The Circe of Signior Giovanni Battista Gelli... Consisting of ten dialogues between men transformed into beasts..

by Giovanni Battista Gelli

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Nook

First published January 1, 1549

Reviews

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exhortation to use one’s full mental powers, which are presented as divinely bestowed & conducive to incomparable beauty. I think Gelli lacks modernity’s understanding of what animals (& at times humans) are capable of, but the spirit is there.

This book filled me with the notion that there is no pleasure more complex or more intense than that of the intellect — particularly contemplation of what lies within the divine spheres, which rotate above us according to the direction of the angels.

[Regine · Rating 2 out of 5]

A modern re-working of a 1702 translation of a 1549 satire based on a conceit abandoned by Plutarch. Dedicated to Cosimo de' Medici, Duke of Florence by shoemaker/man of letters Giovanni Batista Gelli. Ulysses tries unsuccessfully to persuade Circe's victims to return to being human, but from oyster to lion, they decline. Only the philosopher/elephant is convinced of the desirability of man's free will.