Essays in Renaissance Thought and Letters Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History General Editor Han van Ruler (Erasmus University Rotterdam) Founded by Arjo Vanderjagt Editorial Board C.S. Celenza (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore) M. Colish (Yale University) J.I. Israel (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton) A. Koba (University of Tokyo) M. Mugnai (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa) W. Otten (University of Chicago) VOLUME 241 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/bsih Essays in Renaissance Thought and Letters In Honor of John Monfasani Edited by Alison Frazier and Patrick Nold LEIDEN | BOSTON Cover illustration: Bessarion’s In calumniatorem Platonis (Venice: Aldus Manutius, 1503), sign. o5r. Courtesy Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin. Bessarion’s In calumniatorem Platonis, an attack on George of Trebizond’s interpretation of Plato, has been central to John Monfasani’s scholarship. The image here comes from Book V, where Bessarion comments on the ‘natural theology’ presented in Plato’s Laws, Bk. X. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Essays in Renaissance thought and letters : in honor of John Monfasani / edited by Alison Frazier and Patrick Nold.   pages cm. — (Brill’s studies in intellectual history, ISSN 0920-8607 ; volume 241)  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 978-90-04-29447-9 (hardback : acid-free paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-29465-3 (e-book) 1. Renaissance. 2. Intellectual life—History—To 1500. 3. Byzantine Empire—Intellectual life. 4. Philosophy, Renaissance. 5. Philosophy, Ancient. 6. Philosophy—Byzantine Empire. 7. Latin literature—History and criticism. 8. Byzantine literature—History and criticism. I. Frazier, Alison Knowles. II. Nold, Patrick. III. Monfasani, John.  CB361.E777 2015  940.2’1—dc23 2015009630 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual ‘Brill’ typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 0920-8607 isbn 978-90-04-29447-9 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-29465-3 (e-book) Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill nv provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, ma 01923, usa. Fees are subject to change. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Contents Contributors x Introduction xiii Patrick Nold and Alison Frazier Publications by John Monfasani, 1969–2014 xlii part 1 Notes 1 Byzantines at Rome in the Fifteenth Century 3 Concetta Bianca 2 Badgering for Books Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini and Leonardo Bruni’s Translation of Aristotle’s Politics 12 Thomas Izbicki 3 Heralds of Antiquity Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini and the British “Thucydides” 23 David Rundle 4 Petrus Crinitus and Ancient Latin Poetry 36 Christopher S. Celenza 5 Erasmus’s Use of George Trapezuntius of Crete in De conscribendis epistolis 53 Peter Mack Part 2 Essays 6 The Byzantine Social Elite and the Market Economy, Eleventh to Mid-Fifteenth Century 67 David Jacoby viii contents 7 George of Trebizond, Renaissance Libertarian? 87 James Hankins 8 The School of San Lorenzo, Niccolò Machiavelli, Paolo Sassi, and Benedetto Riccardini 107 Robert Black 9 Renaissance Sources in Medieval Mirrors for Princes Petrarch and Andreas Pannonius 134 Sándor Bene 10 Marsilio Ficino as a Reader of Proclus and Most Notably of Proclus’ In Parmenidem 179 Michael J.B. Allen 11 De-essentializing the World Valla, Agricola, Vives, and Nizolio on Universals and Topics 196 Lodi Nauta 12 The Quest for Certainty in Fact and Faith Pierre-Daniel Huet and Josephus’ Testimonium Flavianum 216 April G. Shelford Part 3 Extended Discussions and Editions 13 Christian Scepticism The Reception of Xenophanes’ B34 in Heathen and Christian Antiquity and its Sequel in Byzantine Thought  243 John A. Demetracopoulos 14 Lactantius Philosophus? Reading, Misreading, and Exploiting Lactantius from Antiquity to the Early Renaissance 446 David Rutherford contents ix 15 Andreas Chrysoberges’ Dialogue against Mark Eugenikos 492 Martin Hinterberger and Chris Schabel 16 Notes from a Nominalist in a New Incunabulum by Symphorien Champier 546 Brian Copenhaver and Thomas M. Ward Index of Manuscripts 605 Index of Modern Authors 607 Index of Pre-modern Authors and Persons 625 Contributors Michael J.B. Allen is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at UCLA, and an authority on Renaissance Platonism. He recently edited and translated Marsilio Ficino’s commentary on two treatises attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, On Mystical Theology, and On the Divine Names. Sándor Bene is senior research fellow at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Budapest, Hungary) and associate professor of Hungarian Studies at the University of Zagreb (Croatia). He is co-editor of The Old and the New: Parallels and Contacts in Croatian and Hungarian Renaissance (forthcoming). Concetta Bianca is full professor of Mediaeval and Humanistic Philology at the University of Florence, and has published widely on Coluccio Salutati, Bessarion, Roman Humanism, and the history of libraries and printing. She directs the journal Medioevo e Rinascimento. Robert Black is Emeritus Professor of Renaissance History at the University of Leeds. His most recent book, Machiavelli (2013), was a Times Literary Supplement book of the year in 2013; an Italian translation (Viella, Rome) will be published in 2016. Christopher S. Celenza formerly director of the American Academy in Rome (2010–2014), is now Chairman of the Classics Department at Johns Hopkins University. His most recent book is Machiavelli: A Portrait (2015). Brian Copenhaver is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and History and holds the Udvar- Hazy Chair at UCLA. His recent writing is about medieval logic, magic in Western culture and philosophy in the sixteenth century. John A. Demetracopoulos is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Patras, Greece. Several of his publications over the last decade regard the reception of the thought of Thomas Aquinas in Late Byzantium. contributors xi Alison Frazier is Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin. Following Possible Lives: Authors and Saints in Renaissance Italy (2005), her publications include The Saint Between Manuscript and Print: Italy 1400–1600 (2015). James Hankins is Professor of History at Harvard University and the General Editor of the I Tatti Renaissance Library. He is finishing a book on The Virtue Politics of the Italian Humanists. Martin Hinterberger is Associate Professor of Byzantine Philology at the University of Cyprus. His research focuses on emotions in Byzantine literature, the language of Byzantine literature (learned and vernacular), (auto)biography and hagiography as well as on intellectual history. Thomas Izbicki is Interim Associate University Librarian for Collection Development, Rutgers University Libraries, and received his doctorate in Medieval History from Cornell University (1973) and a library degree from Indiana University (1986). His publications focus on Pope Pius II, Nicholas of Cusa and Juan de Torquemada. David Jacoby is Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. His research focuses on intercultural exchanges and maritime trade between the West, Byzantium, the Crusader states and Egypt in the 11th–15th centuries. His current projects include Crusader Acre and Silk and Silk Textiles in Byzantium and the Medieval Mediterranean. Peter Mack is Professor of English at the University of Warwick, and has been editor of Rhetorica and Director of the Warburg Institute, University of London. His most recent book is A History of Renaissance Rhetoric 1380–1620 (2011). Lodi Nauta is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Groningen, and Dean of its Faculty of Philosophy. His most recent book is In Defense of Common Sense: Lorenzo Valla’s Humanist Critique of Scholastic Philosophy (2009).