Bernardo Davanzati
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Bernardo Davanzati (; 31 August 1529 – 29 March 1606) was an Italian agronomist, economist and translator. Davanzati was a major translator of
Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...
. He also attempted the concision of Tacitus in his own Italian prose, taking a motto ''Strictius Arctius'' reflecting his ambition. The writings of Davanzati are still models of style.


Biography

Bernardo Davanzati was bom in Florence on August 8, 1529. He was the scion of a patrician Florentine family. By devoting himself to trade, first in
Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
and later at home, he made a large fortune which permitted him to dedicate much of his industrious life to historical research and literature. He was a founding member of the
Accademia della Crusca The (; ), generally abbreviated as La Crusca, is a Florence-based society of scholars of Italian linguistics and philology. It is one of the most important research institutions of the Italian language, as well as the oldest Academy#Linguisti ...
and a leading member of the Florentine Academy, of which he was elected Consul in 1575. Bernardo wrote with lively elegance and rare conciseness on many different subjects. In order to refute the charge of prolixity advanced against the Italians by the French scholar
Henri Estienne Henri Estienne ( , ; 1528 or 15311598), also known as Henricus Stephanus ( ), was a French printer and classical scholar. He was the eldest son of Robert Estienne. He was instructed in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew by his father and would eventually ...
, he undertook a translation of Tacitus' writings in which he succeeded in being more concise than the Latin original. In his work, Davanzati benefited from the help of leading classical scholars of the age, most notably Curzio Picchena, who published an important edition of Tacitus in 1607. Davanzati published his translation with the text opposite to it, and proved, page for page, that the Italian version, without omitting a word of the text, was often shorter, but nerer longer, than the original. Davanzati's translation is widely considered a classic of
Italian literature Italian literature is written in the Italian language, particularly within Italy. It may also refer to literature written by Italians or in other languages spoken in Italy, often languages that are closely related to modern Italian, including ...
. The Academicians Della Crusca have sanctioned the high merit of this work, by rejecting every other translation of Tacitus, and by quoting very often that of Davanzati in their Vocabolario. In 1582 Davanzati completed his translation of the preface to the
Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...
's ''Pneumatica'', which under the title ''Della natura del voto'' he dedicated to the architect and painter
Bernardo Buontalenti Bernardo Timante Buonacorsi ( – June 1608), known as Bernardo Buontalenti () and sometimes by the nickname "Bernardo delle Girandole", was an Italian Scenic design, stage designer, architect, theatrical designer, Military engineering, military ...
. The manuscript i
Firenze, BNCF, Banco Rari 223
The translation was published posthumously in 1862. His ''Scisma d'Inghilterra'' he Anglican Schism an account of contemporary English history first published in Rome in 1602. It was a concise version of a work of Girolamo Pollini, on the
English Reformation The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...
, which itself was dependent on a Latin work of 1585 written by Nicholas Sander and Edward Rishton.
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...
used its
imprimatur An imprimatur (sometimes abbreviated as ''impr.'', from Latin, "let it be printed") is a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement. The imprimatur rule in the Catho ...
s (from the 1638 edition) as an illustration on his ''
Areopagitica ''Areopagitica; A speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc'd Printing, to the Parlament of England'' is a 1644 prose polemic by the English poet, scholar, and polemical author John Milton opposing licensing. ''Areopagitica'' is ...
''. Davanzati was a close friend of
Filippo Sassetti Filippo Sassetti (1540–1588) was a traveller and merchant from a long-established Florentine mercantile family, who was born in Florence in 1540. Though his father had sold family interests and he had to commence as a clerk in a merchant busine ...
. Writing Davanzati in 1585, Sassetti noted some word similarities between Sanskrit and
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
(e.g. ''deva/dio'' 'God', ''sarpa/serpe'' 'snake', ''sapta/sette'' 'seven', ''ashta/otto'' 'eight', ''nava/nove'' 'nine'). This observation is today credited to have foreshadowed the later discovery of the
Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...
language family. A ''Life'' of Davanzati by the Florentine scholar Francesco Rondinelli was published at Florence in 1638.


Economic works and theories

Davanzati wrote on economics as a metallist. His works included ''Lezione delle monete'' (1588) and ''Notizie dei cambi'' (1582). Davanzati's ''Discourse upon Coins'' was translated by
John Toland John Toland (30 November 167011 March 1722) was an Irish rationalist philosopher and freethinker, and occasional satirist, who wrote numerous books and pamphlets on political philosophy and philosophy of religion, which are early expressions ...
(London: Awnsham and John Churchil, 1696) from the original 1588 edition. The two treatises are included in Pietro Custodi’s ''Scrittori classici italiani di economia politica''. To judge him correctly it must be considered that he was a contemporary of Gasparo Scaruffi (1582), of
Jean Bodin Jean Bodin (; ; – 1596) was a French jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse. Bodin lived during the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation and wrote against the background of reli ...
(1578), and of William Stafford (1581), men who wrote their books half a century before Petty and Locke were born (Petty, 1623-1687; Locke, 1632-1704). Davanzati begins his ''Lezione delle monete'' by showing how “
barter In trade, barter (derived from ''bareter'') is a system of exchange (economics), exchange in which participants in a financial transaction, transaction directly exchange good (economics), goods or service (economics), services for other goods ...
is a necessary complement of division of labour amongst men and amongst nations”; he then passes on to show how there is easily a “want of coincidence in barter,” which calls for a “medium of exchange”; and this must be capable of “subdivision,” and be a “store of value.” He then goes off upon a historical digression on currencies, and on returning from thence recognises in
money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: m ...
“a common measure of value.” This leads him to a dissertation on the causes of value in general, in which respect his remarks are also worth mentioning, because he has clearly shown that utility and value are “accidents of things” and functions of the “quantity in which they exist.” Proceeding to examples, he remarks “that one single egg was more worth to
Count Ugolino Ugolino della Gherardesca (March 1289), Count of Donoratico, was an Italian nobleman, politician and naval commander. He was frequently accused of treason and features prominently in Dante's ''Divine Comedy''. Biography In the 13th century, the ...
in his tower than all the gold of the world,” but that, on the other hand, “ten thousand grains of corn are only worth one of gold in the market,” and that “water, however necessary for life, is worth nothing, because superabundant.” In the siege of Casilinum “a rat was sold for 200
florins The Florentine florin was a gold coin (in Italian ''Fiorino d'oro'') struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard during that time. It had 54 grains () of nominally pure or 'fine' gold with a pu ...
, and the price could not be called exaggerated, because next day the man who sold it was starved and the man who bought it was still alive.” Returning to his argument, he says all the money in a country is worth all the goods, because the one exchanges for the other and nobody wants money for its own sake. Davanzati does not know anything about the rapidity of circulation of money, and only says every country needs a different quantity of money, as different human frames need different quantities of blood. The rest of his treatise is directed against artificial deterioration of money. The
mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...
ought to coin money gratuitously for everybody; and the fear that, if the coins are too good, they should be exported is simply illusory, because they must have been paid for by the exporter. Davanzati insists particularly on the injury the defrauding government is the first to experience when it tampers with the coin. In his essay on exchanges Davanzati goes minutely into the mechanism of exchanges, but he evidently does not suspect the causes of the phenomenon nor its limits.


Notes


Works cited

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External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davanzati, Bernardo 1529 births 1606 deaths Italian agronomists Italian economists Writers from Florence Italian Renaissance people Latin–Italian translators 16th-century Italian translators 16th-century Italian male writers 16th-century Italian writers Writers from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany 16th-century merchants 16th-century people from the Republic of Florence