The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 2, Winter 2019 | Page 51

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ism’s language of Latin and style of classical
learning, albeit without Platonist
gender unity ideologies. Patrician humanism
would, therefore, not weaken
their mainland empire and strengthen
the superiority of Venice. Furthermore,
anthropocentrism, prevalent in civic
humanism, was absent in patrician
humanism in order to continue unapologetically
celebrating Venice. That
intensification was clearly problematic
for Isotta, as she stepped out of the private
sphere and into the public sphere
of humanism in the 1430s. Since Venice’s
empire was solidly Aristotelian in
the quattrocento, it was evident why
Isotta, who was born in Verona just
twelve years after it was absorbed into
the Venetian empire and chose the career
path of a humanist scholar, which
was solely reserved for men in the Venetian
empire, was viciously attacked
between 1436 and 1439. By choosing a
career path outside of domesticity and
remaining unmarried, Isotta simply did
not conform to Venice’s Aristotelian
philosophy that she be submissive and
silent, marry, and have children.
Moreover, since Isotta received
a humanist education, it would have
been reasonable that she studied Plato
and his gender unity theories in Timaeus
and connected with them. That
was especially evident when she wrote
to men outside her intellectual family,
such as Ermolao Barbaro, in 1436.
According to Luka Borsic and Ivana S.
Karasman, that correspondence was
an indication that she believed herself
equal to men. 48 That went completely
against Aristotelian philosophy, align-