The Eloquent Body: Dance and Humanist Culture in Fifteenth-Century Italy

3. Eloquent Movement-Eloquent Prose

3 Eloquent Movement— Eloquent Prose An important part of humanist culture’s effect on the dance practice of fifteenth-century Italy was the dance masters’ realization that language was absolutely necessary to the status of dance as an art. They were acutely aware that for dance to be included as a liberal art, with a claim to true knowledge and wisdom, then it had to be more than just a body of physical skills; it was now essential to be able to talk about dance in addition to being a good practitioner . In realizing this, the dance masters were responding to one of the central concerns of the humanists. Ever since the late fourteenth century the Italian humanists had been passionately concerned with words, with eloquence in the spoken and written text, and with rhetoric, the art of effective and persuasive public speaking and writing. The humanists’ interest in language, and their belief that it was the most powerful tool to move the passions of mankind, resonated throughout the educated elite, influencing not only dance but also other artistic practices, such as architecture and painting. One example of the strength of the humanists’ feeling about the position of language can be seen in Lorenzo Valla’s 76 The Eloquent Body treatise, Elegantiae linguae latinae, in which he describes classical Latin as the noblest and the truly divine fruit, food not of the body but of the soul. . . . For this language introduced those nations and all peoples to all the arts which are called liberal; it taught the best laws, prepared the way for all wisdom; and finally, made it possible for them no longer to be called barbarians. . . . The Roman dominion, the peoples and nations long ago threw off as an unwelcome burden; the language of Rome they have thought sweeter than any nectar, more splendid than any silk, more precious than any gold or gems, and they have embraced it as if it were a god sent from Paradise.1 For Valla, and the humanists in general, the importance of Latin as a language went far beyond its literary style. Latin was seen as the cornerstone of civilization, the basis of a civil society regulated by laws and based on wisdom—a knowledge of the divine. Their appreciation was not merely aesthetic, but had very practical, dayto -day consequences for the society in which they lived. Thus to the humanists proficiency, if not excellence, in the use of language was essential for the good running of the state. The comments of Francesco Patrizi of Siena (1413–94) are typical in this regard: No quality is of more vital concern to the state than public speaking , especially that aspect which relates to civil discussion. For the ends of the state depend upon the ability of men of affairs to persuade others into or out of a proposed course of action.2 The ability to understand and to manipulate language was considered to be of such importance that the major part of the humanists ’ system of education was directed toward this end. Guarino Guarini (1374–1460) taught in Florence, Venice, and Verona before establishing a school at Ferrara on the invitation of the d’Este family. Guarino intended his pupils to be able to use Latin competently , securely, and, more importantly, discerningly, with a mastery of the elegant nuances of the language so beloved of the classical Latin authors.3 To achieve this aim he oriented his educational program toward mastery of the Latin language, and in order that his pupils gain this fluency Guarino “amassed an elaborate corpus of linguistic information essential for an elegant Latin style,”4 so that his pupils graduated with the “ability to speak extempore on Eloquent Movement—Eloquent Prose 77 any subject in classical Latin, [and] the ability to compose formal letters to order in the classical idiom.”5 Guarino’s concern with eloquence in the spoken and written language is echoed in the humanist educational treatises. In De liberorum educatione, for example, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini wrote of the importance of fluent speech to members of the governing elite: Now since speech comes from practice, we think that something must be said about the manner in which the faculty of speech ought to be formed in a boy, that when he has assumed a man’s estate he can not only speak but speak elegantly and well, which accomplishment no one...