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Second Aldus edition, for the first time together with Erasmus' annotations

SUETONIUS TRANQUILLUS, Gaius.
(De vita Caesarum). In hoc volumine haec continentur. C. Suetonii Tranquilli XII Caesares. Sexti Aurelii Victoris à D. Caesare Augusto usque ad Theodosium excerpta. Eutropii gestis Romanorum Lib. X. Pauli Diaconi libri VIII ad Eutropii historiam additi. Index rerum memorabilium per singulos Tranquilli Caesares ab Ioanne Baptista Egnatio Veneto compositus. Annotationes eiusdem Egnatii in omnes Tranquilli Caesares. Annotationes etiam Erasmi in Suetonium, Eutropium, & Paulum Diaconum per literarum ordinem.

Aldus' woodcut printer's devica on title-page and on final page.



Venice, Aldus and Andreae [= heirs of Aldus Manutius and Andrea d'Asola], May 1521. 8vo. Nineteenth-century half calf, spine lettered in gilt. Aldus' woodcut printer's devica on title-page and on final page. [60], 320 ll.

The second Aldus edition of the main work of Suetonius, for the first time containing the annotations, arranged alphabetically, by Erasmus, which were first published in Basel in 1518. The first Aldus edition had appeared in 1516. Both editions also contain the relevant texts of Aurelius Victor and Eutropius with the continuation by Paulus Diaconus, and as they were formerly the common manual of almost everyone who wished to study the Roman history, Renouard informs us that it is extremely difficult to obtain a clean and perfect copy of them. This second edition is the more valuable, as containing an 'Index Memorabilium' and the notes of Erasmus and the Venetian philologist Joannes Baptista Egnatius (ca. 1473-1553) (Dibdin).
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius (ca. 69/75 - after 130), was an equestrian and a historian during the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is this set of biographies on the lives of twelve successive Roman rulers, from Julius Caesar until Domitian, entitled De Vita Caesarum. Other works by Suetonius concern the daily life of Rome, politics, oratory, and the lives of famous writers, including poets, historians, and grammarians. A few of these books have partially survived, but many are entirely lost.
Suetonius was a close friend to Senator and letter-writer Pliny the Younger. Pliny describes him as 'quiet and studious, a man dedicated to writing'. Through Pliny, Suetonius came into favour with Trajan and Hadrian. Under Trajan he served as secretary of studies (precise functions are uncertain) and director of Imperial archives. Under Hadrian, he became the Emperor's secretary. In 122, Hadrian dismissed him for disrespectful behaviour towards Empress Vibia Sabina. Suetonius may have later regained imperial favor under Hadrian and returned to his position.
'The Twelve Caesars', probably written in Hadrian's time, is a collective biography of the Roman Empire's first emperors. The book was dedicated to Suetonius' friend Gaius Septicius Clarus, a prefect of the Praetorian Guard in 119. The work tells the tale of each Caesar's life according to a set formula: the descriptions of appearance, omens, family history, quotes, and then a history, often full of spicy, erotic, often pornographic, shocking and cruel details, are given in a consistent order for each Caesar.

Contents:
- ff. A1r: title (verso blank).
- ff. A2r-A4r: Dedication letter by Johannes Baptista Egnatius to Jean Grolier, the secretary of the French King.
- ff. A4v-B4v: Contents of the lives of the twelve first emperors: Caesar, Octavius, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasianus, Titus, and Domitianus.
- ff. B4v-B7r: Translations of Greek words in the lives of Suetonius.
- ff. B7v-B8r: The live of Suetonius (B8v blank).
- ff. C1r-D7v: Annotationes by Joannes Baptista Egnatius (f. D8 blank).
- ff. E1r-F7v: Annotations, arranged in alphabetical order, by Erasmus (f. E1r-E2r: preface by Erasmus.
- ff. F8r-G6r: Alphabetical index on Eutropius.
- ff. G6v-H4v: Alphabetical index on Paulus Diaconus.
- ff. 1-180: Text of Suetonius.
- ff. 181-207v: Sextus Aurelius Victor, Excerpts from De vita et moribus imperatorum Romanorum ... à Caesare Augusto usque ad Theodosium Imp.
- ff. 208-274r: Eutropius, De gestis Romanorum lib. X.
- ff. 274v-320r: Paulus Diaconus, De gestis Romanorum liber [XI-XVIII] ad Eutropius historiam additus (8 books as a continuation of Eutropius).
- f. 320r: Colophon; 320v: Printer's device.

Top corners of final leaves restored, uper cover loose; spine-ends worn. Good copy with some contemporary marginal annotations in humanistic script, including the motto of Aldus ('Hasten slowly' in Greek) written next to the printer's devices.
Adams S-2035; Ahmanson-Murphy 201 (incomplete copy); Bibliotheca Erasmiana Bruxellensis 499 (incomplete copy); Renouard p. 91, no. 7; Dibdin II, p. 439; Machiels S 633; STC Italian p. 651.

Related Subjects: 16th Century  Aldus Manutius  Classical Antiquity 

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