Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/478

460 ITALY (LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE) of equal excellence, written by Domenico Ca- valca of Pisa, Bartolommeo da San Concordio, and Agnolo Pandolfini. Most of the men who flourished in the 14th and 15th centuries were not distinguished like Dante and Petrarch for creative genius, but delighted rather in repro- ducing and commenting on the authors of an- tiquity. The printing press, invented in Ger- many, was most usefully employed in Venice, Bologna, and Rome, in multiplying copies of the ancient authors, corrected by learned scholars. To the passion for discovering and publishing new manuscripts was joined that of finding and interpreting ancient monuments, medals, inscriptions, and sculptures. Only the first steps toward a new civilization had been taken by Petrarch and Boccaccio. The in- troduction of the mariner's needle by Flavio Gioja had opened the ocean to the Europeans ; the travels of Marco Polo had awakened that curiosity concerning the way to the East In dies which led Columbus to the discovery of the new world ; the Arabic numerals had been substituted in Italy for the Roman ; academies were established to nurture the love of letters, and courts became an asylum for the most dis- tinguished men ; and the popes in Rome, the Medici in Florence, the houses of the Visconti and the Sforzas in Milan, and of the Gonzagas and Estes in Mantua and Ferrara, became pro- tectors of literature and the arts. Pope Nicho- las V. is especially distinguished for the en- couragement which he gave to every branch of learning. It was under his liberal protec- tion that Francesco Filelfo translated the Iliad and the Odyssey into Latin verse. His ex- ample was followed by numerous courts in Italy ; hundreds of authors found employment and support ; and the advantages of literature were to some degree extended among the peo- ple. Alfonso of Aragon, king of Naples, is eminent among these Mecsenas-like patrons. Montefeltro of TTrbino, the house of Bentivo- glio in Bologna, Filippo Maria Visconti, and Francesco Sforza vied with the Medici and the house of Este in protecting letters and giving an asylum to those exiled Greeks who brought to Italy their learning and advanced culture. Lodovico Sforza, surnamed il Moro, invited to his court in Lombardy many learned men, painters, and architects, among whom were Leonardo da Vinci and Bramante, patron- ized the university of Pavia, granting it many privileges, and opened schools in Milan, to which most renowned professors gave distinction. Gian Francesco Gonzaga, marquis of Mantua, invited Vittorino da Feltre to instruct his sons, and the school which he opened was frequented by young men from Greece, Germany, and France. The example of the houses of Este and Gonzaga was imitated by the dukes of Sa- voy, who in the beginning of the 15th century founded the university of Turin. But the most illustrious of the patrons of letters was Cosmo de' Medici, who rose to preeminence among the noble families of Europe. He found- ed one library in Venice (the Laurentian) and three in Florence, and established the first academy for the study and promulgation of the Platonic philosophy. Pico della Mirandola and Cristoforo Landino exercised the happiest influence in advancing and creating a popular esteem for knowledge, and especially in exci- ting the Florentine youth to an enthusiasm for it. The former was almost unrivalled in eru- dition, being profoundly versed in numerous languages, in metaphysics, and in mathematics. Lorenzo de' Medici (died in 1492) greatly and variously increased the glory which his grand- father had acquired in the culture of learning. But the taste for Latin composition again be- came predominant, and Italian was at this pe- riod hardly used at all in writing ; it was even disdained for legal documents, and its develop- ment was arrested by a boundless reverence for antiquity. But Lorenzo the Magnificent may be considered the reviver of Italian literature, and was even called its father. Most esteem- ed for his virtues and manners, he enriched li- braries, aided in founding a Platonic academy in Florence, reopened the university of Pisa, collected numerous remains of antiquity, pro- moted the study of the popular poetry, and wrote himself many admired pieces for the im- provement of the public taste. His JVenct'a da Barberino is the first example of Italian rustic poetry, and his Compagnia del Ma.ntella.ccio seems to have given the first idea of Italian satire in term rima. Under him Florence be- came a new Athens. Angelo Poliziano (1464- '94) enjoyed the friendship of Lorenzo, attained to great erudition, and was an elegant writer both in Italian and Latin. His most celebrated works are the Giostra and the Orfeo (the first regular and consistent Italian drama), which were imitated even by Ariosto and Tasso. Con- temporarj poets of less note were Burchiello, Girolamo Benivieni, and Giusto de' Conti. To the various kinds of composition which have thus far appeared must now be added some epics. Of the brothers Bernardo, Luca, and Luigi Pulci, only the last (1431-W) achieved lasting eminence in poetry. His Morgante Maggiore, burlesque and fantastic, opens the brilliant Italian series of romantic poems of chivalry. It belongs to the circle of legends concerning Charlemagne and his paladins, but degrades the primitive simple faith in them by persiflage. The Mambriano of Cieco da Fer- rara deserves to be mentioned and compared with the Morgante. The best of the romantic poems of the 15th century is the Orlando in- namorato of Boiardo, which introduced ma- terials so beautiful and so vast as to induce Ariosto to follow in the same path. To sus- tain the marvels of his subject, he employed magicians and fairies in connection with the classic divinities, and beneath the veil of poetry tie represented the most useful truths of phi- losophy. The Orlando innamorato was left incomplete, and the original has become rare even in Italy, on account of its rude and an-