Aldus Manutius first to print Dante's Divine Comedy

It is rather strange that when you start digging into something, there are endless things to learn. I first wrote about Aldus Manutius because I thought it was a bit hilarious that there was a specific person who invented the semicolon, today appearing as smileys in so many SMS-messages. As I dig further, it turns out that this man must have been one of his times greatest entrepreneurs and visionaries.

Aldus Manutius who was active in Vendig in the late 1400s and ran one of those days largest printing works. Not only has he printed texts from his own era, but he converted many ancient handwritten parchment works into printed books.

Among other things, it was Manutius who first printed Dante's Divine Comedy and a number of works by Aristotle, Aristophanes, Euripides and Plato. I wonder if he had any idea of the long lasting greatness of these works? And that they, to some extent still influence a lot of art and literature 500 years later?