The famous Epistola Luciferi, written in late 1351 or early 1352, caused quite a stir in the Avignon of Pope Clement vi, quickly became a medieval best-seller, and thereafter remained topical, being copied and printed down to the present day. Traditionally ascribed to Nicole Oresme or Henry of Langenstein, the letter was attributed to the Cistercian Pierre Ceffons by Damasus Trapp in 1957. Trapp merely took Ceffons’ authorship for granted, however, and in the most thorough study of the Epistola Luciferi (...) and of the entire genre of Devil’s letters, her 1982 PhD dissertation, Helen C. Feng rejected the attribution. Presenting codices and works of Ceffons of which Trapp was unaware, this article argues in favor of Ceffons’ responsibility for the Epistola Luciferi, while offering a new critical edition of the letter, an English translation, and a supplemental list of manuscripts and editions. (shrink)

Les primeres edicions dels escrits de Joan Lluís Vives encara susciten problemes als estudiosos del gran humanista. En aquesta obra, catàleg d’una àmplia exposició bibliogràfica, s’inclouen tant les edicions prínceps pròpiament dites com les reimpressions que recullen modificacions introduïdes per l’autor, així com el seu epistolari.

Una breve nota in relazione all'articolo recentemente apparso su questa rivista che indica un nuovo manoscritto appartenuto a Teodosio IV Princeps, patriarca di Antiochia ; con l'occasione vengono enumerati anche i codici di cui è nota l'appartenenza al Patriarca. Vorrei aggiungere a questa lista il manoscritto di Genova, Biblioteca Franzoniana, Urbani 17 che appartenne a Teodosio IV Princeps, come si evince dalla sua caratteristica nota di possesso vergata nei fogli finali del manoscritto . Ho indicato il possesso di (...) questo codice da parte del Patriarca nel mio Catalogo dei manoscritti greci della Biblioteca Franzoniana . Urbani 2–20, nella descrizione del codice Urbani 17; lo ripeto qui non tanto per rivendicare una mia scoperta, giacché, come ho notato nel commento al manoscritto, il misterioso ‘Teodosio’ il cui nome avevo trovato nei margini del codice Urbani 17 era stato a suo tempo identificato dal Professor Jean Irigoin a cui avevo mostrato la scritta, ma per la completezza delle informazioni sulla collezione di manoscritti di Teodosio IV Princeps, che è composta ormai di quattordici codici, considerando i dodici elencati dall'autrice del recente articolo, il tredicesimo da lei scoperto e il codice di Genova. (shrink)

La publication, dans la seconde moitié du XVIe siècle, de la version grecque des Lettres ignatiennes, à partir de deux manuscrits différents, a été l’occasion d’une compétition entre leurs éditeurs respectifs, Valentin Hartung, dit Paceus, converti de la Réforme, et l’imprimeur zurichois André Gesner, figure marquante de l’Église zwinglienne. Elle pose un problème non encore résolu : pourquoi André Gesner laisse-t-il entendre qu’il est l’auteur de l’édition princeps tandis que Paceus l’affirme hautement de son côté ? In the second (...) half of the 16th century the publication of the Greek version of the Letters of Ignatius, on the basis of two different manuscripts, gave rise to a competition between their two respective editors, Valentin Hartung, called Paceus, who had converted from the Reformation to Roman Catholicism, and the Zürich printer André Gesner, who was a remarkable figure of the Church of Zwingli. As yet, the following problem is unresolved : Why does André Gesner give us to understand that he is the author of the first edition, whereas Paceus resolutely claims the same thing for himself ? (shrink)

A critical review of the editio princeps of the Liber Timothei episcopi de Pascha recently published by Pierre Chambert-Protat and Camille Gerzaguet in the coll. Sources chrétiennes. The article questions the editors’ thesis, at length developed in the Introduction, that the text is only the Latin translation, also known by Gregorius of Elvira and St. Augustine, of a Greek treatise apparently due to one Timothy, bishop of Cybistra in Cappadocia during the first half of the IVth century. It tries (...) to show that this thesis, although not implausible, is not however as strong as its promoters imagine, and that several of their arguments are to be rejected or at least to be qualified. This discussion, which forms the main part of the article, is supplemented by two lists of proposed corrections: the first deals with the Latin text and the second, in an appendix, with its French translation. (shrink)

The epistolary corpus of M. Cornelius Fronto, the rhetoric teacher of the ‘princes’ M. Aurelius and L. Verus, offers valuable insights into the functioning of the monarchical order of the Principate, despite the seemingly trivial subject matter of many of his letters, due to the unique level of communication. Especially the communication with the domus Augusta provides important additions to the comparable letters of Pliny the Younger. While scholars have so far concentrated on Fronto’s relationship with his pupil Marcus, this (...) contribution focuses on the communication with and about the adoptive father of his pupils, Antoninus Pius, because it makes tangible the ‘rules of the game’ of the interaction between the senatorial elite and the princeps who came from their ranks. (shrink)

The “lost” Yaḥyā ibn ʿAdī treatises recently discovered in the Tehran codex Marwī 19 include a record of a philosophical debate instigated by the Ḥamdānid prince Sayf-al-Dawla. More precisely, Marwī 19 contains Yaḥyā’s adjudication of a dispute between an unnamed Opponent and Yaḥyā’s younger relative Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAdī (who also served as al-Fārābī’s assistant), along with Ibrāhīm's response to Yaḥyā’s adjudication, and Yaḥyā’s final word. At issue was a problem of Aristotelian exegesis: should “body” be understood as falling under the (...) category of substance or under the category of quantity? The unnamed Opponent argues that body is a species of substance; Ibrāhīm argues that technically speaking, body is a species of quantity, and hence an accident; and Yaḥyā judges that body is a species of substance, though for very different reasons than the Opponent gives. For the first time, the Arabic text of this exchange is edited and translated into English. Also provided is an Introduction that sets the debate in historical context, and discusses in particular the possible influence of John Philoponus. The debate is interesting and important not only because of the philosophical ramifications of the issues under discussion, but because it constitutes evidence of dialectical practice among Arabic-speaking philosophers from the middle of the 10th century. (shrink)

In this paper we shall examine a few texts by authors who predate Hilary in order to investigate a possible exegetical tradition or interpretative current that could include several gnostic groups cited by Irenaeus of Lyons (II c.), to Origen (III c.) and saint Hilary of Poitiers (IV c.). However, one of the interpretations that Origen presents in his Commentary on saint John is the same interpretation that Hilary gives, but it is more developed. Certainly, Hilary and Origen comment two (...) different Gospels, but both comment homologous scenes; Hilary comments Mt. 8:5-13 and Origen, Io. 4:46-54. In addition, we believe some testimonies in Hilary’s commentary can reveal the influence of Origen’s commentary on Hilary/s. One of these testimonies could be the explanation of the strange reading transmitted by Hilary who calls tribunus to the centurio of the Gospel. (shrink)

Continuing his work on Aesop Manolis Papathopoulos published two volumes in 1999: the first contains the edition of the redaction W of Aesop's Life, the second five, vernacular translations of his Life. The first volume which relates to the redaction W, the so-called Westermanniana, of Aesop's Life consists of three parts. The first part (Introduction, pp. 11–35) is divided into two chapters. At the beginning Papath. focuses on the classification of the Aesop's Life in the litterary genre of biography, on (...) the historicity of Aesop himself, his provenance, the myths about his life and the representations of him. (shrink)