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scholars of the period. galileo himself did not evade the debate. Due
to Viviani, we can see how galileo’s concept of literary criticism
seems to be more similar to modern intellectual concepts rather than
coeval ones. according to Viviani, galileo, when asked, “was averse
to making comparisons, which he considered hateful”9, and, “if
urged, he used to claim that Tasso was better but he preferred ariosto,
as the former used to say words and the latter said things.”10 Viviani
actually never had the opportunity to read galileo’s Considerazioni al
Tasso11, otherwise he would have realized that galileo’s refusal to
accept the habitual “hateful” ways of measuring artistic value might
have looked superficial. The method adopted by galileo in
Considerazioni al Tasso exactly matches the dualistic criterion typi-
cal of the period: praise of one of the two sacred cows of the sixteenth
century punctually coincides with sniping at the other one.
Pietro Pasqualoni, in his introduction to the first edition of
Considerazioni al Tasso (1793), underlines the literary expertise of
the young galileo12, advising his readers to do the following:
“[W]hen you hear the name of galilei, do not just consider him as
a supreme philosopher and a unique Mathematician, but look at
him also as a profound philologist.”13 nevertheless, Pasqualoni
concludes that galileo both resents Tasso and aims to hurt his rep-
utation: “[W]ith this work galileo goes at Tasso with great acri-
mony, sometimes with violence, which is not fair at all”14.
Pasqualoni proceeds to note that on many occasions galileo com-
SIMILarITIES BETWEEn SCIEnTIFIC LanguagE …
256
9 “sfuggiva […] le comparazioni, come odiose”, Vincenzio Viviani, Racconto istorico di
Vincenzio Viviani, from Edizione digitale delle opere complete di Galileo Galilei, Vol. XIX,
p. 627, http://pinakes.imss.fi.it:8080/pinakestext/home.jsf (accessed november 5, 2010).
10 “necessitato a rispondere, diceva che gli pareva più bello il Tasso, ma che gli piaceva più
l’ariosto, soggiugnendo che quel diceva parole, e questi cose.” Ibid, p. 627.
11 See chapter 3 of this article.
12 See footnote 18.
13 “quando odono nominare il galilei non lo considerino solamente come sommo Filosofo, e
raro Mattematico, ma lo riguardino eziandio siccome un profondo Filologo.” Pietro
Pasqualoni, in Considerazioni al Tasso di Galileo Galilei e Discorso di Giuseppe Iseo sopra
il poema di M. Torquato Tasso, roma: Stamperia Paglierini, 1793, p. VI. The book is also
accessible on line at http://books.google.it/books?id=O5wZaaaaYaaJ&printsec=front-
cover&dq=considerazioni+al+tasso&source=bl&ots=ew5oMenBu8&sig=bKCQoMT_XF
VkndQ-oX1qveS-nrY&hl=it&ei=J3xfS8OMgni4jaeop4XLDa&sa=X&oi=book_
result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CBaQ6aEwBa#v=onepage&q=&f=false (accessed
november 6, 2010).
14 “il galilei anch’egli con molta acrimonia, e talora con beffe (in che non é da lodarsi) si sca-
teni in quest’opera contro il Tasso”, ibid, p. VII.
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