Editing Manticore (section)

==== Manuscripts and text ====

;Second Family
The manticore ({{langx|la|manticora}}) occurs in about half of the Second Family Latin bestiaries.{{sfnp|George|Yapp|1991|p=51}} The specific source used in this case was probably Solinus (2nd century),<ref>{{harvp|Clark|2006|p=26}}. Due to the "three Solinus hybrids" being clustered into successive chapters. More on their interrelationships below.</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|In the base MS. Add. 11283, the manticore (fol. 8r) and the other hybrids around it has scholia marked  "Solinus Cap. 65, p. 244".<ref name="BL-Add11283"/> But these are presumbly later scribal additions, not disclosure of source by the original creators.}}

The text here describing the beast{{Refn|name="BL-Add11283-tr-Clark"}}<ref name="manticore-tr-mccullough"/> differs little from Pliny's Latin version in language,<ref>By comparison of Latin texts</ref> or the Greek version in content (paraphrased above).<ref>By comparison of English translations</ref> This is naturally the case, since much of Solinus was recopied out of Pliny.{{sfnp|Clark|2006|p=26}}{{sfnp|McCulloch|1962|p=28}} The manticora is here described as "bloody-colored"{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|name="pliny-sanguineo"|Pliny has "eyes light-blue, blood-colored body like a lion {{lang|la|{{linktext|oculis |glaucis}}, {{linktext|colore |sanguineo}}, {{linktext|corpore |leonis}}}}"<ref name="pliny8.75"/>.}} rather than "red like cinnabar".{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|name="ctesias-kinnabari"|Greek, "red like cinnabar {{lang|grc|{{linktext|ἐρυθρός |ὡς |κιννάβαρι}}}}"; "light-blue eyes {{lang|grc|{{linktext|ὀφθαλμοὺς |γλαυκοὺς}}}}"<ref name="photius"/>.}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|While McCulloch translates literally as "bluish eyes, a lion's body the color of blood", Clark gives the freer translation "green eyes, a russet color lion".}}

The text concludes by stating that the manticore "seeks human flesh, is active, and leaps so that neither large spaces nor broad obstacles can delay it<ref name="manticore-tr-mccullough">{{harvp|McCulloch|1962}} "Manticore", pp. 142–143</ref> (<!--manticor.. leaps so powerful that -->neither the broadest space nor the widest barrier can hinder it)".{{Refn|name="BL-Add11283-tr-Clark"|{{harvp|Clark|2006}}. "XXIII De manticora/Chapter 23 Manticor", p. 139 (Latin text and English tr.). The base text is British Library [[Additional manuscripts|MS Add.]] 11283, dated to 1180s by Clark.}}

;H text
Actually there are two candidate sources given for the passage, "Solinus 52.37" and "H iii.8";{{sfnp|McCulloch|1962|pp=142–143}} this "H" being the pseudo-[[Hugh of Saint Victor]] ''De bestiis et aliis rebus'', edited by Migne,{{sfnp|McCulloch|1962|p=31}}<ref name="hugo-ed-migne"/> but this source has been regarded circumspectly as the "problematic ''De bestiis et aliis rebus''" by Clark.{{sfnp|Clark|2006|p=13}}

;Transitional
The manticore also occurs in the earliest "Transitional" First Family bestiary (c. 1185),{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Morgan Library, MS M.81 (The Worksop Bestiary)] (c. 1185).<ref name="Morgan-M.81"/> Recognized in Badke's mss. containing the manticore.<ref name="badke-mss-manticore"/> Note it is not older than the early Second Family Additional MS 11283.}}{{sfnp|George|Yapp|1991|p=51}}<ref name="badke-mss-manticore"/> and some Third Family codices as well, whose illustrations attempted to reproduce some of the finer details given in its text.{{sfnp|George|Yapp|1991|p=53}}