IL CINQUECENTO.- I6TH CENTURY.- CLASSICISM.
The trecento which witnessed the disinte gration of feudalism and the partial destruction of ecclesiastical domination — those two foes of Italian Nationalism — produced Italy's chief lit erary glory, Dante's 'Divine Comedy.' The quattrocento replaced the mystic Christian Idealism of the Middle Ages with purely pa gan ideals of human happiness and beauty. It established Italian as the literary language in place of the discredited Latin, witnessed a lit erary assimilation of classic ideals with modern observation, saw an unparalleled development of the artistic sense, a refinement of manners and a fastidious taste which penetrated every part of the Peninsula. The Cinquecento wit nessed the decline of Italian Nationalism. A French army invaded Italy (1494), Rome was sacked (1527), Florence fell (1530) and Charles V was crowned in Bologna (1530) by Clement VII ; strange contrast with so splendid an era in Italian Arts and Letters! Political dis integration coincided with the integration of the national language, and the spread of na tional literature. This age of foreign and civil wars, of broken confederacies, of traitorous leagues, is the age of the establishment of new esthetic ideals and forms of composition, and of that sense of finality which indicated the maturity of Classicism. Erudition, disciplined by antiquity, curbed extravagant attempts to create new literary forms. The Cinquecento had all the perfection and all the limitations of undiscussed classicism and aristocratic culture. Popular elements of inspiration in stories of chivalry, sacred dramatic representations, and popular forms of composition, like the ottova, the cansonetta, the comedy, were assimilated by courtly men of letters and the common peo ple retreated from important participation in literary productions.
Machiavelli, Ariosto, iArentiao, Cellini, represent this 16th century.
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527) is the prod uct of this age. He impersonates that funda mental element of the Italian character —the spirit of ancient Rome. His admiration is for strength and its result — success. The greatest sin is weakness and failure. The weakling, pos., sessing velleity without power to compel ac complishment, is despicable. Careless of reli-, gious dogma, indifferent to moral teaching, the end always justified the means. The welfare of the state is the supremo, lex: under his intent observation personages become meaning less appearances, events become important, and beyond the passing phenomena he perceives the everlasting law.
The Florence of the Medici shared Machia velli's unprejudiced views and even his ap parent contradictions. He planned the institu tion of a republic in his yet in III Principe' hailed the advent of the masterful tyrant, who like Cesare Borgia would shake off ravenous invaders feeding on the vitals of Italy, and, unrestrained by any obstacle or moral consideration, would accomplish the uni fication of Italy; and Machiavelli's fellow-citi zens connived at his partiality in retracing his torical events in Fiorentine,' since the inaccuracy best served their purpose. In the
comedy 'La Mandragora,' Machiavelli, with genuine psychological observation, satirizes temporary society. Though the argument is obscene, there is excuse for unmasking perverted' and perverting friars like Fra Timoteo, and in. exposing the evil influence of an immoral priest hood on simple-minded women. Francesco Guicciardini (1483.4540), though his history is better constructed than Machiavelli's and more accurate, is an opportunist. He submits to the oppression of unavoidable despotism, and im personates a weaker generation. The 20 vol umes of his 'History of Italy' comprise the important period of the competition between France and Spain.
If Machiavelli typifies the intellectual Ro man element of the Italian race, Ariosto, Machiavelli's contemporary, represents those foreign elements, medieval and poetical, which are also a pare of the Italian mind. Though he, too, is familiar with classicism and Latinity, they are acquired qualities. It is the legends of chivalry, the chansons de geste and epic poems, which fire his imagination • and he expresses his poetry in the popular rhyme of the °nava: Ariosto's poetry is bright, spontaneous, spark ling. L' art Pour r art was the ideal of this diligent toiler, who without passion, faith, pa triotism or religion, yet labors unweariedfy to produce artistic beauty. The world he repre sents, the society that first inspires and then admires his work, equals him in indifference to moral and religious ideals. The 'Orlando Furioso,' Ariosto's masterpiece, is an accurate résumé of Renaissance sentiment. The para dise of pastoral simplicity which he describes is opposed to the court slavery under which he is restless. In Italy, chivalry was not a tan gible reality but a traditional fiction, a fabric of the imagination to inspire popular minstrelsy and courtly poets, and held together by the gossamer links of a code of gallantry. Chiv alry, like Cinquecento mythology and religion, could no longer inspire heroic deeds: or write epic poetry. Raphael with equal earnestness painted a Madonna or a Galatea, and Titian a Venus or his sweetheart; so Ariosto utilized tradition, legend, imagination in his poem; eager for beauty, and indifferent to the moral content.