Dicuil, Epistula censuum

Introduction

1 Commentary

1.1 Acknowledgements

This publication has emanated from research conducted with the financial support of Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland under award number GOIPD/2023/1371 in the Government of Ireland 2023 Postdoctoral Fellowship ‘Dicuil - an Irish and Carolingian Universalist and his Intellectual Legacy (DICUIL).’ I would also like to thank Pádraic Moran for his support with this digital edition and the manuscript librarians of the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris (esp. Charlotte Denoël) and the Bibliothèque municipale de Tours (esp. Régis Rech) for allowing me to consult the manuscripts and take photos.

1.2 The text

The Epistula censuum (‘Letter of dues’) is a treatise on weights, measures, homonyms, and synonyms. It was written by the Irish scholar Dicuil, who also authored several other scientific, geographical, and grammatical texts in the Frankish empire during the first quarter of the ninth century. His Epistula censuum can be dated to 818 CE, probably in or around March, by Dicuil's reference to the end of the twice four hundredth and twice ninth year of the conception of the Lord right at the beginning of the main text (for annunciation dating, see Dicuil, De cursu, III iiii, ed. and trans. Schweizer 2023, ii, 209–10).

Right after this, Dicuil speaks of the duty to bring dues to the king, which implies that the text is a further annual gift for Louis the Pious: Dicuil had highlighted clearly that the first two books of De cursu solis lunaeque were such gifts or dues in 814 and 815; in Book IIII (816), he had again addressed the ‘king’ (Dicuil, De cursu, ed. and trans. Schweizer 2023, ii, 29–34 (I vi); 49–56 (I viii); 127–8 (II xiii); 237–8 (IIII iiii)). There also is a certain thematical proximity to De cursu solis lunaeque, as measurements could be regarded as part of computus (cf., for instance, Bede's discussion of the fractions of ounces, his justification thereof, and their application to time-reckoning in his computistical textbook of 725, De temporum ratione, iv, ed. Jones 1943, pp 184-6). This renders the Epistula censuum some kind of sequel to De cursu solis lunaeque. However, the new title, both in the table of contents and the text, shows that it is more than simply a Book VI of De cursu solis lunaeque, or even an appendix to it (as suggested by Cordoliani 1960, p. 331, and rightly rejected by Pabst 1994, i, 345, n. 130; see Schweizer 2022, pp 244-6). While units of measurement were also discussed in computistical treatises of the time, Dicuil himself noted that the topic was ‘not unrelated to grammar’ – a point that is validated by his reliance on Priscian as a principal source and his focus on homonyms and synonyms.

In a similar vein, the letter is not least a poetic exercise, with around two thirds of the text being hexameters. A key challenge was expressing the required numbers metrically. This already was a predilection of Dicuil in De cursu solis lunaeque, but it is also a notable feature of his stated model, the poem on weights by Remus Favinus (Geus 2007, p. 65, n. 198). This raises the question whether Dicuil already knew this text or even started working on the Epistula censuum before 814.

Dicuil referred back to the Epistula censuum twice in his De prima syllaba of 825: he stated that he was writing this treatise on metrics ‘After speaking of the course of the Sun and Moon and writing about many weights and measures’ (Postquam de cursu solis luneque locutus, Ponderibus multis mensuris atque notatis, ‘De primis syllabis’, ed. Manitius 1911/2, p. 125), and he justified a metrical liberty taken in the epistola censuum (‘De primis syllabis’, ed. Manitius 1911/2, p. 174). In the Epistula censuum itself, he referred back to his poem on Priscian's Partitiones in a subtle but unequivocal way: Grammaticus docet haec immo auctor grammaticorum / Diuisum cuius nomen metro ante peregi. (‘A grammarian teaches these things, indeed the father of grammarians, whose divided name I have stated in metre before’). As the preceding text is based on Priscian, this refers beyond reasonable doubt to the following sentence in Dicuil's poem on Priscian's Partitiones duodecim versuum Aeneidos principalium: Prisci canit pueris haec ani cuncta libellus (‘Prisci – an's booklet recites all this for boys’; Keil 1859, iii, 390–1, here 390, is based on a better manuscript than Dümmler 1884, p. 667; albeit aware of Keil's edition, Dümmler apparently did not take it into account; the only substantial difference is Dümmler's consequential addition of tales to fill a gap in his manuscript, Valenciennes, Médiathèque Simone Veil, 394 (377), f. 54v, where Keil's manuscript, Leiden, UB, Voss. Lat. Q. 33, f. 112, has a perfectly reasonable libros). Dicuil's cross-reference shows that he must have published the so far undated poem before the Epistula censuum. It might even indicate a temporal proximity, especially as both texts engage closely with Priscian. Dicuil's cross-references highlight the proximity of the Epistula censuum to his poetic and grammatical texts.

In the text, Dicuil referred to the treatise as Epistula census; van de Vyver 1935, p. 32, n. 3, has pointed out that this was due to the metre, and Dicuil otherwise – in the table of contents and De prima syllaba – preferred Epistula censuum. The word Epistula (‘letter’, in contrast to the libelli – ‘booklets’ of De cursu solis lunaeque), might imply that Dicuil was not in the same place as Louis at that time. The lack of a clear address at the beginning of the letter or proper regards at the end, however, indicate that the word epistula is rather to be understood as ‘treatise’, unless these elements were omitted by the copyist.

I am currently preparing a translation and analysis of the text.

1.3 The manuscripts

There is one known extant manuscript of the Epistula censuum, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, NAL 1645 (Libri 88), ff 7v–14v (from here: P). P consists of two gatherings, which were removed from Tours, Bibliothèque Municipale, 803 ii (T) by Guglielmo Libri in the 1840s. In this witness, the Epistula censuum is preceded by Dicuil's De cursu solis lunaeque (T, ff 58r–103v, and P, ff 1r–7v). At the beginning of the latter, there is a table of contents for both texts, plus Dicuil's De prima syllaba (825), which is not extant in these two manuscripts. Presumably, it never was included, as f. 14v of P contains considerable blank space below the end of the Epistula censuum. This table of contents enabled André van de Vyver to discover the ending of De cursu solis lunaeque and the Epistula censuum in P (van de Vyver 1935, pp 25-47).

T was dated to the tenth, P even to the eleventh century, until E. K. Rand suggested the end of the ninth and Bischoff even the second quarter or middle of the ninth century; since then, the ninth century is generally accepted. Rand implies Tours as the place of origin, Bischoff only (not southern) France; Godden, Jayatilaka, and Love criticise Rand's suggestion (Delisle 1888, pp 78–9, no. XLVIII; Dorange 1875, pp 375–6; Collon 1900, pp 604–5; Rand 1929, i, 192–3, no. 191; Bischoff 2014, iii, 244, after no. 5110 and p. 368, nos 6141–2; Troncarelli 1987, pp 194–5, no. 51; Love 2012, p. 94; Mirabile; Godden, Jayatilaka, Love 2024, pp ccxxix-ccxxxi, esp. p. ccxxix, n. 451).

The folios measure circa 285×195 mm. P was rebound in modern times, with paper covering some small parts of the text. Against the light, these parts can mostly still be read in situ. A detailed description and analysis of T and P can be found in my PhD thesis (Dicuil, De cursu, ed. and trans. Schweizer 2023, i, LIX-LXXIII) and will be published elsewhere.

1.4 The sources and models

Although De cursu solis lunaeque is around ten times longer than the Epistula censuum, the latter arguably contains more direct source references: Dicuil referred to a book called Calculus in the table of contents, which can be identified with the Calculus of Victorius of Aquitaine, or, more accurately, some tables added to the Calculus in the manuscripts (edited in Abbo, Commentary, ed. Peden 2003, pp 52-3, additional texts 8-9); he defended making a poem about units of measurement by pointing to the late ancient author Remus Favinus (ed. Geus 2007); and he accurately credited Priscian and Donatus in the prose part. Moreoever, he indirectly acknowledged Priscian as a central source in the metrical part, by referring to an auctor grammaticorum whose name he could not use in a hexameter, as discussed above. The respective text is taken from Priscian's De figuris numerorum, partly also known as De ponderibus (ed. Passalacqua 1987, i, 1-18). A reference to Varro in the same context is apparently adopted from Priscian, as well as those to Dardanus and Livy. In contrast to these, Isidore of Seville, referred to as a ‘Spanish bishop’, was quite certainly direcly and repeatedly consulted by Dicuil. It is also believable that Dicuil came across a synonym for silver coins directly in the biblical epic of Juvencus; his desire to demonstrate his wide reading and to find information that he could add to the common handbooks is obvious throughout his works. His obscure references to Seneca and Palaemon might be related to his desire to drop interesting names, which he might have come across, for instance, in glosses to his actual sources.

1.5 The edition

The text is a transcript of the only known manuscript, P (respectively T for the table of contents). The text is emended where necessary, in which case the manuscript readings are noted in the apparatus. If in doubt, the text follows the manuscript readings. The folio numbers are indicated in the margin.

The punctuation and paragraph structure have been modernised for better readability. Capitalisation at the beginning of sentences has been slightly adapted accordingly. Otherwise, the capitalisation follows the manuscripts: the heading of the table of contents is capitalised throughout, the first letter of a verse is capitalised, while proper names and nomina sacra are not.

This is the first edition of the Epistula censuum. The table of contents has been transcribed before by van de Vyver (van de Vyver 1935, p. 32), Alfred Cordoliani (Cordoliani 1960, p. 327, n. 13), and in my edition of Dicuil's De cursu solis lunaeque (Schweizer 2023, ii, 7). In contrast to the latter edition, the present one does not note all variant readings in the existing transcripts. Two of van de Vyver's emendations have been adopted.

Source and bible references, as well as cross-references to other parts of the text, are provided in footnotes. Source references are provided where Dicuil referred to sources (often without name or with one that is mentioned by another author) and where the direct use of a source is clear and important for the understanding of a text. The individual weights, measures, homonyms, and synonyms discussed by Dicuil often occur in several older texts, which are not usually listed. They might be worth studying elsewhere nevertheless, but rather in the form of a comparative table of the units given by various authors and their specifications than by extensive notes to the edition.

2 Bibliography

2.1 Primary sources

Abbo of Fleury and Ramsey, Commentary on the Calculus of Victorius of Aquitaine, ed. A. M. Peden (Oxford, 2003).

Beda, Opera de temporibus, ed. C. W. Jones (Cambridge, 1943).

C. Plinius Secundus, Naturalis historiae libri XXXVII, ed. K. F. T. Mayhoff post Ludwig von Jan (5 vols, Leipzig, 1875), i.

‘Der Calculus des Victorius’, ed. Gottfried Friedlein, in Zeitschrift für Mathematik und Physik, xvi (1871), pp 42-79.

Dicuil, De cursu solis lunaeque: Translation and commentary, ed. and trans. C. G. Schweizer (2 vols, PhD thesis, Trinity College Dublin, 2023).

Dicuil, Liber de mensura orbis terrae, ed. and trans. J. J. Tierney [and Ludwig Bieler] (Dublin, 1967).

Dümmler, Ernst (ed.), Poetae Latini aevi Carolini (4 vols, Berlin, 1884), ii.

Gaius Vettius Aquilinus Iuvencus, Evangeliorum libri quattuor, ed. Johann Huemer (Vienna/Prague/Leipzig, 1891).

Godden, Malcolm, Rohini Jayatilaka, Rosalind Love (eds), with contributions by Paolo Vaciago, Early Medieval Glosses to Boethius's De Consolatione Philosophiae (Oxford, 2024).

Keil, Heinrich and Martin Hertz (ed.), Grammatici Latini (7 vols, Leipzig, 1857–1870: 1855; repr. Hildesheim, 1961), ii.

Keil, Heinrich and Martin Hertz (ed.), Grammatici Latini (7 vols, Leipzig, 1857–1870: 1859; repr. Hildesheim, 1961), iii.

Louis Holtz (ed.), Donat et la tradition de l'enseignement grammatical: étude et édition critique (Paris, 1981).

Isidorus Hispalensis episcopus, Etymologiarum sive originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (2 vols, Oxford, 1911).

‘Micons v. St-Riquier “De primis syllabis”’, ed. Max Manitius, in Münchener Museum für Philologie des Mittelalters und der Renaissance, i (1911/12), pp 121–77.

Passalacqua, Marina (ed.), Prisciani Caesariensis Opuscula (2 vols, Rome, 1987-99).

P. Vergilius Maro, Opera, ed. R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford, 1969).

Remmius Favinus, Gedicht über Gewichts- und Maßeinheiten, ed. Klaus Geus (Oberhaid, 2007).

Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita: tomus V. Libri XXXI-XXXV, ed. A. H. McDonald (Oxford, 1965).

Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita: tomus VI. Libri XXXVI-XL, ed. P. G. Walsh (Oxford, 1999).

Troncarelli, Fabio, Boethiana aetas: modelli grafici e fortuna manoscritta della ‘Consolatio Philosophiae’ tra IX e XII secolo (Alessandria, 1987).

2.2 Secondary sources

Bischoff, Bernhard, Katalog der festländischen Handschriften des neunten Jahrhunderts (mit Ausnahme der wisigotischen), ed. Birgit Ebersperger (3 vols, Wiesbaden, 2014), iii.

Collon, Gaston, Catalogue général des manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques de Frances, tome xxxvii: Tours (2 vols, Paris, 1900), i.

Cordoliani, Alfred, ‘Le comput de Dicuil’ in Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale, iii, no. 11 (1960), pp 325–37.

Delisle, Léopold, Catalogue des manuscrits des fonds Libri et Barrois (Paris, 1888).

Dorange, Auguste, Catalogue descriptif et raisonné des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque de Tours (Tours, 1875).

Love, R. C., ‘The Latin commentaries on Boethius's De consolatione philosophiae from the 9th to the 11th centuries’ in N. H. Kaylor, Jr. and P. E. Phillips (eds), A companion to Boethius in the Middle Ages (Leiden/Boston, 2012), pp 75–134.

Pabst, Bernhard, Prosimetrum: Tradition und Wandel einer Literaturform zwischen Spätantike und Spätmittelalter, (2 vols, Cologne/Weimar/Vienna, 1994), i.

Rand, E. K., A survey of the manuscripts of Tours (2 vols, Cambridge MA, 1929), i.

Schweizer, C. G., ‘Categorizing Dicuil's De cursu solis lunaeque’ in Peritia: Journal of the Medieval Academy of Ireland, xxxiii (2022), pp 227–48.

van de Vyver, André, ‘Dicuil et Micon de Saint-Riquier’ in Revue Belge de Philologie et d’Histoire, xiv (1935), pp 25–47.