Francesco Bracciolini's (Scherno degli is a parody of mythological legends, and Lo renzo Lippi's (Malmantile) is still a mine for students of old Tuscan customs, proverbs, tra ditions and popular sayings. In Florence, Fran cesco Redi (1626-98) unearthed the antique dithyramb. His in Toscana) is still quoted. If Vincenzo da Filicaia's are forgotten, his sonnet (Italia, Italia, o to cui feo la sorte> is remembered for its genuine patri otism.
On 5 Oct. 1690, in San Pietro a Montorio was held the first meeting of the Accademia della Arcadia. The patron saints were Theoc ritus, Virgil and Sannazzaro, the protecting deity Gesil Bambino (the Child Jesus) as a symbol of purity; the emblems were a rustic zampogna wreathed with laurel, the constitu tion a mixture of archaism and affectation, the aim a return to Arcadian simplicity, the means an artificial refinement of both manners and language. has had many literary sins laid to its charge, and justly; nothing could be worse than its axiom that nobility of literary composition was to be obtained through imitation; but the follies, puerilities, affecta tions and dilettantism of Arcadia was a symp tom rather than the cause of the current literary corruption. Giambattista Zappi, Eus tachio Manfredi and Paolo Rolli are among the less forgotten poets of (Arcadia' and Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni (1692-1768) the last and most extravagant.
Seicento produced no Italian tragedy wor thy of consideration, though the attempts were numberless; usually imitations from the Span ish drama, or founded on some episode of the Gerusalemme or the Orlando. Giambattista Andreini's (Adamo) provided some scenes for Milton's
So, too, the literary comedy chiefly consisted of imitation or trans lation of Plautus and Terence. Popular com edy (the Commedia dell' Arte) extended its success even to the court of France, though of the Arlecchino, Trig&ldino, Brighella and the extravagant enthusiasm for the charming Isa bella and Colombina, there has nothing come down to us but scenario, the plot stripped of the witty impromptu and brilliant dialogue. Initiated by Poliziano's
Justice to this much despised 17th century demands that credit be given to the vigorous writing of the martyr philosopher, Giordano Bruno. A spirit preoccupied by such lofty thoughts could only be eloquent and forceful. The candle he lighted at the stake has con tinued through the centuries to illumine the lamps of the heirs to his ideals. Tommaso Cam
panella, another victim of religious obscuran= tism, paid with 26 years of prison and seven applications of torture for his faith in man's perfectibility through science and the help of wise government, as set forth in his Utopian dream, Citta del Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), whose wonderful discoveries and miserable fate are familiar, in his famous is a master of prose composition. Fra Paolo Sarpi (1552-1623), the champion of Ven ice and antagonist of papal supremacy, in his of the Council of presents a remarkable example of well-balanced historical information in pure and noble language.
It. SETTECENTO - 18TH CENTURY. ARCADIA - RINNOVAMENTO.
Mannerism, affectation and pretension char acterized 17th century Italian literature; the emptiness of the early years of the following century was not less depressing. The Academy of Arcadia loudly proclaimed a return to pas toral simplicity, a reform of manners and literary taste, and a refinement of language. Gess& Bambino was the patron, and the Pandean pipe the emblem of the puerile association. Among the few silly sheep who have escaped oblivion are Vincenzo Gravina, Paolo Rolli and Carlo Frugoni. There were, however, a few prose writers worthy to be precursors of the Rinnova mento. Ludovico Muratori (1672-1750), in Annali d' Italia,' recalls his degenerate countrymen to patriotic ideals, Girolamo Tiraboschi wrote the first complete manual of Italian liter ature, and the philosopher Giambattista Vico (1668-1744), seems to have had prescience of much that has lately been proved by experi mental science.
After the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), and the return of the Italian princes to their thrones, ensued an era of social reform and in tellectual activity. The influence of French philosophers, especially the scepticism and humanitarianism of the Encyclopidie, spread rapidly in Milan, in the hospitable Casa Verri, I a group of youn and eager intellectuals in augurated II Ca 1, a penodical which from 1764-66 exercise real literary influence, and Cesare Beccaria wrote his great treatise on 'Crime and Delitti e dells Pens. Galiani, Algarotti, Baretti and Gozzi were worthy critics; on the subject of "purism' literary controversy was vehement. The con servative Accademia della Crusca opposed the admission of neologisms and foreign words to the language, and proscribed pokralat phrases; while the revolutionary Caff 1 insisted upon en riching the classical idiom by free foreign bor rowings. Melchiorre Cesarotti (1730-1818), in his 'Saggio sulla Filosofia delle Lingue) dictated the theory of this rebellion against linguistic tradition.