Complete Works

...to perceive, this most holy law of divinity—which we are taught by that same Dionysius in his book The Celestial Hierarchy, namely that through the first things the succeeding ones might be raised toward the most narrow light—should be revealed to the multitude of men when it is expedient. Those who deny this are undoubtedly ignorant of divine letters, and are moreover of an insolent and stubborn disposition. For in those letters it is granted to be seen that future divine mysteries are revealed not only through good men, but sometimes through wicked men and false prophets. What prevents one from having faith in this man [Savonarola], who excels both in learning and in so many virtues, and has already predicted many future things which we now see coming to pass? And he testified to this not in a drowsy manner, but affirming it with asseveration. Add to this that the philosophy of Aristotle does not cry out against these things, and the Platonic philosophy supports them; although I would not accept any authority as a weighty testimony except that of Divine Scripture, yet it is not absurd to cite these external things occasionally, so that the weapons of the malevolent might recoil upon their authors with greater force than they were sent.

But now we must return to ourselves, for whom we should not so much mourn that we have lost such a man, as we should give thanks that we had him, and give thanks to the King for whom all things live. Indeed, he [Pico], having performed the duty of mortal life, and having long conversed among those living in darkness, upon whom he had shed no small light, is even now entering the inaccessible and infinite light of the heavenly fatherland; he shall enjoy the ineffable divinity without end, being destined to bring us aid also day by day.

Epitaph of Mirandola.

Here lies John of Mirandola. The rest is known
By Tagus and Ganges, and perhaps the Antipodes.

A Poem by Caecilius Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, on the Wood of the Cross

There is a place which we believe to be the center of the whole world;
The Jews call it Golgotha in their native tongue.
Here, I remember, a wood cut from a barren oak,
Once planted, brought forth healthful fruits.
Yet it did not offer them to those who established themselves as its cultivators;
Strangers possessed the blessed fruits of the tree.
This species rises from a single trunk,
And soon extends its arms into twin branches,
Just as the full, heavy sails stretch out the yard-arms,
Or when the yokes are on the bullocks separated from the plow.
When the earth had conceived that one [Christ] fallen from this first mature seed,
Soon—marvelous to tell—on the third light
It had brought forth again a branch, fearsome to the earth and the heavens,
Blessed with life-giving fruit.
And that branch was strengthened for twice twenty days;
It grew into the immense sky and touched the heavens with its highest peak,
And at last withdrew its holy head into the deep,
While yet it added huge branches with the weight of twelve,
And, spreading, reached out into the whole world,
So that to all nations it might provide sustenance and eternal life.