TEXT FLY WITHIN THE BOOK ONLY ^ CO DO OU_168062>3 CD W X > UNIVERSITY dfeKARY *"""" Call No. Authoi i'itle This book should tw returned on or before the date last marked below. THE NEW SCIENCE OF GIAMBATTISTA VICO THE NEW SCIENCE OF GIAMBATTISTA VICO Translated from the third edition (1744) by THOMAS GODDARD BERGIN AND MAX HAROLD FISCH Cornell University Press ITHACA, NEW YORK, 1948 Copyright 1948 by Cornell University Cornell University Press London: Geoffrey Cumberlege Oxford University Press PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE VAIL-BALLOU PREbS, INC,, BINGHAM1ON, NEW YORK To ROBERT MORRIS OGDEN AND GEORGE HOLLAND SABINE PREFACE THE FOLLOWING translation of Vico's Scienza nuova, begun in 1939 at Naples and on Capri but interrupted by the war, is based on the text edited by Fausto Nicolini which forms volume 112 and the first 166 pages of volume 113 in the Scrittori d'ltalia (Bari, Laterza, 1928). That text was based on a word-for-word collation of Nicolini's earlier edition of 191 1-16 with the edition of 1744 and with the manuscript in Vico's hand from which the latter was printed. Vico's intolerably long paragraphs and sentences were broken up and the punctuation was otherwise modernized. His countless parenthetical phrases and clauses were enclosed in curved lines to clarify the syntax. The paragraphs were numbered, and the index references were to paragraphs rather than pages. We have retained Nicolini's paragraphing, and our index, like his, refers to the paragraphs by number; but we have carried the breaking up of sentences much further. With occasional exceptions, we have followed Nicolini's use of parenthesis marks, but the reader should perhaps be warned that they are no part of Vico's own punctuation. Our thanks are due to William Cherubini for placing at our disposal his trans- lation of paragraphs 365-445, to James Hutton for his careful and helpful scrutiny of our entire translation in the typescript, to Ruth B. Fisch for pre- paring the index, and to the University of Chicago Library for supplying a photograph of the plate facing page 3 from its copy of the edition of 1744. For a discussion of the development of the New Science, of its background in European thought, and of its subsequent influence, we may refer the reader to the introduction to our translation of Vico's Autobiography (Cornell Uni- versity Press, Ithaca, 1944). It was our intention, as we stated in the preface to that volume, that that somewhat lengthy introduction should serve for our translation of the New Science as well.1 Two indispensable aids to the scholarly study of Vico have appeared or been announced since the present translation was completed. Croce's Bibliografia vichiana has been enlarged and rewritten by Nicolini (Naples, Ricciardi, 2 1 The essay promised in note 147 of our translation of the Autobiography is appearing under the title "The Academy of the Investigators'* in a volume of essays in honor of the English historian of science, Charles Singer. viii PREFACE vols., 1947-48), and Nicolini has in press a definitive commentary on the Scienza nuova (Bari, Laterza, 2 vols., 1948). Vico's argument touches so many fields which have been assiduously culti- vated since his day (the Homeric question and the general field of folklore for examples) that it is difficult to resist the temptation to annotate the New Science in the light of subsequent investigations. But Nicolini's commentary will take care of the needs of scholars in this and other respects, and a commentary would be only a distraction to most of the readers we hope our translation will have. We have therefore chosen to publish it without notes. A general caveat, however, should perhaps be entered here. The New Science abounds in confusions, misquotations and misinterpretations of Vico's sources, arising in part from taking them at second hand, in larger part from unconscious reading of his own views into them, and in still larger part from simply mis- remembering them. A few of the resulting errors have been indicated in the index and by bracketed insertions in the text. For examples, Vico remembers Arion as Amphion, makes a proper noun out of an adjective in Homer (see index s.v. Eureia), adds Pacca to the name of the troubadour poet Arnaut Daniel, confuses Kronos and chronos, attributes to Thucydides what was said by Isocrates, and alters beyond recognition the meaning of a passage in Seneca (at the end of paragraph 1096). A complete exposure of Vico's errors in this kind would require the elaborate commentary which we have foregone, and 2 yet would not touch the heart of his argument. Our general caveat seems there- fore sufficient. Readers new to Vico may find it advantageous on their first reading of the New Science to pass over the "Idea of the Work" and the "Notes on the Chronological Table" and begin with the "Elements" (Book I, Section II). To smooth the way of readers with little Latin and less Greek, we have transliterated the Greek words and phrases in Vico's text, and have usually inserted translations of these and of his Latin words, phrases and quotations. For the literary works he cites, we have often used familiar English titles in the case of Greek and Latin classics; but in the case of modern works we have usually given the title in the language of original publication (Latin for the most part), even when Vico gives an Italian translation or paraphrase. Minor errors in the citations have been silently corrected. At the expense of occasional awkwardness, we have tried to respect Vice's technical terms. Certo and its cognates, for example, arc with rare exceptions translated "certain" etc., even when it is not clear that Vico is using them in the technical sense explained in paragraph 321. Umano and its cognates, which we were often tempted to render "humane" or "civilized," are usually allowed to stand as "human" etc., in order to preserve a possible reference either (a) to the 2 In addition to Nicolini's forthcoming commentary, the curious reader may consult his Fonti e rifcrimcnti storici della scconda Scienza Nuova (Bari, Laterza, 1931)1 and the notes to his 1911-^6 edition. PREFACE ix age of men as distinguished from the age of gods and the age of heroes, or (b) to the ages of heroes and men together as distinguished from the age of gods, as in paragraph 629. An ctcrna propictd remains an "eternal property" even when we are tempted to employ the more secular language of uniformities and correlations. Principio we have sometimes rendered "principle," sometimes "be- ginning." As a technical term with Vico, it means both in one, and it may fairly be said that the ambivalence of this term is one of the keys to Vico's thought. The term principc, "prince," has the same ambivalence, and so does natura, "nature" or "birth." Dominio (Latin dominlum) we have usually trans- lated "ownership," but sometimes "dominion" or (in the phrase dominio eminente) "domain." Rcpubblica is uniformly rendered "commonwealth" to avoid the misleading associations of "republic" in English. A few terms for which there are no exact English equivalents are represented by the correspond- ing Latin terms, as likely to be less unfamiliar: connubio by connubium, famoli by famuli, suitd by sui heredcs etc. Diritto naturalc delle genti we have usually rendered "the natural law of nations" since "law of nations" is the common English equivalent for ius gentium? In general, apart from the breaking up of sentences and an occasional lapse from Italian superlatives into English positives, or from literal translation into paraphrase for clarity's sake, we have aimed at as close an approximation to * Vico's style as English will permit. A recent critic has argued that Vico is more poet than philosopher, and that his style is essential to the full communication of his meaning. Perhaps it would not overstrain the point to say that he is even more prophet than poet, and that his language, with all its obscurity, incoherence and magnificence, is the language of one who beholds a vision. Indeed the fre- quent "as we have already seen" and "as we shall soon see" betray the essential characteristic of the seer. The vision is forever with him in all its dazzling totality; it is a scintillant whole though with many facets, and Vico even while enraptured by one aspect of his revelation is never unaware of the others. His references forwards and backwards connect primarily the parts of the vision, and only 5 secondarily and imperfectly the parts of the book. Not to attempt to convey something of this divine or at least heroic intoxication would be to fail to translate Vico in any real sense of the word. T. G. B. M. H. F. Ithaca and Urbana, April 1948 8 For the meaning of this portmanteau phrase see paragraph 998 below and page 48 of the introduction to our translation of Vico's Autobiography. 4 Mario Fubini, Stile e umanttb dt Giambattista Vico, Bari, Laterza, 1946. 8 We have inserted paragraph numbers in brackets for all backward references to the Axioms, and for a very few other backward and forward references. CONTENTS IDEA OF THE WORK Frontispiece facing page 3 Explanation of the Picture Placed as Frontispiece to Serve as Introduction to the Work 3 BOOK ONE: ESTABLISHMENT OF PRINCIPLES Chronological Table facing page 27 Section I. Notes on the Chronological Table, in Which the Materials Are Set in Order 27 Section II.