| Contextual information |
The epigram is written at the end of Nicolaus Perottus' 'Epistola ad Iacobum Constantium'. At the end of this letter, Perottus mentions that he translated the epigram by and on Ptolemy into Latin: 'ut nuper iussu principis nostri epigramma Ptolemaei Latinum feci'. On f. 120r, following the Greek epigram, three Latin translations of this Greek epigram are preserved, two by Nicolaus Perottus, followed by another translation by Helius Perottus.
Perottus also mentions in his letter that his translation was intended to be used in a beautifully adorned manuscript, as an inscription above an illumination of Ptolemy. The manuscript he is talking about is Marc. gr. Z. 388: on f. IVv, the Greek epigram, along with its Latin translation by Perottus, indeed accompanies a miniature of Ptolemy (cf. https://www.dbbe.ugent.be/occurrences/22230). |
