BEROALDUS, Philippus (Filippo Beroaldo).

Very rare oration printed by the first printer in Belgium Opusculum eruditum quo continetur Declamatio philosophi. medici. & oratoris de excellentia disputantium.

      Louvain, Theodorus Martinus (Dirk Martens of Aalst), 21 August 1501.. 4to. Modern boards. 10 lvs. (Collation: a6, b4); 39-40 lines.. Early edition of this oration by Philippus Beroaldus the elder (1453-1505), the first edition of which was printed in 1497 in Bologna by Benedictus Hecioris. Many editions followed, both as a separate edition (Erfurt 1501, Leipzig 1501, 1512) and as part of his Varia opuscula (Paris 1513, 1515, 1516, Basel 1513, 1517, Bologna 1521).After the title (verso blank) the oration starts with a dedicatory letter by Beroaldus to Paulus Sidlovitium, "scholasticum Polonum" on f. 2r-v. The text begins on the third leaf (f. 'a ii' !): "Philippi Beroaldi declamatio An orator sit philosopho & medico anteponendus. (M)agna ac venerabilis res est eloquentia viri ornatissimi ...", containing a dispute between three brothers - a philosopher, a physician and an orator - whose father has bequeathed his patrimony to the one whose profession is the most useful to society. Each of the three defends his own profession, first the philosopher, second the physician, and third the orator; but it is of course the orator who gets the inheritance because, even though his profession is probably least useful, he is best at defending it. This was a literary device Beroaldus used to good effect in different works on a number of occasions. The orator exposes the philosopher's and the physician's fallacies drawing on sources such as Pythagoras, Empedocles, Plato, Hippocrates, Galenus, Avicenna, etc. On ff. 9r-10v is a translation by Beroaldus of Petrarca's poem 'Vergine bella': "Eiusdem Beroaldi Precovia (!) dive virginis Mariae ex Francesci Petrarche poemate vernaculo in Latinumconversa. (inc.: (V)irgo decens quam sol vestit stellaeque coronant). At the end (f. 10v) there is a curious call to the readers by John of Luxembourg to look through the text, to delete redundancy, to add what is missing and to correct the mistakes: "Joannes Luccenborchensis iuris pontifici schlasticus ad diligentem lectorem. Quod minus est supple: quod plus abrade: quod hirtum come: quod obscurum declara: quod vitiosum emenda: a curis istis sunt omnia sana". In the following colophon Dirk Martens calls the oration 'Trium Fratrum declamatio'. Apart from the copy in the Bibliotheque National in Paris, this is the only other copy we could trace . Filippo Beroaldo the Elder is a celebrated Italian humanist, who studied with Francesco dal Pozzo. He opened a school at Bologna when he was only 19 years old. Subsequently he became professor of rhetoric and poetry in Bologna in 1472. In 1476 he went to Paris , where his lectures on classical texts attracted large audiences. By 1479 he was back in Bologna where he remained a highly successful teacher until his death. A prolific lecturer and writer, Beroaldo was known for his editions of classical authors such as Plaute, Cicero, Suetonius. Above all, however, he is famous for his commentary on the Golden Ass of Apuleius. He published also a series of many treatises and orations on moral questions, among which this oration is one of the best known. Good copy of this rare edition.- (Waterstain in outside corner at the bottom, not affecting the text). NK 2406 (only 2 copies, of which one is lost in 1914 (Univ. Libr. Louvain), the second copy: Bibl. Nat., Paris); NAT VIII, 26; Iseghem, Biogr. de Thierry Martens d'Alost, premier imprimeur de la Belgique 41 (only copy seen: private collection of Fr. Vergauwen); K. Heireman (ed.), Dirk Martens 1473-1973 (Exh. cat. Aalst, Sted. Mus, Oud Hospitaal, 1 Sept. - 31 Oct. 1973 (Aalst 1973), p. 269, nr. M.42; Dizion. biogr. degli Italiani 9, pp. 382-4; Contemp. of Erasmus I, p. 135.