Suasoriae

This manuscript from the 10th century is the oldest book of the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library. It contains texts by the Roman author Seneca the elder (54 B.C.-39 A.D.), the father of the famous philosopher and playwright of the same name. Among other things, Seneca wrote pleas for imaginary processes that were intended as rhetorical exercises. They give a good picture of Roman rhetoric. Worldwide, only three early medieval manuscripts with these texts are known, and this is the most important. Andreas Schottus used them in 1604 for the first printed edition of the texts and later donated them to the then newly founded Antwerp city library, the predecessor of the Conscience Library.