JULIANUS. Les Césars de l'empereur Julien, traduits du grec par feu Mr. le Baron de Spanheim, avec des remarques & des preuves, enrichies de plus de 300 médailles, & autres anciens monumens, gravés par Bernard Picart le Romain. Amsterdam, Chez François l'Honoré, 1728. 4to. (XII, including frontispiece),XLII,286,(2);196 p., portrait, numerous text illustrations. Full contemporary calf. 26 cm (Ref: STCN ppn 183621573; Hoffmann 2,496; Brunet 3,597: 'édition recherchée'; Ebert 10997; Graesse 3,497; Neue Pauly, Suppl. 2, p. 338, where the edition of 1683 is mentioned) (Details: Gilt back with 5 raised bands. Red morocco shield in the second compartment. Title in red en black. Finely engraved frontispiece, it depicts a banquet scene with dining and discussing deified Roman emperors. Engraved vignette of Julian on the title. Full page engraved portrait, depicting at full length a statue of count Jean Matthias de Schoulembourg, commander in chief of the Venetian army, to whom the translation has been dedicated. At the beginning of the dedication an engraved headpiece with the coat of arms of Schoulembourg. Engravings of coins and medals throughout the text, made by the famous French engraver Bernard Picart. Latin translation, no Greek text) (Condition: Binding worn at extremities. Back rubbed. Joints starting to split, but strong. Tail of the spine chafed. Both boards slightly scratched. Paper yellowing. Some faint foxing. Small wormhole in the blank gutter of 24 leaves, far from the text) (Note: The Roman emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus, 331-363, is the best documented ruler of late antiquity. He was a nephew of Constantine the Great, ca. 280-337 A.D., who had adopted christianity, and imposed it on his empire. For dynastic reasons Constantine in between wiped out in a massacre young Julian's family. In exile Julian covertly converted to neoplatonic polytheism. Julian was later at the age of 24 appointed Caesar by the successor of Constantine, the emperor Constantius II. In this capacity he proved himself a successful general in Gaule, where he repeatedly drove back and crushed the invading Germanic tribes. After the death of Constantius in 361 Julian openly adopted and promoted paganism. Hence the title 'Apostata', because he was the last emperor who rejected and challenged christianity. He tried to revive the pagan state cult, and to restore the traditional pagan religious practices. His reign however lasted only 18 months, from 361 till 363. 'Julian's voice can be heard memorably in his surviving writings, particularly in his letters, in a fierce denunciation of the people of Antioch ('Misopogon', or 'Beard-Hater'), and in a satire on his imperial predecessors ('Convivium sive Caesares'), which ends with a vicious portrait of Christ'. (The Classical Tradition, Cambridge Massachusetts, 2010, p. 500) Julian was both philosopher and a men of letters, and far too human for his time. His work 'Against the Galileans' (Christians), meant to refute christian dogmas, is lost, but partly survives in fragments and excerpts in 'Contra Iulianum', a work full of slander, by a fierce enemy of Julian, Cyrillus, bishop of Alexandria. § A French translation of Julian's satire 'Convivium sive Caesares', commonly called the 'Caesars' was published in 1666 by the Swiss scholar and diplomat Ezechiel Spanheim, 1629-1710. It was repeated in 1683 in Paris, and in 1728 in Amsterdam, now with 300 engravings of medals and coins. Spanheim was a prominent name in the field of numismatics, and is best known for his 'De praestantia et usu veterum numismatum' of 1664, revised and enlarged in 1706. In 1680 Spanheim entered the service of Elector of Brandenburg as minister of state. As ambassador of the Great Elector he spent nine years at the court of Paris. After the Peace of Ryswick in 1697 he returned as ambassador to France where he remained until 1702. On the very day of the coronation of Frederik I as king of Prusia, (18th of January 1701), Spanheim was made Baron, this to thank him for his services. In 1702 he went on his final diplomatic mission, as first Prussian ambassador to England. He died in London in 1710, having eaten too much grapes, Clericus tells us. Baron von Spanheim had an encyclopedic knowledge of the ancient world. In 1696 Spanheim published an edition of the 'Opera Omnia' of Julian. § This 1728 edition is the third of that translation. Spanheim had printed, as is explained by the Swiss/Dutch scholar Jean Clericus, beneath the text observations to help less well informed 'ordinary' men of letters. This ingenious satire is difficult reading, 'being full of erudition, and allusions to many facts, customs, and opinions of Greek and Latin authors'. At the end there are 196 pages with 'preuves des remarques sur les Césars de l'empereur Julien' with remarks and discussions for scholars and more experienced men of letters. The translation, Clericus assures us, 'is written in a pure style, and is very accurate; otherwise that piece of Julian would have lost its beauty. Anyone who compares it with the (earlier) Latin versions of Cantoclarus and Cunaeus, will easily percieve that those translations wanted to be mended, and that many passages were spoiled or unintelligible. Besides, those translators did not write a sufficient number of remarks to make one understand the sense and design of Julian'. (A sympathetic and informative obituary of Spanheim by Johannes Clericus was published in the 'Memoirs of literature, containing a large account of many valuable books, letters and dissertations upon several subjects', Second edition, London, 1722, p. 412-426)) (Provenance: From the Rostagni Library. 'The Rostagni private library has been built over a time of 133 years, between 1880 and 2013, by 3 generations of collectors: Augusto Gabinio (1863-1939), internist, his nephew Augusto Rostagni (1892-1961), classical philologist at the University of Turin, and his son Luigi Rostagni (1932), Operational Director. (...) Augusto Rostagni taught Ancient literature in various Italian Universities. In 1928 he was appointed professor in Latin literature at the University of Turin, an office he fulfilled until his death in 1961. He became one of Italy's most authorative philologists of the 20th century. He held positions of President of the Turin Institute of Classical Philology, Dean of the Department of Literature and Philosophy, Editor of the Rivista di Filologia Classica, President of the 'Accademia delle Scienze di Torino'. He was a well-known member of many Italian and foreign academies and institutions, amongst them the Accademia dei Lincei. The Department of Philology, Linguistics & Classical Tradition of the University of Turin is named after him.' (Burgersdijk & Niermans, Auction sale 340, Leiden, 2014, p.68)) (Collation: pi2 (French title & frontispiece), +4 (portrait after leaf +1), *-5*4, 6*1; A-2N4; A-2A4; 2B2. (Engraved portrait before leaf +2)) (Photographs on request)
Book number: 152321 Euro 320.00

Keywords: (Oude Druk), (Rare Books), French imprints, French translation, Greek literature, Griechische Literatur, Julian, Julianus Apostata, Latin translation, Roman history, Spanheim, Spätantike, late antiquity, römische Geschichte