TERENTIUS. P. Terentii Afri Comoediae sex, ad fidem duodecim amplius Msstorum codicum, et pluscularum optimae notae editionum recensitae, et commentario perpetuo illustratae. Accedunt interpretes vetustiores, Aelius Donatus, Eugraphius, Calphurnius (...); additis observationibus (...). Porro Frid. Lindenbruchii observationes (...) et Ael Donati Commentarium, (...). Curavit Arn. Henr. Westerhovius. The Hague (Hagae-Comitum), Apud Thomam Johnsonium, 1726. 4to. 2 volumes: (XII),LXXXIX,(5); 1240; 244, (379 index),(1 blank) p.; 2 frontispieces, portrait of Terentius. Vellum. 26.5 cm (Ref: STCN ppn 310362857; Cupaiuolo, 'Bibliografia Terenziana', no. 863; Schweiger 2,1068; Dibdin 2,475: 'A sumptuous and valuable edition'; Moss 2 673/74: 'the best edition which has yet been published'; Brunet 5,717: 'Édition fort recherchée à cause des commentaires et du bon index'; Fabricius/Ernesti 1,62; Graesse 6/2,60; Ebert 22519) (Details: Backs with 6 raised bands. Boards blind tooled. The 2 frontispieces are the same, they are made by P. van Cuyk; they depict a kneeling poet (Terentius), who offers a scroll to a seated Apollo, who offers him in return a laurel wreath; up in the sky hovers Fama, blowing her horn. Terentius' full page portrait is engraved after a portrait from the so-called 9th century Vatican Terence (Terentius Vaticanus, or Codex Vaticanus Latinus 3868)) (Condition: Bindings age-tanned and somewhat soiled. Vellum damaged at the lower edge of the upper board of the 2nd volume. Endpapers detached. Tiny wormhole at the upper margin of the last 2/3 of the first volume, sometimes nibbling at a letter. The paper of 13 gatherings (more than 100 pages) in the index is browning) (Note: The late antique grammarian Aelius Donatus (4th century A.D) wrote a short biography of the Roman playwright Publius Terentius Afer, ca. 190-159 B.C, 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, on stage and in the classroom as textbook. He was studied enthousiastically by scholars, students and schoolboys. 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 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 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. From the 15th till the 17th century Terentius' plays were frequently staged in schools. § The German scholar Arnold Heinrich Westerhoff, latinized as Arnoldus Henricus Westerhovius, ca.1677-1738, was rector of the Schola Latina of the Dutch city Gouda from 1711. In 1726 he published in two fat quarto volumes this sumptuous and very scholarly edition, with a copious index. It remained popular throughout the 18th century. It should be admired, according to Dibdin, more 'for elaborate care and research, than for exhibiting any critical niceties of construction of the text'. The edition contains the commentary of the 4th century A.D. Roman grammarian and teacher of rhetoric Aelius Donatus, the observations from the commentary of the 6th century grammarian Eugraphius, and the learned notes the German scholar Heinrich Lindenbrog, 1570-1642. § Lindenbrogius (also named Lindenbruchius) studied classics in Leiden under the famous J.J. Scaliger. After his studies he made a tour which brought him and his friend Johannes van Wouweren to France, to the monastery of St. Victor. It was told that they stole there with the help of a monk 16 manuscripts. They became known as 'Les Corsaires de Hamburg'. He was arrested, but came free with the help of the French scholar Pierre Dupuy (Puteanus), the son of the humanist and famous bibliophile Claude Dupuy, who was a great collector of manuscripts. Little is known of the rest of his life. From 1610 onward till his death, Lindenbrog was the librarian of the Duke Johann Adolf von Holstein, who had assembled in Gottorp a great collection of books. (ADB 18,693) In the preface to his Terentius edition of Frankfurt 1623, Lindenbrogius confesses that he also was imbibed with Terentius as a schoolboy, and still loved to read him. 'Quem (Terentium) enim pueri amavimus, eiusdem amoenitate ac venere vel hac quoque aetate nos capi, non erubescimus'. (Edition 1623: Lectori p. a2 recto)) (Collation: pi2, dagger4, *-12*4 (minus blank leaf 12*4); A-5P4, 5Q2 (verso leaf 5Q2 blank); 2pi2, 5R-7R4, 7S2; A-2G4, 2H2; a-3a4, 3b2 (leaf 3b verso blank)) (Photographs on request) (Heavy book, extra postage may be needed)
Book number: 155619 Euro 260.00

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