910J Rhay, Theodor 1603-1671

Altera Noe arca profano-sacra, copiosa doctarum mercium varietate omni hominum statui, potissimum vero … principum Palatino-Neoburgicorum … usui instructa, a R.P. Theodoro Rhay Societatis Jesu Sacerdote

Coloniæ  Wilhelmi  Friessem Civis ac Bibliopolae , vsub signo S. Gabrielis Archangeli, in Platea vulgo, Tranckgaß. , 1665                                                                       Price $1,100

Octavo 15.5 x 10 cm. Signatures : Aa-Zz8, Aa-Cc8,Dd6  Bound in contemporary vellum with yapp edges and hand title on spine. 

Like a second Noah’s Ark, providing people of every class with intellectual nourishment. That it was nevertheless primarily addressed to the author’s pupils, the princes of Palatinate-Neuburg, is only revealed later in the baroque version of the title. While not strictly alphabetical, the book is organized as a sequence of moral loci, each treated through:

  • Scriptural citations
  • Patristic and scholastic authorities
  • Classical literature (Cicero, Seneca, Plutarch, Juvenal, Terence)
  • Historical exempla, medieval and contemporary
  • Political and princely advice
  • Parenetic (exhortative) passages
  • Poetical interludes typical of Jesuit rhetorical training

The result is a Jesuit baroque florilegium, designed for memorization, classroom recitation, and princely edification.

VD17 1:045360X; DeBacker-Sommervogel vol:VI col.1702 nº4

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