Vergerio, Pietro Paolo (1370-1444/1445):
[ De ingenuis moribus ] Petri Pauli vergerii de ingenuis moribus una cum commentariis Joannis Bonardi presbyteri Veronensis. Basilii de legendis antiquorum libris opusculum divinum. Traductio de tyrannide ex Xenophonte. Guarini Veronensis in Plutarchis [!] [i.e. Plutarchi de liberis educandis] praefatio. [Xenophon : Hiero <Lat.>]. - Venetiis: Impressum per Ioannem Tacuinum, 1502. - [76] lvs. ; 8o. - Type area 17 x 11,5 cm - Call number: Sch 051/173
Note:
Information on Leonardo Bruni <Aretino> (1370-1444) and Guarino Guarini <Veronese> (1374-1460) is readily available at the Treccani website: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani: The ancient authors of this collection are Xenophon (430-355), Plutarchus (ca. 45 - ca. 120), Basilius <Caesariensis> (330-379), Sophronius Eusebius Hieronymus (345-420). The dedicatees are: Giovanni Malipiero (addressed by Bonardus, see below), Ubertinus de Cararia (1389-1407, addressed by Vergerius) and Coluccio Salutati (1331-1406, addressed by Bruni). There is a short epikogue written by Giovanni Calfurnio (Johannes Calphurnius, 1443-1503) recommending the texts of this collection for their high authority.
A recent bilingual edition of Vergèrio's treatise contains some more programs of humanist education: Humanist educational treatises, edited and translated by Craig W. Kallendorf. Cambridge, Mass., 2002 (The I Tatti Renaissance Library) - The four texts are Pier Paolo Vergerio, "The Character and Studies Befitting a Free-Born Youth"; Leonardo Bruni, "The Study of Literature"; Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (Pope Pius II), "The Education of Boys"; and Battista Guarino, "A Program of Teaching and Learning".
Vergèrio's De ingenuis moribus et liberalibus studiis adulescentiae (written in 1402) was first printed ca.1471. About 30 editions followed through 1500. Most often, the text was combined with related treatises. The present 1502 print seems to be based on the following edition described in the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke: M49684 Vergerius, Petrus Paulus: De ingenuis moribus etc. Mit Komm. von Johannes Bonardus. Hrsg. Johannes Calphurnius. Venedig: Johannes Tacuinus, 22.IX.1497. 4° - There may have been a still earlier Bonardo edition, as the editor's preface is signed Nov. 24 (or 25, since he says he is writing on Saint Catherine's day), 1493.
From Giovanni Bonardo ’s dedication we gather that he was a Veronese priest and a teacher of grammar and classical poetry, possibly indebted to the dedicatee, Giovanni Malipiero, a member of the Venetian family known by the Doge Pasquale Malipiero, called dux pacificus (1392-1462). While Bonardo's Latin style is far from elegant, it is sententious, displaying the fruits of canonical reading.
Bonardo's preface first relates the origin and setting of Vergèrio's educational treatise. He then reports that he has received a prebend or benefice: Promotionis meae igitur veris causis et omnibus assignatis quibus si bonus est et non aemulus unusquisque assentiat. Anno a nativitate domini 1493. viii. kale. Decembris etc. In return, this publication, which he says he subsidized, is to honour - besides God, the Virgin, Saint Catherine and all saints - the republic of Venice, the Venetian patrician Giovanni Malipiero, his (i.e. Bonardo's) Veronese compatriots, all those who encouraged his undertaking and his students, who asked for it and who might profit from this new little book.
The layout of the commentary, with Bonardo's detailed expositio printed in small letters framing Vergèrio's text, is typical of commentaries on classical authors, too. The print is saturated with abbreviations which obviously spare paper but demand the reader's attention. It seems that this sort of economizing typography was not a barrier to student readers. The commentary not only explains difficult words and remote matters, but, following the text closely, it paraphrases its meaning and provides synonyms or definitions, thus augmenting the student's command of copia verborum.
Bonardus did not annotate the minor texts following Vergèrio's De ingenuis moribus.Table of Contents:
(Title page) fol. 1a
Ioannes Bonardus presbyter Veronensis S. D. Magnifico domino Malipetro Veneto patricio dignissimo. (Editor's dedication) fol. 2a
Ioannes Bonardus S. D. (Preface) fol. 2b
Petri Pauli Vergerii Iustinopolitani ad Ubertinum Carariensem. De ingenuis moribus opus praeclarissimum Feli. incipit. fol. 3a
E Magno Basilio Leonardi Aretini Traductio Ad Colucium. Epistola. (Translator's dedication) fol. 57b
Basilii … Et [ De ] Legendis Antiquorum Libris opusculum Divinum. fol. 58a
Ex Xenophonte Leonardi Aretini Traductio De Tirannide [ Tyrannide ]. (Dedication to Nicolaus.) fol. 62b
Traductio Dialogi. fol. 63a
Guarini Veronensis In Plutarchum Praefatio. fol. 68a
Plutarchus De Liberis Educandis. fol. 68b
Hieronymi presbyteri de officiis liberorum erga parentes brevis admonitio. fol. 75a
Finis. Calphurnius Brix. lectori. (Epilogue) - (Colophon) fol. 76a