Translated from the Arabic (in the version by Ibrāhīm ibn al-Ṣalt revised by Hunayn ibn Iṣhāq) by Plato of Tivoli in Barcelona in 1138, as stated in the colophon ‘Et perfecta est eius translatio de Arabico in Latinum a Tiburtino Platone, cui Deus parcat, hora tercia XX^a die mensis Octobris, anno domini MCXXXVIII, XV die mensis Saphar, anno Arabum DXXXIII, in civitate Barchinona’ (this colophon in present is six manuscripts: Arras, BM, 844 (47); Cambridge, UL, Ii 3.3 (1767); Naples, BN, VIII D 2; Oxford, BL, Digby 51; Pommersfelden, GSB, 60 (2633); Vatican, BAV, Reg. lat. 1692). The name of the translator also occurs in the title of MS Paris, BnF, lat. 7320: ‘Incipit liber… a Platone Tiburtino de Arabico in Latinum translatus’. Plato’s translation is the source text of commentaries C.2.1, C.2.4, C.2.14, C.2.18, C.2.23 (Books III-IV) and C.2.34, and was also used in commentary C.2.21.

Note In addition to the early printed editions listed below, lemmas of Plato’s translation were printed together with Haly Abenrudian’s Glosa super Quadripartito Tholomei (C.2.2) in eds Venice, Bonetus Locatellus, 1493, sig. 2r-106v, and Venice, Octavianus Scotus, 1519, sig. [aa₄]r-96v. Books III and IV are also reproduced in full in Giuntini’s In duos posteriores Ptolemaei Quadripartiti libros absolutissima commentaria (C.2.34).

Text ‘(ed. Venice 1484) (a₂r) Liber Quadripartiti Ptolomei, id est quattuor tractatuum, in radicanti discretione per stellas de futuris et in hoc mundo constructionis et destructionis contingentibus, cuius primo tractatu sunt 24 capitula, incipit. (a₂r-b₅r) [book i] Capitulum primum: In collectione intellectus scientie iudiciorum astrorum. Prohoemium. Rerum, Iesure, in quibus est pronosticabilis scientie stellarum profectio, magnas et precipuas duas esse deprehendimus. Quarum altera, que precedit et est fortior, est scientia Solis et Lune necnon v stellarum erraticarum figuras demonstrans — debiles erunt et nullam fortitudinem habere putabuntur. (b₅r-c₇v) [book ii] Incipit subsequenter tractatus secundus libri 4 in quo sunt 13 capitula. Capitulum primum in istius scientie generali divisione. (b₅va) Eorum itaque in quibus premittenda sustentantur et quibus in inquisitione prognosticandi particularia uti oportet — nec igitur universali investigatione rerum generalium et particularium generali modo predicta sunt. In subsequentibus vero nativitatum prognosticationem velut ordo postulat explanabimus. (c₇v-e₅v) [book iii] Incipit tractatus 3 libri 4 Ptolomei in quo sunt 14 capitula. Prohoemium istius tractatus. Postquam accidentia generalia in his que ex nostra observatione premissa sunt — suarumque specierum multitudinem et augmentum adiuvabit. (e₆r-f₆r) [book iv] Incipit tractatus quartus libri Alabra Ptholomei in quo sunt novem capitula. Incipit prologus. Dixit Ptholomeus: Rerum igitur in quibus ea que ante partum sunt et que in ipsius hora partus contigunt — secundum speciei rationalis existimationem in commixtione horum explanare proposuimus. Rebus itaque nativitatum generaliter explicatis hoc in loco huic libro finem imponere non incongruum existimamus. Explicit liber 4 Ptholomei in radicanti discretione per stellas de futuris et in hoc mundo constructionis et desctructionis contingentibus.’

Bibl. F. Wüstenfeld, Die Übersetzungen Arabischer Werke in das Lateinische seit dem XI. Jahrhundert, Göttingen, 1877, 40 (no. 3); M. Steinschneider, Die europäischen Übersetzungen aus dem Arabischen bis Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts, Wien, 1904, 65 (no. 98h); A. A. Björnbo, ‘Die mittelalterlichen lateinischen Übersetzungen aus dem Griechischen auf dem Gebiete der mathematischen Wissenschaften’, in Festschrift Moritz Cantor anläßlich seines achtzigsten Geburtstages gewidnet von Freuden und Verehrern, Leipzig, 1909, 93-102: 99 (no. 17); C. H. Haskins, Studies in the History of Mediaeval Science, Cambridge, 1927 (2^nd ed.), 110; F. J. Carmody, Arabic Astronomical and Astrological Sciences in Latin Translation. A Critical Bibliography, Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1956, 18 (no. 10a); C. Burnett, ‘Ptolemy’s Differentiation between Astronomy and Astrology in the Greek-Arabic-Latin Tradition’, Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale. Xe-XIIe siècles (forthcoming).

Modern ed. None. The second book has been translated into Italian and commented upon by G. Bezza, Claudio Tolemeo: Il secondo libro del Quadripartitum con il commento di ‘Alī ibn Riḍwān. Introduzione, traduzione e note, Lugano, 2014 (on the basis of ed. Venice 1493, which also includes Egidius de Tebaldis’s translation as part of Haly Abenrudian’s Glosa super Quadripartito Tholomei (C.2.2)).