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Assuming that no appreciable Latin text has been omitted in the Icelandic
manuscript, line 1r1 probably began around W9r2, the latter portion of
chapter 2. the middle of the last line of 1v: en forna Manni. þat er dauþa i,
matches well with W10r7: vetusto homine (middle of ch. 3).
In Morgenstern’s edition of the Icelandic fragments, no attempt was
made to edit f. 3v or the first five lines of f. 2r in 238. Line 6 and the fol-
lowing lines closely follow the text of chapter 7 in W15r3, just a few lines
into the story of Basil’s intercession on behalf of a debtor. the initial line
of f. 2r begins as follows: [e]r komin at bvrd...vik segia ma sia hvessv mikils
verd voro ord ens heilaga basilii, and seems not only to introduce a story,
but also indicates it to be about the importance of Basil’s words. Since this
short chapter does indeed illustrate the effect of Basil’s pronouncements,
which a local prince convincingly learns on two occasions, it is logical to
assume that 238, 2r1 is introducing the tale that comprises chapter 7 (De
Scriptura quam Mulierculae Fecit). At 3v20, the name elladius is legible and
at the end of the next line the name p[ro]terius can be made out, which con-
vincingly indicates that chapter 12 (W23r4) began on 3v20.
Given the numerous lacunae and illegible portions of text, the six ex-
tant leaves in Iceland have been matched in the chart below with their cor-
responding positions in the vienna manuscript of the Vita Basilii (W).
A portion of the Vita Basilii in chapters 8 and 9, dealing with the death
of Julian the Apostate, appears as an independent miracle in two versions
of Maríu saga, as well as in Basilius saga.11 Although the first version (I) is
only 25 lines long in C. R. Unger’s edition and contains no information
not found in the longer, 100-line version (II), the former ends with the
following, tantalizing information about the miracle: ok er þetta viða sagt
í ritningum ok [þó einkanliga, version II] í sögu Basilius byskups. One could
well assume that the “saga” reference would apply to Basilius saga, while
the ritningar might well refer either to the Vita Basilii or to the “death of
julian” in a collection of Latin miracles. such collections are, of course,
widespread, and an excellent example of the story of Emperor Julian’s
death can be found in London, British museum, Cotton Cleopatra C.x.12
11 Maríu saga: Legender om jomfru Maria og hendes jertegn, ed. C. r. unger (oslo: [n.p.], 1871),
72–73, 699–702; 238, 2r16–2v26.
12 Die lateinischen Vorlagen zu den alt-französischen Adgar’schen Marienlegenden, ed. Carl
neuhaus (Aschersleben: H.C. Bestehorn, 1886), 23–25.
tHe L I F E O F S T . B A S I L IN ICeLANd
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