936 © Memoirs of John Pica, Prince of Mirandola. (Oct. 1, a 
faith; thirteen questions were selected, 
which were charged with the terrible 
suspicion of heresy and contempt of the 
ordinances of the church; a suspicion 
_ very readily listened to by the church 
when directed against great’ learuing, 
which the increasing inflaence of philo- 
sophy and letters began to make her 
watch with extreme jealousy.. Mirandola 
repelled this attack by publishing his 
Apofogia, or Defence of the accused Pro- 
ositions; which if it did not effectually 
clear away the suspicions he had incur- 
red, tended to confirm his enemies in 
their dread of his learning and powers; 
and it must be owned that, overluoking 
the misapplication of talents to such sub- 
jects, the Apologia exhibits a command 
of profound and well digested learning 
and keen argument truly astonishing at 
theage of twenty-three. This work, and 
the discussions it contained of certain 
delicate points, added to some hints of 
the limit of Pontifical controul in matters 
of faith, were so disagreeable to Pope 
Yunocent VIII. that he interdicted the 
reading both of the Apology and the dis- 
puted questions. The love of glory, how- 
ever, was not Mirandola’s only passion: 
his youth, splendid accomplishments, and 
the graces of his person, for which he is 
said to have been remarkable, attracted 
the admiration and caresses of manydistin- 
guished Roman ladies, who united the 
Jove of letters to that of pleasure, a taste 
very common amongst the Italian ladies 
of that age. The young philosopher 
yielded to the force of these allurements, 
or rather, according to the account of 
his nephew and biographer, Francisco 
of Mirandola, eagerly followed the bent 
of his disposition naturally inclined to 
obey the attractions of beauty. 
_ But this life of pleasure, however suit- 
able to his condition and inclinations, was 
of a’short continuance. Irritated by the 
restless persecutions of his enemies, aud 
obliged perpetually to defend himself 
against the jmputation of heresy, the 
most formrdeble calumny which in that 
age any man could have to contend with, 
he detached himself from vicious plea- 
sures, and regulated his manner of life by 
rigidly observing the laws of abstinence 
imposed by Christianity; for being a firra 
adherent to the Christian doctrines, the 
charge of infidelity and the vigilance ef 
his enemies made him the more’ solici- 
tous to guard against the appearance of 
disobeying them. Becoming from this 
time wholly deyoted to learning, he soon 
acquired such celebrity that the most emi+ 
nent scholars from alk parts of Italy came 
to visit him for conversation or instruc- 
tion. As a proof of the sincerity of his 
reformation, he commmitted to, the 
flames five books of elegiac poetry 
which he had composed on the subject 
of his amours, together with numerous. 
pieces in Tuscan verse, which had 
been addressed to his various mis- 
tresses. There is perhaps reason to lainent 
that the zeal of a new convert would not 
be. satisfied without this sacrifice. It 
must, however, be considered that the 
spirit of religion at that period exacted 
many sacrifices from the professors of 
Christianity, which the-+enient temper of 
these times does not call for. An exam~ 
ple of this severity is to be met with 
amongst the works that still remain of 
Mirandola; at the end of which, in the 
folio edition published by his nephew, we 
find a learned and entertaining comment, 
in the Italian language, upon a composi- 
tion of his friend Girolamo Benivieni, 
entitled ‘* Una Canzona de Amore secun- 
do la mente et openione de’ Platonici,” 
a poetical treatise upon love, explaining 
the doctrines of the platonists. “The au- 
thor, Girolamo, informs the reader in q 
short preface, that he had determined to 
suppress this poem and comment out of 
regard to his friend’s character and his 
own; deeming it unbecoming a professor 
of Christianity, in treating of celestial and _ 
divine love, “ to treat of 1t as a Platonist 
and not as a Christian ;” but that having 
lent it to some of his friends for their peru- 
sal, an imperfect and erroneous copy was 
printed, which obliged him, but not till 
after the death of Mirandola, to publish 
it correctly ; and he takes care to allege 
in excuse for hiniself that he has apprized 
the reader of his plan by the title of the 
poem, and warned him in all places where 
Plato’s opinions depart from those of 
Christ, that the doctrines of a gentile 
and a heathen are not entitled to the 
least weight compared with the reason- 
ings of the Christian theologists, “ and 
particularly the irrefragable arguments of 
the angelicdoctorSt. Thomas, of Aquino,” 
The first fruit of Mirandola’s devotion 
to sacred litérature was the Heptaplus, 
or Comment upon the Six Days of the 
first Chapter of Genesis, which was writ- 
ten in 1491. Two years afterwards he 
published a treatise in ten chapters, de 
Ente & Uno; the object of which was to 
reconcile the doctrines of Plato and Ari- 
stotle, and to demonstrate that the dis- 
