Reviews for Bartolomeo Scala: Humanistic and Political Writings

The average rating for Bartolomeo Scala: Humanistic and Political Writings based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-04-24 00:00:00 David Roger I suppose this won't be of interest to many people, but Poggio is one of the great unsung heroes of Western Civilization. He recovered numerous classical texts from where they were moldering in northern monasteries, including Lucretius, Cicero, Quintilian, and Ammianus Marcellinus. The survival of these texts has always seemed a miracle to me. The letters primarily date from later in Poggio's career when he lived in London and Rome, where he served as a secretary to the Pope. They give a glimpse of the interests of an early humanist, a lover of Latin literature at a time when those remains were fragmentary and riddled with errors. There's also a sprinkling of church politics and the frustrations of a book collector before the age of Gutenberg. His letters to Niccolo Niccoli convey the warmth of friendship and the gentle rivalry of scholars. I'm finding the literature of the Italian Renaissance to be richer and more enjoyable than that of almost any other period. Often books that are said to be of marginal interest are quite vivid and engrossing. I believe the literature of this period to be as deep as the visual arts, only less known and renowned.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-09-18 00:00:00 Alisa Barkdull I thought this was a very interesting collection of letters written from Poggius Bracciolini to his good friend Nicolaus De Niccolis during the 15th century. Poggius was a very smart and witty person who was not afraid to speak his mind. Plus I thought his friendship with Nicolaus was awesome. They could rant back and forth with each other, but still remain friends after one disagrees with the other. I wish Nicolaus De Niccolis' letters he wrote to Poggius actually survived so we could read them.