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The accurate critical edition of these texts is by a promising
young scholar,Aide Scala, who also provides a detailed biography of
the author. Moreover, she
offers a thorough commentary and contextualization of the
Dialogi and of theother works by Rorario, including the oration in
Defense of the Rats InfestingCardinal Campeggis Garden (rich in
burlesque references). The tract, mentionedabove, on the
ratiocinative capacities of animals is also studied through its
philo-sophical role in the Bayle-Leibniz polemic, with an
interesting if not persuasiveaside on Rorarios anti-volgare stand
in the Bembo-Castiglione questione dellalingua. The last chapter
contains an overview of the unfinished epic poem HeroicaHistoria.
In conclusion, Scalas contribution sharply unveils Rorarios
complexcurriculum, and one can only hope that his witty Latin
satires will be soon readable
in English, possibly next to the excellent translation of
Albertis Momus in the ITatti Renaissance Library. In the meantime,
a complete Italian two-volume trans-lation of Rorarios works has
been edited by Scala and published by the Accademiadi San Marco in
Pordenone.
MARCELLO SIMONETTAWesleyan University
Tommaso Campanella. Lateismo trionfato overo riconoscimento
filosoficodella religione universale contra lantichristianesmo
macchiavellesco.2 vols. Ed. Germana Elisa Ernst. Pisa: Scuola
Normale Superiore, 2004. lxviii + 268; i + 391pp. index. illus.
bibl. n.p. ISBN: 8876421254.
The importance of Germana Ernsts edition of Lateismo trionfante
is that involume 1 she has published a critical edition of the
first (Italian) version ofCampanellas important work. It shows us
what Campanella had written beforeinquisitors and other censors had
read it and forced him to make changes in theLatin versions of the
work. Volume 2 is a photographic copy of Campanellasoriginal
manuscript that was the basis of Ernsts edited translation in the
firstvolume: Ms Barb. Lat. 4458 of the Biblioteca Apostolica
Vaticana.
Lateismo trionfanto was first written between 1605 and 1607 when
it wasrewritten in Latin. This Italian text was never published
until Ernsts currentedition, although Campanella had hopes of
getting its Latin translation publishedthrough the help of Gaspare
Schoppe in Germany in the years soon after itscomposition. (Schoppe
suggested the first half of the title to Campanella; thesecond half
of the title was Campanellas preferred version.) It was finally
given animprimatur in Italy in 1631, but was then soon taken off
the market due to thecriticism of an unknown censor (thought by
Luigi Firpo to have been AlessandroVitrizio [xlviii]). The Latin
version was published once again in Paris (1636) afterCampanellas
release from prison and his immigration to France.
The modern reader of the books short title might think it
obvious why itraised the hackles of ecclesiastical censors, for it
would seem that the book is about
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triumphant atheism. This is not the case, however. To
Campanella, atheismdid not mean the nonexistence of God but rather
the belief in a Calvinist God
predestining the eternal fate of human beings who have no free
will and thereforeno ability to chose good over evil. Campanella
therefore saw his book as an attackon this triumphant Protestant
theology that threatened God with charges ofcruelty and injustice.
He also argued that Christianity was the true religion (com-pared
with all other religions in the world) because it was based on
natural reasonand natural law, with Jesus as the epitome of law and
reason. Yet his Catholicopponents did not see this work as an
attack on predestination. Luca Wadding(15881657) wrote, This is the
cardinal point of heresy, [for] it confounds thelaw of nature and
the law of Christ; and Niccol Riccardi, il Padre Mostro, said,
If he is not Pelagius, I dont know who else would be (xlv).In
Lateismo trionfanto, Campanella also accounts as heretics of the
true
Christian religion such writers as Niccol Machiavelli and others
who assert thatthe ends justify the means. The philosophy
ofMachiavellistiendangers the work ofthe universal Christian
monarchy. He says that all the anti-Christian evils of his agecome
from Machiavelli.
So what is Campanellas Christian view in Lateismo trionfato?
According tohim, the Catholic faith is the most perfect form of the
Christian faiths. He assertsthat Catholicism is in line with
natural reason and Aristotelianism, particularly
in its Thomistic form. This opinion is no surprise since
Campanella was aDominican. All people, he says, can recognize Jesus
as Reason Itself. Campanellatherefore believes that all people are
Christian when they live according to thelights of reason, even
though they may not be members of the Catholic Church ormay not
know Jesus. This last view was dangerous, verging on heresy,
accordingto Campanellas censors, for he seemed to draw many ideas
from Origen which,coupled with his Pelagianism, allowed him to be
read as an extreme Pelagian whobelieved all men would be saved.
Consequently, although Campanella clearly believed in God and
disbelieved
in predestination, his book seemed too liberal for the likes of
his critical inquisi-torial readers. No wonder, then, that the
Latin edition of 1631, published in Italy,had to go through
rewriting and, even after publication, was removed from book-stores
shelves for further emendations. It could only find unfettered
publication inthe freer air of Paris.
Germana Ernst has done us all a great service in making
Campanellas im-portant work available to us in such a masterful
fashion. We are in her debt.
EDWARD A. GOSSELINCalifornia State University, Long Beach,
Emeritus
George W. McClure. The Culture of Profession in Late Renaissance
Italy.Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 2004. xviii
+ 374 pp. index. illus. bibl.$65.00. ISBN: 0802089704.
The culture of profession to which the title of this study
alludes is a ratheramorphous entity. The author has examined a
number of vernacular literary works
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