OCELLUS. Betrachtungen des Ocellus von Lukanien über die Welt. Aus dem Griechischen in das Französische übersetzt und mit verschiedenen Abhandlungen über die wichtigsten Punkte der Hauptwissenschaft der Naturlehre und der Sittenlehre der Alten, die man als den zweyten Theil der Weltweisheit der gesunden Vernunft ansehen kann, begeleitet von dem Herrn Marquis d'Argens, Seiner königlichen Majestät in Preussen Kammerherrn, Mitglied der königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften und Direktor der philologischen Klasse. Aus dem Französischen des Herrn Marquis in das Deutsche übersetzt. Breslau, Verlegts George Gottlieb Horn, 1763. 8vo. 50,462 p. Restored half vellum 17 cm (Ref: Hoffmann 3,2; Ebert 14990; cf. Brunet 4,151 for the French edition of 1762; not yet in VD18) (Details: The binding is not original, but originating from an other book of approximately the same size. The vellum on the boards seems old, but the leather on the back is recent. The pastedowns are new and marbled, the flyleaves are old, but not original. Greek text with facing German translation, abundant commentary) (Condition: The paper is browning & foxed; title spotted, its margins thumbed. Small hole in the right margin of the title, not reaching text. Right upper corner of 1 leaf torn off, with the loss of some letters at the beginning & end of the first sentence. Some words on 1 page erased with ink. Small hole in the last leaf, resulting in the loss of some letters. Some pencil) (Note: This book is a gesture of friendship. It was produced by Jean Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens for his close friend, Frederick the Great, (Friedrich der Grosse) the philosopher/king of Prussia, to give him some comfort in tempestuous times, when it looked as if he stood on the eve of the fall of his kingdom. 1760/61 were years of disaster for Frederick during the Seven Year's war (1756/1763), an 18th century world war between Prussia, Kurhannover and Great Britain against the rest of Europe. In the midst of slaughter the Marquis and Frederick exchanged letters. In a letter of october 1760 (Lettre 88) Frederick seemed desparate. La fin de mes jours est empoissonée', he writes. 'Je n'ai ni secours, ni diversion, ni paix, ni rien au monde à espérer. The end of the letter is gloomy. Adieu, mon cher Marquis, ne m'oubliez pas, & soyez tranquille spectateur de ce qu'il plaira à la fatalité, & à la brutale rage de nos ennemis, d'ordonner de nous. (Oeuvres postumes de Frédéric II, Tome XI: Correspondance avec le Marquis d'Argens, Amsterdam, 1789, p. 200) The king meanwhile finds, like the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, comfort in philosophy. Je n'ai de soutien au milieu de tant de contrariétés que ma philosophie; c'est un bâton sur lequel je m'étaie. (Lettre 92, p. 210) In the summer of 1761, when all seemed lost, D'Argens took up his pen and produced for his king this Ocellus edition. 'Ocellus (or Occellus) of Lucania, occurs in Iamblichus' list of Pythagoreans, but the work peri tês tou pantos phuseôs bearing his name and known as early as the first century B.C. is undoubtedly spurious. It shows considerable traces of Aristotelian influence, and may problably be dated about 150 B.C.' (OCD 2nd ed. p. 745) 'Ocellus' Schrift (über das All) soll offenkundig die aristotelische Lehre von der Ewigkeit der Welt und des Menschengeschlechtes mit der Autorität des Pythagoras versehen, vielleicht auch die Abhängigkeit des Aristoteles von letzterem belegen'. (Neue Pauly, vol. 11,1155) § The Frenchman Jean Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, 1704-1771, who edited and translated this text, is still convinced that its author, the philosopher Ocellus, lived in the 6th century B.C. That it might be a forgery doesnot enter his mind. The marquis tells in the preface that it is better to read zu Erlernung der alten Weltweisheit (Pref. p. 10) the concise original works of the ancients than the more wordy new publications, for sie stellen uns die Lehrgebäude der alten Weltweisen nicht in der gehörigen Kürze dar (Pref. p. 10). His translation of, and commentary on Ocellus illustrate, he goes on, themes which he, the Marquis, developed previously. This Ocellus should be considered to be a supplement to the Marquis's Die Philosophie der gesunden Vernunft oder philosophische Betrachtungen über die Ungewissheit der menschlichen Erkäntniss, (Breslau, 1756), a translation into German of his La philosophie du bons-sens, ou réflexions philosophique sur l'incertitude des connoissances humaines (first published 1737), which saw many reissues, and was translated into English, Dutch and Italian. (Pref. p. 10) Ocellus, he tells, lived before Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and one finds in his work den Grund, worauf die späteren Weltweisen hernach, ihre Lehrgebäude aufgeführet haben. (Pref. p. 11) To prove his point he quotes Plato, Philo Alexandrinus, Lucianus and Stobaeus. Stobaeus, who lived in the 5th century A.D., even wrote a summary of Ocellus' work. He quotes: Ocellus, sagt er (Stobaeus), hält in seinem Buche von der Natur der Welt dafür, dass die Welt ewig sey, und er beweiset theils diese Meinung, theils sucht er auch darzuthun, dass die Bewegung, die Zeit und die Figur der Welt schon von Ewigkeit her mit der Welt zugleich gewesen sind. Denn die Figur der Welt ist zirkulförmig. Ein Zirkul aber ist sich an allen Seiten gleich und ähnlich, und hat also keinen Anfang oder Ende. Die Bewegung ist ebenfalls ewig, denn sie geschiehet in einem Kreis, und kann also eben so wenig als dieser einen Anfang oder Ende haben. Die Zeit is ebenfalls ewig und unendlich, weil dasienige, was bewegt wird, ohne Anfang und Ende ist. Die Natur leidet also niemals einige Veränderung, sie wird weder besser noch schlechter, sondern sie bleibet eben so in alle Ewigkeit, wie sie von Ewigkeit her gewesen ist'. (Pref. p. 19/20) The Marquis proudly tells that his translation is the first one in a modern language. He translates as litteral as possible, he says, but took the liberty to elaborate on some passages of his translation da ich sonst hätte befürchten müssen, das die Uebersetzung vielen Lesern unverständlich würde geworden seyn. (Pref. p. 24) The best earlier edition with Latin translation was according to the Marquis produced by the Englishman Thomas Gale (Amsterdam 1688). (Pref. p. 26) He calls the commentary of the Italian Vizanius (Bologna 1646) worthless. The aim of his own commentary is die vornehmsten Punkte der Gottesgelehrsamkeit, der Naturlehre, und der Sittenlehre zu erörtern, und die Uebereinstimmung oder Verschiedenheit der ältern und neuern Gottesgelehrten und Weltweisen in Absicht derselben zu zeigen. Und ich glaube, das wenn man unpartheyisch die verschiedenen Meinungen der Alten und Neuen von Zeit zu Zeit untersuchen wollte, man daraus eine kurzgefasste Geschichte des menschlichen Verstandes verfertigen könnte'. (Pref. p. 27) § The philosopher and author Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens was a fierce opponent of the Catholic Church, of intollerance and of religious oppression. His books frequently ended up on the Index of forbidden books. His best known work is his Lettres Juives (The Hague, 1738/42). Frederick the Great, king of Prussia, invited him to his court. He appreciated him for his attacks upon orthodox religion. There he remained 25 years, as a friend and advisor of the king. As the title says, D'Argens was Seiner königlichen Majestät in Preussen Kammerherr, (salary 1500 Reichtaler) Mitglied der königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften (in Berlin) und Direktor der philologischen Klasse. At the end of his short lemma in Wikipedia (French) one finds a huge list with his publications. Far more reliable information on D'Argens can be found here: ub-dok.uni-trier.de/argens/bio/bio.htm. D'Argens established relations with the republic of letters in Germany. Especially sein Engagement für den jüdischen Philosophen Moses Mendelssohn ist in der Literaturgeschichte in Erinnerung geblieben. He befriended king Frederick's friend Voltaire mit dem ihn eine zwar zeitweise getrübte, aber doch lebenslange Freundschaft verband. His most influential philosophic work was his Philosophie du bon sens, which wanted to incite mistrust against all authorities. It saw several translations, and 13 editions in the 18th century. This book, Betrachtungen des Ocellus, was published one year earlier, in 1762, in Berlin in French, the original title of which is Ocellus Lucanus en Grec et en Français, avec des dissertations sur les principales questions de la Métaphysique, de la Physique, & de la Morale des anciens, qui peuvent servir de suite à la Philosophie du Bon sens. Chr.A. Klotz praises in his review in the Acta Litteraria, vol. II, pars I (Altenburg, 1765, p. 39/64) the translation of d'Argens. Vidimus Dargensium bene Graecos scriptores e Graeco in Gallicum sermomem vertisse, assecutum esse plerumque feliciter sensum auctorum, (...) explicuisse omnia luculenter, nihilque ad eorum sententias intelligendas pertineret, omisse. (p. 41/42) His commentary is very useful and informative, immortales Dargensio gratias res litteraria deberet. (p. 55). The aim of d'Argens of producing this book, was not purely philologic. He didnot want to produce a scientific text. He is a philosopher of the Enlightenment, who tries to convince his readers with the help of the ideas of an ancient philosopher that morality is possible without a God. He is an opponent of the religious metaphysics of the German precursor of the Aufklärung, the philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. § From the correspondence between D'Argens and king Fredrick the Great in the years 1761/62 we learn something about the aim of this book and the motives for its creation. In a letter to Frederick dated 3 november 1761 (lettre 121) D'Argens announced his translation to Frederick. J'ai discontinué depuis de deux mois ma traduction de Plutarque, que je reprendrai bientôt, & j'ai employé ce temps à traduire le plus ancient philosophe Grec qui nous reste, appelé Ocellus Lucanus; il a fait un ouvrage sur la nécessité de l'éternité du monde; il vivoit long-temps avant Socrate, Platon, Aristote, &c. Son ouvrage est court, mais excellent; j'y ai joint, sous le prétexte d'éclaircir le texte, plusieurs dissertations qui ne feront pas rire les ennemis des philosophes'. (Oeuvres postumes de Frédéric II, Tome XI: Correspondance avec le Marquis d'Argens, Amsterdam, 1789, p. 272/73) Six weeks later (lettre 123, 24 december 1761) the Marquis explains Frederick that the Ocellus edition, with his translation and his dissertations, was not produced for the scholarly world. His Majesty will see que je n'ai pas fait la sauce pour le poisson, mais que j'a cuit le poisson pour avoir le prétexte de faire la sauce. Passez-moi, Sire, ce mauvais proverbe, parce qu'il explique bien l'idée que j'ai eue en traduisant Ocellus'. (Correspondance avec le Marquis de'Argens, p. 277/78) From letter 122 it appears that D'Argens has sent to the king in the mean time the preface to his new book. He produced the Ocellus, he tells the king almost one year later (lettre 176, October 1762), to vent his gal (la bile que nos ennemis me faisoient faire) about infamous libels with attacks upon the philosophers (Voltaire, D'Argens et alii) and their maecenas at Sans-Souci, king Frederick. J'ai composé celles (dissertations) sur Ocellus pour répondre indirectement à trente libelles qu'on publioit en Allemagne & en France contre les philosophes, & cela pour en revenir toujours à celui de Sans-Souci & à ceux qu'il honoroit de ses bontés'. (Correspondance avec le Marquis de'Argens, p. 385) D'Argens refers to books like L'Anti-Sans-Souci, ou la folie des nouveaux philosophes, which was published in 'Bouillon' in 1761. This libel targeted the entourage of the king, people like Voltaire, La Mettrie and D'Argens, and indirectly the king himself. We have seen that D'Argens found it his duty to lay aside his work on Plutarch, and to support his king in this tempestuous year of 1761, by attacking Frederick's ennemies, who rejoiced in his misfortunes. That the king was very pleased with the gesture of D'Argens, is proved by the fact that Frederick offered a deluxe gift copy of the French edition of 1762, bound in red morocco leather, to his reader (Vorleser) Henri Alexandre de Catt. It is one of the rare known gift copies of Frederick. The anecdote connected with this gift is too striking to omit. Möchlicherweise hat der König das Buch kurz nach dem Tod der Zarin Elisabeth (5. Januar 1762) seinem Vorleser de Catt geschenkt. Als der König Ende 1761 die Meldung erhielt, dass die Zarin schwer erkrankt sei, sagte er zu de Catt: 'Sie werden sehen, dass sie nicht stirbt, und dass ich gegen das Unwetter weiter ankämpfen muss. Ich gehe eine Wette ein, dass sie wieder gesund wird'. De Catt war anderer Ansicht. Sie schlossen eine Wette ab und der König versprach seinem Vorleser für den Fall, dass er verlieren sollte, ein Geschenk. This was the best and most important bet Frederick ever lost. We quote from Wikipedia's lemma Seven Year's War: 'Britain now threatened to withdraw its subsidies if Prussia didn't seriously consider offering to make concessions to secure peace. As the Prussian armies had dwindled to just 60.000 men Frederick's survival was severely threatened. Then on 5 January 1762 the Russian Empress Elizabeth died. Her Prussophile successor Peter III, at once recalled Russian armies from Berlin (...) This turn of events has become known as the 'miracle of the House of Brandenburg'. A photo of this gift copy, and the anecdote can be found on: (www).die-buecher-des-koenigs.de/pdf/Friedrich_20120111.pdf. This very gift copy was auctioned in 2010 by Jeschke van Vliet Buch- und Kunstauktionen. The price was 11408 Euro. The German version of 1763 of this book is very rare. We found in KVK a few copies in German libraries, one in a French, and one in an Austrian library. One copy was auctioned in 1974 (JAP, Jahrbuch der Auktionspreise, vol. XXV) (Collation: a-c8 d1; A8 (minus blank leaf A8) B-2F8. (nothing missing between A and B, all is regular)) (Photographs on request)
Book number: 120532 Euro 490.00

Keywords: (Oude Druk), (Rare Books), Altertum, Antike, Antiquity, Aufklärung, Aufklärung, D'Argens, Dargentius, Frederick the Great, Friedrich der Grosse, Occelus, Ocellus, Okellos, Pythagoras, ancient philosophy, antike Philosophie, classical philologie, de rerum natura, de universi natura, enlightenment, enlightenments, klassische Philologie, on the nature of the universe, peri tês tou pantou phuseôs