Philology & natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini\'s Hebdomades - Detailed Plan

C.E.S.R François-Rabelais University

2nd YEAR MASTER’S THESIS Philology & natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s Hebdomades Claire GUILLON

Research director : Concetta Pennuto Jury member : Laurent Gerbier

Thesis written as part of the Master 2 mention « Renaissance » curriculum

Philology and natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s Hebdomades

ABSTRACT

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Philology and natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s Hebdomades

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

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Philology and natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s Hebdomades

INTRODUCTION Published in 1589 in Venice, Hebdomades is a singular work both in form and substance. Its author Fabio Paolini (1535-1605) offers a long structured comment on a verse from the Aeneid : « obloquitur numeris septem vocum discriminatory ». Through over 450 pages ordered in seven books, each itself divided into seven chapters, the Venetian humanist exposes ideas from orations given among its peers in the Accademia degli Uranici. Fifty preliminary pages are added to these writings including several index. These index contain data related to the authors mentioned but also a list of topics covered in the different parts of Hebdomades. So far, studies on Hebdomades were mostly interested in the musical concepts developed by Fabio Paolini 1, or esoteric aspects2. Since 2012, a research is conducted on Fabio Paolini and Venetian culture in the late sixteenth century3, the results should lead to the publication of a monograph in 2016-17. Hebdomades can be seen as a compilation of organized speeches, but it is truly an encyclopedic work. His creator took special care in informing exhaustively about the authors and the topics mentioned throughout the different books. Fabio Paolini offers a snapshot of the state of humanistic knowledge in the late sixteenth century deserving specific attention. In order to give substance to his arguments around the lines of Virgil, Fabio Paolini uses references from Antiquity to contemporary. Poetry, mathematics, astrology, theology, many topics are discussed turning Hebdomades into a genuine philological work. The originality of its composition - seven books each divided into seven chapters - lies in the fact that Fabio Paolini seems to focus attention on the number seven. The verse taken from the Aeneid contains a reference to that figure, and a quick overview of the index shows a recurring use of the terms "seven" and "seventh". I can assume Fabio Paolini sees the number seven as an expression of harmony and uses the number to organize his remarks both from an editorial and intellectual point of view. [More about philology and Hebdomades] [More about natural philosophy and the number seven] In light of these facts, it would be interesting to examine Hebdomades from a double perspective and look into philology and natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s work.

1 Paolo GOZZA, « La musica come scienza matematica e la sua influenza teorica sull’immaginario artistico », in Storia della Scienza, Vol. IV, Instituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 2001, p. 992-1003 and Grantley MCDONALD, « Music, Magic and Humanism in late 16th century Venice : Fabio Paolini and The Heritage of Ficino, Vicentino and Zarlino », Journal of The Alamire Foundation, 2012, 4, p. 222-248. 2 Daniel P. WALKER, « Fabio Paolini and the Accademia degli Uranici », in Spiritual and Demonic Magic : From Ficino to Campanella, London, The Warburg Institute, 1958, p. 126-144. 3 Fanny KIEFFER at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, scholarship grant in 2012 on the topic « Fabio Paolini (15351605) e la cultura veneziana alla fine del XVI secolo », http://www.cini.it/centro-branca/borse-di-studio-centrovittore-branca/archivio-borsisti, date of last visit : 01/08/2016.

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Philology and natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s Hebdomades To do so, I will examine in this paper the fifty preliminary pages to the seven books containing all the references and topics discussed by Fabio Paolini in Hebdomades. I presume that Fabio Paolini’s intention for this work was to gather in one unique book all the references that could support the belief of a physical and metaphysical harmony based on the figure seven. By the end of this thesis, I intend to highlight various topics related to natural philosophy as well as cosmic harmony within Hebdomades using the philological research of the Venetian humanist. I expect to find many evocations of Neoplatonic and Hermetic traditions through references originally published in Greek, Latin and Arabic. I will organize this paper into three parts : the life and personality of Fabio Paolini as well as the edition and circulation of Hebdomades ; the organization of the work through the sources and authors used as well as the content of the various seven books ; the world harmony through the number seven. For this last part, I will give a sample of different topics of interets found throughout the seven books ; I will then study specifically Fabio Paolini’s way of proving his argument through one specific example.

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Philology and natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s Hebdomades

1. FABIO PAOLINI AND HEBDOMADES In this section, I will cover the life and interests of Fabio Paolini, and the several institutions he was part of, including the Accademia degli Uranici in Venice. I will also be interested in the various works he published or translated. I will then focus specifically on Hebdomades : its origin, edition, circulation and reception. 1.1.1 LIFE 1.1.2 INTERESTS 1.1.3 INSTITUTIONS 1.1.4 PUBLICATIONS

1.2 HEBDOMADES 1.2.1 ORIGIN 1.2.2 EDITION 1.2.3 CIRCULATION 1.2.4 RECEPTION

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Philology and natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s Hebdomades

2. ORGANIZATION OF HEBDOMADES In this part, I will sort the various authors listed in the preliminary pages out through broader historical context categories while achieving a thematic distinction whenever possible. I will then propose a commented summary for each of the seven books using mostly the index pages ; I will put into perspective the ideas developed by Fabio Paolini focusing mainly on the philological aspects.

2.1 SOURCES AND AUTHORS 2.1.1 ANTIQUITY 2.1.2 MIDDLE AGES 2.1.3 RENAISSANCE

2.2 THE SEVEN BOOKS 2.2.1 LIBER PRIMUS - SIVE DE ELOQUENTIA ET POETICA (PP. 1-56) 2.2.2 LIBER SECUNDUS - SIVE DE MUSICA (PP. 57-108) 2.2.3 LIBER TERTIUS - SIVE DE HUMANI ANIMI HARMONIA (PP. 109-164) 2.2.4 LIBER QUARTUS - SIVE DE ASTROLOGIA (PP. 165-224) 2.2.5 LIBER 298)

QUINTUS

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SIVE DE ARITHMETICA NUMERORUMQUE MYSTERIIS (PP.

2.2.6 LIBER SEXTUS - SIVE DE NATURAE MYSTERIIS (PP. 299-360) 2.2.7 LIBER SEPTIMUS - SIVE DE THEOLOGIA (PP. 361-456)

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Philology and natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s Hebdomades

3. HARMONIA MUNDI THROUGH THE NUMBER SEVEN In this part, I will pay particular attention to the symbolism of the figure seven through a selection of references catalogued in Hebdomades. I intend to rank some of the topics covered in the seven books into different categories, highlighting mainly the aspects regarding natutal philosophy. I will then focus my attention on the study of one specific example from the Liber Sextus in order to better understand Fabio Paolini’s way to prove his argument about the Harmonia Mundi through the number seven.

3.1 TOPICS OF INTEREST THROUGHOUT THE SEVEN BOOKS 3.1.1 ENCYCLOPEDY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 3.1.2 POETRY AND RHETORICS 3.1.3 MUSIC 3.1.4 RELIGION 3.1.5 PHILOSOPHY 3.1.6 ASTRONOMY 3.1.7 MATHEMATICS 3.1.8 MEDICINE 3.1.9 ESOTERIC AND MAGIC

3.2 STUDY OF AN EXAMPLE : LIBER SEXTUS - CAPUT SEXTUM (PP. 356-357) SENSUS OMNES ESSE SEPTENARIOS & EORUM ETIAM OBIECTA PROBATUR

3.2.1 TOPIC OF DISCUSSION 3.2.2 FABIO PAOLINI’S ARGUMENT

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Philology and natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s Hebdomades

CONCLUSION

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Philology and natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s Hebdomades

BIBLIOGRAPHY PRIMARY SOURCES Fabii Paulini Utinensis Philosophi, et Graecas literas Venetijs profitentis, Hebdomades, sive Septem de Septenario libri Habiti in Uranicorum Academia in unius Vergilij versus explicatione, Venetijs, Apud Franciscum Franciscium Senensem, 1589, date of last visit : 01/08/2016, https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_BPQ514qRaPkC.

SECONDARY SOURCES ADAMSON Peter, « Neoplatonism : The Last Ten Years », The International Journal of The Platonic Tradition, 2015, 9, p. 205-220. ASPREM Egil, « Dis/unity of Knowledge : Models for the Study of Modern Esotericism and Science », Numen, 2015, 62, p. 538-567. BARREAU Hervé, « Épistémologie et Ontologie », Le Portique, 2001, 7, date of last visit : 01/08/2016, http://leportique.revues.org/238. CASSIRER Ernst, The Individual and the Cosmos in Renaissance Philosophy, New York, Dover Publications, 2000. CHIARADONNA Riccardo, « Causalité et Hiérarchie métaphysique dans le néoplatonisme : Plotin, Porphyre, Jamblique », REAM, 2014, 12, p. 67-85. DE FORNEL DE LA LAURENCIE M.-M.-P., Métaphysique. Ontologie, Cosmologie, Paris, Delagrave, 1904, date of last visit : 01/08/2016, http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k55444925. GOZZA Paolo, « La musica come scienza matematica e la sua influenza teorica sull’immaginario artistico », in Storia della Scienza, Vol. IV, Instituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 2001, p. 992-1003. HANEGRAAFF Wouter J., « How Hermetic was Renaissance Hermetism ? », ARIES, 2015, 15, p. 179-209. LOUX Michael J., Metaphysics. A contemporary introduction, 3e édition, Londres, Routledge, 2006.

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Philology and natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s Hebdomades MCDONALD Grantley, « Music, Magic and Humanism in late 16th century Venice : Fabio Paolini and the Heritage of Ficino, Vicentino and Zarlino », Journal of The Alamire Foundation, 2012, 4, p. 222-248. PARTINI Anna Maria, NESTLER Vincenzo, Magia astrologica. Da Ermete a Cecco d’Ascoli e a Campanella, Rome, Edizioni Mediterranee, 1983, p. 88-89. PATTERSON Annabel M., Hermogenes and the Renaissance : seven Ideas of Style, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1970, p. 215-216. WALKER Daniel P., « Fabio Paolini and the Accademia degli Uranici », in Spiritual and Demonic Magic : From Ficino to Campanella, London, The Warburg Institute, 1958, p. 126144. « Orpheus the Theologian and Renaissance Platonists », Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, 1953, 16 1/2, p. 100-120.

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Philology and natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s Hebdomades

ADDITIONAL PUBLICATIONS BEHAR Pierre, Les langues occultes de la Renaissance, Paris, Editions Desjonquères, 1996. BLOCH Ernst, La philosophie de la Renaissance, Paris, Payot, 1974. DE LIBERA Alain, La philosophie médiévale, Paris, PUF, 2001. DUBOIS Claude-Gilbert, « Présence d'Hermès Trismégiste », Bulletin de l’Association d’étude sur l’humanisme, la réforme et la renaissance, 1989, 28 1, p. 83-86, date of last visit : 01/08/2016, http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rhren_01816799_1989_num_28_1_1683. ELLKEVEL Yrene, Les sciences occultes de a à z, Milan, Editions de Vecchi, 2005. FONT Jean-Marc, Comprendre l’ésotérisme, Paris, Eyrolles, 2008. GARIN Eugenio, La Renaissance : histoire d'une révolution culturelle, Paris, Marabout Université, 1970. Le zodiaque de la vie : polémiques antiastrologiques à la Renaissance, Paris, Belles Lettres, 1991. Hermétisme et Renaissance, Paris, Allia, 2001. GOODY John, Renaissances : the one or the many ?, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2010. JACQUART Danielle, L'épopée de la science arabe, Paris, Gallimard, 2005. LE GOFF Jacques, Faut-il vraiment découper l’histoire en tranches ?, Paris, Seuil, 2014. LEVY-LEBLOND Jean-Marc, La science (n’)e(s)t (pas) l’art, Paris, Hermann, 2010. MERKEL Ingrid & DEBUS Allen G (dir.), Hermeticism and the Renaissance: Intellectual History and the Occult in Early Modern Europe, London, Folger Books, 1988. MOREAU Joseph, « L’homme et son âme, selon saint Thomas d’Aquin », Revue Philosophique de Louvain, fourth serie, 1976, 74 21, p. 5-29, date of last visit : 01/08/2016, http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/phlou_00353841_1976_num_74_21_5873. 13

Philology and natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s Hebdomades

PESTRE Dominique, Introduction aux Science Studies, Paris, La Découverte, 2006. RABOUIN David, « La ‘mathématique universelle’ entre mathématique et philosophie, d’Aristote à Proclus », Archives de Philosophie, 2005, 68, p. 249-268, date of last visit : 01/08/2016, http://www.cairn.info/revue-archives-de-philosophie-2005-2-page-249.htm. RASPLUS Valéry (dir.), Sciences et pseudo-sciences ? Regards des sciences humaines, Paris, Éditions matériologiques, 2014. TOUSSAINT Stéphane, « L’ars de Marsile Ficin, entre esthétique et magie », in MOREL Philippe (dir.), L’art de la Renaissance entre science et magie, Académie de France à Rome, Rome, Somagy, 2006, p. 453-467. VIDAL Daniel, « Jérôme Rousse-Lacordaire, Ésotérisme et christianisme. Histoire et enjeux théologiques d’une expatriation », Archives de sciences sociales des religions, 2008, document 142-151, date of last visit : 01/08/2016, http://assr.revues.org/15943. YATES Frances, Science et tradition hérmétique, Paris, Allia, 2014.

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Philology and natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s Hebdomades

ANNEXES

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Philology and natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s Hebdomades

TABLE OF CONTENTS 2ND YEAR MASTER’S THESIS ................................................................................... 1 PHILOLOGY & NATURAL PHILOSOPHY IN FABIO PAOLINI’S HEBDOMADES .................................................................................................. 1 CLAIRE GUILLON ....................................................................................................... 1 RESEARCH DIRECTOR : CONCETTA PENNUTO ............................................... 1 JURY MEMBER : LAURENT GERBIER .................................................................. 1 ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENT ................................................................................................ 4 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 5 1.

FABIO PAOLINI AND HEBDOMADES .......................................................... 7 1.1.1 Life .............................................................................................................. 7 1.1.2 Interests ...................................................................................................... 7 1.1.3 Institutions .................................................................................................. 7 1.1.4 Publications................................................................................................ 7 1.2 HEBDOMADES ...................................................................................................... 7 1.2.1 Origin ......................................................................................................... 7 1.2.2 Edition ........................................................................................................ 7 1.2.3 Circulation ................................................................................................. 7 1.2.4 Reception .................................................................................................... 7

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ORGANIZATION OF HEBDOMADES ............................................................ 8 2.1 SOURCES AND AUTHORS ...................................................................................... 8 2.1.1 Antiquity ..................................................................................................... 8 2.1.2 Middle Ages ................................................................................................ 8 2.1.3 Renaissance ................................................................................................ 8 2.2 THE SEVEN BOOKS ............................................................................................... 8 2.2.1 Liber primus - sive de eloquentia et poetica (pp. 1-56) ............................. 8 2.2.2 Liber secundus - sive de musica (pp. 57-108) ............................................ 8 2.2.3 Liber tertius - sive de humani animi harmonia (pp. 109-164) ................... 8 2.2.4 Liber quartus - sive de astrologia (pp. 165-224) ....................................... 8 2.2.5 Liber quintus - sive de arithmetica numerorumque mysteriis (pp. 225-298) 8 16

Philology and natural philosophy in Fabio Paolini’s Hebdomades 2.2.6 2.2.7 3.

Liber sextus - sive de naturae mysteriis (pp. 299-360) .............................. 8 Liber septimus - sive de theologia (pp. 361-456) ....................................... 8

HARMONIA MUNDI THROUGH THE NUMBER SEVEN ........................... 9

3.1 TOPICS OF INTEREST THROUGHOUT THE SEVEN BOOKS........................................ 9 3.1.1 Encyclopedy and bibliography ................................................................... 9 3.1.2 Poetry and rhetorics ................................................................................... 9 3.1.3 Music .......................................................................................................... 9 3.1.4 Religion ...................................................................................................... 9 3.1.5 Philosophy .................................................................................................. 9 3.1.6 Astronomy................................................................................................... 9 3.1.7 Mathematics ............................................................................................... 9 3.1.8 Medicine ..................................................................................................... 9 3.1.9 Esoteric and magic ..................................................................................... 9 3.2 STUDY OF AN EXAMPLE : LIBER SEXTUS - CAPUT SEXTUM (PP. 356-357) SENSUS OMNES ESSE SEPTENARIOS & EORUM ETIAM OBIECTA PROBATUR............................................ 9 3.2.1 Topic of discussion ..................................................................................... 9 3.2.2 Fabio Paolini’s argument .......................................................................... 9 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 10 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 11 PRIMARY SOURCES....................................................................................................... 11 SECONDARY SOURCES .................................................................................................. 11 ADDITIONAL PUBLICATIONS......................................................................................... 13 ANNEXES ..................................................................................................................... 15 TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................. 16

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