176 



ITALY (LITERATURE.) 



such as a Theory of Music ; also, a work on the 

 practice of music, and a treatise on the harmony ot 

 musical instruments. Medical science was but little 

 promoted, considering the number of physicians ; 

 they wore satisfied with collecting the observations 

 of their predecessors. Bartol. Montagna (Consilia 

 Medica, and observations on the baths of Padua), 

 Giovanni di Concorreggio (Praxis nova totiits fere 

 Medicines, &c.), Giov. Marliano, likewise an able 

 mathematician and philosopher (a commentary on 

 Avicenna), Gabriel Zerbi, Alessandro Achillini ;:nl 

 Nic. Leoniceno (who exposed the errors of the 

 ancients in a particular work, and was perhaps the 

 first who wrote De Uallico Morbo), were distinguish- 

 ed in anatomy. Civil jurisprudence still stood in 

 high estimation. In it were distinguished Cristoforo 

 di Castiglione and his scholars, Rafaello de' Raimondi 

 and Rataello de' Fulgosi, who wrote Consilia, and 

 explanations of the digests ; Giovanni of Imoln, who 

 wrote a commentary on the first part of the Digestum 

 novum ; Paolo of Castro, who wrote explanations of 

 the code and digests ; Pietro Filippo Corneo, who 

 left legal Consilia; Antony of Pratovecchio, who 

 improved the feudal law, and wrote a Lexicon Juridi- 

 cum ; Angelo Gambiglione, who wrote De Maleficiis, 

 &c.; the great Accolti of Arezzo, Alessandro of 

 Imola, surnamed Tartagni, who left many law 

 treatises on the digests, the code, the decretals and 

 Clementines, many Concilia, &c.; Bartol. Cipolla, 

 who wrote De Servitutibus ; Pietro da Ravenna, 

 who, besides several legal works, wrote rules for the 

 art of memory, under the title Phoenix; Bartol. 

 Soccino and his opponent, Giasone dal Maino, and 

 many others. In canonical law, the most famous 

 authors were Nic. Tedeschi, Giov. of Anagni, Ant. 

 Roselli, Felino Sandeo and the cardinal Giannantonio 

 da San Giorgio. History made the greatest pro- 

 gress ; it aimed not only at truth, but also at beauty 

 of diction. Among the many historians of this 

 period, some may be regarded as models of histori- 

 cal description. Roman antiquities and ancient 

 history were treated of by Biondo Flavio, whose 

 principal works are Roma instaurata, Roma trium- 

 phans, Italia illustrata, Historia Romana, De Origine 

 et Gestis Venetorum ; Bernardo Ruccelai (De Urbe 

 Roma}; Pomponio Leto (De Antiquitatibus Urbis 

 Romee, De Magistratibus Romanorum, Compendium 

 Histories Romano:), &c. ; and Annio of Viterbo, 

 whose Antiquitatum variarum Volumina XF'H. 

 contain the works of ancient authors, now acknow- 

 ledged to be spurious. Histories from the beginning 

 of the world to their own times, were written by the 

 archbishop Antonio of Florence, Pietro Ranzano, 

 Jac. Filippo Forest!, Matteo and Matthia Palmieri, 

 and Sozomeno, all of which are valuable only as far 

 as they treat of their own times. As historians of 

 their times, and of their country in general, the fol- 

 lowing are deserving of notice : ^Eneas Sylvius, 

 afterwards pope Pius II., who left a great number of 

 historical works, and whose history of his own times 

 has been continued by cardinal Jacopo Ammanato ; 

 Giov. Mich. Alberto of Carrara, Leonardo Bruni of 

 Arezzo, the Florentines Poggio and Bartolommeo 

 Scala ; the Venetians Marco Antonio Sabellico, Ber- 

 nardo Giustiniano ; the Paduans 1'ietro Paolo Ver- 

 gerio and Michael Savonarola (the physician) ; the 

 Vicentine Giambattista Pagliarini ; the Brescian 

 Jacopo Malvezzi and Cristoforo da Soldo ; the Milan- 

 ese Andrea Biglia, Pietro Candido Decembrio, 

 Lodrisio Crivelli, Giovanni Simonetta, Giorgio 

 Merula, Donato Bosso, Bernardino Corio and Tris- 



Antonio Ferrario and others, to whom is to be added 



Paudolfo ColleiiniK do of Pesaro, the only one who 

 wrote a general history of Naples. Giorgio and 

 <;i<i\;:iini Stella, and Bartolommeo Senerega and 

 Jacopo Bracello wrote the history of Genoa. Savoy 

 hail, in this period, two historians, Antonio of Asti 

 (who wrote a chronicle of his paternal city in verse) 

 and Benvenutoda San Giorgio (a history of Mont 

 ferrat, accompanied with documents). As an histo- 

 rian of Mantua, Platinu deserves mention. As geogra- 

 phers were distinguished Cristoforo Buondelmonte, 

 who travelled in Asia ; Francesco Berlinghieri, who 

 wrote a geographical work inverse; Caterino Zeno, 

 who described his travels through Persia; the famous 

 navigators Cada Mosto, Amerigo Vespucci and 

 Cabotto (Cabot) and others. In the Oriental lan- 

 guages, Giannozzo Manetti was distinguished. The 

 study of the Greek language was spread by Manuel 

 Chrysoloras, Lascaris, and many other Greeks, who 

 fled to Italy, on whom and on their scholars, some 

 of them men of great learning, we cannot here dwell. 

 With no less zeal was Roman literature cultivated. 

 The names of Guarini, Aurispa, Filelib, Lorenzo 

 Valla, and Angelo Poliziano, are distinguished. 



Sixth Period. From 1500 to 1650 In this 



period, Italy attained the summit of its greatness 

 Its rich materials for satisfying both the physical and 

 intellectual wants of man ; the power of its republics 

 and princely houses; their zeal and munificence in 

 favour of all that could restore the splendour ot 

 ancient times, made Italy a model for the rest of 

 Europe. The wars which Ferdinand the Catholic, 

 Maximilian I., Charles V., and Francis I. prosecuted 

 on her soil, did not, therefore, produce permanent 

 injury. The former universities continued, and new 

 ones were added, among which that of Padua was 

 eminently conspicuous. The number of academies 

 and libraries increased to such a degree, that hardly 

 a city of importance in Italy was without them. 

 Among the popes, there were many patrons and pro- 

 moters of the arts and sciences, particularly Julius 

 II., the magnificent Leo X., Clement VII. (whom 

 unfavourable circumstances did not allow to accom- 

 plish his designs, but whose place was supplied, in 

 many respects, by the cardinal Hippolitus of Este), 

 Paul III., Gregory XIII., (who, as Ugo Buoncam- 

 pagno, had edited an improved and enlarged edition 

 of the Corpus Juris canonici, and, as pope, corrected 

 the calendar), Sixtus V. (who removed tlie library of 

 the Lateran to the splendid palace of the Vatican, and 

 enlarged it, completed the publication of the works 

 of Ambrosius and of the Septuagint, caused a new 

 edition of the Vulgate to be published, &c.), and 

 Urban VIII. (who united the Heidelberg library 

 with the Vatican, and founded the Barberini.) We 

 must next mention, as scholars and patrons of 

 scholars, the cardinals Bembo, Carlo, and Federigo 

 Borromeo (the last was the founder of the Am- 

 brosian library at Milan), and Agostina Valerio. 

 The princes were not behind the popes and cardi- 

 nals. The most distinguished for activity and libe- 

 rality were the Gonzaga of Mantua, the Fste at 

 Ferrara, the Medici at Florence, and the duke Charles 

 Emmanuel I. of Savoy. Notwithstanding favourable 

 circumstances, theology made but slight advances ; 

 for after the storm of reformation had broken out in 

 Germany, established doctrines were more obsti- 

 nately maintained, and farther investigation discou- 

 raged, with the exception of the editions of the 

 Septuagint and Vulgate already mentioned. The 

 study of the Holy Scriptures ganx-d but little by the 

 literary treasures that Italy possesved. CajeUin, the 

 most celebrated commentator on the Tible, effected 

 nothing worthy of note ; and Diodati's translation, as 

 it wasnot modelled servilely on the Vulgate, found 

 no favour among the defenders of the et-tabtishcd 



