PLATE CVII.

MAJUSCULE AND UNCIAL LATIN WRITING.

VITH CENTURY.

HOMILIES OF ST. AUGUSTINE ON PAPYRUS.

THE series of specimens of ancient Latin writing in the present work would not be complete were we to omit the facsimile represented in this Plate. It is copied from one of the most precious manuscripts of the Bibliothèque Royale at Paris, which formerly belonged to the collection of the Abbey of St. Germain des Près. The volume consists of sixty-four leaves, of a small folio size, arranged in gatherings of two, three, or four sheets, and written on Egyptian papyrus, well made and preserved; each gathering inserted in a sheet of vellum, which thus forms the first and last leaf, and serves to support the weakness of the papyrus.

Another manuscript upon papyrus, containing also the Homilies of Augustine, and sometimes confounded with the former, was described by Mabillon in his treatise De Re Diplomatica, as existing in the library of Paul Petau, the most valuable portion of which was purchased by Queen Christina of Sweden, and subsequently given by her to the Vatican library. Winckelmann searched in vain for it there, and publicly expressed his regret at not having been able to discover this manuscript in the Vatican. It is certain however, that the volume was not amongst those purchased by Queen Christina. It had previously belonged to the ancient Benedictine library of Fleury-sur-Loire, and was in the number of those retained by the family of Paul Petau, which

were afterwards acquired by M. Ami Lullin, of Geneva, in the public library of which city the manuscript has long been preserved*.

The Paris manuscript appears, from a comparison with the fac-simile given by Mabillon of the one at Geneva, to be so entirely identical therewith in all respects, as to lead to the supposition that both originally formed one and the same volume.

The manuscript before us came from the abbey of St. Just, at Narbonne, and Montfaucon supposed, that it was written for that abbey. In 1681, however, it belonged to a lady of the family of Phimarcon, and forty years afterwards became part of the rich treasures in the library of St. Germain des Près at Paris.

The fac-simile represents an entire page of this splendidly written manuscript, in which an elegant Roman majuscule is united with a solid and regular Gallican uncial letter. The text forms part of the 127th Homily (tom. v., col. 620, of the complete Works of St. Augustine, published at Paris in 1679, in 8 vols. folio). The first and second lines are written in Roman capitals, nearly regular, with the bases thickened and truncated; some of the cross-strokes being forked or curved downwards; a few of the letters are written within each other, and the O is lozenge-shaped. In the second line, a very tall L of the uncial form is introduced among the capitals, which, moreover, exhibit other caprices of the scribe. These two lines and the one following, compose the title of the homily.

The first line of the text is also written in fine, gigantic, tall, close, thin, Roman capital letters, with the bases and summits truncated, or bent into hooks, somewhat like the rustic letters. The O is remarkable, being composed of three

* See the Catalogue raisonné des Manuscrits de la Bibl. de Geneve, par J. Senebier. 8vo. Geneve, 1779, p. 69.-ED.

lozenges within one another; and of the two A's in this line, the first approaches the cursive form, having its left-hand stroke transformed into a triangular appendage, attached to the middle of the thick stroke; whilst the second has its top ornamented with a curved traverse, and its middle cross-stroke is formed of two lines angulated, with the point downwards.

The remainder of the text is written in massive round uncial letters, continuous, but regularly spaced. Some marks of punctuation occur, but the color of the ink in which they are written and their ill-shape prove them to be subsequent additions to the text. Small blank spaces and letters rather larger than the text, indicate the commencement of the paragraphs. The letter T has its basal stroke extended to the right, and often conjoined with the letter following; there are also some conjoined letters at the end of the lines. The text itself is an excellent specimen of the Gallican uncial of the sixth century.

PLATE CVIII.

UNCIAL ROMAN WRITING.

VITH CENTURY.

THE LIVY OF THE IMPERIAL LIBRARY AT VIENNA.

THE distinction established by the learned Benedictines between capital and uncial writing is so well marked, as to leave no doubts to an attentive inquirer. It consists in the former being composed of lines for the most part vertical or horizontal, whilst in the latter they are chiefly rounded, and exhibit a decided tendency towards greater expedition in the style. This is manifested more especially in the letters

B, D, E, G, H, I, L, M, O, T, V, X, as may be seen in the present fac-simile, taken from a manuscript of the Roman historian Titus Livius, in the Imperial library at Vienna, No. 15.

The rare antiquity of this volume* proves that the proscription fulminated against the writings of Livy at the end of the sixth century, did not reach all the manuscripts then existing, since the one before us is judged to be of that date. The writing in it exhibits a regular, full-stroke, moderate sized, close, semi-angular, uncial character, with the words not divided. A more minute examination of the letters will prove, that this manuscript presents to us nearly all the marks which have been pointed out by the most celebrated palæographers, as indicating a great antiquity, as follows:—

1. The initial letters of the alinea are uncials, and not capital letters. Thus, the first letter of the text of the facsimile is of a pure uncial form; and as the custom of commencing the alinea of uncial manuscripts with capital letters was not generally adopted until the eighth century (an instance rarely occurs in the seventh,) it follows that the manuscript of Livy is anterior to this usage.

2. In the most ancient uncial manuscripts no punctuation is found; nor is there a trace of it in the Livy. A few dots only occur, which indicate abbreviations, or letters used as cyphers.

3. The most ancient manuscripts exhibit no separation

It is of a large octavo size, and consists of 193 leaves, containing the books 1-5 of the 5th Decade of Livy, which were first printed by Simon Grynæus from this manuscript, at Basle, in 1531. One of the most interesting facts connected with this volume, is omitted by MM. Champollion, but pointed out by Dr. Endlicher, in the Catal. Codd. philolog. Lat. Bibl. Palat. Vindob. 4to. 1836, p. 49, namely, that a note in it records its having belonged to the Anglo-Saxon monk and Bishop, Suidbert, one of the companions of Wilbrord in his mission to Friesland, about the year 693, (See Bede, Hist. Eccl. 1. v., c. ii.) who is conjectured to have carried the manuscript with him abroad, either from Ireland or England. Its subsequent history is traced by Endlicher.-ED.

VOL. I.

U

between the words, as is the case also with the volume. before us.

4. The letters are generally wider than tall, as in the specimen.

5. A manuscript destitute of ornamental letters at the head of the titles or chapters, and of initial letters of a larger size than those of the text, but which, on the contrary, are of the simplest form, is to be regarded as very ancient, and not later than the sixth century, more especially if written in uncials. It would be difficult to find a volume more simply written than the one before us; the initial letter not being larger than if it had been the first letter in a page, which is itself a sign of great antiquity.

6. A text commencing with three or four lines in red (the other characters of age being also present) carry a manuscript back at least to the sixth century; and such is the case with the volume before us.

7. When the orthography of an uncial manuscript, as compared with the usual orthography, is regular,—the differences being very slight, and very few errors found,-it is to be referred also to the fifth or sixth century. The orthography of the Livy is extremely regular; the Æ is never supplied by E; P replaces B in the word OPTINERENT, and the word EXSERCITIBVS, in the third line, is a peculiarity of ancient Latin orthography contemporary with the age of Augustus.

8. The Latin orthography becomes irregular, faulty, and barbarous, in proportion as an uncial manuscript is further removed from the fifth century, and approaches the period of the reformation of Roman literature by Charlemagne. Now the present manuscript preserves all the pure forms of the Roman literature, and this essential character must therefore be added to those previously enumerated, as confirming the opinion of the learned librarians of Vienna, who have attributed this volume to the sixth century.