KEANEY, JOHN J., John Lascaris and Harpocration , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 23:1 
(1982:Spring) p.93 

John Lascaris and Harpocration 

John J. Keaney 

I N 1491 AND 1492, Lascaris made two} trips to Greece to acquire 
manuscripts for Lorenzo de' Medici. Among the manuscripts so 
acquired was a lexicon to the orators which is agreed to be that 

written by Harpocration. Although many of Lacaris' manuscripts have 
been more or less plausibly identified, this one has not, and efforts to 
that end have been hesitant. Five pieces of documentary evidence are 
relevant. 
(a) An inventory of books in Lorenzo's library before. Lascaris' trips.2 
This contains (fol. 35v) a @e08Wpov 1Tepi ,.,/T1VOJV Kai 'Ap1ToKpaTwJV, 
which matches exactly the contents of Laur. 55.14 (see infra). 
(b) A list of desiderata, induding (fol. 9v) a AegtKOV TWV Aegewv TWV 
~ I " 'I \ I 3 • ueKa P'T1TOpWV, ov"'wv. 
(c) A letter to Demetrius Chalcondyles written on the first trip while 
Lascaris was in Constantinople waiting for passage to Crete. He writes 
that he had purchased eight MSS. in his travels through Acarnania 
and Thessaly.4 One was purchased directly, and he had copies made 
of the others, including a AegtKOV (J"'T1/-WVTtKOV TWV 8eKa P'T1TOpWV. 
(d) A list of books acquired on the trip before Lascaris reached Con­
stantinople. On fol. 59v there is included EV TOtS' T01) Tpt/3oAwv KVPWV 
a'T1fJ.-'T1TpWV5 a AegtKOV TWV Aegewv TWV 8eKa P'T1TOPWV KaTa (J"TOtXetOv. 
(e) The text6 in Latin of a contract for the sale of books between 
Lascaris and Nicolaus Jacobus de Sena signed on 3 April 1492 in 
Candia: no lexicon to the orators is included in the book-list. 

In the attempt to identify this codex, several MSS. have come 
under more or less serious consideration. Piccolomini, who did not 

1 The first began in April/May 1491, and Lascaris had returned to Florence by Febru­
ary 1492. In April of the same year he was at Candia in Crete. 

2 This, like items (b) and (d), is from Vat. gr. 1412, written by Lascaris and published 
by K. K. MUller, "Neue Mlttheiiungen Uber Janos Laskaris und die Mediceische Biblio­
thek," ZBB 1 (884) 331-412. 

3 MUller emended to 'IoVALavOV, from Phot. Bib!. cod. 150, but matters are a bit 
more complicated (see n.11 il1fra). 

4 E. Piccolomini, "Due documenti relativi ad acquisti di codici greci fatti da Giovanni 
Lascaris per conto di Lorenzo de' Medici," RivFC 2 (1874) 401-23, at 418. 

5 EV "Apm (Acarnania), fol. 58T• 

6 Piccoiomini, 420-23. 

93 



KEANEY, JOHN J., John Lascaris and Harpocration , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 23:1 
(1982:Spring) p.93 

94 JOHN LASCARIS AND HARPOCRATION 

know of the existence of Vat. gr. 1412, thought that the MS. could not 
be Laur. 58.4,7 written by Michael Apostolius, for he assumed that 
Apostolius died in 1480. The assumption is incorrect, for the date of 
death is not known,8 but the conclusion is correct, for there is no 
reason to put Apostolius in Arta, where the MS. was copied. Piccolo­
mini also thought of Laur. 55.14, but realized that the identification 
was unlikely because of the presence of tAP7TOKPCX'TWJV in the title of 
that MS.: his suspicion was confirmed by the discovery of the inven­
tory. L. Cohn9 suggested that Va t. gr. 2226, a codex of miscellaneous 
contents containing tAp7TOKparLwlJ and purchased by Demetrius Tri­
volis from his brother, was part of Lascaris' store, but did not claim 
that this was the MS. in question. 

The evidence of items (c) and (d) suggests that three criteria are 
necessary for the identification: in the title of the MS. is contained the 
information that 0) it is a lexicon to the orators, (2) arranged alpha­
betically, and (3) unattributed.10 These criteria are met by only one 
MS., that portion of Riccardianus 12 (R) which contains (foIl. 116r -

167r) AE~LKOlJ PYJropLKOlJ Karel <TrOLXEtOlJ.ll 
There is more to the story. It has long been known that one of the 

MSS. acquired by Lascaris contained a corpus of Attic orators: this has 
been identified as Laur. 4.11 (B).12 Most descendants of B contain 
also the text of Harpocration. Marc. append. class. VIII.6 (L) is a copy 
·of B, Burneianus 96 (S)13 is a copy of L, and Vratisl. 1096 (C)14 is a 
copy of S. 

7 MUlier (344, 394) also thought this a possibility. 
8 D. Geanakoplos, Greek Scholars in Venice (Cambridge [Mass.] 1962) 107. 
9 "Unedirte Fragmente aus der atticistischen Litteratur," RhM 43 (1888) 405-18, at 

408. 
10 K(nO fITOLXEWV is also found in the titles of F (Laur. 55.14), W (Vind.phil.gr. 237), 

V (see n.11 if/fra), and K (Marc.gr. 444): the work is ascribed in all four. 
11 The title is by a second hand, and on the title-page a third hand has added oilUlt 

fIE (leg. 'YE) Eivat 'Ap7ToKpaTtwVa. The MS. is in several hands: the Harpocation portion 
was done by two scribes (foIl. 116-143v , 143Y-167), the second identifying himself as 
NLKO()7JJLO<;' 0 JLOvaxo<;,. 

R is a congener of A (Angel gr. 3) and V (Land. 16 C XVII). While A attributes the 
text to Harpocration, in V the title is A.E~LKOV KaTo fITOLXEWV TWV SEKa P7JTOPWV, 'Iov­
A.iov, and the colophon at the end TEA.O<;' TOV A.E~LKOV 'IovA.wv. In a table of contents, a 
later hand has added 'IovA.wv, aA.A.OL oE 'Ap7ToKpaTtwVo<;,. There may be some connec­
tion with the 'IovA.wV mentioned in Lascaris' desiderata. There was apparently a fourth 
congener, now lost. G. de Andres, Caralogo de los codices Griegos de la Real Biblioteca 
de el Escorial (EI Escorial 1968) 23, describt:s a MS. containing a work attributed by a 
second hand to "Iulii" (the description is in Latin). He thinks the reference to be to 
Julius Pollux, but it may be the same name as in V. 

12 From the monastery of Vatopedion on Mt Athos (Vat.gr. 1412 fol. 76rv). 
13 My siglum, for a projected edition of Harpocration, = M for the orators. 
14 My siglum, = Z. 



KEANEY, JOHN J., John Lascaris and Harpocration , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 23:1 
(1982:Spring) p.93 

JOHN J. KEANEY 95 

The precise relationship of a related MS. has not been established: 
this is H,15 Ambros. 26 (A 99), written, like Land S, in Florence 
between 1492 and 1508. In the last serious discussion of the question, 
Wyse16 suggested that S was the exemplar of H. Unless the two MSS. 

have a common ancestor, the suggestion is correcP7 But this rela­
tionship is true only for the oratorical corpus: for Harpocration,18 no 
direct relationship between Sand H exists.19 

Since B does not contain Harpocration, one needs to find a MS. 

which will stand in the same relationship to S C H for the lexicon as 
B did for the corpus. The MS. is G (Laur. 58.14), the examplar of S 
and H.20 As was remarked above, this MS. was written by Michael 
Apostolius, most of whose scribal activity was in Crete.21 It is thus 
tempting to guess that the MS. was acquired by Lascaris there. 

On the other hand, G was once owned by Harmenius of Athens. 
He was a nephew of Theodore of Gaza, Theodore an associate of 
Cardinal Bessarion, and Bessarion Apostolius' employer. It is possible 
that he wrote G for Harmenius, at least one of whose books (Laur. 
57.28) is in the Laurentian. Non liquet. 

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 

January, 1982 

15 My siglum, = P. 
16 W. Wyse, The Speeches of" /saeus (Cambridge 1904) vi. 
17 Separative errors show that H cannot be the source of S: cI Andoc. 4.1, 1TPOKLIJ­

BVV£VHV f.fJb .. HV TOll 1Ti\.7}OOV.,] TOll 1Ti\.y'oOV., in mg. S, om. Rand 4.17, 1TpaTTHv 1/B1/ 
S, 1/B1/ om. H. 

18 Two different scribes wrote the corpus and the lexicon in S. One scribe, Michael 
Souliardos, wrote the whole of H. 

19 For Harpocration, that H is not a copy of S is shown by s. v. oBo<; ... 7) oBov h­
OEJ.J,f.Vat, hab. H, om. S; that S is not a copy of H by s. v. rEppa ... BtBovat 1TPO(]"LOVTL 
TciJ 8-ry/-UfJ S, 8t80vaL Bt80VTt TciJ 8-ry/-UfJ H per homoearchon. 

20 And of Genav. 158, written in Florence by Kaisar Strategos. 
21 Only one of those MSS. whose provenance is known was not written in Crete. C/ 

M. Vogel, Die griechischen Schreiber des Mittelalters und der Renaissance (Leipzig 1909) 
305-10.