Humanities & Classics 1002
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Renaissance Forum
Humanities & Classics 1002 |
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In Reply to: PLEASE POST YOUR SECOND REQUIRED POSTING AS FOLLOWUPS TO THIS POST posted by Tom Bacig on January 13, 1999 at 21:59:54:
In Alberti's On the Family, he writes of the importance of education.He believed education was necessary to leading a good life. He wanted his children to have the best education possible; feeling strongly that an educated mind was the key to leading a successful and personally fulfilling life. He felt strongly that people who were idle and didn't want to become knowledgeable didn't deserve to live.
"They say that the same thing happens to a mind as a bottle: if at first one puts bad wine in it, its taste will never disappear." Alberti used this quote to show the importance of a good education at the very beginning of a child's life. To be an ideal Renaissance person, you had to be well-schooled in letters, poets, philosophers, geometry, be able to read in Greek and Latin, and have read all the most eloquent books by the best authors.
Idleness was not acceptable, it was a sin. There was so much to be learned, and to sit and waste time could lead to misbehaving. Albeti believed that buying, selling, trading, and making lots of money was noble. He wrote that "Riches are useful for gaining friends and praise, for with them we can help those in need." As noble as that sounds, people of those times, as well as today, seem more intent on the fist part, (to have money and with it the praise and friendship), than they were on the second part (about doing good deeds to help those less fortunate).
While Alberti relied soley on education to make a person "better" or "proper", Castiglione felt it was more importand to be equally knowledgeable, and good at, all things (not only intellectual subjects). He felt it was important to "cultivate his full potential as a human being" (Fiero 31).
Castiglione had very specific requirements for the "well rounded person." Even height matttered. one couldn't be too tall or too short; "for both of these conditions excite such a certain contemptuous surprise...much in the same way we gaze on monsters."
I like Alberti's writing much better than Castiglione's. To Alberti, all that mattered was a good education, and to be well knowledgeable in all intellectual subjects. It was much more difficult to fit into Castiglione's view of the Renaissance person. It seems silly to that someone who is too tall can't be considered a wel-rounded person because of something he has no control over. I think Castiglione made up this silly checklist which only he and a few others could fit into.
He even had rules that women needed to follow. ... "And in her talk she should know how to chose those things that are adapted to the quality of him with whom she is speaking and should be cautious lest occasionally, without intending it, she utter words that may offend him." Women weren't allowed to disagree. It would have been so annoying to be a woman back then. When talking to a man, you would have to graciously agree with all he said. "Oh yes, you're so right. Why, I feel I am of the exact same opinion. How smart you are!" I am not on this Earth to praise men. The only reason a man would even want to talk to a woman would be so that he acn hear himself be constantly praised. At lest Castiglione allowed women to be educated.
"Woman lacks much who lacks beauty." Men can beugly and still be "well-rounded" but a woman must be pretty. I am not surprised. Even back then, women were objects for men to look at and hear praise from.
According to Machiavelli, it doesn't seem that a prince even needs education (aside from being able to read The Prince, of course). He claims that for a prince to be successful in ruling, he should be feared. Intellegence, talent, and wit didn't matter. As long as a prince was able to successfully govern his territory, he was to be feared, followed, and admired.