THE LIFE OF PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA
By his Nephew
Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola
Translated by
Thomas More
Edited with introduction and notes by
J. M. Rigg
With an introductory essay by
Walter Pater
Published by the Ex-classics Project, 2011
http://www.exclassics.com
Public Domain
PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA
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CONTENTS
Bibliographic Note .................................................................................................... 3
Pico Della Mirandola By Walter Pater....................................................................... 4
Title Page Of 1890 Edition .......................................................................................12
Introduction. By J. M. Rigg ......................................................................................13
The Life Of Pico Della Mirandola ............................................................................31
Dedication................................................................................................................32
The Life Of Giovanni Pico, Earl Of Mirandola. ........................................................33
Three Letters Written By Pico Della Mirandola........................................................45
The Interpretation Of Giovanni Pico Upon This Psalm Conserva Me Domine. .........54
Pico's Twelve Rules .................................................................................................59
Pico's Twelve Weapons Of Spiritual Battle...............................................................64
Pico's Twelve Properties Or Conditions Of A Lover.................................................68
A Prayer Of Pico Mirandola Unto God. ....................................................................74
Notes........................................................................................................................77
THOMAS MORE et al.
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Bibliographic Note
The Life of Pico Della Mirandola
was originally written in Latin by his
nephew Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and translated into English by Thomas More
in 1504. This Ex-Classics version is taken from an edition edited with introduction
and notes by J. M. Rigg, published by David Nutt in 1890. The spelling has been
modernised.
The essay by Walter Pater is from The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry
(1873).
PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA
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PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA
By
Walter Pater
No account of the Renaissance can be complete without some notice of the
attempt made by certain Italian scholars of the fifteenth century to reconcile
Christianity with the religion of ancient Greece. To reconcile forms of sentiment
which at first sight seem incompatible, to adjust the various products of the human
mind to each other in one many-sided type of intellectual culture, to give humanity,
for heart and imagination to feed upon, as much as it could possibly receive, belonged
to the generous instincts of that age. An earlier and simpler generation had seen in the
gods of Greece so many malignant spirits, the defeated but still living centres of the
religion of darkness, struggling, not always in vain, against the kingdom of light.
Little by little, as the natural charm of pagan story reasserted itself over minds
emerging out of barbarism, the religious significance which had once belonged to it
was lost sight of, and it came to be regarded as the subject of a purely artistic or
poetical treatment. But it was inevitable that from time to time minds should arise,
deeply enough impressed by its beauty and power to ask themselves whether the
religion of Greece was indeed a rival of the religion of Christ; for the older gods had
rehabilitated themselves, and men's allegiance was divided. And the fifteenth century
was an impassioned age, so ardent and serious in its pursuit of art that it consecrated
everything with which art had to do as a religious object. The restored Greek literature
had made it familiar, at least in Plato, with a style of expression concerning the earlier
gods, which had about it much of the warmth and unction of a Christian hymn. It was
too familiar with such language to regard mythology as a mere story; and it was too
serious to play with a religion.
"Let me briefly remind the reader"--says Heine, in the Gods in Exile, an essay
full of that strange blending of sentiment which is characteristic of the traditions of
the middle age concerning the pagan religions--"how the gods of the older world, at
the time of the definite triumph of Christianity, that is, in the third century, fell into
painful embarrassments, which greatly resembled certain tragical situations of their
earlier life. They now found themselves beset by the same troublesome necessities to
which they had once before been exposed during the primitive ages, in that
revolutionary epoch when the Titans broke out of the custody of Orcus, and, piling
Pelion on Ossa, scaled Olympus. Unfortunate Gods! They had then to take flight
ignominiously, and hide themselves among us here on earth, under all sorts of
disguises. The larger number betook themselves to Egypt, where for greater security
they assumed the forms of animals, as is generally known. Just in the same way, they
had to take flight again, and seek entertainment in remote hiding-places, when those
iconoclastic zealots, the black brood of monks, broke down all the temples, and
pursued the gods with fire and curses. Many of these unfortunate emigrants, now
entirely deprived of shelter and ambrosia, must needs take to vulgar handicrafts, as a
means of earning their bread. Under these circumstances, many whose sacred groves
had been confiscated, let themselves out for hire as wood-cutters in Germany, and
were forced to drink beer instead of nectar. Apollo seems to have been content to take