Angelo Mai (March 7, 1782–September 8, 1854) was an Italian
Cardinal and philologist.[1] He won a European reputation for publishing for the first time a series of
previously unknown ancient texts. These he was able to discover and publish, first while in charge of the Ambrosian library in Milan and then in the same role at the Vatican Library. The texts were often in parchment manuscripts that had been washed off and reused; he
was able to read the lower text using chemicals. In particular he was able to locate a substantial portion of the much
sought-after De republica of Cicero.
Biography
He was born of humble parents at Schilpario in what is now the province of Bergamo, Lombardy.
In 1799 he entered the Society of Jesus, and in
1804 he became a teacher of classics in the college of Naples.
After completing his studies at the Collegium Romanum, he lived for some
time at Orvieto, where he was engaged in teaching and palaeographical studies. The political
events of 1808 necessitated his withdrawal from Rome (to which he had
meanwhile returned) to Milan, where in 1813 he was made custodian of
the Ambrosian library.
He now threw himself with characteristic energy and zeal into the task of examining the numerous manuscripts committed to his
charge, and in the course of the next six years was able to restore to the world a considerable number of long-lost works. Having
withdrawn from the Society of Jesus, he was invited to Rome in 1819 as chief keeper of the
Vatican Library. In 1833 he was transferred to the office
of secretary of the Congregation of the Propaganda; on
February 12 1838 he was raised to the dignity of Cardinal. He
died at Castel Gandolfo, near Albano, on
8 September 1854.
It is on his skill as a reader of palimpsests that Mai's fame chiefly rests. To the period
of his residence at Milan belong:
- fragments of Cicero's Pro Scauro, Pro Tullio, Pro Flacco, In Clodium
et Curionem, De aere alieno Milonis, and De rege Alexandrino (1814)
- M. Corn. Frontonis opera inedita, cum epistolis item ineditis, Antonini Pii, Marci Aurelii, Lucii
Veri et Appiani (1815; new ed., 1823, with more than 100
additional letters found in the Vatican library)
- portions of eight speeches of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus
- fragments of Plautus
- the oration of Isaeus' De hereditate Cleonymi
- the last nine books of the Antiquities of Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, and a number of other works.
- M Tullii Ciceronis de republica quae supersunt appeared at Rome in 1822
- Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, e Vaticanis codicibus edita in 1825-1838
- Classici scriptores e Vaticanis codicibus editi in 1828-1838
- Spicilegium Romanum in 1839-1844
- Patrum nova bibliotheca in 1845-1853
His edition of the celebrated Codex Vaticanus, completed in 1838, but not published (ostensibly the ground of inaccuracies) till four years after his death (1858), is the least satisfactory of his labours and was superseded by the edition of Vercellone and Cozza
(1868), which itself leaves much to be desired.
Although Mai was not as successful in textual criticism as in the decipherment of
manuscripts, he will always be remembered as a laborious and persevering pioneer, by whose efforts many ancient writings have
been rescued from oblivion.
References
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