BEMBO, PIETRO

(1470-1547)

Venetian humanist and cardinal, noted for his lyric poetry, his editions of earlier Italian authors, hisclassicalscholarship, and his excellent style in both Latin and the Tuscan vernacular. Born to patrician parents and sent as a youth to study inFlorence,Rome, and Bergamo under a number of distinguishedhumanists, including the VenetianErmolao Barbaro, he also went to Sicily to studyGreekunder Constantine Lascaris, whose Greek grammar he edited for publication. He became a leading representative of the purist movement in Latin composition known asCiceronianism, a viewpoint developed in hisDe imitatione/On Imitation(1513) but opposed by some contemporary humanists, most notablyErasmusof Rotterdam. Bembo was close to the humanists andNeoplatonicphilosophers who dominated the intellectual life of Florence in the late 15th century. In his own writings he espoused Neoplatonism. He emphasized the concept ofPlatoniclove in his vernacular dialoguesGli Asolani/The Asolans(1505). For several years beginning in 1506, he lived at the elegant and highly intellectual court ofUrbino. His interest in Platonism is reflected in theBook of the Courtierby his friendBaldassare Castiglione, a dialogue that is set in the court at Urbino and presents Bembo as a defender of Platonic love against the misogynistic contempt ofwomenexpressed by several of the characters.

Bembo's pure Latin style (and his aristocratic connections) in 1514 secured for him a position as Latin secretary to the Medici PopeLeo X.His efforts to attain higher church offices were disappointed, and in 1519 he moved toPadua. He spent most of the 1520s and 1530s living at Padua andVenice. Despite his reputation for writing elegant Ciceronian Latin, he was also interested in vernacular literature. In 1501 and 1502 he published with the Venetian printerAldus Manutiuscritical editions of the poems ofPetrarchandDante'sDivine Comedy, and both his edition of Petrarch and his own poems promoted the growth ofPetrarchism. An important product of his interest in vernacular literature was hisProse della volgar lingua/Prose Works on the Vernacular Language(1525). In it he discussed the relative merits of writing literary works in Latin and in Italian and also defended the excellence of the Tuscan dialect as Italy's literary language. His views on language had great influence on contemporary authors. The poetAriosto, for example, revised his epic poemOrlando furiosoin accord with the standards set forth by Bembo. Bembo'sRime/Collected Poems(1530) exemplified this ideal. In 1529 Bembo became historian and librarian to the Venetian Republic. He producedHistoria Veneta,1487-1513, a continuation of a work by an earlier author. It was published posthumously in both Latin and his own Italian translation.

Although his philosophical works, especiallyGli Asolani, upheld the asexual and purely spiritual ideal of Platonic love, which was also attributed to him in Castiglione'sCourtier, in real life Bembo had a number of lovers, including the woman to whom he dedicatedGli Asolani,Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of PopeAlexander VI. He was consistent in regarding women as fully human persons deserving respect, a view also attributed by Castiglione to his character "Bembo." Bembo took a vow of chastity in 1522 in order to preserve his eligibility for benefices, but from 1513 until her death in 1535, he maintained an enduring connection with a woman with whom he had three children. Under Pope Paul III, Bembo was promoted to the rank of cardinal, ordained to the priesthood, and made a bishop. The influence of one of his female admirers, the aristocratic and highly intellectual poetVittoria Colonna, probably had much to do with his sudden advancement. This relationship, unlike some of the others, seems to have been purely spiritual and was based on mutual interest in Petrarchan style and Neoplatonic philosophy. Bembo spent much of these last years at Rome, where he played an active role in curial affairs.