Τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἐν Νικαία ἁγίαν σύνοδον πραχθέντων … Paris 1598

Τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἐν Νικαία ἁγίαν σύνοδον πραχθέντων … Commentarius actorum Nicaeni concilii … Nunc primum Graece prodeunt, ex opt. bibliothecis, interprete Rob. Balforeo Scoto, cum eiusdem notis. — Lutetiae, apud Federicum Morellum, architypograhum Regium. M. D. IC. (Colophon:) Fed. Morellus Professor et Architypographus Regius operosam huius libri editionem deo dante ad umbiclum duxit, sub Henrico IV. Gall. Rege, ix Kal. Ian. An. S. CIƆ. IƆ. IC. 

Paris, Fédéric II Morel, 24 December 1598

Editio princeps

8vo (168 x 103 mm). *⁴, †⁴, A-Z⁴, Aa-Rr⁴: 15, (1), 287 (i. e. 317) p., (1) leaf with colophon. Early annotations in Latin, a few in Greek – some of the annotations slightly cropped; underlinings. 18th century vellum, black morocco label on spine. Lower third of the spine is rubbed. – Hoffmann II 154; Adams G-326, ustc 206219.

The first of the two dedicatory letters is addressed by the Scottish scholar and philosopher Robert Balfour to Henricus Noalius, Baronus Malemortius …, in which he offers his condolences on the death of his uncle Aegidius Noalius, that is to say, the French clergyman and diplomat Gilles de Noallies. The second dedicatory letter is addressed to Gilles de Noailles himself, Bishop of Aquensis (i.e. Dax in south-western France) and Ambassador to King Henry III in Asia Minor. In this letter, Balfour reports that the Greek manuscript was found in a monastery on the Aegean island of Chios, acquired at great expense, sent to Byzantium, and handed over to Gilles‘ brother François de Noailles, who had previously served as ambassador to the court in Byzantium before Gilles.

Although the manuscript had been preserved with great care, it was unfortunately marred by numerous errors and illegible passages – vix Graeci ipsi agnoscerent descriptum– yet he, Balfour, had undertaken the labour of editing this highly significant Greek text.

The volume contains the two aforementioned dedicatory letters, the three parts of Gelasius, followed by De incarnatione Domini by Theodorus Presbyter of Raithu on the Red Sea, and on the final 34 pages the annotations by Robert Balfour.

Robert Balfour (c. 1550 in Angus, Scotland; died after 1625) taught Greek and Latin in France. In 1616 he published a commentary on Aristotle’s Logic, and in 1605 Cleomedes’ Meteora.

As regards Gelasius’s text, see Gerhard Loeschke, Das Syntagma des Gelasius Cyzicenus, Cologne 1906: ‘… Gelasius is the only writer who has preserved for us substantial sections of the Nicene Acts.’  

One minor point remains to be added: the year of death of Gilles de Noallies, to whom the aforementioned second dedicatory letter is addressed, is not 1600, as shown on the net, but, as indicated by the date of completion of the book given in the colophon, the terminus ante quem is 24 December 1598.