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El Ciceroniano

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Cuando en 1528 se publica en Basilea El Ciceroniano, Erasmo de Rotterdam es ya el humanista y filólogo conocido en toda Europa, respetado por los papas, consejero de los principales monarcas y contrario a Lutero y la Reforma. El Ciceroniano ocupa una posición muy particular en la obra erasmiana. Forma parte de su dedicación retórica, pero la clave religiosa también está presente. El pensamiento retórico-estético, la motivación religiosa y el resquemor contra el humanismo paganizante amparado por el papado se entrelazan en el diálogo de El Ciceroniano.

222 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

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About the author

Erasmus

1,427 books466 followers
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (28 October 1466 – 12 July 1536), known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian.

Erasmus was a classical scholar and wrote in a pure Latin style. Among humanists he enjoyed the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists", and has been called "the crowning glory of the Christian humanists". Using humanist techniques for working on texts, he prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament, which raised questions that would be influential in the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation. He also wrote On Free Will, The Praise of Folly, Handbook of a Christian Knight, On Civility in Children, Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style, Julius Exclusus, and many other works.

Erasmus lived against the backdrop of the growing European religious Reformation, but while he was critical of the abuses within the Catholic Church and called for reform, he kept his distance from Luther and Melanchthon and continued to recognise the authority of the pope, emphasizing a middle way with a deep respect for traditional faith, piety and grace, rejecting Luther's emphasis on faith alone. Erasmus remained a member of the Roman Catholic Church all his life, remaining committed to reforming the Church and its clerics' abuses from within. He also held to the Catholic doctrine of free will, which some Reformers rejected in favor of the doctrine of predestination. His middle road approach disappointed and even angered scholars in both camps.

Erasmus died suddenly in Basel in 1536 while preparing to return to Brabant, and was buried in the Basel Minster, the former cathedral of the city. A bronze statue of him was erected in his city of birth in 1622, replacing an earlier work in stone.

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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Profile Image for Angelina.
916 reviews4 followers
February 9, 2019
Just no.

It took 130 pages to make a single point: Being like Cicero doesn't mean only using the exact words and phrases Cicero used, it means thinking and responding to situations appropriately like Cicero did.

Even more succinctly: Don't talk like Cicero, behave like Cicero.

7 words would have sufficed; 130 pages felt like overkill.
Profile Image for Conrad.
200 reviews422 followers
March 30, 2007
Erasmus wrote Ciceronianus in dialogue form as a critique of his peers' slavish adherence to Cicero's oratorical style in Latin, but - as dull as that sounds - this ends up being very bawdy and very funny.
Profile Image for Madeline.
29 reviews
April 23, 2014
It gets a little repetitive when naming lots of individuals and asking the sickly Ciceronian Nosophonus whether he considers them Ciceronian enough, but it's rather amusing to see Erasmus and his contemporaries lampooned (and so, in a roundabout way, praised) for not having an elegant enough style. The core of the message about moderation and *how* exactly to imitate an admirable style is excellent, however. Erasmus's approach to style is through decorum and appropriateness to one's time and place (and, most strikingly for him, one's religion).
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews