[hprints-00683151, v2] Enea Silvio Piccolomini (Pius II ... - Hprints.org

hprints-00683151, version 2 - 19 Mar 2013
It was given by Piccolomini at a general session of the council in 1436 9 , see below.
Later, in 1450, Piccolomini in his Revised History of the Council wrote about the
speech: Since we bore sorely the injury to the duke whom we saw disdained because
of this 10 , although we had little eloquence, we wished to make up for the negligence
of the man and honor so great a duke. Rising, therefore, in his place a few days later,
we delivered an oration in praise of Pavia and the Duke of Milan which was heard for
two hours without any annoyance, without inflicting injury on anyone. 11
And still later in his life, as Pius II, he wrote about the speech in his Commentaries:
At the time, there was some discussion of transferring the council to a place where
the Greeks would come for a conference. The choice fell between four cities willing to
pay the expenses of the Greeks: Florence, Udine, Pavia and Avignon. Eloquent
speeches in praise of these cities resounded through the great hall; only Pavia had no
one to plead its cause, because Isidoro Rosati, whom the Duke Filippo Maria of Milan
had sent for that purpose, had spoken so badly and stupidly that he had been told to
hold his tongue. Aeneas was moved by the humiliation of this noble city and its
prince, and that very night he composed a speech. Next day he went into the council,
where Giuliano, the papal legate, used his influence to get him permission to speak.
For two hours he declaimed before a most attentive and admiring audience.
Afterwards, everyone who had heard his speech had a copy made for himself. 12
Note that in 1450 he wrote “a few days later” and ten years after the “next day”.
Georg Voigt, Piccolomini’s first – and not very sympathetic – biographer, said about
the speech: Die Rede, die Enea nun vor dem Concil hielt, ist uns als das erste von ihm
ausgehende Zeugnis seiner Fähigkeit und Gewandtheit wichtig. 13 And later: Wer sich
an alle Parteien wendet, wird seiner Sache keinem Freund, aber auch seiner Person
keinen Feind erwerben. An der Wahl von Pavia lag dem Redner weniger als an der
Gunst des Herzogs, für den er sich aus freien Stücken verwendet, und an der hohen
9
Cf. Helmrath: Reichstagsreden, p. 141
10
I.e. by an inept speech of Isidoro da Rosate
11
Pius II: Revised, p. 349
12
Pius II: Commentaries, p. 32-33
13 Voigt, p. 117
15