[Dicta philosophorum] Les ditz de philosophes.
Manuscript, Angers or Bourges, ca.1455 (BPH 203)

The originally Arabic Ditz is a collection of proverbs in the domain of philosophy and ethics, drawn from genuine or spurious works of 22 philosophers and poets, a sort of Mirror of Kings. Already translated into Spanish around 1260 under the title Bocados de oro (golden delicacies), the work was subsequently rendered into Latin. The Latin version formed the basis for this French translation by Guillaume de Tignonville (c. 1400). It contains 133 Hermetic maxims, only very few of which, however, appear to derive from hermetic works presently known. This translation first appeared in print with Colard Mansion in Bruges, in 1475-7.

Provenance: Probably from the circle of René of Anjou.