Magyar Könyvszemle 117. évf. 2001. 2.szám Vissza a tartalomjegyzékhez
Philipp Melanchthon‘s Autograph in the Lutheran Lyceum Library in Bratislava. There are only a few original and several trancsripts of Melanchthon‘s texts which have been preserved in what is now called Slovakia. Some of the copies are deposited in the manuscript collection of the Lutheran Lyceum Library in Bratislava (Pressburg, Pozsony)[1]. The professional public might therefore be intriqued by an original text, so far unknown, identified in course of bibliographical elaboration of 16th century prints of this collection. The text – Philipp Melanchthon’s autograph – is placed on the fly-leaf of the collected works of Gregorius Nazianzenus in Greek. The book was printed by Joannes Herwagen sen. in Basel in 1550 (Adams G 1133). Signature: V. teol. 1464. It [206is a binder‘s volume with another work in it: Liber Ancoratus, omnem de fide christiana doctrinam complectens by Epiphanius Constantinopolus, printed by the same printer in 1544 (Adams E 250). Melanchthon‘s Text goes as follow:[2]
De dicto Non potest sibi
homo sumere quidqua
nisi data a Deo
Nullius est foelix conatus et vtilis vnqua(m)
Consiliu(m) si non detq(ue) iuvetq(ue) Deus.
Tunc iuuat ille aut(em), cum mens sibi co(n)scia recti,
Mandati officij munera iusta facit.
Et simul auxiliu(m) praesentj a Nomine Christi
Poscit et expectat non dubitante fide.
Sic precedet opus faustu(m) populisq(ue) tibiq(ue),
Diriget et cursus Aura secunda tuos.
Invicta(m)q(ue) Dei dextra(m) vix nulla repellet,
Omnia cogentur cedere prona Deo.
Ipsa etiam quamuis Adamanti incisa feru(n)tur,
Cum petimus, cedunt fata seuera Deo.
Nec Deus est numen Parcarum carcere clausu(m),
Quale putabatur stoicus esse Deus.
Ipse potest solis currus inhibere volantes,
Ipse velut scopulos flumina stare iubet.
Scriptu(m) manu Philippi Melanthonis
1552
There is another text on the title page verso:
„Librum hunc peculium olim Philippi Melanchthonis, Melchioris Weidmanni aliorumque virorum celeberr(imorum) Bibliothecae V(enerabilis) Conventus Eccl(esi)ae A(ugustanae) C(onfessionis) Pooniensis dono offert atque dicat Ludovicus Schedius, Doct(or) Philos(ophiae) et in Reg(ia) Universit(ate) Scientiaru(m) Pestana Prof(essor) Aesthetices Publ(icus) Ord(inarius) Anno MDCCC mense Novembri.”
The Third inscription in the document is a possessor’s note of the said above mentioned Melchior Weidmann. Apart from that, the book contains many Latin notes and marginalia coming from Weidmann’s hand. The supralibros M W 1551 also proved that he truly owned the book. He might have been Melanchthon’s student or friend.[3]
One can assume that the book was given to Ludwig Schedius by one of the further possessors in the period when, after finishing the Lutheran Lyceum in Pozsony (Bratislava), he studied and lived in Germany. He returned to Hungary, more precisely to Pest (Budapest today) in 1791. He becomes professor at the university. In 1800 he donated the book to the Lutheran Lyceum Library in Pozsony, where it is deposited in the Great Theological Library (Velka teologicka kniznica, Bratislava) section.
Ivona Kollárová
[1] Editor’s note: Cf. Harmath Károly: A pozsonyi evang. lyceum kéziratgyűjteményének ismertetése. 2. közlemény. (The manuscripts collection of the Lutheran Lyceum Library in Pozsony (Bratislava)). = A pozsonyi ág. hitv. ev. főiskola értesítője az 1878/79-i tanévről. Pozsony, 1879. 3–35.; Erasmus Crossensky’s ordination document (25. 12. 1559.) by Melanchthon was published from this collection: Corpus Reformatorum. Bd. 1–28. Philippi Melanchthonis Opera Quae Supersunt omnia. (Ed. C. G. Bretschneider, H. Bindseil.) Halle (Saale), 1834–1860. Bd. IX. 997. No. 6890; See also in this volume: Keveházi, Katalin: Melanchthon-Autographen im historischen Ungarn. I. 3.
[2] Editor’s note: The text is the same as the one mentioned by Keveházi II. 9. (Zagreb), II. 11. (Nagyszeben, Hermannstadt, Sibiu) and by Stupperich, Robert: Melanchthoniana inedita IV. = Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte (Dresden) 1983/84. 61–74.
[3] Editor’s note: Melchior Weidmann owned another dedication from Melanchthon too. See Keveházi II. 7. in this volume.