ITALY (LITERATURE.) 



175 



Tmola (who wrote a history of emperors, from Julius 

 Csesar down to Wenceslaus, and commented on 

 Dante) ; Francesco Pipino of Bologna (who wrote a 

 chronicle, from the time of the first Prankish kings 

 down to 1314); and Guglielmo of Pastrengo (author 

 of the first universal library of the writers of all 

 nations, which displays a wonderful extent of reading 

 for those times) ; the Florentine Paolino di Pietro, 

 Dino Compagni, and the Villanis (see Villani), who 

 contributed much to the improvement, of their native 

 language ; the Venetian Andrea Danclolo (who wrote 

 a valuable Latin chronicle of his native city, from 

 the birth of Christ to 1342) ; and Rafaello Caresini 

 (who continued it till 1388) ; the Paduan Alberto 

 Musato (who wrote several historical works in good 

 Latin, partly in prose, partly in verse) ; and others. 

 (See Muratori's Scriptores.) The want of proper 

 teachers was a great obstacle, in this period, to the 

 study of foreign languages. Clement V. gave orders, 

 indeed, for the erection of professors' chairs for the 

 Oriental languages, not only in the papal cities of 

 residence, but also in several universities at home 

 and abroad, but with little effect. More was done 

 for Greek literature, especially through the instru- 

 mentality of Petrarca and Boccaccio : the two Cala- 

 Lriars Barlaamo and Leonzio Pilate were the most 

 zealous cultivators of it. At Florence, the first pro- 

 fessorship of the Greek language was founded and 

 conferred on Leonzio Pilato, by the influence of Boc- 

 caccio. In this period occur the first Italian tales 

 and romances. The oldest collection of tales extant 

 is the Cento Novelle antiche, short and very simple 

 stories by unknown authors. These were followed 

 by Boccaccio (q. v.) with his Decameron and his 

 Fiammetta, by which he became the real creator of 

 the Italian prose, in all its fulness, luxuriance, and 

 flexibility : his imitators were Francesco Sacchetti, 

 author of a collection of tales, and Ser. Giovanni, 

 author of Pecorone, both, however, far inferior to 

 Boccaccio. Dante (q. v.), too, must be mentioned, 

 both on account of his Italian works, the Vita Nuova 

 and the Convito, and also on account of his De Mon- 

 archia, and De Vulgari Eloquentia. Connected with 

 this is the De Rhythmis I'ulgaribus of Ant. di Tempo, 

 which treats, though imperfectly, of Italian verse, as 

 the former had treated of Italian prose, and the vari- 

 ous kinds of style. In general, grammar and ele- 

 gance of style were much cultivated, by reason of the 

 study of the ancients. Not only were the models of 

 antiquity translated and explained, but a professor- 

 ship was founded at Florence for illustrating Dante. 

 Yet the specimens of elegant prose are few. Among 

 the writers of travels of this century, Petrarca and 

 the Minorite Odorico of Pordenone hold the first 

 rank. The former made a journey to Germany, and 

 gives an interesting account of it in his letters : he 

 also wrote for a friend an Itinerarium Syriacum, 

 without having ever been in Syria himself. Odorico 

 travelled through a great part of Asia as a mission- 

 ary, and, after his return, published a description of 

 his travels, which may be found in llamusio's work, 

 but unfortunately so altered, that we can hardly ven- 

 ture to give credence to the accounts. 



Fifth Period. From 1400 to 1500. During this 

 century, notwithstanding the continuance of internal 

 troubles, Italian literature was in a highly flourishing 

 condition. Two events, in particular, had a favour- 

 able influence : first, the conquest of Constantinople 

 by the Turks, in consequence of which many learned 

 Greeks fled to Italy, and diffused knowledge there ; 

 secondly, the flourishing state of the house of the 

 Medici in Tuscany, the members of which were dis- 

 tinguished for their patronage of the arts and 

 sciences, and were emulated by the Visconti, Sforza, 

 Este, the kings of Naples, the marquises of Mantua 



and Montferrat, the dukes of Urbino. and other 

 princes, popes, magistrates, and private persons. 

 Without dwelling on the universities, we merely say, 

 that two new ones were added at Parma and Turin. 

 In the preceding century, an academy of poetry had 

 been established, and scientific academies were now 

 instituted. The first of this kind was founded by 

 the great Cosmo, at Florence, for the revival of the 

 Platonic philosophy. Similar societies were formed 

 at Rome, at Naples, and, under the patronage of 

 the learned Aldus Manutius, at Venice. Men like 

 Guarino of Verona, Giovanni Aurispa, and Francesco 

 Filelfo, brought the works of the Greeks from obscur- 

 ity ; others were not less zealous in the cause of 

 Roman literature. Public and private libraries were 

 established in several places. This progress wns pro- 

 moted by the invention of printing, which was quickly 

 spread and brought to perfection in Italy. As 

 ancient literature became more generally studied, 

 antiquities likewise attracted greater attention. 

 Ciriacoof Ancona, in particular, thus gained a high 

 reputation. No one of the many learned theologians 

 of these tunes is much distinguished. We shall 

 merely mention Nic. Malermi, or Malerbi, who first 

 translated the Bible into Italian ; Bonino Mombrizio, 

 who collected the lives of the martyrs ; and Platina, 

 who, with great erudition, and not without critical 

 acuteness, wrote the history of the popes, in an ele- 

 gant and forcible style. After the arrival of the 

 Greeks in Italy, anew impulse was communicated to 

 the study of philosophy. Among several others, Paolo 

 Veneto had already acquired fame as a philosopher 

 by his logic or dialectics, and his Summulce Rerum 

 naturalium, in which he illustrated the physics and 

 metaphysics of Aristotle. Among the Greeks who 

 fled to Italy in the first half of this century, one of 

 the principal was Johannes Argyropulus, of whom 

 Lorenzo de' Medici, Donato Acciaiuoli, and Politian 

 were scholars. Without entering into controversies, 

 he explained Aristotle, and translated several of his 

 works. But after him, Georgius Gemistus (also 

 called Pletho) gave rise to an obstinate contest 

 respecting the relative superiority of Aristotle and 

 Plato. He himself, as the advocate of Plato, ridiculed 

 Aristotle and his admirers. Georgius Scolarius 

 (afterwards patriarch of Constantinople) answered 

 with vehemence, and provoked Pletho to a still more 

 violent reply. The famous Theodore Gaza, the car- 

 dinal Bessarion, and George of Trebisond, took part 

 | in the controversy. On the other hand, the admirers 

 of Plato, at Florence, remained quiet spectators. The 

 Platonic academy, founded there by Cosmo, was in a 

 flourishing state. Marsilius Ficinus and Johannes 

 Picus of Mirandola, were its chief ornaments. The 

 former translated the works of Plato into Latin, and 

 wrote on the philosophy of Plato and of the Platonists. 

 Their most eminent successors were A. Politian and 

 Cristoforo Landino. Astronomy was still mixed with 

 astrology. Some of the most learned astronomers 

 were Giovanni Bianchino, whose astronomical tables 

 of the orbits of the planets were several times 

 printed ; Domenico Maria Novara, instructor of the 

 great Copernicus; and, above all, Paolo Toscanello, 

 celebrated for the sun-dial made by him, in the 

 cathedral at Florence. Mathematics and music now 

 revived in Italy. One of the restorers of arithmetic 

 and geometry was Luca Paccioli of Borgo San 

 Sepolcro. Leone Battista Alberti, the author of 

 numerous works on architecture, wrote in a manner 

 no less elegant than profound ; he was also the 

 author of valuable treatises on other subjects. The 

 first writer on the art of war, was Robert Valturio da 

 Rimini. For music, Ludovico Sforza first founded a 

 public school at Milan, and made Franchino Gafurio 

 its teacher, from whose pen we have several works, 



