Pietro Alcionio
Encyclopedia
Pietro Alcionio (c. 1487 – 1527), the Venetian
humanist
, was a classical scholar under the patronage of Pope Clement VII
, a translator of Aristotle
who was hurt in the Sack of Rome
in May 1527, and died later that year.
His origins are unknown; his eloquence was praised in Erasmus' letter to John Watson in 1516, the earliest surviving notice. After having studied Greek
in Venice under Marcus Musurus
of Candia
, he was employed for some time as a proofreader by the printer Aldus Manutius
. Alcionio published at Venice, in 1521, a Latin translation of several of the works of Aristotle
(dedicating the volume to Leo X
), which was shown by the Spanish scholar Sepúlveda
to be very incorrect.
In 1522 Alcionio was appointed professor of Greek at Florence
through the influence of Giulio de' Medici. That year he sent back to Aldus for printing a dialogue in the nature of a eulogy on the theme of exile (Medices legatus, sive de exsilio), in a Cicero
nian Latin so finely honed that he was charged with plagiarism
by his personal enemy, Paulus Manutius
. The accusation, which Girolamo Tiraboschi
's Storia della letterature italiana demonstrated to be groundless but which dogs his reputation, was that he had taken the finest passages in the work from Cicero's lost treatise De Gloria, and had then destroyed the only existing copy of the original in order to escape detection.
When his patron became pope the following year under the title of Clement VII, Alcionio followed him to Rome
and remained there until his death. Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911) remarked that "His contemporaries speak very unfavourably of Alcionio, and accuse him of haughtiness, uncouth manners, vanity and licentiousness."
Alcionio is one of the four humanists in the circle of Clement VII selected by Kenneth Gouwens to illustrate the shock of cultural discontinuity and new sense of human vulnerability caused by the Sack of Rome that put a premature end to the High Renaissance
. Of Alcionio's numerous translations of Greek classics into Latin, which included the orations of Isocrates
and Demosthenes
mentioned by Ambrogio Leoni, only his Aristotle has survived (Simon Finch).
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
humanist
Renaissance humanism
Renaissance humanism was an activity of cultural and educational reform engaged by scholars, writers, and civic leaders who are today known as Renaissance humanists. It developed during the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, and was a response to the challenge of Mediæval...
, was a classical scholar under the patronage of Pope Clement VII
Pope Clement VII
Clement VII , born Giulio di Giuliano de' Medici, was a cardinal from 1513 to 1523 and was Pope from 1523 to 1534.-Early life:...
, a translator of Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
who was hurt in the Sack of Rome
Sack of Rome (1527)
The Sack of Rome on 6 May 1527 was a military event carried out by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in Rome, then part of the Papal States...
in May 1527, and died later that year.
His origins are unknown; his eloquence was praised in Erasmus' letter to John Watson in 1516, the earliest surviving notice. After having studied Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
in Venice under Marcus Musurus
Marcus Musurus
Marcus Musurus was a Greek scholar and philosopher born in Retimo, Castello, Venetian Crete . The son of a rich merchant, he became at an early age a pupil of John Lascaris in Venice....
of Candia
Heraklion
Heraklion, or Heraclion is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete, Greece. It is the 4th largest city in Greece....
, he was employed for some time as a proofreader by the printer Aldus Manutius
Aldus Manutius
Aldus Pius Manutius , the Latinised name of Aldo Manuzio —sometimes called Aldus Manutius, the Elder to distinguish him from his grandson, Aldus Manutius, the Younger—was an Italian humanist who became a printer and publisher when he founded the Aldine Press at Venice.His publishing legacy includes...
. Alcionio published at Venice, in 1521, a Latin translation of several of the works of Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
(dedicating the volume to Leo X
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X , born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, was the Pope from 1513 to his death in 1521. He was the last non-priest to be elected Pope. He is known for granting indulgences for those who donated to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 Theses...
), which was shown by the Spanish scholar Sepúlveda
Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda
Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda was a Spanish humanist, philosopher and theologian. In 1533 and 1534 he wrote to Desiderius Erasmus from Rome concerning differences between Erasmus's Greek New Testament , and the Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209...
to be very incorrect.
In 1522 Alcionio was appointed professor of Greek at Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
through the influence of Giulio de' Medici. That year he sent back to Aldus for printing a dialogue in the nature of a eulogy on the theme of exile (Medices legatus, sive de exsilio), in a Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
nian Latin so finely honed that he was charged with plagiarism
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
by his personal enemy, Paulus Manutius
Paulus Manutius
Paulus Manutius was a Venetian printer with a humanist education, the third son of the famous printer Aldus Manutius and his wife Maria Torresano. Aldus died when the boy was two, and his grandfather and two uncles, the Asolani, carried on the Aldine Press...
. The accusation, which Girolamo Tiraboschi
Girolamo Tiraboschi
Girolamo Tiraboschi was an Italian literary critic, the first historian of Italian literature.-Biography:Born in Bergamo, he studied at the Jesuit college in Monza, entered the order, and was appointed in 1755 professor of eloquence in the University of Milan...
's Storia della letterature italiana demonstrated to be groundless but which dogs his reputation, was that he had taken the finest passages in the work from Cicero's lost treatise De Gloria, and had then destroyed the only existing copy of the original in order to escape detection.
When his patron became pope the following year under the title of Clement VII, Alcionio followed him to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and remained there until his death. Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911) remarked that "His contemporaries speak very unfavourably of Alcionio, and accuse him of haughtiness, uncouth manners, vanity and licentiousness."
Alcionio is one of the four humanists in the circle of Clement VII selected by Kenneth Gouwens to illustrate the shock of cultural discontinuity and new sense of human vulnerability caused by the Sack of Rome that put a premature end to the High Renaissance
High Renaissance
The expression High Renaissance, in art history, is a periodizing convention used to denote the apogee of the visual arts in the Italian Renaissance...
. Of Alcionio's numerous translations of Greek classics into Latin, which included the orations of Isocrates
Isocrates
Isocrates , an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. In his time, he was probably the most influential rhetorician in Greece and made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works....
and Demosthenes
Demosthenes
Demosthenes was a prominent Greek statesman and orator of ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide an insight into the politics and culture of ancient Greece during the 4th century BC. Demosthenes learned rhetoric by...
mentioned by Ambrogio Leoni, only his Aristotle has survived (Simon Finch).
Further reading
- Kenneth Gouwens, 1998. Remembering the Renaissance: Humanist Narratives of the Sack of Rome Includes text of Alcionio's Orations on the Sack of Rome ISBN-90-04-10969-2