The influence of Cicero is everywhere to be found.

This volume offers the first annotated English translation of the first two books of On Celibacy (1473) by the eminent Venetian humanist Ermolao Barbaro (1454-93); Books 3 and 4 of On Celibacy are presented, along with Barbaro’s On the Duty of the Ambassador, in the companion piece to this first volume. Setting out the historical context that crucially conditions Barbaro’s advocacy of the celibate life in Books 1 and 2, the introduction examines how On Celibacy seeks to justify a contemplative existence that rejects the career path expected of a figure of Barbaro’s standing within the...