Pico della Mirandola: Oration on the Dignity of Man

Francesco Borghesi teaches in the Department of Italian Studies at the University of Sydney. Among his publications are Concordia, pietas, docta religio (2004) and the forthcoming Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (2012). Michael Papio is an Associate Professor of Italian Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is the author of Keen and Violent Remedies: Social Satire and the Grotesque in Masuccio Salernitano's Novellino (2000) and the translator of Boccaccio's Expositions on Dante's Comedy (2009). Massimo Riva is a Professor of Italian Studies at Brown University, Rhode Island. He has also taught at the University of Sydney, Australia, Northwestern University, Illinois, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is the author of Italian Tales: An Anthology of Contemporary Italian Fiction (2004) and co-editor of Renato Poggioli: An Intellectual Life (2011).

"Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s Oratio is arguably the best-known text of Renaissance philosophy.... an impressive collection that includes several substantive essays, a Latin text with an excellent facing-page English translation, a critical overview of the text, and a detailed footnote commentary.... This volume is a model of collaborative scholarship and constitutes a major contribution to the study of the work of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. In meticulous detail, it explores the many sources at Pico’s disposal.... the volume presents a highly consistent and extremely valuable commentary on Pico’s best-known text." --M. V. Dougherty, Ohio Dominican University, Renaissance Quarterly

• Part I. Preface, Introduction, Overview: 1. Preface: history of the project and criteria for the current edition M. Riva; 2. The historical and biographical background of the oration P. C. Bori; 3. Chronology F. Borghesi; 4. The Oration's printed editions M. Papio; 5. Interpretations F. Borghesi; 6. Overview; Part II. Text: 7. Latin text with facing English translation and commentary in the footnotes; Part III. Images: 8. Four images from the Palatine manuscript; Bibliography.