life of john picus earl of mirandola - The Center for Thomas More ...

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Philosophy
Mercenary
34 Thomas More’s Life of John Picus
to the reward of eternal felicity, since we neither ought nor may prefix
ourselves any other end than the endless fruition of the infinite goodness,
both to soul and body, in everlasting peace.
Farewell, and fear God.¦ [Dated from Ferrara, May 15, 1492.]
⌐ The Matter or Argument of the Epistle of Picus to Andrew Corneus.
This Andrew, a worshipful man and an especial friend of Picus, had
by his letters given him counsel to leave the study of philosophy, as a
thing in which he thought Picus to have spent time enough and which,
but if it were applied to the use of some actual business, he judged a
thing vain and unprofitable; wherefore he counselled Picus to surcease
of study and put himself with some of the great princes of Italy, with
whom (as this Andrew said) he should be much more fruitfully occupied
than always in the study and learning of philosophy. To whom
Picus answered, as in this present epistle appeareth; where he saith
these words: by this it should follow that it were either servile or at
the leastwise not princely to make the study of philosophy other than
mercenary, 1 –thus he meaneth: mercenary, we call all those things which
we do for hire or reward. Then he maketh philosophy mercenary and
useth it not as cunning but as merchandise which° studieth it not for
pleasure of itself, or for the instruction of his mind in moral virtue, 2
but to apply it to such things where he may get some lucre or worldly
advantage. ¬
John Picus Earl of Mirandola to Andrew Corneus, Greeting.¦ Ye exhort
me by your letters to the civil° and active life, saying that in vain, and in
manner to my rebuke and shame, have I so long studied in philosophy,
but if I would at the last exercise that learning in the entreating° of
some profitable acts and outward° business. 3 Certainly, my well beloved
Andrew, I had cast away both cost and labour of my study if I were so
20 which who / 26 civil political, public / 28 entreating undertaking (cf. OED s.v. entreating vbl.
sb. 1b) / 29 outward external, outside the mind (cf. OED s.v. outward a. 5)
¦ 4 More omits the date and place of writing. / 25 More omits the first paragraph, in which
Picus explains his delay in responding (a previous letter written by Comeo never arrived) and
reassures Corneo of his enduring friendship (CW 1:348).
1. by this…mercenary: A nearly verbatim citation of Picus’ letter (p. 35, ll. 28-30).
2. or for…moral virtue: This reason is not given in the letter that follows. Considering the substantial
changes More makes in it, Edwards concludes that More “is concerned to emphasize
the necessity of the active life rather than the reclusive life of the solitary scholar/divine” (CW
1:xlviii). Baker-Smith concurs, seeing a parallel between Picus’ stance and “Raphael’s rejection
of the vita activa” in Utopia (137).
3. exercise…business: The Latin has in agendarum tractandarumque rerum palaestra desudem, “work up a
sweat on the wrestling mat where practical affairs are handled and conducted” (CW 1:348, 349).
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