LIBRI DE RE RUSTICA. Methodus rustica Catonis atq. Varronis praeceptis aphoristicis per locos communes digestis a Theodoro Zvingero typice delineata & illustrata. Basel (Basileae), Petri Pernae opera atque impensa, n.d. (1567). 8vo. (XXIV),494,(2 blank),(22 index) p. Overlapping vellum 19 cm (Ref: VD16 C 1580; Schweiger 2,75) (Details: 2 thongs laced through the joints. Woodcut printer's mark on the title: a woman holding a oil lamp, motto: 'Verbum tuum lucerna pedibus meis'. (Psalm 119 verse 105) Occasional woodcut initials) (Condition: Vellum soiled and wrinkled. Small hole in the back and in the upper board. Front endpapers renewed in 19th century. 19th century annotations concerning Zwinger, Cato & Varro on the front pastedown and recto of the front flyleaf. Title slightly soiled. Small fold in right lower corner of the title. Small stain at the bottom of the title) (Note: Theodor Zwinger, 1533-1588, or Theodorus Zuingerus, also spelled as Zwingerus, or Zvingerus, was of humble descent. He studied philosophy in Paris under Petrus Ramus. Supported by the printer/bookdealer Perna he later went to Padua, where he studied medicin for 6 years. After his promotion in 1559 he returned to his hometown Basel, and was appointed professor of Greek and Moral philosophy. In 1580 he became also professor of Medicin. He is best known for his editions of the Nicomachean Ethics of the Greek philosopher Aristotle, which he published in 1566 & 1588. (Griechischer Geist aus Basler Pressen, no. 127 and 128) He produced also a kind of encyclopedia which was much admired in his time, 'Theatrum vitae humanae', Basel 1565. As a physician and logician he published his thoughts about the agricultural works of the Roman authors Cato (234-149 B.C.) and Varro (116-27 B.C). He tries to analyse their opinions, and show their structures in systematic tables, like he had previously done with Aristotle. At the end he publishes texts of Cato and Varro on agriculture, a fact that escaped many bibliographers. In vol. 1, p. CXXXIX of the Biponti edition of the 'Scriptores Rei Rusticae' edited by J.M. Gesner, 1671-1761, it is stated that the text of Cato follows the edition of P. Victorius (1543), and the text of Varro is that of J.J. Scaliger, 1565) (For Zwinger see ADB 45,543/4, where this title is omitted. It is however mentioned in Zedler 64,862/4) § Famine (with war and the plague) was a great problem in Italy, France, England and Germany during the first half of the 16th century. There were serious food shortages and outbreaks of disease in the 1520th and 1530th. This scourge reached its peak in the crisis of 1545/46 which was perhaps the most terrible year in the history of 16th century Paris. Many thousands died of hunger. This period is marked by a dramatic fall in living standards. The gravity of the situation began to be reflected in the medical and agricultural literature of that time: how to avoid disease and preserve health in times of dearth on a poor diet of gruel, bread, broth and beer. The French humanist schoolmaster Robert Breton, whose ideas were heavily coloured by classical influences, published in 1539 his Agriculturae encomium, in which he emphasized the need to combine theoretical and practical learning in agriculture. 'The food produced in the countryside, he pointed out, was absolutely essential to the existence of the towns and the state itself'. (H. Heller, Labour, science and technology in France, Cambr. 1996, p. 66) Food, especially grain, was not only scarce because of the ignorance and poverty of the peasantry, but also because of warfare. Towards the middle of this century the provision of an adequate food supply became urgent. 'Beyond assuring the subsistence of the population, it as critical to maintaining the momentum of the burgeoning manufacturing sector of the economy. Sustaining profit margins in industry depended on controling wages. Relatively low wages were only possible if the cost of grain (...) could be contained. As a result, one notes a growing preoccupation with agriculture among humanist authors'. (Op. cit. p. 65) Between 1529 and 1550 eight Latin editions of the works of Cato, Varro, Columella and Palladius were published in Paris and Lyon. The result was also a flood of publications on food and crops, and suggestions for the development of agriculture on a more rational basis. The basis for reform was laid by Roman gentlemen-farmers and landowners like Cato and Varro, who wrote about agriculture, and who were also successful practical farmers. Their aim was to bring Roman farming on a higher level. Their works on agriculture are among the chief texts on agriculture and rural life in antiquity. The oldest is the Roman politician Marcus Porcius Cato, 234-149 B.C., the source of famous maxims for orators, like rem tene, verba sequentur, and that an orator is a vir bonus dicendi peritus. 'He distinguished himself for fearless and ruthless attacks on those whose way of life did not agree with his own somewhat old-fashioned and puritanical morality'. (H.J. Rose, A Handbook of Latin Literature, London 1967, p. 91) In style and in character he was a typical farmer, shrewd, hardworking, frugal, honest, sincere, but limited. His De re rustica, also known as De agri cultura is a kind of commonplace book. It gives us a view of the life of an oldfashioned landowner in that age, and offers information on Roman cult and rustic folklore. The second work was written by possibly the greatest scholar Rome produced, Marcus Terentius Varro, 116-27 B.C. Of the mass of works he wrote only one is preserved to us completely, De re rustica, and further more parts and fragments of some others. He was a landowner on a large scale, who wrote De re rustica in his eightieth year (annus octogesimus), he tells us in the beginning, ut sarcinas colligam ante quam profiscar e vita. It is a philosophic dialogue in 3 books, in which he gives sound and practical advice for managing a farm (I), a stock-ranch (II), poultry, aviary and herb-garden (III). 'While giving interesting information on the state of agriculture at that time, it is withal a pleasantly discursive book, the work of a garrulously entertaining old scholar' (H.J. Rose, A Handbook of Latin Literature, London 1967, p. 222) § The texts of Cato, Varro and Columella were edited by Piero Vettori, or Petrus Victorius, 1499-1585, the foremost representative of classical scholarship in Italy during the 16th century, which may well be called the Saeculum Victorianum. (J.E. Sandys, A history of classical scholarship, N.Y., 1964, p. 135) With his publication in 1541 begins for the Scriptores De re rustica, according to J.M. Gesner in his Biponti-edition of 1787, a new era, the Aetas Victoriana. Vettori, whom Fabricius/Ernsti calls the 'saviour' (sospitator) of the genre, concentrated himself with the help of old manuscripts, and his own wit, especially on Cato and Varro) (Collation: alfa8, beta4, a-z8 (leaves s7 and s8 blank), A-I8, K4 (minus leaf K4)) (Photographs on request)
Book number: 130040 Euro 660.00

Keywords: (Oude Druk), (Rare Books), Altertumswissenschaft, Altphilologie, Antike, Antiquity, Cato, Landwirtschaft, Latin literature, Philosophie, Swiss imprints, Varro, agriculture, classical philology, philosophy, römische Literatur