AGRICOLA, RODOLFO. - Born at Bafloo, near Groningen, in the northern Netherlands, on 17 February 1444. From childhood A. showed an inclination toward music, drawing, wood engraving and sculpture. It appears that he was instructed by Thomas à Kempis. From Groningen A. went, at the age of 12, to Erfurt and from there, two years later, to Louvain, which was on its way to becoming one of the most important university centers. At Erfurt, not yet fifteen, he obtained the degree of bachelor, and at Louvain, before the age of 17, he earned the title of doctor. From Louvain, in 1462, he went to Cologne, seat of scholastic theology. It was at Cologne that there arose in him an interest in the historical and scientific study of religion as a reaction against the dominant theology. It appears that he spent some time in Paris, where he formed a friendship with Johann Reuchlin. In 1468 or '69 he was able to come to Italy, where he seems to have lived, apart from some brief interruptions, for a decade. The years spent in Italy had a decisive influence on his formation. From his letters we learn that he was at Pavia, where he devoted himself to the study of law. As was the custom of our humanists, he was a tutor to young men of distinguished families, among them Johann von Dalberg, who later, as bishop of Worms, would have him summoned to Heidelberg. A., who had first set out upon the study of law, later abandoned it to devote himself entirely to the study of classical letters; but wishing to deepen his knowledge of the Greek language and finding no one in Pavia who could truly impart it to him, he moved (1475) to a more suitable seat, namely Ferrara, which he called "the true homeland of the muses" and where the tradition begun there by Guarino Veronese was still alive, to be continued there by his son Battista. Here he had as teachers Battista Guarino and Theodore Gaza. From this time on, for A. Greek became his most interesting study: he translated Lucian, studied Isocrates, Aristotle, Thucydides, Xenophon, Isidore of Seville and Polybius. He also wrote a Vita Petrarcae, which tells us of the love he bore to the initiator of humanism. He diligently studied the Italian language, driven as he was to penetrate the spirit and the understanding of Italy. He loved gymnastics, music, singing and drawing, manifesting in all these arts an aptitude and a versatility worthy of great note. During his stay at Ferrara he had the honor of being invited to read a public declamation in Latin in praise of true philosophy and of liberal culture in the presence of Duke Ercole.
In 1479 A. returned to Holland, bringing with him a good knowledge of Greek and Latin. Many universities contended for the honor of having him, but he was not a man who could bind his own freedom to a prince or to a school; nevertheless he did not fail to take an active interest, through letters, writings and the spoken word, in the methods of teaching then in use, with a view to reforming them. The memory of Italy never left him. Indeed, he felt a deep nostalgia for Italy, which can be perceived in the correspondence he maintained (1480-1485) with the friends who had remained on this side of the Alps.
In May 1484, accepting the invitation of his old pupil Dalberg, A. moved to Heidelberg, where shortly after his arrival he began to teach both Dalberg and various other young men. He accompanied Bishop von Dalberg to Worms where, besides visiting the monuments of the city, he gave lectures on classical subjects before an audience composed in large part of teachers. He also spoke to the clergy of the diocese, whom the bishop wished to interest in the new studies. Around A. gathered the best talents of the time, all intent on preparing translations of the Greek and Latin classics. A. also devoted himself to religious studies, not perceiving, as indeed was held in Italian humanism, any contradiction between religion and humanism.
Nourishing a lively nostalgia for Italy, A. was able to satisfy his great dream of seeing it again in 1484, on the occasion of the election to the pontificate of Innocent VIII. It was decided by the Palatine Elector to send a delegation to congratulate the new Pontiff, and the choice fell upon Dalberg and A., who on 30 May, after a very brief stay at Ferrara, arrived in Rome, where they stayed three weeks admiring the beauties of the city. Having declaimed the oration, the two took the road back, but the fatigues of the journey weakened A., who after a little more than a month died at Heidelberg, on 27 October 1485.
Of particular interest to the history of pedagogy is a letter that A. wrote in 1484 to one of his friends, Barbirianus, under the title De formando studio. This work is the first of a long series of German studies on education. A. excludes from the new education all the disciplines of the medievals. More than the reality of ideas, he was interested in the content of the ideas themselves. In A.'s plan of studies, moral philosophy and letters are of great importance: the latter, in relation to the former, serve to form and strengthen character. Therefore not only the great moralists, Cicero, Aristotle, Seneca, but the historians, the orators, the poets are of great importance as guides to conduct. The great ancient writers must be read for their authority in every field of knowledge and because with their examples and models of character they make us "paratiores ad virtutem".
Another aspect of philosophy is that of expressing the truth; therefore for A. too eloquence was not an ornament of the mind, but the very expression of the man. A. in his introductory manual of logic De inventione dialectica, translated into Italian by Toscanella (Venice 1567), teaches the art of investigating and arranging every object under its various relations and the general and natural laws of thought that the sciences must follow. Logic, like grammar, is a factor of style; the force of the argument is of greater importance than the ornaments and the variety. Style cannot be separated from content: this is a thought of A., but already present in the humanists. A. furthermore considered of notable importance, for the purposes of the formation of man, the theoretical and practical study of painting, architecture and sculpture; not for nothing had A. been in Italy in the period in which Alberti flourished. He was also one of the first to devise special means for instructing the deaf and mute. A. exercised a notable influence on the diffusion of classical culture, so effective for the purposes of the formation of modern culture beyond the Alps.
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Nino Sammartano