Chapter 32

[243]Concil. tom. xxx. p. 162.[244]“Turpem etiam illum abusum in quibusdam frequentatum ecclesiis, quo certis anni celebritatibus nonnulli cum mitrâ, baculo, ac vestibus pontificalibus more episcoporum benedicunt, alii ut reges ac duces induti, quod festum fatuorum vel innocentium, seu puerorum, in quibusdam regionibus nuncupatur, alii larvales et theatrales jocos, alii choreas et tripudia marium ac mulierum facientes, homines ad spectacula et cachinnationes movent, alii comessationes et convivia ibidem præparant; hæc sancta Synodus detestans, statuit et jubet tam ordinariis quam ecclesiarum decanis et rectoribus, sub pœnâ suspensionis omnium proventuum ecclesiasticorum trium mensium spatio, ne hæc aut similia ludibria, neque etiam mercantias seu negotiationes nundinarum in ecclesiis quæ domus orationis esse debent, ac etiam cæmeterio exercere amplius permittant, transgressoresque, per censuram ecclesiasticam, aliaque juris remedia punire non negligant, omnes autem consuetudines, statuta ac privilegia quæ his non concordant circa hæc decretis, nisi forte majores adjicerent pœnas, irritas esse hæc sancta synodus decernit.”[245]Concil. tom. xxx. p. 166.[246]Concil. tom. xxx. p. 180.[247]On the 15th of October, 1435, the council condemned as heretical various propositions which had been lately maintained by Agostino di Roma, archbishop of Nazareth, in three elaborate theological tracts. Those whose anxiety to preserve the purity of the catholic faith leads them to wish to know what sentiments it is their duty to reject, and those who are interested in observing the niceties of theological distinctions, will perhaps be gratified by the following recital of the dangerous errors which incurred the severe reprehension and reprobation of the venerable synod of Basil.“Et postissime scandalosam illam assertionem, erroneam in fide, in ipso libello contentam, quam piæ fidelium aures sine horrore audire non possunt, videlicet: Christus quotidie peccat; ex quo fuit Christus quotidie peccavit; quamvis de capite ecclesiæ Christo Jesu Salvatore nostro dicat se non intelligere, sed ad membra sua, quæ cum Christo capite unum esse Christum asseruit, intelligentiam ejus esse referendam dicat. Nec non et propositiones istas, et eis in sententiâ similes, quas in articulos damnatos in sacro Constantiensi Concilio incidere declarat, videlicet: Non omnes fideles justificati sunt membra Christi, sed soli electi, finaliter in perpetuum regnaturi cum Christo. Secundum ineffabilem præscientiam Dei sumuntur membra Christi, ex quibus constat ecclesia, quæ tamen non constat nisi ex eis qui secundum propositum electionis vocati sunt. Non sufficit Christo uniri vinculo caritatis, ut aliqui efficiantur membra Christi, sed requiritur alia unio. Has etiam quæ sequuntur: Humana natura in Christo, vere est Christus. Humana natura in Christo, est persona Christi. Ratio suppositalis determinans humanam naturam in Christo non realiter distinguitur ab ispâ naturâ determinatâ. Natura humana in Christo procul dubio est persona verbi; et verbum in Christo naturâ assumpta, est realiter persona assumens. Natura humana assumpta a verbo ex unione personali, est veraciter Deus naturalis et proprius. Christus secundum voluntatem creatam tantum diligit naturam humanam unitam personæ verbi, quantum diligit naturam divinam. Sicut duæ personæ in divinis sunt æqualiter diligibiles ita duæ naturæ in Christo, humana et divina, sunt æqualiter diligibiles propter personam communem. Anima Christi videt Deum tam clare et intense, quantum clare et intense Deus videt seipsum. Quas quidem propositiones, et alias ex eâdem radice procedentes, in prædicto libello contentas, tamquam erroneas in fide, damnat et reprobat hæc sancta Synodus.”—Concil. tom. xxx. p. 172.[248]Panormitani Epist. lib. v. ep. 118, as referred to by the French and Italian translators of the life of Poggio.[249]Apostolo Zeno Dissertazioni Vossiane, tom. i. p. 37, 38.[250]Poggii Opera, p. 65, 67.Mehi vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. lii.[251]The catalogue of reliques of Roman architecture, which Poggio has inserted in the interesting pröemium to his dialogueDe varietate Fortunæ, evinces the diligence and care with which he had surveyed the ruins of ancient Rome. This catalogue did not escape the extensive researches of Gibbon, who has introduced it into the 71st chapter of hisDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire.[252]“Poggius noster sæpe mecum est; reliquias civitatis probe callens nos comitatur.”—Ambrosii Traversarii Epistolæ, p. 407.In a letter to Bartolomeo Facio, Poggio thus invites him to visit the ruins of Rome. “Video te cupere urbem visere, et certe nisi incoeptum opus, ut ais, impediret hortarer te ad inspiciendas reliquias ejus urbis quæ quondam orbis lumen præclarissimum fuit. Equidem quamvis in eâ jam pluribus annis ab ipsâ juventute fuerim versatus, tamen quotide tamquam novus incola tantarum rerum admiratione obstupesco, recreoque persæpe animum visu eorum ædificiorum, quæ stulti propter ingenii imbecillitatem a Dæmonibus facta dicunt.”—Facius de viris Illustribus, p. 97.[253]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. lii.[254]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. lii.Poggii Epist. citat. a Ton. tom. i. p. 258.[255]Poggii Opera, p. 321.[256]Ibid.[257]Ibid, p. 329.[258]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. lii. liii.[259]From an expression which Poggio uses in a letter on the subject of Francesco’s conduct, addressed to Andreolo Giustiniano, it should seem, either that the busts did not answer the expectation which he had formed concerning the exquisiteness of their workmanship, or that he suspected that Francesco had substituted inferior pieces of sculpture, in the place of those destined for him by Suffretus. The following is the expression in question. “Cum Suffretus quidem Rhodius ei consignasset tria capita marmorea, et signum integrum duorum fere cubitorum, quæ Franciscus se ad me allaturum promisit,capita quædam dedit, signo autem me fraudavit,” &c. Perhaps, however, quædam is, by an error of the press, substituted for quidem.[260]Poggii Opera, p. 329.[261]Poggii Opera, p. 329.[262]The admirer of ancient art will find the principles, the observance of which led to the perfection to which it was carried by the Greeks, clearly and forcibly explained in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth pages of Mr. Fuseli’sLectures on Painting. Of this work it may be asserted, that hardly any composition in the English language comprehends an equal quantity of thought in the same compass of expression. Almost every sentence which it contains is a theme of reflection, a text, pregnant with the most useful instruction.[263]Poggii Epist. lvii. p. 181.[264]Poggii Opera, p. 357, & seq.[265]Poggii Opera, p. 366.[266]See note to Tonelli’s translation, vol. i. p. 264.[267]Poggii vita a Recanatio, p. xiv.[268]Poggii vita a Recanatio, p. xiv.[269]This dialogue was, for upwards of three centuries, buried in the repositories of Manuscripts which are stored up in a few public libraries on the continent of Europe. In the year 1802, the author of this work was fortunate enough to find in the thenBibliothéque Nationale, nowBibliothéque du Roi, at Paris, a very legible manuscript copy of it, which he carefully transcribed; and soon after his return home he printed a very small impression of it for distribution among his literary friends. A copy of this impression having been sent by him to the late Dr. Parr, that eminent scholar urged him to reprint and publish it, with a few necessary corrections. The wish of Parr was complied with, and the Dialogue was brought out in the year 1807, with a Latin preface and a Latin dedication to the late Mr. Roscoe. In the year 1823, the Signor Pecchioli published at Florence a new edition of it, which is enriched with various readings from a MS. in the Riccardi library.[270]In the first edition of the work it was stated that Poggio, on his marriage, not only parted with his mistress, but also deprived four of his illegitimate children, who were then living, of an inheritance which he had secured to them by a Bull of legitimacy. This statement, however, rests only on the authority of Valla, the bitter personal enemy of Poggio, and it has been satisfactorily proved by the Cavaliere Tonelli (Ton. Tr. vol. i. p. 266.) that this imputation is of the number of those calumnies in which the scholars of the fifteenth century were, in their contests with each other, so apt to indulge.[271]Poggii Epistolæ lvii. epist. xxxvii.[272]Poggii Opera, p. 355.[273]The correspondence above referred to, which was first brought into public notice by the Cavaliere Tonelli, (Ton. Tr. vol. i. p. 276-283) is to be found in the Riccardi and the Hafod manuscripts.[274]Ton. Tr. vol. i. p. 284, Note.[275]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. xxxiii.[276]Though no literary works of Francesco Marescalco have descended to posterity, and though from the designation of “Franciscum quendam Ferrariensem,” by which he is mentioned in a letter from Poggio to Niccolo Niccoli, it should seem that he was not much known, even to his contemporaries, the circumstance of Poggio’s inscribing to him a volume of his compositions affords reasonable grounds for a supposition that he was a man of learning, and of a respectable character. This supposition is confirmed by the respectful manner in which Poggio, in the following letter, thanks him for the offer of his friendship, and the assurance of his esteem.“I have long maintained a most pleasant intercourse with my friend Scipio, of Ferrara, a man, whose learning and liberal manners lay an irresistible claim to my esteem and love. We often spend our leisure time in conversing together on various subjects, and particularly on the characters of learned and eloquent men. Of this number he assures me that you are one. He informs me, that you are not only devoted to literature, which circumstance is of itself a great recommendation, but, what is of the greatest weight, that your manners are most amiable, and that you are endowed with the most attractive virtues. He moreover says, that you are very much attached to me. This is a piece of intelligence which, I must confess, affords me the sincerest pleasure; for there is nothing, my dear Francesco, which I have more at heart, than to gain the esteem and good will of my fellow mortals. You are sensible that he who is favoured with the affection of his acquaintance, especially of those who are dignified by their virtues, is truly rich, and possesses a source of sincere enjoyment. I therefore most heartily embrace your proffered friendship, from which I trust I shall derive both pleasure and honour. Be assured of this, that I shall do my utmost endeavour to confirm, by my conduct, those friendly sentiments which you have voluntarily conceived on my behalf.—Farewell.”—Poggii Opera, p. 307.[277]Poggii Epistolæ lvii. p. 273.[278]Ibid.[279]Poggii Opera, p. 270-277.[280]See note on chap. iii. of this work.[281]Poggii Opera, p. 274.[282]“Delectabatur admodum tabulis et signis ac variis cœlaturis priscorum more. Plura enim prope solus atque exquisitiora habebat quam cæteri fere omnes.”—Poggii Opera, p. 276.[283]Ibid.[284]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. lxii.[285]Gianozzo Manetti, who wrote memoirs of Niccolo Niccoli, which are printed from a Vatican MS. in Mehus’s life of Ambrogio Traversari,p. lxvi. et seq.“Raro tamen,” says Gianozzo, “vel numquam, latine loquendi, latineve scribendi onus suscipere voluit, eâ de causâ abductus, ut arbritror, quod quum nihil ab eo nisi plenum et perfectum probaretur, neque orationes, neque scripta sua sibi ipsi omni ex parte, ceu in aliis hominibus exigebat, satisfactura videbantur.” The testimony of Poggio may be adduced in confirmation of Gianozzo’s assertion. “Cum enim nihil nisi politum ac perfectum probaret, nequaquam sibi ipsi ejus scripta satisfacere videbantur.”—Poggii Opera, p. 274.[286]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. lxi.[287]“Illud quoque animadvertendum est Nicolaum Nicolum veluti parentem fuisse artis criticæ, quæ auctores veteres distinguit emendatque. Nam quum eos auctores ex vetustissimis codicibus exscriberet, qui suo potissimum consilio, aliorum vero operâ inventi sunt, non solum a mendis quibus obsiti erant expurgavit, sed etiam distinxit capitibusque locupletavit. Testis sit Lucretius, qui in Cod. Chart. Bibliothecæ Mediceo-Laurentianæ adservatur. In hoc enim codice manu Nicolai Niccoli diligentissime scripto aliquot libris capitula præfixa a Niccolo sunt. Testes duodecim Comœdiæ Plauti noviter eodem sæculo repertæ, Niccolique nostri manu in Cod. Chartaceo Bibliothecæ Marcianæ ut supra diximus exaratæ. Has enim quum descripsisset ex vetustissimo Codice Jordani Cardinalis Ursini ex Germaniâ Romam advecto, quem mendosissimum judicavit Poggius, earum tamen exemplum a Niccolo nostro confectum paucis mendis, iisque levissimis deturpatum est.”—Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. 1.[288]Gianotti Manettii Vita Nicolai Nicoli, apud Mehi Vitam Ambros. Travers. p. lxxvi.[289]Ibid, p. lxxvii.[290]These and the following particulars are collected from a life of Niccolo Niccoli, written by Gianozzo Manetti, and composing part of a volume,De Illustribus Longævis, dedicated by him to Lodovico Gusman, governor of the province of Calatrava. In proof of the delicacy of Niccolo’s feelings, Gianozzo assures his reader of the wonderful fact, that he disliked the braying of an ass, the grating of a saw, and the squeaking of a mouse caught in a trap. “Neque rudentem asinum, neque secantem serram, neque muscipulam vagientem sentire audireve poterat.”—Mehi Vita Ambros. Travers. p. lxxvii.[291]Concil. tom. xxx. p. 212-217.The orthodoxy of the editor of the acts of the councils has induced him to attach the following marginal observation to the decree which thus levelled the thunder of the rebels of Basil at the sacred head of the pontiff—“Multa in hac synodo sparsim habentur quæ pontifici et ejus auctoritati derogant, quæ sunt caute legenda.”[292]Concil. tom. xxx. p. 221, 222.[293]Ibid, p. 226, et seq.[294]Ibid, p. 232, et seq.[295]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 169, 170.[296]Labbe Concil. tom. xiii. p. 876.[297]Muratori Rer. Italic. Script. tom. iii. p. 870.[298]Concil. tom. xxx. p. 189.[299]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 173.[300]Ibid, p. 176, 177.[301]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. 430.[302]Labbei Concilia, tom. xiii. p. 1164.[303]Labbei Concilia, tom. xiii. p. 1165-1168.[304]Zeno Dissert. Vos. tom. i. p. 307.[305]Zeno Dissert. Voss. tom. i. p. 308.[306]Ibid, p. 316.[307]Poggii Opera, p. 349, 350.[308]Poggii Opera, p. 350, 351, 352.[309]Ibid, p. 353, 354, 355.Two manuscript copies of this work are preserved in the Laurentian, and a third in the Magliabecchian library at Florence. A fourth is deposited in the Ambrogian collection at Milan. The disgusting ribaldry of Beccatelli fully justifies the reproof which he received from Poggio. It is a disgrace to literature, that his work should have been lately committed to the press under the superintendence of a French editor.The Hermaphroditus was openly condemned, not only by Poggio, but also by Filelfo, Laurentius Valla, and by Mariano da Volterra, who inveighed against it in a long poem. It was the subject of reprobation in the sermons of Bernadino da Siena, and of Roberto da Lecce, who caused it to be burnt in the public squares of Bologna and Milan. The zeal of Valla, (which, by the way, was kindled as much by personal enmity as by a regard to morality) prompted him to hope that the same fate awaited its author.Besides the Hermaphroditus, Beccatelli published a variety of works, which are thus enumerated by Apostolo Zeno. 1. Alphonsi Regis Triumphus. 2. De Rebus gestis Ferdinandi Regis. 3. In coronatione Friderici III. Imperatoris Oratio Romæ habita 1452. 4. Ad Alphonsum Siciliæ Regem Oratio. 6. Oratio ad Caetanos de pace. 7. Oratio ad Venetos de pace. 8. Epistolarum Libri V. 9. Carmina. 10. Epistolæ et Orationes. 11. Epistolarum & Carminum liber. 12. In Rhodum Poema. 13. Tragediæ. 14. Commentarius in Plautum. 15. Elegiæ. 16. De dictis et factis Alphonsi Regis Libri IV.Vallæ Invectiva secunda in Facium, sub finem.—Zeno Diss. Voss. tom. i. p. 315, 316.[310]Concil. tom. xxx. p. 271.[311]Ibid, p. 298.[312]In theFasciculus Rer. Expet. et Fugiend. tom. i. p. 46-54, there is a very entertaining account drawn up by Æneas Sylvius of the organization and proceedings of the conclave which elected Amedeus to the pontificate, and of the splendid procession which took place at the coronation of this Anti-Pope, who assumed the name of Felix.[313]Mehi Vita Ambros. Travers. p. ccccxxvii.[314]Elogi degli uomini illustri Toscani, tom. i. p. cccxlvi.[315]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. ccccv.[316]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. ccccxxvii.[317]Ibid, p. ccccxxviii.[318]Apostolo Zeno Diss. Vos. tom. i. p. 81.[319]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. ccccxxxii.The author of the life of Ambrogio, in theElogi degli uomini illustri Toscani, mentions this report in the following terms. “Non manca chi creda, che Iddio a intercessione di Ambrogio facesse ancor dei prodigi. E certamente, l’esser dopo la di lui morte, nati spontaneamente gigli ed altri fiori sopra il suo cadavere, che colti dai Religiosi instantaneamente rifiorivano per tutto il luogo occupato dalla venerabile di lui spoglia, sembra cosa più che naturale. Eppure di ciò fanno fede persone che hanno potuto vedere ocularmente un tal prodigio al sacro Eremo di Camaldoli.”p. cccxlviii. cccxlix.[320]See Poggio’s dialogue on Hypocrisy in theFasciculus Rer. Expet. et fugiend. tom. ii. p. 583.[321]Recanati Osservazioni, p. 19.[322]Poggiana, tom. ii. p. 322-326.[323]Ton. Tr. vol. ii. p. 22.[324]The short-sightedness of the Florentines seems to have been a subject of proverbial sarcasm to their neighbours. “Bartolomeo Soccini, of Siena,” says Mr. Roscoe, in his life of Lorenzo de’ Medici, “having observed, in allusion to the defect in Lorenzo’s sight, that the air of Florence was injurious to the eyes—true, said Lorenzo,and that of Siena to the brain.” When Leo X. was elected to the pontificate, the Roman wits thus interpreted a certain date of the yearMCCCCXL, which was inscribed on a tablet in the church of the Vatican: Multi cæci cardinales creaverunt cæcum decimum Leonem.Roscoe’s Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici, vol. ii. p. 119—Fabroni Vita Leonis. X.[325]Poggii Opera, p. 333, 339.[326]Philelfi Opera, p. 13.[327]Philelfi Epistolæ, p. 18.[328]Ibid.[329]Ibid.[330]Poggii Opera, p. 175.[331]Poggii Opera, p. 176.[332]Poggii Opera, p. 186, 187.[333]Poggii Opera, p. 64-83.[334]Poggii Opera, p. 225-328.Besides Gregorio Corriario, two other Venetian scholars, Pietro Tommasi and Lauro Querini, expressed their displeasure at the manner in which Poggio had treated the Venetian patricians in his dialogueDe Nobilitate; the former in a letter addressed to Poggio—the latter, not only by a letter, but also in an express treatise on the same subject. To the former Poggio returned a civil reply—the latter, who seems to have been an ill-tempered man, he treated with contempt.Ton. Tr. vol. ii. p. 42.[335]Poggii Opera, p. 278.[336]Poggii Opera, p. 285.[337]Poggii Historia Flor. p. 339.—Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 185.—Lorenzo Valla, in hisAntidotus, charges Poggio with the infamous villany of forging the commission, by virtue of which Vitelleschi was arrested; and asserts, that he was protected from the punishment due to his crime, by the power of the statesmen who had bribed him to commit so atrocious a deed. It is not, however, very probable, that any interest could have screened from punishment a secretary who stood convicted of so heinous an offence as counterfeiting the signature of a sovereign prince, for the purpose of committing murder: still less, that a subordinate officer who had taken such a wicked liberty, should have been continued in his place.—Laurentii Vallæ Antidotus in Poggium, p. 109.[338]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 186.[339]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 199.[340]Poggii Opera, p. 344.[341]Poggii Epistolæ lvii. ep. liv.[342]Poggii Epistolæ lvii. p. 282.[343]Poggii Epistolæ lvii. p. 284.[344]According to the tables of the relative value of money at different periods, the volume above mentioned may be said to have cost Lionello £250 or £300 sterling.—Ton. Tr. vol. ii. p. 54.[345]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 195, 196.[346]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 198.[347]Muratori Rer. Italic. Script. tom. vi. p. 915.[348]Poggii Opera, p. 261-269.The disease of which he died was the stone. Poggio asserts, that after his death, a calculus of the weight of a pound was extracted from his bladder.[349]Vita Nicolai V. a Jannotio Manetti apud Muratorii Rer. Italic Script. tom. iii. p. ii. p. 908 et. seq.[350]Poggii Opera, p. 390, 391.The data of the publication of the dialogue above mentioned is ascertained by an unpublished Epistle of Poggio, cited by Tonelli,Tr. vol. ii. p. 62.[351]Poggii Opera, p. 392-419.[352]In the Basil edition of Poggio’s works, the dialogueDe Infelicitate Principumis so incorrectly printed, that it is frequently difficult to decypher the meaning of the author. An edition of the same dialogue, printed in 12mo. at Frankfort, by Erasmus Kempffer, in the year 1629, is one of the most incorrect books which ever disgraced a press. Fortunately, however, the one of these copies is frequently of use in correcting the errors of the other.[353]Janotii Manetti pro Leonardo Aretino Oratio Funebris, Epistolis Leonardi a Meho editis prœfixa, p. civ.[354]Janotii Manetti pro Leonardo Aretino Oratio Funebris, Epistolis Leonardi a Meho editis prœfixa, p. cxiv.[355]The following analysis of Gianozzo’s oration will be sufficient to prove, that the foregoing censure is by no means too severe.—He began his address by informing his auditors, that if the immortal Muses (“immortales Musæ divinæquo Camœnæ”) could have deemed it compatible with their dignity to make an oration, either in the Latin or the Greek language, or to weep in public, they would not have delegated to another the task of paying the last honours to Leonardo; but since this exhibition of their grief was contrary to the usual habits of the Nine, the administrators of the Tuscan government had determined that the virtues of the deceased should be celebrated by one of his colleagues. He then with due modesty declared, that their choice having been directed to himself, not on account of his talents, but in consequence of his filling one of the principal offices of the state, he had prepared himself for the occasion, not to his own satisfaction, but as well as the brevity of the time allowed him for the purpose would permit.—The orator then proceeded to give a sketch of the life of Leonardo. When he arrived at that period of it in which the deceased became one of the public functionaries of the state, he detailed at some length the history of the Florentine republic during the time of Leonardo’s possession of civic and military offices. In the course of his minute detail of Leonardo’s literary labours, he contrived to introduce brief notices of a considerable number of Greek and Latin writers, and enlarged particularly upon the merits of Livy and Cicero, to each of whom he represented Leonardo as superior, since he not only translated Greek authors into Latin, after the example of the latter, but also wrote histories, in emulation of the former, thus uniting the excellencies of both. After this, preparing to perform the ceremony of coronation, he proved by historical evidence, that the custom of crowning emperors and poets was very ancient. Descanting on the various kinds of military crowns, he informed his auditors, that by the frequent perusal of ancient writers, he had ascertained, that of these tokens of honour there were eight different species, namely, the Corona Obsidionalis, Civica, Muralis, Castrensis, Navalis, Ovalis, quasi Triumphalis, and Triumphalis. The description of the materials of which these crowns were severally made, the occasions on which they were bestowed, the enumeration of divers eminent commanders whose brows they had adorned, led the errant orator into a further digression, from which he did not return before he had detailed at great length the reasons why poets should be crowned with laurel, in preference to ivy, palm, olive, or any other species of evergreen. This dissertation on crowns occupies the space of five quarto pages, closely printed in a small type. Having exhausted this topic, Gianozzo proceeded to prove, that Leonardo was a poet. This led him to enumerate most of the Greek and Latin poets, and to explain the derivation of the termpoeta. In treating on this subject, he announces the marvellous discovery, that he who wishes to be a poet, must write excellent poems! “Itaque si quis poeta esse cuperet quædam egregia poemata scribat oportet.” Having endeavoured by sundry truly original arguments to vindicate Leonardo’s claim to the poetic wreath, he closed his harangue by the performance of the prescribed ceremony.The following list of such of the voluminous works of Leonardo Aretino as have been committed to the press, is extracted from the enumeration of his writings, subjoined to his life by Laurentius Mehus.1.Historiarum Florentini Populi, Lib. xii. Per Sixtum Brunonem Argent. 1610.fol. Ejusdem traductio Italica a Donato Acciajolo Venetiis, 1473, Florentiæ, 1492.Venetiis, 1560.Ibidem a Sansovino, 1561.2.Leonardi Arretini de Temporibus suis Libri duo.Venetiis, 1475 and 1485.Lugduni apud Gryphium, 1539.Argentorati per Sixtum Brunonem, 1610.It was reprinted by Muratori, in the 19th vol. of hisRer. Italic. Script.3.De bello Italico adversus Gothos gesto Libri quatuor.This work is founded upon the Greek history of Procopius. It has been edited in the following places:Fulginii per Emilianum Fulginatum, 1470.Venetiis per Nicolaum Jenson, 1471.Basileæ, 1531.Parisiis, 1534.It was also printed together with Zosimus,Basileæ, 1576, and with Agathias and Jornandes,Lugd. 1594.Bellovisiis, 1607.4.De Bello Punico Libri tres. Brixiæ, 1498.Paris, apud Ascensium, 1512.Augustæ Vindel. 1537.5.Commentarium Rerum Græcarumwas edited by Gryphius,Lug. 1539.Lipsiæ a Joach. Camerario, 1546.Argentorati, 1610, per Sixtum Brunonem.It was also reprinted by Gronovius in the 6th volume of hisThes. Antiq. Græc.6.Isagogicon moralis disciplinæ ad Galeotum Ricasolanum.This work also bears the title ofDialogus de moribus ad Galeottum, &c.and under the title ofAristoteles de moribus ad Eudemum Latine Leonardo Arretino interprete, it was printed,Lovanii, 1475.Paris, juxta de la Mare, 1512.Ibidem, 1516, per Ascensium.7.Ad Petrum Histrium dialogorum Libri.Basileæ, 1536, per Henricum Petri, &c.Paris, 1642.8.De studiis et litteris ad illustrem Dominam Baptistam de Malatestis. Argentinæ, 1512.It was also published by Gabriel Naudæus in 1642, and it composes part of a book entitledHugonis Grotii et aliorum dissertationes de studiis bene instituendis, Amstelæd. 1645. It was also printed by Thomas Crenius in hisMeth. Stud. tom. i. Num. x. Rotterod. 1692.9.Laudatio Cl. V. Johannis Strozæ Equitis Florentini, was published by Baluzzi in the third volume of his Miscellanies.10.Imperatoris Heliogabali Oratio protreptica, sive adhortatoria ad Meretrices, published by Aldus Manutius in hisHistoriæ Augustæ Scriptores Minores, Venetiis, 1519.11.Oratio in Hypocritaswas printed in theFasciculusof Ortuinus GratiusColoniæ, 1535.Lugd. 1679.Londini, 1691.It was again published in the year 1699, from a copy in the possession of Antonio Magliabecchi.12.La Vita di Dante e i costumi e studj di Messer Francesco Petrarca.The life of Petrarca was edited by Philippus Tomasinus in hisPetraca Redivivus, printed at Padua, 1650. It was again printed, together with the life of Dante, an. 1671.13.Magni Basilii Liber per Leonardum Arretinum de Græco in Latinum translatus—Brixiæ, 1485, per Boninum de Boninis—Bononiæ, 1497.Argentorati, 1507.Paris, 1508.Romæ, 1594.14.Marci Antonii Vita.15.Vita Pyrrhi Epirotarum Regis.16.Vita Pauli Emilii.17.Tiberii et Caii Gracchorum Vitæ.18.Q. Sertorii Vita.19.Catonis Uticensis Vita.20.Vita Demosthenis.The seven foregoing pieces of biography, translated by Leonardo, from the Greek of Plutarch, were printed,Basileæ apud Isingrinium, 1542.21.Leonardi Arretini Apologia Socratis. Bononiæ, 1502.22.Aristotelis Ethicorum Libri decem secundum traductionem Leonardi Arretini.Paris, 1504 & 1510, per Henricum Stephanum, &1516, per Ascensium.23.Aristotelis Politicorum, Libri viii.perLeonardum Arretinum in Latinum traducti. Venetiis, 1504, 1505, 1511, 1517.Basil. 1538.24.Oeconomicorum Aristotelis libri duo, a Leonardo Arretino in Latinum conversi. Basileæ, 1538.25.Oratio Æschinis in Ctesiphontem a Leonardo Arretino in Latinum conversa. Basileæ a Cratandro, 1528, 1540.26.Oratio Demosthenis contra Aeschinem a Leonardo Arretino in Latinum e Græco traducta. Basileæ a Cratandro, 1528, 1540.27.De crudeli amoris exitu Guisguardi et Sigismundæ Tancredi Salernitanorum Principis filiæ. Turon, 1467.This version of Bocaccio’s well known tale is also printed in the works of Pius II.28.Epistolarum Libri viii. ann. 1472, fol. ab Antonio Moreto et Hieronymo Alexandrino.A second edition was printed, ann. 1495—a third,Augustæ, 1521, apud Knoblochium—a fourth,Basileæ, 1535, apud Henricum Petri—a fifth,Basileæ, 1724, apud Albertum Fabricium—a sixth,Florentiæ, 1741, edente Meho.29.Canzone Morale di Messer Lionardo.This poem is printed in the third volume of Crescimbeni’s Italian poetry.The inspection of the foregoing catalogue will evince the diligence with which Leonardo Aretino prosecuted his studies. The numerous editions through which many of his works have passed afford a sufficient indication of the esteem in which they were held by the learned men of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

[243]Concil. tom. xxx. p. 162.

[244]“Turpem etiam illum abusum in quibusdam frequentatum ecclesiis, quo certis anni celebritatibus nonnulli cum mitrâ, baculo, ac vestibus pontificalibus more episcoporum benedicunt, alii ut reges ac duces induti, quod festum fatuorum vel innocentium, seu puerorum, in quibusdam regionibus nuncupatur, alii larvales et theatrales jocos, alii choreas et tripudia marium ac mulierum facientes, homines ad spectacula et cachinnationes movent, alii comessationes et convivia ibidem præparant; hæc sancta Synodus detestans, statuit et jubet tam ordinariis quam ecclesiarum decanis et rectoribus, sub pœnâ suspensionis omnium proventuum ecclesiasticorum trium mensium spatio, ne hæc aut similia ludibria, neque etiam mercantias seu negotiationes nundinarum in ecclesiis quæ domus orationis esse debent, ac etiam cæmeterio exercere amplius permittant, transgressoresque, per censuram ecclesiasticam, aliaque juris remedia punire non negligant, omnes autem consuetudines, statuta ac privilegia quæ his non concordant circa hæc decretis, nisi forte majores adjicerent pœnas, irritas esse hæc sancta synodus decernit.”

[245]Concil. tom. xxx. p. 166.

[246]Concil. tom. xxx. p. 180.

[247]On the 15th of October, 1435, the council condemned as heretical various propositions which had been lately maintained by Agostino di Roma, archbishop of Nazareth, in three elaborate theological tracts. Those whose anxiety to preserve the purity of the catholic faith leads them to wish to know what sentiments it is their duty to reject, and those who are interested in observing the niceties of theological distinctions, will perhaps be gratified by the following recital of the dangerous errors which incurred the severe reprehension and reprobation of the venerable synod of Basil.“Et postissime scandalosam illam assertionem, erroneam in fide, in ipso libello contentam, quam piæ fidelium aures sine horrore audire non possunt, videlicet: Christus quotidie peccat; ex quo fuit Christus quotidie peccavit; quamvis de capite ecclesiæ Christo Jesu Salvatore nostro dicat se non intelligere, sed ad membra sua, quæ cum Christo capite unum esse Christum asseruit, intelligentiam ejus esse referendam dicat. Nec non et propositiones istas, et eis in sententiâ similes, quas in articulos damnatos in sacro Constantiensi Concilio incidere declarat, videlicet: Non omnes fideles justificati sunt membra Christi, sed soli electi, finaliter in perpetuum regnaturi cum Christo. Secundum ineffabilem præscientiam Dei sumuntur membra Christi, ex quibus constat ecclesia, quæ tamen non constat nisi ex eis qui secundum propositum electionis vocati sunt. Non sufficit Christo uniri vinculo caritatis, ut aliqui efficiantur membra Christi, sed requiritur alia unio. Has etiam quæ sequuntur: Humana natura in Christo, vere est Christus. Humana natura in Christo, est persona Christi. Ratio suppositalis determinans humanam naturam in Christo non realiter distinguitur ab ispâ naturâ determinatâ. Natura humana in Christo procul dubio est persona verbi; et verbum in Christo naturâ assumpta, est realiter persona assumens. Natura humana assumpta a verbo ex unione personali, est veraciter Deus naturalis et proprius. Christus secundum voluntatem creatam tantum diligit naturam humanam unitam personæ verbi, quantum diligit naturam divinam. Sicut duæ personæ in divinis sunt æqualiter diligibiles ita duæ naturæ in Christo, humana et divina, sunt æqualiter diligibiles propter personam communem. Anima Christi videt Deum tam clare et intense, quantum clare et intense Deus videt seipsum. Quas quidem propositiones, et alias ex eâdem radice procedentes, in prædicto libello contentas, tamquam erroneas in fide, damnat et reprobat hæc sancta Synodus.”—Concil. tom. xxx. p. 172.

“Et postissime scandalosam illam assertionem, erroneam in fide, in ipso libello contentam, quam piæ fidelium aures sine horrore audire non possunt, videlicet: Christus quotidie peccat; ex quo fuit Christus quotidie peccavit; quamvis de capite ecclesiæ Christo Jesu Salvatore nostro dicat se non intelligere, sed ad membra sua, quæ cum Christo capite unum esse Christum asseruit, intelligentiam ejus esse referendam dicat. Nec non et propositiones istas, et eis in sententiâ similes, quas in articulos damnatos in sacro Constantiensi Concilio incidere declarat, videlicet: Non omnes fideles justificati sunt membra Christi, sed soli electi, finaliter in perpetuum regnaturi cum Christo. Secundum ineffabilem præscientiam Dei sumuntur membra Christi, ex quibus constat ecclesia, quæ tamen non constat nisi ex eis qui secundum propositum electionis vocati sunt. Non sufficit Christo uniri vinculo caritatis, ut aliqui efficiantur membra Christi, sed requiritur alia unio. Has etiam quæ sequuntur: Humana natura in Christo, vere est Christus. Humana natura in Christo, est persona Christi. Ratio suppositalis determinans humanam naturam in Christo non realiter distinguitur ab ispâ naturâ determinatâ. Natura humana in Christo procul dubio est persona verbi; et verbum in Christo naturâ assumpta, est realiter persona assumens. Natura humana assumpta a verbo ex unione personali, est veraciter Deus naturalis et proprius. Christus secundum voluntatem creatam tantum diligit naturam humanam unitam personæ verbi, quantum diligit naturam divinam. Sicut duæ personæ in divinis sunt æqualiter diligibiles ita duæ naturæ in Christo, humana et divina, sunt æqualiter diligibiles propter personam communem. Anima Christi videt Deum tam clare et intense, quantum clare et intense Deus videt seipsum. Quas quidem propositiones, et alias ex eâdem radice procedentes, in prædicto libello contentas, tamquam erroneas in fide, damnat et reprobat hæc sancta Synodus.”—Concil. tom. xxx. p. 172.

[248]Panormitani Epist. lib. v. ep. 118, as referred to by the French and Italian translators of the life of Poggio.

[249]Apostolo Zeno Dissertazioni Vossiane, tom. i. p. 37, 38.

[250]Poggii Opera, p. 65, 67.Mehi vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. lii.

[251]The catalogue of reliques of Roman architecture, which Poggio has inserted in the interesting pröemium to his dialogueDe varietate Fortunæ, evinces the diligence and care with which he had surveyed the ruins of ancient Rome. This catalogue did not escape the extensive researches of Gibbon, who has introduced it into the 71st chapter of hisDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

[252]“Poggius noster sæpe mecum est; reliquias civitatis probe callens nos comitatur.”—Ambrosii Traversarii Epistolæ, p. 407.In a letter to Bartolomeo Facio, Poggio thus invites him to visit the ruins of Rome. “Video te cupere urbem visere, et certe nisi incoeptum opus, ut ais, impediret hortarer te ad inspiciendas reliquias ejus urbis quæ quondam orbis lumen præclarissimum fuit. Equidem quamvis in eâ jam pluribus annis ab ipsâ juventute fuerim versatus, tamen quotide tamquam novus incola tantarum rerum admiratione obstupesco, recreoque persæpe animum visu eorum ædificiorum, quæ stulti propter ingenii imbecillitatem a Dæmonibus facta dicunt.”—Facius de viris Illustribus, p. 97.

[252]“Poggius noster sæpe mecum est; reliquias civitatis probe callens nos comitatur.”—Ambrosii Traversarii Epistolæ, p. 407.

In a letter to Bartolomeo Facio, Poggio thus invites him to visit the ruins of Rome. “Video te cupere urbem visere, et certe nisi incoeptum opus, ut ais, impediret hortarer te ad inspiciendas reliquias ejus urbis quæ quondam orbis lumen præclarissimum fuit. Equidem quamvis in eâ jam pluribus annis ab ipsâ juventute fuerim versatus, tamen quotide tamquam novus incola tantarum rerum admiratione obstupesco, recreoque persæpe animum visu eorum ædificiorum, quæ stulti propter ingenii imbecillitatem a Dæmonibus facta dicunt.”—Facius de viris Illustribus, p. 97.

[253]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. lii.

[254]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. lii.Poggii Epist. citat. a Ton. tom. i. p. 258.

[255]Poggii Opera, p. 321.

[256]Ibid.

[257]Ibid, p. 329.

[258]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. lii. liii.

[259]From an expression which Poggio uses in a letter on the subject of Francesco’s conduct, addressed to Andreolo Giustiniano, it should seem, either that the busts did not answer the expectation which he had formed concerning the exquisiteness of their workmanship, or that he suspected that Francesco had substituted inferior pieces of sculpture, in the place of those destined for him by Suffretus. The following is the expression in question. “Cum Suffretus quidem Rhodius ei consignasset tria capita marmorea, et signum integrum duorum fere cubitorum, quæ Franciscus se ad me allaturum promisit,capita quædam dedit, signo autem me fraudavit,” &c. Perhaps, however, quædam is, by an error of the press, substituted for quidem.

[260]Poggii Opera, p. 329.

[261]Poggii Opera, p. 329.

[262]The admirer of ancient art will find the principles, the observance of which led to the perfection to which it was carried by the Greeks, clearly and forcibly explained in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth pages of Mr. Fuseli’sLectures on Painting. Of this work it may be asserted, that hardly any composition in the English language comprehends an equal quantity of thought in the same compass of expression. Almost every sentence which it contains is a theme of reflection, a text, pregnant with the most useful instruction.

[263]Poggii Epist. lvii. p. 181.

[264]Poggii Opera, p. 357, & seq.

[265]Poggii Opera, p. 366.

[266]See note to Tonelli’s translation, vol. i. p. 264.

[267]Poggii vita a Recanatio, p. xiv.

[268]Poggii vita a Recanatio, p. xiv.

[269]This dialogue was, for upwards of three centuries, buried in the repositories of Manuscripts which are stored up in a few public libraries on the continent of Europe. In the year 1802, the author of this work was fortunate enough to find in the thenBibliothéque Nationale, nowBibliothéque du Roi, at Paris, a very legible manuscript copy of it, which he carefully transcribed; and soon after his return home he printed a very small impression of it for distribution among his literary friends. A copy of this impression having been sent by him to the late Dr. Parr, that eminent scholar urged him to reprint and publish it, with a few necessary corrections. The wish of Parr was complied with, and the Dialogue was brought out in the year 1807, with a Latin preface and a Latin dedication to the late Mr. Roscoe. In the year 1823, the Signor Pecchioli published at Florence a new edition of it, which is enriched with various readings from a MS. in the Riccardi library.

[270]In the first edition of the work it was stated that Poggio, on his marriage, not only parted with his mistress, but also deprived four of his illegitimate children, who were then living, of an inheritance which he had secured to them by a Bull of legitimacy. This statement, however, rests only on the authority of Valla, the bitter personal enemy of Poggio, and it has been satisfactorily proved by the Cavaliere Tonelli (Ton. Tr. vol. i. p. 266.) that this imputation is of the number of those calumnies in which the scholars of the fifteenth century were, in their contests with each other, so apt to indulge.

[271]Poggii Epistolæ lvii. epist. xxxvii.

[272]Poggii Opera, p. 355.

[273]The correspondence above referred to, which was first brought into public notice by the Cavaliere Tonelli, (Ton. Tr. vol. i. p. 276-283) is to be found in the Riccardi and the Hafod manuscripts.

[274]Ton. Tr. vol. i. p. 284, Note.

[275]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. xxxiii.

[276]Though no literary works of Francesco Marescalco have descended to posterity, and though from the designation of “Franciscum quendam Ferrariensem,” by which he is mentioned in a letter from Poggio to Niccolo Niccoli, it should seem that he was not much known, even to his contemporaries, the circumstance of Poggio’s inscribing to him a volume of his compositions affords reasonable grounds for a supposition that he was a man of learning, and of a respectable character. This supposition is confirmed by the respectful manner in which Poggio, in the following letter, thanks him for the offer of his friendship, and the assurance of his esteem.“I have long maintained a most pleasant intercourse with my friend Scipio, of Ferrara, a man, whose learning and liberal manners lay an irresistible claim to my esteem and love. We often spend our leisure time in conversing together on various subjects, and particularly on the characters of learned and eloquent men. Of this number he assures me that you are one. He informs me, that you are not only devoted to literature, which circumstance is of itself a great recommendation, but, what is of the greatest weight, that your manners are most amiable, and that you are endowed with the most attractive virtues. He moreover says, that you are very much attached to me. This is a piece of intelligence which, I must confess, affords me the sincerest pleasure; for there is nothing, my dear Francesco, which I have more at heart, than to gain the esteem and good will of my fellow mortals. You are sensible that he who is favoured with the affection of his acquaintance, especially of those who are dignified by their virtues, is truly rich, and possesses a source of sincere enjoyment. I therefore most heartily embrace your proffered friendship, from which I trust I shall derive both pleasure and honour. Be assured of this, that I shall do my utmost endeavour to confirm, by my conduct, those friendly sentiments which you have voluntarily conceived on my behalf.—Farewell.”—Poggii Opera, p. 307.

“I have long maintained a most pleasant intercourse with my friend Scipio, of Ferrara, a man, whose learning and liberal manners lay an irresistible claim to my esteem and love. We often spend our leisure time in conversing together on various subjects, and particularly on the characters of learned and eloquent men. Of this number he assures me that you are one. He informs me, that you are not only devoted to literature, which circumstance is of itself a great recommendation, but, what is of the greatest weight, that your manners are most amiable, and that you are endowed with the most attractive virtues. He moreover says, that you are very much attached to me. This is a piece of intelligence which, I must confess, affords me the sincerest pleasure; for there is nothing, my dear Francesco, which I have more at heart, than to gain the esteem and good will of my fellow mortals. You are sensible that he who is favoured with the affection of his acquaintance, especially of those who are dignified by their virtues, is truly rich, and possesses a source of sincere enjoyment. I therefore most heartily embrace your proffered friendship, from which I trust I shall derive both pleasure and honour. Be assured of this, that I shall do my utmost endeavour to confirm, by my conduct, those friendly sentiments which you have voluntarily conceived on my behalf.—Farewell.”—Poggii Opera, p. 307.

[277]Poggii Epistolæ lvii. p. 273.

[278]Ibid.

[279]Poggii Opera, p. 270-277.

[280]See note on chap. iii. of this work.

[281]Poggii Opera, p. 274.

[282]“Delectabatur admodum tabulis et signis ac variis cœlaturis priscorum more. Plura enim prope solus atque exquisitiora habebat quam cæteri fere omnes.”—Poggii Opera, p. 276.

[283]Ibid.

[284]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. lxii.

[285]Gianozzo Manetti, who wrote memoirs of Niccolo Niccoli, which are printed from a Vatican MS. in Mehus’s life of Ambrogio Traversari,p. lxvi. et seq.“Raro tamen,” says Gianozzo, “vel numquam, latine loquendi, latineve scribendi onus suscipere voluit, eâ de causâ abductus, ut arbritror, quod quum nihil ab eo nisi plenum et perfectum probaretur, neque orationes, neque scripta sua sibi ipsi omni ex parte, ceu in aliis hominibus exigebat, satisfactura videbantur.” The testimony of Poggio may be adduced in confirmation of Gianozzo’s assertion. “Cum enim nihil nisi politum ac perfectum probaret, nequaquam sibi ipsi ejus scripta satisfacere videbantur.”—Poggii Opera, p. 274.

[286]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. lxi.

[287]“Illud quoque animadvertendum est Nicolaum Nicolum veluti parentem fuisse artis criticæ, quæ auctores veteres distinguit emendatque. Nam quum eos auctores ex vetustissimis codicibus exscriberet, qui suo potissimum consilio, aliorum vero operâ inventi sunt, non solum a mendis quibus obsiti erant expurgavit, sed etiam distinxit capitibusque locupletavit. Testis sit Lucretius, qui in Cod. Chart. Bibliothecæ Mediceo-Laurentianæ adservatur. In hoc enim codice manu Nicolai Niccoli diligentissime scripto aliquot libris capitula præfixa a Niccolo sunt. Testes duodecim Comœdiæ Plauti noviter eodem sæculo repertæ, Niccolique nostri manu in Cod. Chartaceo Bibliothecæ Marcianæ ut supra diximus exaratæ. Has enim quum descripsisset ex vetustissimo Codice Jordani Cardinalis Ursini ex Germaniâ Romam advecto, quem mendosissimum judicavit Poggius, earum tamen exemplum a Niccolo nostro confectum paucis mendis, iisque levissimis deturpatum est.”—Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. 1.

[288]Gianotti Manettii Vita Nicolai Nicoli, apud Mehi Vitam Ambros. Travers. p. lxxvi.

[289]Ibid, p. lxxvii.

[290]These and the following particulars are collected from a life of Niccolo Niccoli, written by Gianozzo Manetti, and composing part of a volume,De Illustribus Longævis, dedicated by him to Lodovico Gusman, governor of the province of Calatrava. In proof of the delicacy of Niccolo’s feelings, Gianozzo assures his reader of the wonderful fact, that he disliked the braying of an ass, the grating of a saw, and the squeaking of a mouse caught in a trap. “Neque rudentem asinum, neque secantem serram, neque muscipulam vagientem sentire audireve poterat.”—Mehi Vita Ambros. Travers. p. lxxvii.

[291]Concil. tom. xxx. p. 212-217.The orthodoxy of the editor of the acts of the councils has induced him to attach the following marginal observation to the decree which thus levelled the thunder of the rebels of Basil at the sacred head of the pontiff—“Multa in hac synodo sparsim habentur quæ pontifici et ejus auctoritati derogant, quæ sunt caute legenda.”

[292]Concil. tom. xxx. p. 221, 222.

[293]Ibid, p. 226, et seq.

[294]Ibid, p. 232, et seq.

[295]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 169, 170.

[296]Labbe Concil. tom. xiii. p. 876.

[297]Muratori Rer. Italic. Script. tom. iii. p. 870.

[298]Concil. tom. xxx. p. 189.

[299]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 173.

[300]Ibid, p. 176, 177.

[301]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. 430.

[302]Labbei Concilia, tom. xiii. p. 1164.

[303]Labbei Concilia, tom. xiii. p. 1165-1168.

[304]Zeno Dissert. Vos. tom. i. p. 307.

[305]Zeno Dissert. Voss. tom. i. p. 308.

[306]Ibid, p. 316.

[307]Poggii Opera, p. 349, 350.

[308]Poggii Opera, p. 350, 351, 352.

[309]Ibid, p. 353, 354, 355.Two manuscript copies of this work are preserved in the Laurentian, and a third in the Magliabecchian library at Florence. A fourth is deposited in the Ambrogian collection at Milan. The disgusting ribaldry of Beccatelli fully justifies the reproof which he received from Poggio. It is a disgrace to literature, that his work should have been lately committed to the press under the superintendence of a French editor.The Hermaphroditus was openly condemned, not only by Poggio, but also by Filelfo, Laurentius Valla, and by Mariano da Volterra, who inveighed against it in a long poem. It was the subject of reprobation in the sermons of Bernadino da Siena, and of Roberto da Lecce, who caused it to be burnt in the public squares of Bologna and Milan. The zeal of Valla, (which, by the way, was kindled as much by personal enmity as by a regard to morality) prompted him to hope that the same fate awaited its author.Besides the Hermaphroditus, Beccatelli published a variety of works, which are thus enumerated by Apostolo Zeno. 1. Alphonsi Regis Triumphus. 2. De Rebus gestis Ferdinandi Regis. 3. In coronatione Friderici III. Imperatoris Oratio Romæ habita 1452. 4. Ad Alphonsum Siciliæ Regem Oratio. 6. Oratio ad Caetanos de pace. 7. Oratio ad Venetos de pace. 8. Epistolarum Libri V. 9. Carmina. 10. Epistolæ et Orationes. 11. Epistolarum & Carminum liber. 12. In Rhodum Poema. 13. Tragediæ. 14. Commentarius in Plautum. 15. Elegiæ. 16. De dictis et factis Alphonsi Regis Libri IV.Vallæ Invectiva secunda in Facium, sub finem.—Zeno Diss. Voss. tom. i. p. 315, 316.

The Hermaphroditus was openly condemned, not only by Poggio, but also by Filelfo, Laurentius Valla, and by Mariano da Volterra, who inveighed against it in a long poem. It was the subject of reprobation in the sermons of Bernadino da Siena, and of Roberto da Lecce, who caused it to be burnt in the public squares of Bologna and Milan. The zeal of Valla, (which, by the way, was kindled as much by personal enmity as by a regard to morality) prompted him to hope that the same fate awaited its author.

Besides the Hermaphroditus, Beccatelli published a variety of works, which are thus enumerated by Apostolo Zeno. 1. Alphonsi Regis Triumphus. 2. De Rebus gestis Ferdinandi Regis. 3. In coronatione Friderici III. Imperatoris Oratio Romæ habita 1452. 4. Ad Alphonsum Siciliæ Regem Oratio. 6. Oratio ad Caetanos de pace. 7. Oratio ad Venetos de pace. 8. Epistolarum Libri V. 9. Carmina. 10. Epistolæ et Orationes. 11. Epistolarum & Carminum liber. 12. In Rhodum Poema. 13. Tragediæ. 14. Commentarius in Plautum. 15. Elegiæ. 16. De dictis et factis Alphonsi Regis Libri IV.Vallæ Invectiva secunda in Facium, sub finem.—Zeno Diss. Voss. tom. i. p. 315, 316.

[310]Concil. tom. xxx. p. 271.

[311]Ibid, p. 298.

[312]In theFasciculus Rer. Expet. et Fugiend. tom. i. p. 46-54, there is a very entertaining account drawn up by Æneas Sylvius of the organization and proceedings of the conclave which elected Amedeus to the pontificate, and of the splendid procession which took place at the coronation of this Anti-Pope, who assumed the name of Felix.

[313]Mehi Vita Ambros. Travers. p. ccccxxvii.

[314]Elogi degli uomini illustri Toscani, tom. i. p. cccxlvi.

[315]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. ccccv.

[316]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. ccccxxvii.

[317]Ibid, p. ccccxxviii.

[318]Apostolo Zeno Diss. Vos. tom. i. p. 81.

[319]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. ccccxxxii.The author of the life of Ambrogio, in theElogi degli uomini illustri Toscani, mentions this report in the following terms. “Non manca chi creda, che Iddio a intercessione di Ambrogio facesse ancor dei prodigi. E certamente, l’esser dopo la di lui morte, nati spontaneamente gigli ed altri fiori sopra il suo cadavere, che colti dai Religiosi instantaneamente rifiorivano per tutto il luogo occupato dalla venerabile di lui spoglia, sembra cosa più che naturale. Eppure di ciò fanno fede persone che hanno potuto vedere ocularmente un tal prodigio al sacro Eremo di Camaldoli.”p. cccxlviii. cccxlix.

[320]See Poggio’s dialogue on Hypocrisy in theFasciculus Rer. Expet. et fugiend. tom. ii. p. 583.

[321]Recanati Osservazioni, p. 19.

[322]Poggiana, tom. ii. p. 322-326.

[323]Ton. Tr. vol. ii. p. 22.

[324]The short-sightedness of the Florentines seems to have been a subject of proverbial sarcasm to their neighbours. “Bartolomeo Soccini, of Siena,” says Mr. Roscoe, in his life of Lorenzo de’ Medici, “having observed, in allusion to the defect in Lorenzo’s sight, that the air of Florence was injurious to the eyes—true, said Lorenzo,and that of Siena to the brain.” When Leo X. was elected to the pontificate, the Roman wits thus interpreted a certain date of the yearMCCCCXL, which was inscribed on a tablet in the church of the Vatican: Multi cæci cardinales creaverunt cæcum decimum Leonem.Roscoe’s Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici, vol. ii. p. 119—Fabroni Vita Leonis. X.

Roscoe’s Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici, vol. ii. p. 119—Fabroni Vita Leonis. X.

[325]Poggii Opera, p. 333, 339.

[326]Philelfi Opera, p. 13.

[327]Philelfi Epistolæ, p. 18.

[328]Ibid.

[329]Ibid.

[330]Poggii Opera, p. 175.

[331]Poggii Opera, p. 176.

[332]Poggii Opera, p. 186, 187.

[333]Poggii Opera, p. 64-83.

[334]Poggii Opera, p. 225-328.Besides Gregorio Corriario, two other Venetian scholars, Pietro Tommasi and Lauro Querini, expressed their displeasure at the manner in which Poggio had treated the Venetian patricians in his dialogueDe Nobilitate; the former in a letter addressed to Poggio—the latter, not only by a letter, but also in an express treatise on the same subject. To the former Poggio returned a civil reply—the latter, who seems to have been an ill-tempered man, he treated with contempt.Ton. Tr. vol. ii. p. 42.

[335]Poggii Opera, p. 278.

[336]Poggii Opera, p. 285.

[337]Poggii Historia Flor. p. 339.—Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 185.—Lorenzo Valla, in hisAntidotus, charges Poggio with the infamous villany of forging the commission, by virtue of which Vitelleschi was arrested; and asserts, that he was protected from the punishment due to his crime, by the power of the statesmen who had bribed him to commit so atrocious a deed. It is not, however, very probable, that any interest could have screened from punishment a secretary who stood convicted of so heinous an offence as counterfeiting the signature of a sovereign prince, for the purpose of committing murder: still less, that a subordinate officer who had taken such a wicked liberty, should have been continued in his place.—Laurentii Vallæ Antidotus in Poggium, p. 109.

[338]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 186.

[339]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 199.

[340]Poggii Opera, p. 344.

[341]Poggii Epistolæ lvii. ep. liv.

[342]Poggii Epistolæ lvii. p. 282.

[343]Poggii Epistolæ lvii. p. 284.

[344]According to the tables of the relative value of money at different periods, the volume above mentioned may be said to have cost Lionello £250 or £300 sterling.—Ton. Tr. vol. ii. p. 54.

[345]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 195, 196.

[346]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 198.

[347]Muratori Rer. Italic. Script. tom. vi. p. 915.

[348]Poggii Opera, p. 261-269.The disease of which he died was the stone. Poggio asserts, that after his death, a calculus of the weight of a pound was extracted from his bladder.

[349]Vita Nicolai V. a Jannotio Manetti apud Muratorii Rer. Italic Script. tom. iii. p. ii. p. 908 et. seq.

[350]Poggii Opera, p. 390, 391.The data of the publication of the dialogue above mentioned is ascertained by an unpublished Epistle of Poggio, cited by Tonelli,Tr. vol. ii. p. 62.

[351]Poggii Opera, p. 392-419.

[352]In the Basil edition of Poggio’s works, the dialogueDe Infelicitate Principumis so incorrectly printed, that it is frequently difficult to decypher the meaning of the author. An edition of the same dialogue, printed in 12mo. at Frankfort, by Erasmus Kempffer, in the year 1629, is one of the most incorrect books which ever disgraced a press. Fortunately, however, the one of these copies is frequently of use in correcting the errors of the other.

[353]Janotii Manetti pro Leonardo Aretino Oratio Funebris, Epistolis Leonardi a Meho editis prœfixa, p. civ.

[354]Janotii Manetti pro Leonardo Aretino Oratio Funebris, Epistolis Leonardi a Meho editis prœfixa, p. cxiv.

[355]The following analysis of Gianozzo’s oration will be sufficient to prove, that the foregoing censure is by no means too severe.—He began his address by informing his auditors, that if the immortal Muses (“immortales Musæ divinæquo Camœnæ”) could have deemed it compatible with their dignity to make an oration, either in the Latin or the Greek language, or to weep in public, they would not have delegated to another the task of paying the last honours to Leonardo; but since this exhibition of their grief was contrary to the usual habits of the Nine, the administrators of the Tuscan government had determined that the virtues of the deceased should be celebrated by one of his colleagues. He then with due modesty declared, that their choice having been directed to himself, not on account of his talents, but in consequence of his filling one of the principal offices of the state, he had prepared himself for the occasion, not to his own satisfaction, but as well as the brevity of the time allowed him for the purpose would permit.—The orator then proceeded to give a sketch of the life of Leonardo. When he arrived at that period of it in which the deceased became one of the public functionaries of the state, he detailed at some length the history of the Florentine republic during the time of Leonardo’s possession of civic and military offices. In the course of his minute detail of Leonardo’s literary labours, he contrived to introduce brief notices of a considerable number of Greek and Latin writers, and enlarged particularly upon the merits of Livy and Cicero, to each of whom he represented Leonardo as superior, since he not only translated Greek authors into Latin, after the example of the latter, but also wrote histories, in emulation of the former, thus uniting the excellencies of both. After this, preparing to perform the ceremony of coronation, he proved by historical evidence, that the custom of crowning emperors and poets was very ancient. Descanting on the various kinds of military crowns, he informed his auditors, that by the frequent perusal of ancient writers, he had ascertained, that of these tokens of honour there were eight different species, namely, the Corona Obsidionalis, Civica, Muralis, Castrensis, Navalis, Ovalis, quasi Triumphalis, and Triumphalis. The description of the materials of which these crowns were severally made, the occasions on which they were bestowed, the enumeration of divers eminent commanders whose brows they had adorned, led the errant orator into a further digression, from which he did not return before he had detailed at great length the reasons why poets should be crowned with laurel, in preference to ivy, palm, olive, or any other species of evergreen. This dissertation on crowns occupies the space of five quarto pages, closely printed in a small type. Having exhausted this topic, Gianozzo proceeded to prove, that Leonardo was a poet. This led him to enumerate most of the Greek and Latin poets, and to explain the derivation of the termpoeta. In treating on this subject, he announces the marvellous discovery, that he who wishes to be a poet, must write excellent poems! “Itaque si quis poeta esse cuperet quædam egregia poemata scribat oportet.” Having endeavoured by sundry truly original arguments to vindicate Leonardo’s claim to the poetic wreath, he closed his harangue by the performance of the prescribed ceremony.The following list of such of the voluminous works of Leonardo Aretino as have been committed to the press, is extracted from the enumeration of his writings, subjoined to his life by Laurentius Mehus.1.Historiarum Florentini Populi, Lib. xii. Per Sixtum Brunonem Argent. 1610.fol. Ejusdem traductio Italica a Donato Acciajolo Venetiis, 1473, Florentiæ, 1492.Venetiis, 1560.Ibidem a Sansovino, 1561.2.Leonardi Arretini de Temporibus suis Libri duo.Venetiis, 1475 and 1485.Lugduni apud Gryphium, 1539.Argentorati per Sixtum Brunonem, 1610.It was reprinted by Muratori, in the 19th vol. of hisRer. Italic. Script.3.De bello Italico adversus Gothos gesto Libri quatuor.This work is founded upon the Greek history of Procopius. It has been edited in the following places:Fulginii per Emilianum Fulginatum, 1470.Venetiis per Nicolaum Jenson, 1471.Basileæ, 1531.Parisiis, 1534.It was also printed together with Zosimus,Basileæ, 1576, and with Agathias and Jornandes,Lugd. 1594.Bellovisiis, 1607.4.De Bello Punico Libri tres. Brixiæ, 1498.Paris, apud Ascensium, 1512.Augustæ Vindel. 1537.5.Commentarium Rerum Græcarumwas edited by Gryphius,Lug. 1539.Lipsiæ a Joach. Camerario, 1546.Argentorati, 1610, per Sixtum Brunonem.It was also reprinted by Gronovius in the 6th volume of hisThes. Antiq. Græc.6.Isagogicon moralis disciplinæ ad Galeotum Ricasolanum.This work also bears the title ofDialogus de moribus ad Galeottum, &c.and under the title ofAristoteles de moribus ad Eudemum Latine Leonardo Arretino interprete, it was printed,Lovanii, 1475.Paris, juxta de la Mare, 1512.Ibidem, 1516, per Ascensium.7.Ad Petrum Histrium dialogorum Libri.Basileæ, 1536, per Henricum Petri, &c.Paris, 1642.8.De studiis et litteris ad illustrem Dominam Baptistam de Malatestis. Argentinæ, 1512.It was also published by Gabriel Naudæus in 1642, and it composes part of a book entitledHugonis Grotii et aliorum dissertationes de studiis bene instituendis, Amstelæd. 1645. It was also printed by Thomas Crenius in hisMeth. Stud. tom. i. Num. x. Rotterod. 1692.9.Laudatio Cl. V. Johannis Strozæ Equitis Florentini, was published by Baluzzi in the third volume of his Miscellanies.10.Imperatoris Heliogabali Oratio protreptica, sive adhortatoria ad Meretrices, published by Aldus Manutius in hisHistoriæ Augustæ Scriptores Minores, Venetiis, 1519.11.Oratio in Hypocritaswas printed in theFasciculusof Ortuinus GratiusColoniæ, 1535.Lugd. 1679.Londini, 1691.It was again published in the year 1699, from a copy in the possession of Antonio Magliabecchi.12.La Vita di Dante e i costumi e studj di Messer Francesco Petrarca.The life of Petrarca was edited by Philippus Tomasinus in hisPetraca Redivivus, printed at Padua, 1650. It was again printed, together with the life of Dante, an. 1671.13.Magni Basilii Liber per Leonardum Arretinum de Græco in Latinum translatus—Brixiæ, 1485, per Boninum de Boninis—Bononiæ, 1497.Argentorati, 1507.Paris, 1508.Romæ, 1594.14.Marci Antonii Vita.15.Vita Pyrrhi Epirotarum Regis.16.Vita Pauli Emilii.17.Tiberii et Caii Gracchorum Vitæ.18.Q. Sertorii Vita.19.Catonis Uticensis Vita.20.Vita Demosthenis.The seven foregoing pieces of biography, translated by Leonardo, from the Greek of Plutarch, were printed,Basileæ apud Isingrinium, 1542.21.Leonardi Arretini Apologia Socratis. Bononiæ, 1502.22.Aristotelis Ethicorum Libri decem secundum traductionem Leonardi Arretini.Paris, 1504 & 1510, per Henricum Stephanum, &1516, per Ascensium.23.Aristotelis Politicorum, Libri viii.perLeonardum Arretinum in Latinum traducti. Venetiis, 1504, 1505, 1511, 1517.Basil. 1538.24.Oeconomicorum Aristotelis libri duo, a Leonardo Arretino in Latinum conversi. Basileæ, 1538.25.Oratio Æschinis in Ctesiphontem a Leonardo Arretino in Latinum conversa. Basileæ a Cratandro, 1528, 1540.26.Oratio Demosthenis contra Aeschinem a Leonardo Arretino in Latinum e Græco traducta. Basileæ a Cratandro, 1528, 1540.27.De crudeli amoris exitu Guisguardi et Sigismundæ Tancredi Salernitanorum Principis filiæ. Turon, 1467.This version of Bocaccio’s well known tale is also printed in the works of Pius II.28.Epistolarum Libri viii. ann. 1472, fol. ab Antonio Moreto et Hieronymo Alexandrino.A second edition was printed, ann. 1495—a third,Augustæ, 1521, apud Knoblochium—a fourth,Basileæ, 1535, apud Henricum Petri—a fifth,Basileæ, 1724, apud Albertum Fabricium—a sixth,Florentiæ, 1741, edente Meho.29.Canzone Morale di Messer Lionardo.This poem is printed in the third volume of Crescimbeni’s Italian poetry.The inspection of the foregoing catalogue will evince the diligence with which Leonardo Aretino prosecuted his studies. The numerous editions through which many of his works have passed afford a sufficient indication of the esteem in which they were held by the learned men of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The following list of such of the voluminous works of Leonardo Aretino as have been committed to the press, is extracted from the enumeration of his writings, subjoined to his life by Laurentius Mehus.

1.Historiarum Florentini Populi, Lib. xii. Per Sixtum Brunonem Argent. 1610.fol. Ejusdem traductio Italica a Donato Acciajolo Venetiis, 1473, Florentiæ, 1492.Venetiis, 1560.Ibidem a Sansovino, 1561.

2.Leonardi Arretini de Temporibus suis Libri duo.Venetiis, 1475 and 1485.Lugduni apud Gryphium, 1539.Argentorati per Sixtum Brunonem, 1610.It was reprinted by Muratori, in the 19th vol. of hisRer. Italic. Script.

3.De bello Italico adversus Gothos gesto Libri quatuor.This work is founded upon the Greek history of Procopius. It has been edited in the following places:Fulginii per Emilianum Fulginatum, 1470.Venetiis per Nicolaum Jenson, 1471.Basileæ, 1531.Parisiis, 1534.It was also printed together with Zosimus,Basileæ, 1576, and with Agathias and Jornandes,Lugd. 1594.Bellovisiis, 1607.

4.De Bello Punico Libri tres. Brixiæ, 1498.Paris, apud Ascensium, 1512.Augustæ Vindel. 1537.

5.Commentarium Rerum Græcarumwas edited by Gryphius,Lug. 1539.Lipsiæ a Joach. Camerario, 1546.Argentorati, 1610, per Sixtum Brunonem.It was also reprinted by Gronovius in the 6th volume of hisThes. Antiq. Græc.

6.Isagogicon moralis disciplinæ ad Galeotum Ricasolanum.This work also bears the title ofDialogus de moribus ad Galeottum, &c.and under the title ofAristoteles de moribus ad Eudemum Latine Leonardo Arretino interprete, it was printed,Lovanii, 1475.Paris, juxta de la Mare, 1512.Ibidem, 1516, per Ascensium.

7.Ad Petrum Histrium dialogorum Libri.Basileæ, 1536, per Henricum Petri, &c.Paris, 1642.

8.De studiis et litteris ad illustrem Dominam Baptistam de Malatestis. Argentinæ, 1512.It was also published by Gabriel Naudæus in 1642, and it composes part of a book entitledHugonis Grotii et aliorum dissertationes de studiis bene instituendis, Amstelæd. 1645. It was also printed by Thomas Crenius in hisMeth. Stud. tom. i. Num. x. Rotterod. 1692.

9.Laudatio Cl. V. Johannis Strozæ Equitis Florentini, was published by Baluzzi in the third volume of his Miscellanies.

10.Imperatoris Heliogabali Oratio protreptica, sive adhortatoria ad Meretrices, published by Aldus Manutius in hisHistoriæ Augustæ Scriptores Minores, Venetiis, 1519.

11.Oratio in Hypocritaswas printed in theFasciculusof Ortuinus GratiusColoniæ, 1535.Lugd. 1679.Londini, 1691.It was again published in the year 1699, from a copy in the possession of Antonio Magliabecchi.

12.La Vita di Dante e i costumi e studj di Messer Francesco Petrarca.The life of Petrarca was edited by Philippus Tomasinus in hisPetraca Redivivus, printed at Padua, 1650. It was again printed, together with the life of Dante, an. 1671.

13.Magni Basilii Liber per Leonardum Arretinum de Græco in Latinum translatus—Brixiæ, 1485, per Boninum de Boninis—Bononiæ, 1497.Argentorati, 1507.Paris, 1508.Romæ, 1594.

14.Marci Antonii Vita.

15.Vita Pyrrhi Epirotarum Regis.

16.Vita Pauli Emilii.

17.Tiberii et Caii Gracchorum Vitæ.

18.Q. Sertorii Vita.

19.Catonis Uticensis Vita.

20.Vita Demosthenis.The seven foregoing pieces of biography, translated by Leonardo, from the Greek of Plutarch, were printed,Basileæ apud Isingrinium, 1542.

21.Leonardi Arretini Apologia Socratis. Bononiæ, 1502.

22.Aristotelis Ethicorum Libri decem secundum traductionem Leonardi Arretini.Paris, 1504 & 1510, per Henricum Stephanum, &1516, per Ascensium.

23.Aristotelis Politicorum, Libri viii.perLeonardum Arretinum in Latinum traducti. Venetiis, 1504, 1505, 1511, 1517.Basil. 1538.

24.Oeconomicorum Aristotelis libri duo, a Leonardo Arretino in Latinum conversi. Basileæ, 1538.

25.Oratio Æschinis in Ctesiphontem a Leonardo Arretino in Latinum conversa. Basileæ a Cratandro, 1528, 1540.

26.Oratio Demosthenis contra Aeschinem a Leonardo Arretino in Latinum e Græco traducta. Basileæ a Cratandro, 1528, 1540.

27.De crudeli amoris exitu Guisguardi et Sigismundæ Tancredi Salernitanorum Principis filiæ. Turon, 1467.This version of Bocaccio’s well known tale is also printed in the works of Pius II.

28.Epistolarum Libri viii. ann. 1472, fol. ab Antonio Moreto et Hieronymo Alexandrino.A second edition was printed, ann. 1495—a third,Augustæ, 1521, apud Knoblochium—a fourth,Basileæ, 1535, apud Henricum Petri—a fifth,Basileæ, 1724, apud Albertum Fabricium—a sixth,Florentiæ, 1741, edente Meho.

29.Canzone Morale di Messer Lionardo.This poem is printed in the third volume of Crescimbeni’s Italian poetry.

The inspection of the foregoing catalogue will evince the diligence with which Leonardo Aretino prosecuted his studies. The numerous editions through which many of his works have passed afford a sufficient indication of the esteem in which they were held by the learned men of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

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