In the Roman Curia Fortune has the most sway, since there is very rarely any place for talent or virtue. Everything is offered up either by ambition or by chance (I will remain silent about the influence of money, which seems to command influence everywhere in the world). A certain friend, who was vexed that many people inferior to him in learning and morals were nevertheless preferred to him, was complaining with Angelottus, a cardinal of St. Mark, that no account was made of his virtues, but that he was placed behind the men who were in no way equal to him. He then added some recollections of his own studies and his labors in learning. Then, the Cardinal, ever prompt in chastising the vices of the Curia, said, ‘Here knowledge and learning are of no use. But persevere, and set aside some free time to unlearn some things and acquire some vices, if you want to be accepted by the Pope.’
In Curia Romana ut plurimum Fortuna dominatur, cum perraro locus sit vel ingenio, vel virtuti; sed ambitione et opportunitate parantur omnia, ut de nummis sileam, qui ubique terrarum imperare videntur. Amicus quidam, qui aegre ferebat praeferri sibi multos doctrina et probitate inferiores, querebatur apud Angelottum cardinalem Sancti Marci nullam haberi suae virtutis rationem, sed postponi his, qui nulla in re sibi pares essent. Sua insuper studia commemoravit, et in discendo labores. Tum promptus ad lacessendum Curiae vitia cardinalis, “Hic scientia et doctrina” inquit “nihil prosunt. Sed perge et aliquod tempus ad dediscendum et addiscendum vitia vaca, si vis Pontifici acceptus esse”.
Lorenzo Valla gives his greetings to that exceptional man Giovanni Tortelli
I have received news that you are wondrously dedicated to Greek literature, which is exceptionally pleasing news to me. I hope, for our friendship, that you will be a totally singular man in the humanities, as even in other arts. But more about this at another time. I am writing to you now in haste wishing to be informed whether you returned my books to my brother, or whether you still have them with you? This way I’ll know who I can run to when the need arises. Farewell.
LAURENTIUS VALLENSIS EXIMIO VIRO IOANNI ARRETINO SALUTEM.
Accepi te mirifice deditum litteris grecis, quod mihi pergratum est. Pro nostra amicitia spero te singularem virum fore in studiis humanitatis, ut et in ceteris artibus. Sed hec alias. Nunc per festinantiam scribo volens abs te certior fieri an libros meos fratri meo reddideris,?an? tecum retinueris, ut sciam, quando opus erit, ad quem possem recurrere. Vale.
On this side, I am scarcely able to advise and exhort you enough not to put anyone of these people in charge of the country committed to you, thus making someone else the lord and not you. For there have been many in power who, while they wish to raise up their own people, have depressed their own standing and made themselves both contemptible and hated to the people, sold out and mocked by the very people whom they had promoted to the heights of power. In which especially Claudius, who preceded Nero in power, was considered vile because he so far elevated his freedmen (Narcissus and Pallas, men of no account) that they ruled provinces and stole both from him and from the empire. Yet he was needy while his slaves were rich. As Tranquillus says, “addicted both to the freedmen and to his wives, he conducted himself not like a prince, but like a minister.” By their counsel and driving, he did many things stupidly and cruelly.
Elegabalus is noted for the same thing, because he kept among him those who held exceptional sway to the suffering of all, and those who would sell everything, and some wicked familiars, who, as Lampridius says, “were turning him from a stupid man into a stupider man.” The same fault may be found in Didius Julianus, because he had put in charge of ruling the empire those whom he ought to have ruled with imperial authority.
Yet all of these things are tolerable enough under stupid or middling princes. But I suspect nothing middling, nothing not outstanding or singular from you. You will not satisfy my hopes nor those of the many unless you reach good and noble men, or sail past them and leave them behind your back. If anything should be lacking, I will attribute it not to nature but to you. Why do we delay over these minor examples, when it has been established that under Marc Antony, such a man and such a prince, his freedmen had substantial influence?
For which reason, both you and those to whom power and beneficence has been granted ought to take rather diligent care lest, under the pretext of humanity (in which you excel), you allow yourself to slip into this vice into which even famous princes have lapsed. For even if all illustrious men are to be imitated, yet not all of the vices of illustrious men should be embraced. There is no one who would not err in some way, and none who are not occasionally dissimilar to themselves.
Lawrence Alma Tadema, Proclaiming Claudius Emperor
Hac parte unum hoc monere satis atque hortari vix sufficio, ne quem talium sic commisse tibi patrie preficias, ut alius dominus sit quam tu. Fuerunt enim multi in imperio qui, dum suos attollere cupiunt, sese depresserunt et contemptibiles atque invisos populis effecerunt, per eos ipsos, quos ad alta promoverant, venditi et irrisi. In quo maxime Claudius, qui Neronem precessit in imperio, vilis est habitus, qui libertos suos, nullius precii homines, Possidem et Felicem, Narcissum et Pallantem, usque adeo evexit, ut provincias regerent eumque ipsum atque imperium spoliarent: et ille infelix servis suis affluentibus indigeret. «His et uxoribus addictus», ut Tranquillus ait, «non se principem sed ministrum egit»; horumque consilio et impulsu multa stulte gessit, multa crudeliter.
Eadem in re notatus est Heliogabalus, quod haberet qui apud eum plurimum possent omnium cum dolore, quique omnia venderent, et familiares improbos, «qui eum», ut Lampridius ait, «ex stulto stultiorem faciebant». Idem reprehensum in Didio Iuliano, quia quos regere auctoritate imperii debuisset, eos regendo imperio prefecisset.
Verumtamen hec sub stultis aut mediocribus principibus utcumque tolerabilia. Ego autem ex te nichil mediocre, nichil non egregium et singulare suscipio; non mee quidem et multorum spei satisfeceris, nisi bonos quoslibet et claros viros aut attigeris aut prevectus post terga reliqueris; si quid forte defuerit, non nature imputem sed tibi. Quid vero minoribus immoremur, cum sub Marco Antonio, tali viro et principe, libertos quoque multum potuisse compertum sit?
Quo tibi et omnibus quibus preesse et prodesse propositum, diligentius providendum est, ne humanitatis obtentu, qua plurimum polles, in hoc te vitium labi sinas, in quod clari etiam principes lapsi sunt. Etsi enim viri omnes illustres imitandi, non tamen omnia virorum illustrium amplectenda sunt. Nemo est qui aliqua in parte non erret sitque sibi ipse dissimilis.
Petrarch, On the Remedies of Fortune Good and Bad (2.79):
You don’t have the raw material for perpetuating your tyranny. For indeed, what is a kingdom if not a tyranny grown august with antiquity? That which is bad in its nature cannot become good with time. Add to this the fact that quite often, those who succeed to a throne often step off the well-trod footpath of their ancestors. Examples of this include Hieronymus the Sicilian tyrant and Jugurtha the Numidian, who violated the friendship of the Romans which was cultivated with such faith and so felicitously for a long time by their grandparents. One of them did it with insolence, the other through perfidy, but both of them suffered destruction.
So, you don’t have a successor to your throne? Well then, you will not have an overturner of your acts, but you will still have a population, a lover and cultivator of your name, one that remembers you and owes its liberty to you through the ages. Consider that Fortune has done you a solid favor, because it either took away your son or denied one to you, which is far better even than the fact that it gave you the kingdom in the first place.
Non est tibi materia perpetuande tyrannidis. Nam quid sunt aliud regna quam vetuste tyrannides? Non sit bonum tempore, quod natura est malum. Adde quod persepe qui in regna succedunt, a maiorum suorum calle discedunt. Exemplo sunt Hieronymus Siculus tyrannus, et Iugurtha Numidicus, qui Romanorum amicitiam tanta fide ab avis tamque feliciter diu cultam, cum sua uterque pernicie alter insolentia, alter perfidia, violavit. Non habes igitur successorem regni? Non habebis tuorum actuum eversorem, sed habebis populum, tui nominis amatorem et cultorem, tui memorem, libertatis tibi per secula debitorem. Bene tecum egisse fortunam credito, et melius multo, quod filium tibi vel abstulit vel negavit, quam quod regnum dedit.
Lorenzo Valla, Letter to Giacomo Moro (March 1433)
Your letters seemed so decorated, so serious, so crammed with the best lines, that I have not dared to write to you until now. And so, you ought to be angry with and impute the delay to your superabundance of good taste than to my superfluity of negligence. Come on, who could look at the rays of the sun? In just such a way, your letters have wounded my eyes with their excessive splendor. And so it is now, after a long time, with my sight regained and my strength recovered, that I write to you.
Littere tue ita ornate, ita graves, ita optimis sententiis referte vise sunt, ut adhuc scribere ad te non sim ausus. Itaque debes magis succensere et imputare tue nimie elegantie quam mee nimie negligentie. Quis enim audeat in solis radios inspicere? Ita tue littere pernimio fulgore oculos meos perstrinxerunt. Nunc itaque post longum tempus quasi resumpto visu recuperatisque viribus ad te scribo.
Petrarch, On the Remedies of Fortune Both Good and Bad (1.1.9:
You read in Sallust that there was in that most crime-steeped man, Catiline, enough eloquence but too little wisdom. Nor indeed did he seek any glory for that eloquence – although a more elevated judgment might consider it not eloquence, but loquacity. For one cannot be a true orator, that is to say the master of eloquence, unless he is also a good man. If you, being good and wise yourself, thought that this impetus for words, which is often found in the talkative and shameless, or that this experience in speaking was enough for oratorical glory and the perfect gift of eloquence, then you have been deceived. Volubility of language, a stock of words, and even a certain verbal art can be the common property of criminals and pious people alike. What you are looking for belongs to the good – not all of them, to be sure, but to very few, such that all wicked people have no part in the praise for which virtue and wisdom (spiritual goods which they lack) are required.
If you can’t understand it this way, I will explain. But keep in mind two things of which I speak: distinctions come to mind, one of Cato and the other of Cicero. One says, “The orator is the good man versed in speaking.” But the other says that “Eloquence is nothing but wisdom speaking copiously.” From these tags you can see that both goodness and wisdom are needed for the essence of the speaker and of eloquence, and yet they are not enough without both experience and copiousness. So, as the first two qualities may be enough to make a man good and wise, these others alone make him neither good, nor wise, nor even eloquent, but loquacious. All taken together, however, bring the orator and his art to completion, which is to be sure a rarer and loftier thing than those who hope to find it in abundant speech. Therefore, if you are looking for the name of orator and the true palm of eloquence, study virtue and wisdom first.
Satis eloquentie, parum sapientie fuisse in homine illo scelestissimo Catilina apud Crispum legis, neque is quidem gloriam eloquentie quesivit ullam — quamquam altiore iudicio non eloquentia, sed loquacitas illa fuit —. Verus enim orator, hoc est eloquentie magister, nisi vir bonus esse non potest. Quod si bonus et sapiens putabas ad oratorias laudes perfectumque munus eloquentie hunc verborum impetum, qui sepe procacibus atque inverecundis uberior est, sive hanc ipsam dicendi peritiam satis esse, fallebaris: lingue volubilitas et verborum copia atque etiam ars quedam sceleratis piisque communia esse possunt; id quod queris bonorum est, non omnium quidem, sed paucissimorum, ita ut mali omnes huius laudis exortes sint, ad quam scilicet animi bona quibus carent, virtus ac sapientia, requiruntur.
Quod si sic esse non intelligas, dicam. Sed memineris duarum, de quibus loquor, rerum: diffinitiones in mentem redeant, quarum altera Catonis, Ciceronis est altera. Ille ait: “Orator est vir bonus dicendi peritus”; iste autem “nichil est” inquit “aliud eloquentia nisi copiose loquens sapientia”. Ex his vides ad oratoris atque eloquentie essentiam et bonitatem et sapientiam exigi nec tamen sufficere, nisi et peritia adsit et copia. Ita ut prime ille due virum bonum sapientemque duntaxat, he autem sole nec bonum nec sapientem nec eloquentem quidem efficiant sed loquacem, omnes vero coniuncte perficiant oratorem eiusque artificium, quod profecto rarius atque altius est quam putent qui in multiloquio situm sperant. Tu ergo, si oratoris nomen et eloquentie veram laudem queris, virtuti et sapientie primum stude.
It is time for the speech to return to me and vindicate me of the charge which you lay upon me, namely that of living with and enjoying the friendship of tyrants. As though it were necessary for people living together to share everything too, when we see that the worst people often live with the good, and the good often live with the worst. Did Socrates not take his place among the Thirty Tyrants in Athens? Did Plato not live with Dionysius, Callisthenes with Alexander, Cato with Catiline, Seneca with Nero? Virtue is not infected by its proximity to vice. For, even if trifling causes are enough to shake delicate spirits, contagion is unable to touch a solid mind. But to this calumny and many others which now already stupidity and anger have impeded me with, I think that I have already responded, and indeed broken the traps of their inane ramblings.
As for the present, I will say one thing. If you believe it, your jaw will drop; if you don’t, you will laugh at me. I place myself under no spirit except That one which gave spirit to me, or at any rate under one whom I am well convinced is a friend to Him – a rare type indeed. I will add that there are some souls of a similar disposition to which love has thrust me under a most pleasing yoke. It is not a light power, but so rare, that from youth up to this age I have been under only a very few such yokes. In this company were both the humble and the noble and some popes and some kings, but it was such that fortune and dignity did not matter – virtue and love drove the entire affair, so I was subjected to them freely, and I grieved greatly whenever death released me from such a service.
“Why sir, might I kiss your ass?”
Tempus est ut ad me ipsum sermo redeat, idque expurget quod michi obicis, convictum atque amicitiam tyrannorum, quasi simul agentibus omnia esse comunia sit necesse, cum sepe tamen inter bonos pessimi, inter pessimos boni habitent. An non inter triginta tyrannos Athenarum Socrates fuit? Plato cum Dyonisio, Callisthenes cum Alexandro, Cato cum Catilina, Seneca cum Nerone? Nec infecta est virtus in vicinitate nequitie; nam, etsi teneros animos sepe leves cause quatiant, solidas mentes morum contagia non attingunt. Huic tamen calumnie multisque aliis quibus non nunc primum me stultitia livorque impedit, uno pridem toto volumine respondisse videor et verborum inanium tendiculas confregisse. Quod ad presens attinet, unum dicam, quod si credas, stupeas, si minus, irrideas: animo quidem sub nullo sum, nisi sub Illo qui michi animum dedit, aut sub aliquo quem valde Illi amicum ipse michi persuaserim, rarum genus. Addam aliquot michi conformes animas, quibus me amor iugo subiecit amenissimo: non leve imperium sed tam rarum, ut ab adolescentia ad hanc etatem perpaucis talibus iugis obnoxius fuerim. Quo in genere et humiles et illustres et pontifices fuerant et reges, ita tamen ut in his fortuna nichil aut dignitas, sed totum virtus amorque ageret, quo illis sponte subicerer, graviteque doluerim quotiens tali me servitio mors absolvit.
Petrarch, Invective Against a Man of High Rank (33-34):
The human race lives for a few. Nay, and these few for whom the whole human race is said to live are not more frightening to the people than the people are to them. Thus, almost no one is free. Everywhere there is servitude, the prison, the noose, unless some rare person somehow dissolves the knots of the world with the aid of some heavenly virtue.
Just turn your attention wherever you’d like: no place is free of tyranny. Wherever there are no tyrants, the people tyrannize. When you seem to have escaped the iron fist of one, you fall into the tyranny of the many, unless you can show me some place ruled by a just and merciful king. If you can do that, I will move my home there and migrate with all of my luggage. Neither my love of my country, nor the charm and nobility of Italy will keep me here. I will go to India, to China, to the remotest reaches of Africa just to find this place and this king.
But the search is in vain – these things exist nowhere. Thanks to our age. Since it has made everything almost equal, it has spared us the work of trying to find somewhere better. To merchants examining grain, it is enough to take up a fistful, examine it, and judge the whole heap from that. One needn’t go skim the farthest coasts or pentrate to the remotest lands. Languages, clothing, and appearances are all different, but desires, minds, and customs are so similar wherever you go that those lines from Juvenal never seem more truly spoken:
To one who wishes to know the ways of all the human race
One house alone should do the trick.
Even when there were no people, you could still find tyrants.
Humanum paucis vivit genus; quin et hi pauci quibus humanum genus vivere dicitur, non formidolosiores populis quam populi illis sunt. Ita fere nullus est liber; undique servitus et carcer et laquei, nisi fortasse rarus aliquis rerum nodos adiuta celitus animi virtute discusserit.
Verte te quocunque terrarum libet: nullus tyrannide locus vacat; ubi enim tyranni desunt, tyrannizant populi; atque ita ubi unum evasisse videare, in multos incideris, nisi forsan iusto mitique rege regnatum locum aliquem michi ostenderis. Quod cum feceris, eo larem illico transferam, cumque omnibus sarcinulis commigrabo. Non me amor patrie, non decor ac nobilitas Italie retinebit; ibo ad Indos ac Seres et ultimos hominum Garamantes, ut hunc locum inveniam et hunc regem.
Sed frustra queritur quod nusquam est. Gratias etati nostre, que cum cunta pene paria fecerit, hunc nobis eripuit laborem. Frumenta mercantibus satis modicum pugno excipere, illud examinant, inde notitiam totius capiunt acervi. Non est opus oras ultimas rimari et terrarum abdita penetrare: lingue, habitus, vultusque alii, vota, animi, moresque adeo similes, quocunque perveneris, ut nunquam verius fuisse videatur illud Satyrici ubi ait:
“Batilla went to the baths of Baiae,
and with her went that gentle companion, Cupid.
They bathe together and keep each other warm
while they lie together on the soft bed –
she plays games and starts some naughty combats,
and when Cupid is tired – just worn out –
Batilla laughs and grabs his bow.
Soon she covers her side with the painted quiver
and she tosses off the gentle arrows here and there.
Nothing, o, nothing you wretched little lovers,
nothing remains impenetrable to these arrows:
Alas, Baiae is ruinous for old and young alike!”
Joseph Mallord William Turner – The Bay of Baiae
Baianas petiit Batilla thermas
Dumque illi tener it comes Cupido
Atque una lavat et fovetur una,
Dum molli simul in toro quiescit
Ac ludos facit improbasque rixas,
Sopito pueroque lassuloque
Arcum surripuit Batilla ridens,
Mox picta latus instruit pharetra
Et molles iacit huc et huc sagittas.
Nil, o nil reliquum miselli amantes,
Nil his impenetrabile est sagittis:
Heu, cladem iuvenum senumque, Baias!
