Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/33

* ITALIAN LITERATURE. 21 ITALIAN LITERATURE. to Domenieo Cavalca (c.1270-1342), author of the tiiiecchio di croce and eertaiu other treatises; to Giordano da Rivalto (c.1260-1311 ) ; and to Bartolomeo da San Coneordio. This last named wrote first in Latin and then translated into Italian his Ammaestramenti degli aniichi. A common form of the didactic compilation was that intended for use as popular manuals, and known by the names of fiori, fiorite, or fioretti. A favorite with the people of its own day, and still dear to the Italian heart, is the anonymous collection of Franciscan legends which, with the title of Fioretti di San Francesco, appeared be- fore 1350. This is one of the most beautiful examples of early Italian prose. But far more important than the greater part of the prose vvorics thus far mentioned are the chronicles of the time, and especially those of the Florentines, Dino Compagni (c.1257-1324), in whose Cronica delle cose occorenti ne' tempi siioi (composed 1310-12) the struggles of the Bianchi and the Xeri, of Guelphs and Ghibellines. are graphically narrated, and Giovanni Villani (c.1275-1348) , who for the twelve bocks of his history of Flor- ence, by degrees expanded into a universal his- tory, gathered information from all sides, from ancient chronicles, from travelers, and even from official documents, and thus gave his book a vital and enduring interest. The labors of Dino Com- pagiii and Villani were continued by lesser writers. The first period of Tuscan glory in Italian letters closed approximately with 1348. Tlie second Tuscan period stretches from 1348 to about 1375 (the date of Boccaccio's death), and is marked especially by the advent of Petrarch and Boccaccio. Francesco Petrarca (1304-74), cne of the first and greatest figures in humanism, who did so much to revive classic lore during the period of the. Renaissance, prided himself more upon his works in Latin (e.g. the poem Africa) than upon his Italian verse. For us. however, his fame is founded on his Can^oniere. a col- lection of poems, mainly sonnets written in honor of his beloved madonna, Laura, some of them before her death, and others, as in the case also of the Trionfi (composed in terxa rima), after that event. The artistic conception is carried further in Petrarch than in any poet, except Dante, who had preceded him : he may even be said to surpass Dante in refinement of style and in the ornate qualities of his diction. He likewise gave to the sonnet — a form evolved' out of the popular strambotto — the last touch of perfection. A personal friend of Petrarch, and imbued like him with a passionate love for class- ical studies, was Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-75). It was at his instance that Leonzio Pilato made the first translation of Homer into Latin, and Boccaccio even seems to have taken pains to learn Greek himself. Be that as it may, he is now mainly remembered as the first great story- teller in the history of Italian literature. His collection of prose tales, contained in the frame- work called the Decamerone. enjoys a repute equaled by none unless it be the Cnnferhur;/ Tales, and the author of these poetical tales owes not a little to Boccaccio. The sources whence Boccaccio drew the material for his t.Tles were many; a number of them were certainly French. Besides his encyclopaedic work in Latin, Boccaccio wrote further in Italian the Filocolo, a prose work which tells over again the old French story of Floire and Blanchetteur; the Teseide, a poem from which Chaucer derived the subject matter of his Knight's Tale, and in which was made the first notable use of ottava rima; the Xinfale fiesolano, a pastoral poem ; the Filo- strato, the poetical source of Chaucer's Troilus and Cressida; the Rime, consisting of some 124 canzoni, ballads, and sonnets, mostly love poems; the Ameto, in mingled prose and verse; the Amo- rosa visione, dealing especially with celebrated lovers of past times: the Fiammetta, a veiled ac- count in prose of Boccaccio's love for Maria (Fiammetta), a daughter of King Robert of Naples ; the Corhaccio, an invective upon a cer- tain widow and upon women in general ; the T'ifa di Dante: and a commentary upon about half of Dante's Inferno. The love poetiy of Petrarch's Canzoniere soon found many imitators, known generally as Petrarchists. of whom at- tention to exterior fomi was a prime characteris- tic. In his Rime, Boccaccio is really one of the first of these Petrarchists, among whom there are also Fazio degli LTberti and Sacchetti, besides vers' many more. The more original lyric verse of the time, even that appearing in the form of the madrigal or the ballad, or of the more popu- lar caccia and frottola, has a moralizing tone, such as we find in the poems of Beccari (1315, died before 1364) and of Pucci (c.1310, died be- fore 1381). Then, too, didactic poetry of all kinds abounds in the second half of the four- teenth century, and much of it is in the nature of imitations of Dante's great vision, preserving also the Dantesque terza rima. Petrarch's Trion- /?. and Boccaccio's Amorosa visione were prompted by the Diinna Commedia, and now there comes the uncompleted Dittamondo of Fazio degli Uberti (c.l310-c.l370), an excursion through the things of this world intended as an examina- tion of all mundane knowledge, and the Quadri- rcijio of Federico Frezzi (bom before 1350, died 1410), a journey through the realms of Love, the Devil, Vice, and Virtue. The narrative poetry of the period deals principally with historical (cf. the Guerra di Pisa of Pucci) and romantic sub- jects. Of the latter class are poems based on French epic matter, and especially on the Carolin- gian legends, that mark another step toward the chivalrous epic of the fifteenth century. Such are the Buoro d'Antona, the Rinaldo da Montalbano, the fipagna, and others. Under the head of reli- gious verse there still continued to appear many lyrical lattdi, as well as more dramatic devozioni and rappresentazioni san-e. The prose works of the second half of the century are for the most part collections of tales, like the Trecento novelle of Franco Sacchetti (c.1335-1400), the Pecorone of Giovanni Fiorentino (or da Firenze), wherein occurs the story best known to us from Shake- speare's treatment of it in his Merchant of Venice and the tales of Giovanni Sercambi (1347-1424). The imitation of the Decamerone is obvious in these and the other novelistic productions of the time. In the Specchio di vera penitcnza (1354) of Jacopo Passavanti we find the tale so adapt- ed to moralizing and religious purposes that it really becomes an ascetic treatise. In the let- ters of Saint Catharine (Caterina Benincasa, 1347-80) of Siena, the religious and mystic feelings of the time are best expressed. For the history of the prose of the time the chronicle is