ISOCRATE - ORATIONE del Governo de’ Regni - 1542

Oration by Isocrates on the government of kingdoms, to Nicocles, king of Cyprus.
With Privilege. [Venice, Curzio Navò Troiano], 1542.

In-24° (15 × 9.5 cm), 12 leaves numbered (24 pages). Unbound, some sheets loose; paper shows normal signs of age, but complete and clearly legible.

Venetian edition of 1542 of the Italian translation, by Giovanni Brevio, of Isocrates’ oration Ad Nicoclem (Πρὸς Νικοκλέα), one of the fundamental texts of Greek thought on the art of governance.

The oration, addressed to the young king of Cyprus Nicocles, is a real manual of political ethics: Isocrates invites the sovereign to govern with justice, moderation, wisdom and virtue, placing the good of the State above private interests and material riches.

The edition is accompanied by a dedication to the most Illustrious Lord, Duke of Mantua (Francesco III Gonzaga) and bears in the frontispiece the printer’s mark of the rampant lion with the mottos Fortitudine superat invidia (or similar variants), typical of Curzio Navò Troiano.

This is an extremely rare edition: ancient catalogs (Gamba) cite only a 1545 edition, showing they were unaware of this 1542 edition. Copies on the market or in public libraries are almost unknown.

Small format, sixteenth-century vernacular translation of a classical work of Greek political philosophy, printed in Venice in the height of the humanist era: a piece of great interest for collectors of sixteenths, of Greek classics in the vernacular and of texts of specula principum.

Complete copy, of great bibliographic charm despite the lack of binding."