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 ITALY (LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE) 461 tiqne diction. Its tone is much modified in the elegant version of it by Francesco Berni, which has enjoyed the most general favor. The prose literature was enriched by the writings of two artists : Leone Battista Albert!, the author of a dialogue Delia famiglia, contain- ing philosophical precepts for domestic life and the education of children, and of treatises on painting and architecture which gained him the name of the Italian Vitruvius; and the renowned Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), at once painter, sculptor, architect, mathemati- cian, musician, the best extemporaneous poet of his time, and the author of a Trattato della pittura, which reveals both his scientific and artistic knowledge, and is a classical authority on the use of terms pertaining to the arts and sciences. Numerous historians also belong to this age. Pandolfo Collenuccio was the first to write an esteemed history of the king- dom of Naples, revived and corrected the taste for comedy, founded the first museum of nat- ural history in Europe, and wrote dialogues after the manner of Lucian, and the solemn Inno alia morte. Historians of travels were the Genoese Giorgio Interiano and the Ve- netian Oadamosto, who give the oldest narra- tives of the Portuguese discoveries, and the Florentine Amerigo Vespucci. Aldo Manuzio (Aldus Manutius) rendered signal services to let- ters, and gained a European repute by the care and taste with which he published the classics. The 16th century, the cinquecento of the Italians, is known as in many respects the f>lden age of Italian literature and art. Leo . was on the papal throne what his father Lorenzo the Magnificent had been in Tuscany, the munificent patron of artists and men of letters; and the other sovereigns of Italy vied with the popes in this liberal patronage. But if the writers patronized by them, and breath- ing the atmosphere of their courts, gave evi- dence of improved taste and more exquisite perfection of form, they manifested also not a little of servility. The native literature of the two preceding centuries had sprung up and flourished amid free institutions, and was the expression of the popular mind and heart. Men of letters in the 16th century were for the most part the hirelings of princes, and lit- erature became a courtly exercise. In poetry Ariosto (1474-1533) stands preeminent. The prot<Sg6 of the dukes of Ferrara, he aims at describing in his romantic epic, Orlando furioso, the origin of the house of Este. Tasso praises him for fertility of invention and propriety of treatment. Ariosto wrote also satires on the rulers and politics of the age, and two comedies, for the performance of which a theatre was constructed by the poet's patrons. A number of other writers, carried away by his success, attempted epic composi- tions, among which are Alamanni's Oirone il cortege and Avarchide, Valvasone's Angeleide, which is thought to have suggested to Milton the conception of the " Paradise Lost," Tris- sino's (1478-1550) Italia, liberata dai Gotti, a poor imitation of Homer, Brusantini's Ange- lica innamorata, the Guerino meschino of Tul- lia d'Arragona, and the Amadigi of theBerga- mese Bernardo Tasso. But nearest in excel- lence to Ariosto comes Bernardo's son, Tor- quato Tasso (1544-'95), who aimed at combi- ning in his Geruialemme liberata the epic gran- deur of Virgil with the lighter graces of the romantic muse. His Rinaldo and Aminta are also full of poetic beauty. The success of Ari- osto in comedy had awakened zeal for drama- tic composition. Trissino produced Sofonuba, the first Italian tragedy of high merit, and Rucellai his Rosmunda and Oreste, represented at the expense of Leo X. Superior in merit to these are the tragedies Tullia by Martelli, Canace by Sperone Speroni, Torrismondo by Torquato Tasso, and Edipo by Andrea dell' Anguillara, all moulded on the Greek drama. In comedy the Italian authors of this century were the servile imitators of Plautus and Te- rence. In high comedy (commedia ervdita) the best examples are the Calandra of Cardinal Bibbiena, the Cassaria and Suppotiti of Ari- osto, and the Madragola and Clizia of Machi- avelli. To the Florentines belongs the inven- tion of the opera, Daphne, the first ever writ- ten, having been represented in 1597; the words were from the pen of Rinuccini, and the music from that of Peri. The melodramas of the Modenese Orazio Vecchio are considered by Muratori as the beginning of modern opera. In pastoral poetry, besides the Aminta of Tas- so, this age boasts of Guarini's Pastor fido and Sannazzaro's Arcadia. The chief didactic poems are the Api of Giovanni Rucellai, the Navigazione of Bernardino Balbi, the Coltita- zione of Alamanni, and the Caccia of Valva- sone. A school of burlesque poetry arose about 1520, named genere bernesco after Berni, whose Orlando innamorato unites grace, elegance, and originality. In satire the first place belongs to Ariosto, after whom may be mentioned Er- cole Bentivoglio and Filippo Nerli. Luigi Ala- manni, like Pietro Aretino, whose versatile tal- ent led him to write on many subjects, is chief- ly known for his indelicacy. Macaronic poetry owed its invention or its happiest improvement to Teofilo Folengo (died in 1544), known as Merlino Oocajo. Angelo di Costanzo's sonnets are models of perfection, which Michel Angelo nobly emulated, while Bembo aimed like them at popularizing the language of Dante among the learned. Annibale Caro gained great praise for his translation of Virgil and his original compositions. Bernardo Davanzati's version of Tacitus is thought to surpass the original in conciseness and energy ; he also wrote a history of the reformation in England. To Vittoria Colonna (1490-1547), among the women of this century, Ariosto awarded the palm of poeti- cal excellence. An important place in the lit- erature is held by political writers, foremost among whom was Machiavelli (1469-1527). A dramatist and historian of Florence, he is