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Horace in the (partly first) Italian translation by Lodovico Dolce

HORATIUS FLACCUS, Quintus.
I dilettevoli sermoni, altrimenti satire, e le morali epistole, insieme con la poetica. Ridotte da M. Lodovico Dolce dal poema Latino in versi sciolti volgari. Con la vita di Horatio. Origine della Satira. Discorso sopra le Satire. Discorso sopra le Epistole. Discorso sopra la Poetica.

Woodcut printer's device on title, large woodcut illustration (variant of Ferrari's printer's device of an eagle staring at the sun with the motto 'Semper Eadem') on the recto of the last leaf (verso blank; Marques typogr. de G. Giolito: Ascarelli, nrs 119 et 123), woodcut head- and end-pieces, woodcut initials.

Woodcut printer's device on title, large woodcut illustration (variant of Ferrari's printer's device of an eagle staring at the sun with the motto 'Semper Eadem') on the recto of the last leaf (verso blank; Marques typogr. de G. Giolito: Ascarelli, nrs 119 et 123), woodcut head- and end-pieces, woodcut initials.

Woodcut printer's device on title, large woodcut illustration (variant of Ferrari's printer's device of an eagle staring at the sun with the motto 'Semper Eadem') on the recto of the last leaf (verso blank; Marques typogr. de G. Giolito: Ascarelli, nrs 119 et 123), woodcut head- and end-pieces, woodcut initials.

Woodcut printer's device on title, large woodcut illustration (variant of Ferrari's printer's device of an eagle staring at the sun with the motto 'Semper Eadem') on the recto of the last leaf (verso blank; Marques typogr. de G. Giolito: Ascarelli, nrs 119 et 123), woodcut head- and end-pieces, woodcut initials.

Woodcut printer's device on title, large woodcut illustration (variant of Ferrari's printer's device of an eagle staring at the sun with the motto 'Semper Eadem') on the recto of the last leaf (verso blank; Marques typogr. de G. Giolito: Ascarelli, nrs 119 et 123), woodcut head- and end-pieces, woodcut initials.



Venice, Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari, 1559. 8vo. Marbled paper wrappers. Woodcut printer's device on title, large woodcut illustration (variant of Ferrari's printer's device of an eagle staring at the sun with the motto 'Semper Eadem') on the recto of the last leaf (verso blank; Marques typogr. de G. Giolito: Ascarelli, nrs 119 et 123), woodcut head- and end-pieces, woodcut initials. 318, (1) pp.

Very rare edition of an important Italian translation of the most popular works of Horatius, consisting of his Sermones (two books with 10, resp. 8 satires), Epistolae  (Book of letters) and Ars Poetica. Dolce seems to have been the first Italian translator of the Epistulae, using blank verse. The Satires and Epistles are his most personal works and perhaps the most accessible to contemporary readers since much of his social satire is just as applicable today. Composed in dactylic hexameters, the satires explore the secrets of human happiness and literary perfection. Horace combines Greek philosophy with Roman good sense to convince his readers of the futility and silliness of their ambitions and desires. As an alternative, Horace offers a life that is based on the Greek philosophical ideals of autarkeia (inner self-sufficiency) and metriotes (moderation). One of the Epistolae, the 'Epistle to the Pisones', is often referred to as a separate work in itself, his famous Ars Poetica. In this work, Horace forwards a theory of poetry. His most important tenets are that poetry must be carefully and skilfully worked out on the semantic and formal levels, and that poetry should be wholesome as well as pleasant. Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65-8 BC) was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.
The translator Lodovico Dolce (1508-1568) was a sixteenth-century Venetian humanist, famous in his own time for a wide variety of literary enterprises. Dolce produced several hundred volumes bearing his name-whether as author, editor, translator or critic-and gained universal renown in his own century, standing out as an exemplar of the ideal scholar and writer. Few people today recognize his significance as one of the major promulgators of culture and disseminators of knowledge in Cinquecento Italy.
For thirty-six years, Dolce worked for the Venetian presses (most often for our Gabriel Giolito), being personally responsible for over 25% of the books published in Venice during that time. The works that passed through his hands seem not only to have responded to public demand but to have captured and directed the interests of sixteenth-century readers. As the most active writer and editor for the largest and most productive Venetian press, Dolce played a decisive role in both the formation and diffusion of late Cinquecento culture.

Good copy.- (Side margin trimmed, occasionally in the beginning sl. affecting the printed marginal annotations, binding loosening).
STC Italian p. 334; Brunet III, col. 331 ('très difficile à trouver'); Adams H.960 (lacks V8); for Lodovico Dolce, see: Diz. biogr. degli Italiani 40, pp. 399-405 and the recent work by R. Tempening, Lodovico Dolce (2007).

Related Subjects: 16th Century  Greek & Latin  Italy  Philosophy  Poetry  Satire  Venice 

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