Orazio Romano’s Porcaria (1453): Humanist Epic between Classical Legacy and Contemporary History
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Marta Celati
Abstract
This paper analyses one of the most significant examples of epic poetry in Italian humanism: Orazio Romano’s Porcaria, a sophisticated literary transposition of the historical events of Stefano Porcari’s conspiracy against pope Nicholas V (1453). This poem reveals the humanist tension between classical tradition and literary innovation. It is shaped by some typical motifs that marked classical epic and is constructed by the extensive use of classical sources; nevertheless, it displays many innovative elements that place this work in the ‘experimental’ area of humanist literature. In particular, the Porcaria shows distinctive features which can be traced back to the original choice of employing the epic genre to treat the topic of ‘conspiracy.’ The interplay between political matters and poetic patterns results in an original literary work characterized by a totally imaginary setting, a classical underworld, where classical figures are recalled as either positive or negative exemplars. The conflation of historical and fantastic elements, along with the eclectic combination of manifold classical models, constructs the poem’s ideological perspective and conveys the author’s political propapal standpoint in a subtle and effective manner.
Abstract
This paper analyses one of the most significant examples of epic poetry in Italian humanism: Orazio Romano’s Porcaria, a sophisticated literary transposition of the historical events of Stefano Porcari’s conspiracy against pope Nicholas V (1453). This poem reveals the humanist tension between classical tradition and literary innovation. It is shaped by some typical motifs that marked classical epic and is constructed by the extensive use of classical sources; nevertheless, it displays many innovative elements that place this work in the ‘experimental’ area of humanist literature. In particular, the Porcaria shows distinctive features which can be traced back to the original choice of employing the epic genre to treat the topic of ‘conspiracy.’ The interplay between political matters and poetic patterns results in an original literary work characterized by a totally imaginary setting, a classical underworld, where classical figures are recalled as either positive or negative exemplars. The conflation of historical and fantastic elements, along with the eclectic combination of manifold classical models, constructs the poem’s ideological perspective and conveys the author’s political propapal standpoint in a subtle and effective manner.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- List of figures IX
- Introduction 1
- Through the Eyes of the Greeks: Byzantine Émigrés and the Study of Greek in the Renaissance 9
- Janus Lascaris’ Florentine Oration and the ‘Reception’ of Ancient Aeolism 27
- Manuel Calecas’ Grammar: Its Use and Contribution to the Learning of Greek in Western Europe 51
- Issues in Translation: Plutarch’s Moralia Translated from Greek into Latin by Iacopo d’Angelo 67
- Translating from Greek (and Latin) into Latin: Niccolò Perotti and Plutarch’s On the Fortune of the Romans 79
- Humanist Translations and Rewritings: Lucian’s Encomium of the Fly between Guarino and Alberti 95
- Cardinal Bessarion and the Introduction of Plato to the Latin West 109
- The Reception of Aeschylus in Sixteenth-Century Italy: The Case of Coriolano Martirano’s Prometheus Bound (1556) 125
- Rethinking the Birth of French Tragedy 143
- ‘Pantagruel, tenent un Heliodore Grec en main [...] sommeilloit’: Reading the Aethiopica in Sixteenth-Century France 157
- From Greek to the Greeks: Homer (and Pseudo-Homer) in the Greco-Venetian Context between the Late Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century 175
- The Wanderings of a Greek Manuscript from Byzantium to Aldus’ Printing House and Beyond: The Story of the Aristotle Ambr. B 7 inf. 195
- The Reception of Horace’s Odes in the First Book of Marcantonio Flaminio’s Carmina 213
- Orazio Romano’s Porcaria (1453): Humanist Epic between Classical Legacy and Contemporary History 233
- List of Contributors 253
- Index 255
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- List of figures IX
- Introduction 1
- Through the Eyes of the Greeks: Byzantine Émigrés and the Study of Greek in the Renaissance 9
- Janus Lascaris’ Florentine Oration and the ‘Reception’ of Ancient Aeolism 27
- Manuel Calecas’ Grammar: Its Use and Contribution to the Learning of Greek in Western Europe 51
- Issues in Translation: Plutarch’s Moralia Translated from Greek into Latin by Iacopo d’Angelo 67
- Translating from Greek (and Latin) into Latin: Niccolò Perotti and Plutarch’s On the Fortune of the Romans 79
- Humanist Translations and Rewritings: Lucian’s Encomium of the Fly between Guarino and Alberti 95
- Cardinal Bessarion and the Introduction of Plato to the Latin West 109
- The Reception of Aeschylus in Sixteenth-Century Italy: The Case of Coriolano Martirano’s Prometheus Bound (1556) 125
- Rethinking the Birth of French Tragedy 143
- ‘Pantagruel, tenent un Heliodore Grec en main [...] sommeilloit’: Reading the Aethiopica in Sixteenth-Century France 157
- From Greek to the Greeks: Homer (and Pseudo-Homer) in the Greco-Venetian Context between the Late Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century 175
- The Wanderings of a Greek Manuscript from Byzantium to Aldus’ Printing House and Beyond: The Story of the Aristotle Ambr. B 7 inf. 195
- The Reception of Horace’s Odes in the First Book of Marcantonio Flaminio’s Carmina 213
- Orazio Romano’s Porcaria (1453): Humanist Epic between Classical Legacy and Contemporary History 233
- List of Contributors 253
- Index 255
