Chapter 33

[356]Poggio’s funeral oration for Leonardo is prefixed by Mehus to his edition of Leonardo’s letters.[357]Poggii Oratio Funebris in obitu Leonardi Aretini, apud Mehi editionem Leonardi Epistolarum, tom. i. p. cxxii.[358]Ibid.[359]Janotii Manetti Vita a Naldo, apud Muratori Rer. Italic. Script. tom. xxx. p. 533, 534.[360]Tiraboschi Storia della Letter. Ital. tom. vi. p. ii. p. 328, 329.[361]See the introduction to Poggio’s dialogue on Hypocrisy, in theFasciculus Rer. Expet. et. Fug. tom. ii. p. 571.[362]L’Enfant Histoire de la guerre des Hussites et du Conseil de Basle.[363]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. ccccxix. ccccxx. ccccxxi.[364]Mehi Vita Ambros. Travers. ut supra.[365]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 402.[366]Ibid, p. 406.[367]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 410, 412.[368]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 416.The foregoing particulars of the last illness and death of Eugenius were collected partly from a narrative of those events by Æneas Sylvius, which is preserved in the third vol. of Muratori’sRer. Italic. Script. p. ii. p. 890, and partly from the diary of one of the pontiff’s chamberlains, which occurs inp. 902of the same volume.[369]The unlettered Shakspeare was much better versed in the natural history of ecclesiastics than the learned Gianozzo.“Sometimes she cometh with a tythe-pig’s tail,Tickling the parson as he lies asleep;Then dreams he of another benefice.”[370]Janotii Manetti Vita Nicolai V. apud Muratori Rer. Italic. Script. tom. iii. p. 921.[371]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 417.[372]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 417.[373]Ibid, p. 425.[374]Ibid, p. 419.[375]Ibid, p. 420.[376]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 441.[377]Poggii Opera, p. 32.[378]Poggii Opera, p. 287-292.[379]“Optimi sanctissimique viri Nicolai quinti summi pontificis beneficentia id effecit, ut jam querelæ temporum sint prætereundæ, utque in gratiam aliquando cum fortuà videar rediisse.”—Poggii Opera, p. 32.[380]Poggii Hist. de Variet. Fort. p. 1, 2, 3.[381]Poggii Hist. de Variet. Fort. p. 6, 7.[382]Poggio’s narrative of the discoveries made by Niccolo Conti was translated into the Portuguese language, by the command of Emanuel I. king of Portugal. From the Portuguese version, an Italian translation was made by Giambattista Ramusio, who inserted it in the first volume of his collection of voyages and travels, printed in folio at Venice, in the year 1588. A small portion of the first book of the dialogueDe Varietate Fortunæcontaining the description of the ruins of Rome, is printed in the Basil edition of the works of Poggio. A manuscript copy of the entire dialogue was discovered in the library of the cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, nephew of pope Alexander VIII., by Lionardo Adami da Bolsena, who began to prepare it for the press. Lionardo having died before he had finished the transcript of the first book, the execution of his design was completed by the Abate Domenico Giorgi da Rovigo, who finished the transcript of the dialogue, illustrated it with notes, and subjoined to it fifty-seven of Poggio’s epistles, which had not yet seen the light. Under the superintendence of the Abate Oliva, the work thus prepared was printed at Paris, in 4to., an. 1723, by Coustellier.Zeno Diss. Voss. tom. i. p. 40. Dominici Georgii Prœfatio ad Poggii Hist. de Variet. Fort.[383]Fasciculus Rer. Expet. et Fugiend. tom. ii. p. 570-583.An edition of Leonardo Aretino and Poggio’s dialogues on Hypocrisy was published by Hieronymus Sincerus Lotharingus,ex typograghiá Anissoniá, Lugduni, 1679, in 16mo.[384]Poggii Opera, p. 159.[385]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 417.[386]Poggii Opera, p. 155-164.[387]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 431.[388]This translation of Diodorus Siculus was printed,Bononiæ, 1472, in folio.Bandini Catalogus Bibliothecæ Laurentianæ, tom. ii. p. 819.[389]Poggii Hist. de Variet. Fortunæ, p. 3.From the prefatory remarks which Poggio prefixed to his version of the Cyropædia, and which are quoted by Bandini, in hisCatalogus Bibliothecæ, Laurentianæ, tom. ii. p. 351, it should seem, that by omitting many of the dialogues and speeches, he had considerably abridged the work of Xenophon, whose eight books he had compressed into six. An Italian translation of Poggio’s version of the Cyropædia, made by his son Jacopo, was published at Florence by the Junta,an.1521. It is worthy of remark, that Poggio was the first literary character who declared his opinion (an opinion now generally entertained) that the Cyropædia is not a history, but a political romance.Ton. Tr. vol. ii. p. 108.[390]Facii Opera, p. 98.[391]Bartolomeo Facio was a native of Spezia, a sea-port in the Genoese territory. The most curious inquirers into the history of literature have not yet been able to ascertain the precise period of his birth. From many passages however which occur in his works it appears, that he was indebted for instruction in the Latin and Greek languages to Guarino Veronese, whom he frequently mentions in terms of affectionate esteem. Facio was one of the numerous assemblage of scholars that rendered illustrious the court of Alfonso, king of Naples, by whom he was treated with distinguished honour. During his residence at Naples, the jealousy of rivalship betrayed him into a violent quarrel with Lorenzo Valla, against whom he composed four invectives. The following list of his other works is extracted from his life, prefixed by Mehus to an edition of his treatiseDe Viris illustribus, published at Florence,an.1745.1.De bello Veneto Clodiano ad Joannem Jacobum Spinulam Liber. Lugd. 1568.2.Aliud parvi temporis bellum Venetumwas printed together with the former.3.De humanæ vitæ felicitate ad Alphonsum Arragonum et Siciliæ regem. Hanoviæ, typis Vechelianis, 1611. Post epitomen Felini Sandei de Regibus Siciliæ, &c.4.De excellentiâ et præstantiâ hominis.This work, which is erroneously ascribed to Pius II., was printed together with the preceding treatise,Hanoviæ, 1611.5.De rebus gestis ab Alphonso primo Neapolitanorum rege Commentariorum, Libri x. Lugduni, 1560, apud hæredes Sebastiani Gryphii, in 4to.—Ibidem, 1562 & 1566.The seven first books of this work were also published,Mantuæ, anno 1563, a Francisco Philopono. It has also been reprinted in various collections of Italian history.6.Arriani de rebus gestis Alexandri, Libri viii. Latine redditi. Basileæ, 1539. in fo. a Roberto Winter.Pisauri, 1508.Lugduni, 1552.7.Epistolæ.Several of Facio’s epistles are subjoined by Mehus to his edition of the treatiseDe Viris illus. It is justly observed by Tiraboschi, that Facio’s style is much more elegant than that of any of his contemporaries.Mehi vita Bartolomei Facii.—Tiraboschi Storia della Letter. Ital. tom. vi. p. ii. p. 80.[392]Facii Opera, p. 99, 100, 101.[393]Ton. Tr. vol. ii. p. 110.[394]Apostolo Zeno Dissert. Voss. tom. ii. p. 2.[395]Ibid, p. 4.[396]Ibid.[397]Hodius de Græcis Illus. p. 104.[398]Valla, in hisAntidotus, tells a ridiculous story of a pugilistic contest which on occasion of this quarrel took place between Poggio and George of Trebisond in Pompey’s theatre. This story was related as a fact in the first edition of this work; but, on further reflection, I agree in opinion with my Italian translator, that it is a fiction. SeeTonelli, vol. ii. p. 114.[399]Bandini Catalogus Biblioth. Laur. tom. iii. p. 438.[400]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 438.Muratori informs us, that the joy occasioned by the celebration of this jubilee experienced only one interruption, which was occasioned by the following accident. As an innumerable multitude of people were returning on the nineteenth of December from receiving the pontifical benediction, they were on a sudden so much alarmed by the braying of an ass, that they trampled upon each other in such precipitate disorder, that upwards of two hundred perished in the throng.[401]It is properly remarked by the Cavaliere Tonelli,vol. ii. p. 115, that the whole of theFacetiæwere not published at this time, and that they came out at uncertain intervals as Poggio increased his stock of entertaining anecdotes.[402]Poggii Opera, p. 420.[403]Bugiale is derived from the Italian wordBugia, a falsehood, and is interpreted by Poggio “mendaciorum officina;” i. e. the manufactory of lies.[404]Antonio Lusco was celebrated for his knowledge of the civil law, which procured him the honour of being selected as a proper person to assist Francesco Barbaro in revising the municipal regulations of the city of Vicenza. In the course of his journey to that place he overtook a Venetian, in whose company he rode to Siena, where they took up their lodgings for the night. The inn was crowded with travellers, who, on the ensuing morning, were busily employed in getting their horses out of the stable in order to pursue their journey. In the midst of the bustle, Lusco observed his Venetian friend booted and spurred, but sitting with great tranquillity at the door of the inn. Surprised at seeing him thus inactive, he told him, that if he wished to become his fellow traveller for that day’s journey, he must make haste, as he was just going to mount; on which the Venetian said, “I should be happy to accompany you, but I do not recollect which is my horse, and I am waiting till the other guests are gone, in order that I may take the beast which is left.” This anecdote Lusco communicated to his fellow secretaries; and Poggio did not fail to insert it in hisFacetiæ. The horsemanship of the Venetians appears to have been a fruitful subject of mirth to the frequenters of theBugiale. The following story proves what utter ignorance of equestrian affairs the wits of the pontifical chancery imputed to that amphibious race of men. “As a Venetian,” says Poggio, “was travelling to Trivigi on a hired horse, attended by a running footman, the servant received a kick from the beast, and in the first emotion of pain took up a stone and threw it at the aggressor; but missing his aim, he hit his master on the loins. The master looking back, and seeing his attendant limping after him at some distance, asked him why he did not quicken his pace. The servant excused himself by saying, that the horse had kicked him: on which his master replied, I see he is a vicious beast, for he has just now given me a severe kick on the back.”Agostini Istoria degli Scrit. Viniz. tom. ii. p. 53—Poggii Opera, p. 444, 464.[405]Poggii Opera, p. 491.[406]Recanati Vita Poggii, p. xxiii.[407]Vallæ Antidotus in Poggium, p. 227, 228, et seq.[408]Fabliaux ou Contes du xii. et du xiii. Siecle, Fables et Romans du xiii. traduits ou extraits d’aprés plusieurs manuscrits du tems; avec des notes historiques et critiques, et les imitations qui out été faites de ces contes depuis leur origine jusqu’à nos jours. Nouvelle Edition, augmentée d’une dissertation sur les Troubadours. Par M. le Grand. En cinq tom. in 18mo. à Paris, 1781.For the following enumeration of theFacetiæof Poggio, which appear to correspond with some of theFabliaux, I am indebted to the friendly diligence of the late Rev. John Greswell, for many years master of the college school at Manchester.The first occurs intom. i. p. 299of theFabliaux, entitledLa Culotte des Cordeliers, and is, with some variations in the commencement, theBraccæ Divi Francisciof Poggio,p. 236of the small edition of 1798. Invol. iii. p. 107,Le Testament de l’Ane, is in Poggio’sFacet.p. 45, Canis Testamentum. Same vol.p. 197,Du Villain et de sa femme, is in Poggio,p. 69, theMulier Demersa, whose body is to be sought for as floating against the current,vol. iii. p. 201.Du pré tondu, alias De la femme contrariante, is thePertinacia Muliebrisin theFacetiæ,p. 68. Again,vol. iii. p. 292,Le Meunier d’Aleus, is in Poggio the story entitledQuinque Ova,p. 278of theFacetiæ.Vol. iv. p. 192,Le Villain de Baïlleul, alias La femme qui fit croire à son Mari qu’il étoit mort, is mentioned as imitated by Poggio, but resembles hisMortuus loquens,p. 275, only at the close. In Poggio, the young man persuaded that he was dead, hearing himself abused during the procession of his corpse to burial,erecto capite, si vivus essem, sicut sum mortuus, inquit, dicerem, furcifer, te per gulam mentiri. Inle Villain de Baïlleul, the husband persuaded by his wife that he is dead, Le Curé lui-méme entre pour chanter sesoremusaprés quoi il emmene la veuve dan la chambre. Pendant tout ce tems le Villain convaincu qu’il était mort, restait toujours sous le drap, sans remuer non plus qu’un cadavre. Mais entendant un certain bruit dans la chambre, et soulevant son linceul pour regarder: coquin de Pretre s’ecrie-t-il, tu dois bien remercier Dieu de ce que je suis mort, car sans cela, mordie, tu perirais ici sous le baton.Vol. iii. p. 287,De la Bourgeoise d’Orléans, alias De la dame qui fit battre son Mari, is said to be imitated in Poggio’sFraus Muliebris,p. 20, but with much variation.Vol. iv. p. 304,De l’Anneau ... (Par Haisiau). All the account of this is as follows: Quoique le grave President Fauchet ait donné l’extrait de ceFabliau, je n’en parlerais point si je n’avais à remarquer sur celuici, comme sur le précédent qu’il a été imité. Ou le trouve dans Vergier sous le titre del’Anneau de Merlin. This is theAnnuluswhich Poggio (Facet. p. 141) gives Philephus.In addition to the above,Le Médecin de Bral, aliàs le Villain dévenu Médecin,tom. ii. p. 366, from which Moliere has borrowed hisMédecin malgré lui, is in some parts imitated in thePoggiana, where an account is given of an expeditious method of clearing the sick list of an hospital on his estate, by an Italian cardinal. Deguisé en Médecin il leur declara qu’ on ne pouvait les guerir qu’ avec un onguent de graisse humaine, mais des qu’il eut proposé de tirer au sort à qui serait mis dans la chaudiere, tous viderent l’hôpital.Vol. iii. p. 95,Les deux Parasites, (une assez mauvaise plaisanterie) in theFacetiæof Frischlinus is attributed to Poggio, and is in hisFacetiæ,p. 67,Danthis Faceta Responsio. When Dante was dining with Canis Scaliger, the courtiers had privately placed all thebonesbefore him. Versi omnes in solum Dantem, mirabantur cur ante ipsum solummodo ossa conspicerentur, tum ille, Minimè inquit mirum, si Canes ossa sua commederunt; ego autem non sumCanis. Le Grand does not notice this as contained in theFacetiæof Poggio; but the resemblance is as great as between most of those that he notices.[409]Poggii Opera, p. 219.The popularity of theFacetiæis evinced by the number of editions through which that work has passed; seven different impressions of it are thus enumerated by De Bure, who erroneously gives to Poggio the prœnomen of Franciscus.1.Francisci Poggii Florentini Facetiarum Liber; editio vetustissima et originalis absque loci et anni indicatione, sed cujus in fronte apparet Epistola prœfatoria Bernardi cujusdam in senium deducti ad militem Raymundum Dominum Castri Ambrosii dicata, in 4to.De Bure conjectures, that this edition was printed at Rome by George Laver or Ulric Han, in 1470.2.Ejusdem Edito vetus et secunda originalis absque loci et anni indicatione ulla, sed typis Vindelini Spirensis, aut saltem Nicolai Jenson Gallici excusa Venetiis circa, an. 1471, in fol.3.Ejusdem, Ferrariæ, 1471, 4to.4.Ejusdem, Noribergi per Fredericum Creusner, 1475, in fol.5.Ejusdem, Mediolani per Christophorum Valdarfer, 1477, 4to.6.Ejusdem, Mediolani per Leonardum Pachel, et Uldrericum Scinzinzeller, 1481, in 4to.7.Ejusdem, Facetiæ cum Laurentii Vallæ facetiis moralibus et Francisci Petrarchæ de Salibus viror. illus. ac facetiis libro, Paris, absque anni et typographi nomine sed circa, annum 1477, aut saltem 1478, excusa, 4to.8. PoggiiFacetiæ, 1498, in 4to. sine loci aut typographi nomine. This edition is not mentioned by De Bure, who closes his list with noticing the following translations.Les Faceties de Pogge translatées de Latin en François. Paris, Bonfons, 1549, 4to.Les Comptes facétieux et joyeuses recreations du Poge Florentin, trad. du Latin en François. Paris, Cousturier, 1605, in 16mo.A neat and correct Latin edition of theFacetiæin two small pocket volumes was published by a French emigrant in the year 1798. Of this edition the following is the title.Poggii Florentini Facetiarum Libellus Unicus notulis Imitatores indicantibus et nonnullis sive Latinis, sive Gallicis Imitationibus illustratus, simul ad fidem optimarum editionum emendatus. Mileti, 1798.[410]Visio Francisci Philelphi apud Poggii Opera, p. 456.[411]Tonelli, vol. ii. p. 122, 123.[412]An eulogiam of Cosmo de’ Medici, written by Niccolo of Foligni, is preserved in the Laurentian library.Mehi Vita Amb. Trav. tom. i. p. lxxiii.[413]The reader of Joe Miller will remember that this story has, in its descent to modern times, received divers improvements.[414]See a long and elaborate letter of Leonardo’s on this subject in the collection of epistles published by Mehus,Lib. vi. ep. x.[415]It appears from the introduction to the second part of theHistoria discept. conviv.(Poggii Opera, p. 37) that Poggio wrote two treatises, the one in commendation of the art of medicine, and the other in praise of the science of law. A MS. copy of the treatisein laudem legumis preserved in the Laurentian library.Bandini Catalogus, tom. ii. p. 408.[416]Poggii Epistolæ lvii. epist. xlvii.[417]Tiraboschi Storia della Letter. Ital. tom. vi. part 2d, p. 329.[418]SeeTon. Tr. tom. ii. p. 138.[419]Recanati Vita Poggii, p. xvii.-xix.The trading companies of Florence seem to have been constituted in the same manner as those into which the citizens of London are at this day subdivided.[420]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 456.[421]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 456.It may be mentioned as a striking instance of the liberty which was granted by personages of the most exalted eminence to scholars of celebrity in the fifteenth century, that Poggio at various times addressed letters to his patron, cardinal Beaufort, to prince John Corrinus, Waiwode of Hungary, to the duke of Viseo, brother to Edward, king of Portugal, and also to Alfonso, king of Naples, exhorting them to active exertions against the Turks, who at this time threatened to overrun some of the finest countries of Europe. These letters still exist in the Riccardi MS.Ton. Tr. tom. ii. p. 140.[422]Tiraboschi Storia della letter. Ital. tom. vi. p. ii. p. 303.If credit may be given to Valla’s own assertion, his introduction into the world was announced in a supernatural manner. He boasts in hisAntidotus,p. 191, that his mother being ignorant that she was pregnant, was apprized of that circumstance by the interposition of an oracle, which informed her that she would be brought to bed of a son, and gave particular directions with respect to her offspring’s name. It might have been reasonably conjectured that this oracle was some experienced matron; but by the subsequent part of Valla’s narration, it seems that the important admonition in question proceeded from one of the saints.[423]Valla Antidotus in Poggium, p. 200.[424]Ibid, p. 201.[425]Vallæ Antidotus in Poggium, p. 201.[426]This treatise is printed in the first volume of theFasciculus Rer. expet. et fugiend.[427]Vallæ Antidotus, p. 210.[428]Ibid, p. 211.[429]See the account given of this transaction by Valla in hisAntidotus,p. 218.Poggio, towards the conclusion of his third invective, asserts, that Valla was on this occasion subjected to the discipline of the scourge, and narrates the manner and form of his punishment with great minuteness.[430]Valla’s invective against Beccatelli and Facio is divided into four books, and occupies fifty-two pages of the edition of his works, published by Ascensius in folio, an. 1528.[431]Valla triumphantly boasts, (Antidotus, p. 167) that Nicolas V. presented to him with his own hand five hundred gold crowns as a remuneration for his Latin version of Thucydides. This version was printed by Henry Stephens, in his edition of that author, in the preface to which he complains of Valla’s inaccuracy and inelegance of style. That this complaint is just, abundant proof may be found in Stephens’s marginal corrections of Valla’s translation.[432]Poggii Opera, p. 188-205.[433]The passage which thus irritated the feeling of the Catalonian nobleman occurs in Poggio’s epistle to Andreolo Giustiniano, in which he remarks, upon the assertion of Francesco di Pistoia, that some Catalans had stolen a marble statue which he had in charge to deliver to Poggio: “in quo ut conjicio manifeste mentitus fuit. Non enim marmoria sculpti Cathalani cupidi sunt, sed auri et servorum quibus ad remigium utantur.”—Poggii Opera, p. 329.[434]This attack on Poggio’s moral character occurs in the proemium to theAntidotus, and is couched in the following atrocious terms. “Ostendam itaque eum quasi alterum Regulum, malum quidem virum, non quod libidinosus ac prope libidinis professor, non quod adulter atquo adeo alienarum uxorum præreptor, non quod vinolentus semper ac potius temulentus, non quod falsarius et quidem convictus, non quod avarus, sacrilegus, perjurus, corruptor, spurcus, aliaque quæ extra nostram causam sunt, sed quatenus ad causam nostram facit, quod manifestarius calumniator.”—Antidotus, p. 8.[435]He asserted, that during Valla’s residence at Pavia, he forged a receipt in order to evade the payment of a sum of money which he had borrowed, and that by way of punishment for this offence, he was exposed to public view with a mitre of paper upon his head. Poggio, in his relation of this anecdote, made use of the following ironical expression. “Falsum chirographum cum scripsisses, accusatus, convictus, damnatus, ante tempus legitimum absque ullâ dispensatione episcopus factus es.” This witticism of Poggio’s betrayed Monsieur L’Enfant into a very ridiculous error. “On trouve ici,” says he, in gravely commenting on this passage, “une particularité assez curieuse de la vie de Laurent Valla. C’est qu’ayant été ordonné Eveque à Pavie avant l’age et sans dispense, il quitta de lui même la mitre, et la deposa, en attendant dans le palais episcopal, où elle étoit encore. Je rapporterai ses paroles en Latin qui sont fort embrouillées.”Poggiana, tom. i. p. 212.On this statement of L’Enfant, Recanati, in hisOsservazioni,p. 111, makes the following dry remark. “Non credo però, che l’autore della Poggiana, quando pure fosse Cattolico, vorrebbe essere fattoVescovoin questa foggia, come Poggio dice che il Valla lo sia stato.”[436]To enter into the particulars of Poggio’s charges and Valla’s defence would be a most disgusting task. The following circumstance is, however, too curious to be passed over without notice. Poggio reprobating the incontinence of his adversary, accused him of debauching his sister’s maid-servant. In reply to this accusation, Valla did not deny the fact; but with wonderful ingenuity thus converted it into a proof of his principled chastity. “Itaque cum nonnulli meorum propinquorum me virginem, sive frigidioris naturæ, et ob id non idoneum conjugio arbitrarentur, quorum unus erat vir sororis, quodammodo experiri cupiebant. Volui itaque eis ostendere, id quod facerem, non vitium esse corporis, sed animi virtutem.”Antidotus, p. 222.[437]Poggii Opera, p. 234-242.[438]Bandini Catalogus.[439]Filelfi Opera, p. 75.On the death of the duke of Milan, Filelfo had experienced considerable inconvenience, in consequence of the war between Francesco Sforza and the Milanese. In the course of this contest he wavered between the two parties; but the success of Sforza at length attached him to the interests of that enterprising chieftain. Soon after the elevation of Nicolas V. to the pontificate, Filelfo was invited by Alfonso, king of Naples, to present to him in person a copy of his satires. On his way to Naples he passed through Rome, where he paid his respects to the pontiff, who endeavoured, but in vain, to retain him in his service by the promise of a liberal stipend. On his arrival at the Neapolitan capital, he was received with great kindness by Alfonso, at whose command he was crowned with laurel in the midst of the camp. From Naples he returned to Milan, where he received the afflicting intelligence, that at the sack of Constantinople by the Turks, Manfredina Doria, his mother-in-law, and two of her daughters had been carried away captives. It is an astonishing instance of the power of song, that he procured their redemption by an ode addressed to Mahomet II. In the year 1454, he was reconciled to Cosmo de’ Medici, by whose son Pietro he was treated with distinguished regard. During the life of Francesco Sforza, Filelfo was enabled, by the munificence of that prince, to live in a state of splendor which was very congenial to his dispositions; but on the death of that generous patron he received from his successor, Galeazzo Maria, little more than empty promises. In consequence of the pressure of distress, he undertook at the age of seventy-two to read lectures on Aristotle. After sustaining a variety of afflictions in consequence of the distracted state into which Milan was thrown by the death of Galeazzo, he received from Lorenzo de’ Medici an invitation to read lectures on the Greek language at Florence. This invitation he gladly accepted, and at the advanced age of eighty-three he repaired to the Tuscan capital, for the purpose of resuming the task of public instruction. The fatigues of his journey however overpowered the strength of his constitution, and soon after his arrival in Florence he closed a life of assiduous study, and of almost ceaseless turbulence.For an elaborate history of Filelfo, seeMemoires de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. x.[440]Ton. Tr. tom. ii. p. 161.[441]Matteo Palmerio was a Florentine citizen, descended from an illustrious family. Passing through the different gradations of civic honours, he was at length called to fill the highest offices of the state. He was an elegant scholar, and composed many works, amongst which the most distinguished was an Italian poem in terza rima, entitledCittà di vita. This poem, in which are recounted the adventures of a human soul, which the author supposes to have been liberated from the prison of the body, was condemned by the inquisition as heretical.—Zeno Diss. Voss. tom. i. p. 100 et seq.[442]Poggii Opera, p. 86-131.[443]Poggiana, tom. ii. p. 162.[444]Poggio’s History of Florence, as edited by Recanati, has been republished in the magnificent historical collections of Grævius and Muratori.[445]By his wife, Poggio had five sons; Pietro Paulo, Giovanni Battista, Jacopo, Giovanni Francesco, and Filippo. Pietro Paulo was born in the year 1438. He entered into the fraternity of the Dominicans, and was promoted to the honourable office of Prior of Santa Maria ad Minervam, in Rome, which office he held till the time of his death, which happened September 6th, 1464.Giovanni Battista, who was born in the year 1439, took the degree of doctor of civil and canon law, and attained the several dignities of Canonico of Florence, and of Arezzo, Rector of the Lateran church, Acolyte of the pontiff, and assistant clerk of the chamber. He composed in the Latin language the lives of Niccolo Piccinino, and Dominico Capranica, cardinal of Firmiano. He died anno 1570.Jacopo, born anno 1441, was the only one of Poggio’s sons who did not enter into the ecclesiastical profession. He was a scholar of distinguished accomplishments. His Italian translation of his father’s History of Florence, and of his Latin version of the Cyropædia, have already been noticed. He also translated into Italian the lives of four of the Roman emperors. Nor did he confine his literary exertions to translations. He composed a commentary on Petrarca’s Triumph of Fame, which he dedicated to Lorenzo de’ Medici; a treatise on the origin of the War between the English and the French; and the life of Filippo Scolario, vulgarly called Pipo Spano. Entering into the service of cardinal Riario, he was involved in the guilt of the Pazzi conspiracy, and was of the number of the criminals who were suspended from the windows of the town hall of Florence, in the year 1478.Giovanni Francesco, who was born anno 1447, after holding the offices of Canonico of Florence, and Rector of the Lateran church, went to Rome, where he became chamberlain of the pontiff, and abbreviator of the apostolic epistles. He was highly esteemed by Leo X., who appointed him his secretary, in the enjoyment of which office he died at Rome, July 25th, 1522, and was buried in the church of St. Gregory, where there still exists a monument erected to his memory.Filippo was born anno 1450. When he had attained the twentieth year of his age he was created Canonico of Florence. But quitting the ecclesiastical life, he married a lady of an illustrious family, by whom he had three daughters.Besides these five sons, Poggio had a daughter, named Lucretia, who married into the family of the Buondelmonti.Ton. Tr. tom. ii. p. 169.[446]The fate of this statue was somewhat remarkable. In consequence of certain alterations made in the façade of the church of Santa Maria, in the year 1560, by Francesco, Grand duke of Tuscany, it was removed to another part of that edifice, where it now composes one of the group of the twelve apostles.—Recanati Vita Poggii, p. xxxiv.

[356]Poggio’s funeral oration for Leonardo is prefixed by Mehus to his edition of Leonardo’s letters.

[357]Poggii Oratio Funebris in obitu Leonardi Aretini, apud Mehi editionem Leonardi Epistolarum, tom. i. p. cxxii.

[358]Ibid.

[359]Janotii Manetti Vita a Naldo, apud Muratori Rer. Italic. Script. tom. xxx. p. 533, 534.

[360]Tiraboschi Storia della Letter. Ital. tom. vi. p. ii. p. 328, 329.

[361]See the introduction to Poggio’s dialogue on Hypocrisy, in theFasciculus Rer. Expet. et. Fug. tom. ii. p. 571.

[362]L’Enfant Histoire de la guerre des Hussites et du Conseil de Basle.

[363]Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. ccccxix. ccccxx. ccccxxi.

[364]Mehi Vita Ambros. Travers. ut supra.

[365]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 402.

[366]Ibid, p. 406.

[367]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 410, 412.

[368]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 416.The foregoing particulars of the last illness and death of Eugenius were collected partly from a narrative of those events by Æneas Sylvius, which is preserved in the third vol. of Muratori’sRer. Italic. Script. p. ii. p. 890, and partly from the diary of one of the pontiff’s chamberlains, which occurs inp. 902of the same volume.

[369]The unlettered Shakspeare was much better versed in the natural history of ecclesiastics than the learned Gianozzo.“Sometimes she cometh with a tythe-pig’s tail,Tickling the parson as he lies asleep;Then dreams he of another benefice.”

[369]The unlettered Shakspeare was much better versed in the natural history of ecclesiastics than the learned Gianozzo.

“Sometimes she cometh with a tythe-pig’s tail,Tickling the parson as he lies asleep;Then dreams he of another benefice.”

“Sometimes she cometh with a tythe-pig’s tail,

Tickling the parson as he lies asleep;

Then dreams he of another benefice.”

[370]Janotii Manetti Vita Nicolai V. apud Muratori Rer. Italic. Script. tom. iii. p. 921.

[371]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 417.

[372]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 417.

[373]Ibid, p. 425.

[374]Ibid, p. 419.

[375]Ibid, p. 420.

[376]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 441.

[377]Poggii Opera, p. 32.

[378]Poggii Opera, p. 287-292.

[379]“Optimi sanctissimique viri Nicolai quinti summi pontificis beneficentia id effecit, ut jam querelæ temporum sint prætereundæ, utque in gratiam aliquando cum fortuà videar rediisse.”—Poggii Opera, p. 32.

[380]Poggii Hist. de Variet. Fort. p. 1, 2, 3.

[381]Poggii Hist. de Variet. Fort. p. 6, 7.

[382]Poggio’s narrative of the discoveries made by Niccolo Conti was translated into the Portuguese language, by the command of Emanuel I. king of Portugal. From the Portuguese version, an Italian translation was made by Giambattista Ramusio, who inserted it in the first volume of his collection of voyages and travels, printed in folio at Venice, in the year 1588. A small portion of the first book of the dialogueDe Varietate Fortunæcontaining the description of the ruins of Rome, is printed in the Basil edition of the works of Poggio. A manuscript copy of the entire dialogue was discovered in the library of the cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, nephew of pope Alexander VIII., by Lionardo Adami da Bolsena, who began to prepare it for the press. Lionardo having died before he had finished the transcript of the first book, the execution of his design was completed by the Abate Domenico Giorgi da Rovigo, who finished the transcript of the dialogue, illustrated it with notes, and subjoined to it fifty-seven of Poggio’s epistles, which had not yet seen the light. Under the superintendence of the Abate Oliva, the work thus prepared was printed at Paris, in 4to., an. 1723, by Coustellier.Zeno Diss. Voss. tom. i. p. 40. Dominici Georgii Prœfatio ad Poggii Hist. de Variet. Fort.

Zeno Diss. Voss. tom. i. p. 40. Dominici Georgii Prœfatio ad Poggii Hist. de Variet. Fort.

[383]Fasciculus Rer. Expet. et Fugiend. tom. ii. p. 570-583.An edition of Leonardo Aretino and Poggio’s dialogues on Hypocrisy was published by Hieronymus Sincerus Lotharingus,ex typograghiá Anissoniá, Lugduni, 1679, in 16mo.

[384]Poggii Opera, p. 159.

[385]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 417.

[386]Poggii Opera, p. 155-164.

[387]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 431.

[388]This translation of Diodorus Siculus was printed,Bononiæ, 1472, in folio.Bandini Catalogus Bibliothecæ Laurentianæ, tom. ii. p. 819.

[389]Poggii Hist. de Variet. Fortunæ, p. 3.From the prefatory remarks which Poggio prefixed to his version of the Cyropædia, and which are quoted by Bandini, in hisCatalogus Bibliothecæ, Laurentianæ, tom. ii. p. 351, it should seem, that by omitting many of the dialogues and speeches, he had considerably abridged the work of Xenophon, whose eight books he had compressed into six. An Italian translation of Poggio’s version of the Cyropædia, made by his son Jacopo, was published at Florence by the Junta,an.1521. It is worthy of remark, that Poggio was the first literary character who declared his opinion (an opinion now generally entertained) that the Cyropædia is not a history, but a political romance.Ton. Tr. vol. ii. p. 108.

[390]Facii Opera, p. 98.

[391]Bartolomeo Facio was a native of Spezia, a sea-port in the Genoese territory. The most curious inquirers into the history of literature have not yet been able to ascertain the precise period of his birth. From many passages however which occur in his works it appears, that he was indebted for instruction in the Latin and Greek languages to Guarino Veronese, whom he frequently mentions in terms of affectionate esteem. Facio was one of the numerous assemblage of scholars that rendered illustrious the court of Alfonso, king of Naples, by whom he was treated with distinguished honour. During his residence at Naples, the jealousy of rivalship betrayed him into a violent quarrel with Lorenzo Valla, against whom he composed four invectives. The following list of his other works is extracted from his life, prefixed by Mehus to an edition of his treatiseDe Viris illustribus, published at Florence,an.1745.1.De bello Veneto Clodiano ad Joannem Jacobum Spinulam Liber. Lugd. 1568.2.Aliud parvi temporis bellum Venetumwas printed together with the former.3.De humanæ vitæ felicitate ad Alphonsum Arragonum et Siciliæ regem. Hanoviæ, typis Vechelianis, 1611. Post epitomen Felini Sandei de Regibus Siciliæ, &c.4.De excellentiâ et præstantiâ hominis.This work, which is erroneously ascribed to Pius II., was printed together with the preceding treatise,Hanoviæ, 1611.5.De rebus gestis ab Alphonso primo Neapolitanorum rege Commentariorum, Libri x. Lugduni, 1560, apud hæredes Sebastiani Gryphii, in 4to.—Ibidem, 1562 & 1566.The seven first books of this work were also published,Mantuæ, anno 1563, a Francisco Philopono. It has also been reprinted in various collections of Italian history.6.Arriani de rebus gestis Alexandri, Libri viii. Latine redditi. Basileæ, 1539. in fo. a Roberto Winter.Pisauri, 1508.Lugduni, 1552.7.Epistolæ.Several of Facio’s epistles are subjoined by Mehus to his edition of the treatiseDe Viris illus. It is justly observed by Tiraboschi, that Facio’s style is much more elegant than that of any of his contemporaries.Mehi vita Bartolomei Facii.—Tiraboschi Storia della Letter. Ital. tom. vi. p. ii. p. 80.

1.De bello Veneto Clodiano ad Joannem Jacobum Spinulam Liber. Lugd. 1568.

2.Aliud parvi temporis bellum Venetumwas printed together with the former.

3.De humanæ vitæ felicitate ad Alphonsum Arragonum et Siciliæ regem. Hanoviæ, typis Vechelianis, 1611. Post epitomen Felini Sandei de Regibus Siciliæ, &c.

4.De excellentiâ et præstantiâ hominis.This work, which is erroneously ascribed to Pius II., was printed together with the preceding treatise,Hanoviæ, 1611.

5.De rebus gestis ab Alphonso primo Neapolitanorum rege Commentariorum, Libri x. Lugduni, 1560, apud hæredes Sebastiani Gryphii, in 4to.—Ibidem, 1562 & 1566.The seven first books of this work were also published,Mantuæ, anno 1563, a Francisco Philopono. It has also been reprinted in various collections of Italian history.

6.Arriani de rebus gestis Alexandri, Libri viii. Latine redditi. Basileæ, 1539. in fo. a Roberto Winter.Pisauri, 1508.Lugduni, 1552.

7.Epistolæ.Several of Facio’s epistles are subjoined by Mehus to his edition of the treatiseDe Viris illus. It is justly observed by Tiraboschi, that Facio’s style is much more elegant than that of any of his contemporaries.Mehi vita Bartolomei Facii.—Tiraboschi Storia della Letter. Ital. tom. vi. p. ii. p. 80.

[392]Facii Opera, p. 99, 100, 101.

[393]Ton. Tr. vol. ii. p. 110.

[394]Apostolo Zeno Dissert. Voss. tom. ii. p. 2.

[395]Ibid, p. 4.

[396]Ibid.

[397]Hodius de Græcis Illus. p. 104.

[398]Valla, in hisAntidotus, tells a ridiculous story of a pugilistic contest which on occasion of this quarrel took place between Poggio and George of Trebisond in Pompey’s theatre. This story was related as a fact in the first edition of this work; but, on further reflection, I agree in opinion with my Italian translator, that it is a fiction. SeeTonelli, vol. ii. p. 114.

[399]Bandini Catalogus Biblioth. Laur. tom. iii. p. 438.

[400]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 438.Muratori informs us, that the joy occasioned by the celebration of this jubilee experienced only one interruption, which was occasioned by the following accident. As an innumerable multitude of people were returning on the nineteenth of December from receiving the pontifical benediction, they were on a sudden so much alarmed by the braying of an ass, that they trampled upon each other in such precipitate disorder, that upwards of two hundred perished in the throng.

[401]It is properly remarked by the Cavaliere Tonelli,vol. ii. p. 115, that the whole of theFacetiæwere not published at this time, and that they came out at uncertain intervals as Poggio increased his stock of entertaining anecdotes.

[402]Poggii Opera, p. 420.

[403]Bugiale is derived from the Italian wordBugia, a falsehood, and is interpreted by Poggio “mendaciorum officina;” i. e. the manufactory of lies.

[404]Antonio Lusco was celebrated for his knowledge of the civil law, which procured him the honour of being selected as a proper person to assist Francesco Barbaro in revising the municipal regulations of the city of Vicenza. In the course of his journey to that place he overtook a Venetian, in whose company he rode to Siena, where they took up their lodgings for the night. The inn was crowded with travellers, who, on the ensuing morning, were busily employed in getting their horses out of the stable in order to pursue their journey. In the midst of the bustle, Lusco observed his Venetian friend booted and spurred, but sitting with great tranquillity at the door of the inn. Surprised at seeing him thus inactive, he told him, that if he wished to become his fellow traveller for that day’s journey, he must make haste, as he was just going to mount; on which the Venetian said, “I should be happy to accompany you, but I do not recollect which is my horse, and I am waiting till the other guests are gone, in order that I may take the beast which is left.” This anecdote Lusco communicated to his fellow secretaries; and Poggio did not fail to insert it in hisFacetiæ. The horsemanship of the Venetians appears to have been a fruitful subject of mirth to the frequenters of theBugiale. The following story proves what utter ignorance of equestrian affairs the wits of the pontifical chancery imputed to that amphibious race of men. “As a Venetian,” says Poggio, “was travelling to Trivigi on a hired horse, attended by a running footman, the servant received a kick from the beast, and in the first emotion of pain took up a stone and threw it at the aggressor; but missing his aim, he hit his master on the loins. The master looking back, and seeing his attendant limping after him at some distance, asked him why he did not quicken his pace. The servant excused himself by saying, that the horse had kicked him: on which his master replied, I see he is a vicious beast, for he has just now given me a severe kick on the back.”Agostini Istoria degli Scrit. Viniz. tom. ii. p. 53—Poggii Opera, p. 444, 464.

[405]Poggii Opera, p. 491.

[406]Recanati Vita Poggii, p. xxiii.

[407]Vallæ Antidotus in Poggium, p. 227, 228, et seq.

[408]Fabliaux ou Contes du xii. et du xiii. Siecle, Fables et Romans du xiii. traduits ou extraits d’aprés plusieurs manuscrits du tems; avec des notes historiques et critiques, et les imitations qui out été faites de ces contes depuis leur origine jusqu’à nos jours. Nouvelle Edition, augmentée d’une dissertation sur les Troubadours. Par M. le Grand. En cinq tom. in 18mo. à Paris, 1781.For the following enumeration of theFacetiæof Poggio, which appear to correspond with some of theFabliaux, I am indebted to the friendly diligence of the late Rev. John Greswell, for many years master of the college school at Manchester.The first occurs intom. i. p. 299of theFabliaux, entitledLa Culotte des Cordeliers, and is, with some variations in the commencement, theBraccæ Divi Francisciof Poggio,p. 236of the small edition of 1798. Invol. iii. p. 107,Le Testament de l’Ane, is in Poggio’sFacet.p. 45, Canis Testamentum. Same vol.p. 197,Du Villain et de sa femme, is in Poggio,p. 69, theMulier Demersa, whose body is to be sought for as floating against the current,vol. iii. p. 201.Du pré tondu, alias De la femme contrariante, is thePertinacia Muliebrisin theFacetiæ,p. 68. Again,vol. iii. p. 292,Le Meunier d’Aleus, is in Poggio the story entitledQuinque Ova,p. 278of theFacetiæ.Vol. iv. p. 192,Le Villain de Baïlleul, alias La femme qui fit croire à son Mari qu’il étoit mort, is mentioned as imitated by Poggio, but resembles hisMortuus loquens,p. 275, only at the close. In Poggio, the young man persuaded that he was dead, hearing himself abused during the procession of his corpse to burial,erecto capite, si vivus essem, sicut sum mortuus, inquit, dicerem, furcifer, te per gulam mentiri. Inle Villain de Baïlleul, the husband persuaded by his wife that he is dead, Le Curé lui-méme entre pour chanter sesoremusaprés quoi il emmene la veuve dan la chambre. Pendant tout ce tems le Villain convaincu qu’il était mort, restait toujours sous le drap, sans remuer non plus qu’un cadavre. Mais entendant un certain bruit dans la chambre, et soulevant son linceul pour regarder: coquin de Pretre s’ecrie-t-il, tu dois bien remercier Dieu de ce que je suis mort, car sans cela, mordie, tu perirais ici sous le baton.Vol. iii. p. 287,De la Bourgeoise d’Orléans, alias De la dame qui fit battre son Mari, is said to be imitated in Poggio’sFraus Muliebris,p. 20, but with much variation.Vol. iv. p. 304,De l’Anneau ... (Par Haisiau). All the account of this is as follows: Quoique le grave President Fauchet ait donné l’extrait de ceFabliau, je n’en parlerais point si je n’avais à remarquer sur celuici, comme sur le précédent qu’il a été imité. Ou le trouve dans Vergier sous le titre del’Anneau de Merlin. This is theAnnuluswhich Poggio (Facet. p. 141) gives Philephus.In addition to the above,Le Médecin de Bral, aliàs le Villain dévenu Médecin,tom. ii. p. 366, from which Moliere has borrowed hisMédecin malgré lui, is in some parts imitated in thePoggiana, where an account is given of an expeditious method of clearing the sick list of an hospital on his estate, by an Italian cardinal. Deguisé en Médecin il leur declara qu’ on ne pouvait les guerir qu’ avec un onguent de graisse humaine, mais des qu’il eut proposé de tirer au sort à qui serait mis dans la chaudiere, tous viderent l’hôpital.Vol. iii. p. 95,Les deux Parasites, (une assez mauvaise plaisanterie) in theFacetiæof Frischlinus is attributed to Poggio, and is in hisFacetiæ,p. 67,Danthis Faceta Responsio. When Dante was dining with Canis Scaliger, the courtiers had privately placed all thebonesbefore him. Versi omnes in solum Dantem, mirabantur cur ante ipsum solummodo ossa conspicerentur, tum ille, Minimè inquit mirum, si Canes ossa sua commederunt; ego autem non sumCanis. Le Grand does not notice this as contained in theFacetiæof Poggio; but the resemblance is as great as between most of those that he notices.

For the following enumeration of theFacetiæof Poggio, which appear to correspond with some of theFabliaux, I am indebted to the friendly diligence of the late Rev. John Greswell, for many years master of the college school at Manchester.

The first occurs intom. i. p. 299of theFabliaux, entitledLa Culotte des Cordeliers, and is, with some variations in the commencement, theBraccæ Divi Francisciof Poggio,p. 236of the small edition of 1798. Invol. iii. p. 107,Le Testament de l’Ane, is in Poggio’sFacet.p. 45, Canis Testamentum. Same vol.p. 197,Du Villain et de sa femme, is in Poggio,p. 69, theMulier Demersa, whose body is to be sought for as floating against the current,vol. iii. p. 201.Du pré tondu, alias De la femme contrariante, is thePertinacia Muliebrisin theFacetiæ,p. 68. Again,vol. iii. p. 292,Le Meunier d’Aleus, is in Poggio the story entitledQuinque Ova,p. 278of theFacetiæ.Vol. iv. p. 192,Le Villain de Baïlleul, alias La femme qui fit croire à son Mari qu’il étoit mort, is mentioned as imitated by Poggio, but resembles hisMortuus loquens,p. 275, only at the close. In Poggio, the young man persuaded that he was dead, hearing himself abused during the procession of his corpse to burial,erecto capite, si vivus essem, sicut sum mortuus, inquit, dicerem, furcifer, te per gulam mentiri. Inle Villain de Baïlleul, the husband persuaded by his wife that he is dead, Le Curé lui-méme entre pour chanter sesoremusaprés quoi il emmene la veuve dan la chambre. Pendant tout ce tems le Villain convaincu qu’il était mort, restait toujours sous le drap, sans remuer non plus qu’un cadavre. Mais entendant un certain bruit dans la chambre, et soulevant son linceul pour regarder: coquin de Pretre s’ecrie-t-il, tu dois bien remercier Dieu de ce que je suis mort, car sans cela, mordie, tu perirais ici sous le baton.Vol. iii. p. 287,De la Bourgeoise d’Orléans, alias De la dame qui fit battre son Mari, is said to be imitated in Poggio’sFraus Muliebris,p. 20, but with much variation.Vol. iv. p. 304,De l’Anneau ... (Par Haisiau). All the account of this is as follows: Quoique le grave President Fauchet ait donné l’extrait de ceFabliau, je n’en parlerais point si je n’avais à remarquer sur celuici, comme sur le précédent qu’il a été imité. Ou le trouve dans Vergier sous le titre del’Anneau de Merlin. This is theAnnuluswhich Poggio (Facet. p. 141) gives Philephus.

In addition to the above,Le Médecin de Bral, aliàs le Villain dévenu Médecin,tom. ii. p. 366, from which Moliere has borrowed hisMédecin malgré lui, is in some parts imitated in thePoggiana, where an account is given of an expeditious method of clearing the sick list of an hospital on his estate, by an Italian cardinal. Deguisé en Médecin il leur declara qu’ on ne pouvait les guerir qu’ avec un onguent de graisse humaine, mais des qu’il eut proposé de tirer au sort à qui serait mis dans la chaudiere, tous viderent l’hôpital.Vol. iii. p. 95,Les deux Parasites, (une assez mauvaise plaisanterie) in theFacetiæof Frischlinus is attributed to Poggio, and is in hisFacetiæ,p. 67,Danthis Faceta Responsio. When Dante was dining with Canis Scaliger, the courtiers had privately placed all thebonesbefore him. Versi omnes in solum Dantem, mirabantur cur ante ipsum solummodo ossa conspicerentur, tum ille, Minimè inquit mirum, si Canes ossa sua commederunt; ego autem non sumCanis. Le Grand does not notice this as contained in theFacetiæof Poggio; but the resemblance is as great as between most of those that he notices.

[409]Poggii Opera, p. 219.The popularity of theFacetiæis evinced by the number of editions through which that work has passed; seven different impressions of it are thus enumerated by De Bure, who erroneously gives to Poggio the prœnomen of Franciscus.1.Francisci Poggii Florentini Facetiarum Liber; editio vetustissima et originalis absque loci et anni indicatione, sed cujus in fronte apparet Epistola prœfatoria Bernardi cujusdam in senium deducti ad militem Raymundum Dominum Castri Ambrosii dicata, in 4to.De Bure conjectures, that this edition was printed at Rome by George Laver or Ulric Han, in 1470.2.Ejusdem Edito vetus et secunda originalis absque loci et anni indicatione ulla, sed typis Vindelini Spirensis, aut saltem Nicolai Jenson Gallici excusa Venetiis circa, an. 1471, in fol.3.Ejusdem, Ferrariæ, 1471, 4to.4.Ejusdem, Noribergi per Fredericum Creusner, 1475, in fol.5.Ejusdem, Mediolani per Christophorum Valdarfer, 1477, 4to.6.Ejusdem, Mediolani per Leonardum Pachel, et Uldrericum Scinzinzeller, 1481, in 4to.7.Ejusdem, Facetiæ cum Laurentii Vallæ facetiis moralibus et Francisci Petrarchæ de Salibus viror. illus. ac facetiis libro, Paris, absque anni et typographi nomine sed circa, annum 1477, aut saltem 1478, excusa, 4to.8. PoggiiFacetiæ, 1498, in 4to. sine loci aut typographi nomine. This edition is not mentioned by De Bure, who closes his list with noticing the following translations.Les Faceties de Pogge translatées de Latin en François. Paris, Bonfons, 1549, 4to.Les Comptes facétieux et joyeuses recreations du Poge Florentin, trad. du Latin en François. Paris, Cousturier, 1605, in 16mo.A neat and correct Latin edition of theFacetiæin two small pocket volumes was published by a French emigrant in the year 1798. Of this edition the following is the title.Poggii Florentini Facetiarum Libellus Unicus notulis Imitatores indicantibus et nonnullis sive Latinis, sive Gallicis Imitationibus illustratus, simul ad fidem optimarum editionum emendatus. Mileti, 1798.

[409]Poggii Opera, p. 219.

The popularity of theFacetiæis evinced by the number of editions through which that work has passed; seven different impressions of it are thus enumerated by De Bure, who erroneously gives to Poggio the prœnomen of Franciscus.

1.Francisci Poggii Florentini Facetiarum Liber; editio vetustissima et originalis absque loci et anni indicatione, sed cujus in fronte apparet Epistola prœfatoria Bernardi cujusdam in senium deducti ad militem Raymundum Dominum Castri Ambrosii dicata, in 4to.

De Bure conjectures, that this edition was printed at Rome by George Laver or Ulric Han, in 1470.

2.Ejusdem Edito vetus et secunda originalis absque loci et anni indicatione ulla, sed typis Vindelini Spirensis, aut saltem Nicolai Jenson Gallici excusa Venetiis circa, an. 1471, in fol.

3.Ejusdem, Ferrariæ, 1471, 4to.

4.Ejusdem, Noribergi per Fredericum Creusner, 1475, in fol.

5.Ejusdem, Mediolani per Christophorum Valdarfer, 1477, 4to.

6.Ejusdem, Mediolani per Leonardum Pachel, et Uldrericum Scinzinzeller, 1481, in 4to.

7.Ejusdem, Facetiæ cum Laurentii Vallæ facetiis moralibus et Francisci Petrarchæ de Salibus viror. illus. ac facetiis libro, Paris, absque anni et typographi nomine sed circa, annum 1477, aut saltem 1478, excusa, 4to.

8. PoggiiFacetiæ, 1498, in 4to. sine loci aut typographi nomine. This edition is not mentioned by De Bure, who closes his list with noticing the following translations.

Les Faceties de Pogge translatées de Latin en François. Paris, Bonfons, 1549, 4to.

Les Comptes facétieux et joyeuses recreations du Poge Florentin, trad. du Latin en François. Paris, Cousturier, 1605, in 16mo.

A neat and correct Latin edition of theFacetiæin two small pocket volumes was published by a French emigrant in the year 1798. Of this edition the following is the title.

Poggii Florentini Facetiarum Libellus Unicus notulis Imitatores indicantibus et nonnullis sive Latinis, sive Gallicis Imitationibus illustratus, simul ad fidem optimarum editionum emendatus. Mileti, 1798.

[410]Visio Francisci Philelphi apud Poggii Opera, p. 456.

[411]Tonelli, vol. ii. p. 122, 123.

[412]An eulogiam of Cosmo de’ Medici, written by Niccolo of Foligni, is preserved in the Laurentian library.Mehi Vita Amb. Trav. tom. i. p. lxxiii.

[413]The reader of Joe Miller will remember that this story has, in its descent to modern times, received divers improvements.

[414]See a long and elaborate letter of Leonardo’s on this subject in the collection of epistles published by Mehus,Lib. vi. ep. x.

[415]It appears from the introduction to the second part of theHistoria discept. conviv.(Poggii Opera, p. 37) that Poggio wrote two treatises, the one in commendation of the art of medicine, and the other in praise of the science of law. A MS. copy of the treatisein laudem legumis preserved in the Laurentian library.Bandini Catalogus, tom. ii. p. 408.

[416]Poggii Epistolæ lvii. epist. xlvii.

[417]Tiraboschi Storia della Letter. Ital. tom. vi. part 2d, p. 329.

[418]SeeTon. Tr. tom. ii. p. 138.

[419]Recanati Vita Poggii, p. xvii.-xix.The trading companies of Florence seem to have been constituted in the same manner as those into which the citizens of London are at this day subdivided.

[420]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 456.

[421]Muratori Annali, tom. ix. p. 456.It may be mentioned as a striking instance of the liberty which was granted by personages of the most exalted eminence to scholars of celebrity in the fifteenth century, that Poggio at various times addressed letters to his patron, cardinal Beaufort, to prince John Corrinus, Waiwode of Hungary, to the duke of Viseo, brother to Edward, king of Portugal, and also to Alfonso, king of Naples, exhorting them to active exertions against the Turks, who at this time threatened to overrun some of the finest countries of Europe. These letters still exist in the Riccardi MS.Ton. Tr. tom. ii. p. 140.

[422]Tiraboschi Storia della letter. Ital. tom. vi. p. ii. p. 303.If credit may be given to Valla’s own assertion, his introduction into the world was announced in a supernatural manner. He boasts in hisAntidotus,p. 191, that his mother being ignorant that she was pregnant, was apprized of that circumstance by the interposition of an oracle, which informed her that she would be brought to bed of a son, and gave particular directions with respect to her offspring’s name. It might have been reasonably conjectured that this oracle was some experienced matron; but by the subsequent part of Valla’s narration, it seems that the important admonition in question proceeded from one of the saints.

[423]Valla Antidotus in Poggium, p. 200.

[424]Ibid, p. 201.

[425]Vallæ Antidotus in Poggium, p. 201.

[426]This treatise is printed in the first volume of theFasciculus Rer. expet. et fugiend.

[427]Vallæ Antidotus, p. 210.

[428]Ibid, p. 211.

[429]See the account given of this transaction by Valla in hisAntidotus,p. 218.Poggio, towards the conclusion of his third invective, asserts, that Valla was on this occasion subjected to the discipline of the scourge, and narrates the manner and form of his punishment with great minuteness.

[430]Valla’s invective against Beccatelli and Facio is divided into four books, and occupies fifty-two pages of the edition of his works, published by Ascensius in folio, an. 1528.

[431]Valla triumphantly boasts, (Antidotus, p. 167) that Nicolas V. presented to him with his own hand five hundred gold crowns as a remuneration for his Latin version of Thucydides. This version was printed by Henry Stephens, in his edition of that author, in the preface to which he complains of Valla’s inaccuracy and inelegance of style. That this complaint is just, abundant proof may be found in Stephens’s marginal corrections of Valla’s translation.

[432]Poggii Opera, p. 188-205.

[433]The passage which thus irritated the feeling of the Catalonian nobleman occurs in Poggio’s epistle to Andreolo Giustiniano, in which he remarks, upon the assertion of Francesco di Pistoia, that some Catalans had stolen a marble statue which he had in charge to deliver to Poggio: “in quo ut conjicio manifeste mentitus fuit. Non enim marmoria sculpti Cathalani cupidi sunt, sed auri et servorum quibus ad remigium utantur.”—Poggii Opera, p. 329.

[434]This attack on Poggio’s moral character occurs in the proemium to theAntidotus, and is couched in the following atrocious terms. “Ostendam itaque eum quasi alterum Regulum, malum quidem virum, non quod libidinosus ac prope libidinis professor, non quod adulter atquo adeo alienarum uxorum præreptor, non quod vinolentus semper ac potius temulentus, non quod falsarius et quidem convictus, non quod avarus, sacrilegus, perjurus, corruptor, spurcus, aliaque quæ extra nostram causam sunt, sed quatenus ad causam nostram facit, quod manifestarius calumniator.”—Antidotus, p. 8.

[435]He asserted, that during Valla’s residence at Pavia, he forged a receipt in order to evade the payment of a sum of money which he had borrowed, and that by way of punishment for this offence, he was exposed to public view with a mitre of paper upon his head. Poggio, in his relation of this anecdote, made use of the following ironical expression. “Falsum chirographum cum scripsisses, accusatus, convictus, damnatus, ante tempus legitimum absque ullâ dispensatione episcopus factus es.” This witticism of Poggio’s betrayed Monsieur L’Enfant into a very ridiculous error. “On trouve ici,” says he, in gravely commenting on this passage, “une particularité assez curieuse de la vie de Laurent Valla. C’est qu’ayant été ordonné Eveque à Pavie avant l’age et sans dispense, il quitta de lui même la mitre, et la deposa, en attendant dans le palais episcopal, où elle étoit encore. Je rapporterai ses paroles en Latin qui sont fort embrouillées.”Poggiana, tom. i. p. 212.On this statement of L’Enfant, Recanati, in hisOsservazioni,p. 111, makes the following dry remark. “Non credo però, che l’autore della Poggiana, quando pure fosse Cattolico, vorrebbe essere fattoVescovoin questa foggia, come Poggio dice che il Valla lo sia stato.”

[436]To enter into the particulars of Poggio’s charges and Valla’s defence would be a most disgusting task. The following circumstance is, however, too curious to be passed over without notice. Poggio reprobating the incontinence of his adversary, accused him of debauching his sister’s maid-servant. In reply to this accusation, Valla did not deny the fact; but with wonderful ingenuity thus converted it into a proof of his principled chastity. “Itaque cum nonnulli meorum propinquorum me virginem, sive frigidioris naturæ, et ob id non idoneum conjugio arbitrarentur, quorum unus erat vir sororis, quodammodo experiri cupiebant. Volui itaque eis ostendere, id quod facerem, non vitium esse corporis, sed animi virtutem.”Antidotus, p. 222.

[437]Poggii Opera, p. 234-242.

[438]Bandini Catalogus.

[439]Filelfi Opera, p. 75.On the death of the duke of Milan, Filelfo had experienced considerable inconvenience, in consequence of the war between Francesco Sforza and the Milanese. In the course of this contest he wavered between the two parties; but the success of Sforza at length attached him to the interests of that enterprising chieftain. Soon after the elevation of Nicolas V. to the pontificate, Filelfo was invited by Alfonso, king of Naples, to present to him in person a copy of his satires. On his way to Naples he passed through Rome, where he paid his respects to the pontiff, who endeavoured, but in vain, to retain him in his service by the promise of a liberal stipend. On his arrival at the Neapolitan capital, he was received with great kindness by Alfonso, at whose command he was crowned with laurel in the midst of the camp. From Naples he returned to Milan, where he received the afflicting intelligence, that at the sack of Constantinople by the Turks, Manfredina Doria, his mother-in-law, and two of her daughters had been carried away captives. It is an astonishing instance of the power of song, that he procured their redemption by an ode addressed to Mahomet II. In the year 1454, he was reconciled to Cosmo de’ Medici, by whose son Pietro he was treated with distinguished regard. During the life of Francesco Sforza, Filelfo was enabled, by the munificence of that prince, to live in a state of splendor which was very congenial to his dispositions; but on the death of that generous patron he received from his successor, Galeazzo Maria, little more than empty promises. In consequence of the pressure of distress, he undertook at the age of seventy-two to read lectures on Aristotle. After sustaining a variety of afflictions in consequence of the distracted state into which Milan was thrown by the death of Galeazzo, he received from Lorenzo de’ Medici an invitation to read lectures on the Greek language at Florence. This invitation he gladly accepted, and at the advanced age of eighty-three he repaired to the Tuscan capital, for the purpose of resuming the task of public instruction. The fatigues of his journey however overpowered the strength of his constitution, and soon after his arrival in Florence he closed a life of assiduous study, and of almost ceaseless turbulence.For an elaborate history of Filelfo, seeMemoires de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. x.

For an elaborate history of Filelfo, seeMemoires de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. x.

[440]Ton. Tr. tom. ii. p. 161.

[441]Matteo Palmerio was a Florentine citizen, descended from an illustrious family. Passing through the different gradations of civic honours, he was at length called to fill the highest offices of the state. He was an elegant scholar, and composed many works, amongst which the most distinguished was an Italian poem in terza rima, entitledCittà di vita. This poem, in which are recounted the adventures of a human soul, which the author supposes to have been liberated from the prison of the body, was condemned by the inquisition as heretical.—Zeno Diss. Voss. tom. i. p. 100 et seq.

[442]Poggii Opera, p. 86-131.

[443]Poggiana, tom. ii. p. 162.

[444]Poggio’s History of Florence, as edited by Recanati, has been republished in the magnificent historical collections of Grævius and Muratori.

[445]By his wife, Poggio had five sons; Pietro Paulo, Giovanni Battista, Jacopo, Giovanni Francesco, and Filippo. Pietro Paulo was born in the year 1438. He entered into the fraternity of the Dominicans, and was promoted to the honourable office of Prior of Santa Maria ad Minervam, in Rome, which office he held till the time of his death, which happened September 6th, 1464.Giovanni Battista, who was born in the year 1439, took the degree of doctor of civil and canon law, and attained the several dignities of Canonico of Florence, and of Arezzo, Rector of the Lateran church, Acolyte of the pontiff, and assistant clerk of the chamber. He composed in the Latin language the lives of Niccolo Piccinino, and Dominico Capranica, cardinal of Firmiano. He died anno 1570.Jacopo, born anno 1441, was the only one of Poggio’s sons who did not enter into the ecclesiastical profession. He was a scholar of distinguished accomplishments. His Italian translation of his father’s History of Florence, and of his Latin version of the Cyropædia, have already been noticed. He also translated into Italian the lives of four of the Roman emperors. Nor did he confine his literary exertions to translations. He composed a commentary on Petrarca’s Triumph of Fame, which he dedicated to Lorenzo de’ Medici; a treatise on the origin of the War between the English and the French; and the life of Filippo Scolario, vulgarly called Pipo Spano. Entering into the service of cardinal Riario, he was involved in the guilt of the Pazzi conspiracy, and was of the number of the criminals who were suspended from the windows of the town hall of Florence, in the year 1478.Giovanni Francesco, who was born anno 1447, after holding the offices of Canonico of Florence, and Rector of the Lateran church, went to Rome, where he became chamberlain of the pontiff, and abbreviator of the apostolic epistles. He was highly esteemed by Leo X., who appointed him his secretary, in the enjoyment of which office he died at Rome, July 25th, 1522, and was buried in the church of St. Gregory, where there still exists a monument erected to his memory.Filippo was born anno 1450. When he had attained the twentieth year of his age he was created Canonico of Florence. But quitting the ecclesiastical life, he married a lady of an illustrious family, by whom he had three daughters.Besides these five sons, Poggio had a daughter, named Lucretia, who married into the family of the Buondelmonti.Ton. Tr. tom. ii. p. 169.

Giovanni Battista, who was born in the year 1439, took the degree of doctor of civil and canon law, and attained the several dignities of Canonico of Florence, and of Arezzo, Rector of the Lateran church, Acolyte of the pontiff, and assistant clerk of the chamber. He composed in the Latin language the lives of Niccolo Piccinino, and Dominico Capranica, cardinal of Firmiano. He died anno 1570.

Jacopo, born anno 1441, was the only one of Poggio’s sons who did not enter into the ecclesiastical profession. He was a scholar of distinguished accomplishments. His Italian translation of his father’s History of Florence, and of his Latin version of the Cyropædia, have already been noticed. He also translated into Italian the lives of four of the Roman emperors. Nor did he confine his literary exertions to translations. He composed a commentary on Petrarca’s Triumph of Fame, which he dedicated to Lorenzo de’ Medici; a treatise on the origin of the War between the English and the French; and the life of Filippo Scolario, vulgarly called Pipo Spano. Entering into the service of cardinal Riario, he was involved in the guilt of the Pazzi conspiracy, and was of the number of the criminals who were suspended from the windows of the town hall of Florence, in the year 1478.

Giovanni Francesco, who was born anno 1447, after holding the offices of Canonico of Florence, and Rector of the Lateran church, went to Rome, where he became chamberlain of the pontiff, and abbreviator of the apostolic epistles. He was highly esteemed by Leo X., who appointed him his secretary, in the enjoyment of which office he died at Rome, July 25th, 1522, and was buried in the church of St. Gregory, where there still exists a monument erected to his memory.

Filippo was born anno 1450. When he had attained the twentieth year of his age he was created Canonico of Florence. But quitting the ecclesiastical life, he married a lady of an illustrious family, by whom he had three daughters.

Besides these five sons, Poggio had a daughter, named Lucretia, who married into the family of the Buondelmonti.Ton. Tr. tom. ii. p. 169.

[446]The fate of this statue was somewhat remarkable. In consequence of certain alterations made in the façade of the church of Santa Maria, in the year 1560, by Francesco, Grand duke of Tuscany, it was removed to another part of that edifice, where it now composes one of the group of the twelve apostles.—Recanati Vita Poggii, p. xxxiv.

Back to Index Next