The Fables Of Phedre, Freed From Caesar Bilingual Fr./Latin Ed 1818 Boinvilliers

Description: [LATIN LITERATURE - FABLES] PHEDREaround 14 BC. BC - around 50 AD AD Phaedrus (fabulist) Phaedrus (in Latin Caius Iulius Phaedrus), born around 14 BC. J.-C. and died around 50 AD. BC, is a Latin fabulist of Thracian origin, freed from the emperor. About a third of his work is taken fromAesop whose fables he adapts; the other two thirds come from his imagination. Just like its predecessor, Phèdre tells stories about animals, but it also features human characters, including Aesop. In total, he composed 5 books of fables.“It was Aesop who was the first to find the material: I polished it into senary verse. This little book has a double merit: it makes you laugh and it gives wise advice for the conduct of life. To anyone who would unfairly reproach me for making not only animals, but even trees speak, I would remind you that I am amusing myself here with pure fictions.“Aesop's genre is full of examples, and we must only look for the aim of his fables: to correct the errors of men, and to excite in them lively emulation. Whatever the nature of a story, if it captivates, and fulfills its purpose, it recommends itself, without any author's name. I will therefore scrupulously follow the traces of the old man »BiographyThe only information we have about Phèdre comes from the fabulist himself, through his work. Born in Thrace, probably in the Roman colony of Philippi, Phaedrus arrived in Rome as a slave, although we do not know under what circumstances. His manuscripts, however, say Augusti libertus (“freed from Augustus”). In any case, he has the means to ensure his own intellectual training, and Latin quickly became his second language.Under the principate of Tiberius, he published his first two books of Fables and attracted the enmity of the powerful minister Sejanus, Tiberius' favorite. His “prologue” to Book III aims to be a public justification: he denies any intention or meaning hidden from its apologists.In this “epilogue” of book III, he addresses Eutychus, an unknown character, difficult to identify as Caligula's favorite, to obtain complete absolution; in the fourth and fifth books, he no longer makes any allusion to his legal misadventures and we deduce from this that his petition received a favorable reception. Phaedrus also states that he is languentis ævi, “very advanced in age”.ArtworkPhèdre wrote a collection entitled Phaedri Augusti Liberti Fabulae Æsopiae (The Aesopic Fables of Phèdre, freed from Augustus). It has five books which contain one hundred and twenty-three versified fables. Each book is preceded by a prologue and followed by an epilogue with the exception of book I which does not have an epilogue.In this collection, he opts for verse, where Aesop chose prose. The Latin author first stages stories of animals (which will inspire Jean de La Fontaine), human characters, himself, before attacking the Emperor Tiberius and his favorite Sejanus, this which will earn him exile. The other pieces of verse come from various sources and original creations. Some even seem to be taken from real news stories.Phèdre does not achieve the literary glory to which he aspired. He is not recognized by his contemporaries who ignore him, something he complains about in the prologue to Book III. He fell into the anonymity of the fabulists in the Middle Ages and his name only came out of oblivion during the Renaissance with the discovery of an ancient manuscript by French humanists. Pierre Pithou and François Pithou who published the first edition of the five books in 1596.Transmitted in a fragmentary and incomplete manner, almost all of his work could only be restored after the collation of different manuscripts. The most important dates from the 9th century and was used by Pierre Pithou for his 1596 edition. From the study and collation of the different sources, it results that the end of book I is lost as well as part of book V.Of the two oldest manuscripts of Phèdre's fables, the first, the Pithou manuscript, is preserved today; the other, the manuscript of Saint-Remi de Reims, perished in 1774, in the fire of the library of this abbey-Bilingual editionLatin-FrenchPHEDRE The Fables of Phaedrafreed from Caesar Augustusdivided into four equal books, and translated into French, with the text facingby JEJF BOINVILLERS Paris, Printing House of Auguste Delalain, 18182nd edition Small In-12, (17.5x11cm), XX (Life of Phèdre)-217pp., good 1/2 Period binding, smooth brown leather spine, black leather title piece, gilded fillets, frieze and titling, old label laminated on top cover,three marbled slices(Good copy, minimal wear and various friction on caps, spine, cornerssolid and clean binding, good overall appearance, body of work holding together perfectly)see visuals... Good copy, light paper yellowed as always, Very few pale freckles, usual interior light dirt or stains,small losses of paper in the margins or corners of a few rare sheets Good Copy Rare - As always, combined shipping costs when purchasing multiple books... “It was Aesop who was the first to find the material: I polished it into senary verse. This little book has a double merit: it makes you laugh and it gives wise advice for the conduct of life. To anyone who would unfairly reproach me for making not only animals, but even trees speak, I would remind you that I am amusing myself here with pure fictions. In this collection, he opts for verse, where Aesop chose prose. The Latin author first stages stories of animals (which will inspire Jean de La Fontaine), human characters, himself, before attacking the Emperor Tiberius and his favorite Sejanus, this which will earn him exile. The other pieces of verse come from various sources and original creations. Some even seem to be taken from real news stories. Phèdre does not achieve the literary glor

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