Autori vari - Oracoli cioè Sentenze et Documenti - 1574

The work
Oracles, that is Sentences, and Noble & Illustrious Documents is a selection of classical wisdom, printed in 1574 in Venice by Giacomo Vidali. The full title announces the book’s program: it collects sententiae (sentences) and exemplary passages from the most important Jewish, Greek, and Latin authors of antiquity, intended “for adornment and preservation of civil and Christian life.” The volume is closed with a selection from Plutarch’s apophthegmata — short, succinct sayings of princes, generals, and philosophers, gathered by Plutarch himself in his Moralia and in the Renaissance extraordinarily popular as a handbook for rhetoric, education, and statecraft.

The copy appeared in 32° format (a small pocket size of only 11 × 8 cm), with 16 unnumbered leaves plus 344 numbered pages. This small format was typical for the so‑called libri da bisaccia — books to carry in the pocket or travel bag, meant for daily consultation. The nineteenth‑century half‑leather binding with rich gilded spine decoration is a later addition, characteristic of collectors from the eighteenth century who wanted to render their cinquecentine in a fitting state.

The contents: a mirror for princes and citizens
The work is listed as Aa. Vv. (autori vari) — a collection without a single author. This is no accident: in the second half of the sixteenth century the genre of the florilegium of sententiae in Italy reached its apex. Scholars such as Paolo Manuzio and, earlier, Erasmus of Rotterdam (Adagia, 1500; Apophthegmata, 1531) had elevated the gathering of classical wisdom sayings to a literary form in itself. These compilations were read by humanists, courtiers, lawyers, and clerics as practical guides to eloquence and moral action — a kind of encyclopedia of citeable wisdom.

The choice to crown the work with the “flowers” (i fiori) of Plutarch’s apophthegmata is telling. Plutarch (c. 46–127 CE) was, in the Renaissance, one of the most read authors from antiquity; his Apophthegmata Regum et Imperatorum were originally dedicated to Emperor Trajan and still stand as a key source for the mythology of Sparta and the exempla virtutis of the ancient world.

The publisher: Giacomo Vidali in Venice
Giacomo Vidali was a Venetian printer active in the 1570s and 1580s. He belonged to an exceptionally dense typographic community: Venice was in the sixteenth century the undisputed center of European book printing. Almost half of all printing establishments active in Italy (about 438 of a total of 1,650 in the period 1465–1600) were based in the lagoon city. Alongside big names like Aldus Manutius, the Giunti, and Gabriele Giolito de’ Ferrari, countless smaller printers such as Vidali operated, often specializing in cheap, portable editions for a broad readership.
Vidali’s output fits within what historians call the “fragmentation” (polverizzazione) of the Venetian book market: small workshops focusing on religious works, vernacular classics, and compilations for schooling and foundation. It was precisely these smaller printers who spread the humanist culture far beyond the elites, with pocket-sized editions that were affordable and portable.

The importance of this book
Three reasons make this edition notable:
1. It is a cinquecentina — a book printed in the sixteenth century — and thus by definition bibliographically valuable. Every surviving copy from 1574 is a tangible witness to the first century of the art of printing.
2. It documents the Renaissance practice of the florilegium, in which ancient wisdom was selected, organized, and “christened” to be usable for a Catholic society after the Council of Trent. The subtitle — “for adornment and preservation of civil and Christian life” — shows how pagan classics were put to work for the Counter-Reformation educational culture.
3. It is a striking example of Plutarch’s influence on European thinking. From Montaigne to Shakespeare, and later to Winston Churchill, generations of writers and statesmen drew on the same apophthegmata that Vidali placed within reach of the Venetian reader in 1574.