Il Catone. Tragedia tradotta dall'originale inglese.

Sm. 4to: front.-vii-[1 bl.]-80-[1] pp. (stain to upper corner of front. and some traces to following ff., marg. foxing).

Bradel mod. burgundy cloth, flat spine with blind-titled brown morocco label. Slipcase.

Rare first Italian translation by the Jesuit Antonio Maria Salvini (1653-1729), Greek professor. Ill. with a front.. The play of J. Addison (1672-1719), poet, politician and co-founder of the magazine "The Spectator", is based on the last days of Cato whose resistance to Julius Caesar made him an icon of republicanism, virtue and liberty. It deals with various oppositions: individual liberty/government tyranny, republicanism/monarchism, logic/emotion, and with the difficulty for Cato to hold his beliefs in front of death. The premiere of the play happened on 14 April 1713 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in London.
Ref. Gamba 2432 (mentions erroneously the 1st ed. in 1714).
Prov. Ernest Swain (bookpl.).