Giambattista Vico and the Risorgimento The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Noether, Emiliana P. 1969. Giambattista Vico and the Risorgimento. Harvard Library Bulletin XVII (3), July 1969: 309-319. Citable link https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37363767 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Giambattista Vico and the Risorgimento * E111ilia11aP. N oether URI NG the first half of the ninetc enth century Giambattista Vico finall)T enjoyed the recognition that he had sought all his life. The n1an ,vho had ruefully commented that "'he Jived in his country not only as a foreigner, but also unkno\vn./' 1 though convjnccd that he had hcen "born for the glory of ... Italy," 2 ,vas given a prominent p1ace in the Pantheon of Italian geniuses erected by the n1cn of the Risorgimento. To his country1nen his na111ebecame -asource of national pride and his ideas provided the basis for many of the Risorgimento's earl)Tdreams of 2n I taI )T ,v h ich through indep endenc e \v ould be fulfilling its dcstinJ" 11s a nation. In attempting to nnd the reasons for his appeal at this mo- n1ent in Italian histOr)7 1 one n1ust first consider the general European int elice rual outlook. ll on1an tici sn1, ,vi th its sensitive a, va re n ess of the !viid cl 1e Agcst its intcres t in i ndiv idu al peop] est their m yrh s and legends, and its search for the , vorId of im aginati on, provided a f ra 111e of reference rccepti vc to Vi co' s p hiluso phi cal and historical ana I y sis~ "\Vhile p hilosoph ic ally and historicall)7 Herd er and He gel cliffered from \ 7ico 1 superficjally there ,vcrc points of contact among them, and as the ider.s of the Gcr1nan ron1antics became kno\v11 in Italy, Vico ,vas quoted more and 1norc ns -a national co11ntcrpart of these foreign influences.. .s A.i1- other factor to be noted ,vns \.Tico,spopularity in France, after 1\1ichc- let's rather free translation of the 1744 edition of the Scienz-trnuova appeared in 182 7.4 This ,vas not the fir.st time that VicoJs ,vork had tt Pap er pr~scntcd at the A tncrlc an Ii istor j c~I Assocfo.tion n1ccting in N cw· York ·on 18 Deceml, er I 9 68r 1 1 G ian1ba ttist.a \ 7i cot ~,A utobi ogra:fia, jn Opere~ cd. F. Nicolini ( 1\1i1an-Na ple5 1 [ 1958] ), p. ! 7~ l bid., p. 60. .aFor some of the d iscu s~ion on the re] ative merits of Vi co, He.rd er I and I-Icgd see: Antologia., No. 116 (Augnst 1830), 36i Pragresro, XIII ( I 836)t x~xj and XXI .( 1838), 295; Rivista europ.ea~Ill ( 1840)1 pt. iij,464-470; Afuseo di scienza e letteratur111 n.s., VI, yr. II ( 1845) 336. 4 Jules M tchelett Principes de la phil oropbi e de r biJt oire tr adui t de la Sci en':l"A Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XVII, Number 3 (July 1969) 310 H 1.1r1..:i1rd T .... i br nr y Bu 11eti 1i been translated. Fi vc yea.rs car lier a G ein1'dn v ers1on, co nsidera b 1y n1ore accurate than ?viichelet's French rendition, had been published at Leipzig hy "'''ilheltn Ern~t '''eber.r; Ho,vcvcr, in a Gerrnan)r ,vhcrc the ron1antic movcn1ent hnd begun early, ''ico did not arouse much interest. "\i\'hile recognizing "\1ico's contribution to history, "\\1ebcr pointed out in the preface that the Italian~s ideas on I~]on1crand lto- man history had been supeiscdcd hy the ,vork of \ .,roJf and Niebuhr. In France, ho\vcver., Vjco ,vas long popular.. J\.lmost t\vcnty years after the appearance of Jv1ichclct'sbook, the Re-vuedes deux 'Juondes inforn1ed its readers "that the philosophy o.f hi::;tof)7 "'as at hon1e in Naples ,vhcre it had been born fro1n ,1icu 1.s nlcditations.,, 6 In En- g]andt Coleridge's son-in-la,v included a translation of the third book .of the S cie11z.ll11uo ·va on the discovery of the true Homer in the sec- ond and third editions ( 1 834 nnd 1 846) of the lutroduction to tbe Study of the Greek ClassicalPoets Desig11ed Priucipally for the Use of J-7 oung Personsat School and College. To continue tracing \rico's foitunes outside ltaly during the early )•cars of the p8.stcentury ,vould lead us filr f ron1 the subject matter of this paper. Brief ref crencc has been 1nadc to his fortunes -abroadsolel)T because this recognition con- tributtd to \ 7ico's reno\vn at ho1ne. J\1an}rlta]ians ,vcre first intro- duced to \lico by l\1iche1ct,and only after reading the French version of the Scienza nuo7..'a did they turn to the orjginal. Those ,vho had n1rcad)7 kno,vn the \rr7ork,re-exan1incd it ,vith fresh appreciation after it had been praised and discussed else,vherc. For \ 1ico, ,vho .spent the last nv·ent)r )•Cars of his life ,vriting and revising the Scieuza 11uo-va, this ,vork ,vas ''a history of n1ankind's idcas, cust on1s, and deeds 7 • • an idea 1 eternal histOf) 7 fthe pat- t crn of] ,vhich is foilo,vcd by the histories of all nations in their rise, progress ... decadence, and end.'' s To arrive at a formulation of this ''ideal eternal histor)ru Vico had defined the princjp]es or la,vs rcgu1ating the rise 2nd decay of nations as corsi and ricorsi, a cyclical 1Ul01)ade J. B. Vi co eI precedes a~1ut.di Sco Uri sur fe .ryitbnc et la vie de f auteur (Paris, 1817) . .[j Giambattista Vico.~ Gtundzt'ige eh1cr 1u:uen lf'"i rsc11scba ft iih e-r die g en1ehl- scbJ{ tl irbe Natur der Vii Iker, sus dem Itaiienisch von Dr. \\rilhcln1 Ernst ,vehcr (Leipzig, J fh.1), Pari~, 14 July 18431 348+ t Ghmh~ttista Vico, l ...a Scie1izt1.nuova second a ( J 744), ed. Ji". Nicolini (Bari, l 94? ). I, l40. -ii I hid.! I, I 28. Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University. Harvard Library bulletin. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Library. Volume XVII, Number 3 (July 1969) Gia111battistaVico and tbe Risorghne11to 311 dcvclopn1ent ,vhcrcby ~'a nation in rising n1a)7 reach .... a state of perfection, and later dccay·jng., jt can rise again."~ \ 1ico, hin1self.,Jiv- ing ~t the tirne he did, had no nationa1ist .senti111ents,but nineteenth century Itn]ians found in his philosophy of history argun1cnts and supp.ort for their O-\.Vll nationa lis111.U nlikc other states, ln1.ly·had failed to complete its cy.. cle of national dcvclop1ncnt and thus still had to fulfill its destiny, according to Vico,s principles of the historical de- velop1ncnt of n1ankind. In Ital)T recognition outside of lin1ilcdscho1ar1y and friendly circles began for \ 1ico early j n the nineteenth century. The battle of j_\,la- rengo ,vas in1portant., not only for Napoleon but also for the philoso- pher of history. Bonaparte's victory opened the doors of lVlilanto a group of exiles from the Neapolitan revolution of 1799 ,vho found ref ugc in the Second Cisa1pine Republic. l\·Icn like "\7incenzo Cuoco and Francesco Lomonaco had studied , 7ico, considered then1sc]ves his disciples, ::ind began to lay the bases for the popularit)r \Tico ,vas to enjoy during tl1c Risorgi1ncnto. The first edition of the Scie11za 11uo-va to appear after the Neapolitan one of 1744 came out in lv1ilan in 1801 •10 During the next fifty years \ 1ico's \Vorks ,vent through 11u1nerouseditions n1ainiy· at I\1ilan, and Naples., -and until the achievcrncnt of Ita]ian unity, Viconian concepts echoed through 1nu ch of the th io lei n g an u ,v ri ting of 1tali an int ellc ctu als. As one ex:amines their \V orks.,glimpses of Vic o ta nta1izc the reader; ho,vcver, one 1nust be careful not to credit Vico indiscri1ninately ,vith the paternity of 1nan)r of the ideas on history, political dcvelop- 1nent1 national pride, and philosophy, voiced during the Risorgimcntoa This period sa,v mucl1 intellectual fern1ent as Italians songht ans\vers and solutions to their tllany problen1s. In other ,vords, I ~1n suggest- ing that Vico ,vas read and became popular bee-a.usein hi1n Italians of the first half of the nineteenth century found jdcas that ,vcre no longer strange and unintelligible as they had perhaps been a century c~rlier. ,,rhcre Vico is not directly quoted~ or referred to, or ,vhere the relationship to his ideas is not a clear one, the reader .should not automaticall}rthink "Vico/~ \Vhere Herder might apply· ns ,veil. Like l\1ichelet, ,vho bcca1ne an exponent of Vico because in \ 1ico he G jamba ttista \Tico., La Scicnza nuova prinia ( l I i. s )• cd. F, Nicolini ( Ilari, 1931 ) ,. p. 1 r. M This 1801 edition is novt rarer than the orjginal 1744 one. See Benedetto Croce, Bi blio grafi a vi chiana, accresciuta e rieh: boratC1 d t1 F. N ic.oUni (Na pl es, 1947), 11 5 3, Harvard University - Houghton Library / Harvard University.