Cicero's Witness

I've blogged a couple of times before (here and here) about the world's most famous unreturned library book, the unique copy of Cicero's guide to oratory in the bishop's palace at Lodi. It has not been seen since 1425, but fortunately multiple copies were made before it vanished.

This week, the Vatican's digitization portal placed online Vat.lat.3237, a valuable secondary witness to the content of the so-called Codex Laudensis.

There's a detailed article by Paola Scarcia Piacentini, La tradizione laudense di Cicerone ed un inesplorato manoscritto della Biblioteca Vaticana (Vat. Lat. 3237), about it. De Oratore, as I have mentioned, is especially important as a source for Cicero's theories of memory and visualization, and thus a landmark in the history of cognitive science.

In the past week, the portal released 54 new digitizations:

1. Borg.ebr.21,
2. Urb.lat.286,
3. Vat.gr.1155, DigiVatLib announced this Gospels on Twitter simultaneous with release:

   Love these #illuminations of the Four Evangelists, everyone at his own desk. ❤️#WednesdayMotivation with Vat. gr. 1155 among the #LatestDigitizedManuscripts. Lectionary (13th Cent.) - https://t.co/h6WChW1Q4m pic.twitter.com/jxqh09wu1M

   — Digita Vaticana (@DigitaVaticana) May 23, 2018

4. Vat.lat.2237,
5. Vat.lat.2241,
6. Vat.lat.2275,
7. Vat.lat.2279,
8. Vat.lat.2766,
9. Vat.lat.2846,
10. Vat.lat.3140 (Upgraded to HQ),
11. Vat.lat.3142,
12. Vat.lat.3144 (Upgraded to HQ),
13. Vat.lat.3145,
14. Vat.lat.3148,
15. Vat.lat.3149,
16. Vat.lat.3150 (Upgraded to HQ),
17. Vat.lat.3153,
18. Vat.lat.3159,
19. Vat.lat.3171,
20. Vat.lat.3176 (Upgraded to HQ),
21. Vat.lat.3186 (Upgraded to HQ),
22. Vat.lat.3188 (Upgraded to HQ),
23. Vat.lat.3189,
24. Vat.lat.3191,
25. Vat.lat.3194 (Upgraded to HQ),
26. Vat.lat.3215 (Upgraded to HQ),
27. Vat.lat.3220,
28. Vat.lat.3228 (Upgraded to HQ),
29. Vat.lat.3231,
30. Vat.lat.3232,
31. Vat.lat.3234,
32. Vat.lat.3237, Cicero, De Oratore, useful in recovering the Codex Laudensis (above)
33. Vat.lat.3238 (Upgraded to HQ),
34. Vat.lat.3241,
35. Vat.lat.3242,
36. Vat.lat.3244,
37. Vat.lat.3253 (Upgraded to HQ), 11th-century Virgil, Georgics and Aeneid, one of Lowe's examples of Beneventan script.
38. Vat.lat.3254,
39. Vat.lat.3257,
40. Vat.lat.3258,
41. Vat.lat.3260,
42. Vat.lat.3262 (Upgraded to HQ), 11th-century Ovid, Fasti. One of Lowe's examples of Beneventan script.
43. Vat.lat.3264, yet another of the five Fabio Mazzatosta codices, this time the Fasti of Ovid
44. Vat.lat.3271,
45. Vat.lat.3274 (Upgraded to HQ),
46. Vat.lat.3275,
47. Vat.lat.3276,
48. Vat.lat.3278 (Upgraded to HQ),
49. Vat.lat.3288,
50. Vat.lat.3296,
51. Vat.lat.3308,
52. Vat.lat.3310,
53. Vat.lat.3341 (Upgraded to HQ),
54. Vat.lat.13985, Officium Beatae Virginis secundum consuetudinem Sanctimonialium Monasterii Sanctae Mariae de Virginibus de Venetiis, 14th-15th century
    

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 162. Thanks to @gundormr for harvesting. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.