Giovanni Sulpizio da Veroli or Johannes Sulpitius Verulanus or Verolensis (fl. c. 1470 – 1490) was an Italian

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

and

rhetorician 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 ...

. Known to

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'' w ...

, he was the author of a work on epistolary art, the proper composition and ornamentation of letters, ''De componendis et ornandis epistoli'' (c. 1475).

Biography

He originated from the small commune of

Veroli Veroli ( la, Verulae) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, central Italy, in the Latin Valley. History Veroli (''Verulae'') became a Roman municipium in 90 BC. It became the seat of a bishopric in 743 AD, and was occupied ...

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, south of Rome. Occupying the chair of grammar at the University of Rome, the ''Studium urbis'', he joined with his master

Pomponio Leto Julius Pomponius Laetus (1428 – 9 June 1498), also known as Giulio Pomponio Leto, was an Italian humanist. Background Laetus was born at Teggiano, near Salerno, the illegitimate scion of the princely house of Sanseverino, the German historian ...

in studying the remains of Roman antiquity that lay in ruins all about them, and made impassioned pleas for the purification 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 ...

. In 1486 Sulpizio prepared the first printed edition of

Vitruvius Vitruvius (; c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled '' De architectura''. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attribut ...

' '' De Architectura'' for the press; the work had long circulated in manuscripts, some of them corrupt. The volume, which also includes the text of

Frontinus Sextus Julius Frontinus (c. 40 – 103 AD) was a prominent Roman civil engineer, author, soldier and senator of the late 1st century AD. He was a successful general under Domitian, commanding forces in Roman Britain, and on the Rhine and Danube ...

' ''

De aquaeductu ( en, On aqueducts) is a two-book official report given to the emperor Nerva or Trajan on the state of the aqueducts of Rome, and was written by Sextus Julius Frontinus at the end of the 1st century AD. It is also known as or . It is the earlie ...

'' describing the

aqueducts of Rome The Romans constructed aqueducts throughout their Republic and later Empire, to bring water from outside sources into cities and towns. Aqueduct water supplied public baths, latrines, fountains, and private households; it also supported mining o ...

, was dedicated to Cardinal Riario, an enthusiastic supporter of the ideals of the Pomponian ''sodalitas''; the dedicatory epistle urges Riario to complete the recovery of classical Roman buildings with a theatre. In his preface Sulpizio urges readers to send him emendations of the notoriously crabbed and difficult text. With Vitruvius' text in hand, Sulpizio directed the erection of a reproduction open-air Roman theater in front of Palazzo Riario in Campo dei Fiori, Rome; there, in 1486 or 1488 his students mounted the first production of a

Roman tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy i ...

that had been seen since Antiquity, in the presence of Pope Innocent VIII. The play they chose was

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

's ''

Phaedra Phaedra may refer to: Mythology * Phaedra (mythology), Cretan princess, daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë, wife of Theseus Arts and entertainment * ''Phaedra'' (Alexandre Cabanel), an 1880 painting Film * ''Phaedra'' (film), a 1962 film by ...

'', which they knew as ''Hippolytus''. In his concern to purify the Latin that was still being spoken as a '' lingua franca'' in educated circles, he wrote a commentary on Quintilian. The abruptness of the ending of Lucan's ''

Pharsalia ''De Bello Civili'' (; ''On the Civil War''), more commonly referred to as the ''Pharsalia'', is a Roman epic poem written by the poet Lucan, detailing the civil war between Julius Caesar and the forces of the Roman Senate led by Pompey the Gr ...

'' prompted him to add eleven verses, which were included in most early printed editions of Lucan's epic poem. His Latin didactic poem, concerning the proper hygiene and

table manners Table manners are the rules of etiquette used while eating, which may also include the use of utensils. Different cultures observe different rules for table manners. Each family or group sets its own standards for how strictly these rules are ...

suited to the young student, and the pursuit of literary virtues, which lead to the other virtues, ''De moribus puerorum in mensa praecipue servandis'', has been edited by M. Martini.Martini, ''Il carme giovanile di Giovanni Sulpizio Verulano ''De moribus puerorum in mensa servandis, (Centro di studi soriani) Sora, 1980.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sulpizio, Giovanni da Veroli 15th-century births 15th-century deaths People from the Province of Frosinone Italian Renaissance humanists