The Bonds of Humanity : Cicero’s Legacies in European Social and Political Thought, ca. 1100–ca. 1550

239 Pages·1.372 MB·English

by  Cary J. Nederman

T H E
B ON D S OF
H U M A N I T Y
Cicero’s Legacies in European Social and
Political Thought, ca. 1100–ca. 1550
c a ry j. n e de r m a n
The Bonds of Humanity

The Bonds of Humanity
Cicero’s Legacies in European Social and
Political Thought, ca. 1100–ca. 1550
Cary J. Nederman
The Pennsylvania State University Press
University Park, Pennsylvania
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Nederman, Cary J., author.
Title: The bonds of humanity : Cicero’s legacies in European social and
political thought, ca. 1100–ca. 1550 / Cary J. Nederman.
Description: University Park, Pennsylvania : The Pennsylvania State
University Press, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: “Surveys the many different impacts of Ciceronian theories on
a diverse array of texts and authors between 1100 and 1550, presenting
a counternarrative to the widely accepted belief in the dominance
of Aristotelianism in early European political and social thought”—
Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019047143 | ISBN 9780271085005 (cloth)
Subjects: LCSH: Cicero, Marcus Tullius—Influence. | Political science—
Europe—History. | Social sciences—Europe—History. | Ciceronianism.
Classification: LCC JA84.E9 N44 2020 | DDC 320.01—dc23
LC record available at https:// lccn .loc .gov /2019047143
Copyright © 2020 Cary J. Nederman
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press,
University Park, PA 16802–1003
The Pennsylvania State University Press is a member of the Association of
University Presses.
It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press to use acid- free
paper. Publications on uncoated stock satisfy the minimum requirements
of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Material, ansi z39.48–1992.
In memory of Edd Whetmore (1946–2016)
and
for Annie Wilson Whetmore

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to
remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life,
unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records
of history?
—Cicero, Orator 120
We are like dwarfs sitting on the shoulders of giants so that we
are able to see more and further than they, not indeed by reason
of the sharpness of our own vision or the height of our bod-
ies, but because we are lifted up on high and raised aloft by the
greatness of giants.
—John of Salisbury, Metalogicon 3.4
(ascribed to Bernard of Chartres)

Contents
Prefatory Remark (xi)
Acknowledgments (xiii)
Cited Works by Cicero (xvii)
Introduction: Ciceronian Ideas in Early European Social and
Political Thought (1)
1 Prelude to the Early European Cicero(s) (12)
2 Words and Deeds: Some Twelfth- Century Ciceros (39)
3 John of Salisbury: Self- Proclaimed Ciceronian (62)
4 Cicero in the Universities (85)
5 Ciceronian Impulses in Marsiglio of Padua (108)
6 Cicero Speaks French (123)
7 Ciceronian Imperialism (144)
8 Cicero Against Empire: Bartolomé de Las Casas (170)
Conclusion (185)
Notes (189)
Bibliography (201)
Index of Works Cited (215)
Index of Proper Names (217)
Index of Subjects (219)