STUDYING TERENTIAN RHETORIC
TERENCE.
P. Terentii comoediae sex elegantissimae, cum Donati commentariis, ex optimorum praesertim veterum exemplariorum collatione emendatae, atq[ue] scholiis exactissimis, a multis doctis viris illustratae, et nunc denuo ab omnibus mendis repurgatae.
Basel, the heirs of Nicolaus Brylinger, 1567.
8vo, pp. [xxvi], 643, [1, blank]; without final blank T8; woodcut printer’s device to title, woodcut initials; small chips at head of first six leaves, marginal worming to last four leaves, lightly toned with occasional small marks, nonetheless a very good copy; bound in contemporary blind-tooled pigskin, rolls with busts of King David and saints (dated 1545) and of cherubs playing musical instruments, vestigial ties to fore-edge, sewn on 4 double cords laced in; somewhat rubbed, corners bumped, worming to pastedowns, wanting free endpapers; early ownership inscriptions to rear pastedown ‘Casparus Mayer Munderchingen anno domini 1577’ and ‘Johannes Fasnacht’, interlinear and marginal annotations by Mayer to c. 220 pp., nineteenth-century ink stamp to title ‘Statthalterei Freudenfels'.
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P. Terentii comoediae sex elegantissimae, cum Donati commentariis, ex optimorum praesertim veterum exemplariorum collatione emendatae, atq[ue] scholiis exactissimis, a multis doctis viris illustratae, et nunc denuo ab omnibus mendis repurgatae.
A thoroughly annotated student edition of the plays of Terence, issued by the heirs of the Basel printer Nicolaus Brylinger (1515–1565), with introductory matter by Erasmus and commentary by Donatus and others.
The annotator appears to be the Caspar Mayer of Munderkingen, in southern Germany, whose name is inscribed to the rear pastedown, and his annotations elucidate the text of four of the plays, viz Andria, Eunuchus, Hecyra, and Phormio. He provides his own prefatory ‘argumentum’ for each scene, and interlinear notes which are largely linguistic exercises, offering synonyms for Terentian vocabulary such as ‘crimina’ for ‘malefacta’, ‘bona’ for ‘clemens’, and ‘astutus’ for ‘callidus’. His marginalia are more interesting, providing commentary linked by a letter or sign to a word or passage within the text. These display a particular study of the narrative and rhetorical structures of the plays – under headings such as ‘amplificatio’, ‘catachresis’, ‘ironia’, ‘mimesis’, and ‘syllepsis’ – and also pick out proverbs and metaphors; there are several references to Erasmus along the way.
USTC 682037; VD16 T 466; Adams T 361.
