Annalid’ltalianistica

Autobiography

Volume 4, 1986

AdiAnnali d ’ltalianistica

Department of Modern and Classical Languages

The University of Notre Dame

EDITO R:Dino S. Cervigni, The University of Notre Dame A SSO C IA T E EDITO RS:Paolo Cherchi, University o f Chicago Edoardo A. Lebano, Indiana University Albert N. Mancini, The Ohio State University BOOK REVIEW EDITOR:John P. Welle, The University o f Notre Dame A D V ISO R Y BOARD:Fredi Chiappelli (Chairman), University o f California, Los AngelesLuigi Ballerini, New York UniversityLouise George Clubb, University o f California, BerkeleyDomenico De Robertis, Universita degli Studi di FirenzeCecil Grayson, Magdalen College, OxfordWilli Hirdt, Universitat BonnChristopher Kleinhenz, Univerisity o f Wisconsin, Madison Mario Marti, Universita degli Studi di Lecce Aldo Scaglione, University o f North Carolina, Chapel Hill Aldo Vallone, Universita degli Studi di Napoli

Annali d ’ltalianistica seeks to promote the study of Italian literature in its cultural context, to foster scholarly excellence, and to select topics of interest to a large number of Italianists. Monographic in nature, the journal is receptive to a variety of topics, critical approaches, and theoretical perspectives. Each year’s topic is announced well ahead of time, and contributions are welcome.

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Contents, Volume 4, 1986

3 Editor’s Note7 Andrea Battistini. L ’ ’ autobio grcfia e il superego dei generi letterari 30 Willi Jung. Georg Misch’s Geschichte der Autobiographic 45 Aldo S. Bernardo. Petrarch’s Autobiography: Circularity Revisited 73 Luigi Monga. Odeporico celliniano: il viaggiare nella Vita 80 August Buck. Girolamo Cardano’s De propria vita 91 Albert N. Mancini. Autobiografia e storia nelle M emorie del Cardinale

Giulio Bentivoglio 109 Christian Bee. La memoria di un pittore fiorentino del XVII secolo 130 Piero Falchetta. Autobiografia e autobiografismo indiretto nella Storia del

Mogol di Nicold Manuzzi 140 Marziano Guglielminetti. Per un antologia degli autobiografi del Settecento 152 Roberto Fedi. II “fare” e il “raccontare”: memoria e scrittura nella Vita di V.

Alfieri168 Franco Fido. At the Origins o f Autobiography in the 18th and 19th

Centuries: The Topoi o f the Self 181 OlgaRagusa. Autobiografia italiana dell’ Ottocento: orientamenti 189 Paolo Briganti. La cerchia infuocata. Per una apologia dell’ autobiografia

letteraria italiana del Novecento 223 Maurizio Viano. Eccefoemina242 Samuel J. Patti. Autobiography: The Root o f the Italian American Narrative

A ggiornam ento b ibliografico: M anzoni. A cura di Vincenzo De Caprio249 Sei anni di bibliografia manzoniana: 1980-1985255 Vincenzo De Caprio. I. Studi biografici e sui Promessi sposi263 Franca Fusco. II. Edizioni commentate dei Promessi sposi266 Luigi Trenti. III. Dai versi giovanili agli scritti linguistici

270 Roberto Severino. Ad Angelica Palli: Manzoni improwisatore di versi encomiastici

Reviews and Notes. Edited by John P. Welle280 Luciano F. Farina: Studies in Italian Applied Linguistics (SiTAL)/ Studi di

linguistica applicata italiana. Eds. N. Villa and M. Danesi.282 Joseph A. Buttigieg: Letteratura italiana. Vol. 4. L'interpretazione. Ed.

Alberto Asor Rosa.287 Ernesto G. Caserta: Ernesto Paolozzi. I problem dell’estetica italiana (dal

secondo dopoguerra al 1985).290 Christopher Kleinhenz: Mario Marti. Studi su Dante.291 Thomas Werge: Dante Among the Moderns. Ed. Stuart Y. McDougal.292 Rinaldina Russell: Marco Santoro. La stampa a Napoli nel Quattrocento.293 Gregory L. Lucente: Glauco Cambon. M ichelangelo’s Poetry: Fury o f

Form.296 Robert C. Melzi: Gian Paolo Biasin, Albert N. M ancini, Nicolas J.

Perella, eds. Studies in the Italian Renaissance: Essays in M emory o f Arnolfo B. Ferruolo.

298 Elissa B. Weaver: Robert J. Rodini and Salvatore Di Maria. Ludovico Ariosto: An Annotated Bibliography o f Criticism, 1956-1980.

299 Fiora A. Bassanese: Marina Zancan, ed. Nel cerchio della luna: figure di donna in alcuni testi del XVI secolo.

302 Albert N. Mancini: Un mercante di Milano in Europa: diario di viaggio del primo Cinquecento. A c. di Luigi Monga.

304 Douglas Radcliff-Umstead: Sante Matteo. Textual Exile, The Reader in Sterne and Foscolo.

306 Brendan Dooley: Francesco De Sanctis tra etica e scrittura: studi per il primo centenario della morte. Ed. Mario Gabriele Giordano.

307 Rebecca West: Giorgio M anganelli. La letteratura come menzogna. Dall'inferno. Laboriose inezie. Tutti gli errori.

312 Giovanna Anderson Wedel: The Empty Set. Five Essays on Twentieth- Century Italian Poetry: A Reading o f Pascoli, Gozzano, M ontale, and Zanzotto. Ed. Maurizio Godorecci.

312 Rocco Capozzi: Franco Zangrilli. Bonaviri e il mistero cosmico.313 Giancarlo Pandini: Italo Alighiero Chiusano. II vizio del gambero. Piero

Chiara. II capostazione di Casalino. Fernanda Pivano. Cos'e piu la virtu.316 Giancarlo Pandini: Pompeo Giannantonio. Rocco Scotellaro.

318 B ooks R eceived

Copyright 1986, Annali d’Italianistica, Inc.

August Buck

Girolamo Cardano's De propria vita

W hen Girolam o Cardano, at the age of 74, began the writing of his autobiography, a work which he completed in the year of his death, 1576,1 more than 200 years had already passed since Petrarch had initially awakened interest in the concept of autonomous individuality. It is in this early Renaissance concept that modem autobiography is founded. This attempt for self-discovery represents one aspect of what, since Jacob Burckhardt, has come to be known as “the discovery of m an”: i.e., man first becam e a “ spiritual individual” in Italy— Burckhardt states— and “man discovered himself as such” (13). From the moment he became conscious of his own individuality, man fashioned this individuality into the object of his observation.

Whereas the Middle Ages had interpreted human life with a view to a common transcendental purpose (“exire a saeculo”), one now no longer asked primarily where man comes from and where he goes, but what he is and what he experiences. Thus individual life itself assumes a meaning of its own. Self­recognition, which to medieval man had merely represented an initial step toward the recognition of God, now became an end in itself, thereby secularizing the process of Christian self-examination. Thus man now drew his own conclusions about the truth of his assertions.

The kind of autobiography which originates from this questioning and which becomes one of the favorite literary genre of the Renaissance varies greatly in its motivation. It may serve as self-justification before contemporaries and future generations, or it may be written with the purpose of fathoming the self in order to explore possibilities for regulating one's life. Finally, it may also originate from curiosity about one's self-realized individuality. To the extent to which man represents not only his own individual existence but also, or rather, a point of encounter of “supra-individual contexts” (Dilthey 54), the portrayal of the self reflects the general tendencies of the time precisely by presenting one's singular life.

The history of autobiography during the Renaissance begins with Petrarch's Posteritati which was conceived as a way of teaching the reader about the kind of man the author was and what fate his works underwent (“ferme quisque loquitur, ut impellit non veritas sed voluptas” Posteritati 2). A similar reason is offered by Cardano. He wishes to give a truthful account of his life and, at the same time, counter all the slanderous statements about his person. He includes in his narrative not only the jealous criticism of envious colleagues but also the

Cardano’s De propria vita 81

accusations of heresy brought against him by the Inquisition, which put him on trial in 1570 and had him imprisoned for some time.

When Cardano envisions himself as a successor to the autobiographcrs of antiquity and patterns his own biography on Suetonius’s Lives o f the Caesars (Vita 1:1; 13:10), he is following the Humanist tradition initiated by Pctrarch. However, whereas Petrarch's autobiography stands as evidence of a “conflict between the ideality of the Ancients and contemporary experience of reality” (Kessler 27), this conflict no longer exists for Cardano2. Antiquity has ceased to serve as a binding authority without ever being replaced by other guiding ideas. Cardano expressly refuses to follow the example of Marcus Aurelius and to portray himself the way he should have been. Rather, he is concerned with his actual existence as revealed by the knowledge of the self without any embellishment.

By taking seriously Socrates’ precept “know thyself,” which long since had become a commonplace among moral philosophers, he attempts to do justice to it from the perspective of the natural scientist, especially as a physician. Against the wishes of his father, who was a lawyer and wanted him to follow in his footsteps, Cardano became instead a physician, because, in his opinion, medicine was a science which relied on “reason, the law of unchangeable nature” (Vita 10:8), unlike jurisprudence, which was based only on opinions.3 Reason draws its conclusions from the physician's observations, which constitute his experience. To it Cardano owes his mastery of diagnostics, to which he attributes his cures. Going even further, he repeatedly emphasizes the fundamental significance of experience for the understanding of man and the world around him. The observation of phenomena and their dissection into their most minute details, according to the principle of “ut omnia observarem, nec existimarem fortuito quicquam a natura fieri” ( Vita 23:15), reveal to the careful observer the secrets of animate and inanimate nature.

Cardano observes that his own self represents a part of nature and he collects retrospectively— “aged in his search for the truth” (Vita 54:54)— the many observations he has made during a long life. He does not put them into any chronological order; rather, he proceeds analytically (Friedrich 276), i.e., he discusses in individual chapters the specific aspects of his personality and behavior, partially intertwined with medical, philosophical, historical, and religious thoughts. In so doing, he follows the outline of Suetonius's Lives and the categories of genealogy first introduced by Ptolemy (Misch 4.2:702ff.). To be sure, Cardano does not follow these divisions slavishly, for at times he creates the impression of a “disjointed effusion of his subjectivity” (Friedrich 276).

Cardano’s repeatedly emphasized desire to be mercilessly honest borders on the cynical when he begins his self-portrayal with the remark that his mother tried in vain to get rid of him before his birth. Bom an unwanted child during the night of September 24, 1501, shortly before 1 o ’clock, the hour of his birth

82 August Buck

assumed decisive importance to Cardano, who was an ardent follower of astrology.4 One sees this tendency in an early collection of horoscopes of one- hundred famous people, published in 1542/43, which ranges from Petrarch to Diirer and in which he discusses his own birth much more extensively than anyone else’s, for the simple reason that it appeared exemplary to him (De exemplo centum geniturarum 5:517-41). In the second chapter of the Vita he borrows from this work, just as he also used other earlier works as sources for his autobiography. Hence numerous characteristics and traits occur here and in several other places of the Vita which originally stem from the exemplary birth story in the second chapter of the earlier work.5 The statement “Cum Venus dominaretur . . . toti figurae, et Iupiter esset in ascendente, factus sum abiectae sortis” (Vita 2:2) assumes fundamental importance. Thus this pessimistic note permeates the entire Vita in more or less pronounced fashion. Ultimately, Cardano blames the unfavorable influence of the hour of his birth for the contradictions which characterize his nature and his conduct — “omnia abrupta et interdicta consilia” (Vita 2:2)—and also for a lack of common sense, which fortunately was balanced by some degree of foresight. In sum, Cardano possesses a personality which is characterized by a mixture of positive and negative traits, one which cannot be easily fathomed and ultimately remains an enigma.

After a short overview of the most important dates of his public life, the portrayal of his personality commences with a description of his physique and external appearance. Without the least embellishment, Cardano paints, here and in other passages, a picture of himself as precise and detailed as possible: “Statura mediocris, pedibus brevibus, latis prope digitos, dorso eorum altiore, adeo ut vix calceos congruentes inveniam, cogererque ante illos instituere; pectore angusto aliqualiter, brachiis admodum tenuibus . . . collo aliquantulum longiore et tenuiore; mento diviso, labro inferiore crasso et pendulo, oculis valde parvis . . . super palpebram sinistri oculi macula lenti parvae similis . . . fronte latiore et in lateribus ubi temporibus iungitur capillis nuda” (Vita 5:4-5). This physiognomy without any distinctive features is coupled with a fixed stare. His voice is harsh and unpleasing to the ear (Vita 5:5). When he talks, it sometimes happens that he stutters ( Vita 2:2). His gait is irregular: one moment he walks erect, but the next he is stooped over (Vita 21:14). His general appearance is anything but attractive.

Cardano is equally candid when he reveals his character traits. His soul is filled with passions, among which irascibility and sensuousness rank first: “Me ergo natura mea non latuit, iracundus, simplex veneri deditus: ex quibus tanquam principiis etiam profluxere saevitia, pertinacia contentiosa, asperitas, imprudentia, iracundia, ultionis desiderium etiam ultra vires” (Vita 10:10). To the question whether any human beings are without these traits, he answers: “Natura nostra prona est ad m alum ” (Vita 13:10). Hence Cardano also experienced within himself a proclivity to every conceivable form of vice and malice {Vita 13:10). While he acknowledges his shortcomings, this realization

Cardano’s De propria vita 83

remains of no consequence on his conduct. Without remorse he accepts the way he is. In connection with his insatiable passion for gambling, which he openly describes as dissolute, he attacks men who consciously close their eyes to the ugly sides of their lives. Whoever denies man's entanglement in his own vices also pretends not to know what he knows only too well.

Just as Cardano copes with the negative traits of his personality as something he has to live with, so too he accepts the numerous illnesses from which he has been suffering since earliest childhood: “Infirmo statu corporis plurifariam fui, natura, casu, symptomatibus” (Vita 6:5). In a separate chapter he enumerates all his various illnesses and describes their causes and symptoms with clinical precision (Vita 6). Even though he managed to cure himself in almost every case, he was nevertheless so frequently sick that pain became an ingredient of his life he could no longer do without: “experior me nunquam posse carere dolore” (Vita 6:6). Consequently, he voluntarily inflicts pain on himself by biting his lips, dislocating his fingers, or by pinching his skin until he breaks into tears. Indeed, physical pain appeases the pains of his soul: “in maximis animi doloribus crura verberabam virga, sinistrum brachium mordebam acriter” (Vita 14:11).

While speaking of his illnesses, Cardano speaks incidentally of his habits, which he promises to discuss in greater detail in subsequent chapters. Aside from physical exercises, foremost among them fencing, he cultivates playing instruments. He discusses his meals as well as his favorite foods in unusual detail, undoubtedly a reflection of his medical interest in proper nutrition, diet and the possible curative effects of food. Also his own personal tastes, however, play a role. He confesses to having a sweet tooth: “gaudeo dulcibus,” namely, honey, sugar, grapes, melons, figs, cherries, peaches, and thickened cider (Vita 8:7).

Tasty foods and drinks are among the joys of Cardano’s life, which he knows how to enjoy despite his fundamental pessimism. He enumerates these joys in the thirty-first chapter, entitled “Felicitas.” A few examples from the catalog of over forty “good things” reveal a colorful hodgepodge of heterogeneous ideas concerning happiness: tranquillity, diversion, serenity, pleasant company, horseback riding, walking, piety, matrimony, music, and all those things which are beautiful to behold, among them birds, young dogs, and cats. Cardano was able to enjoy them to the highest degree only during the few years following the completion of his university studies, when he practiced as a physician in Saccolungo, a quaint village in the vicinity of Padua: “dum in oppido Saccensi fui, felix eram. . . . ludebamus, Musicae operam dabamus, spaciabamur, epulabamur . . . nullae molestiae, non timores, suspiciebamur . . . nihil fuit ea vita iucundius” (Vita 31:22).

Just as Cardano presents himself in a life-like fashion, he also depicts himself as a creative person. He is convinced of his genius and traces it back to his excellent gift of observation, his keen intellect, and particularly his special

84 August Buck

mental faculties, which were beyond natural explanation and which he describes in great detail. The splendor (Vita 38:30), perfected during many years of exercise, provides him with authority, promotes his studies, and assists him greatly in the composition of scientific treatises; indeed, it appears as the epitomy of human nature: “repraesentat enim omnia simul quae ad rem ilia faciunt” (Vita 38:30). If this splendor cannot be divine, then it certainly is the embodiment of the highest perfection man can attain.

In conjunction with the splendor, Cardano lists another mental power, i.e., his spiritus, a personal guardian spirit on whose existence he elaborates extensively (Vita 47:44-45). Looking back to antiquity, he enumerates, beginning with Socrates, all the names of the great who lived, some in the company of benevolent guardian spirits while some in the company of evil demons. He thus reassures himself: “nobis ut credo bonus et misericors spiritus” (Vita 47:44-45). Although convinced of its presence for a long time, he fully comprehended its effectiveness only when he wrote his autobiography. The guardian spirit warns him against imminent dangers and strengthens his ability to recognize them. While the splendor supports him in his understanding of scientific causes, the spiritus opens the way to his intuitive comprehension of phenomena, to which he owes his insights into metaphysics, scientific discoveries, miraculous cures, as well as the mastery of foreign languages he supposedly never studied.

Aside from these special gifts, Cardano also possesses the gift of prophecy, which he substantiates by means of a number of examples ( Vita 42:36-37). In addition to accurate medical prognoses, he also made political predictions which came true, for instance, the unfortunate events under the reign of Edward VI of England or the conquest of Cyprus by the Turks. Although he seeks to provide a rational explanation for this gift of prophecy by keenly taking all circumstances into account, he finally admits that some things are nevertheless unexplainable. This holds true also for his premonitions, especially the numerous dreams that came true: “Nunc, et illud de somnis quod tam vera fuerint, admiratione dignum videri potest?” (Vita 37:29). He is satisfied with the realization that such dreams are divinely inspired.

A certain physical phenomenon was also part of Cardano's proprieta tes m irificae:6 his body smelled of a mixture of sulfur and incense (Vita 37:28). Most notable were also his frequent parapsychological experiences, i.e., the peculiar appearances he had since childhood. Between the ages of four and seven, for instance, each morning, just before rising, he had a vision of ethereal human beings, animals, plants, musical instruments, and various buildings— a strange spectacle which the elderly Cardano remembered so vividly that he could still describe it in the greatest detail ( Vita 37:27). Beginning with puberty, another rather peculiar vision accompanied him throughout his life: whenever he lifted up his eyes to heaven, he would suddenly see a moon directly in front o f his forehead (Vita 37:27). Because Cardano considered himself abnormal in view of all the above-mentioned phenomena (Vita 37:44), not surprisingly Cesare

Cardano’s De propria vita 85

Lombroso, in his book on genius and madness, included Cardano among the mentally ill geniuses. However, it would be difficult, indeed impossible, to obtain a definitive picture of Cardano's psychological make-up from the available materials, since he is himself essentially our only source of information.

What impels this extraordinary man to restless activity is his quenchless thirst for knowledge, together with a passionate desire to eternalize his name: “gloriae post obitum cultor” (Vita 13:10). Fulfilling this desire for fame, which is so typical of Renaissance man, forms his ultimate and highest goal, both as a practicing physician and scientific researcher. The chapter dedicated to the “Cogitatio de nomine perpetuando” begins with the following admission: “perpetuandi nominis rationem, et votum, tam cito inij quam sero spectare potui” (Vita 9:7); for only by striving for glory does man rise above a merely animalistic existence: “Est propriam homini gloriae atque actorum studioso” (Vita 9:7).

A lthough Cardano im m ediately questions his adm ission to seeking glory— “nihil inanius ea spe” (Vita 9:7)—one of the most important functions of his autobiography is nevertheless to prove his fame, and hence follows the breadth of this topic. Assessing the numerous honorable offers extended to him from Italy and all of Europe to teach at universities and to practice as a physician, he proudly concludes that he is famous all over the world: “omnibus gentibus non solum notum fuisse, sed etiam totius orbis Principibus ac Regibus et Imperatoribus nomen meum” (Vita 32:24). To the list of malicious slanderers and envious rivals who attempted to slow his career and diminish or completely deny his successes, he juxtaposes a list o f seventy-two noted scholars who judged him favorably or at least mentioned him in their writings. In doing so, he enlists authors from almost all European countries: physicians, mathematicians, natural scientists, astronomers, philosophers, jurists, and theologians of various nationalities, among them such famous men as the Dutchman Vesal, the Swiss polymath Gesner, and the German reformer Melanchthon (Vita 48). The value of this list is further increased by flattering oral comments which supposedly even his enemies were forced to make.

To the same purpose, he selects forty from more than one-hundred and eighty spectacular cures. Probably the most famous was the treatment of Archbishop Hamilton of Scotland, who first sought in vain a cure for his asthma from the private physicians of the French King and the German Emperor but could not be cured until Cardano delivered him of his affliction. For this treatment Cardano received a princely sum (Vita 40:31-34). His diagnoses always proved to be accurate. His colleagues never succeeded in proving him wrong on the basis of post-mortem examinations. Concerning his medical research, he proudly and boldly asserts that he solved, or at least addressed, approximately 40,000 major problems, as well as 200,000 lesser ones (Vita 44:40).

In fact, the famous jurist Andreas Alciato praises him as “virum inventionum” (Vita 44:40). His scientific discoveries remained by no means restricted to the

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field of medicine but included other disciplines as well. Appropriate details are contained in the chapter “Quae Diversis Disciplinis Digna Inveni,” in which he deals not only with medicine but also dialectics, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, philosophy of nature, that is, physics and biology, as well as moral philosophy. All his discoveries appear equal in rank to Cardano: “nulla quasi esse scias quam praeferas inventionem” (Vita 44:39), which means that all the sciences he dealt with were of equal value to him and he considered them equally important for his fame.

The most convincing argument Cardano mustered in support of his fame derived from his books, which he enumerates and arranges according to subjects in the forty-fifth chapter of the Vita (45:40-43). This list o f works must be complemented by the statements in the treatise De libris propriis (1:55-150).8 Among his scientific works are the ten folio volumes of the Opera omnia, with one-hundred and eleven essays of various lengths running lo almost 7,000 pages. Their themes reveal a universality of scientific interests rare even during the R enaissance.9 For example, De subtilitate, probably his most famous treatise, is an enormous encyclopedia of all the natural sciences. He published on many more disciplines than the ones he claims to have studied ( Vita 31). Thus the list encompasses algebra, arithmetic, astronomy, dialectics, geology, geography, geometry, history, mechanics, medicine, moral philosophy, music, philosophy of nature, optics, physiognomy, and psychology.

He did in fact possess a unique encyclopedic erudition, which can be best characterized with the words of Cardano's first biographer, Gabriel Naude: “in arte propria [i.e., in medicine] praestantissimus fuisse non dubitent, ego certe primum cum, et unicum fuisse existimo, quin simul in omnibus tam egregie versatus sit, ut videatur natura exemplum in eo ostendere voluisse; maiori amplitudinis, et immensitatis doctrinae, quam homini hue usque concedere potuerit (Vita Cardani in Opera omnia 1, n.p.).

Cardano had an extremely personal interest in science, a concern also Goethe recognized in him: Cardano discusses sciences “everywhere in close relationship with himself, his personality, his life style, and thus a naturalness and liveliness spring from his works which attract, stimulate, refresh, and spur us on” (41:133). This bond between scientific reflections and personal experiences is manifested on the one hand by the autobiographical references interspersed among the treatments of scientific questions, and on the other by those passages of the Vita which have relevance to the sciences.

This concept o f science, so characteristic of Cardano (see my “Cardano’s W issenschaftsverstandnis”), prompts him to refer to his autobiography as the “navel of his writings” ( “umbelicus scriptorum” Vita 45:43). In other words, the way he understands himself is an integral part of his science. Based as they are on the act of self-recognition, scientific interests are here restricted to man. Thus Cardano joins the ranks of Humanist moralists in so far as the latter engaged in unsystematic descriptions— according to the definition of Hugo

Cardano’s De propria vita 87

Friedrich— of “all aspccts of man with respcct to psychology, morality, customs, society, and politics, depending on the differences of time and place” (221).

Yet Cardano’s methods are to be distinguished from those of the Humanists. Whereas they engaged in their reflections with the aid of ancient and Christian moral philosophy, Cardano employed also medicine and the sciences. These enabled him to reveal in his own self certain aspects of the conditio humana which the Humanists were incapable of grasping. Proceeding from the knowledge available to his time, he succeeds in opening the door for a new view of man, namely, for the scientific study of individual life.

Cardano was a man of his epoch because he participated in the rise of natural sciences in the sixteenth century. In fact, his epoch is constantly present in the experience of his active life, just as self-knowledge, as in any autobiography, occurs in the context of a particular age. His epoch, however, was marked by a spiritual, political, economic, and social crisis, into which the Renaissance had plunged since around 1530, and which more and more contemporaries had come to acknowledge. Hence derived deep changes in man’s Lebensgefiihl, and pessimism gained control and promoted a largely negative view of man in the vein of Machiavelli, who drew this picture as early as the second decade of the century: man, who is evil by nature, is driven by passions, primarily ambition, greed, and lust for power, which he seeks to satisfy without any moral qualms.

As indicated earlier, Cardano discovered the essential features of this view of man in himself but also in his contemporaries. With almost cynical joy he depicts the innate miseria hominis in all its repulsive variations: “Quem ergo mihi propones hominum cuiuscumque conditionis, qui secum perpetuo non deferat manticam stercoris, et matulam urinae . . .? et plerique cum sint gratiosiores, ventrem habent verminibus refertum; multi ex his, multaeque quae placere solent, ut omnia aequa lance distribuerentur, etiam pediculis scatent; aliis alae, aliis pedes, pluribus os foetet?” (Vita 53:53)

The physical condition is paralleled by that o f the soul: one cannot love it, because “quod animal insidiosius, improbius, fallacius est homine?” (Vita 53:53). Even if one sets aside those parts o f the soul which are subject to passions and restricts oneself to the anima rationalis, its boundaries are nevertheless narrowly determined. As the sum of all individual malice and insufficiency, society resembles a bevy of raptors: “in libidinibus, rapinis, dolis, saevitiaque versantur”; or: “fastu nimio et iracundia flagrant” (Vita 54:54). Whoever wants to assert oneself in this kind of company must fight the hostile environment with force and return evil with evil: “In tuis rebus oppone vitium vitio . . . pertinaciae iracundiam, superbiae iniuriam” (Vita 50:49). This is a rule of life totally in the vein of Machiavelli: “uno uomo, che voglia fare in tutte le parte professione di buono conviene rovini infra tanti che non sono buoni” (II principe 15).10

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Cardano’s pessimistic view of man does not blind him to the achievements of his century as an age of great discoveries and inventions and of universally visible testimonials to the greatness of the human spirit. W hile the ancients were familiar with only a little more than one third of the earth, he claims that the globe is now completely discovered. Obviously proud of his geographic knowledge, he enumerates a long list of names of recently discovered countries and regions. Then he touches on the great inventions of the age: “Nam qui mirabilius pyrotechnica, et fulgore mortalium, quod pemitiosius multo est quam Caelestium. Nec te silebo magne Magnes, qui non ducis per vastissima maria, et noctes tenebrosas, et tempestates horribiles in peregrinas, et incognitas regiones. Addatur . . . typographica inventio” (Vita 41:35). In view of these achievements which border on the miraculous, he wonders when man will conquer the heavens: “iam quid deest amplius ni Coelum occupemus” (Vita 41:35).

Yet, no matter how ambitious the goals of the human spirit, its achievements are ambivalent. The discovery of new countries leads to the question of just distribution, an issue which cannot be solved without serious difficulties. This consideration was underscored by events in Cardano’s lifetime, and shortly afterward by the armed conflicts between colonial powers. If libraries are filled with an ever increasing number of books because of the invention of printing, this does not necessarily represent an elevation in spiritual terms. Frequently nothing new is written, but the old texts are merely copied: “animae eruditione spoliantur: Transcribunt non scribunt” (Vita 53:53). If one ponders the possibilities for science created by the invention of printing, then it seems odd that this century is unable to boast such a universal scholar as Theophrastus. Here Cardano untypically keeps modestly silent about his own merits in the sciences.

If, on the one hand, Cardano appears to sense the apparent symptoms of cultural decay and joins the opinio communis (“minuentur et contemnentur bonae artes” Vita 41:35), on the other hand he counts among the fortunate events in his life to be bom in a century with so much progress, and he specifically speaks of a “seculum florentem” (Vita 53:53). In doing so, he assumes the same ambiguous posture vis-a-vis his contemporaries which he assumes toward himself. Though he doubts the lasting value of his works despite his excessive self-assurance, he still believes that man will succumb in his struggle against Fortuna in spite of his own creative powers (Vita 50:49).

The ambivalence of Cardano’s judgments is indicative of an expression of the antithetical Lebensgefuhl of the Baroque, which creates an inner turmoil and unrest while rendering man insecure and placing him in the condition of instabilitas, the spiritual hallmark of this age. Cardano is therefore convinced that throughout his life man looks in vain for a firm hold: “aliquid quod sit plenum et solidum” (Vita 49:47). The moment he fancies he has found it, he is disappointed and continues his search, for “semper enim aliquid deest” (Vita 49:47). Despite the despair o f so many people, Cardano accepts life, the

Cardano’s De propria vita 89

contradictions in his own character and his painful experiences in the world. Consequently, in one of his dialogues with his guardian spirit he states: “scimus esse infelicitatem maiorem felicitate: hanc enim pene nullam” ( Vita 50:51); by the same token, he exhorts us to seize upon this spark of happiness: “illud exiguum colligere ad tempus, et vitare infelicitatem” (Vita 50:51). Such is the wisdom Cardano exemplifies in his life and the lesson the reader can draw from the Vita, though its author had no desire to teach anyone: “Nostra [vita] autem .. . non doctura quemquam, sed pura historia contenta” (Vita, Introduction 1).

Universitdt Marburg

Translated by Albert Wimmer The University o f Notre Dame

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N otes

1A11 quotations are from the 1966 reprint of the 1663 edition of Opera omnia according to volume and page. De vita propria liber will be quoted in the text as Vita followed by chapter and page. For a bibliography of secondary sources see Gliozzi.2For an earlier comparison between Petrarch's and Cardano's autobiographies, see Buck, “Die Selbstdarstellung Petr areas und Cardanos.3See the ample discussion of the issue of precedence concerning jurisprudence and medicine, the so-called disputa delle arti, in Buck, “Die Medizin im Verstandnis des Renaissancehumanismus."4Regarding Cardano’s relationship to astrology, see Muller-Jahncke, A strologisch- magische Theorie und Praxis in der Heilkunde der friihen Neuzeit 11 Off.5For a discussion of the predetermination of life through the time of birth, see Ochmann, “II determinismo astrologico di Girolamo Cardano.”6On Cardano’s concept of the miraculous, see Ceard, “La notion de miraculum dans la pensee de Cardan.”'Concerning Cardano’s career as a physician, see Kiimmel, “Aspekte arztlichen Selbstverstandnisses.”8Regarding the autobiographical elements in De libris propriis, see G. Misch, Geschichte der Autobiographie 4.2: 709-15.9“In Cardanos sehr umfangreichem Werk stromen alle Ideen der Zeit zusammen” (“All the ideas of the age converge in Cardano’s voluminous work”). Fierz,Girolamo Cardano 7. 10Machiavelli, IIprincipe e discorsi. Frequent references to Machiavelli, even passages translated verbatim into Latin, are found in Cardano’s works, especially in De Sapientia. See “Machiavelli e Cardano,” in Procacci, Studi sulla fortuna del Machiavelli 77-106.