On the active & contemplative life

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...when you had led the army to that point where they could be moved by no prayers, no threats, and no kind of speech before. These two things The "two things" refer to Federico’s military prowess and his subsequent mercy (clementia) toward his defeated enemies mentioned on the previous page. not only those who favor you truly attribute to you, but your enemies too are forced to concede, even against their will. But what am I doing? For I did not set out at this time to pursue your praises. That would require more time and more leisure. Thus, so much for your actions.

However, in the life of leisure original: "ociosa uita"; here referring to the vita contemplativa, the noble pursuit of study and reflection rather than idleness. and the study of literature, who does not know that you have been so engaged since your tender years? When you had drunk in childhood learning with a wonderful greed during a total holiday from other matters, no subsequent time was ever so busy for you that you did not daily subtract some part from your occupations and devote it to the study of various doctrines. Thus, since in your early days you could already interpret the poets excellently and had unrolled the records of all histories; and since you had not only made the precepts of speaking most familiar to yourself but had also diligently exercised yourself in them, you then turned all your care to philosophy itself.

In this matter, you imitated the Al. examples of the greatest leaders. For you had read that Alexander the Great made use of Aristotle, and Scipio Africanus of Panaetius the Stoic, and that many other leaders made use of most learned men as teachers; you always keep men outstanding in every kind of learning generously and honorably with you. For whether you are at home, or abroad, or finally at war, you always have many around you who can discourse learnedly, elegantly, and ingeniously on the greatest matters, so that even amid the noise and tumult of great wars, the voices of those disputing were heard constantly. Thus, it can no longer seem a wonder to anyone if all proclaim you the most just in peace, the most brave in war, and the most wise in both; so too they judge you the most learned in the leisure of letters.

To whom, therefore, ought I to dedicate this book—in which the two kinds of living are debated—rather than to you, who have so embraced both that you excel in both? But so that we may hear Baptista Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472), the famous Renaissance architect and polymath, who serves as the lead speaker in this dialogue. himself disputing as soon as possible, first hear briefly where a conversation of this kind took its origin.

When my brother Pietro and I had come into our Casentino territory, both to avoid the heat and to relax the mind, it pleased us the next day to ascend into the Camaldolese forest Camaldoli is a famous monastery in the mountains of Tuscany, known for its extreme seclusion and natural beauty., a region most well-known to you and to all of Italy for its ancient religion. There, even when the Hom. Dog Star original: "syrius"; the star Sirius, which the ancients believed caused the oppressive and sickly heat of mid-to-late summer. rages violently—bringing diseases and fevers to mortals (as it says in Homer) —one may enjoy a springtime and exceptionally healthy climate with the greatest pleasure.

And so, when we had first reached the cenobites from the Greek koinos bios, "common life"; these are monks who live together in a community. and then the hermits from the Greek eremites, "person of the desert"; these are monks who live in total solitude. (to use the Greek words), we learned that shortly before us, Lorenzo de' Medici Lorenzo "the Magnificent" (1449–1492), the brilliant statesman and patron of the Florentine Renaissance. had arrived there with his brother Giuliano. He had brought with him from our city Alamanno Rinuccini, Pietro and Donato Acciaiuoli, Marco Parenti, and Antonio Canigiani—men of the highest learning. These were men who, since they had achieved power and a richness of speaking through the most exact art and long exercise from their earliest years, had subsequently made the greatest progress in philosophy through vehement and long-lasting study. Therefore, we went directly to that little cell in which they were resting, exhausted by the difficulty of the journey, and we came upon them as they were sitting. When they...