WWWBoard/LT

Renaissance Forum   Humanities & Classics 1002

[ HOME] [ POST ] [ SEARCH ] [ HELP ]

It seems as though the ideal renaissance person must be many things all at once. According to Castiglione, as said in the "Courtier", men are to be skilled in war as well as scholary things. In fact to just be skilled in these things is too weak of a summary for Castiglione's thoughts. The "Courtier" it seems wants both men and women to be excellent examples of humanity, they must have a knowledge of everything. Men must be worriors, sholars, poets, hunters, and musicians all at the same time. Women must be gentle, shy, timid while not being too extravagant or too eager to demonstrate their skill lest they tarnish their image of gentle femininity. A courtier must have his main proffesion in arms, he must stay fit and be able to demonstrate hes agility and vigor all the time. Machiavelli points out qualities that he believes would make a good prince, he does much the same thing that Castiglione does, he decides a person must be everything at the same time. Machiavelli paints a picture of a rather cruel prince who, although cruel, has the best interests of his subjects in mind While being miserly he will demonstrate his independence and forthought by haveing to borrow money in hard times. He states the need for the prince o be skilled in many things like war, art, poetry ,andthe classics, this will bring him a better view of humanity. Both the "Courtier", and "The Prince" reflect the education that is called for in Alberti's "On the Family". Both put down idleness by the suggestion that a courtier and a prince need to be skilled in the arts as well as war. A person cannot attain the amount of knowledge called for in these writings without spending large amounts of time and energy devoted to the simple act of learning.
I personally do not think that it is possible for a single person to attain the amount of education and skill pointed out in either one of the writings. Machiavelli points out that "it would be praisworthy" if a person coould exhibit all the qualities that are hood but that the human condition doesn't allow it". why would these works have been written if it were not thought that there was a need for certain goals to be expected of people in the ruling class?

Follow Ups:

POST FOLLOWUP

NAME:
E-MAIL:
SUBJECT:

RESPONSE:
: It seems as though the ideal renaissance person must be many things all at once. According to Castiglione, as said in the "Courtier", men are to be skilled in war as well as scholary things. In fact to just be skilled in these things is too weak of a summary for Castiglione's thoughts. The "Courtier" it seems wants both men and women to be excellent examples of humanity, they must have a knowledge of everything. Men must be worriors, sholars, poets, hunters, and musicians all at the same time. Women must be gentle, shy, timid while not being too extravagant or too eager to demonstrate their skill lest they tarnish their image of gentle femininity. A courtier must have his main proffesion in arms, he must stay fit and be able to demonstrate hes agility and vigor all the time. Machiavelli points out qualities that he believes would make a good prince, he does much the same thing that Castiglione does, he decides a person must be everything at the same time. Machiavelli paints a picture of a rather cruel prince who, although cruel, has the best interests of his subjects in mind While being miserly he will demonstrate his independence and forthought by haveing to borrow money in hard times. He states the need for the prince o be skilled in many things like war, art, poetry ,andthe classics, this will bring him a better view of humanity. Both the "Courtier", and "The Prince" reflect the education that is called for in Alberti's "On the Family". Both put down idleness by the suggestion that a courtier and a prince need to be skilled in the arts as well as war. A person cannot attain the amount of knowledge called for in these writings without spending large amounts of time and energy devoted to the simple act of learning. : I personally do not think that it is possible for a single person to attain the amount of education and skill pointed out in either one of the writings. Machiavelli points out that "it would be praisworthy" if a person coould exhibit all the qualities that are hood but that the human condition doesn't allow it". why would these works have been written if it were not thought that there was a need for certain goals to be expected of people in the ruling class?

LINK URL:
LINK TITLE:
IMAGE URL:

---

[ HOME] [ POST ] [ SEARCH ] [ HELP ]

---

[ FOLLOW UPS ] [ POST FOLLOWUP ]

---

 

v 1.1 is made possbile by:

Original WWWBoard design and code by Matt Wright.  See the original at Matt's Script Acrhive. WWWBoard v2.0a © 1998 Matt Wright. WWWBoard/LT Upgrade by Lion Templin of Leonine Computational Resources.  © 1998 Lion Templin. Tom Bacig, University of Minnesota, Duluth.  © 1998 Tom Bacig.