FEDERICO CESI, THE FIRST ACADEMY, AND UMBRIA 27Judgments as to the in<strong>di</strong>vidual sciences must be read within this conceptualframe. In the first place the invitation to abstain from the study <strong>of</strong> theologyand jurisprudence 25 but, above all, <strong>of</strong> history and politics. 26 This invitation,together with the recommendation <strong>of</strong> prudence and impartiality with respectto political and religious authorities, must not be interpreted as an attitude <strong>of</strong>bass servility, shameless courtliness, insipid conformism, but rather as a practiceguided by a <strong>di</strong>scerning prudence, by a line <strong>of</strong> conduct aimed first <strong>of</strong> all atensuring the survival <strong>of</strong> the institution itself in the threatening climate <strong>of</strong> theCounter Reformation, at a moment in which the political and religious authoritiesseem bent on erecting obstacles to any attempt at cultural renewal. Theseprescriptions <strong>of</strong> the Lynceographum are <strong>di</strong>rect expressions <strong>of</strong> the founder’s precisesense <strong>of</strong> measure and fine political realism, <strong>of</strong> his lucid capacity to readthe political and religious context <strong>of</strong> his time, <strong>of</strong> his attention for reasons <strong>of</strong>State. The caution and prudence <strong>of</strong> Cesi and the Lynceans takes on the connotation,truly precursory, <strong>of</strong> a defense <strong>of</strong> the freedom <strong>of</strong> research, which notmany years later would be the chief concern <strong>of</strong> scientific institutions such asthe Royal Society and great thinkers like Descartes. 27As concerns the other sciences, having underlined the utility <strong>of</strong> philosophyand language study, all attention is then focused on the <strong>natural</strong>sciences and mathematics.The Lynceans shall de<strong>di</strong>cate themselves instead, with alacrity andfervor, to the great field <strong>of</strong> Philosophy, to studying the most hiddenrecesses <strong>of</strong> Nature in order to penetrate her most intimate secrets.They shall also address themselves to all <strong>of</strong> the Mathematical <strong>di</strong>sciplinesand seek to apprehend exactly every aspect <strong>of</strong> them. 28Above all else the most exalted quality <strong>of</strong> these sciences is their publicity,both in the sense that scientific experiences as such must be public and inthe sense <strong>of</strong> their public utility: ‘They shall do public experiments inMe<strong>di</strong>cine and Mechanics for public utility’. 29At this point the Lynceographum presents an explicit and decisive clarificationwith regard to the Lynceans’ relationship to the esoteric sciences,and specifically with regard to alchemy:Furthermore, in regard to that part <strong>of</strong> Chemistry, which concernsitself with the lucrative transmutation, fission, or alteration <strong>of</strong>25 Lynceographum, c. 46, pp. 68-69.26 Ibid.27 On these themes see the splen<strong>di</strong>d pages <strong>of</strong> G. Olmi, op. cit., pp. 192-209.28 Lynceographum, c. 47, p. 69.29 Lynceographum, c. 47, p. 70.
28FEDERICO CESI, LA PRIMA ACCADEMIA, L’UMBRIA“Inoltre, riguardo a quella parte della Chimica, che si rivolge allalucrosa trasmutazione, fissione o alterazione dei metalli e nellostesso tempo tende a scoprire gli arcani della Natura, ci dobbiamocomportare in maniera che non vi sia da parte nostra nessun rapporto(commercium) con i molti imbrogli e pseudochimici, cheesercitano quelle attività; non si <strong>di</strong>a ad essi nessun affidamento. Seinvece si tratti <strong>di</strong> fare esperimenti per una più pr<strong>of</strong>onda conoscenzadegli arcani della Natura, si facciano questi esperimenticon cautela, sotto il controllo del Principe, senza che ci possa arrecarevituperio”. 30Se all’inizio della loro esperienza istituzionale, influenzati dalla personalitàdell’Heckius e del Porta, i Lincei partecipano con interesse agli stu<strong>di</strong><strong>di</strong> astrologia e <strong>di</strong> alchimia, ma già a livello metodologico, essi <strong>di</strong>stinguonola seria ricerca che mira ad una “pr<strong>of</strong>onda conoscenza degli arcanidella natura” dalla pseudoscienza degli imbroglioni che si de<strong>di</strong>cano “allalucrosa trasmutazione, fissione o alterazione dei metalli”. 31Quanto sopra affermato risulta chiaramente evidente dall’insistenzacon cui nel Linceografo si sottolinea che ogni ricerca scientifica, per esseretale, deve avere i caratteri della collegialità e della comunitarietà, deveessere basata cioè sulla collaborazione reciproca e fraterna dei singoli. Lascienza è per sua essenza comunicabile e sapiente è colui che insieme è<strong>di</strong>sposto a comunicare agli altri ma anche a ricevere dagli altri. Ciascuno,che sia “maestro dei suoi <strong>di</strong>scepoli sarà <strong>di</strong>scepolo e con<strong>di</strong>scepolo”. 32<strong>Il</strong> metodo adombrato nel Linceografo esige perciò una completa <strong>di</strong>sponibilitàdegli aderenti alla comunità; esige una fratellanza, una collegialità,una convivenza comunitaria che non lascia spazio ad altri impegnipubblici o privati. Da questo punto <strong>di</strong> vista non sembrino tropporestrittive le regole che vietano a un Linceo la contemporanea appartenenzaad un or<strong>di</strong>ne religioso o la possibilità <strong>di</strong> sposarsi. 33 Né meraviglil’estrema rigi<strong>di</strong>tà e selettività delle regole <strong>di</strong> cooptazione e il risalto chesi dà alle virtù che dovrebbero essere corredo dei Lincei, cioè degli30 Lynceographum, c. 46, p. 69.31 Sul tema si veda M. Partini, I primi lincei e l’ermetismo, in “Ren<strong>di</strong>conti dell’AccademiaNazionale dei Lincei”, Classe <strong>di</strong> Scienze Morali, Storiche e Filologiche, sez. VIII, vol. XLI(1987), fasc. 3-4, pp. 59-89.32 Lynceographum, c. 51, p. 71.33 Lynceographum, cc. 65-66, pp. 80-81.
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