Disticha Catonis – Fragment
Parchment · 7 strips · 1201 – 1250 CE · Southern France · 136 x 20 mmF-mhsv
Victoria, B.C., University of Victoria Libraries, Ms.Lat.2, ff. 9–10, 13–14, 19–20, 33–34, 41–42, 51–52, 63–64
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Scholarly descriptions
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Rowan O'Brian, University of Victoria, 2021
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Transcriptions
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Reconstructed transcription of verso, Rowan O'Brian (2021)
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Summary
Seven in-situ parchment fragments acting as bookmarks in a fifteenth-century breviary with psalter and calendar (University of Victoria Libraries, Ms.Lat.2, "Codex Lindstedt"), all 136 mm long, ranging in width from ca. 10–30 mm. Strips mark sections of the psalter and end of liturgical calendar. Four contain text; three are blank, all likely cut from the same leaf originally ca. 270 x 140 mm. Reconstruction shows that original leaf was from Cato’s Distichs, with line-ends of Book II.11–21 legible on the recto, and significant portions of II.23–31 and III.1-5 legible on the verso. Layout was single column, 32 lines per page. A two-line high red littera notabilior (H) marks the beginning of Book III, and the first letter of each line is splashed with red; start of each distich is bracketed. Script is Gothic textualis but in large parts still Pregothic, as older traits linger in Southern France (script, date, and place of origin determined by Erik Kwakkel, March 2021).