About [Two Works in One Volume] a. Platonis Gorgias Incipit b. Ars

By Plato

Published in 1475

Rubricated Manuscript on Paper in Latin. This manuscript contains two works: “Platonis Gorgias Incipit” by philosopher Plato and “Ars de Foce gramatici de nomine et verbo” by Phocas. It was produced in Northern Italy, possibly in Venice between 1475 to 1480. “Gorgias” is a Latin translation by Leonardo Bruni, its scribe is unknown. The work was first written around 380 BCE and is a dialogue consisting of conversations between Socrates and three guests: Gorgias, Polus, and Callicles at a dinner. They debate about the definition of rhetoric, examine the essences of rhetoric, and look at the flaws of popular oratory in Athens at the time. Rhetoricians used the art of persuasion and considered it necessary for political and legal advantages in classical Athens. “Ars de Foce gramatici de nomine et verbo,” also included in this volume, was written by grammarian Phocas, who lived in Rome from the end of the fourth century to the early fifth. It is a manual that gives declensions of nouns, conjugation groups of verbs, and the formation of the perfect. It was extremely popular in schools in the Middle Ages.