Bartolomeo Partenio

Parthenius, Bartholomaeus Benacensis, (d. ca. 1492)

Humanist from the Garda region; professor at the Studium Urbis from the mid-1480s to his death.

Partenio must have been in contact with Pomponio while the two were teaching at the Studium Urbis in the second half of the 1480s and early 1490s. The connection between them is demonstrated by Pomponio's De historia (a) and by an amusing anecdote concerning the circulation of false rumors about Pomponio's death (b).

a) The exchanges and relations between Partenio and Pomponio in Rome are probably responsible for the latter's familiarity with Partenio's editions of Greek and Latin texts. Large sections of Pomponio's annotations De historia (see Leto (ed.) 2021), bound with copies of his 1490 edition of Sallust, were reproduced from Partenio's letter to the Venetian patrician Francesco Tron, appended to the edition of Livy printed by Michele Manzolo in 1480, in collaboration with Partenio (see Livius (ed.) 1480, fols [Y7]^r-v). Partenio's significant Greek learning explains some of Pomponio's second-hand references to authors he could not have read in the original, such as Ammonius Grammaticus and John Tzetzes (cf. Leto (ed.) 2021, 23-24, 58-59). Pomponio's debt to Partenio is also clearly revealed by a comparison between the De historia and Partenio's dedicatory letter, whose central section is reproduced almost verbatim by Pomponio.

Partenio:	Pomponio:
Siquidem apud idoneos graecorum auctores et praecipue Ceci, qui exactissime Lycophronis Alexandram interpretatur, legimus ιστορειν diversas habere significationes et nunc pro videndi, interdum pro interrogandi, peragrandi et vetera narrandi significato poni [...].	῞Ιστορεω καὶ ἵστορω significat multa: interdum 'interrogo' aut 'inquiro', et poeticum est interdum 'narro', sed antiqua gesta, unde Cecis adserit historiam dictam. [...]
Siquidem Herodotum, historiae parentem, quod ab aetate sua perquam remota scripserit, historiographum legent appellatum; at Thucididem, maximi illius peloponnensiaci belli scriptorem, syngrapheus nominatur, utpote ea viderit quae memoriae mandaverit. Quod cum ita sit, satis patet et vocabuli origo et veterum narrationem esse historiam; latius tamen amplectentem annales et quoscumque rerum commentarios [ ].	Greci, a quibus est deductum hoc nomen, non ita senserunt omnes, sed historicum esse adfirmant qui vetera gesta narrat, ut Herodotus. Qui vero sui temporis gesta scribit, ut Thucydides, syngraphum appellaverunt; ut apud nos Sallustius de coniuratione Catilinae et Aurelius Festinus. Qua ex re videtur historia esse rerum antiquarum narratio; latius tamen complectitur annales et quoscumque rerum gestarum commentarios.
Quidam enim in conscribendis rebus clari habiti sunt quod chronica condidere, hoc est aliquid super aetate atque vita et temporibus clarorum virorum et eorum maxime qui vel imperio vel ingenio nobiles insignesque fuissent. In quo genere maxime laboravit apud graecos: Hister, Xanthus, Pamphila. Apud nostros vero: Cornelius Nepos, Fenestella, Pedianus, atque Tranquillus Suetonius.	Ad historicum etiam pertinet cronica scribere, hoc est cum quis de etate vel vita vel temporibus clarorum virorum narrat, et eorum presertim qui vel imperio vel ingenio insignes fuere; in quo genere scripserunt: Hister, Xanthus, Eusebius, Pamphili duo, Aphricanus, et Marcellinus. [...] Romana lingua: Marcus Cato, Marcus Varro, Pomponius Atticus, Cornelius Nepos, Suetonius Tranquillus [...].
Est alia pars historiae, quam topicam appellavere, ubi loca ipsa describuntur; quae res tantae curae priscis fuit ut essent qui spatiosa ac varia volumina huiusmodi titulo inscriberent atque in eodem opere una non fuerunt appellatione contenti. Siquidem hunc perigitim, alium Cosmographum legimus appellatum, hic geographi, ille chorographi nomen sortitus est. In qua parte historiae graecorum clarissimi praecipue fuere Heratosthenes, Pytheas Massiliensis, Strabo geographus et Dionysius. Hanc item historiam tractavit diligentissime Mella Pomponius, Iginus, Marcus Agrippa, Cornelius Nepos et Plinius ille qui naturalem scripsit historiam.	Item et alia pars historiae est, quam topicen appellavere, ubi loca describuntur; quae res tantae curae priscis fuit ut spatiosa volumina impleverint. Non tamen eodem titulo contenti, alius se 'pirugitin' appellavit, alius 'cosmographum', alius 'geographum', alius 'chirographum'. Scripsere apud Grecos Heratosthenes, Pytheas Massiliensis, Dionysius Alexandrinus, Strabo multique alii. Apud Romanos, primus Caius Laelius, inde Caesar Augustus, Marcus Agrippa, Pomponius Mela et togatorum litteratissimus Marcus Varro.
Laborarunt et alii in genealogiis conscribendis, hoc est in tradendo genere et stemmate eorum quorum illustris vita fuerit et eorum in primis a quibus vel clarissimae urbes aedificatae, vel gentes nobilissimae originem traxere, cuius historiae auctor clarissimus in peregrina historia fuit Diodorus Siculus, Didimus et Ennius noster in his voluminibus qui sacram complectuntur historiam. Hesiodus etiam genus deorum atque heroum mirando carmine contexuit, hanc Herogoniam, illam Theogoniam appellans.	Est etiam pars historiae geanelogias scribere, hoc est de genere et stemmate et de originibus urbium gentiumque primordiis, in qua re describenda clarissimus est habitus Marcus Porcius Cato, Censorinus et, apud Grecos, Diodorus Siculus et Didimus. Hoc genus etiam ad decorem usurpavere poetae, ut Hesiodus sublimi carmine complexus est Herogonian et Theogonian.
Est et quartum Historiae genus [...], quod πραγματικον, hoc est negotiale, appellavere. In hoc enim tempora diligenter subducenda sunt, loca recensenda [...], gentium praeterea origines repetendae [...] et - quod omnium difficilimum habetur - hominum negotia huiusmodi historicus ennarrare ita debet, ut habeat in narrando suavitatem atque expectationem [...].	Historicorum est etiam genus id quod pragmaticon dicunt, a quo tempora diligenter subducuntur, loca recensentur, et origines repetuntur cum suavitate et concionibus ex artificio positis, ut cum sine mentione consulum sine cuiusvis anni magistratus res narra<ntur>.
Primus autem tantae rei auctor Cadmus Milesius fuisse dicitur, quem secutus est Herodotus [...]. Syracusium Philistum, qui Dionysii Tyranni familiarissimus fuit, otium suum in scribendis historiis consumpsisse legimus. Hic maxime Thucydidem imitatus est. Post quos clarissimi floruere Theopompus et Ephorus, Isocratis rethoris discipuli; tum Calistenes, qui de Alexandro multa scripsit; Iubamque Maurorum regem, quem ιστορικοτατον Plutarchus appellat; Timeum quoque et Hellanicum horum natu maiores politos historicos fuisse accepimus. (Livius (ed.) 1480, fols [Y7]r-v)	Cadmus Milesius primus ostendit historiam, post eum Herodotus et Philistus Syracusanus, quem Thucydides imitatus est. Inde Theopompus, Ephorus, Callisthenes, Timeus, Hellanicus, Berosus, Diocles, Polybius, Dionysius Halicarnasseus, Iubas rex Mauritaniae, quem Plutarchus ἰστορικοτατὸν appellat. (Leto (ed.) 2021, 67-68, 72, 74-76, 78)

b) Around the years 1490-91, the rumor that Pomponio had died spread throughout Northern Italy. In order to commemorate him, Girolamo Bologni - a resident of Treviso and long-time friend of Partenio - wrote a funerary epigram in memory of Pomponio, which he then sent to Partenio, in Rome. Having received Bologni's verses, Partenio informed his friend that Pomponio was alive and well, but that he had nonetheless appreciated Bologni's words, remarking that he was grateful to be able to read what is normally written only after one's death.

Appended to Partenio's message was a short letter by Pomponio, who cordially greeted Bologni, thanking him for his poetic composition.

As results from the allusion to Ermolao Barbaro's nomination to the office of Patriarch of Aquileia, Partenio's and Pomponio's letters to Bologni were written no earlier than March 1491 (cf. Zeno 1752-53, II, 251). They are now preserved in Rome, Archivum Generale Ordinis Praedicatorum, XIV.IV 388 (cf. Guerrieri 2005, 36; Kristeller, Iter, II, 561).

Little is known of Partenio's life. As the cognomen 'Benacensis' suggests, he was born in the Garda region, perhaps in Salò, if we are to believe a letter addressed to him by Jacopo di Porcia, who calls his correspondent 'Parthenius Salodianus' (cf. Porcia Jacopo (da), fol. 47^r; Weiss 1969, 197 n. 61).

Bartolomeo Partenio was hypothetically identified by de Rossi and Lumbroso with the 'Parthenius' whose name is inscribed on the walls of the Roman catacombs along with those of Pomponio and other members of the sodalitas (cf. de Rossi 1864-77, I, 5; de Rossi 1857-88, II.1, 402; Lumbroso 1889, 232). This interpretation was rejected by Nolhac, who argued for the identification of 'Parthenius' with a certain Parthenius Minutius Paulinus, a young member of the Pomponian entourage who belonged to the Roman family of the Paolini or Pallini (cf. Nolhac (de) 1886, 141-145.) The Partenio who is named in the hypogean graffiti is probably the same Partenio mentioned in Bartolomeo Platina's description of an imaginary vegetarian dinner among members of the Pomponian sodalitas, in book 5.1 of the De honesta volupate et valetudine (cf. Platina (ed.) 1988, 242. Cf. also: Lumbroso 1889, 227-228; Restani 1990, 277-278). Both the De honesta volupate et valetudine and the Roman graffiti predate Bartolomeo Partenio's arrival in Rome; therefore, I believe that the 'Parthenius' whose name is found in Platina and in the catacombs should not be identified with Bartolomeo Partenio, who did not enter the Pomponian circle before the mid-1480s.

 

All of Partenio's known works are connected to his editorial collaborations in Treviso. His editions of Livy, Giuniano Maio, Strabo, and Thucydides are all supplied with dedicatory letters to the Venetian patrician Francesco Tron (see respectively: Livius (ed.) 1480, fol. [Y7]^r-v; Maio (ed.) 1480, fol. [K8]^r; Strabo (ed.) 1480, fol. [Q4]^r; Thucydides (ed.) 1483, fol. [r6]^v).