us those fair Copies in Liberal Arts and Sciences, which all men follow, but none attain unto so much, as those that write the Italian hand ; that is, the Modern Italians themselves.
For if the Italians anciently had their Virgil, their Ovid, their Horace, their Persius, and Propertius in Poetry, the Modern Italians spur close up to them, and have their Tasso, their Petrarch, their Sannazarius, their Marino and Guarini.
If the old Italians had their Salust, Livy Tacitus, and Valerius Maximus in History, the Modern Italians have their Guicciardine, Bentivoglio, Davila, Strada, and Baptista Fregosus, surnamed the second Valerius Maximus
If the Antient Italians had their pompous Orators, their Cicero, Hortensius, Porcius, Latro, Junius Gallio, Aulius, Fuscus, etc. The Modern Italians have their Panigarola, Manzini, Varchi, and Loredano.
If the Antient Italians had their Vast knowing Parro, the Modern Italians have their omniscious Baronius, who read almost all that other men had written, and wrote more almost than other men can read.
If the antient Italians had their Divines, writing of the Number and Nature of their Gods, to wit, Varro and Tully, the Modern Italians have their Divines too, their inimitable S. Thomas
