BOCCACCIO. QIOVAHNL 



BOCCANKRA, 8IMONE. 



732 



i of the tnbjeet* of these tale* are Uken from older worki, bat 

 most of them are original. 



While at Naples* Boccaccio amused himself with writing in tha 

 Neapolitan dialect, in which there in extant a humorous letter addr**al 

 by him to Francesco de' Bardi, a Florentine merchant, in the year 1349. 

 It appear* that Boccaccio went from Naples to Calabria, and tome say 

 bo to Sicily, either for the purpoM of studying Greek, or in order to 

 collect manuscript* for hit library. A boat 1350 Boccaccio returned 

 to Florence, when, by the death of hii father, he had become poe- 

 eased of hii inheritance, which he spent in travelling and in purchasing 

 manuscripts chiefly of the Greek and Latin classics. What manuscript* 

 he could not purchase he contrived to copy. 



Boccaccio's merits being now known and appreciated by bis country- 

 men, he was employed by the state in several offices and minions. 

 He was sent several time* to Romagns, to the lords of Ravenna and 

 Forli, and afterwards on a mission to LouU of Bavaria, Marquis of 

 Brandenburg, in Germany, and again to Pope Innocent VI. In 1351 

 he was sent to Petrarch, who was then at Padua, to communicate to 

 him the revocation of the sentence of exile paased against his father 

 during the factions of 1302, as well as the restoration of hU paternal 

 property, which had been confiscated ; Petrarch was at the same time 

 invited to return to his paternal country, but he declined the invitation. 

 In 1855 Boccaccio wrote 'II Corbaccio, osaia il Labirinto di Amore,' a 

 kind of satire against women, full of indecent passages. Hi* Fiatn- 

 metta appears to have died at Naples some time before. In 1360, 

 having induced the Florentine* to found a chair of Greek literature in 

 their university, he repaired to Venice for a professor, and brought 

 home with him Leontius Hiatus, a native of Calabria, who wished to 

 pas* himself off for a Greek, a* Petrarch says. ('Epistola Senil.' 

 lib. iil 8.) Pilatus was a learned but uncouth man. Boccaccio lodged 

 him in his own house, and treated him with great kindness notwith- 

 standing his repulsive manners and bad temper, lioucaccio learned 

 Greek from Pilatus, who made for his pupil'* use a Latin translation 

 of Homer. 



In 1361 a great change took place in Boccaccio's moral conduct 

 His life had till then been irregular, and most of his writings licentious, 

 but in that year Father Ciani, a Carthusian monk, came to him and 

 stated that Father Petroni of Siena of the same order, who had died 

 shortly before in odour of sanctity, had commissioned him to exhort 

 Boccaccio to forego his profane studies, reform his loose life, and 

 prepare for death. To prove the truth of his mission, Ciani told 

 Boccaccio several circumstances, known only to Boccaccio and Petrarch. 

 Boccaccio wrote immediately in great agitation to his friend Petrarch, 

 expressing hi* resolution to quit the world and shut himself up in a 

 Carthusian convent Petrarch'* answer, which i* among his Latin 

 epUtles, is remarkable for its sound and clear scnue. Without ascribing 

 much weight to the mysterious circumstances of the monk's communi- 

 cation, he exhorted hi* friend to listen to the warning, so far a* to 

 i new and regular course of life, which he might do without 

 hutting himwlf up in a convent, and without giving up his studies 

 and hi* books. This letter calmed the excited imagination of Boc- 

 caccio, who from that time became an altered man. Hi* studies took 

 a more rerioua turn, and he devoted part of hi* time to the perusal 

 of the Scripture*. It was soon after this that he wrote to Mainardo 

 de' Cavaleanti, marshal of Sicily, imploring him not to allow his 

 ' Decamerooe ' to be perused by the female* of his family, " who, 

 though they might by education and honourable principle* be above 

 temptation, yet oould not bat have their minds tainted by such 

 obsoeo* stories." And a* aa apology for himself, he stated that it 

 wa* a work of hi* youth, and that he had written it in great measure 

 in compliance with the will of the powerful. majori coactua imperio," 

 alluding probably to Qaeen Joanna's request 



In 1.1C2 Boccaccio went to Naples at the request of Acciajuoli, the 

 Moenhal of the kingdom, but he soon left Naple* for Venice, where 

 he sprat three month* with Petrarch. After his return to Florence, 

 be was sent by the republic to Pope Urban V., then at Avignon, and 

 again to the same pope at Rome in 1 367. At this period of his life he 

 appears to have been distressed in hi* circumstances, and to have 

 retired occasional assistance from his kind fri<-nd Petrarch, who also, 

 on hu death-bed, left him by will 6fty golden florins " to buy him a 

 winter pelisse to protect him from cold while in hi* study at night" 

 adding, that if he did no more for Boccaccio, it was only through want 

 of tn'aiw. In 1878 Boccaccio was appointed to lecture at Florence on 

 DaoU'* 'Commedia,' and to explain and comment upon the obscure 

 pMC* of that poem. He wrote a commentary on the 'Inferno,' 

 which 1* much esUemed, and also a life of Dante, which i* not very 

 accorsU. Hi* health being bad. be gave up hi* lectureship in 1374, 



id retired to Ccrtaldo, where he made his will, leaving hi* little 

 property to his two nephews, except his library, which he bequeathed 

 to hi* confessor, Father Martin of ^Igna, an Augustine friar, and after 

 hu death, to the convent of Santo Spirito at Florence, for the use of 

 tudenU. A fire which occurred in the convent a century after 

 **tn>yed this valuable collection, the work of Boccaccio's whole life. 



Vr hngenng for several months, Boccaccio died at Certaldo on the 

 , il ~?!, b y 1875> **? aUty-two, sixteen month* after the 



tli of hi* mend Petrarch. 



B P 0> t ? ""T > oonsid***! M tha father of Italian prow. The 

 '*i of his DtcamtrooV with regard to language have been perhaps 



exaggerated, but still it has the merit of being the earliest pro** 

 wort" written in pure Italian. (Foscolo, ' Pisoorao Storico sul Teeto 

 del Decamerone;' 'Journal of Education,' No. x.. 'On the Study of 

 the Italian Language.') Boccaccio and Petrarch were the revivers of 

 classical literature in Italy. They spared neither labour nor money in 

 recovering the Greek and Latin classic*, and in giving an impulse to 

 the study of them. Boccaccio wrote several work* in Latin : ' De 

 Genealogia Deornm ; ' 'De Montium, Sylvarum, Laouum, Flu riorum, 

 Stagnornm et Msrium Nominibus, Liber;' 'De Casibus Virorum et 

 Foeminaram illustrium ;' ' De Claris Mulieribus,' and sixteen ' Eclogas,' 

 in which he alludes, nnder the veil of allegory, to the event* of his 

 time. HU Italian works have been published together, carefully cor- 

 rected from the best existing manuscript*, in 17 vol*. 8vo, Florence, 

 1827-34. 



(Baldelli, Vita di Oiomami Boccaccio, Florence, 1806; Mazsuchelli, 

 Scrittori tF Italia.) 



BOCCAQE, MARIE ANNE LEPAGE, was a French poetess of 

 the last century, so highly esteemed by her contemporaries that she 

 was received as a member of the academic* of Rome, Bologna, Padua, 

 Lyon, and Rouen. She was born in Rouen in 1710, and educated in 

 a convent at Paris, where, at an early age, she WM distinguished for 

 talent and a poetic turn; but it was not until the year 1740 that 

 Madame du Boocage first appeared as an author, when her poem, 

 entitled ' Prix Alternatif entre lea Belles Lettres et les Sciences,' 

 gained the first prize given by the then recently founded Rouen 

 Academy. She was from this time surrounded, courted, and eulogised 

 by all the distinguished literati of France. Fontenelle called l.c-r his 

 daughter ; Voltaire placed a crown of laurel on her head, saying it 

 wa* the only thing wanting to her dres* ; and the word* ' Forma 

 Venus arte Minerva' were assigned her as a motto ; but her produc- 

 tions display little real genius, and little that can command the 

 admiration of posterity. Their chief merit seems to be an easy and 

 correct versification. Her poetical works consist of an imitation of 

 ' Paradise Lout,' another of Gesner's ' Death of Abel,' ' Les Amazonea.' 

 a tragedy (which was acted cloven times), ' La Colombiade,' an epic 

 poem, and several small pieces. Her works ran through four editions 

 between the yean 1749 and 1770, and were translated into Knglish, 

 German, Spanish, and Italian. Her prose letters, written during her 

 travels through England, Holland, and Italy, which were little thought of 

 at tho time, will probably be valued long after her poetry is forgotten. 

 Madame du Boocage died at the age of ninety-two, in the year 1802. 



BOCCALI'NI, TRAJA'NO, born at Loreto in 1556, studied at 

 Rome, and afterwards applied himself to the profession of the law. 

 He was employed by the court of Rome in several administrative 

 offices, and Gregory XIII. sent him aa governor to Benevento. H 

 was well acquainted with the politics of the different courts in 

 his time, and wrote satirical comments upon them, in which he was 

 particularly vehement against the court of Spain, in that age the 

 preponderating power in Europe. His principal work is 'I Rag- 

 guagli di Parnaso,' in which Apollo is supposed to sit in judgment 

 and hear the charges and compliant* of princes, warriors, and author*. 

 This work made him many enemies. He also wrote ' La Pietra del 

 Paragone Politico,' which he left in manuscript in the hands of a 

 friend. In this work, which is a kind of continuation of the other, 

 he especially attacks Spanish despotism. It was published after hia 

 death in 1652, and translated into English by Henry earl of Mon- 

 iiioii th, with the title ' Politick Touchstone,' London, 1674. Boccalini 

 also wrote commentaries upon Tacitus, ' Os*ervazioni sugli Annali di 

 Cornelio Tacito,' in which he developes his view* of ancient politics, 

 and makes frequent comparisons between them and the events of his 

 own time. These commentaries, which also extend to the life of 

 Agricola, were published in 2 vol. 4 to, 1678, under the title of ' La 

 Bilancia Politic* di tutte le Open di Trajnno Boccalini,' with notes by 

 Louis du May. The note* arc written with greater freedom than the 

 text, especially on religious subjects, for which reason the work was 

 put in the Index of forbidden books. Owing to his invectives against 

 Spain, Boccalini, being afraid of the power of that government, took 

 refuge at Venice, the only Italian state that kept itself comparatively 

 independent of Spanish influence. He did not live there much more 

 than a year, and died on the 16th of November 1613. According to 

 some account* ho was murdrred in his lodgings, and in his own bed, 

 by hired assassins, but the statement is disbelieved by Mazzuchelli, 

 Tirnboschi, and other Italian writers. 



BOCCANE'RA, SIMO'NE, tho first doge of Genoa, was elected by 

 popular acclamation in 1339. Until that time the republic had been 

 governed by two capitani chosen from among the patrician families, 

 between whom frequent disputes occurred, they being divided into 

 the factions of Quelphs and Ghibclines. These disputes were often 

 accompanied with violence, and the citizens of Genoa growing tired 

 of such commotions appointed a doge, or elective supreme magistrate, 

 after the example of V enice. It WHS resolved at the same time that 

 the doge should be chosen from among the private citizens, and not 

 from any of the patrician families. The doges were appointed for 

 life; but they were often driven from office by civil commotions. 

 Boccanera himself was expelled in 1344, but returned some years after 

 and was reinstated. His son liattista was elected doge in 1400, but 

 wa* soon after beheaded. The institution of the doges for life lasted 

 till 1623. 



