Alessandro Politi (July 10, 1679July 23, 1752), was an Italian
philologist.
Biography
Alessandro Politi was born July 10, 1679, at
Florence. After studying under the
Jesuits, he entered at the age of fifteen the
Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools, and was conspicuous among its members by his rare erudition. He was called upon to teach
rhetoric
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
and
peripatetic philosophy at Florence in 1700. Barring a period of about three years, during which he was a professor of
theology at
Genoa (1716–18), he spent the greatest part of his life in his native city, availing himself of the manifold resources he could find there to improve his knowledge of
Greek literature, his favorite study. He soon made a name for himself by his careful
editions of several little-known
Byzantine texts, and in 1733 he was called to the chair of
eloquence
Eloquence (from French ''eloquence'' from Latin ''eloquentia'') is fluent, elegant, persuasive, and forceful speech, persuading an audience. Eloquence is both a natural talent and improved by knowledge of language, study of a specific subject ...
vacant in the
University of Pisa.
Accustomed to live among his books aloof from the world, Politi was of an irritable disposition, and sensitive in the extreme to the lightest criticism. He died July 25, 1752.
Works
* ''Philosophia Peripatetica, ex mente sancti Thomae'' (Florence. 1708, 12mo);
* ''De patria in testamentis condendis potestate, lib. 4'' (ibid. 1712, 8vo);
* ''Eustathii Commentarii in Homeri Iliadem,'' with notes and
Latin version (ibid. 1730-35, 3 vols. fol.);
* ''Eustathii Commentarii in Dionysium Periegetem,''
Greek and Latin (Cologne, 1742, 8vo);
* ''Orationes XII ad Academiam Pisanam'' (Lucca, 1746, 8vo);
* ''Martyrologium Romanum castigatum'' (vol. 1, Florence, 1751, 8vo).
He left many unpublished works. All his orations have been collected (Pisa, 1774, 8vo).
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Politi, Alessandro
Italian philologists
1679 births
1752 deaths
Academic staff of the University of Pisa
Piarists