GIOVANNI PICO DELA MIRANDOLA' "UODECALOGUES"

Although the three duodecalogues, Duodecim Regulae, Duodecim arma spiritualis pugnae, and Duodecim conditiones amantis, make up only a tiny fraction of the entire oeuvre of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, they enjoyed great popularity and diffusion in the sixteenth century. They were translated into vernacular languages very early, such as into English by Sir Thomas More at the beginning of the sixteenth century. There were also translations into French, Italian, German, Spanish and even Czech, all almost unknown to international scholarship. It was their spiritual content which made them so popular in the Renaissance and it is actually this content which is one of the reasons they have been almost entirely omitted in the modern historiography of Renaissance philosophy. Another reason for their neglect lies in certain doubts concerning their authenticity. This paper puts these writings into the context of Pico's philosophy as far as spiritual life can be considered part of his anthropological concept.