Leon Battista Alberti - The Books on the Family

Page 21

Italian Literature - Einaudi

...family in a peaceful and elevated state, where they can always defend it with faith and diligence from any sudden ruin? Who else could, with strength and virility of soul, guide it and restore it if it were already shaken or bent in any part by the blows of Fortune The Renaissance concept of Fortuna refers to the unpredictable and often cruel power of fate or chance that governs human affairs, which the humanist hero attempts to overcome through virtú.? It is the intellect, the prudence, and the knowledge of the elderly, combined with their diligence, that maintain a family in flourishing and happy circumstances, adorning it with splendor and praise. To whom, then, who can do this for their own—keeping them in happiness, guiding them through unhappiness, and sustaining them with honor in every situation as only the elderly can—should we not owe the greatest reverence?

Young people must therefore revere the elderly, but much more their own fathers, who deserve so much from their children by virtue of their age and in every other respect. From your father, you received your very being and the first principles for acquiring virtue In the humanist tradition, virtú is not just moral goodness but the active power, talent, and ability of an individual to shape their own destiny and contribute to the state.. Your father, through his own sweat Original: sudore; a common metaphor for hard, physical, or intellectual labor and sacrifice., care, and industry, has brought you to manhood in the age, fortune, and status in which you now find yourself. If you are indebted to one who helps you in your time of necessity and misery, then surely you are most obligated to the one who, as far as he was able, never allowed you to suffer even the slightest want. If every thought, every possession, and every turn of fortune should be shared with a friend, and if you should endure discomfort, toil, and sweat for those who love you, how much more should you do so for your father? To him, you are dearer than to any other, and you are more obligated to him than almost to yourself. If your friends and acquaintances should enjoy a significant portion of your goods, well-being, and wealth, much more so should your father, from whom you received—if not your property—then your life; and not life alone, but nourishment for so long; and if not nourishment, then your very existence and your name Referring to the family name and the social standing it carries within the Florentine hierarchy.. It is, therefore, the duty of the young to bring every wish, thought, and argument to their fathers and elders, consulting with them on all matters—especially with those by whom they know themselves to be most loved and cherished. They should listen to them willingly as men of great prudence and experience, and joyfully follow the lessons of those who possess greater wisdom...