Information
Venice, Baptista de Tortis, 31 March 1484. In 4th. 40 cards. 194 x 142 mm, very slight traces of humidity, small lack on the external margin of the last paper. Rigid parchment binding from the 16th century.
Specialist Notes
FIRST EDITION of this operetta of absolute importance. It is in fact one of the simplest, clearest and most precise grammars of the Latin language composed for the learning of young people.
Pomponius was the author of three grammar manuals, which he seems to have considered as parts of a single work . The three components are a metrical grammar and two works entitled respectively Romulus and Fabius. The Fabius is known to have been composed a year after the Romulus. It deals with syntax, while Romulus deals with morphology (yikes).
Professor of the Studium Urbis for almost thirty years, lover of antiquity in the pure, true and tenacious sense understood by Humanism, Pomponius' only "fault" was perhaps that of humbly living the role to which his nature had led him. No sensational discoveries, no works destined to occupy entire pages of manuals. A simple life, with few trips aimed at quenching the thirst for culture, a job loved and made one's own by living within the walls of home and the University. Then of course, there was the Roman Academy, that high expression of humanistic culture that he himself had strongly wanted. A humble house on the Quirinale (his) was enough to bring about the rebirth of great antiquity, echoed in the prayers, in the shows that the honestissima frequentata of Roman youth put on stage in that "sacred" place. The Academy that raised Pomponius to the "sole oracle of letters", the Academy that attracted the suspicions of the Supreme Pontiff Paul II. But Pomponius, more than a classical humanist, was above all a teacher. He loved kids, he spent all his culture and immense preparation on their support. Proof of this is the present grammar, dedicated to the Paduan canon Ranalius. Between the second (1480-84) and the third period of his production, we find the famous commentary on Varro's De lingua Latina (books V-VII), the result of the course held in 1484-' 85 to the Studio, handed down in the students' original dictata preserved in the Vat. lat. codices. 3415 and Escurialense g.III.27. Other witnesses (seven) of Varronian courses held by Pomponio in different academic years are carefully described by Virginia Brown (1980, pp. 467-474; Accame, 2008, pp. 124-146). Varro's work must have attracted Pomponius, not only for the problems connected to the history of the Latin language, but also for the various antiquarian interests that took into consideration the institutions, society and life in general of the Roman world. And perhaps this grammar is placed right next to these courses, designed to be intended for the public of students - not only Romans - of its university courses.
HCR 9834; IGI 7984; BMC V 323; Goff L-23.
Pomponius was the author of three grammar manuals, which he seems to have considered as parts of a single work . The three components are a metrical grammar and two works entitled respectively Romulus and Fabius. The Fabius is known to have been composed a year after the Romulus. It deals with syntax, while Romulus deals with morphology (yikes).
Professor of the Studium Urbis for almost thirty years, lover of antiquity in the pure, true and tenacious sense understood by Humanism, Pomponius' only "fault" was perhaps that of humbly living the role to which his nature had led him. No sensational discoveries, no works destined to occupy entire pages of manuals. A simple life, with few trips aimed at quenching the thirst for culture, a job loved and made one's own by living within the walls of home and the University. Then of course, there was the Roman Academy, that high expression of humanistic culture that he himself had strongly wanted. A humble house on the Quirinale (his) was enough to bring about the rebirth of great antiquity, echoed in the prayers, in the shows that the honestissima frequentata of Roman youth put on stage in that "sacred" place. The Academy that raised Pomponius to the "sole oracle of letters", the Academy that attracted the suspicions of the Supreme Pontiff Paul II. But Pomponius, more than a classical humanist, was above all a teacher. He loved kids, he spent all his culture and immense preparation on their support. Proof of this is the present grammar, dedicated to the Paduan canon Ranalius. Between the second (1480-84) and the third period of his production, we find the famous commentary on Varro's De lingua Latina (books V-VII), the result of the course held in 1484-' 85 to the Studio, handed down in the students' original dictata preserved in the Vat. lat. codices. 3415 and Escurialense g.III.27. Other witnesses (seven) of Varronian courses held by Pomponio in different academic years are carefully described by Virginia Brown (1980, pp. 467-474; Accame, 2008, pp. 124-146). Varro's work must have attracted Pomponius, not only for the problems connected to the history of the Latin language, but also for the various antiquarian interests that took into consideration the institutions, society and life in general of the Roman world. And perhaps this grammar is placed right next to these courses, designed to be intended for the public of students - not only Romans - of its university courses.
HCR 9834; IGI 7984; BMC V 323; Goff L-23.
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