This article sheds new light on the Theogenius and the Profugiorum ab erumna libri III, two Italian dialogues in which Leon Battista Alberti was influenced by Seneca’s On the Tranquillity of the Mind and Petrarch’s De remediis utriusque fortunae, but developed an innovative reflection on the care of the self as medicine of the mind. The novelty hinged not on his pessimistic diagnosis of the human condition, which linked the disquiet caused by the inconstancy of fortune with the natural instability (...) of the mind, but rather on his ironic conception of therapy, which challenged the Stoic belief in the possibility of finding a definitive cure for hardship. To what extent and in what sense Alberti’s therapy exhibits an ironic stance is clarified by the analysis of two Intercenales, the Latin work which aimed to relieve the mind’s maladies through laughter. While Erumna made the case that the way of life championed by the Stoics as well as the choice of living the life of another man cannot alleviate human misery, Patientia mocked the efficacy of Stoic remedies such as patience and time. People can only hope to come to terms with the mind’s maladies and should bear their burdens cheerfully rather than despair of them: this is one of the most intriguing aspects of Alberti’s medicine of the mind. (shrink)

Questo articolo analizza il De honesta voluptate et valetudine di Platina come esempio emblematico per mostrare che un'accurata analisi filologica può aiutare non solo a chiarire i contesti teorici in cui un'opera può essere collocata, ma anche a fornire una miglior comprensione delle sue implicazioni filosofiche. In questo lavoro letterario, che è sia un libro di cucina sia un manuale di dietetica, Platina ha intrecciato una varietà di fonti antiche e moderne, più o meno riconoscibili: egli non si è limitato (...) a riproporre le ricette di Martino da Como, ma ha varcato la soglia della cucina combinando gli insegnamenti della dietetica medievale, che si basava sulla teoria galeniana degli umori, con alcune ipotesi stoiche, non considerate in conflitto con una moderata ricerca del piacere di mangiare. In tal modo, ha sviluppato un’originale riflessione sul vivere bene, in cui la felicità tende a coincidere con il benessere fisico. This article analyses Platina’s De honesta voluptate et valetudine as an emblematic example of how an accurate philological analysis can help to clarify the theoretical contexts in which a work can be placed and even provide a clearer grasp of its philosophical assumptions. In this literary work, which is both a cookbook and a dietetic manual, Platina interwove a variety of ancient and modern sources, more or less easily discernible: he did not limit himself to collect Martino of Como’s recipes, but crossed the threshold of the kitchen by combining the teaching of medieval dietetics, which was based on Galen’s theory of bodily humours, with some Stoic assumptions, which he viewed as not being in conflict with a moderate pursuit of the pleasure of eating. In doing so, he developed an intriguing reflection on living well according to which happiness tends to coincide with physical wellbeing. (shrink)

SummaryIn this article, I examine friendship as a subject of political theory rather than as a social practice relevant to political life. As suggested by Francesco d'Altobianco Alberti in the poem recited at the first certame coronario, two ideas of political friendship existed side by side in Medicean Florence. They appeared in full in Palmieri's Vita civile and in Platina's De optimo cive. As I will show, the Ciceronian language of friendship is used in these works to resolve two key (...) problems of Renaissance political thought: the need for political unity and the just way of appointing the governing elite. Palmieri placed friendship in the political sphere of concord: he was a republican imperialist who believed that civic friendship protected the political unity of the city, without which Florence would not have been able to expand. Platina, on the other hand, situated friendship in the political sphere of counsel: his concern was to support the selection of the most virtuous and knowledgeable citizens, worthy of access to public office. While Palmieri looked back to the city's medieval past, Platina cast light on the politics of friendship that allowed the Medici to stay in power. (shrink)