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numerous Latin poems, and, in Italian, lyrics, stanzas in praise of a tournament in which Giuliano, Lorenzo's brother, had taken part, and the Orfeo, a lyrical drama. He perfected the ottava rima; was among the first scholars of the Renaissance, and a poet of unfailing artistry.

IACOPO SANNAZARO, born in Naples; entered the service of the Duke of Calabria, and later that of King Frederick of Naples. He wrote a number of sonnets and canzoni, also the pastoral Arcadia and letters; in Latin: Piscatory Eclogues, Elegies, Epigrams, and a poem, De Partu Virginis.

NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI, born at Florence; served the Republic as Secretary in 1498; went on various missions; was dismissed on the return of the Medici in 1512 and persecuted and imprisoned by them; in 1519 regained their favour and was invested with some minor offices; on the fall of the Medici in 1527 he lost all these and died in poverty; is buried in Santa Croce, at Florence. His works are: Il Principe, Arte della Guerra, Discorsi sopra la prima Deca di T. Livio, Le Istorie Fiorentine, La Mandragola, a comedy, I Decennali, some rhymes and capitoli. He was one of the most powerful political intellects of all time; a pioneer of Italian historical science; he attempted to organize the Florentine militia, and insisted on its necessity and on the folly of employing mercenaries ; a master of prose style.

PIETRO BEMBO, born in Venice; studied Greek under Lascaris, 1492; lived in Ferrarra, 1492-1500, where he loved Lucrezia Borgia and became a friend of Ariosto; 1505-1512 spent at the Court of Urbino, then accompanied Giuliano de' Medici to Rome; secretary to Leo X., on whose death he returned to Padua and devoted himself to study; made Cardinal in 1539, then Bishop of Gubbio, and later of Bergamo; died at Rome. His works are: Gli Asolani, Le Prose della volgar lingua, Rime, Lettere; and in Latin: the Rerum venetarum Historia, Libri XI. His poems are closely imitated from Petrarch, and deserve praise mainly because of their restraint at a time when conceits were beginning to appear in Italian lyrics.

LODOVICO ARIOSTO, born at Reggio, in Emilia; as a boy was a favourite at the Court of Ferrara; his life is described in one of his Satires; in 1503 entered the service of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, who sent him on various missions; quarrelling with the Cardinal, he transferred his services to Duke Alfonso of Ferrara ;

it was at this time that he wrote his masterpiece, the Orlando Furioso; was sent as Governor to the wild province of Garfagnana ; in 1525 returned to Ferrara and worked afresh on his Orlando Furioso, which appeared in final form the year previous to his death in Ferrara in 1533. His chief works are: Orlando Furioso, an epic of chivalry and romance in 46 cantos, a supreme artistic achievement; Elegie, Satire, and the comedies La Cassaria, I Suppositi, La Lena, Il Negromante, and La Scolastica. Ariosto's lyrical poems are of unequal merit; some of the elegies are extraordinarily modern, powerful and effective; all are facile and melodious.

MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI, born at Caprese; pre-eminent as a sculptor, but also painter, architect, military engineer and poet; has left, to justify his title to all of these, works of imperishable renown; entered the household of Lorenzo de' Medici, where he met with all the eminent men of his day. In 1503 he went to Rome to work on the mausoleum of Pope Julius II.; 1529 Governor of the Florence fortifications; in his sixtieth year painted the Last Judgment in the Sixtine Chapel; designed the Laurentian Library and the Medici tombs in Florence with their wonderful figures of Day and Night, Dawn and Twilight; appointed architect of St. Peter's in 1547; died in Rome, and is buried in Santa Croce. He wrote sonnets, madrigals, stanze and letters, many of which he addressed to Vittoria Colonna, whom he venerated; Art was the business and passion of his life, poetry its relaxation. His writings are characterized by a splendid virility; they seem roughhewn out of enduring rock.

VITTORIA COLONNA, born at Marino; in 1509 married the Marchese di Pescara, who died from wounds in 1525. His death left her inconsolable, and this and religious subjects inspired all her poetry. Many famous men congregated in her house in Rome; the most illustrious of her friends was Michelangelo. Most of her life after 1525 was spent in convents at Orvieto, Viterbo, and Rome. Her lyrics tend to imitate Petrarch, but are tempered by the originality of a strong and lofty intellect.

LUIGI ALAMANNI, born in Florence; conspired against Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, afterwards Pope Clement VII., and fled to France, where he enjoyed the favour of Francis I. and later of Henry II. He spent most of his life in France, and died at Amboise. He wrote La Coltivazione dei Campi, Girone il Cortese, L' Avarchide, and shorter verse. His lyrical poems are refined and dignified.

FRANCESCO BERNI, born at Lamporecchio; secretary to Ghiberti; 1520 settled in Florence under the protection of the Medici; lived in an atmosphere of intrigue, and died, it is thought, by poison. His poems are mainly comic or burlesque; he recast Boiardo's epic, Orlando Innamorato, in the same spirit.

GIOVANNI GUIDICCIONI, born at Lucca; studied at Bologna, Padua, and Ferrara; canon of Lucca Cathedral; Governor of Rome; Bishop of Fossombrone; Papal Nuncio to Spain; Governor of the Romagna; died at Macerata. He wrote letters, verse, and a noble oration to the Republic of Lucca. He imitates Petrarch in his lyrics.

GIOVANNI DELLA CASA, born at Florence; studied at Bologna; lived in Rome and Florence; Archbishop of Benevento; Papal Nuncio to Venice; died in Rome. He wrote Rime, Capitoli, a Life of the Poet Bembo, and Il Galateo. His lyrics were much admired by his contemporaries on account of their robust style and their variety of rhythms.

LUIGI TANSILLO, born at Venosa; spent many years at the Court of Naples; Captain of Justice at Gaeta; died at Teano. He wrote Il Vendemmiatore, which was put on the index by Pope Paul IV.; Capitoli giocosi e storici, Poemetti, Lagrime di S. Pietro. He excels among Petrarchists by reason of his originality and freshness of treatment.

BENEDETTO CARITEO (Benedetto Gareth), born at Barcelona, in Spain; lived at the Aragonese Court in Naples; wrote a "canzoniere" (Endimione), wedding the imitation of Petrarch to that of the classics; succeeded occasionally in attaining elegant and realistic expression.

GASPARA STAMPA, born at Padua; studied Italian classics, Greek and Latin, at Venice; fell passionately in love with Collatino dei Conti di Collalto, to whom she addressed her poetry; her affection was not long reciprocated; she died in Padua. Her poems are the sincere and affecting expression of a real feeling, though often unpolished.

TORQUATO TASSO, born at Sorrento; at the age of five years was sent to Naples and studied under the Jesuits there; distinguished by a precocious genius; in 1565 went to the Court of Ferrara and became attached to the service of Count Luigi d' Este, and later to that of Duke Alfonso II. In 1562 he published his Rinaldo, and

while at Ferrara worked at his Gerusalemme Liberata. About this time he showed the first signs of that insanity which was to overshadow at intervals the rest of his life. In 1572 he wrote Aminta; in 1576 had to be put under restraint, but escaped to Sorrento; wandered about Italy, and was again confined in the asylum of St. Anna in Ferrara. He was released in 1586, and spent the rest of his life wandering miserably from place to place, for his passionate, morbid sensibility allowed him no rest. His final refuge was the convent of Sant' Onofrio in Rome, where he died on the eve of his coronation as laureate on the Capitol by Clement VIII. Tasso owes his immortality to the epic Gerusalemme Liberata, on which masterpiece he was engaged between 1563 and 1575, and in which he describes the first Crusade under Godfrey de Bouillon in it the classical and romantic elements are marvellously fused. His religious scruples induced him to a revision of the poem, but it is the original form that has given him fame. In addition he wrote: Aminta, a pastoral play; Lettere; Dialoghi; Prose diverse; and about 2,000 lyrics, among which a few excellent sonnets and madrigals amidst many inadequate imitations of Petrarch.

GABRIELLO CHIABRERA, born at Savona; educated under the Jesuits in Rome; held various public appointments and travelled considerably; died at Savona. He wrote Odes, Horatian Epistles, Anacreontic lyrics, Dialogues, and Discourses in prose; he is specially noted for the adaptation of classical metres and schemes to Italian poetry.

GIOVAMBATTISTA MARINO, born at Naples; led a dissipated life at the Courts of Rome, Turin, and Paris; died near Naples ; was famous for his brilliant, almost bombastic, style. His chief work is L' Adone; in addition he wrote La Strage degl' Innocenti, and numerous idylls, burlesques, and lyrics.

ALESSANDRO TASSONI, born at Modena; studied at Bologna and Ferrara; went with Cardinal Ascanio Colonna on a mission to Spain, and on his return to Rome enjoyed the protection of Carlo Emanuele of Savoy and Francesco I.; died at Modena. He wrote La Secchia Rapita, a mock-heroic poem describing the fight between Modena and Ferrara about a bucket; Varietà di Pensieri, Considerazioni sopra le rime di Petrarca, Filippiche contro gli Spagnoli, and other political works.

CLAUDIO ACHILLINI, born at Bologna; studied law and practised

at Bologna, Ferrara, and Parma; was Auditor to Gregory XV., and enjoyed the protection of Cardinal Richelieu.

FULVIO TESTI, born at Ferrara; studied at Ferrara and Bologna, and enjoyed the favour of Carlo Emanuele of Savoy and of Francis I., Duke of Modena, who sent him on various missions. In 1646 he was imprisoned by the Duke for allying himself with the cause of Giulio Mazzarini, and died in captivity. He wrote L'Isola d' Alcina (a tragedy), and lyrical and heroic verse; a few of his poems show him to have been alive to the suffering of contemporary Italians. TOMMASO STIGLIANI, born at Matera; lived at the Courts of Cardinal Borghese and Giannantonio Orsini, Duke of Bracciano. FRANCESCO REDI, born at Arezzo; studied medicine and philosophy; was Professor of Rhetoric at Rome; Physician to Ferdinand II. and Cosimo III. of Tuscany; died at Pisa. His writings are mainly scientific.

VINCENZO DA FILICAIA, born at Florence; studied at Pisa. His patron was Christina of Sweden; was made senator under Cosimo III., Governor of Volterra and Pisa; an Arcadian, who wrote political sonnets and odes filled with real feeling.

CARLO INNOCENZO FRUGONI, born at Genoa; a monk, but later released from his vows by Clement XI.; Professor of Rhetoric in various towns of Italy; settled at the Court of Parma. His lyrics are characterized by elegance of phrase and wealth of imagery; he excels in the composition of short, light and unpretentious poems; in addition to his lyrics he wrote poetical epistles after Horace, in Latin, and after Ariosto, in Italian.

PIETRO METASTASIO (TRAPASSI), born at Rome; studied in Calabria and Rome; was loved by the famous singer "La Romanina," who persuaded him to accept the post of Imperial Court Poet at Vienna. He soon forgot her in his new surroundings, and transferred his affections to the Countess of Althann. He was an Arcadian who enjoyed very considerable fame. He wrote Didone Abbandonata in 1723, Attilio Regolo in 1750, beside a quantity of melodramas and libretti for music distinguished for their beauties of style and imagination.

GIUSEPPE PARINI, born at Bosisio; took Holy Orders; became an Arcadian; taught literature in Milan. He reformed Italian poetry by infusing it with a deep moral significance, but, though didactic, he is a consummate artist; a master of delicate irony, an

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