Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, approximately 4 B.C.-65 A.D..& Martin of Braga (c. 515–580) {In fact by Martinus Dumiensis, Archbishop of Braga (Bracara).}

Seneca de quattuor virtntibus [sic] cardinalibus cū cōmēto. with [German transl. and adapt. M. de Braga.]

Leipzig: Conrad Kachelofen, Circa 1490. One of the first printed works with German translations of Seneca. There are some small but interesting variations in this book. From the copy of the same edition available to see on BSB #M214: Electronic facsimile: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München For example the München copy has different spacing of the type causing line endings to be crushed. The copy I offer has line 1 ending credulita while the München ends in cerdulit by line 2 in Sed, in the München ends S3. On line #12 of our copy ends qui while the München copy ends Quitu textually it makes no difference, but mechanically it tells a rather weird story, did they have two sets of type? And two different setters? Did the setters have a choice when and when not to use abbreviations (or is it where and where not to?) well I can imagine too many scenarios to list here. Bound in modern boards covered with an antiphonal leaf. All the capitals are stroked in red There are contemporary manuscript annotations throughout in pen and ink (included on title);. Goff; S415; H 14629*; C 5358; IBP 5003; Coll(S) 975; Madsen 3690; Sheppard 2092; Pr 2906; BMC vol. III p.631; BSB-Ink M-213 Goff listing the Huntington as the only us copy, (but this is a different setting.) ISTC is00415300. This copy has water stains in the margins never challenging the legibility, mostly marginal. Item #862

This Includes the spurious correspondence between Seneca and St. Paul (leaves E3r-E4r)

The German translation is in verse and adapted by M. de Braga. Also known as Formula vitae honestae, this work is actually by Martin of Braga, and is presumably based on a lost work of Seneca, De officiis. Cf. New Catholic Enc.

With the German translation, and a Latin commentary. This is a very rare edition of one of the first printed works with German translations to make the ethical and moral philosophy of Seneca available to a Renaissance audience. ¶Martin of Bragas’ writings consist chiefly of moral, liturgical, and ascetical treatises. The best known of his moral treatises, “Formula vitae honestae” or “De differentiis quatuor virtutum”, as St. Isadore of Seville (De viris illustribus xxxv) entitles it, is an exposition of Christian life chiefly for laymen, from the standpoint of the four cardinal virtues, and is believed to be based on a lost work of Seneca.


His little work, “De ira”, is merely a compendium of Seneca’s three books, “De ira”. The two preceding works proceed from the standpoint of natural ethics, while his three other moral treatises: “Pro repellenda jactantia”, “De superbia”, and “Exhortatio humilitatis”, are expositions of Christian morality. ¶Of great importance in the history of medieval canon law is Martin’s collection of eighty-four canons: “Collectio orientalium canonum, seu Capitula Martini”, which was compiled after 561, and contains mostly Greek, also a few Spanish and African, canons. It is in two parts; the first, containing sixty-eight canons, treats of the ordination and the duties of clerics; the second, containing sixteen canons, treats chiefly of the duties and faults of laymen. ¶For the attribution of the text to Martinus Dumiensis, Archbishop of Braga, see Nikolaus Henkel, Deutsche Übersetzungen lateinischer Schultexte: Ihre Verbreitung und Funktion im Mittelalter und in der frühen Neuzeit, Münchener Texte und Untersuchungen, 90, Munich,1988, pp. 306-309./.

Price: $18,000.00