Hostname: page-component-788cddb947-t9bwh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-10-07T21:02:18.323Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Gasparino Barzizza's Commentaries on Seneca's Letters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2016

Letizia A. Panizza*
Affiliation:
University of Kent at Canterbury

Extract

Gasparino Barzizza of Bergamo, a humanist educator and university professor of rhetoric at Padua and Milan in the early fifteenth century, has come down to us chiefly as a pioneer expounder of Ciceronian eloquence, the man to whom the precious old manuscript of Cicero's complete rhetorical works was confided in 1421 for transcription and divulgation. For centuries, however, his considerable contribution to Seneca studies made before this date has been almost totally neglected. But for a few excerpts from his commentary on Seneca's Letter 1 to Lucilius, tucked away in Francesco Novati's footnotes to a letter of Coluccio Salutati, nothing substantial from these commentaries and their introductory material has to my knowledge ever been printed. Judging from the scanty literature on Barzizza, one is forced to conclude that the content of these commentaries has not even been examined. Still worse, the only biography of Barzizza written in the twentieth century says they are lost. Yet Gasparino Barzizza emerges from these commentaries as a leading Seneca scholar of early fifteenth-century Italian humanism. He was the central figure of Seneca studies while at Padua, a university town with a tradition of interest in Seneca stretching back to Lovato Lovati and Albertino Mussato and the revival of Senecan tragedy, and continuing with Sicco Polenton and his Life of Seneca. As part of the introductory material to his Seneca commentaries, Barzizza wrote the first humanist Latin biography of Seneca using Tacitus, and developed more fully than anyone before him the image of Seneca as a religious dissimulator, calling him for the first time a ‘Nicodemus.’ In a sadly mutilated and anonymous form, it can now be shown, Barzizza's life of Seneca was the only one printed in several early editions of Seneca's works, including the 1515 and 1529 ones edited by Erasmus, and later mistakenly attributed to Sicco Polenton. Erasmus' caustic prefatory remarks on deformers of Seneca that characterize his 1529 edition are aimed, it can also be shown, at Barzizza. Barzizza's lengthy commentary on the controversial opening of Seneca's Letter 1 to Lucilius, a set piece in its own right, stands at the centre of a dispute very much alive in his own time, in which Petrarch and Salutati participated before him, and Pier Candido Decembrio, his brother Angelo, and Leonello d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, participated after him, not to mention Erasmus himself.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Fordham University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

page 297 note 1 For Novati's extracts, see Epistolario di C. S. 3 (Rome 1896) 257258. Information on Barzizza and his school at Padua can be found in W. H. Woodward's Vittorino da Feltre and Other Humanist Educators (Cambridge 1897; rptd. with foreword by Eugene F. Rice; New York 1963) 10–14; also in R. Sabbadini's La Scuola e gli studi di Guarino Guarini Veronese (Catania 1896). For his life, see Veronese, G., Epistolario, <e>ed. R. Sabbadini, 3 (Venice 1919) 9, 126, 135–136, 145; and especially Domenico Magni, ‘G. B. una figura del primo Umanesimo,’ Bergomum, Bollettino della Civica Biblioteca 11 (1937) nos. 2, 3, 4; and Martellotti, G., ‘G. B.,’ Dizionario biografico degli Italiani 7 (Rome 1965) 34–39. Letters and orations of B. and his little treatise De compositione can be found in Gasparini Barzizii Bergomatis et Guiniforte filii Opera <e>ed. G. A. Furiettus Bergomas (Rome 1723) 2 vols. Essential companion for dating individual letters is Sabbadini's ‘Lettere e orazioni edite e inedite di G. B.,’ Archivio Storico Lombardo 13 (1886) 363–378, 563–583, 825–836. For additional letters, Bertalot, L., ‘Die älteste Briefsammlung des G. B.,’ Beiträge zur Forschung nf 2 (1929) 39–84; and Colombo, C., ‘G. B. a Padova,’ Quaderni per la storia dell’ Università di Padova 2 (1969) 1–27. Research for this article was done with the aid of a Saxl Fellowship, Warburg Institute, University of London, and assisted by a travel grant from the Central Research Fund of the University. I am very grateful to Prof. D. P. Walker of the Warburg Institute for detailed comments and corrections. My thanks also to Dott.essa Mirella Ferrari for valuable bibliographical information, and also to Katherine Webb, whose help with the transcriptions greatly speeded up completion.ed. R. Sabbadini, 3 (Venice 1919) 9, 126, 135–136, 145; and especially Domenico Magni, ‘G. B. una figura del primo Umanesimo,’ Bergomum, Bollettino della Civica Biblioteca 11 (1937) nos. 2, 3, 4; and Martellotti, G., ‘G. B.,’ Dizionario biografico degli Italiani 7 (Rome 1965) 34–39. Letters and orations of B. and his little treatise De compositione can be found in Gasparini Barzizii Bergomatis et Guiniforte filii Opera ed. G. A. Furiettus Bergomas (Rome 1723) 2 vols. Essential companion for dating individual letters is Sabbadini's ‘Lettere e orazioni edite e inedite di G. B.,’ Archivio Storico Lombardo 13 (1886) 363–378, 563–583, 825–836. For additional letters, Bertalot, L., ‘Die älteste Briefsammlung des G. B.,’ Beiträge zur Forschung nf 2 (1929) 39–84; and Colombo, C., ‘G. B. a Padova,’ Quaderni per la storia dell’ Università di Padova 2 (1969) 1–27. Research for this article was done with the aid of a Saxl Fellowship, Warburg Institute, University of London, and assisted by a travel grant from the Central Research Fund of the University. I am very grateful to Prof. D. P. Walker of the Warburg Institute for detailed comments and corrections. My thanks also to Dott.essa Mirella Ferrari for valuable bibliographical information, and also to Katherine Webb, whose help with the transcriptions greatly speeded up completion.' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=For+Novati's+extracts,+see+Epistolario+di+C.+S.+3+(Rome+1896)+257–258.+Information+on+Barzizza+and+his+school+at+Padua+can+be+found+in+W.+H.+Woodward's+Vittorino+da+Feltre+and+Other+Humanist+Educators+(Cambridge+1897;+rptd.+with+foreword+by+Eugene+F.+Rice;+New+York+1963)+10–14;+also+in+R.+Sabbadini's+La+Scuola+e+gli+studi+di+Guarino+Guarini+Veronese+(Catania+1896).+For+his+life,+see+Veronese,+G.,+Epistolario,+ed.+R.+Sabbadini,+3+(Venice+1919)+9,+126,+135–136,+145;+and+especially+Domenico+Magni,+‘G.+B.+una+figura+del+primo+Umanesimo,’+Bergomum,+Bollettino+della+Civica+Biblioteca+11+(1937)+nos.+2,+3,+4;+and+Martellotti,+G.,+‘G.+B.,’+Dizionario+biografico+degli+Italiani+7+(Rome+1965)+34–39.+Letters+and+orations+of+B.+and+his+little+treatise+De+compositione+can+be+found+in+Gasparini+Barzizii+Bergomatis+et+Guiniforte+filii+Opera+ed.+G.+A.+Furiettus+Bergomas+(Rome+1723)+2+vols.+Essential+companion+for+dating+individual+letters+is+Sabbadini's+‘Lettere+e+orazioni+edite+e+inedite+di+G.+B.,’+Archivio+Storico+Lombardo+13+(1886)+363–378,+563–583,+825–836.+For+additional+letters,+Bertalot,+L.,+‘Die+älteste+Briefsammlung+des+G.+B.,’+Beiträge+zur+Forschung+nf+2+(1929)+39–84;+and+Colombo,+C.,+‘G.+B.+a+Padova,’+Quaderni+per+la+storia+dell’+Università+di+Padova+2+(1969)+1–27.+Research+for+this+article+was+done+with+the+aid+of+a+Saxl+Fellowship,+Warburg+Institute,+University+of+London,+and+assisted+by+a+travel+grant+from+the+Central+Research+Fund+of+the+University.+I+am+very+grateful+to+Prof.+D.+P.+Walker+of+the+Warburg+Institute+for+detailed+comments+and+corrections.+My+thanks+also+to+Dott.essa+Mirella+Ferrari+for+valuable+bibliographical+information,+and+also+to+Katherine+Webb,+whose+help+with+the+transcriptions+greatly+speeded+up+completion.>Google Scholar

page 298 note 2 Martellotti 34.Google Scholar

page 298 note 3 Magni 112. Barzizza's official title was ‘lector.’Google Scholar

page 298 note 4 Magni 115–116, 144. ‘De morali philosophia ad decem Aristotelis Ethicorum libros: Gaspar de Barziziis Bergomas, cum Rhetoricam profiteretur diebus ordinariis, simul illud sibi concedi voluit, ut philosophiam moralem, diebus vacantibus explicaret, stipendio constituto argenteorum cxx’ (144).Google Scholar

page 299 note 5 Magni 147. For letters, see n. 9 and 10 infra. Google Scholar

page 299 note 6 Magni 148.Google Scholar

page 299 note 7 Sabbadini, ‘Lettere … edite e inedite di G. B.’ 373.Google Scholar

page 299 note 8 Ibid. 376, deduces this date from a letter to Fantascello, Furietti, 1.134–135, where Barzizza refers to a certain Garando, identified by Sabbadini as Marino Caravello, procurator of San Marco. The election of Garando to this office took place November 16, 1410. After having established the date of this letter to Fantascello as 1411, Sabbadini argues from internal evidence that other letters, among them one referring to the commentary on Seneca's Letters, are of the same year.Google Scholar

page 300 note 9 Furietti 1.136.Google Scholar

page 300 note 10 Ibid. 1.134–135.Google Scholar

page 300 note 11 Ibid. 1.136.Google Scholar

page 301 note 12 Magni 143 and 151. For the precise date of Zabarella's appointment, Carusi, E., Enciclopedia Treccani 35 (Rome 1937) 858. Also, Zonta, G., Francesco Zabarella (Padua 1915) 27.Google Scholar

page 301 note 13 Magni 159.Google Scholar

page 301 note 14 For B.'s letter to Zabarella, thanking him for the introduction to Vergerio, see Furietti, 1.164–165.Google Scholar

page 301 note 15 For the close friendship between Zabarella and Vergerio, see Zonta 13–20.Google Scholar

page 301 note 16 Zonta 20. De felicitate was published in Padua 1655. For an English translation of De ingenuis moribus, see Woodward, W. H. Vittorina da Feltre 96–118. On 113 Woodward argues 1404 as the date of composition.Google Scholar

page 301 note 17 Magni 144–147, 219–220. Martellotti 35.Google Scholar

page 301 note 18 See especially 1.xiii, xx, and xxii of the ‘Praefatio ad Lectorem.’Google Scholar

page 302 note 19 28. Published in Florence, this collection of famous men, for the most part of the first half of the fifteenth century, lists B. as the only one having written commentaries on Seneca.Google Scholar

page 302 note 20 Rome 1696; I 33.Google Scholar

page 302 note 21 II Parte Prima (Brescia 1758) 502.Google Scholar

page 302 note 22 Magni 148. He could have found a full description of MS Vat. Urb. Lat. 1026 (now 218) in Cosimus Stornajolo, Codices Urbanates Latini I (Rome 1902) 209210. Colombo 6 n. 3.Google Scholar

page 302 note 23 Furietti 1.xxxvi; Magni 205–206.Google Scholar

page 303 note 24 Magni, , loc. cit. Google Scholar

page 303 note 25 Sabbadini considers B. the true apostle of Ciceronianism. See his Storia del Ciceronianesimo (Turin 1885) 1317; more recently, Jerrold E. Seigel, Rhetoric and Philosophy in Renaissance Humanism (Princeton 1968) esp. Chap. 1, ‘The Ciceronian Model.’ About copies made by and for other humanists of this Lodi manuscript, see Sabbadini, , ‘Guarino Veronese e le opere rettoriche di Cicerone,’ Rivista di filologia e d'istruzione classica (1885) 425–434. Guarino was closely associated with B. and speaks of him as a leader in promoting Cicero: ‘cuius ductu et auspiciis Cicero amatur, legitur et per Italorum gymnasia summa cum gloria volitat.’ Quoted by Sabbadini, Storia 13.Google Scholar

page 303 note 26 Magni 160.Google Scholar

page 303 note 27 See history of the text in Augustus S. Wilkins’ edition of Cicero, De oratore (Oxford 1892) 6471. For fragments of the Lodi MS believed recovered, see Pettenazzi, I., ‘Di un fragmento del Brutus del sec. IX,’ Bollett. stor. cremonese 20 (1957) 83ff.; Malcovati, E., ‘Sulla tradizione del Brutus,’ Athenaeum (1958) 30–47, with further discussion in Atti del I° Congresso internazionale di studi ciceroniani, Roma 1959 (Rome 1961) 299–307; and Kumaniecki, K., ‘La tradition manuscrite du De Oratore,’ Revue des études latines 44 (1966) 204–218.Google Scholar

page 304 note 28 Oratio in instauratione studiorum Mediolani habita, Furietti op. cit. 1.75.Google Scholar

page 304 note 29 …librum istum ex libris Ciceronis divinissimum.’ Quoted by Magni op. cit., 217.Google Scholar

page 304 note 30 See Sabbadini, , Storia del Ciceronianesimo , and note 25 supra. Google Scholar

page 305 note 31 See Nothdurft, K.-D., Studien zum Einfluss Senecas auf die Philosophie und Theologie des zwölften Jahrhunderts (Leiden–Cologne 1963), and review-essay by Spanneut, M., ‘Sénèque au moyen ǎge,’ Recherches de Théologie ancienne et médiévale 31 (1964) 31–42. Also Reynolds, L. D., The Medieval Tradition of Seneca's Letters (Oxford 1965). Abelard and Roger Bacon were two of the most eminent Seneca enthusiasts.Google Scholar

page 305 note 32 See especially Meersseman, G. G., ‘Seneca maestro di spiritualità nei suoi opuscoli apocrifi dal xii al xv secolo,’ Italia Medioevale e Umanistica 16 (1973) 43135. In fourteenth-century Italy, the Dominicans helped popularize Seneca's Letters in lay circles (120). Also, Déchanet, J. M., ‘Seneca Noster. Dès Lettres à Lucilius à la lettre aux Frères du Mont-Dieu,’ Mélanges Joseph de Ghellinck 2 (Gembloux 1951) 753–766.Google Scholar

page 305 note 33 For critical edition, see Barlow, C. W., Epistolae Senecae ad Paulum et Paulum ad Senecam <quae vocantur> (Papers and Monographs of the American Academy in Rome 10; Rome 1938). Barlow also gives the history of the tradition of the Correspondence from the fourth to the fourteenth centuries. See also my Ph.D. thesis, ‘The St. Paul–Seneca Correspondence: Its Significance for Stoic Thought from Petrarch to Erasmus’ (University of London 1976).CrossRef+(Papers+and+Monographs+of+the+American+Academy+in+Rome+10;+Rome+1938).+Barlow+also+gives+the+history+of+the+tradition+of+the+Correspondence+from+the+fourth+to+the+fourteenth+centuries.+See+also+my+Ph.D.+thesis,+‘The+St.+Paul–Seneca+Correspondence:+Its+Significance+for+Stoic+Thought+from+Petrarch+to+Erasmus’+(University+of+London+1976).>Google Scholar

page 306 note 34 Letters 7 and 14, Barlow 128–129 and 137–138.Google Scholar

page 306 note 35 In a.d. 392, Jerome brought out a collection of brief biographies of writers who had written anything at all to do with the Christian religion to that date, De viris illustribus. For the text, see Appendix II 17. The two most important phrases for Seneca's Christian reputation are: ‘continentissimae vitae fuit,’ and ‘in catalogo sanctorum.’Google Scholar

page 306 note 36 For Lovati and Mussato, see R. Weiss, ‘Lovato Lovati,’ Italian Studies 6 (1951) 328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 306 note 37 Garin, E., ‘Frate Giovanni da Mantova e Albertino Mussato: poesia e teologia, Il pensiero pedagogico dell’ Umanesimo (Florence 1958) 1718. Mussato, arguing that ancient poets sometimes exhibited inspired prophetic gifts, cites verses 456–462 from Seneca's Hercules Furens, for example, about the sufferings of the infant Bacchus, and remarks: ‘Haec, quae de Deo Baccho Seneca praedicabat, qui forsan et ipse ignoranter Christi nativitatem insinuabat in metris.’Google Scholar

page 306 note 38 Note sulla leggenda del Cristianesimo di Seneca, Contributo alla storia degli studi classici (Rome 1955) 1332.Google Scholar

page 307 note 39 Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS L 53 sup, saec. xv fol. 1r: ‘Philosophus christiani dogmatis et christianorum fautor tacitus.’ Letters 1 and 7 of the St. Paul – Seneca Correspondence are the main evidence for Seneca's Christianity. After quoting sections of them, Mussato remarks: ‘Plurima quoque in eisdem litteris utrobique inserta sunt, quibus idem Seneca noscitur christianus’ (fol. 1v; emphasis mine). See also MS Vat. Lat. 1641, L. A. Senecae tragoediae … fols. 6r–7v.Google Scholar

page 307 note 40 See transcription of Colonna's Life of Seneca in Braxton Ross, W., ‘Giovanni Colonna, Historian at Avignon, Speculum 45 (October 1970) 555559. The most convincing reason for thinking Seneca Christian is once more the Correspondence: ‘Sed potissime inducor ad credendum hunc fuisse christianum ex hiis epistolis notis toti orbi terrarum que scribuntur Pauli ad Senecam et Senece ad Paulum’ (557). Momigliano does not mention either Mussato or Barzizza; he sees Colonna as the first to propose Seneca's conversion.Google Scholar

page 307 note 41 For Dante's Limbo, see Inferno IV. Seneca is grouped with pagan philosophers in the highest, most noble part of a castle garden. The two saved pagans closest to Seneca's situation are Cato and Statius. Cato, the noblest model of Stoic suicide for Cicero and Seneca, is turned into the custodian of Purgatory; Statius, for whose conversion there is no evidence whatsoever, apocryphal or genuine, admits he was baptized but remained a secret believer for the rest of his life: ‘ebb'io battesmo; ma per paura chiuso cristian fu'mi; lungamente mostrando paganesimo’ (Purgatorio XXII 89–91). On the question in general, see Capéran, L., Le Problème du salut des infidèles. Essai historique (Paris 1912).Google Scholar

page 307 note 42 Baron, H., The Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance (Princeton 1966) 296310. Some humanists involved were Cino Rinuccini, Francesco da Fiano, and Coluccio Salutati.Google Scholar

page 308 note 43 Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS lat. 8555, Dominicus de Peccioli Pisanus, ‘Expositio epistularum Senecae ad Lucilium.’ Peccioli's introduction gives testimonials, and edifying etymologies for Seneca's names, but no proper biography. G. G. Meersseman says (120) he is preparing an article on Peccioli's commentary.Google Scholar

page 308 note 44 British Museum, Harley 2268. The commentary is surrounded by letters and orations of Gasparino Barzizza, excerpts from Boccaccio and Petrarch, Poggio Bracciolini's letter on the burning of Jerome of Prague at the Council of Constance in 1417, and samples from the letters of Coluccio Salutati. This commentary, also found in two fifteenth-century MSS containing assorted Seneca works, both in Oxford, Bodley 292 and Balliol 130, has been attributed to Nicolas Trevet by Ruth J. Dean in ‘Ms. Bodley 292 and the Canon of Nicholas Trevet's Works,’ Speculum 17 (1942) 243249. Trevet, a high-ranking, learned English Dominican with contacts with Italian humanists of the early fourteenth century, wrote a commentary on Seneca's Tragedies which was well-known at the time. See Weiss, R., ‘Notes on the Popularity of Nicholas Trevet, o.p. in Italy during the first half of the 14th Century,’ Dominican Studies 1 (1948) 261–265.Google Scholar

page 308 note 45 Epistolario di Coluccio Salutati 1 (1891) 64. In searching for MSS, I have checked catalogues for obvious places like the Vatican, Venice, Milan, Padua, and London, and consulted P. O. Kristeller's indispensable Iter Italicum. I make no claim to an exhaustive list, and would be glad to hear of other copies.Google Scholar

page 309 note 46 Warner, G. F. and Gilson, J. P., General Index, British Museum Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King's Collections 3 (London 1921) 254.Google Scholar

page 309 note 47 Controversy centred on the words ‘maxima pars vitae elabitur male agentibus, magna nihil agentibus, tota vita aliud agentibus’; especially the interpretation of the different ‘partes,’ and most of all on the word ‘aliud.’ The controversy raged from the time of Petrarch to Erasmus, and was particularly lively in Barzizza's day. I am preparing a separate article on it.Google Scholar

page 309 note 48 Hanc itaque hoc postremo loco eo libentius collocavi quod nullius hominis qui hodie vivat sententiam tanti facio.’ Just above, Barzizza says he had consulted ‘Franciscum Zabarellam modo cardinalem florentinum.’ I take ‘modo’ to mean that Zabarella had just been made Cardinal, or that the appointment was at least a recent event. MS. Cremona 128, fol. 124r.Google Scholar

page 309 note 49 Magni 166; Barzizza wrote Zarabella's funeral oration (163).Google Scholar

page 309 note 50 Ibid. 148.Google Scholar

page 309 note 51 Supra, 299–300; also note 9.Google Scholar

page 310 note 52 … partem illam prime epistole agressus sum que fere in ore omnium est, queque maximorum hominum ingenia sepe elusit.’ Appendix III 11.Google Scholar

page 310 note 53 Reliquam autem partem mediocribus ingeniis non ignotam tunc pretermisi. Loc. cit. Google Scholar

page 310 note 54 Kristeller, P. O., Iter Italicum I (London 1963) 400.Google Scholar

page 310 note 55 Ibid. 437. Further details from the catalogue of the Imperial Library of Vienna, 2 (1868), under catalogue number. The explicit, ‘Attalum memini’ confirms the discription of the manuscript as ending with Letter 110, for the name of Attalus appears precisely at the end of that Letter. Cremona 128 ends with Letter 101, we remember.Google Scholar

page 310 note 56 Magni 207. See Mercati, G., ‘Le principali vicende della biblioteca del Monastero di S. Colombano di Bobbio,Tulli Ciceronis, M., De re publica libri I Prolegomena (Rome 1934), for details of Parrasio's purchases in Milan. Parrasio nearly aways wrote his own nama, place of purchase, and price he paid on his books, which has helped to identify 11 manuscripts as belonging to Gasparino or Guiniforte Barzizza: 5 are of Cicero, and 1 of Seneca's Tragedies. In the hand-written Inventario of the Biblioteca Nazionale, however (Microfilm 98, University of London Library), our manuscript is lodged between V.D. 18, ‘Gasparini Bergomensis in libris Ciceronis De arte Rhetorica,’ and V.D. 21 and 22. ‘Treveth Commenta in Senecae Declamationes,’ and ‘Parrhasii Jani adnotationes in Tibullum,’ which suggest Parrasio bought it from Barzizza's family.Google Scholar

page 311 note 57 Martini, Emidio, ‘Sui codici Napoletani restituiti dall’ Austria,’ Atti della Reale Accademia di Archeologia, Lettere e Belle Arti, Società Reale di Napoli ns 9 (1926) 157182. This manuscript, 177. At the bottom of fol. 1r of Vind. Lat. 51 is written ‘Est Monachorum Congregationis S. Justinae de Padua, Ordinis Sancti Benedicti, deputatus Monasterio S. Severino de Neapoli.’Google Scholar

page 311 note 58 See Furietti, 1.73–75; and excerpt supra, 303–304 and note 28.Google Scholar

page 311 note 59 Kristeller, , Iter II 287.Google Scholar

page 312 note 60 Antonio, N., Bibliotheca Hispana Vetus (Rome 1696) 33; Mazzuchelli, G. M., Scrittori d'Italia II (Brescia 1758) 502. Full description in Stornajolo, C., Codices Urbinates Latini I (Rome 1902) 209–210: ‘Barzizza Gasparini bergomensis commentarii in Senecae epistolas. 1) Gloriosum commentum super epistolas Senece, fols. 2r–233r; 2) Commentarii in epistolas Senecae ad S. Paulum et S. Pauli ad Senecam, fols. 233v–246v.’Google Scholar

page 313 note 61 Supra, p. 300.Google Scholar

page 313 note 62 Supra, note 47.Google Scholar

page 313 note 63 See Quain, E. A., ‘The Mediaeval “accessus ad auctores,” ” Traditio 3 (1945) 215264. Barzizza does not completely discard the short Prologue, but tacks it on to the end of the longer Prolusio. Google Scholar

page 313 note 64 Although the reference is to Albert the Great, it is clearly to his commentary on Aristotle's Ethics. Google Scholar

page 314 note 65 For a critical edition of the Liber de Causis see <e>A. Pattin, ed., in Tijdschrift voor Filosophie 28 (Louvain 1966) 90203.A.+Pattin,+ed.,+in+Tijdschrift+voor+Filosophie+28+(Louvain+1966)+90–203.>Google Scholar

page 314 note 66 MS Cremona 128, fol. 117r.Google Scholar

page 314 note 67 Fol. 121r.Google Scholar

page 314 note 68 Sabbadini, R., Il metodo degli Umanisti (Florence 1922) 3537.Google Scholar

page 315 note 69 In De oratore, for instance, Romans are declared to have excelled all others in oratorical ability (1.4.15–16); Roman wisdom, expressed in Roman law, surpasses the laws of Lycurgus, Draco, and Solon (1.44.196–197). Cicero himself wants the work to preserve the superlative achievements of Roman orators, Crassus and Antonius, who looked down on Greek learning (2.1.4–2.2.7). A recurring theme is Roman excellence in practical wisdom, opposed to Greek excellence in theoretical matters. Even Socrates is censured for separating oratory from philosophy (3.16.60–61).Google Scholar

page 316 note 70 Boccaccio, G., Esposizioni sopra la comedia di Dante , <e>ed. G. Padoan (Verona 1965) 252258. Sabbadini, R., Le scoperte dei codici latini e greci ne’ secoli XIV e XV (Florence 1967) 29; also Billanovich, G., I primi Umanisti e le tradizioni dei classici latini (Fribourg 1953) 30–33.ed.+G.+Padoan+(Verona+1965)+252–258.+Sabbadini,+R.,+Le+scoperte+dei+codici+latini+e+greci+ne’+secoli+XIV+e+XV+(Florence+1967)+29;+also+Billanovich,+G.,+I+primi+Umanisti+e+le+tradizioni+dei+classici+latini+(Fribourg+1953)+30–33.>Google Scholar

page 317 note 71 Polenton's Life of Seneca is in his Scriptorum illustrium libri, <e>edited by B. L. Ullman (Rome 1928) 463499. Polenton says in a letter of 1437 announcing the completion of Scriptorum that he had been working on it for 25 years, which means he was just starting in 1412. Polenton's Life of Seneca circulated separately before 1437 because of public demand. See Ullman's, Introduction, xii–xx. Polenton's Life was not printed in the 1557 and 1573 editions of Seneca's Opera omnia, or translated into Italian for Varchi's translation of Seneca's De beneficiis (1574), as Ullman claims (xxxix); rather, a mutilated version of Barzizza's Life, as I show further on.edited by B. L. Ullman (Rome 1928) 463–499. Polenton says in a letter of 1437 announcing the completion of Scriptorum that he had been working on it for 25 years, which means he was just starting in 1412. Polenton's Life of Seneca circulated separately before 1437 because of public demand. See Ullman's, Introduction, xii–xx. Polenton's Life was not printed in the 1557 and 1573 editions of Seneca's Opera omnia, or translated into Italian for Varchi's translation of Seneca's De beneficiis (1574), as Ullman claims (xxxix); rather, a mutilated version of Barzizza's Life, as I show further on.' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Polenton's+Life+of+Seneca+is+in+his+Scriptorum+illustrium+libri,+edited+by+B.+L.+Ullman+(Rome+1928)+463–499.+Polenton+says+in+a+letter+of+1437+announcing+the+completion+of+Scriptorum+that+he+had+been+working+on+it+for+25+years,+which+means+he+was+just+starting+in+1412.+Polenton's+Life+of+Seneca+circulated+separately+before+1437+because+of+public+demand.+See+Ullman's,+Introduction,+xii–xx.+Polenton's+Life+was+not+printed+in+the+1557+and+1573+editions+of+Seneca's+Opera+omnia,+or+translated+into+Italian+for+Varchi's+translation+of+Seneca's+De+beneficiis+(1574),+as+Ullman+claims+(xxxix);+rather,+a+mutilated+version+of+Barzizza's+Life,+as+I+show+further+on.>Google Scholar

page 317 note 72 Manetti brought out parallel lives of Socrates and Seneca in 1440. See Vita Socratis, a cura di Mario Montuori (Florence 1974) = Biblioteca di ‘De homine,’ 6; and C. Moreschini, ‘La Vita Senecae di G. Manetti,’ Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa 3.6 (1976) 847–75.Google Scholar

page 317 note 78 See Faider, Paul, Études sur Sénèque (Ghent 1921) for information about Paulus Pompilius, 269–280, and the text of his Vita Senecae, 281–323. All these lives are discussed in my thesis (note 33 supra).Google Scholar

page 318 note 74 For a critical edition of De quattuor virtutibus and history of text, see Barlow, C. W., Martini Episcopi Bracarensis opera omnia (Roma 1950). Petrarch makes known his discovery in Seniles 2.4.Google Scholar

page 318 note 75 Boccaccio, Esposizioni 253–54.Google Scholar

page 318 note 76 Critical edition of this and other apocryphal works of Seneca in Meersseman, ‘Seneca, maestro di spiritualità’ 117–128.Google Scholar

page 318 note 77 See Martellotti, G., ‘La questione dei due Seneca da Petrarca a Benvenuto, Italia Medioevale e Umanistica 15 (1972) 149169.Google Scholar

page 318 note 78 For the reasons which led Boccaccio and Salutati to identify the other Seneca in this way, see Martellotti 157–165.Google Scholar

page 318 note 79 Seneca's authorship of Octavia is problematic because the play foretells with considerable circumstantial evidence the death of Nero, who died three years after Seneca, and because Seneca himself appears as a character. As Salutati knew, it was improper for an author to put himself into a tragedy, a genre in high style. (For Salutati's view, see Martellotti 160–165). Octavia presents Seneca in a morally favourable light, actively opposing the wicked designs of Nero. Modern scholarship, however, excludes Octavia, attributing all other nine tragedies to our Seneca.Google Scholar

page 319 note 80 Paolo Pompilio seems to be the first to deduce that Seneca's father wrote at least some of the Declamationes. See Faider, 284–285 and 442–443. His Life of Seneca was composed about 1490, but not printed until this century. Raffaele Maffei di Volterra, known as Volaterranus, who borrowed from Pompilio, is given credit for the separation of father and son in Commentarii urbani (the first printed edition of which appeared in 1506), s.v. ‘Seneca,’ Lib. XIX 704–705 (Leipzig 1603). Volaterranus, however, increases the number of Senecas to three: father, son, and tragedian, who he thinks could be Seneca's nephew, Lucan. Because of Jerome's testimony, he cannot reject the St. Paul–Seneca Correspondence.Google Scholar

page 319 note 81 Esposizioni 256.Google Scholar

page 319 note 82 For a complete collection of all passages from classical authors and Church Fathers to do with Seneca, see Trillitzsch, W., Seneca im literarischen Urteil der Antike (Amsterdam 1971) II.Google Scholar

page 320 note 83 Ma, come che l'autore in questo luogo il ponga come dannato, io non sono perciò assai certo se questa opinione s’è da seguire o no, con ciò sia cosa che si leggano più epistole mandate da Seneca a san Paolo e da san Paolo a Seneca, nelle quali apare tra loro essere stata singulare amistà, quantunque occulta fosse; ed in quelle, o almeno nell'ultima di quelle, essere parole scritte da san Paolo, le quali, bene intese, assai chiaro mi pare dimostrino san Paolo lui avere per cristiano. E se esso fu cristiano e di continentissima e santa vita, perché tra'dannati annoverar si debba non veggio: senza che, a confermazion di questa mia pietosa oppinione, vengono le parole scritte di lui da san Girolamo in libro Virorum illustrium.’ Esposizioni 257. Boccaccio quotes the entire paragraph on Seneca from Jerome.Google Scholar

page 320 note 84 Seneca ‘quantunque il battesimo della fede avesse, il quale i nostri santi chiamano “flaminis,” non essendo rigenerato secondo il comune uso de” cristiani nel battesimo dell'acqua e dello Spirito santo, quell'acqua in fonte battesimale consecrasse a Giove Liberatore, cioè a Iesù Cristo, il quale veramente fu liberatore dell'umana generazione nella sua morte e nella resurrezione: né osta il nome di Giove, il quale altra volta è stato mostrato ottimamente convenirsi a Dio, anzi a lui, e non ad alcuna creatura; e così, consecratala, in questa essersi bagnato e divenuto cristiano col sacramento visibile, come con la mente era.’ Ibid. 258.Google Scholar

page 320 note 85 Canto Il, litt., 98.Google Scholar

page 320 note 86 (Bari 1951) 2.2; 69–71.Google Scholar

page 321 note 87 ‘Volunt enim aliqui et graves viri quod idem Juppiter sonet quodiuvans pater, quod soli vero Deo convenit. Ipse enim vere pater est et ab eterno fuit et erit in sempiternum, quod de alio nemine dici potest, similiter et iuvans est omnibus et nulli nocens, et in tantum iuvans est, ut si suum retrahatur iuvamen periclitentur confestim omnia necesse sit. Insuper hoc nomen Juppiter grece dicitur zephs, quod latine vita sonat. Et quis alter rebus et creaturis omnibus vita est nisi Deus? Ipse enim de se ipso dicens testatur: Ego sum via, veritas et vita; et profecto sic est. Illi enim et per eum et in eo vivunt omnia, extra eum preter mortem et tenebras nichil. Hunc, et si non rite coluerint, veteres Romani Jovem optimum maximum vocavere, conati per hec pauca verba ostendere, quoniam magnitudine et potentia ceteros excedat deos, et quod ipse solus summum sit bonum et quod ab eo vita sit et adiutorium universis.’ Ibid. 70–71. Zephs looks like a phonetic writing down of Greek Boccaccio heard pronounced. He is linking Ζεύς and ΖΖ1F75;ν. Google Scholar

page 321 note 88 See the entire section, De natura deorum 2.23–28, for Stoic allegorization of the gods. About Jove: ‘Sed ipse Iuppiter — id est iuvans pater, quem conversis casibus appellamus a iuvando Iovem, a poetis “pater divomque hominumque” dicitur, a maioribus autem nostris optumus maxumus, et quidem ante optumus, id est beneficentissimus, quam maxumus quia maius est certeque gratius prodesse omnibus quam opes magnas habere.” 2.25.64.Google Scholar

page 321 note 89 Haec [fabulae] et dicuntur et creduntur stultissime et plena sunt futtilitatis summaeque levitatis.’ 2.28.71.Google Scholar

page 321 note 90 Civ. Dei 7.11. All Book 7 is relevant. Augustine's aim, however, is not to reconcile pagan and Christian theology, but, by the example of the pagan Varro arguing against his own religion, to show the utter absurdity and worthlessness of pagan theology.Google Scholar

page 323 note 91 Annales 15.62–64: Phaedo 115b-118. Barzizza, whose knowledge of Greek is doubtful, could have read about Socrates’ death in Bruni's translation of 1404–5, but Cicero's several references to Socrates’ death in Tusculans, Book 1, might have been a more accessible source. Cicero draws a striking parallel between Socrates’ moral teaching and that of the Stoics. He quotes Socrates to the effect that no evil can befall a good man either in this life or in any other (1.41), which is the theme of Seneca's De providentia. Google Scholar

page 323 note 92 After quoting St. Jerome's paragraph on Seneca (App. II 17), he exclaims in the following paragraph 18: ‘Quam stultum igitur argumentari Senecam sibi mortem elegisse cum dicat “a Nerone interfectus est”! Alius enim est genus mortis eligere, aliud ipsam mortem.’Google Scholar

page 323 note 93 See in particular, Phaedo 115c. The only one at the death scene not to burst into tears is Socrates himself.Google Scholar

page 323 note 94 For an explanation of the three kinds of baptism, see for example, Aquinas, Summa theologiae III q. 66 art. 11. Since baptism has its effect because of Christ's death and resurrection, someone who suffers and dies for Christ's sake also receives the benefits of baptism: ‘potest aliquis consequi sacramenti effectum ex passione Christi, inquantum quis ei conformatur pro Christo patiendo.’ Even without the visible rite, or martyrdom, a third way is possible, through the action of the Holy Spirit: ‘inquantum scilicet alicuius cor per Spiritum Sanctum movetur ad credendum et diligendum Deum, et poenitendum de peccatis.’ This is baptism by faith.Google Scholar

page 324 note 95 See Ginzburg, C., Il Nicodemismo (Turin 1970) for this movement.Google Scholar

page 325 note 96 See note 71 supra for bibliographical details of this Life of Seneca.Google Scholar

page 325 note 97 Ibid. 496–499. Polenton also defends Seneca against an accusation of avarice: he was wealthy, but he did not let his wealth corrupt him (481).Google Scholar

page 325 note 98 Vatican, MS Urb. Lat. 448. ‘Iannocii Manetti Florentini Prefacio ad Alfonsum Clarissimum Aragonum Regem in Vita Socratis et Senece per eum Composite,’ fols. 332v–335r. ‘Vita Socratis,’ fols. 335r–347r; ‘Vita Senece,’ fols. 347r–358r. Manetti defends Seneca against Aulus Gellius twice, fols. 351rv, and returns yet again to conclude that the testimony of Gellius is far outweighed by the generally favourable ones of Plutarch, Pliny, Tacitus, Suetonius, Quintilian, Lactantius, Jerome, Augustine, and Paul the Apostle! The printed edition of this Life (see note 72 supra), came out too late for me to use for this article.Google Scholar

page 326 note 99 Fols. 354r-v.Google Scholar

page 326 note 100 Faider, Études sur Sénèque 315. Pompilio is torn because, while he realizes the style of both Paul and Seneca in the Correspondence is one and the same, and that neither elegant nor correct, he cannot dismiss the words of Jerome, to which he adds the reference of Augustine, too: Ep. ad. Macedonium 153.14: ‘Seneca, qui temporibus apostolorum fuit, cuius etiam quaedam ad Paulum apostolum leguntur epistulae.’Google Scholar

page 326 note 101 Supra, p. 311–313.Google Scholar

page 327 note 102 Did Barzizza already know Tacitus? From internal evidence in Epistulae morales and Naturales quaestiones, he would know Seneca was a very old man, had retired from public life and Rome, and that Lucilius was away from Rome, governing Sicily (Ep. 56 and 96; Nat. quaest. 3 Pref. 1; 4 Pref. 1). But he would need some acquaintance with Tacitus to know about Seneca's leaving Rome never to come back partly because of Poppea and Tigillinus.Google Scholar

page 327 note 103 MS Urb. Lat. 218 fol. 235r.Google Scholar

page 328 note 104 Infra, 340–341.Google Scholar

page 328 note 105 MS Urb. Lat. 218 fol. 237r.Google Scholar

page 328 note 106 Augustine commends Seneca's De sup. in Civ. Dei 6.10. Jerome says he quotes Seneca's De matr. in Adversus Jovinianum 1.49. For Lactantius, see Divinae institutiones, especially 1.5.26; 6.24.12–17. For a complete list of quotes on Seneca from the Fathers see Trillitzsch, , Seneca II 362–384.Google Scholar

page 328 note 107 See Meersseman, , ‘Seneca maestro di spiritualità,’ esp. 43–49.Google Scholar

page 328 note 108 De his quae mihi scripsistis non licet arundine et atramento eloqui, quarum altera res notat et designat aliquid, altera evidenter ostendit, praecipue cum sciam inter vos esse, hoc est apud vos et in vobis, qui me intellegant.’ Barlow 127–128.Google Scholar

page 328 note 109 MS Urb. Lat. 218 fol. 237r.Google Scholar

page 329 note 110 Ibid. fol. 237v.Google Scholar

page 329 note 111 Honor omnibus habendus est, tanto magis quanto indignandi occasionem captant. Quibus si patientiam demus, omni modo eos et quaqua parte vincemus.’ Barlow 128.Google Scholar

page 329 note 112 MS cit. fol. 237v. Does the reference to examples from human and divine law come from a legal compilation, perhaps Gratian's Decretals? Zabarella, Barzizza's close friend, who taught canon law at Padua, wrote commentaries on them. See Zonta, 15.Google Scholar

page 329 note 113 MS cit. fol. 245r.Google Scholar

page 329 note 114 Supra, 319.Google Scholar

page 329 note 115 Seneca writes to Paul: ‘Misi te librum de verborum copia.’ Barlow 132. Barlow, Martini Episcopi … opera believes De copia is the same as De quattuor virtutibus. Meersseman disagrees, arguing that it is a separate work. He gives a critical edition in ‘Seneca maestro di spiritualità’ 103–114.Google Scholar

page 330 note 116 MS cit. fol. 240v.Google Scholar

page 330 note 117 Sabbadini, Storia del Ciceronianesimo thinks that Guarino and (the later) Barzizza were the first to show mastery of a Ciceronian style. Although admiring Cicero's eloquence, Petrarch, Salutati, and to a lesser extent Bruni, were not yet able to write like Cicero. See 5–26.Google Scholar

page 330 note 118 See Garofalo, S., ‘Gli umanisti italiani del secolo xv et la Bibbia, Biblica 27 (1946) 338375; also Trinkaus, C., ‘Italian Humanism and the Scriptures’ In Our Image and Likeness (London 1970) II 563–614.Google Scholar

page 331 note 119 MS cit. fol 238r.Google Scholar

page 331 note 120 Supra, 302.Google Scholar

page 331 note 121 Quintilian was hostile to Seneca on account of his closeness to Nero and his attempt to renew Latin prose writing. The head of the first official school of rhetoric at Rome set up by the Emperor Galba in a.d.68, he fought the influence of Seneca over the young so successfully that Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic Emperor, never once mentions Seneca's name! Faider, Études sur Sénèque 40–49. See Institutio oratoria, 10.1.125–131 for Quintilian's lengthiest attack on Seneca.Google Scholar

page 331 note 122 Infra, 339.Google Scholar

page 331 note 123 Milan, Biblioteca Braidense, MS AF. IX. 12, ‘Paraphrasticae Parentheses seu Sacra in aureas sane Pauli ad Senecam et Senecae ad Paulum Epistolas Hypomnemata.’Google Scholar

page 332 note 124 Andreas Peccius Eugubinus, Humanista celeber, scripsit Regulas Gramaticales Linguae Latinae utilisimas, et Commentarium in Senecae Epistolas. Floruit an. 1433.’ L. Jacobilli, Bibliotheca Umbriae (Fulginiae 1658) 40. Antonio, N., Bibliotheca Hispana vetus (Rome 1696) 33, repeats Jacobilli, adding that the commentary ‘servatur in libris Ducis Urbini Vaticanae bibliothecae cod. 1022 in folio.’ Complete description of this MS, now 1490, can be found in Stornajolo, C., Codices Urbinates Latini III (1921) 365–366.Google Scholar

page 332 note 125 … sed iste … quia inlustris populi Romani senator erat, colebat quod reprehendebat, agebat quod arguebat, quod culpabat, adorabat; quia videlicet magnum aliquid eum philosophia docuerat, ne superstitiosus esset in mundo, sed propter leges civium moresque hominum non quidem ageret fingentem scaenicum in theatro, sed imitaretur in templo’ (Civ. Dei 6.10; quoted from Trillitzsch, Seneca II 378).Google Scholar

page 332 note 126 Civ. Dei 1.15–26. Augustine is particularly caustic against the famous Stoic suicides Cato and Lucretia, chapters 22 and 18 respectively.Google Scholar

page 333 note 127 See especially Book 3 of the Institutiones. Lactantius strikes at the Stoic teaching that virtue itself is the final good for man, bringing him happiness. Virtue, Lactantius argues, is a means to happiness which the Christian finds, not in this world, but in the next. See 3.8, 27, 29. The Stoic counsel of uprooting the passions of anger, fear, joy, and desire to reach inner tranquillity, Lactantius denounces as anti-natural, 6.17.Google Scholar

page 333 note 128 Tacitus, Annales 14.7, suggests that Seneca was in on the secret to kill Agrippina, and did not actively resist. Quintilian, Inst. or. 8.5.18 actually speaks of Seneca's writing the letter.Google Scholar

page 333 note 129 Petrarch expresses his admiration and doubts in a letter to Seneca, Familiares 24.5. As he dates the letter, he writes: ‘anno ab ortu Eius quem an tu rite noveris incertum habeo, MCCCXLVIII.’Google Scholar

page 333 note 130 Florence, Biblioteca Laurenziana, MS Aed. Flor. Eccles. CLXXII. ‘Vita Senecae’ fols. 358v–359r. Domenico reports conflicting opinions without trying to resolve them. He concludes: ‘Quicquid tamen dicatur, Seneca fuit vir mundo utilis. Et adeo moralis quod dicatur magister morum.’ Discussion of Stoic fate in ‘De sectis philosophorum,’ Aed. Flor. Eccles. CLXXI, fols. 6r–7r. On this work, see Teresa Hankey, A., ‘The Successive Revisions and Surviving Codices of the Fons Memorabilium Universi,’ Rinascimento 11 (1960) 349.Google Scholar

page 334 note 131 Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, MS 0 124, sup. fols. 123–126, ‘Ad reverendum in Christo patrem et dominum, A. Vicecomitem, decretorum doctorum ac tocius ordinis humiliatorum generalem, super nota particula prime Epistole L. A. Senece iudicium Candidi requisitum.’ Barzizza mentioned fol. 124v.Google Scholar

page 334 note 132 Rome, , Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vat. Lat. 1794.Google Scholar

page 334 note 133 MS cit. 1.10. fol. 22v.Google Scholar

page 334 note 134 Ibid. fols. 22v–23r.Google Scholar

page 334 note 135 See n. 47 supra. Google Scholar

page 335 note 136 MS cit. 2.18 fol. 42r.Google Scholar

page 335 note 137 Supra, 303–304.Google Scholar

page 335 note 138 Supra, 303.Google Scholar

page 335 note 139 Supra, 325.Google Scholar

page 335 note 140 MS cit. 1.7 fol. 18r–v.Google Scholar

page 335 note 141 Woodward, W. H., Vittorino da Feltre; Guarino's ‘De ordine’ 159–178. Reference to his father, 161.Google Scholar

page 336 note 143 Sabbadini, , La scuola 108. Sabbadini thinks Guarino the best textual critic of this period, better than Leonardo Bruni Aretino and Lorenzo Valla, 107.Google Scholar

page 336 note 144 Baron, H., ‘Aulus Gellius in the Renaissance, From Petrarch to Leonardo Bruni (Chicago – London 1968) 205206.Google Scholar

page 336 note 145 In errores Antonii Raudensis adnotationes, opera omnia (Basel 1540) 428: ‘de ementitis ad Paulum, et Pauli ad eum epistolis, in alio opere disputavimus.’ In errores was completed about 1444, but what is the ‘alio opere’? No extant work, for sure, which leaves us with the possibility that Valla may be referring to his very first work, De comparatione Ciceronis Quintitianique, apparently the only lost one, which he wrote about 1427. See Mancini, G., Vita di Lorenzo Valla (Florence 1891) 17. Valla may thus have identified the forgery before Guarino.Google Scholar

page 336 note 146 For the various versions of this work, over which Valla laboured for roughly twenty years, see M. Lorch's Introduction to her critical edition of De vero falsoque bono (Bari 1970) xv–lvii.Google Scholar

page 337 note 147 Seneca moralis (Venice: Bernardo de Cremona et Simone de Luero 1490) ‘Vita Lucii Annei Senecae Cordubensis,’ fol. preceding first numbered fol. r and v. Opus Senece (Venice: Matheus Capcasa 1493) ‘Vita Senece,’ fol. lxxr andv. Senece opera omnia (Venice: Bartholomeus de Zanis 1503) ‘Vita Senece,’ fols. 63v–64r. Both editions by Erasmus have the same Life of Seneca with the rubrics: ‘Vita Lucii Annaei Senecae incerto autore nisi quod constat ilium fuisse recentiorem, ut qui subinde citat Petrarcham, Boccatium, et alios huiusmodi, Quisquis est, decerpsit ex Tacito et Suetonio.’Google Scholar

page 337 note 148 Pistole del moralissimo Seneca nuovamente fatte volgare … traducte di Latina lingua in Toscan volgare per Sebastiano Manilio cittadin Romano (Venice: Stefano e Bernardio Dinali 1494). L'Epistole di Seneca, ridotte nella lingua toscana per il Doni (Venice 1549). No pagination in either vol.Google Scholar

page 337 note 149 Seneca, , De’ Benefizii , tradotto in Volgar Fiorentino da M. Benedetto Varchi, di nuovo ristampato con la vita dell'Autore. The translation of the Rev. Giovanni di Tante is not the same as the one found in Doni.Google Scholar

page 337 note 150 Supra notes 71–73.Google Scholar

page 338 note 151 For remarks on the deformation of Seneca in general Preface, see especially fol. a3r and v; for the Preface to the Correspondence, 690; and for the remarks before the Epistulae morales, 76. For the first two Prefaces mentioned, see also Allen, P. S., Opus epistolarum Des. Erasmi (Oxford 1906–1958) 8.25–39 and 40–41. On Erasmus and Seneca, see Trillitzsch, W., ‘Erasmus und Seneca,’ Philologus 109 (1965) 270–293; also Phillips, M. M., ‘Erasmus and the Classics,’ Erasmus <e>ed. T. A. Dorey (London 1970) 12–17.ed.+T.+A.+Dorey+(London+1970)+12–17.>Google Scholar

page 338 note 152 Fol. a3r; Allen 8.29.Google Scholar

page 338 note 153 Fol. a3r; Allen 8.29.Google Scholar

page 339 note 154 Fol. a3v; Allen 8.30.Google Scholar

page 339 note 155 Fol. a3v; Allen 8.31.Google Scholar

page 339 note 156 1529 edition only, 76. In the same preface are references to the bad influence of the St. Paul–Seneca Correspondence on the correct understanding of Seneca, and to ‘prolixis et immanibus commentariis’ with which illiterate men have burdened Seneca! Erasmus cannot resist giving his own interpretation, however.Google Scholar

page 339 note 157 Ibid. 690; Allen 8.41.Google Scholar

page 339 note 158 Loc. cit. Allen 8.40.Google Scholar

page 339 note 159 Iacobus Faber Stapulensis, Epistole divi Pauli apostoli cum commentariis (Paris 1512). The Correspondence had been printed before, but this was the first time in print with a commentary, and in the august company of Paul's genuine Epistles.Google Scholar

page 340 note 160 Allen 1.107, written to Cornelius Gerard.Google Scholar

page 340 note 161 1529 edition, 690; Allen 8.41.Google Scholar

page 340 note 162 Supra, 322 and App. II 14.Google Scholar

page 342 note 1 Naples MS V. D. 20 and Venice MS Correr 1437 add: Tranquillus Suetonius libro quarto De duodecim Cesaribus videtur innuere quod temporibus Gaii Calligule Sceneca esset Rome. Fuit enim Calligula quartus imperator a Cesare. Quod si verum est, videtur minuenda superior opinio que ponebat quod a G. Domitio captus et Romam suo hortatu missus fuerit. Nisi illud volumus dicere quod Domitius a Tiberio missus ad expugnandam Cordubam fuerit. Ait ergo Suetonius: ‘Cum lentum dicendi genus Calligula contemneret, is Scenecam tum maxime placentem dicere solitus erat arenam esse sine calce,’ id est, sententiis abundantem sed carentem ea vi ornatus que sententias ligat et aptissime positas sunt. Illud satis constat multis annis Scenecam Rome fuisse.Google Scholar

page 342 note 2 Throughout Naples V. D. 20, ‘Quintus Tatius’ has been corrected to ‘Cornelius Tacitus.’ MS Correr 1437 keeps ‘Quintus Tacius.’Google Scholar

page 343 note 3 Naples V. D. 20 and Correr 1437 add: iussit.Google Scholar

page 346 note 4 Naples V. D. 20 and Correr 1437 add: patres.Google Scholar

page 347 note 5 Letter 14 of spurious Seneca–St. Paul Correspondence.Google Scholar

page 348 note 6 Naples V. D. 20 adds: et auctoritas Eusebii in chronica maiori De temporibus. Boccatius in Genealogia ponit librum De sacris Egipti. Correr 1437 omits the parenthetical remarks.Google Scholar

page 348 note 7 Same MSS add: quem Eusebius in libro De temporibus dicit Lucilium Balbum fuisse appellatum.Google Scholar

page 348 note 8 Same MSS add: Idem Eusebius affirmat.Google Scholar

page 348 note 9 Naples V. D. 20 adds: Sidonius poeta egregius fratrem fuisse dicit, et Boccatius.Google Scholar

page 350 note 10 Naples V. D. 20 and Correr 1437 add: Sed iam nihil amplius esse puto quod in hac re fieri a me expetatur nisi ut cum ocium fuerit, hos commentarios in epistolas Scenece parum adhuc fortunatos maiori studio ac diligentia rescribam. Ad quam rem perficiendam, tantus mihi est animus, ut non parve pene reus videar nisi aliquando id perfecero. Interim, his utantur presentibus, sicut aut mala uxore vir prudens, aut equo non bono miles strenuus. Deinceps autem, equo animo fiat accessus ad litteram.Google Scholar

page 357 note 1 Venice Fondo Correr 1437 adds: divineGoogle Scholar

page 358 note 2 Same MS adds: sententias.Google Scholar

page 358 note 3 Same MS leaves blank space after first syllable: mi-.Google Scholar

page 358 note 4 Same MS adds: epistole.Google Scholar