Work C.1.31.9

Theon of Alexandria
Commentary on the Almagest (tr. David Sainclair)

Text ‘(Paris, BnF, lat. 7264) (Ir) Theonis Alexandrini commentarius in Magnam Cl. Ptolemaei Syntaxim, quae Arab<ice> dicitur Almagestus. Item Nicolai Cabasilae Archiep. Thessal. In tertium eiudem Syntax. Item Pappi Alexandrini Comm. in quantum eiudem Syntaxeωs librum. Interprete Davide San-Claro mathematicarum artium quondam Professore Regio in Academia Parisiensi. (1-150) Theonis Alexandrini prooemium. Crebrioribus adhortatus a discipulis o fili… (151-214) Nic<olai> Cabasilae in tertium Ptolem<aei>… (215-250) Theonis comm<entarius> in quartum Ptol<emaei> librum… (251-301) Pappi Alex<andrini> comm<entarius> in quintum lib<ri> Ptol<emaei>… (302-452) Theonis Alexandr<ini> comment<arius>. Liber sextus Syntaxeωs — Excudebat in regia Avoloviasi (?) et cura (?) Iohannis Balderi [Johannes Walderus] anno ab incarnatione domini nostri Iesus Christi 1535 primo quinti mensis’.

Content Books I-XIII, with a lacuna from the end of Book X to the beginning of Book XII. Book III is given in Nicolaus Cabasila’s version and Book V in Pappus’s version. Rome writes: ‘L’une [i.e., Latin translation] est de David de Saint-Clair (XVIe s.). On la trouve dans Par. Lat. 7264. Elle est la traduction de l’édition de Bâle 1538, qui s’y trouve reproduite jusque dans les moindres details.’

Origin Translated from Greek by David Sainclair (David Sanclarus), a Catholic Scot who was appointed by Henry IV professor of mathematics at the Collège Royal (Collège de France) in 1599, a position he held until his death in 1629. According to the colophon, the translation was made on the basis of the text published by Johannes Walderus in 1535, which must be a mistake for 1538 (i.e. for Grynaeus’s edition published by Walderus).

Bibl. N. Halma, Commentaire de Théon d’Alexandrie sur le premier livre de la composition mathématique de Ptolémée, Paris, 1821, ix-x; A. Rome, Commentaires de Pappus et de Théon d’Alexandrie sur l’Almageste, I, Vaticano, 1931, vi; P. L. Rose, ‘Plusieurs manuscrits autographes de Federico Commandino à la Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris’, Revue d’Histoire des Sciences 24 (1971), 299-307, 301 n. 5; Catalogus translationum et commentariorum, eds P. O. Kristeller et al., II, Washington D.C., 1971, 212-213; P. O. Kristeller, Iter Italicum, III, London-Leiden, 1983, 221.