Giovanni Gioviano Pontano Versus Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola

Chapter 11 Poet, Astrologer, Courtier: Giovanni Gioviano Pontano versus Giovanni Pico della Mirandola

Unlike Lucio Bellanti, another opponent of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni Gioviano Pontano needs no introduction.1 His contribution to humanist culture was largely recognised during his lifetime. As the head and the most famous member of Porticus Antonianus, also known as the Accademia Pontaniana, he was responsible for both cultural enterprises and political de- velopments at the court of the Neapolitan kings of the Aragonese dynasty. Although Pontano was born in Umbria, he was never associated with the humanist movement north of Naples. In 1447, Alfonso I of Naples appeared in Tuscany to attack Florence in the papal cause. His favourite humanist, the Sicilian Panormita (whose real name was Antonio Beccadelli), accompanied him. When Pontano presented himself at Alfonso’s court, Panormita recognised the young man’s promise and took him under his wing. They began a close friendship, which lasted until Panormita’s death in 1471. Panormita cre- ated the first Neapolitan academy, the Porticus Antonianus, which was later renamed after Pontano.2 This underlines the status of Pontano at the court of Neapolitan rulers; he was considered to be Panormita’s successor as the lead- ing ‘court’ humanist. Pontano was also actively involved in the real political life of Naples. In 1487, he was appointed first secretary to the king, which cor- responded to today’s position of prime minister. Pontano’s duties at his new post included diplomatic negotiations with Italian states and foreign policy, as well as the administration of justice, finance and army. Pontano’s fame as an astrologer also contributed to his promotion to the position of first secretary; it was quite common at that time for the political decisions of Renaissance rulers to be guided by astrological predictions.

1 On Pontano’s general biography, see first of all Carol Kidwell, Pontano. Poet & Prime Minister (London: Duckworth, 1991). On how Pontano and his circle constructed their literary identity, see Matteo Soranzo, Poetry and Identity in Quattrocento Naples (Farnham; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2014). On Pontano’s moral and political philosophy conforming to his political career, see Matthias Roick, Pontano’s Virtues: Aristotelian Moral and Political Thought in the Renaissance (London; New York: Bloomsbury, 2017). 2 On the ‘Accademia Pontaniana’ as a humanist institution and intellectual hub, see Shulamit Furstenberg-Levi, The Accademia Pontaniana: A Model of a Humanist Network (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2016).

The list of Pontano’s writings is impressive. It consists of several treatises on moral and political philosophy, literary writings and poems, and philosophical dialogues. Astrology played a crucial role in Pontano’s intellectual interests. He did not limit himself to interpreting astrology and its relationship to philosophy but also served as a translator and commentator of numerous ancient astrological texts, such as pseudo-Ptolemy’s Centiloquium, mentioned above.3 His interest in Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos is also worth mentioning. Pontano’s astrological poems, the Urania and the De meteoris, which abound in mytho- logical details, were clearly influenced by Aratus’ Phaenomena and Manilius’ Astronomica.4 The latter text, as well as Firmicus Maternus’ Mathesis, attracted Pontano’s particular attention and owed a great deal of their success in the Renaissance to his work. They shaped the essence of Pontano’s astrological views to a con- siderable extent; that is why some introduction to their destiny in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance might be required. The Mathesis, written by Julius Firmicus Maternus, a fourth-century AC Roman astrologer, was perhaps amongst the most successful ancient astrological sources. As the Italian scholar Michele Rinaldi suggests, the first evidence of the dissemination of the treatise could be found in the eleventh and twelfth centuries in France and England.5 Thus, medieval English historian William of Malmesbury mentioned that Gerbert of Aurillac, who would later become Pope under the name of Silvester II, had studied the Mathesis of Firmicus.6 Though William of Malmesbury is often referred to as one of the most accurate and trustworthy historians in medieval England, his comments raise some questions. As is well known, Gerbert of Aurillac had a controversial reputation and was accused of prac- tising black magic. Such an image of the magician was not only widespread in medieval literature; it remained in force until the twentieth century and is

3 On Pontano’s place amongst ‘astrological humanists’, see Michele Rinaldi, ‘L’astrologia degli umanisti’, in Il linguaggio dei cieli. Astri e simboli nel Rinascimento, pp. 73–89. 4 Mauro De Nichilo, I poemi astrologici di Giovanni Pontano: storia del testo (Bari: Dedalo, 1975). Book I of the Urania was recently published in a good German edition: Giovanni Pontanos Urania Buch 1: Einleitung, Edition und Kommentar, ed. by Dennis Weh (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017). There is hope that the other books of the poem will follow. On Pontano in a broader context of Renaissance Latin astrological poetry, see Yasmin Haskell, ‘Renaissance Latin Didactic Poetry on the Stars: Wonder, Myth, and Science’, Renaissance Studies, 12, 4 (1998), 495–522. 5 Michele Rinaldi, ‘Sic itur ad astra’: Giovanni Pontano e la sua opera astrologica nel quadro della tradizione manoscritta della Mathesis di Giulio Firmico Materno (Naples: Loffredo, 2002), pp. 31–37. 6 William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, ed. by Roger A. B. Mynors et al. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), I, p. 280.