Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
Alciato's Parergon iuris libri duodecim belongs to the tradition of humanist notebooks which begins with Valla's Elegantiae and finds its most important representative in Poliziano's Miscellanea. It purports to provide explanations of difficulties found in the Corpus iuris civilis based on Alciato's reading in non-legal texts. However, it is apparent that he is also seeking to demonstrate his competence in the emendation and explication of these literary and historical texts. The remarks he is led to make about "grammatici" and "rhetores" are revealing of his personal attitudes and symptomatic of the evolution of attitudes in the world of education.
The substance of this article was originally given as a lecture at the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies, Victoria University in the University of Toronto, on 5 April 2002, at the invitation of Professor James K. McConica. I would like to record my thanks to him and to the editor and readers of RQ, who gave much helpful advice.