Folio. 2 parts in 1: (XXXII),34,676,(1),(1 blank); 100,(1),(1 blank),(13 index),(3 blank) p. Mottled calf. 33 cm (Ref: Schweiger 2,3: 'Der Text ist mittelst der Colbertin Cod. verbess. u. die Noten v. Lindenbrog. u. Henr. Valesius vermehrt'; Dibdin 1,256; Brunet 1,237; Moss 1,38/39: 'the most magnificent edition of Ammianus'; Fabricius/Ernesti 3,161; Ebert 528; Graesse 1,104; cf. Neue Pauly, Suppl. 2, p. 35) (Details: Back gilt and with 5 raised bands. Red morocco letterpiece in the second compartment. Boards with gilt borders. Engraved printer's mark on the title, depicting the crown of the House Bourbon, held by two cherubs; the motto is: 'Non coronabitur nisi qui legitime certaverit', 'One cannot win a crown unless he has kept the rules', referring to Timotheus 2,5: 'Nam et qui certat in agone, non coronatur nisi legitime certaverit'. Several big woodcut capitals and engraved headpieces) (Condition: Slight wear to the extremities of the binding. Front pastedown renewed. Old inscription on the front flyleaf. Some light foxing. Marginal stains on the last leaf) (Note: Ammianus Marcellinus, ca. 330-400 AD, was a Greek who served as a high officer in the Roman army. He carried arms under the emperors Constantius, Julian and Valens. His 'Res Gestae', meant to continue the work of the Roman historian Tacitus, describe the history of Rome from Nerva till the downfall of the emperor Valens in 378 in 31 books; in combining history and biography he follows his example. The first 13 books of the 'Res Gestae' are lost. What is left begins with book 14, the year 353, and ends with book 31, the Battle of Adrianople (Hadrianopolis) in 378. 'Ammianus' Gesammtleistung reiht ihn unter die grossen Historiker Roms ein', according to Neue Pauly, I col. 598. His style is not polished, but the work is valuable for its veracity. § This Ammianus edition of 1681 is a revised and augmented edition of a work that was first published in Paris in 1636 by the French classical and ecclesiastical scholar Henri (de) Valois, Henricus Valesius in Latin, 1603-1676, who is best known as the editor and commentator of Greek ecclesiastical historians. The 1636 edition contained also the 'editio princeps' of the 'Excerpta Valesiana', (in this 1681 edition p. 658/671) which furnish an introduction and a sequel to the narrative of Ammianus. The first part of the 'Excerpta' consists of a biography of Constantine the Great from the year 305; it is based on reliable sources and was written ca. 390; the second part was written about 550, and covers the period from 474 to 526, mainly dealing with the reign of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, and ruler of Italy (493-526). The second edition of 1681 was produced by Valois' younger brother, Adrien (de) Valois,or Hadrianus Valesius, 1607-1692, who was 'Historiographus Regius' from 1664. Adrien added his own notes and the posthumous notes of his brother. The second part contains the valuable notes of the German scholar Friedrich Lindenbrog, in Latin Lindenbrogius, 1573-1648, who had published an Ammianus edition in Hamburg in 1609. Adrien de Valois adopted also into the preliminary leaves a 24 p. biography of Ammianus, 'De Ammiani Marcellini vita & libris monobiblon' by the French jurist and historian Claudius Chiffletius, who died in 1580. The 'vita' was first published in Leuven in 1627) (Collation: â4, ê-4, î4, ô4, +-4+4, 5+1; A-4P4, 4Q4 (leaf 4Q3 verso blank, minus blank leaf 3Q4); a6, (minus blank leaf a6), b-k4, l-p2 (leaf p2 verso blank), ¶-4, 2¶-4 (leaf 2¶4 blank, 2q3verso blank)) (Photographs on request) (Heavy book, may require extra shipping costs)