Satires Of Juvenal In Latin And French, Translated By Dusaulx In 1770

First original version of the translation of Juvenal's Satires by Mr Dusaulx, former commissioner of the Gendarmerie, of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Belles Lettres of Nancy. In Paris, from the printing house of M. Lambert, 1770. Period binding in full marbled calfskin, spine with box ribs richly gilded with floral motifs, red edges, net on the cuts, covers framed by a triple gilded net, title page in two colors decorated with a floral motif. The book is in good condition despite about forty pages at the edge Dedication to Monsieur Bertrand de Coeuvres followed by a preliminary speech with the Satires, with text both in French and in Latin. The interior is fresh despite about forty pages, the lower edge of which is cut into by worms as well as some wetness on the first pages and slightly blunt corners (see photos). Juvenal is a Roman satirical poet of the end of the 1st century and the beginning of the 2nd century. He is the author of sixteen poetic works gathered in a single book and composed between 90 and 127, the Satires. After an oversight of two centuries, Juvénal was widely read from late Antiquity and the Middle Ages - there are believed to be nearly 500 medieval manuscripts of his Satires. Little is known about his life, however. In his Satires, Juvénal recounts life in Rome and violently denounces the vices and ridicule of his time, mainly the corruption of Roman society, the follies and brutality of the human species. With Horace, Juvénal will constitute a model in the 18th century for the Satires of Nicolas Boileau (1666). He is admired by some great authors La Fontaine, Diderot, Lord Byron and Victor Hugo. Disciple of Rousseau, Jean Dusaulx (1728-1799) also wrote two books on the passion for gambling and a speech on the storming of the Bastille. A member of the Legislative Assembly and the Convention, he voted against the execution of Louis XVI and himself narrowly escaped the guillotine.