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W.393, Rufus Festus, Breviarium Rerum Gestarum Populi Romani; Pseudo-Aurelius Victor (?), De Viris Illustribus; Ludovico Foscarini, Gesta Victoris et Coronae

Abstract

Written in the fifteenth century, perhaps ca. 1450-1460 in Venice, this manuscript contains works by Rufus Festus, Pseudo-Aurelius Victor, and Ludovico Foscarini. The first text, Breviarium Rerum Gestarum Populi Romani, is a purposefully brief history of the Roman Empire. The first half describes Rome's acquisition of its provinces in chronological order, while the second half is an account of Rome's wars with Persia. It was written in 370 CE for the Emperor Valens (r. 364 to 378 CE), who ruled the Eastern Roman Empire while his brother Valentinian I (r. 364 to 375 CE) ruled the West. In the rubric and incipit of the Walters' manuscript, Festus is erroneously named Ruffus Sextus, which stems from an early corruption of "Festus" to "Sextus." In addition, Valens is named Valentinian, confusing one brother for another. The second text, De Viris Illustribus, also concerns the history of the Roman Empire and dates to the fourth century CE. It gives short, concise biographies of important men from Rome's long history. It is one of many such texts that fall within the genre of Roman exemplary literature, the most famous of which is Suetonius' early second century CE work "De Vita Caesarum" or “The Lives of the Caesars.” In the manuscript tradition, the author of De Viris Illustribus has been given as both Pliny Secundus Veronesis, otherwise known as Pliny the Younger, who was writing in the late first century CE, or as Aurelius Victor, a fourth century CE historian. The Walters text adopts the former, naming the author as "Pliny Veronesis." Most scholars have dismissed both Pliny and Aurelius Victor as potential authors, and instead prefer to say he was a late antique scholarly commentator working in the fourth-early fifth century CE. The third text is an account of the lives of Victor and Corona, two Christian martyrs that were killed during the Roman Empire. According to its 1439 dedicatory letter, the text was written by Venetian humanist Ludovico Foscarini (1409-1480) and dedicated to Jacopo Foscaro (ca. 1416-1457), the son of the 65th Venetian Doge Francesco Foscari. In 1439 Jacopo was serving as praetor of Feltre, a small city and commune outside of Venice, whose patron saints are Victor and Corona. On fol. 65r, the beginning of the dedicatory letter, is depicted heraldry that likely represents the noble Giustiniani family of Venice. The text was written during the lifetime of Bernardo Giustiniani (1408–1489), a prominent Venetian senator and diplomat who was also an avid historian interested in the Roman Empire. His close friendship with Ludovico Foscarini suggests that it was perhaps Bernardo who commissioned the production of the Walters manuscript.

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Persistent URLs (PURLs)

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    1. Upper board outside

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    2. Upper board inside

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    3. Front flyleaf i, r

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    4. Front flyleaf i, v

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    5. Front flyleaf ii, r

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    6. Front flyleaf ii, v

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    7. Front flyleaf iii, r

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    8. Front flyleaf iii, v

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    9. fol. 1r

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    10. fol. 1v

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    11. fol. 2r

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    197. Back flyleaf i, r

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    198. Back flyleaf i, v

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    199. Back flyleaf ii, r

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    200. Back flyleaf ii, v

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    201. Back flyleaf iii, r

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    202. Back fyleaf iii, v

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    203. Lower board inside

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    204. Lower board outside

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    205. Spine

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    206. Fore-edge

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    207. Head

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    208. Tail

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