[246] Concil. tom. xxx. p. 180.
[247] On the 15th of October, 1435, the council condemned as heretical various propositions which had been lately maintained by Agostino di Roma, archbishop of Nazareth, in three elaborate theological tracts. Those whose anxiety to preserve the purity of the catholic faith leads them to wish to know what sentiments it is their duty to reject, and those who are interested in observing the niceties of theological distinctions, will perhaps be gratified by the following recital of the dangerous errors which incurred the severe reprehension and reprobation of the venerable synod of Basil.
“Et postissime scandalosam illam assertionem, erroneam in fide, in ipso libello contentam, quam piæ fidelium aures sine horrore audire non possunt, videlicet: Christus quotidie peccat; ex quo fuit Christus quotidie peccavit; quamvis de capite ecclesiæ Christo Jesu Salvatore nostro dicat se non intelligere, sed ad membra sua, quæ cum Christo capite unum esse Christum asseruit, intelligentiam ejus esse referendam dicat. Nec non et propositiones istas, et eis in sententiâ similes, quas in articulos damnatos in sacro Constantiensi Concilio incidere declarat, videlicet: Non omnes fideles justificati sunt membra Christi, sed soli electi, finaliter in perpetuum regnaturi cum Christo. Secundum ineffabilem præscientiam Dei sumuntur membra Christi, ex quibus constat ecclesia, quæ tamen non constat nisi ex eis qui secundum propositum electionis vocati sunt. Non sufficit Christo uniri vinculo caritatis, ut aliqui efficiantur membra Christi, sed requiritur alia unio. Has etiam quæ sequuntur: Humana natura in Christo, vere est Christus. Humana natura in Christo, est persona Christi. Ratio suppositalis determinans humanam naturam in Christo non realiter distinguitur ab ispâ naturâ determinatâ. Natura humana in Christo procul dubio est persona verbi; et verbum in Christo naturâ assumpta, est realiter persona assumens. Natura humana assumpta a verbo ex unione personali, est veraciter Deus naturalis et proprius. Christus secundum voluntatem creatam tantum diligit naturam humanam unitam personæ verbi, quantum diligit naturam divinam. Sicut duæ personæ in divinis sunt æqualiter diligibiles ita duæ naturæ in Christo, humana et divina, sunt æqualiter diligibiles propter personam communem. Anima Christi videt Deum tam clare et intense, quantum clare et intense Deus videt seipsum. Quas quidem propositiones, et alias ex eâdem radice procedentes, in prædicto libello contentas, tamquam erroneas in fide, damnat et reprobat hæc sancta Synodus.”—Concil. tom. xxx. p. 172.
[248] Panormitani Epist. lib. v. ep. 118, as referred to by the French and Italian translators of the life of Poggio.
[249] Apostolo Zeno Dissertazioni Vossiane, tom. i. p. 37, 38.
[250] Poggii Opera, p. 65, 67. Mehi vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. lii.
[251] The catalogue of reliques of Roman architecture, which Poggio has inserted in the interesting pröemium to his dialogue De varietate Fortunæ, evinces the diligence and care with which he had surveyed the ruins of ancient Rome. This catalogue did not escape the extensive researches of Gibbon, who has introduced it into the 71st chapter of his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
[252] “Poggius noster sæpe mecum est; reliquias civitatis probe callens nos comitatur.”—Ambrosii Traversarii Epistolæ, p. 407.
In a letter to Bartolomeo Facio, Poggio thus invites him to visit the ruins of Rome. “Video te cupere urbem visere, et certe nisi incoeptum opus, ut ais, impediret hortarer te ad inspiciendas reliquias ejus urbis quæ quondam orbis lumen præclarissimum fuit. Equidem quamvis in eâ jam pluribus annis ab ipsâ juventute fuerim versatus, tamen quotide tamquam novus incola tantarum rerum admiratione obstupesco, recreoque persæpe animum visu eorum ædificiorum, quæ stulti propter ingenii imbecillitatem a Dæmonibus facta dicunt.”—Facius de viris Illustribus, p. 97.
[253] Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. lii.