C. Pliniii Secundi Novocomensis Liber de viris in re militari & administranda republica illustribus, a multis mendis repurgatus, & novis commentariis nunc primum (nunc primum per Conradum Lycosthenem) ita illustratus, ut ad omnes Romanorum historias plurimum lucis & utilitatis adferat. Una cum eiusdem Plinii vita, rerumque & verborum omnium indice copiosissimo.

Basel (Basileae), no publisher, n.d. (Colophon on the last page: 'Basileae, Ex officina Ioannis Oporini, Anno salutis humanae 1547, mense Septembri) 8vo. (XXXII),595,(75 index),(2 blank) p. 19th century half vellum 17 cm (Ref: VD16 P 3521; Schweiger, 2,1139 (under Sextus Aurelius Victor); Graesse 5,350) (Details: Back ruled gilt, and with a green morocco shield. 2 woodcut initials) (Condition: On the title page the words 'per Conradum Lycosthenem' are carefully erased. This erasing has been repeated on the verso of the title, where in the heading of the short biography of Pliny Minor the words 'a Conrado Lycosthene' have been erased. This erasure signals the attempt to eradicate the memory of the editor of this title, the Alsatian protestant humanist and encyclopedist Konrad Wolffhart, latinized as Conradus Lycosthenes, 1518-1561. In 1557 he published at Basel a work, 'Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon', or ' Chronicle of omens and portents', with woodcuts of freaks, human monsters of all types, curious animals, comets, earthquakes etc. Two years later this title, and at the same time the entire oeuvre of Lycosthenes, was placed on the first catholic 'Index librorum prohibitorum' by Pope Paul IV. The 'Index' of forbidden books contained publications that were banned by the Catholic Church, because they were deemed heretical, anti-clerical or immoral. Often these books were censored or even destroyed. The censoring sometimes came down to the erasing or cutting out of names, or passages, or the removal of leaves, even complete chapters by catholic librarians. This explains the erasing of his name on the title page of this Plinius. The censor also cut out the name of the famous protestant publisher Oporinus, leaving a neat rectangular hole of 7.5x1 cm. The censor overlooked however the name 'Conradus Vuolfhardus' in the heading of the 'praefatio') (Note: 'The full maturation of ancient biography did not occur before the Roman late republican and imperial periods. The purposes of Graeco-Roman biography were varied, ranging from instructive praise of a subject's virtues, to panegyric, to providing insurance against the jaws of oblivion by immortalizing the 'fama' good or ill, of notable individuals'. (The Classical Tradition, Cambr. Mass., 2010, p. 127) In the early imperial period the Greek author Plutarch composed a series of vitae, which are discursive and generally show a strong moral bias. The Romans were in the writing of biography not wholly dependent on the Greeks. 'The attitudes and customs of their own political and family life led them to put a special value on recording the achievements of their great men'. (OCD 2nd ed. p. 168) Tacitus (Agricola), Nepos (Liber De Excellentibus Ducibus Gentium), Suetonius (Vitae XII imperatorum, or Caesares) are the principle Roman biographers. In late antiquity they found a number of imitators and continuators, e.g. the 'Scriptores Historiae Augustae' or 'Sextus Aurelius Victor'. § This 'Liber de viris in re militari & administranda republica illustribus', nowadays called in the edition of Pilchmayr 'Incerti Auctoris liber de Viris Illustribus Urbis Romae', is one of those imiations. It contains more than 75 biographies of famous Romans from Romulus to Pompeius and Sulla. When it was written no one knows, some say first or second century AD, others the fourth. This collection of Lives of famous Romans, including Hannibal, his brother Hasdrubal, and king Mithridates, was long time primarily ascribed to Plinius Minor, 62-ca. 113 AD. The editio princeps was printed ca. 1470 and enjoyed a great popularity among humanists and on schools. Since the edition of Aldus in 1508 the collection is often called the 'Liber de viris in re militari & administranda republica illustribus'. Schweiger records before this 1547 edition ca. 40 editions, and there must be more. It was printed in the 16th century also under the name of Suetonius and of Nepos. Hyginus and Aemilius Probus are also mentioned as the authors. The Flemish scholar Andreas Schottus attibuted the text in 1577 to Sextus Aurelius Victor. From then on till the second half of the 19th century he was thought to be the author of this collection. (Schweiger 2, 1140/41) But nowadays the author is an anonymous, because the style (genus dicendi) does not suit Sextus Aurelius Victor. It is doubtful whether the author was a christian. He belonged probably to the Optimates. Though many historical errors hurt the eye of the reader, still this collection of biographies offers much that is of great help for our understanding of Roman history of the republican period. The collection figures anonymously in the 'Bibliotheca Teubneriana' edition of that writer of 1966 edited by Pilchmayr. Especially the praefatio of Pichlmayer offers much useful information (p. X & XI)) § Conradus Lycosthenes lectured grammar and dialectics in Basel from 1542. In 1545 he was appointed deacon and preacher of the local 'St. Leonhardskirche'. He married Christine Herbster, a sister of Johannes Oporinus, the printer of this book. The biographer of Lycosthenes's short biography in ADB calls his commentary in this 1547 collection his most excellent work. (ADB 19, 727/28)) (Provenance: On the front pastedown in pencil: '24 dec. 1963', written by the Flemish linguist Walter Couvreur, 1914-1996, Orientalist and professor of Indoeuropean linguistics at the University of Gent. It indicates the date of aquisition. The place of acquisition is written on the flyleaf at the end: 'Bologna, Galliera') (Collation: alpha-beta8, a-2T8 (leaf 2T8 blank)) (Photographs on request)