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Calfurnio's Identification of Pseudepigrapha of Ognibene, Fenestella, and Trebizond, and His Attack on Renaissance Commentaries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

John Monfasani
John Monfasani*
Affiliation:
University At Albany, State University of New York
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Extract

Literary forgeries and pseudepigrapha have played an important role in Western culture since antiquity. One thinks of the large influence exercised in the Middle Ages and Renaissance by the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, the Corpus Hermeticum, the Zohar, the Pseudo-Aristotelian Liber de causis, the Pseudo- Ciceronian Rhetorica ad Herennium, the correspondence between St. Paul and Seneca, and the vast sea of pseudonymous hagiographical literature. However, in the Renaissance the situation changed somewhat because printing did more than merely provide a new medium for the diffusion of pseudonymous literary works; it increased greatly the possibility of financial profit for the publishers, printers, and, eventually, authors of such works.

Type
Studies
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , Spring 1988 , pp. 32 - 43
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 1988

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References

1 See Speyer, W., Die literarische Fähchung im heidnischen und christlichen Altertum: Ein Versuch ihrer Deutung, Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft, 1.2 (Munich, 1971)Google Scholar; Constable, G., “Forgery and Plagiarism in the Middle Ages,” Archiv für Diplomatik, 29 (1983)Google Scholar: 1-41, passim; H. Fuhrmann, Einfluss und Verbreitung derpseudoisidorischen Falschungen von ihrem Aufstauchen bis in die neuere Zeit, Monumenta Germaniae historica, Schriften, 24.1-3, 3 vols. (Stuttgart, 1972-74) 1: 65-136, at 73ff”, and Syme, R., “Fraud and imposture,” in his Historia Augusta Papers (Oxford, 1983)Google Scholar I - II .

2 See V. Cian, “Un umanista bergamasco del Rinascimento, Giovanni Calfurnio,” Archivio storico lombardo, ser. 4, 4 (1910): 221-48; F.J. Loeffler, De Calphumio Terentii interprete, diss., Strasbourg, 1882; Querini, A.M., Specimen variaeliteraturae, 2 vols, in 1 (Brescia, 1739)Google Scholar 52-58, 95-108, 123, 163-64; 2: 59-61, 288-96; Cremona, V., “L'umanesimo bresciano,” in Storia di Brescia, 2 (Brescia, 1962)Google Scholar: 539-95, at 546ff.; C. G. Nauert, “Caius Plinius Secundus,” in Catalogus translationum et commentariorum: Mediaeval and Renaissance Latin Translations and Commentaries, 6 vols, to date, eds. F. E. Cranz, P. O. Kristeller, and V. Brown, 4 (Washington, D.C., 1980): 297-422, at p. 416.

3 The edition was printed at Venice by Jacobus de Rubeis (Hain-Copinger 15407, GofFT-73). Its colophon is dated “anno domini MCCCCLXXVI, viii Calendas Septembris.” I consulted the copy at the Pierpont Morgan Library. This edition, with the postface, was reprinted in 1477 at Treviso by Hermannus Levilapus (Leichtenstein), iuxta fidele Calphurnianae castigationis exemplar, doctrinam (et) studium Calphurnii Hieronymo Bononio enixe commendante according to the colophon (Hain 15408, GoffT- 75; seen at the Huntington Library). Although Calfurnio's commentary was frequently reprinted thereafter, the edition of 1477 was the last printing of the postface until modern times.

4 The postface is on sig. & 8 in the 1476 edition and on sig. l7r _ v (fols. i79r_v) in the 1477 reprint cited in the previous note. I edit the text in the Appendix. I first came to read the postface because of an interest in Antonio Moreto, whom Calfurnio credits with having transcribed from dictation his commentary on the Heautontimommenos and with having seen the whole volume through the press; see the Appendix below at sent. 27, and my article, “The First Call for Press Censorship: Niccolo Perotti, Giovanni Andrea Bussi, and Antonio Moreto,” in this issue of Renaissance Quarterly. After having edited the letter and written a first draft of this article, I discovered that Loeffler (above, n…2) at 40-45 had already published the letter in his dissertation of 1882. In all essential points Loeffler's edition and notes are correct. However, his work is little known and rare; he did not have access to the first edition of the preface; and his historical commentary and sources are antiquated.

5 Concerning him, see P. O. Kristeller, Supplementum Ficinianum, 2 vols. (Florence, 1937, rept. Florence, 1973) 1: 119; F. Babinger, Joannes Darius (1414-1494), Sachwalter Venedigs in Morgenland, und sein griechischer Umkreis in Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschajien, Phil.-hist. Klasse, Sitzungsberichte, Jahrgang 1961, 2 (Munich, 1961): 26-28 and passim; and P. A. Mastrodimitris, Nikolaos Sekoundinos (1402-1464): Bios kai ergon (in Greek) (Athens, 1970) passim.

6 The edition, printed by Dominicus de Siliprandis, Venice, is Hain-Copinger 13137, Goff P-828. I consulted the copy in the Pierpont Morgan Library. In the preface (sig. air- v ) Calfurnio says that he corrected the text against a Greek manuscript in compliance with Aurelio's wishes. A manuscript of Calfurnio's edition and preface is Urb. lat. 226 of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, which was apparently copied from the printed edition. On Giovan Pietro see M. Cortesi, “Alia scuola di Gian Pietro d'Avenza in Lucca,” Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken, 61 (1981): 109-67; and the same, “Un allievo di Vittorino: Gian Pietro da Lucca,” in Vittorino da Feltre e la sua scuola, ed. N. Giannetto (Florence, 1981) 263-76.

7 See below Appendix, sent. 15ff.

8 These are Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke 10039 a n d Hain 6958 (Fenestella), Hain 7610 (Trebizond), and Hain 10029 (Ognibene), which is the only one to carry a date (21 July 1475). See British Library, Catalogue of Books Printed in the XVth Century now in the British Museum, 10 vols. (London, 1908-71, rept. London 1963-71), 5: 218-19.

9 In a poem at the end, the corrector of the Ognibene volume identified himself as Oswadinus, who is apparently the same Coradinus who wrote verses for the edition of George of Trebizond's Rhetoric, printed by Vindelinus de Spira at Venice about 1472 (Hain-Copinger 7608).

10 See Ballistreri, G., “Bonisoli, Ognibene” in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, 12 (Rome, 1970)Google Scholar: 234-36, for the earlier literature; and various entries in the Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum, namely, E. M. Sanford, “Juvenalis, Decimus Junius,” in vol. 1 (1960): 174-238, at 208-209, with Addendum by F. E. Cranzand P. O. Kristeller, in 3 (1976): 444; D. M. Robathan et al., “A. Persius Flaccus,” 3: 201-312, at 257-58; and D. M. Schullian, “Valerius Maximus,” in 5 (1984): 287-403, at 360-64 and 369.

11 Five years later, in 1487, Oliverio d'Arzignano, in the preface to his own commentary on Valerius Maximus, revealed that Ognibene's son, Giacomo, had protested against this imposture and that Ognibene's student, the Giovanni Calfurnio of this article, had indignantly scorned a request to edit the forgery for the press. For the whole episode concerning the commentary on Valerius, see Schullian, cited in the previous note.

12 Appendix, sent. 20.

13 Querini, Specimen (n. 2 above), 1: 114-20.

14 Ibid., 119. In a different work, Britannico attributed the commentary on Valerius Maximus to Pallacinus (ibid.).

15 Biblioteca e storia di scrittori … di Vicenza, 2 vols in 1 (Vicenza, 1722), 2: cxlvicxlviii.

16 Specimen, 1: 123.

17 Sabbadini, R., “Nuove notizie e nuovi documenti su Ognibene de’ Bonisoli Leoniceno,” Antologia Veneta, 1 (1900)Google Scholar: 11-26 and 174-89, at 25; Sanford 10 (n. 10 above).

18 Ballistreri235 (n. 10 above).

19 See the text edited by Querini, Specimen, 1: 99: “Nam quae in Terentii Heautontimorumenon sub istius nomine leguntur expositiones, eas Guarino [Guerino correxi] Veronensi Omnibonoque Vicentino profitentibus a discipulis collectas istum confudisse ac sibi impudentissime vindicasse.” Regio published his charges in 1490. On the controversy between Calfurnio and Regio, which really concerned the text of Pliny, see Nauert, “Caius Plinius Secundus” 311 and 337-38; and Ermolao Barbaro, Castigationes Plinianae el in Pomponium Melam, ed. G. Pozzi, 2 vols. (Padua, 1973-74) 2 : cxxvii.

20 The first edition was printed by Franz Renner and Nikolaus of Frankfort at Venice in 1474 (Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke 10038; Hain 6960; Goff F-6o). See Peter, H., ed., Historicomm Romanorum Reliquiae, 2 (Leipzig, 1906)Google Scholar: cix-cxiii, 79-87.

21 See Mercati, G., “Andreas de Florentia,” in his Ultimi contributi alia storia degli Umanisti (Vatican City, 1939) 97–131 Google Scholar, at 97-101 and 130-31; and L. Bertalot, “Zur Bibliographic des Leonardus Brunus Aretinus,” Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken, 29 (1937-38): 268-85, a t 280-82; rept. in idem, Studien zum italienischen und deutschen Humanismus, ed. P. O. Kristeller, 2 vols. (Rome, 1975) 2: 285-303, at 297-99.

22 See the letter edited by F.-R. Hausmann, Giovanni Antonio Campano (1429-1477): Erläuterungen und Ergänzungen zu seinen Briefen, diss., Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg i. B., 1968, 356: “Dictator. Dictatoris dignitas secundum Fenestellam de Romanorum magistratibus scribentem … ” Hausmann did not realize that Campano was referring to Fiocchi's treatise.

23 See Zeno, A., Dissertazioni Vossiane, 2 vols. (Venice, 1753)Google Scholar, 1: 168-69.

24 George of Trebizond: A Biography and a Study of his Rhetoric and Logic (Leiden, 1976) 230-31.

25 Collectanea Trapezuntiana: Texts, Documents, and Bibliographies of George of Trebizond (Binghamton, N.Y.) 759-60.

26 Appendix, sent. 13.

27 Little is known about the composition of the commentary. The only manuscript cited in the literature is 2 Qq D. 69, fols. 101-42v of the Biblioteca Comunale of Palermo, where it is preceded by Schifaldo's commentary on Horace's Ars poetica. The latter commentary carriest the colophon, “Expeditur opus 2 Septembris 1476.” See G. Cozzucli, Tommaso Schifaldo umanista siciliano del sec. XV in Società Siciliana per la Storia Patria, Documenti per servire alia storia di Sicilia, ser. 4, 6 (Palermo, 1897): 46-47; Kristeller, P. O., Iter Italicum, (Leiden-London, 1967)Google Scholar: 27; idem, Medieval Aspects of Renaissance Learning, ed. E. P. Mahoney (Durham, N.C., 1974) 152. Because he mistakenly connected the colophon of the commentary on Horace's Ars poetica in the Palermo manuscript with the commentary on the Epistola Sappho, Dorrie, H., Der Brief der Sappho an Phaon (Munich, 1975)Google Scholar 2 n. 4, dated the latter commentary to 1476. I am grateful to RichardJ. Tarrant for help concerning Schilfado.

28 See Perosa, A., “Calderini … Domizio,” Dizionario biografico degli italiani, 16 (Rome, 1973)Google Scholar: 597-605, at 603-604. The editio princeps is dated 13 August 1475 (Hain 14983) and formed part of Calderini's edition of Statius. There were many subsequent editions of the commentary including one at Brescia, 8 June 1476, on the eve of Calfurnio's postface (Hain-Reichling 4244 [II], GofrC-42). I consulted at Columbia University the edition in Statius, Opera omnia (Venice, Octavianus Scotus, 1483) sig. mi-7v (Hain 14976; GoffS-691). On Calderini see also Dunston, A.J., “Studies in Domizio Calderini,” Italia medioeuale e umanistica, 11 (1968)Google Scholar: 70-100.

29 See my “The First Call for Press Censorship,” at n. 65.

30 On his career see F. Gabotto and Confalonieri, A. B., “Vita di Giorgio Merula,” Revista di storia, arte, archeologia della provincia di Alessandria, 2 (1893)Google Scholar: 5-66, 279-356, later reprinted as a book (Alessandria, 1893).

31 The volume, which I consulted in the Yale University Medical Library, has no general title and is commonly referred to by the title of its first and largest piece, the In librum de homine Galeotti Namiensis opus (Goff M-504). The commentary on the Epistola Sappho is on fols. 45v-62 (sig. gi-hio). Gabotto and Confalonieri, “Vita di Giorgio Merula” 283-84, date the commentary to 1471.

32 Seen. 19 above.

33 See Avesani, R., Verona nel Quattrocento: La civilta delle lettere, in Verona e il suo territorio, 4.2 (Verona, 1984)Google Scholar: 200-201; G. Banterle, “Bernardino Cillenio e la sua opera poetica,” Accademia di agricoltura, scienze e lettere di Verona, Atti e memorie, ser. 6, 33 (1981-82): 387-427; G. Ballistreri, “Cillenio, Bernardino,” in Dizionario biograjico degli italiani, 5 (Rome, 1981): 510-11; and Hausmann, F.-R., “Carmina Priapea,” in the Catalogus translationum et commentariorum, 4 (1980)Google Scholar: 422-50, at 430-32.

34 See the previous note.

35 The commentary follows after the text of Tibulus in the edition (Hain-Copinger 15522, GoffT-368). I consulted the copy at the Pierpont Morgan Library. For some manuscript copies see Bianchi, R., ed., Tibullo: Manoscritti e libri a stampa, Catalogo delta mostra (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1984)Google Scholar, nums. 22 and 23 (see also nums. 28, 31, 32, 35 for printed editions). See also U. Pizzani, “Le vite umanistische di Tibullo,” Res publica litteramm, 5.1 (1982): 252-67, at 260-62.

36 Ballistreri 510, who cites the manuscript in the collection of Gabriel Naude reported by Labbe, P., Nova Bibliotheca mss. libromm (Paris, 1653)Google Scholar 236-37, which the eighteenth-century scholar Maffei, S., Verona illustrata, 3 (Milan, 1825)Google Scholar: 207, also cited. This is probably MS lat. 8257 of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; see the Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum Bibliothecae Regiae, 4 (Paris, 1744): 442; and Hausmann, cited in note 33 above, who excerpts the beginning and end of the commentary.

37 See V. Zabughin, Vergilio nel Rinascimento italiano, 2 vols. (Bologna, 1921-23) 1: 189.

38 See n. 36 above.

39 According to V. Zabughin, Giulio Pomponio Leto, 3 vols. (Rome-Grottaferrata, 1909-12) 2: 76, Tibullus was one of the authors least cited by Leto. See also E. L. Bassett, J. Delz, and A. J. Dunston, “Silius Italicus, Tiberius Catius Asconius,” in Catalogus translationum et commentariomm 3: 379-82, esp. 381; and M. E. Cosenza, Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary of the Italian Humanists, 5 vols. (Boston, 1962-67) 4: 2906- 14 and 5: 1457-60.

40 Appendix, sent. n-12.

41 See Mercati, G., Per la cronologia delta vita e degli scritti di Niccolo Perotti arcivescovo di Siponto (Rome, 1925)Google Scholar 120.

42 Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, no. 2739. For a sample of these compilations see my Collectanea Trapezuntiana: Texts, Documents, and Bibliographies of George of Trebizond (Binghamton, N.Y., 1984)463-64.

43 For instance, in Goff, F. R., Incunabula in American Libraries (New York, 1974)Google Scholar, I counted seventeen incunable editions (T-72, 75, 77, 81-82, 85, 87-89, 92-93, 95, 97- 98, 100, 103-104), at least four of which are not listed by Hain.