Author: GRAEVIUS,J.G.
Title: Johannis Georgii Graevii orationes quas Ultrajecti habuit.
Description: Leiden (Lugduni Batavorum), Apud Johannem du Vivie, 1717. (XXVIII),607,(1 errata) p. Vellum 19.5 cm (Ref: STCN ppn 226765288) (Details: 6 thongs laced through both joints. Title in red and black, and with a woodcut printer's mark, depicting a sun-baked landscape, in the sky the motto: 'Ab Uno Vita'. Contains 18 speeches, including at the end Petrus Burmannus' funeral speech for Graevius, held on February 18th 1703) (Condition: Vellum slightly soiled, some wear to the extremes. Stamp on the verso of the title) (Note: Johann Georg Graeve, or in Latin Johannes Georgius Graevius, 1632-1703, was born in Germany, and educated at Schulpforta. He was professor of Eloquence at Duisburg, from 1657 at Deventer and from 1661 at Utrecht, 'where he lived and worked for the last 40 years of his life'. He limited his attention mainly to writers of Latin prose, Cicero, Suetonius, Caesar, Justinus, Florus. This scholar of international stature is remembered for his 'Inscriptiones antiquae', long time the standard edition; he is also famous for his three 'Thesauri', in which important works of previous leading scholars were collected and reprinted, the 'Thesaurus eruditionis scholasticae' (1710), the 12 folio volumes of the 'Thesaurus antiquitatum Romanarum' (1694-99), and the 9 volumes 'Thesaurus antiquitatum et historiarum Italiae' (1704). The latin style of his prefaces, his speeches and his letters is said to be elegant. Graevius was an inspiring Latin orator. His lecture room was crowded with his pupils. His speeches were collected and published by one of those pupils, Petrus Burmannus (the Elder), 1668-1741. The collection contains 17 speeches of Graevius, and opens with his inaugural speech of 1661. There is also the speech he delivered on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the University. Furthermore there are four speeches for William III, one for the stadholder of Holland Willem III on the occasion of his expedition to England (1689), an eulogy of William III King of Great Britain(1691), a funeral speech for Queen Mary II of England, the wife of William III (1695), and a funeral speech for William (1702). (Graevius was made 'Historiographer Royal' to William III) Remarkable is Graevius speech of 1665 'De Cometis, contra vulgi opinionem Cometas esse malorum nuntios', in which he contended to the chagrin of orthodox protestants that comets did not herald disaster for the earth. People should not fear comets, because these firy celestial objects belonged to the works of God which obeyed the law of nature. To eradicate this cometary superstition he devoted part of his speech to a critical analysis of historical accounts. Graevius was skeptical about the biblical foundation of the belief that comets were signs of God's displeasure. 'Graevius oration overtly questioned the 'post hoc, ergo propter hoc' argument, as well as the argument from universal consent. Moreover, his diatribe was a manifestation of a much broader tendency to put the ancient writers in their own proper context'. (E. Jorink, "Comets in Context. Some thoughts on Bayle's Pensées diverses' in 'Pierre Bayle (1647-1706), le philosophe de Rotterdam', Leiden/Boston 2008. p. 64) The great comet, or 'blazing star' of 1664 coincided with an outbreak of the plague, which took the lives of more than 24000 people in Amsterdam only) (Provenance: On the verso of the title a stamp 'E Bibliotheca Lycei Wernigerodani'. Wernigerode is a German city in Sachsen-Anhalt) (Collation: *8, **6, A-2P8) (Photographs on request)

Keywords: (Oude Druk) (Rare Books) Astronomie Neolatin Neulatein Rhetorik antike altertum antiquity astronomy orationes rhetoric speeches


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