Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/927

This page needs to be proofread.
ARIOSTO.
791
ARISTÆUS.

sies, and on one occasion at least, sent him into active service against the Venetians. It was, however, during the ten years that Ari- osto spent in his service that the Orlando Furi- oso was written, and it was publislu'd at Fer- rara, 1516, in forty cantos. Ostensibly it was a continuation of Boiardo's Orlando Innamo- rato; practically, it was a glorification of the House of Este, having for its real hero Rug- giero, the mythical founder of that House. In payment for this rather ol)vious Hattery, the Car- dinal is said to have rewarded him with a golden chain and the query, "Where he had got that rubbish?" and the following year, having incurred his patron's displeasure by a refusal to accom- pany him to Hungary, Ariosto passed into the service of his brother, the Duke of Ferrara. The Duke, scarcely more munificent than the Car- dinal, bestowed upon him the governorship of the wild mountain district of Garfagnana, over- run with bandits, which, with all his endeavors, he could not succeed in reducing to order. He was finally recalled by the Duke in 1.525, and spent his remaining years in Ferrara, nominally in his patron's service, but in reality enjoying what he prized most highly — abundant leisure for prosecuting his studies, in the modest home which the Latin inscription over the door proud- ly states was bouglit from his owni savings. This house is still carefully preserved by the authori- ties of Ferrara. He died in that city June 6, 1533, and was buried there in the Church of San Benedetto.

The manner in which the Orlando Furioso is engrafted upon Boiardo's earlier poem has been aptly compared to the connection between the Iliad and the .Uneid of Vergil. Boiardo's poem was based upon the chivalric cycle which dealt with the wars between Charlemagne and the Saracens, confounded as they were with those of Charles Martel^ in which Orlando, or Roland, stood forward as champion of Christendom. Or- lando is Boiardo's hero, and falls in love with Angelica, a clever and beautiful Oriental princess sent by the Paj'nim to spw discord among the Christian knights. The story, left unfinished by Eoiardo, is taken up by Ariosto, who makes An- gelica fall in love with an obscure young squire, upon which Orlando becomes insane. It is diffi- cult, however, to disentangle the central argu- ment of this poem from the mass of extraneous episodes in which it is involved. The Orlando Furioso has long been numbered among the world's greatest epics, but it is utterly lacking in epic unity, and probably the nearest parallel to it which can be found is that pointed out by Richard Garnett — Ovid's lIelamorijhoses. In so far as it has a central theme at all, it is not the adventures of the knight who has given it his name, but of Ruggiero's conversion from pagan- ism, his union with Bradamiinte, and the incidental exaltation of the House of Este. Ariosto also left comedies, satires, sonnets, and a number of Latin poems. There are also extensive fragments of anotlier epic, Rinaldo Ardito, which are attributed to him; but it is a question whether they are not rather the work of his son Virginio. The first edition of the Orlando Fnrioso, in its present dimensions of forty-six cantos, was published at Ferrara, in 1832. Recent editions are those edited by Gioberti (Milan, 1870) and Casella (Florence, 1877). and an Mifion de luxe, with introduction by Carducci and illustrations by Dor^ (Milan, 1880). The latest edition of his lesser works, Opvrc minori in verso e in lirosa, is that of Polidori (2 vols., Florence, 185fi). The latest and most complete biography is by A. Cappelli, in his collection of Ariosto's Letters (Milan, 1887). Of translations, the fol- lowing into English may be mentioned: by Sir .John Harrington (London, 151)1); .lohn Hoole ( Ijondon, 1783); and the nuicli more spirited version of W. Stewart Rose (London, 1823).

ARIOSTO OF THE NORTH. A title given to Sir Walter Scott, suggested liy the legendary subject-matter and the romantic manner of treatment which the English and the Italian poet are alike in employing.


A'RIOVIS'TUS (OHG. fieri, hari. Ger. Heer, army, and furist, Ger. Fiirst, chief). A German cliief. He was the leader of the Suevi and other German tribes, and was requested by the Sequani, a Gallic people, to assist them in a contest against the .F^dui. Having gained a victory for the Sequani, Ariovistus was so well plea.sed with their country (now Burgundy), that he determined to abide there with his fol- lowers. Many other Germans followed him into Gaul, where he soon collected an army of 120,000 men. The Gallic people now turned for help to the Romans, and C'lesar demanded an in- terview with Ariovistus. who jiroudly replied, that " he did not see what Ciesar had to do with Gaul." After another message from C;?sar had been treated in the same scornful manner, the Roman forces under Cfesar advanced and occu- pied Vesontio (now Besancon), the chief city of the Sequani. A furious engagement took place B.C. 58, in which Roman discipline pre- vailed over the German forces, which were ut- terly routed. Ariovistus, with only a few fol- lowers, escaped over the Rhine into his own country. His subsequent history is unknown. Consult Csfsar, Dc Bella dallico.

ARIPA, a-rc'p.^. A Malay people of Cagayan Province, Luzon. They speak a distinct dialect. See Philippines.

ARISTA, a-res'ti'i, Mariano (1802-55). A Mexican general. He was in command of the Mexican Army of the North in 1846. and was badly defeated by General Taylor at Palo Alto (May 8) and Resaca de la Palma (Jlay 9). He was minister of war in 1848, and was elected President of Mexico in 1851, but resigned in 1853 to avert an impending revolution, and was ban- ished soon afterward. He died in Europe.

ARIS'TA and AWN. See Gbaminile.

AR'ISTÆN'ETUS (Gk. 'ApurralMTOs, Arts-taineliis) I -c.484 a.d. ). A Greek epistolary writer. He is thought to be the author of two books of love-stories in the forms of letters ('En-io-ToXai 'E/jurixaf, epistolai erotikai) , imitations ot Alcephion, and taken almost entirely from Plato. Lucian. Philostratus. and Plutarch. They have been edited by Boissonade (1822), and the text and a Latin version are contained in the Didot collection of the Epistolograplii Graci (1873). Arista-netus should not be confused with Aristienetus of Niciea.

AR'ISTÆ'US (Gk. 'ApiaTaio;, Aristaios). An ancient divinity whose worship in the earliest times seems to have been widely diffused throughout Greece, but who is known only in scattered and fragmentary traditions. According to the common tradition, he was the son of Apollo and Cyrene, the latter the granddaughter