XVI. A. D. 1518, A. Et. 43. CHAP. he begun his epic poem, and completed in the year 1515.(a) It is, however, certain, that in the same year Giovanni Rucellai wrote in A. Pout. VI. blank verse his tragedy of Rosmunda; but as he has himself addressed Trissino as his literary preceptor, and as the pretensions of Trissino to the precedency in this respect are confirmed by the explicit acknowledgment of Palla Ru-cellai the brother of Giovanni, we may with confidence attribute to Trissino the honour of the invention;(b) unless the pretensions of the Florentine historian Jacopo Nardi, who gave a specimen of blank verse in the prologue to his comedy entitled L'Amicizia, supposed to (a) It appears from a letter of Giovanni Rucellai to Trissino, dated the 8th day of November, 1515, that Trissino had then completed his tragedy, which was intended to be represented before Leo X. probably on the occasion of his visit to Florence in that year. v. Zeno, Note al Fontanini, Bib. Ital. i. 464. It was not, however, printed until the year 1524, when it was published in Rome, per Lodovico degli Arrighi Vicentino; with a dedication which had been addressed by the author to Leo X. in the lifetime of that pontiff, and which the reader will find in the Appendix, No. CLXIII. (b) "Voi foste il primo, che questo modo di scrivere, ❝ in versi materni, liberi dalle rime, poneste in luce," &c. Dedicazione al poema degli Api, al Trissino. XVI. to be represented before the magistrates of CHAP. Florence about the year 1494, may be thought to invalidate his claim. (a) The tragedy of Sofonisba is, however, entitled to notice, not only as having first introduced the versi sciolti into general use, but as being the first regular tragedy which made its appearance after the revival of letters. The appellation of tragedy had indeed been already, adopted, and even the story of Sophonisba had been the subject of a dramatic performance, in ottava rima, by Galeotto marquis of Carretto, presented by him to Isabella marchioness of Mantua ;(b) but this piece like the Virginia of Accolti and other productions of a similar nature, was so imperfect in its arrangement and so ill adapted to theatrical representation, that it rather increases than diminishes the honour due to Trissino, who, disregarding the example of his (a) This question has given rise to great diversity of opinion between Monsignore Fontanini and his severe commentator Apostolo Zeno; which the reader will find in the Bibl. dell' Eloq. Italiana, vol. i. p. 384. et seq. It has also been discussed by Mr. Walker, in the Appendix to his Historical Memoir on Italian Tragedy, No. ii. p. 20. (b) Maffei, Teatro Italiano. vol. i. in prefaz. alla Sofonisba del Trissino. A. D. 1518. A. Et. 43. A. Pont. VI XVI. CHAP. his contemporaries, introduced a more correct and classical style of dramatic composition.(a) The affecting story of this tragedy, founded on the relation of Livy in the thirtieth book of his history, is already well known, having been frequently the subject of theatrical representation in this country. It may therefore be sufficient to observe that Trissino, without greatly deviating from the records of history, has given a dramatic form to the incidents, which renders his production not uninteresting, and has interspersed it with some passages of expression and pathos. At the same time, it must be acknowledged that the dignity of the tragic style is not always equally supported, and that the author frequently displays a prolixity, languor, and insipidity, both of sentiment and of style which greatly detract from the interest of the piece. A. D. 1518. A. Et. 43. His Italia It was not, however, until the year 1547, liberata da' that Trissino published the nine first books of Goti, his (a) On this account, Giraldi, in the prologue to his Orbecche, denominates him "Il Trissino gentil, che col suo canto XVI. his epic poem of Italia liberata da' Goti; of CHAP. which the additional eighteen books made their appearance in 1548.(a) In this poem, to the completion of which the author had dedicated upwards of twenty years, he proposed to exhibit to his countrymen a specimen of the true epic, as founded on the example of Homer and confirmed by the authority of Aristotle. The subject is the liberation of Italy (a) This poem, like the second edition of the Sofonisba, in 1529, was printed with the occasional introduction of Greek letters, for determining, with greater precision, the Italian pronunciation; the invention of which is due to Trissino, although his authority has failed of introducing it into general use. He dedicated it to the emperor Charles V. in an address which explains the motives of his attempt, and elucidates some circumstances in his own life. Several passages in this poem gave great offence, the author having severely censured the conduct of some of the Roman pontiffs, in consequence of which they were cancelled by him in the copies remaining unsold; a circumstance which has given rise to much discussion among the Italian bibliographers. v. Fontanini, Bib. Ital. i. 268, &c. As one of these excised passages has a particular reference to the subject of the preceding volumes of the present work, I shall lay it before the reader, from the prima rarissima Edizione, as it is denominated by Tiraboschi. In this extract will also be found a specimen of the peculiar manner in which Trissing attempted to introduce the use of Greek types. v. Appendix, No. CLXIV, A. D. 1518. A. Et. 43. A. Pont. VI. XVI. CHAP. Italy from the Goths by Belisarius, as general of the emperor Justinian. In the execution of it, Trissino asserts that he had examined A. D. 1518. A. Pont. VI. all the Greek and Roman writers, for the pur pose of selecting the flowers of their eloquence to enrich his own labours. That Trissino was a man of talents and of learning, is evident from his other writings; and his various acquirements in mathematics, physics, and architecture, are highly celebrated by his contemporaries; yet of all the attempts at epic poetry which have hitherto appeared, the Italia liberata may be considered as the most insipid and uninteresting. In Berni, Mauro, Folengi, and other writers of burlesque poetry, their simplicity or vulgarity is evidently assumed, for the avowed purpose of giving a greater zest to their satire or their wit, but the low and pedestrian style of Trissino is genuine and unaffected, and is often rendered still more striking by the unconscious gravity of the author. Yet more reprehensible is the plan and conduct of the poem, in which the heathen mythology is confounded with the Christian religion, and an invocation to Apollo and the muses introduces the Supreme Being as interfering in the concerns of mortals, in such language and by such means, as must, |