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Proverbia Grecorum
The Proverbia Grecorum (sometimes Parabolae Gregorum, both meaning "proverbs of the Greeks") is an anonymous Latin collection of proverbs compiled in the seventh or eighth century AD in the British Isles, probably in Ireland. Despite the name, it has no known Greek source. It was perhaps designed as a secular complement to the Hebrew Bible's Book of Proverbs.
Within about a century of its composition, the Proverbia was being copied in northern Italy, yet all surviving manuscripts have an Anglo-Saxon or Celtic connection. Only one complete copy survives, but excerpts (with citations) are found in at least eight other manuscripts. There are seventy-four proverbs, but seven others with no connection to the original work are erroneously attributed to it in various manuscripts.
The original compilation consisted of 74 short proverbs and a prefatory letter. There is one surviving copy of the complete work on folio 246r–v of the manuscript Kues 52 (now in St. Nikolaus-Hospital in Bernkastel-Kues), where it is part of the Collectaneum of Sedulius Scottus. This manuscript was copied in the Abbey of Saints Eucherius and Matthias in Trier in the twelfth century.
Sedulius quotes from the Proverbia in several other works. In the same copy of the Collectaneum, there is a florilegium containing 40 statements on virtues and vices, five of which are drawn from the Proverbia without citation. Sedulius quotes proverb 68 in his In Donati artem minorem (again without citing the original collection) and several statements closing paralleling the Proverbia can be found in his De rectoribus Christianis. Among his excerpts of Lactantius' Divinae institutiones (found in the Kues manuscript), he includes a statement that is not attributable to Lactantius nor is found in the Proverbia but which is derived from Rufinus' translation of Origen's Homily on Genesis. Since this statement came to be attributed to the Proverbia in other works, it provides the only known connection between the Proverbia and an actual Greek work, in this case one of the Greek Fathers. The attribution of this statement to the Proverbia, however, was made in error and it was not part of the original collection.
Besides the works in the Kues manuscript, several other works quote select proverbs attributed to the Proverbia Grecorum. Ten excerpts from the Proverbia along with some Old Irish glosses are found on page 61 of Milan, Ambrosianus F 60 sup, a manuscript from Bobbio Abbey. The main work in this manuscript, Excerpta ex patribus, was probably copied in Ireland in the eighth century before the manuscript was brought to Bobbio, where the proverbs were added. The ten excerpts rely on a different model than that copied by Sedulius. Wallace Lindsay published the Bobbio excerpts and glosses in 1910.
There are also a number of proverbs cited to the Proverbia that are not found among the original 74 of the Kues manuscript and were, like the quotation from Origen, misattributed to the Proverbia at a later date. Some of these later misattributed proverbs are derived from Sedulius' De rectoribus Christianis.
Ten proverbs attributed to the Proverbia are found on pages 195–199 of the so-called Norman Anonymous (shelfmark Cambridge, CCC 415) under the title De nomine regni. This was copied in the eleventh or twelfth century in Normandy. Only six of the proverbs quoted actually belong to the original Proverbia collection. One of them that does not is also quoted by the Anglo-Saxon Cathwulf in his letter to Charlemagne around 775. Two Breton manuscripts contain the same six Proverbia as CCC 415. One was created in Brittany, the other at Fécamp Abbey by a Breton scribe named Maeloc. These three manuscripts—and the theme of the proverbs they contain—suggest a common source in the form of a collection of sententiae on kingship drawn from the Proverbia and from the chapter "De regno" of the Irish Collectio canonum Hibernensis. This hypothetical lost work may have been brought to the continent during the English Benedictine Reform in the 10th century.
Four manuscripts of the Collectio canonum Hibernensis also contain citations of the Proverbia Grecorum. The original "A" recension of this collection of canon law was compiled in Ireland before 725 with the proverbs, but the editors who created the expanded "B" recension incorporated six proverbs attributed to the Proverbia Grecorum. Only four of these, however, actually belong to the original Proverbia. Three copies of the "B" recension contain all six, while a single late copy of the "A" recension updated with some material from "B" includes one proverb.
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Proverbia Grecorum
The Proverbia Grecorum (sometimes Parabolae Gregorum, both meaning "proverbs of the Greeks") is an anonymous Latin collection of proverbs compiled in the seventh or eighth century AD in the British Isles, probably in Ireland. Despite the name, it has no known Greek source. It was perhaps designed as a secular complement to the Hebrew Bible's Book of Proverbs.
Within about a century of its composition, the Proverbia was being copied in northern Italy, yet all surviving manuscripts have an Anglo-Saxon or Celtic connection. Only one complete copy survives, but excerpts (with citations) are found in at least eight other manuscripts. There are seventy-four proverbs, but seven others with no connection to the original work are erroneously attributed to it in various manuscripts.
The original compilation consisted of 74 short proverbs and a prefatory letter. There is one surviving copy of the complete work on folio 246r–v of the manuscript Kues 52 (now in St. Nikolaus-Hospital in Bernkastel-Kues), where it is part of the Collectaneum of Sedulius Scottus. This manuscript was copied in the Abbey of Saints Eucherius and Matthias in Trier in the twelfth century.
Sedulius quotes from the Proverbia in several other works. In the same copy of the Collectaneum, there is a florilegium containing 40 statements on virtues and vices, five of which are drawn from the Proverbia without citation. Sedulius quotes proverb 68 in his In Donati artem minorem (again without citing the original collection) and several statements closing paralleling the Proverbia can be found in his De rectoribus Christianis. Among his excerpts of Lactantius' Divinae institutiones (found in the Kues manuscript), he includes a statement that is not attributable to Lactantius nor is found in the Proverbia but which is derived from Rufinus' translation of Origen's Homily on Genesis. Since this statement came to be attributed to the Proverbia in other works, it provides the only known connection between the Proverbia and an actual Greek work, in this case one of the Greek Fathers. The attribution of this statement to the Proverbia, however, was made in error and it was not part of the original collection.
Besides the works in the Kues manuscript, several other works quote select proverbs attributed to the Proverbia Grecorum. Ten excerpts from the Proverbia along with some Old Irish glosses are found on page 61 of Milan, Ambrosianus F 60 sup, a manuscript from Bobbio Abbey. The main work in this manuscript, Excerpta ex patribus, was probably copied in Ireland in the eighth century before the manuscript was brought to Bobbio, where the proverbs were added. The ten excerpts rely on a different model than that copied by Sedulius. Wallace Lindsay published the Bobbio excerpts and glosses in 1910.
There are also a number of proverbs cited to the Proverbia that are not found among the original 74 of the Kues manuscript and were, like the quotation from Origen, misattributed to the Proverbia at a later date. Some of these later misattributed proverbs are derived from Sedulius' De rectoribus Christianis.
Ten proverbs attributed to the Proverbia are found on pages 195–199 of the so-called Norman Anonymous (shelfmark Cambridge, CCC 415) under the title De nomine regni. This was copied in the eleventh or twelfth century in Normandy. Only six of the proverbs quoted actually belong to the original Proverbia collection. One of them that does not is also quoted by the Anglo-Saxon Cathwulf in his letter to Charlemagne around 775. Two Breton manuscripts contain the same six Proverbia as CCC 415. One was created in Brittany, the other at Fécamp Abbey by a Breton scribe named Maeloc. These three manuscripts—and the theme of the proverbs they contain—suggest a common source in the form of a collection of sententiae on kingship drawn from the Proverbia and from the chapter "De regno" of the Irish Collectio canonum Hibernensis. This hypothetical lost work may have been brought to the continent during the English Benedictine Reform in the 10th century.
Four manuscripts of the Collectio canonum Hibernensis also contain citations of the Proverbia Grecorum. The original "A" recension of this collection of canon law was compiled in Ireland before 725 with the proverbs, but the editors who created the expanded "B" recension incorporated six proverbs attributed to the Proverbia Grecorum. Only four of these, however, actually belong to the original Proverbia. Three copies of the "B" recension contain all six, while a single late copy of the "A" recension updated with some material from "B" includes one proverb.
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