A NEWLY DISCOVERED TREATISE BY ABRAHAM IBN EZRA AND TWO TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO AL-KINDĪ IN A LATIN TRANSLATION BY HENRY BATE

Abstract

The main objective of the current study is to offer the first critical edition, accompanied by an English translation and introductory study, of a tripartite Latin text addressing world astrology preserved in a single manuscript: MS Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 1407, fols. 55r–62r (14th/15th century). This study also includes the Middle English translation of discontinuous sections of this tripartite Latin text as transmitted in MS London, Royal College of Physicians, 384, fols. 83v–85r. It is argued that the first part of this tripartite text incorporates a hitherto unknown Latin translation by Henry Bate of the lost third version of Abraham Ibn Ezra’s Sefer ha-ʿOlam. The other two parts include two Latin translations, also carried out by Henry Bate, of treatises ascribed to Ya‘qūb ibn Ishāq alKindī, the « philosopher of the Arabs ».