SATYRAE [together with] SATYRARUM

Amstelaedami (Amsterdam): Henricum Wetstenium, 1684. Leather Bound. Thick 8vo. The text encompasses 525 pages, but the index is unpaginated. Bound-in after this is the 'Satyrarum' (Satirarum) of the 1st century AD Roman satiric poet Auli Persii Flacci (Aulus Persius Flaccus); in six books of 112 pages with an unpaginated index at end. Text throughout is in Latin. All pages clean, although there is some rippling. One small burn hole (?) to front cover, usual staining to vellum, although less than might otherwise be expected. Binding is good, although front hinge starting. Overall, a good, to good plus, copy. This is a new edition ('Editio Nova'), with commentaries, a life of Juvenal, and a bibliography of various editions. Decimus Junius Juvenalis, known in English as Juvenal, was a Roman poet (1st to 2nd century AD), who wrote a series of poems which, together, are called the 'Satires' ('Satyrae'). He wrote at least 16 poems in dactylic hexameter form, which were divided between five books, and which covered many, if not most, aspects of life in pagan Rome. There is no complete list of Juvenal's manuscripts but at least 500 medieval copies are known to exist. This copy is bound in vellum with an elaborate device embossed in gilt on the front board. As was the practice then, the spine is hand-lettered with the title, year, and showing was appears to be a Roman soldier, flanked by two maidens in front of whom kneels a satyr. All 16 of the poems are present, followed by a comprehensive index.