‎NEPOS. ‎
‎Cornelius Nepos, perperam vulgo Aemilius Probus dictus, De vita excellentium Imperatorum. Diesen giebt nach Art seines Plinii und Horatii mit auserlesenen philologischen, moralischen u. historischen Anmerckungen, auf eine ganz neue nützliche und leichte Weise, nebst einer Vorrede und dienlichen Registern heraus M. Caspar Gottschling, Siles., Neustadt-Brandenb. Rect. und Bibliothec. ‎

‎Brandenburg, Zu finden bey Johann Ernst Wohlfelden, Buchhändlern. Gedruckt bey Christian Hallen, Kön. Preuss. privil. Buchh, 1729. ‎

Reference : 120479

‎8vo. (XLVIII, including frontispiece),624 p. Vellum 17.5 cm (Ref: Not in Schweiger, Brunet, Ebert, Graesse; not yet in VD18) (Details: Nice copy. 5 thongs laced through both joints. Short title in ink on the frontcover. Frontispiece by Daniel Fincke, depicting the historian Nepos at work, while Mars and Athena keep guard. Title in red and black. Latin text on the upper half, and German commentary on the lower half of the page. Good quality paper) (Condition: Vellum somewhat soiled. Small stamp and a name on the verso of the frontispiece. Front flyleaf renewed) (Note: This is an edition with an accompanying commentary in German, of the only surviving complete work of the Roman historian Cornelius Nepos, ca. 100-24 B.C., De excellentibus ducibus exterrarum gentium. It is the first collection of biographies from antiquity. It contains the lives of 20 Greek generals, and the Carthaginians Hamilkar and Hannibal. An ancient editor added to this collection the lives of M. Porcius Cato, and of Pomponius Atticus, the friend and correspondent of Cicero. Already in late antiquity this collection was ascribed to the grammarian Aemilius Probus, and the editio princeps of 1471 bears his name. In his edition of 1569 the French classical scholar Dionysius Lambinus proved on stylistic grounds that this work must have been written by the contemporary of Cicero, Cornelius Nepos alone. Later editions often mention both names, and combine the names of the authors with vel, seu,sive, or vulgo. The simple style of writing of Nepos has made him a standard choice for schools. Schweiger mentions numerous editions. The German scholar and historian Caspar Gottschling, 1679-1739, is the author of a great number of publications. He used many pseudonymes, among which Carolus de Gaule, or Charles de Gaule. Since 1710 he was Rektor of the Gymnasium of Neustadt Brandenburg. Best known are his editions of the school authors Nepos, Pliny, Cicero and Horace. In 1717 he published in Halle his German translation of Nepos. This was followed by his edition of Nepos with a commentary in German. Wellknown is also his contribution to the Land of Cockaigne legend, Der Staat von Schlaraffenland which he published in 1710. (See for Gottschling Handbuch Gelehrtenkultur der Frühen Neuzeit, Bln., 2001, p. 310/11)) (Provenance: Small oval stamp of Döllinger and the manuscript name of Döllinger, dated 1874, on the verso of the frontispiece. This is Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger, 1799 - 1890, who 'was a German theologian, Catholic priest and church historian who rejected the dogma of papal infallibility. He is considered an important contributor to the doctrine, growth and development of the Old Catholic Church, though he himself never joined that denomination'. He was educated in the gymnasium at Würzburg, and then began to study natural philosophy at the University of Würzburg, where his father held a professorship. In 1826 became professor of theology at the University of Munich, where he spent the rest of his life. (See for Döllinger his long Wikipedia German article) Döllinger loved Nepos. He once told about his Gymnasium time: I simply adored Nepos, and glowed with enthusiasm for Mithrydates, Marcus Aurelius, Homer, Sophocles, and a host of others. Even now, by way of a treat, I read Greek before I go to bed, and sometimes in the morning. And when I take my evening walk in the English Garden, I go over the Greek tragedies to myself, and find them excellent company. And when asked for his enthousiasm for the English General Gordon, the late governor-general of the Soudan, whom he thought a figure of heroic proportions, (...) Second to none in moral grandeur, and worthy to be placed by the side of Bismarck and of Moltke, Döllinger asked rhetorically: Take for instance the case of boys reading Homer or Nepos through for the first time. Do you mean to tell me that they (German youths) no longer have any feeling of enthusiasm for the heroes of these great works ?' (Conversations of Dr. Döllinger, London 1892, p. 173 and 174) These conversations took place 12 years earlier in the English Garden in Munich. This famous Englisher Garten still exists and has its own Wikipedia article) (Collation: a-c8, A-2Q8) (Photographs on request) ‎