Pico's Heptaplus and Biblical Hermeneutics

285 Pages·2006·2.91 MB·English

by  Crofton Black

PICO’S HEPTAPLUSAND BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS
STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL AND
REFORMATION TRADITIONS
History, Culture, Religion, Ideas
FOUNDED BY HEIKO A. OBERMAN †
EDITED BY
ANDREW COLIN GOW, Edmonton, Alberta
IN COOPERATION WITH
THOMAS A. BRADY, Jr., Berkeley, California
JOHANNES FRIED, Frankfurt
BRAD GREGORY, University of Notre Dame, Indiana
BERNDT HAMM, Erlangen
SUSAN C. KARANT-NUNN, Tucson, Arizona
JÜRGENMIETHKE, Heidelberg
M. E. H. NICOLETTE MOUT, Leiden
GUSTAV HENNINGSEN, Copenhagen
VOLUMECXVI
CROFTON BLACK
PICO’S HEPTAPLUSAND BIBLICAL HERMENEUTICS
PICO’S
HEPTAPLUS AND BIBLICAL
HERMENEUTICS
BY
CROFTON BLACK
BRILL
LEIDEN •BOSTON
2006
Cover illustration: The cover illustration, depicting the three worlds as Pico structured them in
the Heptaplus, is taken from Nicolas Le Fèvre de la Boderie’s “Le coeur Leb, ou les 32
sentiers de sapience”, an essay on biblical interpretation published alongside his French
translation of the Heptaplus. See L’Heptaple … translaté par N. Le Fèvre de la Boderie, in
F. Giorgio, L’harmonie du monde, tr. Guy Le Fèvre de la Boderie (Paris, 1578), sig. e 6v.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISSN 1573-4188
ISBN-13:978-90-04-15315-8
ISBN-10:90-04-15315-2
© Copyright 2006 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill Academic Publishers,
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printed in the netherlands
For my family
—Lesley, Glenn, Alicia and Imogen—
and for Amber

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ................................................. ix
Preface............................................................... xi
Abbreviations........................................................ xiii
Introduction......................................................... 1
Chapter1.Pico’sLifeandWorks .................................. 5
1. GiovanniPicodellaMirandola:BiographicalSketch .... 5
2. Pico’sHebrewStudies ...................................... 12
Chapter2.TheHeptaplus inOutline .............................. 26
1. FirstExposition:Demundoelementari....................... 27
2. SecondExposition:Demundocaelesti....................... 30
3. ThirdExposition:Demundoangelicoetinvisibili........... 36
4. FourthExposition:Demundohumanoidestdehominis
natura ........................................................ 39
5. FifthExposition:Deomnibusmundisdivisimordine
consequenti.................................................... 42
6. SixthExposition:Demundorumintersererumomnium
cognatione..................................................... 45
7. SeventhExposition:Defelicitate,quaeestvitaaeterna...... 51
8. “Expositioprimaedictionis,idestinprincipio”........... 53
9. Conclusion................................................... 53
Chapter3.ExegeticalContexts.................................... 55
1. BiblicalInterpretationintheFifteenthCentury.......... 55
2. TheAuthoritiesPicoRejected ............................. 70
3. Pico’sOtherCommentaries................................ 84
4. Conclusion................................................... 92
Chapter4.TheFirstProem:TraditionsofEsotericism .......... 95
1. MosesandthePhilosophers................................ 96
2. ThreeRedactionsofanArgumentforEsotericism:
Commento,Apologia,Heptaplus............................... 97
3. InFavourofEsotericism:EarlyChristianHermeneutics 103
4. TheChristianReactionagainstEsotericism:Late
AntiquityandtheMiddleAges............................. 110
viii tableofcontents
5. EsotericismMaintained:LaterNeoplatonism,
Pseudo-Dionysius,Kabbalah................................ 122
6. Conclusion:PicoandtheTraditionsofEsotericism...... 144
Chapter5.TheSecondProem:Pico’sCosmicModeland
ExegesisasAnagogy............................................ 148
1. CosmicStructure............................................ 148
2. AllegoricalTheory .......................................... 161
3. Conclusion................................................... 175
Chapter6.Knowledge,Felicitas andHermeneutics .............. 177
1. Felicitas andtheIntellectinMedievalPhilosophy ........ 177
2. TheAscenttoPerfectioninPico’sWorks ................. 189
3. Felicitas,KnowledgeandBiblicalExegesis:TheExample
ofGersonides................................................ 206
4. Conclusion:GenesisandKnowledge...................... 211
Chapter7.TheBeginningandtheEnd:Bereshit andthe
Sabbath.......................................................... 214
1. Bereshit:“Expositioprimaedictionis,idestinprincipio” 214
2. StructuralRoleoftheSabbath............................. 221
3. Sabbath,JubileeandtheGatesofUnderstanding........ 225
AppendixtoChapter7............................................. 233
Conclusion .......................................................... 235
Bibliography......................................................... 241
Index................................................................. 257
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thisstudystartedlifeasmydoctoralthesisandassuchwascompleted
in2004.Myexaminers,StephenClucasandAnthonyGrafton,made
severalvaluablesuggestions,forwhichIamgrateful,andwhichIhave
triedtoincorporate.Myinitialresearchwouldhavebeenimpossible
without the support of the University of London, which awarded
meaShelleystudentshiptoenablemetoundertakemyfirstyearof
studies;andwithoutfundingfromtheArtsandHumanitiesResearch
Board,whichprovidedformysecondandthirdyears.Iamgrateful
toboththeseinstitutionsfortheirgenerosity.BoththeUniversityof
LondonCentralResearchFundandtheWarburgInstituteawarded
me grants for the purchase of copies of the manuscripts cited in
this study and for a research trip to the Bibliothèque Nationale in
Paris.
My thanks are due above all to Jill Kraye, who supported this
projectfromitsinception,forheradvice,encouragementandgood
humour. I was also helped considerably by Charles Burnett, partic-
ularlywithregardtomanuscripttranscriptions.PeterAdamsonand
BrianCopenhaverbothgavegenerouslyoftheirtimeandknowledge.
As for the small foray into Hebrew which this work has demanded,
I must especially thank Peter Pormann and Joanna Weinberg. I am
also grateful to Rafi Esterson, Stefan Reif and Ernest Nicholson, all
of whom patiently listened to my questions and pointed me in the
rightdirection.StaffandcolleaguesattheWarburgInstitutehaveall
assistedinvariouswaysoverthelastfewyears;inparticular,Icannot
failtothankmycomradesintheMAclassof1999:DanielAndersson,
StefanBauer,MartaCachoCasalandSusanneMeurer.
Needless to say, although the aforementioned may take consid-
erablecreditforthemeritsofthiswork,theyarenotresponsiblefor
itsinaccuracies.
Parts of this study have been read at seminars at the Warburg
Institute,atSenateHouse,UniversityofLondonandatLincolnCol-
lege,Oxford;Iamgratefultothosewhoparticipatedfortheircom-
ments. Subsequently, further research and revision was undertaken
in Paris in 2005; this was largely made possible by the generosity of
CassandraPurdy,LudoPélissier,FranckPham-Van,JamesToveyand
TomBowring.IamalsogratefultoAndrewGow,BorisvanGooland
MsGeravanBedaffortheirassistanceinthepublicationprocess.