‎DRACO STRATONICENSIS. ‎
‎Draconis Stratonicensis Liber de metris poeticis. Ioannis Tzetzae Exegesis in Homeri Iliadem. Primum edidit et indices addidit Godofredus Hermannus. (Bound with:) Appendix ad Draconem Stratonicensem, complectens Trichae Eliae Monachi et Herodiani Tractatus de metris. Ex Codd. Mss. edidit Franciscus de Furia. ‎

‎Leipzig (Lipsiae), Sumptibus Io. Aug. Gottl. Weigelii, 1812 - 1814. ‎

Reference : 159636

‎8vo. 2 volumes in 1: (XXIX),(1 blank),168,196; (VI),88 p. Half morocco. 23.5 cm (Details: Back gilt and with 5 raised bands. Marbled boards ruled gilt. Marbled endpapers. Upper edge gilt. Fore- and lower edge uncut) (Condition: Some wear to the extremes of the binding. Head of the spine a bit frayed. Slightly foxed, heavier so at the first and last leaves. Armorial bookplate on the front pastedown) (Note: This binding contains 2 volumes with important texts on ancient Greek metrics. The first volume consist of 2 parts, the first (p. 1/168) is an edition of the 'Liber de metris poeticis' ascribed to the Greek grammarian Draco from Stratonikeia, probably 2nd century A.D., and the second (p. 1/169) is the 'editio princeps' of the 'Exegesis in Homeri Iliadem of the Byzantine scholar Johannes Tzetzes, including also his 'Scholia ad exegesin in Iliadem'. Both works were edited by the great German classical scholar Gottfried Hermann, 1772-1848. The second volume, the 'Appendix' is the work of the Italian scholar and librarian of the Biblioteca Marucelliana in Florence, Francesco del Furia, 1771/1856, and it contains the 'editio princeps' of Herodianus' short treatise 'Peri lexeôs tôn stichôn' (No. 49 of Herodianus' works in Berkowitz and Squitier, mentioning still this edition of 1814), and 2 tracts of the obscure metrici Tricha, 'Tractatus de metris', and 'De diversis metris' of 'Aelius' or 'Elias Monachus'. Draco of Stratonikeia wrote according to the Suda works on technical-grammatical, metrical and philological-critical questions, primarily with reference to lyric poetry. The 'Liber de metris poeticis' , which was until Karl Lehrs ascribed to Draco, is actually a 'creditable' fake compiled by the Greek refugee scholar Jakobos Diassorinos, born ca. 1520 in Rhodes, who moved to Italy after 1541. The German scholar Lehrs proved in the 19th century that it was a forgery. As he showed, the work of the Draco is partly taken from Herodian's 'peri dichronôn', the 'Etymologicum Magnum', the Lexicon of Phavorinus Camers (2nd edition, Basel 1538), a tract of Isaac Monachus 'peri metrôn poiêtikôn', and from the 'editio princeps' of Hephaestion, published in Florence in 1526 (terminus post quem for the creation of this text). The 'Exegesis in Homeri Iliadem', composed in approximately 1140 by one of the most prominent Byzantine scholars, John Tzetzes, consists of a introduction and a commentary, organized in lemmata, on the entire first book of the Iliad. The introduction is accompanied by scholia, also made by Tzetzes. Draco and Tzetzes were edited by Gottfried Hermann, like Tzetzes most conspicuous for his work on ancient Greek metre and Homer) (Provenance: On the front pastedown the armorial bookplate of the English classical scholar J.E.B Mayor, with the motto 'Mea anchora Christus'. John Eyton Bikcersteth Mayor, 1825/1910, is famous for his commentary on Juvenal, the work on which his reputation as a Latin scholar rests. Mayor 'entered St John's in 1844, graduated third classic in 1848, and became a Fellow in 1849. For four years he was a master at Marlborough College, during which time he prepared the work on which his scholarly reputation rests, his edition of Juvenal's Satires. Unhappy at Marlborough, he returned to St John's in 1853 and remained there for the rest of his life. Here he devoted himself to his literary, antiquarian and classical interests, and in particular to the study of Cambridge history. He served as University Librarian from 1864 to 1866, and as Professor of Latin from 1872 until his death. Mayor amassed an enormous library which was originally stored in his College rooms, and later transferred to a small house for its accommodation. When sold in Cambridge after his death it totalled 18,000 volumes'. (See https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/special_collections/early_books/mayor.htm) (Collation: a-b8 (minus blank leaf b8), A-K8, L4; (A)-(M)8,(N)2; pi4 (minus blank leaf pi4), A-E8,F4) ‎