Page:Opus majus (IA b24975655 0003).pdf/13

PREFACE. ix

After the conclusion of this passage, J. then proceeds with what is given in vol, i on the authority of other MSS. (P. and O.) as the opening of Part IV. (val, i. p. 97), Manifesto (sic) quod multae et praeclarae radices sapientiae dependent ex potestate linguarum (et seq.), as far as the words ac per contrarium hujus scientiae notitia (last line of p. 97), and then stops. On this there follow the first words of Distinctio Secunda, p, 109, Quod de scientiis jam ostensum est (et seq.). The Hebrew passage, following on the Hebrew alphabet (vol. i. p. 75), is so incorrectly written, whether as regards the Hebrew words, their trans- literation, or the Latin translation of them, that it was omitted from my text. V., the MS. next to be spoken of, offers a complete contrast in this respect, as the annexed photographic reproduction will show, J. has other faults of a kind which make it difficult to believe that this MS. can have been prepared under Bacon's superintendence. Thus the word gnomonе (p. 103, l. 18) is written by him cognomone ; p. 161, l. 22, atagonis for heptagonis; p. 222, 1. 13, Yndorum for Numerorum, and other blunders of the same kind. In the displaced passage above mentioned on the conversion and repression of the heathen, the text, as will be seen from the footnotes, is extremely corrupt. There are some remarkable omissions. That of the table, p. 208, with the commentary on it, is common to J. with V. But there is another of eight lines on p. 138, and a still more important one of five pages (pp. 231-6). On f. 84 and on f. 148 there is a drawing of a man's head in the margin of the page. As Bacon speaks of his practice of using this sign to call attention to certain passages (see Op. Tert. ed. Brewer, p. 68), these instances have been thought to prove Bacon's supervision of this MS. The evidence is quite inadequate to such a conclusion.

Vatican 4086, here spoken of as V., is a beautifully written MS. (parch- ment) in 74 folios, of the first quarter of the 14th century. A photographic copy of it, and also of the unpublished fragment previously mentioned, has been given to the Museum by Dr. Gasquet (Add. 35,253). It includes the first 376 pages of vol. i., ending with the words principalem scripturam, which close the geographical section. V. is without rubrics, but leaves spaces for them which on the whole correspond to the divisions in J. It follows J. in omitting the last chapter of Part I., and the table on p. 208, and like J. it passes from Part III. to Part IV, without clearly marking the division. The mathematical section begins simply as a new paragraph with the words Secundum impedimentum est majus isto, and continues as in J. to the words praesentis speculationis at the foot of page 108, proceeding then with Quod de Scientiis ostensum est, as on p. 100. The passage as to conversion and subjugation of the heathen is not contained in V., and