Poggio, who called himself Poggius Florentinusi (Poggio the Florentine), was a layman, born in 1380 in Terranuova, who served as apostolic secretary to Baldassare Cossa, Pope John XXIII. Although the pope was a “master of intrigue,” he lost in a fight with two other claimants contending for the papal throne. The resolution in 1415 of the thirty year schism left Cossa deposed and imprisoned, and Poggio out of a job. Free to pursue lost classical texts with all of his energies, he took up the chase once again, supporting himself by copying and perhaps with the aid of patrons.
In 1417, having found works of Cicero and Virgil, among others, in Constance and Cluny, Poggio quit the better known trails, and took his detecting to the lesser known monasteries of Germany where, he was convinced, were locked away “traces of a civilization far greater than anything the world had known for more than a thousand years.” In a monastic library, probably the Benedictine abbey of Fulda, he took from a shelf a ninth century copy of On the Nature of Things. In that moment, antiquity intertwined with the Renaissance. Poggio had made the most significant find of his career, the recovery of a poem lost to readers for more than one thousand years. After having a German scribe copy it, Poggio sent the duplicate to Florence to be re-copied in a better hand.
Going Viral: At least fifty copies of the poem were made before the advent of the printing press. Its heretical ideas continued to generate opposition and censorship. A century after its recovery, the Florentine Synod prohibited the reading of it in schools as “a lascivious and wicked work” that attempted to demonstrate the mortality of the soul. The ban halted the printing of the poem in Italy but the printing press was unstoppable, and the work was reproduced elsewhere. Artists, philosophers, scientists, even “princes” (Machiavelli owned a copy) engaged with the ideas of Lucretius and, through him, Epicurus. Greenblatt nicely charts this intellectual journey: Thomas More explored the power of their ideas in Utopia, as did the Dominican monk, Giordano Bruno, who paid with his life. Shakespeare wrote of “atomi” in Romeo and Juliet and denied life after death. Montaigne’s 1595 Essays used nearly one hundred quotes from the poem. In Opticks Sir Issac Newton made indirect reference to the poem. Copernicus, Galileo, and Darwin drew upon the foundation of theories Lucretius espoused. Thomas Jefferson owned five Latin editions of On the Nature of Things.
In his career, Stephan Greenblatt has toggled between the creation of esoteric texts and books of popular intellectual history, of which The Swerve is one. This volume is not meant for the woman with a doctorate in the classics. Rather, the book opens to the light fascinating nooks of antiquity, as well as the Renaissance, for the neophyte. Curling up with The Swerve during these winter months will bring just the sort of pleasure endorsed by Epicurus and Lucretius.
©2012 Jill Norgren for SeniorWomen.com
Books:
Chef Supreme: Martin Ginsburg
Created by Martha-Ann Alito on behalf of the Supreme Court Spouses
Published by the Supreme Court Historical Society, c. 2011; Spiral Binding. http://supremecourtgifts.org/chefsupreme.aspx
Before his death in 2010 Martin Ginsburg, husband of United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, taught and practiced tax law. He also accumulated widespread praise as a chef supreme. To honor him, Martha-Ann Alito and other Supreme Court spouses, together with the Supreme Court Historical Society, have created a most unusual and charming festschrift, a small volume of his recipes along with remembrances from friends and family. The volume stands as a reminder that people inside the Washington beltway are able to maintain differing views on the state of the Union while sharing warm, respectful personal relationships.
Legends surrounded Martin Ginsburg’s talent for cuisine and his willingness to cook for his family while Ruth Bader Ginsburg built her career as a women’s rights lawyer and, later, federal appeals court judge and then United States Supreme Court justice. Chef Supreme begins with a sampling of forty-eight of Marty Ginsburg’s recipes. They range from Shrimp Danoff, Pissaladière, Pastas, and Osso Buco to Venison Stew, Quick Ratatouille, Decadent Chocolate Bombe, and Grandchildren’s Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. The instructions have been vetted by recipe consultants and are thorough, and Ginsburg’s asides are delightful as when he weighs the relative merits of cream versus milk. Editor Clare Cushman and designer Denise Arnot are to be complimented for a visually attractive layout, nicely laced with photographs and drawings of finished dishes and ingredients (including one rather adorable head of a wild boar.)
Chef Supreme sings as a paean to good food and the ability of food to create community. Short statements of appreciation from Supreme Court spouses are sprinkled among the recipes. Tributes from friends and children close the volume. These bring laughter and tears. Carr Ferguson describes Ginsburg’s longstanding love of music and golf, tax law stories as well as his patient preparation of feasts for ten or twenty people. Friend and tax attorney colleague Jack Levin relates hilarious stories of the formidable task of sharing a lecture podium with Ginsburg. James Ginsburg and his sister, Jane, bring us into the kitchen and living room with moving and funny tales of family life.
Rarely, does the public have the opportunity to get to know a person like Martin Ginsburg and those who love him in quite this way. The recipes and tributes are rich, as was his life.
©2012 Jill Norgren for SeniorWomen.com
Photo of Judge Ginsburg and husband Martin, ©2011 Mariana Cook/Supreme Court Historical Society
Editor's Note: We highlighted this book in December, 2011, in Shop at The Supreme Court.
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