Le epistole.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

Pseudo-Phalaris.

Contributor:

Griffolini, Francesco, 1418-1483.

Malatesta, Novello, dedicatee.

Standardized Title:

Epistolae. Italian.

Language:

Italian

Latin

Subjects (All):

Phalaris, Tyrant of Agrigentum, active 6th century B.C. attributed name.

Phalaris, Tyrant of Agrigentum, active 6th century B.C.

Classical literature--Early works to 1800.

Classical literature.

Greek literature--Early works to 1800.

Greek literature.

Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts)

Manuscripts, Italian.

Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Penn Provenance:

From the Macauley Collection.

Accessioned (or given new accession number), 1959.

Physical Description:

67 leaves : parchment ; 181 x 131 (129 x 83) mm bound to 197 x 131 mm

Place of Publication:

[Italy], [14--]

Language Note:

Italian.

Biography/History:

Phalaris was the ruler of Akragas (i.e. Agrigentum, modern Agrigento) in Greek-speaking Sicily in the early 6th century B.C.

Summary:

The letters attributed to Phalaris, translated from Greek into Latin by the humanist Francesco Aretino (also known as Francesco Griffolini), and from Latin into Italian by an unnamed translator (perhaps Giovanni Andrea Ferabos, or Bartholomeo Phontio [or Fontio]?). Includes a dedication of Francesco Aretino to Novello Malatesta.

Notes:

Ms. codex.

Title supplied by cataloger (Zacour-Hirsch). Title derived from text of dedication (f. 1r): L'epistole.

Spine label: Phalari M.S.

In the dedication (f. 1r), Francesco Aretino states that he translated the letters from Greek into Latin. Zacour-Hirsch mistakenly says that Aretino translated them from Greek into Italian.

The translator who produced this Italian version is not named in the manuscript. Zacour-Hirsch suggests Giovanni Andrea Ferabos or Bartholomeo Phontio [or Fontio]; cf. the early printed Italian translations--1471, 1488, etc.--listed by S. F. G. Hoffmann, Lexicon bibliographicum, III, 214-215.

Collation: Parchment, ii (paper) + 67 + i (paper); 1¹⁰(-1), 2-6¹⁰, 7⁸; [1-67]; modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto. One leaf appears to be missing at the beginning of the first quire; might have been blank or contained a dedication, etc. Link to collation model at end of record.

Layout: Written in 25 long lines; ruled in ink.

Script: Written in a single humanist book hand.

Decoration: Titles in red, initials in red and blue.

Binding: Vellum, with a gilded design on the spine; probably a bit later than the manuscript.

Origin: Written in Tuscany[?], probably in the second half of the 15th century (Zacour-Hirsch).

Cover worn slightly at the edges. Various smudges and stains.

The British classical scholar Richard Bentley (1662-1742) demonstrated conclusively that these letters cannot have been written by Phalaris but are much later in date.

Cited in:

Described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965), p. 109 (Ms. Italian 78).

Bentley, Richard. A dissertation upon the epistles of Phalaris, Themistocles, Socrates, Euripides, and others, and the Fables of Aesop (London: Printed by J. Leake, for Peter Buck, 1697). Originally an appendix to William Wotton's Reflections upon ancient and modern learning. Bentley's work was reprinted in 1883 by George Bell & Sons, London.

Hoffmann, S. F. G. Lexicon bibliographicum, III, pp. 214-215 (concerning early printed Italian translations of the letters of Phalaris).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 320

OCLC:

155964318

Online:

Collation model