Aristotele - Moralia Nicomachea - 1541

The Path of the Golden Mean, as the Code of Happiness
Important illustrated Venetian edition of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, enriched by the commentaries of Eustratius, Aspasius, Michael of Ephesus, and other interpreters of the Byzantine tradition, translated into Latin by Ioannes Bernardus Felicianus. The work represents one of the peak moments of the humanistic transmission of Aristotelian moral philosophy, in which the ancient text is filtered through a complex stratification of interpretation. In this perspective, Ethics does not appear solely as a moral treatise, but as an orderly system of proportions and relations, almost a geometry of human action. The diagrams present in the text, together with the exegetical framework, convey a vision of virtue as dynamic balance, inscribed in a harmonious conception of the cosmos and the soul.
MARKET VALUE
Complete exemplars generally range between 900 and 1,200 euros; copies with wide margins, old postils, or fine bindings may reach higher values.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Rigid parchment binding from the 18th century with splash cuts; signs of use. Printer’s mark at the endpaper with the lily on the title page and at the end of the volume. Manuscript ownership note on the verso of the title page; widespread contemporary marginal notes indicating an active and structured reading of the text. Decorated initials and drop caps; presence of diagrams and explanatory schemes in the text. Browning and physiological foxing. Overall a well-preserved copy. In old books with a multigenerational history, some imperfections may be present that are not always noted in the description. Collation: pp. (2); 32 pp.; 548; 2 pp.; (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Aristotelis Stagiritae Moralia Nichomachea cum Eustratii, Aspasii, Michaelis Ephesii, nonnullorumque aliorum Graecorum explanationibus, nuper a Ioanne Bernardo Feliciano Latinitate donata.
Venetiis, apud haeredes Lucaeantonij Iuntae Florentini, 1541.
Aristotele.
Eustrazio, Aspasio, Michele di Efeso e altri interpreti della tradizione bizantina, tradotti in latino da Ioannes Bernardus Felicianus

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Nicomachean Ethics constitutes the core of Aristotelian reflection on human action, founded on the principle of the “golden mean,” understood not as compromise but as dynamic balance between excess and defect. In the Renaissance, this concept assumes a broader dimension, interpreted as a universal principle of harmony applicable not only to morality but also to politics, medicine, and cosmology.

The presence of Greek commentaries translated by Feliceano introduces a stratification of interpretation that enriches the text, transforming it into a complex system of reading. Eustratius, Aspasius, and Michael of Ephesus do not merely explain Aristotle, but enlarge its meaning, placing it in a philosophical tradition that runs through the Byzantine world and reaches Western Renaissance.

The diagrams in the volume attest to a desire to visualize the structure of virtue and moral relations, suggesting a nearly “mathematical” reading of ethics. In this sense, the bookconfigures itself as a knowledge device, where philosophy becomes method and discipline of inner balance.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.), born in Stagira, was one of the greatest philosophers of antiquity and founder of the Lyceum in Athens. His vast work covers logic, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and natural sciences. In the Nicomachean Ethics he develops a conception of happiness (eudaimonia) as the full realization of human nature through the practice of virtues.

Eustratius, Aspasius, and Michael of Ephesus were among the主要 Greek commentators of Aristotelian Ethics from late antiquity to Byzantine medieval times, contributing to the transmission and reinterpretation of the text.

Ioannes Bernardus Felicianus (Giovanni Bernardo Feliciano), a humanist and translator of the 16th century, played a decisive role in making the Greek exegetical tradition accessible to the Latin-reading public.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The 1541 edition, printed in Venice by the heirs of Lucantonio Giunta, belongs to the great era of Venetian humanistic publishing. The Giunta workshop, among the most prestigious of the time, was a protagonist in the dissemination of classical texts accompanied by philological and commentarial apparatus.

The combination of Aristotelian text and Greek comments translated into Latin made this edition particularly suitable for university use, favoring wide circulation in European academic circles.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
EDIT16 – CNCE, Aristotelis Moralia Nichomachea, Venezia, Giunta, 1541.
ICCU/OPAC SBN, censimenti dell’edizione veneziana 1541.
Adams, Herbert M., Catalogue of Books Printed on the Continent of Europe 1501–1600, Cambridge, 1967, A-1915.
Renouard, Philippe, Annales de l’imprimerie des Giunta, Paris, 1891, pp. 150–154.
Lohr, Charles B., Latin Aristotle Commentaries, Florence, Olschki, 1988, pp. 67–72 (tradizione dei commenti greci).
Burnyeat, Myles, Aristotle’s Ethics, London, Duckworth, 1980, pp. 15–42.
Barnes, Jonathan, Aristotle: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, 1982, pp. 78–95.