A leaf from Grüninger’s first edition with the gloss by Sebastian Brant.
Of all classical Latin poets, Virgil has held the most secure place in the canon of great authors. His works became school texts in ancient Rome and his perceived affinity with Christianity meant that his poetry was widely read in the Middle Ages.
The Aeneid is an epic poem in 12 books that tells the story of the foundation of Rome from the ashes of Troy. It was probably written in Rome from 30-19 BC during the reign of the Emperor Augustus.
The poem is named after the Trojan hero Aeneas, the son of Venus (Aphrodite in Greek mythology) and Anchises, a Trojan aristocrat. Aeneas leads the survivors from the sack of Troy through the Mediterranean, and ultimately to the site of (future) Rome.
Verso: Text printed on laid paper in Latin with sections of Book One. Heading Eneidos. Virgil’s original text is in the larger font in the centre of the page and is surrounded by the gloss (commentary) of Brant in the smaller font. Inter-linear scholar’s notes in Latin(?) in brown ink.
Recto: As Verso wth the heading Liber Primus CL (First Book, page 150).
Printer: Johann Grüninger, Strassburg, 1502.
Content: A section of the English translation of Virgil’s text beginning at the ninth line of Recto (Obstipuit primo aspectu Sidonia Dido) and continuing on Verso reads:
Sidonian Dido was amazed, first at the sight of the hero, then at his strange misfortune, and thus her lips made utterance: “What fate pursues you, goddess-born, amidst such perils? What violence drives you to savage shores? Are you that Aeneas whom gracious Venus bore to Dardanian Anchises by the wave of Phrygian Simois? Indeed, I myself remember well Teucer’s coming to Sidon, when exiled from his native land he sought a new kingdom by aid of Belus; my father Belus was then wasting rich Cyprus, and held it under his victorious sway. From that time on the fall of the Trojan city has been known to me; known, too, your name and the Pelasgian kings. Foe thou he was, he often lauded the Teucrians with highest praise and claimed that he was sprung from the Teucrians’ ancient stock. Come therefore, sirs, and pass within our halls. Me, too, has a like fortune driven through many toils, and willed that in this land I should at last find rest. Not ignorant of ill I learn to aid distress.”
Thus she speaks, and at once leads Aeneas into the royal house; at once proclaims a sacrifice at the temples of the gods.
Gloss: Sebastian Brant, also spelled Brandt, (born 1457, Strassburg [now Strasbourg, France], died 1521, Strassburg), was a highly accomplished humanist scholar.. Trained in classics and law at the University of Basel, Brant later lectured in jurisprudence there and practiced law in his native city of Strasbourg. While his satirical poem Das Narrenschiff (The Ship of Fools) won him great acclaim as a writer, his role in the transmission of Virgil to the Renaissance was at least as important. In 1502 he and Strasbourg printer Johannes Grüninger produced a major edition of Virgil’s works, from which this leaf of the first edition comes.
Condition: The leaf is in very good/excellent condition, with original margins. Edge browning and a couple of brown marks are of little consequence. Some may find the scholar’s notes intrusive, others may welcome them. The leaf is unconditionally guaranteed genuine.
Size: approx. 305x205 mm. Item: PSE128
