Grice ed Aconzio

1648. "Satan's Stratagems, or the Devil's Cabinet-Council discovered, ... together with an epistle written by Mr. John Goodwin and Mr. Durie's letter concerning the same." 

London. J. Macock. Sold by J. Hancock. 1648. 4to. British Museum . George Thomason's copy,now in the British Museum ,contains his correction of the date to 1647,and re cords its purchase on February 14 of that year.  

The translation contains three dedications, one to the Parliament, one to Fairfax and Cromwell, and one to John Warner, lord mayor. 

Thetranslatorannouncedthatifhisworkwaswellreceived he would complete it,but only four of the eight books were published. The stock was then sold apparently to W. Ley,who reissued it,with a new title,- Darkness Discovered, or the Devil's Secret Stratagems laid London.J.M. 1651.4to.Withadoubtfullyauthenticetch ingoftheItalianauthor,‘JamesAcontius,aReverendDiuine.' This translation is an English version of Jacopo Aconcio's celebrated work ,— Satanæ Stratagemata libri octo,J. Acontio authore, accessit eruditissima epistola de ratione edendorum librorum ad Johannem Vuolfium Tigurinum eodem authore. Basileæ, ap. P. Pernam . 1565. 4to. The Dictionary of National Biography says that this is the genuine first edition, of extreme rarity.     

Brunet records an octavo edition of the same year, place, and publisher, but with a variant title: Jacobi Acontii tridentini de Stratagematibus Satanæ in religionis negotio per superstitionem, errorem, hæresim, odium, calumniam, schisma, etc. libri octo.  

Basilea.P. Perna. 1565. 8vo. R e p r i n t e d , B a s i l e æ , 1 5 8 2 , 8 v o ; a n d ' c u r a n t e J a c . G r a s s e r o ,' ib.,1910,8vo;ib.,ap.Waldkirchium,1616;ib.,1618;ib.,1620;

Amsterdam,1624; Oxon., G.Webb, 1631, sm. 8vo; London, 1648, 4to; Oxon., 1650, 12mo; Amsterdam, Jo. Ravenstein, 1652, sm. 8vo; ib., 1674,sm.8vo; Neomagi, A. ab. Hoogenhuyse, 1661,sm.8vo. The Dedication of the first edition, to Queen Elizabeth, begins,with grandiloquent flattery, Divæ Elisabethæ, etc. Les Ruzes de Satan receuillies et comprinses en huit liures. Basle. P. Perne. 1565. 4to. Also, Delft,1611, 8vo, and ib., 1624, 8vo. Further, Bâle. 1647. sm. 8vo (German translation), and Amsterdam, 1662, 12mo (Dutch translation). The Satanæ Stratagemata is a book which had a considerable influence in the development of opinion. In all, I record twenty-one editions of it , five of them of English imprint , and all of them publications of about one century, 1565–1674, the era of the Reformation. Aconcio's argument was the simplification of dogmatic theology. In general, he reduces the doctrines of Christianity to a strictly Scriptural basis. He argues that the numerous confessions of faith of different de nominations are simply the ruses of the Evil One, the 'Stratagems of Satan,' to tempt men from the truth. He protests against capital punishment for heresy, and favours toleration among all Christian sects. Such liberal theology is distasteful alike to Calvinists, who accused Aconzio of Arianism, and to Catholics, who index his essay. The Tridentine Index Libb. Prohibb. (1569) places "Satanæ Stratagemata" among anonymous books, but the Roman Index of 1877 describes the essa accurately.