Annotations to MS Reims, Bibliothèque Municipale 877: A Brief Commentary on the Hermetic Asclepius

Introduction: The Hermetic Asclepius and Marginal Glosses

Hermes Trismegistus has been an enigmatic figure in the Western intellectual tradition ever since writings began to circulate under his name during the first few centuries CE.  Believed to be an Egyptian sage of great antiquity and wisdom – Medieval and Renaissance scholars thought he was a contemporary of Moses and Zoroaster – his works were known across the Mediterranean and portions of the Hermetic corpus survive in their original Greek tongue, but also in translations into Armenian, Coptic and Latin that date back to antiquity.  

Greek and Latin Church Fathers such as Clement of Alexandria, Lactantius and St. Augustine all knew of Hermes and quoted from his books repeatedly, if not always admiringly.  It is St. Augustine who reserved the bitterest ire for the pagan sage, denouncing him in chapters 23-26 of book VIII of his famous work De civitate Dei for promoting idolatry.  The Hermetic text Augustine criticized so vehemently was entitled Asclepius, a Latin translation from a Greek original done sometime during the fourth century.  It is a short Neoplatonic treatise written as a didactic dialogue between Hermes and his pupils Asclepius, Ammon and Tat.  The discussions contained within cover a wide range of topics, despite Augustine’s single-minded focus on those sections which struck him as idolatrous.  The Asclepius touches upon the distinctions between genera and species, the nature of fate and causation, the existence of a vacuum, the roles of the sexes, the position of man in the Neoplatonic hierarchy of being and the fate of the human soul after death, among a number of other topics. 

Hermes’ repute during the Middle Ages was boosted by the existence of another work attributed to St. Augustine but now known to have been written by one of his successors as bishop of Carthage, Quodvultdeus (d. ca. 450).  In this book, entitled Adversus quinque haereses, Quodvultdeus followed Lactantius in expressing a more benign view of Hermes, claiming that some of his statements could be understood as consonant with a knowledge of the Christian Trinity.  Controversy surrounded the Asclepius during the Middle Ages precisely because of the existence of these two diametrically opposed interpretations of the writings of a single figure, Hermes, by what was thought to be the same immensely influential and widely-read author, Augustine.  

The Latin Asclepius itself was read widely during the Middle Ages. Indeed, seventy-nine manuscripts of this influential text survive, dating from the ninth to the eighteenth century, and the text was quoted widely by such prominent authors as Peter Abelard, Thierry of Chartres, Alan of Lille, William of Auvergne, Roger Bacon and Albertus Magnus among many others.  Many of the manuscripts of the text contain marginal glosses, sometimes in copious quantities, amounting de facto to commentaries on their primary text.  These provide direct evidence that the text was intensively studied and, more than likely, employed in teaching.  Bernard Bischoff observed that “[s]choolbooks and books for study are generally those that most clearly bear the marks of use in their marginalia and glosses.”  The most famous of the glosses to the Asclepius belong to the hand of Nicolas of Cusa and his secretary, Andrea Bussi, and have been edited recently among the former’s complete works.  Others have been attributed to the hand of Godefroy de Fontaines, Francesco Petrarca, and Coluccio Salutati.  The Asclepius MS with the most copious marginal annotations is MS København, Kongelige Bibliothek, Fabr. 91 4o, ff. 89r-98r.  In addition to the marginal commentaries, a systematic but fragmentary commentary on the Asclepius, known as the Glosae super Trismegistum, was written sometime in the late twelfth century.  Its analysis of the Asclepius is extraordinarily thorough: the surviving text covers seventy-two pages in the modern critical edition, but ends abruptly mid-way through chapter four of the Asclepius’ forty-one chapters.  If the text had survived in its entirety with a similar density of commentary, the text would cover over eight hundred and sixty pages of modern printed text.  

The aim of this article is to provide an edition of the notes to one of the glossed manuscripts of the Asclepius, MS Reims, Bibliothèque Municipale 877, ff.29r-39v.

The Manuscript

Shelfmark: 	Reims, Bibliothèque Municipale 877
Material: 	Parchment, 40 folios. 
Language: 	Latin
Script:	A single scribe employs a late Caroline minuscule for both text and notes
Date: 		12th c.
Layout:	Single column, with notes both interlinear and in the margins
Contents:	f.1r-27r: Adelard of Bath, Questiones naturales
		f.27r-v: ps.-Seneca, De remediis fortuitorum ad Gallionem
f.28: blank
f.29r-39v: ps.-Hermes Trismegistus, Asclepius
f.40r: blank
f.40v: list of works not corresponding to the above

The Annotator

The annotator was immersed in the concerns of the schoolmen of the mid-to-late twelfth century.  In note 28, he makes the parallel between Hermes’ description of the world as a “receptacle of all species” and the passages from Plato’s Timaeus where the “archetypal world” is described as “that which contains all the things in the world”, a work which was the focus of intense interest at the time.  William of Conches (ca.1090-post 1154) uses the expression mundus archetypus frequently in his Glosae super Platonem,  and the annotator had already made the link between the two words at note 21.  Plato is explicitly mentioned in note 34, where the annotator reacts to Hermes’ distinction between genera that are eternal and those that can perish.  He says: 

God makes certain things without an instrument, likes angels and souls, and he makes certain other things with an instrument, like bodies, which he makes through stars, as Plato says: certain things were made beforehand, before the world, like the angelic spirits, without matter.

Presumably, the annotator intends that those made without instruments are to be understood as the immortal ones.

His interest in and awareness of philosophy are clear from the explicit reference in note  20 to “philosophers” saying that “similar things are understood by similar ones”, an expression employed by Boethius in this work on syllogisms entitled De syllogismo hypothetico.  

He shows some sensitivity to the ancient historical context of the dialogue between Hermes the master and his disciples – Asclepius among them – when he points out that “it was customary that pupils were called sons” (note 7), presumably contrary to current practice in his day.  He comments on the rhetorical technique employed by the author (note 10) in terms of introducing the “nobler” part of man first so as to “motivate all men to the worship of god” so that the author can “delve more easily into his formal composition.”  When interpreting a confusing passage about human souls not all being immortal uniformly (note 14), he adds approvingly that “not everyone has the same status, according to the custom of the material world.”  

The Notes

The notes begin fairly densely, but turn into a series of one-word synonyms or alternative readings after the first few folios before disappearing entirely. They are written in a hand similar to and contemporaneous with the scribe of the main text.  Only notes 16 and 17 are in a different, somewhat later hand also responsible for some of the corrections in a darker ink in the main text.  The notes can be divided into two broad categories: the first involves a substantial comment on the text, while other, representing the vast majority of the seventy-nine notes to the Asclepius are the aforementioned synonyms or alternative readings of single-word lemmata from the text.  Several of these pertain specifically to some of the transliterated Greek terms contained in the Asclepius (e.g., notes 45, 62, 77 and 78).  At lease one of definitions of Greek terms was common enough at the time: note 73 explains “ades” with “sine uisu.”  In the Kobenhavn manuscript of the Asclepius mentioned above, the same lemma is defined as “sine uisione.”  

The Edition

The notes often pertain to text that is different from the readings in the standard edition of the Asclepius, so a two-columned layout has been provided: a diplomatic transcription of the original text is on the left, while the corresponding notes are on the right.  Since the purpose of this edition is to focus on the notes rather than the main text, only a basic transcription of the former has been provided.  Elisions have been inserted to replace the lengthy passages without annotations.  The manuscript’s own spelling has been maintained throughout.  Bibliographical cross-references to Moreschini’s modern edition and to the chapter numbers in the Asclepius appear at the beginning of each folio division marker.  All abbreviations have been expanded with consideration for the standard spelling employed elsewhere by the scribe (e.g., ‘quedam’, ‘uel’, ‘inmortalis’).  A contemporary corrector using darker ink has made occasional but generally helpful textual interventions in the main text which have been incorporated into the text of the left-hand column.  Words in transliterated Greek appear in UPPERCASE font.  Punctuation and clause division has been maintained as consistently as possible with the manuscript’s readings.

The Text

Asclepius	MS Reims, BM 877 notes	
Moreschini, 39, 1 – 41, 15; Asclepius 1-2	f.29r	
Asclepius. Asclepius iste pro sole mihi est deus. deus te nobis o asclepi ut diuino1 sermoni interesses adduxit eoque2 tali qui merito omnium antea a nobis factorum uel nobis diuino munere inspiratorum uideatur esse religiosa3 pietate diuinior.  Quem4 si intelligens uideris; eris omnium bonorum tota mente plenissimus, si tamen multa sunt bona et non unum5 in quo sunt omnia. Alterum6 enim alterius consentaneum esse dinoscitur.  Omnia unde esse aut unum esse omnia.  Ita enim sibi est utrumque connexum, ut separari alterum ab utroque non possit.  Sed de futuro sermone hoc dilidenti interntione cognosces.  Tu uero asclepi procede paululum atque nobis qui intersit euoca.  Quo ingress, asclepius, et hammonam interesse suggessit. TRIMEGISTUS; multa meminimus a nobis esse conscripta, sicuti etiam ad amantissimum et carissimum7 filium, multa phisica exeticaque quam pluraima. Tractatum autem hunc; tuo scribo nomine8.  Preter hammonam uero nullum euoca alterum, ne tante rei religiosissimus sermo multorum interuentu presentiaque uioletur.  Tractatum enim tota numinis maiestate plenissimum irreligiose mentis est multorum conscientia publicare.  Hammona etiam aditum ingresso sanctoque9 illo quatuor uirorum religione et diuina dei completa,10 presentia, competenti uenerabiliter silentio11 ex ore PRMY, animisque12 singulorum mentibusque13 pendentibus diuinus cupido sic est exorsus dicere.  O asclepi omnis humana inmortalis est anima.  Sed non uniformiter cuncte,14 sed alie alio more, uel tempore.15  Non16 enim o trimegiste omnis unius qualitatis est anima.  O17 asclepi18 ut celeriter de uera rationis continentia decidisti.  Num enim hoc dixi: Omnia unum esse, et unum omnia utpote que in creatore fuerunt omnia ante quam creasset omnia.  Nec inmerito ipse dictus est omnia, cuius membra19 sunt omnia, huius itaque qui est unus omnia, uel ipse est creator omnium in tota disputatione curato memnisse.
De celo cuncta in terram, et in aquam, et in aera.  Ignis solum quod sursum uersus fertur uiuificum.  Quod deorsum ei deseruiens.  At uero quicquid de alto descendit generans est.  Quod sursum uersus emanat nutriens.  Terra sola in se ipsam onsistens omnium est receptrix, omniumque generum que accipit restitutrix.  hoc ergo totum sicut meministi quod est omnium uel omnia, anima20 et mundus21 a natura22 comprehensa agitantur.  Ita omnium multiformi imaginum equalitate uariata, ut infinite qualitatum ex interuallo species esse noscantur.  Adunate tamen ad hoc ut totum unum est ex uno	
1. id est de diis
2. ideo

3. hinc dociles
4. hoc est utilitas

5. hoc facit alios
6. id est que multa sunt bona et que unum est in quo sunt omnia

7. Mos erat ut discipulos uocarent filios.

8. asclepi

9. conuentu
10. Ostensurus hominum originem incipit a digniori parte scilicet ab anima, ut per hoc possit animare o[mnes] homines ad religionem dei, qui tam dignam componentis attribuit, et ut facilius descendat ad formalem compositionem.; 11. facto
12. id est uoluptatibus
13. uel cognitionibus
14. id est non uniformem habent statum omnes, ad consuetudinem mundi
15. tempore quantum ad detensum.
16. Asclepius.
17. Trimegistus.
18. ubi dictum est omnia esse unum.
19. id est a quibus sunt omnia

20. uel anima dicitur esse omnia quia dicunt philosophi similia non comprehendi non a similibus ideo cum anima comprehendat omnia id est habeat scientiam de omnibus dicitur omnia esse.  
21. archetypus
22. A natura. A materia Anima a natura sua est immobilis id est inuariabilis, sed cum miscetur corporibus mouetur et permutatur.	
Moreschini, 41, 15 – 43, 12; Asclepius 2-5	f.29v	
omnia esse uideantur.  
[...]
Ergo sensibilis deus administrator est omnium corporum quorum augmenta detrimentaque sol et luna sortiti sunt.  Celi23 uero et ipsius anime et omnium que mundo insunt ipse24 gubernator est qui25 est effector deus.  A supradictis26 enim omnibus quorum idem gubernator deus omnium frequentatio fertur influens per mundum et per animam omnium generum et omnium specierum per rerum27 naturam.  Mundus28 autem preparatus est a deo receptaculum omniformium specierum.  Natura29 autem per species imaginans mundum per quatuor ad celum usque adduxit.  Cuncta dei uisibus placitura.  Omnia autem desuper pendentia in species diuiduntur hoc quod dicturus sum genere.  Genera rerum omnium suas species sequuntur, ut sit ita solitata.  Genus species, generis particulata.30  Genis ergo deorsum, ex se deorum faciet species.  Demonum genus eque hominum, similiter uolucrum, et omnium que in se mundus habet, sui similes species generat.  Genus est quidem aliud animalis, genus sine anima31 quidem nec tamen carens sensibus. Vnde et beneficiis gaudet et aduersis minuitur, atque uitiatur,32 omnium dico que in terra radicum stirpiumque incolumitate uiuiscunt, quarum species per totam terram sparse sunt.  Ipsum celum plenum est deo.  Supradiscta autem genera inhabitant, usque ad loca specierum quarum omnium rerum inmortales sunt species.  Species enim pars est generis ut homo humanitatis quam33 necesse est sequi qualitatem sui generis unde efficitur.  Vt quamuis omnia genera inmortalia sunt species tamen non omnis inmortales.  Diuinitatis enim genus et ipsum et epcies inmortales sunt.  Reliquorum34 genera quorum eternitas est genus quamuis per species occidat, nascendi tamen fecunditate seruatur, deo species mortales sunt, ut homo mortalis sit, inmortalis homanitas.  Omnibus tamen generibus35 omnium generum species miscentur.  Quedam que antefacte sunt, quedam que de his36 facte sunt.  Hec itaque que sunt omnes simillime generibus suis species.  Corpora37 enim inpossibile est conformari sine nutu diuino, species figurari sine adiutorio demonum inanimalia38 instituet coli sine hominibus non possunt.	

23. Due dicunt esse generationis sed una creatio, prima generatio in mente dei et ex illa fluunt omnia per mundum secunda generatio in actu.
24. id est conseruet eis suum esse
25. id est qui ea efficit dat eis ingressum in substantiam
26. ab illis que sunt in mente.
27. ad inanimata.
28. Archetipus est uel uniformium receptaculum specierum, sed hoc est receptaculum omniformium specierum.
29. materiam.

30. participata.

31. motu.

32. corrumpitur.

33. speciem

34. Quaedam facit deus sine instrumento ut angelos et animas et quaedam cum instrumento ut corpora que facit per stellas ut ait Plato quedam que antefacte sunt id est ante mundum et sine materia ut angelici spiritus.
35. id est genera sequuntur speciem.
36. id est de materia.

37. id est naturas

38. inanimata nec cum omnia quia quedam naturalia sunt.	
Moreschini 43, 12 – 45, 10; Asclepius 5 – 7	f.30r	
Quicumque ergo demonum a genere suo defluens in speciem39 fortuito coniuncti sunt, alicuius speciei generis diuini proximitate et consortio dissimiles habentur.  Quorum uero demonum species, qualitate sui generis perseuerant.  Hi amantes hominum ratione demones nuncupantur.  Similes est hominum40 aut eo amplior.  Multiformis enim uanaque generis humani species et ipsa a predicto desuper ueniens consortio omnium aliarum specierum multas et prope omnium per necessitatem41 coniunctiomes facit.
[...]
O hominum quanto est natura temporata felicius42 diis cognata diuinitate coniunctus.
[...]
Colit terram elementis uelocitate miscetur. Acumine mentis maris profunda43 descendit.
[...]
Horum omnium generum que sunt animalia desuper deorsum peruenientes radices habent.  Inanimalium44 autem de imo in superna uiua radice siluescunt.  Quedam autem duplicibus aluntur alimentis, quedam simplicibus.
[...]	
39. demon habet uel ui habens non natura.

40. species.

41. materiam

42. id est feliciter

43. scilicet ad

44. inanimatorum.	
Moreschini 45, 10 – 47, 7 ; Asclepius 7 – 8	f.30v	
[...]
Solum enim animal homo duplex est et eius una pars simplex que ut greci aiunt OYSIODS45 quam uocamus diuine similitudinis formam.
[...]
Dominus, et omnium conformator quem recte dicimus deum quo a se secundum fecerit qui mundi et sentiri possit, eundem secundum sensibilem ita dixerim non ideo quod ipse sentiat de hoc enim an ipse sentiat annon? alio dicemus tempore, Sed eo quoniam uidentium46 sensis incurrit.
[...]
Itaque hominem confirmat ex animi et corporis, ed est ex eterna et mortali natura ut animalis ita conformatum utreque origini sue satis facere possit, et mirari47 atque orare celestia	

45. usiades

46.  id est uideri

47. id est magnificare	
Moreschini 47, 7 – 49, 3 ; Asclepius 8 – 10	f.31r	
et incolere atque gubernare terrena.
[...]
Scilicet o asclepi animaduerto ut celeri mentis cupiditate, festines audire, quomodo homo celi uel que in eo sunt dilectum,48 possit habere uel cultum.  Audi itaque o asclepi.  Dilectus49 dei celi cum his que insunt omnibus una est onsequiorum frequentatio.
[...]
Quicumque ex duplici nature confusione interiorem intelligentiam mole corporis resederunt,50 curandis elementis, hisque inferioribus sunt prepositi.
[...]	

48. amorem

49. id est dilectio

50. ratificauerunt	
Moreschini 49, 3 – 51, 4 ; Asclepius 10 – 11	f.31v	
[...]
Is nouit se nouit et mundum. Scilicet ut meminerit quid partibus51 conueniat suis que sibi utenda sibi inseruiendum sit recognoscat. Laudes gratesque maximas agens deo eius imaginem uenerans, non ignarus se etiam secundum esse imaginem dei, cuius sunt imagine due mundus, et homo.
[...]
Omnia ergo huius mundi ab homine aliena sunt, etiam corpus, ut et ea que appetimus, et illud ex quo appetentie nobis52 est uicum despiciamus.  Ut enim meum animum rationis ducit intentio homo hactenus53 esse debuit ut contemplatione diuinitatis partem que sibi iuncta mortalis est mundi interioris necessitate seruandi despiciat atque contempnat.  
[...]
Vnde efficitur ut rerum diuersitates,54 qualitates,55 effectus,56 quantitates57 suspiciosa indagatione sectetur.  Recausatus uero graui et nimio corporis uicio has nature rerum causas que uere sunt proprie uidere non possunt.
[...]	

51. id est anime et corpori

52. scilicet corpus

53. hoc modo

54. ad animum
55. ad sensus
56. ad memoriam
57. ad prouidentiam	
Moreschini 51, 4 – 53, 8 ; Asclepius 11 – 14	f.32r	
[...]
Hec est enim merces pie58 sub deo diligenter59 cum mundo uiuentibus.  Secus enim impieque qui uixerint et reditus denegatur in celum et constituitur in corpora alia indigna animo sancto et feda migratio. Vt60 iste rationis sermo processit o trimegiste future eternitatis spe anime in mundana uita periclitantiur.  Sed aliis incredibile aliis fabulosum aliis forsitan aliis uideatur esse deridendum.
[...]
Multi etenim eeam multifaria ratione confundunt.61
[...]
Puram dum philosophiam eamque diuina tantum religione pendentem tamen in reliquas attendere oportebit, ut apocatastasis62 astrorum stationes prefinitas cursumque commutationis numeris constare miretur, terre uero dimensiones qualitates, quantitates maris profunda, ignis, uim et horum omnium effectus naturamque cognoscens miretur, adhoret, atque collaudet arcem mentemque diuinam.  Musicen uero nosse nil aliud esse nisi cunctarum rerum ordinem scire, queque sit diuina ratio sortita.  Ordo enim rerum singularium in unumomnium artifici ratione collatus concentum quandam melo diuino63 dulcissimum uerissimumque conficiet.
[...]	
58. ad diuinum cultum
59. ad mundanum

60. sicut

61. uel confundent

62. aponexta katastasis stacio

63. consonantie diuine	
Moreschini 53, 9 – 55, 5; Asclepius 14 – 16	f.32v	
Fuit deus et yle quam grece credimus mundum, et mundo comitabatur spiritus, uel merat mundo spiritus, sed non similiter64 ut deo nec deo hec in erant de quibus mundus.
[...]
dicunt enim ipsi deum debuisse omnifariam65 mundum a malitia liberare.  Ita enim in mundo66 est ut quasi menbrum ipsius uideatur esse dum uisum cautumque est quantum rationabiliter potuissent a summo deo tunc consensu,67 disciplina, intelligentia mentes hominum est munerare dignatus. hisce enim rebus quibus ceteris antestamus animalibus possumus malicie fraudes68 dolosque69 uitare.  
[...]	

64. quia deo est natura in substantia

65. omnimodo
66. malicia

67. discretione

68. ad animam
69. ad deum	
Moreschini 55, 5 – 57, 16 ; Asclepius 16 – 19	f.33r	
[...]
Intelligibilis summus qui dicitur deus rector gubernatorque sensibilis70 dei eius qui in se circumplectitur omnem locum omnem rerum substantiam totamque gignentium71 creantiumque72 materiam et omne quicquid est quantumcumque est.
[...]
Re autem uera sibi ipsi inuisibilis semper ex quo eius unum uel pars si locus est in spera grece ades73 dicitur.  Siquidem IDEIN, grece uidere dicitur, quo uisu unum spere careat.
[...]
Nam sol quicquid illuminat aliquando terre et lune interiectus interueniente eius priuatur lumine.  Sensus autem o semel fuerit anime conmixtus humane; sit una ex bene cohalescente74 conmixtione mundana,75 ita ut numquam huiusmodi mentes caliginum inpediantur erroribus
[...]	

70. id est mundi huius

71. ad animalia
72. ad arbores

73. sine uisu

74. ferueente uel crescente
75. uel materia	
Moreschini 57, 16 – 60, 8; Asclepius 19 – 20	f.33v	
[...]
hii sensibiles utriusque originis consimiles sue, qui per sensibilem76 naturam conficiunt omnia, altera per alterum, unusquisque opus suum alluminas, celi uel quicquid est quod eo nomine comprehenditur OYSYARXES77 est iupiter, per celum enim iupiter omnibus prebet uitam.  Solis OYSYARXES lumen est. Donum enim luminis per orbem solis nobis infunditur XXXVI.  Quorum uocabulum est horoscopi id est eodem loco semper defixorum siderum horum OSYARXES, uel princeps est quem PANTOMORFO, uel omniformem uocant, qui diuersis speciebus diuersas formas facit.  Septem spere que uocantur HE OSYARSAS78 id est sui principes quam fortunam dicunt, aut EIMARMENEN, quibus inmutantur omnia leges, nature stabilitate firmissima et sempiterna agitatione uariata.
[...]	

76. materiam

77. usiarches usia substantia archos princeps

78. marmene temporis continuatio	
Moreschini 60, 8 – 62, 17 ; Asclepius 20 – 22	f.34r	
[...]
Non deum solum o asclepi, sed omnia animalia et inanimalia. Inpossibile enim est aliquid eorum que sunt infecundum79 esse.
[...]	

79. id est sine efficiente uisu