THE LIFE OF GIOVANNI PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA

...the swaddling clothes of infants, separating them from the crowd of others by divine will and indicating they are born for the greatest deeds. The author is referring to legendary omens that mark the birth of great men. Thus, to omit others, a swarm of bees once settled upon the mouth of the great Ambrose Ambrose; they entered in, and then flying out and ascending high, hiding themselves among the clouds, they vanished from the sight of his father and the others present. Paulinus Paulinus, making much of this omen in his writings, argued that the bees indicated to us his future "honey-sweet" works, which would announce heavenly gifts and raise the minds of men from the earth to the heavens.

His form and physical constitution

He was of remarkably distinguished and noble appearance: of a tall and lofty stature, with delicate skin, and a face that was charming in every way. His complexion was fair, interspersed with a comely redness; he had grey, alert eyes, and blond hair kept in a natural, unpretentious style. His teeth were also white and even. Brought under his mother's direction to masters and the humanities original: "studia humanitatis"; the study of grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry, and moral philosophy, he cultivated these studies with such an ardent mind that in a short time he was—and not without justice—to be placed among the foremost poets and orators of that age.

A swift intellect

In learning he was indeed most rapid, being endowed with such a ready wit that he could recite poems he had heard only once from a reader, either in the correct or in reverse order, to the great wonder of everyone. He possessed a most tenacious memory, which is usually the opposite of what happens to others; for it is often the case by nature that those with quick minds do not have strong memories, while those who learn with great labor turn out to be more tenacious of what they have learned.

He became skilled in Canon Law as a boy

When he reached his fourteenth year, by the command of his mother—who vehemently desired him to be initiated into the sacred orders—he moved to Bologna for the purpose of learning Canon Law original: "iuris pontificii"; the body of laws and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority for the government of the Church. After he had tasted this for two years, and seeing that it rested upon mere traditions, he turned elsewhere—though not without producing some good fruit. For even as a boy, and a quite tender one at that, he compiled a certain Epitome A summary or abstract of a larger work or brief manual from the letters of the High Pontiffs which are called Decretals Papal decrees, usually in the form of letters, which form part of Church law. In this work, he concluded all the opinions of those sanctions as concisely as possible; it was no small task even for accomplished professors.

But as an eager explorer of the secrets of the nature of things, leaving these well-trodden paths, he gave himself over entirely to the contemplation of the intellect and to both human and divine philosophy. For the sake of attaining this, he traveled through various gymnasia Centers for higher learning or universities not only in Italy but also in France, searching out the celebrated teachers of that time with the most scrupulous care, after the manner of original: "more Platonis & Apollonii" Plato and Apollonius of Tyana. He spent such untiring effort on those studies that he was—and was considered to be—both a consummate theologian and a philosopher, even while he was still beardless. He had already spent seven years among those scholars when, eager for human praise and glory (for he did not yet burn with divine love, as will later become clear), he moved to Rome. There, desiring to show how much envy would later await him from his inferiors:

900 questions proposed for debate in Rome

He proposed nine hundred questions concerning Dialectics The art of investigating the truth of opinions; logic, Mathematics, Physics, and Divinity. These were drawn not only from the stores of the Latins and excerpted from the records of the Greeks, but were also unearthed from the mysteries of the Hebrews, and tracked down from the secrets of the Chaldeans and Arabs. Likewise, he wove into those questions many ancient and obscure philosophies from Pythagoras, Hermes Trismegistus A legendary Hellenistic figure associated with hermetic philosophy and magic, and Orpheus, and much concerning the Cabala A form of Jewish mysticism (that is, the secret reception of Hebrew doctrines). Origen and Hilary Among our own writers, Origen and Hilary especially made mention of this. He also included many things regarding Natural Magic original: "naturali magia"; the study of the hidden powers of nature, which Pico argued was distinct from "black" or demonic magic, which he taught should be separated by a wide gap from impious and wicked magic; he proved this most elegantly by the testimony of many. Nor were there lacking seventy-two new physical and metaphysical doctrines of his own invention and meditation, adapted to eludicate any philosophical questions whatsoever. To these he annexed a new way of philosophizing through numbers. He posted all these together in public places so they might be more easily known, promising that he would pay the expenses of those who had traveled to Rome from distant lands for the sake of debating. However, through the animosity of detractors (which always, like fire, seeks high places), he was never able to bring it about that a day for the debate was set. For this reason, he remained in Rome for a year, during which time...

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