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The important Plantin/Pighius edition of the famous 'Nine Books' of Valerius Maximus
VALERIUS MAXIMUS.Dictorum factorumque memorabilium libri IX. Infinitis mendis ex veterum exemplarium fide repurgati, atque in meliorem ordinem restituti per Stephanum Pighium Campensem. Accedunt in fine eiusdem annotationes in loca plusquam DCCC. Item hac altera recognitione fragmentum de praenominibus antiquum incerti auctoris, quod decimi libri locum in multis exemplaribus occupat.    Antwerp, Christoph Plantin, 12 June 1574. Modern marbled boards. With woodcut printer's device (nr. 20) on title. 392, 99, (13-, last blank) pp. The second edition of the important Plantin/Pighius edition of the famous 'Nine Books' of Valerius Maximus, a collection of historical anecdotes and 'memorable deeds and sayings' of great men, forming a handbook of illustrative examples for the use of rhetoricians, written at the beginning of the first century after Christ and dedicated to the Roman emperor Tiberius. The first Plantin edition had appeared in 1567 (Voet 2410). Valerius's 'Nine Books' was a successful work, and very popular in antiquity, the Middle Ages and Renaissance. The text did much to encourage the idea that history is a storehouse of moral examples. The style of Valerius's writings seems to indicate that he was a professional rhetorician. In his preface he intimates that his work is intended as a commonplace book of historical anecdotes for use in the schools of rhetoric, where the pupils were trained in the art of embellishing speeches by references to history. Most of the tales are from Roman history, but each section has an appendix consisting of extracts from the annals of other peoples, principally the Greeks. The author's chief sources are Cicero, Livy, Sallust and Pompeius Trogus, especially the first two. In spite of his contusions, contradictions and anachronisms, the excerpts are apt illustrations, from the rhetorician's point of view, of the circumstance or quality they were intended to illustrate. On the historical side Valerius is also interesting: he often used sources now lost, and where he touches on his own time he affords us some glimpses of the much debated and very imperfectly recorded reign of Tiberius. He is also a typical example of Silver Latin, a literary period often criticised for poor writers. In the preface the editor, Stephanus Pighius, says that he took six months instead of an intended three to complete the work, that eight to ten manuscripts were used, and that he was able to amend some 800 passages. The result was republished several times. Stephanus Winandus Pighius (1520-1604) was sometime librarian to the European statesman Antoine Perrenot, Cardinal de Granvelle in Brussels, and passed the latter part of his life as a Canon at Xanten on the Rhine, where he produced this present edition to which he added his separately paginated annotations, and an index, and, for the first time, the additional tenth book: "De Nominibus", on the first names among the Romans, a short account found in some manuscripts following the text of Valerius Maximus, and attributed either to Julius Paris or C. Titus Probus. Good copy.
Voet, Plantin Press, 2411; Belg. Typ. 4593; Bibl. Belg. V, p. 425; Dibdin II, p. 521; STC Dutch, p. 203; Adams V-116.
Related Subjects: 16th Century Classical Antiquity Literature Rhetorics Add to Shopping cart |
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All items are offered subject to prior sale. Prices are nett and in (€) EURO. VAT/BTW, postage, and insurance are not included.
Free shipping for orders over € 2,500. EU customers: if applicable, please quote your VAT number when placing orders.
Preferred mode of payment: by credit card through our secure online payment service, which is facilitated by Ogone. If you wish to make other arrangements, please contact us. Terms of sale
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