Albertino Mussato.
De lite inter Naturam et Fortunam.
Bianca Facchini, ed. and trans.
Florence: SISMEL-Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2021. 372 pp. €76.00. 

This is a most welcome contribution for all scholars of Latin medieval literature and philosophy. Bianca Facchini provides us with the first critical edition of Albertino Mussato’s (1261-1329) De lite inter naturam et fortunam, along with an Italian translation and a generous introduction. Mussato’s De lite is a dialogue between Nature and Fortune, in which they discuss their respective spheres of influence. The composition dates to the most mature phase of Mussato’s lifetime. In the introduction, Facchini provides compelling arguments dating it to the year 1326, that is, a little earlier than suggested by previous scholars. The text, as it has been handed down to us, comprises five parts. It begins with a prologue (§ 1-2), followed by a description of the oneiric narrative framework of the work (§ 3-6). The central and most extensive part features the conversation between Nature and Fortune (§ 7-240). This is followed by the apparition of Christ (§ 241-249), who brings the work to completion by revealing the real nature of fate and free will (§ 250-268). Only the central part is developed in dialogic form, the others being laid out in monologic prose. The De lite belongs to the literary genre known as altercatio (or lis), which was very successful in the Latin Middle Ages. As a dialogue fictitiously taking place in the author’s dreams, however, the work may also be included in the widespread genre of medieval somnia or visiones. It is important to remember that Mussato composed the text while in exile, in Chioggia. As a bitter reflection on the fickleness of Fortune, therefore, the De lite also has well-known antecedents in the works of Cicero and Boethius, to mention only the most notable examples.

In their conversation, Nature and Fortune discuss several topics which were canonical in the medieval literature on fortune, such as celestial influence or fortuitous events. In general, Aristotle provides the main conceptual and terminological framework of Mussato’s account. Within this framework, however, Mussato also addresses themes that were not among the most frequently discussed in de fortuna writings. For instance, he provides a lengthy discussion on friendship (§ 91-98), which Nature claims (on the basis of the communi dividundo principle) to be composed of three elements: honestum, utile and delectabile. The two interlocutors strongly disagree on the terms of this tripartition, which provides the author with a pretext to dwell upon the nature of true friendship. In contrast to what Fortune suggests, Nature argues that friendship solely based on honesty and virtue does exist in this world. Nature mentions a few exemplary cases (Pylades and Orestes, Polynices and Tydeus, among others) and adds that examples can also be found in our days – one can hear Mussato’s voice speaking here. Another topic extensively discussed by the author is nobility (§ 147-163). Following in the footsteps of Aristotle and Boethius, Mussato claims that nobility does not result only from lineage, but also (and even more so) from intellectual and moral virtue. Also in this case, one is tempted to read Mussato’s account as a reference to his own biographic trajectory. Born into a low-class family, he managed to achieve the highest position in the political and cultural landscape of his city, as he himself recalls in the dialogue (§ 139).

The De lite is also interesting because of the various sources employed by the author. Writing at a time when Latin Europe had just recovered and made available a considerable portion of the Greco-Roman and Arabic literary heritage, Mussato shows himself to be familiar with a wide array of ancient and late antique authors. Empedocles, Aesop, Boethius, Avicenna are but a few of the names that come up in the dialogue. A discussion of Mussato’s debt to classical sources is provided in Facchini’s introduction (pp. 37-48), while a detailed list of all authors cited (both directly and indirectly) is supplied in an appendix. As mentioned already, Aristotle takes the lion’s share among these authorities. His writings on ethics and natural philosophy provide the backbone of Mussato’s arguments; both Nature and Fortune make frequent reference to them throughout the dialogue. Mussato relies on the Latin translations made by medieval masters in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (the Physics by James of Venice, the Magna Moralia by Bartholomew of Messina, the Nicomachean Ethics, Politics and Rhetoric by William of Moerbeke). As Facchini points out (p. 40), it is uncertain whether Mussato had full and direct access to all of them, but he did show himself to be substantially familiar with their content. He also relies on the doctrine transmitted by the pseudo-Aristotelian Liber de bona fortuna (§§ 24-25 and 39-43), a medieval Latin compilation of the chapters on good fortune from the Magna Moralia (1206b 30-1207b 19) and Eudemian Ethics (1246b 37-1248b 11), which was used for the first time by Thomas Aquinas in his Summa contra gentiles (III, 92). In this sense, Mussato’s De lite offers a window into the encyclopedia of knowledge of early fourteenth-century Europe.

Facchini’s philological work, too, deserves to be praised. The edition of the text is based on the two extant manuscript witnesses of the work (Sevilla, Bibliotheca Capitular y Colombina, MS 5. I. 5; Padua, Biblioteca Civica, MS B. P. 2531), which the author describes and accurately collates in the introduction (pp. 62-79). Thanks to this work, Facchini was able to conclude that the two witnesses are related to one another, as they share a number of errors. Specifically, she provides evidence showing that the Sevilla manuscript (C) was the antigraph of the Paduan one (P) (p. 75). As C is the principal witness of the text, the edition is based primarily on this codex. Both manuscripts feature glossae by different hands, which Facchini meticulously describes and compares with one another (pp. 83-94). Finally, both the Italian translation and the accompanying notes contribute to making the text clear and digestible to scholars and students alike.

Tommaso De Robertis, University of Toronto