Descriptive Information

Title

Commentariorum de bello gallico ... [etc.]

Call Number

Kane MS. 41

Identifier

http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dc5712mn47h

Publisher

[Ferrara, Italy], [between 1440 and 1460]

Language

Latin

Date Created

1440-1460

Format

Manuscript

Extent

187 leaves : parchment ; 350 x 250 (205 x 135) mm bound to 365 x 275 mm.

Provenance

Intermediate ownership is unknown. Later in the Hopetoun Library, Scotland, founded by Sir James Hope of Hopetoun. Sold from this collection at Sotheby's, London in 1889 to Bernard Quaritch. Later owned by John Wesley de Kay. In 1925, Grenville Kane acquired it from Wilfrid M. Voynich. Princeton University Library acquired the manuscript from Kane's heirs in 1946.

References

Medieval & Renaissance manuscripts in the Princeton University Library, volume 2, page 93-95.

Rights Statement

Copyright Not Evaluated

Contents

1. fol. 1r-85r: Commentariorum de bello gallico.

2. fol. 85r-136v: [De bello civili].

3. fol. 138r-155r: [De bello Alexandrino].

4. fol. 155r-175r: De bello africano.

5. fol. 175r-184v: De bello hispaniensi.

6. fol. 185r-v: [Leges publicae].

Notes

Incipit: [De bello gallico] "Commentariorum C Ivlii Caesaris De bello gallico liber primus incipit feliciter Iulius Celsus Constantinus V[ir] C[larissimus] emendauit. Gallia est omnis diuisa in partes tres quarum unam incolunt belgæ ..." -- [De bello civili] "Incipit Liber nonus feliciter. Literis A Fabio C. Cesaris consulibus redditis ægre ab his impetratum est summa tribunorum plebis contentione ut in senatu recitarentur." -- [De bello Alexandrino] "Cæsar maxime studebat ut quam angustissimam partem oppidi palus a meridie interiecta efficiebat ..." -- [De bello africano] "Incipit Liber XIIII de bello africano feliciter. Caesar itineribvs ivstis confectis nullo die intermisso ad xiii kal' ianuarii lilibeum peruenit statimque ostendit sese naues uelle conscendere ..." -- [De bello hispaniensi] "Incipit Liber XV de bello hispaniensi. Pharnace svperato africa recepta qui ex his preliis cum adolescente C N Pompeio profugissent ..." -- [Leges publicae] "Cum Sylla ad diminuendam plebis potentiam multos et magistratus ademisset, Cotta legem postea tulit vt plebi liceret interceptos magistratus capere ..."

Explicit: [De bello gallico] "Tamen Cæsar omnia patienda esse statuit quoad sibi spes aliqua relinqueretur iure potius disceptandi quam belli gerendi. C. Iulii Caesaris Commentariorum de bello ciuili Liber octauus explicit." -- [De bello civili] "Erant praeterea equitum milia duo qui inueterauerant. Hi omnes compluribus alexandrie bellis Ptolemeum patrem in" -- [De bello Alexandrino] "Rebus felicissime celerrimeque confectis in italiam celerius omnium opinione uenit. [Cae]saris commentarionum de bello Pharnacis Liber XIIIus explicit." -- [De bello africano] "... nauem conscendit et ea a calaribus secundum terram prouectus duo de tricesimo die eo quod tempestatibus in portibus cohibebatur ad urbem romam uenit. C. Iulii Commentariorum de bello africano Liber XIIII explicit." -- [De bello hispaniensi] "...que non solum uobis obsistere set etiam celum diruere possent quarum laudibus et uirtute. C. Iulii Cesaris commentariorum de bello hispaniensi liber xv explicit." -- [Leges publicae] "Lex emylia per Mamercum Æmilium dictatorem lata censorum potestatem quae antea per quinquennium erat, intra sex menses et anni spacium coegit."

Ms. codex.

Title from explicit of first work (fol. 85r).

Collation: Parchment ; fol. i (paper) + 187 + i (paper) ; catchwords ; modern foliation in pencil.

Layout: 32 lines per page ; ruled.

Description: Folio 137 is lacking.

Decoration: 12-line initial G that contains a portrait of Julius Caesar. A gold bar in the left margin supports leafy decoration at top and bottom in black, blue, green, mauve, pink, and red, surrounded by pen-decorated gold dots. Books II-XIV open with 8- to 10-line initials of blue, green, pink and red on gold ground.

Origin: Produced in Ferrara in the middle of the 15th century, almost certainly by Biagio Bosoni.

Binding Note

Later binding. England, 18th century. Red-stained leather over pasteboard. Gilded arms of the American author and financier John Wesley de Kay (1872 [or 1874]-1938) on the front cover. Gold-tooling on spine and edges. Red sprinkled edges.

Discovery Information

Subject

Gaul—History—Gallic Wars, 58-51 B.C.—Early works to 1800

Rome—History—Republic, 265-30 B.C.—Early works to 1800

Rome—History, Military—Early works to 1800

Manuscripts, Latin—New Jersey—Princeton

Manuscripts, Medieval—New Jersey—Princeton

Physical Characteristics

File Count

378

Institutional Information

Collection

Medieval and Renaissance Mediterranean Manuscripts

IIIF Manifest URL

https://figgy.princeton.edu/concern/scanned_resources/5cfe392e-3160-4e5c-8eb3-beef716431e4/manifest

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