The comparative method in Guido Panciroli's treatise "Two books about memorable things, now lost and, on the contrary, recently ingeniously invented"

Abstract

This article is devoted to the problem of understanding the phenomena and objects inherent in antiquity and modern times in Guido Panciroli's treatise "Two books about memorable things", published for the first time in 1599 in Amberg. Of particular interest in Panciroli's work is his approach to the search and comparison of phenomena that fell out of use due to the fall of the Roman Empire or came into use in the updated tradition already in the Middle Ages. The formulation of the problem and the logic of the reasoning of the author of the treatise fully reveal his ideas about the replenishment and loss of knowledge available to people in a historical perspective. The main merit of Panchiroli is an attempt to reconstruct the circle of forgotten and new technologies by comparing different historical periods. At the same time, the author strives for the impartiality of his judgments and does not try to reveal the superiority of one era over another. Through an appeal to the "forgotten" and "lost" ancient knowledge, Panchiroli gives it publicity, draws attention to it, which together leaves hope for the possibility of revival. The "new" inventions, which somehow became part of the European tradition, personified the increment of knowledge. Their discovery became another confirmation that reality is plastic and subject not only to oblivion, but to renewal.