Pico della Mirandola - Pico della Mirandola: Oration on the Dignity of Man: A New Translation and Commentary

This is a new translation of and commentary on Pico della Mirandolas most famous work, the Oration on the Dignity of Man . It is the first English edition to provide readers with substantial notes on the text; essays that address the works historical, philosophical, and theological contexts; and a survey of its reception. Often called the Manifesto of the Renaissance, this brief but complex text was originally composed in 1486 as the inaugural speech for an assembly of intellectuals that could have produced one of the most exhaustive metaphysical, theological, and psychological debates in history had Pope Innocent VIII not forbidden it. This edition of the Oration reflects the spirit of the original text in bringing together experts in different fields. Not unlike the debate Pico optimistically anticipated, the resulting work is superior to the sum of its parts.

Francesco Borghesi teaches in the Department of Italian Studies at the University of Sydney in Australia. Among his publications are Concordia, pietas, docta religio (2004) and the forthcoming Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (2013).

Michael Papio is an Associate Professor of Italian Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is the author of Keen and Violent Remedies: Social Satire and the Grotesque in Masuccio Salernitanos Novellino (2000) and the translator of Boccaccios Expositions on Dantes Comedy (2009).

Massimo Riva is a Professor of Italian Studies at Brown University. He has also taught at the University of Sydney in Australia, Northwestern University, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Among his recent publications are Italian Tales: An Anthology of Contemporary Italian Fiction (2004) and Il futuro della letteratura (2011).

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

The editors would like to thank the original members of the Brown UniversityUniversity of Bologna Pico Project for their collaboration in the preparation of this edition. In particular, thanks go to Pier Cesare Bori and the Feltrinelli Publishing House of Milan for permitting the inclusion of a translated chapter from Pluralit delle vie ( Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore Milano; Prima edizione in Campi del Sapere aprile 2000) and to the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, which permitted the reproduction of four images from the Palatino 885 manuscript. We would also like to thank Sarah Christopher for her contribution to the translation of Pier Cesare Boris introductory piece, as well as Helen Freear-Papio, Lesley Freeman Riva, and Leanne Kilroy Borghesi for their invaluable help in the preparation of the final manuscript. Further thanks go to Francesco Bausi, whose Latin critical text is adopted for the present edition, and to Cristiana Facchini. Both read and commented on the manuscript at various stages. Brown University and the BrownBologna Exchange Fund have provided financial and logistical support for the Pico Project since its inception, as they have for this edition. We would additionally like to acknowledge the National Endowment for the Humanities for its generous support of the Pico Project, now part of the Virtual Humanities Laboratory at Brown.