[648]Sadoleti, Epist. 106, of the year 1529.[649]Anton. Galatei, Epist. 10 and 12, in Mai,Spicileg. Rom.vol. viii.[650]This was the case even before the middle of the century. Comp. Lil. Greg. Gyraldus,De poetis nostri temp.ii.[651]Luigi Bossi,Vita di Cristoforo Colombo, in which there is a sketch of earlier Italian journeys and discoveries, p. 91 sqq.[652]See on this subject a treatise by Pertz. An inadequate account is to be found in Æneas Sylvius,Europae status sub Frederico III. Imp.cap. 44 (in Freher’sScriptores, ed. 1624, vol. ii. p. 87). On Æn. S. see Peschel o.c. 217 sqq.[653]Comp. O. Peschel,Geschichte der Erdkunde, 2nd edit., by Sophus Ruge, Munich, 1877, p. 209 sqq.et passim.[654]Pii II. Comment.l. i. p. 14. That he did not always observe correctly, and sometimes filled up the picture from his fancy, is clearly shown, e.g., by his description of Basel. Yet his merit on the whole is nevertheless great. On the description of Basel see G. Voigt; Enea Silvio, i. 228; on E. S. as Geographer, ii. 302-309. Comp. i. 91 sqq.[655]In the sixteenth century, Italy continued to be the home of geographical literature, at a time when the discoverers themselves belonged almost exclusively to the countries on the shores of the Atlantic. Native geography produced in the middle of the century the great and remarkable work of Leandro Alberti,Descrizione di tutta l’Italia, 1582. In the first half of the sixteenth century, the maps in Italy were in advance of those of other countries. See Wieser:Der Portulan des Infanten Philipp II. von SpanieninSitzungsberichte der Wien. Acad. Phil. Hist. Kl.Bd. 82 (1876), pp. 541 sqq. For the different Italian maps and voyages of discovery, see the excellent work of Oscar Peschel:Abhandl. zur Erd-und Völkerkunde(Leipzig, 1878). Comp. also,inter alia: Berchet,Il planisfero di Giovanni Leandro del’anno 1452 fa-simil nella grandezza del’ original Nota illustrativa, 16 S. 4^o. Venezia, 1879. Comp. Voigt, ii. 516; and G. B. de Rossi,Piante iconogrofiche di Roma anteriori al secolo XVI.Rome, 1879. For Petrarch’s attempt to draw out a map of Italy, comp. Flavio Biondo:Italia illustrata(ed. Basil.), p. 352 sqq.; alsoPetr. Epist. var. LXI.ed. Fracass. iii. 476. A remarkable attempt at a map of Europe, Asia and Africa is to be found on the obverse of a medal of Charles IV. of Anjou, executed by Francesco da Laurana in 1462.[656]Libri,Histoire des Sciences Mathématiques en Italie. 4 vols. Paris, 1838.[657]To pronounce a conclusive judgment on this point, the growth of the habit of collecting observations, in other than the mathematical sciences, would need to be illustrated in detail. But this lies outside the limits of our task.[658]Libri, op. cit. ii. p. 174 sqq. See also Dante’s treatise,De aqua et terra; and W. Schmidt,Dante’s Stellung in der Geschichte der Cosmographie, Graz, 1876. The passages bearing on geography and natural science from theTesoroof Brunetto Latini are published separately:Il trattato della Sfera di S. Br. L., by Bart. Sorio (Milan, 1858), who has added B. L.’s system of historical chronology.[659]Scardeonius,De urb. Patav. antiq.inGraevii Thesaur. ant. Ital.tom. vi. pars iii. col. 227. A. died in 1312 during the investigation; his statue was burnt. On Giov. Sang. see op. cit. col. 228 sqq. Comp. on him, Fabricius,Bibl. Lat.s. v. Petrus de Apono. Sprenger inEsch. u. Gruber, i. 33. He translated (a. 1292-1293) astrological works of Abraham ibn Esra, printed 1506.[660]See below, part vi. chapter 2.[661]See the exaggerated complaints of Libri, op. cit. ii. p. 258 sqq. Regrettable as it may be that a people so highly gifted did not devote more of its strength to the natural sciences, we nevertheless believe that it pursued, and in part attained, still more important ends.[662]On the studies of the latter in Italy, comp. the thorough investigation by C. Malagola in his work on Codro Urceo (Bologna, 1878, cap. vii. 360-366).[663]Italians also laid out botanical gardens in foreign countries, e.g. Angelo, of Florence, a contemporary of Petrarch, in Prag. Friedjung:Carl IV.p. 311, note 4.[664]Alexandri Braccii descriptio horti Laurentii Med., printed as Appendix No. 58 to Roscoe’sLife of Lorenzo. Also to be found in the Appendices to Fabroni’sLaurentius.[665]Mondanarii Villa, printed in thePoemata aliquot insignia illustr. poetar. recent.[666]On the zoological garden at Palermo under Henry VI., see Otto de S. Blasio ad a. 1194. That of Henry I. of England in the park of Woodstock (Guliel. Malmes. p. 638) contained lions, leopards, camels, and a porcupine, all gifts of foreign princes.[667]As such he was called, whether painted or carved in stone, ‘Marzocco.’ At Pisa eagles were kept. See the commentators on Dante,Inf.xxxiii. 22. The falcon in Boccaccio,Decam.v. 9. See for the whole subject:Due trattati del governo e delle infermità degli uccelli, testi di lingua inediti. Rome, 1864. They are works of the fourteenth century, possibly translated from the Persian.[668]See the extract from Ægid. Viterb. in Papencordt,Gesch. der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter, p. 367, note, with an incident of the year 1328. Combats of wild animals among themselves and with dogs served to amuse the people on great occasions. At the reception of Pius II. and of Galeazzo Maria Sforza at Florence, in 1459, in an enclosed space on the Piazza della Signoria, bulls, horses, boars, dogs, lions, and a giraffe were turned out together, but the lions lay down and refused to attack the other animals. Comp.Ricordi di Firenze, Rer. Ital. script. ex Florent. codd.tom. ii. col. 741. A different account inVita Pii II.Murat. iii. ii. col. 976. A second giraffe was presented to Lorenzo the Magnificent by the Mameluke Sultan Kaytbey. Comp. Paul. Jov.Vita Leonis X.l. i. In Lorenzo’s menagerie one magnificent lion was especially famous, and his destruction by the other lions was reckoned a presage of the death of his owner.[669]Gio. Villani, x. 185, xi. 66. Matteo Villani, iii. 90, v. 68. It was a bad omen if the lions fought, and worse still if they killed one another. Com. Varchi,Stor. fiorent.iii. p. 143. Matt. V. devotes the first of the two chapters quoted to prove (1) that lions were born in Italy, and (2) that they came into the world alive.[670]Cron. di Perugia, Arch. Stor.xvi. ii. p. 77, year 1497. A pair of lions once escaped from Perugia;ibid.xvi. i. p. 382, year 1434. Florence, for example, sent to King Wladislaw of Poland (May, 1406), a pair of lionsut utriusque sexus animalia ad procreandos catulos haberetis. The accompanying statement is amusing in a diplomatic document: ‘Sunt equidem hi leones Florentini, et satis quantum natura promittere potuit mansueti, depositâ feritate, quam insitam habent, hique in Gætulorum regionibus nascuntur et Indorum, in quibus multitudo dictorum animalium evalescit, sicuti prohibent naturales. Et cum leonum complexio sit frigoribus inimica, quod natura sagax ostendit, natura in regionibus aestu ferventibus generantur, necessarium est, quod vostra serenitas, si dictorum animalium vitam et sobolis propagationem, ut remur, desiderat, faciat provideri, quod in locis calidis educentur et maneant. Conveniunt nempe cum regia majestate leones quoniam leo græce latine rex dicitur. Sicut enim rex dignitate potentia, magnanimitate ceteros homines antecellit, sic leonis generositas et vigor imperterritus animalia cuncta praesit. Et sicut rex, sic leo adversus imbecilles et timidos clementissimum se ostendit, et adversus inquietos et tumidos terribilem se offert animadversione justissima.’ (Cod. epistolaris sæculi. Mon. med. ævi hist. res gestas Poloniæ illustr.Krakau, 1876, p. 25.)[671]Gage,Carteggio, i. p. 422, year 1291. The Visconti used trained leopards for hunting hares, which were started by little dogs. See v. Kobel,Wildanger, p. 247, where later instances of hunting with leopards are mentioned.[672]Strozzii poetae, p. 146:De leone Borsii Ducis. The lion spares the hare and the small dog, imitating (so says the poet) his master. Comp. the words fol. 188, ‘et inclusis condita septa feris,’ and fol. 193, an epigram of fourteen lines, ‘in leporarii ingressu quam maximi;’ seeibid.for the hunting-park.[673]Cron. di Perugia, l. c. xvi. ii. p. 199. Something of the same kind is to be found in Petrarch,De remed. utriusque fortunae, but less clearly expressed. Here Gaudium, in the conversation with Ratio, boasts of owning monkeys and ‘ludicra animalia.’[674]Jovian. Pontan.De magnificentia.In the zoological garden of the Cardinal of Aquileja, at Albano, there were, in 1463, peacocks and Indian fowls and Syrian goats with long ears.Pii II. Comment.l. xi. p. 562 sqq.[675]Decembrio, ap. Muratori, xx. col. 1012.[676]Brunetti Latini,Tesor.(ed. Chabaille, Paris, 1863), lib. i. In Petrarch’s time there were no elephants in Italy. ‘Itaque et in Italia avorum memoria unum Frederico Romanorum principi fuisse et nunc Egyptio tyranno nonnisi unicum esse fama est.’De rem. utr. fort.i. 60.[677]The details which are most amusing, in Paul. Jov.Elogia, on Tristanus Acunius. On the porcupines and ostriches in the Pal. Strozzi, see Rabelais,Pantagruel, iv. chap. 11. Lorenzo the Magnificent received a giraffe from Egypt through some merchants, Baluz.Miscell.iv. 416. The elephant sent to Leo was greatly bewailed by the people when it died, its portrait was painted, and verses on it were written by the younger Beroaldus.[678]Comp. Paul. Jov.Elogia, p. 234, speaking of Francesco Gonzaga. For the luxury at Milan in this respect, see Bandello, Parte II. Nov. 3 and 8. In the narrative poems we also sometimes hear the opinion of a judge of horses. Comp. Pulci,Morgante, xv. 105 sqq.[679]Paul. Jov.Elogia, speaking of Hipp. Medices.[680]At this point a few notices on slavery in Italy at the time of the Renaissance will not be out of place. A short, but important, passage in Jovian. Pontan.De obedientia, l. iii. cap. i.: ‘An homo, cum liber natura sit, domino parere debeat?’ In North Italy there were no slaves. Elsewhere, even Christians, as well as Circassians and Bulgarians, were bought from the Turks, and made to serve till they had earned their ransom. The negroes, on the contrary, remained slaves; but it was not permitted, at least in the kingdom of Naples, to emasculate them. The word ‘moro’ signifies any dark-skinned man; the negro was called ‘moro nero.’—Fabroni,Cosmos, Adn. 110: Document on the sale of a female Circassian slave (1427); Adn. 141: List of the female slaves of Cosimo.—Nantiporto, Murat. iii. ii. col. 1106: Innocent VIII. received 100 Moors as a present from Ferdinand the Catholic, and gave them to cardinals and other great men (1488).—Marsuccio,Novelle, 14: sale of slaves; do. 24 and 25: negro slaves who also (for the benefit of their owner?) work as ‘facchini,’ and gain the love of the women; do. 48 Moors from Tunis caught by Catalans and sold at Pisa.—Gaye,Carteggio, i. 360: manumission and reward of a negro slave in a Florentine will (1490).—Paul. Jov.Elogia, sub Franc. Sfortia; Porzio,Congiura, iii. 195; and Comines,Charles VIII.chap. 18: negroes as gaolers and executioners of the House of Aragon in Naples.—Paul. Jov.Elogia, sub Galeatio: negroes as followers of the prince on his excursions.—Æneæ Sylvii,Opera, p. 456: a negro slave as a musician.—Paul. Jov.De piscibus, cap 3: a (free?) negro as diver and swimming-master at Genoa.—Alex. Benedictus,De Carolo VIII.in Eccard,Scriptores, ii. col. 1608: a negro (Æthiops) as superior officer at Venice, according to which we are justified in thinking of Othello as a negro.—Bandello, Parte III. Nov. 21: when a slave at Genoa deserved punishment he was sold away to Iviza, one of the Balearic isles, to carry salt.The foregoing remarks, although they make no claim to completeness, may be allowed to stand as they are in the new edition, on account of the excellent selection of instances they contain, and because they have not met with sufficient notice in the works upon the subject. Latterly a good deal has been written on the slave-trade in Italy. The very curious book of Filippo Zamboni:Gli Ezzelini, Dante e gli Schiavi, ossia Roma e la Schiavitù personale domestica. Con documenti inediti. Seconda edizione aumentata(Vienna, 1870), does not contain what the title promises, but gives, p. 241 sqq., valuable information on the slave-trade; p. 270, a remarkable document on the buying and selling of a female slave; p. 282, a list of various slaves (with the place were they were bought and sold, their home, age, and price) in the thirteenth and three following centuries. A treatise by Wattenbach:Sklavenhandel im Mittelalter(Anzeiger für Kunde der deutschen Vorzeit, 1874, pp. 37-40) refers only in part to Italy: Clement V. decides in 1309 that the Venetian prisoners should be made slaves of; in 1501, after the capture of Capua, many Capuan women were sold at Rome for a low price. In theMonum. historica Slavorum meridionalium, ed. Vinc. Macusceo, tom. i. Warsaw, 1874, we read at p. 199 a decision (Ancona, 1458) that the ‘Greci, Turci, Tartari, Sarraceni, Bossinenses, Burgari vel Albanenses,’ should be and always remain slaves, unless their masters freed them by a legal document. Egnatius,Exempl. ill. vir.Ven. fol. 246a, praises Venice on the ground that ‘servorum Venetis ipsis nullum unquam usum extitisse;’ but, on the other hand, comp. Zamboni, p. 223, and especially Vincenzo Lazari: ‘Del traffico e delle condizioni degli schiavi, in Venezia nel tempo di mezzo,’ inMiscellanea di Stor. Ital.Torino, 1862, vol. i. 463-501.[681]It is hardly necessary to refer the reader to the famous chapters on this subject in Humboldt’sKosmos.[682]See on this subject the observations of Wilhelm Grimm, quoted by Humboldt in the work referred to.[683]Carmina Burana, p. 162,De Phyllide et Flora, str. 66.[684]It would be hard to say what else he had to do at the top of the Bismantova in the province of Reggio,Purgat.iv. 26. The precision with which he brings before us all the parts of his supernatural world shows a remarkable sense of form and space. That there was a belief in the existence of hidden treasures on the tops of mountains, and that such spots were regarded with superstitious terror, may be clearly inferred from theChron. Novaliciense, ii. 5, in Pertz,Script.vii., andMonum. hist. patriae, Script.iii.[685]Besides the description of Baiæ in theFiammetta, of the grove in the Ameto, etc., a passage in theDe genealogia deorum, xiv. 11, is of importance, where he enumerates a number of rural beauties—trees, meadows, brooks, flocks and herds, cottages, etc.—and adds that these things ‘animum mulcent;’ their effect is ‘mentem in se colligere.’[686]Flavio Biondo,Italia Illustrata(ed. Basil), p. 352 sqq. Comp.Epist. Var.ed. Fracass. (lat.) iii. 476. On Petrarch’s plan of writing a great geographical work, see the proofs given by Attilio Hortis,Accenni alle Scienze Naturali nelle Opere di G. Boccacci, Trieste, 1877, p. 45 sqq.[687]Although he is fond of referring to them: e.g.De vita solitaria(Opera, ed. Basil, 1581), esp. p. 241, where he quotes the description of a vine-arbour from St. Augustine.[688]Epist. famil.vii. 4. ‘Interea utinam scire posses, quanta, cum voluptate solivagus et liber, inter montes et nemora, inter fontes et flumina, inter libros et maximorum hominum ingenia respiro, quamque me in ea, quae ante sunt, cum Apostolo extendens et praeterita oblivisci nitor et praesentia non videre.’ Comp. vi. 3, o. c. 316 sqq. esp. 334 sqq. Comp. L. Geiger:Petrarca, p. 75, note 5, and p. 269.[689]‘Jacuit sine carmine sacro.’ Comp.Itinerar. Syriacum, Opp.p. 558.[690]He distinguishes in theItinerar. Syr.p. 357, on the Riviera di Levante: ‘colles asperitate gratissima et mira fertilitate conspicuos.’ On the port of Gaeta, see hisDe remediis utriusque fortunae, i. 54.[691]Letter to Posterity: ‘Subito loco specie percussus.’ Descriptions of great natural events: A Storm at Naples, 1343:Epp. fam.i. 263 sqq.; An Earthquake at Basel, 1355,Epp. seniles, lib. x. 2, andDe rem. utr. fort.ii. 91.[692]Epist. fam.ed. Fracassetti, i. 193 sqq.[693]Il Dittamondo, iii. cap. 9.[694]Dittamondo, iii. cap. 21, iv. cap. 4. Papencordt,Gesch. der Stadt Rom, says that the Emperor Charles IV. had a strong taste for beautiful scenery, and quotes on this point Pelzel,Carl IV.p. 456. (The two other passages, which he quotes, do not say the same.) It is possible that the Emperor took this fancy from intercourse with the humanists (see above, pp. 141-2). For the interest taken by Charles in natural science see H. Friedjung, op. cit. p. 224, note 1.[695]We may also compare Platina,Vitae Pontiff.p. 310: ‘Homo fuit (Pius II.) verus, integer, apertus; nil habuit ficti, nil simulati’—an enemy of hypocrisy and superstition, courageous and consistent. See Voigt, ii. 261 sqq. and iii. 724. He does not, however, give an analysis of the character of Pius.[696]The most important passages are the following:Pii II. P. M. Commentarii, l. iv. p. 183; spring in his native country; l. v. p. 251; summer residence at Tivoli; l. vi. p. 306: the meal at the spring of Vicovaro; l. viii. p. 378: the neighbourhood of Viterbo; p. 387: the mountain monastery of St. Martin; p. 388: the Lake of Bolsena; l. ix. p. 396: a splendid description of Monte Amiata; l. x. p. 483: the situation of Monte Oliveto; p. 497: the view from Todi; l. xi. p. 554: Ostia and Porto; p. 562: description of the Alban Hills; l. xii. p. 609: Frascati and Grottaferrata; comp. 568-571.[697]So we must suppose it to have been written, not Sicily.[698]He calls himself, with an allusion to his name: ‘Silvarum amator et varia videndi cupidus.’[699]On Leonbattista Alberti’s feeling for landscapes see above, p. 136 sqq. Alberti, a younger contemporary of Æneas Silvius (Trattato del Governo della Famiglia, p. 90; see above, p. 132, note 1), is delighted when in the country with ‘the bushy hills,’ ‘the fair plains and rushing waters.’ Mention may here be made of a little workÆtna, by P. Bembus, first published at Venice, 1495, and often printed since, in which, among much that is rambling and prolix, there are remarkable geographical descriptions and notices of landscapes.[700]A most elaborate picture of this kind in Ariosto; his sixth canto is all foreground.[701]He deals differently with his architectural framework, and in this modern decorative art can learn something from him even now.[702]Lettere Pittoriche, iii. 36, to Titian, May, 1544.[703]Strozzii Poetae, in theErotica, l. vi. fol. 183; in the poem: ‘Hortatur se ipse, ut ad amicam properet.’[704]Comp. Thausing:Dürer, Leipzig, 1876, p. 166.[705]These striking expressions are taken from the seventh volume of Michelet’sHistoire de France(Introd.).[706]Tomm. Gar,Relaz. della Corte di Roma, i. pp. 278 and 279. In the Rel. of Soriano, year 1533.[707]Prato,Arch. Stor.iii. p. 295 sqq. The word ‘saturnico’ means ‘unhappy’ as well as ‘bringing misfortune.’ For the influence of the planets on human character in general, see Corn. Agrippa,De occulta philosophia, c. 52.[708]See Trucchi,Poesie Italiane inedite, i. p 165 sqq.[709]Blank verse became at a later time the usual form for dramatic compositions. Trissino, in the dedication of hisSofonisbato Leo X., expressed the hope that the Pope would recognise this style for what it was—as better, nobler, andless easythan it looked. Roscoe,LeoneX., ed. Bossi, viii. 174.[710]Comp. e.g. the striking forms adopted by Dante,Vita Nuova, ed. Witte, p. 13 sqq., 16 sqq. Each has twenty irregular lines; in the first, one rhyme occurs eight times.[711]Trucchi, op. cit. i. 181 sqq.[712]These were the ‘Canzoni’ and Sonnets which every blacksmith and donkey-driver sang and parodied—which made Dante not a little angry. (Comp. Franco Sachetti, Nov. 114, 115.) So quickly did these poems find their way among the people.[713]Vita Nuova, ed. Witte, pp. 81, 82 sqq. ‘Deh peregrini,’ibid.116.[714]For Dante’s psychology, the beginning ofPurg.iv. is one of the most important passages. See also the parts of theConvitobearing on the subject.[715]The portraits of the school of Van Eyck would prove the contrary for the North. They remained for a long period far in advance of all descriptions in words.[716]Printed in the sixteenth volume of hisOpere Volgari. See M. Landau,Giov. Boccaccio(Stuttg. 1877), pp. 36-40; he lays special stress on B.’s dependence on Dante and Petrarch.[717]In the song of the shepherd Teogape, after the feast of Venus,Opp.ed. Montier, vol. xv. 2. p. 67 sqq. Comp. Landau, 58-64; on theFiammetta, see Landau, 96-105.[718]The famous Lionardo Aretino, the leader of the humanists at the beginning of the fifteenth century, admits, ‘Che gli antichi Greci d’umanita e di gentilezza di cuore abbino avanzanto di gran lunga i nostri Italiani;’ but he says it at the beginning of a novel which contains the sentimental story of the invalid Prince Antiochus and his step-mother Stratonice—a document of an ambiguous and half-Asiatic character. (Printed as an Appendix to theCento Novelle Antiche.)[719]No doubt the court and prince received flattery enough from their occasional poets and dramatists.[720]Comp. the contrary view taken by Gregorovius,Gesch. Roms, vii. 619.[721]Paul. Jovius,Dialog. de viris lit. illustr., in Tiraboschi, tom. vii. iv. Lil. Greg. Gyraldus,De poetis nostri temp.[722]Isabella Gonzaga to her husband, Feb. 3, 1502,Arch. Stor.Append. ii. p. 306 sqq. Comp. Gregorovius,Lucrezia Borgia, i. 256-266, ed. 3. In the FrenchMystèresthe actors themselves first marched before the audience in procession, which was called the ‘montre.’[723]Diario Ferrarese, in Murat. xxiv. col. 404. Other passages referring to the stage in that city, cols. 278, 279, 282 to 285, 361, 380, 381, 393, 397, from which it appears that Plautus was the dramatist most popular on these occasions, that the performances sometimes lasted till three o’clock in the morning, and were even given in the open air. The ballets were without any meaning or reference to the persons present and the occasion solemnized. Isabella Gonzaga, who was certainly at the time longing for her husband and child, and was dissatisfied with the union of her brother with Lucrezia, spoke of the ‘coldness and frostiness’ of the marriage and the festivities which attended it.[724]Strozzii Poetæ, fol. 232, in the fourth book of theÆolostichaof Tito Strozza. The lines run:‘Ecce superveniens rerum argumenta retexitMimus, et ad populum verba diserta refert.Tum similes habitu formaque et voce MenæchmiDulcibus oblectant lumina nostra modis.’TheMenæchmiwas also given at Ferrara in 1486, at the cost of more than 1,000 ducats. Murat. xxiv. 278.[725]Franc. Sansovino,Venezia, fol. 169. The passage in the original is as follows: ‘Si sono anco spesso recitate delle tragedie con grandi apparecchi, comporte da poeti antichi o da moderni. Alle quali per la fama degli apparati concorrevano le genti estere e circonvicine per vederle e udirle. Ma hoggi le feste da particolari si fanno fra i parenti et essendosi la città regolata per se medesima da certi anni in quà, si passano i tempi del Carnovale in comedie e in altri più lieti e honorati diletti.’ The passage is not thoroughly clear.[726]This must be the meaning of Sansovino,Venezia, fol. 168, when he complains that the ‘recitanti’ ruined the comedies ‘con invenzioni o personaggi troppo ridicoli.’[727]Sansovino, l. c.[728]Scardeonius,De urb. Patav. antiq., in Graevius, Thes. vi. iii. col. 288 sqq. An important passage for the literature of the dialects generally. One of the passages is as follows: ‘Hinc ad recitandas comœdias socii scenici et gregales et æmuli fuere nobiles juvenes Patavini, Marcus Aurelius Alvarotus quem in comœdiis suis Menatum appellitabat, et Hieronymus Zanetus quem Vezzam, et Castegnola quem Billoram vocitabat, et alii quidam qui sermonem agrestium imitando præ ceteris callebant.’[729]That the latter existed as early as the fifteenth century may be inferred from theDiario Ferrerese, Feb. 2nd, 1501: ‘Il duca Hercole fece una festa di Menechino secondo il suo uso.’ Murat. xxiv. col. 393. There cannot be a confusion with the Menæchmi of Plautus, which is correctly written, l. c. col. 278. See above, p. 318, note 2.[730]Pulci mischievously invents a solemn old-world legend for his story of the giant Margutte (Morgante, canto xix. str. 153 sqq.). The critical introduction of Limerno Pitocco is still droller (Orlandino, cap. i. str. 12-22).[731]TheMorgantewas written in 1460 and the following years, and first printed at Venice in 1481. Last ed. by P. Sermolli, Florence, 1872. For the tournaments, see part v. chap. i. See, for what follows, Ranke:Zur Geschichte der italienischen Poesie, Berlin, 1837.[732]TheOrlando inamoratowas first printed in 1496.[733]L’Italia liberata da Goti, Rome, 1547.[734]See above, p. 319, and Landau’sBoccaccio, 64-69. It must, nevertheless, be observed that the work of Boccaccio here mentioned was written before 1344, while that of Petrarch was written after Laura’s death, that is, after 1348.[735]Vasari, viii. 71, in the Commentary to theVita di Rafaelle.[736]Much of this kind our present taste could dispense with in theIliad.[737]First edition, 1516.[738]The speeches inserted are themselves narratives.[739]As was the case with Pulci,Morgante, canto xix. str. 20 sqq.[740]TheOrlandino, first edition, 1526.[741]Radevicus,De gestis Friderici imp., especially ii. 76. The admirableVita Henrici IV.contains very little personal description, as is also the case with theVita Chuonradi imp.by Wipo.[742]The librarian Anastasius (middle of ninth century) is here meant. The whole collection of the lives of the Popes (Liber Pontificalis) was formerly ascribed to him, but erroneously. Comp. Wattenbach,Deutschland’s Geschichtsquellen, i. 223 sqq. 3rd ed.[743]Lived about the same time as Anastasius; author of a history of the bishopric of Ravenna. Wattenbach, l. c. 227.[744]How early Philostratus was used in the same way, I am unable to say. Suetonius was no doubt taken as a model in times still earlier. Besides the life of Charles the Great, written by Eginhard, examples from the twelfth century are offered by William of Malmesbury in his descriptions of William the Conqueror (p. 446sqq., 452 sqq.), of William II. (pp. 494, 504), and of Henry I. (p. 640).
[648]Sadoleti, Epist. 106, of the year 1529.
[648]Sadoleti, Epist. 106, of the year 1529.
[649]Anton. Galatei, Epist. 10 and 12, in Mai,Spicileg. Rom.vol. viii.
[649]Anton. Galatei, Epist. 10 and 12, in Mai,Spicileg. Rom.vol. viii.
[650]This was the case even before the middle of the century. Comp. Lil. Greg. Gyraldus,De poetis nostri temp.ii.
[650]This was the case even before the middle of the century. Comp. Lil. Greg. Gyraldus,De poetis nostri temp.ii.
[651]Luigi Bossi,Vita di Cristoforo Colombo, in which there is a sketch of earlier Italian journeys and discoveries, p. 91 sqq.
[651]Luigi Bossi,Vita di Cristoforo Colombo, in which there is a sketch of earlier Italian journeys and discoveries, p. 91 sqq.
[652]See on this subject a treatise by Pertz. An inadequate account is to be found in Æneas Sylvius,Europae status sub Frederico III. Imp.cap. 44 (in Freher’sScriptores, ed. 1624, vol. ii. p. 87). On Æn. S. see Peschel o.c. 217 sqq.
[652]See on this subject a treatise by Pertz. An inadequate account is to be found in Æneas Sylvius,Europae status sub Frederico III. Imp.cap. 44 (in Freher’sScriptores, ed. 1624, vol. ii. p. 87). On Æn. S. see Peschel o.c. 217 sqq.
[653]Comp. O. Peschel,Geschichte der Erdkunde, 2nd edit., by Sophus Ruge, Munich, 1877, p. 209 sqq.et passim.
[653]Comp. O. Peschel,Geschichte der Erdkunde, 2nd edit., by Sophus Ruge, Munich, 1877, p. 209 sqq.et passim.
[654]Pii II. Comment.l. i. p. 14. That he did not always observe correctly, and sometimes filled up the picture from his fancy, is clearly shown, e.g., by his description of Basel. Yet his merit on the whole is nevertheless great. On the description of Basel see G. Voigt; Enea Silvio, i. 228; on E. S. as Geographer, ii. 302-309. Comp. i. 91 sqq.
[654]Pii II. Comment.l. i. p. 14. That he did not always observe correctly, and sometimes filled up the picture from his fancy, is clearly shown, e.g., by his description of Basel. Yet his merit on the whole is nevertheless great. On the description of Basel see G. Voigt; Enea Silvio, i. 228; on E. S. as Geographer, ii. 302-309. Comp. i. 91 sqq.
[655]In the sixteenth century, Italy continued to be the home of geographical literature, at a time when the discoverers themselves belonged almost exclusively to the countries on the shores of the Atlantic. Native geography produced in the middle of the century the great and remarkable work of Leandro Alberti,Descrizione di tutta l’Italia, 1582. In the first half of the sixteenth century, the maps in Italy were in advance of those of other countries. See Wieser:Der Portulan des Infanten Philipp II. von SpanieninSitzungsberichte der Wien. Acad. Phil. Hist. Kl.Bd. 82 (1876), pp. 541 sqq. For the different Italian maps and voyages of discovery, see the excellent work of Oscar Peschel:Abhandl. zur Erd-und Völkerkunde(Leipzig, 1878). Comp. also,inter alia: Berchet,Il planisfero di Giovanni Leandro del’anno 1452 fa-simil nella grandezza del’ original Nota illustrativa, 16 S. 4^o. Venezia, 1879. Comp. Voigt, ii. 516; and G. B. de Rossi,Piante iconogrofiche di Roma anteriori al secolo XVI.Rome, 1879. For Petrarch’s attempt to draw out a map of Italy, comp. Flavio Biondo:Italia illustrata(ed. Basil.), p. 352 sqq.; alsoPetr. Epist. var. LXI.ed. Fracass. iii. 476. A remarkable attempt at a map of Europe, Asia and Africa is to be found on the obverse of a medal of Charles IV. of Anjou, executed by Francesco da Laurana in 1462.
[655]In the sixteenth century, Italy continued to be the home of geographical literature, at a time when the discoverers themselves belonged almost exclusively to the countries on the shores of the Atlantic. Native geography produced in the middle of the century the great and remarkable work of Leandro Alberti,Descrizione di tutta l’Italia, 1582. In the first half of the sixteenth century, the maps in Italy were in advance of those of other countries. See Wieser:Der Portulan des Infanten Philipp II. von SpanieninSitzungsberichte der Wien. Acad. Phil. Hist. Kl.Bd. 82 (1876), pp. 541 sqq. For the different Italian maps and voyages of discovery, see the excellent work of Oscar Peschel:Abhandl. zur Erd-und Völkerkunde(Leipzig, 1878). Comp. also,inter alia: Berchet,Il planisfero di Giovanni Leandro del’anno 1452 fa-simil nella grandezza del’ original Nota illustrativa, 16 S. 4^o. Venezia, 1879. Comp. Voigt, ii. 516; and G. B. de Rossi,Piante iconogrofiche di Roma anteriori al secolo XVI.Rome, 1879. For Petrarch’s attempt to draw out a map of Italy, comp. Flavio Biondo:Italia illustrata(ed. Basil.), p. 352 sqq.; alsoPetr. Epist. var. LXI.ed. Fracass. iii. 476. A remarkable attempt at a map of Europe, Asia and Africa is to be found on the obverse of a medal of Charles IV. of Anjou, executed by Francesco da Laurana in 1462.
[656]Libri,Histoire des Sciences Mathématiques en Italie. 4 vols. Paris, 1838.
[656]Libri,Histoire des Sciences Mathématiques en Italie. 4 vols. Paris, 1838.
[657]To pronounce a conclusive judgment on this point, the growth of the habit of collecting observations, in other than the mathematical sciences, would need to be illustrated in detail. But this lies outside the limits of our task.
[657]To pronounce a conclusive judgment on this point, the growth of the habit of collecting observations, in other than the mathematical sciences, would need to be illustrated in detail. But this lies outside the limits of our task.
[658]Libri, op. cit. ii. p. 174 sqq. See also Dante’s treatise,De aqua et terra; and W. Schmidt,Dante’s Stellung in der Geschichte der Cosmographie, Graz, 1876. The passages bearing on geography and natural science from theTesoroof Brunetto Latini are published separately:Il trattato della Sfera di S. Br. L., by Bart. Sorio (Milan, 1858), who has added B. L.’s system of historical chronology.
[658]Libri, op. cit. ii. p. 174 sqq. See also Dante’s treatise,De aqua et terra; and W. Schmidt,Dante’s Stellung in der Geschichte der Cosmographie, Graz, 1876. The passages bearing on geography and natural science from theTesoroof Brunetto Latini are published separately:Il trattato della Sfera di S. Br. L., by Bart. Sorio (Milan, 1858), who has added B. L.’s system of historical chronology.
[659]Scardeonius,De urb. Patav. antiq.inGraevii Thesaur. ant. Ital.tom. vi. pars iii. col. 227. A. died in 1312 during the investigation; his statue was burnt. On Giov. Sang. see op. cit. col. 228 sqq. Comp. on him, Fabricius,Bibl. Lat.s. v. Petrus de Apono. Sprenger inEsch. u. Gruber, i. 33. He translated (a. 1292-1293) astrological works of Abraham ibn Esra, printed 1506.
[659]Scardeonius,De urb. Patav. antiq.inGraevii Thesaur. ant. Ital.tom. vi. pars iii. col. 227. A. died in 1312 during the investigation; his statue was burnt. On Giov. Sang. see op. cit. col. 228 sqq. Comp. on him, Fabricius,Bibl. Lat.s. v. Petrus de Apono. Sprenger inEsch. u. Gruber, i. 33. He translated (a. 1292-1293) astrological works of Abraham ibn Esra, printed 1506.
[660]See below, part vi. chapter 2.
[660]See below, part vi. chapter 2.
[661]See the exaggerated complaints of Libri, op. cit. ii. p. 258 sqq. Regrettable as it may be that a people so highly gifted did not devote more of its strength to the natural sciences, we nevertheless believe that it pursued, and in part attained, still more important ends.
[661]See the exaggerated complaints of Libri, op. cit. ii. p. 258 sqq. Regrettable as it may be that a people so highly gifted did not devote more of its strength to the natural sciences, we nevertheless believe that it pursued, and in part attained, still more important ends.
[662]On the studies of the latter in Italy, comp. the thorough investigation by C. Malagola in his work on Codro Urceo (Bologna, 1878, cap. vii. 360-366).
[662]On the studies of the latter in Italy, comp. the thorough investigation by C. Malagola in his work on Codro Urceo (Bologna, 1878, cap. vii. 360-366).
[663]Italians also laid out botanical gardens in foreign countries, e.g. Angelo, of Florence, a contemporary of Petrarch, in Prag. Friedjung:Carl IV.p. 311, note 4.
[663]Italians also laid out botanical gardens in foreign countries, e.g. Angelo, of Florence, a contemporary of Petrarch, in Prag. Friedjung:Carl IV.p. 311, note 4.
[664]Alexandri Braccii descriptio horti Laurentii Med., printed as Appendix No. 58 to Roscoe’sLife of Lorenzo. Also to be found in the Appendices to Fabroni’sLaurentius.
[664]Alexandri Braccii descriptio horti Laurentii Med., printed as Appendix No. 58 to Roscoe’sLife of Lorenzo. Also to be found in the Appendices to Fabroni’sLaurentius.
[665]Mondanarii Villa, printed in thePoemata aliquot insignia illustr. poetar. recent.
[665]Mondanarii Villa, printed in thePoemata aliquot insignia illustr. poetar. recent.
[666]On the zoological garden at Palermo under Henry VI., see Otto de S. Blasio ad a. 1194. That of Henry I. of England in the park of Woodstock (Guliel. Malmes. p. 638) contained lions, leopards, camels, and a porcupine, all gifts of foreign princes.
[666]On the zoological garden at Palermo under Henry VI., see Otto de S. Blasio ad a. 1194. That of Henry I. of England in the park of Woodstock (Guliel. Malmes. p. 638) contained lions, leopards, camels, and a porcupine, all gifts of foreign princes.
[667]As such he was called, whether painted or carved in stone, ‘Marzocco.’ At Pisa eagles were kept. See the commentators on Dante,Inf.xxxiii. 22. The falcon in Boccaccio,Decam.v. 9. See for the whole subject:Due trattati del governo e delle infermità degli uccelli, testi di lingua inediti. Rome, 1864. They are works of the fourteenth century, possibly translated from the Persian.
[667]As such he was called, whether painted or carved in stone, ‘Marzocco.’ At Pisa eagles were kept. See the commentators on Dante,Inf.xxxiii. 22. The falcon in Boccaccio,Decam.v. 9. See for the whole subject:Due trattati del governo e delle infermità degli uccelli, testi di lingua inediti. Rome, 1864. They are works of the fourteenth century, possibly translated from the Persian.
[668]See the extract from Ægid. Viterb. in Papencordt,Gesch. der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter, p. 367, note, with an incident of the year 1328. Combats of wild animals among themselves and with dogs served to amuse the people on great occasions. At the reception of Pius II. and of Galeazzo Maria Sforza at Florence, in 1459, in an enclosed space on the Piazza della Signoria, bulls, horses, boars, dogs, lions, and a giraffe were turned out together, but the lions lay down and refused to attack the other animals. Comp.Ricordi di Firenze, Rer. Ital. script. ex Florent. codd.tom. ii. col. 741. A different account inVita Pii II.Murat. iii. ii. col. 976. A second giraffe was presented to Lorenzo the Magnificent by the Mameluke Sultan Kaytbey. Comp. Paul. Jov.Vita Leonis X.l. i. In Lorenzo’s menagerie one magnificent lion was especially famous, and his destruction by the other lions was reckoned a presage of the death of his owner.
[668]See the extract from Ægid. Viterb. in Papencordt,Gesch. der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter, p. 367, note, with an incident of the year 1328. Combats of wild animals among themselves and with dogs served to amuse the people on great occasions. At the reception of Pius II. and of Galeazzo Maria Sforza at Florence, in 1459, in an enclosed space on the Piazza della Signoria, bulls, horses, boars, dogs, lions, and a giraffe were turned out together, but the lions lay down and refused to attack the other animals. Comp.Ricordi di Firenze, Rer. Ital. script. ex Florent. codd.tom. ii. col. 741. A different account inVita Pii II.Murat. iii. ii. col. 976. A second giraffe was presented to Lorenzo the Magnificent by the Mameluke Sultan Kaytbey. Comp. Paul. Jov.Vita Leonis X.l. i. In Lorenzo’s menagerie one magnificent lion was especially famous, and his destruction by the other lions was reckoned a presage of the death of his owner.
[669]Gio. Villani, x. 185, xi. 66. Matteo Villani, iii. 90, v. 68. It was a bad omen if the lions fought, and worse still if they killed one another. Com. Varchi,Stor. fiorent.iii. p. 143. Matt. V. devotes the first of the two chapters quoted to prove (1) that lions were born in Italy, and (2) that they came into the world alive.
[669]Gio. Villani, x. 185, xi. 66. Matteo Villani, iii. 90, v. 68. It was a bad omen if the lions fought, and worse still if they killed one another. Com. Varchi,Stor. fiorent.iii. p. 143. Matt. V. devotes the first of the two chapters quoted to prove (1) that lions were born in Italy, and (2) that they came into the world alive.
[670]Cron. di Perugia, Arch. Stor.xvi. ii. p. 77, year 1497. A pair of lions once escaped from Perugia;ibid.xvi. i. p. 382, year 1434. Florence, for example, sent to King Wladislaw of Poland (May, 1406), a pair of lionsut utriusque sexus animalia ad procreandos catulos haberetis. The accompanying statement is amusing in a diplomatic document: ‘Sunt equidem hi leones Florentini, et satis quantum natura promittere potuit mansueti, depositâ feritate, quam insitam habent, hique in Gætulorum regionibus nascuntur et Indorum, in quibus multitudo dictorum animalium evalescit, sicuti prohibent naturales. Et cum leonum complexio sit frigoribus inimica, quod natura sagax ostendit, natura in regionibus aestu ferventibus generantur, necessarium est, quod vostra serenitas, si dictorum animalium vitam et sobolis propagationem, ut remur, desiderat, faciat provideri, quod in locis calidis educentur et maneant. Conveniunt nempe cum regia majestate leones quoniam leo græce latine rex dicitur. Sicut enim rex dignitate potentia, magnanimitate ceteros homines antecellit, sic leonis generositas et vigor imperterritus animalia cuncta praesit. Et sicut rex, sic leo adversus imbecilles et timidos clementissimum se ostendit, et adversus inquietos et tumidos terribilem se offert animadversione justissima.’ (Cod. epistolaris sæculi. Mon. med. ævi hist. res gestas Poloniæ illustr.Krakau, 1876, p. 25.)
[670]Cron. di Perugia, Arch. Stor.xvi. ii. p. 77, year 1497. A pair of lions once escaped from Perugia;ibid.xvi. i. p. 382, year 1434. Florence, for example, sent to King Wladislaw of Poland (May, 1406), a pair of lionsut utriusque sexus animalia ad procreandos catulos haberetis. The accompanying statement is amusing in a diplomatic document: ‘Sunt equidem hi leones Florentini, et satis quantum natura promittere potuit mansueti, depositâ feritate, quam insitam habent, hique in Gætulorum regionibus nascuntur et Indorum, in quibus multitudo dictorum animalium evalescit, sicuti prohibent naturales. Et cum leonum complexio sit frigoribus inimica, quod natura sagax ostendit, natura in regionibus aestu ferventibus generantur, necessarium est, quod vostra serenitas, si dictorum animalium vitam et sobolis propagationem, ut remur, desiderat, faciat provideri, quod in locis calidis educentur et maneant. Conveniunt nempe cum regia majestate leones quoniam leo græce latine rex dicitur. Sicut enim rex dignitate potentia, magnanimitate ceteros homines antecellit, sic leonis generositas et vigor imperterritus animalia cuncta praesit. Et sicut rex, sic leo adversus imbecilles et timidos clementissimum se ostendit, et adversus inquietos et tumidos terribilem se offert animadversione justissima.’ (Cod. epistolaris sæculi. Mon. med. ævi hist. res gestas Poloniæ illustr.Krakau, 1876, p. 25.)
[671]Gage,Carteggio, i. p. 422, year 1291. The Visconti used trained leopards for hunting hares, which were started by little dogs. See v. Kobel,Wildanger, p. 247, where later instances of hunting with leopards are mentioned.
[671]Gage,Carteggio, i. p. 422, year 1291. The Visconti used trained leopards for hunting hares, which were started by little dogs. See v. Kobel,Wildanger, p. 247, where later instances of hunting with leopards are mentioned.
[672]Strozzii poetae, p. 146:De leone Borsii Ducis. The lion spares the hare and the small dog, imitating (so says the poet) his master. Comp. the words fol. 188, ‘et inclusis condita septa feris,’ and fol. 193, an epigram of fourteen lines, ‘in leporarii ingressu quam maximi;’ seeibid.for the hunting-park.
[672]Strozzii poetae, p. 146:De leone Borsii Ducis. The lion spares the hare and the small dog, imitating (so says the poet) his master. Comp. the words fol. 188, ‘et inclusis condita septa feris,’ and fol. 193, an epigram of fourteen lines, ‘in leporarii ingressu quam maximi;’ seeibid.for the hunting-park.
[673]Cron. di Perugia, l. c. xvi. ii. p. 199. Something of the same kind is to be found in Petrarch,De remed. utriusque fortunae, but less clearly expressed. Here Gaudium, in the conversation with Ratio, boasts of owning monkeys and ‘ludicra animalia.’
[673]Cron. di Perugia, l. c. xvi. ii. p. 199. Something of the same kind is to be found in Petrarch,De remed. utriusque fortunae, but less clearly expressed. Here Gaudium, in the conversation with Ratio, boasts of owning monkeys and ‘ludicra animalia.’
[674]Jovian. Pontan.De magnificentia.In the zoological garden of the Cardinal of Aquileja, at Albano, there were, in 1463, peacocks and Indian fowls and Syrian goats with long ears.Pii II. Comment.l. xi. p. 562 sqq.
[674]Jovian. Pontan.De magnificentia.In the zoological garden of the Cardinal of Aquileja, at Albano, there were, in 1463, peacocks and Indian fowls and Syrian goats with long ears.Pii II. Comment.l. xi. p. 562 sqq.
[675]Decembrio, ap. Muratori, xx. col. 1012.
[675]Decembrio, ap. Muratori, xx. col. 1012.
[676]Brunetti Latini,Tesor.(ed. Chabaille, Paris, 1863), lib. i. In Petrarch’s time there were no elephants in Italy. ‘Itaque et in Italia avorum memoria unum Frederico Romanorum principi fuisse et nunc Egyptio tyranno nonnisi unicum esse fama est.’De rem. utr. fort.i. 60.
[676]Brunetti Latini,Tesor.(ed. Chabaille, Paris, 1863), lib. i. In Petrarch’s time there were no elephants in Italy. ‘Itaque et in Italia avorum memoria unum Frederico Romanorum principi fuisse et nunc Egyptio tyranno nonnisi unicum esse fama est.’De rem. utr. fort.i. 60.
[677]The details which are most amusing, in Paul. Jov.Elogia, on Tristanus Acunius. On the porcupines and ostriches in the Pal. Strozzi, see Rabelais,Pantagruel, iv. chap. 11. Lorenzo the Magnificent received a giraffe from Egypt through some merchants, Baluz.Miscell.iv. 416. The elephant sent to Leo was greatly bewailed by the people when it died, its portrait was painted, and verses on it were written by the younger Beroaldus.
[677]The details which are most amusing, in Paul. Jov.Elogia, on Tristanus Acunius. On the porcupines and ostriches in the Pal. Strozzi, see Rabelais,Pantagruel, iv. chap. 11. Lorenzo the Magnificent received a giraffe from Egypt through some merchants, Baluz.Miscell.iv. 416. The elephant sent to Leo was greatly bewailed by the people when it died, its portrait was painted, and verses on it were written by the younger Beroaldus.
[678]Comp. Paul. Jov.Elogia, p. 234, speaking of Francesco Gonzaga. For the luxury at Milan in this respect, see Bandello, Parte II. Nov. 3 and 8. In the narrative poems we also sometimes hear the opinion of a judge of horses. Comp. Pulci,Morgante, xv. 105 sqq.
[678]Comp. Paul. Jov.Elogia, p. 234, speaking of Francesco Gonzaga. For the luxury at Milan in this respect, see Bandello, Parte II. Nov. 3 and 8. In the narrative poems we also sometimes hear the opinion of a judge of horses. Comp. Pulci,Morgante, xv. 105 sqq.
[679]Paul. Jov.Elogia, speaking of Hipp. Medices.
[679]Paul. Jov.Elogia, speaking of Hipp. Medices.
[680]At this point a few notices on slavery in Italy at the time of the Renaissance will not be out of place. A short, but important, passage in Jovian. Pontan.De obedientia, l. iii. cap. i.: ‘An homo, cum liber natura sit, domino parere debeat?’ In North Italy there were no slaves. Elsewhere, even Christians, as well as Circassians and Bulgarians, were bought from the Turks, and made to serve till they had earned their ransom. The negroes, on the contrary, remained slaves; but it was not permitted, at least in the kingdom of Naples, to emasculate them. The word ‘moro’ signifies any dark-skinned man; the negro was called ‘moro nero.’—Fabroni,Cosmos, Adn. 110: Document on the sale of a female Circassian slave (1427); Adn. 141: List of the female slaves of Cosimo.—Nantiporto, Murat. iii. ii. col. 1106: Innocent VIII. received 100 Moors as a present from Ferdinand the Catholic, and gave them to cardinals and other great men (1488).—Marsuccio,Novelle, 14: sale of slaves; do. 24 and 25: negro slaves who also (for the benefit of their owner?) work as ‘facchini,’ and gain the love of the women; do. 48 Moors from Tunis caught by Catalans and sold at Pisa.—Gaye,Carteggio, i. 360: manumission and reward of a negro slave in a Florentine will (1490).—Paul. Jov.Elogia, sub Franc. Sfortia; Porzio,Congiura, iii. 195; and Comines,Charles VIII.chap. 18: negroes as gaolers and executioners of the House of Aragon in Naples.—Paul. Jov.Elogia, sub Galeatio: negroes as followers of the prince on his excursions.—Æneæ Sylvii,Opera, p. 456: a negro slave as a musician.—Paul. Jov.De piscibus, cap 3: a (free?) negro as diver and swimming-master at Genoa.—Alex. Benedictus,De Carolo VIII.in Eccard,Scriptores, ii. col. 1608: a negro (Æthiops) as superior officer at Venice, according to which we are justified in thinking of Othello as a negro.—Bandello, Parte III. Nov. 21: when a slave at Genoa deserved punishment he was sold away to Iviza, one of the Balearic isles, to carry salt.The foregoing remarks, although they make no claim to completeness, may be allowed to stand as they are in the new edition, on account of the excellent selection of instances they contain, and because they have not met with sufficient notice in the works upon the subject. Latterly a good deal has been written on the slave-trade in Italy. The very curious book of Filippo Zamboni:Gli Ezzelini, Dante e gli Schiavi, ossia Roma e la Schiavitù personale domestica. Con documenti inediti. Seconda edizione aumentata(Vienna, 1870), does not contain what the title promises, but gives, p. 241 sqq., valuable information on the slave-trade; p. 270, a remarkable document on the buying and selling of a female slave; p. 282, a list of various slaves (with the place were they were bought and sold, their home, age, and price) in the thirteenth and three following centuries. A treatise by Wattenbach:Sklavenhandel im Mittelalter(Anzeiger für Kunde der deutschen Vorzeit, 1874, pp. 37-40) refers only in part to Italy: Clement V. decides in 1309 that the Venetian prisoners should be made slaves of; in 1501, after the capture of Capua, many Capuan women were sold at Rome for a low price. In theMonum. historica Slavorum meridionalium, ed. Vinc. Macusceo, tom. i. Warsaw, 1874, we read at p. 199 a decision (Ancona, 1458) that the ‘Greci, Turci, Tartari, Sarraceni, Bossinenses, Burgari vel Albanenses,’ should be and always remain slaves, unless their masters freed them by a legal document. Egnatius,Exempl. ill. vir.Ven. fol. 246a, praises Venice on the ground that ‘servorum Venetis ipsis nullum unquam usum extitisse;’ but, on the other hand, comp. Zamboni, p. 223, and especially Vincenzo Lazari: ‘Del traffico e delle condizioni degli schiavi, in Venezia nel tempo di mezzo,’ inMiscellanea di Stor. Ital.Torino, 1862, vol. i. 463-501.
[680]At this point a few notices on slavery in Italy at the time of the Renaissance will not be out of place. A short, but important, passage in Jovian. Pontan.De obedientia, l. iii. cap. i.: ‘An homo, cum liber natura sit, domino parere debeat?’ In North Italy there were no slaves. Elsewhere, even Christians, as well as Circassians and Bulgarians, were bought from the Turks, and made to serve till they had earned their ransom. The negroes, on the contrary, remained slaves; but it was not permitted, at least in the kingdom of Naples, to emasculate them. The word ‘moro’ signifies any dark-skinned man; the negro was called ‘moro nero.’—Fabroni,Cosmos, Adn. 110: Document on the sale of a female Circassian slave (1427); Adn. 141: List of the female slaves of Cosimo.—Nantiporto, Murat. iii. ii. col. 1106: Innocent VIII. received 100 Moors as a present from Ferdinand the Catholic, and gave them to cardinals and other great men (1488).—Marsuccio,Novelle, 14: sale of slaves; do. 24 and 25: negro slaves who also (for the benefit of their owner?) work as ‘facchini,’ and gain the love of the women; do. 48 Moors from Tunis caught by Catalans and sold at Pisa.—Gaye,Carteggio, i. 360: manumission and reward of a negro slave in a Florentine will (1490).—Paul. Jov.Elogia, sub Franc. Sfortia; Porzio,Congiura, iii. 195; and Comines,Charles VIII.chap. 18: negroes as gaolers and executioners of the House of Aragon in Naples.—Paul. Jov.Elogia, sub Galeatio: negroes as followers of the prince on his excursions.—Æneæ Sylvii,Opera, p. 456: a negro slave as a musician.—Paul. Jov.De piscibus, cap 3: a (free?) negro as diver and swimming-master at Genoa.—Alex. Benedictus,De Carolo VIII.in Eccard,Scriptores, ii. col. 1608: a negro (Æthiops) as superior officer at Venice, according to which we are justified in thinking of Othello as a negro.—Bandello, Parte III. Nov. 21: when a slave at Genoa deserved punishment he was sold away to Iviza, one of the Balearic isles, to carry salt.
The foregoing remarks, although they make no claim to completeness, may be allowed to stand as they are in the new edition, on account of the excellent selection of instances they contain, and because they have not met with sufficient notice in the works upon the subject. Latterly a good deal has been written on the slave-trade in Italy. The very curious book of Filippo Zamboni:Gli Ezzelini, Dante e gli Schiavi, ossia Roma e la Schiavitù personale domestica. Con documenti inediti. Seconda edizione aumentata(Vienna, 1870), does not contain what the title promises, but gives, p. 241 sqq., valuable information on the slave-trade; p. 270, a remarkable document on the buying and selling of a female slave; p. 282, a list of various slaves (with the place were they were bought and sold, their home, age, and price) in the thirteenth and three following centuries. A treatise by Wattenbach:Sklavenhandel im Mittelalter(Anzeiger für Kunde der deutschen Vorzeit, 1874, pp. 37-40) refers only in part to Italy: Clement V. decides in 1309 that the Venetian prisoners should be made slaves of; in 1501, after the capture of Capua, many Capuan women were sold at Rome for a low price. In theMonum. historica Slavorum meridionalium, ed. Vinc. Macusceo, tom. i. Warsaw, 1874, we read at p. 199 a decision (Ancona, 1458) that the ‘Greci, Turci, Tartari, Sarraceni, Bossinenses, Burgari vel Albanenses,’ should be and always remain slaves, unless their masters freed them by a legal document. Egnatius,Exempl. ill. vir.Ven. fol. 246a, praises Venice on the ground that ‘servorum Venetis ipsis nullum unquam usum extitisse;’ but, on the other hand, comp. Zamboni, p. 223, and especially Vincenzo Lazari: ‘Del traffico e delle condizioni degli schiavi, in Venezia nel tempo di mezzo,’ inMiscellanea di Stor. Ital.Torino, 1862, vol. i. 463-501.
[681]It is hardly necessary to refer the reader to the famous chapters on this subject in Humboldt’sKosmos.
[681]It is hardly necessary to refer the reader to the famous chapters on this subject in Humboldt’sKosmos.
[682]See on this subject the observations of Wilhelm Grimm, quoted by Humboldt in the work referred to.
[682]See on this subject the observations of Wilhelm Grimm, quoted by Humboldt in the work referred to.
[683]Carmina Burana, p. 162,De Phyllide et Flora, str. 66.
[683]Carmina Burana, p. 162,De Phyllide et Flora, str. 66.
[684]It would be hard to say what else he had to do at the top of the Bismantova in the province of Reggio,Purgat.iv. 26. The precision with which he brings before us all the parts of his supernatural world shows a remarkable sense of form and space. That there was a belief in the existence of hidden treasures on the tops of mountains, and that such spots were regarded with superstitious terror, may be clearly inferred from theChron. Novaliciense, ii. 5, in Pertz,Script.vii., andMonum. hist. patriae, Script.iii.
[684]It would be hard to say what else he had to do at the top of the Bismantova in the province of Reggio,Purgat.iv. 26. The precision with which he brings before us all the parts of his supernatural world shows a remarkable sense of form and space. That there was a belief in the existence of hidden treasures on the tops of mountains, and that such spots were regarded with superstitious terror, may be clearly inferred from theChron. Novaliciense, ii. 5, in Pertz,Script.vii., andMonum. hist. patriae, Script.iii.
[685]Besides the description of Baiæ in theFiammetta, of the grove in the Ameto, etc., a passage in theDe genealogia deorum, xiv. 11, is of importance, where he enumerates a number of rural beauties—trees, meadows, brooks, flocks and herds, cottages, etc.—and adds that these things ‘animum mulcent;’ their effect is ‘mentem in se colligere.’
[685]Besides the description of Baiæ in theFiammetta, of the grove in the Ameto, etc., a passage in theDe genealogia deorum, xiv. 11, is of importance, where he enumerates a number of rural beauties—trees, meadows, brooks, flocks and herds, cottages, etc.—and adds that these things ‘animum mulcent;’ their effect is ‘mentem in se colligere.’
[686]Flavio Biondo,Italia Illustrata(ed. Basil), p. 352 sqq. Comp.Epist. Var.ed. Fracass. (lat.) iii. 476. On Petrarch’s plan of writing a great geographical work, see the proofs given by Attilio Hortis,Accenni alle Scienze Naturali nelle Opere di G. Boccacci, Trieste, 1877, p. 45 sqq.
[686]Flavio Biondo,Italia Illustrata(ed. Basil), p. 352 sqq. Comp.Epist. Var.ed. Fracass. (lat.) iii. 476. On Petrarch’s plan of writing a great geographical work, see the proofs given by Attilio Hortis,Accenni alle Scienze Naturali nelle Opere di G. Boccacci, Trieste, 1877, p. 45 sqq.
[687]Although he is fond of referring to them: e.g.De vita solitaria(Opera, ed. Basil, 1581), esp. p. 241, where he quotes the description of a vine-arbour from St. Augustine.
[687]Although he is fond of referring to them: e.g.De vita solitaria(Opera, ed. Basil, 1581), esp. p. 241, where he quotes the description of a vine-arbour from St. Augustine.
[688]Epist. famil.vii. 4. ‘Interea utinam scire posses, quanta, cum voluptate solivagus et liber, inter montes et nemora, inter fontes et flumina, inter libros et maximorum hominum ingenia respiro, quamque me in ea, quae ante sunt, cum Apostolo extendens et praeterita oblivisci nitor et praesentia non videre.’ Comp. vi. 3, o. c. 316 sqq. esp. 334 sqq. Comp. L. Geiger:Petrarca, p. 75, note 5, and p. 269.
[688]Epist. famil.vii. 4. ‘Interea utinam scire posses, quanta, cum voluptate solivagus et liber, inter montes et nemora, inter fontes et flumina, inter libros et maximorum hominum ingenia respiro, quamque me in ea, quae ante sunt, cum Apostolo extendens et praeterita oblivisci nitor et praesentia non videre.’ Comp. vi. 3, o. c. 316 sqq. esp. 334 sqq. Comp. L. Geiger:Petrarca, p. 75, note 5, and p. 269.
[689]‘Jacuit sine carmine sacro.’ Comp.Itinerar. Syriacum, Opp.p. 558.
[689]‘Jacuit sine carmine sacro.’ Comp.Itinerar. Syriacum, Opp.p. 558.
[690]He distinguishes in theItinerar. Syr.p. 357, on the Riviera di Levante: ‘colles asperitate gratissima et mira fertilitate conspicuos.’ On the port of Gaeta, see hisDe remediis utriusque fortunae, i. 54.
[690]He distinguishes in theItinerar. Syr.p. 357, on the Riviera di Levante: ‘colles asperitate gratissima et mira fertilitate conspicuos.’ On the port of Gaeta, see hisDe remediis utriusque fortunae, i. 54.
[691]Letter to Posterity: ‘Subito loco specie percussus.’ Descriptions of great natural events: A Storm at Naples, 1343:Epp. fam.i. 263 sqq.; An Earthquake at Basel, 1355,Epp. seniles, lib. x. 2, andDe rem. utr. fort.ii. 91.
[691]Letter to Posterity: ‘Subito loco specie percussus.’ Descriptions of great natural events: A Storm at Naples, 1343:Epp. fam.i. 263 sqq.; An Earthquake at Basel, 1355,Epp. seniles, lib. x. 2, andDe rem. utr. fort.ii. 91.
[692]Epist. fam.ed. Fracassetti, i. 193 sqq.
[692]Epist. fam.ed. Fracassetti, i. 193 sqq.
[693]Il Dittamondo, iii. cap. 9.
[693]Il Dittamondo, iii. cap. 9.
[694]Dittamondo, iii. cap. 21, iv. cap. 4. Papencordt,Gesch. der Stadt Rom, says that the Emperor Charles IV. had a strong taste for beautiful scenery, and quotes on this point Pelzel,Carl IV.p. 456. (The two other passages, which he quotes, do not say the same.) It is possible that the Emperor took this fancy from intercourse with the humanists (see above, pp. 141-2). For the interest taken by Charles in natural science see H. Friedjung, op. cit. p. 224, note 1.
[694]Dittamondo, iii. cap. 21, iv. cap. 4. Papencordt,Gesch. der Stadt Rom, says that the Emperor Charles IV. had a strong taste for beautiful scenery, and quotes on this point Pelzel,Carl IV.p. 456. (The two other passages, which he quotes, do not say the same.) It is possible that the Emperor took this fancy from intercourse with the humanists (see above, pp. 141-2). For the interest taken by Charles in natural science see H. Friedjung, op. cit. p. 224, note 1.
[695]We may also compare Platina,Vitae Pontiff.p. 310: ‘Homo fuit (Pius II.) verus, integer, apertus; nil habuit ficti, nil simulati’—an enemy of hypocrisy and superstition, courageous and consistent. See Voigt, ii. 261 sqq. and iii. 724. He does not, however, give an analysis of the character of Pius.
[695]We may also compare Platina,Vitae Pontiff.p. 310: ‘Homo fuit (Pius II.) verus, integer, apertus; nil habuit ficti, nil simulati’—an enemy of hypocrisy and superstition, courageous and consistent. See Voigt, ii. 261 sqq. and iii. 724. He does not, however, give an analysis of the character of Pius.
[696]The most important passages are the following:Pii II. P. M. Commentarii, l. iv. p. 183; spring in his native country; l. v. p. 251; summer residence at Tivoli; l. vi. p. 306: the meal at the spring of Vicovaro; l. viii. p. 378: the neighbourhood of Viterbo; p. 387: the mountain monastery of St. Martin; p. 388: the Lake of Bolsena; l. ix. p. 396: a splendid description of Monte Amiata; l. x. p. 483: the situation of Monte Oliveto; p. 497: the view from Todi; l. xi. p. 554: Ostia and Porto; p. 562: description of the Alban Hills; l. xii. p. 609: Frascati and Grottaferrata; comp. 568-571.
[696]The most important passages are the following:Pii II. P. M. Commentarii, l. iv. p. 183; spring in his native country; l. v. p. 251; summer residence at Tivoli; l. vi. p. 306: the meal at the spring of Vicovaro; l. viii. p. 378: the neighbourhood of Viterbo; p. 387: the mountain monastery of St. Martin; p. 388: the Lake of Bolsena; l. ix. p. 396: a splendid description of Monte Amiata; l. x. p. 483: the situation of Monte Oliveto; p. 497: the view from Todi; l. xi. p. 554: Ostia and Porto; p. 562: description of the Alban Hills; l. xii. p. 609: Frascati and Grottaferrata; comp. 568-571.
[697]So we must suppose it to have been written, not Sicily.
[697]So we must suppose it to have been written, not Sicily.
[698]He calls himself, with an allusion to his name: ‘Silvarum amator et varia videndi cupidus.’
[698]He calls himself, with an allusion to his name: ‘Silvarum amator et varia videndi cupidus.’
[699]On Leonbattista Alberti’s feeling for landscapes see above, p. 136 sqq. Alberti, a younger contemporary of Æneas Silvius (Trattato del Governo della Famiglia, p. 90; see above, p. 132, note 1), is delighted when in the country with ‘the bushy hills,’ ‘the fair plains and rushing waters.’ Mention may here be made of a little workÆtna, by P. Bembus, first published at Venice, 1495, and often printed since, in which, among much that is rambling and prolix, there are remarkable geographical descriptions and notices of landscapes.
[699]On Leonbattista Alberti’s feeling for landscapes see above, p. 136 sqq. Alberti, a younger contemporary of Æneas Silvius (Trattato del Governo della Famiglia, p. 90; see above, p. 132, note 1), is delighted when in the country with ‘the bushy hills,’ ‘the fair plains and rushing waters.’ Mention may here be made of a little workÆtna, by P. Bembus, first published at Venice, 1495, and often printed since, in which, among much that is rambling and prolix, there are remarkable geographical descriptions and notices of landscapes.
[700]A most elaborate picture of this kind in Ariosto; his sixth canto is all foreground.
[700]A most elaborate picture of this kind in Ariosto; his sixth canto is all foreground.
[701]He deals differently with his architectural framework, and in this modern decorative art can learn something from him even now.
[701]He deals differently with his architectural framework, and in this modern decorative art can learn something from him even now.
[702]Lettere Pittoriche, iii. 36, to Titian, May, 1544.
[702]Lettere Pittoriche, iii. 36, to Titian, May, 1544.
[703]Strozzii Poetae, in theErotica, l. vi. fol. 183; in the poem: ‘Hortatur se ipse, ut ad amicam properet.’
[703]Strozzii Poetae, in theErotica, l. vi. fol. 183; in the poem: ‘Hortatur se ipse, ut ad amicam properet.’
[704]Comp. Thausing:Dürer, Leipzig, 1876, p. 166.
[704]Comp. Thausing:Dürer, Leipzig, 1876, p. 166.
[705]These striking expressions are taken from the seventh volume of Michelet’sHistoire de France(Introd.).
[705]These striking expressions are taken from the seventh volume of Michelet’sHistoire de France(Introd.).
[706]Tomm. Gar,Relaz. della Corte di Roma, i. pp. 278 and 279. In the Rel. of Soriano, year 1533.
[706]Tomm. Gar,Relaz. della Corte di Roma, i. pp. 278 and 279. In the Rel. of Soriano, year 1533.
[707]Prato,Arch. Stor.iii. p. 295 sqq. The word ‘saturnico’ means ‘unhappy’ as well as ‘bringing misfortune.’ For the influence of the planets on human character in general, see Corn. Agrippa,De occulta philosophia, c. 52.
[707]Prato,Arch. Stor.iii. p. 295 sqq. The word ‘saturnico’ means ‘unhappy’ as well as ‘bringing misfortune.’ For the influence of the planets on human character in general, see Corn. Agrippa,De occulta philosophia, c. 52.
[708]See Trucchi,Poesie Italiane inedite, i. p 165 sqq.
[708]See Trucchi,Poesie Italiane inedite, i. p 165 sqq.
[709]Blank verse became at a later time the usual form for dramatic compositions. Trissino, in the dedication of hisSofonisbato Leo X., expressed the hope that the Pope would recognise this style for what it was—as better, nobler, andless easythan it looked. Roscoe,LeoneX., ed. Bossi, viii. 174.
[709]Blank verse became at a later time the usual form for dramatic compositions. Trissino, in the dedication of hisSofonisbato Leo X., expressed the hope that the Pope would recognise this style for what it was—as better, nobler, andless easythan it looked. Roscoe,LeoneX., ed. Bossi, viii. 174.
[710]Comp. e.g. the striking forms adopted by Dante,Vita Nuova, ed. Witte, p. 13 sqq., 16 sqq. Each has twenty irregular lines; in the first, one rhyme occurs eight times.
[710]Comp. e.g. the striking forms adopted by Dante,Vita Nuova, ed. Witte, p. 13 sqq., 16 sqq. Each has twenty irregular lines; in the first, one rhyme occurs eight times.
[711]Trucchi, op. cit. i. 181 sqq.
[711]Trucchi, op. cit. i. 181 sqq.
[712]These were the ‘Canzoni’ and Sonnets which every blacksmith and donkey-driver sang and parodied—which made Dante not a little angry. (Comp. Franco Sachetti, Nov. 114, 115.) So quickly did these poems find their way among the people.
[712]These were the ‘Canzoni’ and Sonnets which every blacksmith and donkey-driver sang and parodied—which made Dante not a little angry. (Comp. Franco Sachetti, Nov. 114, 115.) So quickly did these poems find their way among the people.
[713]Vita Nuova, ed. Witte, pp. 81, 82 sqq. ‘Deh peregrini,’ibid.116.
[713]Vita Nuova, ed. Witte, pp. 81, 82 sqq. ‘Deh peregrini,’ibid.116.
[714]For Dante’s psychology, the beginning ofPurg.iv. is one of the most important passages. See also the parts of theConvitobearing on the subject.
[714]For Dante’s psychology, the beginning ofPurg.iv. is one of the most important passages. See also the parts of theConvitobearing on the subject.
[715]The portraits of the school of Van Eyck would prove the contrary for the North. They remained for a long period far in advance of all descriptions in words.
[715]The portraits of the school of Van Eyck would prove the contrary for the North. They remained for a long period far in advance of all descriptions in words.
[716]Printed in the sixteenth volume of hisOpere Volgari. See M. Landau,Giov. Boccaccio(Stuttg. 1877), pp. 36-40; he lays special stress on B.’s dependence on Dante and Petrarch.
[716]Printed in the sixteenth volume of hisOpere Volgari. See M. Landau,Giov. Boccaccio(Stuttg. 1877), pp. 36-40; he lays special stress on B.’s dependence on Dante and Petrarch.
[717]In the song of the shepherd Teogape, after the feast of Venus,Opp.ed. Montier, vol. xv. 2. p. 67 sqq. Comp. Landau, 58-64; on theFiammetta, see Landau, 96-105.
[717]In the song of the shepherd Teogape, after the feast of Venus,Opp.ed. Montier, vol. xv. 2. p. 67 sqq. Comp. Landau, 58-64; on theFiammetta, see Landau, 96-105.
[718]The famous Lionardo Aretino, the leader of the humanists at the beginning of the fifteenth century, admits, ‘Che gli antichi Greci d’umanita e di gentilezza di cuore abbino avanzanto di gran lunga i nostri Italiani;’ but he says it at the beginning of a novel which contains the sentimental story of the invalid Prince Antiochus and his step-mother Stratonice—a document of an ambiguous and half-Asiatic character. (Printed as an Appendix to theCento Novelle Antiche.)
[718]The famous Lionardo Aretino, the leader of the humanists at the beginning of the fifteenth century, admits, ‘Che gli antichi Greci d’umanita e di gentilezza di cuore abbino avanzanto di gran lunga i nostri Italiani;’ but he says it at the beginning of a novel which contains the sentimental story of the invalid Prince Antiochus and his step-mother Stratonice—a document of an ambiguous and half-Asiatic character. (Printed as an Appendix to theCento Novelle Antiche.)
[719]No doubt the court and prince received flattery enough from their occasional poets and dramatists.
[719]No doubt the court and prince received flattery enough from their occasional poets and dramatists.
[720]Comp. the contrary view taken by Gregorovius,Gesch. Roms, vii. 619.
[720]Comp. the contrary view taken by Gregorovius,Gesch. Roms, vii. 619.
[721]Paul. Jovius,Dialog. de viris lit. illustr., in Tiraboschi, tom. vii. iv. Lil. Greg. Gyraldus,De poetis nostri temp.
[721]Paul. Jovius,Dialog. de viris lit. illustr., in Tiraboschi, tom. vii. iv. Lil. Greg. Gyraldus,De poetis nostri temp.
[722]Isabella Gonzaga to her husband, Feb. 3, 1502,Arch. Stor.Append. ii. p. 306 sqq. Comp. Gregorovius,Lucrezia Borgia, i. 256-266, ed. 3. In the FrenchMystèresthe actors themselves first marched before the audience in procession, which was called the ‘montre.’
[722]Isabella Gonzaga to her husband, Feb. 3, 1502,Arch. Stor.Append. ii. p. 306 sqq. Comp. Gregorovius,Lucrezia Borgia, i. 256-266, ed. 3. In the FrenchMystèresthe actors themselves first marched before the audience in procession, which was called the ‘montre.’
[723]Diario Ferrarese, in Murat. xxiv. col. 404. Other passages referring to the stage in that city, cols. 278, 279, 282 to 285, 361, 380, 381, 393, 397, from which it appears that Plautus was the dramatist most popular on these occasions, that the performances sometimes lasted till three o’clock in the morning, and were even given in the open air. The ballets were without any meaning or reference to the persons present and the occasion solemnized. Isabella Gonzaga, who was certainly at the time longing for her husband and child, and was dissatisfied with the union of her brother with Lucrezia, spoke of the ‘coldness and frostiness’ of the marriage and the festivities which attended it.
[723]Diario Ferrarese, in Murat. xxiv. col. 404. Other passages referring to the stage in that city, cols. 278, 279, 282 to 285, 361, 380, 381, 393, 397, from which it appears that Plautus was the dramatist most popular on these occasions, that the performances sometimes lasted till three o’clock in the morning, and were even given in the open air. The ballets were without any meaning or reference to the persons present and the occasion solemnized. Isabella Gonzaga, who was certainly at the time longing for her husband and child, and was dissatisfied with the union of her brother with Lucrezia, spoke of the ‘coldness and frostiness’ of the marriage and the festivities which attended it.
[724]Strozzii Poetæ, fol. 232, in the fourth book of theÆolostichaof Tito Strozza. The lines run:‘Ecce superveniens rerum argumenta retexitMimus, et ad populum verba diserta refert.Tum similes habitu formaque et voce MenæchmiDulcibus oblectant lumina nostra modis.’TheMenæchmiwas also given at Ferrara in 1486, at the cost of more than 1,000 ducats. Murat. xxiv. 278.
[724]Strozzii Poetæ, fol. 232, in the fourth book of theÆolostichaof Tito Strozza. The lines run:
‘Ecce superveniens rerum argumenta retexitMimus, et ad populum verba diserta refert.Tum similes habitu formaque et voce MenæchmiDulcibus oblectant lumina nostra modis.’
‘Ecce superveniens rerum argumenta retexitMimus, et ad populum verba diserta refert.Tum similes habitu formaque et voce MenæchmiDulcibus oblectant lumina nostra modis.’
‘Ecce superveniens rerum argumenta retexitMimus, et ad populum verba diserta refert.Tum similes habitu formaque et voce MenæchmiDulcibus oblectant lumina nostra modis.’
TheMenæchmiwas also given at Ferrara in 1486, at the cost of more than 1,000 ducats. Murat. xxiv. 278.
[725]Franc. Sansovino,Venezia, fol. 169. The passage in the original is as follows: ‘Si sono anco spesso recitate delle tragedie con grandi apparecchi, comporte da poeti antichi o da moderni. Alle quali per la fama degli apparati concorrevano le genti estere e circonvicine per vederle e udirle. Ma hoggi le feste da particolari si fanno fra i parenti et essendosi la città regolata per se medesima da certi anni in quà, si passano i tempi del Carnovale in comedie e in altri più lieti e honorati diletti.’ The passage is not thoroughly clear.
[725]Franc. Sansovino,Venezia, fol. 169. The passage in the original is as follows: ‘Si sono anco spesso recitate delle tragedie con grandi apparecchi, comporte da poeti antichi o da moderni. Alle quali per la fama degli apparati concorrevano le genti estere e circonvicine per vederle e udirle. Ma hoggi le feste da particolari si fanno fra i parenti et essendosi la città regolata per se medesima da certi anni in quà, si passano i tempi del Carnovale in comedie e in altri più lieti e honorati diletti.’ The passage is not thoroughly clear.
[726]This must be the meaning of Sansovino,Venezia, fol. 168, when he complains that the ‘recitanti’ ruined the comedies ‘con invenzioni o personaggi troppo ridicoli.’
[726]This must be the meaning of Sansovino,Venezia, fol. 168, when he complains that the ‘recitanti’ ruined the comedies ‘con invenzioni o personaggi troppo ridicoli.’
[727]Sansovino, l. c.
[727]Sansovino, l. c.
[728]Scardeonius,De urb. Patav. antiq., in Graevius, Thes. vi. iii. col. 288 sqq. An important passage for the literature of the dialects generally. One of the passages is as follows: ‘Hinc ad recitandas comœdias socii scenici et gregales et æmuli fuere nobiles juvenes Patavini, Marcus Aurelius Alvarotus quem in comœdiis suis Menatum appellitabat, et Hieronymus Zanetus quem Vezzam, et Castegnola quem Billoram vocitabat, et alii quidam qui sermonem agrestium imitando præ ceteris callebant.’
[728]Scardeonius,De urb. Patav. antiq., in Graevius, Thes. vi. iii. col. 288 sqq. An important passage for the literature of the dialects generally. One of the passages is as follows: ‘Hinc ad recitandas comœdias socii scenici et gregales et æmuli fuere nobiles juvenes Patavini, Marcus Aurelius Alvarotus quem in comœdiis suis Menatum appellitabat, et Hieronymus Zanetus quem Vezzam, et Castegnola quem Billoram vocitabat, et alii quidam qui sermonem agrestium imitando præ ceteris callebant.’
[729]That the latter existed as early as the fifteenth century may be inferred from theDiario Ferrerese, Feb. 2nd, 1501: ‘Il duca Hercole fece una festa di Menechino secondo il suo uso.’ Murat. xxiv. col. 393. There cannot be a confusion with the Menæchmi of Plautus, which is correctly written, l. c. col. 278. See above, p. 318, note 2.
[729]That the latter existed as early as the fifteenth century may be inferred from theDiario Ferrerese, Feb. 2nd, 1501: ‘Il duca Hercole fece una festa di Menechino secondo il suo uso.’ Murat. xxiv. col. 393. There cannot be a confusion with the Menæchmi of Plautus, which is correctly written, l. c. col. 278. See above, p. 318, note 2.
[730]Pulci mischievously invents a solemn old-world legend for his story of the giant Margutte (Morgante, canto xix. str. 153 sqq.). The critical introduction of Limerno Pitocco is still droller (Orlandino, cap. i. str. 12-22).
[730]Pulci mischievously invents a solemn old-world legend for his story of the giant Margutte (Morgante, canto xix. str. 153 sqq.). The critical introduction of Limerno Pitocco is still droller (Orlandino, cap. i. str. 12-22).
[731]TheMorgantewas written in 1460 and the following years, and first printed at Venice in 1481. Last ed. by P. Sermolli, Florence, 1872. For the tournaments, see part v. chap. i. See, for what follows, Ranke:Zur Geschichte der italienischen Poesie, Berlin, 1837.
[731]TheMorgantewas written in 1460 and the following years, and first printed at Venice in 1481. Last ed. by P. Sermolli, Florence, 1872. For the tournaments, see part v. chap. i. See, for what follows, Ranke:Zur Geschichte der italienischen Poesie, Berlin, 1837.
[732]TheOrlando inamoratowas first printed in 1496.
[732]TheOrlando inamoratowas first printed in 1496.
[733]L’Italia liberata da Goti, Rome, 1547.
[733]L’Italia liberata da Goti, Rome, 1547.
[734]See above, p. 319, and Landau’sBoccaccio, 64-69. It must, nevertheless, be observed that the work of Boccaccio here mentioned was written before 1344, while that of Petrarch was written after Laura’s death, that is, after 1348.
[734]See above, p. 319, and Landau’sBoccaccio, 64-69. It must, nevertheless, be observed that the work of Boccaccio here mentioned was written before 1344, while that of Petrarch was written after Laura’s death, that is, after 1348.
[735]Vasari, viii. 71, in the Commentary to theVita di Rafaelle.
[735]Vasari, viii. 71, in the Commentary to theVita di Rafaelle.
[736]Much of this kind our present taste could dispense with in theIliad.
[736]Much of this kind our present taste could dispense with in theIliad.
[737]First edition, 1516.
[737]First edition, 1516.
[738]The speeches inserted are themselves narratives.
[738]The speeches inserted are themselves narratives.
[739]As was the case with Pulci,Morgante, canto xix. str. 20 sqq.
[739]As was the case with Pulci,Morgante, canto xix. str. 20 sqq.
[740]TheOrlandino, first edition, 1526.
[740]TheOrlandino, first edition, 1526.
[741]Radevicus,De gestis Friderici imp., especially ii. 76. The admirableVita Henrici IV.contains very little personal description, as is also the case with theVita Chuonradi imp.by Wipo.
[741]Radevicus,De gestis Friderici imp., especially ii. 76. The admirableVita Henrici IV.contains very little personal description, as is also the case with theVita Chuonradi imp.by Wipo.
[742]The librarian Anastasius (middle of ninth century) is here meant. The whole collection of the lives of the Popes (Liber Pontificalis) was formerly ascribed to him, but erroneously. Comp. Wattenbach,Deutschland’s Geschichtsquellen, i. 223 sqq. 3rd ed.
[742]The librarian Anastasius (middle of ninth century) is here meant. The whole collection of the lives of the Popes (Liber Pontificalis) was formerly ascribed to him, but erroneously. Comp. Wattenbach,Deutschland’s Geschichtsquellen, i. 223 sqq. 3rd ed.
[743]Lived about the same time as Anastasius; author of a history of the bishopric of Ravenna. Wattenbach, l. c. 227.
[743]Lived about the same time as Anastasius; author of a history of the bishopric of Ravenna. Wattenbach, l. c. 227.
[744]How early Philostratus was used in the same way, I am unable to say. Suetonius was no doubt taken as a model in times still earlier. Besides the life of Charles the Great, written by Eginhard, examples from the twelfth century are offered by William of Malmesbury in his descriptions of William the Conqueror (p. 446sqq., 452 sqq.), of William II. (pp. 494, 504), and of Henry I. (p. 640).
[744]How early Philostratus was used in the same way, I am unable to say. Suetonius was no doubt taken as a model in times still earlier. Besides the life of Charles the Great, written by Eginhard, examples from the twelfth century are offered by William of Malmesbury in his descriptions of William the Conqueror (p. 446sqq., 452 sqq.), of William II. (pp. 494, 504), and of Henry I. (p. 640).