[252] The protection extended to Manetti and to Filelfo ought, however, to be here mentioned. Nearly all the contemporary scholars of Italy dedicated works to Alfonso.

[253] Above, p. 78.

[254] 'Itaque Chrysoloras, moerore confectus, compulsus precibus, malo coactus, filiam tibi nuptui dedit a te corruptam, quÆ si extitisset integra, ne pilum quidem tibi abrasum ab illius natibus ostendisset. An tu illam unquam duxisses uxorem si virginitatem per te servare potuisset? Tibi pater illam dedisset profugo, ignobili, impuro? Primariis suÆ civitatis viris servabatur virgo, non tibi, insulsÆ pecudi et asello bipedali, quem ille domi alebat tanquam canem aliquem solent senio et Ætate confectum.'—Poggii Opp. p. 167. This is just one of the tales with which the invectives of that day abound, and with which it is almost impossible to deal. It may be true; for certainly Filelfo, by his immorality and grossness in after-life, justified the worst calumnies that his enemies could invent. Yet there is little but Poggio's word to prove it, while Rosmini has shown that Filelfo's position at Byzantium was very different from what his foe suggests. Tiraboschi accepts the charge as 'not proven;' but he clearly leans in private against Filelfo, moved by the following passage from a letter of Ambrogio Traversari:—'Nuper a Guarino accepi litteras, quibus vehementer in fortunam invehitur quod filiam Joannis ChrysolorÆ clarissimi viri is acceperit, exterus, qui quantum libet homo bono ingenio, longe tamen illis nuptiis impar esset, queriturque substomachans uxorem ChrysolorÆ venalem habuisse pudicitiam, moechumque ante habuisse quam socerum.' Vol. vi. lib. iii. cap. v. 21. All that can be said now is that Filelfo's own morality and the corruption of Byzantine society render a story believed by Guarino and Traversari, and openly told by Poggio, not improbable.

[255] This retinue shows that Filelfo was at least able to support a large household.

[256] The catalogue of his library, communicated by him in a letter to Ambrogio Traversari, shows so clearly what the most indefatigable student and omnivorous reader of the age, to whom all the museums and bookshops of Byzantium must have been open, could then collect, that I will transcribe it:—'Qui mihi nostri in Italiam libri gesti sunt, horum nomina ad te scribo: alios autem nonnullos per primas ex Byzantio Venetorum naves opperior. Hi autem sunt Plotinus, Ælianus, Aristides, Dionysius Halicarnasseus, Strabo Geographus, Hermogenes, Aristotelis Rhetorice, Dionysius Halicarnasseus de Numeris et Characteribus, Herodotus, Dio Chrysostomus, Appollonius PergÆus, Thucydides, Plutarchi Moralia, Proclus in Platonem, Philo JudÆus, Ethica Aristotelis, Ejus magna Moralia et Eudemia, et Œconomica et Politica, quÆdam Theophrasti Opuscula, Homeri Ilias, Odyssea, Philostrati de Vit Appollonii, Orationes Libanii, et aliqui Sermones Luciani, Pindarus, Aratus, Euripidis TragoediÆ Septem, Theocritus, Hesiodus, Suidas, Phalaridis, Hippocratis, Platonis et multorum ex veteribus Philosophis EpistolÆ, Demosthenes, Æschinis Orationes et EpistolÆ, Pleraque Xenophontis Opera, Una LysiÆ Oratio, Orphei Argonautica et Hymni, Callimachus, Aristoteles de Historiis Animalium, Physica, et Metaphysica, et de AnimÂ, de Partibus Animalium, et alia quÆdam, Polybius, Nonnulli Sermones Chrysostomi, Dionysiaca, et alii PoetÆ plurimi. Habes qui mihi sint, et his utere Æque ac tuis.'

[257] 'Unum Philelphus audet affirmare, vel insaniente Candido, neminem esse hÂc tempestate, nec fuisse unquam apud Latinos, quantum constat ex omni hominum memoriÂ, qui prÆter se unum idem unus tenuerit exercuitque et GrÆcam pariter et Latinam orationem in omni dicendi genere et pros et versu. Tu si quidem habeas alterum, memora. Quid taces, homo miserrime?' Letter to Piero Candido Decembrio. Cf. what P.C. Decembrio wrote to Poggio in 1453:—'Dixit (i.e. Philelphus) enim neminem litteras scire prÆter ipsum, alios semilatinos et semigrÆcos esse, se autem principatum inter stultos obtinere.' Rosmini, vol. iii. p. 150.

[258]

Lib. ix., De Jocis et Seriis. Elegy to Alessandro Sforza. Reported by Rosmini, vol. iii. p. 149. One specimen of these boasts may stand for thousands.

[259] The invitation came from Niccoli, Lionardo Bruni, Ambrogio Traversari, and Palla Strozzi.

[260] Quoted by CantÙ, p. 128.

[261] He stayed there from 1429 till the autumn of 1434.

[262] Engagement renewed October 17, 1431, for two years, with stipend of 350 sequins; again, in 1433, with stipend of 450 sequins.

[263] See above, pp. 90, 91.

[264] See Rosmini, vol. i. pp. 43, 48.

[265] Ibid. vol. i. p. 83, for the trial, torture, and confession of this bravo.

[266] The original source of information concerning Filelfo's quarrels with the Florentines is his Satires, divided into ten books or decades, each consisting of ten satires or hecatostichÆ of one hundred verses each. In the copy of this book, printed at Paris, 1508, by Robert and John Gourmont, these virulent libels are called 'Divinum Francisci Philelphi PoetÆ Christiani Satyrarum Opus.' As their motto the publishers give these sentences:—'Finis laus Deo, Spes mea Jesus.' For the abuse of the Medicean circle see Dec. i. Hec. 5; Dec. i. Hec. 6; Dec. ii. Hec. 1, 3, 7; Dec. iii. Hec. 10; Dec. vi. 10; Dec. viii. 5. For Filelfo's attack on Cosimo during his imprisonment, see Dec. iv. Hec. 1. For his invective against Cosimo on his return from exile, see Dec. iv. Hec. 9. For an appeal to Filippo Maria Visconti against Cosimo, see Dec. v. Hec. 1. For a similar appeal to Eugenius IV., see Dec. v. Hec. 2. For the episode of the assassin Filippo, see Dec. v. Hec. 6. A political attack on Cosimo addressed to Rinaldo Albizzi is contained in Dec. v. Hec. 8. A furious denunciation of Cosimo's tyranny, in Dec. v. Hec. 9. Palla degli Strozzi, as an opponent of Cosimo, is praised in Dec. iii. 1; Dec. vi. 4. In Dec. vii. 8, Filelfo promises to moderate his fury. In addition to these sources see the MS. invectives mentioned in Rosmini, vol. i. p. 47.

[267] His professorial stipend was soon raised from 500 to 700 golden florins.

[268] Vespasiano says that the concourse of people to Carlo Aretino's lectures was the first cause of Filelfo's feuds at Florence.

[269] Here are the dates of some of these displays:—

1440. Funeral oration on Stefano Federigo Todeschini.

1441. Epithalamial on the Marriage of Giovanni Marliani.

1442. Discourse on Duties of a Magistrate.

1446. Panegyric of Filippo Maria Visconti, and oration on the Election of Jacopo Borromeo to the See of Pavia.

1450. Oration of Welcome to Francesco Sforza.

1455. Epithalamial on the Marriage of Tristano Sforza to Beatrice d'Este.

1458. Epithalamials for Antonio Crivelli and Teodoro Piatti.

1459. Oration to Pius II. on his Crusade.

1460. Oration on the Election of the Bishop of Como.

1464. Funeral oration for the Senator Filippo Borromeo.

1466. Ditto for Francesco Sforza.

It is probable that all of these were not recited; but all were conceived in the lumbering and pedantic style that passed for eloquence at that period. With regard to rewards received on these occasions, note the gift of a silver basin from Jacopo Antonio Marcello in return for a consolatory epistle. Rosmini, vol. ii. p. 127. Cf. p. 197.

[270] The Satires, collected into ten decades, each satire consisting of 100 lines, were dedicated to Alfonso of Naples in 1451. Printed at Milan, 1446. The Odes, entitled De Seriis et Jocis, were finished in 1465, and dedicated partly to Malatesta Novello of Cesena, partly to Alessandro Sforza. There were ten books, each book containing 1,000 lines. Never printed. Rosmini, who inspected the MSS., reports that their obscenity exceeds description, and is only equalled by the vulgarity of the author's fancy and the coarseness of his style. In addition to these unpublished Latin poems, Filelfo collected three books of Greek elegies and epigrams, amounting to 2,400 verses. It is significant that he measured his poetry by lines, and trained his jog-trot muse to paces of 100 verses.

[271] The Epistle to Ladislaus of Hungary on his victories over the Turks, for instance.

[272] He had twelve sons and twelve daughters. They did not all live.

[273] A curious sign of current feeling is that Filelfo frequently boasted of being t???????. See Rosmini, i. p. 15, and the verse quoted, ib. p. 113. He mentioned two natural children in his will and had many more. Rosmini, vol. iii. p. 78.

[274] Rosmini, vol. ii. p. 54. It may be remembered that Pietro Aretino hinted he should like to be a cardinal.

[275] As a specimen of Filelfo's Grub Street style of begging, I transcribe the following elegy (Rosmini, vol. ii. p. 285):—

Francesco Sforza's anxiety to retain Filelfo in his service is expressed in a letter to his treasurer (ib. p. 295):—'Noi per niuno modo el vogliamo perdere, la qual cosa seguirebbe quando gli paresse essere deluso, e non potesse seguitare per manchamento delli dicti 250 fiorini la nobilissima opera per lui in nostra gloria comenzata nÈ suplire agli altri suoi bisogni.' The tuba and the nobilissima opera both refer to Filelfo's Sforziad.

[276] I may call particular attention to Filelfo's behaviour with regard to Pius II.—the free pension of 200 florins granted (Rosmini, vol. ii. p. 106), the menaces because it is not paid (ib. p. 115), the scurrilous epigrams on the Pope's death (ib. p. 321), the abusive letter addressed to Paul II. (ib. p. 136), the sentence of imprisonment for calumny issued against him and his son Mario (ib. p. 140), the final palinode in which he basely praises the Pope whom he had basely abused (ib. p. 146). The whole series of transactions is disgraceful.

[277] Letter of Gregorio Lollio to the Cardinal of Pavia, reported by Rosmini (vol. ii. p. 147).

[278] The whole poem ran to sixteen books. Therefore, according to Filelfo's art of poetry, the first eight contained 6,400 verses.

[279] See Rosmini, vol. ii. p. 90. The Greek epistle which he sent is printed, ib. p. 305.

[280] He had long since made peace with the Medici.

[281] See the original letters in Rosmini, vol. ii. pp. 411-419.

[282] Rosmini, vol. ii. p. 261, note.

[283] Ib. p. 248.

[284] I cannot allow this mention of Antiquari's name to pass without a note upon his life and services to letters. He was born and educated at Perugia, entered the service of the Papal Legate Battista Savelli as secretary at Bologna, and afterwards received the post of secretary and diplomatic writer to the Sforza family at Milan. The Duke Galeazzo Maria was his first master. At Milan he played the part of an amiable and refined MÆcenas, while he carried on a correspondence in Latin—still delightful to read—with Poliziano and all the greatest scholars of his age. His biography, written at some length, with valuable miscellaneous appendices by Vermiglioli, was published at Perugia in 1819.

[285] Pp. 138, 139.

[286] Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. i. p. 704 b.

[287] 'Usque ad mundandam supellectilem quÆ sumpto cibo lavare consuerit.'—Rosmini, Vita di Vittorino, p. 38, note.

[288] In 1422 apparently.

[289] Locandiere. Rosmini, vol. i. p. 67.

[290] P. 111.

[291] Sixty poor scholars were taught, fed, clothed, and provided with implements of study at his cost. He also subsidised their families in distress. Rosmini, Vita di Vittorino, pp. 165, 166.

[292] Rosmini, Vita di Vittorino, p. 165. Vespasiano, p. 492, tells a story which illustrates these relations between Vittorino and the Marquis. Cf., too, p. 494.

[293] P. 492.

[294] Vol. I., Age of the Despots, p. 138.

[295] Pp. 249-476.

[296] See Rosmini, p. 183, and Vespasiano, p. 493, for the record of her virtues, her learning, and her refusal to wed the infamous Oddo da Montefeltro.

[297] See his Life by Rosmini, p. 11, for his brilliant reception at Venice.

[298] See the details collected by Rosmini, Vita di Guarino, pp. 79-87.

[299] Timoteo Maffei, quoted by Tiraboschi, vol. vi. lib. iii. cap. 5, 8.

[300] He carried on literary feuds with Niccolo de' Niccoli, Poggio, Filelfo, and Georgios Trapezuntios.

[301] 'Placidis Aurispa Camoenis Deditus,' Sat., dec. i. hec. 5. Valla, Antid. in Pogium, p. 7, describes him as 'virum suavissimum et ab omni contentione remotissimum.'

[302] Cf. Tiraboschi, vi. lib. iii. cap. 5, 58.

[303] Vespasiano, pp. 113-117, gives an interesting account of these lettered and warlike princes.

[304] See pp. 94-99.

[305] P. 99.

[306] Vol. I., Age of the Despots, pp. 136-142.

[307] In the register of his death he is described as Vespasiano, Cartolaro.

[308] See Rosmini, Vita di Filelfo, vol. ii. p. 201. 'I have made up my mind to buy some of those codices they are now making without any trouble, and without the pen, but with certain so-called types, and which seem to be the work of a skilled and exact scribe. Tell me, then, at what price are sold the Natural History of Pliny, the three Decades of Livy, and Aulus Gellius.' Letter to Nicodemo Tranchedino, sent from Siena to Rome, dated July 25, 1470.

[309] See this passage from a panegyric quoted by Angelo Mai:—'Tu profecto in hoc nostro deteriori sÆculo hebraicÆ, grÆcÆ atque latinÆ linguarum, omnium voluminum dignorum memoratu notitiam, eorumque auctores memoriÆ tradidisti.'—Vite di Uomini Illustri, preface, p. xxiii.

[310] It may be useful to add a skeleton pedigree of the Medici in this place:—

[311] See Vol. I., Age of the Despots, p. 190.

[312] Marsilio Ficino, the son of Cosimo's physician, was born at Figline in 1433.

[313] Thus Ficino's edition of Plotinus, printed at Lorenzo de' Medici's expense, and published one month after his death, bears this notice:—'Magnifici sumptu Laurentii patriÆ servatoris.'

[314] See, however, Didot's Alde Manuce, p. 4, where Giovanni Acciaiuoli is credited with this generosity.

[315] See Von Reumont, vol. ii. p. 108.

[316] Fine expression was given to this conception of life by Aldus in the dedication to Alberto Pio of vols. ii., iii., iv. of Aristotle:—'Es nam tu mihi optimus testis an potiores Herculis Ærumnas credam, sÆvosque labores, et Venere, et coenis et plumis Sardanapali. Natus nam homo est ad laborem et ad agendum semper aliquid viro dignum, non ad voluptatem quÆ belluarum est et pecudum.' The last sentence is a translation of Ulysses' speech in the Inferno—

Cf. Aldus's preface to Lascaris' Grammar; Renouard, vol. i. p. 7; and again Alde Manuce, p. 143, for similar passages.

[317] Dated Florence, 1485; in the Aldine edition of Poliziano's Letters, book ix.

[318] In the introduction to Pico's Apologia may be read the account he gives of the codex of the pseudo-Esdras purchased by him.

[319] Poliziano's Greek epigram addressed to Pico on this matter may be quoted from the Carmina Quinque Poetarum, p. 412:—

[320] Disputationum Camaldulensium lib. iv., dedicated to Frederick of Urbino.

[321] The legend of the foundation of this Order is well known through Sacchi's picture in the Vatican.

[322] Born at Colle in 1430.

[323] The following verses on Alessandra are so curious a specimen of Poliziano's Greek style that I transcribe them here (Carmina Quinque Illustrium Poetarum, p. 304):—

The satires on Mabilius (so he called Marullus) are too filthy to be quoted. They may be read in the collection cited above, pp. 275-280.

[324] See Carducci, preface to Le Stanze, Florence, 1863, and Isidoro del Lungo in Arch. Stor. series iii. vol. ii.

[325] Julius CÆsar Scaliger wrote thus about them in the Hypercriticus:—'GrÆcis vero, quÆ puerum se conscripsisse dicit, Ætatem minus prudenter apposuit suam; tam enim bona sunt ut ne virum quidem Latina Æque bene scripsisse putem.'

[326] Quinque Illustrium Poetarum Carmina, pp. 299, 301. These epigrams, as well as two on pp. 303, 307, are significant in their illustration of the poet's morality. Giovio's account of Poliziano's death was certainly accepted by contemporaries:—'Ferunt eum ingenui adolescentis insano amore percitum facile in letalem morbum incidisse.' The whole Elogium, however, is a covert libel, like many of Giovio's sketches.

[327] 'Erat distortis sÆpe moribus, uti facie nequaquam ingenu et liberali ab enormi prÆsertim naso, subluscoque oculo perabsurdÂ.' Giovio, Elogia. Cf. Poliziano's own verses to Mabilius, beginning:—

[328] The first words of the dedication run as follows:—'Cum tibi superioribus diebus Laurenti Medices, nostra hÆc Miscellanea inter equitandum recitaremus.'

[329] Angeli Politiani EpistolÆ, lib. iii. ed. Ald. 1498. The letter is dated Nov. 1488.

[330] In a letter to Hieronymus Donatus, dated Florence, May 1480, Angeli Politiani EpistolÆ, lib. ii.

[331] The well-known scandal about Poliziano's death is traceable to the Elogia of Paulus Jovius—very suspicious authority. See above, p. 252, note 2.

[332] The most curious of these elegiac poems are given in Carmina Quinque Illustrium Poetarum, p. 234. It is possible that their language ought not to be taken literally, and that they concealed a joke now lost.

[333] Poliziano's letter to Matthias Corvinus is a good example of his self-laudation.

[334] 'Poliziano lies in this grave, the angel who had one head and, what is new, three tongues. He died September 24, 1494, aged 40.'

[335] 'Behold whereon he spent the substance of the Church of God!' Vespasiano adds that he gave away several hundred volumes to one of the cardinals, whose servants sold them for an old song. Vesp. p. 216. Assemani, the historian of the Vatican Library, on the contrary, asserts that Calixtus spent 40,000 ducats on books. It is not likely, however, that Vespasiano was wholly in error about a matter he understood so well, and had so much at heart.

[336] See the Basle edition of his collected works, 1571.

[337] See Vol. I., Age of the Despots, p. 299.

[338] Vol. I., Age of the Despots, pp. 302-303.

[339] 'P.L. to his kinsmen and relatives, greeting. What you ask cannot be. Farewell.'

[340] See Vol. I., Age of the Despots, p. 220, note.

[341] See the Reason of Church Government urged against Prelaty, and the Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth.

[342] From a memorial presented by these printers to Sixtus IV. in 1472 we ascertain some facts about their industry. They had at that date printed in all 12,495 volumes. It was their custom to issue 265 copies each edition; the double of that number for Virgil, Cicero's separate works, and theological books in request. CantÙ, Lett. It. p. 112. See CantÙ, p. 110, for details of the earliest Latin books.

[343] See above, p. 220.

[344] It is supposed that the earliest paper factory established in Italy was at Fabriano. Colle, a little town near Volterra, made paper from a remote period; by a deed, dated March 6, 1377, now preserved in the Florentine Archivio Diplomatico, one Colo da Colle rented a fall of water there et gualcheriam ad faciendas cartas for twenty years. Both places are still celebrated for their paper mills.

[346] Executed for the Church of the Cordeliers by Paulus Pontius.

[347] Poliziano's epigram addressed to these earliest Greek printers may be quoted here:

[348] See Didot's Alde Manuce, p. 417, the passage beginning 'Vix credas.' In the Latin preface to the Thesaurus CornucopiÆ et Horti Adonidis, 1495, Aldo complains that he has not been able to rest for one hour during seven years.

[349] 'Tot illico oborta sunt impedimenta malorumque invidi et domesticorum ?a? ta?? t?? ?ata??t?? ?a? d?apete???t?? d????? ?p????a??.' Preface to the PoetÆ Christiani Veteres, 1501. Again in the 'monitum' of the same, 'quater jam in Ædibus nostris ab operariis et stipendiariis in me conspiratum et duce malorum omnium matre avariti quos Deo adjuvante sic fregi ut valde omnes poeniteat suÆ perfidiÆ.'

[350] The French publishers of Lyons, the Giunti of Rome, and Soncino of Fano, were particularly troublesome. Didot has extracted some curious information about their tricks as well as Aldo's exposure of them. Pp. 167, 482-486.

[351] See especially the preface to Aristotle, vol. i. 1495; vol. v. 1498.

[352] See Preface to Thesaurus CornucopiÆ, quoted by Didot, p. 80; and cf. pp. 210, 221, 521, for further hints about selfish bibliomaniacs, who tried to hoard their treasures from the public and refused them to the press. Aldo, as a genuine lover of free learning, and also as a publisher, detests this class of men.

[353] See Pannizzi's tract on 'Francesco da Bologna,' published by Pickering, 1873. He was probably Francia the painter.

[354] In a letter to Marcello Virgilio Adriani, the teacher of Machiavelli, he mentions some books 'Cum aliis quibusdam communes,' as distinguished from others which were his private property. Didot, p. 233.

[355] On the subject of patents, privileges, and monopolies see Didot, pp. 79, 166, 189, 371, 479-481.

[356] ???sa??? t?? pa?a??tat?? p???t?? ?????sa p???????e?? t? te ???st?t??e? ?a? t?? s?f?? t??? ?t????? a?t??a d?’ ??? ??t?p?s??????. This p??d????, or precursor, appeared without a date; but it must have come out earlier than 1494.

[357] John Lascaris had edited four plays of Euripides for Alopa in 1496. This Aldine edition contained eighteen, one of which, the Hercules Furens, turned up while vol. ii. was in the press. The Electra, not discovered till later on, was printed at Rome, 1545.

[358] The Adagia were first printed in 1500 at Paris by John Philippi. After the Aldine edition eleven were issued between 1509 and 1520 by Matthew SchÜrer, ten by Froben between 1513 and 1539, while seven or eight others appeared in various parts of Germany.

[359] See the passage quoted by Didot, pp. 297-299.

[360] Didot, pp. 147-151, 436-470, gives ample details concerning the foundation, constitution, and members of the Aldine Academy.

[361] We may compare the name of Melanchthon.

[362] A native of Rotino, in Crete (b. 1470, d. at Rome 1517). He acquired Latin so thoroughly that Erasmus wrote of him: 'LatinÆ linguÆ usque ad miraculum doctus, quod vix ulli GrÆco contigit prÆter Theodorum Gazam et Joannem Lascarem.' John Lascaris was his master.

[363] Etymologicon Magnum, 1499. Didot, pp. 544-578, may be consulted for information about this Greek press. Musurus boasts in his encomiastic verses that the work was accomplished entirely by Cretans. ??a??as? ??ast?? p??? ?a? de???t?t? ?a???????? in the colophon.

[364] There is some discrepancy about this Antonio between Renouard and Didot.

[365] 'Sum ipse mihi optimus testis me semper habere comites, ut oportere aiunt, delphinum et anchoram; nam et dedimus multa cunctando, et damus assidue.' Preface to the Astronomici, dedicated to Duke Guidobaldo of Urbino, 1499. The observations of Erasmus on the motto deserve to be read with attention. See Didot, p. 299.

[366] See the passages from his letters and prefaces quoted and referred to on p. 239, above, note 2.

[367] The prospect of his visit to Milan in 1509 called forth these pretty April verses from Antiquari:—

[368] See above, p. 275, for his hatred of the ????t?f??. He was the very opposite of Henri Estienne the younger, who closed his library against his son-in-law Casaubon.

[369] Didot, pp. 89, 299, 423.

[370] Priscian, at Erfurt, 1501; Alphabet, Batrachomyomachia, MusÆus, Theocritus, Grammar of Chrysoloras, Hesiod's Works and Days, Paris, 1507; Aristotle on Divination by Dreams, Cracow, 1529; Lucian, pe?? d???d??, Oxford, 1521, are among the earliest Greek books printed out of Italy. The grammars of the Greek humanists were frequently reprinted in the first quarter of the sixteenth century in Germany.

[371]

[372] From the exordium to Valeriano's treatise De Infelicitate Literatorum.

[373] Lilius Gyraldus, in his dialogue 'De Poetis Nostri Temporis,' Opp. vol. ii. p. 384, mentions a critic who was so stupid as to desiderare in Pontano et si deis placet in Sanazario Christianam elocutionem, hoc est barbaram!

[374] See Vol. I., Age of the Despots, p. 145.

[375] He held this post under Julius II.

[376] The first Greek book printed in Rome, an edition of Pindar by Cornelius Benignius, 1515, issued from Chigi's press under the superintendence of Zacharias Kalliergos of Crete. Concerning this printer see Didot, Alde Manuce, pp. 544-578.

[377] The epitaph of Bella Imperia proves that the title of HetÆra was thought honourable: 'Imperia, Cortisana Romana, quÆ digna tanto nomine, rarÆ inter homines formÆ specimen dedit. Vixit a. xxvi. d. xii. Obiit MDXI., die XV. Aug.' Berni's Capitolo sopra un Garzone may be referred to for the second half of the sentence.

[378] See Tiraboschi, vii. 1, lib. i. c. 2.

[379] See Vol. I., Age of the Despots, p. 342.

[380] Written 1504. First printed by Aldo, 1505.

[381] 'De Guido Ubaldo Feretrio deque Elisabetha Gonzaga Urbini Ducibus.'

[382]

[383] His most famous essays bore these titles: De Liberis Instituendis and De Laudibus PhilosophiÆ.

[384] His Commentary on the Romans was placed upon the Index.

[385] Like the History of Guicciardini, it opens with the year 1494. It is carried down to 1547. A portion of the first decade was lost in the sack of Rome, and never rewritten by the author. Printed at Florence, 1550.

[386] Elogia Virorum literis illustrium, quotquot vel nostrÂ, vel avorum memori vixere, and Elogia Virorum bellic virtute illustrium, Basel, 1557.

[387] De Piscibus Romanis, Rome, 1524. Ragionamento sopra i Motti e Disegni d'Arme e d'Amore.

[388] The titles of his philosophical works—De Studio divinÆ et humanÆ philosophiÆ, De amore Divino, Examen vanitatis doctrinÆ gentium et veritatis ChristianÆ disciplinÆ, De rerum prÆnotione—show how closely he followed in the footsteps of Giovanni Pico.

[389] Joannis Francisci Pici MirandolÆ et ConcordiÆ Comitis Oratio ad Leon X. et Concilium Lateranense de reformandis EcclesiÆ moribus.

[390] Inghirami, made librarian 1510, died 1516. Beroaldo held the office two years, and died 1518. Acciaiuoli held it only for a few months. Aleander succeeded him in 1519.

[391] 'Lingu verius quam calamo celebrem ... dictus sui seculi Cicero,' says Erasmus. 'Affluentissimum eloquentiÆ flumen' is Valeriano's phrase.

[392] See Burckhardt, p. 174. Roscoe's Life of Leo X. vol. i. p. 357.

[393] See above, p. 86.

[394] Cf. Giovio, close of the Elogia.

[395] Andreas Fulvius Sabinus Antiquarius, Antiquitates Urbis RomÆ, 1527. BartholomÆus Marlianus, Eques D. Petri, Urbis RomÆ Topographia, 1534. Jacobus Mazochius, Epigrammata antiquÆ urbis RomÆ, 1521. Johannis Pierii Valeriani Hieroglyphica seu de Sacris Ægyptiorum, &c., in his collected works, Ven. 1604.

[396] The architect of Verona who first edited Vitruvius, and was employed by Lorenzo de' Medici in collecting inscriptions for him at Rome.

[397] See above, p. 111.

[398] See Castiglione's verses.

[399] Terzo Commentario del Ghiberti, Frammenti Inediti, in Le Monnier's Vasari, vol. i. pp. xi.-xiii. I have paraphrased rather than translated the original, which is touching by reason of its naÏvetÉ.

[400] See Vol. I., Age of the Despots, p. 17.

[401] See Rosmini's Vittorino da Feltre, p. 63, note.

[402] See Ghiberti's Commentario, in Le Monnier's Vasari, vol. i. p. xiv.

[403] Alberi, Relazioni Venete, serie ii. vol. iii. p. 114, &c.

[404] By a brief dated Aug. 27, 1515.

[405] It may be observed that he calls the round-arched buildings of the Middle Ages Gothic; the pointed style German.

[406] 'When we reflect upon the divinity of those intellects of the old world ... when we see the corpse of this noble city, mother and queen of the world, so piteously mangled ... how many Pontiffs have allowed the ruin and defacement of ancient temples, statues, arches, and other buildings, the glory of their founders! How many have suffered their foundations to be undermined for the mere sake of quarrying pozzolana, whereby in a short time the buildings themselves have fallen to earth! How much lime has been made of statues and other antique decorations! I should not hesitate to say that the whole of this new Rome which now meets the eye, great as it is, and fair, and beautified with palaces and churches and other buildings, has been cemented with lime made from antique marbles.'

[407]

[408] See Benvenuto Cellini, i. 31.

[409] Vol. I., Age of Despots, App. V.

[410] Printed at Venice, 1620.

[411] 'Quod RomÆ, hoc est in sentin omnium rerum atrocium et pudendarum deprehensi fuerimus.' Quoted by Gregorovius, Stadt Rom, vol. viii. p. 598, note 3.

[412] Cf. Filelfo, quoted in a note to the next chapter, who says,'Tuscan is hardly known to all Italians, while Latin is spread far and wide throughout the whole world.'

[413] I purpose in this chapter to use the DelitiÆ Poetarum Italorum, two parts divided into 4 vols., 1608; Carmina Quinque Illustrium Poetarum, Bergomi, 1753; Poemata Selecta Italorum, Oxonii, 1808; and Selecta Poemata Italorum, accurante A. Pope, Londini, 1740.

[414] Bonucci's edition of Alberti's works, vol. i. Alberti's own preface, in the form of a dedicatory letter to Lionello d'Este, describes how he came to write this comedy, and how it was passed off upon contemporaries as an original play by Lepidus Comicus. Ib. pp. cxxi.-cxxiii.

[415] See above, p. 254, for the purpose fulfilled by the SylvÆ.

[416] 'Of men the solace, and of gods the everlasting joy.'

[417] 'As from the heavens we see the stars on all sides fleeing, when the golden torch of the sun-god rises, and the diminished moon appears to fade; so with his burning lamp MÆonides obscures the honours of the earlier bards. Him alone, while he sang the divine deeds of heroes, and with his lyre arrayed fierce wars, Apollo, wonder-struck, confessed his equal. Close at his side, or higher even, but for the veneration due to age, Vergil entones the song of arms and the hero—Vergil, to whom from holy tilth and pasture land both Ascra's and Sicilia's shepherds yield their sway with willing homage.'—Quinque Illustrium Poetarum Carmina, p. 167.

[418] 'Far off into the tracts of air and high above the clouds soars Pindar, the DircÆan swan, whose tender mouth ye gentle bees with nectar fed, while the boy gave rest to weary limbs that breathed soft slumber. But him the maid of Tanagra derided, what time she told him that he sowed his myths from the whole sack to waste; and when he dared contend with her in song, she bore away the victor's palm, triumphant by Æolian moods, and by her seductive beauty too. He with his mighty voice, trained in the school of Agathocles, sang the crowns of Olympia and the garlands wherewith the Isthmus and Delphi, and the Nemean wastes that falsely claimed the moon-born monster, shade the athlete's brows. Then, like a torrent, with swelling soul, he passed to celebrate the powers and virtues of the gods and heroes, and poured forth pious lamentations for the dead. Him Phoebus, lord of Cirrha, honoured with food and drink from his altar, and made him guest-fellow at his own board: shepherds too saw Pan in lonely caverns charming the woods with a Pindaric song. At last, when he was old, and lay with his neck reclined upon the bosom of the boy he loved, soothing his soul in sleep, Proserpina with still right hand approached and took him straight to join the shades and pace Elysium's fragrant meads. Nay, more: long afterwards, the foeman's flames, which laid seven-gated Thebes in ruins far and wide, these names dared not to burn so great a poet's house; and his descendants, safe 'mid a thousand swords, learned that his ashes still were young through fame that lives for aye.'—Carmina, &c. p. 173.

[419] 'Ninth among lyric bards, Æolian Sappho joins the crew; she who by flowing water plucks Pieria's rose for venturous Love to twine in wreaths for his own brow; who with her dulcet lyre sings fair Cyrinna's charms, and Megara, and Atthis and sweet Anactoria, and Telesippa of the flowing hair. And thee, too, Phaon, beautiful in youth's rathe flower, on thee she gazes, thee she calls again; such power to thee gave Venus for her freightage in thy skiff, or else the herb of love. Yet at the last, not wisely bold, she leaps into the Ambracian waves.' Ib. &c. p. 175.

[420] 'Æschylus, smitten by a tortoise falling from the air above his head, and he whose triumph, justly won in old age, killed him with excess of joy, and he whose body, torn by raging hounds, the reverent earth of Pella hides.'—Carmina, &c. p. 176.

[421] Ib. p. 177.

[422] 'Nor yet of this meed of honour would I cheat wing-bearing Dante, who flew through hell, through the starry heavens, and o'er the intermediate hill of purgatory beneath the beauteous brows of Beatrice; and Petrarch too, who tells again the tale of Cupid's triumph; or him who in ten days portrays a hundred stories, and lays bare the seeds of hidden love: from whom unmeasured fame and name are thine, by wit and wealth twice potent, Florence, mother of great sons!'—Ib. p. 178.

[423] 'What other men call study and hard toil, that for thee shall be pastime; wearied with deeds of state, to this thou hast recourse, and dost address the vigour of thy well-worn powers to song: blest in thy mental gifts, blest to be able thus to play so many parts, to vary thus the great cares of thy all-embracing mind, and weave so many divers duties into one.'—Carmina, &c. p. 179.

[424] 'Dialogus de Poetis nostri Temporis.' Opp. vol. ii. p. 388. Edition of Basle, 1580.

[425] 'On themes like these I spent my hours of leisure in the grottoes of Fiesole, at the Medicean villa, where the holy hill looks down upon the MÆonian city, and surveys the windings of the distant Arno. There good Lorenzo gives his friends a happy home and rest from cares; Lorenzo, not the last of Phoebus' glorious band; Lorenzo, the firm anchor of the Muses tempest-tost. If only he but grant me greater ease, the inspiration of a mightier god will raise my soul; nor shall the lofty woods alone and mountain rocks resound my words; but thou—such faith have I—thou too shalt sometime hear, kind nurse of mine, nor haply scorn my song, thou, Florence, mother of imperial bards, and learned eloquence in three great tongues shall give me fame.' Carmina, &c. p. 196.

[426] 'Nay, but for everlasting lives our poet's work, abides, and goes forth toward the ages late in time. So long as in the silent firmament the stars shall shine; so long as day shall rise from sun-burned Ind; so long as Phosphor runs before the wheels of light; so long as gloomy winter leads to spring, and summer to autumn; while breathing ocean ebbs and flows by turns, and the mixed elements put on their changing shapes—so long, for ever, shall endure great Maro's fame, for ever shall flow these rivers from his unexhausted fount, for ever shall draughts of learning be drawn from these rills, for ever shall these meadows yield their perfumed flowers, to pasture holy bees, and give the youthful Graces garlands for their hair.'—Carmina, &c. p. 207.

[427] 'Supper was over; Orpheus awakes the lyre, and sings a melody to suit the tune he plays. The men were silent; the winds hushed; the rivers held their waters back to hear; the birds hung motionless in air; and the wild beasts grew calm. From the cliffs the oaks run down with listening ears, and the top of Pelion nods his barren head. And now the bard had soothed the whole world with his mother's song; when he ceased from singing and put down the thrilling lyre. This bold Achilles seizes; he runs his fingers o'er the strings, and chaunts an untaught lay, the simple boy. What was his theme? you ask. He praised the singing of the gentle guest, the mighty murmurs of that lyre divine. The MinyÆ laughed; but yet, so runs the tale, even all too sweet, Orpheus, to thee was the boy's homage. Just so my praise of mighty Maro's name, if faith be not a dream, gives joy to Maro's self.'—Carmina, &c. p. 197.

[428] 'We also, therefore, with glad homage dedicate to him this garland twined of Pieria's flowers, which Ambra, loveliest of Cajano's nymphs, gave to me, culled from meadows on her father's shores; Ambra, the love of my Lorenzo, whom Umbrone, the horned stream, begat—Umbrone, dearest to his master Arno, Umbrone, who now henceforth will never break his banks again.'—Carmina, &c. p. 224.

[429] Cf. Juvenal, Satire, i. 9-14; vii. 81-87. Persius, Satire, i. 79-82. And cf. Petronius Arbiter for a detailed picture of these Roman recitations.

[430] Carmina Quinque, &c. pp. 250, 272, 276.

[431] The epitaphs on Giotto, Lippo Lippi, the fair Simonetta, and others, are only valuable for their historic interest, such as that is.

[432] I shall quote from his Collected Poems, Aldus, 1513.

[433] See the Elegy of Sannazzaro on the writings of Pontanus, Poemata Selecta, pp. 1-4, and Fracastoro's Syphilis, ib. p. 72.

[434] DelitiÆ Poetarum Italorum, pt. ii. pp. 668-712. Specimens may also be read in the Poemata Selecta Italorum, pp. 1-24.

[435] See, for instance, the tale of Hylas, lib. v. p. 103; the tale of Cola Pesce, lib. iv. p. 79; the council of the gods, lib. i. p. 18; the planet Venus, lib. i. p. 5.

[436] Lib. v. pp. 105-108. 'For thee I hung the house with wreaths; and thy twin sisters poured forth Syrian perfumes at the marriage chamber. What for our garlands and our perfumes hast thou left? Days without light, nights without a star, long sleepless nights.'

[437] 'Fame herself, seated by my tomb with golden raiment, mighty-mouthed, mighty-voiced, with mighty wings, shall spread abroad among the people my names with mighty sound of praise, and carry through the centuries my titles, and with my glory shall resound applauding airs of heaven; renowned through everlasting ages Jovian shall live.'

[438] 'Lilius Gyraldus,' loc. cit. p. 384, writes about this epic, 'in quibus, ut sic dicam, statarius poeta videri potest. Non enim verborum volubilitate fertur, sed limatius quoddam scribendi genus consectatur, et lim indies atterit, ut de illo non ineleganter dictum illud Apellis de Protogene Pontanus usurpare solitus esset, eum manum de tabul tollere nescire.'

[439] See DelitiÆ Poetarum Italorum, second part, pp. 713-761. The following couplet on the death of Cesare Borgia is celebrated:—

[440] 'When Neptune beheld Venice stationed in the Adriatic waters, and giving laws to all the ocean, "Now taunt me, Jupiter, with the Tarpeian rock and those walls of thy son Mars!" he cried. "If thou preferrest Tiber to the sea, look on both cities; thou wilt say the one was built by men, the other by gods."'

[441] See above, p. 288.

[442] Bombycum; Libri duo. Scacchia, Ludus; Liber unus. Pope's Poemata Italorum, vol. i. pp. 103-130; pp. 190-210. The former poem is addressed to Isabella Gonzaga, nÉe d'Este.

[443] Poemata Selecta, pp. 207-266. It will be remembered that Francis I., after Pavia, gave his two sons as hostages to Charles V.

[445]

[446] After mentioning the glories of Virgil, Vida adds:—

Poemata Selecta, p. 213. Cf. the advice (p. 214) to follow none but Virgil:—

[447]

Dona deÛm MusÆ: vulgus procul este profanum.

Poemata Selecta, p. 224; and again, ib. p. 226:—

[448] 'Ye native gods of Rome! and thou, Apollo, Troy's founder! by whom our race is raised to heaven! let not at least this glory be withdrawn from Latium's children: may Italy for ever hold the heights of art and learning, and most beauteous Rome instruct the nations; albeit all success in arms be lost, so great hath grown the discord of Italia's princes. Yea, one against the other, we draw bloody swords, nor feel we any shame in calling foreign tyrants into our own land.'—Poemata Selecta, p. 245.

[449] 'Hail, light of Italy, thou brightest of the bards! Thee we worship, thee we adore with wreaths, with frankincense, with altars; to thee, as duty bids, for everlasting will we chaunt our holy hymns. Hail, consecrated bard! No increase to thy glory flows from praise, nor needs it voice of ours. Be near, and look upon thy votaries; come, father, and infuse thy fervour into our chaste hearts, and plant thyself within our souls.'—Poemata Selecta, p. 266.

[450] See Vol. I., Age of the Despots, p. 433, note.

[451]

[452]

[453] Ibid. pp. 79, 80.

[454] Ibid. pp. 95, 96.

[455] These phrases he finds for a fowling-piece:—

[456] Cf. the passage about Alessandro Farnese's journeys—

Matre de comitante et iter monstrante nepoti—

and the reformation in Germany. Poemata Selecta, p. 125. The whole idyll addressed to Julius III., ib. pp. 130-135, is inconceivably uncouth.

[457] Carmina Quinque Illustrium Poetarum, pp. 4 and 9-11.

[458] Ib. pp. 18-23.

[459] Carmina Quinque Illustrium Poetarum, p. 7.

[460] Ib. p. 23.

[461]

[462] Carmina Quinque Illustrium Poetarum, pp. 26-34.

[463] Ib. p. 38.

[464] 'When Lorenzo was dead, and Death went by in triumph, drawn by her black horses, her eyes fell on one who madly struck the chords, while sighs convulsed his breast. She turned, and stayed the car; he storms and calls on all the gods for Lorenzo, mixing tears with prayers, and sorrow with his tears, while sorrow suggests words of wilder freedom. Death laughed; remembering her old grudge, when Orpheus made his way to hell, she cried, "Lo, he too seeks to abrogate our laws, and lays his hand upon my rights!" Nor more delay; she struck the poet while he wept, and broke his heart-strings in the middle of his sighs. Alas! thus wast thou taken from us, ravished by harsh fate, Politian, master of the Italian lyre!'

[465] Notice especially 'Thyrsidis vota Veneri,' 'Invitatio ad amoenum fontem,' 'Leucippem amicam spe prÆmiorum invitat,' 'Vota Veneri ut amantibus faveat,' and 'In Almonem.'—Carmina, &c. pp. 52, 53, 54, 55.

[466] Paolo Giovio noticed this; in his Elogia he writes, 'Epigrammata non falsis aculeatisque finibus, sed tener ill et prÆdulci prisc suavitate claudebat.'

[467] 'Mighty mother, thou who bringest all things forth to breathe the liquid air, who shinest in thy painted robe of diverse budding lives, thou who from thy teeming bosom givest nourishment to trees and sprouting herbs in every region of the earth, take to thyself the fainting boy, cherish his dying limbs, and make him live for ever by thy aid. Yes, he shall live; and that white loveliness of his, each year as spring returns, shall blossom in a snowy flower.'—Carmina, &c. p. 57.

[468] 'Ad Gelliam rusticantem,' Carmina, &c. pp. 64-66. 'Iolas,' ib. pp. 66-68.

[469] 'Hail, darling of the gods, thou happiest spot of earth! hail chosen haunt of beauty's queen! What joy I feel to see you thus again, and tread your shores after so many toils endured in mind and soul! How from my heart by your free gift I cast all anxious cares!'—Carmina, &c. p. 84.

[470] See the Hendecasyllabics of Johannes MatthÆus, Carmina, &c. p. 86.

[471] Basilius Zanchius, Carmina, &c. p. 85.

[472] M. Antonius Flaminius, ib. p. 85.

[473] Poemata Selecta, pp. 203-206. An elegy written by Janus Etruscus, Pope's Poemata Italorum, vol. ii. p. 25, on a similar theme, though very inferior to Molsa's, may be compared with it.

[474] 'I ask for no monument of wrought marble to proclaim my titles: let a vase of baked clay receive these bones. Let earth, quietest of resting-places, take them to herself, and save them from the injury of ravening wolves. And let a running stream divide its waters round my grave, drawn with the sound of music from a mountain-flank. A little tablet carved with simple letters will be enough to mark the spot, and to preserve my name: "Here lies Molsa, slain before his day by wasting sickness: cast dust upon him thrice, and go thy way, gentle shepherd." It may be that after many years I shall turn to yielding clay, and my tomb shall deck herself with flowers; or, better, from my limbs shall spring a white poplar, and in its beauteous foliage I shall rise into the light of heaven. To this place will come, I hope, some lovely maid attended by the master of the flock; and she shall dance above my bones and move her feet to rhythmic music.'

[475] For the picture of the girl dancing on the lover's grave, cf. Omar Khayyam. Cf. too Walt Whitman's metaphor for grass—'the beautiful uncut hair of graves.'

[476] 'Alcon, the darling of Phoebus and the Muses; Alcon, a part of my own soul; Alcon, the greatest part of my own heart.'—Carmina Quinque Poetarum, p. 89.

[477] 'Alas! poor youth, withdrawn from us by fate malign. Never again shall I behold thee, while the shepherds stand around, win prizes with thy flying shafts or spear, or wrestle for the crown; never again with thee reclining in the shade shall I all through a summer's day avoid the sun. No more shall thy pipe soothe the neighbouring hills, the vales repeat thy artful songs. No more shall thy Lycoris, whose name inscribed by thee the woods remember, and my Galatea hear us both together chaunt our loves. For we like brothers lived our lives till now from infancy: heat and cold, days and nights, we bore; our herds were reared with toil and care together. These fields of mine were also thine: we lived one common life. Why, then, when thou must die, am I still left to live? Alas! in evil hour the wrath of Heaven withdrew me from my native land, nor suffered me to close thy lids with a friend's hands!'—Carmina, &c. p. 91.

[478] Ib. p. 100.

[479] 'Hideous is their face, their grinning mouth, their threatening eyes, and their rough limbs are stiff with snaky scales; their beard hangs long and wide, uncombed, tangled with sea-weed and green ooze, and their dusky hair smells rank of brine.'—Ib. p. 103.

[480] 'De Elisabetta Gonzaga canente,' Carmina, &c. p. 97. Cf. Bembo's 'Ad Lucretiam Borgiam,' ib. p. 14, on a similar theme.

[481] Ib. p. 95.

[482] 'O father, O shepherd of the nations, O great master of the world who rulest all the human race, giver of justice, peace, and tranquil ease; thou to whom alone is committed the life and salvation of men, whom God Himself made lord of hell and heaven, that either realm might open at thy nod.'

[483] 'I do not blame thee for delaying thy return, since neither is it safe nor right for man to set at naught a God's command; and yet so great is Leo's kindness said to be that he inclines a ready ear to human prayers.'—Ib. p. 102.

[484] 'Therefore shall all our shepherds pay thee divine honours, as to Pan or Phoebus, on fixed days, great Father; and long shalt thou be celebrated in our forests. Thy praise, Julius the Great, the cliffs, the rocks, the hollow valleys, and the woodland echoes shall repeat. Wherever in our groves an oak tree stands, as spring and summer bring the flowers, its branches shall be hung with wreaths, its trunk shall be inscribed with thy auspicious name. As often as our shepherds drive the flocks afield, or bring them pastured home, each one, remembering that he does this under thy protection, shall pour libations of new milk forth to thee, and rear thee tender lambs for sacrifice. Nay, if thou spurn not rustic prayers, before all gods shall we invoke thee in our supplications. I myself will build and dedicate to thee two altars, and will plant twin groves of sacred oak and laurel evergreen for thee.'—Carmina, &c. pp. 58, 59.

[485] 'Thou whom Rome obeys, and royal Tiber, who wieldest upon earth the Thunderer's power, whose it is to lock and open the gates of heaven.'—Ib. p. 260.

[486] 'In this mountain of the Lord shall flocks and herds feed, fat with eternal pastures and golden-fleeced. Living waters too shall leap forth, wherewith the goats shall swell their udders, and the kine likewise.'—Poemata Selecta, p. 132.

[487] 'Him with immortal verse the poets shall exalt to heaven, and call him hero, god, and saviour.'—Ib. p. 133.

[488] See above, pp. 312, 317.

[489] See Carmina Quinque Poetarum, pp. 318-336.

[490] A didactic poem in three books; Pope's Poemata Italorum, vol. i. pp. 211-270. The description of the Resurrection, the Last Judgment, and the entrance of the blessed into Paradise, forming the conclusion of the last book, is an excellent specimen of barocco style and bathos. Virgil had written, 'Ite domum pasti, si quis pudor, ite juvenci!' Paleario makes the Judge address the damned souls thus: 'Ite domum in tristem, si quis pudor, ite ruentes,' &c. How close Milton's path lay to the worst faults in poetry, and how wonderfully he escaped, may well be calculated by the study of such verse as this.

[491] This epigram on Savonarola shows Flaminio's sympathy with the preachers of pure doctrine:—

[492] 'Ad Agellum suum.'—Poemata Selecta, pp. 155, 156, 177.

[493] 'Now shall I see you once again; now shall I have the joy of gazing on the trees my father planted, and falling into gentle slumber in his little room.'

[494] 'Maidens of Helicon, who love the fountains and the pleasant fields, as you are dearer to me than the dear light, have pity now upon your suppliant, take me from the tumult of the noisy town, and place me in my tranquil farm.'

[495] 'I, poor wretch, am prisoned in the noisy town. Kind Jupiter allows you, secluded in your distant farm, to take the joys of peace among Socratic books, among the nymphs and satyrs, unheeding the light honours of the vulgar crowd.'—'Ad Honoratum Fascitellum,' Poemata Selecta, p. 178.

[496] Poemata Selecta, pp. 153, 169, 173.

[497] 'Then, when sleep descends upon your eyes, best friend of mine, I'll lead you to a cave o'ercurtained by the wandering ivy's yellow bunches, whereby the sheltering laurel murmurs with her gently waving leaves. Fear no fever or dull headache. The place is safe. So when you are rested, we will read the rustic songs of Virgil or Theocritus; sweet and more charming verse I know not; and after the day's heat is past, we will stroll in some green valley. A light supper follows, and then you shall return to town.'—Ib. p. 174.

[498] 'Ad Christophorum Longolium,' Ib.

[499] Poemata Selecta, p. 163.

[500] 'No sooner had I left Rome's tainted air for the clear streams and healthful forests of my native land, than strength returned into my wasted limbs; my body lost the pallor and emaciation of disease, and sweet sleep crept upon my wakeful eyes, such as no waters falling with a tinkling sound or Lethe's poppies had induced before.'

[501] Poemata Selecta, p. 162.

[502] 'Plato, the greatest of sages, once described in his long volumes the best form of a State; but this from the beginning of the world till now hath never yet been seen, nor will it afterwards be seen in any city. Contarini in his little book has proved that the best commonwealth is that which now for more than a thousand years has flourished in the Adriatic with peace, letters, and wealth.'—Poemata Selecta, p. 162.

[503] 'Ad Hieronymum Turrianum,' ib. p. 168. 'Her mind was pure, her manners pure; her virtue lively, her courtesy without a taint of earth; her intellect was heavenly, her learning rare; her words sweeter than nectar; her nobility the highest; her features beautiful in their majesty; her wealth liberally open to the use of good men.'

[504] 'Well and happily hast thou lived, my father; neither poor nor rich; learned enough and eloquent enough; of vigorous body and of healthy mind; pleasant to thy friends, and in thy piety unrivalled. Now, after sixteen lustres finished, thou goest to the regions of the blest. Go, father, and soon greet thy son, to stay with thee in heaven's high seat.'—'Ad Patrem morientem,' Poemata Selecta, p. 157.

[505] Poemata Selecta, p. 166. 'These most graceful poets I give you, the offspring of our too, too happy times, which have produced their Catullus and their Horace, their Tibullus and their Maro. Who could have thought, after so many ages of such darkness, and all the ruin that has weighed on Italy, that so many lights could have arisen at one epoch in one little region of the land above the Po? They alone are enough to put to flight the gloom of barbarism, and to restore its antique glory and own splendour to Latin literature.' After this he goes on to add that these poets will confer eternal lustre on Italy. Not only the northern nations of Europe, but America also has begun to study Latin; and races in another hemisphere will take their culture from these pages. The Cardinal is finally reminded that immortality of fame awaits him in their praises.

[506] 'Tam brevi regione TranspadanÂ.'

[507] Cf. Bembo's Benacus, Bonfadio's Gazani Vici Descriptio, Fracastoro's Ad Franciscum Turrianum Veronensem, &c.

[508] 'GrÆculi esurientes.' Lives written by Philostratus.

[509] Aristoph., Clouds, Speeches of Dikaios Logos; Xen., On Hunting, chap. xiii.

[510] Progymnasma adversus Literatos. Op. Omn., Basle, 1582, vol. ii.

[511] 'Pudet me, Pice, pigetque id de literatis afferre quod omnium tamen est in ore, nullos esse cum omnium vitiorum etiam nefandissimorum genere inquinatos magis, tum iis prÆcipue, quÆ prÆter naturam dicuntur,' &c.—Progymnasma adversus Literatos, p. 431.

[512] Lines 22-129.

[513] Quinque Illustrium Poetarum Lusus in Venerem, Parisiis, 1791, p. 107.

[514] See above, p. 185, note 4.

[515] See above, Chapter II.

[516] 'Perfect nose, imperial nose, divine nose, nose to be blessed among all noses; and blessed be the breasts that made you with a nose so lordly, and blessed be all those things you put your nose to!' The above is quoted from CantÙ's Storia della Letteratura Italiana. I have not seen the actual address.

[517] The phrase is eulogistically used by F. Villani in his Life of Coluccio Salutato.

[518] See Muratori, vol. xx. 442, 453.

[519] Epist. Rer. Senil. xv. 1. 'Styli hujus per Italiam non auctor quidem, sed instaurator ipse mihi videor, quo cum uti inciperem, adolescens a coÆtaneis irridebar, qui in hoc ipso certatim me postea sunt secuti.'

[520] See above, pp. 76-78.

[521] Gian Maria Filelfo, son of the celebrated professor, published an Epistolarium of this kind.

[522] Francesco Filelfo, quoted in Rosmini's Life, vol. ii. pp. 304, 282, 448, writes, 'Le cose che non voglio sieno copiate, le scrivo sempre alla grossolana.' 'Hoc autem scribendi more utimur iis in rebus quarum memoriam nolumus transferre ad posteros. Et ethrusca quidem lingua vix toti ItaliÆ nota est, at latina oratio longe ac late per universum orbem est diffusa.' ('Matters I do not wish to have copied I always write off in the vulgar. This style I use for such things as I do not care to transmit to posterity. Tuscan, to be sure, is hardly known to all Italians, while Latin is spread far and wide through the whole world.')

[523] See Voigt, pp. 421, 422, for an account of Filelfo's, Traversari's, Barbaro's, and Bruni's letters.

[524] See Vol. I., Age of the Despots, pp. 216, 217, and above, p. 377.

[525] See above, p. 321.

[526] See the passages quoted by Tiraboschi, vol. vi. lib. iii. cap. v. 71.