[113] Ambrosius in his preface to the works of Abelard and Heloise refers to the latter as "Clarum sui sexus sidus et ornamentum," and declares "necnon mathesin, philosophiam et theologiam a viro suo edocta, illo solo minor fuit."
[114] Mazzuchelli says of her in his Museo, "Sembra non avervi nella Natura cosa la piu intralciata ed oscura nelle storie, ne finalemente la piu astrusa nelle matematiche e nelle mecchaniche, che a lei conta non sia e palese, e che sfugga la capacita del suo spirito." Dizionario Biografico, Vol. I, p. 122, by Ambrogio Levati, Milano, 1821.
[115] Delle Donne Illustri Italiane del XIII al XIX Secolo, p. 268, Roma.
[116] The full title of this celebrated discourse is Oratio qua ostenditur Artium liberalium studia a Fæmineo sexu neutiquam abhorere, habita a Maria de Agnesis Rhetoricæ Operam Dante, Anno ætatis suæ nono nondum exacto, die 18, Augusti, 1727. It is found at the end of a work entitled Discorsi Academici di varj autori Viventi intorno agli Stuj delle Donne in Padova, 1729. This subject, it may be remarked, frequently engaged the attention of Maria Gaetana as she advanced in years, for we find it among the questions discussed in her Propositiones Philosophicæ, pp. 2 and 3, Mediolani, 1738.
[117] M. Charles de Brosses, in his Lettres Familières écrites de l'Italie en 1739 et 1740, speaks of Agnesi in terms that recall the marvelous stories which are related of Admirable Crichton and Pico della Mirandola. "She appeared to me," he tells us, "something more stupendous—una cosa piu stupenda—than the Duomo of Milan." Having been invited to a conversazione for the purpose of meeting this wonderful woman, the learned Frenchman found her to be a "young lady of about eighteen or twenty." She was surrounded by "about thirty people ... many of them from different parts of Europe." The discussion turned on various questions of mathematics and natural philosophy.
"She spoke," writes de Brosses, "wonderfully well on these subjects, though she could not have been prepared beforehand any more than we were. She is much attached to the philosophy of Newton; and, it is marvelous to see a person of her age so conversant with such abstruse subjects. Yet, however much I was surprised at the extent and depth of her knowledge, I was still more amazed to hear her speak Latin ... with such purity, ease and accuracy, that I do not recollect any book in modern Latin written in so classical a style as that in which she pronounced these discourses.... The conversation afterwards became general, everyone speaking in the language of his own country, and she answering in the same language; for, her knowledge of languages is prodigious."
[118] At the conclusion of an elaborate review of Colton's translation of Agnesi's Instituzioni Analitiche in the Edinburgh Review for January, 1804, the writer expresses himself as follows: "We cannot take leave of a work that does so much honor to female genius, without earnestly recommending the perusal of it to those who believe that great talents are bestowed by nature exclusively on man, and who allege that women, even in their highest attainments, are to be compared only to grown children, and have, in no instance, given proofs of original and inventive powers, of a capacity for patient research, or for profound investigation. Let those who hold these opinions endeavor to follow the author of the Analytical Institutions through the long series of demonstrations, which she has contrived with so much skill and explained with such elegance and perspicuity. If they are able to do so, and to compare her work with others of the same kind, they will probably retract their former opinions, and acknowledge that, in one instance at least, intellectual powers of the highest order have been lodged in the brain of a woman.
"At si gelidus obstiterit circum præcordia sanguis; and if they are unable to attend this illustrious female in her scientific excursions, of course, they will not see the reasons for admiring her genius that others do; but they may at least learn to think modestly of their own."
[119] It is surprising how many legends have obtained respecting the life of Agnesi after the publication of her Instituzioni Analitiche. Thus, the writer of the article in the Edinburgh Review, above quoted, declares that "she retired to a convent of blue nuns,"—a statement that has frequently been repeated in many of our most noted encyclopedias.
In a Prospetto Biografico delle Donne Italiane, written by G. C. Facchini and published in Venice in 1824, it is stated that Maria Gaetana was selected by the Pope to occupy "the chair of mathematics which had been left vacant by the death of her father," while Cavazza in his work "Le Scuole dell," Antico Studio Bolognese, pp. 289-290, published in Milan in 1896, assures us that Gaetana Agnesi taught analytical geometry in the University of Bologna for full forty-eight years. The facts are that neither the father nor the daughter ever taught even a single hour either in this or in any other university. Cf. Maria Gaetana Agnesi, p. 273 et seq., by Luisa Anzoletti, Milano, 1900. This is far the best life of Milan's illustrious daughter that has yet appeared. The reader may also consult with profit the Elogio Storico di Maria Gaetana Agnesi, by Antonio Frisi, Milano, 1799, and Gli Scrittori d'Italia, of G. Mazzuchelli, Tom. I, Par. I, p. 198 et seq., Brescia, 1795.