Shelfmark
MS 135
Author
Uniform title
[Epistulae morales ad Lucilium]
Title
Letters to Lucilius [manuscript]
Varying form of title
Title in M. R. James catalogue: L. Annaei Senecae Epistolae
Varying form of title
Title in N.R. Ker, MLGB II: Seneca, Epistolae
Publication, distribution, etc.
Italy, 1100-1200.
Physical description
1 v. : ill. ; 292 x 190 mm.
Language
Written in Latin. Greek letterforms have been executed resembling the latin alphabet (e.g. f.160v).
Note
Secundo folio: ueteri recesserit.
Note
Material: membrane; Gregory's rule (HFFH); very smooth and flexible.
Note
Format: codex.
Note
Written space: 213 x 136 mm.
Note
Number of leaves: iv + 167 + iv.
Note
Accompanying material: a paper measuring 67 x 143 mm has been attached to f.iii verso (probably a loosely inserted paper in origin), and contains a letter of Nikolaos Sekoundinos to his son Mark, dated in Venice 23 August 1463. For a transcription, see James, p. 64.
Note
Collation: 1 leaf, 1-8⁸, 1 leaf, 9⁶ 10-20⁸ 21⁸ (8 cancelled).
Note
Quire and leaf signatures and catchwords: quire signatures in Roman numerals on last folio verso; no leaf signatures or catchwords.
Note
Page preparation: ruled in plummet; pricking visible on long margin.
Note
Mise-en-page: single columns (26 lines) written in a set script above top line. Rubrics. Capitulum numbers. The text at f. 167 is arranged in two columns (27 lines) also written in a set script above top line of varying aspect.
Note
Decoration: a "title" introduces the book's contents at f.1v, written in capital letters; lines are penned in alternating red and green ink ("in hoc volum|ine continen|tur epistol|e Senece ad | Lucilium num|ero octogi|nta novem"). This "title" is also enclosed by a decorated border mixing geometrical and foliage patterns drawn in black ink. Decorated initials (6-13 lines) with simple details in red, green or blue; minor initials in red, blue, green or yellow.
Note
Handwriting: littera praegothica. The Letters are written by mainly one scribe; the text at f. 167 is by contemporary but different scribes.
Note
Abbreviation and punctuation: use of "et" ligature (&), diphthong æ indicated by e with a cedilla. Puncti, puncti elevati, flexi, and interrogativi.
Note
Correction: few mistakes corrected by knife erasure.
Note
Marginalia, later additions: frequent nota ligatures by the scribe of the main text. Numerous annotations and maniculae by Bernardo Bembo throughout -- usually signposts but also comments; longer notes ar ff. iii, iv, 168, v (see Ker, p. 756 for a transcription; summaries in Giannetto, p. 308). A different hand has added notes, signposts in capitals as well as smaller maniculae and brief "no." signs -- this seems to be the same hand found in ECL MS 137 (e.g. compare f.114r with ECL MS 137, f. 13v). A 15th-century Latin verse couplet written in a secretary hand appears on f.168. Four lines of Hebrew appear upside down on f. 167v.
Formatted contents note
Contents: f.2r: extract from St Jerome, De viribus illustribus about Seneca ; ff.2r-5r: fourteen pseudo-Senecan letters to St Paul ; f.5r: Seneca's epitaph ; ff.5r-166v: Seneca's letters to Lucilius, numbered 1-89 but corresponding to the first 88 of the traditional canon, as number 47 has been split into two (see also ECL MS 89). There is no division into books. L. D. Reynolds identifies this witness to the b type of the δ [delta] text ; f.167r-v: Hidelbert, De exilio suo (see PL reference) ; f.167v: grammatical mnemonics.
Citation/references note
N.R. Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British Libraries, v. 2 (1977), p. 756-757
Citation/references note
M.R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Eton College (1895), pp. 63-64
Citation/references note
Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae, 1697, 112
Citation/references note
N. Giannetto, Bernardo Bembo: umanista e politico veneziano (Florence, 1985), pp. 307-309
Citation/references note
L.D. Reynolds, The Medieval Tradition of Seneca's Letters (Oxford, 1965), p. 74
Citation/references note
Patrologia latina, CLXXI, cols. 1418-1420
Cite as
Eton College Library, MS 135
Additional physical form available
Reproduction available; Bodleian Library; Eton College Library should be contacted for permission to reproduce; 2114
Provenance
Origin: Italy.
Provenance
Provenance: acquired by Bernardo Bembo (1433-1519), sometime in the 15th century. It was very likely brought to Eton by Sir Henry Wotton, who acquired part of Bembo's library when it was sold in Venice during one of his stays. Former ECL shelfmark: Bl.4.8.
Binding
18th-century calfskin over pasteboards by John Slatter, c.1715. Covers decorated with blind double fillers to form a border; blind roll to form a panel in the centre of the board with blind tools at its outer corners; gilt roll on board edges. Spine with five raised bands, decorated with blind fillets and gilt titling ("Senece Epist"). Textblock even; fore-edge shows ink inscription in capitals: "Epistole Senece" with two flower decorations on each side; it indicates the book was stored or intended to be stored on its front. Endleaves of modern paper and pre-modern membrane. 20th-century repairs done by R. L. Day.
Subject
Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, approximately 4 B.C. - 65 A.D. Epistulae morales ad Lucilium
Subject
Ancient philosophy Manuscripts.
Added entry--name
Added entry--name
Bembo, Bernardo, 1433 - 1519 former owner.
Added entry--name
Wotton, Henry (), 1568 - 1639 Sir former owner.
Added entry--name
Hildebert, 1056? - 1133 Archbishop of Tours De exilio suo.
Added entry--name
Added entry--name
Day, R. L. binder.
Added entry--place
Italy.
Language code
lat
Identifier
B50096