PAL

Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus

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Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 17178

s. XV.

Prov.:

acquired by the Bibliothèque nationale at an unknown date in the 18th or 19th c.

Paper, 38 f., composite MS, whose f. 30-37 form one unit copied by a single neat hand. This section is damaged, especially in the upper part of the pages, making the text illegible in places. Folia are missing at the beginning and at the end and those remaining were bound in disorder. The right order is f. 32, 30, 34, 36-37, 35, 31, 33. Moreover, the scribe’s exemplar was already incomplete (f. 33r: ‘et est defectus unius folii de hymaginibus’).

Astral magic (f. 30-37): Ptolemaica (32r-32v, 30r-30v and 34r); ‘Notabilia Ruberti de nativitatibus. Verba viri prudentis et fidelis domini Ruberti de termino nascentium et egrotantium secundum influentiam corporum superiorum caelestium. Ego dico quod stellae magnum habere effectum — Et sic est finis collectae lectoris Ruberti Pittaractisis (?), et sunt adhuc quattuor capitula alia in quibus quia nullam invenio utilitatem ideo non scripsi’ (34r-34v and 36r-37r); ‘De sigillis signorum. Arietis sigilla… De ordine planetarum. Ymago Solis figura… De caracteribus. Solis caracteres…’ (37r-37v); ‘Hermes. De nominibus angelorum et planetarum. Nomina angelorum et planetarum sunt haec…’ (37v and 35r); ‘Ad amorem. Cum Luna fuerit in Cancro in hora Veneris, formabis y<maginem> de Iove in nomine illius personae quam volueris…’ (35r-35v, 31r-31v and 33r); ‘De circulis. <I>tem cum effodere vis, elige ut sit Luna cum duce fortunato vel ei applicet — et sunt isti circuli totales. Et est defectus unius folii de hymaginibus’ (33r); ‘De hymaginibus. Iste libellus de hymaginibus Virgilii intitulatur, ipse enim aliquando per ymaginem operabatur — Explicit liber Virgilii de circulis et hymaginibus’ (33r-33v); Ptolemaica (33v).

Note The text ‘Ad amorem…’ opening on f. 35r is a compilation made of a dozen of chapters dealing with astrological images, three of which (all on f. 35v) come from Pseudo-Ptolemy’s De imaginibus super facies signorum (B.14): ‘Ligatio ursorum. Cum volueris ligare ursos… [second decan of Cancer] … Ut non impediant te serpentes. Cum volueris ut non impediant te serpents… [second decan of Aries] … Ut te puella sequitur. Cum volueris provocare aliquam puellam ut sequitur… [second decan of Cancer]’.

Bibl. L. Delisle, Inventaire des manuscrits de Notre-Dame et d’autres fonds conservés à la Bibliothèque Nationale sous les numéros 16719-18613, Paris, 1871, 33; D. Juste, Catalogus Codicum Astrologorum Latinorum, II: Les manuscrits astrologiques latins conservés à la Bibliothèque nationale de France à Paris, Paris, 2015, 244-246.

(32r–⁠34r)

‘… capita sed caudas. De equorum constrictione. Cum autem volueris videre mirabilia de equis — et impetrabis ex eo quod animus tuus desiderat. Sic est finis l… (?) Tholomei de y<maginibus>. Qu… (?) ad amorem … (?) …ales (?) spiritus amore meum cordi illius adhibere quandiu illa y<mago> …averit (?).’

= Pseudo-Ptolemy, De imaginibus super facies signorum (B.14)

, opening with the last words of the second decan of Taurus. Folia to be read in the order 32, 30, 34. No glosses.

33v

‘Ptholomei regis Egiptii liber incipit. Antiquorum secreta ruminando philosoforum nullum opus — carmen conveniens tali negocio quod in fine libri sequitur parte (?) acci….’.

= Pseudo-Ptolemy, Liber Ptholomei regis Egiptii (B.15)

, beginning only due to missing folia. No glosses.