URACCIOLINI. 



.393 



. Scipio Africans* were the greater man. In compli- 

 ance with this request, he drew up an elaborate com- 

 parison between these two eminent men, and gave his 

 decision in favour of Scipio. 



He had not lived long in retirement, when he 

 formed a matrimonial connection with a Tuscan young 

 lady, of the name of Vnggia ; a step which, however 

 proper or commendable it might otherwise have been, 

 t lie ciu- i instances in which he was then situated, render- 

 ed highly disgraceful. His treatise on the important 

 question, An ,vr/ .viV .rr iliicrtuld, might satisfy his 

 friends of the propriety of marryiug, at the age of fifty- 

 five, a young woman, who had not yet seen eighteen 

 summers. But we cannot conjecture what arguments 

 could justify him in paving the way for such a mar- 

 riage, by dismissing a woman who had born him 

 twelve sons and two daughters, four of which chil- 

 dren were still alive, and who were thus deprived of 

 a:i inheritance which he had secured to them by a 

 bill of legitimation, and doomed to all the hardships 

 of penury and disgrace. Yet, if we may credit his 

 own assertions, the forlorn situation, into which he 

 plunged the objects of his former attachment, occa- 

 sioned him but little remorse, and he enjoyed, with 

 his young consort, a happiness unalloyed by the dis- 

 parity of their years. 



The literary reputation of Poggio was now com- 

 pletely established, and widely diffused. His works 

 were eagerly sought after; and several eminent scho- 

 lars, who had been gratified by the perusal of some 

 of his letters, requested him to prepare a collection 

 of them for publication. The request was too gra- 

 tifying to be resisted. A volume of his epistles was 

 soon submitted to the inspection of the public; a 

 copy of which is still preserved among the manu- 

 scripts of the Riccardi library at Florence. This vo- 

 lume had scarcely been prepared for publication, 

 when he experienced a severe loss in the death of Nic- 

 colo Niccoli, to whom most of the letters it contains 

 had been addressed. Poggio paid the last tribute of 

 gratitude to his earliest md steadiest friend, in a fune- 

 ral oration, replete with the eloquence and pathos of 

 true affection. 



Amidst the duties and the cares of domestic life, 

 Poggio stillfound leisure to cultivate hisfavourite stu- 

 dies. In 1440 he published a Dialogue on Nobility, 

 a work which greatly increased his reputation, by 

 its clear arrangement, its elegant diction, and the 

 abundance of classical allusions and references with 

 which it is enriched. This dialogue was soon followed 

 by another, On the unhappiness of Princes; in which, 

 says his biographer, Shepherd, " Poggio dwells 

 with so much energy on the vices of exalted rank, that 

 it may reasonably be suspected, that resentment and 

 indignation had at least as much influence in its corn- 

 position, as the suggestions of philosophy. His liter- 

 ary spleen io discernible in the sarcastic observations 

 which he introduces, on the indifference with which 

 the rulers of Italy regarded his researches after the 

 lost works of the writers of antiquity ; in the detail 

 which he gives of the neglect and scorn which Dan- 

 te, Petrarch, and Boccacio experienced from the 

 great men of their times ; and, in the general obser- 

 vations which he makes upon the contempt with 



IV. PART II. 



which mighty potentates too frequently regard the Bracciolini. 

 labours of the learned. The effusions of morosen 

 which occur in this dialogue, are however intersper- 

 sed with precepts of sound morality, and the histo- 

 ric details with which it abounds, are at once enter- 

 taining and instructive." 



The prudence, or the merits, of Poggio had ena- 

 bled lu'm to retain his office as secretary, under seven 

 successive pontiffs; yet he had never been promoted 

 to any of the superior departments in the Roman 

 chancery. But when Tommalo dc Sarzano, his par- 

 ticular friend, ascended the pontifical chair, with the 

 name of Nicholas V. new prospects of promotion open- 

 ed upon him; and, in a congratulatory oration which he 

 addressed to his friend on his preferment, he took care 

 to remind him, that it would be the greatest glory of 

 his pontificate to become the patron of men of ge- 

 nius, and that he himself, with whom he was con- 

 nected by a similarity of studies, and who had be- 

 come a veteran in the service of the Roman court, 

 had a peculiar title to expect from his munificence 

 the means of an honourable retirement. His hopes 

 were more than realized by the generosity of Nicholas,, 

 who enriched him by liberal presents, and seemed to 

 take pleasure in distinguishing him by peculiar marks 

 of regard. The elation of prosperity appeared to 

 give new energy to the mind of Poggio, and to in- 

 spire him with fresh ardour in the prosecution of his 

 studies. These happy effects of his change of for- 

 tune, were soon displayed in his Dialogue on the vi- 

 cissitudes of Fortune, which, for sublime philosophi- 

 cal maxims, illustrated by a detail of striking histo- 

 rical events, is by far the most interesting of his com- 

 positions, and may well challenge a comparison with 

 any production of the age in which he lived. This 

 dialogue was introduced with a dedicatory epistle to 

 his new patron ; and, as a fresh proof of his confidence 

 in that enlightened and liberal pontiff, he soon after 

 published his Dialogue on Hypocrisy, already men- 

 tioned; the boldness of which, in lashing the vices 

 and follies of the clergy, had it appeared in the time 

 of Eugenius, would probably have cost him his 

 life. His talent for satire was again exerted, at the 

 request of Nicholas, in an invective against Ama- 

 dasus of Savoy, who, under the title of Felix, persist- 

 ed in arrogating the honours of the pontificate. Ni- 

 cholas soon assigned him the more honourable task of 

 translating into Latin the works of Diodorus Sicu- 

 lus, and the Cyropa-dia of Xenophon. The plague, 

 which raged in various parts of Italy, during the ce- 

 lebration of the jubilee in 1450, dispersed the mem- 

 bers of the pontifical court, and, during this period 

 of danger, Poggio paid a visit to his native place. 

 It was on this occasion he published his Facetiae, a 

 work which, though the general dulness and indeli- 

 cacy of its jokes be relieved by some lively sallies and 

 entertaining anecdotes, is as unworthy of the talents 

 of Poggio, as it is discreditable to the taste and the 

 principles of the officers of the Roman chancery, 

 whose " pointed jt-stsand humorous stories" are regis- 

 tered in the Facelicc. In 1451, he published his 

 Historia disceptatwa ConvivaJis, with a dedication to 

 Cardinal Prospero Colonna. In this work he insti- 

 tutes a comparison between the professions of medi- 

 3D 



