Studia humanitates The Humane studies According to Cicero Rationale for humane studies letters Si ex his studiis delectatio sola peteretur tamen ut opinor hanc animi remissionem humanissimam ac liberalissimam iudicaretis Nam ceterae neque temporum sunt neque aetatum omnium neque locorum at haec studia adulescentiam alunt senectutem oblectant res secundas ornant adversis perfugium ac solacium praebent delectant domi non impediunt foris pernoctant nobiscum peregrinantur rusticantur Even if mere entertainment were our only objective in the study of literature you would still in my opinion regard this pursuit as the most humanizing and liberating of intellectual activities For no other pursuit is appropriate to all times all ages all situations but this study nurtures our youth delights our old age brightens the good times and provides a refuge and comfort in bad times literature brings us pleasure at home does not hamper us at work and is the companion of our nights our travels our country retreats Cicero Pro Archia Archia Poeta 7 16 Cicero speaks elsewhere in his treatises De Officiis and De Republica on the ethics of war acknowledging that war is sometimes inevitable but that the first recourse in international conflict resolution should always be to negotiation rather than to violence cum illud proprium sit hominis hoc belvarum since the one course of action is appropriate to humankind the other to beasts De Off 1 11 34 In the Middle Ages law students studied rhetoric or the art of persuasion as an essential technique of their profession In the Renaissance however beginning with Petrarch c 1310 1380 there was a movement to focus on the philosophical purpose of persuasion which was to lead men to wisdom virtue The humanists looked to Cicero and other Latin authors as their guides both stylistic and philosophical Teachers of rhetoric called dictatores began also to write treatises on government They also called into question more traditional Medieval educational programs which had become a very theoretical and technical study devoted to the fine points of Aristotelean logic and syllogisms and which featured incorrect and sloppy Latin The subjects of the studia humanitatis of classical tradition are Poetry see above Rhetoric developing a polished style History which teaches prudence one of the most important political virtues and ancient Moral and Political Philosophy See Quentin Skinner Visions of Politics Vol III Renaissance Virtues Cambridge University Press 2002 2007 p 2 The virtues essential for the citizens and leaders of a well ordered commonwealth comprise Prudence Fortitude courage Temperance and Justice to which Magnanimity a Stoic or Senecan virtue was sometimes added See Skinner p 96 The Heavenly virtues of Faith Hope and Charity were above but did not supersede these Rather they completed them In the Renaissance it was thought that virtue rather than birth constituted true nobility Humanistic study of ancient texts used comparative analysis and achieved great things Comparing the style of one textual copy to another of the same work for example they could detect inconsistencies and error Comparing texts of different authors they learned to identify different styles and periods The continued use of this form of analysis eventually very slowly led to a new way of viewing history as embodying to continuous change and development of languages works of art and literature as well as of institution This kind of thinking gradually undermined the former view of humanity and its works as uniform and unchanging It is not the same as experimental science but it is a kind of thinking essential to any kind of rational knowledge 173 56 164 199