392 



BRACCIOLINI. 



mil Poggio, or indeed any of the literati, to tran- 

 scribe it. On the warm interference ofLorenzede 

 Medici, the cardinal was, at length, induced to en- 

 trust the volume to Niccolo Niccoli, who, after copy- 

 ing it, returned it to the cardinal, and thus it came 

 into the general possession of the learned. In the ar- 

 chives of the monastery of Monte Passino, Poggio 

 found a copy of Julius Frontinns tie. Aqweduciit, and 

 eight books of a treatise on the mathematics, by Fir- 

 micus. From Cologne, he procured the fifteenth 

 book of Petronms Arbiter, a small fragment of which 

 he had before discovered in Britain. With the assist- 

 ance of Bartolomeo de Montcpulciar.o, he discover- 

 ed the exquisite poem of Lucretius, the poem of Si- 

 lius Italicus, Lactantins's treatise, DC Ira Dei, ct 

 Opi/icio Iinminis, Vegetius De He Militari ; Nonius 

 Marcellus, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Tertullian. 

 To his sagacity and diligence in these important re- 

 searches, we owe likewise the entire works of Colu- 

 liiella, the preservation of Calpurnius's Bucolic, and 

 the recovery of the works of Manilius, Lucius Sep- 

 timius, Caper, Eutychius, and Probus. 



Posrnio remained for some time at Constance, in 

 expectation of preferment in the Roman chancery. 

 It does not appear that he was employed by the 

 new pontiff, Martin V., though he travelled in his 

 (iuit to Mantua. Here he quitted the Roman coin t, 

 probably in disgust, with a determination to spend 

 some time in England, whither he had been invited 

 by Beaufort, bishop of Winchester. The coldness 

 of that prelate, however, and the savage manners of 

 the inhabitants, then sunk in the grossest barbarism, 

 rendered him extremely dissatisfied with his situa- 

 tion, and impatient to return to his native land. 

 While thus chagrined with disappointment, he recei- 

 ved an invitation to become secretary to the Roman 

 pontiff, an office which the unpleasantness of his situ- 

 ation in England induced him, though somewhat 

 reluctantly, to accept. For some time after his return 

 to Rome, the pontifical court was agitated and 

 alarmed by home dissensions, and foreign wars. An 

 interval of peace at length succeeded, which Poggio 

 employed in the assiduous prosecution of his studies. 

 His first literary production, entitled A Dialogue on 

 Avarice, appeared in 1429, and met with considerable 

 approbation. The severe censures, however, which 

 it contained against a new order of Franciscan friars, 

 called Fratrcs Obscrvnnlia', who were as popular 

 with the vulgar for their empty and wild harangues, 

 as they were despised and hated by all sensible peo- 

 ple for their ignorance and their vices, provoked the 

 keen indignation of the fraternity. Poggio was not 

 to be daunted by their menaces, or silenced by their 

 expostulations. He retained, to his latest breath, his 

 detestation of these knavish impostors ; and in a Dia- 

 logue on Hypocrisy, published when he had declined 

 far into the vale of years, he again attacks them with 

 the most sarcastic wit, and with the shrewdest obser- 

 vations on the human character. The freedom with 

 which he censures the vices, not of individuals merely, 

 but of whole classes of religious hypocrites, indicates 

 a boldness of spirit, and a warmth of virtuous feel- 

 ing, in the highest degree creditable to his character. 

 It is on account of this freedom that the Italian edi- 

 tors of his works hare suppressed the Dialogue on 



Hypocrisy, which Protestants have preserved and 

 circulated with industrious zeal. 



Soon after Eugenius IV. succeeded to the papal 

 throne, a contest took place between him and the 

 council of Basil ; during the whole progress of which, 

 Poggio continued firm to the interests of the pontiff. 

 The contest terminated in the deposition of Euge- 

 nius, and his flight to Florence; and Poggio, in at- 

 tempting to accompany him, fell into the hands of 

 his enemies, \vho detained him for a considerable 

 time in captivity. Finding the exertions of his friends 

 insufficient to procure his release, he, at length, pi 

 chased his freedom by a ransom, which the narrow- 

 ness of his circumstances rendered extremely oppre^- 

 sive ; and immediately on his enlargement) he con- 

 tinued his route to Florence. On his arrival in that 

 city, he found it agitated by viclc-nt factions. Cos- 

 mo de Medicis, who was the idol and the patron of 

 the people, had been banished by the aristocracy; and 

 the literati, according to their views and coi.nections, 

 espoused the quarrels of the different parties, and 

 waged against each other a war of rancoious invec- 

 tive. One pf the most violent of these literary com- 

 batants was Filelfo, an avowed enemy of the hou.>e 

 of Medicis. Poggio, who had always been warmly 

 patronised by Cosmo, grappled with this fierce ad- 

 versary, and the contest was long maintained, I 

 with the refined and pointed satire whic: .arc- 



been expected from men of ingenuity and learn:: 

 but by the forging of atrocious falsehoods arid ca- 

 lumnies, equally disgraceful to themselves and to their 

 cause. Poggio, tired at length of the bustle and 

 contention of public life, determined to spend * 

 rest of his days in retirement ; and, with this view, 

 purchased a villa in the pleasant district of Valdarno 

 in Tuscany. The Tuscan government, as a mark of 

 respect to so distinguished a character, who enjoyed no 

 opportunities of amassing much wealth, passed a pub- 

 lic act, exempting him and his family from the pay- 

 ment of all public taxes. To compensate for the 

 want of magnificence, Poggio was anxious to dignify 

 his humble mansion, by the taste displayed in its de- 

 corations. His library was particularly valuable; 

 and he had a small but exquisite collection of statues, 

 disposed in such a manner, as to constitute a princi- 

 pal ornament of his garden, and the appropriate fur- 

 niture of an apartment which he intended to dedicate 

 to lit-erary conversations. An enthusiastic admira- 

 tion of ancient sculpture had prompted him to search 

 out its relics with no less ardour, than he displayed in 

 rescuingfrom obscurity the precious remains of Greek 

 and Roman literature. He had diligently surveyed 

 the ruins of ancient Rome ; and has inserted in the 

 preface to hia dialogue De I'aridate Fortunas, a 

 catalogue of the relics of Roman architecture, which 

 Mr Gibbon has thought worthy of being introduced 

 into his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Nor 

 were his researches confined to the precincts of Rome. 

 Crypta, Ferrata, Tusculum, Ferentinum, Alba, Ar- 

 pinum, Alatrinum, and Tiburtuni, were ransacked 

 by him for the recovery of monuments of ancient 

 sculpture ; and by means of friends, his inquiries 

 were extended to the various countries of Greece. 

 While engaged in these researches, he was request- 

 ed by a fiiend to give his opinion whether Cxsar or 



