[Aldine Press]
[POETAE CHRISTIANI VETERES - II]
SEDULIUS : Mirabilium divinorum libri quatuor carmine heroico.
JUVENCUS. De Evangelica historia.
ARATOR: Historiae Apostolicae.
PROBA FALCONIA: Cento ex Virgilio de novo et verteri testamento.
SULPICIUS SEVERUS: De vita et miraculis S. Martini.
[EMPRESS EUDOCIA?] Homerocentra, hoc est centones ex Homero.
etc.
Venice, Aldus Manutius, January 1501 [Dedication dated June 1502].
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Text in Latin and Greek. Edited by Pietro Candido.
Issued as the second volume in Aldus’ important 3-volume series POETAE CHRISTIANI VETERES important printed between 1501 and 1504.
The special bibliographical and historical importance of this book is due to the fact that it CONTAINS THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE ALDINE DOLPHIN-AND-ANCHOR DEVICE (on leaf [π]8v).
"THIS BOOK IS THE FIRST IN WHICH ALDUS USED HIS CELEBRATED MARK OF THE ANCHOR” (Goldsmid/Renouard, A bibliographical sketch of the Aldine press at Venicean>
"This is the first anchor device of Aldus and in its earliest state with the double line border intact" (Davies, Devices of the Early Printers, no.236).
The “dolphin and anchor” emblem is first recorded in the last quarter of the 1st century A.D., on gold and silver Roman coins of emperors Vespasian; although It was illustrated in 1499 Aldine Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, with the motto ‘festina lente’, it had not been used as Aldus’ device until its appearance in this volume.
Aldus’ important collection of early Christian poetry in Latin and Greek (generally referred to as ‘Poetae christiani veteres’), described by Renouard as a "collection infiniment rare et precieuse,” and by Dibdin as being “among the very rarest of the Aldine publications to be found in a perfect state”.
The “ambitious [...] three volume collection of Poetae christiani published by Aldus Manutius in Venice between 1501 - 1503 [was intended] for 'studious adolescents' and 'all desiring to learn holy manners together with Greek letters' […] In the second volume, a dedicatory epistle to the Ragusan schoolteacher Daniel Clarius of Parma declares Aldus's classroom intention: ’The early Christian texts were to supplant, we must assume, beginners' study of Persius, Juvenal, Terence, Plautus, and even Virgil. That a determined publisher of the classics such as Aldus should proceed thus is certainly unexpected [...]. As Aldus explained: ‘We publish the most holy books, unknown for almost one thousand years, so that they may be loved and widely used in schools [...] If from their youngest years, boys are taught these Christian poets, they will be imbued with divine things, so that when, well taught, they turn to pagan readings, they will find some good in those books’.” (A. K. Frazier, Possible lives: authors and saints in Renaissance Italy, pp. 214-5)
This important volume contains many rarely published early christian poems, including the EDITIO PRINCEPS OF THE HOMEROCENTRA, The Homeric Centos, attributed to the 5th century East Roman Empress Eudocia, printed (using, for the first time, a complicated system of imposition of quires developed by Aldus to produce interleaving of the Greek and Latin sheets containing parallel text of the original and the translation).
The special bibliographical and historical importance of this book is due to the fact that it CONTAINS THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE ALDINE DOLPHIN-AND-ANCHOR DEVICE (on leaf π8v).
"THIS BOOK IS THE FIRST IN WHICH ALDUS USED HIS CELEBRATED MARK OF THE ANCHOR” (Goldsmid/Renouard, A bibliographical sketch of the Aldine press at Venice, p.27), considered the “most celebrated of all printers’ marks” (cf. Fletcher p.43).
"This is the first anchor device of Aldus and in its earliest state with the double line border intact" (Davies, Devices of the Early Printers, no.236).
The “dolphin and anchor” emblem is first recorded in the last quarter of the 1st century A.D., on gold and silver Roman coins of emperors Vespasian; although It was illustrated in 1499 Aldine Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, with the motto ‘festina lente’, it had not been used as Aldus’ device until its appearance in this volume.
Coelius Sedulius was a 5th century Christian poet. According to a short biographical note on him (ascribed to Gennadius), Sedulius was a Layman, who lived at first in Italy and was devoted to the study of philosophy; but later moved to Achaia in Western Greece, where he wore most of his works during the reign of Theodosius the Younger.
The principal work of Sedulius is a poem in five books called Carmen paschale (“Easter Song”, though titled differently in this edition) of which the 1st book contains a summary of the Old Testament; the four others a summary of the New Testament. The poem is skillfully written and is more original than that of Juvencus. Sedulius focuses chiefly on the thoughts and emotions arising from meditations on the sacred writings. He follows mainly the narrative of Gospel of St. Matthew. His chief method of exegesis consists of allegory and symbolism: thus the four Evangelists correspond to the four seasons, the twelve Apostles - to the twelve hours of the day and the twelve months, the four arms of the cross - to the four cardinal points, etc. Sedulius’ poetic style shows evidences of an extensive reading of Terence, Tibullus, Ovid, Lucan, and above all of Virgil.
Arator was a 6th century Christian poet from Liguria in northwestern Italy, who studied at Milan under the patronage of the Bishop Laurentius and of Ennodius, then went to Ravenna and took up the career of a lawyer. Treated with distinction by Theodoric and protected by Cassiodorus, he entered the service of the Gothic court, but resigned at the time of the struggle with Byzantium (about 536). Pope Vigilius made him Subdeacon of the Roman Church. It was then that he wrote in hexameters two books of De Actibus Apostolorum, his best known work. It follows the story of the Acts of the Apostles; the first book, is dedicated to St. Peter, and the second to St. Paul; it ends with the martyrdom of the two Apostles. Arator himself declared that his aim was to give the mystical and moral meaning of the book. Accordingly, he often gives strange interpretations of numbers and names. He endeavors to praise St. Peter at the expense of St. Paul and the other Apostles. His style and versification are fairly correct, and he cleverly evades the entanglements of symbolism. The poem was very successful. Vigilius had the author read it in public at the church of St. Peter ad Vincula. The reading lasted four days, as the poet had to repeat many passages by request of his audience. His works remained popular during the Middle Ages, when they became classics.
Juvencus, a Spanish presbyter of noble descent, wrote ca. 330 his harmony of the four gospels Historiae evangelicae libri IV in over 3000 lines of hexameter verse in a style greatly influenced by Virgil. His aim was to provide educated Christian readers with an alternative to the pagan classics.
Sulpicius Severus (c. 363 - c. 425), a native of Aquitania, was a Christian writer who is known for his chronicle of sacred history, as well as his biography of St Martin of Tours. Born of noble parents in Aquitaine, Severus enjoyed excellent educational advantages, and was imbued with the culture of his time and of his country. He studied jurisprudence and was renowned as an eloquent lawyer; his knowledge of Roman law is reflected in parts of his writings. Severus came under the powerful influence of St Martin, bishop of Tours, by whom he was led to devote his wealth to the Christian poor, and his life to good works and meditation. His ordination is vouched for by Gennadius, but no details of his priestly activity have reached us. His time was passed chiefly in the neighborhood of Toulouse, and such literary efforts as he permitted to himself were made in the interests of Christianity. In many respects no two men could be more unlike than Severus, the scholar and orator, well versed in the ways of the world, and Martin, the rough Pannonian bishop, ignorant, suspicious of culture, champion of the monastic life, seer and worker of miracles. Yet the spirit of the rugged saint subdued that of the polished scholar, and the works of Severus are only important because they reflect the ideas, influence and aspirations of Martin, the foremost ecclesiastic of Gaul. Of Severus's works, his Life of St. Martin was the most popular during the Middle Ages. These works did much to establish the great reputation which that wonder-working saint maintained throughout the Middle Ages. The book is not properly a biography, but a catalogue of miracles, told in all the simplicity of absolute belief. The power to work miraculous signs is assumed to be in direct proportion to holiness, which, he is persuaded, can only be attained through a life of isolation from the world.
The Homerocentra (aka "Centones ex Homero”), which is here printed in its Editio Princeps, both in Greek and in Latin translation, is "a Life of Jesus Christ in 2343 hexameter lines, formed by verses and hemistichs selected from Homer. It is ascribed by some to a Pelagius, who lived in the 5th century; by others to Eudocia, wife of the Emperor Theodosius 2nd. It was probably the work of both, having been commenced by the former and finished by the latter." (J. Eschenburg, Manual of Classical Literature, p.203).
Of the several Homeric centos to have survived antiquity the Eudocia's is by far the longest. "Eudocia's comprise a single, continuous poem that recounts the creation of the world, the temptation and fall of man, and the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. (...) The Homeric Centos are an intrinsically fascinating text, and a neglected document in the history of Homer reception. […] Petrus Candidus, the Centos' very first editor, described them in the Aldine edition of 1502 as a "model of mnemonic capacity, ... a poem which proceeds eutythmically, almost seemlessly, from the poetry of Homer.” (Mark D. Usher, Homeric stitchings: the Homeric Centos of the Empress Eudocia, pp.3, 9). Usher also notes that the Homerocentra were known to and perhaps used by Milton and Joyce (op. cit., p.9f).
In this copy (as in some others) the Greek and Latin texts of the Homerocentra are bound sequentially, with the quires αα-εε (Greek text) following the quires aaaa-eeee (Latin text), rather than being interleaved according to Aldus’ complex interposition scheme he experimented with in this publication to produce parallel text of the original and the translation. This scheme inevitably leaves the facing pages of the inner bifolia of each quire unused, and these pages (aaaa4v-5r, bbbb5v-6r, etc) in this volume Aldus decided to fill with the Greek text (with parallel Latin translation) of the Akathistos hymn (Akathistos Ymnos) - the most famous Byzantine Orthodox hymn to the Virgin Mary.
Bibliographic references:
Adams G-1142; Ahmanson-Murphy 84; Renouard 46:4; Hoffmann IΙ, 175-177; Dibdin, Rare and Valuable Editions of Greek & Latin Classics, Vol. 2, p.357-8.
Physical description:
Quarto, textblock measures 207 mm x 146 mm. Bound in late 16th- or 17th-century semi-flexible vellum.
293 unnumbered leaves.
COMPLETE, without the rear blank εε4 (as often).
Printed in Roman and Greek types (R2a:82 and Gk3), in single columns. Capital spaces with printed guides (unrubricated).
Woodcut Aldus's device (the first appearance) on [π]8v.
Preliminaries include Aldus’ dedicatory epistle to Daniele Clario (dated June 1502) on verso of title; biographical notes (vitae) on the authors contained in this volume (leaves pi2r-3v); Sedulius’ letter to Macedonius (leaves [π]4r-5v); Errata (leaves [π]6r - 7r); register (leaves [π]7v - 8r) and Aldine device (on [π]8v).
Petrus Candidus' Preface to Homerocentra on αα1v (in Greek) and on aaaa1r (in Latin).
Colophon on leaf hh6r.
Greek and Latin texts of Homerocentra, rather than being interleaved, are here bound sequentially: Latin text in quires aaaa-eeee, followed by Greek text in quires αα-εε. The inner bifolia of quires aaaa-eeee contain Greek and Latin (parallel) text of the Akathistos hymn.
Provenance:
Front pastedown with an elegant modern bookplate of Livio Ambrogio, a prominent Italian bibliophile, known mostly as the owner of the world's greatest private Dante collection.
Condition:
Very Good. Complete. Binding a bit rubbed with some soiling and minor staining; spine slightly worn, with traces of an early manuscript title no mostly rubbed off. A long but superficial tear (or cut) to vellum along front joint (not affecting structural integrity of binding, which is solid and tight, all hinges intact). Leaf A6r with marginal manuscript note in an early hand. Occasional very light marginal soiling. Final three leaves with a very light marginal water-stain in bottom outer corner. A very pleasing, clean, genuine, wide-margined example of this rare work.
Signatures: [π]8 a-c8 d4 e-i8 k10 aa-dd8 ee6 ff-gg8 hh6 A-F8 G4 H-I8 K4 aaaa8 bbbb10 cccc8 dddd10 eeee4 αα-δδ8 εε4 [-εε4 blank].
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