Epistolae (review)

The fourteenth volume of ILE (Iusti Lipsi Epistolae) will not disappoint the expectations of a reader accustomed the high editorial standard so characteristic of other volumes in the ILE series. Jeanine De Landtsheer, the editor not only of ILE 14, but also of volumes 5, 6, 7, and 8, has acquired an unrivaled knowledge and understanding of Lipsius's life and environment. Moreover, she is an expert interpreter of Lipsius's fiendishly obscure handwriting. Her special knowledge and meticulous attention to detail is everywhere manifest in ILE 14. This book has much the same layout as previous volumes in the series: there is a concise but informative general introduction, each letter is preceded by a convenient summary, and, where relevant, a discussion of questions pertaining to date, as well as references to other works and other volumes of ILE for further information about addressees and authors of letters to Lipsius. The notes to the letters are rich in information to explain allusions in the letters to persons, places, other works, historical events, and so on.

In ILE 14 the practice of composing the prefatory material and notes in English, which was introduced in ILE 8, has been continued. In the volumes of ILE published before the appearance of volume 8, the introduction and commentaries were always written in Dutch. While Dutch is clearly an appropriate language for the series, given that Lipsius himself was Flemish and his life was largely spent in Dutch-speaking lands, the use of English represents the wish of the ILE project's directors to reach the widest possible international audience, a decision that reflects Lipsius's importance in the intellectual history of Europe as a whole in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Lipsius not only corresponded with prominent individuals situated all over Europe, as the volumes of ILE clearly show, his scholarly and philosophical works also had an international readership.

Volume 14 of ILE, which focuses on the year 1601, contains 244 letters. Though some of these letters are addressed to Lipsius by others, the letters written by Lipsius himself constitute by far the greater part of this collection. From them we learn much about Lipsius's personal life, his relations with friends and former students, his travels in the Low Countries, and his literary activities. Weak health was not new to Lipsius, but by 1601 it had become quite a serious impediment in his life. To name one example: ill health was delaying Lipsius's planned edition of the works of Seneca, a project that Lipsius, as an exponent of ancient Stoicism, was most anxious to complete. We learn that Lipsius's own letters in published form were much in demand. A collection of Lipsius's letters published early in 1601 sold so well that a second edition of the same collection was published by the middle of the same year. This became an incentive for the preparation of more centuriae of Lipsius's letters for publication. The letters of 1601 frequently mention the political events of the time, such as the advance of the Ottoman Turks into Eastern Europe and the hostile relations between Spain and England.

In preparing this splendid edition, Jeanine De Landtsheer has not only done justice to Lipsius, she has made a substantial contribution to the resources available for scholarship on humanism and the intellectual history of early modern Europe. The scholarly community also owes thanks to the Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van Belgiëvoor Wetenschappen en Kunsten for publishing this book and the others in the ILE series. The present reviewer will not be alone in hoping that the remaining volumes of ILE will be published in the relatively near future.