PAL

Ptolemaeus Arabus et Latinus

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Work A.2.4

Ptolemy
Quadripartitum (tr. Toledo 1236)

Translated from the Arabic (in the anonymous version partially extant in MS Istanbul, Üniversitesi, A 6141) in Toledo in 1236. The date given in the colophon reads: ‘in the month of February, on Saturday, the Sun being at 26° Aquarius, the Moon in the same <sign> <at> 6°, Saturn in Taurus, in 1234 A.D., in the year of the Arabs 633, in the year of the <Spanish> era 1274’, where 1234 is clearly a mistake for 1236, for 1236 (not 1234) corresponds to both the year of the Arabs 633 and the year of the Spanish era 1274. The planetary positions are reasonably correct for 7 February 1236 at 9am in Toledo (Sun at 25°22′ Aquarius, Moon at 6°35′ Aquarius and Saturn at 27°00′ Taurus), but that was a Thursday, not a Saturday. On Saturday 9 February 1236 (again, at 9am in Toledo), the Sun was at 27°23′ Aquarius and the Moon at 06°59′ Pisces, so that either the weekday or the sign of the Moon was wrongly reported. The additional paragraph at the end does not seem to be part of the text.

Text ‘(London, BL, Harley 267) Quadripartitum Ptholomei [title added in upper margin]. (24r-32r) [book i] Accidentia scientie futurorum de significatione super illud quod proventurum est a stellis dividuntur in duas radices — supra se in significatione eorum que ventura sunt. (32r-39r) [book ii] Incipit tractatus secundus in quo sunt 15 capitula. Capitulum I. De partibus istius mundi — stella alia non erint inpedimentum fixum nec … (?). (39r-45r) [book iii] Incipit tractatus tertius in quo sunt 14 capitula. Capitulum I. De diversitate que e… (?) duo predicta et ista. Vis duorum dictorum precedentium est una in significatione — supra se estimatio et debilitas. (45r-51r) [book iv] Incipit tractatus 4 in quo sunt 10 capitula. Capitulum primum. Quod dicam quod significat supra modorum istorum capitulorum. Dixit Ptholomeus quod scientia in omni — quam consecutis sum cum scientia et probacione mea et hic melius quam potui vulgariter. Perfectus est quadripartitus Ptholomei gratia Dei mense Februario die Sabbati, Sole in Aquario 26 gradu, Luna in eodem 6, Saturno in Tauro, anno ab incarnatione domini MoCCoXXXo quarto, annis Arabum 633, era MaCCa74 in civitate Toletana translatus. [additional paragraph] Et triangulus quidam primus vocatur atrioalis (sic for septemtrionalis) et est ille qui incipit ab Ariete et nominatur atrionalis (!) — hoc capitulum est p… (?). Explicit Quadripartitus Ptolomei. Deo adiuvante.’

Bibl. F. J. Carmody, Arabic Astronomical and Astrological Sciences in Latin Translation. A Critical Bibliography, Berkeley-Los Angeles, 1956, 19 (no. 10d); L. Thorndike, ‘The A.D. 1234 Latin Translation of Ptolemy’s Quadripartitum’, Manuscripta 8 (1964), 98-101; R. Lemay, Abū Maʿšar al-Balḫī [Albumasar]: Liber introductorii maioris ad scientiam judiciorum astrorum, Napoli, 1995-1996, IV, 186; C. Burnett, ‘Ptolemy’s Differentiation between Astronomy and Astrology in the Greek-Arabic-Latin Tradition’, Cahiers de Recherches Médiévales et Humanistes 47 (2024), 373-403.

Modern ed. None. The chapter index of Books II-IV is reproduced by Thorndike.

MSS