Matteo Soranzo, Giovanni Gioviano Pontano on Astrology and Poetic Authority

8/10/2019 Matteo Soranzo, Giovanni Gioviano Pontano on Astrology and Poetic Authority

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ARIES . () ARIES

www.brill.nl/arie

Giovanni Gioviano Pontano ()on Astrology and Poetic Authority

Matteo SoranzoMcGill University

Abstract

Larticolo esamina per quale ragione Giovanni Gioviano Pontano () ha spiegatoin termini di causalit astrologica lorigine della sua autorit poetica, con lo scopo di illustrareun elemento di continuit tra Medioevo e Umanesimo. I testi presi in esame sono il poemaUrania (scritto nel ; stampato nel ), il dialogo Actius (scritto nel ; stampato nel ), il commento alCentiloquiopseudotolemaico (scritto nel ;stampato nel ) e il trattatoDe Rebus Coelestibus(scritto nel ; stampato nel). Si sostiene che lapproccio astrologico allautorit poetica di Pontano deriva dalla

sua interpretazione del primo aforisma del Centiloquio, e che questa scelta era dettata daltentativo di mettere in questione la teoria delfurorpoetico di Marsilio Ficino, le cui operestavano diventando sempre pi diffuse nel contesto della Napoli Aragonese alla fine delQuattrocento.

Keywords

Authorship; Astrology; Giovanni Pontano (); Marsilio Ficino ();Aragonese Naples

Nanque ab iis potissimum stellis poetae formantur

(De Rebus CoelestibusII: Sig. E ii v)

. Introduction

Since Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault problematized the ideas of author,

authority and authorship in Western culture, many scholars have contributed

to reconstruct the history of these concepts in classical antiquity, and in pre-modern and early-modern Europe.1 Minnis and Carruthers, for example, have

1) Bennet,Te Author, .


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Matteo Soranzo / ARIES . ()

investigated the evolution of the notion of authorship throughout the Mid-dle Ages, with a special focus on biblical exegesis.2 Durling, Greene, Quint

and Weimann have focused on how the ideas concerning the author of a textchanged during the Renaissance, and have investigated this cultural process in

relation to broader events such as the Reformation and the invention of print-

ing.3 While shedding new light on what Barthes and Foucault only briefly

discussed, these scholars have emphasized the elements of rupture, rather thancontinuity, between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. By more or less

tacitly endorsing a historical narrative that presents the Renaissance as fore-

shadowing Modernity, Quint and Greene have characterized the Renaissance

author as the literary equivalent of a Renaissance man. Conscious of his orig-

inality, free from religious constraints and opposed to hierarchical views ofknowledge, the Renaissance author outlined in this scholarly tradition found,

in the imitation of antiquity, a renewed sense of freedom that marks a step

away from the Middle Ages.If one looks at the views of writers and exegetes living in the Quattrocento,

however, the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance is not as clear

cut as scholars have generally assumed. Indeed, humanistic philology, the anal-

ysis of texts in their historical context, the study of manuscripts, and a new

awareness of problems of transmission contributed to emphasize the role of his-torically determined humans in the construction of authorship. Even so, Quat-trocento poets and interpreters continued to construct their authorial personae

and conceptualize problems of authorship in the language of Aristotles theory

of causality, thus following in the footsteps of their predecessors living in the

late Middle Ages. Biblical interpreters Hugh of Saint Cher () and

Nicholas of Lyra (), for example, used to accompany their Bibli-

cal commentaries with an exegetical prologue calledaccessus ad auctores, whichapplied Aristotles fourfold notion of causality to biblical textuality. In par-

ticular, they extrapolated from this theory the tools necessary to define thesubject matter (material cause), stylistic features (formal cause), general inten-

tions (final cause) and the author (efficient cause) of the text at stake. Tis

2) Minnis,Medieval Teory of Authorship, ; Carruthers,Te Book of Memory, .3) Durling,Te Figure of the Poet, ; Greene,Te Light in roy, , ; Quint,Origin and Originality in Renaissance Literature, ; Weimann,Authority and Representa-tion in Early Modern Discourse, .


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framework, as Minnis has demonstrated, contributed to renew interpreterscuriosity about the role of human authors in writing the Bible and their inter-

est in the literal sense of Scripture. Moreover, this framework provided the-ologians with a new set of arguments in support of their discipline, grounded

on divinely inspired texts, as opposed to philosophy, based on texts written by

human authors.4

In line with their medieval predecessors, writers continued to use the lan-guage of causality to enhance the status of emerging disciplines like Rhetoric

and Poetics since the beginning of humanism. Te terms of this defense of

literary studies were first set on December , when professors at the

University of Padua and members of the city communal institution invested

Albertino Mussato () with the title of poet laureate to celebrate hisintellectual and political accomplishments.5 Tis official recognition of liter-

ary studies was publicly criticized by Dominican friar Giovannino of Mantua

who, consistent with the teachings of Tomas Aquinas, envisioned poetry as auseless discipline subordinated to the other liberal arts and publicly preached

against the Paduan studio for having awarded an academic title to a poet.6 In hisdefense, Mussato grounded his academic title in two forms of authority (habetauctores laurea nostra duos), which stem respectively from the doctors (docto-

rum series) and political institutions (cum plebe senatus) of Padua, and fromGod (cum simul excelso ius habet illa Deo). Based on this twofold authority,Mussato could argue that poetry had expressed in enigmatic forms what Moses

had explained in plain words (planis verbis).7 Poetry, therefore, was presentedas the equivalent of theology and not as the lowest of liberal arts as maintained

by Dominican friars. With more or less radical results, Mussatos apologetic

4)

Minnis,Medieval Teory of Authorship, , , .5) Witt, Coluccio Salutati and the Conception of thePoeta Teologus, ; Witt,Inthe Footsteps of the Ancients, .6) Witt,In the Footsteps of the Ancients, .7) Cecchini, Le epistole metriche : : Dux: habet auctores laurea nostra duos;/Doctorum series, Studii reverentia nostri,/ Signavit titulis singula gesta suis;/ Et superhis legem statuit cum plebe senatus,/ Observaturum tempus in omne fidem,/ Muneraperpetua pro laude perennia nobis/ Sanxit et ut nostra semper in urbe legar./ alia si Venetas

fuerint vulgata per oras,/ Quippe fuit vero nuntia fama minor./ Quodque aliquis sacrelaceret figmenta poesis,/ Abroget ut vero, litera questa tua est./ Grande ministerium nescit,carissime, nescit:/ Non nisi divinos hoc capit artis opus!/ Hec fuit a summo demissa scientia

celo;/ Cum simul excelso ius habet illa Deo./ Quae Genesis planis memorat primordiaverbis,/ Nigmate maiori mistica musa docet.


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strategy influenced humanists such as Petrarch, Boccaccio and Coluccio Salu-tati, who continued to use the language of Aristotles theory of causality to

enhance the status of their discipline.8Tis article examines why and how Giovanni Gioviano Pontano (

) explained poetic authority in terms of astrological causality to further

illustrate this element of continuity between the Middle Ages and the age of

humanism.9 A professional astrologer, a poet and a literary theorist, Pontanoused the word author (auctor) as a synonym of cause to explain the influence ofplanets on human endeavors, and particularly how stars are capable of impart-

ing on human beings the gift of prophecy and poetry. First, I will argue that

Pontanos astrological approach to poetic authority stems from his interpre-

tation of the first aphorism of the Centiloquium, a text that he and his con-temporaries erroneously attributed to Ptolemy. Secondly, I will suggest that

Pontanos choice of using astrology to explain poetic authority is best under-

stood as a response to Marsilio Ficinos theory of poetic frenzy (furor), whichwas becoming increasingly popular in the context of Aragonese Naples at the

end of the Quattrocento. In doing so, I will focus on the poemUrania(written; first printed ) and the dialogueActius (written ;first printed ), which I will cross-reference with Pontanos commentary on

the pseudo-PtolemaicCentiloquium(written ; first printed ) and thetreatise De Rebus Coelestibus(written ; first printed ). Method-ologically, this paper builds on Pierre Bourdieus theory of cultural production

and examines texts not only as specimens of early modern theory of authorship,

but also as tools by which Pontano took position and responded to alternative

options available in the cultural field of Aragonese Naples.10 Te reconstruc-

tion of the cultural field and the conceptualization of authorship in terms of

Bourdieus notion of cultural capital, in my view, are particularly appropriate

to investigate the ways in which culture was transmitted in Quattrocento Italy,

8) Witt, Coluccio Salutati and the Conception of thePoeta Teologus, .9) Giovanni Pontano was born on May , in Cerreto di Spoleto, near Perugia. Hedied in September in Naples. Pontano studied language and literature in Perugia.Tanks to Antonio Panormitas intercession, from to he served the Aragonesekings of Naples as advisor and military secretary. From to he served as royal

chancellor. Retired to private life in , he died in surrounded by his fellow membersat a community of intellectuals called porticus or academia pontaniana. For a recentbiographical prophile, see Monti Sabia, Prolusione.10) Bourdieu,Te Field of Cultural Production, , ; Bourdieu,Language andSymbolic Power, .


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and especially among loosely institutionalized and unofficial groups of intel-lectuals such as Pontanos academy.11

. Staging Authority:Uraniaand Pontanos Horoscope

On February , as the Italian historian Girolamo Borgia recounts, a group

of fifteen scholars gathered to witness Giovanni Pontanos performance anddiscussion of hisUrania.12 Once the leading political and intellectual figureof Quattrocento Naples, Pontano was an old man retired from public life

when he summoned his pupils to read them what he considered his poetic

masterpiece, that is, a five-book-long poem in Latin hexameters in which he

stages himself in the act of instructing his son about the causes of things.Critics have generally approachedUraniaeither as a didactic poem expressingthe poets fascination with the natural world or as an imitation of classical

poets such as Manilius, Lucretius and Ovid.13 Pontano, however, was notonly a poet but also a well-known writer of astrological commentaries and

treatises, as well as the owner of a remarkable collection of patiently annotated

astrological texts of Arabic, Greek and Roman origin.14 In addition, Pontano

had personally collaborated with scholars like George of rebizond (

) and Lorenzo Bonincontri (), who were among the most

11) Celenza,Te Lost Italian Renaissance, ; ; Furstenberg-Levi, Te Fifteenth-Century Accademia Pontaniana, .12) Pontano,Carmina, xxxv: Cal. Februarii , Pontanus legere coepit suam Uraniam insua achademia, cui lectioni fere semper quindecim generosi et eruditissimi viri affuere; nec

vero ipse ego Hieronymus ullum unquam praeterii diem, quin adessem, et quae potui inmargine anotanda curaverim, quae quidem sunt ab eiusdem auctoris oraculo exprompta(February , . Pontano began to read his Urania in his academy. Fifteen generousand most erudite men attended the reading almost every day. But I, Hieronimus, did notspend one single day without attending and made sure to write on the margins whatever Icould. Indeed, these annotations are extracted from the oracle of their very author). Unlessotherwise indicated, all translations are mine. I would like to thank Professor WilliamGladhill for his invaluable help in translating Pontanos often difficult Latin.13) Hubner, Perseus, Eridanus und Cola Piscis, ; Goddard, Pontanos use of thedidactic genre, ; Haskell, Renaissance Latin Didactic Poetry on the Stars, ; ateo, Ovidio nellUraniadi Pontano, .14) rinkaus, Te Astrological Cosmos and Rhetorical Culture, ; Rinaldi, Sic Iturad Astra.Giovanni Pontano e la sua opera astrologica nel quadro della tradizione manoscritta.


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prestigious astrologers and interpreters of astrological texts of the time.15 Inmy viewUrania, as its public performance leads to believe, was more than a

literary pastime or an exercise in expressing astrological doctrines in elegantLatin verses. Rather, in constructing its authors persona as a follower of Virgil

and the recipient of a precise astrological configuration,Uraniaand its publicperformance were meant to embody Pontanos astrological approach to poetic

authority.Although astrology had already been used to construct authorship, nobody

before Pontano had linked poetic authority to the influence of stars and plan-

ets with such a degree of sophistication. In Paradiso , for example, Dantehad recounted his ascension to the Sphere of Fixed Stars and accompanied

this moment of his voyage to heaven with a praise of Gemini and Mercury,which were respectively the constellation rising at the time of his birth (Ascen-

dant) and the planet that is thought to rule upon this constellation because

of one of its essential dignities (Domicile).16As Ascoli has recently discussed,however, the use of the constellation Gemini in the last cantos ofParadisoisonly one among Dantes multiple strategies to construct his authorial persona.

By praising his natal chart for his talent as a writer, Dante manages to recon-

sider his entire work from the point of view of eternity, thus rethinking his

authorial persona from the perspective that characterizes the conclusion of hisDivine Comedy.17 In Urania, instead, Pontano systematically uses the word auc-tor(author) as a synonym of cause to explain the effects of specific planets onhuman lives and deeds.18 Tis interplay of authorship and causality is evident

from Uranias proem, in which Pontano asserts his poetic authority in astrolog-ical terms and presents his work as stemming from his exceptional knowledge

of Virgil, and his horoscope:

ell me, goddess, Urania, who take your name from heaven itself, tell me, Muse, mostfamous daughter of Jove, which fires shine in the firmament, which stars wander in

the silent sky; with which stars the vast zodiac shines forth and how the planets follow

15) Rinaldi, Pontano, rapezunzio, ed ilGrecus InterpresdelCentiloquiopseudotolemaico,; Rinaldi, Un sodalizio poetico astrologico nella Napoli del Quattrocento, .16) Durling and Martinez,Te ime and the Crystal, .17) Ascoli,Dante and the Making of a Modern Author, .18) InUrania, the word auctoroccurs thirteen times. It usually refers to planets such as

Jupiter inUrania, : Iupiter inde pater cunctorum auctorque bonorum or Apollo inUrania, : Musarum nequis prolem putet, auctor Apollo. It can also refer to God inUrania, : Ille opifex rerum et mundi inviolabilis auctor.


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their courses; whence [come] the human and animal kinds, whence the sea and windsget their motion; whence the noblest earth generates different offspring from one or

more seeds; and whence the fortunes of things abide and the course of the future.And may your chaste sisters listen to this invocation too. And while you sing, andEcho resounds through the hollow valleys, I will gather sprays of laurel and verdantivy, I will set up altars from green turf and will brighten the shady places, and makesolemn gifts to the tomb of the beloved poet, who is buried on the green height,

and Parthenope care for the watery surge of Sebethos. And may you, Phoebus, father,inventor and author (auctor) of poesy, assist me along with Latonas virgin daughter,glory of the night, and all those gods and goddesses under whose will the heavens

exist. And I address you, Bountiful Venus (we have played enough with tender fires),companion of the Aonides, excellent guide of poets, while we sing of the wanderingfires of heaven, of the beloved constellation, under which the great world conceived

the earth and sky (i.e., Aries), of which signs and constellation obey you (i.e., aurus),o goddess, be favorable and, felicitous, glide to me on your snow-white swans. O,

would the Charites inspire me, and sweet Grace would touch my lips with Greek honey

while I sing. And you, my son, prepare yourself for huge undertakings, and walk withme through the illustrious regions of heaven. For Mercury will be with you, whosegrandfather was the sky-bearer Atlas, and he, a youth will teach [you] the signs of the

art.19

Te prologue ofUraniastages the poet and his son conversing under a starry

sky, in the proximities of an altar built in Naples to commemorate Virgil, underthe influence of the Muse Urania and the influx of the planets, particularly

Venus and Mercury. Te structure of the prologue, which starts from a series

19) Pontano, Urania : : Qui coelo radient ignes, quae sidera mundo/ Labanturtacito, stellis quibus emicet ingens/ Signifer, utque suos peragant errantia cursus,/ Undehominum genus et pecudes, unde aequor et aurae/ Concipiunt motus proprios, undeoptima tellus/ Educit varios non uno e semine foetus/ Et rerum eventus manant seriesque

futuri,/ Dic, dea, quae nomen coelo deducis ab ipso/Uranie, dic, Musa, Iovis clarissimaproles,/ Et tecum castae veniant ad vota sorores./ Dum canitis resonatque cavis in vallibusecho,/ Ipse legam laurique comas hederamque virentem,/ Ipse aras statuam viridi de cespiteet umbras/ Lustrabo, tumuloque feram solennia dona/ Dilecti vatis, viridi quem montesepultum/ Parthenope liquidamque colit Sebethos ad undam./ Ipse chori pater ac princepset carminis auctor,/ Phoebe, adsis, noctisque decus latonia virgo,/ Dique deaeque omnes,quorum sub numine coelum est./ uque adeo, comes Aonidum, dux optima vatum,/ AlmaVenus (teneros nati sat lusimus ignes),/ Dum coeli errantes ignes, dum sidus amatum,/Quo terraeque fretumque et magnus concipit orbis,/ Dum canimus quae signa tibi, quodpareat astrum,/ Diva, fave et niveis felix allabere cygnis./ O mihi si Charites spirent, si blandacanentis/ Gratia mesopio contingat labra liquore./ u vero, nate, ingentes accingere ad orsus/

Et mecum illustres coeli spatiare per oras;/ Nanque aderit tibi Mercurius, cui coelifer Atlas/Est avus, et notas puerum puer instruet artis.


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of questions, and the use of the metaphorical designation of stars as fires (ignes)both contribute to insertUraniain the poetic genealogy of VirgilsGeorgics.20

Further elaborating on the prologue ofGeorgics, the text continues with aninvocation to the Muse Urania, which articulates in a twofold appeal to Virgil,

indicated by a reference to his tomb in Posillipo, and to the stars.21According

to the conventions of the recusatio, a commonplace by which the poet expresseshis desire to write in a different style, Venuss help is invoked in pursuinga goal that surpasses the tender fires (teneros ignes), a reference to Pontanosearlier collection of married love elegies,De Amore Coniugali, in which thepoet had dedicated a series of lullabies to his son. Tis goal includes singing

about the constellations Aries and aurus, whose names are elegantly conveyed

through two periphrases based on astrological lore. Te designation of Ariesstems from a theory calledthema mundi, which maintained that this sign wasat the astronomical mid-heaven at the moment of Creation.22 In a way that

recalls the iconography of the Palazzo Schifanoia in Ferrara, the poet thendesignates aurus by referring to its dependence from Venus, thus alluding

to the doctrine of planetary Domiciles as explained in Ptolemysetrabiblos.23

Te prologue ends with an invocation to Mercury, whose influence is called to

help the poets son.

Te reference to the planets Venus and Mercury, along with the allusion tothe constellation Aries, stems from Pontanos natal chart and his belief in theastrological causes of his poetic talent. Scholars have occasionally explained

the invocation to Venus found in the prologue as a tribute to LucretiusDe

20) Dalzell,Te Criticism of Didactic Poetry, , ; Virgil,GeorgicsI: : so,in apprehension, keep an eye on each months constellation, and note where the cold starof Saturn steals away to, and in which orbits the planet (ignis) Mercury is wandering.21)

On Pontanos view concerning the exact location of this tomb, see rapp, Te Grave ofVergil, .22) On thethema mundisee, for example, Macrobius,Commentary on the Dream of Scipio,I: (): Tey also offer the reason that these twelve signs are assigned to the influence ofdifferent divinities. Tey say that when the world was being born, at the very hour of birth,

Aries, as mentioned above, occupied the middle of the sky and the moon was in Cancer.For a discussion on the reception of this theme in pre-modern and early modern period, seeLippincott, Giovanni di PaolosCreation of the World, .23) Ptolemy, etrabiblos, I: , Te planets also have familiarity with the parts of the zodiac,through what are called their houses, triangles, exaltations, terms and the like. []. oVenus, which is temperate and beneath Mars, were given the next two signs, which are

extremely fertile, Libra and aurus. For a detailed discussion of Ptolemys definition ofdomicile and exaltation, see ester,A History of Western Astrology, , , .


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Rerum Natura, thus explainingUranias prologue as a specimen of human-istic imitation.24 However, I would rather explain the astrological references

found in the prologue as a declaration of authorship that corresponds to apassage from the second book ofDe Rebus Coelestibus, a long astrologicaltreatise that Pontano started in while working on Urania.25 Tis sec-tion of the treatise deals primarily with poetry and is conveniently addressed

to Pontanos pupil Jacopo Sannazaro, who received the nickname (Actius)once accepted into Pontanos intellectual community.26 In a section devoted

to explaining the four cardinal points of a natal chart and their features, Pon-

tano argues that both his love for classical authors and inclination to poetry

stem from the positive influence of Venus and Mercury at the time of his

birth. Based on an examination of De Rebus Coelestibus, I would suggestthat by appropriate constellations (signis accomodatis) Pontano makes refer-ence to the system of Domiciles, and thus refers to aurus and Libra for

Venus, Gemini and Virgo for Mercury.27 In addition, by places (loci), Pon-tano always makes reference to the system of Houses, that is, the twelve

sections of a natal chart, starting from the angle of the ascendant (i.e., the

cusp of the First House), that indicate specific features of an individuals

life.28 Finally, by configurations (configurationes), Pontano makes generic ref-

erence to one of the five angular relationships, or aspects, that planets formwith each other in a natal chart.29 Citing his chart as an example, there-fore, Pontano explains to his interlocutor how poets are made by specific

stars:

24) Gambino Longo,Savoir de la nature et poesie des choses, .25) De Nichilo,I poemi astrologici, .26) Te choice of dedicating this book to Sannazaro, however, may also result from Pietro

Summontes editorial choices, as argued in Monti Sabia, La mano di Pietro Summonte,.27) See, for example,De Rebus Coelestibus, I Sig, ii v: E quibus satis apparet temporis, signiac sideris (ut est dictum) ratione habita aurum accomodatissimam Veneris domum esse.(From these factors it is clear that aurus is the most appropriate domicile of Venus inconsideration of its time, sign andas I said beforeconstellation). On Pontanos useof the rhetorical notion of appropriateness in an astrological context, see rinkaus, Te

Astrological Cosmos, .28) De Rebus Coelestibus, II Sig. E iii r: De Duodecim Signiferi Locis (On the welve Housesof the Zodiac).29) De Rebus Coelestibus, V Sig. I iii r: Quocirca in hac tam difficili consideratione etcausa: errantium stellarum omnium status: habitus: situs: collocatio: configuratio inter se:et in his Saturni quoque partes examinandae sunt: quis etiam e planetis ipsis pollere: et


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No-one became a good poet in whose natal chart (genitura) Venus and Mercury werenot found in their appropriate signs, in favorable houses (locis) and in suitable aspects.

Indeed, poets are made above all by these planets []. And I, the author of this treatise,was never instructed by any teacher how to compose a poem, how to learn philosophy,or how to interpret heavens signs. For nature alone, my souls innate force and theconstant reading of ancient authors brought me to these disciplines.30

In order to decipher Pontanos references to the position of Venus and Mercury

in his natal chart, one needs to establish with a sufficient degree of precision

the position of his ascendant, that is, the constellation that was rising on the

eastern horizon at the moment of his birth.31 Tis information is found in the

second book ofUrania, in which Pontano explicitly ascribes to his ascendantin Aries the moody and unpredictable features of his destiny. In general, the

second book ofUrania is devoted to explain the origin of zodiacal signs bymeans of etiological tales that, in my view, are all based on the rhetorical tropeof personification, and the astrological systems of Domicile and Exaltation.

In particular, Pontanos Urania consists of a series of mythical narratives inwhich animals and people are turned into constellations by personifications

of their corresponding planets. By matching the systems of Domicile and

Exaltation with the angles of a natal chart, each mythical narrative is followed

by a short profile of four kinds of individuals born with the ascendant, mid-heaven, descendant or imum coeliin a particular sign of the zodiac.32 Consistent

tanquam dominari inter alios videatur. (On account of which, in such a difficult inspectionand situation, you have to examine the state, position, ordering, reciprocal configuration,and also Saturns role in them. It (i.e. Saturn) seems to be the only planet to exert an influenceof its own as if it dominated among them).30) De Rebus Coelestibus lib. II Sig. E ii v: Nullus evasit bonus Poeta: cuius in genitura

Venus Mercuriusque in signis accomodatis: in locis idoneis: in appositis configurationibusinventi non fuerint. Nanque ab iis potissimum stellis Poetae formantur. [] Nos qui haecscribimus nullo a praeceptore ad carmen componendum: aut ad philosophiam ediscendam:aut ad coeli significationes intelligendas instituti sumus. Sola enim natura insitaque animivis: ac veterum scriptorum lectio assidua: ad haec ipsa nos traxit.31) Ptolemy,etrabiblos, III: Since the chronological starting point of human nativities isnaturally the very time of conception, but potentially and accidentally the moment of birth,in cases in which the very time of conception is known either by chance or by observation,

it is more fitting that we should follow it in determining the special nature of body andsoul. For a discussion of the ascendant and its history, see Whitfield,Astrology. A History,.32) On the angles of a natal chart, and the history of this system, see Whitfield,Astrology: aHistory, .


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with Pontanos poetic ideal of wonder (admiratio),Uraniareports how Marshad turned the ram Helles into the constellation Aries, thus causing Apollos

disbeliefa rhetorically elaborate way of explaining why Mars and Sun have,respectively, their Domicile and Exaltation in Aries.33 Te poet, then, suddenly

switches from the third person narrative to a first person meditation on his life,

in which he explicitly discusses the effect of Aries rising at the moment of his

birth:

Whoever is born with this sign [Aries] rising, now will accumulate great wealth andwill abound in overflowing streams of wealth; but then, on the contrary, thrown inharsh misery and poor, will barely be able to quench his thirst when his waters have

dried up. For it is the nature of this sign to change and bring alternating fates. Youcertainly see how sheep now wander with wool hanging on their back and a prosperousfleece, and then, shorn, flee the bite of horse-flies in the woods. o me, born while thatconstellation was rising, a fertile mother did not give brothers, and nature did not allowother branches to grow up from this sprout. What she gave me, instead, was franknessof expression and judgment of speech, along with strong eloquence and thoughtfulreasoning. How often, alas, I lament about my unrequited loyalty and unacknowledgedefforts, and because no remuneration is granted to my good deeds: a fruitless work andan unrewarded service.34

If one takes into account the poets declared ascendant and the details Pontanogives about the place (Cerreto di Spoleto, a town in central Italy) and date of his

birth (May , Julian Calendar) in his letters, his complete natal chart can

be easily calculated with the use of a modern astrolabe.35 Bearing in mind the

33) On Pontanos poetics of marvel, see Deramaix, ExcellentiaetAdmiratiodans lActiusdePontano, .34) Urania : : Hoc surgente, aliquis veniens ad munera vitae/ Ingentis nunc

divitias cumulabit, opumque/ Affluet undanti rivo; nunc rursus in arctam/ Pauperiemconiectus inopsque arentibus undis/ Vix sedare sitim poterit: nam sideris huius/ est mutarevices, alternaque fata referre./ Ipse vides nunc lanifico pendentia villo/ erga ovis ac ditemfelici vellere lanam,/ Nunc tonsos errare greges ac tergore nudo/ Spicula per silvas fugitaresequentis asili./ At mihi nascenti sub eodem sidere mater/ Non fratres foecunda dedit,nec germine ab uno/ Passa est germanos natura adolescere ramos;/ Sed fandi libertatemarbitriumque loquendi/ Addidit et dictis vires et pondera rebus./ O quotiens sterilemquefidem ingratosque labores/ Conqueror, et quod nulla meis bene gratia factis/ Respondet,sine fruge operam ac sine munere finem. Pontano further discusses the curious detail of

Ariess influence on brothers inDe Rebus Coelestibus, Sig. I v r.35) On Pontanos date of birth, see Monti, Il problema dellanno di nascita di Giovanni

Gioviano Pontano, ; Monti Sabia, Una lettera inedita di Giovanni Pontano ad EleonoradEste, .


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nine-day difference between Julian and Gregorian Calendars for the s andobserving the apparent movements of the constellation Aries on the horizon of

Cerreto, it can be inferred that Pontano was born between : and : .36In this time-span, moreover, Venus and Mercury were respectively located in

the prominent first and third Houses of Pontanos horoscope, while Mercurys

strength was additionally enhanced by its position in relation to Gemini, its

Domicile. Te exceptional importance attributed to Venus and Mercury inUraniaand De Rebus Coelestibus, therefore, nicely corresponds to what Pontanopresumably considered to be his natal chart.37

Along with the public performance of , the early dissemination of

the section on Aries before the definitive publication ofUrania, in my view,confirms that Pontano and his followers used astrology to negotiate and assertintellectual authority. While in Naples, the Florentine humanist and pupil of

Politian, Petrus Crinitus () was exceptionally allowed to compile

an anthology of Pontanos writings, which he finalized between and.38 Tis collection, now found at the Biblioteca Laurenziana in Florence,

opens with the section from the second book ofUrania that deals with theconstellation Aries, and in which the poet reveals his ascendant. In the overall

structure of Crinitus anthology, Uranias verses on Aries play the role of a kind

of prologue to a long specimen of Pontanos poetic works. In general, Pontanopersonally collaborated in compiling anthologies of the literary productionsof Aragonese Naples for his Florentine readers, thus accumulating cultural

capital in the eyes of other groups of intellectuals, such as Politians school

in Florence.39 Te choice of opening Crinituss anthology with important

information about his natal chart, therefore, further demonstrates that Pontano

usedUrania, and astrology, to assert his poetic authority in and outside ofNaples.

36) For my calculation I have used an open-source software called Electric Astrolabe.37) Te importance attributed to Venus and Mercury may also explain Pontanos early glossof MessahallahsDe Causis, Motibus et Natura Orbis, recently published in Rinaldi, Pontanoe le tradizioni astrologiche latine medievali, .38) Pontano,Carmina, XXXIVXXXV; De Nichilo,I poemi astrologici di Giovanni Pontano,; Parenti, Una testimonianza parziale dellaforma CrinitodellUrania, .39) Another anthology of this kind is found in the manuscript Marc. Lat. XIV [],commissioned by the Florentine ambassador Antonio Ridolfi to the scribe Pietro Cennini,

and personally revised by Pontano between . On this manuscript, see De Nichilo,Dal carteggio di Pontano, ; Iacono, La tradizione manoscritta, , , .


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. Explaining Authority: the Pseudo-PtolemaicCentiloquium

It would be short-sighted, however, to interpret Pontanos astrological approachto poetic authority out of its original context, thus disregarding its sources and

how it may have responded to alternative views available at the time. Te choice

of a specific explanation of authorship, as Bourdieu has explained, responds to

the same need of distinction that generates the adoption of a literary genre, thedefinition of a specific style and the choice of a particular language.40 Bour-

dieus views are particularly fitting for Quattrocento Italy, where loosely insti-

tutionalized intellectual communities attempted to define themselves through

the adoption of a specific language like Latin or the vernacular or the agreed

preference for a certain genre like elegy or epic poetry. Furthermore, Bour-dieus theory especially applies to Aragonese Naples, where the cultural field

was composed of several intellectual communities in reciprocal competition. In

this perspective, the early dissemination ofUrania, its public performance, itslanguage and, more importantly, its underlying explanation of authorship are

best understood as acts by which Pontano tried to accumulate cultural capital

by accepting, criticizing or refuting the way in which poetic authority was dis-

cussed elsewhere. In particular, I would like to suggest that Pontanos astrolog-

ical approach was a response to Marsilio Ficinos approach to poetic authority.Scholars disagree on whether Ficinos texts and ideas were known and imi-tated in Quattrocento Naples. In an old, yet still valuable, contribution, intel-

lectual historian and neo-Idealist philosopher Giuseppe Saitta claimed that

Pontano disagreed with Florentine neoplatonists and criticized their ideas

because of his peculiarly naturalistic worldview that foreshadows modern sci-

ence. More recently, Noel Brann has not only claimed that Pontano knew

Ficinos works very well, but he has also used Pontanos works as instances

of Ficinos fortune outside of Florence.41 Notwithstanding their obvious mer-

its, however, neither Saitta nor Brann have managed to back up their claimswith sufficient evidence of Ficinos diffusion in Quattrocento Naples. As I will

demonstrate in the remainder of this paper, Ficinos ideas, along with other

products of Florentine culture, were successfully spreading in Pontanos Naples.

In contrast to Brann, however, I will show that Pontanos language betrays a

subtle criticism of Ficinos explanations of poetic authority and in particular of

his theory of poetic frenzy (furor).

40) Bourdieu,Language and Symbolic Power, .41) Saitta, Il Pensiero Italiano nellUmanesimo e nel Rinascimento, ; Brann, TeDebate over the origin of Genius, .


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Marsilio Ficino () and his Florentine followers explained poeticauthority by assuming the existence of a supernatural cause called frenzy (fu-

ror), whose manifestations throughout history were described through theinvention of a genealogical myth. Although strange for modern readers,

Ficinos mythical genealogies and Pontanos astrological theories need to be

interpreted as equally valid symbolic constructions, which offered different

rational explanations of authorship. In a recent reassesment of Ficinos rein-terpretation of the vatic myth, Raphael Falco has used Blumenbergs notion of

remythicization to account for this philosophers distinctive way of explain-

ing poetic authority in light of Platos dialogues and other late ancient texts

such as theCorpus Hermeticumand, in particular, theOrphic Hymns.42 Ratherthan a defense of poetryper se, as Allen has clearly assessed, Ficino envisionedpoetry as a method for awakening human souls from their bodily prison and as

an earthly sign of the souls immortality.43 In Ficinos synthesis, constellations

and planets were indeed responsible for creating a favorable context for thereception of divine frenzy through their influence on human humors.44 Te

influence of planets like, for example, Saturn, however, was subordinated to

the action of amatory, prophetic, mystical and poetic frenzies on human souls,

as Ficino assessed in the light of PlatosPhedrusand its late-antique commenta-

tors. In his perspective, Ficino and his followers approached poetry as a divinelyimparted gift that, like prophecy, religious rituals and philosophy, was directlycaused by God.

In contrast to Ficino, Giovanni Pontano and his Neapolitan disciples were

inclined to ground their astrological explanation of poetic authority in the

Centiloquium, a collection of aphorisms erroneously attributed to Ptolemyuntil the second half of the sixteenth century.45 Tis text had been well known

in the Latin West since the twelfth century and was mandatory reading for

university students of astrology.46 Because of its diffusion, this apocryphal text

played a major role in shaping the way in which astrology was perceived andpracticed in Quattrocento Italy.47 In addition, an authentic revival of this work

42) Falco, Marsilio Ficino and the Vatic Myth, .43) See Allen,Te Platonism of Marsilio Ficino, ; and, idem, Te Soul as Rhapsode:Marsilio Ficinos Interpretation of PlatosIon, .44) For a recent discussion of Ficinos synthesis of medical and theological views of human

genius, see Brann,Te debate over the Origin of Genius, .45) Grafton,Cardanos Cosmos, ; Rutkin, Use and Abuse of Ptolemysetrabiblos, .46) Grendler,Te Universities of the Italian Renaissance, .47) Lemay, Origin and Success of the kitab tamara, ; Faracovi, Le immagini e le forme,.


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started in Aragonese Naples when the Cretan scholar George of rebizondtranslated into Latin, annotated and dedicated a Greek copy of this text to

King Alfonso il Magnanimo between and .48 In my view, the prestigeassociated with the Greek language along with this texts unusual ideas on the

causes of prophecy had a particular appeal to Giovanni Pontano, who soon

became the protagonist of this revival. In particular, Pontanos interpretation

of the Centiloquium became the bedrock of his theory of authorship and,eventually, the basis for his critique of Ficinos ideas.

From its first aphorism, the pseudo-PtolemaicCentiloquiumcombines twoincompatible systems of thought, that is, Ptolemys view of astrology as a ratio-

nal practice based on conjecture and an hermetic view that associates astrology

with magic, prophecy and poetry.49 In particular, theCentiloquiumenvisionsastrological knowledge as caused by the influx of stars and planets upon a spe-

cial portion of the soul that is closer to the stars, thus offering an idea of poetic

inspiration that sharply differs from Ficinos notion offuror.50 Te contradic-tory view found in theCentiloquiumstems both from its mistaken attributionto Ptolemy and its actual Arabic origin. Originally entitledKitab Tamara,theCentiloquium was written by an Egyptian astrologer of the ulunid era( DC). Te work includes one hundred aphorisms (originally called

kalimat) grouped into topics such as the interpretation of natal charts, therules for determining the right time for an action and the relationship betweencelestial patterns and pathologies such as epilepsy, folly and blindness. Accom-

panied by the commentary of Ahmad ibn Yusuf, the text was translated into

Latin in the twelfth century. In the fourteenth century, the text was translated

into Greek either from the Arabic version or maybe from the twelfth-century

Latin translation.51

If Giovanni Pontanos interest in the Centiloquium stemmed from hisknowledge of George of rebizond, his inclination to apply this texts astro-

logical doctrines to poetry came from his acquaintance with Lorenzo Bonin-contri. A poet and astrologer from Siena, Bonincontri had collaborated with

48) Monfasani,Collectanea rapezuntiana, , .49) Ps.Ptolemy,Centiloquium, aph. I: A e & Scientia; from thyself and learning: for itcannot be, that he who is skilful should pronounce particular forms of things; nor can the

fancy undertake a particular, but general notion of the sensible matter; in such things wemust use conjecture. None but those endued with Divine Inspiration predict particulars.Te English translation is found in Coley,Clavis Astrologiae Elimata, .50) Lemay, Origin and Success of thekitab tamara, .51) Lemay, Origin and Success of thekitab tamara, .


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King Alfonso and his increasingly prestigious state bureaucrats between and .52 At that time, King Alfonso and his son Ferrante were starting

an ambitious project of statecraft by creating a new class of assistants, gen-erally recruited from abroad, to face the difficult task of imposing the fragile

Aragonese authority over the rebellious nobles of Naples and its Kingdom.53

Along with the administration of the Kingdom, this emerging group of bureau-

crats was actively involved in an intellectual community called Porticus,directed by Antonio Beccadelli ().54 In line with the intellectual

orientation that marked the Porticus, Bonincontri and Pontano chose Latin

as their written language and revived the light-hearted values of Roman erotic

elegy as a way of distinguishing themselves from the local schools of grammari-

ans and the austere values of the local nobility.55 In addition, Bonincontri, whowas becoming increasingly knowledgeable in astrology, began to write Latin

verses in which he attempted to sum up his astrological, philosophical and

theological interests. As Rinaldi has inferred from a poem addressed to Bonin-contri around and found in a collection of elegies entitledParthenopeus,Pontano was already thinking of composing complex astrological poetry at

this point in his career. In addition, the poem demonstrates that Bonincon-

tri and Pontano cultivated astrology and poetry together, and were sharing

their knowledge and projects. From this peculiar combination of literary andastrological interests, in my view, both Bonincontri and Pontano were inducedto produce their own annotated translations and commentaries of theCentil-oquium, which they both completed around .56

In trying to resolve the exegetical puzzle posed by the combination of Ptole-

maic and hermetic doctrines found in the first aphorism, Pontano defined for

the first time his distinctive astrological approach to poetic authority. Tis

defense is inscribed in Pontanos gloss to the first aphorism of the Centilo-quium, in which he struggles to understand the difference between inspired

and conjectural forms of divination. Having to choose between this texts com-bination of hermetic and ptolemaic doctrines, Pontano ascribes natural div-

52) Grayson, Bonincontri, Lorenzo.53) Abulafia, Ferrante of Naples. Te Statecraft of a Renaissance Prince, ; Vitale, Sulsegretario regio al servizio degli Aragonesi di Napoli, ; and herModelli culturalinobiliari nella Napoli aragonese, . Bentley has examined the intellectual ramifications ofthis pattern; Bentley,Politica e cultura, .54) Beccadelli,Hermaphroditus, .55) Soranzo, Poetry and Society in Aragonese Naples.56) Rinaldi, Un sodalizio poetico-astrologico, .


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ination to the action of celestial motions on human souls while provocativelydiscussing divine inspiration as a belief, rather than a philosophically estab-

lished truth. Also, he brings forth the view that the motion of stars is the causeof poetic talent, thus provocatively envisioning a link between astrology and

poetry:

Te first [kind of prediction] seems to be triggered by the stars; none of those which arementioned, and which are indicated by celestial motions, by certain reason or counsel.

We usually call frenzied those motions that are uncontrolled and are not moderatedby human art and reason, and we call frenzied and raving those who act in that way;

some people even call them demonic, while they are vulgarly defined as spirited. As Isaid, the predictions of these individuals are ascribed to the stars, although it is believed

that prophets prophesy under the influence of some kind of divine inspiration (divinoquodam afflato), and their prognostications and predictions are called Gods oracles.Te second kind consists of reason and observation [] But as art alone does notmake poets good and nature is exceedingly strong in them, likewise discipline alone

does not make an astrologer. Since the astrologer is an interpreter of celestial signs, it isnecessary that nature exercises its influence upon him even more than it does upon thepoet: as they assert, physicians and emperors should be fortunate, and this is ascribed

to a benign celestial configuration at birth.57

When the commentary was composed, Pontano needed to distinguish his

approach to poetic authority because Ficinos texts and ideas were spreadingamong the writers gathered around King Ferrantes sons Federico and Alfonso,

and Princess Ippolita Sforza, an intimate friend of Lorenzo de Medici.58 In

contrast to Giovanni Pontano and his followers, the community of poets

gathered around Ippolita and Federico chose the uscan vernacular as its

distinctive literary language, and began to imitate the genre and style of their

57)

Pontano,Centum Ptolemaei Sententiae, lib I Sig. Aaa ii v-aaa iii r: Et prior illa videtur astellis excitari, nulla eorum quae dicantur, quaeque coelestibus motibus indicentur, habitaratione aut consilio. Hos motus ut inconsultos, ac nulla humana arte, rationeque temepratosappellare solemus fanaticos, et eos ipsos qui sic moveantur, tuc fanaticos, tum lymphatosdicimus, quidam etiam daemoniacos, vulgus spiritatos appellat. Quorum omnis, ut dixi,praedictio statim referatur ad stellas, quanquam prophetas divino quodam afflatus vaticina-tus credimus, quorum pradictiones, atque vaticinia Dei ipsius habeantur oracula. Posteriorarte, id est ratione, atque observatione constat. [] Sed ut bonos Poetas ars sola non efficit,plurimumque in iis natura valet, sic neque sola disciplina mathematicum perficit, in quocum coelestium significationum interpres sit, multo etiam magis quam in Poeta necesseest ut natura ipsa vires suas exerceat, quando medicum quoque et imperatorem asseverent

fortunatum esse oportere.58) Soranzo, Audience and Quattrocento Pastoral, .


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Florentine contemporaries. In , Lorenzo sent Federico an anthologyof Florentine poetry entitled Raccolta Aragonese, whose last section includes

Lorenzos commentary on his own poems in light of Ficinos ideas.59 In , Ficino personally corresponded with Ferrantes son, Cardinal Giovanni

of Aragon, whom he provided with a synopsis of his view on the immortality

of the soul.60 In a literary field that was attributing a growing cultural capital

to the uscan language and Ficinos ideas, Pontano sought to defend thedistinguishing features of his group, that is, the use of Latin as a literary

language and astrology as the explanation of authorship.

While writing the Centiloquium and finalizingUrania, Pontano furtherinvestigated the poetic implications of his astrological view of authorship in

the aforementioned second book ofDe Rebus Coelestibus. Suitably dedicatedto the young poet Jacopo Sannazaro, this section of Pontanos treatise includes

an interesting definition of the scope of astrology and situates poetry within the

field of this discipline. In particular, De Rebus Coelestibusexplains that since thewriting of poetry is an activity of the soul and the body, its study is not limited

to moral philosophy or theology, but it belongs to astrology. In this perspective,

poetic choices such as the adoption of a specific language or literary genre are

envisioned as caused by stars and planets:

Te flow of a song is not always the poets choice and judgment. We have to look atthe motion [of stars] and how it excites the humors and seeds by which these thingscalled phantasms are visible as if they are waken from sleep. On account of their qualityand combination, one [poet] composes Lyrical poetry and another Elegy, one pursuesIambs and another pursues Epic, so that nothing else resounds but bellicose sounds.

Te qualities and natures of those seeds are so diverse that destinies cannot be seen inthe mind alone or in specific individuals, but rather in the mixtures of bodies and invery few individuals.61

59) De Robertis, Lorenzo Aragonese, , , ; Mazzacurati, Storia e Funzione della Poesianel Comento di Lorenzo de Medici, .60) Soranzo, Audience and Quattrocento Pastoral, ; Rees, Ficinos Advice to Princes,.61) Pontano, De Rebus CoelestibusII, Sig. E fol. ii r-v: Nec vero semper Poetae arbitrii ac iurisest carmen ipsum fundere quando expectandus motus est quantum humores illos seminaqueipsa concitet a quibus visa ipsa quae phantasmata dicuntur veluti e somno expergiscantur.

pro quorum etiam qualitate ac temperatione alius Lyricum pangit alius Elegiacum illeIambicum. sequitur hic Heroicum ut nihil prorsus nisi bellicum personet: adeo seminumipsorum diversae sunt qualitates ac naturae quae quidem neque in animo solo neque in

hominibus singulis fata perspiciuntur sed in misturis corporum et in hominibus quampaucissimis.


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Pontanos application of astrological causality to the problem of poeticauthority illustrates how humanists continued to investigate the sources of

poetic authority in terms of causality. Te presence of alternative approaches toauthorship that characterizes Aragonese Naples, however, betrays a difference

from Mussatos defense of literary studies in fourteenth-century Padua. On the

one hand, Pontano and his contemporaries continued to enhance the status of

their discipline by speculating on the causes of their texts. Rather than markinga rupture with the Middle Ages, therefore, new books such as Platos dialogues

or the pseudo-Ptolemaic Centiloquium continued to be examined in light of oldquestions. On the other hand, Quattrocento writers were not always affiliated

with well-established universities but rather belonged to loosely organized and

spontaneous communities of scholars, which were inclined to create differentand often competing solutions to the problem of authorship. Tis competition,

as I will demonstrate in the conclusion of this essay, is inscribed and radicalized

in Pontanos dialogueActius.

. Transmitting Authority: Jacopo Sannazaro andActius

If around Pontano and his followers had sufficient cultural capital to dis-

miss the work of competitors with vaguely polemical remarks, twenty years la-ter Florentine ideas were firmly diffused in Naples so that Pontanos authoritywas under siege. In order to reaffirm his legacy and defend his theory of author-

ship in an increasingly polarized cultural field, between and Pon-

tano wrote the dialogueActius.62 In this text, printed posthumously in ,the competition among different theories of authorship is dramatized in the

form of a conversation that stages an emerging poet (Sannazaro) as the embod-

iment of his new mentors (Pontanos) views, which are paraphrased and ap-

proved by a professor of natural philosophy (Johannes Pardo). If understood in

its original context and interpreted in relation to the history of authorship,Ac-tiusstages the official naming of Sannazaro-Actius as Pontanos legitimate suc-cessor to the leadership of the Porticus. In constructing Sannazaros authorial

persona,Actiusimplicitly defends the astrological approach to authorship thatdefines Pontanos community against alternative views coming from Florence.

By giving and accepting the new nickname Actius, Pontano and Sannazaro

symbolically represent an important event in the cultural field of Naples. As

used to happen in other humanistic communities, Pontano and his followers

62) Monti, Ricerche sulla cronologia dei Dialoghidi Pontano, ; Monti, Per lastoria del testo dellActiusdel Pontano, .


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adopted classicizing nicknames to express their devotion to ancient literatureand reinforce their sense of belonging to the group. By accepting the nickname,

writers could subtly declare a specific cultural orientation, express a certainliterary taste and even suggest their polemical targets.63 Until , Sannazaro

was a well-known writer in Aragonese Naples under the nickname of Sincero,

and he shaped his intellectual career in relation to the Aragonese court and

university professor Giuniano Maio, professor of Rhetoric and Poetics at thelocalStudio. After Maios death, he progressively joined Pontanos circle, anevent that he expressed poetically in the second version ofArcadiaand recalledin hisPiscatorial Eclogues, two texts written after . More precisely, in thesecond version of his Arcadia Sannazaro constructed himself and Pontanoas respectively the Neapolitan boy Sincero and the old shepherd Meliseus,two characters whose symbolical encounter is found in the conclusion of the

text.64Also, Sannazaro recalled the etymology of his nickname and praised his

investiture as Pontanos follower in the secondPiscatorial Eclogue, which stagesMeliseus in the act of presenting a gift to his pupil for having written about

seashores (acta).65

If framed in its original context and interpreted in relation to Pontanos

astrological approach to authorship,Actiusis not only a technical treatise of

poetics as scholars have generally assumed. Marc Deramaix and Laurens Pierre,for example, have investigated the features of Pontanos poetics of wonder andhis careful reuse of Virgils verses in relation to the humanistic discussion on

rhetoric.66 Liliana Monti Sabia and Mauro De Nichilo have focused on the

section devoted to the writing of history and explored the rhetorical themes

and historical circumstances that caused Pontano to draw, for the first time, a

distinction between history and historiography.67 Guido Martellotti, Giacomo

Ferra and, as a side note, Paolo Valesio, have emphasized the innovative char-

acter of Pontanos approach to poetry and interpreted it as a forerunner of stylis-

63) Furstenberg-Levi, Te Fifteenth-Century Accademia Pontaniana, .64) Soranzo, Audience and Quattrocento Pastoral, .65) Sannazaro,Latin Poetry: Tis the shepherd Meliseus, the shepherd himself, once gaveme, when the old man chanced to hear me as I sang from my lofty rock. He said: Boy, letthese be the rewards for your muse, since you were the first to sing along our shores. Fora very erudite discussion of the meaning of Sannazaros nickname see Riccucci, La profezia

del vate, .66) Deramaix, Excellentiaet Admiratio dans lActius, ; Laurens, Le poids dunflocon de neige, .67) Monti Sabia, Pontano e la storia; De Nichilo, LActiusdel Pontano e una lettera diBernardo Rucellai, .


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tic criticism.68 Only Francesco ateo has focused on this dialogues representa-tion of authors and has underlined howActiusunusually constructs Sannazaros

persona as a poet and the recipient of prophetic dreams.69 More recently, Shu-lamit Furstenberg-Levi has pointed out how PontanosActiusstems from theauthors attempt to reinforce his intellectual heritage by indicating and reveal-

ing the names of his heir.70 ateo and Furstenberg-Levi, therefore, have paved

the way for my own intepretation.aken as a whole, the authorization of Sannazaro staged in Actius can

be read as a polemical attempt at defending Pontanos astrological approach

to authorship against the growing success of Ficinos ideas at the Aragonese

court. InActius, Sannazaros authorization starts from a discussion about thecauses of his prophetic dreams, and ends with a praise of Pontanos Uraniaas the epitome of a new ideal of poetry. If matched with the cultural field of

Naples in the s,Actiusbrings forth a controversial and highly polemicalmessage. At that time, the King and his collaborator Francesco Pucci werecontributing to the diffusion of uscan vernacular and Ficinos ideas at court. A

well-trained humanist versed in eloquence, Latin poetry and classical exegesis,

Pucci became librero mayor of the Aragonese Library in , and during his

tenure he significantly improved King Ferrantes collection.71 In , Ferrante

commissioned a manuscript copy of Ficinos translation and commentaries ofPlatos dialogues to the scribe Pietro Ippolito da Luni. Te copy, now at theBritish Library, was lavishly illuminated by the Neapolitan artist Matteo Felice,

whose hand is often found among the richest items of the Aragonese Library.72

Pietro Ippolito da Luni and Matteo Felice also collaborated in producing an

illuminated copy of FicinosPlatonic Teology, which was finished in .73

Ippolito da Luni, moreover, compiled a selection of Ficinos texts and collected

them in a richly illuminated anthology of ancient philosophers translated into

uscan vernacular.74 Courtly intellectuals, in other words, were increasingly

interested in Florentine platonism and prone to adopt Ficinos ideas.

68) Martellotti, Critica metrica del Salutati e del Pontano, ; Ferra, Pontano critico;Valesio,Strutture dellalliterazione, .69) ateo,radizione e realt, , .70) Furstenberg-Levi, Te fifteenth century Accademia Pontaniana, .71) Mazzatinti,La Biblioteca dei Re dAragona in Napoli, xcixcii.72) Tese two manuscripts are now found at the British Library and are part of the Harleycollection (Mss. Harley ).73) Mazzatinti,La Biblioteca de Re dAragona, lxivlxv.74) Tis manuscript is now found at the Biblioteca Nazionale in Naples (Biblioteca Naziona-le XII E ).


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In the explanation of the causes of prophecy that forms the first part ofActius, Pontano reconciles his astrological views with natural philosophy, thus

translating the intention ofDe Rebus Coelestibusin dramatic terms. Pontanostext defends the authors approach to authorship by using the persona of

Johannes Pardo to explain frenzy (furor) in astrological terms. Pardos explana-tion, which translates the language of a difficult metaphysical inquiry excep-

tionally well, in a witty and conversational tone, is based on an astrologicalinterpretation of AristotlesDe Anima:

[Johannes Pardo] Aristotle maintains that there is an external mind (mens). Tis mindas I believe he thinksglides into human souls as if it were coming from elsewhere.

And likewise, it gives the soul the duty (officium) to think, investigate and finally judgethat which might bestow what is suitable to the artists for the accomplishment of thedesignated task. And it is my opinion that just as radiance (lumen) comes into the eyesfrom the light (lux) that pours forth from the sun (for the light is also external, that is, itis a celestial substance emitted by heaven and the sun that comes to us from elsewhere);so the mind is infused by the movements of heaven itself and the stars, through what iscalledsympatheiain Greek and Cicero calledcontagioin Latin (although I would rathercall it contages, since contagio is generally taken as unhealthy and pestilential these days).So, as I was saying, by the perpetual movement of heaven and the stars the mindthatacute, accomplished and intrinsically constant disposition to thinkis poured into our

souls by a gift of God.

75

Tis view of the stars as the cause of dreams is eventually used to criticizealternative theories about the causes of prophecy and poetry as directly infused

by God. Trough a brilliant use of a fragmented syntax that seems to suggest

stylistically the eerie atmosphere of oracles, Pontano is conducting a subtle

critique of Ficinos Teologia Platonica, and more specifically of the secondchapter of book of this treatise. As a sign of the immortality of the soul,

this section of Ficinos treatise investigates prophecy, and asks when human

75) Pontano, I Dialoghi, : Externam quidem esse mentem putat Aristoteles eamqueveluti peregre advenientem, ut sentire illum arbitror, in animos hominum illabi idemqueanimis praestare ipsis officium ad cogitandum pervestigandumque, denique ad iudicandumquod artificibus ipsis ad conficiendum destinatum opus praebeat dextera. Ac mea quidemsententia, perinde ut de luce per orbem a sole diffusa lumen oculis accenditur ad viden-dum atque discernendum ea quae oculis obiecta sunt (nam et lux externa, idest coelestis

res est eque coelo a sole diffusa peregre ad nos advenit), sic a coeli ipsius siderumque com-motionibus, per eam quae Graece est, Latine contagionem fecit Cicero (mihimagis placet appellare contagem, quando contagio in malam ac pestilentem hodie partem

accipitur), sic, inquam, a coeli stellarumque agitatu perpetuo animis nostris mens, idest visilla cogitandi tam acuta et solere tamque etiam sibi constans dono dei infunditur.


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reason can empty itself from external influences so that the mind can receivethe influence of higher minds.76 Ficinos answer is articulated in a list of seven

kinds of emptying or release (vacatio), the first of which is sleep.77What Ficino,based on Plato, had explained in terms of a direct contact between human and

divine minds, is paraphrased as a pious fiction by Pardo, who prefers to analyze

this phenomenon as resulting from a natural influx caused by stars and planets:

But how, I say, do those visions, divine and filled with sanctity, of knowledge of future

events and (as we Christians say) of arcane mysteries, take place without the contact[contages] of the stars and heaven? Terefore, just as that mind [mens] is given tothe most famous seers, the sibyls, from the heavens, by which looking indeed at the

most remote things and in no way into themselves, they foretell and foresee thingswhich the seers themselves have never thought or experienced before, in the same way,those visions from the heavens are offered to those who are sleeping, indeed to those

individuals as though they are occupied by no care or thought and indeed emptied anddeprived of their senses, to the extent that there appears to be nothing human in them.Poets rightly describe that frenzy (furor) of those prophesying, which is called frenzybecause it is beyond human senses. What, therefore, is [named] frenzy in prophets,doesnt have [that] name in the case of those who are asleep. Piously, rather thanaccurately, some good men call it divine visitation (visitatio) or apparition (apparitio),as if God himself, or some kind of divine entity, were really visiting those men in dreamsor appeared to them while they were at rest.78

Based on his interpretation of Aristotle in astrological terms, and in line with

his critique of religious accounts of prophetic dreams, Pardo concludes his

argumentation by praising poets and alluding to Pontanos astrological ap-

proach to poetic authority. As part of Pontanos strategy to construct San-

nazaros authorial persona as a way of defending his astrological explanation of

76) Ficino,Platonic Teology, .77)

Ficino,Platonic Teology, .78) Pontano,I Dialoghi, : At quomodo, inquam, fient, quomodo absque siderum con-tage et coeli visiones illae divinae quidem ac sanctitatis plenae futurorumque cognitionisatque (ut Christiani dicimus) arcanorum mysteriorum? Quemadmodum igitur mens illacoelitus sibyllis offertur vatibus praeclarissimis, per quam remotissimas quoque res nihilquead se spectantes, ne cogitatas quidem prius nec concupitas vates ipsi et praedicunt et praevi-dent, eundem ad modum coelitus visiones illae offeruntur dormientibus, iis quidem ut nullisoccupatis aut curis aut cogitationibus, ipsis vero sensibus ita liberis ac vacuis, ut nihil utiquehumanum eis inesse videatur; sicuti recte quidem a poetis describitur furor ipse vaticinan-tium, qui, quod praeter humanos fiat sensus, furor est appellatus. Qui igitur in vatibus furorest, in dormientibus caret nomine; pie tamen magis quam proprie a bonis quibusdam viris

tum visitatio tum apparitio divina dicitur, quasi Deus in somniis illos inviserit aut numeniis aliquod apparuerit quiescentibus.


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poetic authority, Pardo tacitly approves of the work of astrologers in this fieldby simply referring to their work:

How especially few and most rare poets are, whose force of genius is believed to emanate

from the heavens! Tey have such an acquaintance with divine visions, as if it were aright of hospitality. And they also have that imprint imparted by the heavens which isfitting for receiving these visions, which fall from heaven through sympathy (contages).On this topic, those who are devoted to that sidereal science called astrology in Greek,

wrote many things that, at this point, I prefer to relegate to their discipline.79

Sannazaros characterization as an avid reader and admirer ofUrania is partof the strategy by which Pontano transmits his poetic authority to his pupil

inActius. After having explained the properties of Latin hexameter by directlyquoting from Uraniaand VirgilsAeneid, Sannazaro-Actius solemnly concludeshis speech by situating Pontano in a poetic genealogy starting with Empedocles

and leading to his master through the model of their common author, Virgil.Urania, the poem on causes, is used once again to present stars as the causes ofpoetic authority:

With their poems, Empedocles disclosed the nature of things to the human race,Dorotheus of Sidon that of the stars; Lucretius and Manilius imitated them in Latin,and with what eloquence and tropes, my God! How much splendor shines forth from

the most brilliant lights of the former into the latter! He [Lucretius] brings the readerwherever he wishes, demonstrates what he intends, with unsurpassed subtlety andartfulness exhorts, frightens, incites, and finally, when needed, he brings everything

back with magnificence, appropriateness and that aforementionedadmiratio. So that,after having rubbed off the rust from his rough verses, with which Virgil eventuallyhonored Roman poetry, he does not seem lacking at all. And if in the latters [Manilius]

Astronomica some embellishment was needed to reach poetic appropriateness, ourSenex[Pontano] recently managed to add to it and bring it to perfection. Posterity,I think, will perhaps more generously judge his Uraniabecause, I know, it will feel less

envious of it.80

79) Pontano, I Dialoghi, : Quam paucissimi vel rarissimi potius existunt poetae, quorumingenii etiam vis e coelo manare credita est! Quibus itaque divinis cum visionibus haec inestfamiliaritas, tanquam hospitii ius, et illa quoque eisdem inest a coelo informatio accipiendisapta visis quae de coelo per contagem illabuntur. Qua de re ab illis qui sideralis scientiaequaeGraece dicitur studiosi sunt permulta traduntur, quae nos ad illorum hac

in parte disciplinam relegamus.80) Pontano,I Dialoghi, : Aperuit rerum naturam generi hominum carmine suoEmpedocles, sideralis disciplinae Dorotheus Sidonius, quos Latine imitati Lucretius ac

Manilius, Christe optime, quid copiae, quod ornatus, quantus e clarissimis luminibus eiuseicat in altero splendor! Rapit quo vult lectorem, probat ad quod intendit, summa cum sub-


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. Conclusion

In continuity with their Medieval predecessors, as the case of Pontanos Naplesdemonstrates, Quattrocento intellectuals continued to discuss poetic author-

ity in the language of causality. Te interest of Ficino and Pontano in ancient

texts such as Platos dialogues or the pseudo-Ptolemaic Centiloquium, there-fore, is not indicative of a rupture with the Middle Ages. On the contrary, thecase examined reveals how new texts were actually explored with old questions

so that the traditional interplay of authorship and causality was enriched by

new arguments, rather than dismissed. Moreover, Pontanos performance of

Uraniaand the transmission of authority staged in the dialogueActius illus-trate how the language of causality continued to be used to negotiate, dis-pute and defend the authority of a discipline and the prestige of an intellec-

tual community in relation to or against alternative ideas. While an exhaus-

tive history of early modern theories of authorship still remains to be writ-ten, however, a close-up onto the case of Pontanos Naples may enrich the

conclusions of this essay with the clues to a more complex historical sce-

nario.

On August , a few months before starting to write the first draft

of his dialogue Actius, Pontano was in Florence as an ambassador of KingAlfonso II, and was trying to find a diplomatic solution to the threat posedby Charles VIII to the Kingdom of Naples.81While in Florence, Pontano may

well have met Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, thus directly

experiencing the atmosphere of religious fervor and messianic anxiety that set

the stage for Girolamo Savonarolas political ascent.82As can be inferred from

the manuscript versions of the twelfth book ofDe Rebus Coelestibus(written; first printed ) and the third book ofDe Fortuna (written; first printed ), which were heavily altered by their posthu-

mous editor Pietro Summonte, Pontano was harshly critical of Savonarola and

tilitate et artificio, hortatur, deterret, incitat, retrahit, demum omnia cum magnitudine, ubiopus est atque decoro, et hac de qua disputatum est admiratione, ut expurgatis rudioribusillis vetustatis numeris, quibus postea Virgilius Romanam illustravit poeticam, nihil omnino

defuisse videatur. Alteri vero in astronomicis, si quid ornatus poeticoque defuit decori, addi-tum nuper ac suffectum a nostro Sene. De cuius Urania, ut arbitror, iudicabunt posterifortasse liberius, quod, certo scio, de ea sentient minus invidenter.81) Monti Sabia, Prolusione, .82) Weinstein, Savonarola, Florence and the Millenarian radition, .


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violently criticized the friars success among Florentine intellectuals.83What ismore, Pontano openly sided with astrologer Lucio Bellanti in trying to debunk

Savonarolas authority as the nefarious consequence of a negative astrologicalconfiguration, thus using his astrological views as a powerful instrument of

political subversion.84 If framed in this broader historical context, Pontanos

distinctive approach to poetic authority might prove to be more complex

than a consequence of his astrological studies, a critique of Marsilio Ficinossuccess in Quattrocento Naples or a tribute to his pupil Jacopo Sannazaro.

Tis complexity stems from the fact that the authority of a poet and a prophet,

as Pierre Bourdieu suggested in a still illuminating critique of Max Weber,

ultimately does not reside in the intrinsic quality of an individuals charisma but

rather in the relations among multiple agents that discuss, negotiate, attributeor deny this form of authority in a specific cultural field. Te unravelling of

these relations, however, would demand a thorough historical reconstruction

that goes beyond the scope of this essay.85

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Documents

Matteo Soranzo, Giovanni Gioviano Pontano on Astrology and Poetic Authority