"Grow Brave by Reflection"

“I love those who can…grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death” (Leonardo da Vinci). I feel like this quote is the epitome of learning through conversation and through reasoning together like we did in class this week. At the end of our salon, Makenna B. made a comment that struck me. She suggested that three of our themes are ideas that sparked events in the other three themes. Along this train of thought, sprezzatura, ad fontes, and humanism are ideas that are intrinsically infused in the travel/social change, the Protestant Reformation, and the effects of the printing press.

Petrarch, years before the Renaissance, realized that he and his culture were not speaking the proper form of Latin. He saw that with an increased ability to communicate, more ideas could be discussed, and, better yet, ideas could be explored in a whole new light. In addition to returning to the ancient language, people also began to return to the ideas and innovations from ancient Greece and Rome. Then, during the Renaissance, the idea of humanism came to be, which we add to the return to Greece and Rome’s magnificence. Therefore, we have the conception that the past creations were wonderful (language, architecture, and art), and now we have added the idea that human beings are magnificent as well. For example, William Shakespeare wrote, 'What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an Angel! in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world!”

Finally, add sprezzatura into this mix and we have the reality of the renaissance. Now, man is not only magnificent, but he has the potential to become even better than he is today. For instance, The Courtier describes the ideal man, and all the characteristics he could seek to develop. There was a sense that someone could not be good at, say, archery, but that you could practice and become knowledgeably enough to not only be able to become a great archer, but to do it with ease or nonchalance.

         Now, I believe that we see these three basic ideas in the other three themes. For instance, in the explorations we see the potential of a human being, perhaps humanistic or even sprezzaturic in nature. Montaigne, in Of Cannibals actually left home and sought for something new. Columbus had to convince the Crown that his travels were going to be worthwhile and I would assume that would take quite flattery to appeal to ethos, as well as a lot of information to appeal to logos. There was a view that the world wasn’t just Europe anymore, there was more to see and more for individuals to discover.

Another possibility could be that the printing press could be seen as a watershed and all of the other ideas could flow from it. Without the Guttenberg printing press, nothing would have happened as rapidly. For example, the Protestant Reformation would not be notable today if people hadn’t heard about it. If Martin Luther only translated the Bible into German once, and it was never printed and distributed, I believe that his cause would have simmered out. Another example is with a return to the ancients with language. Word of mouth only goes so far, but if we could print up books that show how to speak properly and how to act, then we can see change in a whole society. Therefore, it could be the printing press that we should thank for everything that came out of the Reformation, for without it, the learning and the explorations wouldn’t have been known by a large amount of people.