XVII. who had then recently lost his father, to form CHAP. the intention of taking up his residence in his native city of Verona, but he was prevailed upon to change his purpose by the solicitations of the celebrated commander Bartolommeo D'Alviano, who, amidst the tumults of war and the incessant occupations of his active life, had never ceased to cultivate and to encourage literary studies. At his request Fracastoro delivered public instructions at the celebrated academy established by D'Alviano in his town of Pordonone, in the rugged district of Trevigi; which place, after having been wrested by him from the emperor, was given to him by the Venetian senate as an independent dominion, in which he was succeeded by his son.(a) When that great general was again called into public life, Fracastoro accompanied him as the associate of his studies, (a)" Pordonono, Portus Naonis da i Latini addiman"dato. Fu lungamente questo nobile, grande, e ricco Castello, soggetto a i duchi d' Austria. Ma ne' i nostri 66 giorni essendo stato pigliato da Bartolomeo Alviano Ca pitano de i soldati Venetiani, guerreggiando con Massi"miliano Imperatore, fu donato da i Signori Venetiani al detto; et essendo lui morto, li successe il suo figliuolo." Alberti, Italia. p. 175. b. A. D. 1518. A. Et. 43. A. Pont. VI. CHAP. studies, until the year 1509,(a) when at the fatal battle of Ghiaradadda, d' Alviano was XVII. wounded A. D. 1518. A. t. 43. A. Pont. VI. (a) It is remarkable that D'Alviano had in his train three of the greatest Latin poets that modern times have produced; Andrea Navagero, Hieronymo Fracastoro, and Giovanni Cotta, the latter of whom was dispatched by D'Alviano, when he was made a prisoner at the battle of Agnadello, on an embassy to Julius II. to endeavour to procure the liberation of his patron; on which expedition he died of a fever, having yet scarcely attained the prime of life. The few poems left by Cotta breathe the very spirit of his countryman Catullus, and are well characterized in the fol lowing lines of Jo. Matthæus Toscanus : "Qui Musas, Veneremque Gratiasque "Iratas sibi noverit misello, And Flaminio has ventured even to prefer his poems to, or at least to place them on an equality with, those of Catullus himself. "Si fas cuique sui sensus expromere cordis, "Hoc equidem dicam, pace, Catulle, tua; "Est tua Musa quidem dulcissima; Musa videtur "Ipsa tamen COTTA dulcior esse mihi." The XVII. A. Et. 43. wounded and taken prisoner by the French. CHAP. After this event Fracastoro retired to Verona, and dividing his time between his city resi- A. D. 1518. dence and his retired villa in the mountains of Incaffi, devoted himself to scientific and literary pursuit, and to the composition of those works in various departments which have conferred so much honour on his me mory. To this period of the life of Fracastoro His poem may be referred the commencement of his ce- entitled lebrated poem entitled Syphilis, sive de Morbo Syphilis. Gallico, which appears from internal evidence to have been completed under the pontificate of Leo X. In adopting this subject, it was probably the intention of Fracastoro to unite his various talents and acquirements in one great work, which should at once display his extensive knowledge in the various branches. of natural philosophy, his skill and experi ence The lines on the assassination of Alessandro de' Medici, usually called the first duke of Florence, attributed to Cotta by Gaguet and Vulpius, v. Fracastor. Colla, et aliorum Carm. Patav. 1718. 8vo. are the production of some later author; that event not having occurred until many years after his death, XVII, CHAP. ence on medical subjects, and his admirable genius for Latin poetry. The success of his labours proves that he had neither mistaken A. D. 1518. A. Et. 43. A. Pont. VI. nor over-rated his powers, and the approba tion bestowed from all quarters upon the Syphilis was such as no production of modern times had before obtained. This work he inscribed to Pietro Bembo, then domestic secretary to Leo X. with whom he had always maintained a friendly intercourse.(a) In the beginning of the second book he particularly refers to the period at which the poem was written, and takes a general view of the circumstances of the times, the calamities that had afflicted Italy, the discoveries of the East Indies, the recent improvements in natural knowledge, in which he refers with great approbation to the writings of Pontano; and to the (a)" BEMBE, decus clarum Ausoniæ, si forte vacare "3. the tranquillity enjoyed under the pontificate CHAP. of Leo X. XVII. Nor yet, without the guiding hand of heaven, Of A. D. 1518. A. Pont. VL |
