Horatii Opera Omnia Cum Lambini

 

Q. Horatius Flaccus

The Renaissance was a rebirth  –  a time of renewal and discovery fueled in part by a revived interest in ancient Greek and Latin texts.[1]   Classical texts had been taught during the medieval period with a narrow, religious agenda that yielded a “dry and pedantic cathedral of ideas.”[2]   Renaissance scholars, on the other hand, initiated an “educational revolution,” abandoning the medieval tradition of rote memorization for a humanistic approach that required students to understand what they read.[3]   Innovative teaching methods emphasized “the worth and dignity of man” with a focus on grammar and rhetorical eloquence  –  the skills most useful in composing the documents, letters and speeches necessary for public and government service.[4]

Renaissance scholars preferred to study and teach from original manuscripts rather than existing Latin translations, and many scholars devoted great effort to recovering “lost” texts.  Humanists scoured monasteries and libraries throughout Europe, collecting ancient writings as “a form of intellectual sport.”[5]   The texts were then carefully examined and critiqued by scholars, the oldest manuscripts being treated as the most reliable.  With the advent of the printing press, classic texts and accompanying scholarly commentary had an intellectually transformative effect, flooding Europe with a fresh “appreciation of humanity, and a new concept of man” that many historians point to as a “distinct break from the past.”[6] 

This book was part of that historical movement.