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First Plantin pocket edition of the works of Sallust with a Leiden imprint

SALLUSTIUS Crispus, Gaius.
Opera, quae extant, una cum fragmentis.

Woodcut printer's device on title.

Woodcut printer's device on title.



Leiden, Ex officina Plantiniana, Franciscus Raphelengius I, 1591. 32mo. Contemporary green morocco with two gilt decorative borders along the edges of both sides, spine gilt in compartments with title lettered in gold, gilt binding edges, gilt edges. Woodcut printer's device on title. 302 pp.

First pocket edition without notes or commentary of the works of Gaius Sallustius Crispus with a Leiden imprint. Four years earlier a 24to edition had been published with an Antwerp imprint ('Antwerpiae, aopud Christophorum Plantinum, 1587'), of which Voet notes however, that the edition was printed in Leiden.
This 'second' Plantin pocket edition in 32mo, printed in Leiden as is stated on the title contains:
- De coniuratione Catalinae on pp. 3-64, Sallustius' first published work, containing the history of the memorable year 63, in which the conspiracy of the Roman politician Lucius Sergius Catilina (108 BC- 62 BC) against the Roman Republic is foiled. While Sallustius inveighs against Catiline's depraved character and vicious actions, he does not fail to state that the man had many noble traits. Sallustius shows Catilina as deeply courageous in his final battle. This subject gave Sallustius the opportunity of showing off his rhetoric at the expense of the old Roman aristocracy.
- De  bello Jugurthino on pp. 65-187, an interesting historical work recording the war in Numida. Its true value lies in the introduction of Marius and Sulla to the Roman political scene and the beginning of their rivalry. Sallustius' time as governor of Africa Nova ought to have let the author develop a solid geographical and ethnographical background to the war, however, this is not evident in the work. Sallustius' priority was to use history as a vehicle for his judgement on the slow decline of Roman morality and politics.
- Orationes duae ad C. Caesarem Sallustio adscriptae (pp. 188-211).
- In M. Tullium Ciceronem declamatio (pp. 212-216): an attack on Cicero which is frequently attributed to Sallustius, but is thought by modern scholars to have probably come from the pen of the rhetorician Marcus Porcius Latro, also the supposed author of a counter-invective attributed to Cicero: In Sallustiumdeclamatio; quae Ciceronifalso tribuitur (pp. 217-226).
- Extracts from the lost works: Historiarm libr. V (pp. 227-273), and Fragmenta (pp. 274-290).
- Veterum scriptorum et nonnullorum recentiorum de Sallustio iudicia & testimonia (pp. 291-302).

The third pocket edition appeared in Leiden in 1597; two editions with annotations by P. Ciacconius were published by Raphelengius in 1594 and 1602.

Gaius Sallustius Crispus, generally known simply as Sallust (86-34 BC), a Roman historian, belonged to a well-known plebeian family. Throughout his career Sallust always stood by his principle as a popularis, an opposer of Pompey 's party and the old aristocracy of Rome. Sallust's account of the Catiline conspiracy and of the Jugurthine War have come down to us complete, together with fragments of his larger and most important work (Historiae), a history of Rome from 78-67 BC, intended as a continuation of Cornelius Sisenna's work.

Fair copy of this rare small pocket edition with some contemporary underlinings.- (Binding half loose, lower right corner and first ca. 8 lvs. mouse-eaten, title repaired (redoubled)).
Typ. Bat. 4437; Breugelmans, Leiden imprints, p. 90; cf. Voet 2167.

Related Subjects: 16th Century  Classical Antiquity  History  Plantin  Rome 

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