ARIOSTO, LODOVICO , Italian poet, was born at Reggio, in Lombardy, where his father was commander of the citadel. He showed a strong inclination to poetry, but was obliged by his father to study the law—a pursuit in which he lost five of the best years of his life. Allowed at last to follow his inclination, he applied himself to the study of the classics under Gregorio da Spoleto; but the early removal of his tutor to France deprived him of the opportunity of learning Greek, as he intended. His father dying soon after, he was compelled to forego his literary occupations to provide for his nine brothers and sisters, one of whom was a cripple. He wrote, however, about this time, some comedies in prose and a few lyrics, which attracted the notice of the cardinal Ippolito d'Este, who took the young poet under his patronage. This prince usurped the character of a patron of literature, whilst the only reward which the poet received for having dedicated to him the Orlando Furioso, was the question, "Where did you find so many stories, Master Ludovic?" The cardinal went to Hungary in 1518, and wished Ariosto to accompany him. The poet excused himself, pleading ill health, his love of study, the care of his private affairs and the age of his mother, whom it would have been disgraceful to leave. His excuses were not received, and even an interview was denied him. Ariosto then boldly said, that if his eminence thought to have bought a slave by assigning him the scanty pension of 75 crowns a year, he was mistaken and might withdraw his boon—which it seems the cardinal did.
The cardinal's brother, Alphonso, duke of Ferrara, now took the poet under his patronage. This was but an act of simple justice, Ariosto having already distinguished himself as a diplo matist, chiefly on the occasion of two visits to Rome as ambas sador to Pope Julius II. The fatigue of one of these hurried journeys brought on a complaint from which he never recovered; and on his second mission he was nearly killed by order of the violent pope, who happened at the time to be much incensed against the duke of Ferrara. On account of the war, his salary of only 84 crowns a year was suspended, and it was withdrawn altogether after the peace ; in consequence of which Ariosto asked the duke either to provide for him, or to allow him to seek employment elsewhere. A province, situated on the wildest heights of the Apennines, being then without a governor, Ariosto received the appointment, which he held for three years. The province was distracted by factions and banditti, yet it is said that Ariosto's government satisfied both the sovereign and the people confided to his care; and a story is added of his having been captured by a party of banditti, whose chief, on discovering that his captive was the author of Orlando Furioso, humbly apologized for not having immediately shown him the respect which was due to his rank. Although he had little reason to be satisfied with his office, he refused an embassy to Pope Clement VII. offered to him by the secretary of the duke, and spent the remainder of his life at Ferrara, writing comedies, superintending their performance as well as the construction of a theatre, and correcting his Orlando Furioso, of which the complete edition was published only a year before his death.
Ariosto was honoured and respected by the first men of his age, yet he lived and died poor. The epigram which he wrote over the entrance of his house, saying that, although small, it was suited to his needs and bought with his own money, serves to show the incorrectness of the assertion of flatterers, followed by Tiraboschi, that the duke of Ferrara built that house for him. The only man who seems to have given anything to Ariosto as a reward for his poetical talent was the marquess del Vasto, who assigned him an annuity of zoo crowns on the revenues of Casteleone in Lombardy; but it was only paid, if ever, from the end of 1531. That he was crowned as poet by Charles V. seems untrue, although a diploma may have been issued to that effect by the emperor.
The character of Ariosto seems to have been fully and justly delineated by Gabriele, his brother, who in some lines to his memory speaks of his piety and kindness, his humility and free dom from ambition.
In reading his satires, we are struck with the noble independence of the poet, who loved liberty with a most jealous fondness, and hence would never bind himself, either by going into orders or by marrying, till towards the end of his life, when he espoused Alessandra, widow of Tito Strozzi.
His Latin poems do not perhaps deserve to be noticed; in the age of Flaminio, Vida, Fracastoro and Sannazaro, better things were due from a poet like Ariosto. His lyrical compositions show the poet, although they do not seem worthy of his powers. His comedies, of which he wrote four, besides one which he left unfinished, are avowedly imitated from Plautus and Terence; and although native critics may admire in them the elegance of the diction, the liveliness of the dialogue and the novelty of some scenes, few will feel interest either in the subject or in the characters.
The most solid monument of his fame is the Orlando Furioso. An earlier poem on the same theme, Orlando Innamorato, by Boiardo (q.v.), had been left unfinished; many poets undertook the difficult task of its completion, but it was reserved for Ariosto to provide a sequel that surpassed its model. He began to write his great poem about 1503, and after having consulted the first men of the age of Leo X. he published it in 1516, in only 4o cantos (extended afterwards to 46) ; and up to the moment of his death, he never ceased to correct and improve both the sub ject and the style. It is the magnificent style of this poem which won for him the name of Divino Lodovico. Even when he jests, he never compromises his dignity ; and in pathetic description or narrative he excites the reader's deepest feelings. In his machinery he displays a remarkable vivacity of fancy; but he never lets his fancy carry him so far as to omit to employ, with an art peculiar to himself, those simple and natural pencil strokes which, by imparting to the most extraordinary feats a colour of reality, satisfy the reason without disenchanting the imagination. The death of Zerbino, the complaints of Isa bella, the effects of discord among the Saracens, the flight of Astolfo to the moon, the passion which causes Orlando's mad ness, teem with beauties of every variety. The supposition that the poem is not connected throughout is wholly unfounded ; there is a connection which, with a little attention, will become evident. The love of Ruggero and Bradamante forms the main subject of the Furioso; every part of it, except some episodes, depend upon this subject ; and the poem ends with their marriage.
The immediate popularity of Ariosto's greatest work outside Italy is proved by the fact that about a dozen French translations of it appeared within 5o years of his death, not to speak of the Spanish version of Ieronymo de Urrea which was often reprinted and is quoted in Don Quixote. Men as different as Voltaire and Goethe have been fascinated by Ariosto ; and in England his name will always be connected with that of Spenser, whose Faerie Queene was avowedly written to surpass the Orlando Furioso in its own style. Scott—"the Ariosto of the north," as Byron called him—learnt Italian as a boy, in order to read it ; and Byron himself owed much to the poet whom he praises so highly in his Prophecy of Dante (iii. IIo-119).
BIBLIOGRAPHY.—The first complete edition of the Orlando Furioso Bibliography.—The first complete edition of the Orlando Furioso was published at Ferrara, in 1532, as noted above. The edition of Papini (Florence, 1903) gives a good text with useful notes. Of editions published in England, those of Baskerville (Birmingham, 1773) and Panizzi (1834) are the most important. The translations into English are all indifferent in quality. See also E. Gardner, Ariosto, the Prince of Court Poets (1906) ; J. S. Nicholson, Life and Genius of Ariosto (1914) ; and Benedetto Croce, Ariosto, Shakespeare and Cor neille (Eng. tr. 1920).