Epistolae & orationes. Numquam ante hac excusæ

8vo. (4), 475, (1) pp. *², A-Z⁸, Aa-Ff⁸, Gg⁶. With the printer's mark on the title-page. 18^th century vellum.

Adams, S-578; R. Breugelmans, Leiden Imprints 1463-1600 in the Leiden University Library and Bibliotheca Thysiana, (Niewkoop, 1974), p. 91; R. Smitskamp, The Scaliger Collection, (Leiden, 1993), p. 69, no. 148.

FIRST EDITION, edited by Franciscus Dousa, the son of Janus Dousa, with a dedication to Paul Choart de Buzanval, dated The Hague, January 26, [1600].

At the end are printed several other works by Scaliger: Oratio in luctu Audecti Caesaris filii; Epitaphium eorum qui ad Viennam pro libertate Christiana bello turcico ceciderunt; De laudibus Anseris declamatio - Contra poetices calumniatores declamatio; De verbo inepti oratio.

Sevin, Charles (p. 1)

Alesme, Jean d' (p. 8)

Rangona, Costanza ( p. 13)

Scaliger, Sylvius (p. 21)

id. (p. 27)

Caumont, Geoffroy de (p. 34)

Cardano, Girolamo (p. 43)

Minutius, Gabriel (p. 48)

Vallée, Briand de (p. 65)

Caumont, Geoffroy de (p. 69)

Medici, Caterina de' (p. 70)

Caumont, Geoffroy de (p. 76)

Sevin, Charles (p. 76)

id. Agen, December 11, n.y. (p. 81)

id. Agen, March 1, n.y. (p. 83)

Galard de Brassac, Guy de. 1539 (p. 85)

Nompar de Caumont, François (p. 88)

Bergius, Petrus (p. 93)

Omphal, Jakob. July 1, n.y. (p. 95)

Le Ferron, Arnoul (p. 97)

id. (p. 100)

id. (p. 102)

id. (p. 107)

Alamandinus, Maturinus. April 1, n.y. (p. 108)

Cortada, Joannes (p. 111)

Vallé, Briand de (p. 119)

Galard de Brassac, Guy de (p. 125)

Bellavena (p. 125)

Arfuella (p. 128)

C. (p. 130)

Lur de Longa, Guillaume de (p. 132)

Boucher, Pierre (p. 134)

Senator Burdigalensis (p. 135)

Avianus, Galliardus. December 31, n.y. (p. 140)

Gryphe, Sébastien (p. 142)

Sevin, Charles. November 22, n.y. (p. 144)

id. March 22, n.y. (p. 146)

Montalbanus, Gairardus (p. 147)

Gouvea, Andres de (p. 149)

Gelida, Joannes (p. 150)

Le Ferron, Arnoul (p. 152)

Scaliger, Sylvius (p. 153)

Salel, Hugues (p. 158)

Gelida, Joannes. October 15, n.y. (p. 162)

id. (p. 163)

Thomas, Simon (p. 165)

Du Chastel, Honoré (p. 166)

Boustius, Nicholas (p. 169)

id. (p. 171)

n.r. (p. 177)

Senator Burdigalensis (p. 180)

Vallée, Briand de (p. 181)

id. (p. 182)

Du Bellay, Joachim (p. 184)

Bandello, Matteo (p. 186)

from Bandello, Matteo. Bassigny, November 22, 1553 (p. 188)

Atticus [Le Ferron, Arnoul] (p. 191)

id. (p. 192)

from Atticus [Le Ferron, Arnoul] (p. 194)

C. (p. 195)

id. (p. 200)

id. (p. 213)

from Atticus [Le Ferron, Arnoul] (p. 216)

id. (p. 217)

Vitellia, Margareta (p. 218)

id. February 1, n.y. (p. 220)

from Corasius, Joannes. Toulouse, January, 15, 1557 (p. 224)

Corasius, Joannes (p. 226)

id. (p. 229)

from Corasius, Joannes. Toulouse, July 2, n.y. (p. 232)

Atticus [Le Ferron, Arnoul]. September 13, n.y. (p. 233)

from Britannus, Robert. Bordeaux, December 1, n.y. (p. 235)

id. Paris, June 13, n.y. (p. 236)

from Maumont, Jean de (p. 238)

id. Paris, March 14, 1557 (p. 243)

Maumont, Jean de. September 23, n.y. (p. 248)

id. (p. 249)

Epo, Boethius (p. 251)

Ferrier, Auger. Agen, July 6, 1558 (p. 255)

Sevin, Charles. Agen, January 18, 1533 (p. 260)

id. Agen, January (?), 1553 (p. 262)

Vascosan, Michel. Agen, February 13, 1533 (p. 263)

Bourbon, Nicolas. Agen, December 1, 1533 (p. 265)

Le Ferron, Arnoul. Agen, October 15, 1534 (p. 267)

id. (p. 270)

Vascosan, Michel. September, 18, 1557 (p. 274)

Alesme, Jean (p. 276)

Gryphe, Sébastien. February 4, 1540 (p. 278)

Candidus lector. 1557 (p. 281)

Nompar de Caumont, François (p. 284)

Poyet, Guillaume (p. 288)

Valentina, Diana (p. 293)

Atticus [Le Ferron, Arnoul] (p. 294)

id. Agen, January 31, 1535 (p. 299)

Omphal, Jakob. Agen, May 4, 1536 (p. 302)

Le Ferron, Arnoul. Agen, June 4, n.y. (p. 310)

Julius Caesar Scaliger was the son of the miniature painter Benedetto Bordone of Padua. In his youth he joined the Franciscan order at Venice for a time and later frequented the printing house of Aldus Manutius. In the years 1509-1515 he served as a soldier in the wars of Italy and then studied at the University of Padua, graduating in 1519. Subsequently he must have studied medicine, the profession he was practicing by the mid-1520s.

At the end of 1524 Scaliger migrated from Italy to southwest France in the service of Antonio della Rovere, who had received the bishopric of Agen. Scaliger married, settled, and raised his family there, earning a solid reputation and a comfortable living from the practice of medicine and participating, despite his isolation, in literary and intellectual life. He achieved so much distinction that at his death he had the highest scientific and literary reputation of any man in Europe. His polemics against Erasmus and Girolamo Cardano gained notoriety. His Poetices libri septem, built on Aristotle's theory of literature, greatly influenced French classicism in the seventeenth century and is today the most widely studied of his works.

At a certain moment of his life Giulio Bordone reinvented himself as Julius Caesar Scaliger, a scion of the clan (the della Scala) that had once ruled Verona. The humiliating truth leaked out before the end of the sixteenth century, but Joseph Justus Scaliger, the famous son of Julius Caesar, defended the imaginary descent of his father and himself. The question remained open until the research of Miriam Billanovich (Benedetto Bordon e Giulio Cesare Scaligero, in “Italia medievale e umanistica”, 11, 1968, pp. 187-256) established the singular identity of Giulio Bordone and Julius Caesar Scaliger.

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