ITALY (LITERATURE.) 



177 





creed. Cardinal Bellarmin surpasses all the others in 

 intrinsic merit. Cesare Baronio, the historical 

 defender of the disputed papal prerogatives, brought 

 to light the most important documents and monu- 

 ments ; and Paolo Sarpi, the assailant of them, 

 united modesty, and incorruptible love of truth, with 

 the deepest insight into the Catholic religion. But, 

 notwithstanding all exertions to uphold the estab- 

 lished doctrines of the church, the active spirit of 

 philosophy could no longer be restrained, not even in 

 Italy. Besides the scholastics in the monasteries, and 

 the Peripatetics among the Humanists, who revived 

 and explained the ancient systems of philosophy,there 

 appeared a philosophical sect of free-thinkers, who, to- 

 gether with the superstitions, rejected religion also. 

 Pietro Pomponazzi, who taught annihilation after 

 death, left behind a numerous school of sceptics, to 

 which belonged scholars like cardinal Gonzaga, Con- 

 tarenus, Paul Jovius, and Julius Cffisar Scaliger. By 

 their side stood Bernardino Telesio, also a preacher of 

 infidelity, like Pomponazzi and his school, honoured 

 by the great, while Cesare Vanini and Giordano 

 Bruno atoned for a smaller measure of impiety at the 

 stake; and Campanella, who, as the opponent of 

 Aristotle, and an independent thinker, prepared the 

 revolution that took place in the seventeenth cen- 

 tury, languished in prison. This spirit of inquiry 

 gave an impulse to mathematics and physics. B. 

 Telesio, Giordano Bruno, and Th. Campanella en- 

 deavoured to deduce the phenomena of nature from 

 general principles. Hiero. Cardanus united these 

 speculations with mathematics. The great Galileo 

 brought mathematics and natural philosophy into the 

 closest connexion by new experiments, and became 

 a model to all, especially to the naturalists of his 

 native country. In mathematics, Tartaglia, Carda- 

 ntis, and Bombelli were distinguished for their 

 labours in algebra; Buenaventura Cavalieri prepared 

 the way for the infinitesimal calculus; Commandino 

 became celebrated for his labours on Euclid's Ele- 

 ments, and Marino Gheraldi explained Archimedes' 

 theory of hydraulics. Lnca Valerio enlarged the 

 limits of mechanics by his discoveries ; Castelli pro- 

 duced a revolution in hydraulics ; Maurolico opened 

 the way in optics; Delia Porta invented the camera 

 obscura, and made the first experiments in aerometry; 

 Grimaldi discovered refraction; Magini perfected 

 the burning glass; Torricelli invented the barometer, 

 and Riccioli made important celestial observations. 

 Natural knowledge was amplified in all its branches. 

 As students of the human frame and anatomists, 

 Fracastori, Fallopio, Piccolomini, Aggiunti, and 

 Malpighi were celebrated. Ulyss. Aldrovandi tra- 

 velled through Europe, to investigate the natural 

 history of quadrupeds, birds, and insects, and estab- 

 lished a botanical garden at Bologna. Similar 

 gardens were laid out by the university of Padua, by 

 Cosmo duke of Florence, and various private persons. 

 As botanists, Mattioli, Fabio Colonna, and the above 

 mentioned Malpighi, were distinguished. The aca- 

 demy of the Lincei laboured in the cause of natural 

 history from 1625 to 1640. The first professorship 

 of chemistry was founded at Pisa, in 1615. In phy- 

 sics and medicine, the men of most note are Fallopio 

 and his great scholar Fabricius ab Acquapendente 

 (who led Harvey to the discovery of the circulation 

 of the blood), Borelli, Torricelli, Bellini, Malpighi, 

 and Alpini. Among the jurists of this period, we 

 find no great names after the age of the scholastics. 

 History was cultivated with greater success. His- 

 torians and historical inquirers treated particularly 

 of native history; Carlo Sigonio wrote a general 

 history in Latin, Girolamo Briani in Italian, and, 

 finally, Guicciardini in a classic style, in which his 

 continuator, Adriani, is inferior to him. In local 



IV'. 



history, Macchiavelli's History of Florence was the 

 earliest masterpiece of modern times. Davila, Ben- 

 tivoglio, Bembo (both for his History of Venice a 

 continuation of the work of Andrea Navagiero and 

 for his Asolani and Letters), Angelo di Costanzo. 

 Varchi, Paolo Sarpi, the cardinal Bentivoglio and 

 others, are likewise celebrated. Numberless are the 

 historical, geographical, and topographical descrip- 

 tions of single states, districts, cities, and even of 

 monasteries, libraries, and cabinets. Men like Paolo 

 Giovio, Giambattista Adriani andVittorio Siri were 

 assiduous in preserving the memory of the literary 

 services of their contemporaries and predecessors. 

 Since the end of the fifteenth century, Venice had 

 been the centre of diplomacy and politics. Much 

 was written there on political subjects, as Sansovino's 

 work on Government, and Bolero's State Policy. 

 The study of the Oriental languages was promoted 

 by religious motives. The Maronites on mount Leb- 

 anon were received into the Catholic communion. In 

 order to render the union indissoluble, Gregory 

 XIII. erected a Maronite college in Rome, anil 

 established for its use an Arabic press. Sixtus V. 

 added salaries. This institution transplanted Oriental 

 literature to Rome, and carried thither a great num- 

 ber of manuscripts. George Amira (who wrote the 

 first Syriac grammar of consequence), Ferrari (who 

 compiled the first Syriac dictionary), Gabriel Sionita 

 and Abraham Ecchellensis were distinguished. From 

 Roman presses issued the Arabic works of Ebn Sina, 

 the geography of Sherif Edrisi, the Arabic commen- 

 tary on Euclid. At Genoa an Arabic, and at Rome 

 an Ethiopian Psalter had been previously printed. 

 Giggeus published at Milan the first complete Arabic 

 Dictionary, and Maraccius, at Padua, the first edition 

 of the Koran, illustrated by a commentary. Thus 

 Italy was the seat of the study, not only of the He- 

 brew, but also of the other Shemitish languages. 

 The study of the ancients must have been increased 

 to a great degree, after the art of printing had mul- 

 tiplied the copies of their works. Francesco Rober- 

 telli, Julius Caesar Scaliger, Pietro Vittorio, and 

 Fulvio Ursino, deserve the name of philologists. 

 Others paid more attention to the information af- 

 forded by the ancients, and this study was facilitated 

 by translations. Monuments of antiquity were col- 

 lected, examined, and explained with zeal. Mazzo- 

 chio, and still more Andrea Fulvio, beginners, indeed, 

 in the science, published ancient Roman inscriptions 

 on coins. Giacomo and Ottavio di Strada made 

 similar researches with greater success, and at length 

 Fulvio Ursino illustrated this department with trea- 

 sures of erudition. After him, Francesco Angeloni 

 and Giovanni Pietro Bellori, Filippo Buonarotti, 

 Filippo Paruta and Leonardo Agostino acqiu'red 

 reputation. But, in consequence or" the study of the 

 ancients, classical perfection of style became the aim 

 of literature. The historians distinguished in this 

 respect have already been named. Of a similar char 

 acter, in point of style, are Sperone Speroni (Dialo- 

 ghi and Discorsi), Annib. Caro (Lettere Famigliari, 

 fyc.), Castiglione (II Cortegiano), Delia Casa (11 

 Galateo and Lettere), Giovanbattista Gelli (Dialo- 

 ghi), Franc. Berni (Discorsi and Capricci), Pietro 

 Aretino (Ragionamenti, $c.), Nicolo Franco (Dia- 

 loghi Piacevolissimi), the two poets Bernardo and 

 Torquato Tasso (the former for his Letters, the latter 

 for his Philosophical Essays and Dialogues); finally, 

 Pictro Badoaro (Orazioni), Alberto Lollio (Lettere 

 and Orazioni), Claudio Tolommei and others. The 

 Cicalate, as they were termed (academic prate, 1 , 

 pieces in ridicule of the academies, published after 

 the foundation of the Crusca, in the last half of the 

 sixteenth century, are valued principally in point of 

 style. The early novelists found several imitators 



