‎Prudence, lat. Aurelius Prudentius Clemens‎
‎Viri Consularis Opera‎

‎D. Magni Ausonii Burdig. viri consularis opera. A Iosepho Scaligero, & Elia Vineto denuo recognita, disposita, & variorum notis illustrata (...) Adiectis variis & locupletissimis indicibus. ‎

‎(Geneve), Typis Iacobi Stoer, 1588. ‎

‎16mo. 2 volumes in 1: (XXXII),350;247,(1 blank),(14 indices) p. 18th century calf, back recently and decently restored. 13 cm (Ref: GLN-3290; Schweiger 21; Graesse I,259; Smitskamp p. 118) (Details: Back with 4 raised bands, recently and expertly restored. Morocco shield with gilt lettering in second compartment. Boards with blind triple fillet borders. Elaborately blind tooled rectangles on both boards. Edges of the boards gilt, edges of the bookblock dyed red. Title within woodcut borders, right edge of the title slightly cut short. The second volume has a title of its own, it contains 'Iosephi Scaligeri Iul. Caes. F. Ausonianarum lectionum libri duo', to which have been added notes of A. Turnebus, Hardianus Junius, G. Canter, J. Lipsius & E. Vinetus) (Condition: Endpapers renewed. First title slightly soiled and having a name on it) (Note: Decimus Magnus Ausonius of Burdigala (Bordeaux), ca. 310-394, was according to H.J. Rose an example of the senile degeneration of 4th century Latin literature, and the first glimmer heralding the full day of French literature. He wrote trifles, sometimes pretty or clever, often tiresome. (H.J. Rose, 'A History of Latin Literature', London 1967, p. 527/29). H.G. Evelyn White, the editor of the Loeb edition, is even more negative: 'As poetry (...) the great mass of his verse is negligible'. The chief value of Ausonius' work is according to him historical. (Loeb Classical Library, Ausonius, Cambr. Mass., 1919. p. VII) The 'Neue Pauly' is more positive: 'Ausonius repräsentiert eine Kultur der Bewahrung und des Erbes. Allenthalben greift er auf die griech. und lat. Lit. zurück, über die er souverän verfügt, und gestaltet anspielungs- und voraussetzungsreiche pretiöse Gebilde von formalem Raffinement'. (Der Neue Pauly, 2,334) Alexander Souter is in the Oxford Classical Dictionary full of praise: 'His numerous poems, written in various metres (...) are of considerable interest, in both subject-matter and style. There are over a hundred epigrams, some of which are in Greek and others translated from Greek. There are 25 letters. His correspondence with Paulinus of Nola is the most notable part of these. The Ephemeris includes many poems in various metres, dealing with daily life. The Parentalia is a collection of short poems in memory of deceased relatives of the poet. The Commemoratio Professorum Burdigalensium is of interest for the history of education. (...) This account by no means exhausts the list of minor poems, throughout which the author's minute knowledge of Virgil is apparant and his Christian faith is not obtruded. His most important poem is the Mosella which still attracts readers. It is a rhetorically fashioned laudatio in 483 hexameters and describes in considerable detail the various fish to be found in the river as well as some of the fine buildings on the banks and other features, the whole constituting a series of episodes, composed, like the rest of Ausonius' verse, according to rule'. (OCD 2nd ed. p. 154) The 2 French scholars mentioned on the title, Joseph Juste Scaliger,1540-1609, and Elie Vinet, or Elias Vinetus, 1509-1587, had probably nothing to do with the editing of this new Ausonius edition of 1588. It was produced, according to the very short preface, by the jurist P.B. Cestius I.C, or Petrus Baudoza Cestius, 1557-1627. It is further explained that it is based on the earlier edition of Scaliger, Antwerp 1575, with corrections of typographical errors. Vinetus had published an edition with his commentary in 1580) (Provenance: Name on title: 'Jacobus Levinus'. At the end of volume 1 written: 'John Rocherus, 1794') (Collation: -8 a-y8 (minus blank leaf y8); A-Q8, R4 (minus last blank leaf R4) (Photographs on request) ‎

‎"D. Magni Ausonii Burdig. viri consularis Opera / a Josepho Scaligero, & Elia Vineto denuo recognita, disposita, & variorum notis illustrata ; cetera epistola ad lectorem docebit ; adjectis variis & ocupletissimis indicibus. Typis Iacobi Stoer. 1588."‎

‎"Deux parties en un volume in-16° relié plein veau (reliure XVIIIe siècle), dos à nerfs décoré, pièce de titre de maroquin bordeaux. Coins émoussés, reliure frottée avec petite galerie de vers au plat inférieur, manque de cuir en coiffes. Une coupe supérieure frottée. [32], 350, [2 bl.] ; 247, [1 bl.], 14, [2 bl.] p. - Tampon ex-libris Parigot - Bellenot-sous-Pouilly. " ‎

‎Aurelii prudentii clementis viri consularis opera.‎

‎Paris, Hieronymus de Marnef, 1566. Petit in-8 de 540 (pour 542)-[2] pages (a-y-z8; A-L8), plein vélin souple à rabats. Au recto de la page de garde, on trouve une petite photographie XIXe, portrait d'un homme agé, portant moult médailles. ‎

‎ Edition des plus rares, qui manque à Brunet et Graesse. C'est Victor Giselin qui l'a publiée et annotée, et on y trouve, à la fin des commentaires d'Erasme sur le Cathemerinon. Le bas de la page de titre a été coupé, sans perte de texte.Caillet, 90002: " Admiré du savant Erasme, Prudence mérite l'atention des Gnostiques..."; Palau 239830 "Edicion correcta y muy apreciada por los comentarios de Giselini". ‎

‎Aurelii Prudentii Clementis, Viri Consularis, rerum divinarum, religionis Christianae, iuris item civilis & militaris peritia excellentis, opera. ‎

‎Lyon (Lugduni), Apud Ioan. Tornaesium et Guil. Gazeium, 1553. ‎

‎8vo. 519,(1 blank) p. Contemporary pigskin over wooden boards. 13.5 cm Prudentius hat sich in der lyrischen, in der epischen und in der didaktischen Poesie versucht und allenthalben Grosses geleistet (Bardenhewer) (Ref: Cartier, 'Bibliographie des éditions des De Tournes' no. 258; Graesse 5,467; Ebert 18063) (Details: Contemporary pigskin over wooden boards. Back with 3 raised bands. Boards decorated with a row of blind-tooled rolls, comprising floral motives and 10 portraits in medallions; there are 2 kind of portraits, of 'Iusticia' and of 'Lucrecia'; Iusticia holds what looks like a disk before her face, and Lucrecia stabs herself in the breast with a dagger. If this disk, which is as big as her face, is a mirror, the cutter of the stamp made a mistake, for the usual attributes of Justitia are the sword, scales or blindfold. If this disk represents however a kind of blindfold, to cover her face, he chose an attribute we could not find in any work on iconography. A mirror is rather an attribute of Prudentia. The central panel is adorned with floral motives. On the title the round printer's mark of 'De Tournes': a double ring formed by two vipers, a male and female; the female crushes the head of the male; in the middle a shield with the motto: 'Quod tibi fieri non vis, alteri ne feceris'. (Cartier p. 1,38/39, type Vip. o. Woodcut initials) (Condition: Binding scuffed and soiled, corners bumped. Front hinge cracking, but strong. 3 owner's inscriptions on the title, one of them erased with ink. The vipers of the printer's mark are coloured pale green) (Note: The Roman poet Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, born 348/49, died after 405 A.D., and of Spanish origin, was besides a man of letters also an industrious public servant. He was a fervent Christian, who had not cut himself off from the culture of the ancient world. 'He regarded the pagan literature and art not as things to be rejected but as part of the inheritance into which Christian Rome enters'. ('Prudentius', ed. H.J. Thomson, Cambr. Mass., 2000, vol. 1 p. IX, (Loeb Classical Library)) 'It is as a poet in whom is embodied a reconciliation between the new faith and the old culture, and in whom Christian thought claims rank in the world of letters, that Prudentius is historically important'. (Op. cit. p. X) He 'was a pioneer in the creation of a Christian literature, and has the credit of originating new types of Christian poetry, the literary hymn, the moral allegory, and what has been called the Christian ballad'. (Op. cit. XII) His hymns are odes in which pagan mythology is replaced by stories from the Bible. By the great English scholar Richard Bentley he was described as 'Christianorum Maro et Flaccus'. All we know about him comes from Prudentius himself. For an edition of his work, published in 404 or 405 he wrote a preface of 45 lines of poetry, in which he informs the reader about his carreer and motives to write poetry. Prudentius was much read in the Middle Ages. His influence is also visible in medieval art. More than 300 manuscripts with his work survive. The 'editio princeps' of Prudentius dates from 1495. This Lyonese edition of 1553 is based on the edition of Basel 1527, edited by the German humanist and classical scholar Johannes Sichardus, 1499-1552. In Basel he lectured from 1525 till 1527 on Cicero, Livius and other Roman classics. In the preface to the Prudentius edition, dated 1527 (and which is repeated in the edition of 1553) Sichardus complains about earlier editions of Prudentius which had suffered from mutilated manuscripts and amateur 'sciolo nescio quo' scholars. He has however managed to restore Prudentius in his original splendour (Pristinio autem nitori restituimus). He did so, not relying solely on his genius, which is a tricky, sometimes even unsound way to emendate (genus emendandi satis lubricum, ne dicam interim pestilens), but with the help of an old manuscript (ex codicibus vetustioribus) which was lend to him by one Vuerinherus Vuoflinus (Wernerus Woflinus?). This manuscript is now held in Bern ('Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Cod. 264'), place of origin: Bodensee (Reichenau/St. Gallen/Konstanz), and written ca. 900. Near the end of this edition of 1553 we find: 'In Aurelii Prudentii Clementis V.C. Psychomachiam, scholia per Ioannem Sichardum' (10 p.). De Tournes added from another source after this section of scholia: 'Erasmus Roterodamus castissimae puellae Margaretae Roperae s.d.' dated 1523, and the 'Commentarius in hymnum Prudentii, de natalis puero Iesu, per Erasmum Roterodamum', together 57 p.) (Provenance: Weissensee provenance On the title: 'Erdmann Wilhelm Ferber, Gosecka. Thur.' We found a New Year's message of him, dated 1757, 'Licht in Finsterniss beym Wechsel des Jahres'. He is described on the title as Diakonus, 'und ausserord. Colleg. der Landschule zu Pforta'. In the 'Personal-Codex des Weissensee'r Kreises', Weissensee 1868, p. 1, it is recorded that M(agister?) Erdmann Wilhelm Ferber was 'Pfarrer' and 'Superintendent' in Weissensee, from 1771 till 1799. Goseck lies in Thüringen between Leipzig and Jena. Below the printer's mark the name of probably the next owner: 'Ern. Andr. Christp. Callenberg'. Ernst Andreas Christoph Callenberg was Rector of the 'Stadtschule' at Weissensee from 1784 till 1822. ('Personal-Codex des Weissensee'r Kreises', Weissensee 1868, p. 6) In the 'Wittenbergsches Wochenblatt zum Aufnehmen der Naturkunde und des ökonomische Gewerbes auf das Jahr 1778, 6 Stück, Freytags, den 13 Februar 1778', on page 48, under the heading 'Gelehrte Nachrichten, Von der Wittenbergschen Universität und Stadt', he is mentioned a member of 'Predigercollegium' of the 'Schloss- und Universitätskirche, with the addition 'aus Thüringen'. In 1775 he signed a 'Album Amicorum' with 'Kallenberg'. There he reveals the place of his birth, 'Gebeser', nowadays Gebesee, a small city north of Erfurt. On the front pastedown in pencil: '15 sept. 1965', written by the Flemish linguist Walter Couvreur, 1914-1996, who was an Orientalist, and professor of Indoeuropean linguistics at the University of Gent. It indicates the date of aquisition. The place of acquisition he wrote on the flyleaf at the end: 'Leipzig, Zentralantiquariat') (Collation: A - 2I-8, 2K-4) (Photographs on request) ‎

‎Ausonii burdigalensis, viri consularis, Omnia, quae adhuc in veteribus bibliothecis inveniri potuerunt, Opera ; Adhaec, Symmachi et Pontii Paulani litterae ad Ausonium scriptae : tum Ciceronis, Sulpiciae, aliorumque quorundam veterum carmina nonnulla ; Cruncta ad varia, vetera, novamque exemplaria, emendata, commentariisque illustrata par Eliam Vinetum Santonem. ‎

‎Bordeaux, Simon Millanges, (1575-1580).‎

‎ Première édition des commentaires dElie Vinet. Exemplaire du poète Louis Martel, de Rouen, avec des annotations de sa main. On trouve son ex-libris manuscrit en haut de la page de titre, daté de 1585, et, plus bas, sa devise "Illustra Deus Oculum" qui est l'anagramme de Ludovicus Martellus. Louis Martel était proche des poètes de la Pléïade. On trouve quelques uns de ses vers dans les recueil de poésies de son temps. Par exemple, dans les "Oeuvres poétiques de Remy Belleau" (1578), ou dans le "Discours de la vie de Pierre de Ronsard" (1586). Il est aussi l'éditeur de "Poetae tres elegantissimi" (1582). Il enseignait les Belles-Lettres à Rouen et comptait parmi les "plus savants hommes de son siècle" selon le père Farin dans son "Histoire de la ville de Rouen". Martel possédait une fort belle collection de livres et plusieurs manuscrits médiévaux à la BNF portent son ex-libris. Une partie de sa collection est passée ensuite dans celle de Jean Bigot. Au feuillet Aa1verso, on trouve un distique de sa main, "Qua jacet hoc geminos peperit Lucilla, sed aequa / Secti forte, patri vivens, matri manet alter", au sujet d'un épitaphe d'Ausone sur une certaine Lucille, qui mourut, enfantant deux jumeaux, l'un vivant, l'autre mort. Martel a aussi retranscrit des vers, sur la même page et sur le même sujet, de Petrus Loërius et de Pierre Le Loyer. Notons que les oeuvres et mélanges poétiques" de Pierre Le Loyer (1579) contiennent des "Vers à Pierre Le Loyer" de Louis Martel. Enfin, nous avons repéré 16 notes marginales de sa fine écriture en marge du texte d'Ausone ou du copieux commentaire d'Elie Vinet. Certaines sont en grec. [feuillets : d2 - l2 - n3v -n4r- o1 - Aa1v -Bb4v - Hh3v -Ll1v -Ll2 - Mm4 - Oo1v - Oo2 -Ss2 - Yy4 - Zz2v] Autre ex-libris sur la page de titre, qui a été rogné à la reliure : Antoine de Lam? 1620?. La date de 1575 figure au verso du titre et celle de 1580 à la fin. Illustré par 2 planches dépliantes hors-texte (Palais Tutele et Amphithéâtre de Bordeaux) et une dizaine bois dans le texte, 2 sont à pleine page, dont une belle vue de Bordeaux. Titre en noir et rouge avec la marque de Millange. Exemplaire complet des deux feuillets (A2) qui semblent rares: Martialis Campani medici burdigalensis (...) explicatio philosophica in epigrama decimum Ausoni. » Le saintongeois Elie Vinet (1509-1587) a été lun des plus brillants maitres du Collège de Guyenne. Ce collège était au centre de la vie intellectuelle de Bordeaux et de sa région. Montaigne qui l'a qualifié de « meilleur de France », y entra comme élève en 1539, lannée même où Vinet commença à y professer. « Si aucun texte ne nous renseigne sur les rapports de Vinet avec Michel de Montaigne et Etienne de La Boétie, il est probable quil entretint avec eux des relations, sans quon puisse affirmer qu'il les eut pour élèves au Collège de Guyenne. » [L. Desgraves.] Vinet a été léditeur de plus de 43 éditions différentes douvrages qui pour la plupart, on servi à lenseignement quil dispensait. Cest lui qui encouragea lun de ses collègues, Simon Millanges a fonder une imprimerie qui publia plus de six cents ouvrages dont les « Essais ». Brunet 1, 573 : « Belle édition estimée pour le commentaire. Le texte a été imprimé séparément en 1575 et le commentaire en 1580. » Adams A-2282. Desgraves, Elie Vinet 32. Exemplaire aux armes du marquis de la Grange. Des feuillets brunis. Charnières restaurées. Bel exemplaire. /// In-4 de (396) ff. [titre, aa2, A3, aaa4, ee4, ii4, oo4, uu2, A2, a-z, A-K4, A2, A-Z, Aa-Zz, AAa-Ppp4] Veau brun, armes dorées sur les plats, dos à nerfs orné. (Reliure du XIXe.) //// First edition of Elie Vinet's comments. Copy of the poet Louis Martel, of Rouen, with his hand annotations. There is his handwritten ex libris at the top of the title page, dated 1585, and, below, his motto "Illustra Deus Oculum" which is the anagram of Ludovicus Martellus. Louis Martel was close to the poets of the Pleïade. We find some of his verses in some collectione of poems of the period. For example, in the "Oeuvres poetiques de Remy Belleau" (1578), or in the "Discours de la vie de Pierre de Ronsard" (1586). He is also the editor of "Poetae tres elegantissimi" (1582). He taught literature in Rouen and was among the "most learned men of his century" according to Father Farin in his "Histoire de la ville de Rouen". Martel had a very fine collection of books and several medieval manuscripts at the BNF bear his bookplate. A part of his collection was later passed on to Jean Bigot. On the reverse side of page Aa1, we find a distich in his hand, "Qua jacet hoc geminos peperit Lucilla, sed aequa / Secti forte, patri vivens, matri manet alter", about an epitaph of Ausone on a certain Lucille, who died, giving birth to two twins, one alive, the other dead. Martel also transcribed verses, on the same page and on the same subject, of Petrus Loërius and Pierre Le Loyer. Let us note that the works and poetic mixtures" of Pierre Le Loyer (1579) contain "Vers a Pierre Le Loyer" of Louis Martel. Finally, we have spotted 16 marginal notes in his fine handwriting in the margin of Ausone's text or of Elie Vinet's copious commentary. Some are in Greek. [leaves: d2 - l2 - n3v -n4r- o1 - Aa1v -Bb4v - Hh3v -Ll1v -Ll2 - Mm4 - Oo1v - Oo2 -Ss2 - Yy4 - Zz2v] Another bookplate on the title page, which has been trimmed in the binding: Antoine de Lam? 1620? The date 1575 appears on the verso of the title and 1580 at the end. Illustrated with 2 folding plates (Palais Tutele and Amphitheatre de Bordeaux) and a dozen woodcuts in the text, 2 of which are full-page, including a beautiful view of Bordeaux. Title in black and red with the Millange mark. Copy complete with the two leaves (A2) which seem rare: "Martialis Campani medici burdigalensis (...) explicatio philosophica in epigrama decimum Ausoni." The Saintonian Elie Vinet (1509-1587) was one of the most brilliant masters of the College of Guyenne. This college was at the center of the intellectual life of Bordeaux and its area. Montaigne, who called it "the best in France", entered as a student in 1539, the same year that Vinet began to teach there. "If no text informs us of Vinet's relationship with Michel de Montaigne and Etienne de La Boetie, it is probable that he maintained relations with them, without it being possible to affirm that he had them as students at the College de Guyenne. [L. Desgraves]. Vinet was the editor of more than 43 different editions of works, most of which were used in his teaching. It was he who encouraged one of his colleagues, Simon Millanges, to establish a printing house which published more than six hundred works including the "Essais". Brunet 1, 573 : " Beautiful edition estimated for the commentary. The text was printed separately in 1575 and the commentary in 1580. Adams A-2282. Desgraves, Elie Vinet 32. Copy with the arms of the Marquis de la Grange. Hinges restored. A nice copy.‎