4to. (XX),666 (recte 664) p. Modern plain and tasteless boards. 22 cm (Ref: VD17 1:043236K; Graesse 6/2 58/59; Ebert 22504; Schweiger 2,1064; Fabricius/Ernesti 1,58: 'editio insignis atque reliquis praeferenda') (Details: Title printed in red & black. An engraved portrait of Terentius on the title. Bookblock in good condition) (Condition: Binding plain and very shabby. Bookblock loose in the binding. Front flyleaf loose, front pastedown gone. Title dustsoiled. Paper yellowing) (Note: The 6 plays of the Roman playwright Publius Terentius Afer, ca. 190-159 B.C, remained from antiquity through the Middle Ages, and in later centuries an example of style, and a rich source for moral sentences. In the 15th and 17th century his plays were frequently staged in schools. He was born in the Roman province Africa and came as a slave in the houshold of the senator Terentius Lucanus. He adopted his name when he was manumitted. Terentius is the author of 'fabulae palliatae', which means 'plays in Greek cloths'. He adapted Greek plays, especially those of the Greek playwright Menander, to the taste of the Romans. Six of his comedies have survived. For later generations he became a model for elegant Latin. His style was closer to everyday conversation than Plautus, an earlier contemporary comic playwright, whose style was more extravagant. He was quoted by Cicero, Horace, Persius and the Church Fathers. Ever since antiquity he lived also a long and influential life in schools as a model for Latin language and rhetoric. In the Middle Ages Terentius was read for his moral sentences. He was imitated by the German abbess Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim, ca. 935 - ca. 973 in her 'Dramenbuch', with which she wanted to create a Christian alternative for the pagan comedies. With the coming of humanism Terentius enjoyed a renaissance in the classroom and on stage. Scholars rejected the 'barbaries' of Medieval Latin and chose the elegance of Cicero and Terentius as their model. In his 'De ratione studii' (1511) the Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus, 1466-1536, encouraged the study of Terentius, whom he thought congenial to youth. Thus they could master a pure Latin style, and learn at the same time good morals. Erasmus seems to have learned the whole of Terentius by heart in his youth. He admired the author for his 'latinitas' and his civilized humor. His ideal as a humanist and pedagogue was the creation of better men with the help of the classics. § Erasmus held the opinion, that schoolboys should read the edifying comedies of Terentius over and over again. So did also the Dutch Jewish philosopher Spinoza. He must have studied his Terentius very thoroughly. In his work hundreds of quotations and borrowings from Terentius can be traced. Spinoza used them to define and illustrate human feelings, weaknesses and passions. (F. Akkerman, Spinoza's tekort aan woorden, Leiden, 1977, p. 3) § This Frankfurt edition of 1623 is a revised edition of the edition Paris 1602, which was produced by the German scholar Heinrich Lindenbrog, 1570-1642. He added to the text the commentaries of the Roman grammarian and rhetorician Aelius Donatus, 4th century AD, and the 6th century AD grammarian Eugraphius. The last commentary deals especially with the rhetorical aspects of the comedies. § Lindenbrogius studied classics in Leiden under the famous J.J. Scaliger. After his studies he made a tour which brought him and his friend Johannes van Wouweren to France, to the monastery of St. Victor. It was told, that they stole there with the help of a monk 16 manuscripts. They became known as 'Les Corsaires de Hamburg'. He was arrested, but came free with the help of the French scholar Pierre Dupuy (Puteanus), 1582-1651, the son of the humanist and famous bibliophile Claude Dupuy, who was a great collector of manuscripts. Little is known of the rest of his life. From 1610 onward till his death, Lindenbrog was the librarian of the Duke Johann Adolf von Holstein, who had assembled in Gottorp a great collection of books. (ADB 18,693) In the preface Lindenbrogius confesses that he also was imbibed with Terentius as a schoolboy. 'Quem (Terentium) enim pueri amavimus, eiusdem amoenitate ac venere vel hac quoque aetate nos capi, non erubescimus'. (Lectori p. a2 recto)) (Collation: a-b4, c2, A-4O4. Pagination skips at 584 2 numbers)) (Photographs on request)