Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/904

ARETINO. teresting chiefly for his colossal and successful impudence. He was born at Arezzo, the son of a shoemaker, Luca, whose surname is unknown; for Pietro, being ashamed of his origin, assumed that of Aretino. While still young he came to Rome and found favor with Pope Leo X. and Cardinal Giulio de Medici, but lost it through writing some licentious sonnets. For a while he frequented the Medicean court, where lie attached himself closely to Giovanni de Medici, but in a few years withdrew to Venice, where he soon acquired powerful friends, and where he remained almost continually till his death. Aretino has best been summed up as a systematic blackmailer. His letters are an astonishing record of audacity, they show him to have been equally adept in the art of threats and of successful flattery, and extorted from many of the greatest figures of the time — even froni Francis I. and Charles V. — rich gifts of jewelry, large suras of money, and in some cases even annuities, which enabled him to lead at Venice a life of lavish opulence. He was a re- markably prolific writer in various fields of lit- erature,' and has left dialogues, biograpliies, sonnets and other poems, comedies, one tragedy, and six volumes of letters. Aside from the tragedy Oruzia, which was good, judged by con- temporary standards, the comedies, of which the principal ones are the Cortiqiana and Talanta, are alone of any merit, and their interest is due mainly to their vivid and convincing portrayal of life; but, in the words of John Addington Sy- monds, it is life seen "from the standpoint of the servants' hall." Aretino's greatest strength lay in his satire. There is an edition of Le commedie e L'Orazia tragedia di Pietro Aretino (Milan, 1870). Consult Graf, Attraverso il Ciiujuecciito (Turin, 1888). ARETINO, Spineli.o. See Spinelio. AREZZO, a-ret'so (ancient Lat. Arrctium). An episcopal city of Italy, the capital of the pro- vince of Arezzo, Tuscan}' (Map: Italy, F 4). It is beautifully situated on the slope of a hill, 54 miles southeast of Florence and 6 miles from the confiucnce of the Chiana and the Arno. It has broad streets, impressive buildings, a famous academy of science, a museum and picture gal- lery, a library, many convents, and excellent mineral springs. Externally, the cathedral, which was begun in the Thirteenth Century, is un- attractive; but the proportions of the interior are pleasing and the decorations are elaborate and by master hands of several centuries. The church of San Francisco contains some fine Fifteenth Century frescoes. The Pieve, begun in the Eleventh Century on the site of a heathen temple, also contains art treasures. Arezzo was one of the twelve richest and most populous cities in ancient Etruria, and ex- celled in i)ottery and in copper work. In the Social War. Sulla sacked it, banished its citizens, and replaced them with his own followers. It was also sacked by the Goths under Totila and restored under .Justinian. During the con- test of the Guelphs and Ghibellines in a later age, it became subject to Florence, being defeated in the battle of Campaldino, in which Dante took part. Among celebrated men born here were Msecenas, the famous patron of letters in the time of the Emperor Augustus; Petrarch; Pietro Aretino; Guido Aretino, inventor of the gamut; Leonardo Aretino, the historian; Cesalpino, the botanist; Redi, the physician; Pope Julius II.; the notorious Marshal d'Ancre; and Vasari, author of Lives of the Painters. The principal manufactures are cloth, silk fabrics, and leather. The country is unusually fertile, and produces grain, wine, oil and fruit. Population, in 1881, 39,000: in 1901 (commune), 44,310. ARGJE'US, ar-je'us. Mount. See Ak.jisii. AR'GALI (Mongolian name). A mountain sheep, specifically Ovis umtiioii, formerly com- mon to all the mountain ranges of northeastern Asia, but lately killed ofi' in Siberia and re- stricted to the heights of Mongolia, where it is found near timber line. Its size is that of a large donkey, and it is covered by short, coarse, gray-bi'own hair, with the short mane and a stripe down the forelegs dark and the rump and under surface of the body white. The massive horns of the ram coil like tho.se of the bighorn (sometimes called American argali), and meas- ure 40 to 48 inches along the curve and 10 or more around the base; the horns of the ewes reach about half these dimensions. A closely allied species is the nyan, or Thil)etan argali (Oris Bodgsoni), which is distinguished by a white rutt' upon the throat. It frequents the barren and desolate regions of high Thibet. Sportsmen regard these sheep as among the most difficult game to stalk, and good speci- mens are rare in collections. See Bighokn ; and Plate accompanying .Sheep. AR'GALL, Sir  (c.1580-1626). An English navigator, and deputy governor of the Virginia colony, born about 1580 or 1585. In 1609 he was sent to Virginia in charge of a vessel, with orders to find a more direct route than that previously followed, and he succeeded in considerably shortening the time ordinarily occupied by the passage. After his arrival, in 1609, he was employed in surveying Chesapeake Bay and a large part of the coast northward to Cape Cod. Returning to Virginia, he took part in the fighting with the Indians, and in 1612 he conducted the negotiations with the chief of a Potomac tribe to whose care the women of the Powhatan tribe had been intrusted during hostilities, by which the English secured possession of Pocahontas, a favorite daughter of the chief, Powhatan, in exchange for a copper kettle. Her marriage to John Rolfe followed soon after, and the troubles with the natives were settled, leaving Argall free to go to sea again. In 1613 he was given command of a powerful war vessel, and instructed to keep all intruders out of the territory claimed for England. He sailed to Mount Desert Island, where he found a French Jesuit settlement, which he destroyed, carrying off the settlers to Jamestown as prisoners. French establishments at Port Royal and Saint Croix received the same treatment. At New Amsterdam (now New York) Argall found a Dutch colony, and forced the governor to haul down his flag and display the English colors in its place—a recognition of English supremacy which lasted so long as Argall was in the harbor. In 1617 Argall was promoted to be deputy governor and admiral of Virginia. He conducted affairs in a high-handed fashion, and was accused of engaging in illegal trade, especially with the Spanish settlements in the West Indies. He ignored several peremptory orders to return to England to answer the charges against him, but