Dionysii Catonis Disticha de Moribus ad Filium. [The Distichs of Cato on Morals, Addressed to His Son.]

CATO, Dionysius.

Dionysii Catonis Disticha de Moribus ad Filium. [The Distichs of Cato on Morals, Addressed to His Son.]

Amsterdam: Ex Officina Schouteniana, 1754.

$1,100.00

In Stock Item Number: RRB-152634

Add to Cart

Ask a Question

Authenticity Guaranteed

Secure Shipping

Handsome 1773 Amsterdam Prize Binding of the Distichs of Cato; In Gilt-Decorated Vellum with the Arms of the City of Amsterdam

A beautiful eighteenth-century Dutch prize binding of the Distichs of Cato, the celebrated collection of Latin moral maxims that served as a schoolbook across Europe for well over a thousand years. Octavo, second edition, written in Latin, bound in contemporary full vellum, elaborately gilt, with the arms of the city of Amsterdam stamped in gilt at the center of each cover and repeated within the spine compartments, all within gilt borders, with an engraved allegorical frontispiece. The book was awarded as a school prize by the public gymnasium of Amsterdam, the printed presentation leaf naming the recipient, Arnold Johann van Bloemen, a pupil of the sixth class, signed by the rector Hendrik Verheyk and dated 9 April 1773. In very good condition with a small chip to the head of the spine and light soiling to the vellum. Edited by Otto Arntzenius. Engraved frontispiece by Simon Fokke.

The Distichs of Cato, or Disticha Catonis, is a collection of Latin moral maxims in verse traditionally ascribed to Dionysius Cato and most likely compiled in the third or fourth century. For more than a thousand years it was among the most widely read and copied texts in the Western world, used across Europe to teach schoolboys both their Latin and the rudiments of virtuous conduct. Admired by figures from Erasmus to Benjamin Franklin, it passed through countless editions after the coming of print. This learned edition gathers the notes of Scaliger, Barth, and Erasmus among others, edited by the Dutch classical scholar Otto Arntzenius.