Leonico Tomeo, Niccolò

Niccolò Leonico Tomeo was a Paduan humanist who devoted his long life to classical scholarship. Excellent connoisseur of the Greek language, he studied and translated Plato and Aristotle directly from the original texts, refusing to resort to scholasticism and medieval annotators. Tomeo amassed a vast library of Greek philosophers and scientists and surrounded himself with young men who went to Padua from all over Europe to follow his lessons. After lecturing on Aristotle in Padua and Venice until 1509, he privately taught Plato because – as other humanists were – he was persuaded that Platonic and peripatetic theories had to be conciliated against the spreading Averroism. This perspective is well-shown by his major philosophical work, the Dialogi.