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Byzantium and the Italian Renaissance
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Page 8
At Rome the house of Bessarion became a center of humanistic intercourse. The most eminent representatives of humanism, such as Poggio and Valla, were his friends. Valla in reference to Bessarion's excellent knowledge of both classical languages called him the best Greek of the Latins and the best Latin of the Greeks (latinorum graecissimus, graecorum latinissimus). Purchasing books or ordering copies made, Bessarion collected an excellent library comprising the works of the Fathers of the Eastern and Western churches and works of theological thought in general, as well as humanistic literature. Towards the end of his life he bestowed his very rich library upon the city of Venice, where it became one of the chief foundations of the famous present-day library of St. Mark (Bibliotheca Marciana); at the entrance door the portrait of Bessarion may be still seen.
Another idea in which he was greatly interested was that of a crusade against the Turks. At the news of the fall of Constantinople, Bessarion wrote immediately to the Doge of Venice calling his attention to the danger threatening Europe from the Turks and for this reason appealing to him to take arms against them. At that time Europe was unable to understand any other reason. Bessarion died at Ravenna in 1472, whence his body was transported to Rome for a solemn burial.
Bessarion's literary activity was carried on in Italy. Besides numerous works of theological character concerning union, A Dogmatic Oration, the refutation of Marcus Eugenicus (Mark of Ephesus), and works of polemic and exegesis, Bessarion left translations of some classical authors, among them Demosthenes and Xenophon, and of the metaphysics of Aristotle, works much more characteristic of him as a humanist. An admirer of Plato, Bessarion in his work Against Plato's Calumniator (In calumniatorem Platonis), succeeded in remaining more or less objective, which cannot be said of the other champions of Aristotelianism and Platonism. Only a short time ago was published Bessarion's long Encomium (Eulogy) of his native city, Trebizond, which is of great importance from the historical point of view.
Bessarion presents, as his French biographer said, better than anyone else among the eminent men of his time an example of the fusion of the Greek genius with the Latin genius, from which the Renaissance sprang forth. Bessarion lived on the threshold between two ages. He is a Greek who becomes Latin, ... a cardinal who protects scholars, a scholastic theologian who breaks lances in favor of Platonism, an enthusiastic admirer of antiquity who has contributed more than anyone to originating the modern age. He is connected with the Middle Ages by the ideal which he endeavors to realize in the Christian union and the crusade; and he predominates over his age and urges it with ardor into the new ways of progress and the Renaissance. One of the contemporaries of Bessarion, Michael Apostolius (Apostolios), full of enthusiasm for Bessarion's personality and talent, made him almost a demigod. In his funeral oration for Bessarion he wrote: (Bessarion) was the reflection of divine and true wisdom. Many of Bessarion's writings are still not published. An interesting modern tribute is that at the end of the nineteenth century Italy began issuing a Catholic periodical pursuing the aim of the union of the churches, under the title Bessarione.
A History of the Byzantine Empire - Table of Contents
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Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/vasilief/byzantium-renaissance.asp?pg=8
