A Ninth-Century Astronomical Treatise

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Modern Philology

Volume XVIII August IQ20 Number 4

A NINTH-CENTURY ASTRONOMICAL TREATISE

In the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy for 1907 (Vol.
XXVI, Section C, pp. 381-445) there was printed for the first time
a Latin computistical treatise compiled by a ninth-century Irish
continental teacher named Dicuil. 1 The sole surviving MS of
Dicuil's treatise is now preserved in the Bibliotheque Municipale of
Valenciennes, where it is classed N. 4. 43 (No. 386 in the Catalogue
of Mangeart, 2 and 404 in that of Molinier). 3 Previously it had
belonged to the monastery of Elno at Saint-Amand, to which it
appears to have been given by Hucbaldus (840-930), who may also
have been its scribe. 4 It was brought to Valenciennes during the
period of the French Revolution. It is a parchment quarto of 118
leaves measuring 21.9 by 14.8 cms., written in long lines with 26
to the page. Titles are in capitals sometimes of violet color. Initials
are in red or lilac. The volume is bound in wood covered with
vellum. The writing is in excellent Caroline minuscules of the
latter part of the ninth century — possibly the work of Hucbaldus, 5

1 For an account of Dicuil and his writings cf. Esposito, Studies, III (1914), pp.
651-76.

a Catalogue dee Manuscrite de la Bibliotheque de Valenciennes, Paris. I860, pp. 375-77.

• Catal. gin. dee MSS dee Bibl. Publ. de France, Dipartements, T. XXV (1894), pp.
365-66.

<This we learn from the twelfth-century catalogue of the Saint-Amand library
published by Delisle, he Cabinet dee MSS de la Bibl. Nationale, T. II (1874), p. 451,
No. 93.

5 For whom see Manitius, Geech. d. lat. Lit. dee Mittelalters, I (1911), p. 590.
177] 1 [Modhbn Philology, August, 1920

2 Mario Esposito

as mentioned above. When at Saint-Amand, the MS was numbered
N. 270. In the inventory printed by Sanderus 1 it is N. 247. The
contents of the volume are:

Ff. la-26b: Isidori Etymologiarum Liber ii?

Ff. 27a-56b: Disputatio de Rethorica et de Virtutibus sapientissimi
Regis Karoli et AlMni Magistri. 3

F. 57a: Sententiae Septem Sapientium. See Mullach, Fragmenta Phi-
losophorum Graecorum, I (1860), p. 235.

Ff. 57a-60a: A series of diagrams illustrating the divisions and sub-
divisions of philosophy, commencing at the bottom of f. 57a.

Ff. 60b-62a: Origenis Prologus in Canticum Canticorum. See Migne,
Patrol. Graeca, XIII, cols. 61 sqq.

Ff. 62b-65a: Dicta Sybillae Magae. Non multi, non vel pauci ....
nullus postea insanam me dicet, sed dei magam. Then follow about 135

verses, Mundus origo mea est, animam de sidere traxi Vita brevis

hominis finita solvitur annis. 4

F. 65b: Twenty-seven hexameters, Iudicii signum tellus sudore madescet
.... Precedet e celo ignisque et sulfuris amnis. For this famous poem see
Haupt, Opuscida, I (1875), p. 289; Sackur, Sibyllinische Texte, p. 187;
Oracula Sibyllina bearb. von J. Geffcken, Leipzig, 1902, pp. 154-55. This
copy has not been collated.

Ff. 66a-118a: Dicuil's Computus, without either title or scribal explicit.

F. 118b: blank.

The scribe has evidently taken great pains in transcribing
Dicuil's Computus, for he has made many corrections in his own
work. As Manitius 5 remarks, he appears to have taken to heart
Dicuil's line (p. 413, 1. 6), Rustica ne scribant has membra caveto
loquelas. Other corrections are due to later hands. Palaeographi-
cally the script presents all the characteristics of late ninth-century
Caroline minuscule. 6 The combination ae is frequently so written,
but we also find e and simply e. In the matter of spelling we find
the usual peculiarities and inconsistencies, e.g., ymnus, rythmus and
rithmus, ciclus, dyptongus, dactilus, pirgis, inicio, nunciabo, renunciabo,

1 Bibliotheca Belgica Manuscripta, Insulis, 1641, Pars I, pp. 54-55.
* This copy is not mentioned in Lindsay's recent edition (Oxford, 1911).
3 For this work see Manitius, op. cit., pp. 282-83, who does not mention this copy.
1 There is a copy of this tract in the Bodleian MS Auct. T. 2. 23, ff., 88b-93a, of
saec. X.

6 Op. cit., p. 650.

' The facsimile given in the Academy's edition (Plate XXII) represents f. 67a (not
67b as stated).

178

A Ninth-Century Astronomical Treatise 3

but nuntiatas, nuntiatio, etc., endecas, scemata, disticon, scola,
audatia, suptilis, linia and linea, zoziaco, distingitur, pasca and
pascha, pascalis and paschalis, decennovennalis and decennovenalis,
compotus, spaciosae, repperitur and reperitur, anastasseos, adfirmatur,
reuma, adsissa.

Dicuil's Computus was long attributed to Alcuin, 1 a mistake
which arose from the note of contents in a twelfth-century hand on
f . la of the MS, Item rethorica Albini ad Karolum et computus eiusdem
ad eundem. The true authorship was first pointed out in 1855 by
Bethmann. 2 A transcript of the tract was made by J. Heller 3 in
1875, from which Dummler 4 printed some of the verses, including
the two Ymni per rythmum facti (I, 9, and II, 7, ed. pp. 397, 405).
The structure of these verses was investigated by Ebert, 5 and by
Wilhelm Meyer. 9 The latter printed the third Ymnus (II, 14, ed.
p. 414), and pointed out that Dicuil is an early example of a writer
who uses hexameters with end-rhymes. Subsequent to the publica-
tion of the Academy's edition in 1907, a summary analysis of the
work was given by Dr. Max Manitius. 7

The Computus is divided into four books (Libelli), and is written
partly in prose and partly in verse. As a scientific exposition its
value is small. The arrangement is chaotic and the chapters follow
one another in the most arbitrary manner imaginable. The treatment
of the subject is anything but clear and the work is in fact a clumsy
complication extracted from previous writers. Dicuil wrote, as we
shall presently see, in France in the years 814-16, at a period when,
thanks to the Carolingian revival of learning, astronomical (or
rather computistical) studies were being cultivated with extraor-
dinary interest at the Frankish court. To the early works of

1 E.g., by Sanderus (Joe. cit.), by the authors of the Histoire UUraire de la France,
VI (1742), pp. ix-x, and by Mangeart (loc. cit.), who printed the five opening hexameters.
Sanderus had given the index of chapters.

2 Archiv der Gesellschaft fur dltere deutsche Geschichtskunde, XI (1855), p. 521.
' Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft, etc., II (1877), p. 305.

*Ibid., IV (1879), pp. 256-58, and Man. Germ. Hist., Poetae, II (1884), p. 668.

5 Allgemeine Gesch. der Lit. des Mittelalters, II (1880), pp. 392-93.

6 Sitzungsberichte der Philos.-Philol. Classe der Milnchener Akademie, I (1882), pp.
68 n., 91, 94, 97, and Gesammelte Abhl. zur mittellateinischen Rythmik, I (1905), pp. 193,
194, 195, 216, 220, 222.

' Gesch. d. lat. Lit., etc., I (1911), pp. 649-51; see a note by Helhnann, JVeu««
Archiv, XXXVI (1911), p. 623.

179

4 Mario Esposito

Victorius of Aquitaine (Cursus Paschalis, ed. Mommsen, Chronica
Minora, I [1892], pp. 669 sqq.), of Dionysius Exiguus 1 (ap. Migne,
Patrologia Latina, LXVII, cols. 19-28 and 483-520), of Isidore of
Seville (Etymologiarum vi. 17), to the series of tracts edited by
Bruno Krusch (Studien zur christlich-mittelalterlichen Chronologie,
Leipzig, 1880), and to the later works of Beda (De Ratione Computi;
De Temporum Ratione; De Temporibus; ap. Migne, Patrol. Lot.,
XC), and the so-called "Munich Computus" 2 of 718, were now added
the great astronomico-computistical compilation of the latter part
of the eighth century 3 and the tracts derived from it, such as the
De Cursu et Saltu Lunae ac Bissexto of Alcuin 4 (Migne, Patrol. Lai.,
CI, 981-1002), the anonymous Liber de Computo drawn up in 810,
published by Muratori, 5 and reprinted by Migne (PL, CXXIX,
1275-1372), and the extensive compilations of about 809 and 811-12,
of which numerous MSS are in existence. 6 It was from these works
that writers such as Dungal (811) 7 and Dicuil (814-16), employed at
the Carolingian court, were able to derive their tracts. It is note-
worthy that the discussion in verse at the commencement of Book
II of Dicuil's work (ed. pp. 398-400), on the distances between
heaven and earth and between the seven planets according to the
estimate of Pythagoras and the ancient pagan sages is taken directly
from the Historia Naturalis of Pliny (ii, 21, 83; 22, 84; 23, 85, ed.
Sillig, 1851), a book from which Dicuil made very large extracts in
his later tract De Mensura Orbis Terrae? The vague references to

1 Dicuil mentions this writer by name (ed. p. 424, 1. 12), though he has probably
taken the reference from later compilations.

•See on this still unprinted work MacCarthy, Annala of Ulster, IV (1901), pp.
lxvii-lxsdv.

» A thorough investigation ol this work is much to be desired; cf. K. Ruck, AuazUge
aus der Naturgeschichte dea Plinius in einem astronomiach-komputistischen Sammelwerke
dea achten Jahrhunderts, Mflnchen. 1888; Manitius, Gesch., I, pp. 286, 373, 447.

< Ibid.. I, pp. 285-87.

s Anecdola ex Ambros. Bibl. Codicibus, III, Patavii, 1713, pp. 114-203; cf. Gabriel
Meier, Die aieben freien KUnate im Mittelalter, II (1887), pp. 6—7 (Programm den Stiftes
Einsiedeln, Studienjahr 1886-87).

» E.g., lour at Paris (cf . Delisle, Cat. des MSS dea fonds Libri et Barroia, 1888, pp.
63-68, 72-76, 76-78, 81-84), one at Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, L. 95, of tenth century,
and Monte Cassino 3 (cf. Bibl. Caainensia, I (1873), pp. 84 sqq., and ibid., Florilegium,
pp. 57-96); Manitius, op. cit., pp. 286, 373, 447. Further investigation of these MSS
is much to be desired.

' Manitius, op. cit., pp. 373-74.

» See on this point Esposito, Studiea, III (1914), p. 665.

180

A Ninth-Century Astronomical Treatise 5

"Pagani" or "Philosophi" (ed. pp. 415, 441, 444) are taken from
Isidore of Seville (Etymol. iii. 31-70; V, 30, 5-8, etc.). 1

As a teacher of grammar Dicuil took a great interest in metrical
subjects, and one of the special attractions by which he sought to
please King Louis the Pious, to whom he dedicated his work, was
the introduction of two chapters (i. 8, and ii. 13, pp. 392 and 408)
entitled De ludifieis versibus, in the first of which four hexameters
are so constructed that the four verse-endings being retained they
may be transformed into 72 hexameters which yield a quasi-meaning,
and in the second the permutation is carried to produce 166 verses.
Dicuil's model here is the poet Optatianus Porphyrius (c. 350 a.d.), 2
whose ingenious constructions were very popular and often imitated
in the Caroline and pre-Caroline epochs. 3 This poet's Carmen 25 4
(recens. L. Muller, Lipsiae, 1877, pp. 26-28) is closely followed by
Dicuil both for the construction of the four verses and for the method
of permuting them. 5

Reference has already been made to the three Ymni per rythmum
facti. Other evidences of grammatical interest are the mention of
Donatus (ed. p. 395, 1. 36), and the lines at the end of the work
(p. 445, 11. 11-27), the last of which is a quotation from Vergil
(Aeneid i. 374). At p. 444, 11. 13-20, he points out the difficulty
of being always clear in the treatment of technical subjects in
verse, and states that he had for that reason dealt with some
questions both metrically and in prose.

A few references to the Bible 6 may be noted.

The following information concerning Dicuil's personal history
may be obtained from the Computus:

i There is as yet no comprehensive treatment of the history of astronomy in the
early Middle Ages; cf. Sickel, Wiener Sitzungsberichte, Ph.-Hist. Classe, XXXVIII
(1862), pp. 153-201; Meier, Sieben freien KUnste, II (1887), pp. 3-15, 22-36; Cantor,
Vorlesungen ilber Gesch. der Mathematik, I, 2» Aufl. (1894), pp. 495, 532, 780 sqq.; Mac-
Carthy, Annals of Ulster, IV, pp. xiv-clxxxii.

2Cf. Teuffel, Gesch. d. rem. Lit., 6» Aufl., Ill (1913), pp. 216-17.

'Manitius, Gesch., I, p. 754. Beda De arte metrica, cap. xxiv (PL, XC, 173), speaks
of the insigne volwmen Porphyrii Poetae.

« In the older editions (PL, XIX, 431) it is numbered 26.

6 On p. 394, 1. 5, remove stop after solis; p. 411, 1. 5, correct verbis to ciclos; p.
411,1.41, is clearly wrong; p. 412, 1.3, correct verbis to ciclos; p. 413, 1. 4, correct ciclos
to verbis.

•E.g., p. 389, 1. 33, cf. Ill Reg. 17:11; p. 390, 11. 20-21, cf. Luc. 21:2-3; p. 432,
1. 32, cf. Luc. 23:54-56; p. 432, 1. 40, cf. Luc. 1 :26.

181

6 Mario Esposito

Dicuil was the author (ed. pp. 390, 1. 13, 395, 1. 21) ; he was an
Irishman (p. 388, 1. 23); he was living in France, possibly in the
capacity of a teacher of grammar at the court school (p. 444,
1. 23), and compiled his treatise as a series of yearly gifts to
Charlemagne's successor, Louis the Pious (pp. 382, 1. 28, 389, 1. 32,
390, 1. 12, 395, 1. 20, 396, 1. 39, 404, 1. 30, 408, 1. 28, 413, 1. 5, 414, 1. 22,
439, 1. 17); the first book was commenced in April 814 (p. 383, 1. 7),
and the fourth chapter was written on the 18th day of that month
(p. 386, 1. 20) ; Dicuil intended to present this book to Louis on the
occasion of the Frankish festival on May 14 when the nobles
would be making their annual presents 1 to the king (ed. p. 390,
1. 17), but Louis does not appear to have been pleased with the Irish-
man's labors, for the latter complains (p. 395, 1. 39) that though he
was present while Dicuil was reciting his verses he would not listen
nor offer any reward; the second book was composed in 815 (ed.
pp. 402, 1. 9, 414, 1. 25), and Dicuil states that should anything in
it appear obscure to the king he will explain it when they meet
(p. 414, 1. 21) ; the date of the third book is not given, but the fourth
was completed in 816 (p. 444, 1. 39), when, as he tells us (p. 440,
1. 37), he was living far away from the sea. At p. 444, 1. 12, he notes
the unsatisfactory nature of his source (Isidore of Seville) and states
that if anybody else would furnish a better account of the subject
under discussion he would willingly adopt it.

Dicuil's Computus appears to have remained totally unknown
down to modern times. Later ninth-century writers on the same
subject, e.g., Hrabanus Maurus of Fulda whose De Computo 2 was
written in 820, and Helpericus of Auxerre, whose work with the
same title* dates from about 850, had no knowledge of Dicuil.
Indeed the fact that we possess only one MS of his work shows
that it was a complete failure and was but rarely copied.

The printed text of the Computus shows many signs of ignorance,
misreading of the MS, and inexperience on the part of the editor.

i On this custom cf. Waltz, Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte, IV, 2« Aufl. (1885), pp.
107-11, and Hibernici Exulis Carmen ii, v. 8 ap. Dummler, Poetae, I (1881), p. 396.

2 Ed. Baluze, Miscellanea, cura Mansl, II, Lucae, 1761, pp. 62-84; Migne, PL, CVII,
669-728.

! Migne, PL, CXXXVII, 17-48. Both Hrabanus and Helpericus are superior to
Dicuil in clearness of exposition and orderly arrangement. Their tracts were widely
read.

182

A Ninth-Century Astronomical Treatise 7

These deficiencies may perhaps be condoned when it is remembered
that at the date of publication (August, 1907) the editor was nineteen
years of age. In the following pages I give a collation of the printed
text with the original MS, and also suggest some emendations which
appear to me to be necessary:

P. 381, 11. 8-9, Dicuili .... Astronomia, this title is not in the
MS; 1. 17, decennovennalibus MS; p. 382, 1. 12, decennovennali MS;
1. 17, for saltu the MS corrects bissexto in the margin; 11. 26-27,
Libellus .... I, title not in MS; 1. 29, Per ludum MS; 1. 32,
numquam MS; p. 383, 1. 3, fiant MS; 1. 4, primae qu£ MS; 1. 8,
que MS; 1. 20, quotcumque MS; p. 384, 1. 20, sublati MS; 1. 23,
manifeste MS; p. 385, 1. 7, uel cum MS; 1. 13, for at MS has ac; 1. 17,
numquam MS; 1. 36 for diurnum MS has diuinum; 1. 37, read
mensium, and for last word aut MS has uel; p. 386, 1. 1, concluditur
et quoniam MS; 1. 4, for summa MS has sancta; 1. 15, for iniamus
MS has uiuamus; 1. 23, superfuerant MS; 1. 27, praenuntiatas MS;
1. 35, read subtractos; 1. 36, superfuerint and superesse MS; 1. 37,
superfuerit MS; 1. 38, for tali MS has uel alio; 1. 39, peruenire MS;
p. 387, 1. 19, supersunt MS; 1. 24, superesse MS; 1. 37, remove
commas after Martii and Septembri; 1. 39, remove commas after
Martii and Novembri; p. 388, 1. 28, falletue MS; 1. 38, sepe MS; 1
p. 389, 1. 3, for et MS has uel; 1. 7, super MS; 1. 24, multitudinem
MS; 1. 40, post consumptum primum MS; p. 390, 1. 8, per dictos
MS; 1. 9, remove stop after videtur; 1. 14, remove stop after annos;
1. 15, peregi MS; 1. 19, for iulea MS has uilia; p. 391, 1. 13, in col.
10 MS has XXVI; 2 1. 19, col. 4, MS has XV and in col. 11 it has ii;
1. 25, col. 1, remove Emb.; p. 392, 1. 13, col. 11 above xxx insert
Emb., and in col. 12 MS has xxviii; 1. 22, col. 12, MS reads viiii;
p. 393, 1. 4, remove stop after bina; 1. 29, for L read uel; p. 395, 1. 10,
this line should read as in MS Lucida per longos miscentes famina
ciclos; 1. 30, quocumque MS; p. 396, 1. 1, remove stop after canto;
1. 9, for spondet is MS reads spondeis; 1. 13, prorsus MS; 1. 19,
for summus read summis; 1. 24, for Tu read In; 1. 28, for qui MS has
quoniam; 1. 39, for ne of MS we should emend nee; 1. 40, Franci
MS; 1. 41, read Augusto; p. 397, 1. 22, read Metaplasmos; 1. 27,

1 In lines 1 5 and 1 9 read uniuscuiusque.

2 On p. 391, 1. 2, read tyrannica.

183

8 Mario Esposito

for Nam read with MS Non; 1. 28, for vera read with MS iura;
p. 398, 11. 1-2, Libellus .... I, no title in MS; 1. 10, Leuuarum
MS; 1. 17, leuuarum MS; 1. 19, leuuae MS; 1. 20, leuuas MS;
1. 21, consumunt MS; 1. 23, we should perhaps emend to per milia;
1. 27, leuuis MS; 1. 35, suptili MS; p. 399, 1. 1, read praememoratis;
1. 8, numerant MS; 1. 11, read si milia, 1 1. 12, leuuas MS; 1. 13,
leuuae MS; 1. 32, leuuae MS; 1. 38, at the end of this line in the right-
hand margin of the MS (f. 79b) is a "signe de renvoi" indicating that
two verses written in the lower margin of the MS are to be inserted:

Cum solem adfirment alii lunamque habitare
In firmamento summo inter sidera fixa.

P. 400, 1. 1, this line is defective; 11. 3, 4, these lines to be inserted after
p. 399, 1. 38, as indicated; 1. 5, not in MS; 1. 11, multiplica MS;
1. 15, after ilium a word is effaced; 1. 24, dierumque MS; 1. 26, for
esse MS reads est; 1. 27, constat MS; 1. 29, for quern MS reads
quoniam; 1. 32, for regalis er it MS reads regular iter; 1. 37, for dominus
MS reads deus; p. 401, 1. 27, quolibet MS; 1. 32, read priori;
p. 402, 1. 3, spectaveris MS; 1. 19, unoquoque MS; 1. 36, finiatur
MS; p. 403, 1. 8, for Ibic read with MS Hie; 1. 19, after subtrahere
add memento; 1. 37, tantundem MS; p. 404, 1. 2, antecedente MS;
1. 14, tamen MS; 1. 17, embolismi MS; 1. 28, after secundo insert in
alio; 2 p. 405, 1. 1, for cicli read with MS diei; 1. 8, for fallerit read
with MS fefellerit; 1. 14, for videris read volueris; 1. 20, for sic read
with MS sicut; 1. 32, rithmus MS; p. 406, 1. 13, for primumque
tenet we should perhaps emend primum retinet; 1. 27, mundus MS;
p. 407, 1. 5, saltus MS; 1. 10, orti MS; 1. 16, nouies MS; p. 408,
1. 5, perhaps we should read semper per pasca; 1. 11, Illos cum MS;
1. 18, octos is clearly wrong; 1. 19, for est et the MS has esset; 1. 21,
quis MS; 1. 28, insert comma after rector, and remove comma after
multorum; 1. 29, for Si MS reads Sis; 1. 38, for binae read bina;
p. 409, 11. 3-5, these three verses are written in the lower margin of the
MS with a "signe de renvoi" for their insertion after p. 409, 1. 2;
p. 410, 1. 5, tardantis MS; p. 410, 1. 8, tardantis MS; p. 413, 1. 6,
read Rustica ne; 1. 24, for parabis read with MS porro bis; s 1. 28,

1 On p. 399, 1. 10, read semlta.
8 In this line numque seems wrong.

' On p. 413, 1. 26, for Si per emend Semper, and on p. 416, 1. 17, read continenter.

184

A Ninth-Century Astronomical Treatise 9

after this verse insert the line Postremos scripti qui non sunt sed
numerati; 1. 30, remove stop after valerent; p. 414, 1. 2, for et MS
reads uel; 1. 12, nimpe MS; 1. 23, Sis MS; 1. 26, promisum MS;
1. 35, pirgis MS; 1. 38, after volo place a full stop; p. 415, 11. 1-2,
title not in MS; 1. 3, nimpe MS; 1. 7, read errantum; 1. 32, heading
not in MS; 1. 33, for haud read quem, and note that 11. 38 and 84 are
to be written as two hexameters; p. 416, 1. 9, read inaequalem; 1. 19,
under die in the MS are three dots meaning that the word is to be
omitted; 1. 19, read in sequenti; 1. 32, omit comma after custodientes;
p. 417, 1. 1, title not in MS; 1. 11, for diem duorum the MS has uel
duos; 1. 12, transilias MS; 1. 17, unoquoque MS; 1. 29, for Quin MS
reads Quoniam; 1. 37, for ast read ac; p. 418, 1. 2, reperietur MS; 1. 3,
iii is not in MS; 1. 5, primo MS; 1. 8, insert comma after sumet; 1. 11,
scribendum MS; 1. 23, for Plene his ex bis read Plene ex his ; p. 419, 1. 5,
col. 9, for ast read et; 1. 13, col. 2, MS reads Id. and so down the column;
1. 20, col. 10, insert i; 1. 24, col. 10, insert i; 1. 28, col. 10, insert i; p. 420,
1. 2, read unoquoque; 1. 20, tantundem MS; 1. 22, bissextum MS;
1. 26, occurrere MS; 1. 37, iii MS; 1. 38, for numeri MS reads nostri;
1. 39, for certa read certe; 1. 39, for Quin read Quoniam; 1. 41, cicli
MS; 1. 41, comma after decennovenali; p. 421, 1. 1, comma after
undecimo; 1. 2, comma after duodecimo; 1. 11, viii MS; 1. 20, exordio
MS; 1. 34, for et MS has uel, and for Quin it has Quoniam; 1. 36,
for diem MS has diei; p. 422, 1. 18, for et MS has uel; 1 1. 22, posse-
derit MS; 1. 33, Quoniam MS; p. 423, 1. 11, inuicem MS; 1. 15,
for quae MS has duae; 1. 16, for quae MS has duae; 1. 17, for at
read ac; 1. 22, after endecadis the MS inserts anni; p. 424, 1. 9,
for aut MS reads uel; 1. 12, for doni suis exiguis the MS reads Dio-
nisius Exiguus; 1. 15, for ast read ac; 1. 19, eaedem MS; 1. 21,
nimpe MS; 1. 22, manserint MS; 1. 23, for ast read ac; 1. 27, for
ast read ac; p. 425, 1. 12, read consummatis; 1. 22, after die MS
inserts sancto; p. 426, 1. 2, transilias MS; 1. 4, read consummatis;
1. 5, inter M S; 1. 18, for ast read at; 1. 25, read transilias; 1. 41, pas-
cales MS; p. 427, 1. 12, remove stop after manifestat; 1. 24, in the
column of figures under iii insert i; 1. 28, remove comma after ratione;
p. 428, 1. 7, decennovennali MS; 1. 33, read additis; p. 429, 1. 32,
viiii MS; 1. 33, read uniuscuiusque; p. 431, 1. 31, heading not in

1 On p. 422, 1. 11, read anastasseos.

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10 Mario Esposito

MS; 1. 34, read hoc est; p. 432, 1. 5, tantundem MS; 1. 6, after
incarnationis MS adds Domini; 1 1. 16, Moysaicum MS; 1. 18, read
imperium; 1. 19, uigesimi MS; 1. 21, terrain MS; 1. 30, place a full
stop after incipiebant; 1. 30, Propterea MS; 1. 31, after sabbati the
MS inserts que ante dominicam resurrectionem diei sabbati; 1. 38,
for dominus MS reads deus; p. 433, 11. 1-2, heading not in MS; 1. 8,
for de sidere MS reads desidero; 1. 15, tacent MS; 1. 17, read in-
cipimus; 1. 30, Sin MS; p. 434, 1. 2, read lxxiiae and remove ac;
1. 6, remove stop after bissexti; 1. 6, illas MS; 1. 11, incrementum
MS; 1. 14, remove comma after habeantur; 1. 15, read unusquisque;
1. 23, read unumquodque; 1. 32, integro MS; p. 435, 1. 9, remove
et; 1. 10, for quam read que; 2 1. 15, read DCCCCLX; 1. 23, read
sexagesima; 1. 24, for die read dies; 1. 25, DCCCC orum LX MS;
1. 27, for et read uel; 1. 32, read adsissa; 1. 33, not in MS; 1. 36,
for quin MS has quoniam; p. 436, 1. 11, for luminis read lunis; 1. 12,
illas MS; 1. 13, remove comma after pluraliter and insert Et before
ab; 1. 15, for xxx read vi; p. 437, 1. 1, heading not in MS;
1. 7, for Quod read Quot; 1. 12, read deesse; 1. 15, remove comma
after centum; 1. 30, heading not in MS; 1. 36, for quae read qui;
1. 37, read expulimus; p. 438, 1. 8, read CC tis; 1. 10, for L read C;
1. 12, Tantundem MS; 1. 22, for lunaris read with MS lunas; 1. 24,
read plus quam; 1. 25, read uniuscuiusque; 1. 30, for et MS has
uel; 1. 31, place comma after fiant; p. 439, 1. 1, remove comma after
dies; 1. 18, after sol MS inserts in; 1. 27, heading not in MS; 1. 35,
for lunare read luna; p. 440, 1. 2, for xvii read with MS xxii; 1. 3,
remove comma after diebus; 1. 5, remove comma after diebus; 1. 19,
under second dixi there are four dots in the MS indicating that it is to
be omitted; 1. 21, xxviiii MS; 1. 22, under second numeri six dots
for omission; 1. 28, read tardam; 1. 30, rursum MS; p. 441, 1. 1,
heading omitted in MS; 1. 10 for ast read et; 1. 11, for et read ac;
1. 12, lxxiii MS; 1. 34, for at read ac; 1. 36, read cessante; 1. 37,
after transmigrent place a comma; p. 442, 1. 3, incessabile MS; 1. 4,
heading not in MS; 1. 9, omit te; 1. 23, read bisse with MS; 1. 23,
place comma after horae; 1. 24, comma after transcurrat; 1. 26,
comma after peragrat; 1. 30, read bisse; 1. 34, zoziaco MS; 1. 39,

1 On p. 432, 1. 9, read calculationis.
* On p. 435, 1. 13, read uniuscuiusque.

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A Ninth-Century Astronomical Treatise 11

xliiii MS; p. 443, 1. 8, xiii MS; 1. 16, comma after ostento; 1. 16,
for At and ast read ac; 1. 23, zoziacum MS; 1. 25, read xxvii; 1. 26,
read CXL; p. 444, 1. 1, under dum in MS are three dots for omission;
1. 26, Perfecte MS; 1. 27, this line requires emendation; 1. 39, remove
comma after octo; p. 445, 1. 7, for semper read with MS both times
sepe; 1. 12, for Non perhaps Nam; 1. 21, for paria read pariter;
1. 25, this line should perhaps be thus emended: Promissis multis iam
sero pauca relatu. 1

We may conclude with some remarks on the Latinity of the
Computus:

For Aprilis Dicuil (or the scribe) writes everywhere Aprelis, a
form which is not registered in any of the standard lexicons (The-
saurus Linguae Latinae, Lipsiae, 1900-1915; Georges, Ausf. Lat.-
Deutsches Handworterbuch, 8 e Aufl., 4 vols., Leipzig, 1912-19); the
form bisse (p. 442) for besse is given in the Thesaurus (s.v. bes),
and leuua (pp. 398, 399) for leuga, leuca, occurs in Beda and else-
where (cf. Du Cange, ed. Henschel, s.v. leuca). Referring to the
tides Dicuil (p. 435) uses the terms reuma, adsissa, and recessa.
For reuma see Du Cange (s.v. rheuma) and Columbani Ep. v, ed.
Gundlach, Epistolae, III (1892), p. 174; Vita Condedi ii, ed. Levison,
Script. Rer. Merov., V (1910), p. 651; Vita Vulframni viii, ibid.,
p. 667; Beda De Temporum Ratione xxix, PL, XC, 423. For
adsissa (assisa) see Isidore De ordine creaturarum ix. 5, 7, PL,
LXXXIII, 936, 937; the word occurs as a gloss on dodrans in a
Latin poem published by Thurneysen (Revue Celtique, XI (1890),
p. 89). Recessa is employed by Isidore, op. cit., ix. 7, assisa
sit recessa.

The following words are not given by Georges: ludificus (pp.
381, 382, 397, 414); ordinaliter (383, 418, 426); oda (393, 396);
praememorare (408, 417, 427); endecas (416, 423); iterate (417,
423); solanus (417, 427, 428, 431); decennovalis (420, 421); incar-
natio (422, 432); inconfuse (423); titulate (431); ostentum (434,
435, 439); quadrantilis (435, 439).

The following are examples of late and technical words: alter-
natim, anastassis, anchora (canonica), binarius, bissextilis, bissextus,
calculatio, ciclus, circumlustrare, codiculus, compotus, congregatim,

1 On p. 390, 1. 23, for crescesque read gregesque; p. 441, 1. 21, chias seems wrong.

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12 Mario Esposito

congrue, connumerare, continuatim, contrarietas, conversim, creatio,
decennovennalis, diphthongus, elongare, embolismus, epacta, evan-
gelicus, famen, fulgescere, horoscopus, immobiliter, immutabiliter,
incessabilis, indictio, insensatus, metaplasmus, momentum, ogdoas,
parasceue, pascha, paschalis, pirgus, punctus, quadragesima, quad-
rivium, recapitulatio, regulare, rotalis, rotella, rotula, saltus
(lunaris), septempliciter, sparsim, specialiter, spiritalis, subsequenter,
subulcus, tonus, transcensus, trigeni, unarius, veraciter, versificus.

Mario Esposito
Dublin, Ireland

188