Guido de Columnis, Historia destructionis Troiae. Edited by NE GRIFFIN. Medieval Academy

310 Pages·2010·18.13 MB·English

THE MEDIAEVAL ACADEMY OF AMERICA
PUBLICATION No. 26
GUIDO DE COLUMNIS
HISTORIA DESTRUCTIONIS TROIAE

GUIDO DE COLUMNIS
HISTORIA
DESTRUCTIONIS TROIAE
Edited by
NATHANIEL EDWARD GRIFFIN
THE MEDIAEVAL ACADEMY OF AMERICA
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
1936
The publication of this book was made possible by grants
of funds to the Academy from the Carnegie Corporation of
New York and the American Council of Learned Societies
COPYRIGHT
BY
THE MEDIAEVAL ACADEMY OF AMERICA
1936
Printed in U. S. A.
IOANNI- WHEELER- GRIFFIN
FRATRI- IVRIS- PERITISSIMO
LITTERAS- COLENTI- ARTESQVE- HVMANIORES
D-D D

PREFACE
THIS edition of the text of Guido has been made possible by the scholarly
zeal and personal kindness of Professor Carleton Brown of New York
University, at whose instance the Modern Language Association of
America petitioned the Carnegie Institution of Washington for a sub-
vention to defray the expenses of a complete edition of the Historia
Destructions Troiae. The petition was referred by the Carnegie Insti-
tution of Washington to the American Council of Learned Societies,
which, after careful study of the project, secured a subvention for the
preparation of the text from the Carnegie Corporation of New York City.
The text is published by the Mediaeval Academy of America with certain
assistance from the American Council of Learned Societies. To these
five organizations, and especially to Dr Waldo G. Leland, Permanent
Secretary of the American Council of Learned Societies, who has taken
a quite personal interest in the edition, and to Mr G. W. Cottrell, Jr.,
Executive Secretary of the Mediaeval Academy, for skilful assistance in
preparing copy for the printer, I here express my deep gratitude.
The text which is now offered furnishes, of course, but the initial con-
stituent of a complete edition of Guido. For over thirty years I have
been collecting material for a descriptive catalogue and critical evalua-
tion of the manuscripts and printed editions of the Historia, a study of
its sources and influence, and of the life of its author. It is for the proper
execution of these undertakings that I have begun with the editing of the
text.
From the commencement of my textual labors in 1929 I have profited
constantly by the invaluable counsel of Professor J. S. P. Tatlock of the
University of California, who, at the request of the American Council of
Learned Societies and later of the Mediaeval Academy of America, kindly
consented to act as adviser to the enterprise. Without the many valuable
suggestions of Professor Tatlock, whose skill in all matters pertaining
to text construction has ever been at my disposal, this edition would
never have attained its present form. Many times after experimenta-
tions of my own I have found myself returning to his recommendations.
Especially am I grateful to him for warnings against the alluring temp-
tation of relying upon the "doctored" readings of the printed edition of
Strassburg, i486, and too little upon the "duriores lectiones" of the manu-
scripts, for his ingenuity in suggesting explanations for many of the more
difficult entries in the Glossary of Uncommon Words, for his prompt and
vii
viii Historia Destructionis Troiae
patient replies to letters of inquiry, and for reading through the entire
text — parts of it more than once — while in process of construction and
once again in galley with scrupulous care. For the readings adopted in
the text he is not, of course, responsible; while many of them were sug-
gested by him, the ultimate decision has always been mine. I have
also profited greatly by the acute observations of Professor Charles L.
Sherman of Amherst College.
Scholars at Harvard University have been most generous in responding
to calls upon their time. Among these Professor E. K. Rand has never
failed to point me unhesitatingly to the solution of difficulties of the most
varied sort, and more than once has offered helpful comments upon ob-
scure passages in the text. To Professor C. H. Haskins' palaeographical
knowledge I am indebted for suggestions regarding the provenience of
my five principal manuscripts. By Professor Joshua Whatmough I have
been instructed in more than one matter of phonology. Mr George
Washington Robinson has offered stimulating suggestions regarding tex-
tual procedure, and Dr Alexander Pogo, Associate Editor of I sis, has in-
terpreted the astronomical passage on p. 16. To Professor William C.
Greene I am indebted for advice regarding classical Latinity and to Pro-
fessor William Thomson for assistance in the definition of the Arabic
Saphy in the Index of Proper Names. For the collation of occasional
passages of exceptional difficulty in three otherwise unused manuscripts in
the British Museum and for two readings from a copy of the Cologne Edi-
tion there I am under deep obligation to the expert and generous services
of Mr Henry Bergen, the learned editor of Lydgate's Troy Book and Falls
of Princes. I am also very grateful to the Rotograph Committee of the
Modern Language Association, especially to its efficient chairmen Pro-
fessor R. K. Root and Professor W. L. Bullock, for obtaining for me
rotographs of five Guido manuscripts — including one in French, which
I have not used — and to the officials of the Library of Congress, espe-
cially to Dr J. F. Jameson, and of the Harvard College Library, especially
to Mr W. B. Briggs, for the loan of these rotographs from Washington so
that I might use them in Cambridge.
I hope that I may not have proved entirely unworthy of the substan-
tial assistance I have received from these already mentioned and from
others too numerous to mention; "nihil est infelicius ea qui multis peritis
usus se imperitum praestat."
NATHANIEL EDWARD GRIFFIN
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
17 MAY 1935
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION xi
HISTORIA DESTRUCTIONS TROIAE
Prologus 3
Liber I 5
Liber II 11
Liber III 22
Liber IIII 33
Liber V 43
Liber VI 56
Liber VII 67
Liber VIII 80
Liber VIIII 87
Liber X 9°
Liber XI 99
Liber XII 103
Liber XIII no
Liber XIIII 118
Liber XV 127
Liber XVI H7
Liber XVII 151
Liber XVIII 155
Liber XVIIII 159
Liber XX 166
Liber XXI 170
Liber XXII
Liber XXIII
Liber XXIIII 186
Liber XXV 189
Liber XXVI 197
Liber XXVII 206
Liber XXVIII 211
Liber XXVIIII 2*7
Liber XXX 228
Liber XXXI 237
Liber XXXII 245
ix
x Historia Destructionis Troiae
Liber XXXIII 253
Liber XXXIIII 262
Liber Ultimus 269
GLOSSARY OF UNCOMMON WORDS 277
INDEX OF PROPER NAMES 281