par Lemaire, Jacques Charles 
Référence International journal of the classical tradition, 2, 3, page (360-371)
Publication Publié, 1996-12
Référence International journal of the classical tradition, 2, 3, page (360-371)
Publication Publié, 1996-12
Article révisé par les pairs
| Résumé : | Except for L'Abuzé en court (around 1450), which relates in a concrete and lively way the dangers of life at court, all the treatises written in the 15th century against thevita curialis borrow themes and images from Latin classical literature, in particular from Seneca, Horace, and Juvenal, as well as from the great Italian humanists, such as Boccaccio, Dante, and Petrarch. The letter that Andreas Silvius Piccolomini (later pope under the name of Pius II) addresses to the chancellor of emperor Frederick III is no exception to the rule. It consists of a genuine literary compilation in accordance with the method in use in the cultural circles of humanism. Its main sources, most of which are explicitly attributed, go back to Cicero and, especially, to Juvenal, as the ancients' writings by far prevail over Biblical quotations. Because of its innacuracies and inadequacies the French translation of theDe curialium miseriis epistola proves to be very prejudicial to the authorities quoted by Piccolomini. The fine metaphors this author borrows from ancient writers such as Persius, Terence, and Plautus are totally distorted so that modern readers have not much referred to the French version of a treatise that is already overflowing with subtle scholarly considerations. |
