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The first separate edition of this classic on political virtue and social organization
XENOPHON.Kurou Paideia biblia okto. Cyri Paediae libri octo.    Louvain, Dirk Martens van Aalst (Theodorus Martinus de Alost), June 1527. 4to. Nineteenth-century half calf, ribbed spine, title lettered in gold, marbled endpapers. (144) lvs. First and only edition of the first separate edition of this most important work in the original Greek by the classical Greek author Xenophon (ca. 430-ca. 354 BC), only preceded by the editio princeps of Xenophon's Greek Opera omnia, printed in Florence, Giunta, 1516. This Louvain post-incunable edition is printed by Theodorus Martinus d'Alost, not only the printer of the first dated book in the Netherlands (1473), but also the first printer in The Netherlands who used Greek type in 1491 when he was still active in Alost (1473-74, 1486-92). Martens printed in Louvain between 1498 and 1501, and between 1512 and 1529. At the same time this edition is also the first work of Xenophon that was printed in The Netherlands. The Cyropaedia (lit. "The Education of Cyrus"), based on principles that Xenophon ascribes elsewhere to Socrates, is considered the most popular and certainly the masterpiece of Xenophon of Athens. It is a fictional, or better, imaginative biography of the Persian king Cyrus the Great, who was the most well known conqueror in antiquity prior to Alexander the Great and founder of the Persian empire. In eight books the work follows Cyrus from his education through his ascendency and rule to his death and its effects on his empire. Xenophon has made Cyrus the embodiment of his own notions of the good ruler. It seems to go beyond the scope of its title, as does Xenophon's other great work, Cyro Anabasis (literally "Cyrus' March Inland"), of which only the first two books deal with the expedition of the younger Cyrus, the rest being devoted to the retreat to the Black Sea of the ten thousand Greek mercenaries under Xenophon's command after the young Cyrus' death. Alternatively, critics may see a dual sense in the phrase "education of Cyrus", which could mean the education he received or the one he gave, especially since Cyrus' preferred verb seems to be didaskein (to teach) and Xenophon seems concerned primarily with the alterations Cyrus made to the Persian society in order to make it fit for empire, which could be described as an education. Prior to Cyrus, the Persians had been interested only in virtue and justice; he persuaded them to turn their virtue to the task of conquest which led to the accumulation of vast territories but also had enduring negative effects on Persian society, as can be seen in the turmoil following Cyrus' death. As may be apparent, the Cyropaedia is less an historical work and more a practical treatise on political virtue and social organization. It was considered a classic on such subject in antiquity and again very much in the Renaissance, during which period the Cyropaedia was esteemed as one of the earliest 'Utopia's'; Scipio Africanus is said to have carried a copy with him at all times. It makes intelligible the high esteem in which writers of the stature of Machiavelli held Xenophon's work and the importance of his place among classical authors. The ancients believed that Xenophon composed it in response to the Republic of Plato, or vice versa, and Plato's Laws seems to allude to the Cyropaedia. The 'Education of Cyrus' is also a political and philosophical romance describing the boyhood and training of Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire. The descriptions of battles are vivid, and there is much instruction for military commanders in the form of concrete examples. There are also many romantic touches which influenced later Greek romance writers who used the work as their model. It is sometimes even considered as the first romance ever written. Very fine copy with some sixteenth-century scholarly annotations in ink on the first lvs.- (Faint marginal water staining in the first and last lvs.).
NK 4100; Schweiger I, 339; Van Iseghem, Biogr. Thierry Martens (1852), 204.
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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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