AHETINO. 



247 



sciences. lie now published, with some other persons, 

 from 1804 to 1806, a daily paper, the Aurora, and 

 afterwards, as a continuation of the well known 

 Leipziger Allgem. Liter. Anzeiger (Leipsic Universal 

 Literary Informer), the Never Lit. Anzeiger (New 

 Literary Informer) ; also, Decisions of the Courts of 

 Love, and a History of the Jews in Bavaria, 1803 ; 

 Oldest Traditions respecting theBirth of Charlemagne, 

 1803 ; Memoir on the History of the Divining Rod, 

 1807 ; the Earliest Consequences of the Art ot Print- 

 ing, exhibited in the History of the World, 1809 ; 

 Historical and Literary Memoirs (Beitrage), particu- 

 larly from the Treasures of the Library at Munich, 

 7 vols. ; Introduction to the Theory and Practice of 

 Mnemonics, 1810; Historical Literature of Bavaria, 

 1810; Information on the History of Bavaria, from 

 hitherto unused, and mostly foreign Sources, 1811 ; 

 Annals of the Administration of Justice in Bavaria, 

 1813 and 1818; History of the 13th Article of the 

 Act of the German Confederation ; and many other 

 works on the politics and literature of Bavaria. One 

 of his works excited a long and violent contest be- 

 tween the learned men of Munich, at the end of 

 which A., by order of the king, laid down his former 

 offices, and, in 1811, went to Neuburg, as first direc- 

 tor of the court of appeal ; in 1813, he became vice- 

 president. His pamphlet, Saxony and Prussia (in 

 favour of Saxony), excited uncommon attention, and 

 drew upon him much persecution. In 1819, he was 

 chosen member of the chamber of deputies in the 

 Bavarian diet, and was one of the most influential men 

 in the assembly. In the same year he became a mem- 

 ber of the society for collecting the ancient history of 

 Germany. He died, Dec. 24, 1824, at Munich, in 

 the office of president of the court of appeal in the 

 circle of Regen. His brother, Adam, has also held 

 high offices under the government, and has published 

 several works, but not under his name. Most of 

 these relate to the fine arts. 



ARETINO, Guido, or Gui ; a Benedictine monk of 

 the 1 1th century, born at Arezzo. He is said to have 

 first reduced the science of music to a fixed system, 

 ;md to have been the inventor of the monosyllables 

 of the solfeggo, ut, re, mi, fa, so, la, drawn from 

 the words of a Latin hymn. It is far from improbable, 

 that Aretino was merely the restorer of the true prin- 

 ciple of the ancient Greek music, with which, in the 

 course of his studies, he became acquainted, through 

 sources which have escaped modern research. It is 

 unnecessary to add, that the monosyllable si, whence 

 the modern scales of the two modes, major and minor, 

 is a later invention. The syllables ut, re, mi, c., 

 are taken from a hymn of St John, composed by Paul, 

 in 770 : 



Ut queant laxis lie sonare fibris 

 Mi ra geitnrum Fa rauli tuorum, 

 iS'o Ive pollutis //a biis reatum. 



ARETINO, Leonard ; a very learned Italian historian, 

 born at Arezzo, in Tuscany, in 1370. At the period 

 of the revival of learning, lie was a very distinguished 

 scholar, and, being chosen secretary to the republic 

 of Florence, amassed a large fortune. He died in 

 that capital, highly respected, in the year 1443. He 

 translated Aristotle's Ethics and Politics, and Plu- 

 tarch's Lives, into elegant Latin. His original works 

 Bre also in Latin, amongst which a History of Florence 

 (folio, 1470), On Studies and ^Letters (1642), Epistles 

 (republished in 1741, 8vo,) with his life by Melius, 

 are particularly esteemed. 



ARETINO, Pietro, one of the most famous Italian 

 authors of the 16th century, who was indebted for the 

 greater part of his fame to the licentiousness of his 

 pen. He was born at Arezzo, 1 492, the natural son of a 

 nobleman, whose name he never bore (for the name A. 

 is expressive of his birth place), and, from a book- 



binder's apprentice, became an author, who soon gain- 

 ed the favour of kings. He was, indeed, called their 

 scourge, but he was profuse in his adulation to them. 

 He had. warm admirers, notwithstanding the malignity 

 and severity of his satires. Although he was so licen- 

 tious a writer, that his very name is expressive of 

 indecency and profligacy, he wrote many works of 

 devotion, and gave the preference to the latter, if his 

 own interest required it. His reputation gained for 

 him the name of divine, by which even Michael An- 

 gelo addressed him ; and his ostentation led him to 

 adopt the name as his title. He caused medals, 

 therefore, to be struck for him, with the inscription, 

 Divus Petrus Aretinus, flagellum principum, and 

 presented them to several princes. Being banished 

 from Arezzo, on account of a sonnet against indul- 

 gences, he went to Perugia, and thence to Rome, 

 where he entered into the service of Leo X., and 

 afterwards of Adrian VI. On account of the sixteen 

 indecent sonnets, which he composed as illustrations 

 of as many designs of Giulio Romano, he was obliged 

 to leave Rome. Giovanni- de' Medici invited him to 

 his court, and took him to Milan, where lie found an 

 opportunity to insinuate himself into the favour of 

 Francis I. After having again visited Rome, he re- 

 turned to his protector, Giovanni de' Medici, who 

 grew more and more attached to him, and died in his 

 arms of his wounds. In 1528, A. went to Venice, 

 where he acquired powerful friends, among whom 

 was the bishop of Vicenza, who reconciled the pope 

 to him, and recommended him to Charles V. so 

 strongly, thai he was presented by him with a golden 

 chain. Francis I., wishing to be equally generous, 

 gave him a similar chain. But when Charles after- 

 wards settled on him a pension of 200 dollars, which 

 liberality Francis did not equal, the former alone re- 

 ceived all the encomiums which he had formerly 

 divided between them both. The duke of Leve also 

 gave him a considerable pension. He gained be- 

 sides, according to his own assertion, 1000 dollars in 

 gold, every year, by his writings, together with a 

 ream of pape* and a flask of ink. Nicolo Franco, as 

 licentious an author, though not so learned, aided 

 him in his labours. A.'s fame was extended to such 

 a degree, that he received letters from all parts of 

 Italy, and his company was much sought. By his 

 devotional writings, he regained the favour of the 

 Roman court, and Julius III., who was also from 

 Arezzo, was so pleased with a sonnet addressed to 

 him by his countryman, that he sent him 1000 crowns 

 of gold, and made him knight of St Peter. Three 

 years afterwards, he was introduced, by the duke of 

 Urbino, to the pope, who received him not only with 

 honour, but even with tenderness. Yet he could not 

 obtain the dignity of cardinal, for which he made very 

 great exertions. The nature of his death corres- 

 ponded to his life. He had some sisters at Venice, 

 who equalled their brother in licentiousness. As a 

 person was one day relating to him one of their ad- 

 ventures, he was so amused that he burst into a fit of 

 laughter, and, losing his balance, fell to the ground, 

 ana died soon after, in 1556, aged sixty-five. He 

 had received from nature a happy constitution. He 

 was born with a taste for the arts, and practised seve- 

 ral with success. But, above every thing else, he 

 loved money, a good table, and handsome women. 

 His works consist of several religious compositions ; 

 five comedies and a tragedy, the former full of wit 

 and genuine comic humour, the latter not without 

 merit ; the licentious Ragionamenti, and Puttana er- 

 rante ; sixteen profligate Sonclti fasstirioti ; several 

 pieces in rhyme, stanze, capitoli, partly laudatory, 

 and partly licentious and satirical : some unfinished 

 epics complete the list. The academicians of la 

 Crusca counted A. among the classic authors of the 



