EPICTETUS. Epicteti Enchiridium una cum Cebetis Thebani tabula, Graec. & Lat. Cum notis Wolfii, Casauboni, Caselii & aliorum; quibus accedit Graeca Enchiridii paraphrasis, lacunis omnibus, codicis Medicei ope a Jacobo Gronovio repletis. Recensuit & a plurimis mendis, quae in priores editiones irrepserant, repurgavit, ac notis quibusdam & animadversionibus illustravit Joannes Casparus Schröderus. Delft (Delphis), Apud Adrianum Beman, 1723. 8vo. (LXIV),288 p., frontispiece, folding plate. Vellum 20.5 cm (Ref: STCN ppn 140819754; Oldfather no. 232, but see also Oldfather Supplement no. 233; Hoffmann 2,15; Dibdin 1,515: on the 2nd edition of 1683: 'is reputed the best of the octavo Variorums'; Ebert 6777; Brunet 2,1013) (Details: 6 thongs laced through the joints. Engraved frontispiece depicting the philosopher Epictetus, behind him a host of (allegoric) female followers. One holds a lamp, another a pair of scales. In his left hand Epictetus holds a scroll with one of his motto's: 'ANECHOU KAI APECHOU', 'bear (with patience) and abstain', his recipe for a 'vita tranquilissima' (Gellius book 17, caput 19); he is greeted by a woman (Ethica) who leads a reined lion that has a bridle in its mouth, thus signifying reason's command over man's passions. At Epictetus' feet 5 pityful victims of their passions, among who a drunk. This frontispiece was designed and etched by the Dutch artist Romeyn de Hooghe. The copper plate of the frontispiece is used here for the second time. It was first used for the first edition of this book which was published in 1670 by Van Gaasbeek at Leiden & Amsterdam. (Romeyn de Hooghe, De verbeelding van de late Gouden Eeuw, no. 1670.03 and 1723.01) The title is printed in red and black. The text is printed in 2 columns, with a Latin translation facing the Greek text. The commentary is on the lower half of the page. The folding plate is also the work of Romeyn de Hooghe (signed and dated 1670), this is an artistic illustration of the 'Tabula Cebetis'. It shows the many ways leading to vice, and the only straight and narrow path to virtue: we see a garden with 2 concentric walls filled with a host of allegorical figures. At the Entrance (to life) sits Seductio (Temptation), offering a youth a drink from a goblet. In the foreground also the philosopher Cebes explaining to a bunch of young children the dangers and temptations which lie ahead. Most people within the first wall, among who kings and bishops, are busy gambling, fighting, drinking. Within the second wall we see philosophers and scholars. In the background is a high hill with a temple on top, a destination which is reached by only a few. Romeyn de Hooghe's engraving is a mirrorwise, minimized and free baroque version of Goltzius' more solemn engraving of the 'Tabula' of Cebes of 1592. De Hooghe's details are more explicit, narrative and passionate. Life is a sordid fight, one drinks and pukes with gusto, and we even see a shadowy naked couple making love) (Condition: Vellum slightly scratched and spotted. Both pastedowns are detached) (Note: The Enchiridium, in English Manual or Handbook, of the Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus, ca. 50-130 A.D., is in fact a later summary, or epitome, of his collected lectures, also called diatribes, which had been published by his pupil Arrianus. Like the Stoics Epictetus wanted to make man free and independent of the vicissitudes of fortune. 'We must not, he said, let our happiness depend on things which are not in our power. The only thing which is always in one's power is one's own self and one's will. This we must keep unblemished. We must be indifferent to death, pain and illness, and even the loss of our dearest relatives must not touch us. For all this not only belongs to the external world, but also happens through Divine Providence, which is always good'. (OCD, 2nd ed. p. 390) The practical exercises for a moral life of the pagan Epictetus found many Christian admirers, and he continued to be read in Byzantine times. The Renaissance brought Epictetus new readers. In 1479 a Latin translation by Polizziano of the Manual was published. The Manual was even adapted by a 16th century Jesuit, Matteo Ricci, for a Chinese public, for, he argued, Stoicism was close in spirit to Confucianism. The classical scholar and neostoic Justus Lipsius, 1547-1606, thought that the Stoicism of Epictetus could profitably be combined with Christianity. A host of editions and translations was published before the 19th century. After that interest in Epictetus declined, 'although Nietzsche acknowledged him as one of the great moralists of antiquity, whose quiet slave nobility compared favorably with Christian slave morality. More recently Epictetus has benefited from a renewed scholarly interest in Hellenistic philosophy'. (The Classical Tradition, Cambr. Mass., 2010, p. 319/20) Indeed, the Stoic teachings of Epictetus still have their impact. In Wikipedia we found s.v. Epictetus (English) the story of the American fighter pilot James Stockdale, 'who was shot down over North Vietnam, became a prisoner of war (...) and later a vice presidential candidate. In 'Courage under Fire: testing Epictetus's doctrines in a laboratory of human behaviour' (1993), Stockdale credits Epictetus with helping him endure seven and a half years in a North Vietnamese military prison, including torture, and four years in solitary confinement'. This Enchiridium edition of 1723, called on the frontispiece 'editio tertia', is a reissue of the second edition of the Manual and the 'Tabula Cebetis' which appeared in Delft in 1683. It was first published in 1670 by Van Gaasbeek in Amsterdam, and was produced by the Dutch scholar Abraham van Berkel, or Abrahamus Berkelius, 1639/40 - 1686. Though trained as a physician he renounced medicin, and began to study classics under Jacobus Gronovius when he was 30 years old. He soon was appointed Rector of the Schola Latina at Delft, where he produced several competent editions, besides his Epictetus of 1670, the fragments of Stephanus Byzantinus 'De Urbibus' (Leiden 1674, and a new edition with commentary posthumely in 1688, his opus magnum), and an edition of Antoninus Liberalis (also Leiden 1674). (NNBW 1,309/10) The third edition of 1723 was produced by one Johannes Caspar Schröder, whom the NNBW does not know. At the end of the preface, dated 1722, Schröder calls himself an 'addictus cliens' of the Mayor of Delft, Theodorus Vallensis. From p. 5*8, the last leaf of the preliminary pages, we learn that Schröder was like Berkelius Rector of the 'Schola Latina' at Delft. Schweighaeuser reveals that Schröder was an imposter. He simply reissued the second edition of Berkelius, 'ejecto Berkelii nomine, suum praeponere nomen non erubuerit'. (J. Schweighaeuser, 'Epicteti Manuale etc.', Leipzig 1798, p. LXI) After the preface follow a short biography of Epictetus and a number of ancient testimonia, and the opinions on Epictetus of Lipsius, Henri Estienne, Meric Casaubon and Politianus. After the Enchiridium, accompanied by the notes of Wolf, Casaubon and Caselius, comes the text and Latin translation of a Byzantine 'paraphrasis' of the Enchiridium, first published by Meric Casaubon in London, 1659. The second half of the book contains the 'Tabula Cebetis'. This is a dialogue which dates from the first century A.D. It was attributed to the philosopher Cebes, a student of the Athenian Socrates. In it an ancient temple painting, which caught the attention of 2 visitors, is explained by an old man. It is an allegorical picture on which the dangers and temptations of human life are symbolically represented. It shows that happiness can only be reached by proper education and a virtuous life. This once popular ethical work is now almost forgotten. But in the 16th, 17th and 18th century it was widely read, e.g. by clergymen and preachers. The famous engravings of Goltzius and Romeyn de Hooghe of this 'tabula' are discussed above. At the end of the book we find 25 pages with notes of Jacobus Gronovius, from 1679 till his death in 1716 professor of Greek at Leiden, on the Byzantine 'paraphrasis' of the Enchiridium. These useful notes, for which he used the Codex Mediceus, were first added to the second edition of 1683. Schweighaeuser praises these notes highly: 'quae Notae (...) emendationes utique luculentas & necessarias e codice Msto Mediceo ductas continebant'. (J. Schweighaeuser, 'Epicteti Manuale etc.', Leipzig 1798, p. LIX)) (Collation: *-4*8, A-S8) (Photographs on request)
Book number: 130459 Euro 300.00

Keywords: (Oude Druk), (Rare Books), Altertum, Altertumswissenschaft, Antike, Antiquity, Cebes, Cebetis Tabula, Dutch imprints, Epictetus, Epiktet, Greek literature, Greek text, Griechische Literatur, Kebes, Latin translation, Philosophie, classical philology, philosophy