Naturae constantia : seu diatribe in qua posteriorum temporum cum prioribus collationem mundum nec ratione sui totius nec ratione partium universaliter et perpetuo in pejus ruere ostenditur

Contributor:

Popschitz, Wolfgang von (scribe)

Name:

Jonstonus, Joannes, 1603-1675

Timespan:

Early works to 1800

Date:

1663

Description:

Manuscript copy of printed version published in Amsterdam in 1632; it was also translated into English in 1657 by J. Rowland under the title An history of the constancy of nature. Jonston argues against the idea of a decline in nature, drawing from many and varied sources. Marginalia include references to authors including Seneca, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, Aristotle, Boethius, Suetonius, Cicero, Livy, Herodotus, Joannes Barclaius, Jean Bodin, and Erasmus, as well as various verses from the Bible, mostly from the Old Testament. Within the text itself, more famous names appear, such as Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Melanchthon, Euripides, Homer, Vergil, Epictetus, the Gracchi, Pompey the Great, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, John the Evangelist, Cleopatra, Francis I of France, and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The work is introduced by two quotes, one from book of Pliny the Younger's letter to Caninius (6.21), the other from book 3.55 of Tacitus's Annals. Within the text are numerous quotes from Boethius, lines 585-591 of book six of Vergil's Aeneid, and a poem, Regiarum rationum apud Parisios patroni epigrammatum libro primo, by Stephanus Paschasius.

Language:

Latin

Provenance:

Formerly owned by Christoph Wentzel Graf von Nostitz (armorial bookplate, inside upper cover, and reference number 22 on spine).; Sold by Ludwig Rosenthal (Hilversum, Holland), 1959.; Nostitz, Christoph Wentzel, Graf von, 1648-1712, former owner.

Subject:

Boethius, -524. De consolatione philosophiae; Science -- Early works to 1800; Science; Literature and science -- Germany; Literature and science

Resource Type:

Text

Form/Genre:

annotations; treatises; Manuscripts, Latin; Manuscripts, European; manuscripts (documents)

Physical Description:

167 leaves : paper; 192 x 157 mm bound to 198 x 163 mm

Geographic Subject:

Germany

Rights:

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/

Notes:

Ms. codex.; Title from title page (f. 1r).; Collation: Paper, i + 166; modern pencil foliation, upper right recto, 1-116 (remaining leaves blank and unnumbered).; Layout: Written in 20 long lines; left margin on each page defined in drypoint and includes annotations.; Script: Written in a cursive script by Wolfgang von Popschitz.; Binding: Contemporary half parchment.; Origin: Written in Germany in 1663 (note, inside upper cover).; Latin; some words in Greek (as on f. 12r, 49r); French lines of verse (f. 47v).

Physical Location:

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscripts, Ms. Codex 1181