Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/531

 LITER ATTIRE.] ITALY 509 16th century took to developing itself in its individual parts, making way for what has by some been called the golden age of Italian literature. lop- 4. Development of the Renaissance. The fundamental ie ~ Renaissance is that it perfected itself in every kind of art, &quot; e * in particular uniting the essentially Italian character of its language with classicism of style. This period lasted from about 1494 to about 1560; and, strange to say, this very period of greater fruitfulness and literary greatness began from the year 1494, which with Charles VIII. s descent into Italy marked the beginning of its political decadence and of foreign domination over it. But this is not hard to explain. All the most famous men of the first half of the 16th had been educated in the preceding century. Pietro Pomponazzo was born in 1462, Marcello Virgilio Adriani in 1464, Castiglione in 1468, Machiavelli in 1469, Bembo in 1470, Michelangelo Buonarroti and Ariosto in 1474, Nardi in 1476, Trissino in 1478, Guicciardini in 1482. Thus it is easy to understand how the literary activity which showed itself from the end of the 15th century to the middle of the following one was the product of the political and social conditions of the age in which these minds were formed, not of that in which their powers were displayed. tory. Niccolo Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini were the chief originators of the science of history. Machia- velli s principal works are the Istorie Florentine, the Discorsi sulla prima Deca di Tito Livio, the Arte della Guerra, and the Principe. His merit consists in having been the creator of the experimental science of politics, in having observed facts, studied histories, and drawn conse quences from them. His history is sometimes inexact in facts ; it is rather a political than an historical work. The peculiarity of Machiavelli s genius lay, as has been said, in his artistic feeling for the treatment and discussion of politics in and for themselves, without regard to an im mediate end, in his power of abstracting himself from the partial appearances of the transitory present, in order more thoroughly to possess himself of the eternal and inborn kingdom, and to bring it into subjection to himself. His Principe has been the subject of the severest accusations. But now, especially since Macaulay s essay, it is clear to every one that this book was only the result of the civil and moral conditions of Italy, as it still is the faithful portrait of them. 1 Next to Machiavelli both as an historian and a states man, comes Francesco Guicciardini. He taught law for many years at Florence ; then, having devoted himself to politics, he was always in the service of the Medici. Leo X. made him governor of Modena, Reggie, and Parma. Clement VII. gave him the appointment of president of the Romagna, and afterwards that of lieutenant-general of the army against Charles V., and finally that of governor of Bologna. He worked for the return of the Medici to Florence, defending Duke Alexander from the ac cusations of the exiles and supporting the election of Cosmo I. Guicciardini was very observant, and endea voured to reduce his observations to a science. His Storia d ltalia, which extends from the death of Lorenzo de Medici to 1534, is full of political wisdom, is skilfully arranged in its parts, gives a lively picture of the character of the persons it treats of, and is written in a grand style. He shows a profound knowledge of the human heart, and depicts with truth the temperaments, the capabilities, and 1 Hitherto there has been no complete and objective study on Machiavelli, although very much has been written about him. This want, it is hoped, will be supplied when Signor Villari has completed his work, of which only the first volume has as yet appeared, Niccolo Machiavelli eisuoi tempiilhistrati con nuovi documenti, Florence, 1877. the habits of the different European nations. Going back to the causes of events, he looked for the explanation of the divergent interests of princes and of their reciprocal jealousies. The fact of his having witnessed many of the events he related, and having taken part in them, adds authority to his words. The political reflexions are always deep : in the Pensieri, as Capponi 2 says, he seems to aim at extracting through self-examination a quintessence, as it were, of the things observed and done by him, thus endeavouring to form a political doctrine as adequate as possible in all its parts. Machiavelli and Guicciardini may be considered, not only as distinguished historians, but as originators of the science of history founded on observation. Inferior to them, but still always worthy of note, were Jacopo Nardi (a just and faithful historian and a virtuous man, who defended the rights of Florence against the Medici before Charles V.), Benedetto Varchi, Giambattista Adriani, Bernardo Segni; and, outside Tuscany, Camillo Porzio, who related the Conyiura de Baroni and the history of Italy from 1547 to 1552, Angelo di Costanza, Pietro Bembo, Paolo Paruta, and others. Ariosto s Orlando Furioso was a continuation of Boiardo s Romantic Innamorato. His characteristic is that he assimilated the epic, romance of chivalry to the style and models of classicism. Ariosto Ariosto was an artist only for the love of his art ; his sole aim was to make a romance that should please the generation in which he lived. His Orlando has no grave and serious purpose ; on the contrary it creates a fantastic world, in which the poet rambles, indulging his caprice, and sometimes smiling at his own work. His great desire is to depict everything with the greatest possible perfection ; the cultivation of style is what occupies him most. In his hands, the style becomes wonderfully plastic to every conception, whether high or low, serious or sportive. The octave stanza reached in him the highest perfection of grace, variety, and harmony. Meanwhile, side by side with the romantic, there was an Heroic attempt at the historical epic. Gian Giorgio Trissino of e P ic - Vicenza composed a poem called Italia liberata dai Goti. Full of learning and of the rules of the ancients, he formed himself on the latter, in order to sing of the campaigns of Belisarius ; he said that he had forced himself to observe all the rules of Aristotle, and that he had imitated Homer. In this again, we see one of the products of the Renais sance ; and, although Trissino s work is poor in invention and without any original poetical colouring, yet it helps one to understand better what were the conditions of mind in the 16th century. Lyric poetry was certainly not one of the kinds that Lyric rose to any great height in the 1 6th century. Originality poetry, was entirely wanting, since it seemed in that century as if nothing better could be done than to copy Petrarch. Still, even in this style there were some vigorous poets. Monsignore Giovanni Guidiccioni of Lucca (1500-1541) showed that he had a generous heart. In fine sonnets he gave expression to his grief for the sad state to which his country was reduced. Francesco Molza of Modena (1489- 1544), learned in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, wrote in a graceful style and with spirit. Giovanni della Casa (1503 1556) and Pietro Bembo (1470-1547), although Petrar- chists, were elegant. Even Michelangelo Buonarroti was at times a Petrarchist, but his poems bear the stamp of his extraordinary and original genius. And a good many ladies are to be placed near these poets, such as Vittoria Colonna (loved by Michelangelo), Veronica Gambara, Tullia d Aragona, Giulia Gonzaga, poetesses of great delicacy, and. superior in genius to many literary men of their time. The 1 6th century had not a few tragedies, but they are Drama. 2 Storia della Rcpubblica di Firenze, Florence, 1876.
 * of characteristic of the literary epoch following that of the