Abstract
After a short presentation of our author I focus in my paper on the question raised in our title, how does the immediate experience of God in Pico’s works appear? In other words, what is the purpose of human life?
I examine this issue in Giovanni Pico’s four different writings: his Commentary on Canzona d’Amore [Song of Love] by Girolamo Benivieni (1486), his Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486), his Heptaplus – On the Sevenfold Narration of the Six Days of Genesis (1489), and finally his treatise On Being and the One (1490).
I found that in Pico’s thinking, immediate experience of God is the ultimate purpose of every human life. We can all reach this if we follow the wisdom of thousands of years of tradition, finding our inner peace with the help of religion and with love. This can make us one with the whole of creation and one with God.
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Notes
- 1.
The most detailed work on Pico’s life and writings until now is Giovanni di Napoli, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola e la problematica dottrinale del suo tempo, Roma, 1965, Desclée & C. – Editori Pontifici. About his reception in France see Henri de Lubac, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, l’alba incompiuta del Rinascimento, Milano, 1994, Ed. Jaca Book. His entire Opera omnia were first published between 1557 and 1573 in Basel: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Opera Omnia, Basileae 1557–1573, edidit Heinrich Peter, which was reprinted in 1969 by Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung in Hildesheim with an introduction by Cesare Vasoli (in Italian), in two volumes. A bilingual edition (Latin with Italian translation except for his Commento which is in volgare, i.e. Middle Italian) of his works we examine in this paper is Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: De hominis dignitate. Heptaplus. De ente et uno – e scritti vari, a cura di Eugenio Garin, Firenze, 1942, Vallecchi Editore, p. 603.
- 2.
See Pearl Kibre, The Library of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, New York, 1936, Columbia University Press, p. 330.
- 3.
Letter to Ermolao Barbaro on the 6th of December 1484: “…cum primum ego ad Bibliothecam meam rediero, qui alienas huc [to Florence] in praesentia exploraturus veni.” Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Opera Omnia, Basileae 1557–1573, edidit Heinrich Peter, I, fol. 368; Giovanni di Napoli, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola e la problematica dottrinale del suo tempo, Roma, 1965, Desclée & C. – Editori Pontifici, 38.
- 4.
“Verum ut te praemonitore prius, ita nunc adiutore opus est, tuaeque erit humanitatis et in me benevolentiae non deesse proposito meo, atque eo quidem tam honesto et liberali, id quod cumulatissime abs te factum censeo si librum tuum de immortalitate animorum ad me miseris, quo veluti praemonstratore quodam in Platonica disciplina profecturum me ut opto, ita confido. Quis enim Ficino, in quo, si vera esset Pythagoreorum sententia, revixisse Platonem crediderim, non quaeque maxima in eo doctrinae genere de se ipso sibi polliceatur?” Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Opera Omnia, I, fol. 373. Ficino’s answer: Ficini Opera omnia, Basileae, 1576, edidit Heinrich Peter, I, fol. 858.
- 5.
Poliziano did not agree with this opinion, and bemoaned the fact that Pico had burnt all his poems. Angelo Poliziano, Opera Omnia, Lion, 1536, edidit Sebastianus Gryphius, I, 11–12.
- 6.
“Praeterea Epictetum tuum, et quae de Homero in hanc usque diem a te translata sunt, item quae de Iuliano Medice sermone patrio et quaecunque alia Latino sermone composuisti ad me missa omnino velim.” Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Opera Omnia, I, fol. 372.
- 7.
“Qui cum in Lycaeo vel Academia nunquam in Porticu sim versatus, ita victus sum oratione senis, ut in eius sententiam non pedibus modo, sed manibus quoque et toto corpore discesserim. Indicem Graecorum librorum, qui mecum hic diversantur cum Manuelis epistola, quod tuae literae postulant ad te mitto. Indicem tuorum itidem desidero”. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Opera Omnia, I, fol. 361–362.
- 8.
Niccolò Leoniceno (1428–1524) wrote the first scientific paper on syphilis, published by Aldo Manuzio in 1493. After years of studying ancient Greek and Arabic (together with Pico), he translated many Greek and Arabic medical texts by such authors as Galen and Hippocrates into Latin. He composed the first criticism of the Natural History of Pliny the Elder.
- 9.
See Aldo Manuzio’s letter to Poliziano in Angelo Poliziano, Opera Omnia, op. cit. I, 202.: “Annum abhinc tertium, quo Veneti Ferrariam oppugnabant, nec ut vel Dei (ut aiunt) nedum hominum bellum fugerem, ex urbe Ferraria Mirandulam contuli ad Ioannem Picum, principem aetatis nostrae doctissimum, quod et amaret literatos viros et faveret ingeniis. Ibi Emanuel Adramittenus familiarissimus meus, tuam mihi Graecam…”. Cf. Giovanni di Napoli, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola e la problematica dottrinale del suo tempo, Roma, 1965, Desclée & C. – Editori Pontifici, 33;
- 10.
One of them Alberto III Pico, supplied Manuzio with funds for starting his printing press and gave him lands in Carpi, in his princedom.
- 11.
See Ficino’s explanation in his dedication to Lorenzo de’ Medici at the beginning of his translation of the Enneads: “Quo enim tempore Platonem Latinis dedi legendum, heroicus ille Cosmi animus heroicam Joanni Pici Mirandulae mentem nescio quomodo investigavit. Hic sane quo anno Platonem aggressus fueram natus, deinde quo die et ferme qua hora Platonem edidi Florentiam veniens, me statim post primam salutationem de Platone rogat. Huic equidem Plato noster, inquam, hodie liminibus nostris est egressus. Tunc ille et hoc ipso vehementer congratulatus est, et mox nescio quibus verbis, ac ille nescit quibus, ad Plotinum interpretandum me non adduxit quidem, sed potius concitavit.” Ficini Opera omnia, II, fol. 1537.
- 12.
See the following studies: Imregh, Monika: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola 900 Tézise, Orpheus Noster, Vol. 1. 2009/1, 83–94: http://www.kre.hu/portal/doc/orpheus/orpheus1.pdf; Imregh, Monika: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: Beszéd az ember méltóságáról, Orpheus Noster, Vol. 2, 2010/1, 141–160: http://www.kre.hu/portal/doc/orpheus/Orpheus_Noster2010.1/OrpheusNoster_cimnegyed.pdf
- 13.
English translations: Pico della Mirandola: On the Dignity of Man (translated by Charles Glenn Wallis), On Being and the One (translated by Paul J. W. Miller), Heptaplus (translated by Douglas Carmichael), Indianapolis/Cambridge, 1998, Hackett Publishing Company, p. 174. In my paper, some of the translations in English are made by myself from Latin; wherever I used the mentioned translations, I will mark the translator’s name from this edition. An English translation of Pico’s Commentary was published in 1914 with the title: A Platonic discourse upon love by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, edited by Edmund Garrat Gardner, translated by D. B. Updike, London, 1914, Grant Richards Ltd. – the original is in Volgare, that is in the Italian of the 15th century. Hungarian translations: Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: Benivieni neoplatonista versének kommentárja, translated, notes, treatise by: Imregh, Monika, Budapest 2012, KRE-L’Harmattan Kiadó, pp. 125; Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: Heptaplus, avagy a Teremtés hétféle magyarázata, translated, notes, treatise by Imregh, Monika, Budapest, 2002, Arcticus Kiadó, pp. 120.
- 14.
See Imregh, Monika: Die Metaphysik der Liebe bei Pico, Orpheus Noster, Vol. 10, 2013/1, 7–25.
- 15.
Commento dello illustrissimo signor conte Joanni Pico Mirandolano sopra una canzona de amore composta da Girolamo Benivieni cittadino fiorentino secondo la mente et opinione de’ Platonici in Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: De hominis dignitate. Heptaplus. De ente et uno – e scritti vari, a cura di Eugenio Garin, Firenze, 1942, Vallecchi Editore, I, 1, 462.; I. 3. 464.; I. 4. 465.; I. 12. 479.; II. 9. 497; III. 1. 521–523. I highlight in my PhD thesis Pico’s respect towards Plotinus , and the fact that he considers Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite, “prince of Christian theologians” as a follower of Plotinus in a certain way: Imregh, Monika: Plótinos hatása a XV. századi reneszánsz filozófusok: Marsilio Ficino és Giovanni Pico della Mirandola műveiben (Plotinus’ Influence in Works of 15th Century Renaissance Philosophers: Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola), Budapest, 2005 http://doktori.btk.elte.hu/lingv/imregh/diss.pdf (30.08.2016. 18:17).
- 16.
Plato , Symposium , 180 d-e: “πάντες γὰρ ἴσμεν ὅτι oὐκ ἔστιν ἄνευ Ἔρωτoς Ἀφρoδίτη. μιᾶς μὲν oὖν oὔσης εἷς ἂν ἦν Ἔρως· ἐπεὶ δὲ δὴ δύo ἀνάγκη καὶ Ἔρωτε εἶναι. πῶς δ’ oὐν δύo τὼ θεά; ἡ μέν γέ πoυ πρεσβυτέρα καὶ ἀμήτωρ Oὐρανoῦ θυγάτηρ, ἣν δὴ καὶ Oὐρανίαν ἐπoνoμάζoμεν· ἡ δὲ νεωτέρα Διὸς καὶ Διώνης, ἣν δὴ Πάνδημoν καλoῦμεν. ἀναγκαῖoν δὴ καὶ Ἔρωτα τὸν μὲν τῇ ἑτέρᾳ συνεργὸν Πάνδημoν ὀρθῶς καλεῖσθαι, τὸν δὲ Oὐράνιoν.” English translation by B. Jowett, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1600/1600-h/1600-h.htm#link2H_4_0002
(30.08.2016. 18:24).
- 17.
Plotinus , Enneads, III, 5, 2, 4–6: “κινητιkὸν τῶν ψυχῶν πρὸς τὸ ἐκεῖ κάλλoς, ἢ καὶ ἐπαύξειν τὴν ἤδη γενoμένην πρὸς τὸ ἐκεῖ ὁρμήν”. Plotini Opera, ediderunt Paul Henry et Hans Rudolf Schwyzer, tomus I, Oxonii (Oxford), 1989, Oxford University Press, 293. English translations of Plotinus in my paper by Stephen MacKenna and B. S. Page, http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/plotenn/index.htm (30.08.2016. 18:48) Hungarian translation by Monika Imregh, Plótinos: Enneades, III, 5. Orpheus Noster, Vol. 9. 2012/4, 91–101: http://www.kre.hu/portal/doc/orpheus/Orpheus2012_4.pdf.
- 18.
Plotinus , Enneads, III, 5, 2, 14–19: “λέγoμεν δὴ τὴν Ἀφρoδίτην εἶναι διττήν, τὴν μὲν oὐρανίαν Oὐρανoῦ λέγoντες εἶναι, τὴν δὲ ἐκ Διὸς καὶ Διώνης, τὴν τῶν τῇδε ἐφαπτoμένην ἔφoρoν γάμων· ἀμήτoρα δὲ ἐκείνην καὶ ἐπέκεινα γάμων, ὅτι μηδ’ ἐν oὐρανῷ γάμoι.” Ibid., 294.
- 19.
I have corrected MacKenna’s translation from daughter of – the Greek is ἐk Kρόνoυ. According to the myth of Plato and Plotinus , this Aphrodite was born from Uranus’ testicles cut by Cronus and fallen in Oceanus.
- 20.
Plotinus , Enneads, III, 5, 2, 19–27: “τὴν δὲ oὐρανíαν λεγoμένην ἐκ Kρόνoυ νoῦ ὄντoς ἐκείνoυ ἀνάγκη ψυχὴν θειoτάτην εἶναι εὐθὺς ἐξ αὐτoῦ ἀκήρατoν ἀκήρατoυ μείνασαν ἄνω, ὡς μηδὲ εἰς τὰ τῇδε ἐλθεῖν μήτε ἐθελήσασαν μήτε δυναμένην [ὅτι ἦν φύσεως], μὴ κατὰ τὰ κάτω φῦσαν βαίνειν χωριστὴν oὖσαν τινα ὑπóστασιν καὶ ἀμέτoχoν ὕλης oὐσίαν – ὅθεν αὐτὴν τoύτῳ ᾐνίττoντo τῷ ἀμήτoρα εἶναι – ἣν δὴ καὶ θεὸν ἂν τις δικαίως, oὐ δαίμoνα εἴπoι ἄμικτoν oὖσαν καὶ καθαρὰν ἐφ’ ἑαυτῆς μένoυσαν.” Ibid., 294.
- 21.
Plotinus , Enneads, III, 5, 2, 36–41: “καὶ ἡ γειναμένη καὶ ὁ καλὸς Ἔρως ὁ γεγενημένoς ὑπóστασις πρὸς ἄλλo καλὸν ἀεὶ τεταγμένη καὶ τὸ εἶναι ἐν τoύτῳ ἔχoυσα μεταξὺ ὥσπερ πoθoῦντoς καὶ πoθoυμένoυ, ὀφθαλμὸς ὁ τoῦ πoθoῦντoς παρέχων μὲν τῷ ἐρῶντι δι’ αὐτoῦ τὸ ὁρᾶν τὸ πoθoύμενoν”. Ibid., 295.
- 22.
Plotinus , Enneads, III, 5, 3, 27–33: “ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τoῦδε τoῦ παντὸς ψυχὴν εἶναι ἔδει, ὑπέστη μετὰ ταύτης ἤδη καὶ ὁ ἄλλoς Ἔρως ὄμμα καὶ ταύτης, ἐξ ὀρέξεως καὶ αὐτὸς γεγενημένoς. τoῦ δὲ κόσμoυ oὖσα ἡ Ἀφρoδίτη αὔτη καὶ oὐ μόνoν ψυχὴ oὐδὲ ἁπλῶς ψυχὴ καὶ τὸν ἐν τῷδε τῷ κόσμῳ Ἔρωτα ἐγεννήσατo ἐφαπτόμενoν ἤδη καὶ αὐτὸν γάμων”. Ibid., 296.
- 23.
Plotinus , Enneads, III, 5, 3, 37–39: “πᾶσα γὰρ ἐφίεται τoῦ ἀγαθoῦ καὶ ἡ μεμιγμένη καὶ ἡ τινὸς γενoμένη· ἐπεὶ καὶ αὔτη ἐφεξῆς ἐκείνῃ καὶ ἐξ ἐκείνης.” Ibid., 296.
- 24.
Plotinus , Enneads, III, 5, 3, 33–36: “καθóσoν ἐφάπτεται καὶ αὐτὸς τῆς ὀρέξεως τῆς ἄνω, κατὰ τoσoῦτoν κινoῦντα καὶ τὰς τῶν νέων ψυχὰς καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ᾗ συντέτακται ἀναστρέφoντα, καθόσoν καὶ αὐτὴ εἰς μνήμην ἐκείνων πέφυκεν ἰέναι.” Ibid., 296.
- 25.
A bilingual edition (Latin with French translation): Marsile Ficin sur le Banquet de Platon ou de l’Amour, translation, introduction and notes by Raymond Marcel, Paris, 1956, Les Belles Lettres, pp. 290. English translation: Marsilio Ficino: Commentary on Plato ’s Symposium on Love , translated by Sears Jayne, New York, 1999, Spring Publications, 2nd. ed., 224 p. Hungarian translation with notes and treatise by Monika Imregh: Marsilio Ficino: A szerelemről. Kommentár Platón a Lakoma c. művéhez, Budapest, 2001, Arcticus Kiadó, pp. 144.
- 26.
Plotinus , Enneads, III, 5, 4, 1–3: “Ἄρ’ oὖν καὶ ἑκάστη ψυχὴ ἔχει ἔρωτα τoιoῦτoν ἐν oὐσίᾳ καὶ ὑπoστάσει; ἢ διὰ τί ἡ μὲν ὅλη ἔξει καὶ ἡ τoῦ παντὸς ὑπoστατὸν ἔρωτα, ἡ δὲ ἑκάστoυ ἡμῶν oὔ, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ἡ ἐν τoῖς ἄλλoις ζῴoις ἅπασι;” Ibid., 296.
- 27.
Pico quotes Plotinus ’ etymology of Eros, which comes from contemplation: horasis. Commento, Op. cit. II, 9, 497. Plotinus, Enneads, III, 5, 3, 13–15: “Ἔρως ἐγένετo τάχα πoυ καὶ τῆς πρoσηγoρίας ἐντεῦθεν μᾶλλoν αὐτῷ γεγενημένης, ὅτι ἐξ ὁράσεως τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἔχει”. (Eros taking its name, probably from the fact that its essential being is due to horasis, seeing.) Op. cit. 295.
- 28.
Plato , Symposium , 203 b-c: “On the birthday of Aphrodite there was a feast of the gods, at which the god Poros or Plenty, who is the son of Metis or Discretion, was one of the guests. When the feast was over, Penia or Poverty, as the manner is on such occasions, came about the doors to beg. Now Plenty who was the worse for nectar (there was no wine in those days), went into the garden of Zeus and fell into a heavy sleep, and Poverty considering her own straitened circumstances, plotted to have a child by him, and accordingly she lay down at his side and conceived Love , who partly because he is naturally a lover of the beautiful, and because Aphrodite is herself beautiful, and also because he was born on her birthday, is her follower and attendant.”
- 29.
Plotinus , Enneads, III, 5, 9, 29–41: “ἡ δὲ συναίρεσις· ψυχὴ νῷ συνoῦσα καὶ παρὰ νoῦ ὑπoστᾶσα καὶ αὖ λóγων πληρωθεῖσα καὶ καλὴ καλoῖς κoσμηθεῖσα καὶ εὐπoρίας πληρωθεῖσα, ὡς εἶναι ἐν αὐτῇ ὁρᾶν πoλλὰ ἀγλαΐσματα καὶ τῶν καλῶν ἁπάντων εἰκóνας, Ἀφρoδíτη μέν ἐστι τὸ πᾶν, oἱ δὲ ἐν αὐτῇ λóγoι πάντες εὐπoρíα καὶ Πóρoς ἀπὸ τῶν ἄνω ῥυέντoς τoῦ ἐκεῖ νέκταρoς· τὰ δὲ ἐν αὐτῇ ἀγλαΐσματα ὡς ἂν ἐν ζωῇ κείμενα κῆπoς Διὸς λέγεται, καὶ εὕδειν ἐκεῖ ὁ Πóρoς oἷς ἐμπληρώθη βεβαρμένoς. ζωῆς δὲ φανείσης καὶ oὔσης ἀεὶ ἐν τoῖς oὖσιν ἑστιᾶσθαι oἱ θεoὶ λέγoνται ὡς ἂν ἐν τoιαύτῃ μακαριóτητι ὄντες. ἀεὶ δὲ oὕτως ὑπέστη ὅδε ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἐκ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐφέσεως πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττoν καὶ ἀγαθóν, καὶ ἦν ἀεί, ἐξ oὗπερ καὶ ψυχή, Ἔρως.” Op. cit. 304.
- 30.
Pico: Commento, op. cit. II, 13, 502.: “Quivi è chiamata orti di Giove perché in essa sono piantate esse Idee, non altrimenti che gli arbori in uno orto; e di qui nasce che poi essa mente angelica, adornata già di quelle idee, dagli antiqui fu chiamata paradiso, che è vocabulo greco e significa quello che appresso noi giardino; e coloro che tutti sono nella vita intellettuale e, sorti già sopra alla natura umana, simili fatti agli angeli, del contemplare si nutriscono, fur detti essere in paradiso. Alla vita contemplativa e felicità eterna esortandone Zoroastre esclama: «Cerca, cerca el paradiso». La quale dizione dipoi da’ nostri teologi è stata trasferita a significare etiam esso loco corporale, cioè el supremo cielo che è stanza e abitazione delle anime beate, la beatitudine delle quale in esso contemplare consiste e nella perfezione dello intelletto.”
- 31.
Pico, Commento, op. cit. III, 2, 526: “Poi da questo amore, se va di perfezione in perfezione crescendo, giugne l’uomo a tal grado che, uniendo l’anima sua in tutto con l’intelletto e di uomo fatto angelo, di quello angelico amore tutto infiammato, come materia dal foco accesa e in fiamma conversa alla più alta parte del mondo inferiore si lieva, così lui da tutte le sorde del terreno corpo espurgato e in fiamma spirituale dalla amorosa potenzia transmutato, insino allo intelligibile cielo volando, nelle braccia del primo padre felicemente si riposa.”
- 32.
Pico, Commento, op. cit. IV, 6th–7th–8th stanza, 569: “… l’anima cerca el proprio e particulare intelletto alla universale e prima mente coniungere, prima delle creature, albergo ultimo e universale della ideale bellezza. Al quale pervenendo, grado in ordine sesto, termina el suo cammino, nè gli è licito nel settimo, quasi sabbato del celeste amore, muoversi più oltre, ma quivi debbe come in un suo fine a lato al primo Padre, fonte della bellezza, felicemente riposarsi. Questa è la scala degli amorosi gradi, per la quale alla vera, integra e distinta cognizione di questa materia d’amore si ascende.”
- 33.
“Nascenti homini omnifaria semina et omnigenae vitae germina indidit Pater; quae quisque excoluerit illa adolescent, et fructus suos ferent in illo. Si vegetalia, planta fiet. Si sensualia, obrutescet. Si rationalia, caeleste evadet animal. Si intellectualia, angelus erit et Dei filius.” Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, De hominis dignitate, Heptaplus, De ente et uno e scritti vari, a cura di Eugenio Garin, Firenze, 1942, Vallecchi Editore, 106.
- 34.
“Si [videris] recta philosophum ratione omnia discernentem, hunc venereris; caeleste est animal, non terrenum. Si purum contemplatorem corporis nescium, in penetralia mentis relegatum, hic non terrenum, non caeleste animal; hic augustius est numen humana carne circumvestitum.” Ibid. 108.
- 35.
Vulgata, Ps 81,6: “Ego dixi: Dii estis, et filii Excelsi omnes.”
- 36.
“…et si nulla creaturarum sorte contentus in unitatis centrum suae receperit, unus cum Deo spiritus factus, in solitaria Patris caligine qui est super omnia constitutus omnibus antestabit.” Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, De hominis dignitate, 106.
- 37.
“Si ab actionibus feriati, in opificio opificem, in opifice opificium meditantes, in contemplandi otio negotiabimur, luce cherubica undique corruscabimus. Si caritate ipsum opificem solum ardebimus, illius igne, qui edax est, in saraphicam effigiem repente flammabimur.” Ibid. 110.
- 38.
Pseudo-Dionysius , The Complete Works, (The Celestial Hierarchy, Chapter VII, Of the Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones, and their First Hierarchy), translated by Colm Luibheid, New Jersey, 1987, Paulist Press, 166.
- 39.
Cf. Pseudo-Dionysius : The Celestial Hierarchy, op. cit., Chapter VII, 166.: “The name Cherubim denotes their power of knowing and beholding God, their receptivity to the highest Gift of Light, their contemplation of the Beauty of the Godhead in Its First Manifestation, and that they are filled by participation in Divine Wisdom, and bounteously outpour to those below them from their own fount of wisdom.”
- 40.
“Sed quonam pacto vel iudicare quisquam vel amare potest incognita? […] Ergo medius Cherub sua luce et saraphico igni nos praeparat et ad Thronorum iudicium pariter illuminat.” Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, De hominis dignitate, 112.
- 41.
Cf. Pseudo-Dionysius : The Celestial Hierarchy, op. cit., Chapter VII, 166.: “The name of the most glorious and exalted Thrones denotes that which is exempt from and untainted by any base and earthly thing, and the supermundane ascent up the steep. For these have no part in that which is lowest, but dwell in fullest power, immovably and perfectly established in the Most High, and receive the Divine Immanence above all passion and matter, and manifest God, being attentively open to divine participations.”
- 42.
“…hic est nodus primarum mentium, ordo palladicus, philosophiae contemplativae praeses”. Ibid., 112. See Macrobius, In somnium Scipionis, I, VI, 11; 54–55.
- 43.
Cf. Pseudo-Dionysius : The Celestial Hierarchy, op. cit., Chapter VII, 166.: “The name Seraphim clearly indicates their ceaseless and eternal revolution about Divine Principles, their heat and keenness, the exuberance of their intense, perpetual, tireless activity, and their elevative and energetic assimilation of those below, kindling them and firing them to their own heat, and wholly purifying them by a burning and all-consuming flame; and by the unhidden, unquenchable, changeless, radiant and enlightening power, dispelling and destroying the shadows of darkness.”
- 44.
“Magna Thronorum potestas, quam iudicando; summa Saraphinorum sublimitas, quam amando assequimur.” Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, De hominis dignitate, 112.
- 45.
“Qui Saraph, idest amator est, in Deo est, et Deus in eo, immo et Deus et ipse unum sunt.” Ibid.
- 46.
“… hic nobis et aemulandus primo et ambiendus, atque adeo comprehendendus est, unde et ad amoris rapiamur fastigia et ad munera actionum bene instructi paratique descendamus.” Ibid.
- 47.
“Consulamus Paulum apostolum vas electionis, quid ipse cum ad tertium sublimatus est caelum, agentes Cherubinorum exercitus viderit.” Ibid. See: Vulgata, 2 Cor 12, 2.
- 48.
“Respondebit utique Dionysio interprete: purgari illos, tum illuminari, postremo perfici.” Ibid. See: Dionysius the Areopagite , De caelesti hierarchia, VI-VII.
- 49.
“Sed admonebit per figuram […] esse scalas ab imo solo ad caeli summa protensas multorum graduum serie distinctas: fastigio Dominum insidere. Contemplatores angelos per eas vicibus alternantes ascendere et descendere.” Ibid., 114.
- 50.
“… nunc unum quasi Osirim in multitudinem vi titanica discerpentes descendemus, nunc multitudinem quasi Osiridis membra in unum vi phoebea colligentes ascendemus”. Ibid., 116.
- 51.
“…donec in sinu Patris qui super scalas est tandem quiescentes, theologica felicitate consummabimur.” Ibid., 116.
- 52.
“Venite, inclamabit, ad me, qui laborastis, venite et ego reficiam vos; venite ad me et dabo vobis pacem quam mundus et natura vobis dare non possunt.” Ibid., 118. Vö. Vulgata, Matthew 11, 28: “Venite ad me omnes qui laboratis, et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos.”
- 53.
“… alatis pedibus quasi terrestres Mercurii in beatissimae amplexus matris evolantes, optata pace perfruemur; pace sanctissima, individua copula, unanimi amicitia, qua omnes animi in una mente, quae est super omnem mentem, non concordent adeo, sed ineffabili quodam modo unum penitus evadant.” Ibid., 118.
- 54.
Pico, Commento, op. cit., 495.: “Dopo Lui [Dio] comincia la bellezza, perché comincia la contrarietà, sanza la quale non può essere cosa alcuna creata, ma sarebbe solo esso Dio; nè basta questa contrarietà e discordia di diverse nature a costituire la creatura, se per debito temperamento non diventa e la contrarietà unita e la discordia concorde, il che si può per vera deffinizione assignare di essa bellezza, cioè che non sia altro che una amica inimicizia e una concorde discordia.” Cf. Heraclitus’ term: παλίντρoπoς ἁρμoνία in these two fragments: 47. (DK22B8) and 49. (DK22B51). In Die Vorsokratiker I., Stuttgart, 1988, Reclam, 258.
- 55.
Ibid.: “Per questo diceva Eraclito la guerra e la contenzione essere padre e genetrice delle cose; e, appresso Omero, chi maladisce la contenzione è detto avere bestemmiato la natura .” Cf. Heraclitus, 50. fr. (DK22B53): “πóλεμoς πάντων μὲν πατήρ ἐστι πάντων δὲ βασιλεύς.” In Die Vorsokratiker I., Stuttgart, 1988, Reclam, 258.
- 56.
Homer, Iliad, XIX, 90–94.
- 57.
“Haec est illa amicitia, quam totius philosophiae finem esse Pythagorici dicunt, haec illa pax quam facit Deus in excelsis suis, quam angeli in terram descendentes annuntiarunt hominibus bonae voluntatis, ut per eam ipsi homines ascendentes in caelum angeli fierent; hanc pacem amicis, hanc nostro optemus saeculo, optemus unicuique domui quam ingredimur, optemus animae nostrae, ut per eam ipsa Dei domus fiat”. Ibid., 118–120.
- 58.
“Haec est vera felicitas , ut unus cum Deo spiritus simus, ut apud Deum non apud nos Deum possideamus, cognoscentes sicut et cogniti sumus. Ille enim nos, non per nos, sed per se ipsum cognovit. Ita et nos cognoscemus illum per ipsum et non per nos. Haec est tota merces, haec est vita aeterna, haec est sapientia, quam sapientes saeculi non cognoverunt, ut ab omni multitudinis imperfectione redigamur in unitatem per copulam indissolubilem cum eo qui est ipsum unum.” Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Heptaplus, 7th book, Introduction, in De hominis dignitate, Heptaplus, De ente et uno e scritti vari, 336.
- 59.
“Continetur autem et hic altius mysterium: quemadmodum scilicet guttis aquae ea est felicitas ut ad oceanum, ubi aquarum plenitudo, accedant, ita esse nostram felicitatem ut, quae in nobis intellectualis luminis portio est, ipsi primo omnium intellectui primaeque menti, ubi plenitudo, ubi universitas omnis intelligentiae, aliquando coniungatur.” Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: De hominis dignitate. Heptaplus. De ente et uno – e scritti vari, 322.
- 60.
His original name was Angelo Ambrogini (1454–1494); he was a poet in Greek, Latin and Italian, and a philologist. He was Lorenzo Medici’s children’s tutor until Lorenzo’s wife, Clarice Orsini, found out that little Giovanni (later Pope Leo X) was learning Latin from Catullus and Ovid, not the Holy Bible . One of his most famous poems is about the joust of Lorenzo’s brothers, Giuliano: La giostra. His body is buried together with Pico’s and Girolamo Benivieni’s in St. Mark’s Basilica in Florence. Since Pico and Poliziano died very close to each other in time and had the same symptoms, it was suspected that they were poisoned. In 2007 Poliziano’s and Pico’s bodies were exhumed, and a group of anthropologists proved by tests that they likely died of arsenic poisoning. The chief suspect is Lorenzo’s son and successor, Piero il Fatuo (the Unfortunate). Poliziano and Pico were very close friends, after Pico moved to Florence they met nearly every day. See Poliziano’s letters: Angelo Poliziano: Letters, I, (bilingual edition) edited and translated by Shane Butler, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, 2006, Harvard University Press, p. 528.
- 61.
See Pico’s letter to Ermolao Barbaro: Pico, Opera omnia, op. cit., fol. 368–369.: “Diverti nuper ab Aristotele in Academiam, sed non transfuga, ut inquit ille, verum explorator. Videor tamen (dicam tibi Hermolaë quod sentio) duo in Platone agnoscere: et Homericam illam eloquendi facultatem, supra prosam orationem sese attollentem, et sensuum, si quis eos altius introspiciat, cum Aristotele omnino communionem, ita ut si verba spectes, nihil pugnantius, si res, nihil concordius, quod si quando dabitur, id quod votorum meorum summa est, tecum ad dies aliquot philosophari, agemus de iis coram latius, et sensus huius mei periculum aliquod faciemus. Vale, aevi nostri decus. Florentiae. 1484. die 6. Decembris.”
- 62.
Pico, Opera omnia, op. cit., I, fol. 359.: Pico’s letter to Battista Spagnoli dated on the 20th of March 1490: “Concordiam Platonis et Aristotelis assidue molior. Do illi quotidie iustum matutinum, post meridianas horas amicis, valetudini, interdum poëtis et oratoribus, et si qua sunt studia operis levioris; noctem sibi cum somno sacrae literae partiuntur.”
- 63.
Pico, De ente et uno, 5th chapter, Opera omnia, op. cit., I, fol. 249.: “Profanam hanc opinionem quinta decade nostrae Concordiae late incessuimus.” (In Garin’s edition: p. 416.)
- 64.
“Sed illud assidue meditandum hanc nostram mentem cui divina etiam pervia sunt, ex mortali seminio esse non posse neque felicem alibi quam in divinorum possessione futuram tantoque magis, dum hic quasi advena peregrinatur, propinquare felicitati quanto, posthabita cura terrenorum, ad divina se magis erigit et accendit. Admonere autem in primis nos praesens disputatio videtur ut, si esse beati volumus, beatissimum omnium imitemur Deum, unitatem in nobis, veritatem bonitatemque possidentes.” Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: De hominis dignitate. Heptaplus. De ente et uno, 438.
- 65.
Plato , Timaeus , 29e.
- 66.
“Unitatis pacem turbat ambitio et sibi haerentem animum extra se rapit et in diversa quasi lacerum trahit atque discerpit. Veritatis splendorem et lucem in coeno, in caligine voluptatum quis non amittet? Bonitatem furacissima nobis furatur cupiditas, idest avaritia. Bonitatis enim peculiare hoc, communicare aliis bona quae possides; quare cum quaereret Plato cur Deus condidit mundum, respondens ipse sibi «bonus» – inquit – «erat».” Pico, De ente et uno, Garin, op. cit. 438.
- 67.
I John 2:16; I John 5:19.
- 68.
“…non sunt ex Patre qui ipsa unitas, ipsa veritas, ipsa bonitas est.” Op. cit. 440.
- 69.
“Fugiamus hinc ergo, idest a mundo qui positus est in maligno, evolemus ad Patrem ubi pax unifica, ubi lux verissima, ubi voluptas optima.” Ibid.
- 70.
“Sed quis dabit pennas ut illuc volemus? Amor eorum qui sursum sunt.”
- 71.
“Cum autem per veritatem ab exemplari non excidemus, restabit ut per bonitatem ad ipsum tendentes illi aliquando copulemur.” Ibid.
- 72.
“Quod si tria haec, unum scilicet, verum et bonum perpetuo annexu ens consequuntur, reliquum est, ut cum illa non sumus, etiam prorsus non sumus etsi esse videamur et, quamvis credamur vivere, moriamur tamen potius iugiter quam vivamus.” Ibid.
- 73.
Giovanni di Napoli, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola e la problematica dottrinale del suo tempo, Roma, 1965, Desclée & C. – Editori Pontifici, 227.
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Frazer-Imregh, M. (2017). What Is the Purpose of Human Life? – Immediate Experience of God in Pico’s Works. In: Vassányi, M., Sepsi, E., Daróczi, A. (eds) The Immediacy of Mystical Experience in the European Tradition. Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45069-8_10
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