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Luca della Robbia, Grammar,
3 1437–1439. In this hexagonal
panel made for the bell tower of
the cathedral of Florence, Luca
della Robbia conveys ideas about
the course and goals of learning
with the open classical door in
the background.
(Museo Opera del Duomo, Florence, Italy/De
Agostini/Getty Images)

Uncorrected proofs have been used in this sample.
Copyright © Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, “Oration on Cassandra Fedele, “Oration on Learning,” 1487. The Venetian Cassandra
4 the Dignity of Man,” 1486. Pico, the brilliant 5 Fedele (1465–1558), the best-known female scholar of her time, gave an
son of an Italian count and protégé of Lorenzo oration in Latin at the University of Padua in honor of her (male) cousin’s
For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.
de’ Medici, wrote an impassioned summary of graduation.
human capacities for learning that ends with this u I shall speak very briefly on the study of the liberal arts, which for humans is
selection.
useful and honorable, pleasurable and enlightening since everyone, not only philos-
u Oh unsurpassed generosity of God the Father, Oh ophers but also the most ignorant man, knows and admits that it is by reason that
wondrous and unsurpassable felicity of man, to whom it man is separated from beasts. For what is it that so greatly helps both the learned
is granted to have what he chooses, to be what he wills and the ignorant? What so enlarges and enlightens men’s minds the way that an
to be! The brutes, from the moment of their birth, bring education in and knowledge of literature and the liberal arts do? . . . But erudite
with them, as Lucilius [a classical Roman author] says, men who are filled with the knowledge of divine and human things turn all their
“from their mother’s womb” all that they will ever pos- thoughts and considerations toward reason as though toward a target, and free their
sess. The highest spiritual beings were, from the very minds from all pain, though plagued by many anxieties. These men are scarcely
moment of creation, or soon thereafter, fixed in the mode subjected to fortune’s innumerable arrows and they prepare themselves to live well
of being which would be theirs through measureless eter- and in happiness. They follow reason as their leader in all things; nor do they con-
nities. But upon man, at the moment of his creation, sider themselves only, but they are also accustomed to assisting others with their
God bestowed seeds pregnant with all possibilities, the energy and advice in matters public and private. . . . The study of literature refines
germs of every form of life. Whichever of these a man men’s minds, forms and makes bright the power of reason, and washes away all
shall cultivate, the same will mature and bear fruit in stains from the mind, or at any rate, greatly cleanses it. . . . States, however, and
him. If vegetative, he will become a plant; if sensual, he their princes who foster and cultivate these studies become more humane, more
will become brutish; if rational, he will reveal himself a gracious, and more noble. . . . But enough on the utility of literature since it pro-
heavenly being; if intellectual, he will be an angel and the duces not only an outcome that is rich, precious, and sublime, but also provides one
son of God. And if, dissatisfied with the lot of all crea- with advantages that are extremely pleasurable, fruitful, and lasting — benefits that I
tures, he should recollect himself into the center of his myself have enjoyed. And when I meditate on the idea of marching forth in life with
own unity, he will there become one spirit with God, in the lowly and execrable weapons of the little woman — the needle and the distaff
the solitary darkness of the Father, Who is set above all [the rod onto which yarn is wound after spinning] — even if the study of literature
things, himself transcend all creatures. Who then will not offers women no rewards or honors, I believe women must nonetheless pursue and
look with awe upon this our chameleon, or who, at least, embrace such studies alone for the pleasure and enjoyment they contain.
will look with greater admiration on any other being?

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Using the sources above, along with what you have learned in class and in this chapter,
write a short essay that analyzes humanist learning. What were the goals and purposes of
humanist education, and how were these different for men and women? How did these
differences reflect Renaissance society more generally?

Sources: (1, 2) W. H. Woodward, ed. and trans., Vittorino da Feltre and Other Humanist Educators (London: Cambridge University Press, 1897), pp. 102, 106–
107, 126–127; (4) ebooks, University of Adelaide, https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/p/pico_della_mirandola/giovanni/dignity/; (5) Cassandra Fedele, Letters
and Orations, ed. and trans. Diana Robin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000). 55

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