Ciceronianism was the tendency among the Renaissance humanists to imitate the language and style of

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

(106–43 BC) and hold it up as a model of

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. The term was coined in the 19th century from the much older term ''ciceronianus'', 'a Ciceronian'.Manfred Landfester
"Ciceronianism"
in ''

Brill's New Pauly The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field o ...

''. That term is contrasted with ''christianus'' (Christian) in

Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...

in the 4th century.

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

employs it the same way in the title of his dialogue '' Ciceronianus'' (1528).Fosca Mariani Zini
"Ciceronianism"
in Marco Sgarbi (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy'' (Springer, 2022), pp. 747–750. During the Renaissance, however, the term could have both positive and negative connotations, depending on whether slavish or creative imitation was in view. Cicero's writing was already considered classical by

Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician born in Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quin ...

in the 1st century. He was admired for his style in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, but only his ''

De inventione ''De Inventione'' is a handbook for orators that Cicero composed when he was still a young man. Quintilian tells us that Cicero considered the work rendered obsolete by his later writings. Originally four books in all, only two have survived into m ...

'' and ''Topica'' were widely known.A. García-Bryce
"Ciceronianism"
in Roland Greene (ed.), ''The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics'', 4th ed. (Princeton University Press, 2017). His language, however, had little influence on

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...

. His rise to preeminence began with

Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...

's discovery of the ''

Epistulae ad Atticum ''Epistulae ad Atticum'' (Latin for "Letters to Atticus") is a collection of letters from Roman politician and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero to his close friend Titus Pomponius Atticus. The letters in this collection, together with Cicero's oth ...

'' in 1345 and with the discovery of ''

De oratore ''De Oratore'' (''On the Orator'') is a dialogue written by Cicero in 55 BC. It is set in 91 BC, when Lucius Licinius Crassus dies, just before the Social War and the civil war between Marius and Sulla, during which Marcus Antonius, the oth ...

'', ''Orator'', and ''Brutus'' by in 1421. It culminated in

Pietro Bembo Pietro Bembo, (; 20 May 1470 – 18 January 1547) was a Venetian scholar, poet, and literary theory, literary theorist who also was a member of the Knights Hospitaller and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. As an intellectual of the Italian Re ...

establishing a Ciceronian style for official papal documents in the 16th century. By that time, however, there was also a robust anti-Ciceronianism, as exemplified by Erasmus' ''Ciceronianus''. Against Erasmsus,

Julius Caesar Scaliger Julius Caesar Scaliger (; 23 April or August 1484 – 21 October 1558), or Giulio Cesare della Scala, was an Italian scholar and physician, who spent a major part of his career in France. He employed the techniques and discoveries of Renaissance ...

wrote his ''Oratio pro Cicerone contra Desiderium Erasmum'' ('Speech for Cicero against Erasmus', 1531–1537) and

Étienne Dolet Étienne Dolet (; 3 August 15093 August 1546) was a French scholar, translation, translator and printer (publisher), printer. He was a controversial figure throughout his lifetime, which was buffeted by the opposing forces of the Renaissance and ...

his pamphlet ''Erasmianus'' (1535). Nizolius

Anti-Ciceronianism was in practice often just moderate Ciceronianism opposed to radical or strict Ciceronianism. In his dispute of 1485 with Paolo Cortesi, who took Cicero to be the sole model to which

Neo-Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...

authors should look, Angelo Poliziano labelled the radical Ciceronians ''simii Ciceronis'', 'apes of Cicero'. In general, radicals looked to Cicero primarily or only as a model of language. Anti-Ciceronianism, strongest in Germany, criticized such reliance on a pagan author as incompatible with a Christian age. By the time of

Petrus Ramus Petrus Ramus (; Anglicized as Peter Ramus ; 1515 – 26 August 1572) was a French humanist, logician, and educational reformer. A Protestant convert, he was a victim of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. Early life He was born at the village ...

' ''Ciceronianus'' (1577), Ciceronianism was fading and Tacitism, a new trend toward later Latin authors, such as

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'' ( ...

, was ascendant.

List of Renaissance Ciceronians

* Paolo Cortesi *

* Marco Girolamo Vida *

Jacopo Sadoleto Jacopo Sadoleto (July 12, 1477 – October 18, 1547) was an Italian Catholic cardinal and counterreformer noted for his correspondence with and opposition to John Calvin. Life He was born at Modena in 1477, the son of a noted jurist, he acqu ...

* Christophe de Longueil * Sebastián Fox Morcillo *

Guillaume Budé Guillaume Budé (; Onomastic Latinisation, Latinized as Guilielmus Budaeus; January 26, 1467 – August 20, 1540) was a French scholar and humanist. He was involved in the founding of Collegium Trilingue, which later became the Collège de Fra ...

* Mario Nizolio

References

{{Reflist

External links

Ciceronianism
Oxford Bibliographies Renaissance humanism Neo-Latin literature Cicero