Jean Buridan's De Motibus Animalium.

Abstract

O UR EDITION of Buridan's De motibus animalium has been prepared from the only two manuscript versions of the work known to be extant: Cod. Vat. lat. 2162, folios 164vb-167r and MS Amploniana (Erfurt) Q 325, folios 132a-137ra. These two manuscripts will be indicated hereafter as V and A, respectively. Unhappily, V is incomplete. It breaks off abruptly at the conclusion of Chapter V at the bottom of folio 167ra. Folio 168 contains only a brief medical prescription and several out-sized letters P indiscriminately placed and evidently executed for pleasure by a hand different from that which transcribed V. The hiatus is particularly regrettable as V is written in an unusually clear and careful cursive script by an English hand of the late fourteenth century. On the other hand, A, although complete, is written in a crabbed and difficult cursive French hand of the same period. It contains hastily made corrections and deletions and employs extreme, often eccentric, word abbreviations. Although we are thankful for the completeness of A, we cannot help but feel some slight uneasiness about Chapters VI and VII, which it was necessary to transcribe from A alone without the benefit of cross-referral to V. So far as the establishment of the first five chapters of our text is concerned, V and A were given equal weight. Such divergences as were observed between the two manuscripts were relatively minor, and, generally speaking, the two were found to be mutually complementary. But at least one discrepancy appears worthy of special note. The title of Buridan's work in V is given as De motu animalium, while it is titled De motibus animalium in A. This is not too extraordinary, however, as the De motu, or De motibus, is known to have had a curious and mixed tradition of transmission.l For the reason that A alone is complete we have decided to employ its title, De motibus animalium, rather than the title given in V. We can only hope that no confusion will ensue concerning the variant titling of V.