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
