A ( V 3^ >■ o o %*'-^,. CO I or -3 3 3 6" REDISCOVERY OF A SAIBANTE PAPYRUS Princeton University Library ,Grarrett Dep. 1454. By H. B. Van Hoesen, Curator of MSS., Princeton University Library. Cornell University Library PA 3335.V25 Rediscovery of a Saibante papyrus Prince 3 1924 022 696 243 Reprinted from THE AMERICAN LIBRARY INSTITUTE Atlantic City Meeting, 1916. PRINCETON, N. J. 1917 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022696243 A Vi r 't . I ii -4,- ^ .r I ^ 11/ '^> >^s ' \K * V •»a '^t;^ ' v;^.''"::-*!^^ '-,•>.. ^ ). 1^ ,i^ ■•^\- .^ w '5^^ :fi^ .\ 1 ^^;:-^^^ ^'^ -C ,.^.,^^k.,^-'-^-' \ ^'^ fi' i ^l-i^^at:-uy^-'^'^' :--^v:: X^-*^" "S .v^ « __ ,A---!^^ •ill it ^f >- -J' I ■ a* /^ Oo o^ «^ V. 1. REDISCOVERY OF A SAIBANTE PAPYRUS Princeton University Library Garrett Dep. 1454. By H. B. Van Hoesen, Curator of MSS., Princeton University Library. Some ancient manuscripts have only their day of renaissance and are then lost again in obscurity; or, if they are mere documents written on fragile papyrus, come to an end of existence — perhaps not untimely — in spite of the enthusiasm which their discovery has aroused in their collector or pub- lisher, witness Maffei, in his Verona Illustrata, speaking of his own mu- seum : "Ricorderemo per ultimo quello che forse non vorra il curioso erudito veder da ultimo, cioe i Papiri. Questo e il piu ammirabil genere d'antiche reliquie, che ci rimanga ..." Besides his own collection, Maffei mentions, among other "gallerie" particularly noteworthy for manuscripts, the Capl- tolare, of course, the Moscardi, which, he says, was famous throughout Europe, but contained only a few unintelligible fragments, and the Saibante. Of Saibante, Maffei says, "non ci fu mai chi con piu avidita, ed a maggior prezzo cercasse cose rare, e singolarmente manuscritti. . .e Ari riusci con tal fortuna che sopra mille trecento manuscritti gli venne fatto di racco- gliere. . . " To-day, Maffei 's enthusiasm for papyri would hardly be satisfied in his home city ; because, of the several papyri which she had in his day, not one remains, while the single one which she now claims, in the Biblioteca Gapi- tolare, is not a papyrus, but a curious imitation — apparently made of cloth. Maffei 's own papyri came to a safe resting place in the Vatican Library; the Moscardi fragments, on the other hand, are among quite a group of docu- ments which have, even since their publication in Marini's "I papiri diplo- matici" (1805), disappeared beyond the ken of palaeographers and histor- ians. Among others, the writer of this paper tried in vain, a few years ago, to find these lost papyri for purposes of a study of Roman Cursive writing. It was an interesting surprise, then, this year, when a papyrus purporting to be from the Saibante Collection was found — in the seeker's own castle so to speak — in the manuscript room in the Princeton Library, among the collection deposited by Mr. Robert Garrett, bearing the deposit number 38 AMERICAN LIBRARY INSTITUTE 1454. The fly-leaf which precedes it in its present bound form contains this note: "deux fragments de Papyrus on biblos, I'une de 5 I'autr de 6 lignes faisant tous deux partie d'une meme piece latine en ecriture lombardique du 8 ou 9me siecle. Venant de la Collection de Saibante a Verona . . . puis de M. Gianfilippi. Vendus Salle Sylvestre. Fevrier 1843." Professor Biadego, of the Biblioteca Communale, at Verona, in reply to a letter of inquiry, was able to quote the following mention of the manuscript from a "Catalogue de manuscrits provenant des collections Saibante et Gianfilippi" (Milan, 1842), p. 644, no. 455: "Papyrus — Deux pieces d'ancien papyrus, ayant une 5 et 1 'autre 6 lignes." The two fragments are in reverse order in the binding. The text, restored to about triple the length of the extant portion on the basis of comparison of line with line and of the whole with other documents, especially Marini, nos. 81-112, is as follows : [ , ... ad signum eius comm] 1. 'endandum testis et chir[o] crista sus [cribsi et de conseruandis omni- bus quae superius adscribta leguntur mei praesentia praebuit sacramenta et hanc donationem ssti. fundi . . . cum omnibus ad se generaliter pertinen 2. ti]bus scae. superius nominate rau. ecc[lesiae traditam uidi.t--.huic chartulae donationis ssti. fundi. . .unciarum. . .quas in seas. ecclesias(?)] 3. decreuit sine in seas. diae. sicut superius [legitur facta in ssta. sea. rau. eccl. a ssto . . . donatore qui me praesentem signum scae. crueis fecit et cui relecta est rogatus ab eodem testis suscribsi et de 4. cons]eruandis omnibus quae superius adsc[ribta leguntur mei prae- sentia praebuit sacramenta et hanc donationem ssti. fundi . . . cum omnibus ad se generaliter pertinentibus scae. superius nominate rau. ecclesiae tradi- tam uidi 5. fCo]nstantius u. d. scol. scole armaturae huic [chartulae donationis ssti. fundi. . .unciarum. . .quas in seas, ecclesias ( ?) decreuit sine in seas. diac. si 6. cut] superius le[g]itur facta in ssta. sea. ra[u. eccl. a ssto. . .donatore qui me praesentem signum scae. crueis fecit et cui relecta est rogatus ab eodem testis suscribsi et de conseruandis omnibus quae] 7. superius adscribta leguntur mei pra[e]B[entia praebuit sacramenta et hanc donationem ssti. fundi . . . cum omnibus ad se generaliter pertinentibus scae. superius nominate rau. ecclesiae traditam uidi 8. tUi]talianus u. h. coll. huic chartulae don[ationis ssti. fundi. . .uncia- rum. . .quas in seas, ecclesias (?) decreuit sine in seas. diae. sicut 9. sup]erius legitur facta in ssta. sea. ra[u. eccl. a ssto. . .donatore qui me • Black fac« type Is need In tiie text to Indicate letten only partialLr legible. A SAIBANTB PAPYRUS 39 praesentem signum scae. crucis fecit et cui relecta est rogatus ab eodem testis suscribsi et de conseruandis om 10. nijbus quae superius adscribta legunt[ur mei praesentia praebuit sac- ramenta et banc donationem ssti. fundi . . . cum omnibus ad se generaliter pertinentibus scae. superius nominate rau.] 11. ecclesiae traditam uidifBonif [atius. . .huic char'tulae donationis ssti. fundi . . . unciarum . . . quas in seas. 12. ece]l[e]s[ias] d[e]cre[uit sine] i[n slcCals. d[iac...etc. The text contains the signatures of witnesses to a deed of gift by an un- named donor in favor of the Church of Ravenna. The only biographical note of the donor to be gleaned is that he was an illiterate person, as one of the witnesses is also chirocrista, according to the law of Justinian (Nov. 73,8). As the chirocrista customarily signs before the other witnesses, his appear- ance here settles the order of the two fragments as here arranged. The facts that the law of Justinian required at least five witnesses, including the chirocrista, and that Bonifatius was the fifth in the extant portion, make it seem likely that there were no other witnesses ' signatures either at the end of fragment 2 or between the two fragments, and that, therefore, the two fragments are to be read consecutively. The fragments placed together aggregate a maximum height of 26™; in breadth, each measures 22^^"°. Allowing, at the top, two lines, or about 4™, for the beginning of the chiro- crista 's signature, and as much more at the bottom for the rest of Boni- fatius 's signature, we may assume about 34™ as the height of the columns — the width of the papyrus rolls from Ravenna, dating from the fifth to seventh centuries, is about 25 to 33™. There are evidences of a jointure at the left but nowhere else, and we may assume that our fragment is a very nearly complete sheet from a roll which was written in three columns, the first two, containing, roughly, the document and the witnesses' signatures respectively, each about a metr« in width, the last, containing the signature of the scribe and the "Notitia testium," perhaps narrower. The total dimensions would then be compar- able to those of a similar document in the Vatican Library, Marini, no. 93, which measures 281 by 33 °". It is not surprising that the manuscript suf- fered under any reading it may have had, when it was necessary to have a full yard of the roll open for the reading of a single line of a column. The writing runs along the fibres, and is an easy, rapid cursive, with fre- quent flourisjies, the higher letters looped or double-looped, although rather narrowly, so as often to show clubbed rather than looped stems, all the let- ters slanting upward left to right. Ligatures are very frequent, e, g, 1, 0, r, t never standing alone. 40 AMERICAN LIBRARY INSTITUTE A lias the open minuscule form, often written above the line and some- times in an angular form when in ligature ; the characteristic National-hand double-c form is rare, and is never fully closed. B has narrowly looped or double-looped stem and small, flat, closed bow. C is sometimes, when in ligature, written with a single stroke, but more often has back and cap in one stroke, finished at top with a small loop, and base in a second, cursive, hooked stroke. Some forms, curiously, link with preceding letter by upward fold from the right extremity of the base. Liga- ture with following letter is through either base or cap. D has looped or double-looped stem, sometimes with finishing right hook at base, and open, more or less angular, bow. E is written with either one or two strokes, the break coming between back and base, and cap joined to arm in bow or clubbing. Ligature with preceding letter is through either end of base, as in the case of c. F has folded or closely looped stem and a long flourished transverse. 6 has a rough 3-shaped tail, finished in a hook, bow, or elaborate double hook ; the cap, like the arm of f , is a long, flourished transverse, and links with following letter. I, standing alone, is short and hooked or double-curved; in ligature, it curves to the left below the line or runs above the line in a loop or double loop. L has long double-looped or clubbed stem, once broken near base, and base with wide or narrow curve, according to the character of the letter follow- ing. M and N are minuscules, with perhaps a slight tendency toward angu- larity. shows some rather complicated two-stroke forms, open at top, and linked to following letter by a separate link stroke. P goes below the line in a small loop. Q has a small, somewhat angular, closed bow and a high shoulder; the tail slants left far below the line and is finished with a right hook. R is short, or long above or below the line; the stem is looped, clubbed, or folded, and ib joined with the arm in curve, angle, bow or clubbing. The arm ends high or low in the line, according to convenience in linking with the letter following. 8 generally goes below the line in loop, fold, or clubbings the shoulder is always curved and the arm is little more than a small downward hook. When not linked with preceding letter, it generally has an initial right hook. T has an interesting variety of forms. Ligature with a preceding tall A SAIBANTE PAPYRUS 41 letter is through top of stem ; the cap is then either attached to right hook at base of stem or is written with a separate stroke which begins near, at left of, or below the base of the stem. Ligature with a preceding low letter occurs either by fold above the right hook at base of stem or through the opposite end of the stem, which has been slurred so as to be in a horizontal position. Standing first in a ligature, t has sometimes the separate-stroke, low-curving cap, and sometimes the cap joined to the right hook above instead of below the base. U is a regular minuscule, once nearly closed, once quite angular, and often with slight finishing hooks to the right. The letter forms are in general those common to the cursively written documents of the sixth and seventh centuries, when it is most difficult to distinguish the "National hands" from their parent Roman Cursive. The forms of t seem a bit advanced for Roman Cursive and the ligatures with preceding letters of e, e, and t, through an upward fold from the right ex- tremity of the base, are strange to Roman Cursive. On the other hand, all the other characteristic National-hand forms of a, e, r, etc., even the t with low-curving cap, are also characteristic of the sixth-seventh century Roman Cursive. A slight tendency toward angularity, as here, is only occasional in Roman Cursive, and the tendency away from looped to clubbed stems is generally more evident in "National-hand" documents than here; but the easy, regular^ legible Spencerian obliqueness is a marked Roman Cursive characteristic, in contrast to the cramped vertical strokes of the "National hands". In short, to the "Lombardique" of the note quoted from the fly- leaf, we should prefer "Roman Cursive", or, if Lombardic at all, since one now sub-divides Lombardic, "Lombardic of Ravenna". And, instead of eighth or ninth century, such evidence as there is — legal, grammatical, orthographical, and, especially, palaeographical — seems to justify one in pushing the date back to the seventh century. "..U ^Z L^H- ■•^: ^^■^ k-TK* mt-^ • M -i ■^!^. ■'ff ■>. ^ ^^^:^