DISTICHS OF CATO AND OTHER TEXTS

Sion L40.2/L14

DISTICHS OF CATO AND OTHER TEXTS

early 13th century - early 14th century

The Distichs of Cato and other texts, written in England. Three manuscripts of different dates, originally separate. ff. 1r-11v. The Distichs of Cato [or Disticha Catonis], a collection of proverbial wisdom and morality by an unknown author named Dionysius Cato from the 3rd or 4th century AD, here in French translation. 13th century (second half). The text is the Anglo-Norman version, in rhyming couplets by Everard (cf. A. Långfors, 'Les incipit des poèmes français antérieurs au xvie siècle' (1917), p. 50), presented here without title. The Latin text is intercalated throughout in smaller and semi-current script. Eighteen couplets precede the translation ('Catun estoit payen. E ne sauait ren ...') and twelve follow it ('... E del pechur Euerard Eit dampne deu merci. Amen. Explicit is liber sit scriptor crimine liber'). Other copies are Lambeth Palace Library MS. 371, f. 123, and Bodleian Library, MS. Eng. poet. a. 1 (the Vernon Manuscript: Sum. Cat. 3938-42), f. 309. ff. 12r-94r. The Book of Proverbs. In Latin. 13th century (first half). Written in a central column, with a sparse gloss on each side of it. The only breaks in the text are at x. 1, xxii. 17, xxv. 1, xxx. 1, and xxxi. 1. f. 46v has on it a memorandum in a current hand (early 16th century): 'Be yt knawyn on to euere man yt the towne of Pawll' ys at a condessyon wt ther sowger William chechun as thus yt yff there be heny were betwyx this and myghtylmes' then Chechun (or Kechun) is obliged to find a horse, saddle, etc., if required, or to pay a fine. The inscription probably relates to Paull, a parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire. ff. 95r-164v. [Summa Qui bene presunt, by Richard of Wetheringsett, also known as Richard of Wethersett, and Richard of Leicester (fl. c.1200-c.1230), Chancellor of Cambridge University]. The summa was a popular guide for preachers. See the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and Emden, 'Biographical Register of the University of Cambridge', 679 and frontispiece. 14th century (first half). Begins (f. 95r.) 'Qui bene presunt presbiteri ...' Ends (f. 163v) '... hic ergo erit consummatus'. A numbered table of the eighty-four chapters follows on ff. 163v-4v.

French and Latin

iv, 166 ff.

Open

Skelton debet librum' (early 16th century), at f. 1r. This name and the mention of Paull (see f. 46v) suggest that at least ff. 1-11 and 12-94 were in Yorkshire early in the 16th century. Sion L40.2/L13-15 were given to Sion College by the same donor in 1664; Sion L40.2/L14 ff. 12-94 and L15 both have a provenance from the East Riding of Yorkshire, near to Kingston upon Hull. 'Ex dono Joh. Abbot', f. 1r, early 17th century, as in Sion L40.2/L13. According to the Sion College Benefactors' Register, John Bradshaw, Rector of St. George's, Botolph Lane, London, gave Sion L40.2/L13-15 in 1664 (Sion L40.2/E64, p. 85). Recorded by John Spencer with the pre-Fire of London shelfmark Y 20 (Sion L 40.2/E171 under 'Cato'; Sion L 40.2/E169 under 'Anonymi' for the other texts). Recorded at Sion College in Edward Bernard, 'Catalogi Manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae' (Oxford, 1697), vol 2, no. 4076. Transferred from Sion College to Lambeth Palace Library, 1996.

Leather binding 252 x 183 mm., early 19th cent (as in Sion L40.2/L4, 113, 15). Vellum leaves (except ff. i-ii, 165-6, paper flyleaves added in the present binding). 245 x 170 mm. ff. iii, iv are medieval fly-leaves. Added at f. iii is 'contra febres', a charm against fevers. Written space: ff. 1-11. 170 x 115 mm., 2 cols., 33 lines. ff. 12-94. 175 x 145 mm., text in 16 widely spaced lines. ff. 95-164. 190 x 120 mm., 31-34 long lines. Collation: ff. 1-11. 1(8); 2(4) wants 4, perhaps blank, after f. 11. ff. 12-94. 1-10(8); 11(4) wants 4, blank, after f. 93: quires numbered at the end. ff. 95-164. 1(12); 2(10); 3-6(12). Initials: None coloured in ff. 1-1; six in ff. 12-94, gold on coloured grounds (except at Prov. xxxi. 1), with external ornament in red and green or red and blue, or all three colours, giving an odd effect; in ff. 95-164, red and blue with ornament of both colours on f. 95, and, elsewhere, 2-line, blue with red ornament. In ff. 12-94 and 95-164 capital letters in the ink of the text are filled with a pale brown wash. Secundo folio 'A sages'.