Giovanni Aurispa

[4] He returned to Italy in 1414, setting in Savona, where he supported himself by teaching Greek and by selling the works he had collected in Greece.

[1] In 1421 Aurispa was sent by Pope Martin V to act as the translator for the Marquis Gianfrancesco Gonzaga on a diplomatic mission to the Byzantine emperor, Manuel Paleologos.

[1] On 15 December 1423 Aurispa arrived in Venice with the largest and finest collection of Greek texts to reach the west prior to those brought by Bessarion.

[4] Also, he had the poems of Callimachus and Oppian, and the Orphic verses; and the historical works of Dio Cassius, Diodorus Siculus, and Arrian.

In a letter to Traversari, he explained: Back in Venice, Aurispa is said to have been obliged to pawn his treasures for 50 gold florins to provide for the shipping costs.

Traversari wrote to Lorenzo de' Medici on his behalf, who made a loan to Aurispa to redeem the manuscripts.

[4] In 1433 he accompanied his student Meliaduse to the Council of Basel, taking a lengthy journey along the Rhine, visiting Mainz, Cologne and Aachen, in the course of which he discovered new Latin codices.

[1] In 1438, when the Council was transferred to Ferrara, Aurispa attracted the attention of Pope Eugene IV, who appointed him an Apostolic Secretary, and so he moved to Rome.

[10] Aurispa's reputation rests upon the extensive collection of manuscripts copied and distributed by him, and his persistent efforts to revive and promote the study of ancient literature.