A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges

MS. Auct. F. 4. 30

Summary Catalogue no.: 8867

Contents

Ovid, Metamorphoses

Imperfect: beginning at Book 3.75 ('Terraque rasa sonat')

There are scholastic glosses throughout the monologues, suggesting that this was created as a school text. In addition, there are contemporary comments which explain mythological details or locations (Kathryn McKinley, Reading the Ovidian Heroine: 'Metamorphoses' Commentaries 1100-1618 [Brill, 2001], p. 63)

Language(s): Latin

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: ii + 74 leaves
Dimensions (binding): 9.125 × 4.375 in.

Hand(s)

The main text and the scholastic glosses are written in the same hand (McKinley, Reading the Ovidian Heroine [Brill, 2001], p. 63)

Additions: Using a combination of marginal and interlinear glosses, the scribe classifies Medea's soliloquy about her feelings for Jason into the categories of 'amor' and 'ratio', Book 7, lines 23-69, fols 21v-22r. This careful demarcation might be designed for teaching purposes, possibly for lectures in rhetoric (McKinley, Reading the Ovidian Heroine [Brill, 2001], pp. 63-64)

History

Origin: 12th century ; France (?) or England (?). McKinley references a personal communication in which Teresa Webber suggests that this manuscript is 'perhaps English' (Reading the Ovidian Heroine [Brill, 2001], p. 63, note 11)

Provenance and Acquisition

Nicolaas Heinsius: this volume is no. 339 in the Heinsius sale catalogue (March 1682-1683), tom. ii. p. 88

Bought at the Heinsius sale by Edward Bernard (1638–1697)

Bequeathed by Bernard to his widow

Purchased from her by the Bodleian in 1698

Record Sources

Description adapted (June 2023) by Stewart J. Brookes from the Summary Catalogue (1895), with additional reference to published literature as cited.

Last Substantive Revision

2023-06-09: Description revised to incorporate all the information in the Summary Catalogue (1895)