RENAISSANCE HUMANISM An Anthology of Sources Edited and Translated, with an Introduction, by MARGARET L. KING Renaissance Humanism An Anthology of Sources Renaissance Humanism $ $ $ An Anthology of Sources Edited and Translated, with an Introduction, by M L. K ARGARET ING Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. Indianapolis/Cambridge Copyright © 2014 by Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 17 16 15 14 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 For further information, please address Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. P.O. Box 44937 Indianapolis, Indiana 46244‑0937 www .hackettpublishing .com Interior design by Elizabeth L. Wilson Composition by Graphic Composition, Inc., Bogart, Georgia Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data Renaissance humanism : an anthology of sources / edited and translated, with an introduction, by Margaret L. King. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978‑1‑62466‑111‑2 (pbk.) — ISBN 978‑1‑62466‑112‑9 (cloth) 1. Humanism—History—Sources. 2. Renaissance—Sources. I. King, Margaret L., 1947– editor of compilation. B778.R427 2014 144—dc23 2013030804 Adobe ebook ISBN: 978‑1‑62466‑146-4 CONTENTS General Introduction ix Bibliographical Note xxi Chapter 1: Antiquity Reborn Introduction 1 1. Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) 3 Letter to Cicero (1345) 6 Letter to Homer (1360) 8 2. Giovanni Boccaccio 11 Genealogy of the Pagan Gods, Book XIV (1360/1374) 14 3. Pier Paolo Vergerio 20 On Liberal Studies and the Moral Education of the Free- Born Youth (c. 1402/1403) 23 4. Poggio Bracciolini and Cencio Romano, Book Hunters 27 Poggio Bracciolini, Letter to Guarino Veronese (1416) 30 Cencio Romano, Letter to Francesco da Fiano (1416) 32 Chapter 2: Explorations of the Self Introduction 35 5. Petrarch 37 To Posterity (1351/1372) 39 6. Giannozzo Manetti 44 On the Dignity and Excellence of Man (1452/1453) 47 7. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola 52 Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486) 55 8. Michel de Montaigne 59 To the Reader (1580) and Of Experience (1587– 1588) 62 Chapter 3: The Civic Experience Introduction 68 9. Leonardo Bruni 70 In Praise of the City of Florence (1404) 73 10. Francesco Barbaro 77 On Marriage (1415) 81 11. Alamanno Rinuccini 86 On Liberty (1479) 89 v vi Contents 12. Juan Luis Vives 94 On Assistance to the Poor (1526) 97 Chapter 4: A World in Crisis Introduction 103 13. Lauro Quirini 104 Letter to Pope Nicholas V, on the Fall of Constantinople (1453) 108 14. Angelo Poliziano 112 Account of the Pazzi Conspiracy (1478) 115 15. Luigi Guicciardini 120 The Sack of Rome (1527) 123 16. Olympia Fulvia Morata 129 Letters (1551– 1555) 130 Chapter 5: Machiavelli, Erasmus, and More: Visions of the State Introduction 137 17. Niccolò Machiavelli 138 The Prince (1513) 141 18. Desiderius Erasmus 147 On the Education of a Christian Prince (1516) 150 19. Thomas More 157 Utopia (1516) 159 Chapter 6: Humanism and the Arts Introduction 167 20. Leon Battista Alberti 169 On Painting (1435) 171 21. Isabella d’Este 176 Letters on Painters and Painting (1497– 1506) 178 22. Albrecht Dürer 182 Letters to Willibald Pirckheimer (1506) 184 23. Benvenuto Cellini 190 Autobiography, Book II (1558/1566) 192 Chapter 7: Humanism and Religion Introduction 198 24. Lorenzo Valla 200 On the Donation of Constantine (1440) 203 25. Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples 207 Exhortatory Letter on Translating the Gospels into French (1523) 209 Contents vii 26. Bernardino Ochino 213 Dialogue about the Thief on the Cross (1540) 216 27. Gasparo Contarini et alii 221 Report on the Reform of the Church (1537) 223 Chapter 8: Humanism, Science, and Philosophy Introduction 230 28. Marsilio Ficino 232 Letters (1473/1474) 235 29. Nicholas Copernicus 240 Preface to On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres (1543) 244 30. Galileo Galilei 248 Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina (1615) 250 31. René Descartes 255 Discourse on Method (1637) 257 Chapter 9: Women and Humanism Introduction 264 32. Isotta Nogarola 266 Dialogue on the Equal or Unequal Sin of Adam and Eve (1451) 268 33. Laura Cereta 274 Letters to Bibolo Semproni (1488) and Lucilia Vernacula (1487) 276 34. Cassandra Fedele 282 Oration in Praise of Letters (c. 1487) 284 35. Marie Le Jars de Gournay 287 The Equality of Men and Women (1622) 289 Chapter 10: Other Worlds Introduction 296 36. Amerigo Vespucci 297 New World, Letter to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici (1502/1503) 300 37. Garcilaso de la Vega, “El Inca” 305 Royal Commentaries of the Incas (1609– 1617) 307 38. Saint Francis Xavier 312 Letter to His Companions in Europe (1552) 314 39. Luís Vas de Camões 320 The Lusiads (1572) 322 Texts and Studies 327 Index 344 in memory of my father, Reno C. King, Jr. the greatest humanist of them all GENERAL INTRODUCTION The humanists of Renaissance Europe would have been astonished to learn what is meant by today’s “humanism,” or “secular humanism,” or “Humanism,” with an initial capital as some of its proponents insist. Modern humanism, which has been around since at least the 1920s, dispenses with theism and replaces divine providence with the scientifi c method, social jus- tice, and multiculturalism. Not so the Renaissance antecedents of today’s humanism, whose passions and commitments arose from and extended the legacy of the Latin Christian civilization of medieval Europe. Their humanism embraced both Cicero and God. But what was it? On that question, scholars have not reached full agree- ment, although there is a consensus on certain essentials. Renaissance humanism was not a philosophy. It entailed no common set of principles (other than those that were the common assumptions of the age) about the natural, social, or political world. It was more like a way of life. It involved a commitment to the world of ideas guided by the classics, which were to be read in the original Latin (more rarely, Greek), mastered, imitated, and to some extent enacted, in communities that gathered in schools and homes and shared public spaces. The process was consistent: humanists read and inter- acted with the classical tradition. The content, however, varied: over time, from setting to setting, according to circumstances, and among actors of dif- ferent social classes and occupations. The classical tradition that the humanists reintroduced to Europe had long roots. It was, of course, the product of a fused Greco- Roman civilization that was the last to emerge in the ancient Mediterranean region. It triumphed with Rome’s political ascent, the civilizational adjunct to the Roman con- quest of the Mediterranean world. It lingered even after Christianity arose within its bosom, before the Roman Empire dwindled and, in its Western zone, decayed. Christianity had been born in the Levant, far from the capital, and quickly implanted itself in the major Roman centers of Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome. Here Christian thinkers incorporated classical thought into a new set of Christian classics, written in the same prose, both Greek and Latin, of the masters of secular literature. Greek and Latin culture would live on, wrapped in Christian integuments. Increasingly, the Latin and Greek cultural zones diverged: the Greek- speaking scholars of Constantinople pursued their studies almost without The never-failing assistance of the Brooklyn College librarians, especially Bridget Nowicki and Sherry Warman, made possible the writing of this book. ix