Tzeror Hachaim. De Termino Vitae. * With: Another copy
AUCTION 23 |
Tuesday, March 30th,
2004 at 1:00
Hebrew Printed Books & Manuscripts from The Rare Book Room of the Jews College Library, London The Third Portion
Lot 177
MENASSEH BEN ISRAEL
Tzeror Hachaim. De Termino Vitae. * With: Another copy
Amsterdam: By the Author 1639
Est: $800 - $1,200
PRICE REALIZED $1,000
A discussion whether death is brought on by natural causes or is Divinely orrdained. The Dutch intellectual Jan van Beverwyck had opened the discussion in his work Epistolica Quaestio de Vitae Termino, fatali an mobili (Dordrecht, 1634). Our own work, Menasseh's response, argues, based on Jewish sources, that the span of life is not predetermined by the Deity but depends on constitutional, temperamental, and climatic influences.“ The book concludes with Carmen Intellectuale, a panegyric in honor of Menasseh by Jacob Rosales of Hamburg. Of all Menasseh’s Latin works, this was the most successful.” Cecil Roth, A Life of Menasseh ben Israel (Philadelphia,1945), pp. 94-95.