Ariosto addresses his 6th satire to someone looking for a good tutor.
Alluding to the sin of "Gomorra" he says, "senza quel vizio son pochi
umanisti" (l.25) one of the earliest uses of "humanist."
Dick Hardin
-----Original Message-----
From: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Stillman, Robert E
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:51 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: A thought
Roger and all,
It is awfully interesting to compare Languet's description to Philip of
the wrong sort of tutor for Robert--the learned man who is peevish and
domineering (or to use the cognates, morose and imperious)--with
Philip's description of the historian in the Defence--that tyrant in
table talk, whose overbearing conversation and "chafe" at challenges to
his own learned superiority, sound so peculiarly similar. Languet read
no English, and was not replying to Sidney's portrait of the
historian--but it's not impossible to imagine him capable of such a
reply. It's that capability that is my point.
Sharp disciplinary distinctions between history and philosophy and
literature (conceived-as-fiction-making) are already in place in the
Defence, and they are distinctions that can readily be paralled to
similar disciplinary debates taking place inside the correspondence of
Languet and Mornay, especially about what is appropriate to philosophy
and to history both as modes of representing truth (on the one hand) and
as vehicles (more and less rhetorically and politically expedient) for
advancing the Cause (on the other).
So I don't pretend to be enough of a Latinist to translate Languet's
"literature" or "literary studies" or to know whether the main issue
here with the slightly difficult Robert is one of finding a tutor with
experience in the real world of politics (like Languet himself, the kind
of man Robert might find solid enough to learn from) or finding a tutor
with knowledge beyond what we might call the literary (Languet's
preference, decidedly, is for history). In light of the disciplinary
discussions that surface elsewhere in the correspondence, however, it's
easy to believe that Languet was capable of making a distinction between
"literature" (in something like our sense) and philosophy and history.
Certainly Philip did.
Just a thought to contribute to this interesting line of thoughts.
Rob Stillman
________________________________
From: Sidney-Spenser Discussion List on behalf of Roger Kuin
Sent: Sun 1/27/2008 10:27 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: A thought
In a letter to Sidney of February 1580, Hubert Languet is worrying about
finding a tutor for Philip's young brother Robert who is leaving
Strasburg for Leipzig. And he writes:
"I noticed that your brother would not easily tolerate being given
orders by anyone; which is why I thought he should not be given someone
peevish or domineering, which are the typical vices of those who have
spent their lives in literary studies and have learnt nothing but
literature."
Food for thought?
Roger Kuin
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