Sancti Cypriani - Opera - 1666

The Works of Saint Cyprian of Carthage
Paris, Ioannes du Puys (under the sign of the Golden Crown), 1666.

Edition edited by Nicolas Rigault (Nic. Rigaltii I.C.), with his complete annotations and those of Pamelius and other commentators.

The volume brings together the complete works of Saint Cyprian of Carthage, corrected “ad vetustissimorum exemplarium fidem” (to conform to the faith of the most ancient manuscripts), and adds, for the first time in this collection:
• Marci Minucii Felicis Octavius (De Idolorum vanitate);
• Arnobii Afri Adversus Gentes libri VII;
• Iulii Firmici Materni De Errore Profanarum Religionum;
• Commodiani Instructiones adversus Gentium Deos (first printed edition, curated by Rigault).

Formato in-folio (cm 34 × 25).
Collation: pp. 38 [i.e. 83], [1], 453, [11], 36, [16], 108, [32], 60.

Frontispiece in red and black with a large printer’s mark (the aureate crown supported by two putti), headpieces, drop caps and engraved initials.

Contemporary binding in full leather, spine with raised bands and gilded embellishments and title («SCYPRIA. OPERA»), plain boards.
Conditions
Loosened, headbands somewhat worn (see photo), trimming to the rear board.

This is the so-called “Priorian” edition (named after Philippe Le Prieur/Priorius, who contributed), based on Nicolas Rigault’s critical text (1577-1654), one of the most complete and philologically accurate of the seventeenth century.

It unites in a single volume the works of Saint Cyprian of Carthage (Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus, ca. 200-258), bishop and martyr, one of the most influential Fathers of the Latin Church. Cyprian, converted from paganism and ordained bishop of Carthage around 248-249, faced the major crises of the African Church: the Decian persecution and the issue of the lapsi (Christians who had apostatized), the question of the baptism of heretics, and the unity of the Church.

Among his principal works contained here:
• De Catholicae Ecclesiae Unitate (fundamental for theology of unity and the primacy);
• De Lapsis;
• De Dominica Oratione;
• De Mortalitate;
• De Opere et Eleemosynis;
• De Bono Patientiae;
• De Zelo et Livore;
• numerous Epistolae (over 80);
• and the spurious or traditionally doubtful writings attributed to him (including Sodoma and others).

The volume is enriched by four important apologetic texts of early Christianity, which make it a corpus of great value:
1. Minucius Felix – Octavius
One of the most elegant Latin dialogue in the second–third centuries, in which the Christian Octavius refutes pagan accusations of superstition and immorality.
2. Arnobius of Sicca – Adversus Gentes (libri VII)
Vigorous refutation of paganism, written around 300 by an African rhetorist who converted.
3. Julius Firmicus Materno – De Errore Profanarum Religionum
A work of the fourth century addressed to emperors Constantius and Constantine, attacking pagan mysteries and urging their complete destruction.
4. Commodian – Instructiones adversus Gentium Deos
A collection of 80 acrostics (first and second parts) by a Christian poet of the third century (perhaps African or Gazaean).

The text, long unpublished, constitutes one of the oldest testimonies of Latin Christian poetry in acrostic form.

Rigault’s critical apparatus (with his Observationes) and Pamelius’s notes (Jacobus Pamelius, 1536-1587) and those of other commentators make this edition still a reference point for patristic studies today.

Complete copies bound in contemporary bindings are rather sought after on the antiquarian market.