A Greek Codex of Sir Thomas Phillipps Once in the Clermont Library

M.L. Sosower: A Greek Codex of Sir Thomas Phillipps Mark L. Sosower our link to some of the literature of antiquity that we prize most highly. The century, the loss of the Cluny and Lodi manuscripts of Cicero, of the Veronensis manuscript of Catullus, and of Aldus Manutius' codex of Pliny's Letters--also The vicissitudes of Greek manuscripts in modern times reveal how slender is disappearance of George Valla's famous codex of Archimedes in the sixteenth unique medieval witnesses that had been rediscovered during the Renaissance--are notorious examples of how close some texts have come to falling into oblivion. Moreover, the vagaries of manuscripts due to the exigencies of their possessors example, the movement between 1434-1798 of the only medieval manuscript of Lysias, Antisthenes, and Demades to survive the Middle Ages (Palatums graecus 88, now in Heidelberg) from Florence to Padua because of the banishment of its owner, thence to Augsburg after the manuscript was stolen, thence to Heidelberg because of religious strife, thence to Rome and later to Paris as a spoil of war, is a fascinating history that demonstrates how the provenance of manuscripts is affected by a variety of social and political forces. The association with important figures and epic events gives historical and sentimental value even to Greek manuscripts that are not primary sources for their texts. illustrate tie development of classical studies during the past five hundred years. For The subject of this article is MS 302 of the Clermont Library in Paris (suppressed in 1764), which has a complicated provenance that requires elucidation. Founded in 1561 by Guillaume Duprat, Bishop of Clermont (Ferrand), the Clermont Library was the central repository of classical texts in Paris for two centuries, and in this capacity the library had a profound influence upon French intellectuals. The classical manuscripts in the Library, which was part of the Jesuit College of Clermont in...