Sallust, Works

Title

Sallust, Works

Shelfmark

St John's College MS 84

Place of origin

England

Date

s. xv med. or xv 3/4

Language

Latin

Middle English (1100-1500)

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Vellum (FSOS/FHHF).

Physical extent

Fols. iii + 76(numbered fols. 1–75, iv) + iv (numbered fols. v–viii).

Hands

Written in mixed anglicana/secretary, the duct often showing influence of humanistica. Punctuation by point, punctus elevatus , and double virgula. The same scribe copied our MS 87.

Decoration

Five-line blue lombards on red flourishing at the heads of the texts; 2- and 3-line similar capitals for chapters.

Blanks for rubrics unfilled (many of the scribe’s directions survive in the lower margins).

Binding

A modern replacement. Sewn on five thongs. At the front, a marbled paper leaf and two modern paper ones; at the rear, one medieval vellum flyleaf, two modern paper ones, and another marbled paper leaf (v–viii). The vellum leaf at the rear, as well as the preceding fol. iv, has holes from either a clasp or, given that the mark is single, a chain-staple in Watson’s position 5; fol. v may have been a pastedown earlier.

Provenance

‘Is mihi dicit Explicit Salustius | O god whiche arte my Righttuousnes o lorde here me when I Calle Thou hath set me at liberty W’ (a translation of Ps. 4:2; fol. 75v, after the explicit, s. xv/xvi).

‘Fenrother [mark] le Ricxx s’, ‘Fenrother’ ( fol. v, contemporary with the preceding).