on the Wrath of God, and on the Workmanship of God: written in the fifteenth century, in folio.

No. 1678. A paper codex: three books on the errors of Firmianus Lactantius, the author being Antonius Raudensis, theologian: written in the fifteenth century, in folio.

No. 1679. A paper codex, formerly Colbert's: the same book of Antonius Raudensis, in folio.

No. 1680. A paper codex, formerly Colbert's: the same book of Antonius Raudensis, in folio.

No. 2623. A parchment codex, formerly Colbert's: the seven books of the Divine Institutes of Firmianus Lactantius, on the Wrath of God, on the Workmanship of God: written at Bologna in Italy, in the year 1436, in quarto.

No. 2624. A parchment codex: seven books of Firmianus Lactantius on False Religion, on the Wrath of God, on the Workmanship of God: written in the fifteenth century, in quarto.

No. 2625. A codex partly of parchment, partly of paper, formerly Colbert's: the seven books of the Divine Institutes of Lactantius Firmianus, on the Wrath of God, on the Workmanship of God: written in the fifteenth century, in quarto.

No. 2626. A parchment codex, formerly Colbert's: the seven books of the Institutes of Lactantius Firmianus, on the Workmanship of God, or the Formation of man, on the Wrath of God: written in the fifteenth century, in quarto.

No. 2627. A parchment codex, formerly Colbert's: the book of Lucius Caecilius on the Deaths of the persecutors, with other writings: written partly in the twelfth, partly in the eleventh century, in quarto.

No. 2967. A parchment codex, formerly Baluze's: the book on the Wrath of God (the first seven chapters are wanting), on the Workmanship of God, or the Formation of man: written in the fifteenth century, in octavo.

No. 2958. A parchment codex, formerly Colbert's: Lactantius Firmianus, on the Wrath of God, on the Workmanship of God, or the Formation of man, written in the year 1439, in octavo.

The REIMMANN paper codex, willingly lent to Bünemann, of the fifteenth century.

One codex on parchment, of the fourteenth century, which the outstanding Library of the most eminent Cardinal de Rohan holds, and access to it was granted to us by the very great kindness of that prince. It contains only the seven books of the Divine Institutes, in which the Greek is not read, as those times allowed.

The ROSTOCK manuscript codex, whose variant readings for the books of the Divine Institutes are very few. Gallaeus had these from Isaac Vossius.

The SAINT-GERMAIN codex, likewise on parchment, formerly belonging to Séguier, Chancellor of France, elegantly written, about four hundred years old, which lacks the first two pages. It contains the seven books of the Divine Institutes; the Epitome, but incomplete; the books on the divine Wrath and on the Workmanship of God; and finally the poem on the Phoenix, with this notice: These Poems are said to be by Lactantius. Sometimes Greek is present, and that written quite elegantly.

Two SORBONNE codices, 300 years old, no. 271 and no. 272, in the former of which is read at the end, I, Johannes of Mainz, wrote [this]..., in the year 1448. Each contains the seven books of the Divine Institutes of Lactantius, and the books on the Wrath of God, and on the Workmanship of God, or on the Formation of man.

The manuscript TURIN codex of the King of Sardinia, a thousand years old, from which, through the kindness of the most learned man Christoph Matthäus Pfaff, there came to light at Paris, in the year 1712, the Epitome of the Divine Institutes complete, a few things excepted, whose first fifty-five chapters had been lacking in the preceding editions. The most illustrious Pfaff sent me a copy of this codex through the most learned Johann Gabriel Schöpflin. Pfaff advises that there exist besides in the Turin Library nine

manuscript codices of the works of Lactantius; but he does not indicate their age.

The codex of the most learned man Michael Thomas Taxaquetius, diligently scrutinized and examined by Isaeus, who did not indicate its age. It contains the books of the Divine Institutes, On the Anger of God and On the Workmanship of God.

I am very often surprised that the learned speak of a manuscript codex of Taxaquetius, since Taxaquetius is no other than Michael Thomasius, the editor of Lactantius, who was a Balearic Majorcan. He, in the middle of the sixteenth century, while, as he himself says (Letter to Cardinal Granvelle, prefixed to the Lactantius of the year 1570), he was applying himself at Bologna to pontifical and civil law, saw not only the most ancient codex of Lactantius so often celebrated, but also another copy in the same Library of St Saviour at Bologna, less ancient indeed, but not inferior to that most ancient one. Nicolaus Antonius, in the Bibliotheca Hispana nova, vol. 2, folio, Rome, 1672, p. 117, settles this little controversy. For he speaks thus: Michael Thomasius Taxaquet, a Balearic Majorcan, devoted himself to imperial and pontifical law, both at Lérida among the Catalans and at Bologna in Italy. His writings display his outstanding learning and erudition; namely, he emended the works of Lactantius Firmianus and added brief notes. Antwerp, from the Plantin press, 1570. Nicolaus Antonius lists other works of his: but I suspect whence the error arose. Latinus Latinius noted the following in his own hand at the beginning of the Aldine edition of Lactantius, 1535, in which he wrote down variant readings of the Bologna manuscripts. I began, he says, to emend these books of Lactantius from the variant readings of two codices, of which one, from the Library of St Saviour at Bologna, written in Lombardic letters, is of wonderful antiquity; the other, likewise at Bologna, was most diligently scrutinized and examined by the learned man Michael Thomas Taxaquetius, born in the Greater of the Balearic islands. And Taxaquetius gave me a copy of those emendations when he was at Rome and held me in wonderful affection: such is the man's kindness. Further, these words were written in the same hand of Latinius at the end of the Epitome of Lactantius: I first set my hand to this emendation at Rome, 1558, on the third day before the Kalends of June. Hence without doubt Isaeus and other learned men seized the occasion of distinguishing Michael Thomas Taxaquetius from Michael Thomasius, the editor of Lactantius. But an error once committed by one man easily spread to many. Heumann therefore was not to be blamed for not distinguishing or separating Michael Thomasius from Michael Thomas Taxaquetius. If, then, the occasion falls to the learned to censure the errors of scholars, I would wish it to be done soberly, done modestly, and that they should never harass them in a youthful manner.

A manuscript codex of the seven books of the Divine Institutes bought by Tornesius when he was preparing his Lyons edition of the year 1567 and the following years, in whose margin he set certain variant readings of the manuscript codex; but he did not indicate the manuscript's age.

Twelve Vatican manuscript codices, which are kept at Rome in the Vatican Library: their readings are cited here and there. Of these Thomasius collated seven, while Isaeus testifies that he diligently collated five others besides, together with the seven manuscript codices above; but of what age they were it did not please them to indicate to us, just as Gallaeus did not indicate it for the manuscripts whose variant readings he collected.

A manuscript codex of the Abbey of the Canons Regular of St Victor at Paris, about 400 years old, containing the books of the Divine Institutes, On the Anger of God and On the Workmanship of God: which Dom Vion d'Hérouval, canon regular and at that time prefect of the Library of St Victor at Paris, kindly shared with Jean le Brun.

One manuscript codex of the Canons of Blessed Mary at Utrecht, copied from an excellent archetype, containing the books of the Divine Institutes, On the Anger of God, and On the Workmanship of God, which Gallaeus used.