BOTERO, GIOVANNI.

by GIOVANNI Botero

£1,250 · Offered by Sokol Books

Giovanni Botero (1544–1617) was an Italian political theorist from Piedmont. He studied at the Roman College, where he was classmates with Robert Bellarmine; in 1582 he became secretary to Cardinal Carlo Borromeo. In 1599 he joined the court of Carlo Emanuele I, duke of Savoy, in Turin, acting as tutor to the duke’s three eldest sons: Filippo Emanuele, Vittorio Amedeo, and Emanuele Filiberto. Botero wrote ‘I Prencipi’ (The Princes) – a set of three historical portraits of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Scipio Africanus – as an aid-text for the moral education of his three students. Each mini biography is conceived of as a ‘noble mirror’ (‘nobilissimo specchio’) which the young prince may use to pleasantly arrange ‘not his face or hair, but his judgement and soul’. Second edition of Botero’s ‘Aggiunte alla Ragion di Stato’ (‘Additions to the Reason of State’) containing extensive additions and expansions to his major ‘Della ragion di stato’ (1589), which had become an international bestseller. Fifteen Italian editions appeared before 1700, six Spanish by 1606, a French in 1599, three Latin editions between 1602 and 1666. (Robert Birely). The ‘Additions’ begin with a section entitled ‘On the Virtues of the Ancient Captains’, which considers the individual merits of ancient military commanders including Themistocles, Pompey, and Hannibal. Short essays on topics such as reputation, military agility and fortification follow, and the work concludes with a short treatise on

• Binding: Hardcover

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