- Franciscus Patricius
Franciscus Patricius (Italian: Francesco Patrizi da Cherso, Croatian: Frane Petrić;
April 25 ,1529 –February 6 ,1597 ) was aphilosopher andscientist from theRepublic of Venice . He was known as a defender ofPlatonism and an opponent ofAristotelianism . In Croatia he is referred to as Frane Petrić (sometimes "Franjo Petrić", "Petriš", "Petris" and "Petrišević").Life and family
Franciscus Patricius was born in Cherso (today Cres, Croatia), then the territory of the
Republic of Venice . His family was of noble (patrician) origin from Kingdom of Bosnia, his family was forced to flee from crumbling Bosnian kingdom after the Ottoman invasion.As a young man, he traveled the Mediterranean with his uncle Georgius Patricius, who commanded a
galley in the wars against theOttoman Empire . He studied economy inVenice , then he moved to study inIngolstadt under the patronage of his cousinMatthias Flacius . Then he went to study medicine and philosophy at theUniversity of Padova . Here he was elected twice as a representative of the students fromDalmatia .After graduation he lived in different cities in Italy:
Ancona ,Rome ,Bologna ,Ferrara ,Venice . He later moved toCyprus where he spent seven years. Here he attended upon the Bishop of Cyprus who send him back to Italy, where he traveled toVenice ,Padova ,Genova , and even toBarcelona .He finally went to live in
Ferrara , a center of Platonism in Italy, where he was appointed to the chair of philosophy at theUniversity of Ferrara by Duke Alfonso II. He was subsequently invited inRome byPope Clement VIII in 1592, where he spent five years as the chair of Platonic philosophy. Here he became a member of the Council of St. Jerome, at theIllyrian College of St. Jerome .Patricius died in Rome, and he was buried in the church of
Sant'Onofrio , in the tomb of his colleagueTorquato Tasso .Work
In spite of his continual controversies with the Aristotelians, Patricius managed to make a comprehensive study of contemporary science, publishing in 15 books a treatise on the "New Geometry" (1587), as well as works on history, rhetoric and the art of war. He studied ancient theories of music, and is said to have invented the thirteen-syllable verse form known subsequently as "versi martelliani". In his philosophy he was mainly concerned to defend
Plato against the followers ofAristotle .His two great works, "Discussionum peripateticorum libri XV" (Basel, 1571), and "Nova de universis philosophia" ("New Philosophy of Universes", Basel, 1591), developed the view that, whereas Aristotle's teaching was in direct opposition to
Christianity , Plato, on the contrary, foreshadowed the Christian revelation and prepared the way for its acceptance. In the earlier treatise he attacks the life and character of Aristotle, impugns the authenticity of almost all his works, and attempts to refute his doctrines from a theological standpoint. In the second and greater work he goes back to the theories and methods of the Ionians andthe Presocratics in general.Patricius' theory of the universe is that, from
God there emanatedLight which extends throughout space and is the explanation of all development. This Light is not corporeal and yet is the fundamental reality of things. From Light cameHeat andFluid ity; these three together withSpace make up the elements out of which all things are constructed. This cosmic theory is a curious combination ofmaterial istic and abstract ideas; the influence of his masterBernardino Telesio , generally predominant, is not strong enough to overcome his inherent disbelief in the adequacy of purely scientific explanation.His practical work included a scheme for diverting a river to protect Ferrara and military strategy.
Works in Latin
* Artis historiae penus. Octodecim scriptorum tam veterim quam recentiorum monumentis. Basileae, Ex officinia Petri Paterna, 1579.
* Della Historia dieci dialoghi. Venetia: Appresso Andrea Arrivabene. 1560.
* De historia dialogi X. Con Artis historicae penus. Basel. 1579.
* De rerum natura libri ii. priores. Aliter de spacio physico;aliter de spacio mathematico. Ferrara: Victorius Baldinus 1587.
* De spacio physico et mathematico. Ed. Helene Vedrine. Paris: Libr. philosophique J. Vrin, 1996.
* Discussionum Peripateticarum tomi iv, quibus Aristotelicae philosophiae universa Historia atque Dogmata cum Veterum Placitis collata, eleganter et erudite declarantur. Basileae. 1581
* Nova de Universis philosophia. (Ad calcem adiecta sunt Zoroastri oracula cccxx. ex Platonicis collecta, etc. Ferrara. 1591, Venice 1593.
* Apologia ad censuram, [No details]Works in Italian
* L'amorosa filosofia. Firenze, F.Le Monnier, 1963.
* Della historia dieci dialogi (Della historia dieci dialoghi). Venice. 1560.
* Della nvova geometria di Franc. Patrici libri XV. Ne' quali con mirabile ordine, e con dimostrazioni à marauiglia più facili, e più forti delle usate si vede che la matematiche per uia regia, e più piana che da gli antichi fatto n? si è, si possono trattare ... . Ferrara, Vittorio Baldini 1587 [bound in the same vol. Quattro Libri Geometrici di Silvio Belli Vencntino!. Venice. 1595.]
* Della poetica. ed. critica a cura di D. A. Barbali. Bologna, Istituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento, vol. 1-3 1969-1971.
* Della poetica...la deca disputata. Ferrara. 1586.
* Della retorica dieci dialoghi... nelli quali si favella dell'arte oratoria con ragioni repugnanti all'opinione, che intorno a quella hebbero gli antichi scrittori (Deset dijaloga o retorici). Venetia: Appresso Francesco Senese, 1562.
* Difesa di Francesco Patrizi; dalle cento accuse dategli dal signor Iacopo Mazzoni. [in Discorso intorno all Risposta dal. sig. F. Patricio] Ferrara. 1587
* La Città felice, Venice: Griffio, 1553. In Utopisti e Riformatori sociali del cinquecento. Bologna. N. Zanichelli. 1941.
* L'Eridano. In nuovo verso heroico...Con i sostentamenti del detto verso. Ferrara. Appresso Francesco de Rossi da Valenza 1557.
* Parere del s. Francesco Patrici, in difesa di Lodovico Ariosto. All'Illustr. Sig. Giovanni Bardi di Vernio, Ferrara 1583.
* Risposta di Francesco Patrizi; a due opposizioni fattegli dal sign. Giacopo Mazzoni [in Della difesa della Comedia di Dante] Ferrara. Vitt. Baldini 1587Contributions
* Le rime di messer Luca Contile...con discussioni e argomenti di M. Francesco Patritio. Venezia. F. Sansovino 1560.
* Al molto magico et magnanimo m. Giacomo Ragazzoni. In Giacomo Ragazzoni. Della Mercatura. Venice. 1573. In Chronica Magni Arueoli Cassiodori senatoris atque Patricii prefatio. Sta in Speisshaimer, Iohan. Ioannis Cuspiani...de Consulibus. Basel 1553.
* La negazione delle sfere d l'astrobiologia di Francesco Patrizi. In Rossi, Paolo. Immagini delle scienze. Roma. 1977Translations
* La militia Romana di Polibio, di Tito Livio, e di Dionigi Alicarnaseo. Ferrara. 1583.
* Paralleli millitari, Roma. 1594,95
* Zoroaster et eius CCCXX oracula Chaldaica, eius opera e tenebris eruta et Latine reddita. Ferrara. Ex Typographia Benedicti Mammarelli. 1591.
* Magia philosophica hoc est F. Patricij Zoroaster et eius 320 oracula Chaldaica. Asclepii dialogus, et philosophia magna: Hermetis Trismegisti. Iam lat. reddita. Hamburg. 1593
* Le imprese illustri con espositioni, et discorsi del sor. Ieromimo Ruscelli. Con la giunta di altre imprese: tutto riordinato et corretto da Franco. Patritio. In Venetia: Appresso Comin da Trino di Monferrato, 1572References
*1911
* [http://www.comunitachersina.com/patriciusFranciscus.html Autobiography of Patricius]
* [http://core.ecu.edu/phil/ryane/fphp.htm Francesco Patrizi da Cherso] (at East Carolina University)
* [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/patrizi/ Francesco Patrizi da Cherso] (at Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
*Brickman, B. "An Introduction to Francesco Patrizi's Nova de Universis Philosophia". New York, 1941.
*Robb, N. "Neoplatonism of the Italian Renaissance". London, 1935.External links
* [http://imagohistoriae.signum.sns.it/TOC_Patrizi_Historia_Dialoghi.php Della historia diece dialoghi] (at Imago Historiae)
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