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the antigue and humanist editions of texts and how the manuscripts might have
appeared,*** he also paid attention to the forms of names, etc.), it is possible that
the references to the pieces of the great king’s legendary collection remained in his
mind, and he probably listed them without even having the volumes.?*?
The Corippus issue: Flavius Cresconius Corippus, a 6th-century poet, has an
other work that we know of beside his work Johannis, seu de ellis Lybicis mentioned
by the archivist of Gyulafehérvar (Carlsburg, Weißenburg, now Alba Iulia), this
is De laudibus Iustini Augusti Minoris heroico carmine libri III. Szamosközy may
have known the text of the latter because Michael Ruiz de Azagra (16th century)
published it in Antwerp in 1581.7” In reality, however, this is unlikely, because
then he would not have written the form of the name incorrectly. Before describ¬
ing what the source might have been, it should be said that there is a considerable
literature on the Corippus issue (whether or not it is a corvina, where it is today).
Part of it was summarised by Csapodi’! where he stated that the codex of the
Trivulziana in Milan, believed by many to be a corvina, did not belong to Matthi¬
as’s library. With this opinion, he echos the stance of the publishers of the Johan¬
nis texts,” who all know about the Buda variant from the narrative of Johannes
Cuspinianus. Szamosközy was also familiar with this remark, but we can also
point to something more precise: the edition by Nicolaus Gerbelius,””* in which
Gerbelius published, along with the biography of Cuspinianus, a catalogue of the
to the historian (,casu quopiam ad me delatam” sc. manuscriptam — MI), which Csaba Csapodi also
recognises as an authentic lost corvina (Csapop1 1973, 374.). Zsigmond Jaké refers to the codicological
interest of the princely archivist in connection with this codex, which is also evident from Szamoskézy’s
description of the codex lent to the Jesuit Antonio Marietti (1565-1625) and destroyed when the Jesuit
library in Kolozsvár was destroyed in 1603. The description is as follows: ,Hunc librum paucis ante
mensibus, quam haec clades patriae incumberet, Antonio Marietto erudito Jesuitae, malo codicis genio et meo
fato utendum accomodaveram, quod ideo libentius in hac publicae privataeque cladis memoria refero, quod
praeclarus auctor praenomine et nomine temporum iniuria amisso atque etiam libri titulo, quem adscripsi,
interecepto solo cognomine residuo ex omnibus opinor, typographii Achephalos hactenus prodiit. De quo eruditi
conseant, viderint, mihi satis fuerit ex fide haec referenti fidem haberi. Taceo multa alia quae in toto huius
libri corpore aliter quam in vulgari legebantur.” (SzıLAcyı S., kiad., Szamosközy..., 1877, 105-106.). Jakó
1976b, 176. further assumes that the corvina may have been obtained from the destroyed library of
Prince Zsigmond Bathory (1598) by the archivist of the prince.
His collection of Roman inscriptions was published during his lifetime (Padova, Lorenzo Pasquato,
1593), but he continued collecting even afterwards. For the manuscript of his work, and for a facsimile
edition of the contemporary edition, see: BaLAzs M.—Mownok, kiad., Szamoskézy, Analecta, 1992,
HE could not have seen the codices themselves, since, as we have seen, in his lifetime they were already
in Vienna and in German-speaking countries. It is unlikely that he would have encountered even one
during his travels in Italy.
Corippus—Ruiz pe Azacra 1581.
291 Csapopt 1973, 205.; See also Bupik 1839, 37-39.; FRAKNOI 1878, 125-126.; CsonTos1 1878, 214¬
215.4 Csonrosi 1881a, 165-166.; Lozwe 1883, 315-316; ÂBez 1883, 948-950.; Csonrosi 1891,
145-146.; SCHONHERR 1896, 161-168.; Manrrius 1911, 168-170.
#2 AFTER the first edition of De laudibus Iustini... in 1581, three 17th century, six 18th century, four 19th
century, and three 20th century editions were published. (For a list of them, see Corrppus—ANTES
1981, CVII-CXIJ, the Johannis editio princeps: Corıppus-MAZZUCCHELLI 1820; also his edition is
included in Corippus—BEKKER 1836; followed by the Joseph Partsch edition, still the most widely
used: Corippus—Partscu 1879; then Corıppus-PETSCHENIG 1886; then the only translation, first
on microfilm (1966), then Corıppus-SHEA 1998. Petschenig’s edition was taken over by Corıppus¬
Hamman 1968, 998-1127, and finally by the critical edition of Corıppus-DiGGLE-GooDYEAR 1970.
293 CuSPINIANUS—GERBELIUS 1540, 216.
288
289
290
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