POLITIAN
213
POLITICAL
Trid." (Louvain, 1567; Paris, 1672)]. Notwithstand-
ing attacks upon his teaching he was appointed
Bishop of Minori in 1546, and, in 1552, Archbishop of
Conza, Province of Naples. Pope Juhus III, suc-
cessor of Paul III, called Politi to Rome, intending,
says Echard, to elevate him to the cardinalate, but he
died before reaching Rome. Historians and theologians
generally have regarded Catharinus as a brilliant, ec-
centric genius, who did much good, was frequently
accused of teaching false doctrines, yet always kept
within the bounds of orthodox-y . Pallavicini and other
authorities declare positively that the Council of Trent
did not condemn his singular opinions. His zeal and
activity are universally praised; he defended the Im-
maculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, and sub-
mitted all his writings to the judgment of the Church,
regret ting towards the end of his life thevehemence with
which he had combatted Cardinal Cajetan and Father
Dominic Soto (Echard). His principal works (for
complete list see Echard) are: "Apologia pro veritate
catholicae et apostolicae fidei ac doctrins, adversus
impia ac pestifera Martini Lutheri dogmata" (Flor-
ence, 1520); " Speculum haereticorum " (Lyons, 1541),
with two opuscula on original sin and justification;
" Annotationes in commentaria Cajetani super sacram
Scripturam" (Lyons, 1542); "Tractatus quaestionis
quo jure episcoporum residentia debeatur" (Venice,
1547); "Defensio catholicorum pro possibili certi-
tudine gratise" (ibid., 1547); "Summa doctrinse de
prDedestinatione" (Rome, 1550); "Commentaria in
omnes D. Pauli epistolas et alias septem canonicas"
(Venice, 1551); "Disputatio pro veritate immacu-
late conceptionis B. Virginis" (Rome, 1551). He
also published numerous opuscula, e. g., on Providence
and predestination, on the state of children dying
without baptism; on giving communion to young
children; on celibacy; on the Scriptures and their
translation into the vernacular.
QcfiTiF-EcH.iRD, Script. Ord. Freed., II (Paris, 1721), 144; TOCRON, Hisl. des hommes illustre.^ de VOrdre de S. Dom., IV (Paris, 1747), 128; Paluivicini. Hisl. Cone. Trid.: De int. mi- niatri, De Resid. epis. (.\ntwerp, 1670; Cologne, 1717, 1727); SixTua Senensis, Bibliotheca Sancta, Bks. IV, V, VI (Venice, 1566).
D. J. Kennedy.
Politian (Angiolo de 'Ambrosini da Monte PuLciANo), Italian Humanist, b. at Monte Pulciano in 14.54; d. at Florence in 1494. At the age of ten he went to Florence, where he followed the courses of Lan- dino, Argyropoulos, Andronicus CaUistus, and Mar- silio Ficino. In 1477 he was tutor to the children of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and became one of the Acca- demia which Lorenzo had grouped about him, in which, with Marsilio Ficino, were associated Landino, Pico della Mirandola, and Hermolaus Barbarus. Poli- tian was professor of Greek and Latin literature at Florence from 1480; among his pupils were the Eng- lishmen, Grocyn and Linacre, and the German Reuchlin. He was rather a master and interpreter of the ancient spirit than a philologist. His lessons on each author were preceded by an introduction, often in verse, with a poetic title: "Nutritia" for the general eulogy of poetry, "Rusticus" for Hesiod and the Georgics of Virgil, "Manto" for VirgU, "Ambra" for Homer. His discourses or preliminary poems form a collection called " Prailectiones " . Politian was one of the first Italian Humanists who succeeded in rival- ling the Greek scholarship of the native-born Hel- lenes. At eighteen he translated Books I to V of the "Iliad" and won the surname of Homericus juvenis. Subsequently he translated Callimacus, the historian Herodien, Epictetus, the "Charmides" of Plato, the "Eroticus" of Plutarch, treatises of Hippocrates and Galian, and selections from Moschus and the "An- thology". He read many other authors, which for a long time existed only in manuscript, e. g., the "Months" of John Lydus which Schow made known
only in 1794. His most important philological work
is his collection of "Miscellanea" (1489), wherein he
treats various scholarly subjects; the employment of
breathings in Greek and Latin, the chronology of
Cicero's familiar letters, the orthography of the name
of Virgil, which he fixed under the form Vergilius,
the discovery of purple, the difference between the
aorist and the imperfect in the signature of Greek
sculptors. He was a modern philologist in his efforts to
recover the best manuscripts and to procure collations.
He thus contributed towards improving the text or
preserved intact
the Latin elegiacs,
the "Silvae" of
Statins, Terence,
Lucretius, Ovid,
Celsus,Quintilian,
Festus, Ausonius,
the agricultural
treatises. The
critical editions
of these authors
place his name in
the history of
manuscripts, but
he made a special
study of the "Pan-
dects" on the sixth . -,
century MSS. Angiolo Politian
brought from Pisa to Florence in 1 4 1 1 . As a Humanist, Politian is a Latin wTiter of poetry and prose, a poet of Latin sentiment in Italian. He does not share the Ciceronian purity of Valla, but endeavours to create a personal style. He had to defend these ideas against the Latin secretary of Florence, Bartolomeo Scala and against Paolo Cortesi. He was one of the earliest to attract attention to the Latin writers of the Silver Age. His Latin, hke his Italian, verses are full of grace and sentiment. He wrote in Latin a history of the conspiracy of the Pazzi in which he took Sallust as a model. His letters together with those of Bembo were long considered as reahzing the ideal of style.
Sandys, .4 Hist, of Classical Scholarship, II (Cambridge, 1908), 83; Mahly, A7i^. Politianus, Ein Culturbild aus d. Renaissance (Leipzig, 1864); Bernays, Gesammelte Ahhandlungen, II (Berlin, 18S5),330; Symonds, The Renaissance in Italy, U (London, 1875- 86), 345; Sabbadini, Ciceronianismo (Turin, 1886), 34; Idem, Le scoperte dei codici (Florence, 1905), 151.
Editions: Opera (Venice, 1498; Florence. 1499; Basle, 1553); Epistola: (Basle, 1522; Anvera, 1567); Opera. Epistolie. Miscel- lanea (Lyons, 1526): Poesie latine e grecke in Prose Volgari, ed. DEL Lungo (Florence, 1867).
Paul Lejay.
Political Economy, Science of. — I. Defini- tions. — Political economy (Greek, oiKom/jila — the management of a household or family, jroXiriKi) — per- taining to the state) or economics {rd olmfoiiiKd — the art of household management) is the social science which treats of man's activities in providing the material means to satisfy his wants. Economy orig- inally means the management and regulation of the resources of the household ; that is, of the immediate family with its slaves and dependents. Political econ- omy originally meant the management of the house- hold of the State. It was so used as late as Adam Smith (Wealth of Nations, 1776), who defined it thus: "Political economy considered as a branch of the science of a statesman or legislator proposes two distinct objects, first, to supply a plentiful revenue or subsistence for the people, or more properly to enable them to provide such a revenue or subsistence for themselves; and secondly, to supply the state or commonwealth with a revenue sufficient for the public service. It proposes to enrich both the people and the sovereign." The sum of the efforts and activities of the members of the household in acquiring the means to satisfy their wants may be designated as the econ-
