the spoil, by a person named Warnher; and the Emperor presented it to his allies the inhabitants of Pisa. When Pisa fell into the power of the Florentines in 1406, the manuscript again formed part of the booty, and ever since, this precious volume has remained at Florence. It must be acknowledged, however, that the authenticity of this history has been disputed, although it rests on the testimony of a poet and an annalist, both of them Pisans, the latter of whom asserts that he possessed the act of donation, made by Lotharius to the town of Pisa. Long previous to the twelfth century, learned men are known to have used the most active zeal in the search after ancient texts, even of profane authors. In the middle of the ninth century, Lupus, the learned abbot of Ferrières, earnestly requested from the Pope and the bishops of England and Ireland, the loan of manuscripts of ancient writers, that copies might be made of them; and in 1040, Count Geoffroy of Anjou gave to the abbey of Notre-Dame of Saintes the tithe of the hides of the deer killed in his forests, to furnish a fund to bind the books of the monastery*. By means of this kind copies of works were multiplied; the example of Lupus was imitated by others, and the statutes of several monastic orders prescribed the transcription of manuscripts, as a work of piety agreeable to God. Although therefore, at this early period the study of the Roman law had not yet been revived, yet, an ancient manuscript like the present, bearing on its title the name of an emperor of the East, and which was probably splendidly bound, would doubtless appear to be an object of value, and worthy of preservation. After its deposition at Florence, this volume was long regarded almost with religious veneration, and shewn only to the highest personages, with great ceremony, in the presence of the chief magistrate, accompanied by monks, bare-headed, *MS. Cartulary of the Abbey of Saintes, pp. i., vii., and xvii., recto. and bearing lighted tapers; and even at the present time, its examination is attended with certain precautions. The fac-simile in the Plate exhibits the various styles of writing employed in the manuscript; the first page of which represents one of the titles in capital Roman letters, mingled with uncials, with the bases, summits, and cross-strokes very short, and with some of the letters slightly elevated above the rest. It is to be read, EXPL.[icit] DIG [estorum] SEU PANDECTAR[um] EXORD[ium] LIB[er] QUINTUS: DE JUD[iciis] AUTEM LIB[er] PRIMUS. FELICITER. The lower inscription, in Greek capitals written in vermilion, consists of the six following words, ΕΥΤΥΧΩΣ ΤΩ ΓΡΑΨΑΝΤΙ ΤΟΥΤΟ ΤΟ ΒΙΒΛΙΟΝ. FELICITER. i. e. Happiness to him who has written this book. The formula of feliciter, which terminates both these inscriptions, is very ancient, and indicates that the scribe rejoiced at the completion of his labors, rather than that the volume was written in a period of good fortune, or, that he was in health and prosperity, as suggested by some critics. It has, however, passed from manuscripts to diplomas and other public acts; and sometimes in the former it is used instead of the word explicit, which is generally opposed to the incipit placed at the beginning of the text. The right-hand page of the Plate commences with the words, INCIPIT LIBER VII. The rubricated title is written in negligent Roman rustic capitals, mingled with uncials, and is to be read, R. [Rubrica] DE USUFRUCTU ET QUEMAMODUM QUIS UTATUR FRUATUR. R. This is followed by the text itself, written in the ancient uncial character, with the words continuous, and the letters detached, rustic, and angular. It is as follows: PAULUS LIBRO TERTIO AD VITELLIUM. USUSFRU CTUS EST JUS ALIENIS REBUS UTENDI, FRUENDI, CELSUS* LIBRO OCTAVO DECIMO DIGESTORUM. GAIUS LIBRO SECUNDO RERUM COTTIDIANARUM HERES JUBEATUR DARE ALICUI USUMFRUCTU[m]. DARE AUTEM INTELLEGITUR SI INDUXERIT IN LIT USUMFRUCTUM CONSTITUERE PACTIONIBUS § ET STIPULATIONIBUS ID EFFICERE POTEST. CON EST STITIT AUTEM USUSFRUCTUS NON TANTEM IN FU[n-] DO ET AEDIBUS, VERUM ETIAM IN SERVIS, ET JU- MODIS EXTINGUI USUMFRUCTUM ET PROPRIAE- CTUS ET CONSTITIT ET FINITUR, ISDEM MODIS ETIAM NUDUS USUS SOLET ET CONSTITUI ET FI NIRI. The great importance of such a manuscript has led some writers to suggest that it was entirely written by the hand of the Emperor Justinian. It is hardly to be supposed, however, that the head of a state should so occupy himself. It will be seen, that the abbreviations are extremely rare, consisting * The names of the jurisconsults quoted are written in red letters. In this word is a correction of a for o.-ED. The scribe here corrects the v by N. § Another correction, the scribe having at first written RATIONIBUS. || The letter N is suppressed in this word, after ABSCE. The A in the middle of this word is here effaced, but it is retained in the line above. ** Here is another correction, v for c. merely in the suppression of a letter, such as the replacing of m by a stroke; and this is a mark of the great antiquity of the volume, which is not much later than the reign of Justinian himself, who died in 565; the scribe having conformed to the injunctions of the Emperor against the employment of notes and abbreviations in the text, even to express numberst. We must not omit to notice, that this volume has always been regarded as the most valuable of the manuscripts of the Roman Law, and has been appealed to by the most learned jurisconsults to decide the purity of the text. One of the most celebrated among them, Cujas, travelled to Florence expressly to consult the volume, where the Grand Duke Cosmo I. refused to allow him the loan of the work, although he offered as a security, the personal guarantee of Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, and an indemnity of two thousand crowns of gold. It is said, that this refusal caused his death, and thus deprived the learned world of a new edition of the Pandects, meditated by him. * In the Plate and heading, the manuscript is marked as of the seventh century. ED. + Berriat-Saint-Prix, Histoire du Droit Romain, Paris 1821, Svo., pp. 208, 234, et seq. PLATE CXVI. UNCIAL LATIN WRITING. VIITH CENTURY. PALIMPSEST ARIAN FRAGMENTS AND HOMILIES OF THE FATHERS, IN THE LIBRARY OF THE VATICAN. THE manuscript represented in the lower division of this Plate, is a volume of Homilies of the Fathers of the Church, selected to be read on the feast-days throughout the year. The other fac-simile represents a fragment from one of two volumes, in which, beneath the text of the Council of Chalcedon, written in the eighth century, are preserved some most ancient palimpsest Latin writings, which had been previously partially erased, to make room for the Acts of the Council. These two fac-similes are here figured together, in order to allow of a comparison between them; both belonging to the same class of writing, but yet forming different examples of it. The volume of Homilies bears the No. 3835, among the Vatican manuscripts, and is noticed by Montfaucon in his Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum Manuscriptorum, vol. ii., p. 110. The fac-simile at the lower part of the Plate is taken from page 240, being the commencement of the Office of St. Peter the Apostle, as indicated in the head-lines, written with red and black ink in a very fine large uncial character, mixed with Roman capitals often cut off diagonally at the base; the letters tall and close, but broad and round; some are floreated, and others have the bases of the strokes dilated towards the right. The words of the top line are separated |