Curiosities of the Royal Library at Dresden

is missing in this German version, which has never seen the light of day, and it likely does not deserve to see it either. Regarding M. Johann Frencelius, a Dresdener who has been omitted from all learned lexicons,

477.) Lucii Apuleii Platonici Madaurensis Philosophi Metamorphoseos liber: ac nonnulla alia opuscula ejusdem: nec non epitoma Alcinoi disciplinarum Platonis. The book of Metamorphoses by Lucius Apuleius, Platonist philosopher of Madaura: and some other minor works of the same: as well as the epitome of the disciplines of Plato by Alcinous. At the end it stands: Impressa per Henricum de Sancto Urso in Vicentia. Anno Salutis 1488. Die nona Augusti f. Printed by Henricus de Sancto Urso in Vicenza. In the year of Salvation 1488, the ninth day of August.

This old edition, which is stained with many printing errors, was consulted by Jo. Pricæus in his edition of the Metamorphoses of Apuleius. It appears to be reprinted from the first Roman edition of 1469. For this reason, its preface has also been retained, which bears the title: Epistola Joannis Andreæ Episcopi Hylariensis Letter of John Andreas, Bishop of Aleria, by which "Aleriensis" is to be understood. Maittaire believes in his Annales Annals that this epistle is addressed to Cardinal Bessarion, but he is mistaken, for it is written to Pope Paul II and contains, among other things, much praise of the two Cardinals, Bessarion and Nicolaus de Cusa, as great lovers of Platonic philosophy. Besides the eleven books of Metamorphoses, or On the Golden Ass, one finds here the four books of Floridorum Flowers/Selections, the first and second Apology speeches, the book On the God of Socrates, the book On the Dogma of Plato, the book On Philosophy, [and] Cosmographia, sive de Mundo Liber Cosmography, or Book of the World, which was translated almost word for word from one of similar content, which is attributed to Aristotle. Hermetis Trismegisti Dialogus per Apulejum in Latinum conversus Dialogue of Hermes Trismegistus translated into Latin by Apuleius, which, however, is denied to Apuleius. Alcinoi Disciplinarum Platonis Epitoma Epitome of the disciplines of Plato by Alcinous, that is, a Breviarium summary. Episcopi Tropiensis ad Nicolaum Cusensem Cardinalem conversio Translation by the Bishop of Tropea for Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa. This Bishop of Tropea was Petrus Balbus, a noble Venetian and relative of Pope Paul II. He died in Rome in 1479. His writings are mostly translations from the Greek into Latin. If they are no better than the present one, he could have stayed at home. It is rejected as clumsy in Fabricius's Bibliotheca Græca Greek Library, and Marsilio Ficino's version is greatly preferred to it. See the large [Universal Lexicon] regarding Balbus, and Ughelli's Italia Sacra Sacred Italy.

even though he wrote various books and translated from Latin into German, we have provided some information in the second volume of these Curiosities.