3. Renaissance

3.1. Humanism

The word `humanism' is a neologism of the 19th C. From `umanista', Italian student slang of the late 15th C. for a profesional teacher of the humanities: grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry, and moral philosophy. Humanism, a cultural movement beginning about 1270, was the stimulation force of the Renaissance. Transformed the transmission and study of classical antiquity. A literary activity closely connected with the study and imitation of classical literature.

The Latin prehumanists:

Lovato Lovati, Padua, 1241-1309.

Tapped one of the great medieval libraries of northern Italy: Pomposa.

Geremia da Montagnone, Padua, 1255-1321.

Albertino Mussato, Padua, 1262-1329.

Benvenuto Campesani, Vicenza, 1255-1323.

Fostered a more scholarly tradition of humanism.

The Latin humanists:

Petrarch, Avignon, Florence, 1304-1374.

Boccaccio, Naples, Florence, 1313-1375.

Tried to establish Greek studies in Florence in 1360. [Reynolds & Wilson, 2nd ed, p. 130]

Zenobi da Strada, Monte Cassino.

Coluccio Salutati, Florence, 1331-1406.

Chancellor of Florence for 30 years. Passed the torch of humanism from Petrarch and Boccaccio to the next generation. Invited Manual Chrysoloras in 1397, which established Florence as the centre of the teaching of Greek in the West. [Reynolds & Wilson, 2nd edn, p. 119]

Poggio Bracciolini, Florence, 1380-1459.

Leonardo Bruni, Florence.

Latin and Greek humanists:

Lorenzo Valla, Rome, 1407-1457.

Angelo Poliziano, aka Politian, Florence, 1454-1494.

3.2. Gemistos

After the relocation of Aristotle's library to Alexandria around 300 BCE, the Platonic Academy in Athens and the Neoplatonic school in Alexandria operated in parallel for eight centuries, until the closing of the Athens Academy by Justinian in 529 CE. Meanwhile, a secondary center had developed in Byzantium. Following the disruption of the Mouseion by the conquering Persians in 616, and the burning of the Alexandrian library ordered by Caliph Omar I in 642, only Byzantium remained as a stronghold of Greek learning. The center in Byzantium was revived and strengthened around 1100 by Michael Psellus, and some satellite schools evolved from it. For example, George Gemistos (1355-1452) created a Platonic academy in Mistra (near the site of ancient Sparta) around 1410. [Woodhouse, 1986; p. 30]

Byzantine scholars made an enormous contribution to the philosophical foundations of the Florentine Renaissance. First of all, they brought Greek texts with them and taught the Greek language. Manuel Chrysoloras was perhaps the first of these, arriving in 1397, with texts of Homer, Plato, Aristotle, and other classics. The Byzantine scholars brought a new style of teaching. They translated texts from Greek to Latin and supervised translations by others. Finally, along with the texts of the philosophers, they brought texts of commentators, especially on Aristotle.

George Gemistos was an advanced devotee of Pythagoras, Plato, and the Chaldean Oracles, which he ascribed to Zoroaster. He had been a student of Elisha, a Jewish scholar. [Woodhouse, 1986; pp. 23, 26]

By 1430, the decline of the Byzantine army and growing threats from German and Turkish forces alarmed the academicians in Byzantium, who began looking about for safer storage for the Greek scrolls and codices in their care. The call to a council of bishops in Ferrara set for 1438 provided an opportunity, and Gemistos was chosen to accompany the retinue of the Archpatriarch of Byzantium on the long journey to Italy. The Council was relocated to Florence, and Gemistos arrived there in 1439.

Briefly, he gave lectures to intellectuals and nobles on the essence of Neoplatonic philosophy. His knowledge and charisma made a huge impression, especially on Cosimo. The tension between Plato and Aristotle, an important tradition in late Byzantine culture, was introduced in Florence by Gemistos in 1439. He lectured on Plato versus Aristotle, and on the Chaldean Oracles. [Woodhouse, 1986; Chs. 11, 4] This was critical to the break of Renaissance philosophy away from medieval scholasticism.

News of all this soon reached Cosimo de' Medici. who was inspired to acquire a complete library of Greek manuscripts, and sponsor their translation into Latin. He shortly acquired a copy of the Platonic Corpus (24 dialogues) from Gemistos, and a copy of the Corpus Hermeticum, acquired in Macedonia by a monk, Lionardo of Pistoia.

Later, John Argyropoulos of Constantinople (1445-1487) came to Florence to teach Greek, and made a number of important translations. Marsilio Ficino and Angelo Poliziano were among his pupils. [Browning, 1997, p. 114-115]

3.3.Ficino Biography

In 1452, Cosimo selected Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499), the young son of his physician, as his translator. Following the Peace of Lodi in 1454, there was an expansion of humanism in Florence.

John Argyropoulos came to Florence from Byzantium, and, with Medici support, became Lecturer in Greek language, literature, and philosophy at the University in 1455. His teaching was aimed primarily at Aristotle's works. [Field, 1988; Part Two] Ficino learned Greek from him in 1456 at the urging of Cristoforo Landino, and in 1462, Ficino translated the Orphic Hymns into Latin. Cosimo gave him the Platonic Corpus to translate, a house in Fiesole, and a stipend. Then Cosimo gave Ficino the Corpus Hermeticum, and directed him to translate it first. Dedicated to Cosimo, it was published in April of 1463. The following year, Cosimo died, and was succeeded by his son, Piero, and then by Piero's son, Lorenzo, in 1469. Ficino's commentaries on Plato were published the same year. His patronage continued, but was less reliable.

Apparently Cosimo's choice of Ficino was divinely inspired. For Ficino not only translated the CH and PC, but also absorbed their spirit. His house evolved into a de facto Platonic academy, and he into the leading philosopher of the early Renaissance. Many architects, painters, sculptors, musicians, medical doctors, lawyers, and intellectuals of all kinds were attracted to him. His teaching was accomplished at soirees devoted to good wine and food, as had Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato in ancient Greece.

In 1492, Lorenzo died, and shortly thereafter, the Medicis were expelled from Florence, Ficino retired, and the Platonic academy lapsed. Savonarola was hanged and burned in 1498, and Ficino died in 1499.

3.4. Facets of Ficino

derived from the thorougoing syncretism of pagan and Christian elements he effected under the impulse of Plato, Plotinus, Proclus, the Hermetica, the Areopagite, Augustine, and Aquinas, to name only his primary wells of inspiration.

orphic music, music therapy

Ficino's personal practice

astrology

see indices in astrology.txt

magic, psychology

Cf future pages on Bruno

cf Couliano, Walker, Hillman, Moore, Chopra

The long line of astrological magic:

Synesius, Proclus, Macrobius, al Kindi, Ficino, Bruno, Agrippa

3.5. Pico della Mirandola

• cabala
• 900 theses