PERSIUS. Auli Persii Flacci Satirarum liber. Isaacus Casaubonus recensuit, & commentario libro illustravit. Ad virum amplisissmum D. Achillem Harlaeum senatus principem. (Volume 2: Isaaci Casauboni in Persii Satiras Liber commentarius. Eiusdem Persiana Horatii imitatio) Paris (Parisiis), Apud Ambroisum et Hieronymum Drouart, sub scuto Solari, via Iacobaea, 1605. 8vo. 2 volumes in 1: (XVI),43,(4),(1 blank); (XXXII),558,(2 blank),(26 index),(1 errata),(1 blank) p. Modern calf antique style. 18 cm (Ref: Schweiger 2,710; Graesse 5,212; Ebert 16282; cf. Smitskamp, 'The Scaliger collection', no. 116; Fabricius/Ernesti 2,165/66: 'eruditissimus atque divinus commentarius') (Details: Back with 5 raised bands and gilt lettering. 2 title pages, the first shows an oval engraving of a 'thiasos': a drunken Bacchus is carried by a bunch of satyrs, accompanied by some revellers. The second title has an oval woodcut printer's mark; it depicts a thisle flanked by the initials A and D of Ambrosius (Ambroise) Drouart; there are 2 appropriate mottoes: 'Nul ne s'y frote', (let no one meddle) and 'patere aut abstine' (bear or forebear). The first volume contains a preface, the Latin text of the Satires and 18 pages with 'Glossae veteres in Persium'. The second volume contains the commentary of Casaubon) (Condition: Endpapers renewed. The slightly thumbed (first) title has been repaired expertly in the gutter. Small oval library stamp on the title. Old and small marginal ink notes, and underlinings on 2 pages) (Note: The well-born and well-to-do Roman poet Aulus Persius Flaccus, 34-62 A.D., produced during his short life one book (libellus) with 6 satires, together 650 hexameters. 'They are well described as Horatian diatribes transformed by Stoic rhetoric'. (OCD 2nd ed. p. 805) The first is 'on the decay of literary taste in his own time and the neglect of the manly Republican authors, the second on vanity of wealth and luxury, the third on idleness, the fourth on self-knowledge, the fifth on true liberty, the sixth on the proper use of riches'. (H.J. Rose, 'A History of Latin Literature', London, 1967, p. 377) The style is obscure, contorted and crammed with allusions to Horace and Lucilius. He was much read in antiquity and admired as a moralist in the Middle Ages, but now he is found dull, too difficult, cryptic, too far fetched, and too complicated. 'So fühlte sich zumal das 19. Jh. von seinem vielschichtigen Stil abgestossen, während sich erst neuerdings eine gerechtere Würdigung durchsetzen beginnt'. (Neue Pauly 9, 619) A specimen of this new appraisal is the following quote: 'The elements of composition in Persius' satires - words and ideas, images, steps in the argument, registers of speech and literary style, speeches in dramatic dialogue- are abruptly or peculiarly, even bizarrely, combined. One is faced by an unpredictable, surprising series of conceptions; continuous attention is necessary if one is to understand. However, the surprises and incongruities are often observably intelligent, apt and curiously artistic. From a literary point of view, the quality of continual surprise in Persius' style makes the Satires amusing to read'. (J.R. Bond, 'Persius, the Satires', Warminster 1980, p. 5) § 1605 saw the start of modern Persian philology, with Isaac Casaubon's edition of the Satires, his 'Prolegomena in Persium', and his commentary. The Latin text of this edition was based on the edition that was edited by the French scholar Pithou in Paris in 1585. The edition and its extensive commentary were produced by the French protestant scholar Isaac Casaubon, 1559-1614, who is the first critical commentator of Persius. He deemed Persius the best of the Roman satirists. His preface is a vigorous defense of Persius' Stoic earnestness and philosophic constancy.'The ethical interest is strong in his Persius (1605), on which he had lectured at Geneva and Montpellier, and his commentary on the Stoic satirist, of which Scaliger said that the sauce was better than the meat, was reprinted in Germany as late as 1833, and has been ultimately merged in Conington's edition' (of 1872) (Sandys 2,209)) (Provenance: Stamp on the title of 'Repton School Library'. Repton School was founded in 1577 and is still thriving. The school stands on the site of a 12th century Priory, founded by Augustinian Canons, and adapted in Tudor times for use as a school. The beautiful Cloister Garth still forms the heart of this school) (Collation: a8, A-C8 (leaf C8 verso blank), â8, ê8, A-2N8, 2O6 (leaf 2O6 verso blank)) (Photographs on request)
Book number: 152715 Euro 675.00

Keywords: (Oude Druk), (Rare Books), Casaubon, French imprints, Latin literature, Persius, antike altertum antiquity, römische Literatur, satire, satyra