Fisionomia

Description

The anonymous translator (who presents himself as a pupil of Agostino Nifo) dedicates his version of Aristotle's Physiognomy - which is translated into Italian from Latin, as stated in the preface - to an unnamed ruler. The translator refers to the princely status of the dedicatee in the preface: since he is writing from Piombino (Tuscany), the dedicatee might well be a member of the Medici family. A general eulogy of philosophy as a fundamental tool for rulers, with references to both Plato and Aristotle, is followed by some remarks on the utility of Aristotle's Physiognomy in order to unveil the nature of people a ruler has to deal with. The work is completed by a translation of Rasi's Physiognomy which is presented as a shorter and clearer account of the discipline.

Eugenio Refini, ‘Fisionomia’, in Vernacular Aristotelianism in Renaissance Italy Database (VARIDB)
  <https://vari.warwick.ac.uk/items/show/5085> [accessed 24 April 2024]