530 Mr. Soane 07i the connexion of Pope Gerbert 



The so-called translation is followed by a kind of supplement or 

 appendix, which in the printed editions bears the title of Boethii 

 liber de Geometria, but in the MSS. of Demonstratio Artis Geometrica:. 

 With the exception of a kind of catechism of geometry and some 

 arithmetical observations, which seem to be nothing more than con- 

 fused extracts from the Arithmetic of Boethius, it contains scarcely 

 anything but fragments from Varro, Seneca, and the Agrimensors. 

 It begins with an introduction on the origin and value of geometry, 

 part of which is to be found in the ' Outlines of Geometry and As- 

 tronomy' of Cassiodorus, the friend and contemporary of Boethius, 

 and the rest is, in the opinion of Blume, a free imitation of a passage 

 inAgenus Urbicus*. This introduction is followed by a collection 

 of extracts from Frontinus, Balbus, Hyginus, and the Libri Colo- 

 niarum, on the qualitates agrorum, the controversise and the limites 

 (p. 395-403) ; to which are subjoined lists of nomina Agrimensorum 

 and of lapides finales (p. 403-406). 



If we turn from the printed editions to the MSS. of the Geometry, 

 we shall find that they differ exceedingly in their contents, as well 

 from the editions as from one another. In the library of Berne, for 

 instance, there are two MSS. of the Geometry, divided into five 

 books, the first two of which correspond to the appendix, the third 

 and fourth to the first, and the fifth to the last of the printed copies. 

 In the older of these MSS.f the matter contained from p. 1544 mid., 

 to the end is wanting ; and between the fourth and fifth books is 

 inserted a piece with the title Altercatio geometricoriim de figuris 

 numeris et mensuris (p. 407 seqj) : the fifth, besides being fuller than 

 the editions, contains a fragment, De Mensuris et Jugeribus, which 

 is expressly ascribed to Frontinus, but which is partly taken from 

 Columella (v. 1-3), and partly from the fragment De Jugeribus Me- 

 tiundis (p. 354). 



The second Berne MS. has all that is contained in the other, 

 and in very nearly the same order. It has, in addition, Frontinus de 

 Agrorum Qualitate, with the commentary of Agenus Urbicus (p. 1-8); 

 an extract from Hyginus de Limitibus Constituendis (p. 182-191) j 

 and a fragment of Censorinus de Geometria J. 



* " Bei aller Verschiedenheiten im Einzelen, doch in Gedanken und Wen- 

 dungen einer Stelle des Pseudosimplicius veiwandt ist, so dass man sie als eine 

 freie Imitation des Leztern bezeichnen konnte." Blume, Ueber die Handschriften 

 der Agrimensoren, in Rliein. Mus. fiir Jurispr. vii. p. 229. The two related pas- 

 sages are p. 64, 24 — 65, 14, and 394, 11 — 395, 14. I confess 1 can find no simi- 

 larity in the two, beyond both containing tlie praise of geometry. 



f The contents of this MS,, which is of the 10th century, are minutely de- 

 scribed by Sinner, Catalogus Codd. MSS. Bibl. Bernensis, p. 292. The title given 

 to the book in the MSS. is ' Boetii libri Artis Geonietri£e et Aritmeticae numero V 

 ab Euclide translati de Grseco in Latinum.' 



X Sinner, /. c. p. 292. In the library of Trinity College, Cambridge, there is a 

 MS. of Boethius's Geometry, the contents of which are very similar to, if not iden- 

 tical with, those of the second Berne MS. The loss of some papers prevents me 

 from giving a more detailed account of it. It does not agree with any of the MSS., 

 the readings of which are given by Lachman, in the order of the Nomina Agri- 

 mensorum, unless, indeed, there is, as I suspect to be the case, a misprint as to the 

 order of the Munich MSS.(7n), with which it agrees in reading Claudiiaud Augustini. 

 It is also fuller in the Nomina Lapidum. The MS. which is probably of the 



