The Machiavellian Cosmos by Anthony J. ParelReview by: Timothy J. ReissIsis, Vol. 84, No. 3 (Sep., 1993), pp. 569-570Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/235672 .

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BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 84 : 3 (1993) BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 84 : 3 (1993)

social, gendered, and ideological roots of Re- naissance witchcraft, ample notes provide an excellent point of departure for such inquiry.

The treatment of Weyer in relation to psy- chiatry presents difficulties in negotiating the different narrative expectations of Mora's two audiences: historians and psychiatrists. Un- happily, such conflicting allegiances produce prose that, at times, anachronistically char- acterizes in modem psychiatric terms both the phenomenon of witchcraft and Weyer's cul- turally constructed medical explanations. Traces of this tendency also exist in Mora's identification of Weyer with progressive Re- naissance medical empiricism. Despite such lapses, the introduction does attempt to sit- uate Weyer in more nuanced ways that ex- hibit his place with respect to Renaissance notions of magic, God, man, the devil, and, in short, all manner of marvels, wonders, and prodigies. Yet the overarching narrative fi- nally places Weyer as midwife to the birth of psychoanalysis; Freud's rejection of the se- duction theory, following Peter Swales's interpretation, may be attributed (though still tentatively) to "the direct influence of Wey- er's book" (p. lxxiii).

Mora and his team should be congratulated for providing the first English translation of Weyer's enormous and difficult text. They have rendered it accessible through a lengthy introduction, copious notes, an extensive glossary with basic references, and an index. The translation-this judgment is based on my limited opportunity to compare it to the original Latin edition-is for the most part quite accurate, though not always conveying subtle nuances. Based upon the last edition prepared by Weyer, the translation omits prefatory matter, including Weyer's dedica- tory epistle and preface. This is something of a shame; for example, Weyer there suggests criticism of Plato's education among the su- perstitious Egyptians-a point not without historical significance in light of Martin Ber- nal's Black Athena (Rutgers, 1987). Though the book is well produced, I noted numerous typos, some serious, and one clearly impos- sible date (p. xxxvi).

JAMES J. BONO

* Early Modern Period

Anthony J. Parel. The Machiavellian Cos- mos. x + 203 pp., bibl., index. New Haven,

social, gendered, and ideological roots of Re- naissance witchcraft, ample notes provide an excellent point of departure for such inquiry.

The treatment of Weyer in relation to psy- chiatry presents difficulties in negotiating the different narrative expectations of Mora's two audiences: historians and psychiatrists. Un- happily, such conflicting allegiances produce prose that, at times, anachronistically char- acterizes in modem psychiatric terms both the phenomenon of witchcraft and Weyer's cul- turally constructed medical explanations. Traces of this tendency also exist in Mora's identification of Weyer with progressive Re- naissance medical empiricism. Despite such lapses, the introduction does attempt to sit- uate Weyer in more nuanced ways that ex- hibit his place with respect to Renaissance notions of magic, God, man, the devil, and, in short, all manner of marvels, wonders, and prodigies. Yet the overarching narrative fi- nally places Weyer as midwife to the birth of psychoanalysis; Freud's rejection of the se- duction theory, following Peter Swales's interpretation, may be attributed (though still tentatively) to "the direct influence of Wey- er's book" (p. lxxiii).

Mora and his team should be congratulated for providing the first English translation of Weyer's enormous and difficult text. They have rendered it accessible through a lengthy introduction, copious notes, an extensive glossary with basic references, and an index. The translation-this judgment is based on my limited opportunity to compare it to the original Latin edition-is for the most part quite accurate, though not always conveying subtle nuances. Based upon the last edition prepared by Weyer, the translation omits prefatory matter, including Weyer's dedica- tory epistle and preface. This is something of a shame; for example, Weyer there suggests criticism of Plato's education among the su- perstitious Egyptians-a point not without historical significance in light of Martin Ber- nal's Black Athena (Rutgers, 1987). Though the book is well produced, I noted numerous typos, some serious, and one clearly impos- sible date (p. xxxvi).

JAMES J. BONO

* Early Modern Period

Anthony J. Parel. The Machiavellian Cos- mos. x + 203 pp., bibl., index. New Haven,

Conn./London: Yale University Press, 1992. $30.

Anthony Parel's study is a major contribution to work on Machiavelli in particular and Re- naissance natural philosophy more generally. Strikingly original, it is a model for those who insist that early modem political thinking must be replaced in its contemporary context be- fore it can be properly understood.

Fascinated by Machiavelli's extensive use of two terms, Parel sets out to establish their meaning and the implications of such meaning. The two terms are il cielo/i cieli (heaven/s), and umore/umori (humor/s). The importance of the second of these, as Parel observes, is largely lost on those who read Machiavelli only in English translation, for who would know, from Allan Gilbert's well- known text, for example, that "'factions,' 'parties,' 'divisions,' 'traits,' 'disagree- ments,' 'partisan hatred,' 'partisan views,' 'partisanship,' 'party quarrels,' 'strife,' 'party feelings,' 'disputes,' 'factional differences,' 'tendencies,' and many more all translate umori" (p. 7)? The English reader not only loses the knowledge that Machiavelli is re- ferring to some constant in human political behavior but is unaware that that constant is a scientific one, drawn from familiar argu- ments in Renaissance natural philosophy.

Umori belonged not only to medical the- ory, in which they referred to the animal fluids responsible for different human behavior and temperament; they belonged also to astrol- ogy, where they helped explain the different kinds of planetary influence. Here, of course, one begins to see immediately the importance of the association with i cieli. Parel explores the consequences of his perception with an attentiveness to previous critical debate, a knowledge of the development of natural phi- losophy, and a delicacy of reading that will be the envy of many an expositor.

Showing the spread of astrological science from roughly the European twelfth century (most notably from texts of Ptolemy and Abu Ma'shar [Albumasar]) until the turn from the fifteenth to the sixteenth century, Parel suc- ceeds in making clear the extent to which de- bates in most fields of knowledge by the later period were imbued with that science, espe- cially at Florence. He is absolutely convinc- ing on the extent of Machiavelli's certain knowledge and probable use of materials and ideas drawn from the texts that fired these discussions. He can then demonstrate how the

Conn./London: Yale University Press, 1992. $30.

Anthony Parel's study is a major contribution to work on Machiavelli in particular and Re- naissance natural philosophy more generally. Strikingly original, it is a model for those who insist that early modem political thinking must be replaced in its contemporary context be- fore it can be properly understood.

Fascinated by Machiavelli's extensive use of two terms, Parel sets out to establish their meaning and the implications of such meaning. The two terms are il cielo/i cieli (heaven/s), and umore/umori (humor/s). The importance of the second of these, as Parel observes, is largely lost on those who read Machiavelli only in English translation, for who would know, from Allan Gilbert's well- known text, for example, that "'factions,' 'parties,' 'divisions,' 'traits,' 'disagree- ments,' 'partisan hatred,' 'partisan views,' 'partisanship,' 'party quarrels,' 'strife,' 'party feelings,' 'disputes,' 'factional differences,' 'tendencies,' and many more all translate umori" (p. 7)? The English reader not only loses the knowledge that Machiavelli is re- ferring to some constant in human political behavior but is unaware that that constant is a scientific one, drawn from familiar argu- ments in Renaissance natural philosophy.

Umori belonged not only to medical the- ory, in which they referred to the animal fluids responsible for different human behavior and temperament; they belonged also to astrol- ogy, where they helped explain the different kinds of planetary influence. Here, of course, one begins to see immediately the importance of the association with i cieli. Parel explores the consequences of his perception with an attentiveness to previous critical debate, a knowledge of the development of natural phi- losophy, and a delicacy of reading that will be the envy of many an expositor.

Showing the spread of astrological science from roughly the European twelfth century (most notably from texts of Ptolemy and Abu Ma'shar [Albumasar]) until the turn from the fifteenth to the sixteenth century, Parel suc- ceeds in making clear the extent to which de- bates in most fields of knowledge by the later period were imbued with that science, espe- cially at Florence. He is absolutely convinc- ing on the extent of Machiavelli's certain knowledge and probable use of materials and ideas drawn from the texts that fired these discussions. He can then demonstrate how the

569 569

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BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 84 : 3 (1993) BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 84 : 3 (1993)

Florentine's idea of history as a cyclical re- working of human and material constants was directly related to a cosmology drawn from Ptolemy and Aristotle that perceived changes in heavenly order to occur only within an overall unchanging continuity. Similarly, re- ligions were thus almost inevitably under- stood by Machiavelli to be products of par- ticular local conjunctures. (One should accept Christianity because it is of our time and place, not because it is "superior" to any other re- ligion.)

Important adjustments are needed to our interpretation of Fortuna. Ptolemy had ob- served that astrology enabled us to explain both the political conditions of societies and the behavior of individuals. Similarly, For- tuna (sometimes equated with i cieli, some- times with the particular events controlled by the heavens) controlled the rise and fall of societies on the one hand and the events in- volving individuals on the other. Humans could affect both, but only once the overall determining sway of i cieli was properly understood. Virtu may then be seen as the hu- man means to intervene in the inevitable rise and fall of political societies.

Virta takes Parel into more detailed dis- cussion of the umori, because these referred to the tempers providing the means to ana- lyze particular political instances. In Machia- velli's view, both individuals and states are characterized by particular umori. There are three kinds of state: monarchy, republic, and licenzia. In the first, the prince keeps control by aligning himself with the most powerful political humor; in the second, "the social groups are capable of resolving their differ- ences through the medium of the constitution and the law" (p. 107); in the last-and worst- there is no solution to the anarchic faction- alism defining it: humors, both social and in- dividual, are always warring. Parel argues that The Prince, the Discourses, and The Flor- entine Histories, respectively, provide anal- yses of what is needed in these three cases.

Parel ends by pointing out that all of this argues that by no stretch of the imagination can Machiavelli be considered "modem," though he is certainly an innovator. In giving political action the aim of glory and honor instead of some "Aristotelian" (or other) moral good, he may be thought to have drawn the consequences of a particular premoder cos- mology and premoder anthropology. It is in their terms that he not simply explains, but also provides a philosophical justification

Florentine's idea of history as a cyclical re- working of human and material constants was directly related to a cosmology drawn from Ptolemy and Aristotle that perceived changes in heavenly order to occur only within an overall unchanging continuity. Similarly, re- ligions were thus almost inevitably under- stood by Machiavelli to be products of par- ticular local conjunctures. (One should accept Christianity because it is of our time and place, not because it is "superior" to any other re- ligion.)

Important adjustments are needed to our interpretation of Fortuna. Ptolemy had ob- served that astrology enabled us to explain both the political conditions of societies and the behavior of individuals. Similarly, For- tuna (sometimes equated with i cieli, some- times with the particular events controlled by the heavens) controlled the rise and fall of societies on the one hand and the events in- volving individuals on the other. Humans could affect both, but only once the overall determining sway of i cieli was properly understood. Virtu may then be seen as the hu- man means to intervene in the inevitable rise and fall of political societies.

Virta takes Parel into more detailed dis- cussion of the umori, because these referred to the tempers providing the means to ana- lyze particular political instances. In Machia- velli's view, both individuals and states are characterized by particular umori. There are three kinds of state: monarchy, republic, and licenzia. In the first, the prince keeps control by aligning himself with the most powerful political humor; in the second, "the social groups are capable of resolving their differ- ences through the medium of the constitution and the law" (p. 107); in the last-and worst- there is no solution to the anarchic faction- alism defining it: humors, both social and in- dividual, are always warring. Parel argues that The Prince, the Discourses, and The Flor- entine Histories, respectively, provide anal- yses of what is needed in these three cases.

Parel ends by pointing out that all of this argues that by no stretch of the imagination can Machiavelli be considered "modem," though he is certainly an innovator. In giving political action the aim of glory and honor instead of some "Aristotelian" (or other) moral good, he may be thought to have drawn the consequences of a particular premoder cos- mology and premoder anthropology. It is in their terms that he not simply explains, but also provides a philosophical justification

(under certain social circumstances) of, cul- pable evil and injustice in political affairs. Later thinkers, suggests Parel, created a "vul- gar Machiavellianism" that justified such measures in quite a different way, and mis- takenly "modernized" Machiavelli.

It is perhaps a pity that Parel did not make use of an earlier work whose arguments are wholly analogous to his own: G6rard Simon's astonishing Kepler astronome astrologue (Gallimard, 1979), which shows how Kep- ler's efforts to place astrology on a firmer mathematical basis helped create a quite new astronomical science. Parel's volume does something not dissimilar for the Florentine. His is a remarkably original text, providing a wholly new understanding of Machiavelli's writings. It suggests that we need to take an entirely new look at the scientific context of early modem thought in any number of areas that we like to think of as founding moder- nity.

TIMOTHY J. REISS

Nicholas Copernicus. On the Revolutions. Translated with a commentary by Edward Rosen. (Foundations of Natural History.) xxii + 452 pp., figs., tables, indexes. Baltimore/ London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. (Paper.)

Nicholas Copernicus. Minor Works. Trans- lated with a commentary by Edward Rosen, with the assistance of Erna Hilfstein. xvi + 373 pp., figs., tables, bibls., indexes. Bal- timore/London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. (Paper.)

These two books are a nearly unaltered re- print, in paperback form, of Edward Rosen's translations of nearly every scrap of writing that can be ascribed to Copernicus (a few let- ters in the Polish edition, written on behalf of others, are not included). The publication of this edition performs the valuable service of making Copernicus's works readily avail- able to English-speaking readers, along with Rosen's commentary displaying his unparal- leled knowledge of the historical personages and circumstances connected with these works.

The only change from the earlier editions is a new introduction written by Rosen's col- laborator, Era Hilfstein, which attempts to address criticism of their choice of texts (see below) and explains some of the accomplish- ments of this edition. It concludes with the

(under certain social circumstances) of, cul- pable evil and injustice in political affairs. Later thinkers, suggests Parel, created a "vul- gar Machiavellianism" that justified such measures in quite a different way, and mis- takenly "modernized" Machiavelli.

It is perhaps a pity that Parel did not make use of an earlier work whose arguments are wholly analogous to his own: G6rard Simon's astonishing Kepler astronome astrologue (Gallimard, 1979), which shows how Kep- ler's efforts to place astrology on a firmer mathematical basis helped create a quite new astronomical science. Parel's volume does something not dissimilar for the Florentine. His is a remarkably original text, providing a wholly new understanding of Machiavelli's writings. It suggests that we need to take an entirely new look at the scientific context of early modem thought in any number of areas that we like to think of as founding moder- nity.

TIMOTHY J. REISS

Nicholas Copernicus. On the Revolutions. Translated with a commentary by Edward Rosen. (Foundations of Natural History.) xxii + 452 pp., figs., tables, indexes. Baltimore/ London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. (Paper.)

Nicholas Copernicus. Minor Works. Trans- lated with a commentary by Edward Rosen, with the assistance of Erna Hilfstein. xvi + 373 pp., figs., tables, bibls., indexes. Bal- timore/London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. (Paper.)

These two books are a nearly unaltered re- print, in paperback form, of Edward Rosen's translations of nearly every scrap of writing that can be ascribed to Copernicus (a few let- ters in the Polish edition, written on behalf of others, are not included). The publication of this edition performs the valuable service of making Copernicus's works readily avail- able to English-speaking readers, along with Rosen's commentary displaying his unparal- leled knowledge of the historical personages and circumstances connected with these works.

The only change from the earlier editions is a new introduction written by Rosen's col- laborator, Era Hilfstein, which attempts to address criticism of their choice of texts (see below) and explains some of the accomplish- ments of this edition. It concludes with the

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