Pasquale Marco Carcani (March or May 1721 ''–'' 12 November 1783) was an Italian scholar, philologist and jurist. He was also known by his pseudonym Sofista Pericalle.

Early life and education

Born in Naples to Marco Carcani and Maria Angela de Matteis,Castaldi 1840
pag.104
his family originated in "''Gefunio, or Junonis Fano in the agro Picentinorum''", now known as

Giffoni Valle Piana Giffoni Valle Piana, commonly known as Giffoni, is a town and comune in the Province of Salerno, Campania, southwestern Italy. Economy is mostly based on agriculture, with the presence of a small number of light industries and services firms. Hi ...

in the Principato Citra. The last of six brothers, when Pasquale was aged seven his mother remarried to Onofrio Roseti, meaning he was educated by his stepfather and his eldest brother Domenico, showing early promise. After studying grammar and rhetoric, he began studying maths with Mario Lama, physics professor at the Regia Università di Napoli and with his brother Nicola Maria (1716–1764), a

Piarist The Piarists (), officially named the Order of Poor Clerics Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools (), abbreviated SchP, is a religious order of clerics regular of the Catholic Church founded in 1617 by Spanish priest Joseph Calasanz ...

priest and director of the Collegio reale di San Carlo alle Mortelle. There he studied the then-dominant

Cartesianism Cartesianism is the philosophical and scientific system of René Descartes and its subsequent development by other seventeenth century thinkers, most notably François Poullain de la Barre, Nicolas Malebranche and Baruch Spinoza. Descartes i ...

and

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

's works in the original ancient Greek, having taught himself that language.de Rosa 1834
pag.65
He then studied canon and civil law under Marcello Papiniano Cusani, then theology and more canon law under Pio Milante.

Career

As a young man he joined the Accademia Cosentina. When Pasquale was aged 21 Domenico died and so devoted himself to jurisprudence and then politics, whilst sticking with literature, which was always his first love. He also attended lawyer, philologist and jurist Girolamo Pandolfelli's Accademia degli Emuli, hosted in Pandolfelli's own rooms, where he met the era's best scholars and adopted the pseodnym Sofista Pericalle.de Rosa 1834
pag.66
In 1755, he was chosen as one of the fifteen members of the Accademia Ercolanese, later becoming its permanent secretary, a role he held until his death. From 1759 to 1776, he was the right-hand-man to

marchese A marquess (; ) is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German-language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or widow) ...

Bernardo Tanucci Bernardo Tanucci (20 February 1698 – 29 April 1783) was an Italian jurist and statesman, who brought an enlightened absolutism style of government to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies for Charles III and his son Ferdinand IV. Biography Early ...

, ''Storia e politica'' (''op. cit.''), pag.86. secretary of state to Naples' royal court during the reign of

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

. Tanucci appointed him to the secretariat for foreign affairs and for the royal household, involved him in the most important matters and used him for difficult and secret missions.de Rosa 1834
pag.67
He died in Naples.

Works

* ''Le Antichità di

Ercolano Ercolano () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania of Southern Italy. It lies at the western foot of Mount Vesuvius, on the Bay of Naples, just southeast of the city of Naples. The medieval town of Resina () was bui ...

'' * ''Componimenti vari per la morte di D. Domenico Jannacone''

Notes

References

Bibliography (in Italian)

* Giuseppe Niccolò F. Castaldi, ''Della Regale Accademia Ercolanese dalla sua fondazione sinora con un cenno biografico de' suoi soci ordinari'', Napoli, 1840, p. 104. * Carlo Antonio de Rosa marchese di Villarosa, ''Ritratti poetici di alcuni uomini di lettere antichi e moderni del regno di Napoli, stamperia e cartiera del Fibreno'', 1834, p. 64 and following * Università di Roma, Istituto di studi storico-politici, ''Storia e politica'', Giuffrè editore, 1984.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Carcani, Pasquale 1721 births 1783 deaths People from Naples Italian philologists Italian jurists Italian classical scholars