Francesco Robortello

Francesco Robortello

Francesco Robortello (also Francesco Robertello , Latinized Franciscus Robortellus ; * 1516 in Udine , † 1567 in Padua ) was an Italian Renaissance humanist . He taught as a professor at various Italian universities. He was of great importance as a theorist of science and as an editor and commentator on works of ancient literature.

Francesco Robortello studied at the University of Bologna . In 1538 he became a professor at the University of Lucca and taught philosophy, Latin, Greek and rhetoric . In 1543 he moved to the University of Pisa , 1549 to the University of Venice , 1552 to the University of Padua , 1557 to the University of Bologna and in 1560 again to Padua, where he died seven years later.

Robortello’s most important works are the publication of the works of Aeschylus in 1552 and the publication of the work On the Sublime ( Pseudo-Longinos ) in 1554. At Aeschylus he arranged the editio princeps of the scholias and brought in a large number of emendations . The publication of Beyond the Sublime was of hardly measurable impact and significance for further research. He wrote the first modern commentary on Aristotle 's poetics , which laid the foundations for later debates on various points. He also reinterpreted some of Aristotle's statements from the perspective of his time. As a theoretician, for example, he emerged with a thesis on textual criticism, in which he was the first modern philologist to reflect on the working methods of his own science. In his work Disputatio he dealt with the methods of historiography.

Robortello was a decidedly argumentative character with a lofty temperament. With Carolus Sigonius , who was superior to him in this area , he had a biting argument about the interpretation of Roman history . His contentiousness earned him the nickname Canis grammaticus ("grammatical dog").

Fonts

• De historica facultate disputatio. Florence 1548 (also De arte historica )
• De rhetorica facultate. 1548.
• In librum Aristotelis De arte poeticam explicationes. Florence 1548 (also 1555).
• Dionysii Longini rhetoris praestantissimi liber de grandi sive sublimiorationis genere ... cum adnotationibus. Basel 1554.
• Thesaurus criticus. 1557 (also 1604).
• De arte sive ratione corrigendi antiquos libros libri II. Padua 1557 (also 1662).
• De artificio dicendi. 1567.

Editions and translations

• Giuseppe Pompella (ed.): Francisci Robortelli Utinensis De arte sive ratione corrigendi antiquorum libros disputatio. Loffredo, Napoli 1975 (critical edition with Italian translation and commentary)

literature

• Kurt Sier : Robortello, Francesco. In: Peter Kuhlmann , Helmuth Schneider (Hrsg.): History of the ancient sciences. Biographical Lexicon (= The New Pauly . Supplements. Volume 6). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2012, ISBN 978-3-476-02033-8 , Sp. 1070 f.

Web links

• Robortello in the Philosophengalerie of the website of the University of Düsseldorf