George of Trebizond

to each of these, both to parents and to the rulers who have provided them with any good whatsoever; and most justly so. It ends: and confirm the words spoken here on your behalf with your deeds themselves.

This oration of Bessarion is not only unprinted, but is also rare in manuscript libraries; however, it exists in the Greek library of St. Mark in Venice, in codex CCCCCXXXIII, among various works of the same cardinal, under this not sufficiently accurate title: *Encomium on Trapezuntius*, εἰς Τραπεζοῦντα. I would gladly include it here, were it not too long; for it fills more than thirty-two leaves, written in a minute and concise hand.

GEORGIUS TRAPEZUNTIUS

NOTITIA

Regarding the fatherland, life, and studies of Georgius Trapezuntius, take these facts from the eulogies of Paulus Jovius: He traced his paternal origin from the famous Pontic city; though he was born in Crete, he adopted the name of Trapezuntius because he traced his paternal lineage back to the city of Trapezus in Cappadocia—fearing, as Gyraldus thinks, the verse of the ancient poet Epimenides, which the other poet Callimachus also emulated. ^A Since Greek works were being turned into Latin with a more successful style, he was considered almost the first of the Greeks in Rome, for he produced many Latin works from the Greek, and not unhappily. He possessed an acute and vivid intellect, though one biased against others. And except for Aristotle alone, whom he revered nearly as a deity, he tore all others—but especially Plato—to pieces with his sharp and slanderous tooth. Hence he stirred up the hatred of many, but especially the pen of Bessarion against himself; and since he could not withstand their assault, with his means of supporting life cut off on all sides by more powerful enemies, he was forced to live his life in misery. And indeed, he might have perished, crushed by the whirlwind of such great conflicts, had not King Alfonso—as his son Andreas records in his Ptolemaic preface to Pope Sixtus—summoned him to Naples and received him courteously and kindly, with a stipend that was not meager assigned each year. ^B In extreme old age, growing childish and having lost the memory of such great things—as Raphael Volaterranus also records in book XXI, who had heard him teach as a boy when he was already an old man before his memory failed—he wandered about the city alone in a worn-out cloak, wearing a hat, and supporting the limbs of his body, which were about to collapse, with a knotted staff; they say he lived near the Minerva, where he also died and was buried; and lest the name of so great a man slip away at the same time as he did, it is fixed by a marble inscription. But, alas, the fates of things! That stone stands before the eyes of all as they enter the church from the Scevophylaceum. The inscription, worn away by the chafing of the feet of passing men, fled in time, and in not so long a while, to such an extent that beyond the traces of the name "Trapezuntius" alone, the blind inscription, gradually fading, has flown away. ^C Genebrardus in his notes on Sixtus IV and Gualterus in his account of the 15th century relate that in his extreme old age he consigned all his learning to oblivion and died in the year 1486. Jacobus Gordonius, in his chronological work, states that in the year 1454 he was prefect of the gymnasium at Rome,

^A teaching rhetoric, and that, due to the severity of a disease, he forgot his own name (h). Rhodiginus, in *Lect. antiq.*, lib. xxi, last chapter, relates that on account of the books composed against Plato and the insults hurled at him, he was called Caco-Timon and Erinnyes, and was famously lashed by Bessarion.

1. He wrote many works, partly in one language and partly translating from one to the other, the greatest portion of which, as we have done in other cases, we shall enumerate. He translated, therefore, from Greek into Latin, the commentaries of Cyril on the Gospel of John (i).

2. *Item*, Cyril’s *Thesaurus*, or *Three Books on the Trinity*, often printed with the works of Cyril, and separately at Paris in 1514, in folio. (k) Cyril's *Thesaurus*, translated anew from the beginning by Bonaventura Vulcanius, partly corrected, and restored to the order in which it had been written by Cyril. For in the previous editions the entire order had been changed by Trapezuntius, many things of his own had been added, and not a few things had been wrongly translated, as Vulcanius endeavors to prove in his *Preface* and *Annotations*. This work, called *Thesaurus*, is attributed in most manuscript codices to Athanasius the Alexandrian, under whose name a Latin translation by Joannes Baptista Chamotius, not yet published as far as I know, is in my possession.

3. Several *Homilies* of Chrysostom on Matthew (l), among the works of Chrysostom.

4. Gregory of Nyssa’s *On the Life of Moses*, or *The Perfect Life*, a book (m), among the works of Nyssen, Basel 1562, and separately at Vienna in 1527 and often elsewhere. ^B [Bibliographical notes omitted] ^{C D}

(h) They say the same thing happened to Philippus Decius and Theodore Beza, as well as to that ancient figure Orbilius the grammarian, Messala the orator, and Hermogenes the sophist, not to mention others already recorded by Carolus Fridericus Pezold in his *Dissertatio de oblivione memorabili*, Leipzig 1703.

(i) Published at Paris, 1520, in folio. See the remarks I made in Vol. IX, p. 459 sqq. regarding the edition of the works of Cyril, Paris, Greek-Latin, 1638, in folio. (Fabr.) Jo. Fabricius, in *Historia biblioth. Fabric.* part 1, p. 137 sqq., reviewing the edition of the works of Cyril of Alexandria in Latin, collected in five volumes (Basel 1566) (on which and other editions, see also above, vol. IX, p. 454 sqq.) somewhat more extensively, observes that in Volume I are contained: 1) *Commentaries on the Gospel of St. John*, lib. x, translated by Georgius Trapezuntius, and at p. 140 sq. he provides certain details concerning this George. However, many learned men have judged that he acted in bad faith and with little success in translating the books of the Greeks. See Th. Pope Blount in *Censura celebriorum auctorum*, p. 460 sqq., and Adr. Baillet in *Les jugemens des savans sur les principaux ouvrages des auteurs*, tom. II, p. 381 sq., add. p. 122 sq., Amsterdam 1725, in quarto. (Harl.)

(k) See ibid. p. 461 sq. Hodius, *loc. cit.* p. 110 sq., first observes that the dedicatory epistle to Nicholas V, which Georgius Trapezuntius prefixed to the *Homilies* of Chrysostom on Matthew, is preserved, not yet published, in the manuscript volumes of Carolus Theyer in the county of Gloucester (cod. 170, s.n. 6540, in *Cat. mss. Angliæ*, etc. vol. II), and then from a codex of Lincoln College (no. cod. 26, s.n. 1346, in *Cat. cit.* vol. I, part 1), he took care to have the same George's letter to Franciscus Barbarus, written in 1470 and appended to that same translation, set in type. Add Zent, *Diss. Voss.* n. 5, and below at n. 26.

(m) Vol. IX, p. 193 sq. (Fabr.) Where, in not. q, I have already noted that it was published at Vienna in 1517, before 1527, and I have noted other things. Regarding the edition of the works of Gregory of Nyssa in Latin, Basel 1517, in folio, in whose catalogue...

^A printed by Philippus Nutius in 1570, the third book of these is contained in Volume II of the Councils edited at Cologne in 1538, in folio.

6. Eusebius's *Preparation for the Gospel*, fourteen books. Nicolaus V commissioned the version; it has been edited many times with Eusebius. Yet that interpretation is not held in high regard by learned men; indeed, it is not undeservedly criticized by most. For from the text of Eusebius, Trapezuntius removed much, to the extent that he often omits entire chapters, and—what not even Trapezuntius himself will excuse—the entire last book. What is more, he very often confuses the order and, for the most part, translates erroneously, so that, as he himself said, if Eusebius were to return now, he would either scarcely recognize that translation as being made from his own writings, or he would not recognize it at all. And Lilius Gyraldus in ^B *On the History of Poets*, dialogue 9: "Trapezuntius did not translate Eusebius into Latin, but plucked particles from here and there." And in dialogue 1, *On the Poets of his Time*: "Although he did not render Eusebius entirely according to the faith of the Greek archetype, as you can easily see from the Greek codex, he was rightly skilled in verses." And Petrus Halloix writes in his Notes to chapter 8 of the *Life of St. Polycarp* that this was not the least of the reasons—among others—why Franciscus Vigerus undertook another interpretation, and recently published one finished with great judgment. The opinion of Vigerus regarding this version was as follows: "There existed a hundred years ago Trapezuntius, a man both Greek by nation and, moreover, not unskillfully informed in Latin letters, who, if he had focused as much erudition and diligence on the interpretation of these books as he had time and leisure to confer, would have spared us the necessity of any other labor, while providing us with the pleasure of reading. But while he was striving—to use the excuse he himself offers—to equal the speed of translating with the desire of those by whom he was pressed, he stole Eusebius from Eusebius; and so, according to his own sense, he fashioned a face and appearance for him such that we have Trapezuntius more truly than Eusebius from him." Thus he changes the order and number of chapters; thus he sometimes interpolates sentences, periods, and even entire pages, while at other times—and this is far graver—he expunges and cuts them out. He does not even touch the fifteenth book. This fact was a source of deception even for very learned men, who, since they had not read the Greek of Eusebius, believed this last book had perished. A certain Grynæus, a man, as they say, of heretical leanings, had shown that he wished to do something to remedy such a long-standing disease; but he showed by the reality itself that he merely filled in some spots and gaps, if only partially, and often with new errors.

7. Regarding the version of the *History of the Saints Barlaam and Josaphat*, which is attributed to Georgius Trapezuntius and edited after the works of John Damascene, Basel 1548, in folio, from the workshop of Henricus Petrus, thus Billius: "I will say nothing else about the version of Trapezuntius except that it always appeared to me, even before, to be very crude and unpolished. But afterward, when through John a S. Andrea—a man who was as excellent and learned as he was well-supplied with a wealth of the best and most learned books—a copy of the Greek exemplar was made available, it appeared to be faulty in countless places: which I would surely attribute more willingly to excessive haste than to an ignorance of the Greek language, had there not been too many places in which the interpreter could scarcely beg for the mark of ignorance with the excuse of haste." This matter injected some suspicion into me that Trapezuntius might perhaps not be the parent of this version, had I not discovered that in certain other matters ^C he very often did not sufficiently grasp the Greek. However that may be, you have a new translation, if nothing else, one certainly a little clearer and more illustrious than the previous one, if I am not mistaken. But that it is not by Trapezuntius is shown most openly by Heribertus Rosweidus in *On the Lives of the Fathers*, book 1, in the Notes: "There exists another ancient version, which some assume to have been procured by Georgius Trapezuntius, under whose name it is edited in the Damascene edition of the year 1548, at Basel, from the workshop of Henricus Petrus. To me, the old translation seems much older than Trapezuntius. For it is found in parchment manuscripts, and even 300 years ago Vincentius used that translation in the *Speculum Historiale* cited above." Trapezuntius, however, lived within the memory of the Fathers, not yet 150 years having elapsed.

8. *The Rhetoric of Aristotle* ^A. They are available printed with the other works of Aristotle at Basel, 1558; Venice, 1560, and elsewhere.

9. *Ptolemy’s Almagest in XII books* ^B. A posthumous work, in folio, published at Basel by Henricus Petri. And these are the works that have been published; whatever is listed below is from unpublished manuscripts, and as far as I know, remains hidden in the shadows.

10. *Interpretation of Aristotle’s De anima. Physics. On Generation and Corruption. On Animals. [And Rhetoric]* ^C.

11. *Gregory of Nyssa, On the perfect man, unless it be the same as that on the life of Moses, or the perfect life* [see above, n. 4]. *Basil (I believe it should read Gregory) on the praises of St. Basil the Great*.

12. *By order of Nicholas V, Plato’s Laws*. Cardinal Bessarion examined this interpretation of Trapezuntius against the defamer of Plato in book V, p. 88 and following, of the Aldine edition, and corrected the errors as he was able. ^D Compare just before at n. 8, note c, regarding certain Latin pamphlets of Trapezuntius. (Harl.)

(t) See volume III of this library, p. 222, especially p. 305. (Fabr.) Compare Zeno, *Dissertatio Vossiana*, loc. cit., p. 10, who enumerates many editions. Saxius, *Historia litteraria typographicis Mediolanensibus*, preface p. 10, and history, fol. CLVI. Regarding the Basel edition by Valentin Curio, 1522, 4to; see Panzer, *Annales Typographici*, vol. VI, p. 235, n. 458. Regarding the edition of Aristotle’s *Rhetoric to Theodectes*, book II, translated by Georgius Trapezuntius, with the same Trapezuntius’s *Five Books of Rhetoric*, Venice in the house of Aldus, 1532, folio, Pinelli library, vol. III, p. 31 sq., and below at n. 14, note i. In the Royal Library at Turin, in Latin codex 404, there are several of Trapezuntius’s letters; an index to the book on Plato’s *Republic*; prefaces to the orations of Demosthenes; likewise to Plato’s *Republic* and the books of Aristotle’s *Rhetoric*; then an introduction to the books of Ptolemy’s *Almagest* and commentaries on the same. See the catalog of Latin codices in Turin, p. 98, where among other things it is noted that the codex is written in the hand of Trapezuntius himself, but is full of revisions. (Harl.)

(u) The translation of the *Almagest* by Trapezuntius first appeared at Venice in 1515, folio, edited by Petrus Lichtenstein of Cologne; then in 1528, folio, from the workshop of Luca Antonio Giunta by Lucas Gauricus the Neapolitan. Hence at Basel in 1541, folio, under the care of Hieronymus Gemusæus, together with other writings of Ptolemy from the translations of others, and in 1551, folio, revised by the Tübingen mathematician Oswald Schreckenfuchs. Allatius will provide Perottus’s unfavorable judgment of the work of Trapezuntius below on p. 378. (Fabr.) Compare above, vol. V, p. 282 sq., where Fabricius had written that the Venetian edition was published in 1525, but in this place he marked it more correctly as 1528. And the critic in vol. V, in the *Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung* of 1806, n. 229, p. 602, observed that in his copy it reads: "in the year of Christ 1528, as it was passing." Add Hody, loc. cit., p. 113 ff.; Boerner, loc. cit., p. 109 and p. 115; and Zeno, *Dissertatio Vossiana*, vol. I, p. 13 sq. Concerning the old edition, see Mittarelli in the *Appendix of books of the XV century to the library of St. Michael in Venice*, manuscript codices, col. 391 sq. and 458. (Harl.)

(v) These translations of the books of Aristotle, which Trapezuntius composed and which Allatius mentions, are, so far as I know, still unpublished. Politianus, who prefers the Trapezuntian translation of the books *On Animals* to the interpretation of Theodorus Gaza, asserts in chapter 90 of his *Miscellanea*—though he conceals this—that he sees traces of it everywhere. Janus Parrhasius was indignant at the questions raised through his *Epistles*, epistle 60. (Fabr.) Regarding the books of Aristotle translated into Latin by Georgius Trapezuntius, and their editions and certain codices, see Zeno, loc. cit., p. 10 sq., and regarding his controversy with Gaza, see Boerner, loc. cit., p. 116, who in a note has already praised the *Historia litterario-typographica Mediolanensis* of Jos. Antonius Saxius, p. 155 ff. Add above in vol. III, passim in the chapter on Aristotle. To the codices mentioned by Zeno, add codex 15 of the school at Coventry, n. 1460, *Catalogus manuscriptorum Angliæ*, volume II. Georgius Trapezuntius, translation of Aristotle’s *De anima*.—Leiden, in the public library, there is a Georgius Trapezuntius on the perversion of Aristotle’s *Problems* edited by a certain Theodorus Cage [by which name he is accustomed to call Gaza in contempt], and the protection of Aristotle’s philosophical problems for the divine Alphonsus, king of Aragon and both Sicilies. See the catalog of the Leiden library, p. 331, n. 151. (Harl.)

(x) It appears to be the same. (Fabr.) See at n. 4. Zeno, loc. cit., p. 8, n. 4, cites: Gregory of Nyssa, *On the life of Moses, or the perfect life*, translated by Trapezuntius, and mentions the editions; and p. 9, n. 7, the translation of the oration of Gregory of Nyssa *On the praises of Basil the Great, his brother*; n. 8, the oration of Gregory of Nazianzus *On the praises of St. Basil the Great* and his oration *On the praises of St. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria*; and he says that these two latter translations, made by the authority of Pope Nicholas V, exist in the Vatican codex 4249. (Harl.)

(y) This translation of Plato’s *Laws* is also not yet, as far as I know, published, although Hermolaus Barbarus read it as early as 1452, as is evident from his epistle to Trapezuntius, in which he greatly praises that interpretation. Trapezuntius dedicated it, by order of Nicholas V, to the most serene Republic of Venice. See the *Diarium Venetum*, vol. XVI, p. 415 and 429, and vol. XVII, p. 275; compare Zeno, *Dissertatio Vossiana*, vol. II, p. 11 ff. (Harl.) To these translations of Trapezuntius mentioned by Allatius, must be added the *Interpretation of the Centiloquium, or astrological aphorisms of Claudius Ptolemy*, dedicated to King Alphonsus of Naples and published with the commentaries of Trapezuntius at Venice, 1524. See Zeno, *Dissertatio Vossiana*, loc. cit., p. 14 sq., who on p. 15 adds the translation of Demosthenes’ *Oration against Ctesiphon* to King Alphonsus, in the codex of Jac. Soranzo, a senator. Regarding the *Greek Grammar*, see above at vol. VI, p.

(z) It should be examined whether this is a different *Epitome of Priscian* than the one Labbeus mentions as having been written by Trapezuntius, p. 45, *Bibliotheca nova manuscriptorum*. (Fabr.) That it is an *Epitome of Priscian* is also affirmed by Zeno in *Dissertatio Vossiana*, vol. II, p. 17, n. 34, and by Boerner, loc. cit., p. 117 sq., and both praise Saxius, *Historia typographica Mediolanensis*, p. 118, and *On the parts of speech, elaborated by Georgius Trapezuntius* (i.e., Georgius Trapezuntius’s *Compendium on the parts of speech from Priscian*), published at Milan in 1472, 4to, and again in 1474. It is testified, even from the author’s epistle to Colus Montanus, written at Rome in 1471 and appended to the work, that this labor was undertaken by him for the sake of his son Andreas, but was interrupted due to the difficulties of advancing age and mental affliction, and finally completed at the behest of Molanus. Compare Panzer, *Annales Typographici*, vol. II, p. 43, n. 10; and p. 19, n. 38. Trapezuntius’s *Compendium of Grammar*, twice at Rome in the Vatican Library. See Montfaucon, *Bibliotheca bibliothecarum manuscriptorum*, p. 56. B. (Harl.)

14. *Rhetoricorum libri V* (a), Basel 1522, in-4; and Paris 1538, in-8. The printer assisted us not a little in the emending of this work, and especially in restoring the Greek: and whereas Trapezuntius translated a good portion of the Greek rhetoric of Hermogenes into his own books regarding the precepts of the status of invention and the forms of elocution, in the meantime certain things were rendered into Latin in such a way that, because of the novelty of the vocabulary, you can hardly understand them unless you have read the Greek first. Therefore, we have sometimes written the Greek in the margin. Fernandus Alphonsus Herrera published *Scholia in the same books of Rhetoric* according to the method of Hermogenes of Tarsus, Complutum 1511, with the Life of the same Trapezuntius, in fol., as noted in *Bibliotheca Hispanica*, p. 570. And Basel with other commentaries on Cicero at Robert Winter’s, and at Oporinus 1553. Cleaned of errors, and illustrated with the scholia of Johannes Noviomagus (c) and Bartholomaeus Latomus, it was edited in the same place by Franc. Gryphius 1544, in 8, and soon at Strasbourg 1519, in 4. ...dialogue, *How far one should trust astrologers*, in 8. The latter two with Omar *De Nativitatibus*, Venice 1525, in 8 (e). From this labor, the envy of the wicked pursued Trapezuntius. For they hounded the man even with letters sent to him, so that from his epistle—whoever he may have been, for he did not even wish to address him by name—which is still unpublished (f), we can perceive: An anonymous [letter] to Georgius Trapezuntius. I have read what you composed on Ptolemy, and his book, reasonably called *Commentaries* [is nothing but] fruits. And I wondered not at your audacity, but at your ignorance; for what share of learning and wisdom do you have, or when have you rightly heard about such matters, or discovered them yourself, that you should reasonably be confident that you ought to tackle such things? I truly consider it a prodigy that your conscience prompts a man who knows nothing to think he knows everything. For previously I did not think that such arrogance and pride could exist in a man. For I see many, day by day, preparing to speak with the strength of Hercules, who are not even able to fight against Thersites, and writing on matters about which one has less perception than an ass has of a lyre. Nothing, therefore, hinders a man from writing, so that he does not... ...prevent him from exhibiting, lest anyone, in those things wherein he shows himself off, falls out of them and is hissed at. For it will be possible every day for those who are with...

^A posterity to judge things that are of no value. That your book is full of ignorance, and that it proclaims you to be dull-witted, will soon be plain to all, unless someone burns it up. For these reasons, using me as your advisor, do you yourself first entrust it to Vulcan. For it is more glorious for you that your wisdom be kept silent than that your ignorance be proclaimed.

An unknown person to Georgius Trapezuntius: I read through your commentaries on Ptolemy and his book—a fruit not named without reason—and I marveled at not only your audacity but also your ignorance. For what discipline or wisdom exists in you, or when have you ever heard anything correctly from them, or discovered anything yourself, that you should rightly have such audacity and lay your hands upon them? I truly consider it a monster, that while you yourself know nothing, you arrogate to yourself the knowledge of all. And formerly, indeed, I did not suppose that pride and self-esteem could sell and boast of similar things. And we see daily that many are tutored in words, and others—who cannot even descend into the lists, like Thersites—are Hercules; but no one writes those things which even an ass senses regarding the lyre. For no one is prevented from writing things that do not exist, lest he be hissed at in those matters in which he displays himself, not hitting the mark. For it will be possible daily for those, too, who are to come, to experience things of no worth. Furthermore, that the book is full of ignorance, and that you are also obtuse, will not long after be known to all, unless someone burns it first. Therefore, using my advice, do you first commit it to Vulcan. For it will be more glorious for you if your wisdom is kept silent than if your sloth and ignorance are proclaimed.

To these things, Trapezuntius replied beautifully and sharply:

Georgius to the Anonymous Person

^B Georgius to the Unknown Person: I have run through your letter full of envy, and I have pitied your condition: you judge us indeed as slothful and bold because we have explained the perplexing sayings of Ptolemy with study, exercise, and for the benefit of many—for what prevents adding this? But if we have not had a teacher in similar matters, nor have we found [them] out ourselves, yet it will be enough that we hear many, and those wise men, and that we run through our own writings, and that those things which we have set forth in our book have been discovered by us. Toward these, you have yourself as an ass toward a lyre. Why not? Since you advise that those things be committed to Vulcan which many far wiser than you admire and revere as oracles: and furthermore you imagine that we are hissed at because we depart from the truth; nor do you refrain from calling us slothful without mockery; which, if you had thought them true, you would never have sent the letter, but the perceived truth concerning them would have healed your envy. Now, however, consumed by affection, and not able to bear the things which are sung and circulated on behalf of our writings, you kick like an ass and tear yourself apart. Truly, however, if you wish to use us as advisors, bidding farewell to envy and putting away the backbiters, you will be well, and you will be more glorious by silence than by garrulity, and wiser than by the rabidness with which you inveigh against everyone like an insane person.

Concerning the version of Ptolemy and the Commentaries upon it, Nicolaus Perottus, Archbishop of Siponto, a not unbiased evaluator of the writings of Trapezuntius, has this to say: "In the Commentaries, which he published on the Great Mathematical Composition of Ptolemy, stolen by theft from Theon, and also in the margin of the Problems of Aristotle, which he perverted from the Greek tongue into Latin. And: He lies that he has not yet published Ptolemy—whom he had long since rendered not Latin but barbarous, and in many places a liar—and therefore he promises to send such an excellent work to him, and to dedicate it to his name, together with the Commentaries, in which he boasts of having explained that work: in which there is nothing of any moment whatsoever that has not been stolen from Theon, the expositor of Ptolemy. But we shall cite his most inept words: 'Ptolemy has long since been translated by us into the Latin tongue, but not yet published. And because we have found the Almagest not understood to this very day, we have explained it by our own Commentaries.'"

"" contends that it should be. Venice, 1523, by Jacopo Pensio da Lecco, in octavo. But since the books were filled with insults and malice against Plato, when Bessarion read them through, moved by the man’s rashness and having execrated the man’s mind, he replied ^A in four books to the defamer of Plato, leaving the name of Trapezuntius silent. In these, he first sets forth the wisdom and doctrine of Plato, then the similarity of his writings to our own ^B, as well as the probity of his character and his most upright life; and, to expose the man’s ignorance more and more, he added a fifth book, in which he collected, refuted, and corrected the errors and slips of Trapezuntius, which the latter had edited once and again in his interpretation of the laws of Plato, so that he clearly showed that he could not have passed judgment on such a philosopher, whom he did not in the least understand. And in order that a more accurate and absolute treatment might be held, he added his own discussion, *On Nature and Art*, written many years prior, against the same Trapezuntius, since that question pertained to both philosophers.

21. In the year 1465, when he was sailing from Crete to Constantinople, he heard from the Byzantines who were telling the tale that he [George of Trebizond] had submitted to a profession of the Christian faith, and he fulfilled the debt of his promise two years later in Rome, writing it in Latin. You have it in Sarius, vol. III, May 29. Regarding the credit of this story, see Petrus Canisius, *De B. Virgine*, book V, chapter 29.

22. Also an exposition of that passage of the Gospel of John: where he attempts to assert that John the Evangelist is not yet dead. It is read among the orthodoxographa printed at Basel, and in volume VI of the *Bibliotheca Patrum*, Paris, 1577, and elsewhere. Cardinal Bessarion inveighed against this opinion in a separate short work. But the good man, adds Possevinus, would say something else, if only he were still alive. We ourselves, in our own treatise ^C, *On the End and the Departure of the Life of John the Evangelist*, examine both opinions, and inquire which of them might be truer. [Conf. Zeno, loc. cit., p. 26, no. 56.]

23. Regarding what follows, whether they have been edited, let others inquire. *Funeral Oration* for Michael of Venice to the Emperor of the Turks.

24. *Isagoge*, and *Commentaries* on the *Magna Compositio* (Almagest) of Ptolemy.

25. *Orations*. [Conf. Hody, loc. cit., p. 119.]

26. *Epistolae*.

27. *Exhortation for the Recovery of the Holy Land*.

28. *Against Theodorus Gaza*. [Conf. Zeno, loc. cit., p. 20 sq. and Boerner, loc. cit., on Gaza, and other adversaries of Trapezuntius, especially Hody, loc. cit., p. 119 sqq., who also sets forth his heralds, or those who judged more mildly of him. (Harl.)]

29. *To Leonello d’Este*, and a response to the invective of Guarini. ^D

30. *Dialogus de Fide*. Gesner adds, 31, *On the Divine Substance According to the Doctrine of Aristotle*. 32. *On the Truth of the Christian Faith*.

33. *Epistles on Psalm XLIV*, some of which exist at Venice at S. Antonio. Although these may be had in Latin, I have no doubt that the greater part of them was also written by him in Greek, as will abundantly appear below when we enumerate his Greek treatises. For in that age, men who were famous in both literatures and excellent in the eloquence of both, in order to satisfy the foremost nations in both and to capture for themselves true and solid glory from both languages, would afterward set forth in Latin what they had first written in Greek, and conversely in Greek what they had written in Latin. Cardinal Bessarion, Theodorus Gaza, Argyropulus, and others confirm this statement. ^A

34. I have no doubt that he also composed Latin poems not unsuccessfully, as I know from Giraldi’s *Dialogue on the Poets of His Time*. Most learned men acknowledge that my [subject] Georgius composed verses, which you yourselves can openly recognize from those things which he converted into Latin concerning Orpheus, Musaeus, Linus, and many other Greek poets, in the work of Eusebius Pamphili.

35. Among those things which he composed in Greek, an *Epistle to Emperor John Palaeologus*, in which he urges him to travel to Italy to the synod ^B—that is, the Council of Basel—since he had swerved from the authority of the Roman Pontiff, and [urges him] to disregard it and not turn his mind toward it, was published in Greek and Latin with Simocatta and Phrantza by Jacobus Pontanus at Ingolstadt at the press of Adam Sartorius in 1640, in quarto. A manuscript is held in the library of the King of the French, and in the Bavarian, Augustan, and Vatican libraries; and it was in the possession of Antonius Augustinus under this title: *The Defence of Georgius Trapezuntius sent to the Roman Emperor John Palaeologus concerning his navigation to Italy*, codex 160. From what has been said, however, an error is manifest. And perhaps that which is preserved in the Augustan library is nothing other than the *Manuscript Index of Georgius Trapezuntius*, an autograph, as it seems, concerning King Manuel.

36. But his works that are unpublished in Greek include his *Introduction to the Great Construction of Ptolemy* (*Εἰσαγωγὴ εἰς τὴν μεγάλην τοῦ Πτολεμαίου σύνταξιν*), in the Augustan library and the Catholic library of the Escorial. (Allat.) See concerning the Escorial codex: Plüer, *Itinerary through Spain*, p. 170. According to the index of Gottlob Kranz in *Memorabilia of the Public Library of Elisabeth at Vratislav, formerly the Rehdigerian*, p. 85, there are in that library manuscripts of Ptolemy’s *Almagest* and his work on the *Quadripartite Construction*, as well as Georgius Trapezuntius’ *Notes on Ptolemy* and his *Theory of the Planets*. — Add above at no. 8, and Zenus, loc. cit., p. 13. (Harl.)

37. *To the monk Isaiah, whether nature acts by design* (*Πῶς φύσις βουλεύεται*), an epistle. It is in the Ambrosian library. Cardinal Bessarion translated it into Latin in book 4, *Against the Calumniator of Plato*, against which he also wrote. The opening is: "I shall ask, O friend Isaiah, to write to you as briefly as possible." But since the author’s name is confused in a number of codices, for many people make this booklet’s thesis—that "nature does everything for the sake of something"—the work of his teacher Theodorus Gaza, and many make it Bessarion’s, from which the error has crept in, let us learn [the truth] from the same Bessarion in book VI, chapter 3. For when Bessarion had written down some things briefly on this subject to Theodorus, Georgius Trapezuntius, having read them, in order to indulge the hatred he had conceived for Bessarion from the time when he had preferred Theodorus to him in learning, wrote against them. But in order to attack Bessarion more dishonestly, he pretended ^C that he did not know who the author of that booklet was, and that the debate was that of Theodorus, not Bessarion’s, and he pretended to be contradicting Theodorus. He shows further, Bessarion writes, that it was Athanasius who had given these writings to him, although it was actually Isaiah, not Athanasius. For he had only had the writings of Isaiah from us. He, however, as if it were of interest to us from whom he had received them, wrote a letter to us in which he signified that the little work had been offered to him by Athanasius. Therefore, Trapezuntius had given several epistles on the same subject, by which Bessarion— ^D

^A and Gaza replied. (Allat.) MS Moscow in the Synodal Library, codex 279. See Matthaei's Notes on the Greek codices of Moscow, p. 181, n. 27. Compare Zeno, loc. cit., p. 16, n. 30, who also praises Saxius' *History of Typography in Milan*, col. CLVII. (Harl.)

38. There was in the Lollian Library of the same a *Refutation*, concerning the same or another matter, which is not available to me.

39. I have seen, moreover, his treatise *On Almsgiving* (*De Eleemosyna*). Those who are fortunate, let them hear the instructions.

40. *To John Cubuclesius against the Greeks*. *Ad Joannem Cubuclesium contra Graecos*. *On the procession of the Holy Spirit* ^B. I was hesitant at first, to write to you. It is preserved in the Royal Library of the Escorial, and at the Vatican, and at the Ambrosiana in Milan, and with Alexander Cherubinus, in a most elegant script [(a)]. From this I note that this John Cubuclesius, whom Trapezuntius addresses, is another person than John Cubuclesius, also surnamed Caminiates, who, under the Emperor Leo the Wise, wrote not inelegantly about the siege and destruction of Thessalonica in the year from the creation of the world 6410, and from Christ the Savior 902.

41. *Epistle to the Monks in Crete and Priests concerning the procession of the Holy Spirit and concerning the one, holy and catholic Church*. ^C It is read in manuscript in the Vatican Library, the Altempsian, and the Bavarian codex 115. (Allat.) The Bavarian codex is today numbered 27. See Hardt in *Aretini Beyträgen*, etc., year 1803, n. 4, p. 16. Paris, in the Public Library, codex 1316, n. 4. Venice, in the Marcian Library, codex 589. See the Catalogue of the Greek Codices of Marciana, p. 309. (Harl.)

[43. *On Manuel the King*, an autograph, as it seems, in the codex of the Augustinian Library of Vienna. See Reiser, *Index of Manuscripts in the Augustinian Library*, p. 91; Allatius suspects that this work is the same as the epistle with a preface to John Palaeologus. Harl.]

[44. *The Method and Reason of Trapezuntius by which the feasts of the whole year, which are celebrated in the Church of the Greeks, can be discovered*, in Greek, which work was published at Jassy in the Principality of Wallachia, 1701, in quarto, and is at Paris in the Catalogue of the Royal Library, part 1, Paris 1759, in folio, among the Oriental Liturgies, D. n. 108, p. 212. See Zeno, loc. cit., p. 15, n. 24. Harl.]

[45. *To the illustrious man James Anthony Marcello, Venetian patrician, on the death of his son Valerius*, written in 1461, in the codex of the Marcello Library, according to Zeno, loc. cit., p. 25, n. 50. Harl.]

[46. *An interpretation of certain books of Diodorus Siculus*, in the Paris Library, codex 5712 among the Latin manuscripts, according to ^D Baerner, loc. cit., p. 120. Harl.]

Against George Trapezuntius, [(d)] who wanted the Turks to be considered superior to all emperors, wrote Nicolaus Junius de Athenodo, Bishop of Celegertanus, and prefect in the Castle of Sant'Angelo of the City. But Nicolaus Perottus stands against John Perottus, Bishop of Ameria. And first indeed Nicolaus Perottus critiques his eloquence: *But what is it*, he says, *that you attribute so much to your eloquence? It is said that Jupiter once searched with great effort for which kind of living creature would produce the most beautiful offspring. Therefore, every kind of wild beast, and even scaly fish, mixed with humans, flowed to him with their children. Among these, an ape also appeared, carrying a small one born between its arms, and showing it to Jupiter as if it were the most beautiful of all. Which thing, when it had happened to move God to laughter, the ape broke forth into this poem:*

*Let Jupiter know this, let victory remain if someone* *He presides over judgment, let this one be according to my judgment.*

*This seems to me to be happening in your presence, whose speech, since it is barbarous, childish, inept, and not even convenient for a moderately educated man, yet you extol your eloquence, and like the ape showing its son to Jupiter, you are mocked by him and by the whole crowd, a man clearly rude and barbarous. And: Do you not see, O ass, do you not feel, do you not understand that your writings are a cause of contempt, mockery, and derision for all? Whose speech, especially where you extol your eloquence, is broken, humble, infamous, and clearly childish. Where did you read among learned and eloquent men, "moved" [commotus] instead of "excited" [permotus] and "pushed" [impulsus]? Where do you have "eloquence by the grace of God above the rest," instead of "eloquence with God being propitious, superior to the rest"? Where did you learn to increase eloquence in such a way, of mind and...*

^A body, instead of "natural gifts of body and soul"? Where should I compare "that I might be useful," instead of "that I might confer"? Where, "I would bring an eternal name to him among all who know Latin," instead of "I would compare him to an eternal name among all who use the Latin tongue, or who are not ignorant of the Latin language"? But I do not wish to dwell longer on a most manifest matter. And finally, whatever of slander exists in the world, he has heaped it all upon Trapezuntius alone. For he does not fear to call him a beast, a useless scrap of putrid flesh, the famous Nestor of our age, from whose mouth flows speech more bitter than gall, an ass, a most wicked man, an executioner, a pernicious plague, a disgrace to mankind, the turpitude of the century, the dungheap of our republic, a most villainous, impure, impious, faithless, barbarian, sordid man, a traitor to the divine religion, a heretic, a foul and detestable monster, a crime, a disgrace, a pestilence, a rot, a portent, a prodigy, a most ferocious wild beast, the infamy of the human race, a most miserable man, the most greedy of our age, a famous, most monstrous, foul, most filthy and detestable monster, a Turk, nay, more Turkish than a Turk, more wicked, nay, the most Turkish of all the Turks, more shameful than all we have mentioned, and if anything more foul can be said. He adds: ^B "His audacity and the rashness of his mastery have grown too much. Three times within fifteen years he has experienced prison; first anger, second lust, third the crime of treason drove him into chains." He always increased his fury, and unpunished, he made him headlong toward any and all crimes. Furthermore: "For because, by I know not what chance, because he had once attained to learning in Italy by a certain opinion, in those early times when the studies of the excellent disciplines, which had long been buried, began to be recalled to light, after the arrival of the most learned men whom Pope Nicholas V summoned to the City from everywhere, your ignorance was detected, especially in the interpretation of the Problems of Aristotle, which Theodorus of Thessalonica, most learned in both tongues, published: suddenly a certain rabies of immense fury seized you, and as if a dragon having drunk the cup, you began to rage and openly carry on like a rabid dog, being anxiously borne hither and thither. And now, you began to exercise your genuine self not only against Theodorus himself, but against whomever you understood to favor Theodorus, although all by the best right owe the palm to him. Hence furies always agitate you; hence pride, indignation, and envy carry you headlong. ^C Hence you inveigh with insults against all; you spare neither princes, nor cardinals, nor supreme pontiffs." And these things, indeed, Perottus said against Trapezuntius, forgetting, to speak frankly, the modesty, gravity, and the duty of a good man, which he had so highly praised for the same Trapezuntius in Bessarion. All these things, he said, Bessarion could have brought forward and more, if he had wished; but he yielded this partly to his own gravity, so as not to defile and infect pure and chaste ears with such impurity of words, such obscenity of oration, and such a horrible and execrable commemoration of crimes; partly from gentleness and lenity, so as not to render you, however atrocious an enemy, hated by God and men, and not to place your salvation and life in danger. You see, therefore, that the most outstanding men of that age sharply examined and rejected the sayings of Trapezuntius, which is not a light argument for his doctrine; nevertheless, there were grave enmities between him and Bessarion, and great controversies of a literary nature; read Chapter 4, Book VI of Bessarion in *In Calumniatorem Platonis*.

But what Angelo Poliziano once thought of the doctrine and talent of Georgios Trapezuntius, he testified in his *Miscellanea*, ^D Chapter 90: "I confess that I wonder at this in Theodorus, why he wrote thus in the preface to his books *On the Animals* of Aristotle, by which he is especially commended, that he himself was helped by no one, and that he does not contend so much with other interpreters, whom, he says, it is no task to surpass, since Georgios Trapezuntius before him had translated those same books so brilliantly that, whether he rendered what he had found among the ancients, or by his own skill devised words newly thought out, referring utterly to the Latin style, through our fault, he first, I think, of the younger ones, taught why we ourselves have fewer names for things than the Greeks. Therefore, if anyone reads these books diligently, he will surely praise Gaza less, who almost insists upon his footsteps; but if he is an ingenuous man, I believe he will be annoyed at things being thus dissembled by Theodorus, by whom he had profited most, and being thus held almost in contempt and mockery, whose labors he was especially plotting against; but to us perhaps he will even be grateful, because we strive to restore these things to their own authorities. For how much Georgios pleased himself in that work, those words of his Preface signify, in which he says that he gives the books to the Latins no less elegant and emended than they are held among the Greeks. But Theodorus also tries to draw this to himself, that likewise, the things which he published in Greek about the months are taken from the proem of this interpretation of which we speak." But there were, as it appears, most bitter enmities between these Greeks, just as in his grammatical Commentary Theodorus also calls Georgios this "Choroboskon," which signifies a feeding pig, alluding, I think, to the old grammarian Georgios, to whom the Greeks gave the nickname Chœroboscos. Furthermore, the rest which Theodorus published here, where he is not to be accused of extortion, just as they are not lacking in erudition and diligence, so, as it seems to me, they are to be recalled to a certain stricter and more curious examination. In this place, we neither attempt to tarnish the bright names of learned men before the judgments of the unskilled, nor yet do we wish to dissemble what we desire in each, or to pass over one unhonored whom truth supports. But as we wish to have a style as ingenuous and ready as possible, so we wish it to be as little accusatory as possible, as little licentious, and harmful. For we do not so much profess craftiness as we exhibit industry. Vossius, however, in *Institutiones Oratoriae*, Book IV, Chapter 5, just as also Bessarion, postpones Trapezuntius to Gaza. "He did not," he says, "in truth deserve to be compared with Theodorus Gaza, to whom Angelo Poliziano compared him." Therefore, by right the most polished...

a man of talent for this reason in his letters. Nor am I ignorant that Trapezuntius observed certain errors in the translations of Gaza, which he corrected when warned, as Erasmus also recorded in the Catalog of his works. But I also know that there are far more things in Trapezuntius that Gaza could have criticized. For he could also have desired in him more fidelity in translating from Greek authors, and a greater mastery of the Latin language. And in book 11 of *De Historia Latina*, ch. 8: He left a son, Andreas Trapezuntius, who wrote a defense of his father against Theodorus Gaza; and he prefaced his father’s translation of Ptolemy’s work, *De Magna Constructione*, to Pope Sixtus. The daughter of Andreas married the Roman poet Faustus Magdalena, who was favored by Leo, and who perished in the year 1527 when Rome was captured and sacked by the army of Charles V, as Jovius bears witness. However, I do not agree with the opinion of Vossius, who there confuses the papal secretary, a man of the greatest esteem and dignity among ecclesiastics, with a scribe or amanuensis—a servile bondman, so to speak. Who, finally, to mention this also in passing, could read without indignation Thomas Ryves in his defense of Justinian against Alemannus, who writes that the custodian of the Vatican Library devotes his efforts to the pulverizing of the books of the Vatican Library—a function and a dignity most ample and beautiful, both by virtue of the custodians and by their learning?

SECOND NOTICE

Georgius, hailing from Trebizond, was born in Crete in the year 1396. Having left his homeland, he came to Italy at about the time that Eugenius IV had entered into the papacy. For when he had already spent several years there, he sent letters to Joannes Palaeologus, the Emperor of Constantinople, regarding his intended departure to the Council of Ferrara—having spurned the Council of Basel.

Having used Victorinus Feltrensis as his teacher of the Latin language, he opened schools in many places, yet he never attained a firm and stable seat for his fortunes anywhere in the world. First in Venice, with the support of the illustrious senator Franciscus Barbarus in his endeavors, he taught Greek letters, which Franciscus Philelphus had taught in that city shortly before.

When he had occupied this position for several years, he moved from Venice to Rome and there, under the auspices of Pope Eugenius IV, he made his learning available to others by teaching the art of eloquence and the science of philosophy; and he did so with such happy success in his labor that he had very many students, and from his discipline very learned men emerged. These efforts of Georgius, which were directed toward cultivating minds with learning, were aided by Pope Nicolaus V—who succeeded to the papacy after the death of Eugenius—with a liberally established stipend, and he wished for him to be raised in dignity and to be a secretary. Indeed, he then gave him the task of endowing the most excellent Greek books with Latin citizenship. However, this fortune of Georgius remained little established for him, and it failed with a sudden turn of events, as the Pope’s favor toward him was offended not long after. If one were to stand by his own testimony, he provoked the Pope’s anger against himself and squandered all the favor he had gained with him because he did not want the Latin interpretations of certain Greek Fathers and philosophers, which he had completed, to be attributed to others. But in truth, it is in no way credible that the Pope demanded such a thing; rather, it seems that the Pope developed an aversion to him when he learned from suitable critical opinions that Trapezuntius had not translated those Greek books into Latin very skillfully, and when he recognized his character as being full of arrogance and envy.

Georgius had many rivals and adversaries in Rome, and he was in conflict not only with Theodorus Gaza, who surpassed him in humanity and learning, but also with Laurentius Valla, even after he had undertaken the defense of Quintilian, and he contended with him on that account. Some time before he departed from the City, in the Theatre of Pompey, when the papal records were being reviewed and all the papal scribes were present, he and Poggius Florentinus competed against one another in an ignoble display. When Poggius provoked Trapezuntius with very insulting words, the latter thought the slanderer should be coerced with blows, and he struck him with his fist once and then again. Jovius mentions a strange exchange of words for blows, and Laurentius Valla reproaches Poggius for the same. But Poggius turns this reproach into mockery, and narrates that the affair was carried out not only with fists, but with heels, clubs, and iron, and he marvels that Valla did not hasten to such a savage conflict, as if [to serve as] a handful of rags with which he might wipe away the wounds.

Often and much, Trapezuntius used to frequent the house of Bessarion in Rome, and in the circle of the most learned

of men, both Greek and Latin, who were always to be seen at this seat of the Muses every day. Yet, he completely alienated the mind of this greatest of men, the common patron of the Greek exiles, by publishing a book full of abuse and insults, with which he lacerated the reputation of Plato, so that, having suppressed the authority of so great a philosopher, he might assert the primacy of Aristotle, whose follower he professed himself to be. However, when Bessarion realized that the philosopher whom he held in such high regard was being torn apart by his insults, moved by the indignity of the matter, he wrote several books for the defense of Plato’s glory against his detractor, whom he called "Trapezuntius." These works, indeed, were clearly excellent, and, as we have said in our commentary on Bessarion, encompassed the whole of Plato's doctrine in a refined style of commentary, and were singled out for high praise and most vehement approval by all the learned men among whom that age flourished; Trapezuntius paid heavy penalties for his rashness and was consumed in the fire of public odium. ^A

Georgius, after he had fallen into the hatred and displeasure of the Pontiff, betook himself to Naples, where refuge was provided by Alfonso, the king of the Aragonese and Sicilians, who, being moved by the study of the learning which he loved, received the exile into his faith and protection, kindly alleviating his poverty and supporting and sustaining both him and all his family with a settled and honorable stipend. Since Francisco Philelpho interceded for him with Pope Nicholas, the power of returning to Rome was granted to him.

In the year one thousand four hundred and sixty-five, Trapezuntius set out by ship to Crete and from there to Byzantium, and returning to Rome across the sea, he placed a remarkable monument to his journey. For a few months before he entered that "New Rome," on the day before the Kalends of June, a certain youth in that city, whose name was Andreas, by birth a Chian, was put to death, having been afflicted with the most bitter kind of torture because he was unwilling to renounce the Christian religion for Muhammadism. When Trapezuntius had received this account from the Byzantine sailors, and had later seen the body of the murdered man at Galata, still whole and incorrupt, he, having returned, committed to writing the memory of the event as it happened, in eternal remembrance of the tortures which that man had endured with the greatest constancy, his faith in the best Savior not having been changed in the slightest. ^B

As he grew old, it happened to Trapezuntius, as it did to many most famous men—Orbilio among the ancients, the celebrated grammarian Messala, and that most eminent orator and most outstanding rhetorician, Hermogenes—that, a decay of memory having occurred, he became completely oblivious of his own writings and even his own name. Although it comes to mind to fear that what we discovered to have happened to Gaza might be attributed to Georgius by a failure of memory; there are, however, some who contend that our old man, upon having received only a hundred gold coins from the Supreme Pontiff for his works—which he had dedicated, in the hope of a huge reward, on account of his own talent—was offended by the ingratitude of the man, and instantly threw the gold into the Tiber from the Aelian Bridge, and at the same time said indignantly: "My labors have perished; let the ungrateful reward for them perish as well," and that because of this, having a troubled mind, he lapsed into that misery.

Indeed, Trapezuntius, languishing with broken strength of spirit, was reduced to such a state of calamity that he seemed to be repugnant to everyone. Often and much, while he lived at Rome near the church of Minerva, he walked alone through the city, dressed in a sordid and worn little cloak and leaning on a knobby staff which might support his faltering steps. But at last, having endured many difficult troubles and struggles, he passed away, born ninety years prior, in the year fourteen hundred and eighty-six. ^C

I do not find a lack of talent, nor of learning, nor of zeal and industry in Trapezuntius; yet I acknowledge something which I do not at all admire in a Cretan. There is an old saying which Epimenides spoke and which the divine teacher of the Gentiles himself repeated: Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται κ. τ. λ. Although Trapezuntius did not want to be called a Cretan by birth—an evil thing, as Lil. Gyraldus opines, and fearing not a little the long-standing reputation of his country—he nonetheless did not easily put aside its reputation, nor its talent, nor its customs; he was, if I am any judge, crafty and deceitful, and desirous of glory at the expense of another’s reputation, prompt to provoke others—even those who were the highest—too much of himself, a sparing admirer of others, a man who experimented with everything to the highest degree beyond his own strengths.

He left behind a son, Andreas Trapezuntius, but one far inferior to his father in learning. This became easily apparent to everyone when, while his father was still alive, he undertook to defend his father’s reputation against Theodorus Gaza. For Gaza, the most learned of the men from across the sea who had fled from Greece, did not allow himself to be moved by the writings of this miserable adversary, but utterly despised his lust for slandering. The daughter of Andreas, according to Jovius, was married to Faustus Magdalena, a Roman of the poetic sort, who, dear to Pope Leo X for the elegance of his talent, was accustomed to tell many stories about the learning of Georgius, his grandfather-in-law, and the bitterness of his disputes; he had a miserable end to his life, being slaughtered in the sack of the city, in the year fifteen hundred and twenty-seven. ^D

A certain unknown author of an *epitaph* wrote these verses against Trapezuntius, which Bovius added to his eulogy:

Within this urn of Trapezuntius rest Georgius' bones, not dear to gods above, Because with sharp and all too wanton tongue He sought to rival Plato, peer of gods.