Q. Aurelii Symmachi (...) Epistolarum ad diversos libri decem. Ex bibliotheca Coenobii S. Benigni Divionensis magna parte in integrum restituti. Cura & studio Francisci Iureti, cuius etiam notae adiectae sunt, quibus & emendationum ratio redditur, & aliquot cum huius tum aliorum auctorum loci obiter illustrantur.

Paris (Parisiis), Apud Nicolaum Chesneau, 1580. (Colophon at the end: 'Lutetiae, excudebat Henricus Thierry, X. Cal Maias, anno salutis 1580') 4to. 2 parts in 1: (XII),371,(1 blank);118,(16 index),(1 colophon, 1 blank) p. Calf. 23 cm (Ref: Schweiger 2,990; Graesse 6/1,538: Ebert 22072: 'erste vollständige Ausg. nach 2 Mss. und den Frühern Ausgg.'; Fabricius/Ernesti 3,208: 'Sed Iuretiana qua notas quidem principatum habet'; Neue Pauly Suppl. 2, p. 571) (Details: Back gilt and with 5 raised band. Woodcut printer's device of Chesneau on the title, depicting a oak, with a snake coiling around its stem, and holding with his tail four or five arrows; a bearded man in Roman dress is pointing at the snake; a ribbon bears the motto: 'Concordia vis nescia vinci', 'Concord is a force that does not know defeat'. The pages 1-303 contain the letters, 305-316 the 2 letters of Ambrosius, 317-371 the poem of Prudentius. The second part contains Juretus' notes to the letters and the poem of Prudentius) (Condition: Binding very scuffed: leather near head & tail of the spine gone. Corners bumped. Joints cracked, but holding. Right upper corner of the upper board grazed. Both pastedowns very worn. Some slight foxing. Paper yellowing, 5 gatherings, H,L,S,X, & OO, show browned paper) (Note: The Roman nobleman Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, ca. 340 - ca. 402 AD, was a prominent civil servant, and became the most famous and admired orator of his day. Fragments of his speeches survive. H.J. Rose may call his oratory empty, but an eulogy that Symmachus composed for the emperor Theodosius, after he had sided with the usurpator Maximus, once saved his life. And with his oratory this pagan politician was considered to be the most prominent opponent of Christianity. When Gratianus ordered by imperial edict the removal of the altar of Victoria from the Senate building of Rome, he pleaded for the repeal of the edict. Of historic importance is the third letter in the tenth book of this collection of letters in which Symmachus asked for the restoration of this altar. It made a great impression, it is said, but he was defeated largely through the efforts of the bishop of Milan, Ambrosius, ca. 339-397 AD. The bishop persuaded the emperor to neglect the plea of this leader of the Roman aristocracy for the restoration of the altar. This was the last battle between Christianity and the other religions of antiquity. The two episcopal letters about this 'cause célèbre' which Ambrosius addressed to the Emperor have been added here at the end of the letters of Symmachus. The collection of letters is arranged in ten books, and contains some 900 letters, addressed to the leading persons of the period. § Added is also the 'Contra Symmachum', a poem in 2 books of hexameters, by the Christian poet Aulus Prudentius Clemens, a contemporary of Symmachus. In his poetry he attacks paganism and heresies, and defends the Catholic Church. His 'Contra Symmachum' is a long attack on idolatry, combatting with the stock arguments of the adversaries of pagan religions. The prefaces are in glyconeics. § This Symmachus edition of 1580 was produced by the French humanist scholar Franciscus Juretus, or François Juret, 1553-1626. He was canon (chanoine) at the diocese of Langres, a city north of Dijon. His specialization was early christian literature. Juret augmented the collection of letters of Symmachus considerably, and almost doubled the number of letters. This edition is the 'editio princeps' of a further 494 letters, which are published here for the first time. Juret consulted a codex from the centuries old abbey of 'Saint Bénigne de Dijon' (Sanctus Benignus Divionensis), a Benedictine abbey belonging to the diocese of Juret, Langres. This manuscript is now lost. (Divionum or Divionense castrum was the Gallo-Roman name of Dijon) Juret consulted also 2 earlier editions, that of Scottus, Strassburg 1510, and Basel, Frobenius, 1549. Juret published a second augmented edition in Paris in 1604) (Collation: â4, ê2, A-2Z4, 3A2 (leaf 3A verso blank) (Photographs on request)