Soothe the Eyes

A great book should soothe the eyes, or that's what a subscription in one of this week's codices digitized at the Vatican Library suggests.

Vat.lat.5949, a 12th century martyrology from the Abbey of Monte Cassino (see also last week's post), contains two lines (above) transcribed and translated by Francis Newton:

Mulcet visum litteras / nodos et colores
Ingerens optutibus excellentiores

It (the book) soothes the eye, setting before the gaze
Letters, knots and colors quite outstanding

The Martyrdom of Eustasius with Regula S. Benedicti, Kalendarium and Homiliae Capitulares is one of 22 items placed newly online, and this book is indeed full of wonderful colored knot patterns:

1. Ott.lat.3385.pt.2, listed in eTK with these two incipits: Cum a primo tanquam ab optimo (14c); Hec sunt verba que
2. Reg.lat.198
3. Reg.lat.1107

   Nice provenance for this Calcidius MS: owner's mark from the library of St-Victor in Paris.
   HT @JBPigginhttps://t.co/Ki0t5fiIuf pic.twitter.com/sfRKF621s5

   — Pieter Beullens (@LatinAristotle) November 4, 2017

4. Reg.lat.1377
5. Reg.lat.1393 Vergil's Aeneid, HT to @LatinAristotle
6. Reg.lat.1402
7. Reg.lat.1420
8. Reg.lat.1423
9. Reg.lat.1437
10. Reg.lat.1440
11. Reg.lat.1458
12. Reg.lat.1470
13. Reg.lat.1473
14. Reg.lat.1488
15. Reg.lat.1499
16. Reg.lat.1612
17. Vat.lat.2129
18. Vat.lat.2130, logic and mathematics. eTK lists: Cum in singulis scientiis secundum by 14th century author English mathematician Richard Suiseth, also known as The Calculator. Here is the librarian's contents list:
    
    
19. Vat.lat.2152

    Guess what lines up in @JBPiggin's newest list @DigitaVaticana:
    Walter Burley's commentary on Aristotle's Politica.https://t.co/uLmROt3qtc pic.twitter.com/eIbnqaX06F

    — Pieter Beullens (@LatinAristotle) November 4, 2017

20. Vat.lat.5949, see above and Lowe p. 68.
21. Vat.lat.11253
22. Vat.lat.13152.pt.1

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 135. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.