* 
M A F F M U S. 
Expedition ; -the Life of St. Anthony { and feveral others 
which are preferved in manufcript in the Laurentian li¬ 
brary. Thefe were works of his early age ; and he has 
informed us that he entirely laid poetry (profane poetry) 
alicie after he had entered into the priefthood, and turned 
bis mind to facred things. The bell: product of this 
change of fentiment was his work “ De Educatione Libe- 
, rorum, et eorum Claris Moribus,” which is pronounced 
by Dupin the molt complete work of the kind extant, 
treating on the duties of fathers and mothers, the ftudies 
proper for children, and the virtues proper to be inftilled 
into them, and filled with truly chriftian morality and un¬ 
common wifdom. He alfo wrov; fix books “On Perfe- 
verance in Religion,” and forne “ Difcourfes concerning 
the Laft Ends of Man likewife the lives of fome faints, 
and an ironical dialogue intitled “Truth banifhed.” His 
ttyie in profe is accounted elegant and poliflied for that 
time. Tirabofchi. 
MAFFAS'US (Bernardin), a learned cardinal, who died 
at Rome, at th.e'age of 40, about the year 1553. He is 
known as the commentator on Cicero’s Epiftlet;, and as 
the author of a Treatife on Medals and Infcriptions. 
MAFFiE'US, or Maffei, (John Peter), was born at 
Bergamo in 1536, and was inftruCted by his uncles Bafil 
.and Chryfollom Zanchi, nobles of that city, in the an¬ 
cient languages, and in philofophy and theology. In 
1563 he was appointed profefl'or-of eloquence at Genoa, 
with an ample f'alary. During the two years which he 
continued in that office he acquired great applaufe, and 
was cbofen to the office of fecrelary of Hate ; in 1565, he 
returned to Rome, where he entered into the fociety ofje- 
fuits. He fpent fix years as profefi'or of eloquence in the 
Roinan college, during which hetranflated into the Latin 
language the Hiftory of the Indies by Acofta, which was 
publifiied in 1570; after this he was invited to Lifbon by 
cardinal Henry, to draw up, from papers and other docu¬ 
ments with which he was to be furnifhed, a complete hif¬ 
tory of the Portuguefe conquefts in the Indies, and of the 
progrefs of the Chriftian religion in thofe countries. He 
returned to Italy in 1581, and fpent feveral years, partly 
at Rome and partly at Sienna, in learned labours; and at 
length was placed, by Clement VIII. in the Vatican, for 
the purpofe of continuing, in the Latin language, the 
Annals of Gregory XIII. begun by him in the Italian. 
He died at Tivoli in October 1603. He wrote the life of 
Ignatius Loyola ; but his principal work is entitled “ Hif- 
toriarum Indicarum, Lib. xvi.” which has been frequently 
reprinted. The belt edition is in two volumes 4to. printed 
at Bergamo in 1747. His works are chiefly to be regarded 
on account of the purity of the ftyle in which they are 
written. Moreri. 
MAFFiF'US, or Maffei, (Francis-Scipio), marquis, 
an eminent Italian writer, born at Verona in 1675, was 
the third fon of tlieynarquis John Francis Maffei and of 
Silvia Pellegrini. His early education was entirely con- 
duffed by his mother, a woman of fuperior accomplifh- 
ments. At a proper age he was fent to the Jefuits’ col¬ 
lege at Parma, where he diftinguifhed himfelf by his at¬ 
tachment to poetry, both Latin and Italian. After com¬ 
pleting his ltudies, he vifited Milan, Genoa, and Rome ; 
and at the latter capital was admitted into the Academy 
•degli Arcadi. Returning to his native city, he afliduoufly 
cultivated polite literature; and in 1700 wrote a criticifm 
on the Rodogune of Corneille. Uniting the fpirit of phi¬ 
lofophy with that of gallantry, he maintained before an 
alTembly of both fexes in the Academia Filamonica of 
Verona certain “conclufioni d’amore,” in which the ele¬ 
gance of his language and vivacity of his fentiments were 
equally admired. 
Not contented with the laurels of peace, lie took the 
occafion of the Spanifh fucceffion-war to try his fortune 
in the field ; and in 1703 joined his fecond brother, who 
was a general of the Bavarian troops in alliance with 
France. He was prefent at the battle of Donawert; and 
had afterwards the farisfaCtion of laving his brother’s life 
VOL, XIV. No. 958. 
- 85 
by difarming an officer wliofe piftol was pointed at him. 
At the conclufion of the campaign he returned to Verona, 
and refumed thofe literary occupations which he never 
afterwards quitted. After fome fuccefsful attempts to 
reform the literary tafte of his countrymen, he undertook 
the more important tafk of reforming their moral princi¬ 
ples, efpecially with regard to the practice of duelling, to 
which his brother was near falling a facrifice. The rules 
for conducing private quarrels had been reduced to a fort 
of fyftem, under the name of the fcience of chivalry. This 
he attacked firft in a fmall publication, and afterwards in 
a large work “Della Scienza chiamata cavallerefca,” de¬ 
dicated to pope Clement XI. and firlt printed at Rome 
in 1710, 4to. This was a performance of much learned 
refearch and folid argument, written in an admirable ftyle 
and with great clearnefs of method. It was received with 
general applaufe, and paffed though feveral editions. The 
enquiries in which he had been engaged led him to de¬ 
left a fiftion refpefting a fuppofed religious order of 
knighthood founded by Conftantine the Great; and,as he 
was a decided enemy of impolture of all kinds, he expofed 
it in a trail “ De Fabula Equeltris Ordinis Conftanti- 
niani,” 1712, under the name of Zurigo. Somewhat be¬ 
fore this time he had difplayed his zeal for Italian litera¬ 
ture by urging Vallifnieri and Apoftolo Zeno to fet oil 
foot a good literary journal in the Italian language; and 
he contributed to it a learned preface and two dedi¬ 
cations, with feveral articles relative to feience and let¬ 
ters. The reformation of the Italian theatre was another 
point in which the marquis greatly interefted himfelf. 
In order to banifh the unworthy pieces which had taken 
pofieffion of it, he firft made a collection of the befe 
Italian tragedies, which he publifhed under the title of 
Teatro Italiano , prefixing a diftertation containing a fliort 
hiftory of the Italian Itage, with fome ftriCtures on the 
French dramatifts. He then, by way of model, produced 
in 1714 his tragedy of Merope. Few pieces of the kind 
were ever more fuccefsful. The number of editions is 
fcarcely to be reckoned ; it was tranflated into moll mo¬ 
dern languages ; and it had that certain mark of celebrity, 
an attendant fwarm of critics and cenfurers. Among 
thefe was Voltaire, who afterwards wrote a tragedy of the 
fame name and fubjeCt by way of csinparifon, which is 
one of his fineft works. The marquis alfo gave a fpeci- 
men of comedy in a piece entitled Commedia delle Ce- 
rimonie; and he enriched the flage with the drama called 
La Fida Ninfa. 
Of Maffei’s more ferious ftudies, thofe of antiquity and 
theology were the favourites; the firft, chiefly directed to 
the honour of his native country and city; the fecond, 
animated with zeal for the Roman-catholic faith. Of his 
numerous publications relative to thefe objects, it will here 
be fufficient to notice fome of the principal, in chronolo¬ 
gical order. For the purpofe of proving the early attention 
paid in Italy to ancient literature, he publifhed, in 1720, 
“Traduttori Italiani,” or a notice of verfions of Latin 
and Greek authors into the vulgar tongue. Having dif- 
covered an ancient MS. in the library at Verona, which 
had long been unknown, he publifhed from it, in 1721, 
“ Caffiodorii Senatoris Complexiones,” with a learned in¬ 
troduction and annotations. A. commiflion which he 
received from ViCtcr Amadeus, king of Sardinia, to whom 
he was gentleman of the chamber, to colleCt the monu¬ 
ments of antiquity feattered through his country, was a 
very agreeable variation of his fedentary employments. 
To this prince he dedicated his ufeful work entitled “If. 
tona Diplomatica,” being an introduction to the critical 
knowledge of the pieces diftinguifhed under the name of 
diplomas, with a collection of feveral documents hitherto 
inedited : it was publifiied in 1727, 410. 
He had already manifefted his regard for the honour of 
his native city by an attempt to prove that Verona was ne¬ 
ver fubordinate to Breicia, as was commonly affirmed ; and 
in 1732 he railed a durable monunjent to her fame by his 
learned work “ Verona Illuftrata.” In this was comprifed 
z “his 
