Francesco Zorzi and Hannibal Rosseli on prisca theologia

Abstract

In the year 1584 a huge volume called Pymander Divinus Pymander Hermetis Mercurii Trismegisti, cum commentariis R.P.F. Hannibalis Rosseli appeared in Cracow. This is a part of a monumental commentary to the Corpus Hermeticum, a collection of dialogues attributed to the great pagan sage, the Thrice-Greatest Hermes. Its author, Hannibal Rosseli was a Franciscan friar, who adopted the scholastic method in his work but followed also some ideas of the Humanist Hermetic Tradition. In my paper I examine the question how the concept of prisca theologia appears in Rosseli’s work, and the consequences of the fact that a pagan sage was the main authority and the starting point for a Catholic scholar to write a theological compendium.
According to my conclusions amongst the main sources of Pymander are Ficino’s Latin translation of the Corpus, the tradition of Franciscan spirituality, and some ideas of the famous Venetian Franciscan friar, Francesco Zorzi. To avoid the possible charges of Heterodoxy, Rosseli revised Ficino’s conception of prisca theologia and tried to temper Zorzi’s bold methodological innovations.
In an appendix I publish the Hungarian translation of Marsilio Ficino’s foreword to his translation of the Corpus Hermeticum.