SLEIDANUS,I.

I. Sleidani De quatuor summis imperiis libri tres; Postrema editione hac accurate recogniti.

Amsterdam (Amsterodami), Apud Ioannem Ianssonium, n.d. (between 1631 and 1664). 8vo. 309,(24),(1 blank) p. 12mo. Vellum 12 cm (Details: Back with 4 raised bands. Two thongs laced through the joints. Engraved title, depicting some mythological figures, and a small portrait of Alexander the Great) (Condition: Vellum age-toned. Front flyleaf gone. Three pinpoint holes on the rear joint. A small tear in lower margin of title, which is thumbed. Paper foxed, and with some brown stains. One old ink annotation) (Note: The German humanist, diplomat and historian Johannes Sleidanus (Sledanus, Sleidan), was born between 1506 and 1508 in Schleiden, (hence his name), a city South of Cologne. He is best known for his 'De statu religionis et reipublicae Carolo Quinto Caesare Commentarii', published in 1555, which made him the historian of the Reformation. It was so impartial that it pleased no one. The book was placed by the pope on the Index, and the Lutherans were not pleased either. Still it remains the most valuable contemporary history of the times of the Reformation, and it contains the largest collection of important documents. Less controversial is Sleidanus world history 'De quatuor summis imperiis, babylonico, persico, graeco et romano', published in the year of his death, 1556. (NDB 24, 499/500) The idea of four empires is an old one. In the Old Testament an angel tells Daniel, who was in slavery in Babylon, how to interpret a dream he had. Daniel had dreamed of a winged lion, a ferocious bear, a panther with four wings and four heads, and an unnamed alien monster with iron teeth that devoured everything. The angel: 'These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth'. On the day of judgement the last of the four kings will lose his power and will vanish, and the kingdom will be given to the saints. Late medieval exegesis explained the fours beasts as follows, the lion was the Babylonian kingdom, the bear was identified as the dominion of Persia, and the winged panther was the reign of Alexander and his diadochi. The beast with the iron teeth was the Roman empire. All these kingdoms stood on feet of clay. As the divine vision of Daniel provided only for four kingdoms, the Holy Roman Empire of Sleidanus' days had to be a continuation of the Roman Empire of the past. The German emperors, with the divine legitimation of the Bible, continuated merely the Roman empire. Sleidanus' historical chronicle is based on the order as revealed in Daniel's vision. 'His concern is the historical legitimation of the German imperial reign through its continuity with the Roman empire'. He thus gave biblical dignity to the German imperial constitution, and thus legitimated the protestant Reformation. (W. Schmidt-Biggemann, 'Philosophia perennis: Historical Outlines of Western Spirituality in Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Thought', Dordrecht 2004, p. 399-400) This world history of Sleidanus was immensely influential. In the next 150 years more than 60 editions were published. Sleidanus succeeded in creating with both his historical works a common historic identity for the protestants in a hitherto Catholic world. History had at the beginning of the Reformation to be repossessed and rewritten to underline the Protestant claim for legitimacy and authority. His History of the four Empires contained enough condemnations of the popes to suit the taste of his public. This undated Janssonius edition is probably a pirate edition of an Elzevier production, published between 1631 and 1664, the year Janssonius died. (Willems no. 358, dated 1631, no. 763, dated 1655, & no. 1179, dated 1654). All three Elzeviers editions have the same number of pages as this one of Janssonius) (Collation: A-X8 (leaf X8 verso blank) (Photographs on request)

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Book number: 120029

Catalogue: Old and Rare books

Keywords: (Oude Druk) (Rare Books) Antike Babylon Babylonia Kirchengeschichte Persia Persien alte Geschichte ancient history church history

SOPHOCLES.- CAMERARIUS,J.

Commentatio explicationum omnium tragoediarum Sophoclis, cum exemplo duplicis conversionis Ioachimi Camerarii Pabepergensis. Accessit rerum & verborum in his praecipue notatu dignarum copiosus index. Cum Caes. ac Regiae Maiestratum gratia & privilegio ad annos decem.

Basel (Basileae), per Ioannem Oporinum, 1556. (Colophon at the end: 'Basileae, Ex Officina Ioannis Oporini, Anno Salutis humanae 1556, mense Augusto). 8vo. 515,(37 index) p. Pigskin over wooden boards. 19 cm (Ref: VD16 S 7043; GG (Griechischer Geist aus Basler Presse) 203; Hoffmann 3,424; Moss 2,605 (with the incorrect date 1534); Graesse 6/1,442) (Details: Back with 3 raised bands. Boards decorated with 2 rows of blind-stamped rolls, both comprising floral motives and small portraits of biblical figures, e.g. King David, (harp) and portraits of Renaissance scholars, e.g. Erasmus; some portraits are accompanied by short texts which are difficult to decipher, e.g. 'Ecce Agnus Dei'. Some woodcut initials. Good paper) (Condition: Binding soiled and scuffed. Corners bumped. All four ties gone. A few small wear holes in the front flyleaf. Very tiny hole at the lower edge of the title. Small wormhole at the tip of the uppercorner of the last gathering. Ownership entries on the front pastedown and flyleaf) (Note: The tragic heroes of the Greek tragedian Sophocles, ca. 496-406/05 B.C, Oedipus, Antigone, Electra, Heracles, Ajax, Philoctetes, have 'inspired artists, thinkers, and performers both ancient and modern to refashion them and their stories again and again'. (The Classical Tradition, Cambr. Mass., 2010, p. 897) Especially through his three Theban plays, Antigione, Oedipus Rex and Oedipus Coloneus, Sophocles has had his greatest influence on Western culture. 'Aristotle prized Oedipus the King as the model for all tragic drama, and from the Renaissance onward the influence of his Poetics established this as conventional wisdom.' (Op. cit., ibidem) § While the West was ignorant of the works of the tragic poets during the Middle Ages, the surviving tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides were edited during the Palaeologean Renaissance, the last phase of Byzantine art and scholarship, by the philologists Maximos Planudes (ca. 1250-1310), Thomas Magister (ca. 1270-1325), Manuel Moschopoulos (ca. 1265-1315), and his pupil Demetrios Triklinios (ca. 1280-1340). Their editions were the source for the printed editions of the 15th century. In 1534 the German scholar Joachim Camerarius published an edition with commentary. Camerarius was born in 1500 in Bamberg. He died in Leipzig in 1574. He held classical professorships at Nürnberg, Tübingen and Leipzig, and was one of the most significant representatives of Renaissance humanism in the Reformation. His interests were diverse and his productivity spectacular. 'His numerous editions of the Classics, without attaining the highest rank, are characterised by acumen en good taste. They include Homer, the Greek elegiac poets, Theocritus, Sophocles, Thucydides and Herodotus'. In critical acumen Camerarius 'holds one of the foremost places among the German scholars of the sixteenth century'. (J.E. Sandys, 'A history of classical scholarship', N.Y., 1964, p. 266/67) He also wrote poetry, produced biographies of famous contemporaries, and wrote on church history, theology and paedagogy. This work of Camerarius of 1556 contains a commentary to the seven plays of Sophocles. It offers also two Latin translations, of the Aias and the Electra, one 'ad verbum', and one more free. In the 'prolegomena' Camerarius discusses the intentions of the poet (De consilio autoris), the genre (De genere scripti), and biographic matters (De autore harum Tragoediarum). Each play is preceded by an extensive survey of the content (Argumentum). At the end is a mixed Greek and Latin index. On the last page a Greek poem of the humanist Karolos Outhenôbios (Utenhove) on the printer/scholar Oporinus. In the introductory letter Camerarius tells us that, knowing that Vitus Ortelius Winsemius had already published a Latin translation of the complete works of Sophocles (1546), he decided to offer a translation of only 2 plays, to explain his aim. 'Et existimo studiosis utriusque linguae hunc laborem nostrum ad proprii e puri sermonis cognitionem, nonnihil adiumenti esse allaturum'. (Epistola p. 4)) (Provenance: In old ink on flyleaf: 'Elucidarium hunc Sophocleum e manu amicissimi mei Pauli Ortelii.Plavensis ad invidiam usque munificâ accepi P.trachias (?) Spradlerij, 1638, Die 19 Decembris'; Much is uncertain concerning this provenance. Plavensis is 'from Plauen' a city in Sachsen. Ortelii seems legible, so is the first name of the receiver Spradler'. § On the front pastedown in ink: 'Ex Bibliotheca Scholae Grypeswaldensis', above this the oval stamp 'Lehrer-Bibliothek des Gymnasiums zu Greifswald'. § On the front pastedown in pencil: 'Sept. 1964', written by the Flemish linguist Walter Couvreur, 1914-1996, who was an Orientalist, and professor of Indoeuropean linguistics at the University of Gent. It indicates the date of aquisition. The place of acquisition he wrote on the flyleaf at the end: 'Zentralantiquariat, Leipzig') (Collation: a-z8; A-L8, M4) (Photographs on request)

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Book number: 130160

Catalogue: Old and Rare books

Keywords: (Oude Druk) (Rare Books) Camerarius Greek literature Griechische Literatur Latin translation Sophocles Swiss imprints Tragödie antike altertum antiquity tragedy

SOPHOCLES.

Tragédies grecques de Sophocle, traduites en françois, avec des notes critiques, & un examen de chaque piece selon les règles du Théatre. Par Monsieur D'Acier.

Paris, Chez Claude Barbin, 1693. Small 8vo. Frontispiece, (X),324 p. Vellum 16.5 cm (Ref: Hoffmann 3,428; Schweiger 1,298; Moss 2,609; Ebert 21521; Graesse 6/1,447; cf. Neue Pauly Suppl. 2, p. 554 for the edition of 1692) (Details: 5 thongs laced through the joints.The frontispiece depicts the tragic poet, in the background a scene on a stage. Title in red and black. Prose translation of the Oedipus Rex and the Electra. At the end of each play ca. 60 pages filled with 'remarques') (Condition: Small inkstain on the frontcover) (Note: The French scholar André Dacier, 1651-1722, was the first Frenchman to translate a Greek tragedy in 120 years! The latest translated tragedy dates from 1573, an 'Antigone' translation of J.-A. de Baif. During this period the Roman author Seneca was the only tragedian in the spotlight. At the end of the 17th century arose a new demand among men of letters for new translations of almost forgotten classical playwrights. The Parisian publisher Barbin brought in 1692 a French translation of the Poetics of Aristotle by André Dacier on the market, an obscure and difficult treatise on the Art of Poetry, the first philosophical treatise that focuses on literary theory, especially of tragedy, and that has exerted a tremendous and lasting influence on western literature. In the same year Barbin and Dacier published a French translation of two plays of Sophocles, the Oedipus Rex and the Electra, as a kind of companion volume to this Poetics translation. This Dacier makes clear right at the beginning of the preface: 'Aprés avoir expliqué la Poëtique d'Aristote, j'ai cru qu'il 'etoit necessaire de donner une traduction de quelques Tragedies des Grecs, afin qu'on pût voir en même tems la régle & l'exemple'. (leaf *2 recto)' The Oedipus Rex and the Electra are perfect works of art (rien de plus parfait) for the understanding of Aristotle's treatise. The translation of Sophocles's plays was published anonymously as: 'L'Oedipe et l'Electre de Sophocle. Tragédies Grecques. Traduites en Franc¸ois avec des remarques'. Our edition of 1693 is a reissue of this edition, with a slightly different title, now with the name of the translator, but remarkably enough omitting the names of the two plays presented. Most reference works only mention the 1692 edition) (Collation: pi1 (frontispiece), *6 (minus leaf *6); A-N12, O6) (Photographs on request)

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Book number: 120022

Catalogue: Old and Rare books

Keywords: (Oude Druk) (Rare Books) Aristoteles Aristotle Dacerius Greek literature Griechische Literatur Poetica Sophocles Sophokles Tragödie antike altertum antiquity de arte poetica poetics tragedy

STATIUS.

P. Papinii Statii Opera ex recensione et cum notis I. Frederici Gronovii.

Amsterdam (Amsterodami)., Typis Ludovici Elzevirii, Sumptibus Societatis, 1653. 16mo. (VIII),424 p. Overlapping vellum 12 cm (Ref: This edition is 'the most significant stage in the evolution of the printed text of the Thebaid before the late nineteenth century.' (Berlincourt, Classical quarterly, 2016, 66 (1), p. 376-383); Willems 1166; Bergman 2139; Rahir 1189; Copinger 4491; Schweiger 2,965; Dibdin 2,424; Fabricius/Ernesti 2,335; Moss 2,612; Ebert 21682: 'mit grossem Scharfblick und nach guten Hülfsmitteln verbessert') (Details: Engraved title: a battle scene from the Thebaid, the city of Thebes is in the background, the poet in front) (Condition: Vellum slightly soiled. Small owner's inscription on the title) (Note: His fluent and highly polished verse brought the Roman poet Publius Papinius Statius, ca. A.D. 45-96, to the court of the Roman emperor Domitianus. He is best known for his epic, the 'Thebaid', which tells the story of the civil war between the sons of Oedipus, Eteocles and Polynices, contesting power over the city of Thebes. The 'Achilleid', tells the story of the education of Achilles. Statius' 'Silvae' is a collection of 32 occasional poems addressed to his friends, celebrating their marriages etc. In his epic work there are frequent imitations of Vergil in word and thought. (OCD, 2nd e. p. 1011/12) § The Thebaid was extraordinary popular during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. In Dante Statius even ascends to heaven. The 'Thebaid' was used by Boccaccio and Chaucer, and there appeared adaptations in Irish, French and Italian. Also Statius' 'Silvae' enjoyed a vigorous afterlife, and set a standard for the Neolatin poets of the 16th and 17th century. Composing occasional poetry in imitation of Statius was a common pastime among humanist classicists, e.g. Heinsius, Scriverius, Meursius, and in England Milton and Ben Jonson. The works of Statius were ably edited by the Dutch classicist of German origin Johann Friedrich Gronov, or Gronovius, 1611-1671, He was the successor of Heinsius at the University of Leiden, and was influenced by Vossius, Grotius, Heinsius & Scriverius. His editions mark an epoch in the study of Livy, of Seneca, Tacitus & Gellius. His interest to the textual criticism of Latin poetry was due to the discovery of the Florentine MS of the tragedies of Seneca. In his riper years 'the acumen exhibited in his handling of prose is also exemplified in his treatment of the text of poets such as Phaedrus and Martial, Seneca and Statius'. (Sandys, History of Classical Scholarship, 2,321) As an editor and commentator Gronovius played a pivotal role in the history of the works of Statius. This small and light book of 1653 weighs only 120 grams, it is indeed 'pondus non magnum', but especially the notes are 'satis ponderosae', that is, really important. They fill merely 68 pages at the end of this volume, and of these pages the notes to the Thebaid fill only 41, and are concerned with little more than 200 passages. 'Their scope is almost entirely limited to the emendation of the text of Statius'. For the Thebaid Gronovius consulted at least 11 manuscripts. 'The place given to conjecture, though clearly subordinate, is by no means negligible. These notes often involve other aspects as well: Gronovius broad conception of emendation leads him to tackle various questions, whenever they lend support to his views. (.) In his eyes, the dignity of critical studies does not lie in emendation itself, but in the comprehensive knowledge of ancient languages and cultures in which emendation should always be grounded; such knowledge enables the scholar to get the author's genius and thus restore the text from inside'. (V. Berlincourt, 'In pondere non magno satis ponderosae.' Gronovius and the printed tradition of the Thebaid' in: 'The poetry of Statius', Leiden, Boston, Brill, 2008, p. 1-2. (Mnem. Suppl. 306). The Gronovius edition became during the 2 following centuries 'the undisputed foundation of almost every later edition until scholars at last began to base their work on a comprehensive study of the manuscript tradition, that is, until the second Teubner of Otto Müller in 1870'. (Berlincourt, p. 7.) Gronovius' work exercised a great influence over later editors and commentators. 'There is little to find fault with in Gronovius' critical method, as illustrated by his notes, though it is of course still conceived of as being mere emendation of the textus receptus; usually his discussions are well informed, his arguments sound, and his judgement balanced'. (Berlincourt, p. 10)) (Provenance: On the lower margin of the title we read the name of one 'I.N. Arntzenius', 'J.N. Arnstzenius' or F.N. Arntzenius') (Collation: *4, A-2C8, 2D4) (Photographs on request)

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Book number: 120167

Catalogue: Old and Rare books

Keywords: (Oude Druk) (Rare Books) Achilleid Achilleis Altertum Altertumswissenschaft Antike Antiquity Dichtkunst Latin literature Poesie Silvae Statius Sylvae Thebaid Thebais classical philology poetry römische Literatur

STEPHANUS, HENRICUS.

De latinitate falso suspecta, expostulatio Henrici Stephani. Lectori non metuenda in lat. metuenti./ Tu´ne pudore taces, quia barbarus esse vereris?/ Eia, metum & linguam solue, Latinus eris./ Eiusdem De Plauti Latinitate Dissertatio, & ad lectionem illius Progymnasma.

N.pl. (Geneva), Excudebat Henricus Stephanus, 1576. Small 8vo. (XVI),400 p. Modern vellum 15 cm An attack on Ciceronianism, the cult of the usage of Cicero as the only correct Latin (Ref: GLN-2585; Schreiber, Estiennes, n° 198; Brunet 2,1079; Graesse 2,507; Ebert 6974; Renouard p. 144: 1576,3) (Details: Printer's Olive tree device of the Stephanus family on the title, motto: 'Noli altum sapere', short for 'Noli altum sapere, sed time', in English 'Donot be high-minded, but fear'. (Epistola Beati Pauli ad Romanos 11,20) Edges dyed red) (Condition: Title slightly foxed; Old name on the title) (Note: De latinitate falso suspecta, a work of the French printer/scholar Henri Estienne, latinized as Henri Stephanus, 1528/31 - 1598, is a treatise on the Latin language, written four years after the Thesaurus Graecae linguae. 'This was an attack on Ciceronianism, the cult of the usage of Cicero as the only correct Latin, and as such it contributed to an argument that had been going on since the second half of the 15th century. Ciceronianism had its own dictionary, that of Mario Nizzoli (Nizolius), which had first apeared as Observationes in Ciceronem in 1535, documenting approximately 20,000 words; 50 or more further editions appeared under various titles in the next hundred years. (.) The Ciceronians, Henri argued, condemn certain Latin usages which they suppose to be modern Gallicisms. So, for instance, they censure the use of pausa, supposing it to be a modern formation from French pause - but it is to be found in the ancient fragmentary poets Ennius and Lucilius; a number of examples of its use by Plautus are given in the Latinae linguae thesaurus; Robert Estienne's edition of Plautus contains others; and so on. The cumulative effect was not only to show the weaknesses of a Ciceronianism untempered with the knowledge of other Latin texts, and particularly those written before the age of Cicero, but also to show the numerous parallels between Latin and French usage. 'This work', as Feugère pointed out, 'might, on account of the striking analogies between the two languages which it present, also be called a Traité de la conformité du français avec le latin'. So it might; and that suggests a reorientation of Henri's thought. No longer was he observing only the analogies between Greek and French. Now he was seeing those beween Latin and French and, more specifically, between non-Ciceronian Latin and French. And these analogies, he realized, did indicate genealogical filiation. This struck him particularly as he wrote the treatise on Plautus' Latin usage which is appended to the De latinitate falso suspecta: after commenting on his own affection for Plautus, he added: 'For sure, it is fitting that the French love the Latinity of Plautus more than any other people do, for in many respects, his speech has greater affinity with theirs than with anyone else's'. Henri was developing the theory that French may be descended from archaic Latin, and may preserve archaic features that had been rejected from formal written Latin by the time of Cicero'; a similar argument was being developed at the same time by the Italian grammarian Lodovico Castelvetro. Henri's argument was, like Castelvetro's, a development of that of the grammarian Jacques Dubois (Jacobus Sylvius) that French had, along with some Greek and Hebrew loan elements, a Latin basis that differed to some degree from classical written Latin - though Dubois did not go so far as to indentify this explicitly as vulgar Latin. Students of French antiquity such as François Hotman proposed in the 1570s and 1580s that French was 'a mixed language, resulting from the 'corruption' of Latin mixed with the language of the Gauls and then of the Franks. Henri's argument was more dramatic than theirs: he was not thinking in terms of corruption so much as of the continuation of a variety of Latin that had been spoken and written in the age of Plautus, and had lived on as a spoken variety through the Golden Age and the fall of the Roman Empire. Had he ever written De latinitate prisca in which he announced his intention of treating Plautine Latin more fully, he might have been able to pursue this point to good effect'. (J. Considine, 'Dictionaries in Early Modern Europe: Lexicography and the Making of Heritage', Cambridge 2008, p. 63/65) Henri Estienne was indeed way ahead of his time with his suggestion of the existence of a 'sermo cotidianus' in colloquiis familiaribus' (Praefatio p. *5 verso). Most Latin scholars of his time did not have an idea of what we understand today by Vulgar Latin. Scholars were imbibed by the artificial language of Latin literature, the Latin of the Vulgate and the Church Fathers, which one-sidedness prevented them to relate French words to Latin words, and to see in Latin the starting-point for French. Classical scholarship had to wait about 150 years before a clear recognition of Vulgar Latin emerged) (Provenance: Name on the title: 'Goulley') (Collation: *8, a-2B8) (Photographs on request)

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Book number: 120165

Catalogue: Old and Rare books

Keywords: (Oude Druk) (Rare Books) Estienne French French linguistics Latin linguistics Latin literature Stephanus Swiss imprints Vulgärlatein antike altertum antiquity catbiografie französiche Sprachwissenschaft history of classical scholarship lateinische Sprach

STRABO.

Strabonis Geographicorum lib. XVII. Olim, ut putatur, a Guarino Veronensi ac Gregorio Trifernate latinitate donati, iam denuo a Conrado Heresbachio LL. doctore, Principisque Iuliacensis consiliario ad fidem Graeci exemplaris authorumque, qui huc facere videbantur, recogniti, ac plerisque locis deintegro versi. Item Epitomae eorundem decem & septem de Geographia librorum, nunc primum de Graeco sermone in Latinum conversae, Hieronymo Gemusaeo, D. medico & philosopho interprete.

Basel (Basileae), Apud Ioan. Vualder, 1539. Folio. (LXXXVIII),549,(1 blank),(26 index) p. Calf 33 cm (Ref: VD16 S9347; Griechischer Geist aus Basler Pressen, 288; USTC 694729; Hoffmann 3,457/58; Ebert 21826; Adams S-1904; Graesse 6/1,506; Schweiger 1,304) (Details: Recently and expertly rebacked antique style: back with 6 raised bands & a morocco shield. Title with engraved architectural borders. Johann Walder's printer's mark on the title, it depicts a parrot sitting on an olive branch. On the verso of the last leaf a second version of this printer's mark, but bigger. Big woodcut initials at the beginning of the books) (Condition: Boards scratched and showing some small inkspots. Corners bumped & abraded. A few small wormholes in the leather of the upper board. A small stain on the title. Small wormhole in the blank outer margin of the first 24 leaves. 3 very small ink annotations. First & last leaves with a slight fold lengthwise. Woodcut bookplate the front pastedown. Old inscription on the verso of the front flyleaf) (Note: The Greek historian and geographer Strabo of Amaseia, 63 BC - ca. 20 AD, was like his example Polybius, an admirer of the Romans and their empire. He lived for some time in Rome and travelled over a great part of the known world. His historical work is lost. The greater part of his 17 books on geography however survived. He showed little interest in purely scientific matters, and more in moral lessons. The following table of content is borrowed from the OCD 2nd ed. p. 1017: 'Books 1-2: introductory. 1. Homer; Eratosthenes criticized. 2. Mathematical geography; criticism of Eratosthenes and Polybius, examination of Posidonius (especially zones); Eudoxus' voyages. Strabo's opinions on the earth; cartography on sphere and plane. 3. Spain, Isles of Sicily. 4. Gaul, Britain etc. 5-6. Italy, Sicily; the Roman empire. 7. North and East Europe, north Balkans (some is lost). 8-10. Greece (very antiquarian and mythological). 11. Euxine-Caspian etc., Taurus, Armenia. 12-14. Asia Minor (some mythology and history). 15. India, Persia. 16. Mesopotamia, Palestine, Ethiopian coasts, Arabia, 17. Egypt, Ethiopia, north Africa'. § The 'editio princeps' of the Greek text was published in 1516 by the Venetian printer Aldus Manutius. The first Latin translation, from the press of Schweynheym and Pannartz, dates from much earlier, from 1469. There was apparantly much demand for a Latin translation in the Renaissance. 'Griechischer Geist aus Basler Pressen' records 12 editions of Latin translations till 1539. 1523 saw a new Latin translation made by the German humanist and politician Konrad Heresbach, which was published in Basel. Konrad Heresbach, 1496-1576, was for a short time (1521) thanks to the mediation of his friend Erasmus professor of Greek of the University at Freiburg. Erasmus declared that he had never met a young man with such perfect knowledge of both Greek and Latin. (Basler Geist, p. 55) From 1523 onward Heresbach was involved in the politics of the Duchy of Cleve and Westphalia. From the title we learn, that Heresbach was the 'Geheimrat' of the 'princeps' of the Duchy of 'Juliacensis', and we should add 'Clivensis et Montensis' (Jülich, Kleve, Berg). In politics he tried, like Erasmus, to avoid a schism between the catholics and the protestants, and to reconcile the opposing parties. In his younger years Heresbach produced editions of several Greek authors, among them this translation of Strabo. In the preface of 1523, repeated in the edition of 1539, Heresbach declares that the translators of the earlier published translations were not Guarino Veronensis and Gregorio Trifernate, but that that translation tasted of (resipiscere) the Byzantine refugee scholar Theodorus Gazaeus. The reissue of the Latin translation of Heresbach of 1539 is preceded by a Latin translation of a not yet published summary of the 17 books of Strabo, the 'Strabonis Geographicorum Epitomae'. These 'epitomae' were translated by a scholar/medic (medicus et philosophus) from Basel, Hieronymus Gemusaeus, 1505-1543. He was well versed in Greek. In 1534 he was appointed professor of physics of the University at Basel, and from 1537 he was professor of Aristotelian logic. He translated several works of Aristotle, and produced also a commentary on his 'Analytica Posteriora'. (NDB 8,606)) (Provenance: This book has an interesting provenance, the keyword is 'Ducatus Juliacensis', or Duchy of Jülich, a city halfway Cologne and Maastricht. Heresbach, the translator of Strabo, is advertised on the title as being the 'consiliarius' of the 'princeps Juliacensis', that is 'Geheimer Rat' of the Duke of Jülich. He held this office of Councillor from 1535. It is possible that Heresbach gave a copy (this copy?) of his Strabo to the Duke? Now, we find on the verso of the front flyleaf the following inscription: 'Ihro Excellence U. Hofcanzler, Franz Melchior Herr von Wisser, 1703'. The noble family Von Wiser entered into the service of the Duke Palatine of the Pfalz Neuburg in the 17th century. Franz Melchior, born ca. 1645, who was elevated to Imperial Count (Reichsgraf) in 1702, was 'Excellence U. Hofcanzler', i.e. 'Geheimrat und Präsident' of Johann Wilhelm, the Duke Palatine of the Pfalz Neuburg. During the 'Jülich-Klevischen Erbfolgestreit' at the beginning of the 17th century, the region Jülich, Kleve, Berg came into the possession of the Duke Palatine (Pfalzgraf) of Neuburg. Not only the region, but of course also the court library of the princes/dukes of Jülich. Thus this book written by Heresbach, the 'Geheimrat' of the duke of Jülich, may have become the property of the 'Geheimrat' Franz Melchior von Wiser, chancelor of the Duke Palatine of Neuburg, who was also the ruler of Jülich. § On the front pastedown the oval woodcut armorial bookplate of the next owner, the son of Franz Melchior: 'Ferdinand Andreas S(acri) R(omani) I(mperii) Comes de Wiser'. Ferdinand Andreas, 1677-1755, inherited this book, but also the title of 'Reichsgraf', and was like his father an influential diplomat. This book must once have been in the library of the big mansion of the counts of Wiser at Leuterhausen, which was built by Ferdinand Andreas. (The sources for 'Von Wiser' are the informative lemmata 'Ferdinand von Wiser' and 'Pfalz Neuburg' in Wikipedia, and also Zedler Band 57, p. 650) § There is however something strange with the entry concerning Franz Melchior von Wiser. It is dated 1703. Franz Melchior died however, according to Zedler, the earliest source we could find, on the 23rd of November 1702, at 7 o'clock in the evening. It is possible that the person who wrote this inscription in this book made a mistake. It is also possible that Zedler made a mistake, which all later historians seem to repeat. We found on the internet a source, the only one, which seems to indicate that Franz Melchior was still alive in 1704. The source is a manuscript of the 'Sammlung Ludwig', on the front pastedown of which has been pasted the printed bookplate of Ferdinand Andreas, below which has been written: 'Ihro Exellence fl. Hofkanzler Franz Melchior von Wiser, 1704'. In the accompanying note it is explained that Franz Melchior died in 1707. (Die Handschriften der Sammlung Ludwig, Band 2, 272, Köln, 1982) More research is needed here. § In the front flyleaf has been blindstamped: 'Library of Ruth and Walter Middelmann'. On the internet we found only one 'Ruth Middlemann', living in Capetown, South Africa, an expert on the national plant 'Protea', better known as 'suikerbos', or 'suikerbossie'. Since we bought this book in South Africa, this woman must have been the previous owner) (Collation: a4, b-g6, a-z6, A-Z6, Aa-Bb6) (Photographs on request) (Heavy book, may require extra shipping costs)

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Book number: 98204

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Keywords: (Oude Druk) (Rare Books) Altertum Altertumswissenschaft Antike Antiquity Geographie German imprints Greek literature Griechische Literatur Latin translation only Strabo Swiss imprints classical philology geography klassische Philologie

SUETONIUS.

Cajus Suetonius Tranquillus, ad optimorum exemplarium fidem castigatus.

Leiden (Lugduni Batavorum), Apud S. et J. Luchtmans, 1767. 12mo. (VI),408 p. Vellum 14 cm (Ref: Schweiger 2,980; Ebert; 21938) (Details: The frontispiece depicts the author at a desk, having a book before him; he seems to discuss with an emperor (Trajan or Hadrian). In the background two rows with busts of emperors) (Condition: Binding age-toned and slightly soiled. Paper yellowing. One gathering loosening. Some small ink marks) (Note: The Roman historian Suetonius, born c. 69 A.D, is the most influential and best known biographer in the Latin language. He was appointed under the emperors Hadrian and Trajan to the secretarial posts of a studiis, a bibliothecis, and ab epistulis of the palace administration, jobs that gave him access to the imperial archives. His Lives of the Emperors De vita Caesarum offers the biographies of 12 emperors, from Caesar, the founder of the imperial line, to Domitian. 'Suetonius, like Plutarch, believed that a person's character could be revealed in small and insignificant details'. He 'organized his Lives by topics (per species) rather than chronologically' (The Classical Tradition, Cambr. Mass. 2010, p. 912/13). Beyond simplicity he has no stylistic pretentions. He quotes verbatim from documents he knew, and shows critical ability. 'The great number of scurrilous anecdotes in most of the lives may be due to the nature of his sources'. (OCD, 2nd ed. p. 1020/1) § Suetonius was read in the Middle Ages. Einhard wrote a biography of Charlemagne along the lines of a Life of Suetonius. From the Renaissance onward he was neglected, until the great edition of 1672 by Graevius. Gibbon praised this Roman historian for his strict dedication to historical truth. Nowadays 'historians of Rome take him more seriously than do literary critics'. (The Classical Tradition, Cambr. Mass., 2010, p. 913) § In the short preface to this edition of 1767 the publisher explains that he has noticed a demand for a handy pocket-Suetonius by schoolboys and men of letters (eruditis). He mentions three available scholarly editions, all excellent, that of Burmannus, of Ernesti and of Oudendorp. He compared (inter se comparatis), he goes on, the text of these three editions, and concludes that the best text to follow is of course that of Oudendorp of 1751 (Oudendorpiam omnium accuratissime textum constitutum habere). This choice does not come as a surprise, for Luchtmans was also the publisher of the 1751 edition of Oudendorp. § The Dutch classicist Frans van Oudendorp, 1696-1761, is called by Sandys 'the last of the great Latinists of the third age of scholarship'. (History of Classical scholarship' 2,454) He was a student at Leiden of Jacobus Gronovius, Jacobus Perizonius and Petrus Burmannus Sr, and in 1740 he was appointed professor of history and rhetoric at his own University. He produced a series of important editions of Latin classics, of Julius Sequens, Lucanus, Fronto, Caesar and Apuleius. (Van der Aa 14, 267/68) In the preface of his Suetonius of 1751 Oudendorp declares that he is not a devotee of any text in particular, (nulli editioni addictus), but that he chose to follow the editions published by Graevius (1672, 1691, 1697 and 1702) and by Gronovius (1698), and that he followed his own judgement. He consulted also 'haud sine fructu' several manuscripts for 'variae lectiones') (Collation: pi3, A-P12, R10, S2) (Photographs on request)

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Book number: 120449

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SYMMACHUS.

Q. Aurelii Symmachi V.C.P.V et Cos. Ord. Epistolarum ad diversos libri X. Ex nova recensione Joh. Philippi Parei. Accesserunt etiam Electa Symmachiana, cum indice. (Bound with 2:) Calligraphia Symmachiana: in qua omnes phrases, & formulae elegantiores, quotquot exstant in gravissimo authore Q. Aurelio Symmacho Praef. Urb. In gratiam & usum Philologiae studiosorum, inprimis eorum, qui Principibus ab Epistolis esse cupiunt, per certos titulos locorum communium colliguntur, ac disponuntur, studio & opera Joh. Philippi Parei. (Bound with 3:) Electa Symmachiana: in quibus quicquid rerum memorabilium, antiquitatisque Romanae in gravissimo authore Q. Aurelio Symmacho Praef. Urb. continentur, sub certos titulos reales locorum communium refertur. Studio & opera Joh. Philippi Parei. (Bound with 4:) Lexicon Symmachianum. (...) Ad editionem, quae prodiit ex nova recensione Joh. Philippi Parei.

Neustadt (Neapoli Nemetum), Impensis Joh. Caroli Unckelii (librarii Francofurtensis), excudebat Heinricus Starckius, 1617. 8vo. 4 volumes in 1: 486; 325,(11 index); 101,(7 index),(4 blank); 272 (recte 270) p. Contemporary calf. 17.5 cm (Ref: VD17 23:242009B: (vol. 1 & 3); VD17 3:314636G (vol. 2); VD17 3:314634S (vol. 3); VD17 23:242011X (vol. 4); Schweiger 2,991: Vollständige Exx. dieser Ausgabe finden sich sehr selten; Brunet 5,612; Graesse 6/1,539; Ebert 22078) (Details: Back with 4 raised bands. Boards with blind ruled borders. First title in red and black. Woodcut printer's mark on that title, depicting Samson between two pillars; Samson died according to Judges 16:30 when he grasped two pillars of the Temple of Dagon, and 'bowed himself with all his might'. (Judges 16:30) The motto reads: Nostra Fortitudo Nomen Domini. This convolute lacks, according to VD17, the 7 page Q. Aurelii Symmachi Vita of Jacques Godefroy. Ebert remarks that this short vita is usually lacking. The titlepage of the last volume bears erroneously the year 1517) (Condition: Binding scuffed, and worn at the extremities. Corners bumped. Both pastdowns are detached: the binder used a manuscript music sheet for the endpapers. The music and the accompanying text, in English, seem liturgic) (Note: The Roman nobleman Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, ca. 340 - ca. 402 AD, was a prominent civil servant, and became the most famous and admired orator of his day. Fragments of his speeches survive. H.J. Rose may call his oratory empty, but an eulogy that Symmachus composed for the emperor Theodosius, after he had sided with the usurpator Maximus, once saved his life. And with his oratory this pagan politician was considered to be the most prominent opponent of Christianity. When Gratianus ordered by imperial edict the removal of the altar of Victoria from the Senate building of Rome he pleaded for the repeal of the edict. Of historic importance is the third letter in the tenth book of this collection of letters in which Symmachus asked for the restoration of this altar. It made a great impression, it is said, but he was defeated largely through the efforts of the bishop of Milan, Ambrosius, ca. 339-397 AD. The bishop persuaded the emperor to neglect the plea of this leader of the Roman aristocracy for the restoration of the altar. This was the last battle between Christianity and the other pagan religions of antiquity. The two episcopal letters about this 'cause célèbre' which Ambrosius addressed to the Emperor have been added here at the end of the letters of Symmachus. The collection of letters is arranged in ten books, and contains some 900 letters, addressed to the leading persons of the period. § The Latin text of this correspondence was edited by the classicist Johann Philipp Pareus, 1576-1648, one of the most laborious grammarians Germany ever produced. His best work was done at Neustadt, where he was Rector of the local school from 1610 till 1623. Pareus did much for Plautine scholarship. He was also a Symmachus specialist. Pareus published in 1628 a second, and in 1642 in Frankfurt a third edition) (Provenance: The provenance of this book is probably English. The endpapers are the remnants of an English music sheet) (Collation: A-2G8, 2H4; A-X8; A-G8 (leaves G7 & G8 blank); A-R8) (Photographs on request)

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Book number: 120318

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Keywords: (Oude Druk) (Rare Books) Briefe Epistulae Latin literature Letters Spätantike Symmachus antike altertum antiquity late antiquity römische Literatur

TACITUS.

C. Corneli Taciti Quae exstant opera. Recensuit J.N. Lallemand.

Paris (Parisiis), Apud Desaint & Saillant, (.) typis J. Barbou, 1760. 12mo. 3 volumes: XXIV,444; (VI),480; 456 p., 3 frontispieces. Mottled calf. 16 cm (Ref: Schweiger 2,1004: 'L.'s Noten sind von Werth'; Dibdin 2,455: 'one of the most beautiful and correct of all his classics'; Moss 2,645: 'A pleasing and accurate little edition'; Graesse 6/2,10: 'Jolie edition dans laquelle le texte d'Ernesti (of 1752) a ete corrigé à l'aide d'un manuscript de Paris'; Ebert 22175; Brunet 5,636: 'Bon texte') (Details: Backs with 2 shields, and gilt with fleurettes. Edges of the boards and the bookblocks also gilt. Boards with triple fillet gilt borders. Marbled endpapers. The frontispiece of the first volume, designed by Ch. Eisen and executed by L. Lempereur depicts Tacitus in his study; Tacitus looks at a bust of Agricola, his father in law. The second frontispiece depicts Messalina, the wife of the emperor Claudius; the third Galba. Barbou's woodcut printer's mark on the three titles, depicting an old man who stands in the shade of a vine-entwined elmtree, symbolising the symbiotic relationship between scholar and publisher. The motto is: 'Non solus'. Three nice engravings in the text) (Condition: Bindings scuffed, especially at the extremities. Corners bumped. Two joints are splitting. Front joint of volume three is cracking. Old ink inscription on the front flyleaf of volume one) (Note: The Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus offered ammunition for many intellectual and political battles in 16th and 17th century Europe. The turmoil caused by the emerging new monarchies in England, France en Spain, civil and religious wars in Italy and Germany, and the plague, made Tacitus' account of the state of the early Roman Empire increasingly topical and relevant. The debate Tacitus provoked in intellectual circles was of course on Roman history, but also on literary style, in Latin and the vernacular, but more so on historical and political thought. Tacitus ideas were not original, but he brought them in a forceful lapidary way, oneliners ready for the use in debate. Tacitus became in a corrupted world 'the one true guide for those involved in the awful revolution of modern times: he "teaches well the mode of life under tyrants, just as he teaches tyrants how to establish tyranny'' '. (The Classical Tradition, Cambr. Mass., 2010, p. 921) The French humanist scholar Muretus (Marc Antoine Muret, 1526-1585) declared that 'Tacitus' descriptions of lost liberty, failed revolutions, vicious civil wars, and mad emperors amounted to a theater of our time'. (Op. cit., ibid.) The French encyclopedists of the 18th century 'turned Tacitus into an enlightened enemy of obscurantist princes. This is the Tacitus, wise and mild, who prevailed in Europe immediately before the French revolution'. (R. Ash editor, 'Tacitus', Oxford, 2012, p. 429) In the preface to this Tacitus edition of 1760 the French scholar Nicolas Lallemand acknowledges that he used for his work the editions of Lipsius, Ryckius, Ernesti, and especially the edition of J. Gronovius that was published in Leiden in 1721; he was advised, he tells, by Claudius Capperonerius, or Claude Capperonnier, custos of the Royal Library, and 'Regius linguae Graecae professor'. Lallemand's text contains the readings of some manuscripts of the Royal Library, especially of those which coincide with the 'editio princeps'. Worldcat records 20 reissues of Lallemand's edition between 1760 and 1832) (Provenance: On the front pastedown of all three volumes the armorial bookplate of G.C.J. Vosmaer. Gualtherus Carel Jacob Vosmaer, 1854 - 1916, was a Dutch zoologist. He was the son of the Dutch author Carel Vosmaer, who produced a successful translation of Homer's Ilias and Odyssea) (Collation: pi1, a12, A-S12, T6; pi2, A-T12, V-X6; pi2, A-S12, T-V6) (Photographs on request)

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Book number: 120324

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Keywords: (Oude Druk) (Rare Books) Latin literature Roman history Tacitus römische Geschichte römische Literatur

TACITUS.

C. Cornelius Tacitus, accurante Matthia Berneggero.

Strassburg, (Argentorati), Ediderunt Haeredes Lazari Zezneri, 1638. 8vo. (XVIII,1123,(1 blank)) p. Vellum 17.5 cm (Ref: VD17 23:249104Z; Schweiger 2,1002; Dibdin 2,452; Moss 2,643; Graesse 6/2 9; Fabricius/ Ernesti 2,398) (Details: Fine contemporary vellum. 6 thongs laced through the joints. Engraved title, depicting an altar, left of which stands a Roman emperor, right a German warrior; on the surface of the altar the text 'Aeternitati', for Eternity; just above the altar hangs the globe, upon which stands an eagle with spread wings. This scene seems a combination of two Roman coins. It was perhaps made after the verso side of a coin struck by Constantine the Great in Trier in 321 A.D.; on this coin there is however no eagle; a scene consisting of a globe on which an eagle stands, is to be seen on a denarius of Caracalla, struck after 217 A.D.; this old eagle-and-globe symbol adorns since 1883 the escutcheon of the United States Marine Corps. This frontispiece is purely propagandistic in its presentation. It depicts not so much the struggle between the Romans and the German tribes, that Tacitus tells about. It rather symbolizes the claim of the Holy Roman Empire (Sacrum Romanum Imperium, Heiliges Römisches Reich), that it was the legitimate successor 'for eternity' of the Roman Empire. The imperial banner of the Holy Roman Empire depicted a black eagle) (Condition: A bookplate has been pasted on the front pastedown. A small piece of the blank margin of preliminary leaf a8 has been torn off, without loss of text, and was not successfully repaired. The lower margin of some gatherings is faintly waterstained) (Note: The Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus offered ammunition for many intellectual and political battles in 16th and 17th century Europe. The turmoil caused by the emerging new monarchies in England, France en Spain, civil and religious wars in Italy and Germany, and the plague, made Tacitus' account of the state of the early Roman Empire increasingly topical and relevant. The debate Tacitus provoked in intellectual circles was of course on Roman history, but also on literary style, in Latin and the vernacular, but more so on historical and political thought. Tacitus ideas were not original, but he brought them in a forceful lapidary way, oneliners ready for the use in debate. Tacitus became in a corrupted world 'the one true guide for those involved in the awful revolution of modern times: he "teaches well the mode of life under tyrants, just as he teaches tyrants how to establish tyranny'' '. (The Classical Tradition, Cambr. Mass., 2010, p. 921) The French humanist scholar Muretus (Marc Antoine Muret, 1526-1585) declared that 'Tacitus' descriptions of lost liberty, failed revolutions, vicious civil wars, and mad emperors amounted to a theater of our time'. (Op. cit., ibid.) § The editor of this Tacitus edition, the German classical scholar Matthias Bernegger, 1582-1640, was the founder of the School of Roman history at Strassburg, where a protestant university was founded in 1621. The model of this school was the Flemish editor of Tacitus, Justus Lipsius, 1547-1606, who was one of the most learned men of his day. His great Tacitus editions placed and still places him in the front rank of classical scholarship. This Tacitus edition of Bernegger includes 'many excellent notes and emendations due to his pupil and son-in-law Johannes Casper Freinsheim (1608-1660), the foremost representative of this school'. (Sandys,J.E., 'A History of Classical Scholarship', N.Y., 1964, p. 367) The edition offers also a 144 page treatise 'Ioannis Freinshemii expositio locorum cornelianorum intactorum interpretibus, aut secus acceptorum' and an elaborate and exemplary 272 page 'Index in Tacitum confectus industria et labore Melchiore Freinshemii'. § Lipsius praised Tacitus as a teacher of vital political lessons. In his Politica (Politicorum sive Civilis doctrinae libri sex, 1589) 'a brilliant textbook in mosaic form, composed of passages from the ancients, far more of them taken from Tacitus than from any other source- Lipsius showed how to make a version of Tacitus' analysis of empire fit the practical needs of the modern governing classes'. (The Classical Tradition, Cambr. Mass., 2010, p. 921) Bernegger, professor of History from 1613 till his death in 1640, produced a revised and augmented edition of Lipsius' Politica, which was published posthumously in Strassburg in 1642. It saw several reissues in that city and in Frankfurt. Bernegger was from his appointment in Strassburg in 1613 the starting point of the so-called Lipsian tradition, an historic-political school of thought in late humanist philology, which exercised well into the 18th century influence on the German protestant universities of Jena, Altorf, Marburg and Strassburg ('Justus Lipsius, Politica: Six Books of Politics Or Political Instruction', Edited with translation and introduction by J. Waszink, Assen 2004, p. 194/95) Bernegger lectured on Lipsius' Politica, and like Lipsius he considered Tacitus' view on politics the best guiding principle leading to 'prudentia' in the turmoil of his time) (Provenance: On the front pastedown a bookplate: 'Ex libris Bibliothecarii Paul Scherrer - Bylund', with the text: 'Vita fluit pilumque ferit rapidum, tamen astra lucent in tenebris clarius atque manent' and also its translation: 'Unser Leben verrint und Pfeile verwunden doch immer, leuchten je dunkler es wird, heller die Sterne für uns'. The Swiss librarian and author Paul Scherrer-Bylund, 1908-1992, was 'Direktor der Zentralbibliothek Zürich (Universitätsbibliothek) und . Direktor der Bibliothek der Eidgenössischen Technischen Hochschule (ETH) Zürich. Schrieb u.a.: "Von der Macht und der Sendung des Buchdrucks" (1961), "Die Stellung des Bibliothekars in der modernen Gesellschaft" (1967), "Gottfried Keller - Wildling des Glaubens" (1969). (source: the German version of Who's Who) (Collation: a8, b2 (minus b2); A-4A8, 4B2) (Photographs on request)

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Book number: 120187

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Keywords: (Oude Druk) (Rare Books) Latin literature Lipsius Roman history Tacitus antike altertum antiquity römische Geschichte römische Literatur

TACITUS.

C. Cornelius Tacitus, accurante Matthia Berneggero.

Strassburg (Argentorati), Ediderunt Georgius Andreas Dolhopfius & Johannes Eberhardus Zetznerus, 1664. 8vo. (XVIII,1122,(2 blank)) p. Overlapping vellum 17 cm (Ref: VD17 547:695101K; Schweiger 2,1002; Dibdin 2,452; Moss 2,643; Graesse 6/2 9; Fabricius/Ernesti 2,398) (Details: 6 thongs laced through the joints. Engraved title, depicting an altar, left of which stands a Roman emperor, right a German warrior; on the surface of the altar the text 'Aeternitati', for Eternity; just above the altar hangs the globe, upon which stands an eagle with spread wings. This scene seems a combination of two Roman coins. It was perhaps made after the verso side of a coin struck by Constantine the Great in Trier in 321 A.D.; on this coin there is however no eagle; a scene consisting of a globe on which an eagle stands, is to be seen on a denarius of Caracalla, struck after 217 A.D. This frontispiece is purely propagandistic in its presentation. It depicts not so much the struggle between the Romans and the German tribes, that Tacitus tells about. It rather symbolizes the claim of the Holy Roman Empire (Sacrum Romanum Imperium, Heiliges Römisches Reich), that it was the legitimate successor 'for eternity' of the Roman Empire. The imperial banner of the Holy Roman Empire depicted a black eagle) (Condition: Vellum age-tanned and slightly worn & spotted. Head of the spine chafed. Front & rear joint starting to split for 1 cm. Some old ink underlinings. Paper browning. Bookplate on the front pastdown) (Note: The Roman historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus offered ammunition for many intellectual and political battles in 16th and 17th century Europe. The turmoil caused by the emerging new monarchies in England, France en Spain, civil and religious wars in Italy and Germany, and the plague, made Tacitus' account of the state of the early Roman Empire increasingly topical and relevant. The debate Tacitus provoked in intellectual circles was of course on Roman history, but also on literary style, in Latin and the vernacular, but more so on historical and political thought. Tacitus ideas were not original, but he brought them in a forceful lapidary way, oneliners ready for the use in debate. Tacitus became in a corrupted world 'the one true guide for those involved in the awful revolution of modern times: he "teaches well the mode of life under tyrants, just as he teaches tyrants how to establish tyranny'' '. (The Classical Tradition, Cambr. Mass., 2010, p. 921) The French humanist scholar Muretus (Marc Antoine Muret, 1526-1585) declared that 'Tacitus' descriptions of lost liberty, failed revolutions, vicious civil wars, and mad emperors amounted to a theater of our time'. (Op. cit., ibid.) § The editor of this Tacitus edition, the German classical scholar Matthias Bernegger, 1582-1640, was the founder of the School of Roman history at Strassburg, where a protestant university was founded in 1621. The model of this school was the Flemish editor of Tacitus, Justus Lipsius, 1547-1606, who was one of the most learned men of his day. His great Tacitus editions placed and still places Lipsius in the front rank of classical scholarship. Our Tacitus edition of 1664 is an exact reissue of Bernegger's Tacitus, that was first published in in Strassburg in 1638. It includes 'many excellent notes and emendations due to his pupil and son-in-law Johannes Casper Freinsheim (1608-1660), the foremost representative of this school'. (Sandys,J.E., 'A History of Classical Scholarship', N.Y., 1964, p. 367) The edition offers also a 144 page treatise 'Ioannis Freinshemii expositio locorum cornelianorum intactorum interpretibus, aut secus acceptorum' and an elaborate and exemplary 272 page 'Index in Tacitum confectus industria et labore Melchiore Freinshemii'. § Lipsius praised Tacitus as a teacher of vital political lessons. In his Politica (Politicorum sive Civilis doctrinae libri sex, 1589) 'a brilliant textbook in mosaic form, composed of passages from the ancients, far more of them taken from Tacitus than from any other source - Lipsius showed how to make a version of Tacitus' analysis of empire fit the practical needs of the modern governing classes'. (The Classical Tradition, Cambr. Mass., 2010, p. 921) Bernegger, professor of History, from 1613 till his death in 1640, produced a revised and augmented edition of Lipsius' Politica, which was published posthumously in Strassburg in 1642. It saw several reissues in that city and in Frankfurt. Bernegger was from his appointment in Strassburg in 1613 the starting point of the so-called Lipsian tradition, an historic-political school of thought in late humanist philology, which exercised well into the 18th century influence on the German protestant universities of Jena, Altorf, Marburg and Strassburg ('Justus Lipsius, Politica: Six Books of Politics Or Political Instruction', Edited with translation and introduction by J. Waszink, Assen 2004, p. 194/95) Bernegger lectured on Lipsius' Politica, and like Lipsius he considered Tacitus' view on politics the best guiding principle leading to 'prudentia' in the turmoil of his time.) (Provenance: Bookplate: 'Bibliothek Oberherrlingen, E.M. 1839'. Eugen von Maucler, 1783-1859, was a German politician and bibliophile. His library was located at 'Schloss Oberherrlingen' near Ulm; see for Eugen von Maucler, his library, a portrait, and a picture of the bookplate: Wikipaedia)(Collation: a8 (minus leaf a8), b2; A-4A8, 4B2 (leaf 4B2 blank)) (Photographs on request)

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Book number: 120198

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Keywords: (Oude Druk) (Rare Books) Germania Latin literature Roman history Tacitus antike altertum antiquity römische Geschichte römische Literatur

TACITUS.

C. Cornelius Tacitus, Jaarboeken en Historien, ook zyn Germanië, en 't leeven van J. Agricola, in 't Hollandsch vertaalt door den Heer Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft.

Amsterdam, By Hendrik Boom, en de Weduwe van Dirk Boom, 1684. Folio. (XL),528,(4),11;(72) p., 14 engraved portraits & 8 folding historical plates. Calf 33 cm (Ref: STCN ppn 171376293; Geerebaert 137,5,II; OiN p. 359; Schweiger 2,1028) (Details: Back gilt and with 6 raised bands. Boards with double fillet gilt borders. Title in red & black. Woodcut printer's mark on the title, depicting Ceres and Flora under a palmtree (Boom means tree); the banner at their feet reads: I.V.S. A.W. H.D.B., which means: 'Johannes Van Someren, Abraham Wolfgangk, Hendrik en Dirk Boom'. Woodcut initials. 14 magnificent full-page portraits of Roman emperors engraved by A. Vaillandt, and 8 double-page battle and rural scenes engraved by I. Mulder) (Condition: Binding scuffed and scratched. Back rubbed and damaged at the head and tail. Corners bumped. Front pastedown stained, slightly damaged and with a bookplate. Faint name on the front flyleaf, small hole in somewhat soiled front flyleaf. Interior fine) (Note: The Dutch Renaissancist poet, playwright and historian Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, 1581-1647, may be considered the founder of the literature of Holland's Golden Age. His style is not easily accessible, and often shows a sentence structure derived from Latin. Around 1630 he started with his translation into Dutch of the works of the Roman historian Tacitus, 56-117 A.D. These translations of the 'Annales', 'Historiae', 'Germania' and the 'Agricola' were posthumely published in 1684 by his able biographer Geeraert Brandt, 1626-1685. Hooft, in who the genius of Tacitus had arisen, according to Brandt, was not satisfied with the previously published translations, and decided to make a translation of his own which suited the style of the Roman historian better. Hooft however never found time to publish his translation. In the preface Brandt tells that the manuscript with the translations came into his hands by chance, long after the death of Hooft. He then decided to rescue them from oblivion, and to publish them, more than 50 years after Hooft had begun to translate Tacitus. In the same year the firm of Boom brought also a cheaper and smaller quarto-edition on the market. According to Geerebaert, this folio-edition was printed first) (Provenance: On the front pastedown a woodcut bookplate of J.J.A. Poley and F. Poley-Scheele, made by the Dutch graphic artist Johan Melse (See: Johan Schwencke in 'Den Gulden Winckel 31 (1932), p. 29-30) Johannes Adriaan Poleij, 1889-1951, married Francina Scheele, born 1891, in 1915 in the Dutch city of Goes) (Collation: (a)-(c)4, (d)-(g)2; A-3N-4, 3O-6, 3P-3S4, 3T6, 3V-3X4; A-S2 (leaf S2 verso blank)) (Photographs on request) (Heavy book, may require extra shipping costs)

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Book number: 155667

Catalogue: Old and Rare books

Keywords: (Oude Druk) (Rare Books) Dutch imprints Dutch translations Latin literature P.C. Hooft P.C. Hooft. G. Brandt Roman history Tacitus antike altertum antiquity römische Geschichte römische Literatur

TERENTIUS.

Pub. Terentii Comoediae sex. Ex recensione Heinsiana.

Leiden (Lugd. Batavorum), Ex officina Elzeviriana, 1635. 12mo. (XLVIII),304,(8 index) p., engraved title. Calf. 12 cm An excellent edition, an attractive binding, tasteful typography (Ref: Willems 433; Rahir 425; Berghman 2151; Schweiger 2,1065; Dibdin 2,472/73; Moss 2,671/72: 'one of the most beautiful'; Brunet 5,715/16; Graesse 6/1,59; Ebert 22507) (Details: Nice binding. Back ruled blind, and with 4 raised bands. Boards with blind double and triple fillet borders, and fleurettes. All three edges of the boards gilt. Edges of the bookblock dyed red. Title engraved by Cornelis Cl. Du(y)send, it depicts the Roman general Scipio Africanus in armour, while putting the pilleus, a felt hat, which was given to a slave at his enfranchisement as a sign of freedom, on the head of a half naked woman called 'Venus Afra', at her feet sits Amor. Since Terentius mentions Venus only once and incidentally, and Scipio didnot manumit the Carthagian Terentius, this scene must refer to the liberation of the African Muse, in the figure of Venus, and hence the freeing of the Muse of the African Terentius, by the conqueror of Hannibal and Carthage, Scipio Africanus. Woodcut portrait of Terence on p. *8 verso. The Elsevier brothers printed, according to Willems, 5 issues of this edition in 1635. This is the first and best one. 'La plus belle et la plus estimée est incontestablement la première, qui est un chef-d'oeuvre typographique'. The two Elsevier brothers, with the same refugee background as Heinsius, gradually brought their typographical artistry to a peak, and their production of this Terence edition of 1635 was the first of a series of technical masterpieces. (P.R. Selin, 'Daniel Heinsius and Stuart England', Leiden/London 1968, p. 10) (Condition: Some slight wear to the extremes. An old paper label on lowest compartment of the back. Backstrip slightly beginning to give way at the joint between the head of the spine and the lower board) (Note: The late antique grammarian Aelius Donatus (4th century A.D) wrote not only a commentary on the plays of the Roman playwright Publius Terentius Afer, ca. 190-159 B.C., but also a short biography, in which he tells that Terentius was born in the Roman province Africa and that he came as a slave in the houshold of the senator Terentius Lucanus. He adopted his name when he was manumitted. Terentius is the author of 'fabulae palliatae', which means 'plays in Greek cloths'. He adapted Greek plays, especially those of the Greek playwright Menander, to the taste of the Romans. Six of his comedies have survived. For later generations he became a model for elegant Latin. His style was closer to everyday conversation than Plautus', an earlier contemporary comic playwright, whose style was more extravagant. He was quoted by Cicero, Horace, Persius and the Church Fathers. § Ever since antiquity Terentius lived also a long and influential life in schools as a model for Latin language and rhetoric. In the Middle Ages he was read for his moral sentences. He was imitated by the German abbess Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim (ca. 935 - ca. 973) in her 'Dramenbuch', with which she wanted to create a Christian alternative for the pagan comedies. With the coming of humanism Terentius enjoyed a renaissance in the classroom and on stage. Scholars rejected the 'barbaries' of Medieval Latin and chose the elegance of Cicero and Terentius as their model. In his 'De ratione studii' (1511) the Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus, 1466-1536, encouraged the study of Terentius for his language and moral utility. 'Among Latin writers, who is more valuable as a standard of language than Terence? He is pure, concise, and closer to everyday speech and, by the very nature of his subject matter, is also congenial to youth'. (The Classical Tradition, 2010, p. 930) Erasmus published later in life, in 1532, an edition of Terentius' plays. Erasmus seems to have learned the whole of Terentius by heart in his youth. He admired the author for his 'latinitas' and his civilized humor. His ideal as a humanist and pedagogue was the creation of better men with the help of the classics. He held the opinion that schoolboys should read Terentius over and over again. Thus they could master a pure Latin style, and learn at the same time good morals. § The Dutch classical scholar of Flemish origin Daniel Heinsius, 1580-1655, who enjoyed international fame as an editor of more than 20 classical texts, theorist of literary criticism, historian and neolatin poet, was professor of Poetics at the University of Leiden since 1603, extraordinarius Greek since 1605. After the death of J. Scaliger, to whose inner circle he belonged, he held the chair of Greek, from 1609 till 1647. His Terentius edition, first published Amsterdam 1618, saw 15 reissues during his lifetime. Terentius, whose comedies were considered useful for a moral education, was, according to Heinsius, the best classical dramatist in conveying appropriately comic characters. 'Longe autem omnibus palmam hac in parte Terentius praeripuit. (.) Qui prae reliiquis scriptoribus decorum intellexit'. (D. Heinsius, 'De Tragoediae constitutione', 1611, p. 163) The text of Terence is preceded by Heinsius' famous treatise 'Ad Horatii de Plauto & Terentio judicium, dissertatio', first published in 1618) (Collation: *8, 2*12, 3*4; A-N12) (Photographs on request)

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Book number: 120319

Catalogue: Old and Rare books

Keywords: (Oude Druk) (Rare Books) Heinsius Komödie Latin literature Terence Terentius antike altertum antiquity comedy römische Literatur

TERENTIUS.

Publii Terentii Comoediae sex, ad optimas editiones nunc demum emendatae. Accedunt notae Joh. Min-Ellii, et index absolutissimus.

Amsterdam (Amstelaedami), Apud R. & G. Wetstenios, 1721. 12mo. (XVI, including frontispiece),540,(42 index),(2 blank) p. Vellum. 14.5 cm (Ref: STCN ppn 30413497X; Schweiger 2,1067; Graesse 6/2,59) (Details: Five thongs laced through both joints. The frontispiece, depicts a scene from one of the plays, the return of an abandoned child. Printer's device on the title: a burin being sharpened on a whetstone, around it the motto: 'Terar dum prosim') (Condition: Terentius written in ink on both boards and on the spine. Some small and faint ink annotations (18th century)) (Note: The late antique grammarian Aelius Donatus (4th century A.D) wrote not only a commentary on the plays of the Roman playwright Publius Terentius Afer, ca. 190-159 B.C., but also a short biography, in which he tells that Terentius was born in the Roman province Africa and that he came as a slave in the houshold of the senator Terentius Lucanus. He adopted his name when he was manumitted. Terentius is the author of 'fabulae palliatae', which means 'plays in Greek cloths'. He adapted Greek plays, especially those of the Greek playwright Menander, to the taste of the Romans. Six of his comedies have survived. For later generations he became a model for elegant Latin. His style was closer to everyday conversation than Plautus', an earlier contemporary comic playwright, whose style was more extravagant. He was quoted by Cicero, Horace, Persius and the Church Fathers. § Ever since antiquity Terentius lived also a long and influential life in schools as a model for Latin language and rhetoric. In the Middle Ages he was read for his moral sentences. He was imitated by the German abbess Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim (ca. 935 - ca. 973) in her 'Dramenbuch', with which she wanted to create a Christian alternative for the pagan comedies. With the coming of humanism Terentius enjoyed a renaissance in the classroom and on stage. Scholars rejected the 'barbaries' of Medieval Latin and chose the elegance of Cicero and Terentius as their model. They admired Terentius for his 'latinitas' and his civilized humour. In his 'De ratione studi'i (1511) the Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus, 1466-1536, encouraged the study of Terentius for his language and moral utility. 'Among Latin writers, who is more valuable as a standard of language than Terence? He is pure, concise, and closer to everyday speech and, by the very nature of his subject matter, is also congenial to youth'. (The Classical Tradition, 2010, p. 930). Erasmus' ideal as a humanist and pedagogue was the creation of better men with the help of the classics. He held the opinion, that schoolboys should read Terentius over and over again. Thus they could master a pure Latin style, and learn at the same time good morals. § One of the several 'Terentius for beginners', and a popular one too, was produced by the Dutch schoolmaster Johannes Min-Ellius, ca. 1625-1670. He was educated at the Erasmianum at Rotterdam, and was until his death a Praeceptor at the same school. Minellius, or Min-ellius, produced several school editions of classical authors, such as Horace, Florus, Vergil and Ovid, with ample annotations in easy Latin. His first school text of Terentius, with his numerous notes and commentary, was first published in 1670 in his hometown Rotterdam. At the end of the 17th and in the 18th century reissues of his Tererentius' schoolbook were widely used, not only on Dutch grammar schools, but also on German, English and Danish schools. Schweiger records editions in 1680 (Rotterdam), 1691 (Hamburg), 1691 (Cambridge), 1708 (London), 1710 (Leiden), 1721 (Leiden & Amsterdam), 1726 (Leipzig), 1730 (London), 1735 (Leipzig), 1741 (Copenhagen), 1757 (London), 1758 (London), 1771 (Copenhagen), 1775 (Madrid). There must be more unrecorded editions) (Collation: pi1 (frontispiece), *8 (minus blank leaf *8); A-2A12, 2B4 (leaf 2B4 blank))

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Book number: 120372

Catalogue: Old and Rare books

Keywords: (Oude Druk) (Rare Books) Komödie Latin literature Terence Terentius Terenz antike altertum antiquity comedy römische Literatur

TERENTIUS.

P. Terentii Afri Comoediae sex. Belgica interpretatione, ac notis ad loca difficiliora illustratae. Opera ac studio Henrici Zwaerdecroon.

Rotterdam (Rotterdami), Apud Petrum Waesbergium, 1648. Met Privilege voor 15 Iaren. Small 8vo. (VIII, including frontispiece) 607,(1 errata) p. Overlapping vellum 16 cm (Ref: Geerebaert 138,2,11; OiN 362; Schweiger 1082; Cupaiuolo 1312) (Details: Latin text with facing Dutch prose translation. At the end 50 pages with notes in Latin. Engraved frontispiece, executed by M.V.S. This is the Dutch engraver Mathias van Somer (also van Someren, or Sommeren). (See for him: Chr. Kramm, De levens en werken der Hollandsche en Vlaamsche kunstschilders (.), p. 1542) Depicted are 3 female allegoric figures round a pedestal, Veritas armed with a flaming sword, masked Simulatio, and Prudentia, who holds a mirror. In the background a portrait of Terentius within an oval laurel wreath. Zwaerdecroon is spelled on the frontispiece as Swaerdekroon. Woodcut coat of arms of the city of Rotterdam on the title.) (Condition: Vellum somewhat soiled; small bookplate on front pastedown) (Note: The late antique grammarian Aelius Donatus (4th century A.D) wrote not only a commentary on the plays of the Roman playwright Publius Terentius Afer, ca. 190-159 B.C., but also a short biography, in which he tells that Terentius was born in the Roman province Africa and that he came as a slave in the houshold of the senator Terentius Lucanus. He adopted his name when he was manumitted. Terentius is the author of 'fabulae palliatae', which means 'plays in Greek cloths'. He adapted Greek plays, especially those of the Greek playwright Menander, to the taste of the Romans. Six of his comedies have survived. For later generations he became a model for elegant Latin. His style was closer to everyday conversation than Plautus', an earlier contemporary comic playwright, whose style was more extravagant. He was quoted by Cicero, Horace, Persius and the Church Fathers. § Ever since antiquity he lived also a long and influential life in schools as a model for Latin language and rhetoric. In the Middle Ages he was read for his moral sentences. He was imitated by the German abbess Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim (ca. 935 - ca. 973) in her 'Dramenbuch', with which she wanted to create a Christian alternative for the pagan comedies. With the coming of humanism Terentius enjoyed a renaissance in the classroom and on stage. Scholars rejected the 'barbaries' of Medieval Latin and chose the elegance of Cicero and Terentius as their model. In his 'De ratione studii' (1511) the Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus, 1466-1536, encouraged the study of Terentius for his language and moral utility. 'Among Latin writers, who is more valuable as a standard of language than Terence? He is pure, concise, and closer to everyday speech and, by the very nature of his subject matter, is also congenial to youth'. (The Classical Tradition, 2010, p. 930) Erasmus published later in life, in 1532, an edition of Terentius' plays. His ideal as a humanist and pedagogue was the creation of better men with the help of the classics. He held the opinion that schoolboys should read Terentius over and over again. Thus they could master a pure Latin style, and learn at the same time good morals. Several Dutch humanists wrote 'Dialogi pueriles', fictitious dialogues to train schoolboys to converse in Latin; conversations which much Terentius in it. § The first Dutch translation of Terentius appeared in 1555 in Antwerp. Almost one century later 2 other new translation followed. In 1646 the remonstrant reverent Henricus Oosterhaern published a prose translation in Rotterdam. His translation is as literal as possible. His aim is didactic. He hopes that his readers will polish their speech and style when reading Terentius. His choice to translate literally leads often to awkward 'latinisms' in the Dutch text. (P.J.M. van Alphen, Nederlandse Terentius-vertalingen in de 16e en 17e eeuw, Tilburg 1954, p. 95-96). Two years later, in 1648, Rotterdam saw the next and more elegant prose translation, now by another remonstrant, the schoolmaster Henricus Zwaerdecroon, since 1634 Rector of the 'Schola Latina Erasmiana'. (NNBW 5.1182/83) In the dedication to his 'alumnus' Adrianus de Matenesse, Zwaerdecroon dwells on the diligence and enthousiasm he and other old schoolboys displayed while reading Terentius, be it not 'pede prorsus inoffenso'. (p. pi4 recto) On their request, Zwaerdecroon tells us, and because they are leaving for the university (ad graviora studia mox decessuri) he made this translation. Sometimes we find in the Dutch translation words or passages printed in italics. Those words and passages have been added to improve the Dutch, and to explain matters. (Van Alphen p. 97) Van Alphen gives the next example: Adelphoe, verse 495: 'una semper militiae et domi / fuimus'. Translation: 'ende zijn binnens lants (in tijt van vreede) ende (buyten s'lants) in den oorlog altijt by een geweest'. (We have placed the passages in italics between brackets) The edifying comedies of Terence were not only read by schoolboys. The Dutch philosopher Spinoza must also have studied his Terentius very thoroughly. In his work hundreds of quotations and borrowings from Terence can be traced. Spinoza used them to define and illustrate human feelings, weaknesses and passions. (F. Akkerman, Spinoza's tekort aan woorden, Leiden, 1977, p. 3) In the same year as this edition (1648) the Rotterdam printer Naeranus brought a translation only edition on the market. This translation was published again in 1668. Remains the question concerning the title page, why the coat of arms of the city of Rotterdam was used by Pieter Waesberge (Petrus Waesbergius) as a kind of printer's mark. Pieter Waesberghe was the official printer to the City's Council of Rotterdam. This book was very probably printed on the expense of the City, and for the City. Perhaps it was made especially for the local gymnasium. In the impressum on the title of this book we read 'Apud Petrum Waesbergium'. There exist copies of this book, same year, same place, everything the same, except for the impressum, which reads 'Ex Officina Waesbergii') (Provenance: On the front pastedown an oblong paper label 'Ex Bibliotheca P.P.C. Lammens'. Pierre Philippe Constant Lammens, 1762-1836, was librarian of the Unversity of Gent. He was also a bibliophile, and owned a huge library. The auction catalogue (1839/40) of his library consists of 4 volumes. In 1815 the Dutch government sent him to Paris to retrieve manuscripts and documents which had been stolen by the French during the occupation of the Low Countries. After 9 months he came back with two four horse carts laden with manuscripts. (Catalogue des livres rares et précieux de la Bibliothèque de feu Mr. Pierre-Philippe-Constant Lammens, Gent 1839, 1ère partie, p. 3) (Collation: pi4, A- 2P8) (Photographs on request)

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Book number: 120175

Catalogue: Old and Rare books

Keywords: (Oude Druk) (Rare Books) Altertum Altertumswissenschaft Altphilologie Antike Antiquity Dutch translations Komödie Latin literature Terentius Terenz classical philology comedy römische Literatur