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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter 2019

Cardinal Bessarion and the Introduction of Plato to the Latin West

From the book Making and Rethinking the Renaissance

  • Michael Malone-Lee

Abstract

The dialogues of Plato became known in the Latin West mainly through Latin translations in the course of the fifteenth century. Plato was regarded with suspicion for his unorthodox teachings and the perceived lack of clarity in his exposition. Cardinal Bessarion’s mission was to make Plato better known to the Latins. In his work In Calumniatorem Platonis, written in response to a virulently anti-Platonic work by George of Trebizond, he was careful to make his exposition of Plato palatable to the Latin West by emphasising the conformity of Plato with Christian orthodoxy and the compatibility of Plato with Aristotle.

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