De Viris Illustribus and the Self-Conception of Italian Humanism in the 15Th Century1

DE VIRIS ILLUSTRIBUS AND THE SELF-CONCEPTION OF ITALIAN HUMANISM IN THE 15TH CENTURY1

Patrick Baker

What did it mean to be a humanist in fifteenth-century Italy? Like so many questions in life and scholarship, the answer naturally depends on whom you ask. Jacob Burckhardt would say that it entailed working as a half-conscious agent for the coming of modernity. Hans Baron would insist on the relevance of classical models for the defense of republican institutions. Paul Oskar Kristeller would describe the professional habi- tus of chanceries, courts, and classrooms and intone the central place of the cycle of disciplines known as the studia humanitatis. His close friend and occasional antagonist, Eugenio Garin, would say that the humanists rejected medieval culture and went about creating a new one, laying the foundation for modern philosophy. And more recently, Paul Grendler would posit that it was characterized by an educational ethos, while Ronald Witt would stress the centrality of classicizing Latin. But what if you asked a humanist? Surprisingly, no one seems to have done so, at least not in a thorough or systematic way. I say surprisingly not only because of the patent interest such a question has, but also, and more importantly, because of the vast testimony that has come down to us on this very subject. Even a cursory reading of humanist letters, literary prefaces and dedications, ceremonial speeches and poetry, biogra- phies and works of history reveals that their authors enjoyed few things as much as commenting – often in a desultory and off-hand manner – on the content, nature, and what they (usually) considered to be the success of their own activities as humanists. This material has been left for the most part untouched since the eigh- teenth century, at which time it served as an indispensable source for scholars like Lorenzo Mehus and Apostolo Zeno, in their attempts at syn- thesizing the history and literature of humanism.2 Without inquiring into

1 This paper presents a few of the central findings of my dissertation, “Illustrious Men: Italian Renaissance Humanists on Humanism” (Harvard University, 2009). A revised vers- ion of the dissertation is expected in 2013 under the title Humanism through the Looking Glass. All translations of primary sources are my own except where noted. 2 Zeno in his Dissertazioni Vossiane (Venezia, 1752–1753) and Degl’istorici delle cose veneziane, i quali hanno scritto per pubblico decreto (Venezia, 1718–1722); Mehus in his 190 patrick baker

why it has not exercised a similar fascination for modern scholars, we might mention the greatest hindrance to trying to remedy the situation today: the sheer immensity of the source base. As the recent example of Leonardo Bruni’s Epistolae3 shows, even the most talented and dedicated scholars will wisely choose to reprint the early-modern edition when the alternative is to sift through the rudis indigestaque moles of thousands upon thousands of manuscripts. What are we to do, then, when the task of giving the humanists our attention would require consulting such a large share of their extant literature? Fortunately, one genre in particular stands out as being particularly wor- thy of close study, promising a mature, considered view of the humanists’ notion of themselves: histories they wrote of their own movement. Such works take three basic forms, which do not correspond to modern histo- riographical genres but which instead were modeled on ancient sources and were standard in the Renaissance: (1) registers of works and achieve- ments after the manner of Jerome’s De viris illustribus; (2) biographical collections in the tradition of Cornelius Nepos, Plutarch, or Suetonius; and (3) dialogues modeled on Cicero’s Brutus. The first of these – De viris illustribus, or On Illustrious Men – ended up giving its name to the whole genre, and many authors incorporated the phrase, or some modified form of it, into their titles, no matter which specific form their work took. This ancient tradition of celebrating political, religious, and cultural heroes, including the great representatives of intellectual and literary groups, flourished in the Middle Ages as well – for example in reference works of universal knowledge, in monuments to the outstanding members of monastic communities, and in collections of saints’ lives. In the fifteenth century it was then adapted as a sophisticated tool for commemorating the pioneers and premier figures of humanism. In the course of treating the activities and works of a range of humanists, each text offers insight into how its author understood the history, essence, and aspirations of the movement in which he himself was a participant. Six authors writing from the 1430s to the end of the fifteenth century, some of them well known, others less so, wrote histories of humanism. Belonging to the first sub-genre of the classic De viris illustribus are works

prefatory letters to his editions of Bartolomeo Facio’s De viris illustribus (Florentiae, 1745) and Cyriac of Ancona’s Itinerarium (Florentiae, 1742). For more precise bibliographical information, see Baker, “Illustrious Men,” 23, n. 56. 3 Leonardo Bruni, Epistolarum libri VIII recensente Laurentio Mehus, ed. James Hankins, 2 vols. Roma, 2007.