QUOTATIONS IN THE VEN. BEDE’S COMMENTARY ON S. MARK

E. F. Sutcliffe

In a recent number of this review I had occasion to refer to a passage in which the Ven. Bede explains the system he adopted to indicate the Fathers whose words he quotes in his commentaries. He tells the reader that he has been careful to note in the margin (eminus e latere) the initial letters of the names (primas nominum litteras) of the writers whose words he makes his own (PL 92, 304), in order to indicate the beginning and the end of each quotation (ubi cuiusque patrum incipiat, ubi sermo quem transtuli desinai, intimare). It is commonly supposed, and explicitly stated by Werner that these indications are no longer to be found even in the most ancient manuscripts. However in the Vatican Library are two codices, Cod. Vat. Lat. 637 and Cod. Vat. Lat. 10662, in which they are happily preserved, at any rate in part. In the printed catalogue of manuscripts the former is assigned to the ninth, and the latter to the eleventh or twelfth century. Cod. 10662 contains only Bede’s commentary on S. Mark; cod. 637 has in addition the commentary of S. Ambrose on S. Luke and other works. In the light of these codices the words of the Ven. Bede receive their full explanation. Each Father is designated by two letters, S. Ambrose by AM, S. Augustine by AV or Au (twice), S. Gregory by GR, and S. Jerome by HR. The first letter is placed at the beginning of the quotation, the second at the end. The Ven. Bede says he wrote these primae litterae in the margin, and it is there that all those given by Cod. 10662 and most of those of Cod. 637 are to be found. In this latter codex, however, a fair number are inserted in the text itself. This position has the advantage of indicating more precisely where the quotation begins, as the letter is naturally placed immediately before the opening word, and moreover minimises the danger of the letter being misplaced. In addition to the reference letters given above cod. 637 once has C, and cod. 10662 once Ch(rysostom?). It will thus be seen that the bulk of the passages quoted are from the four great Doctors of the West.

E. F. Sutcliffe. Quotations In The Ven. Bede’s Commentary on S. Mark. Biblica, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 428-439. 1926.

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