LA MOTHE LE VAYER François de De la vertu des payens.

Cioranescu 39692.

First edition. François de La Mothe Le Vayer (1588-1672) frequented the salon run by Marie de Gournay and became one of the pillars of 17th-century scholarly libertarianism alongside Gabriel Naudé, Pierre Gassendi and Élie Diodati, known as the "Tétrade". He inherited Marie de Gournay's library, which itself contained works by Montaigne and La Boétie.

In 1639, the Duke of Richelieu appointed him tutor to the eldest son of Louis XIII, but in the end it was Anne of Austria who entrusted him with the education of Philippe de France that same year. His philosophical work La Vertu des payens, dedicated to the Duke of Richelieu, is divided into two parts. In the first he discusses the organisation of the state, while in the second he deals in detail with classical authors and philosophers (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Diogenes, Zenon, Pythagoras, Epicurus, Pyrrhon, Confucius, Seneca and Jullian).

Small waterstain towards the centre of the book.