Exil und Heimatferne in der Literatur des Humanismus von Petrarca bis zum Anfang des 16. Jahrhunderts
de patria civis fuerit explusus. Habes refertos historicorum libros eorum exemplis, quos excellentes ac singulares viros inique mulctavit sua respublica, cum ob res bene gestas summa praemia mererentur […] Nolo insistere domesticis exemplis, ne quam offensionem contrahat oratio. Attamen si quis praeterita tempora scrutetur diligenter, inveniet plure egregios cives invidia et contentione civili magis quam culpa se suis civitatibus fuisse eiectos.
(For this thought, in truth, may have the greatest power to fortify you: that you are not the first nor will you be the last well-deserving citizen to be expelled from his native land. You have the books of the historians, filled with examples of those excellent and singular men who were roughly handled by the respublica, when, on account of their good deeds, they merited the greatest rewards […]. I will not insist on familiar examples, lest someone take offense. However, if anyone examines past time diligently he will find many outstanding citizens who, more through jealousy and civil strife than for their own fault, were expelled from their countries).2
Poggio continues by adducing ancient examples but, as Oppel notes, cites only Roman examples of famed exiles – Camillus, Scipio, Rutilius, and Cicero – since he had apparently not yet begun to study Greek:
Sed non fuit nostre solum civitatis hec labes et ignominia, verum aliarum quoque, quarum facta summopere admiramur. Respublica romana, ut de Grecis sileam ac Barbaris, etiam tum cum omni virtutum genere florentem Annales describunt, hoc morbo ingratitudinis laboravit. Referam paucos, quo sermo effugiat satietatem. Non tulit sua etas neque virtute neque probitate neque rebus gestis Furio Camillo superiorem. Hic tamen tribunorum et plebis iniquitate pulsus in exilium abiit et quidem eo tempore, quo maxime patria suo auxilio egebat. Quid egerit superior Africanus in patria ex faucibus Hanibalis liberando, qua fuerit animi moderatio, qua continentia et morum gravitate vixerit, non est ignotum tibi; hunc tamen tribunorum insania exulare coegit. Publius Rutilius integerrimus vir fuit ac sanctissimus, quem quia iustior videretur quam vulgi opinio ferret, urbe eiecerunt, cuius in hoc precipue claruit virtutis splendor, quod cum ei per Syllanam victoriam liceret in patriam redire, perpetuum sibi exilium elegit, recusans in eam urbem reverti, in qua plus arma quam leges valerent. Nequitia Clodii conservatorem patrie expulit M. Tullium Ciceronem, quem postea gloriari solitum accepimus se Italie humeris in patriam reportatum. Quamplures preterea historie memorant summos ac clarissimos viros simile exitum sortitos. Sed hos quatuor tantum retuli, ne mireris casum tuum, cum videas tot patrie conservatores talia suorum meritorum premia reportasse.3
(Such disgrace and degradation is not found in our country alone, but also in others whose actions completely amaze us. To leave out the Greeks and barbarians, the Roman republic suffered from the disease of ingratitude even when the annalists describe it as flourishing with every kind of virtue. I shall only relate a few examples to avoid boring you. In his day no one surpassed Furius Camillus in virtue, honesty, and great deeds. But the villainy of the tribunes and the mob drove him into exile precisely when the country needed his aid. You are aware what the elder Scipio Africanus achieved in freeing his country from the jaws of Hannibal ‒ with what moderation, self-control, and high principles he lived. And yet the madness of the tribunes forced him into exile. Publius Rutilius was a very upright and blameless man, but because he seemed more just than public opinion would bear, they expelled him from the city. The splendor of his virtue shone all the more because, after Sulla’s victory allowed his return to his country, he chose perpetual exile, refusing to go back to a city in which arms were more powerful than laws. The villainy of Clodius banished Marcus Tullius Cicero, the savior of his country, although we learn that later he often boasted that he had been carried back to his homeland on Italy’s shoulders. Besides these, history records numerous lofty and famous men who shared a similar fate. But I have only mentioned these four so that you will not wonder at your plight, seeing that so many saviors of their countries received such rewards for their merits).
Antonio Pacini
Concerning Cosimo’s exile and return, the Ciceronian model is invoked by Antonio Pacini of Todi, often called Antonius Tudertinus. A translator of several of Plutarch’s Lives, Pacini dedicated two of them to the Medici brothers, Cosimo and Lorenzo. As Marianne Pade observes, Pacini’s version of the Camillus was “dedicated to Cosimo’s brother Lorenzo, but implicitly addressing also Cosimo himself, who was frequently compared to Camillus after his return from exile.”1 For Cosimo de’ Medici, Pacini translated the Timoleon sometime after 1434: for Pacini’s preface not only cites Cosimo’s contributions to the republic, but extols his triumphant return from exile.2 In the following passage, the humanist’s themes of the banker’s return (reditus), his personal esteem (dignitas), and the role of the “senate” clearly evoke Cicero’s orations Post reditum ad senatum and Post reditum ad Quirites:
Quid igitur dubii est, praestantissime Cosma, ut quemadmodum non solum in hac re publica tua, sed tota Italia consilio, auctoritate, opibus ac nominis claritate, quod apud omnes nationes celebratur, omnibus praestas, sic, si Romae aut Athenis natus fuisses, omnes egregios illos viros, Scipiones, Camillos, Fabricios ceterosque anteisses, cum divino ingenio, summa integritate summaque gravitate, omnibus virtutibus, ut uno verbo absolvam, praeditus sis et di atque homines, praeter quos livor edax excruciat, te ament, te observent. Quis dubitat nisi te hanc rem publicam in bello Lucensi tu vigilantia, consilio, prudentia tuisque opibus servavisse? Quis neget neminem nunquam fuisse, qui plus gloriae in reditu ad patriam habuerit quam tu, in qua tanta bonorum civium benivolentia, tam incredibili popularium voluntate una cum fratre tuo summo viro et singulari receptus es, tanta populari caritate? Cum iam omnes admirabili desiderio tui tenerentur atque animi augerentur, ut senatus omnes invidos omnesque, qui contra te egerant, in exilium eiecerit, necnon infinita nomina multorum, quos invidiosa illa et nepharia relegatione tua adversus te sensisse creditum est, a senatu ac magistratibus abdicata sunt atque deleta, continere non possum me quin in hoc sermone nostra versetur oratio. […] Sed nec illud quod magna admiratione dignum est praetereundum, quod nescio quomodo illis, qui contra reditum tuum contraque rem publicam arma capesserant, e manibus nullis repugnantibus arma ceciderant. Verum profecto deum immortalem hoc et cetera, quae ad te spectabant, egisse arbitror, ut pietati tuae auxilium ipse praestaret et huic rei publicae, quae iam in faucibus tyranni indies prolabebatur, prospiceret atque consuleret. At tu pro dignitate tua extra patriam vitam ducere poteras, patria autem sine te libera esse non poterat.3
(Can there be any doubt, most excellent Cosimo, that you surpass everyone, not only in this city but in all of Italy, by your judgment, authority, wealth, and by your fame that is celebrated in all nations. Indeed, if you had been born in Rome or Athens, you would have surpassed all those outstanding men – the Scipios, Camilluses, Fabricii, and others – for you possess divine wisdom, and the highest integrity and gravity – in a word, all the virtues – so that gods and men (except for those tormented by consuming envy) love and revere you. Who can doubt that only you saved our republic in the war with Lucca by your vigilance, discernment, prudence, and wealth? Who can deny that no one ever enjoyed more glory than you in returning to your country, where with your brother, an excellent and remarkable man, you were welcomed by the greatest goodwill of the best citizens, the most incredible sympathy of the masses, and the great love of the people? Everyone was gripped by such astonishing desire for you and their zeal was so heightened that the senate sent into exile all those envious men and all those who opposed you. What’s more, countless names of the masses – men known to have acted against you by that invidious and nefarious banishment – were abolished and deleted by the senate and the magistrates. Hence, I cannot contain myself in writing this discourse […]. Neither should I omit that fact most worthy of admiration, namely, that somehow those who had taken up arms against your return and the republic laid them down without any opposition. Indeed, I believe that immortal God did this and other actions on your behalf, so that he would confirm your sense of duty, and protect and sustain the republic, which was slipping daily into the tyrant’s maw. By virtue of your dignity, you could live outside your country, but without you the country could not be free).
Returning to the theme of his Plutarchan translation, Pacini adds a comment on Timoleon, who defeated the enemy and expelled the Sicilian tyrants:
Hic ille Timoleon Corinthius est, qui nobilissimam Siciliae insulam profligatis Carthaginensium