PAL

Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus

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Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 6766

Date:

s. XIII1 (Lemay; date confirmed by Stefan Georges, private communication).

Or.:

northern Italy.

Prov.:

added notes f. 139v mentioning the foundation of Florence in 809 and the capture of two villages of the territory of Mantua by ‘Dominus Mastinus’ [Mastino II della Scala, ruler of Verona] on 3 June 1351 (ed. Lemay, Abū Maʿšar, IV, 179, who wrongly read ‘1341’).

Parchment, 139 f., one main hand, with numerous texts and chapters added in the margins and on blank pages by a contemporary hand, that also added three chapters to the Theorica planetarum Gerardi on f. 78ra-78va. Occasional interventions of at least two other hands.

Astrology and astronomy: Liber novem iudicum (1r-48ra); ‘Inveni hoc ca<pitulum> in ultimo Aly de electionibus. Si quis pro urbe vel castro an sit capienda vel non…’ (48ra); table of contents of the volume by the second hand (48v-49v); Ptolemaica (50ra-54rb); Messahallah, Liber interpretationum (55ra-55vb); Messahallah, De cogitatione (55vb-56ra); Messahallah, De revolutionibus annorum mundi (56ra-58vb); Ptolemaica (60ra-66va); Alfraganus, De scientia astrorum, tr. Gerard of Cremona (68ra-75rb); astronomical diagrams (75v); Theorica planetarum Gerardi (76ra-78ra), with three added chapters by the second hand ‘Orbes deferentes et stellarum erraticarum declinant…’ (78ra-78va); Albumasar, Introductorium maius, tr. John of Seville (79ra-107vb); ‘Si vis scire si habebis mulierem quam diligis an non…’ (107vb); Zael, Liber iudiciorum (108ra-120vb); Messahallah, Epistola de rebus eclipsium (121ra-121vb); chapter index of Zael’s Liber iudiciorum (122r-122v); Ptolemaica (124ra-139ra); scattered notes by several hands (139v). Sections added by the second hand (in the margins and also on f. 53va-54vb, 59r-59v, 66vb-67v, 123v and 139ra-139rb, originally blank) include many short chapters derived from various iudicia, the Alchandreana and related literature. Blank: 123r.

Note The table of contents f. 48v-49v (second hand) attributes the Liber novem iudicum to Ptolemy (f. 49vb: ‘Explicit liber novem iudicum Tolomei’), repeats the wrong identification of Pseudo-Ptolemy’s Iudicia as Ptolemy’s Almagest (f. 49vb: ‘Liber Almagesti Minoris Tolomei’ and f. 49vc: ‘Explicit liber Almagesti Tolomei’) and refers to the Quadripartitum as ‘Incipit liber Artabe Tolomei’ and ‘Liber aplotesmator (?) Tolomei’, f. 49vc). The same table of contents adds more titles after Ptolemy’s Quadripartitum, cf. f. 49vc: ‘Capitula oblata regi magno Saracenorum’ [=Capitula Almansoris], an untitled text in eight chapters (‘De infirmitatibus’, ‘De rumoribus’, ‘De servitio vel negotio faciendo’ etc.), ‘Liber de mundo’ and ‘Nota de ymaginibus que sunt in signis’.

Bibl. Inventarium codicum Latinorum Bibliothecae Vaticanae, VIII (handwritten catalogue by A. Ceccucci, dated 1882), 194-195; R. Lemay, Abū Maʿšar al-Balḫī [Albumasar]: Liber introductorii maioris ad scientiam judiciorum astrorum, Napoli, 1995-1996, IV, 168-180; R. Lemay, Le Kitāb aṯ-Ṯamara (Liber fructus, Centiloquium) d’Abū Jaʿfar Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf [Ps.-Ptolémée], 1999 [unpublished], I, 276-278; D. Juste, Les Alchandreana primitifs. Étude sur les plus anciens traités astrologiques latins d’origine arabe (xe siècle), Leiden-Boston, 2007, 384-386.

50ra–⁠54rb

‘Almagestus Ptolomei. Incipit Ptolomeus Minor in arte stellifica. Signorum alia sunt masculini generis, alia feminini. Masculini ut Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, Aquarius. Femini Taurus, Cancer… (53rb) De ymaginibus. Prima die mensis Septembris — (53va) et ceteris minora. Explicit Almagestum Ptholomei. [Second hand] Luna existente in Ariete (corr. ex in Cancro) non mediceris caput — oculos habet rotundos.’

= Pseudo-Ptolemy, Iudicia (B.3)

, with Pseudo-Ptolemy’s De temporum mutatione (B.12) as the closing chapter of the section copied by the first hand on f. 53rb-53va (see below). Chapters are in disorder and, presumably, the chapters added by the second hand at the end (53va-54rb) correspond to chapters that had been omitted by the first hand. A few marginal notes by the second hand.

53rb–⁠53va

‘De ymaginibus. Prima die mensis Septembris apparet ymago …is (?) custos plaustri — et est finis cionis Saturni et Martis omnia signa mutationis validiora et ceteris minora. Explicit Almagestum Ptholomei.’

= Pseudo-Ptolemy, De temporum mutatione (B.12)

, as part of the previous text. A few marginal notes by the second hand.

60ra

‘<D>ixerunt Ptolomeus et Hermes quod locus Lune — fuit expertus multotiens.’

= Pseudo-Ptolemy, Dixerunt Ptolemeus et Hermes quod locus Lune... (B.5)

, as part of the Centiloquium (see below). No glosses.

60ra–⁠60rb

‘De comatibus (!). Ptolomeus dicit quod stelle cum caudis sunt 9 — et mortalitatem regum et divitum…, cum Saturno mortalitatis gravior, cum Marte vero guerre erunt quamplures et per gladium mortalitates.’

= Pseudo-Ptolemy, De cometis (B.4)

, as part of the Centiloquium (see below). No glosses.

60ra–⁠66va

‘Centiloquium Ptolomei cum expositione Aly translatum a Platone Tib<ur>tino de Arabico in Latinum. <D>ixerunt Ptolomeus et Hermes quod locus Lune — fuit expertus multotiens. De comatibus (!). Ptolomeus dicit quod stelle cum caudis sunt 9 — (60rb) et mortalitatem regum et divitum…, cum Saturno mortalitatis gravior, cum Marte vero guerre erunt quamplures et per gladium mortalitates. Dixit Ptolomeus: Iam scripsi tibi, Yesure, libros de hoc quod operantur stelle in hoc seculo… Verbum I. Scientia stellarum ex te et illis est, astrologus non debet dicere rem specialiter sed universaliter… <Q>uod dixit Ptolomeus, ex te et illis est, significat quod qui res futuras prenoscere desiderat — si traderetur illi et ego Deum precor ut te diligat. Explicit Centiloquium Ptolomei cum expositione (?) Aly [explicit apparently added by another hand].’

= Abuiafar Hamet filius Joseph, 〈Commentum in Centiloquium〉 (tr. Plato of Tivoli) (C.3.1.1)

, opening with Pseudo-Ptolemy’s Dixerunt Ptholomeus et Hermes quod locus Lune… (B.5) on f. 60ra (see above) and De cometis (B.4) on f. 60ra-60rb (see above). The second hand added, in the margin of f. 60rb-61rb, v. 1-15 in both the ‘Mundanorum’ version (C.3.1.3) and Adelard of Bath’s translation (B.1.1): ‘Alia translatio: Mondanorum (!) mo…o (?) ad hoc et ad illud corporum celestium… Alia translatio: Doctrina stellarum exterius (?) est, neque est doctrina mei ut proferat formam actus…’. A few marginal notes by the scribe thereafter.

124ra–⁠139ra

‘Liber quadripartiti Tolomei [title in upper margin by another hand]. Incipit quadripartitus Ptolomei Alfiludi qui arabice Alorbt (!), grece dicitur Tetrascis. Capitulum I in collectione scientie… <R>erum, Yesure, in quibus est pronosticabilis sciencie stellarum profectio magnas et precipuas duas esse deprehendimus — hoc in loco huic libro finem i<m>ponere non incongruum extimamus.’

= Ptolemy, Quadripartitum (tr. Plato of Tivoli) (A.2.1)

. I, 124ra-127va; II, 127va-131ra; III, 131ra-135vb; IV, 135vb-139ra. A few short marginal notes by the scribe and at least two other hands, mainly the subject matters by the second hand.