A sort of random selection of nine books bound in vellum from a short shelf 1520-1712.
826J Publius Papinius Statius 1st Century.
P. Papinii Statii Opera ex recensione et cum notis I. Frederici Gronovii.
Venetiis : apud Nicolaum Pezzana,1712
Price $1,100
Duocecimo, cm. 13.8 x 8 signatures. A-S12 Bound in contemporary vellum. This edition has a very nice impression of the frontispiece by Isabella Piccini.she was the daughter of the Venetian engraver Giacomo Piccini (d. 1669), who trained her in the art of drawing and engraving in the styles of the great masters, particularly Titian and Peter Paul Rubens. In 1666 she entered the Convent of Santa Croce in Venice and took the name Suor (Sister) Isabella. She continued to work as an engraver, accepting numerous commissions from Venetian publishers to illustrate liturgical books, biographies of saints, and prayer manuals. However, as a Franciscan nun dedicated to a life of poverty, she divided her earnings between her convent and her family living in Venice. Her long and productive career ended with her death at the age of ninety.
This Pezzana edition is a copy (which is uncommon) of the 1653 Elzevir edition of the complete works of Papinius Statius, with commentary of Johannes Grovonovius. Statius the Latin Roman poet from the first century, secretly converted to Christianity because of Virgil’s Fourth Eclogue, which he took to foretell the birth of Christ. Of Statius, whose surviving poetry there exists an epic in twelve books entitled the Thebaid, a collection of occasional poetry entitled the Silvae, and an unfinished epic, the Achilleid.
Gronovius (1611-1671) was a Professor of History at Deventer, the Netherlands. In 1665 he was appointed as the 6th Librarian of Leiden University.
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828J Lupis, Antonio. 1620-1700
La curiosita’ in viaggio, opera descritta da Antonio Lupis, e dal medemo [sic] consegrata all’illustriss. … co. Pietro Emanuele Martinengo
In Venetia : Appresso Gioseppe Maria Ruinetti, 1697 $2,500
Duodecimo ., signatures : *12 ,A- S12 First and only edition. Full page frontispiece engraving by Isabella Piccini, ,.she was the daughter of the Venetian engraver Giacomo Piccini (d. 1669), who trained her in the art of drawing and engraving in the styles of the great masters, particularly Titian and Peter Paul Rubens. In 1666 she entered the Convent of Santa Croce in Venice and took the name Suor (Sister) Isabella. She continued to work as an engraver, accepting numerous commissions from Venetian publishers to illustrate liturgical books, biographies of saints, and prayer manuals. However, as a Franciscan nun dedicated to a life of poverty, she divided her earnings between her convent and her family living in Venice. Her long and productive career ended with her death at the age of ninety. Full vellum. Book’s title neatly written in ink on spine with artistic small calligraphic decoration. Contemporary vellum with minor wear on cover, occasional light spotting or browning on leaves. Nice, solid condition. Quite RARE. OCLC shows three copies worldwide Newberry, McGill, and Munich.
Antonio Lupis was a 17th-century Italian author known for his many novels. While not as well-known today, his works were quite popular during his lifetime, especially those of historical fiction and the arts. Antonio Lupis was born in Molfetta on March 31, 1620, son of Flaminio Lupis and his wife Maria de Ceglia, both members of the local nobility. After completing his classical studies at the Episcopal Seminary of his native city, he moved to Venice, where he spent most of his life. He struck up a close friendship with Lorenzo Tiepolo, a powerful Venetian senator, and Giovanni Francesco Loredan, the founder of the Accademia degli Incogniti, of which Lupis became a member. After the death of Loredano, he moved to Bergamo, where he died on 11 December 1700. This work dedicated by the author to the Bergamo Marquis Carlo Nembrini Gonzaga, knight of San Iago, captain of the guard of the Lance Spezzate and state councillor of the Duke of Mantua Ferdinando Carlo di Gonzaga-Nevers. Lupis was well known in his day for his erudition. His works, dealing chiefly with moral, historical and artistic issues, show a vast amount of Classical learning, which he shows off in a sumptuous baroque prose However, one of his more obscure works was: ‘The New Zodiac’ – a work on mystical arts, astrology, magic, alchemy, hemlock and poisons, all through the lens of how finding fortune creates and promotes happiness. Lupis was the author of several successful historical novels. In 1660 he published La Faustina, devoted to the life of the daughter of the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius. In 1677 he published La Marchesa d’Hunsleij, overo l’Amazone scozzese (“The Marchioness of Huntly, or the Scottish Amazon”), a romanticised hagiographic biography of Lady Margaret Gordon, mother of the Scottish-born Capuchin friar John Forbes (1570/71–1606), that passed through eighteen editions before his death, and was reprinted as late as 1723Turned into a drama by the poet Francesco Petrobelli, it continued to hold the stage for more than a century.
Some of his works turn upon moral reflections. He wrote a moralizing vita of his friend and patron Giovanni Francesco Loredano and the moral treatises Il Chiaro-scuro di Pittura Morale (1679) and I mostri dell’huomo (1689). Lupis is the author of L’eroina veneta (1689), one of the earliest and most important biographies of Elena Cornaro Piscopia, the first woman to be awarded a higher university degree.
Several of his books, like Il Plico (1675), Il dispaccio di Mercurio (1681), La segretaria morale (1687) and Pallade su le poste (1691), deal with artistic themes and give us interesting information about the painters and sculptors of his time. Of particular interest is a eulogy of his friend, the painter Evaristo Baschenis, written during the artist’s lifetime, and the letters sent to the sculptor Andrea Fantoni (1659-1734). A long letter sent to Luca Giordano documents the direct relationship between Lupis and the Neapolitan painter, whose “Passage of the Red Sea” in Santa Maria Maggiore, Bergamo, he describes in a letter dating from 1687. He was a great admirer and friend of the Swiss painter Ludovico David, who designed the frontispiece for Lupis’ Corriere (1680)
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166g Vincent, of Lérins, , Saint, (d. ca. 450) with Saint Augustine (354-430) (edited with notes by Etienne Baluze (1630-1718)
Vincentii Lirinensis Adversus profanas omnium novitates hæreticorum commonitorium cum notis v. c. Stephani Baluzii : Adjicitur S. Augustini liber De hæresibus.
Cantabrigiæ: ex officinæ Joh. Hayes, celeberrimë Academië typographi; impensis Guiliel. Graves, Bibliop. Cantab, 1687 & 1689* (bound with two titles dated differently) $1,100
Duodecimo, 3 X 5 inches a-c¹² a⁶(a1 cut out Blank? two stubs) A-N¹².(this copy has an extra or cancel title page a1&2dated 1589, both title pages are bound in the front) This is a beautiful copy and is bound in early (perhaps original the marking on the paste down mats the library numbers of other of Henry Sinclair’s books see [Penn Libraries call numbers: IC C1515 Ei572p]) full vellum. with the stamp of Sinclair on the spine (?) and the Bookplate of Henry Sinclair, 10th Lord Sinclair (1660–1723).
The “Commonitorium” which survives today is a book on identifying ‘Heretics and Heretical tendencies, from the beginning of the book Vincent develops (chapters i-ii) a practical rule for distinguishing heresy from true doctrine, namely Holy Writ, and if this does not suffice, the tradition of the Catholic Church. Here is found the famous principle, the source of so much discussion particularly at the time of the Vatican Council, “Magnopere curandum est ut id teneatur quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est”. Should some new doctrine arise in one part of the Church, Donatism for example, then firm adherence must be given to the belief of the Universal Church, and supposing the new doctrine to be of such nature as to contaminate almost the entirety of the latter, as did Arianism, then it is to antiquity one must cling; if even here some error is encountered, one must stand by the general councils and, in default of these, by the consent of those who at diverse times and in different places remained steadfast in the unanimity of the Catholic Faith (iii-iv).
Applications of these principles have been made by St. Ambrose and the martyrs, in the struggle with the Donatists and the Arians; and by St. Stephen who fought against rebaptism; St. Paul also taught them (viii-ix). If God allows new doctrines, whether erroneous or heretical, to be taught by distinguished men, as for example Tertullian, Origen, Nestorius, Apollinaris, etc. (x-xix), it is but to test us. The Catholic admits none of these new-fangled doctrines, as we see from 1 Timothy 6:20-21 (20-22, 24). Not to remove all chance of progress in the faith, but that it may grow after the manner of the grain and the acorn, provided it be in the same sense, eodem sensu ac sententia; here comes the well-known passage on dogmatic development. “crescat igitur. . .” (xxiii).
The fact that heretics make use of the Bible in no way prevents them from being heretics, since they put it to a use that is bad, in a way worthy of the devil (xxv-xxvi). The Catholic interprets Scripture according to the rules given above (xxvii-xxviii). Then follows a recapitulation of the whole “Commonitorium” (xxix-xxx).
All this is written in a literary style, full of classical expressions, although the line of development is rather familiar and easy, multiplying digressions and always more and more communicative. The two chief ideas which have principally attracted attention in the whole book are those which concern faithfulness to Tradition (iii and xxix) and the progress of Catholic doctrine (xxiii). The first one, called very often the Canon of Vincent of Lérins, which Newman considered as more fit to determine what is not then what is the Catholic doctrine, has been frequently involved in controversies. According to Vincent, this principle ought to decide the value of a new point of doctrine prior to the judgment of the Church. Vincent proposes it as a means of testing a novelty arising anywhere in a point of doctrine. This cannon has been variously interpreted; some writers think that its true meaning is not that which answered Vincent’s purpose, when making use of it against Augustine’s ideas. It is hardly deniable that despite the lucidity of its formula, the explanation of the principle and its application to historical facts are not always easy; even theologians such as de San and Franzelin, who are generally in agreement in their views, are here at variance. Vincent clearly shows that his principle is to be understood is a relative and disjunctive sense, and not absolutely and by uniting the three criteria in one: ubique, semper, ab omnibus; antiquity is not to be understood in a relative meaning, but in the sense of a relative consensus of antiquity. When he speaks of the beliefs generally admitted, it is more difficult to settle whether he means beliefs explicitly or implicitly admitted; in the latter case the canon is true and applicable in both senses, affirmative (what is Catholic), and negative or exclusive (what is not Catholic); in the former, the canon is true and applicable in its affirmative bearing; but may it be said to be so in its negative or exclusive bearing, without placing Vincent completely at variance with all he says on the progress of revealed doctrine? ( C.E.)
Saint Augustine had planed to write a work entitled De Haeresibus ad Quodvultdeum (428) this was never finished, only the first part was and is published here as De Haeresibuscontains an overview, as lucid as it is succinct, of known and unknown heretical factions. This gives the work special value, as it affords us a glimpse of the increasingly globalised and yet some- how interconnected Christianity of his day, of the multi-dogmatic plurality of Christian communities and their leaders, as well as of his awareness of these facts (Brown, Doody and Paffenroth 2008).
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776J. Claudio Acquaviva (1543-1615)
Ratio Atqve Institvtio Stvdiorvm Societatis Iesv Avctoritate Septimæ Congregationis Generalis aucta.
Antwerpiæ: Apud Ioannem Mevrsivm 1635 Price $1,100
Octavo 15 x 10 cm. Signatures A-N8. Later edition* Bound in original limp vellum, with title in hand on spine “RATIO Stud”
“The term “Ratio Studiorum” is commonly used to designate the educational system of the Jesuits; it is an abbreviation of the official title, “Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis Jesu”, i.e. “Method and System of the Studies of the Society of Jesus”. The Constitutions of the Society from the beginning enumerated among the primary objects of the Society: teaching catechism to children and the ignorant, instructing youth in schools and colleges, and lecturing on philosophy and theology in the universities. Education occupied so prominent a place that the Society could rightly be styled a teaching order. Even during the lifetime of the founder, St. Ignatius, colleges were opened in various countries, at Messina, Palermo, Naples, Gandia, Salamanca, Alcalà, Valladolid, Lisbon, Billom, and Vienna; many more were added soon after his death, foremost among them being Ingolstadt, Cologne, Munich, Prague, Innsbruck, Douai, Bruges, Antwerp, Liège, and others. In the fourth part of the Constitutions general directions had been laid down concerning studies, but there was as yet no defininte, detailed, and universal system of education, the plans of study drawn up by Fathers Nadal, Ledesma, and others being only private works. With the increase of the number of colleges the want of a uniform system was felt more and more. During the generalate of Claudius Acquaviva (1581-1614), the educational methods of the Society were finally formulated. In 1584 six experienced schoolmen, selected from different nationalities and provinces, were called to Rome, where for a year they studied pedagogical works, examined regulations of colleges and universities, and weighed the observations and suggestions made by prominent Jesuit educators. The report drawn up by this committee was sent to the various provinces in 1586 to be examined by at least five experienced men in every province. The remarks, censures, and suggestions of these men were utilized in the drawing up of a second plan, which, after careful revision, was printed in 1591 as the “Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum”. Reports on the practical working of this plan were again sent to Rome, and in 1599 the final plan appeared, the “Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis Jesu”, usually quoted as “Ratio Studiorum”. Every possible effort had been made to produce a practical system of education; theory and practice alike had been consulted, suggestions solicited from every part of the Catholic world, and all advisable modifications adopted. The Ratio Studiorum must be looked upon as the work not of individuals, but of the whole Society.” (https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12654a.htm) Catholic Encyclopedia article on the Ratio Studiorum.
DeBacker-Sommervogel [S.J.] vol.I, col.488 .
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688J Roussin
Regulæ Societatis Jesu.
Lugduni [Lyon] : Ex typographia Iacobi Roussin, 1607. Price $ 750
Duodecimo.A-L12 11.9 x 7.5cm Bound in full vellum with clasps.
These rules for the Society of Jesus were published in 1607 after Catholics had regained dominance of Lyon. This is the only book published in Lyon that is about the Jesuit order itself, it is quite small and bound in vellum., The first edtion was printed in 1586 in Rome.
see DeBacker-Sommervogel vol. V. col 103. andRépertoire bibliographique des livres imprimés en France au XVIIe siècle 29, 45-46 (32).
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797J Iamblichus : Chalcidensis
Iamblichus De mysteriis Aegyptiorum, nunc primùm ad uerbum de graeco expressus. Nicolao Scutellio Ordinis eremitarum sancti Augustini doctore theologo interprete. Adiecti de uita et secta Pythagorae Flosculi, ab eodem Scutellio ex ipso Iamblicho collecti. (without the Pythagorae vita ex Iamblicho collecta)
Romae : apud Antonium Bladum pontificis maximi excusorem, 1556 Price$ 1,200
Quarto 19.5 x 14cm Signatures: *⁴ **⁶ A-S⁴ T²Bound in contemporary limp vellum.
Iamblichus’ significance in Late Antique philosophy can hardly be overestimated. Karl Praechter described him as the second founder of Neoplatonism after Plotinus and argued that Iamblichus’ position was similar to that of Chrysippus in ancient Stoicism (Praechter 1910: 143). This statement aptly expresses Iamblichus’ historical and philosophical significance, but needs qualification: unlike the Stoa, “Neoplatonism” is not an ancient philosophical school, but a modern historical category. There are 10 books in the work, of which the longest are Books 1 and 3. The contents of the books are.Book I: The soul and the gods II: Epiphanies III: Mantic ritual IV: Justice V: The nature of sacrifice. VI: The process and effects of sacrifice VII: Egyptian symbolism VIII: Egyptian theology IX: The personal daemon (spirit) X: Conclusion.
“Iamblichus was once considered one of the great philosophers. The Emperor Julian followed Iamblichus’s teachings to guide the restoration of traditional pagan cults in his campaign against Christianity. Although Julian was unsuccessful, Iamblichus’s ideas persisted well into the Middle Ages and beyond. His vision of a hierarchical cosmos united by divine ritual became the dominant worldview for the entire medieval world. Even Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that he expected a reading of Iamblichus to cause a “revival in the churches”. But modern scholars have dismissed him, seeing theurgy as ritual magic or “manipulation of the gods”. Shaw, however, shows that theurgy was a subtle and intellectually sophisticated attempt to apply Platonic and Pythagorean teachings to the full expression of human existence in the material world. “ (Theurgy and the Soul The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus By Gregory Shaw · 1995)
Les Devises héroïques, de M. Claude Paradi, chanoine de Beaujeu, du seigneur Gabriel Symeon et autres aucteurs.
Anvers : De l’imprimerie de C. Plantini, 1567. Price $4,000
Duodecimo in 8’s, 12.5 x 8 cm. Third edition A-V8 This edition has 217 woodcuts Each woodcut is accompanied by a motto, followed by an explanation. Bound coeval limp laced case parchment. a clean copy in original condition.
The Devises Heroïques published in French in Lyons in 1551 by Jean de Tournes. Under the title Dévises héroïques. Les dévises ov emblèmes héroïques et morales, by Simeoni, originally published separately in 1559, was first added to the work of Paradin in 1561. This was an influential printed collection of 118 emblems or “devises” and included an attached motto. These emblemata became commonly used as markers or models of royal, aristocratic or moral ownership as well as decorative pattern books applied in a variety of crafts including, heraldry, masonry, sculpture, painting, woodcuts or textiles. “The first Protestant collection of religious devices, a book which played a very important role in the European emblem tradition” The 1551 edition was followed in 1557 by an expanded edition, now with 182 “devises” as well as providing a brief explanation of the universal significance of the symbol and how it represents the individual who chose it or to whom the symbol was attributed in the Renaissance as well as the motto. The new wood blocks for the 1557 edition may be by Bernard Salomon who worked closely with Jean de Tournes.
The publication of Paradin’s Devises Heroïques was taken over by Christophe Plantin in Antwerp from 1561, with the addition of 37 “devises” and the inclusion of a Latin translation of the combined text order to provide for a wider reading public. Plantain’s wood cuts still survive in the Plantin Moretus Museum in Antwerp. It was published in a Dutch Translation in Antwerp in 1563 and in an English translation in London in 1591 and in further French revisions in Paris in the 17th century and a commentary by Adrien d’Amboise. This book was a source for Shakespeare. He quotes, in ‘Pericles’, at least one of these emblems : “Me pompae provexit apex”.
Mary Queen of Scots who was held at Tutbury Castle and Bess of Hardwick (then Elizabeth Shrewsbury, the wife ofMary’s custodian George Shrewsbury) knew and used Paradin’s emblems in thedesign of embroidered hangings. The emblem Ingenii Largitor (“Bestower of Wit”)from Paradin’s Devises Heroïques is the basis for the centrepiece of theShrewsbury hanging (circa 1569) on loan to Oxburgh Hall as part of the OxburghHangings. The design shows a raven drinking from a large cup and the initials ESand GS for Elizabeth and George Shrewsbury. The emblem illustrates the fable, found in the Natural History of Pliny the Elder, of the thirsty bird, who, unable to reach water, filled a bowl with pebbles to raise the water level until he could drink.
Landwehr Romantic Nº 569; VOET, The Plantin Press, N° 1953.” Réimpression de l’édition donnée par Plantin en 1561, & illustrée des mêmes 216 bois gravés. Adams/Rawles/Saunders French emblem books F-461 Mortimer, Harvard cat. 410. Praz, M. Studies in 17th-century imagery,; p. 444-445; Volkmann; page 53 ; Kraus cat Nº66 n.479;
PRcordialissimi ac imp[re]ciabiles de adve[n]tu d[omi]ni Sermo|nes co[m]pleti a Revere[n]do p[at]re D. Jo[h]ane Cleree ord(in)is p[re]dica|toru[m] g[ener]al mag[i]st[r]o artium ac sacre pagle doctore Parthisie[um] |aureo quide[m] ordi[n]e editi atque declamati ad dei honore[m] a[n]ia-|[ma]ru[m]q[ue] salute[m] nu[n]c primum in lucememissi feliciter incipiunt.
(Paris) ¶Venundantur Parrhisiis, in vico Jacobeo, sub signo Pel|licani ab Engleberto Marnefio bibliopola ad edem divi Yvonis commorante. [1522], price: $2,400
Octavo:16 x 10 cm. Signatures: a-g8, h6(h5-6 both blank, half of h5 missing and lacking h6). First edition. The publication date of this books is extrapolated from the introductory epistle by jean du Castellusof 4 cal octobre 1522 [i.e. 28 sept. 1522]. This copy is bound in its original limp laced case binding, with later title written on the spine. “Cleree sermones/aVerdu DNI/1522”
Refrences: Renouard-1926, n° 0719 ;Moreau/Renouard, ICP, III, 294; BaTyR n° 28118 (Base de Typographie de la Renaissance)
John Clérée Dominican friar, preacher of the Late Middle Ages, while not now ranked among the great preachers of the day, during his life time he was praised by his contemporaries and was very well known in the time of the kings Charles VIII and Louis XII, both of who he acted as confessor. Clérée, used the rules of the scolastic Ars Praedicamdi, yet he was able to innovate by introducing in his sermons dramatic dialogues. He is free to accurately both witness of the difficulties and problems of the french society about 1500 and dress them in his sermons. The subject he addreses the increasing inegalities between rich and poor ; of all kinds of taxes ; urban prostitution.
As the others mendicant preachers, Cleree is very pessimist about the moral behaviour of his contemporaries. Temporally Clérée is a generation before Martin Luther, and observed many of the same social stresses. In this book there are six Advent sermons. Clérée fits quite well as an exemplar of the best preachers of the years 1450-1530. (Roman Catholic and Protestant) By 1494, he opted for the Dominican Observance, entering theReformed Congregation of Holland, he was already one of the most famous doctors of his time. By November 15, 1499 he is “vicar general of the reformed convents”.
The Sermones Quadragesimales, published in Paris in 1525, are prefaced by a Dominican confrere from the Province of Lower Germania:
“You have here, happy reader, the very exact Lenten addresses of the very famous and very illustrious Doctor Maître Jean Clérée, who (are) of a harsh and prosaic eloquence, as required by this kind of popular sermons. These addresses were not so much written by him as collected with precipitation by his listeners ”.
Most likely, as most sermons of the time these sermons are reportage, which is then subjected to a certain reworking, yet they are part of a brilliant sketches of the history of manners in the 15th century, Clérée does not hesitate to award a sort of patent of authenticity to the picture of urban society painted by two very famous Franciscans, Olivier Maillard and Michel Menot. : Martin states “Each denunciation of these brothers, he writes, corresponds to a reality, to a social practice”.
The date of the introduction buy CastellusJoannes Eckius Luthers comtemporarius.
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Orosius: Ireland, Dante, History
589J. Paulus Orosius
Paulo Orosio tradotto di latino in volgare per Giouanni Guerini da Lanciza nouamente stampato .
Toscolano : Alessandro Paganini, 1510 or 1513? (Generally considered to have been printed 1520-40. See more about this below) $1,900
Octavo 15 x 10 cm Signatures: a-x⁸ y⁴./ (m3 signed m4). 172 unpaginated leaves. Italic type; capital spaces with guide-letters for initials; register. Beautiful woodcut criblé initial at beginning of text and several capital spaces with guide-letters throughout. First edition of the Italian vernacular translation of: Historiae adversum paganos libri VII. by Giovanni Guerini ‘da Lanciza’ Bound in contemporary vellum.
The printer is interpreted from the colophon which is within a double ruled border. It may represent the imprint of the father/son printing firm of Paganino and Alessandro Paganini , it can be read as :
P[aganinus et] Alex.[ander] Pag.[anini]
BENASCENSES.
.F.[ecerunt]
BENA. [co]
. V.[I] .V.[e]
This is suggested by Lechi in his “Della tipofrafir bresciana nel secolo decimoquinto” but which Norton disputes with the possibility that the ” initial P is obscure; it might refer to a son of Alexander who had succeeded to his peers, or it might indicate that Alexander was a priest”—(Norton, F.J. Italian printers 1501-1520, p. 116-117.)
The Palau dates this book to around 1510. Still there are many uncertainties and various hypotheses about the date of publication, (with date 1513 supplied in manuscript: in the L of Congress copy). Generally considered to have been printed 1520-40. Yet the imprint date is undetermined . EDIT 16, suggesting various possibilities date range of printing 1527-1533 which in turn is based on A. Nuovo’s “Alessandro Paganino (1509-1538)”. Isaac suggests date of imprint ranging 1520? cf. Isaac #13935. According to Norton this is one of several with the same colophon printed at Toscolano by Alessandro Paganini between 1519 and 1538./ Device no. 40 in Ascarelli. Tipografia cinquecentina italiana.
Orosius’s text had a wide diffusion, and the chief works of Christian historiography in future centuries, down to Dante’s Commedia, were based on it. (Conti Latin Literature A History p. 702-703)
Orosius, to whom Dante was largely indebted, not only for his knowledge of ancient history but also for many of his favourite theories and arguments about the divine institution of the Roman Empire, is mentioned by name seven times in D.’s works, Paulo Orosio, Conv. III. xi. 3; Paulus Orosius, V.E. II. vi. 7; Orosius, Mon. II. iii. 13, Mon. II. viii. 3, Mon. II. viii. 5, Mon. II. x. 4; Quest. 54. He is undoubtedly referred to (notwithstanding the divergence of opinion among the commentators) in the passage, [Par. x. 118-120]:
Ne l’altra piccioletta luce ridequello avvocato de’ tempi cristianidel cui latino Augustin si provide.
Thus he is included among the great doctors of the Church (Spiriti sapienti) who are placed in the Heaven of the Sun [Augustino_2: Sole, Cielo del]; the title avvocato de’ tempi cristiani points almost unquestionably to the author of the Historiae adversum Paganos, in which, written as it was to vindicate Christianity, the phrase ‘Christiana tempora’ occurs so frequently as to make the point of D.’s allusion sufficiently obvious. Benvenuto, however, although in his commentary on this passage he speaks of Orosius as ‘defensor temporum Christianorum’ and refers to his book, yet inclines to think that the allusion is to Ambrose; he says:
“Ad evidentiam istius literae est notandum quod litera ista potest verificari tam de Ambrosio quam de Orosio. De Ambrosio quidem, quia fuit magnus advocatus temporum Christianorum, quia tempore suo pullulaverunt multi et magni haeretici; contra quos Ambrosius defensavit ecclesiam Dei, immo et contra Theodosium imperatorem fuit audacissimus; et ad eius praedicationem Augustinus conversus fuit ad fidem, qui fuit validissimus malleus haereticorum. Potest etiam intelligi de Paulo Orosio, qui fuit defensor temporum Christianorum reprobando tempora pagana, sicut evidenter apparet ex eius opere quod intitulatur 0rmesta mundi, quem librum fecit ad petitionem beati Augustini, sicut ipse Orosius testatur in prohemio dicti libri. . . .Et hic nota quod quamvis istud possit intelligi tam de Orosio quam de Ambrosio, et licet forte autor intellexerit de Orosio, cui fuit satis familiaris, ut perpendi ex multis dictis eius, tamen melius est quod intelligatur de Ambrosio, quia licet Orosius fuerit vir valens et utilis, non tamen bene cadit in ista corona inter tam egregios doctores.“
Dante mentions Orosius, together with Frontinus, Pliny, and Livy, as a ‘master of lofty prose’, V.E. II. vi. 7; his authority is quoted for the computation of the period between the reign of Numa Pompilius and the birth of Christ at about 750 years, Conv. III. xi. 3 (ref. to {Orosius. Hist. IV. xii. 9}); his statement that Mt. Atlas is in Africa, Mon. II. iii. 13 ({Orosius. Hist. I. ii. 11}); his account of the reigns of Ninus and Semiramis in Assyria, Mon. II. viii. 3 ({Orosius. Hist. I. iv. 1-8}; {Orosius. Hist. II. iii. 1}); and of the conquests of Vesoges, king of Egypt, and of his repulse by the Scythians, Mon. II. viii. 5 ({Orosius. Hist. I. xiv. 1-4}); Livy’s account of the combat between the Roman Horatii and the Alban Curiatii, confirmed by that of Orosius, Mon. II. x. 4 ({Orosius. Hist. II. iv. 9}); O.’s description of the boundaries of the habitable world, Quest. 54 ({Orosius. Hist. I. ii. 7}, {Orosius. Hist. I. ii. 13}).
Besides the above passages, in which Dante expressly names Orosius as his authority, there are many others in which he was indebted to him; in several instances he wrongly quotes Livy as his authority instead of O. [Livio]. There is little doubt that Orosius was the chief source of D.’s information about the following: Ninus and Semiramis, [Inf. v. 54-60] ({Orosius. Hist. I. iv. 4}; {Hist. II. iii. 1}) [Nino_1: Semiramis]; Alexander the Great, [Inf. xii. 107] ({Orosius. Hist. III. vii. 5}, {Orosius. Hist. III. xviii. 10}, {Orosius. Hist. III. xx. 4}, {Orosius. Hist. III. xx. 5} ff., {Orosius. Hist. III. xxiii. 6}) [Alessandro_2]; Cyrus and Tomyris, [Purg. xii. 55-57]; Mon. II. viii ({Orosius. Hist. II. vi. 12}, {Orosius. Hist. II. vii. 6}) [Ciro: Tamiri]; the persecution of the Christians by Domitian, [Purg. xxii. 83-84] ({Orosius. Hist. VII. x. 1}) [Domiziano]; the victories of Julius Caesar in the Civil War, [Par. vi. 61-72] ({Orosius. Hist. VI. xv. 2-3}, {Orosius. Hist. VI. xv. 6}, {Orosius. Hist. VI. xv. 18}, {Orosius. Hist. VI. xv. 22}, {Orosius. Hist. VI. xv. 25}, {Orosius. Hist. VI. xv.28-29}, {Orosius. Hist. VI. xvi. 3}, {Orosius. Hist. VI. xvi.6-7}) [Aquila_1: Cesare_1], Sardanapalus, [Par. xv. 107-108] ({Orosius. Hist. I. xix. 1}) [Sardanapalo]; the defeat of the Romans at Cannae and the production of the heap of gold rings (taken from the bodies of the slain) by Hannibal’s envoy in the senatehouse at Carthage, Conv. IV. v. 19; [Inf. xxviii. 10-11] ({Orosius. Hist. IV. xvi. 5-6}) [Annibale: Canne: Scipione_1].
Dante was evidently also indebted to Orosius for his theories and arguments about Titus, who destroyed Jerusalem, as the avenger of the crucifixion of Christ by the Jews, [Purg. xxi. 82-84]; [Par. vi. 92-93] ({Orosius. Hist. VII. iii. 8} {Orosius. Hist. VII. ix. 9}) [Tito]; the universal peace under Augustus at the time of the birth of Christ, [Par. vi. 80-81]; Conv. IV. v. 8; Mon. I. xvi. 1-2 ({Orosius. Hist. I. i. 6}, {Orosius. Hist. III. viii. 3}, {Orosius. Hist. III. viii. 5}, {Orosius. Hist. III. viii. 7-8}; {Orosius. Hist. VI. xvii. 10}, {Orosius. Hist. VI. xx. 1-2}, {Orosius. Hist. VI. xxii. 1}, {Orosius. Hist. VI. xxii. 5}; {Orosius. Hist. VII. i. 11}, {Orosius. Hist. VII. ii. 15-16}, {Orosius. Hist. VII. iii. 4}) [Augusto_2: Iano]; Christ’s assertion of His human nature by being included in the census under Augustus, whereby He became a Roman citizen, Mon. II. viii. 12-13, Mon. II. xi. 6; Epist. vii. 14, Epist. xi. 3 ({Orosius. Hist. VI. xxii. 6-8}; {Hist. VII. iii. 4}) [Augusto_2: Cristo]. [See P. Toynbee, SR, pp. 121-136.]
* Palau V 377; * Eduard Toda 3628; * Lasts 11663 * Haym 26-7; * Baroncelli 53; * Lechi 106 * Ebert 15257; * Angela new p.189; * Capons 277; * Choix 16131; * Graesse V 5; * Argelati IV 117; * Paitoni III 42; * Manzoni 2546 * Isaac; 13935; Adams; O311; BM STC Italian, 1465-1600,; p. 478; BM STC Italian, 1465-1600,; p. 478; Schweiger, F. Classischen bibliographie,; II, p. 622; EDIT 16; CNCE
1537–38, Paganino and Alessandro Paganini produced the first printed edition …
Orosius, Ireland, and Christianity. Donnchadh Ó Corráin †
“Orosius, author of Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri vii, was a Briton, born at latest c. ad 375. Taken by Irish raiders, he spent years (c. ad 400) as a captive, held by traders, on the south shore of the Shannon estuary. He escaped and probably reached Galicia before ad 405. Ordained priest, he served at Bracara (now Braga in Portugal). He corresponded with St Augustine and moved to Hippo in ad 414. Sent to the East by Augustine, he played an undistinguished role at the councils of Jerusalem and Diospolis (ad 415). He settled at Carthage, where he wrote his main work, originally at the instigation of Augustine. He disappears after a voyage to the Balearic Islands. His is the first textual witness to Christianity in Ireland, observed c. ad 400, written up in ad 416–17.
“Conclusions
Orosius was a Briton, born at the latest c. 375. He was taken by Irish raiders, and spent years as a captive, c. 400, with traders, on the south shore of the Shannon estuary. He escaped and probably reached Galicia before 405. Here he embarked on a clerical scholarly career. He corresponded with St Augustine and moved to Hippo in 414. The rest is well documented.
His is the first contemporary textual witness to Christianity in Ireland, observed c. 400, written up 416–17. As a writer he is disciplined and spare: he allows himself few and brief personal remarks. Those he permits are very revealing, especially about Ireland and Britain, and deserve the closest scrutiny. The transmission of his work is strongly Insular, at least from the very early seventh century — Irish, British, and latterly English. This important matter is not discussed here. Neither do I discuss how the evidence of Orosius fits with that of Prosper of Aquitaine about Palladius and his mission to Ireland (431). I merely observe that there is no necessary conflict.”
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