Of the three volumes which are deemed to have constituted the original Liber Testimoniorum by Gregory the Great’s notarius Paterius, only the first one has survi- ved, while the other two have always been considered as lost due to some accident intervened at an early stage of the manuscript transmission. Starting from a careful analysis of the manuscript tradition and of the pioneering studies by Wilmart and Étaix, the paper concludes that the Liber Testimoniorum was never brought to an end. Paterius probably collected from Gregory’s works all the material considered suffi- cient to realize the exegetical commentary to the whole Bible, but he actually was able to make a revision and give final shape only to the part that goes from Gene- sis to the book of Psalms.The manuscript tradition attests two further sections, on Proverbs and on Canticle of Canticles, which represent the only surviving part of the extensive material collected, but never revised by Paterius, for the final version of his work.The reason that caused the interruption of the drafting process is pro- bably to be seen in Gregory’s decision to revise the text of his Homelies on Ezechiel, approximately in 601/602.
The paper also explores the literary production of Tajo of Saragossa, who is the main – and presently sole known – representative of the Liber Testimoniorum‘s first indirect tradition until the eighth century. After having demonstrated Tajo’s au- thorship of the biblical commentaries contained in a manuscript from Lérida, the authors conclude that the visigotic bishop used in his own works only the revised part of the Liber Testimoniorum (Genesis - Psalms) and that, conversely, he seems not to have known and made use of the rough and unrevised material on Proverbs and Canticle.This can be considered an additional evidence for the hypothesis that the notarius never concluded his anthology. Finally, the article provides a diachronic stemma codicum of Paterius’ Liber testimoniorum, based on the principal loci critici of the most ancient manuscripts.
