XVII. CHAP. of this important incident was, by the orders of the pope, perpetuated by a piece of sculpA. D. 1518. ture in wood,(a) which yet remains upon the A. Et. 43. A. Pont. VI. door of one of the inner chambers in the Vatican. Gorizio a Rome. Among the inhabitants of Rome, one of Giovanni the most distinguished patrons of learned of men was a noble and opulent German, named learning at Giovanni Gorizio, or, as he was usually denominated, Janus. Corycius, who under the pontificate of Leo X. held the office of a judge in the civil concerns of the city. For several years the house and gardens of Corycius were the usual resort of the Roman academicians. On the feast day of S. Anna his tutelary saint, he was accustomed to provide a splendid entertainment, which was attended by the most accomplished scholars and respectable inhabitants of Rome and its vicinity, and afforded a favourable opportunity for those literary contests and exhibitions which gave additional vigour to these studies. The liberality of Corycius was repaid by the commendations (a) By Gian Barile, "artefice nel genere suo excellen"tissimo." Bettari, Note al Vasari, tom. ii. þ. 120. XVII. mendations of his learned friends, many of CHAP. whom have perpetuated his name in their verses. About the year 1514, he erected at his own expense, in the church of S. Agostino at Rome, a magnificent family chapel, in which he placed a beautiful piece of sculpture, the workmanship of Andrea Contucci del Monte Sansovino, representing the infant Jesus with the virgin and S. Anna. These figures, although all formed from one block of marble, were nearly the size of life, and are mentioned by the historian of the arts as one of the finest productions of the times.(a) On this occasion the learned friends of Corycius vied with each other in paying a tribute of respect to his munificence, his piety, and his taste; and the numerous compositions to which this incident gave rise may be considered as the most decisive proof of the proficiency which had VOL. III. I I (a)" Fece (Andrea) di marmo, in Sant' Agostino di "Roma, cioè in un pilastro a mezzo la chiesa, una Sant' "Anna, che tiene in collo una nostra Donna con Cristo, di 66 grandezza poco meno, che il vivo; la qual opera si può "fra le moderne tenere per ottima. * Onde meritò, "che per tanti anni si frequentasse d'appiccarvi sonetti, ed "altri varii e dotti componimenti, che i frati di quel luogo ne hanno un libro pieno, il quale ho veduto io con non "piccola maraviglia." Vasari, vite de' Pittor. vol. ii. Ի. 169. 16 A. D. 1518. A. t. 43. A. Pont. VI. CHAP. had been made in the cultivation of Latin XVII. poetry within the city of Rome. A. D. 1518. A. Et. 43. A. Pont.VI. ciana. One of the most eminent contributors to the shrine of S. Anna was Biagio Pallai, a native of Sabina, who assumed the academic name of Blosius Palladius, by which he is frequently mentioned in the writings of his conThe Cory temporaries.(a) In the year 1516, he had the honour of being admitted a Roman citizen by a public decree.(b) This accomplished scholar was no less distinguished by his hospitality than by his talents, and his house and gardens are also celebrated as having frequently afforded a place of assembly and entertainment for his literary friends.(c) After having been one of the principal ornaments of the Roman academy during the pontificate of Leo (a) Particularly in the Carmina of Marc-Antonio Flaminio, where it appears that the most trivial circumstances have at times given rise to compositions which Horace or Catullus might not have blushed to own. Flamin. Carm. -lib. i. Carm. 56, 57, 58, 59, &c. (b) Tiraboschi, Storia della Lett. Ital. vii. par. iii. p. 203. (c) Flamin. Carm. lib. i. Car. 55. "Blosi villula ter quaterque felix." Leo X. he rose to considerable eminence in the state, and filled the office of pontifical secretary to Clement VII. and Paul. III. by the latter of whom his services were rewarded by the presentation to the bishoprick of Foligno.(a) To Palladius we are indebted for the publication of the poems addressed to Corycius, which the latter had carefully preserved, but which he justly conceived would subject him to the imputation of vanity if he were to commit them to the press. The solicitations of Palladius at length removed his objections,. and they made their appearance in the year 1524, in an elegant volume, now of extreme rarity, entitled, Coryciana.(b) This collection. contains, besides several anonymous pieces, a specimen II 2 (a) Fabroni, vita Leon. x. 194. (b) At the close we read, Impressum Romæ apud Ludovicum Vicentinum, et Lautitium Perusinum. mense Julio. MDXXIV. The address of Palladius prefixed to this work, and the letters of Corycius and of his friend Cajus Sylvanus, one of his learned countrymen then resident at Rome, and who contributed several pieces to this collection, throw considerable light on the state of literature in Rome during the pontificate of Leo X. on which account, as well as from the rarity of the volume, they are given in the Appendix, No. CLXXII. CHAP. XVII. A. D. 1518. A. Et. 43. A. Pont. VI. CHAP. specimen of the productions of no less than one hundred and twenty Latin poets, who XVII. A. Et. 43. A. D. 1518. were then found within the limits of Rome, and many of whom yet hold a high rank in the annals of learning.(a) It appears to have A. Pout. VI. been (a) of the nature of these compositions, the following lines of Flaminius, whilst they exhibit a singular mixture of christian piety and heathen sensuality, may afford a sufficient idea. De Sacello Coryciano. "Dii, quibus tam Corycius venusta "Gratia tangit, "Vos jocos risusque senis faceti "Sospites servate diu; senectam "Usque madentem. "At simul longo satiatus ævo Carm. lib. i. Car. vii. Ye sacred powers, to whom this shrine, To votive sighs and mortal prayers, O grant |