joined only at the ends of a line, as in the word SUNT, at the end of the fourth line of the right-hand page of the fac-simile, whilst the V at the end of the bottom line of the same page (fol. 158 of the manuscript) is very small, and almost enclosed within the R*.

The division of the verses is according to the ancient rule; the words are not divided, and the orthography very incorrect; thus, we find besteis for bestiis; and throughout the text B and V, I and E, O and U are mutually substituted for each other. Sacerdus is written for Sacerdos; lababo, benenum, vobes, for lavabo, venenum, boves, etc., shewing the barbarism of the period when this manuscript was executed. Letters of silver, such as are employed in this manuscript, are far rarer than letters of gold; the former required vellum of a purple violet color, and cannot be preserved so well. This manuscript, which presents one of the finest specimens of the use of silver ink, exhibits also many proofs of its easy deterioration. Its great age, however, namely, the middle of the sixth century, must be taken into consideration.

* This is not a correct description. The small v at the end of the line, as well as the u (in two instances), are thus written, in order to save space, as appears also by the abbreviation of the letter m, indicated by the short stroke above.-ED.

PLATE CXI.

SEMI-UNCIAL LATIN WRITING.

VITH CENTURY.

THE INSTITUTIONS OF LACTANTIUS, IN THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA.

THE manuscript which has supplied the present fac-simile is one of the most celebrated of its class. At the end of the seventeenth century, it belonged to the Congregation of the Canons Regular of St. Saviour at Bologna, where it was examined by Mabillon in 1686, who describes it thus:-" The principal Latin manuscript of this library, which is of great antiquity, is one containing the Institutiones of Lactantius, together with the books De Ira, De Opificio, and the Epitome; it was written more than eleven hundred years ago, in square Latin letters, and subsequently revised and corrected in a smaller ancient Roman hand. Unfortunately the first two or three leaves are wanting, as well as the entire preface, so that we cannot determine whether the name of the Emperor Constantine was introduced into it*." Montfaucon also mentions this manuscript+, and has given a Greek and Latin alphabet from it: it has also been noticed by the learned Italians themselves. At the present time the volume belongs to the library of the University of Bologna.

Iter Italicum, Part I., p. 196. The words Constantinus Imperator, which occur in the printed editions after Gestio enim, at the beginning of the second paragraph of the fac-simile, are not found in this manuscript.

Leo Allatius, Animadversiones in Antiquit. Etruscarum Fragmenta, 4to. Par. 1640, pp. 51, 52.

Lucius Cælius Lactantius Firmianus, the author of the works contained in this volume, is one of the best of the Latin writers who flourished in the third and fourth centuries. Born in Africa, and a heathen, he was charged by Diocletian with the task of teaching polite literature at Nicomedia; but subsequently converted to Christianity, he travelled into Gaul, and it is believed, that Constantine the Great confided to him the education of his son Crispus. It is supposed also, that he died at Treves, about the year 325. The purity and elegance of his style have caused him to be named the Christian Cicero.

His chief work, the Institutiones Divinæ, is divided into seven books, the first of which treats of false religion, the second, of the origin of error; and it is the commencement of the latter which furnishes the subject of the fac-simile, from page 23 of the manuscript. The writing is very remarkable. The page is in double columns, without ornaments, and the alinea commence with a larger letter than the text, written outside the vertical line of the column. Its general appearance would introduce it into the uncial series, but it is in reality only semiuncial; not on account of its size being smaller than the ordinary uncial (so named from uncia, an inch, which was the height of the letters), but according to the definition laid down in the Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique, tom. ii., p. 506, where the term uncial is applied to writing in majuscule letters of a rounded form, (as distinguished from the rectangular Roman capitals,) and the term semi-uncial is given to the same kind of rounded majuscules, when intermixed with minuscules. This is the case in the manuscript under notice, as seen in the letters L, P, T, and H; and this kind of intermingled uncial writing is, in fact, more common than that in pure uncials, even in the most ancient manuscripts.

The letters of the fac-simile before us are formed of thick and thin strokes, generally upright; the tops of some of the

tall letters are bent, especially the l, and are obliquely truncated. The tailed letters descend below the line, and terminate in a point inclined towards the left; some of the straight strokes of the letters have their summits angular, and the G has a thin tail. On the whole, the writing is square, and as tall as broad; the words continuous, with scarcely any abbreviations, and some of the letters are conjoined at the end of the lines. The text is remarkably pure, another sign of great antiquity, and leads us to adopt the opinion of the Benedictines*, that the manuscript is as old as the sixth century. The reading of this text presents no difficulty

QUAMQUAM PRIMO LIBRO

RELIGIONES DEORUM FALSAS
MONSTRAVERIM, QUOD II QUO-
RUM VARIOS DISSIMILESQUE

NAM CUM EXISTIMANT, NULLI DEO

ESSE NOS CURAE AUT POST MOR-
TEM NIHIL FUTUROS, TOTOS SE LI-
BIDINIBUS ADDICUNT, ET DUM LI-

The numerous alinea deserve notice, consisting of so many complete paragraphs, the chief divisions of which are distinguished by an apostrophe placed above the line, and which is the only punctuation that occurs in the manuscript.

*This is the opinion of Mabillon, but Montfaucon places it in the seventh century. No opinion is given in the Nouv. Tr. Dipl.-ED.

PLATE CXII.

UNCIAL GALLICAN WRITING.

VITH OR VIIITH CENTURY.

ABRIDGEMENT OF THE THEODOSIAN CODE, BY ALARIC.

In the observations on the manuscript of the Theodosian Code, recently obtained by the Bibliothèque Royale at Paris, a brief account has been given of the origin of this code, promulgated in the year 438. The manuscript before us furnishes another important monument of this legislative enactment, as well as a remarkable circumstance connected with its history.

At the commencement of the sixth century, the Goths, or Visigoths, established previously on the banks of the sources of the Danube, had possessed for eighty years the kingdom which they had founded in southern Gaul, of which Toulouse was the capital. Alaric II. was then the sovereign, and concluded, in A.D. 504, a treaty of peace with Clovis, king of the Franks, the rupture of which, in 507, cost Alaric his life. He left behind him, however, a regular system of legislation, founded upon the Latin, the source of all good civil laws.

The Roman population, which then inhabited Gaul, was subject to the Burgundians, or Goths, who permitted them, nevertheless, to follow their own laws, when their suits did not interfere with the interests of their rulers. To regulate the application of these laws, it was necessary that an authentic official code should be promulgated. This was done by Gondebaud, or Thierry I, in the countries occupied by the Bur