Egnazio

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For the mathematician and geographer, see
Egnazio Danti
.
Title page of De exemplis illustrium virorum Venetae civitatis atque aliarum gentium (1554)

Giovanni Battista Cipelli (1478–1553), better known as Egnazio,

Aldo Manuzio
and his successors. From 1520 until 1549, he held a public professorship in Venice. Upon his retirement, he was granted a full pension.

Egnazio's published writings include two books, three poems, four orations and some letters. His work as an editor is more notable, especially his work with

Greek
.

Life

Education

Although born into a poor family in Venice in 1478, Egnazio had learned to read by the age of four. He studied Greek, Latin, grammar and rhetoric at the

priesthood.[2]

Rivalry with Sabellico

Egnazio came to public notice through his rivalry with the much older scholar

Niccolò Leonico received the appointment. Egnazio opened a private school near San Marco.[3]

In 1502, Egnazio edited a new edition of

Marino Sanudo.[5]

Aldine fellow

From about 1508 to 1520, Egnazio held an office (officina) in the

Erasmus' Adagia for publication in Venice.[6]

In 1510, Egnazio delivered the funeral oration for the mercenary captain

Divine Institutes, for publication and wrote a dedication to Aldo.[10]

During this period (1508–1515), Egnazio was part of a circle of young Venetians around

Order of Camaldoli, agreed to their request in 1510, two of the men—Giustiniani and Vincenzo Querini—opted to take full vows, while the others—Egnazio, Gasparo Contarini and Nicolò Tiepolo [ru]—abandoned the plan entirely. Nevertheless, Giustiniani and Querini continued for several years to press Egnazio to join them.[11]

In 1514, Egnazio served as procurator of the provincial synod convoked by Patriarch

parish priest and visited the parish on his holidays.[12] In 1515–1516, he was a member of the embassy sent to Francis I of France in Milan.[13] For a panegyric he wrote to Francis, the king presented him with a gold portrait medallion.[14]

Professor at San Marco

After the death of Musuro in 1518, Egnazio applied for the chair in Greek at San Marco. He withdrew his candidacy when it became clear that

Marino Becichemo, who insisted on a debate Egnazio for the position. Although Egnazio's supporters—his former teacher, Bragadin, and former student, Bernardo Cappello—insisted on the traditional lectures. Doge Loredan agreed to both and in the end Egnazio was elected.[15]

The Latin chair initially paid 150

Lutheran controversialist.[17] By the early 1540s, Egnazio was suffering from a facial deformity, but was denied permission to retire.[16] In early 1548, Pier Paolo Vergerio stayed in his house for a time and gave public readings of his works.[18] Vergerio had been exonerated of Lutheranism in 1546, but Egnazio ordered him to leave when he realized he was not a "good Catholic". Egnazio finally retired in 1549. At the urging of Bernardo Navagero, the Venetian Senate agreed to continue paying his salary in retirement, while the Council of Ten exempted him from taxation.[16]

Egnazio died in Venice on 27 June 1553. He was buried in Santa Marina. His eulogy was delivered by Pietro Brichi.[2] By his will, dated 23 October 1546,[2] he left a globe to Nicolò Tiepolop; his collection of Greek books from the Aldine press to the monastery of San Gregorio and his medallions and other artefacts to the Bragadini, Loredani and Molini [it]. His books were ultimately sold to Ulrich Fugger III [de] and entered the Bibliotheca Palatina.[19]

Works

Titlepage of Erasmus' 1518 edition of Suetonius, which includes Egnazio's apparatus. Egnazio's name is at the bottom.

Editions

Egnazio edited the following Latin works for publication, all printed under his name at Venice except where noted:

Several of these editions superseded previous less carefully edited editions. His most renowned was the annotated edition of Suetonius.[20] In his preface to Porcius, Egnazio defended his author's priority in writing about ancient weigths and measures against the claims of Guillaume Budé.[2]

The only Greek work published by Egnazio was his edition of

Anabasis of Alexander, edited with the help of Vittore Trincavelli. It was dedicated to the grand chancellor Andrea de' Franceschi and published at Venice in 1535.[21]

Writings

Egnazio wrote only two lengthy works.

Byzantine empire down to the fall of Constantinople. The third covers the Holy Roman Empire from Charlemagne to Maximilian I. Extracts from the second book were published at Paris in 1539 under the title De origine Turcorum (On the Origins of the Turks).[2]

The second work was a Venetian biographical dictionary, De exemplis illustrium virorum Venetae civitatis atque aliarum gentium, modeled on the work of Valerius Maximus, for which he has been called "the Venetian Valerius Maximus". He began work on this as early as 1512, but it was only published posthumously at Venice in 1554.[5] It was also printed at Paris a few months later.[2] It includes three examples of Venetians of humble birth (like himself) whose memory he consciously sought to preserve.[24]

Egnazio's panegyric to Francis was published at Milan in 1515 and at Venice in 1540.[2] His only other known poems are the 29-line Pro Codro Medici ad Lusitaniae Regem and the 31-line Pro Bononio suo, preserved in a manuscript of Girolamo Bologni kept in the Museo Correr.[20]

According to

autograph manuscript of De optimo cive is in the Biblioteca Marciana.[2]

Egnazio wrote many letters. His letters to Matteo Avogadro,

Philipp Melanchthon in 1534 survives, as does Melanchthon's letter to him from 1543.[25]

Notes

  1. ^ His nickname (Latin Egnatius) may be preceded by his given names Giovanni Battista, but most often just by Battista (also spelled Batista). His first name may be spelled Zuan in Venetian fashion. His given names may be combined as Giambattista. His family name may be given as de' Cipelli. For these variants, see Ross 1976, Giraldi 2011 and Lowry 1976.
  2. ^ Ross 1976, p. 536, n59, claims that "no comprehensive study of Egnazio has appeared since that of Giovanni degli Agostini" in 1745. Pierre Bayle included an entry on Egnazio in his Dictionnaire Historique et Critique (1740), cited in Ilić 2014, p. 259.

References

  1. ^ Ross 1976, pp. 536–537.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Mioni 1981.
  3. ^ Ross 1976, pp. 537–538. On the lectureships at San Marco, see pp. 533–534.
  4. ^ Mioni 1981 lists some other authors in the miscellany: Filippo Beroaldo, Domizio Calderini [it] and Poliziano. According to Ross 1976, p. 537, the title of Egnazio's contribution was Racemationes quae obscuriores aliquot authorum locos interpretantur.
  5. ^ a b Ross 1976, p. 538.
  6. ^ Ross 1976, pp. 538–539.
  7. ^ Ross 1976, p. 540.
  8. ^ Where Ross 1976, p. 540, has San Basio, Mioni 1981 has San Salvadore.
  9. ^ Ross 1976, p. 542.
  10. ^ Ross 1976, p. 539.
  11. ^ Ross 1976, pp. 540–542.
  12. ^ Ross 1976, p. 543; Mioni 1981.
  13. ^ a b Ross 1976, p. 545.
  14. ^ Ross 1976, p. 545; Mioni 1981.
  15. ^ Ross 1976, pp. 545–548.
  16. ^ a b c Ross 1976, pp. 548–549.
  17. ^ Ilić 2014, pp. 35–38.
  18. ^ Ilić 2014, p. 85.
  19. ^ Ross 1976, p. 549.
  20. ^ a b c Mioni 1981; Giraldi 2011, p. 287.
  21. ^ Ross 1976, p. 556; Mioni 1981.
  22. ^ Ross 1976, p. 553.
  23. ^ Ross 1976, pp. 550–551.
  24. ^ Ross 1976, p. 536.
  25. ^ Ilić 2014, p. 36.

Bibliography

  • Giraldi, Lilio Gregorio
    (2011). Grant, John (ed.). Modern Poets. Harvard University Press.
  • Ilić, Luka (2014). Theologian of Sin and Grace: The Process of Radicalization in the Theology of Matthias Flacius Illyricus (PDF). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
  • Lowry, Martin J. C. (1976). "The 'New Academy' of Aldus Manutius: A Renaissance Dream". Bulletin of the John Rylands Library. 58 (2): 378–420.
    doi:10.7227/bjrl.58.2.6
    .
  • Lowry, Martin J. C. (1979). The World of Aldus Manutius: Business and Scholarship in Renaissance Venice. Basil Blackwell.
  • Lowry, Martin J. C. (1986). "Giambattista Egnazio of Venice, 1473 – 4 July 1553". In Peter G. Bietenholz (ed.). Contemporaries of Erasmus. Vol. 1. University of Toronto Press. pp. 424–425.
  • Mioni, Elpidio (1981). "Cipelli, Giovanni Battista".
    ISBN 978-8-81200032-6
    .
  • Ross, James Bruce (1976). "Venetian Schools and Teachers Fourteenth to Early Sixteenth Century: A Survey and a Study of Giovanni Battista Egnazio". Renaissance Quarterly. 29 (4): 521–566.
    doi:10.2307/2860032
    .
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