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The Diffusion of Sextus Empiricus's Works in the Renaissance

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The Diffusion of Sextus Empiricus's Works in the Renaissance The Diffusionof SextusEmpiricus's Works in theRenaissance LucianoFloridi Introduction:An AnnotatedList of ThreeKnown Latin Translations In discussingthe recoveryof Pyrrhonismduring the fifteenthand six- teenthcenturies, it seems that any analysis of the influenceof Sextus Empiricus'sworks on Renaissanceculture has to be based on a careful investigationof whatprimary and secondarysources were availableat the time,and who knewand madeuse of suchsources. For this purpose scholars have,since the second half of the nineteenth century, located and studiedfive Latintranslations of SextusEmpiricus's works. This has recentlyled to the reconstructionof a familyof manuscriptsconsisting of threecopies of a late medievaltranslation. T : Paris,Bibliotheque Nationale, Ms. Lat. 14700, s. XIII, mbr.,misc., 396 fols.:(ff. 83r_132v) (P)Irroniarum Informacionum libri.' This is themost widelyknown Latin translation of the Outlines.Because of its closenessto the originalGreek text,it was used by HermannMutschmann for the constitutiotextus in his criticaledition of Sextus's works.2Discovered and describedby CharlesJourdain, it was furtherstudied by ClemensBaeumker and Mutschmannhimself,3 who listedit as "Tr.l." in his still fundamental 1 For detailed descriptionsof the Ms. see M. Leopold Delisle "Inventairedes manuscritslatins de Saint-Victor,"BibliothUque de l'Ecole des Chartes,30 (1869), 40; G. Lacombe (ed.), AristotelesLatinus Codices (Rome, 1939), I, 544-45; and Paul Oskar Kristeller,Iter Italicum(Leiden, 1983), III, 235a. 2 Cf. Sexti EmpiriciOpera, recensuitHermannus Mutschmann ... addenda et cor- rigendaadiecit I. Mau (Leipzig, 1958). 3 Charles Jourdain,"Sextus Empiricuset la philosophiescolastique," in Excursions historiqueset philosophiquesa' traversle moyenage (Paris, 1888), 199-217; Clemens Baeumker, "Eine bisher unbekanntelateinische Ubersetzung der Ynotuirvomov des SextusEmpiricus," Archivfiur Geschichte der Philosophie,4 (1891), 574-77 (he does not 63 Copyright1995 by Journal of the History of Ideas, Inc. This content downloaded from 129.67.117.112 on Sun, 13 Apr 2014 11:25:39 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 64 Luciano Floridi workon extantmanuscripts of SextusEmpiricus and lateron as "T" in the Prefaceof his editionof SextiEmpirici Opera.4 T2: Venice,Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana,Cod. Lat. X.267 (3460), s. XIV, cart., 57 fols.: (ff. Ir-46v) Pirronie Informaciones and (ff. 47r 57v) fragmentsof AdversusMathematicos III-V. Only veryrecently did Walter Cavini show thatthis translation of the Outlinesis another,more accurate copyof Paris Lat. 14700.5Thanks to theclose examinationof a dateddraft of a testamentwritten on f. 46v, immediatelyafter the translationof the Out- lines,Cavini has been able to providethe terminus ante quem for dating this manuscriptand correspondinglyT1 and T3. T3: Madrid,Biblioteca Nacional, Ms. 10112 (Hh92, Toledo 98, 25), s. XIV, mbr., misc., 131 fols., not numbered:(ff. 1r-30r),Pirroniarum informacionumlibri. Coming originally from Toledo's Library,the Sextian partof themanuscript had been wronglycatalogued as excerptsfrom Aulus Gelliusby JoseMillas Vallicrosa.The mistakewas firstdiscovered by P. 0. Kristellerin 1955.6 It is a more accurateversion of the same translation containedin Ms. ParisLat. 14700. The only othertwo manuscriptsstudied until now containtranslations fromAdversus Mathematicos and do notform a homogeneousgroup. LI: Rome,Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Ms. Lat. 2990, s. XV, cart., misc.,385 fols.: (ff.266r-381v), Adversus Mathematicos, Books I-IV. This translationby GiovanniLorenzi (c. 1440-1501)was firststudied by Giovanni Mercati,then by CharlesB. Schmitt.7 know of Jourdain'sarticle); A. Elter et L. Rademacher,Analecta Graeca, Prog. zum Geburtstaged. Kaisers (Bonn, 1889), 11-28; H. Mutschmann,"Zur UJbersetzertatigkeit des Nicolaus von Rhegium(zu Paris lat. 14,700),"Berliner Philologische Wochenschrift, 22 (1911), 691-93. 4 H. Mutschmann,"Der Uberlieferungder Schrifftendes Sextus Empiricus," RheinischesMuseum, 64 (1909), 250 and 478. See also SextiEmpirici Opera, X-XI. S WalterCavini, "Appuntisulla prima diffusionein occidentedelle opere di Sesto Empirico,"Medioevo, 3 (1977), 1-20; and see Kristeller,Iter Italicum,II, 252b, and VI, 259a. 6 Cf. Jose Millas Vallicrosa,Las traduccionesorientales en los manuscritosde la BibliothecaCatedral de Toledo (Madrid, 1942), 211-18, no. 45 (Ms. 98-25, n. 327 of the 1727 Inventory),who thoughtit was part of the excerptfrom Aulus Gellius. A more accuratedescription of the Ms. and correctionof Vallicrosa's informationis in Kristeller, Iter Italicum,IV, 567b-568a; see also E. Pellegrinin "Manuscritsdes auteursclassiques latins de Madrid et du Chapitrede Tolede," Bulletin d'Informationde 1' Institutde Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes, 2 (1953), 7-24, cf. 15, and Manuel de Castro, ManuscritosFranciscanos de la BibliotecaNacional de Madrid (1973), 437-38, no. 407; and Martide Barcelona,"Notes descriptivesdels manuscritsfranciscans medievals de la BibliotecaNacional de Madrid,"Estudis Franciscans, 45 (1933), 384. 7 Giovanni Mercati, "Minuzie: Una Traduzione di Giovanni Lorenzi da Sesto Empirico,"Bessarione, 36 (1920), 144-46, now in Opere Minori, Studi e Testi (79) (Vatican City, 1937), IV, 107-8; GiovanniMercati, "Questenbergiana," Rendiconti della This content downloaded from 129.67.117.112 on Sun, 13 Apr 2014 11:25:39 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions SextusEmpiricus 65 L3: Oxford,Bodleian Library, Ms. Sancroft17 (S.C. 10, 318), s. XVI, cart.,86 fols.:Adversus Logicos I (i.e. Adv. Math.VII) translatedby John Wolley [c. 1530-96].The manuscriptwas discoveredby RichardPopkin in the 1960s,then studied by CharlesB. Schmitt.8 Obviously,scholars have also evaluated the degree of diffusionof Sextus's worksin the fifteenthand sixteenthcenturies on the basis of the evidenceprovided by theprevious list. Given the number and qualityof the Latin translations,they have generallyagreed that-with the importantex- ception of GianfrancescoPico della Mirandola, who read Sextus in Greek9-his workshad littleimpact on Renaissanceculture, at least until Estienne'sedition of his Latintranslation in 1562.10In whatfollows, I intend to expandthe previous list by addingtwo more manuscripts. Having enlarged our evidentialbasis, I shall thenattempt to refineour understandingof the initialstages of thehistory of modemskepticism by arguingthat, although SextusEmpiricus's skeptical arguments were not widely used in philosophy duringthe Renaissance, nevertheless the summa sceptica represented by his workswas ratherbetter known among the humanists than has beensuspected, and thattherefore it wouldbe morecorrect to speakof a Renaissancelack of interestin theanti-epistemological function of Pyrrhonianarguments than to inferfrom the absence of "influence"a correspondingabsence of knowledge of thewritings of SextusEmpiricus during the fifteenth and sixteenthcentu- ries. PontificiaAccademia Romana di Archeologia,ser. 3, VIII (1933), 249-69, now in Opere Minori,IV, 437-59 (on Vat. lat. 2990 see 448 n. 37 and 452-53); CharlesB. Schmitt,"An UnstudiedFifteenth-Century Translation of Sextus Empiricusby GiovanniLorenzi," in CulturalAspects of theItalian Renaissance:Essays in Honourof P. 0. Kristeller,ed. by C. H. Clough (Manchester,1976), 244-61. About the physicalnature of the codex see also Tammarode Marinis,La Legaturaartistica in Italia nei secoli XV e XVI (Firenze,1960), II, 101, and III, 44 (on anotherSextian codex, Paris BN Grec 1964); and again KristellerIter Italicum,II, 358a. For a descriptionof 25 Mss. containingAdv. Mat. see Against The Musicians,ed. D. D. Greaves (Lincoln, 1986). 8 CharlesB. Schmitt,"John Wolley (c. 1530-1596) and the FirstLatin Translationof Sextus Empiricus,Adversus Logicos I," in The Sceptical Mode in Modern Philosophy: Essays in Honour of RichardH. Popkin,ed. R. A. Watson and J. E. Force (Dordrecht, 1988), 61-70. Wolley studiedat Mertonand was awardeda B.A. in 1553 and an M.A. in 1557. The College stillowns a Greektranscription of Adversus Mathematicos (Merton, Ms. 304), but this does not seem to be the Ms. on which Wolley based his translation:the quotationfrom Parmenides reported by Wolley in Greek on f. 19 of his translationis slightlybut clearlydifferent from the correspondingGreek text of Ms.304, f. 88r.On this passage bothWolley and CamillusVenetus, the copyist of theGreek Ms, agreewith Mss L and E (Laur. 81.11 and Parisinus1964). See SextusEmpiricus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism, tr. R. G. Bury(Cambridge, Mass., 1976), XLIII, and Againstthe Dogmatists, tr. R. G. Bury (Cambridge,Mass., 1976), 57, note 1. 9 On his interestin skepticismsee Charles B. Schmitt,Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola (1469-1533) and his Critiqueof Aristotle (The Hague, 1967). 10 Sexti EmpiriciPyrrhoniarum hypotyposecn libri III. ...Graece nunquam,Latine nuncprimum editi interpreteHenrico Stephano (Paris, 1562). This content downloaded from 129.67.117.112 on Sun, 13 Apr 2014 11:25:39 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 66 Luciano Floridi An UnstudiedTranslation of theOutlines by Paez de Castro Whenmany years ago H. P. Krausbought the remains of thePhillipps Collection,he acquiredamong many precious documents a Spanishcodex whichturns out to be of considerableimportance for the purpose of evaluat- ing the Latindiffusion of SextusEmpiricus in the Renaissance.The manu- scriptis theformer Phillipps 4135 and containsan originalLatin translation of theOutlines which, as we shallsee in a moment,is to be datedto thethird quarterof the sixteenthcentury. The
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