Rutilius Namatianus, Claudius. De laudibus urbis, Etruriae, et Italiae.

$4,896.00

Editio princeps of the "Itinerarium" ("De Reditu Suo") of the 5th century Roman Gaul poet Rutilius. "On the reverse of the title page is a poem by the editor Giambattista Pio to Pope Leo X, ending on fol. 4v; text begins on 5r. A very rare edition, apparently the first" (cf. Schweiger). The poem in elegiac meter describes a coastal voyage from Rome to Gaul in 416. The solid literary quality of the work, and the flashes of light it throws across a momentous but dark epoch of history, combine to give it exceptional importance among the relics of late Roman literature. Rare, last copy auctioned in 1954.- A well-preserved copy.