Tibullo

This article is devoted to the Codex Tomacellianus, a privately owned manuscript of the poems of Propertius, Catullus and Tibullus (along with the rest of the Corpus Tibullianum). Those of Propertius and Catullus were copied by Leonte Tomacelli, while those of Tibullus were copied by Lucio da Visso. It is argued here that Lucio copied Tibullus between ca. 1432 and his imprisonment and death in 1439-40, and that he probably did so somewhere in Italy other than Naples. Meanwhile, Leonte copied Propertius and Catullus in Naples some time between 1448 and 1458. It has already been argued by Butrica that Leonte copied the poems of Propertius from a manuscript that had been taken to Naples by Gioviano Pontano; here the same case is argued for those of Catullus, partly on account of the marginal notes they contain. Lucio presented his copy of Tibullus to Marino Tomacelli, while Leonte left his Propertius and Catullus to his brother when he passed away; and Marino had the three authors bound together in Naples, probably before 1465. The resulting manuscript not only serves as an “edition” of the three poets known as the tresuiri amoris, but also as a monument for Marino’s brother and his tutor, both of whom died at an early age.

Note 1: The file uploaded here contains a pre-publication version of the article. The final version that appeared in the journal contains a number of significant changes. A PDF is available from the author on request.

Note 2: I no longer believe that there is a 'terminus post quem' of ca. 1448 for the part of the Codex Tomacellianus that contains Propertius and Catullus.