A translation of the complete work (with Book III in Nicolaus Cabasila’s version, Book V in Pappus’s version and the usual lacuna of Book XI) by David Sainclair (David Sanclarus), a catholic Scot who was professor of mathematics at the Collège Royal in Paris from 1599 to 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 is evidently a mistake for 1538. Rome writes: ‘Elle est la traduction de l’édition de Bâle 1538, qui s’y trouve reproduite jusque dans les moindres détails.’ David Sainclair also left notes on the Almagest (C.1.35).

Text ‘(Paris, BnF, lat. 7264) Theonis Alexandrini commentarius in Magnam Cl<audii> Ptolemaei Syntaxim, quae arab<ice> dicitur Almagestus. Item Nicolai Cabasilae archiep<iscopi> Thessal<onici> in tertium eiusd<em> Syntax<eωs>. Item Pappi Alexandrini comm<entarius> in quintum eiudem Syntaxeωs librum. Interprete Davide San-Claro mathematicarum artium quondam professore regio in Academia Parisiensi. (1) Theonis Alexandrini prooemium. Crebrioribus adhortatus a discipulis, o fili Epiphanie, dictare in ea Mathematicorum voluminum Ptolemaei quae omnibus videntur difficilia — structurarum canonum ex proportione sub latitudine. Excudebatur in Regia Anolomasi (!) et cura Iohannis Balderi [Johannes Walderus] anno ab incarnatione domini nostri Iesus Christi 1535 [sic for 1538] primo quinti mensis.’

Bibl. N. Halma, Commentaire de Théon d’Alexandrie sur le premier livre de la composition mathématique de Ptolémée, Paris, 1821, ix-x and xii-xiii ; 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; M. N. Boyer, ‘Pappus Alexandrinus’, in Catalogus translationum et commentariorum: Mediaeval and Renaissance Latin Translations and Commentaries, eds P. O. Kristeller et al., II, Washington D.C., 1971, 212-213; P. O. Kristeller, Iter Italicum, III, London-Leiden, 1983, 221; I. Pantin, ‘Teaching Mathematics and Astronomy in France: The Collège Royal (1550-1650)’, Science & Education 15 (2006), 189-207: 193.

Modern ed. ---