Paolo Giovio

The De viris et foeminis aetate nostra florentibus, from which the first selection is taken, comprises three dialogues set on the island of Ischia in the autumn of 1527. Giovio composed most of it while a guest of Vittoria Colonna in 1527–1528, but he never finished the work to his satisfaction, and it remained unpublished until 1984. Only a single rough-draft manuscript of each dialogue has survived. The text below follows the orthography of the 2013 edition with but one minor exception. The translation is lightly revised.

The Elogia veris clarorum virorum imaginibus apposita, the source of the second passage, was first published under Giovio's supervision in 1546. It consists of the brief biographies that he had mounted below portraits of illustrious literati in his villa on Lake Como. The orthography of the text below follows that of the editio princeps, excepting minor changes in punctuation and capitalization. The translation is newly prepared for the present entry.

Giovio does not indicate the sources for his descriptions of Pomponio, but he presumably gathered the various facts and anecdotes he relates from Giovanni Pontano and other humanists who knew Pomponio, including, perhaps, Aulo Giano Parrasio, with whom Giovio had studied in Milan.

Sed trium illarum rerum Pomponius, vir arguto sapientique iudicio, primam sibi vindicasse transpadanos, in secunda Neapolitanos eminere, tertiam vero, quae esset omnium iucundissima, nullibi magis quam in Romanis labris sessitare atque florere testabatur, ita ut ea singulari facetaque sententia summae laudis homines Hermolaum et Pontanum, tum maxime florentes persalse nec obscure perstringeret, quando Hermolaus in translato a se Themistio durior et, ut ita dicam, strigosior esse videretur, et Pontanus ad omne genus eloquentiae natus, ab agresti ac inepto ore vix sua amicis recitare et Latine loqui cum externis legatis auderet. Neque tamen propterea Pomponius se ipsum qui optime pronuntiaret Romae principem statuebat, pudore adductus propter haesitantiam linguae qua ridicule admodum in vernaculis sermonibus per totum vitae spatium irrita spe remedii laboravit, quamquam (quod valde mirandum est), cum pro suggestu intenta voce et pleno oris hiatu Latine esset orandum, discusso repente omni linguae vitio et tota ea deformi titubatione depulsa velut alieno ore et quidem facundissimo loqueretur.

But Pomponio, a man of shrewd and wise judgment, declared that of these three things, those living north of the Po had claimed the first for themselves; the Neapolitans were prominent in the second; and the third, which gave the most delight of all, resided and prospered nowhere more than on the lips of the Romans. With this one clever observation, he very wittily and openly slighted the men of highest honor who were then in their prime, Ermolao and Pontano — since he thought that Ermolao, in his translation of Themistius, was rather wooden and what I might call dry, while Pontano, naturally suited for every genre of eloquence, scarcely dared recite his own works to friends or to speak Latin with foreign ambassadors because of his unsophisticated and awkward manner of speaking. But Pomponio didn't on that account judge that he himself had the best manner of delivery in Rome, for he was ashamed of a stammer which in everyday conversations in the vernacular afflicted him for his entire life, prompting laughter, and which he tried to cure without hope of remedy. And yet — what is quite wonderful — when he had to speak in Latin before an assemblage, projecting his voice and fully opening his mouth, then every defect of the tongue was suddenly dispelled and all that inelegant stumbling driven away; he spoke as if with another man's mouth, and a very eloquent one at that.

Sed eum mox Pauli Secundi iniuria percelebrem fecit, quum literatos quosdam, et in his Platinam atque Callimachum, tanquam impios atque maleficos tormentis excruciasset. Nam e Venetiis Romam pertractus ad dicendam causam, perpetua vitae innocentia tutus nihil terreri potuit, ut integro constantique animo indigna fateretur. Veterum enim ingeniorum illustria nomina sibi ipsis indiderant, quum in coetu sodalium laureati Musas colerent. Ea nominum novitate pontifex, elegantiae literarum imperitus suspiciosusque, vehementer offendebatur, quasi id esset occulta coniurantium tessera ad obeundum insigne facinus.

Xysto demum Innocentioque faventibus in gymnasio docuit incredibili nominis authoritate auditorumque frequentia adeo ut ante auroram profitentem romana iuventus a media statim nocte praeoccupandis subselliis praeveniret. Descendebat e Quirinali saepe solus, Diogenis more praeferens la<n>ternam, quum opes contemneret, et iucunda frugalitate venerabilis haberetur. Simplici nanque et pene subagresti convictu usque adeo gaudebat ut quum frequenti semper limine coleretur, improvisi nobiles convivae, non sufficiente eius puero, per iocum admoniti coquinae manus admoverent. Unde perurbani sales multaeque facetiae sererentur.

Scripsit grammaticae compendium adultis pueris utile, et graviore demum stylo seriatim romanos caesares gratissimoque libello in antiquae Urbis ruinis vera loca atque vocabula demonstravit. Sed in suggestu summam laudem promeruit, quod eo magis mirum videtur, quum in familiari sermone haesitante lingua balbutire esset solitus, nec orantem demum aut clara voce lectitantem ulla omnino oris titubantia deformaret.

Septuagenarius excessit e vita, quum gelidissimo vini potu ventriculi calorem oppressisset. Elatus est auditorum insignium piis humeris, honestante funus familia purpurata Alexandri Pontificis et laudante Marso oratore. Quum variis autem elegiis tumulus ornaretur, epigramma Pontani, consensu publico, locum obtinuit.

But soon he was made a celebrity by the injustice of Paul II, who had afflicted with torture certain scholars, including Platina and Callimachus, on the grounds that they were irreligious and criminal. When Pomponio was dragged back from Venice to Rome to plead his case, he was secure in the consistent innocence of his life and could not be frightened into confessing things unworthy of an irreproachable and steadfast soul. When these scholars, laurel-wreathed, had gathered in the company of their fellows to pay court to the Muses, they had bestowed upon themselves the names of great intellects of old. The pontiff, who was ignorant and suspicious of the choicest literature, was greatly offended by this strageness of names, as though it were a secret password among men conspiring to undertake an extraordinary crime.

Supported, at last, by Sixtus and Innocent, he taught at the university, where his name was so incredibly authoritative and his audience so numerous that, inasmuch as he began to lecture before dawn, the young men of Rome would come in advance as early as midnight to secure their seats. Often he came down from the Quirinal alone, holding a lantern before him like Diogenes because he despised wealth; and he was held in veneration for his pleasing thriftiness. He enjoyed dining in a manner so simple and almost crude that, since his threshold was always crowded with devotees and his servant had too much to do, distinguished people who unexpectedly came to dinner were reproved jokingly and would lend their hands to the cooking. Out of this came very cultured witticisms, and many pleasantries were exchanged.

He wrote a compendium of grammar, useful for older boys; and then, in a more serious style, a chronology of the Roman emperors; and in a most delightful little book he attached the authentic placenames to specific sites in the ruins of the ancient City. But on the platform he won the greatest acclaim, which seems all the more marvelous given that in private conversation he had been accustomed to stutter with a stammering tongue; and yet, no stumbling of speech disfigured him at all when he was delivering an oration or reciting aloud.

In his seventies he departed from life as a result of having overpowered the heat of his stomach with an icy draught of wine. He was carried to his rest on the devoted shoulders of his outstanding pupils, and his funeral was graced by the cardinals of Pope Alexander's court and by a eulogy from the orator Marso. While his tomb was adorned with various elegies, by popular agreement an epigram of Pontano held pride of place: