Prof. Lecky:
The leg of flea! And the microscope had not yet been
invented, nor Sir Thomas Browne. (Two of the most
Brownean lines ever written by someone other than the
doctor himself are found in Richard Lovelace on the
subject of a snail:
Compendious Snayl! Thou seem’st to me
Large Euclid’s strict Epitome. (Howarth,
p. 321) )
Anatomies and Epitomies... .
Gratefully, Jim N.
On Tue, 30 Jul 2013 01:13:12 -0500
Katarzyna Lecky <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> That is truly a beautiful passage, Jim.
>
> Gracian's poetic and philosophical anatomization of the
>human body finds its cruder predecessor in the 1559
>edition of Gemini's _Compendiosa totius Anatomie
>delineatio_. Gemini published his Latin edition in 1545,
>and he commissioned Udall to help him issue a vernacular
>translation in 1553. In both, the dedicatory epistles
>concentrate on the pragmatic aspects of the adage "temet
>nosce." However, the epistle to Elizabeth I in the 1559
>edition (written in large part, I surmise, by Richard
>Eden, who--as Andrew Hadfield points out--catered to Mary
>as a Catholic apologist in his earlier translations of
>Spanish colonial texts) attempts to reconcile the
>practicality of anatomical study with its theological
>ramifications. Here, man is "omnis creatura," a
>microcosmic world whose physical intricacies prove the
>glory of divine creation. Those who denounce the flesh as
>sinful fail to recognize the human body's ties to
>divinity: "if a sacrament bee the sygne of a holy thinge,
>there are as many sacramentes as creatours of God,
>foreasmuche as they are all sygnes of the holy poure and
>wysdom of God, and therefore al Sacrame[n]tes, although
>not sacramentes of saluation." He then extends his
>analysis to the nonhuman: "Neyther in man only, is seene
>the perfecte arte of nature: but in the Anatomie or
>Section of any other beast, shall you fynde the like
>wysdome and industrie of the woorke matter. And the lesse
>the beast shalbe, it shall cause in thee the greater
>admiration. Whiche thing, oure artificers declare, whe[n]
>in little bodies, they graue any greate thinge: As dyd he
>that of late, in a little ringe, graued the chariot of
>Phaeton drawne with foure horses: A woorke doubtlesse
>maruelous to beholde, albeit nothinge therein dyd passe
>the woorkema[n]shippe of nature in makinge the legge of a
>fle." The tiny size of the creature exemplifies God's
>creative capacity, which far exceeds that of any
>Elizabethan miniaturist.
>
> Kat
>
>
> Kat Lecky
> Assistant Professor
> Department of English and Philosophy
> Arkansas State University
> ________________________________________
>From: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List
>[[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of James C.
>Nohrnberg [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2013 12:24 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Know thyself--a more prosaic version
>
> One might contrast a less prosaic version of the saying
> (less literal/physical than that of the Vesalians, yet
> anatomic), taken from Gracian's Criticon (1651-57 --
>it's
> a philosophical and/or allegorical romance), "The Ninth
> Crises." This section begins with the title "The Moral
> Anatomy of Man" and thereunder the dialogue of Andrenio
> and Artemia (Critilo, the worldly man [Andrenio's
> companion on their journey to Immortality], is also
> present). Andrenio (the natural man, a kind of Adam)
> begins to report the story of his origins to the lady,
> because she wants to know "in what manner he first
>beheld
> this admirable Creation, and how he admired these
>strange
> Prodigies, and who was he, who gave the greatest
> satisfaction to his Reason" (p. 150 of the English
> translation):
>
> The antient Ministers of Delphos had engraved on the
> Temple Walls, in Letters of Gold, and the wise
> Philosophers had imprinted in larger Characters in their
> Hearts, That recorded Sentence of Bias, Cognosce
>teispsum,
> Know thy self. For none of all created Natures, errs in
> that he should run or misseth that mark the race of life
> should tend to, but Man only whose distemper is chiefly
> caused by that noble Faculty of Free-Will, nor can the
> knowledge of other things avail, whilst Ignorance dwells
> at home, and misapprehends the operations of it self.
> So
> often doth he degenerate to the vile Servitude of a
>Slave
> as often as he renders himself a Captive unto Vice.
> There
> is no Robber pillages so much, nor oppresses the unwary
> Traveller, as the Ignorance of a Man[']s self betrays
>him
> to be preyed on by others, which in many is such a
>height
> of Stupidity, that they are neither sensible, how
> insensible they are, nor do they observe how little they
> observe or consider. Yet Andrenio seems worthy to be
> exempted from this common Folly, when he thus satisfied
> the curiosity of Artemis [as to who he was, how he began
> his life, etc.].
> Of all these wonders I saw, and varieties of
> satisfaction I that day enjoyed, there was none which
>more
> affected my thoughts, (I speak it some astonishment, but
> with Truth) then my self, which the more I evolved, and
> considered in my Understanding, the more I found it a
> subject to admire. That is that said Artemia, which I
> have longed to hear you relate, and was a Theme, that
>the
> greatest Wit of our times hath so much applauded,
>calling
> Man, above all other Created Wonders, the greatest
> Prodigy, and effect of Omnipotency. The same conclusion
> we may make from the general Maxim of the principal
> Philosopher, Propter quod unumquodq, est tale, illud est
> magis Tale, That always is more, for whose sake another
>is
> such. So that if for the sake of Man, Stones were made
> create with so much Vertue, Flowers with so much Beauty,
> and the Stars twinkling with so illustrious Glory, in
>what
> sphere of Beauty must man shine above all these, to
>whose
> use and service they were designed, and destinated, he
>is
> the Creature o[ver] all most Noble, invested in
>possession
> of the Earth having a Commission delivered to him as
> Governor and Deputy to rule for the best advantage both
> o[f] himself and his Maker, At first, proceeded
>Andrenio,
> I had only some rute Notions and Conception of my self,
> till light of the day illuminated m[y] thoughts, and the
> Cristals of a Fountain was the only Glass wherein to
> contemplate and view the delineation of my parts,
>whereby
> I perceived my proportion different from what my
> imagination fancied, which caused in me so much
>admiation
> and delight, that I cannot express, with how much
>content,
> and pleasure I was deceived. I refelcted again on my
> self, and methought I was not yet so foolishly ignorant
>as
> I was contemplative. The first thing I observed was
>this
> composition of my whole Body, which is straight, and
> direct, not inclining to one side, nor to the other.
> Man,
> said Artemia, was created as a Servant of Heaven, and so
> he ought to have his Mind and Body incline thither; for
> the material recititude of the body often simpathizeth
>and
> corrrespondeth with the Soul, that where accidents and
> mishaps have made a deformity in the Members, the Mind
> hath often been mis[s]hapen with them, and both have
>come
> crooked and humoursome in their Actions. ... the Lame
> often stumble in the Road of Vertue, and their Will
> halting between their Affections, makes these maimed
> Cripples, uncapable to walk with equal steps; but Reason
> and Understanding in better Judgments, hath prevented
>the
> Pronosticks of such sinister infirmities.
> The head, said Andrenio, I know not whether I speak
> improperly, I call the Castle, and Fortress of the Soul,
> the Court of her Powers and Faculties. You have reason,
> said Artemia; for as God is assistant, and present in
>all
> parts, yet the Glory of his Court, is most apparent in
>the
> Celestial Jerusalem; so the Soul manifests it self most
>in
> her superior Stations, which is a lively resemblance of
> the heavenly Orbs. Who believes not this, let him look
> into the Soul through the Windows of the Eyes, heare its
> Voice through the Mouth, and speak to it through the
> Crevices of the Easr, the upper, and most eminent place
> doth best become the Authority of the Head, that its
>Ofice
> may be best executed in its command and rule over other
> parts; ...
>
> [-- and so on, in the subsequent discourse of Critilo,
> Artemia, and Andrenio, describing the divinity of the
> Eyes, their lamentable unseeingness of their owner's
> follies, and long moralizations of the Hearing, the
>sense
> of smell, the Nose, the Mouth, the Hands, the Digits,
>and
> the Feet:]
>
> Such [says Artemia] is the outward proportion of Man,
>and
> visible Anatomy, whose harmony of powers, proportion of
> Vertues, agreement of affections, and passions, is a
>more
> interiour inspection,and must be referred to
>Philosophical
> conclusions. ... [She then goes on to moralize the
>heart,
> again anatomically and spiritually, ending on its urge
>for
> purity] which makes it breathe and pant after the most
> sublime perfection. In this manner let us leave the
>wise
> Aretmia in Philosophical discourses, applauded by the
> Acclamations of her Scholars...
>
> Trans. Sir Paul Rycaut, 1681: The Critick Written
> Originally in Spanish by Lorenzo Gracian...: quotes
>from
> the passage running from pp. 151-70.
>
> -- Jim N.
>
>
> Andrenio follows with
>
> On Mon, 29 Jul 2013 16:10:49 -0500
> Katarzyna Lecky <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> "Know thyself" was also a standard motto found in
>>sixteenth-century anatomy textbooks both continental and
>>insular. However, these scientific texts defined
>>self-knowledge in firmly material ways. Thomas Gemini's
>>London-produced plagiarism of Vesalius' _Fabrica_ is a
>>case in point. In the 1559 edition translated into
>>English by Nicholas Udall and Richard Eden, the
>>dedicatory epistles assert that Gemini's engravings of
>>dissected human cadavers will help us "Knowe our selues"
>>by "perfectley settyng forth all and syngular the Bones,
>>Ioyntes, Vaynes, Arteries, Synowes, Muscles, or Brawnes,
>>Tendons, and Ligamentes of mannes bodye." This will lead
>>to a greater wisdom about the sacred and profane realms,
>>as well: "who so in all partes learneth to knowe
>>himselfe, may thereby come to no smale knowledge of God
>>and all his creatures." Know your innards, and know
>>creation.
>>
>> Best,
>> Kat
>>
>>
>>
>> Kat Lecky
>> Assistant Professor
>> Department of English and Philosophy
>> Arkansas State University
>> ________________________________________
>>From: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List
>>[[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of James C.
>>Nohrnberg [[log in to unmask]]
>> Sent: Monday, July 29, 2013 3:03 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Know thyself
>>
>> Re: Know Thyself, (Re-)Interpreted.
>>
>> The theologized character of self-knowledge is a later
>> classical idea too. The Delphic maxim seems originally
>>to
>> suggest we recognize our human limitations, out of
>> deference to our divine betters; but Ludwig Edlestein,
>>in
>> The idea of Progress in Classical Antiquity (Hopkins:
>> 1967), says that later Hellenistic (and pre-Christian)
>> readings re-interpreted the saying as saying that "man
>>is
>> akin to God, that this kinship allows him like the
>>divine
>> demiurge to fashion the world, and that the performance
>>of
>> this task is the truly human obligation." (Op. cit., p.
>> 179.) In other words, the saying advises (or can
>>advise)
>> that one know (with)in himself the dignity of man.
>>
>> And thus the saying can mean either "know thy
>> limitations," or, nearly the opposite, "know thy
>> potential." [Compare, for another such opposite,
>>Ferdinand Pessoa, "I cannot connect myself with myself"
>> (Book of Disquiet, Mac Adam tr., 131; note schizoid
>>affect
>> in this author/persona), and cp. same author's "Do not
>> expect {or ask} more than is in you."]
>>
>> Humanists like Erasmus opposed self-knowledge to
>> (ignorant) self-love. It is thus a significant gnome in
>> Rabelais' Third Book, where Panurge is trying to decide
>> whether or not to marry (and, more satirically, what
>>will
>> happen if he does--and is more or less inevitably
>>destined
>> to be a cuckold): at the center (ch. 25 of 52) is the
>> consultation with Herr Trippa (= the
>>theologically-minded
>> magus Heinrich Cornelilus Agrippa von Nettesheim).
>> Panurge says this cuckolded sage and oracle "doesn't
>>know
>> the first point of philosophy, which is: Know thyself.
>> he's so proud of seeing the mote in another's eye that
>>he
>> doesn't see a great beam poking out both his own" [= a
>> cuckold's horns]. (Cohen trans. p. 357.) Epistemon, a
>> few pages earlier, has said people commonly see the
>>faults
>> and misfortunes of others, but remain (self-pleasingly)
>> ignorant of their own. Later on, but not that much
>>nearer
>> the end of the book and its quizzical quest, the verses
>>of
>> the poet Raminagrobis are interpreted by Pantagruel to
>> mean "that in the matter of marriage everyone should be
>> his own judge and take counsel with himself" and, contra
>> Panurge, not be "misled by philauty - by self-love, that
>> is." (Cohen tr. 369).
>>
>> Apart from the Nic. Ethics, self-knowledge is
>>recommended
>> in Aristotle's Magna Moralia 1213a10-26: but in
>>connection
>> with friendship ("...if, then, it is pleasant to know
>> oneself, and it is not possible to know this without
>> having someone else for a friend, the self-sufficing man
>> will require friendship in order to know himself" (tr.
>> Stock; compare Plato on the mirror of another self, in
>>his
>> Alcibiades, 132c-133c). This seems critical for
>> understanding the company being kept in the Tiers Livre.
>>
>> Earlier note: A golden volume in the Skira's Art Ideas
>> History series, Andre Chastel's Myth of the Renaissance
>> (1969) (tr. Stuart Gilbert), on p. 141, bottom right,
>> pairs illustrations of Durer's "The Human Figure
>>Measured"
>> with Francesco di Giorgio Martini's "Study of the
>> Proportions of a Basilica in Relation to the Human
>>Body,"
>> from a codex in the National Library in Florence. (The
>> brain would be in the [easternmost] chapel [upper two
>> thirds of the head] behind the building's central space,
>> the heart at the altar-like center from which the
>>squared
>> circle and torso radiate; the legs cover the main aisle
>> between the run of pillars, the feet occupying the
>> [western] threshold.) On the grid (it's like the
>> quadratura of graph paper) the basillica is nine squares
>> in length, the height of the superinscribed human
>>figure;
>> the shoulders become arms and chest at the seventh
>>square.
>> (This seems to accord more with the Varronic canon,
>>eight
>> face lengths plus extras for a ninth.) (Durer's
>> illustration is more Vitruvian, as it shows its human
>> figure's arm extended, fingertips level with the top of
>> the head, to touch the edge of a circle centered on the
>> figure's navel, which circle also encloses the human
>> figure's feet, resting on its nadir.) The body's
>> configuration as a basilica would seem to emphasize the
>> potential for divinity within the human.
>>
>> --Jim N.
>>
>>
>> On Mon, 29 Jul 2013 12:59:49 -0400
>> David Miller <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I'm writing with a belated response to the excellent
>>>replies so many list
>>> members offered to my query about Sidney's notion of
>>>*architektonike*.
>>>
>>> Judith Anderson referred me to Robert E. Stillman's
>>>excellent study of the *
>>> Defense*, and although it took me a while to get my
>>>hands on a copy, there
>>> I found what I was looking for. Rob argues that Sidney,
>>>working out of
>>> Melancthon and his circle, turns Aristotle's notion of
>>>self-knowledge in a
>>> distinctly reformed direction when he says that its
>>>highest form is to know
>>> "our divine essence." This specifically theological
>>>background to Sidney's
>>> argument suits my purposes to a T.
>>>
>>> Thanks to all for your responses!
>>>
>>> David
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 7:58 AM, Tuggle, Brad
>>><[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Another Sidneian reference: Correspondence (ed. Kuin),
>>>>vol. 2, p. 981-82.
>>>>
>>>> Letter to Edward Denny, 22 May 1580.
>>>>
>>>> "The knowledge of our selves no doubte ought to be most
>>>>pretious vnto vs .
>>>> . ." (981).
>>>>
>>>> On virtues and their contraries: "And therof are many
>>>>bookes written ; but
>>>> to my pleasing Aristotles Ethickes passe ; but he is
>>>>something darke and
>>>> hath need of a Logicall examination" (982).
>>>>
>>>> The index omits this reference to Aristotle, so it could
>>>>be missed by
>>>> those not reading Kuin from cover to cover.
>>>>
>>>> See also Languet's comments on Aristotle's difficulty at
>>>>1:123, and
>>>> Sidney's desire to read the Greek instead of relying on
>>>>commentaries at
>>>> 1:106.
>>>>
>>>> Brad Tuggle
>>>> Assistant Professor
>>>> Honors College
>>>> University of Alabama
>>>> Box 870169
>>>> Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
>>>> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>>>>
>>>> On Jul 18, 2013, at 11:20 PM, "Judith H. Anderson"
>>>><[log in to unmask]
>>>> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> After Rob's response, I'll dare to venture to mention
>>>>his discussion(s) of
>>>> the concept architectonike in his wonderful book Philip
>>>>Sidney and the
>>>> Poetics of Renaissance Cosmopolitanism. If memory
>>>>serves, he relates the
>>>> concept to Melanchthon-Philippist piety, which would tie
>>>>in with the
>>>> biblical injunction you cite. I imagine you know the
>>>>book, but it might be
>>>> worth another look if you read it some time ago, as did
>>>>I.
>>>>
>>>> Judith
>>>>
>>>> From: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List
>>>>[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>>>> On Behalf Of Stillman, Robert E
>>>> Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2013 4:30 PM
>>>> To:
>>>>[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>>>> Subject: Re: Sidney and architectonike
>>>>
>>>> That is a terrific question, and and an important one
>>>>for getting right
>>>> Sidney's notions about how and why poetry does its work.
>>>>Answering it well
>>>> would mean looking hard at those contemporary sources
>>>>through which
>>>> Aristotle's Ethics were mediated for him. You might
>>>>want to have a look at
>>>> Joachim Camerarius the Elder's commentaries on the
>>>>Ethics, posthumously
>>>> published by Andreas Wechel's press in Frankfurt after
>>>>Sidney's request to
>>>> his sons for its publication. Sidney didn't read
>>>>Aristotle as we do. He
>>>> read him through the specific lens of a particular brand
>>>>of reformed
>>>> humanism that found one of its most learned expressions
>>>>in Camerarius--also
>>>> the translator of the Cyropaedia, which is another of
>>>>Wechel's
>>>> publications. The commentary has a useful, searchable
>>>>index both for Greek
>>>> terms and for Latin. You might have a look there for
>>>>architectonike and
>>>> entelecheia, and then compare notes on what Camerarius
>>>>has to say about
>>>> energeia--a good Aristotelian term appearing some
>>>>600-plus times in the
>>>> corpus, and of some real interest to Camerarius and to
>>>>Sidney where
>>>> concepts of the self and self -knowledge and the work
>>>>(energon) of becoming
>>>> or making or knowing a self matter.
>>>>
>>>> I hope the suggestion helps, and apologise for my
>>>>short-hand notes, but
>>>> I'm traveling right now and away from my books.
>>>>
>>>> Rob
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I'm writing to ask whether anyone knows of a precedent
>>>>for Sidney's gloss
>>>> on 'architectonike' as self-knowledge.
>>>>
>>>> It looks like he's putting together two classical
>>>>passages: Aristotle on
>>>> the master-science, which he compares to architecture
>>>>because other forms
>>>> of techne are controlled by it as workmen are controlled
>>>>by the architect;
>>>> and Plato on the Delphic oracle's "know thyself."
>>>>
>>>> What I'm wondering--if this interpretation passes
>>>>muster--is whether
>>>> Sidney is making this leap himself, or repeating
>>>>something fairly
>>>> commonplace. It doesn't look to me as if Aristotle's
>>>>'architectonike' is
>>>> really about self-knowledge in Aristotle; and Sidney's
>>>>way of glossing the
>>>> term ("which stands as I think, in the knowledge of a
>>>>man's self") seems to
>>>> imply that he's the one drawing this conclusion.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> David Lee Miller
>>>> University of South Carolina
>>>> Columbia, SC 29208
>>>> (803) 777-4256
>>>> FAX 777-9064
>>>> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>>>> Center for Digital Humanities<http://www.cdh.sc.edu/>
>>>> Faculty Web
>>>>Page<http://www.cas.sc.edu/engl/people/pages/miller.html>
>>>> Dreams of the Burning Child<
>>>> http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100865590&CFID=8776879&CFTOKEN=5f96265f3e78e4c1-CD8CDD45-C29B-B0E5-3A132DAF587030F4&jsessionid=8430cfc86f9c780302f52b2158647f227d5dTR
>>>> >
>>>> A Touch More
>>>>Rare<http://www.fordhampress.com/detail.html?id=9780823230303
>>>> >
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> David Lee Miller
>>> University of South Carolina
>>> Columbia, SC 29208
>>> (803) 777-4256
>>>FAX 777-9064
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>> Center for Digital Humanities <http://www.cdh.sc.edu/>
>>>Faculty Web Page
>>><http://www.cas.sc.edu/engl/people/pages/miller.html>
>>> *Dreams of the Burning
>>> Child<http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100865590&CFID=8776879&CFTOKEN=5f96265f3e78e4c1-CD8CDD45-C29B-B0E5-3A132DAF587030F4&jsessionid=8430cfc86f9c780302f52b2158647f227d5dTR>
>>> *
>>> *A Touch More
>>>Rare<http://www.fordhampress.com/detail.html?id=9780823230303>
>>> *
>>
>> [log in to unmask]
>> James Nohrnberg
>> Dept. of English, Bryan Hall 219
>> Univ. of Virginia
>> P.O Box 400121
>> Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121
>
> [log in to unmask]
> James Nohrnberg
> Dept. of English, Bryan Hall 219
> Univ. of Virginia
> P.O Box 400121
> Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121
[log in to unmask]
James Nohrnberg
Dept. of English, Bryan Hall 219
Univ. of Virginia
P.O Box 400121
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121
|
