Incollection,
Epigraphy as a humanist activity – two examples from Istria: Sergius Polensis and Marin Marinčić
Litterae, picturae titulique : pričevanja, teksti in konteksti, Osrednja knjižnica Srečka Vilharja Koper, Koper, (2023)
Abstract
Fascination of Renaissance humanism with ancient inscriptions was more than a useful incentive for preservation and collection of inscriptions themselves; the fascination reveals to us attitudes of people involved as well as the extent of their interrelations. The inscriptions were objects of admiration, but they also inspired readers, transcribers and collectors to express themselves in a similar style; moreover, admiration did not always or necessarily imply pious reverence – comedy, parody, fun were also possible. And the simple act of sharing transcripts can serve as a signal of a relationship previously unknown to us.
The playful attitude towards inscription is represented here by the long epitaph of Sergius Polensis, actor and parasite. The epitaph, whose fictional location was either Pola in Istria or Salona in Dalmatia, was very popular during the Renaissance and in the whole Early Modern period. Attempts to attribute the text to a Late Antiquity parodist (writing in the genre of Testamentum porcelli) or to a humanist from the early Quattrocento turned out to be unconvincing. Clues from manuscript copies lead us to see as possible author of the parody Jacopino (Jacopo) Badoer da Peraga, from 1439 / 1441 the archbishop of Split, an previously, in 1420s, a member of the Padovan humanist network of Sicco Polenton, interested in antiquity, Plautus and Terence, and inscriptions.
Epigraphy as a sign of humanistic interest is attested by the connection between a 16th century historian Jacopo Valvasone di Maniago and a canon of Pula and Labin in Istria, Marin Marinčić. The connection is indicated by notes in Valvasone's hand which attribute to Marinčić the transcription of three inscriptions from Osor and Cres; the stones with original inscriptions do not exist today. Archival documents show that Marinčić was Valvasone's contemporary, active 1540–1543. Valvasone's notes are the only proof of Marinčić's humanistic interests; Marinčić obviously acted as a link toward the (less accessible) traces of Roman antiquity on two Quarnero islands.
The epitaph of Sergius Polensis and a small contribution to epigraphy by Marin Marinčić had different destinies. The epitaph, although early recognized as a fake, got printed and transcribed again and again, obviously being read as an instance of truthful imagination (se non è vero è ben trovato). Marinčić’s transcriptions, whose authenticity was never questioned, fell into oblivion until Mommsen rescued them from Muratori’s schedae. Both cases show Istria, the Quarnaro and Dalmatia participating in the formation of the classic ideal as it was understood by Renaissance humanists.
