Imagining Marcus Aurelius in the Renaissance: Forgery, Fiction, and History in the Creation of the Imperial Ideal

chapter 41 Imagining Marcus Aurelius in the Renaissance: Forgery, Fiction, and History in the Creation of the Imperial Ideal

Thomas Dandelet

From the earliest phase of the Italian Renaissance in the fourteenth century, reviving the memory, history, and writings of the Roman emperors was a cen- tral preoccupation of humanists who longed for a revival of Roman imperial culture and power. The long biography of Julius Caesar by Petrarch served as a foundation stone of this literary movement, and it was followed by numerous new editions of Caesar’s Commentaries. Figures such as Guarino Guarini championed Caesar as a model for new princes such as his patron Leonello d’Este, to whom he dedicated a new edition of the Commentaries, noting that the young prince was like a new Caesar.1 This was not a position shared by all humanists, as the spirited debate between Guarino and his republican contemporary from Florence Poggio Bracciolini amply demonstrated. While Poggio presented Caesar as a tyrant who destroyed republican liberty and shed the blood of many Romans, Guarino argued that he was one of the greatest military strategists and rulers who ever lived, as demonstrated by his many victories, writings, and the expansion of Roman power. Others, like Coluccio Salutati, took a more measured view of Caesar, acknowledging his virtues as a writer and military leader while criticiz- ing him for shedding Roman blood in the Civil Wars. Whatever the position, these authors and others such as Pius ii, who wrote his own Commentaries following the literary model of Caesar, could not resist focusing their attention on Caesar and his successors as they looked to the ancient Roman Empire for political models and wisdom in their own day. Gaining strength and momentum throughout the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, as the growing number of new editions of Caesar’s work revealed, this literary rebirth of the Caesars rose to a new height with the immergence of a new Caesar, Charles v, in 1517. Although earlier imperial humanists such as Guarino and Flavio Biondo may have dreamed of the

1 For details on the revival of interest in Caesar and the accompanying debate in the early Renaissance see Thomas Dandelet, The Renaissance of Empire in Early Modern Europe (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 18–30.

730 Dandelet renewal of Roman imperial power, the enormous political inheritance of Charles v, coupled with the New World conquests in Mexico (1520) and Peru (1535) early in his reign, signaled the arrival of the first European ruler since antiquity, to paraphrase Francesco Guicciardini, who actually joined the name of Caesar with an empire of territory, wealth, and military power equal to or even greater than that of ancient Rome. Not surprisingly, humanists in the service of Charles v readily embraced the tradition of using the history of the ancient emperors and their writings as sources of good counsel for ruling empire. In the case of the first real Caesar of the Renaissance, however, it was not Julius Caesar who served as the major model. Rather, it was Marcus Aurelius as presented by the emperor’s Spanish royal historian, political counselor, and chaplain, Antonio de Guevara, who played this role.2 In 1528, the first edition of Guevara’s Golden Book of Marcus Aurelius was pub- lished, followed soon thereafter, in 1529, by his Mirror of Princes. Originally dedicated to Charles v, the two books, often printed together under the single title Golden Book, had the specific purpose of providing political advice for govern- ing the young emperor’s vast states and his personal life. Enjoying almost imme- diate success, the two books, printed separately or together, were translated into Italian, French, Latin, Dutch, German, and English in the following decades, with over two hundred printings appearing in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.3 They were subsequently two of the most successful examples of

2 For a concise treatment of Guevara’s life, see Mercedes Alcalá-Galán, “Antonio de Guevara,” in Encyclopedia of the Renaissance, ed. Paul F. Grendler, vol. 3 (New York: Scribner, 2000), 99–100. She notes that he was an adviser to Gonzalo de Córdoba during the comunero revolt (1519–21), and his loyalty to Charles v earned him the emperor’s favor and many posts over the rest of his life: in 1521 he was named preacher to the court of Charles v; in 1523 royal chronicler; and shortly thereafter counselor to the emperor. He was sent to Valencia and Granada in 1525 and 1526 to convert the Moriscos, as he was famous for his rhetorical and preaching skills. Charles v nominated him to be bishop of Guadix (Granada) in 1529 and then Mondonedo in 1537. Guevara was often away from his bishoprics, however, because of his other roles. He accompanied Charles v in the Tunis campaign in 1535 and was with him throughout the triumphal journey back through Italy and France that followed. For earlier but more extensive studies see Joseph Jones, Antonio de Guevara (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1966); René Costes, Antonio de Guevara, Sa Vie, Bibliothèque de l’École des Hautes Études Hispaniques, Fascicule x, 1 (Bordeaux: Feret, 1925). 3 Paul Grendler gives this estimate in Schooling in Renaissance Italy (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989), 300–304. He also notes that twenty-three Venetian teachers stated that they taught the Vita di Marco Aurelio imperator, making it the second most frequently men- tioned title in the vernacular curriculum. See also Livia Brunori, Le traduzioni italiane del ‘Libro aureo de Marco Aurelio’ e del ‘Relox de Principes’ di Antonio de Guevara (Imola: Galeati, 1979), 18.