ANALYSES ET COMPTES-RENDU S
GOBERT DE LAON .
De tonsura et vesti,nentis et vita clericorunz, 6d .
M . Hélin (1930) .
M . M . Hélin vient de publier dans le Musée belge, 34° année (1930) , p . 135_160 1 , une édition critique du traité de Gobert de Laon De tonsur a
et vesti,nentis et
vita
clericoruna .Cet opuscule avait été publié pour la première fois (assez négligem-ment) par le baron de Reiffenberg en 1842, d ' après le seul manuscrit de Bruxelles (B) . Le nouvel éditeur a pu utiliser deux manuscrits inconnu s jusqu ' ici, l ' un de Mons (M), l ' autre de Rouen (R) . Dans une introduction qui dénote un philologue exercé, il a étudié la valeur respective de ce s trois manuscrits et a dressé un stem/na codicu,n . Examinant de prè s l ' ceuvre do Gobert, il croit pouvoir la dater de la fin du xn° ou peut-êtr e même du commencement du xni° siècle .
Le texte est établi avec beaucoup de soin et de prudence ; entre le s variantes des manuscrits, M . Vélin a fait un choix judicieux . 11 ne s ' es t permis qu ' une seule correction (au v . 80, odia au lieu de ocia ou occia ,
inexplicable) . L ' apparat critique est aussi complet qu'on peut le désirer . Les médiévistes sauront gré à M . Hélin de son consciencieux travail .
P . Tannins .
Die lateinischen Bearbeitungen der Acta Andreae et Matthiae apu d
Ant ropophagos .
Mitsprachlichem Kommentar herausgegebe n
von Franz BLATT . Alfred Töpelmann, Gieszen, 1930 . In-8°,xis-197 pages . Prix : 17 R . M .
Le livre de M . Blatt, contenant des documents intéressants de l'hagio-graphie, se compose de trois parties : introduction, textes, index .
Dans l 'introduction M . Blatt donne la description des codd . C(asana-tensis), xii° siècle ; V(aticanus), x°-xi° siècle, rythmique ; A, copie de V de la Bibliotheca alessandrina . Ce sont des remaniements des
1104( q
'Avapéou tat Mwrsfa eiçtir
n6),o Tiilv 'av8pentopdye v, dont V s'écarteplus que C . C et le grec sont des textes surtout narratifs, tandis que V a un caractère plutôt didactique, moralisateur . Mais, quelles que soien t les différences des codd . entre eux, le récit apparaît comme un roman d e voyage à tendances religieuses (p .17) . Le texte du codex Casanatensis, don t l' auteur étale sa science par de nombreuses figures rhétoriques et don t les particularités de langue et de style ont des similitudes avec celle s
ANALYSES ET COMPTES-RENDUS .
18 1
qu'on retrouve dans Grégoire de Tours, remonte probablement au vi e -vm e siècle . V, que sa principale formule rythmique `_ ) fait remonter à l ' époque mérovingienne ou pré-mérovingienne, offre u n aspect linguistique qui entre, comme celui de C, dans la période Gré-goire - 800 . Les deux manuscrits ont probablement l ' Italie comm e pays d ' origine .La seconde partie contient les textes latins, avec le grec en regard , d ' après l ' édition de M . M . Bonnet : Acta apostolorum apocrypha II, 1 ,
65 sqq . M . Blatt, qui a pourvu son édition de C et V d ' un commentair e suivi, imprimé au bas des pages, a bien reconnu les avantages de c e mode d ' édition (Vorwort) . Suivant mot à mot le récit, le commentair e offre un énorme apparatus de remarques philologiques .
L ' index, qui constitue la troisième partie de l ' ouvrage, a réduit au mi-nimum les désavantages d ' un commentaire suivi . Par sa nature mêm e il offre, lui aussi, quelques inconvénients dans le traitement de cas pro-blématiques . Ainsi, 87, 19,
illa[m] misit ;
99, 21,que[m] mira fecit ;
138, 38,in suis firmati[s] sedibus,
nous semblent des cas de phonétiqu e syntaxique plutôt que des dittographies . Par contre, M . Blatt regarde , 135, 26,die .. . tertiam,
comme une confusion de cas, dont une explicatio n phonétique est possible . Mais ne pourrait-on pas y voir une dittographie , quand on lit le passage entier :die iam tertiam?
De m@me, 77, 2,cus-todes occisis (= occisi) .
Un traitement à part aurait pu suggérer la pos-sibilité d' une explication paléographique pour, 97,30, ut mirmidoniam
provincia (transcription nonchalante de provincia)properaret .
La form elacus,
dans 33, 8,in quo lacus,
pourrait être une faute visuelle, analo-gique, due aulacus
correct de la phrase précédente . N ' est-il pas un pe u dangereux de mettre, 83, 18,semedipsum
sous la même rubrique que , 63, 4,capud suum ;
134, 8,nequid namque,
sans faire aucune subdivi-sion? Dans 91, 17,a
deoest iustus,
la prépositiona (= ad)
ne se trouv e pas, nous semble-t-il, dans une graphie très assurée, l'explication pho-nétique n ' étant pas du tout impossible :ad
deum)a
deo .A pari quelques points discutables de ce genre, que le caractère d ' u n index amène presque nécessairement pour les cas douteux, le livre d e M . Blatt constitue un tout admirable par la précision avec laquelle le s différents détails ont été traités, autant que par la façon dont les ques-tions que soulève un pareil travail ont été élucidées dans l ' introduction .
P .-W . HooGTERP .
The Tale of Two Lovers, by Aeneas Sylvius Piccolonaini (Pius II) .
Translated by Flora GRIasoN . London,
Constable &C°, 1929 .
Pp . xxi+139 .
Price :10 s . 6 d .
Medieval history shows few careers more full of variety and romanc e than that of Aeneas Sylvius, poetlaureate and imperial secretary to Frede -rick III, indefatigable and observant traveller, nimble-witted and
unprin-182
ANALYSES ET COMPTES-RENDUS .
cipled diplomat, Pope and crusader . It is a curious commentary on him-self and on human nature that the only one of his voluminous writing s which has captivated and retained popular favour is this typically renais-sance tale of amorous intrigue and over-perfumed sentimentality, whic h is a fairly accurate picture of the Siena in which his early youth was pas-sed . The student of fifteenth century history cannot dispense with suc h pictures as theDe Duobus Amantibusprovides of the fashionable societ y of the time . The bulky tomes of von der
Hardt,
the severely official docu -ments that fill Martène et Durand, Finke and the ConciliwnBasiliense ,and the grave and innumerable pages of John of Segovia, need this com-plementary glimpse of the frivolity and folly, the amorous and polishe d intrigue, the callous self-sufficiency and the vulgar viciousness of con-temporary « high life a . These pages the serious student will not ne-glect ; they illumine the period as much as they illumine the characte r of that amazing and polymorphous self-seeker, Aeneas himself .
This translation is well done, so well done that it retains no flavou r of second-handness or taint of foreign idiom . For the general public , who read for entertainment and not for instruction, the tale has a moder n piquancy and all the innocent-seeming, attractive frankness of indis-cretion . It has been translated into most of the modern tongues and its circulation, like that of the blood, is unceasing . Miss Grierson has mad e use of the critical edition published by Joseph Dévay at Budapest i n 1904, and her publisher has reproduced the translation in a beautifu l form ; the book is a joy to behold and to handle . It should enjoy a wid e and speedy sale, for it will appeal alike to the lover of fine books, th e reader of novels, and the historian . It is at once pre-reformation an d post-war, medieval and modern —eery modern .
J . H . BAXTER .
On the Government of God : A Treatise wherein are shown by
Ar-gument and by Examples drawn from the Abandoned Society o f
the Times the Ways of God toward his Creatures .
Indited b ySALVIAN, translated by Eva M . SANFORD . New-York, Columbia
University Press ; London, Humphrey Milford, 1930, pp . 241 . English price : 18 s . 6 d .
No English translation of the De Gabernatione Dei has appeared sinc e that of Wagstaffe in 1700, although the importance of Salvian for the his-tory of the first half of the fifth century makes him an indispensible source for the historian of that confused and troubled time . Augustin e and Orosius had endeavoured to show that the calamities of the age were in no wise caused by the supersession of paganism by Christianity, bu t Salvian is less negative, less on the defensive . Convinced that society had reached the lowest depths of depravity and degradation, he saw i n the sufferings of his contempories evidence that God was sending
punish-ANALYSES ET C0MPTES-RENDUS .
183 ment and affliction well-merited by reason of indurate sin . Against thi s dark background of social and moral corruption, he paints barbaria n character in colours that are almost glowing . Contemporary document s hear out much, if not most, of his indictment of social conditions, th e injustice of the official class towards the poor, the crushing burden o f taxation, the corruption of the financial system ; but much ink bas bee n wasted in discussing Salvian's account of the state of Roman morals, th e degraded condition of the Church, and the contrasting purity of the bar-barians . He was a preacher with a moral to point, and it has been to o often forgotten that his statements are statements of a case he is plea-ding, or rather the passionate denunciations of one so aflame for th e higher life that any falling short of it was to be condemned and any in-difference to it interpreted as hostility .
Miss Sanford's translation is all the more to be welcomed, then, tha t it gives Engiish readers an opportunity to read at first hand an autho r of prime significance for the history of that momentous and poignan t century which witnessed a transformation of Europe greater than an y century since . Her introduction supplies inpetto most of what an ordi-nary student will require for the understanding of Salvian's tractate , although a fuller account might have been given of the actual events i n Gaul and Africa which form its background and its theme . The trans-lation reads well and is successful in combining the English idiom wit h textual accuracy ; the present reviewer has followed Miss Sanford ' s ver-sion with the original for at least half of the tractate and found that th e Latin is on the whole faithfully reproduced, with only slight and unim-portant lapses ; occasionally the force of a tense is missed, as I, s, wher e
probanzus appears as a Let us prove s, or a wrong construction is assu-med, as IV, z, non esse rideatur, which is not e does not appear to b e one s, but a appears not to be one s . But, for the most part, the sens e is admirably translated, and Salvian's thesis and statements become easie r to assess and evaluate, when their colourful and fiery eloquence is trans -muted into a foreign idiom . Miss Sanford is to be complimented on a good and scholarly piece of work, which should bring her author int o popular favour and perhaps encourage some other student to undertak e the preparation of a commentary on the whole work . The best annotate d edition is still that of C . Rittershusius, 1611 .
J . FI . BAXTER .
A
Handlist of Books relating to the Classics and classical Antiquity ,
compiled by D'' J . A . NAIRN and enlarged by B . H . BLACitwELL . Oxford, B . H . Blackwell, 1931, pp . 161 . Price : one shilling . Although this volume claims only to interest students of classics an d classical antiquity, there is good reason for bringing it to the notice o f students of patristic and medieval Latin, for the editors have wiselyin-184
ANALYSES ET COMPTES-RENDUS .
terpreted a classical antiquity » in the widest sense . The list of content s will show the great extent of ground covered : I, General Works of Re-ference, Encyclopaedias, Bibliographies ; II, On classical Studies and th e Classical Tradition ; Introductory Manuals ; III, Greek and Latin Authors : Collections, Anthologies, Individual Authors ; IV, IIistory of Greek Li-terature ; VI, Philology and Grammar ; VII, Palaeography and Textua l Criticism ; VIII, Papyrology ; IX, Epigraphy ; X, History and Civilization ; XI, Religion and Mythology ;
XII,
Philosophy ; XIII, Music ; XIV, Science , Mathematics, Medecine ; XV, Geography ; XVI, Archaeology and Art ; XVII, Numismatics ; XVIII, Periodicals . Within each of these section s are listed the best and most recent studies, with (a useful point) a not e of the price . The book is indispensible to all teachers and students o f Greek and Latin ; to our non-British readers our advice is to secure th e book at once before the stock is exhausted, as it certainly will be soon . There is nothing of its kind so good or so useful published anywhere, or at so small a cost .English-speaking students have long been familiar with the two biblio-graphical manuals of the brothers Mayor : John E . B . Mayor, that prince of English Latinists, published in 1875 a Bibliographical Clue to Latin Literature, the usefulness of which, with its entertaining and characte-ristically Mayorian a advertisement », is still considerable, for older li-terature especially ; Joseph B . Mayor published a Guide to the Choice o f
Classical Books (second edition, 1879), which is wider in scope, bu t more elementary . These two books have been the vale-mecunzs of al l English speaking students since then, and their worth is still conside-rable . The only similar compilation since has been Professor Sou-ter's Hints on the Study ofLatin
(A .
D . 125-750), London, 1920, --- a book insufficienty known both in Britain and abroad, though its smal l cost renders it available to all —, in which the compiler, following i n this as in so much else the model of his old teacher, Mayor of St . John's , provides bibliographical clues to the literature, and excellent advice o n the language, of Later Latin . This new manual will not supersede, bu t will complete and supplement, these three earlier compilations, and th e student whose ambition it is to be at home in the language and lite -rature of classical antiquity as well of patristic and medieval times, wil l keep all four together in a handy corner of his bookshelves . The last o f them, the ILand-List, is a joy to handle for the excellence of itstypogra-phy and a profit to study for the fulness and precision of its contents . The book does immense credit to Blackwell, who is in the booksellin g world what the Oxford University Press is in the publishing world,
fa-cile
princeps .
The final piece of advice concerning this priceless volum e may be given in the words of innumerable teachers in innumerable sub-jects concerning innumerable other books : a Get it at Blackwell's e .J . H . BAXTER . IMPRIBiERIE DAUPELEY -GOUVERNEUR A NOGENT-LE -ROTROU - 1931