SERPENT/DRAGON IN PLATO-ARISTOTELIAN POLEMICS OF THE 15TH CENTURY

Abstract

The serpent or dragon and its fight with the dragonslayer is a traditional mythological and literary motif. It is also common for a polemical context, when an adversary — a schismatic, a heretic, a political opponent — is compared to a poisonous or fire-breathing monster. Among the many eschatological images that George of Trebizond cites in his dramatic characteristic of Plato and the Platonists in Comparatio philosophorum Aristotelis et Platonis (1458), there is also a comparison of Platonic teachings with a serpent, a dragon, or the many-headed Hydra. This is not a coincidence: George draws quite obvious parallels between the triumph of Platonism (which he hopes to prevent) and the triumph of the Antichrist, who is often described as dragon or associated with a snake; the association with the eloquent and treacherous serpent is also transparent. The opponents of George of Trebizond: Basilios Bessarion, Theodore Gaza, Niccolò Perotti, Domitio Calderini, — ignore George’s “eschatological” accusations. However, they also resort to the image of a dragon, snake, or chimera, applying it to George himself — in their writings, the struggle with his “serpentine tongue” and “all-besmearing infectious breath” turns into a kind of collective dragon slaying. The article discusses examples of comparison with a serpent/dragon in George of Trebizond, Niccolò Perotti, and Domitio Calderini’s writings, their context, and various interpretations of serpent/dragon motif. Refs 15.