Epictetus.

Arrianou Eriktetos [sic] Arriani Epictetvs

      [from the colophon: Venice: In aedibus Bartholomaei Zanetti Casterzagensis, aere uero, & diligentiaIoannis Francisci Trincaueli, September] 1535. Octavo. [216] ff., including the blank BB6 and BB7. Woodcut printer’s device on title and last leaf. Text in Greek letter. Ornamental Greek initials and headpieces. Dedication to Georges de Selve (1506-1541), French ambassador to Venice. Late seventeenth-century mottled calf. Gilt spine, tooled in compartments, gilt borders on covers, green speckled edges. A remarkably fine, clean copy. From the library of the Earl of Macclesfield, with the South Library armorial bookplate and the embossed stamp on the title-page and following leaf. Editio princeps of Arrian’s four books of the Discourses of Epictetus Epictetus (ca. 55–ca. 135), the very influential Stoic philosopher, was a slave in the household of Nero, and was given his freedom after the emperor’s death. Around 93 AD Domitian banished all philosophers from Rome, and ultimately, from Italy, and Epictetus traveled to Nicopolis in Epirus, Greece, where he founded a philosophical school. One of his students was the historian Arrian (ca. 86 - after 146), who took careful notes. Like Socrates, whom he admired, Epictetus wrote nothing for publication. Everything we know of Epictetus comes through Arrian’s writings, including both the Discourses, based on his lecture notes, and his later summary of Epictetus’ philosopohy, the Encheiridion. Likewise, Arrian is our greatest source of knowledge of Greek military tactics (Tactica) and our principle source of information about Alexanbder the Great (Anabasis). Vettore Trincavelli (1491-1598) was professor of medicine at the University of Padua. He published a number of medical books in Latin. An eminent Greek scholar, he edited the works of several Greek authors who had never before been translated in their original language, often printed by Bartholomaeus Zanetti. His editions of Themistius, trobaeus, and Hesiod are noteworthy. OCLC records fifteen copies worldwide. North American copies include Duke, Columbia, the Universities of Iowa and Illinois, Northwestern, the University of California at San Diego, and Dalhousie University.Dibdin, 4th edition, Vol. I, p. 328