Ciceronianism was the tendency among the

Renaissance humanists Renaissance humanism was a revival in the study of classical antiquity, at first Italian Renaissance, in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term ''humanist'' ( it, umanista ...

to imitate the language and style of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

(106–43 BC) and hold it up as a model of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

. The term was coined in the 19th century from the much older term ''ciceronianus'', 'a Ciceronian'.Manfred Landfester
"Ciceronianism"
in '' Brill's New Pauly''. That term is contrasted with ''christianus'' (Christian) in

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...

in the 4th century.

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

employs it the same way in the title of his dialogue ''

Ciceronianus ''Ciceronianus'' ("The Ciceronian") is a treatise written by Desiderius Erasmus and published in 1528.Kate RobinsonFame with Tongue (Lingua verius quam calamo celebrem), or, The Gift of the Gab/ref> It attacks the style of scholarly Latin written ...

'' (1528).Fosca Mariani Zini
"Ciceronianism"
in Marco Sgarbi (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy'' (Springer, 2022), pp. 747–750. During the Renaissance, however, the term could have both positive and negative connotations, depending on whether slavish or creative imitation was in view. Cicero's writing was already considered classical by

Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician from Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quintilia ...

in the 1st century. He was admired for his style in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, but only his '' De inventione'' and ''Topica'' were widely known.A. García-Bryce
"Ciceronianism"
in Roland Greene (ed.), ''The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics'', 4th ed. (Princeton University Press, 2017). His language, however, had little influence on

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...

. His rise to preeminence began with

Petrarch Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited w ...

's discovery of the ''

Epistulae ad Atticum ''Epistulae ad Atticum'' (Latin for "Letters to Atticus") is a collection of letters from Roman politician and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero to his close friend Titus Pomponius Atticus. The letters in this collection, together with Cicero's othe ...

'' in 1345 and with the discovery of ''

De oratore ''De Oratore'' (''On the Orator''; not to be confused with ''Orator'') is a dialogue written by Cicero in 55 BC. It is set in 91 BC, when Lucius Licinius Crassus dies, just before the Social War and the civil war between Marius and Sulla, du ...

'', ''Orator'', and ''Brutus'' by in 1421. It culminated in

Pietro Bembo Pietro Bembo, ( la, Petrus Bembus; 20 May 1470 – 18 January 1547) was an Italian scholar, poet, and literary theorist who also was a member of the Knights Hospitaller, and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. As an intellectual of the It ...

establishing a Ciceronian style for official papal documents in the 16th century. By that time, however, there was also a robust anti-Ciceronianism, as exemplified by Erasmus' ''Ciceronianus''. Against Erasmsus, Julius Caesar Scaliger wrote his ''Oratio pro Cicerone contra Desiderium Erasmum'' ('Speech for Cicero against Erasmus', 1531–1537) and

Étienne Dolet Étienne Dolet (; 3 August 15093 August 1546) was a French scholar, translator and printer. Dolet was a controversial figure throughout his lifetime. His early attacks upon the Inquisition, the city council and other authorities in Toulouse, tog ...

his pamphlet ''Erasmianus'' (1535).

Anti-Ciceronianism was in practice often just moderate Ciceronianism opposed to radical or strict Ciceronianism. In his dispute of 1485 with

Paolo Cortesi Paolo Cortesi or Cortese, in Latin Paulus Cortesius or de Cortesii (1465–1510), was a Renaissance humanist from Rome. He is known for his Ciceronianism, his dispute over literary style with Angelo Poliziano in 1485 and his treatise on the cardin ...

, who took Cicero to be the sole model to which

Neo-Latin New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...

authors should look,

Angelo Poliziano Agnolo (Angelo) Ambrogini (14 July 1454 – 24 September 1494), commonly known by his nickname Poliziano (; anglicized as Politian; Latin: '' Politianus''), was an Italian classical scholar and poet of the Florentine Renaissance. His scho ...

labelled the radical Ciceronians ''simii Ciceronis'', 'apes of Cicero'. In general, radicals looked to Cicero primarily or only as a model of language. Anti-Ciceronianism, strongest in Germany, criticized such reliance on a pagan author as incompatible with a Christian age. By the time of

Petrus Ramus Petrus Ramus (french: Pierre de La Ramée; Anglicized as Peter Ramus ; 1515 – 26 August 1572) was a French humanist, logician, and educational reformer. A Protestant convert, he was a victim of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. Early life ...

' ''Ciceronianus'' (1577), Ciceronianism was fading and Tacitism, a new trend toward later Latin authors, such as

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his t ...

, was ascendant.

List of Renaissance Ciceronians

* Marco Girolamo Vida *

Jacopo Sadoleto Jacopo Sadoleto (July 12, 1477 – October 18, 1547) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal and counterreformer noted for his correspondence with and opposition to John Calvin. Life He was born at Modena in 1477, the son of a noted jurist, he a ...

Christophe de Longueil Christophe de Longueil (1490 – September 11, 1522) was a humanist from the Duchy of Brabant. He is also known by his Latin name, Christophorus Longolius. He was born in Mechelen, and studied jurisprudence in Valence. He became a lawyer in 1511 ...

Sebastián Fox Morcillo Sebastian Fox Morcillo (1526?–1559?), a Spanish scholar and philosopher, was born in Seville between 1526 and 1528. Around 1548 he studied in Leuven. Following the example of the Spanish Jew Judas Abarbanel, he published commentaries on Plato a ...

Guillaume Budé Guillaume Budé (; Latinized as Guilielmus Budaeus; 1468 – 1540) was a French scholar and humanist. He was involved in the founding of Collegium Trilingue, which later became the Collège de France. Budé was also the first keeper of the ...

Mario Nizolio Marius Nizolius ( it, Mario Nizolio; 1498–1576) was an Italian humanist scholar, known as a proponent of Cicero. He considered rhetoric to be the central intellectual discipline, slighting other aspects of the philosophical tradition. He is de ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Ciceronianism
Oxford Bibliographies Renaissance humanism Neo-Latin literature Cicero