Ermolao Barbaro's On Celibacy 1 and 2 (eBook, ePUB)

Redaktion: Williams, Gareth

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

This volume offers the first annotated English translation of the first two books of On Celibacy (1473) by the eminent Venetian humanist Ermolao Barbaro (1454-93); Books 3 and 4 of On Celibacy are presented, along with Barbaro's On the Duty of the Ambassador, in the companion piece to this first volume. Setting out the historical context that crucially conditions Barbaro's advocacy of the celibate life in Books 1 and 2, the introduction examines how On Celibacy seeks to justify a contemplative existence that rejects the career path expected of a figure of Barbaro's standing within the Venetian patrician class.

Beyond setting out the essential facts of Ermolao Barbaro's life-story, Gareth Williams discusses how On Celibacy is set in counterpoise to the treatise On Marriage (1415) that was composed by Ermolao's eminent grandfather, Francesco Barbaro. If the latter's treatise was vitally concerned with the institution of marriage as a key factor in the safeguarding of family succession and the stability of patriciate participation in government at Venice, On Celibacy presents an alternative ideal whereby the celibate can proudly renounce civic life in the name of self-discovery and the pursuit of wisdom, his abilities simply unsuited to the rigors of civic life. On Celibacy is thus implicated in a much wider 15th-century debate about the claims of the contemplative as opposed to the active life - a debate that extends all the way back to Graeco-Roman antiquity.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury UK eBooks
• Seitenzahl: 216
• Erscheinungstermin: 7. September 2023
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781350149441
• Artikelnr.: 68295651

Autorenporträt

Gareth Williams is Anthon Professor of the Latin Language and Literature at Columbia University in New York City, USA.

Inhaltsangabe

List of Illustrations Preface Note on the Text and Translation List of
Abbreviations Introduction On Celibacy Preface: text and translation On
Celibacy Book 1: text and translation On Celibacy Book 2: text and
translation Bibliography Index locorum General Index