1 Michele Trizio The Neoplatonism of Barlaam the Calabrian This paper concerns a fairy tale, a tale told by Francesco Filelfo (1398- 1481), one of the leading figures in Italian Renaissance Humanism and an important protagonist in the revival of classical Greek literature. In a letter dated December 9 th 1469, Filelfo addressed (in Greek) Theodore Gaza (d. 1475-1476), a well-known Greek émigré in Italy who distinguished himself teaching and translating Aristotle’s work. 1 After consoling Gaza about his illness, Filelfo evoked the famous Plato and Aristotle controversy that was animating intellectual life in Italy in the second half of fifteenth-century. 2 In particular, Filelfo evoked with horror the case of George Trapezuntios (1396-ca. 1474) – a fellow Greek émigré in Italy – who composed the Comparatio philosophorum Aristotelis et Platonis in 1458. 3 In the Comparatio Trapezuntios had vehemently attacked Plato’s philosophy and its followers among his contemporaries, including a pivotal figure of this period, Cardinal Bessarion, who, in turn, replied to George’s Comparatio in his In calumniatorem Platonis. 4 Filelfo had no sympathy for Trapezuntios nor his antiplatonism. More importantly, in the same letter and in connection with the Plato- Aristotle controversy, he actually recalled an anecdote of his stay in Constantinople. 5 While visiting the prestigious house of an old primikêrios (whose name he could not recall), 6 Filelfo had seen a work composed by the Basilian monk and philosopher Barlaam of Calabria (died 1348), a work slandering Plato and his philosophy. During the same visit, Filelfo had also seen a copy of the Apology written by Demetrios Kydones (ca. 1324–1397), a Byzantine statesman and Greek translator of Thomas Aquinas who apparently had been the teacher of that very same primikêrios. 1 On Theodore Gaza as a philosopher, see Monfasani 2002. 2 The literature on the Plato-Aristotle controversy is vast. See, for example, Mohler 1923-42, 346- 398; Kristeller 1972; Monfasani 1976: 201-229, 1981 and 2002; Bianca 1986; Hankins 1990: 165-263; Kapriev 2005: 337-340. 3 On George of Trebizond, see Monfasani 1976. 4 See Monfasani 2008. 5 Francesco Filelfo, Letters 31.40 (ed. De Keyser 2015, 1353). I am grateful to John Monfasani for his expertise on Filelfo. 6 The title was used in various spheres (military, civil, ecclesiastical) and from Filelfo’s vague reference it is impossible to ascertain the exact profile of this primikêrios. On the title, see ODB 1719-1720.