Gregory of Nazianzus, Or. 7, a fragment

11th c.

parchment

1 ff.

275 × 155 mm

Greek

1 (ff. 1r–1v) Gregorius Nazianzenus, In Caesarium (or. 7) (CPG3010.07) (Funebris in laudem Caesarii fratris oratio (Or. 7, fragmentum)) (BHG0286-0286b)

Rubric: None

Incipit: ἐπειδὴ καὶ ⟨ἡμᾶς⟩ ἠξίωσε τιμῆ⟨σαι⟩ τῇ κοινωνίᾳ

Explicit: καὶ σωτηρίαν ἀπιστουμένην

Note: Boulenger’s edition was based on two manuscripts, Paris. gr. 510 (9th century) and Paris Coislin 51 (10th century). For a more complete list of mss, see http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/notices/oeuvre/7607/ to which this fragment can be added. Only three mss appear listed in Pinakes as containing a textual lacuna, all dated 9th–10th centuries.

Editions: PG, vol. 35, cols. 755–788; Boulenger (1908), .

Physical Description

Support

Textblock

Support 1

Locus: ff. 1r–1v

Support: Parchment

Leaf dimensions: 275 × 155 mm

Folding: Folio

Parchment, fairly supple; the recto is the hair side, yellow; the verso is the flesh side, ivory coloured. The leaf was trimmed on both sides, leaving the parallel external rulings of the first column of the recto, and no margin at all to the right of the second column. It was then also cut to a triangular point in the upper margin, from the fourth line of text, with loss of text in the beginning and end of the first lines. In order to be reused as a flyleaf in a binding, it was folded twice, creating a crease on the fourth and another on the eighteenth line of text. The edges of the parchment at top and sides have also curled onto themselves.

Foliation

The fragment is not foliated. The shelfmark number 26 is written in pencil in the upper right corner of the verso.

Condition

Besides the trimming and folding, causing wear and loss of legible text, the leaf also has suffered damage in the form of water staining causing a large dark brown patch in its upper half; there are also smaller red-rust stains on the recto and brown spots in the upper margin of the verso. Worming in the lower left corner as well as in some smaller holes in the body of the text. A portion of a circular mark as if drawn by compass is visible in the left column of the recto.

Layout

Layout 1

Locus: ff. 1r–1v

Columns: 2

Written lines: 28

Written area: 220 × 150 mm

Note: Two columns with a wide intercolumniar space; each column measures 220 x 63 mm; the intercolumniar space is 20 mm wide. Interlineum: ca. 9 mm.

Script

Textblock

Hand 1

Calligraphic Perlschrift minuscule pendant from the line; elegant, regular nuclei. Iota adscript is present.

Hand 2

The identification of the contents as ‘Gregorius Nazianzenus / Oratione Xma p 168 A’ was noted in light brown ink in the lower margin of the verso, possibly by Erik Benzelius the Younger. The reference is from the Morellus edition.

Hand 3

There is some Greek writing and probatio pennae in the intercolumniar space of the recto and in the lower margin of the verso, both in black ink and with traces of orange ink.

Decorations

Simple initials in carmine placed in the intercolumniar space (enlarging the first letter of the paragraph on the new line, and leaving a gap in the previous line to denote the break in the text), as well as two σήμειον notes (the one on the verso ornate with a small heart-shaped leaf, like the tau above it). A corrector’s hand has added a few letters on the verso.

History

Origin

11th c. dating on palaeographical grounds.

Provenance

Provenance unknown. The sheet was reused for binding.

Acquisition

The fragment’s present place is in a collection of 63 separate parchment leaves and wrappers, Samlingsband 24. It may have arrived by way of the Erik Benzelius the Younger estate, which the library acquired partly in 1757, partly in 1789. The stamp of Linköping Diocesan Library is in the lower margin of the recto.