Cicerone - Sententiarum - 1584

PAGAN WISDOM SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF A CATHOLIC HUMANIST
Small but densely moral compendium of Italian Humanism, this elegant edition of Cicero’s Sententiae, edited by Pietro Lagnierio and printed in Augusta in 1584 by Ioannes Baptista Raterius, represents a perfect example of a portable ethical manual destined for daily study and personal meditation. The volume, in a reduced format and of extraordinary practicality, collects maxims, apothegms, and sayings drawn from the great authors of antiquity, in a publishing construction typical of scholastic culture and late Renaissance rhetoric. Particularly evocative is the magnificent typographic griffin on the title page, a symbol of vigilance and wisdom, which dominates the page with a strong esoteric and emblematic character. The copy also preserves its authentic contemporaneous binding in full leather, intensely worn by time and use, an element that returns the book’s historical materiality and the concrete charm of the object that has survived the centuries.
MARKET VALUE
Sixteenth-century editions of small moral Ciceronian miscellanies, especially in contemporaneous bindings and complete with final indices, are today quite sought after in the European antique market. Similar copies preserved in authentic, unrestored conditions can reach values between 500 and 1,000 euros, with higher figures for particularly fresh copies or those with illustrious provenance. The presence of the rare Augustan imprint of 1584 and the original binding significantly contribute to the collectible interest of the specimen.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Contemporary parchment binding, traces of the ancient handwritten title on the spine. Evident signs of use and small losses on the spine. Figured title page with a large woodcut typographic mark of the griffin. Internally physiological browning, some halos and stains. In old books, with a multihundred-year history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp. 436; 20nn; (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
M. T. CIC. Sententiarum illustrium apophthegmatum, similum, nonnullarum item piarum sententiarum collectio.
Taurini, Apud Io. Bap. Ratterium, 1584.
Marcus Tullius Cicero.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
In the midst of European humanistic culture, collections of sententiae constituted fundamental tools for moral, rhetorical, and political education. This editorial genre condensed in accessible form the sapiential heritage of classical antiquity, offering the reader an immediately usable repertoire of quotations, maxims, and precepts. The volume edited by Pietro Lagnierio fits perfectly into this pedagogical tradition: not a mere excerpt from Cicero, but a true mnemonic machine of Latin culture. The work gathers moral aphorisms, examples of civil virtue, philosophical reflections, and sentences attributed to the great authors of antiquity, organized in a consultable form through alphabetical indices. The structure made the book particularly useful for students, preachers, jurists, and men of letters. The daily use of the exemplar emerges clearly from its material patina: the worn binding, the marked spine, and the handled pages tell of the volume’s long practical life far more than a perfectly restored copy. Of particular charm is the typographic mark on the title page: the winged griffin resting on the globe, heraldic and symbolic figure with alchemical and Hermetic derivation, frequently associated with the safeguarding of knowledge and spiritual vigilance. In a work devoted to the transmission of moral wisdom, such an image takes on an almost initiatory force.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BCE) was one of the greatest orators, philosophers, and statesmen of ancient Rome. His rhetorical, moral, and philosophical works formed the backbone of European humanistic education for over a millennium. During the Renaissance, Cicero was regarded as the absolute model of the Latin language and civil style, profoundly influencing schools, universities, and diplomatic practices.

"Petrus Lagnerius" or "Pietro Lagnierio" is almost certainly Pierre Lagner (latinized Petrus Lagnerius), a French humanist and classical Latin text editor and philologist of the XVIth century, active mainly in Lyon as editor and corrector of Latin classical texts. He was known for his annotated editions of Cicero, Quintilian, Valerius Maximus, and other ancient authors. Active in Lyon in the first half of the sixteenth century, he was essentially a Catholic humanist. He worked in the Lyonese academic and printing milieu before confessional divisions hardened, and he worked chiefly as a philologist and editor of Latin classical texts. He is not known as a Protestant reformer nor does he appear among those humanists who joined the Reform, as did figures like Pietro Ramus (Ramus) or Vergerio.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Collections of Ciceronian sententiae enjoyed enormous diffusion between the 16th and 17th centuries thanks to their pedagogical function. The Augustan edition of 1584 fits into the lively printing landscape of northern Italy and the imperial area, where small portable formats for personal study circulated widely. Printers like Ioannes Baptista Raterius contributed to the spread of humanistic culture through economical yet carefully designed books, often adorned with typographic marks of strong symbolic value.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
EDIT16, CNCE to be verified.
ICCU / OPAC SBN: copies catalogued to be verified.
USTC, Universal Short Title Catalogue, Augustan edition 1584 to be verified.
Adams, Catalogue of Books Printed on the Continent of Europe, sixteenth century, under “Cicero” and “Lagnerius.”
Renouard, Annales de l’imprimerie des Alde, for the context of humanist florilegia.
Eisenstein, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, Cambridge University Press.
Grafton, Defenders of the Text: The Traditions of Scholarship in an Age of Science.
Ong, Ramus, Method, and the Decay of Dialogue, for the pedagogical role of collections of sententiae.
European antiquarian catalogs of school and humanist books of the sixteenth century.