Ciceronianism

Ciceronianism was the tendency among the Renaissance humanists to imitate the language and style of Cicero (106–43 BC) and hold it up as a model of Latin. The term was coined in the 19th century from the much older term ciceronianus, 'a Ciceronian'.^[1] That term is contrasted with christianus (Christian) in Jerome in the 4th century. Erasmus employs it the same way in the title of his dialogue Ciceronianus (1528).^[2] During the Renaissance, however, the term could have both positive and negative connotations, depending on whether slavish or creative imitation was in view.^[1]

Cicero's writing was already considered classical by Quintilian in the 1st century.^[1] He was admired for his style in the Middle Ages, but only his De inventione and Topica were widely known.^[3] His language, however, had little influence on Medieval Latin.^[1] His rise to preeminence began with Petrarch's discovery of the Epistulae ad Atticum in 1345 and with the discovery of De oratore, Orator, and Brutus by Gerardo Landriani [de] in 1421. It culminated in Pietro Bembo establishing a Ciceronian style for official papal documents in the 16th century. By that time, however, there was also a robust anti-Ciceronianism, as exemplified by Erasmus' Ciceronianus.^[3] Against Erasmsus, Julius Caesar Scaliger wrote his Oratio pro Cicerone contra Desiderium Erasmum ('Speech for Cicero against Erasmus', 1531–1537) and Étienne Dolet his pamphlet Erasmianus (1535).^[2]

Titlepage from Nizolio's *Observationes in Ciceronem* (1561 edition)

Anti-Ciceronianism was in practice often just moderate Ciceronianism opposed to radical or strict Ciceronianism.^[1] In his dispute of 1485 with Paolo Cortesi, who took Cicero to be the sole model to which Neo-Latin authors should look, Angelo Poliziano labelled the radical Ciceronians simii Ciceronis, 'apes of Cicero'.^[1]^[2] In general, radicals looked to Cicero primarily or only as a model of language. Anti-Ciceronianism, strongest in Germany, criticized such reliance on a pagan author as incompatible with a Christian age. By the time of Petrus Ramus' Ciceronianus (1577), Ciceronianism was fading and Tacitism, a new trend toward later Latin authors, such as Tacitus, was ascendant.^[1]

List of Renaissance Ciceronians

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Manfred Landfester, "Ciceronianism", in Brill's New Pauly.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Fosca Mariani Zini, "Ciceronianism", in Marco Sgarbi (ed.), Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy (Springer, 2022), pp. 747–750.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g A. García-Bryce, "Ciceronianism", in Roland Greene (ed.), The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 4th ed. (Princeton University Press, 2017).

External links

Ciceronianism, Oxford Bibliographies

[ML-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Manfred Landfester, "Ciceronianism", in Brill's New Pauly.

[FMZ-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Fosca Mariani Zini, "Ciceronianism", in Marco Sgarbi (ed.), Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy (Springer, 2022), pp. 747–750.

[AFB-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g A. García-Bryce, "Ciceronianism", in Roland Greene (ed.), The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 4th ed. (Princeton University Press, 2017).

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