Plantin Vegetius, 1592
De re militari libri quatuor post omnes omnium editiones, ope veterum librorum correcti, a Godescalco Stewechio Heusdano ; accesserunt Sex. IulI Frontini Strategematôn libri quatuor: Aelianus De instruendis aciebus: Modestus De vocabulis rei militaris: Castrametatio Romanorum ex historiis Polybii. ; accessit seorsum eiusdem G. StewechI in Fl. Vegetium Commentarius. ; Adiuncta eiusdem G. StewechI & Francisci ModI, in Iul. Frontinum coniectanea, & notae.
Lugduni Batavorum [Leiden]: Ex officina Plantiniana, apud Franciscum Raphelengium, 1592.
Price: $2,000.00
About the item
Second Plantin edition (first was 1585). Printer's device on title page, woodcut diagram of a roman encampment on folded leaf, and 51 woodcuts in the text (machinery, battlements, weapons, etc.). [16], 320; [16], 480, [31] pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Plantin Vegetius, 1592. Contemporary vellum, slightly soiled and bowed. First 150 pp. affected by slight worming. Adams V-337.
Item #62360
Magnificent edition of the classic by Vegetius, the fourth-century Roman military writer of whose personal life little is known, but whose book DE RE MILITARI has been constantly reprinted and translated into every modern language, has proved to be a primary source of our knowledge of Roman warfare. It contains 5 books: the first is on Recruits and Recruitment; the second, on the organization of the Legions (the Roman infantry); the third, treats of the operations of an army in the middle of a campaign; the fourth, on attacking and defending fortifications; and the fifth, on naval tactics.
This edition, printed by the famous Plantin press, with their printer's device on the title page, was edited by the scholar Godescalcus Stewechius and is one of the earliest editions to contain a commentary on Vegetius, along with a discussion of the editor's sources. Equally important to the edition, however, are the woodcut illustrations, which have contributed greatly to a general picture of the Roman army.
