CHARACTERS. 
for the literature of the ancients, itis 
not to be denied, that he had power- 
ful coadjutors in Pontano, and Sa- 
nazata, whose Jabours have given 
to the delichtfal vicinity of Naples 
new pretensions to the appellation 
of classic ground. Nor will jt di- 
minish his reputation, if we admit 
that the empire which he had found- 
ed, was in the next century extend- 
ed and secured by the exertions of 
Tracastoro, Vida, Naugerio, and 
Flaminio, * in whom the great poets 
‘of the Augustan age seem once 
more to be revived. 
_ Character of the celebrated Girolamo 
Savonarola ; from the same. 
LTHOUGH the citizens of 
Florence admired the talents, 
and respected the virtues of Ma- 
riano, their attention was much 
more forcibly excited by a preachér 
ofa very different character, who 
possessed bimselfof their confidence, 
and entitled himself to their homage, 
[*31 
by foretelling their destruction. This 
was the famous Girolamo Savona- 
rola, who afterwards acted so.con- 
spicuous @ part in the popular com- 
motions at Florence, and contri- 
buted so essentially to the accom- 
plishment of his own predictions. 
Savonarola was a native of Ferrara, 
but the reputation which he had’ 
acquired aS a preacher, induced 
Lorenzo de’ Medici to invite him 
to Florence, where he took up his 
residence in the year 1488, + and 
was appointed prior of the monaste+ 
ry of Si. Marco. By pretensions to 
superior sanctity, and by a fervid 
and over-powering elocution, he 
soon acquired an astonishing ascen- 
dancy over the minds of the people, 
and in proportion as his popularity 
increased, his disregard of his pa= 
tron became more apparent, and 
was soon converted into the most 
vindictive animosity. It had been 
the custom of those who had pre- 
ceded Savonarola in this office, to. 
pay particular respect to Lorenzo 
de’ Medici, as the supporter of the 
* IT cannot mention these names without reerctting the limits’to which I am 
ecessarily confined. The rivals of Virgil, of Ovid, and of Catullus, ought not, 
na work that touches on the rise of letters, to be commemorated at the foot of a 
page. The Syphilis of Fracastoro, sive de Morbo Gallico, thoagh an unpromising 
sabject, is beyond comparison the finest Latin poem that las appeared sinoe the 
times of the ancients... The writings of Vida are more generally known, and 
_ would be entitled to higher applause, if they did not frequently pasta to the 
classical reader, an imitation of the ancients that borders on servility. Naugerio 
asa noble Venetian, who died young on an embasgy from the republic. In his 
~ last woments he destroyed all his writings then ‘in his ‘possession, as not’ being 
_ Sufliciently correct for the public eye; but the few that had been previously. dit 
‘tribiited anvong his frieids, were collected and published by them after his death, 
and breathed the true spirit of poetry. In Flaminiv we haye the simplicity and 
tenderness of Catullus, without his licentiousness. To those who are acquainted 
with his writings, it will not be thought extravagant to assert, that many of them, 
iu the species of composition to which they are confined, were never excelled. 
ans question laddressed by him to a friend, respecting the writings of Catullus, 
“ Quando legsete—non vi sentite voi Jiquefare il cuore di-doleezza?” may, with 
confidence be repeated to all those who are conversant with his works. 
“4 ¢ In 1489, according to Viraboschi, Storia della Lett. Ital. v. vi. par. 2. p.377,, 
fet Savonarola himself, in his Trattato della Rivelatione della reformatione della. 
Chiesa. Ven. 1536, (if indeed the work be his,) assigns an earlier period. In this. 
_ work the fanatic assumes the credit of having toretold the death of Innocent VIII. 
of Lorenzo de’ Medici, the irruption of the French into Italy, &c. 
i 
institution 
