[CICERO, MARCUS TULLIUS]. Secundo volumine haec continentur. M.T.C. de natura deorum libri III. De divinatione libri II. De fato liber I. Scipionis somnium, quod è sex de rep. libris superest. De legibus libri III. De Universitate liber i.Q. Ciceronis de petitione consulatus ad Marcum fratrem liber I. Venetiis [Venice] in aedibus Aldi et Andreae, Asulani Soceri, mense Augusto M. D. XXIII. [Aug. 1523].
Hardcover. First Aldine edition. Volume 2 only (without vol.1, but complete in itself). Small octavo (165 x 100mm), ff. 214, (2) [numbered leaves]. Later stiff vellum, signatures: a-z8 A-D8, imprint from colophon recto penultimate leaf: 'Venetiis in aedibus Aldi et Andreae, Asulani Soceri, mense Augusto M.D.XXIII', errors in pagination: 158 numbered 142; 160 numbered 185, leaf 194 (B2) blank, terminal blanks present, Latin text in Roman and Italic letter type, printer's device on title-page and verso final leaf, spaces for capitals with guide letters, marbled endpapers.
Condition: Collated complete, binding secure, covers a little grubby and marked, spine lacking title label, top edge very slightly cropped, contents largely fresh and clean, a little inking to ffep, no marginalia, small hole to front blank. Scarce.
Notes: FIRST ALDINE EDITION, edited by Gian Francesco Torresani, and containing seven of Cicero’s philosophical and political works, many of which survive only in part and whose missing fragments are designated multa desunt throughout: "On the Nature of the Gods", "On Divination", "On Destiny", the six surviving books of "The Dream of Scipio", the famous dialogue "On the Laws", a commentary on Plato’s Timaeus, and a treatise "On Running for Consul". The first two works were hugely influential from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment - Voltaire regarded De Natura Deorum as ‘the best book of all antiquity’ - offering detailed accounts of Epicurian, Stoic, Academic and Sceptical philosophies, as well as a critical approach to types of divination common in pagan theology. A continued discussion of omens, lots, dreams, and divination in De Divinatione influenced the writings of sceptics into the 18th century. The sixth book of Cicero’s De re publica, also known as Somnium Scipionis, offers a comprehensive view of Roman cosmology in the form of a dream vision. In it, Scipio is visited by his dead grandfather and shown the heavens, the Milky Way, the earth’s atmosphere, and its insignificant size in comparison to the rest of the universe. It is the earliest known mention of the Wheel of Fortune (rota fortunae), which along with the planetary spheres enjoyed such popularity throughout the middle ages and gave rise to many beautiful illustrations. De Legibus was written in the final years of the Republic before Caesar assumed power, and discusses the foundations of Natural Law. The concluding treatise advises electioneering for Counsulship, and claims to be written for Marcus Tullius Cicero by his brother, Quintus, but its authenticity is contested.
‘Ces deux volumes complètent l’ancien Cicéron donné avant Paul Manuce, soit qu’on veuille le former absolument des premières éditiones, soit qu’on y admette les secondes ou les troisièmes, données justqu’en 1522. Au reste, toutes sont tellement rares, que l’on n’a guère la faculté de choisir, et qu’il faut prendre celles qu’on recontre, si l’on veut parvenir á se complèter mème dans le cours de beaucoup d’années: d’ailleurs leur réunion ne forme nullement disparate.’ Renouard, Annales des Alde, p. 97. BM STC It p. 175; Adams, C 1741 (Vol I. only); Brunet, II, 15; Thorndike, VI, 503; Renouard, 97:5.
