Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Acq. 39

Notes

For a full description of the ms., see Rostagno & Festa in the bibliography and online resources; for further bibliography see the library page for this ms., also in online resources.

From at least fol. 60 (as we shall reckon it) there is dual foliation: a small number in the far corner, and a larger number closer to the text, which is what the library seems to follow (small 61 = big 60, etc.). We follow here the latter.

59v-60v  Beneath a banner separating this section from the last, there appears to be a title, in another color, but it does not come through in microfilm. There is a prefatory letter (pseudo-Photius?), in an awkward style and a less confident hand than what follows, even though it seems to be the same scribe. We are unaware of its being published elsewhere, so we give it here:
Τραύματα μὲν φίλων ἀξιοπιστότερα φιλημάτων ἐχθρῶν [cf. Proverbs 27.6]· μὴ πάντα δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν, ἀλλὰ μόνον ὅταν ἐπὶ διορθώσει γίνονται φίλων, καὶ ἐφ’ οἷς πράγμασι δέον. Εἰ δὲ κακοήθως φίλον τις τραυματίσει καὶ λυπήσει ἐν ὁποσοῦν, | βαρυτέραν μολύβδου ταλάντου τὴν ἀχθηδόνα καὶ τὴν θλίψιν ἐργάζεσαι. Παρ’ ἐλπίδα γὰρ τὸ τοιοῦτο{ν} καὶ πᾶν τὸ παρὰ προσδοκίαν ἐμπίπτον ἀνιαρὸν ὡς δίστομον ξίφος τῆς τοῦ Πάγχοντος καρδίας καθάπτεται. Τὸν παρ’ ἐχθρόν τις γνωρίζων καὶ παραφυλαττόμενος, βλάβης ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον ῥύεσαι τῆς αὐτῆς· ἂν δὲ τυχὸν ὑποσκελισθῇ, καὶ βλαβήσεσαι τὸ ὁ,τιοῦν, οὐ ξενοπρεπὲς τὸ πρᾶγμα λογίζεσαι. Παρ’ ἐχθροῦ γὰρ ῥᾷον ὑποφέρεις τὴν κάκωσιν· ὃ δὲ βαρύτερον εἴωθε καταφαίνεσθαι τὸ παρὰ φίλων ἐστὶ λυπηρὸν εἰ καὶ πολοστόν· ἐμὲ τοιγαροῦν | συλλυπήσας ὡς οὐκ ἐδόκουν, ὁ ποθούμενος τὸν τάχα φιλούμενον, πόσον ἄχθος δοκεῖς θεῖναί μοι βαρὺ καὶ δυσίατον; Ἐπείπερ, ὡς ὁμολόγηται, δυσθεράπευτοι λίαν αἱ παρὰ φίλων εἰς φίλους γενόμεναι λύπαι, καὶ μείζονας τῶν παρ’ ἐχθρῶν τὰς ἐπηρείας δεικύουσιν :+

61v  Photius’s letters begin (TLG 4040.009), here with one to Bardas (epistle no. 3, edd. Laourdas & Westerink).