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Virgil was regarded by the Romans as their greatest poet, an estimation that subsequent generations have upheld. His fame rests chiefly upon the Aeneid, which tells the story of Rome’s legendary founder and proclaims the Roman mission to civilize the world under divine guidance. His reputation as a poet endures not only for the music and diction of his verse and for his skill in constructing an intricate work on the grand scale but also because he embodied in his poetry aspects of experience and behaviour of permanent significance. [Williams, Robert Deryck. “Virgil”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Apr. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Virgil. Accessed 25 April 2024.]

728J Virgil Translated by John Boys.

Æneas his descent into Hell: as it is inimitably described by the prince of poets in the sixth of his Æneis. Made English by John Boys of Hode-Court, Esq; together with an ample and learned comment upon the same, wherein all passages criticall, mythological, philosophical and historical, are fully and clearly explained. To which are added some certain pieces relating to the publick, written by the author.

London : Printed by R. Hodgkinsonne, living in Thames street over against Banards Castle, 1661. Price $2,500

Quarto 18.5 x 14.5 cm. Signatures: a4A-Z4, Aa-Gg4 (Gg4 blank). Bound in full contemporary sheep recently rebacked.

Æneas, decends into Hell, after being lost and pushed by the Gods (fate) and passes through the dead and is in a sense reborn and emboldened to Triumph after his suffering! This is more than a translation, by John Boys, of: Virgil. Aeneis. Book 6. But it is infact the majority of the book is commentary. The dedication is addressed to Sir Edward Hyde and congratulates him on succeeding to the office of lord chancellor. His cousin, Charles Fotherby, and his friend, Thomas Philipott, contribute commendatory verses. After Boys’ translation of Virgil in heroic verse follows 181 pages of annotations. At their close Boys mentions that he has just heard of the death of Henry, duke of Gloucester (13 Sept. 1660), and proceeds to pen an elegy suggested by Virgil’s lament for Marcellus. The volume concludes with ‘certain pieces relating to the publick,’ i.e. on the political matters referred to above, and with a congratulatory poem (dated Canterbury, 30 Sept. 1656) addressed to Boys’s friend, William Somner, on the completion of his ‘Dictionarium Saxonico-Latino-Anglicum. (see DNB)

ESTC R200370; Wing V619.
Thomason, E.1054[3]

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742J. Virgil. born October 15, 70 BCE, Tranced by Annibal Caro 1507-1566.

L’Eneide di Virgilio, del commendatore Annibal Caro. Col Privilegio di N.S. & della Ser.ma Sig.ria di Venetia.

Venetia : Bernardo. Giunti & fratelli, M.D. LXXXI.1581

Price  $2,500

Quarto  20 x 14.5 Cm. Signatures: π⁴ A-Z⁸, Aa-Ll⁸ Mm⁶ +². First edition.  printer’s device of the Giunta brothers, Filippo and Jacopo (Medici coat of arms, below which is a cat holding an olive branch in his mouth, with motto “Amat victoria curam”) Bound in early limp vellum lacking ties with an interesting ownership stamp S.E.G. with a cathedral and three fleur-de-lys in an oval . 

This is the first edition of Caro’s canonical  translation of the Aenid, this translation came to dominate the market for Virgil in Italian, and thus becoming a  treasure of Italian literature.   Annibale’s nephew Lepido Caro wrote the dedication to Cardinal Farnese.  This translation of Virgil’s epic poem ‘Aeneid’ into Italian, is must-have for lovers of Italian epic poetry. His other translated works include Aristotle’s Rhetoric and Longus’ Daphnis and Chloe.

BM STC Italian, 1465-1600, p. 732; CCBE S. XVI; V, 1167; EDIT16; CNCE28541