DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.30696#0250
240
ANCIENT CLASSICS. [Venice; 1513.
of Aldus, prefixed to this laborious and beautiful impression : ‘ &si
opere in magno fas est obrepere somnu (non enim unius diei labor
hic noster, sed multorum annorum, atque interim nec mora, nec
requies.), sic tamen doleo, ut si possem. mutarem singula errata numo
aureo.’ Well might the distinguished author of the Adagia* expa-
tiate in praise of the spirit and meritorious labours of such a printer !
But we return to the volume itself. The editor of it was Marcus
Musurus ; who has inserted an elegiac poem concerning Plato, which
is said to have so much delighted Pope Leo the Xth, that, on that ac-
count alone, the editor was preferred to an archbishopric.f Although
the critical acumen displayed in this impression has been greatly
excelled by that of subsequent scholars, yet is the edition entitled
to our attention, as a number of good MSS. and ancient. publications
v/ere consulted in the compilation of it. See the authorities referred
to in the Inlrod. to the Classics, vol. ii. p. 132.
On the recto of the first leaf, we read as follows :
A'nANTA TA' TOT IIAATf2N03.
OMNIA PLATONIS OPERA.
The large anchor, in outline, is beneath. The reverse of the leaf is
blank. On the recto of the following leaf, Ii, commences ‘ the Sup-
plication of Aldus to Pope Leo X. in the cause of Christianity and
Literature,’ which concludes at bottom of I 2 recto: on the reverse,
we read an ‘ Index Librorum Platonis.’ On I 3, recto, commence
some Greek verses of Musurus, which conclude on the reverse of I 4.
On I 5, is the table of Plato’s Works, in Greek, more particular than
the preceding Latin table. Then follows the Greek biography of
Plato, from Diogenes Laertius ; occupying 9 leaves. Afterwards, a
blank leaf. The text of the Dialogues commences on sign. a; having
the page numbered. At page 495 we read
MEME'SENO^. H’' E’TlTA'ddO^.
TA' Tor AIAAOTOT nPOSfiHA.
* See the interesting extract from Froben’s edition of this work of Ehasmus, in Mait-
taire’s Annal. Typog. vol. ii. p. 44-5.
t The reader may consult Roscoe’s Lor. de Medici, vol. ii. p. 238-9, 4to. edit. upon the
above subject. An extract from it is given in the Introd. to tlie CLassics, vol. ii. p. 132,
note: but he will find the circumstance mentioned by Aldus himself, in the extract from
the preface to Pausanias, ante, p. 218.
ANCIENT CLASSICS. [Venice; 1513.
of Aldus, prefixed to this laborious and beautiful impression : ‘ &si
opere in magno fas est obrepere somnu (non enim unius diei labor
hic noster, sed multorum annorum, atque interim nec mora, nec
requies.), sic tamen doleo, ut si possem. mutarem singula errata numo
aureo.’ Well might the distinguished author of the Adagia* expa-
tiate in praise of the spirit and meritorious labours of such a printer !
But we return to the volume itself. The editor of it was Marcus
Musurus ; who has inserted an elegiac poem concerning Plato, which
is said to have so much delighted Pope Leo the Xth, that, on that ac-
count alone, the editor was preferred to an archbishopric.f Although
the critical acumen displayed in this impression has been greatly
excelled by that of subsequent scholars, yet is the edition entitled
to our attention, as a number of good MSS. and ancient. publications
v/ere consulted in the compilation of it. See the authorities referred
to in the Inlrod. to the Classics, vol. ii. p. 132.
On the recto of the first leaf, we read as follows :
A'nANTA TA' TOT IIAATf2N03.
OMNIA PLATONIS OPERA.
The large anchor, in outline, is beneath. The reverse of the leaf is
blank. On the recto of the following leaf, Ii, commences ‘ the Sup-
plication of Aldus to Pope Leo X. in the cause of Christianity and
Literature,’ which concludes at bottom of I 2 recto: on the reverse,
we read an ‘ Index Librorum Platonis.’ On I 3, recto, commence
some Greek verses of Musurus, which conclude on the reverse of I 4.
On I 5, is the table of Plato’s Works, in Greek, more particular than
the preceding Latin table. Then follows the Greek biography of
Plato, from Diogenes Laertius ; occupying 9 leaves. Afterwards, a
blank leaf. The text of the Dialogues commences on sign. a; having
the page numbered. At page 495 we read
MEME'SENO^. H’' E’TlTA'ddO^.
TA' Tor AIAAOTOT nPOSfiHA.
* See the interesting extract from Froben’s edition of this work of Ehasmus, in Mait-
taire’s Annal. Typog. vol. ii. p. 44-5.
t The reader may consult Roscoe’s Lor. de Medici, vol. ii. p. 238-9, 4to. edit. upon the
above subject. An extract from it is given in the Introd. to tlie CLassics, vol. ii. p. 132,
note: but he will find the circumstance mentioned by Aldus himself, in the extract from
the preface to Pausanias, ante, p. 218.