Description
This is a page with an illustration of Aratus on the left the muse of astronomy Urania on the right and a celestial globe between them. The two figures are placed between two isolated Corinthian columns, which have green and red capitals with decorations that run down their shafts and on their bases. Aratus is seated on a folding chair facing to the right. He holds a rectangle (papyrus case?) in his left hand on his lap and a green stick with his right hand which he extends towards the globe. His body and chair have red highlights. The globe is set on a tripod and has lines suggesting some of the celestial circles are marked on it. a stick is pointing onto the globe. Urania on the right is standing (?) and has a feather on her head. She also has red highlights on her skin and dress. She points to the globe with her right hand and holds a box (papyrus case?) in her left hand in front of her body.
Extracted text
"Ab loue principium magno deduxit Aratus carminis at nobis genitor tu maximus auctor te ueneror tibi sacra fero doctique laboris primitias. probat ipse deura rectorque satorque quantum etenim possent anni certissima signa qua Sol ardentem Cancrum rapidissimus ambit diuersasque secat metas gelidi Capricorni quaue Aries et Libra aequant diuortia lucis si non parta quies te praeside puppibus aequor cultorique daret terras, procul arma silerent nunc uacat audacis ad caelum tollere uultus sideraque et mundi uarios cognoscere motus nauita quid caueat, quid scitus uitet arator quando ratem uentis aut credat semina terris haec ego dum Latiis conor praedicere Musis pax tua tuque adsis nato numenque secundes"
Translation by David Bruce Gain: Aratus began with mighty Jupiter. My poem, however, claims you, father, greatest of all, as its inspirer. It is you that I reverence; it is to you that I am offering sacred gifts, the first fruits of my literary efforts. The ruler and begetter of the gods himself approves. What power would there be in the points which mark for certain the seasons of the year, the one where the violent sun turns around in the sign of the burning Grab, the one where he grazes the opposite turning post in chill Capricorn, or those where the Ram and the Balance make the two divisions of the day equal, if the gaining of peace under your leadership had not allowed ships to sail the level sea, the farmer to till the land and the sound of 10 arms to recede into distant silence? At last, there is an opportunity to lift one’s gaze boldly to the sky and learn of the celestial bodies and their different movements in the heavens and discover what the sailor and the canny ploughman should avoid when the sailor should en trust his ship to the winds and the ploughman his seed to the soil. May your presence and the peace you have won aid your son; grant your divine power, to favour me as I attempt to tell of this in Latin verse. The stars which gleam throughout the heavens move ceaselessly, for the sky causes them to rotate with their own mass.
Additional Information
52 pages (26 folios) illustrated by at least two monastic illuminators
Illumination: 23 delicately coloured pen drawings of the constellations and 7 celestial charts (hemi- and planispheres, planet orbits, zodiac)
Binding: decorative brown leather binding with rich blind-tooling