De virtutibus … Basel 1539

ps.-Aristoteles

De virtutibus libellus plane aureus, nuper quidem Graece inventus, iam vero primum per Simonem Grynaeum latinitate donatus. Cum exactiore quadan virtutum divisione per eundem Simonem Grynaeum. — Basilea. (Colophon:) Basileae in officina Roberti Winter, mense Martio anno M. D. XXXIX.

Basel, Robert Winter, March 1539

8vo (150 x 110 mm). a-c⁸: 40 pp., (4) leaves. Bound in an ancient vellum leaf. Grynaeus and Basilea deleted on the title-page with brown ink. Ownership stamp on the penultimate leaf. In Greek & Latin. – VD16 A 3635; ustc 612 891 (7 copies); Hieronymus no. 125.

A rare little book. The Greek text was first printed by Vidoue, Paris 1529; followed by an edition of Chrétien Wechel in 1538, and a few months later by the present one with the translation into Latin which is called by Hieronymus and others the first translation.

The book starts with the dedicatory letter of Alexandre Chamaillard to Odet de Coligny, taken from the Wechel edition, followed by the Greek text, a short treatise by Grynaeus on true virtue, printed in Italics, and his translation. It ends with a six-pages index, the colophon and Winter’s device.

Later editions of the Latin Opera include Grynaeus treatise and translation, but also Chamaillard’s translation into Latin which seems to have been published by Wechel for the first time in 1541.

Wikipedia: „On Virtues and Vices is the shortest of the four ethical treatises attributed to Aristotle.  The work is now regarded as spurious by scholars and its true origins are uncertain though it was probably created by a member of the peripatetic school.“

On Grynaeus‘ translation see: Tomasz Dreikopel, Die weltweit erste lateinische Übersetzung der Schrift von Pseudo-Aristoteles …; this is  available online.