Ross Caldwell wrote: 01 Jul 2023, 09:28

Phaeded wrote: 30 Jun 2023, 22:41
The other two copies of the oration are in Seville and Bergamo.

Unfortunately neither is online.

Bergamo MA 286 -
https://manus.iccu.sbn.it/risultati-ric ... 75&page=24#

Seville 7-1-7 (first result)
https://opac.icolombina.es/opac/abnetcl ... a22d45/NT1
Here is the direct link to the catalogue page, but it times out fairly quickly:
https://opac.icolombina.es/opac/abnetcl ... a22d45/NT2

I wouldn’t mind going back to Bergamo - Carrera Museum with the cards was completely gutted when I visited, but beautiful city. Colleoni’s old home was also being rehabbed then as well. Just have to talk the Mrs. into going back to Milan. “I need to take pix of a manuscript”. Not sure how that would go over.

https://www.lacarrara.it/progetto/volta-la-carta-2/

Btw: will be viewing the Pierpont Morgan library portion of the PMB again in NYC in July if you want a pic of anything in particular, but the resolution online is about as good as it gets. Wife’s 50th and she wants to go to NYC for that and we happen to be staying 2 blocks from that library so why not...

Phaeded wrote: 01 Jul 2023, 12:49 “I need to take pix of a manuscript”. Not sure how that would go over.

Sounds great! I have no idea of Ambrosiana's policy regarding photography, nor Bergamo or Seville. It might be easier to buy digital scans. I had to do that for Polismagna's Italian translation of Decembrio's Life of Filippo Maria, after waiting in vain for nearly two decades for the Estense library in Modena to put it online. 89 euros, worth every penny. Actually priceless. I'd like to have the whole manuscript, which is all of Decembrio's Opuscula historica, but that would be in the high three figures at least.

Modena, Biblioteca Estense Universitaria, Estense, It. 99 = alfa.P.6.9
cc. 27r-71r

Titolo presente: Vita del duca de Milano Filippo Maria Vesconte (c. 27r)

inc. (testo): Grande laude illustrissimo mio signore (c. 27v)
expl. (testo): cum felice augurio preseno la libertà (c. 71r)

https://manus.iccu.sbn.it/risultati-ric ... 0000216813?

I'm surprised any known writings of Filelfo are still unedited, especially ones of such interest to historians and biographers, including of Cosimo de' Medici and Filippo Maria Visconti. By contrast, every scrap of Alberti that comes to light is published within a few years. Alberti seems to excite a kind of intellectual, or even spiritual, awe, which I sense that readers of Filelfo, and most writers of his period, don't share.

Since the quote Boschetto cites from Filelfo's oration against Cosimo is about the Alberti family, there is an Alberti angle to it, which makes me want to know more as well. I don't know of any letters between Alberti and Filelfo, but it is assumed that they knew each other well from their student days together in Padua in the late teens, and then again when Alberti was in Bologna when Filelfo taught there in 1427-1428.

Ross Caldwell wrote: 01 Jul 2023, 15:11 I'm surprised any known writings of Filelfo are still unedited, especially ones of such interest to historians and biographers, including of Cosimo de' Medici and Filippo Maria Visconti. By contrast, every scrap of Alberti that comes to light is published within a few years. Alberti seems to excite a kind of intellectual, or even spiritual, awe, which I sense that readers of Filelfo, and most writers of his period, don't share.

Since the quote Boschetto cites from Filelfo's oration against Cosimo is about the Alberti family, there is an Alberti angle to it, which makes me want to know more as well. I don't know of any letters between Alberti and Filelfo, but it is assumed that they knew each other well from their student days together in Padua in the late teens, and then again when Alberti was in Bologna when Filelfo taught there in 1427-1428.

Filelfo: Unfortunately the least interesting aspect about him seems to get the most attention - moral philosophy, especially regarding a syncretism of Plato and Aristotle (Hankins helped send everyone down that path). That he was blustery and full of invectives is old news, so the oration in question may seem passe' to current scholars trying to carve out a new niche. What is escaping them is the historical/political role of the oration, but then ca. 1440 isn't going to matter much to people outside our interest (I think Anghiari has always been minimized due to Machiavelli making sport of the small number of causalities). That or the bigger works draw all of the attention, even the unfinished ones; e.g.,Francesco Filelfo and Francesco Sforza: Critical Edition of Filelfo's Sphortias, De Genuensium deditione, Oratio parentalis, and his Polemical Exchange with Galeotto Marzio Hardcover – January 1, 2015, tr. Jeroen De Keyser.

In regard to translating the oration - Blanchard, I think, mentions an additional threatening letter sent on the "eve of Anghiari" (or some such temporally vague term) to Cosimo from Filelfo. If not one and the same as the oration (in which case "eve" was totally inappropriate), that would be a nice additional item to translate and publish along with the oration to fill out the context of the political invective that had continued by Filelfo from his exile in 1434 through 1440 (plus). It seems as early as the 1451 (likely due to his new pro-Medici employer, Sforza) Filelfo was seeking a reproachment with Florence through a fellow scholar named Bartolomeo Scala. But I think the 1434-1440 time period - one of mounting threats from the exile with Filelfo as their mouthpiece - would provide a thematic unity for a publication and could perhaps consists of several smaller texts.

Alberti and Filelfo. What an odd relationship! Going back to their university days at Padua of course. An almost ascetic personality and a loudmouth braggart. I know you are aware of an Ode Filelfo dedicated to Alberti (Ode IV.6, op. 252-259 in Robins), in which the former asks if he is Momus, but not sure if you've read it. That insecurity is in between professions of love for his friend, while chiding him about being too wealthy (the most tiring trope that comes off Filelfo's quill). Momus is more likely multifaceted and meant to reflect everybody, humanist-wise, and no doubt there are specifics reflecting Filelfo, but not wholly him.

I previously wrote about that some here: viewtopic.php?p=21392#p21392

In my scenario the PMB program was a commission - not an ode, idyll or satire that Filelfo produced with the initiative of his own genius. He asks Bianca (Ode 5.1) what he can do for her for money and she [and husband] (theoretically) assigns him what would become the PMB; not unlike the Muses program commissioned by Leonello from Guarino (who still preferred medals when it came to art).

Filelfo would have thought nothing about stooping to such a chore (but would have hardly mentioned it to his humanist friends – again, it was well beneath their primary objective of improving upon classical models) due to what his esteemed university mate at Padua and lifelong friend had already written on this very subject in 1436:

"For their own enjoyment artists should associate with poets and orators who have many embellishments in common with painters and who have a broad knowledge of many things whose greatest praise consists in the invention." (Alberti, On Painting, Book 3)

Thus Alberti provided the ‘license’ for Filelfo to accept for such an undertaking…as a favor for artists, the Duchess Bianca’s artist in Cremona.

Moreover Alberti was fresh in Filelfo’s mind in 1451 as he dedicated an ode to Alberti in the same book of odes which opens with the one to Bianca (Thalia, IV.6) ; here he famously wonders at whom Alberti’s Momus, written in 1450, was directed (the presumption is Filelfo feared that it was himself and several scholars have thought that as well although the recent translator of this works tends to think Momus was a figure aggregating the worst humanist personality traits of the time).

Phaeded wrote: 02 Jul 2023, 02:31 I know you are aware of an Ode Filelfo dedicated to Alberti (Ode IV.6, op. 252-259 in Robins), in which the former asks if he is Momus, but not sure if you've read it. That insecurity is in between professions of love for his friend, while chiding him about being too wealthy (the most tiring trope that comes off Filelfo's quill). Momus is more likely multifaceted and meant to reflect everybody, humanist-wise, and no doubt there are specifics reflecting Filelfo, but not wholly him.

Yes, I think Knight mentions it in her edition of Momus for I Tatti Renaissance Library. But no, I haven't read it. I'll order that book, but could you post it here (with the Latin) in the meantime?

There it is, Knight pp. xxii-xxiii: "Two of Alberti's contemporaries have been suggested as prototypes for the irascible god, Bartolomeo Fazio (1400-57) and Francesco Filelfo (1398-1481). [...] Filelfo studied under Barzizza at Padua at the same time as Alberti. A particular episode early in Alberti's satire prompted Filelfo to write to his former classmate to ask whether Momus represented him: Filelfo once had his beard torn by assailants, just as Momus does in the first book."

If she's referring to the 18 May 1433 attack, Knight's description is a little misleading, given that he received a deep gash on his face. My information comes from Robin's Filelfo in Milan, pp. 17-21.

The beard and face are both mentioned in Momus:


Robin's intro even summarizes Momus as cynicism, which is relevant to the ensuing discussion below"


Footnote 18 to the "beard/face" page explains Alberti was sympathetic to Cynicism, but not sure how that helps here, except to note some affinity for the opposed Epicureanism held by Filelfo (which was not unique). I believe the context is Filelfo's feud with Poggio, which Traversari tried to mediate (so the philosophers in Momus would be Traversari's circle, which ultimately was a Medici circle, and the Medici had Filelfo's face cut)...and Traversari had translated m Diogenes Laërtius' Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, which included Diogenes the Cynic, but there must be something more here. Interesting article on Epicureanism in Florence involving these actors: https://antigonejournal.com/2023/05/luc ... naissance/
See also: VILAR, MARIANO. “The Political Use of Epicureanism in Filelfo’s Commentationes Florentinae de Exilio.” Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme 42, no. 2 (2019): 141–64. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26860670. Side note: I wonder is the additon of the dog to The Fool wasn't a humanist touch in refernce to Cynicism (the dog being its punning symbol; i.e., "One explanation offered in ancient times for why the Cynics were called "dogs" was because the first Cynic, Antisthenes, taught in the Cynosarges gymnasium at Athens.[5] The word cynosarges means the "place of the white dog". It seems certain, however, that the word dog was also thrown at the first Cynics as an insult for their shameless rejection of conventional manners, and their decision to live on the streets. Diogenes, in particular, was referred to as the "Dog",[6] a distinction he seems to have reveled in, stating that "other dogs bite their enemies, I bite my friends to save them."[7] Wiki).

The Filelfo Ode to Alberti (referencing Cremona and book-ended by Odes about Cremona, so the date is assured). Line 73 he's pushing virtue over the senses, so seems a bit overly sensitive about any Epicureanism criticisms.

Ah yes, thanks! "Half torn beard and bloody face." I can see why Filelfo saw himself here.

But Momus is really his own character, far bigger than any one contemporary or any possible person.

Is Filelfo really asking about that incident? I'll have to read it more closely. What do the notes say? I just learned that Camena is a synonym for muse.

I also had no idea that Alberti was known for his wealth. Several of his writings are dialogues deal with poverty and wealth, and tend to side with better to be rich and thought avaricious, than poor and deemed saintly. But I'll have to look into his wealth, I've never done so. All I know is that he got a consistent income from his prebend in Gangalandi, and whatever he earned as abbreviator for the curia. I assumed it was sufficient, not exorbitant.

Ross Caldwell wrote: 02 Jul 2023, 16:15 Is Filelfo really asking about that incident? I'll have to read it more closely. What do the notes say? I just learned that Camena is a synonym for muse.

I also had no idea that Alberti was known for his wealth. Several of his writings are dialogues deal with poverty and wealth, and tend to side with better to be rich and thought avaricious, than poor and deemed saintly. But I'll have to look into his wealth, I've never done so. All I know is that he got a consistent income from his prebend in Gangalandi, and whatever he earned as abbreviator for the curia. I assumed it was sufficient, not exorbitant.

Filelfo does not point to any specifics and the notes are just a regurgitation of the incident. And given his self-promotion as a Greek expert, he may have sported a beard at some point, but fashions are fickle. I seem to recall at least one engraving of F. with a beard.

Re. Alberti and wealth. Again, keep in mind that is Filelfo's most enduring and exhausting trope with which he targets EVERYONE: learning/virtue vs money (his lone personal virtue, IMO, was that he is consistently against war, always trying to find a path to peace). I would assume Alberti (who obviously complains about being a poor bastard in his 'On Family') was more well off than Filelfo because in addition to literary sales he had a curial salary and architectural commissions (whether they got built or not he would have been paid for designs; I believe most of his built projects would post-date Momus). At all events, its probably just an envious assumption on Filelfo's part, especially since Alberti's fictional works were quite popular. Finally, Filelfo was truly from a modest background; and exiled and bastard status aside, there were few Florentine names as illustrious as Alberti, so the very family name indicated some connection to money. And in 1451 Filelfo had just survived the depredations of plague and want in besieged Milan and was begging everyone in the court (Cicco, Bianca, etc.) for commissions and over-due payments (the Odes themselves are basically fishing exercises for more commissions from the mostly wealthy dedicatees). He celebrates the eating of mere grapes on his Po voyage to Cremona in 1451; he was definitely in poor circumstances. He was feverish about the subject of money at this time.

Phaeded wrote: 02 Jul 2023, 18:01
Re. Alberti and wealth. Again, keep in mind that is Filelfo's most enduring and exhausting trope with which he targets EVERYONE:
learning/virtue vs money (his lone personal virtue, IMO, was that he is consistently against war, always trying to find a path to peace).

Didn't know that, thanks. I will indeed keep it in mind.

By the time Filelfo is writing this, he could indeed be alluding to things like Alberti's long-distance oversight of Sigismondo's plans for the church of San Francesco in Rimini, turning it into the Tempio Malatestiano. I have no idea how much money he made for his role in this project. But my first impression was that Filelfo had some intimate insight into Alberti's off-the-record jobs, like professional astrology. Since Alberti doesn't appear to have kept in very close touch with Filelfo, though, and since you point out that it was Filelfo's constant complaint, I have to doubt it.

I'll have to look at my sources, including his will of 1472. Somewhere there has be a figure of his net worth at various times, even if he never had to declare it like in the Florentine catasto.

Phaeded wrote: 02 Jul 2023, 16:04 See also: VILAR, MARIANO. “The Political Use of Epicureanism in Filelfo’s Commentationes Florentinae de Exilio.” Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme 42, no. 2 (2019): 141–64. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26860670.

Despite calling himself "3-balled" with multiple wives (Ode I.9 line 10 he considers yet remarrying again, despite a "beard grown white"), Filelfo apparently hammers against Epicureanism in "On Exile", painting Poggio as its foremost proponent (right off the bat in Book 1)and thus as an apologists for the wealth/hedonism program of Cosimo. What is germane here is the connection to eros/cupidity (see p. 157 below) who is of course blind; also in the context of how Cosimo infected the entire polity of Florence like a plague with this wanton ethos. We still need to see if the Dante/Florence-is-blind reference is in the oration, but such an accusation clearly would be in character for Filelfo.

On another side note: in my proposal of an ur-tarot of 14 trumps (7 virtues with 7 exempli or anti-types) and Filelfo as the augmenter of trionfi in 1451 into an archetypal 22 trump form for which we have the PMB exemplar (why he went to Cremona, to view the artistic execution of his textual scheme, and then being revolted by some card-playing/gambling consideration that must have caused a variation from from his original plans), the Fool is necessarily a new card. The Fool precisely reflects this representation of a cupidity-infected working class populace (the figure points to his genitals); if there is one thing Filelfo rails against more than the corrupting power of wealth, it is the mob, which he accuses Cosimo of constantly courting. After the Ambrosian republic he was apoplectic about the subject (the mob is front and center in numerous of the Odes), but the 1434 exile of the oligarchs (which involved some street skirmishes at the critical hour) must have already set him on that course. Also of note: the prototype for the PMB Fool (Giotto/Scrovegni chapel) hails from Filelfo and Alberti's university city: Padua.

Some pertinent excerpts from Vilar:

Phaeded wrote: 02 Jul 2023, 18:29

Phaeded wrote: 02 Jul 2023, 16:04 See also: VILAR, MARIANO. “The Political Use of Epicureanism in Filelfo’s Commentationes Florentinae de Exilio.” Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme 42, no. 2 (2019): 141–64. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26860670.

Despite calling himself "3-balled" with multiple wives (Ode I.9 line 10 he considers yet remarrying again, despite a "beard grown white"), Filelfo apparently hammers against Epicureanism in "On Exile", painting Poggio as its foremost proponent (right off the bat in Book 1)and thus as an apologists for the wealth/hedonism program of Cosimo. What is germane here is the connection to eros/cupidity (see p. 157 below) who is of course blind; also in the context of how Cosimo infected the entire polity of Florence like a plague with this wanton ethos. We still need to see if the Dante/Florence-is-blind reference is in the oration, but such an accusation clearly would be in character for Filelfo.

Marziano used the good sense of Epicureanism in his chapter on Venus. See pages 40-41 of our edition. Since this was directed at an audience of one, and we know Filippo Maria's nature, it was obviously to call him to refined and moderate pleasures rather than the caricature of Epicurean as hedonism or other vices like greed.

Re: the wives, he and Poggio were fighting on the same level on this score. Poggio was 50 when he married 18-year old Vaggia (whose name I can of course never forget), and had to write a book defending himself for the decision. Marriage was one thing - it meant becoming part of another family - while dispensing with a girlfriend of 20+ years in Rome with fourteen of his children, if Valla can be believed, was another.

I would also tend to say that Filelfo was right about the Medicean ethic. But it wasn't just Cosimo and his family, it was the Zeitgeist. The second half of the 15th century was like our own post-war 20th century, in terms of relaxation of the "virtues of our forefathers."