Barbaro, Ermolao (1410–1471)

Venetian cleric and humanist author. Born into the influential Barbaro family, his teachers included (as well as Guarino) his own uncle, Francesco Barbaro. His career was spent in papal service: he was sent, for example, to France in 1460 on a diplomatic mission; he was appointed bishop of Treviso in 1443 and transferred to Verona in 1453.

At the age of 12 he translated some Aesop fables into Latin (dedicating them to Ambrogio Traversari). Antonio Beccaria was his secretary in Verona; they both became involved in a literary dispute on the moral merits of the ancient poets (Barbaro being sceptical they had any). Barbaro also produced a Life of St Athanasius, mainly translated from Eusebius.

Barbaro, Ermolao (1454–1493)

Venetian humanist teacher and classical scholar. Born into the influential Barbaro family, his teachers included (as well as Pomponio Leto and Theodore Gazes) his own uncle, also called Ermolao Barbaro. He lectured in Venice on Aristotle and produced a commentary on Pliny the Elder, Castigiones Plinianae (1492–93). He was employed by Venice as a diplomat until he fell into disgrace by accepting Pope Innocent VIII's appointment as patriarch of Aquileia in 1491.