Title page of Tottel’s 1556 edition of Grimald’s translation of Cicero’s De officiis
Grimald, Nicholas (b. 1519/20, d. in or before 1562) was a poet, dramatist and humanist scholar. Some of his poems were included in Tottel’s anthology of poetry, Songes and Sonettes or Tottel’s Miscellany and he is frequently credited with being the editor of this work. Two of the poems by Grimald that were included in all editions of the miscellany were about Cicero – 279. Marcus Tullius Ciceroes death and 280. Of M.T. Cicero.
Tottel first printed Grimald’s translation of Cicero’s De officiis (as Thre Bokes of Duties) in 1556 the year before Songes and Sonettes was first published.
Marcus Tullius Ciceroes three bookes of dueties, to Marcus his sonne, turned out of latine into english, by Nicholas Grimalde. Wherunto the latine is adioyned. Cum priuilegio
1556 English Short Title Catalogue record
1558 English Short Title Catalogue record
1568 English Short Title Catalogue record
1574 English Short Title Catalogue record
1583 English Short Title Catalogue record
There is a digitised copy of Tottel’s 1556 edition of the text available from the British Library.
Cicero wrote De Officiis in October–November 44 BC towards the end of his life. It was written in the form of a letter to his son and was published posthumously. De Officiis has been characterised as an attempt to define ideals of public behaviour. It remained influential during the medieval period and was a key text for Renaissance humanists across Europe.
Royal MS 15 A.vi from the British Library
The work’s popularity is evident in the transmission of the text. There are around 700 surviving manuscript copies such as the Royal MS 15 A.vi from the British Library. It was also the third book ever to be printed. The first edition was printed in Mainz by Johann Fust and Peter Schoeffer in 1465. A digitised version of this very early edition is available from the Library of Congress.
Richard Tottel 