Tiberian Library, 275n
time, 186–89, 196–97, 237, 239, 244, 256
Timocrates, 277n
Tommaso da Sarzana, 214
Torah, 39
torture, 170, 240, 255
transition, 5–7, 10, 145–46, 186–87, 217, 243–45, 259–60, 263
translations, 88, 168, 210, 212, 215
tribon (cloak), 92
Turkey, 82, 216
Tuscany, 34, 45, 141
Twelve Good Men, 127
“Twentieth,” 66
Uccello, Paolo, 218
Ulm, 15
Ulpian Library, 275n
Ulysses, 288n
umbilicus (wooden stick), 56
underworld, 76, 180
universe, 5–8, 73–74, 87, 186, 187, 189, 194, 220, 237, 238–39, 250–52, 306n
Urban VI, Pope, 293n–94n
Utopia (More), 227–33, 251, 304n
Valla, Lorenzo, 149–50, 213, 215, 221–26, 303n
vapulatio (cudgeling), 106
Varro of Atax, 23–24
Vatican, 20, 46, 142
Vatican Library, 46, 58, 155–56, 221, 296n
Vegetius Renatus, Flavius, 35
Vegio, Maffeo, 302n
Velleius, Gaius, 69–70
vellum, 40, 115–16
Venice, 32, 121, 122, 130–31, 136, 239–40
Venus, 1–2, 10, 140, 175, 198, 201–2, 228, 247, 251, 260–61
Vergerio, Pier Paolo, 162
Veronese, Paolo, 305n
Vesalius, Andreas, 10
Vespasian, Emperor of Rome, 275n
Vespasiano da Bisticci, 129, 133
Vespucci, Amerigo, 229–30
Villa of the Papyri, 54–59, 63–65, 68, 70–72, 79, 81, 82
virgarum verbera (hitting with rods), 106
Virgil, 23, 43, 51–52, 58, 61, 96, 120, 121, 123, 132, 176, 247, 273n
Virgin Mary, 10, 166
virtue, 102, 128–29, 138–39
Visconti family, 153
Vitruvius, 62
void, 74, 75, 102, 187, 188–89
volcanic eruptions, 54–59, 63–64, 67
Voltaire, 262
Voss, Isaac, 204
Vulcan, 99
Vulgate Bible, 95–96
warfare, 24, 49, 59, 79, 89, 153, 192, 195, 226–27, 281n
water, 73, 86
water-soluble ink, 82–83, 86
“Way of Cession,” 160–61
“Way of Compromise,” 161
“Way of Council,” 161
wealth, 20–22, 113, 127, 151, 192, 210–11, 215, 219, 301n, 304n
“wergild” codes, 38
witchcraft, 17, 18–19, 92–93, 217
women, 17, 66, 76, 85, 91–93, 127–29, 143–44, 174–76, 210, 212, 217, 220, 257–58
wool trade, 113, 114, 126, 287n
Wretchedness of the Human Condition, The (Poggio), 216–17
writing, 37–38, 62, 112–16, 121, 130, 135, 155–56, 179
Wycliffe, John, 168, 253
Yeats, William Butler, 197
Zabarella, Francesco, 162, 205
Zamora, Padre, 250
Zenodotus, 88
Zephyr, 10, 267n
Zwingli, Huldrych, 253
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHER whose work gave rise to the story that I trace in these pages believed that life’s highest end was pleasure, and he took particular pleasure in the community of his friends. It is only fitting then that I acknowledge the rich and sustaining network of friends and colleagues who have enhanced the writing of this book. Over the course of a year at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin I spent many pleasurable hours discussing Lucretius with the late Bernard Williams, whose marvelous intelligence illuminated everything that it touched. And some years later at the same wonderful Berlin institution I participated in an extraordinary Lucretius reading group that gave me the critical impetus I needed. Generously guided by two philosophers, Christoph Horn and Christof Rapp, the group, which included Horst Bredekamp, Susan James, Reinhard Meyer-Kalkus, Quentin Skinner, and Ramie Targoff, along with more occasional visitors, worked its way with exemplary care and contentiousness through the poem.
A second wonderful institution—the American Academy in Rome—provided the perfect setting for the bulk of the book’s writing: Nowhere else in my experience is the precious opportunity to sit quietly and work so exquisitely braided together with Epicurean pleasure. To the Academy’s director, Carmela Vircillo Franklin, and its capable staff, along with a host of fellows and visitors, I owe a deep debt of gratitude. My agent, Jill Kneerim, and my editor, Alane Salierno Mason, have been extraordinarily helpful, generous, and acute readers. Among the many others who have given me advice and assistance, I want to single out Albert Ascoli, Homi Bhabha, Alison Brown, Gene Brucker, Joseph Connors, Brian Cummings, Trevor Dadson, Kenneth Gouwens, Jeffrey Hamburger, James Hankins, Philip Hardie, Bernard Jussen, Joseph Koerner, Thomas Laqueur, George Logan, David Norbrook, William O’Connell, Robert Pinsky, Oliver Primavesi, Steven Shapin, Marcello Simonetta, James Simpson, Pippa Skotnes, Nick Wilding, and David Wootton.
My students and colleagues at Harvard have been a source of constant intellectual stimulation and challenge, and the stupendous library resources of this university have never ceased to amaze me. I owe particular thanks for research assistance to Christine Barrett, Rebecca Cook, Shawon Kinew, Ada Palmer, and Benjamin Woodring.
My deepest debt of gratitude—for wise advice and for inexhaustible pleasure—is to my wife, Ramie Targoff.
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