This page tells how Junius came to obtain the notes of Modius on the lost Fulda MS. Waltzing in his article (see Bibliography) reprinted this page, due to its rarity - a transcript of this article is below, with a translation.
Please forgive the spotting on the image. The original page is clear and crisp, but if you photocopy it, because the paper is a bit yellowed and creased (not much - but a little) the result has a lot of graining. I scanned this in from a photocopy I had made, and I've tried to clean it up as far as possible. Original size is folio, which is about 13" x 8" (34cm x 21 cm) - a bit bigger than A4, but with the margins, small enough to fit on A4, or A3 for a double-page opening. This is from the Woodbridge copy; the first Cambridge copy is in an original binding, the second has been rebound, but the photocopy is worse. The quality of the original photocopy was not high, and print comes through from the following page. Sorry. In view of the importance of this page I've given it at a larger than usual size, with margins.
The text is as follows (with the abbreviations as expanded by Waltzing):
Christiano Lectori S.
QVVM hoc Septimii Tertulliani opus totum iam adornatum esset, commode scripsit è Noricis iuvenis eruditissimus et horum studiorum amantissimus Gaspar Schoppius Francus ad me, et se instituto meo faventem praebuit officiosissime. Misit enim opportunè accessionem huius operis non contemnendam, quam cum meis notis & observationibus publico iuri addicerem. Est autem haec accessio, variantium lectionum in Apologeticum et librum adversus Iudaeos indiculus, quas ex MSS. membranarum collatione ante complureis annos praesertim ex MS. Fuldensis symbole, vir doctissimus Franciscus Modius Brugensis observaverat. Habuerat eas apud se vir amplissimus M. Velserus Augustanus Consularis et Annalium scriptor accuratissimus perdiu: & ne semper iacerent otiosae, cum Schoppio antiquitatis scientissimo amice communicaverat. Horam itaque fide, Christiane Lector, visum est variantes lectiones illas reliquo operi nostro adtexere, & suo auctori reddere : quod officium nec illis ingratum confido fore a quibus oblatum est nec inutile Reipublicae litterariae nostrae. Habet enim hic Indiculus variantes lectiones sanequam optimas & quae auctoris stilum tam sapiunt quam quod maxime. Id quidem verum est collationem fuisse factam cum eo exemplari quod Renatus Laurentius Lutetiae Parisiorum anno M.D.LXXX. Barraeo auctore ediderat. quod exemplar multis modis superavit Pamelianae editionis fides, quae post biennium ferme sequuta est. Atque hinc factum, ut auctoris verba ad quae variae lectiones adscribuntur, Parisiensi illi editioni respondeant. Sed haec res adiumento potius Lectori diligenti, quam impedimento futura est. Sic enim videtur magis publico commodatum esse, quum & Barreanae lectionis habentur rudera, & Pamelianae emendationis (quarum multae praerogativo suffragio optimi illius MS Fuldensis et auctoritate firmantur) ante oculos sunt, et multae etiam longe meliores utraque illa ex MS. proferuntur. Nolui gravissimo auctori rem suam, Schoppio nostro et aliis per quos res haec collata est laudem suam, pio Lectori fructum suum interverti : cum iuris praeceptum commune sit, IUS SUUM CUIQUE TRIBUERE. Tu itaque, Christiane Lector, his feliciter utare & Vale.
...which may be translated (by me) as:
Dear Christian Reader,
Although this work of Septimius Tertullianus was now completely finished, opportunely that most erudite young man and devotee of these studies, Gaspar Schoppe, wrote to me from Noricum, and most helpfully offered his support to my undertaking. For he opportunely sent a not to be despised bonus for this work, which might be presented for public consideration together with my notes and observations. But this bonus is a list of variant readings for the Apologeticum and the book Adversus Iudaeos, which that most learned man Franciscus Modius of Bruges had observed from the collation many years earlier of parchment MSS, especially from that called the MS Fuldensis. He had these at the house of that great man M. Velser of Augsburg and a most accurate writer of histories for a long time: and that they might not ever lie unused, he kindly communicated them to Schoppe, most knowledgeable about antiquity. And so in this belief, Christian Reader, it has been seen fit to add the variant readings to the rest of our work, and to re-associate them with their author : which office I am confident will neither be unpleasant to those to whom it is offered, nor useless to our literary Republic. For this collation has very much the best variant readings and those which exemplify the style of the author to the greatest extent. It is indeed true that the collation was made against that exemplar which Rene Laurens of Paris had published in 1580 under the name Barraeus. Which exemplar in many ways was superceded by the value of the edition of Pamelius, which followed after less than two years. And so it has been made, so that the words of the author may be matched to the variant readings, they correspond to that edition of Paris. But this matter is rather by way of help to the careful reader, which will be in the future an impediment. For so it is seen to be most useful to the public, that they have the raw readings of the Barraeus, and the emendations of the Pamelius (of which many previously suggested are confirmed by the suffrage and authority of the best MS, the Fuldensis) before the eyes, and furthermore many better are discovered out of that MS. I have been unwilling to deny praise in this matter, to our Schoppe and the others through whom the matters here have been collated, giving the fruit [of their labours] for a most important author to the pious Reader : when it is a precept of a common law, a law to render to each his own. And so, Christian Reader, may you use this happily, and farewell.
This page has been online since 11th December 1999.
