Giovanni Antonio Sulpizio of Veroli

(Johannes Antonius Sulpitius Verulanus), (1440-after 1508?)

Humanist from Veroli; teacher of Latin at the University of Perugia, at the court of Urbino, and at the Studium Urbis in Rome; author of works on Latin grammar; editor and commentator of classical texts.

Sulpizio had the opportunity to come in contact with Pomponio Leto in Rome in the mid to late 1470s. They were both teaching at the Studium Urbis and involved in reviving classical theatre. Together with Pomponio he edited Frontinus' De aquaeductibus [Rome, Eucharius Silber, 1483-before 16 August 1487] which was often bound with his edition of Vitruvius [Rome, Eucharius Silber, between 1486 and 16 August 1490]. He also wrote a commentary on Quintilian's Istitutiones oratoriae printed with those of Lorenzo Valla and Pomponio (Venice, Peregrinus de Pasqualibus, Bononiensis, 18 August 1494).

 

Colophon to Sextus Julius Frontinus, De aquaeductibus, ed. Pomponio Leto and Giovanni Sulpizio [Rome: Eucharius Silber, 1483-before 16.08.1487].

 

Giovanni Antonio Sulpizio of Veroli was a versatile humanist whose interests embraced Latin grammar, philology, classical theatre and poetry. There is not much certain information about his life, aside from the fact that he was born in Veroli, an ancient town near Frosinone, in Lazio, around 1440. The date of his death is unknown, probably after 1508, since there is no evidence of other work by him after this year. Sulpizio studied in Veroli. After completing his studies he continued to teach for some years in his native town. Around 1472 he moved to Perugia; then for a short period he was at the Montefeltro court in Urbino. During the first years of his career he started to write a Latin grammar and various pamphlets on the subject for his students. According to W. Keith Percival, Sulpizio's approach to the teaching of grammar was innovative and critical toward medieval grammarians, following the precedent of Lorenzo Valla (Percival 1979). On the other hand, Silvia Rizzo highlights the connections with previous Latin grammars, and underlines the fact that Sulpizio in the second edition of his grammar was obliged to reintroduce the habit of translating verbs into the vernacular at the wish of the other teachers (Rizzo 1995). This version of his grammar became very popular and was printed throughout Europe in several editions. Later, after establishing his reputation as teacher, Sulpizio moved to Rome, where he taught grammar at the Studium Urbis from 1475 or 1476. Here he made contact with Pomponio and his circle. Sulpizio is mentioned, along with Pomponio and Platina by Battista Guarini in Marcantonio Sabellico's dialogue, De latinae linguae reparatione (Venice, c.1494). Sabellico also mentioned Sulpizio as a young member of the Academy together with Pietro Marso and Antonio Volsco in a letter to Marcantonio Morosini, published at the end of his Caesares (Venice, 1499).

 

His grammar, Opus grammaticum sive de octo partibus, was published in Perugia by an unknown printer (before 15 June 1475). A copy of this book, now in the collection of the Biblioteca Casanatense in Rome, has on the first blank page Sulpizio's autograph dedication to Giovanni Iacopo Ugolini de Monte Ubiano, dated 15 June 1475, probably written when Sulpizio was leaving Perugia for Rome. A short dedication to two of his students, Camillo and Marcello, followed the examen, and underscored the importance of grammar studies in the humanist curriculum. Sulpizio appeared to be a conscientious teacher, giving recommendations to his students for their education, but strangely he did not mention the following Carmen (see below). In the dedication he recommended Donatus to his reader, but emphasized the importance of the original sources. This seems to combine the traditional reliance on Donatus in teaching grammar with the newly emerging humanist approach that called for a the direct study of the classical texts:

Sulpizio's carmen, De moribus puerorum carmen iuvenile, teaching proper manners and moral precepts, could also be found with the grammar, which aimed at training the mind and forming good character. Known under various titles, including De moribus puerorum in mensa servandis or Carmen iuvenile Sulpitii Verulani de moribus in mensa servandis, it was frequently reprinted either separately or in collections, often accompanying Donatus' De figuris or other grammatical texts. The carmen was edited and glossed by Jodocus Badius Ascensius (Josse Bade) in the appendix to his Silvae morales (Lyons, 1492, and again in 1507 alongside Boethius' De consolatione philosophiae). Sulpizio's carmen with Badius's commentary was published additionally in a collection of moral writings, the Auctores octo cum commento, in 1515. It was translated, moreover, in lingua gallico-latina by Guillaume Durand, Maître des Écoles at Lyons, with a commentary, in 1542. Sulpizio's carmen and grammar enjoyed a long popularity as an educational book through the fifteenth and into the sixteenth century. William Lily, who was a student of Sulpizio and Pomponio in Rome, published a Latin grammar in 1532 with a poem listing a series of rules for his students similar to Sulpizio's carmen. There is also a French text by Pierre Broë, Des bonnes et honnestes contenances (Lyons, 1555), which imitates Sulpizio text. Other works by Sulpizio on Latin grammar are: Metrica (Rome, c.1476 and 1481), De componendis et ornandis epistulis. De syllabarum quantitate epitome (Rome, 1490). In addition, he wrote commentaries on Vegetius' De re militari (Rome, 1487), Lucan's Pharsalia (Venice, 1493), and Quintilian's Institutiones oratoriae (Venice, 1494), part of which had already appeared as Commentariolus in Quintilianum de compositionis ratione (Rome, 1487). In the course of the year 1480 Sulpizio engaged in controversy with Paolo Pompilio over grammatical issues, focusing on prosody, and on diglossia in ancient Rome; according to Wouter Bracke, the debate was occasioned by personal rivalry between colleagues.

 

 

Sulpizio's most important work was the edition of Vitruvius' De architectura, printed in Rome between 1486 and 16 August 1490, and dedicated to Cardinal Raffaele Riario, nephew of Sixtus IV. According to Ingrid Rowland, the edition (which she dates to 1486 or possibly a little later) was in part inspired by the humanistic philological interest in this complex text, but it could also support the papal project for the renewal of Rome, providing a good exemplum. Cardinal Raffaele Riario had already sponsored some of the earlier productions by the Pomponiani at Castel Sant'Angelo and in his palazzo near Campo dei Fiori, including the famous Hippolytus of Seneca in 1486 (Rowland 2003, "Introduction").

Elsewhere, in the dedicatory letter to Cardinal Riario Sulpizio presented an image of Rome as a city in the process of gradual change thanks to the initiatives of the Pope. The edition of Vitruvius and the reconstruction of Rome were thus represented as work in progress, a collaborative project among humanists. In the margins of the copy of Vitruvius in the Biblioteca Corsiniana in Rome, there are annotations, translations into Italian of some passages and beautiful drawings illustrating the text, what could be called a full paratext. The author of these notes is the architect Giovanni Battista Cordini (Battista of San Gallo called “Gobbo”), brother of Antonio da San Gallo the Younger (Rowland, ibid.).

 

Along with other members of the Academy, Sulpizio wrote a short epitaph in the collection of elegiac poetry addressed to Orsini Lanfredini, son of Giovanni Lanfredini, the Florentine ambassador of the Pope, gathered by Vasino Gamberaia (London, BL, ADD Ms. 22805). See Patricia Osmond, “Vasino Gamberia,” Repertorium Pomponianum (URL: http://www.repertoriumpomponianum.it/pomponiani/gamberia.htm, visited on 24/1/2010).

 

The last known work of Sulpizio was a poem on the Last Judgment, Iudicium Dei supremum de vivis et mortuis, published in 1506, a long poem in hexameters, dedicated to Antonio Alessandrino, bishop of Tuscolo, near Rome. Sulpizio described the scene of the Last Judgment, following the text of the Apocalypse by St John and the New Testament texts, in an intricate system of classical references.

 

Rome, Biblioteca Vallicelliana, F. 20 (cp. Kristeller, Iter 2, 133).

A miscellany, containing different works in prose and verse by Sulpizio during his entire career, probably from about 1470. According to Benedetto Pecci, who studied the manuscript in 1912, it is an autograph copy made by Sulpizio. The manuscript begins with a short piece in prose, similar to a facetia with a moral ending, called Opus Io. Sulpitii iuvenile. There is also a Carmen ad scholasticos, addressed to his students probably written when he was moving to Perugia, and some poems related to religious topics: Adhortatio ad confitendum, about the sacrament of Confession, De Christi nativitate, which described the Annunciation by the Angel Gabriel and the Nativity of Christ with the arrival of the Magi, Oratio ad Deum, a glorification of God referring to the Last Judgment, combining classical mythology with his religious themes in a complex structure of quotations, Templorum quadragesima stationes, Ad divinum Jacobum, and short moralizing sermones in verse against gambling, avarice, and backbiting, Sermo ad galerum, Sermo ad avarum, Sermo ad Paulum Alexio, and In Bardum. Three other compositions contain praises to ecclesiastics connected with his circle: Hilaritas publice de reditu Angeli Lupi episcopi Verulani, Ad Petrum Card. Sancti et Sixti Pont. Max. nepotem, Ad Stephanum Nardinium Cardinalem Mediolanensem. Two poems refer to the performance of the Hippolytus in Rome in 1486: Prologus in Hippolytum and Argumentum in Hippolytum. One short poem recalls his university course on Virgil, probably given in 1479: Quum iterum profiteremur Aeneida Romae. There are two long poems, the first, Grypho, on the death of Grifone I, the young son of Braccio Baglioni, and Campaniae fletus, describing his native region. There are also two short compositions, Epitaphium translatum ex vernaculo Danthis, which employ an unidentified source.

 

(a) Editions and commentaries of classical authors

 

Frontinus, Sextus Julius, De aquaeductibus, ed. Pomponio Leto and Giovanni Sulpizio [Rome, Eucharius Silber, 1483-before 16 August 1487]. IGI 4104.

 

Lucanus, Marcus Annaeus, Pharsalia, comm. Giovanni Sulpizio. Venice, Simon Bevilacqua, 31 Dec. 1493. IGI 5822.

 

Quintilian, Marcus Fabius, Istitutiones oratoriae, comm. Lorenzo Valla, Pomponio Leto and Giovanni Sulpizio. Venice, Peregrinus de Pasqualibus, Bononiensis, 18 Aug. 1494. IGI 8265.

 

Sulpitius, Johannes, Commentariolus in Quintilianum de compositionis ratione. Add: Quintilianus, De compositionis ratione. Rome, Eucharius Silber, 22 October 1487. IGI 9192.

 

Vegetius, Flavius Renatus, De re militari. Rome, Eucharius Silber, 29 January 1487. IGI 8850.

 

Vitruvius Pollio, Marcus, De architectura, ed. Giovanni Sulpizio [Rome, Eucharius Silber, between 1486 and 16 August 1490]. IGI 10346.

 

(b) Grammatical works

 

Sulpitius, Johannes, Examen grammaticale; Carmen de moribus puerorum in mensa servandis; Grammatica [Perugia, Pietro da Colonia e Giovanni da Bamberga, before 15 June 1475]. IGI 9195.

 

Grammatica [Perugia, before 15 June 1475]. IGI 9195.

 

d'Augusta, c. 1476]. IGI 9204.

 

_______________, De componendis et ornadis epistolis necnon orationibus; Epitome de versuum scansione et syllabarum quantitate [Rome, Eucharius Silber, c. 1490]. IGI 9193.

 

_______________, Metrica; Sumpta ex Servii Centrimetro; Peroratio [Perugia, Giovanni d'Augusta, c. 1476]. IGI 9204.

 

1949
S. J. Verulanus, Doctrina mensae. Table manners for boys, (facsimile), ed. H. Thomas (London, 1949).

 

1958
The Hólar Cato. An Icelandic Schoolbook of the Seventeenth Century, ed. H. Hermannsson (Ithaca, New York 1958).

 

1980
M. Martini, Il Carme giovanile di Giovanni Sulpizio da Verolano. Centro Studi Sorani “Vincenzo Patriarca” (Sora 1980).

 

1991
De moribus in mensa servandis: Come ci si comporta a tavola, ed. A. G. Casanova (Rome, 1991).

 

1994
M. Martini, Il Giudizio Universale di Giovanni Antonio Sulpizio Verolano. Centro Studi Sorani “Vincenzo Patriarca” (Sora 1994).

 

2002
M. Martini, Il carmen De Christi Nativitatae di Giovanni Sulpizio Verolano. Centro Studi Sorani “Vincenzo Patriarca” (Sora 2002).

 

2004
M. Martini, La preghiera di un umanista. Oratio ad Deum di giovanni Sulpizio Verolano. Centro Studi Sorani “Vincenzo Patriarca” (Sora 2004).

 

Bayle 1820, 3, 561-63 (Sulpitius, Jean). Bianca 2008, 41-2. Bini 1816, 581. Black 2001, 137-142; Blasio 1986, 495-97; Blasio 1992, 293-96; Bracke 1992, 158-59. Bussagli 2003, 8-13. Campana 2005, 43-44. Casanova 1968, 190-93. Chambers 1976, 83, 89; Cosenza 1962, 4, 3349-50; Cruciani 1983, 219-27; Dorati da Empoli 1980, 123. Casanova 1968. Elias 1983, 147-156. Farenga 2001, 417-20, 424, 426. Farenga 2010. Gabriele 2004. Gigliucci 1996, 111-132: 115-16, 125-26. Graziosi 1979. Greco 1969, 31-72. Ijsewijn 1994. Jensen 1996, 71-74. Krinsky 1967, 58. Lee 1978, 184-185. Luciani 1986. Lynn 1937, 50. Marcucci 1978, 189-92. D'Onorio 2006. Pecci 1891, 10-19; Pecci 1912, 29-111; Pellecchia 1972; Percival 1979, 82-5; Perosa 1981, 575-580, 607-610; Pintor 1906, 14-15; Renazzi 1803, 1, 237-38. Richardot 1995. Rizzo 1995a, 39-42; Rowland 1998, 34-39. Rowland 2003, 1-11. Ruysschaert 1961, 73-4. Scaccia Scarrafoni 1949, 315-16. Simoncini 2004, 2, 322-25. Sperduti 1989. Tournoy-Thoen 1971. Weiss 1959a, 29.

 

I would like to thank the editors for their helpful comments on this article.

 

 

Marco Cavietti
26 April 2010