Reject Aeneas, Accept Pius: Selected Letters of Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini (Pope Pius II) by Thomas M. Izbicki, Gerald Christianson, and Philip Krey (review)

240 the jurist REJECT AENEAS, ACCEPT PIUS: SELECTED LETTERS OF AENEAS SYLVIUS PICCOLOMINI (POPE PIUS II) introduced and translated by Thomas M. Izbicki, Gerald Christianson, and Philip Krey. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America, 2006. Pp. Xvi, 435. Enea Silvio Piccolomini (1405–1464) was a Sienese humanist whose career as a secretary to cardinals, the Council of Basel, and Emperor Frederick III, as diplomat in the service of the council and emperor, as bishop of Trieste and then Siena, and as cardinal of Santa Sabina, eventually led to his election as pope, taking the name Pius II (1458–1464). Perhaps the most famous of the Renaissance popes, he was also one of the most prolific popes in history. His writings ranged from poems, a comedy, and a novella, to treatises on the care of horses, the miseries of courtiers, and the education of children, to histories of the Roman Empire , Bohemia, the Council of Basel, and to his own autobiography, written in the third person and known as the Commentaries. He is also known for his letters of which 1263 have been published by Rudolf Wolkan (Vienna , 1909–1918). The editors of this book have judiciously selected, carefully translated, and helpfully annotated seventy-five of these letters, covering the period from near the beginning of the Council of Basel (1432) to the fall of Constantinople (1453). They have included in their collection his revised Commentary on the Proceedings of Basel (1450), attacking the conciliarists, and two papal documents: his bull Execrabilis (1460) forbidding any appeal from a papal decision to a general council and his brief In minoribus agentes (1463) written to the rector and students of the University of Cologne urging them to reject the scandalous and erroneous opinions of the youthful Enea and to accept the mature and orthodox views of the now pope Pius II. These documents allow us to follow his journey from ardent conciliarist and secretary to the antipope Felix V to adamant defender of his own papal prerogatives. To put them into context, the editors have provided an introduction that traces the career of Piccolomini (9–53) and the nature and history of his letters (3–9, 53–57). These letters are important literary and historical documents. They allow us to hear the youthful Piccolomini in his own contemporary words and not from the perspective of the later pope dictating his interpretive memoirs. The letters show us a complex man, promoting himself and his career, passing on news, and expressing his opinions on significant persons and events of his day. Although he aimed to be understood, he could also be “exasperatingly elusive” (4). He used the letter format to shape and project a public persona and to express his personal and social moral philosophy. His letters are indeed full of aphorisms. The letters also allow us to trace his slow conversion from conciliarist to neutralist to papalist, a transformation dictated not by crass opportunism, but by his concern for the unity and harmony of Christendom and by his search for the institution or person that could provide superior judgment in practical matters. This progressive discernment led him to embrace first the council, then the emperor, and finally the pope. This book will be of use to anyone interested in the Renaissance papacy , in the conciliarist controversy, and humanism. The editors have made available to English readers an important collection of letters, most of which are here translated for the first time. This allows the reader to have direct access to the youthful Piccolomini and not be restricted to the later account in his Commentaries that were translated by Florence Gragg (1936–1957) and more recently by Margaret Meserve and Marcello Simonetta (2003– ). The letters provide us a more accurate picture of his developing and fascinating career. Nelson H. Minnich The Catholic University of America Washington, D.C. A PRIVILEGED MOMENT: DIALOGUE IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL 1962–1965 by Ann Michele Nolan. European University Studies. Bern: Peter Lang, 2006. Pp. XXI–276. This doctoral dissertation was inspired by the work of John W. O’Malley, S.J. on the rhetorical style of the documents of The Second Vatican Council...