Giulio Camillo
Encyclopedia
Giulio "Delminio" Camillo (ca. 1480–1544) was an Italian philosopher. He is best known for his theatre, described in his posthumously published work L’Idea del Theatro.
, in the north-east of Italy, and probably spent his childhood in Portogruaro
. He took his family name, Delminio, from the birthplace of his father, in Dalmatia (in present-day Croatia). He studied philosophy and jurisprudence at the University of Padua
in the years around 1500, and subsequently taught eloquence and logic at San Vito, an academy in Friuli. In 1508 he was involved in the short-lived Accademia Liviana at Pordenone. The Academy attracted an eclectic mix of brilliant and radical thinkers. Here, Camillo would have come in contact with astronomer and physician, Girolamo Fracastoro
, and the poets, Giovanni Cotta and Andrea Navagero.
Around the first decade of the sixteenth century Camillo lived in Venice
, where he was in close contact with some of the most influential writers and artists of Europe. He stayed near the house of the famous printer, Aldus Manutius
, in the Sestiere di San Polo, in the centre of the city. He knew the philologist Desiderius Erasmus
(although Erasmus and Viglius
did not show much affection for Camillo's mysticisms) and worked with the painter Titian
. He was part of the cultural circle that included Aretin and Bembo
and had personal ties with the architect, Serlio, and his family. During this time, Camillo spent considerable care in charting regional differentiations in the Friulian dialect and was a champion of the local use of Italian, rather than Latin. Throughout this time he also worked on his ideas for the Theatre.
Camillo is believed to have held a chair of Dialectics at the University of Bologna from around 1521 to 1525; he attended the coronation of Charles V
in 1529.
In 1530, Camillo journeyed to Paris at the invitation of Francis I of France
. He produced a manuscript titled Theatro della Sapientia in 1530, for Francis, in which his ideas for the Theatre were outlined. He impressed Francis and was given funds to develop his ideas, remaining in France till around 1537.
Eventually, remuneration from Francis I began to dry up and Camillo decided to return to Italy. During the latter part of 1543, or very early in 1544, he accepted an offer to go to Milan. Here, after much persuasion, Camillo finally dictated his plan of the Theatre. The manuscript was completed early in February 1544. Three months later, on the 15th of May, Camillo died. L’ Idea del Theatro was finally published in 1550, in Florence, by Lorenzo Torrentino.
Elsewhere Camillo notes that:
At the end of the chapter titled "Le Gorgoni", Camillo identifies the faculty of "intending" with the "practical intellect" ("intelletto prattico"), which is elsewhere explicitly distinguished from the "acting intellect" ("intelletto agente"), as well as from Cicero's "the force of intelligence," which is vulgarly referred to as "ingenuity". In Camillo's "Theatro" each "image...will signify for us intelligible things that cannot fall under the senses, but that we can only imagine or intend illuminated by the acting intellect". While "Intellect is of the spirit", the "acting intellect" (Aristotle) is said to correspond to Plato's "mind" ("mente") and Augustine's "superior part" ("portion superiore"). In virtue of this intellect, we can "intend". The practical intellect, on the other hand, indicates "possessing" ("possedere") by "having already apprehended". In short, there are "three intellects" in us: 1) a "possible" ("possibile") or "passive" ("passibile") intellect, or ingenuity entailing the "ability" to intend; 2) the intellective faculty per se, or "intending" as "practical intellect"; and 3) the "active intellect" that makes us intend, just as the Sun allows us to see all things beneath it. Camillo argues against "philosophers ignorant of God" who identify the "active intellect" with human reason, insofar as this one is usually absent from men, who are merely capable of it. The "active intellect" must reside safely and eternally "in God", so as to safeguard man's capacity to reason. As other ancient mythic "images" or "symbols," that of the three "Gorgoni" is used to protect the verities of the mind, or "the mystery of truth" ("il mistero della verita') from being profaned. By casting the principle of reason in the authoritative form of God, philosophers who do not ignore God defend reason from being turned into an instrument of the physical senses below it.
, the philologist, probably met Camillo in Venice around 1506-9. Erasmus mentions ‘sharing a mattress’with Camillo as well naming him in his satirical Ciceronianus (1528). Erasmus was scathing of Camillo’s work, and in a letter dated 5 July 1532 talks about the Theatre in terms of it being able to excite as great a ‘tragedy in study’ as that which ‘Luther produced in religion’.
Camillo’s response to Erasmus, Trattato dell’ Imitatione, written in Paris, was published in the year of Camillo’s death, 1544.
Biography
Camillo was born around 1480 in FriuliFriuli
Friuli is an area of northeastern Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, i.e. the province of Udine, Pordenone, Gorizia, excluding Trieste...
, in the north-east of Italy, and probably spent his childhood in Portogruaro
Portogruaro
Portogruaro is a town and comune in the province of Venice, Veneto, northern Italy.-History:Portogruaro was founded in 1140, when the bishop of Concordia, Gervinus, gave right to several fishermen to settle here and build a river port. A castle existed here, however, as early as the 10th century...
. He took his family name, Delminio, from the birthplace of his father, in Dalmatia (in present-day Croatia). He studied philosophy and jurisprudence at the University of Padua
University of Padua
The University of Padua is a premier Italian university located in the city of Padua, Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 as a school of law and was one of the most prominent universities in early modern Europe. It is among the earliest universities of the world and the second...
in the years around 1500, and subsequently taught eloquence and logic at San Vito, an academy in Friuli. In 1508 he was involved in the short-lived Accademia Liviana at Pordenone. The Academy attracted an eclectic mix of brilliant and radical thinkers. Here, Camillo would have come in contact with astronomer and physician, Girolamo Fracastoro
Girolamo Fracastoro
Girolamo Fracastoro was an Italian physician, poet, and scholar in mathematics, geography and astronomy. Fracastoro subscribed to the philosophy of atomism, and rejected appeals to hidden causes in scientific investigation....
, and the poets, Giovanni Cotta and Andrea Navagero.
Around the first decade of the sixteenth century Camillo lived in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, where he was in close contact with some of the most influential writers and artists of Europe. He stayed near the house of the famous printer, Aldus Manutius
Aldus Manutius
Aldus Pius Manutius , the Latinised name of Aldo Manuzio —sometimes called Aldus Manutius, the Elder to distinguish him from his grandson, Aldus Manutius, the Younger—was an Italian humanist who became a printer and publisher when he founded the Aldine Press at Venice.His publishing legacy includes...
, in the Sestiere di San Polo, in the centre of the city. He knew the philologist Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus , known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and a theologian....
(although Erasmus and Viglius
Viglius
Viglius , was the name taken by Wigle Aytta van Zwichem, a Dutch statesman and jurist, a Frisian by birth....
did not show much affection for Camillo's mysticisms) and worked with the painter Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
. He was part of the cultural circle that included Aretin and Bembo
Bembo
Bembo is the name given to a 20th-century revival of an old style serif or humanist typeface cut by Francesco Griffo around 1495.The typeface Bembo seen today is a revival designed under the direction of Stanley Morison for the Monotype Corporation in 1929.It is considered a good choice for...
and had personal ties with the architect, Serlio, and his family. During this time, Camillo spent considerable care in charting regional differentiations in the Friulian dialect and was a champion of the local use of Italian, rather than Latin. Throughout this time he also worked on his ideas for the Theatre.
Camillo is believed to have held a chair of Dialectics at the University of Bologna from around 1521 to 1525; he attended the coronation of Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
in 1529.
In 1530, Camillo journeyed to Paris at the invitation of Francis I of France
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
. He produced a manuscript titled Theatro della Sapientia in 1530, for Francis, in which his ideas for the Theatre were outlined. He impressed Francis and was given funds to develop his ideas, remaining in France till around 1537.
Eventually, remuneration from Francis I began to dry up and Camillo decided to return to Italy. During the latter part of 1543, or very early in 1544, he accepted an offer to go to Milan. Here, after much persuasion, Camillo finally dictated his plan of the Theatre. The manuscript was completed early in February 1544. Three months later, on the 15th of May, Camillo died. L’ Idea del Theatro was finally published in 1550, in Florence, by Lorenzo Torrentino.
L’Idea del Theatro
Camillo's published output is small and L'Idea del Theatro is his most well-known work. L'Idea del theatro (The Idea of the Theater), opens with a warning concerning an ancient tradition of esoteric writing:
The most ancient and wisest of writers have always been accustomed to recommending to their writings the secrets of God under obscure veils, so that they be not intended, unless by those who (as says Christ) have ears to hear--i.e. who by God are elected to intend his own most saintly mysteries. And Melissus [of Samos] says that the eyes of vulgar wills [animi] cannot suffer the rays of divinity. That is confirmed with the example of Moses...
Elsewhere Camillo notes that:
"By the ancients thus it was custom that those same philosophers who taught and showed to dear disciples profound doctrines, having clearly declared them, would cover them with fables, so that the covers they made would keep the doctrines hidden: so that they would not be profaned".
At the end of the chapter titled "Le Gorgoni", Camillo identifies the faculty of "intending" with the "practical intellect" ("intelletto prattico"), which is elsewhere explicitly distinguished from the "acting intellect" ("intelletto agente"), as well as from Cicero's "the force of intelligence," which is vulgarly referred to as "ingenuity". In Camillo's "Theatro" each "image...will signify for us intelligible things that cannot fall under the senses, but that we can only imagine or intend illuminated by the acting intellect". While "Intellect is of the spirit", the "acting intellect" (Aristotle) is said to correspond to Plato's "mind" ("mente") and Augustine's "superior part" ("portion superiore"). In virtue of this intellect, we can "intend". The practical intellect, on the other hand, indicates "possessing" ("possedere") by "having already apprehended". In short, there are "three intellects" in us: 1) a "possible" ("possibile") or "passive" ("passibile") intellect, or ingenuity entailing the "ability" to intend; 2) the intellective faculty per se, or "intending" as "practical intellect"; and 3) the "active intellect" that makes us intend, just as the Sun allows us to see all things beneath it. Camillo argues against "philosophers ignorant of God" who identify the "active intellect" with human reason, insofar as this one is usually absent from men, who are merely capable of it. The "active intellect" must reside safely and eternally "in God", so as to safeguard man's capacity to reason. As other ancient mythic "images" or "symbols," that of the three "Gorgoni" is used to protect the verities of the mind, or "the mystery of truth" ("il mistero della verita') from being profaned. By casting the principle of reason in the authoritative form of God, philosophers who do not ignore God defend reason from being turned into an instrument of the physical senses below it.
Camillo and Erasmus
Desiderius ErasmusDesiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus , known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and a theologian....
, the philologist, probably met Camillo in Venice around 1506-9. Erasmus mentions ‘sharing a mattress’with Camillo as well naming him in his satirical Ciceronianus (1528). Erasmus was scathing of Camillo’s work, and in a letter dated 5 July 1532 talks about the Theatre in terms of it being able to excite as great a ‘tragedy in study’ as that which ‘Luther produced in religion’.
Camillo’s response to Erasmus, Trattato dell’ Imitatione, written in Paris, was published in the year of Camillo’s death, 1544.