Pros mathēmatikous ... [etc.].

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

Sextus, Empiricus, author.

Contributor:

Isidore, Metropolitan of Kiev, -1463, scribe.

Bodeck, Nicholai von, 17th century, former owner.

Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, former owner.

Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

Greek, Ancient (to 1453)

Subjects (All):

Education, Greek--Controversial literature.

Education, Greek.

Skepticism--Early works to 1800.

Skepticism.

Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts)

treatises

Manuscripts, Greek (Medieval and modern) -- 15th century.

Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Controversial literature.

Penn Provenance:

Probably entered the Vatican Library with a collection of Isidore's papers and books, Vat. Lat. 3951 (as recorded in inventories up to 1518 and not thereafter; probably taken during the sack of Rome in 1527).

Formerly owned by Nicholai von Bodeck of Danzig, 1652 or 1657 (inscription on lost front flyleaf, documented by Hermann Mutschmann, "Die Überlieferung der Schriften der Sextus Empiricus," Hermes 64 (1909), p. 281).

Formerly held in the Königsberger Stadtbibliothek (in modern Kaliningrad, Russia), S.35.8°.

Sold by Sam Fogg Ltd. (London) to Lawrence J. Schoenberg, May 2000.

Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2012.

Gift of Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, 2024.

Physical Description:

269 leaves : parchment ; 162 x 106 (112 x 72) mm bound to 170 x 112 mm

Place of Publication:

[Italy], [between 1430 and 1450]

Language Note:

Ancient Greek.

Summary:

Critique of learning, divided into the disciplines of grammar, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astrology, music, logic, physics, and ethics. A short work titled Dialexeis or Dissoi logoi, which was often attributed to Sextus Empiricus and included in manuscripts of his work, is at the end of the volume.

Contents:

1. f.5r-35v: [Pros grammatikous]

2. f.35v-46r: [Against rhetoricians]

3. f.46v-57r: [Against geometricians]

4. f.57v-60v: [Against arithmeticians]

5. f.60v-69v: [Pros astrologous]

6. f.69v-75v: [Pros mousikous]

7. f.75v-167r: [Pros logikous]

8. f.167v-243v: [Against physicists]

9. f.243v-267r: [Pros ethikous]

10. f.267r-272v: [Dialexeis or Dissoi logoi]

Notes:

Ms. codex.

Title from caption title (f. 1r).

Collation: Parchment, 269; 1-25¹⁰ 26-27⁸ 28⁴(-1, last leaf is pastedown); 1-184, 190-274.

Layout: Written in 27 long lines; ruled in drypoint with vertical bounding lines.

Script: Written in Greek minuscule script by Isidore of Kiev.

Decoration: 4-line initials at the beginning of sections in pale red ink; rubrics and headings in pale red ink.

Binding: Mid-16th-century gilt morocco.

Origin: Written in Italy, probably Ferrara, Florence, or Rome, during Isidore's participation in the Council of Florence, 1438-1445.

Local Notes:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.

Cited in:

Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 25 (LJS 380).

Publications about:

Herman, Nicholas. Making the Renaissance Manuscript: Discoveries from Philadelphia Libraries (exh. cat.). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Libraries, 2020. 46, 208-9 (cat. 60).

Molinelli, Sebastiano, Dissoi logoi: Introduction, Critical Text, Translation, and Commentary (Cham: Springer, 2024), pp. 13, 17.

Cited as:

Sextus Empiricus, Pros mathēmatikous (LJS 380). Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

Contains:

Dialexeis.

Dissoi logoi.

OCLC:

802952069

Online:

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page