folio BS-006 recto

The Byzantic Scriptorium

A single dispatch  ·  folio BS-006
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A Reading Corrected, with Apologies (f. ccxx)

"Now I have written it all; for Christ's sake give me a drink."
Iam scripsi totum, pro Christo da mihi potum.
Abstract

Working through a patristic florilegium, in preparation in the present quarter, Br. Photios encountered at f. ccxx v a marginal note left by an earlier hand. The note is here transcribed and briefly discussed; further investigation is welcomed but not, on present resources, planned.

Context

The present marginalium is unusual chiefly for its self-awareness; the scribe knows that what is written here will be read by another scribe, who is the chief audience for such asides. The reader at home is at best a third party.

Paleographic Note

Ductus is regular but not hurried; pen-pressure increases on the down-strokes of tau crossbar, easing on the sigma terminal. We note a colour-shift suggesting two pots, or one pot in two sittings, which is consistent with an interruption mid-line.

Notes

  1. We thank Br. Symeon for the verification, and the Tuesday lapis for its colour.
  2. We have, on advice, not pursued the matter of the dropped line further.
Composed at the desk between Lauds and Sext; corrected at Vespers; typeset in cinnabar where cinnabar would be tolerated. Calamus laetatur explicit habendo.

Other Hands

Annotations by other scribes, in the order in which they were entered into the margins.

  1. Seal of Brother Methodios
    Br. Methodios ad f. ccxx r, lin. xxv
    The hand is steady here, but the rubric is misaligned by half a line.
  2. Seal of Pangur
    Pangur ad f. ccxx r, lin. viii
    [a small dent in the wax; cf. Pangur's customary entry]
  3. Seal of Brother Eustathios
    Br. Eustathios ad f. ccxx v, lin. xxv
    The marginal note is older than the principal text; the implications are not small.
  4. Seal of Brother Anastasios
    Br. Anastasios ad f. ccxx r, lin. xxv
    A second-pass reading suggests lapis for caeruleum; we disagree, but record it.
  5. Seal of Brother Cyril
    Br. Cyril ad f. ccxx r, lin. xxvi
    Cf. our previous discussion at chapter ii; the brother had the same complaint then.
  6. Seal of Brother Nikephoros
    Br. Nikephoros ad f. ccxx r, lin. xxv
    The corrector is, on this occasion, content. This is rare.
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