The first period of Tuscan glory in Italian letters closed approximately with 1348. The second Tuscan period stretches from 1348 to about 1375 (the date of Boccaccio's death), and is marked especially by the advent of Petrarch and Boccaccio. Francesco Petrarca (1304-74), cue of the first and greatest figures in humanism. who did so much to revive classic lore during the period of the,Renaissance, prided himself more upon his works in Latin (e.g. the poem Africa) than upon his Italian verse. For us, however. his fame is founded on his Canzoniere, a col lection of poems, mainly sonnets written in honor of hi; beloved madonna. Laura. some of them before her death, and others. as in the case also of the Trionfl (composed in terza rima), after that event. The artistic conception is carried further in Petrareh than in any poet, except Dante, who had preceded him; he may even he said to surpass Dante in refinement of style and in the ornate qualities of his diction. He likewise gave to the sonnet—a form evolved' out of the popular strambotto—the last touch of perfection. A personal friend of Petrareh. and imbued like him with a passionate love for class ical studies, was Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-751. It was at his instance that T.eonzio Pilato made the first translation of Homer into Latin, and Boccaccio even seems to have taken pains to learn Greek himself. Be that as it may, he is now mainly remembered as the first great story teller in the history of Italian literature. His collection of prose tales. contained in the frame work called the Decamerone• enjoys a repute equaled by none unless it be the Canterbury Talcs, and the author of these poetical tales owes not a little to Boccaccio. The sources whence Boccaccio drew the material for his tales were many; a number of them were certainly French. Besides his encyclopa.dic work in Latin, Boccaccio wrote further in Italian the Filocolo, a prose work which tells over again the old French story of noire and Blanclietleur; the Tescide, a poem from which Chaucer derived the subject matter of his Knight's Talc, and in which was made the first notable use of &taro rima; the fiesolano, a pastoral poem; the Filo strata, the poetical source of Chaucer's Troilus and Cressida ; the Rime, consisting of some 124 canzoni, ballads, and sonnets, mostly love poems; the .4nzeto, in mingled prose and verse; the Amo roso cisione, dealing especially with celebrated lovers of past times: the Fiammetta, a veiled ac count in prose of Boccaccio's love for (Fiammetta). a daughter of King Robert of Naples; the Corbaccio, an invective upon a cer tain widow and upon women in general; the di Dante; and a commentary upon about half of Dante's Inferno. The love poetry of Petrarch's Canzoniere soon found many imitators, known generally as Petrarchists. of whom at tention to exterior form was a prime characteris tic. In his Rime, Boccaccio is really one of the first of these Petrarchists, among whom there are also Fazio degli Uberti and Sacchetti, besides very many more. The more original lyric verse of the time, even that appearing in the form of the madrigal or the ballad, or of the more popu lar caccia and frotto/o, has a moralizing tone, such as we find in the poems of Beecari (1315, died before 1364) and of Pucci (c.1310, died be fore 1381). Then, too, didactic poetry of all kinds abounds in the second half of the four teenth century, and much of it is in the nature of imitations of Dante's great vision, preserving also the Dantesque terza rima. Petrareb's Trion fl.and Boccaccio's Amoroso risione were prompted IT the Divino Commedia, and now there comes the uncompleted D it tainondo of Fazio degli Irberti (c.1310-c.1370). an excursion through the things of this world intended as an examina tion of all mundane knowledge, and the Quadri rcgio of Federico Frezzi (born before 1350, died 1410), a journey through the realms of Love, the Devil, Vice, and Virtue. The narrative poetry of the period deals principally with historical (cf. the Guerra di Pisa of Pucci) and romantic sub jects. Of the latter class are poems based on French epic matter, and especially on the Carolin gian legends, that mark another step toward the chivalrous epic of the fifteenth century. Such are the /Novo d'Antona, the Rinaldo da dIontalbano, the •S'pagna, and others. Under the head of reli gious verse there still continued to appear many lyrical laudi, as well as more dramatic devoz,'ioni and ramrcsentazioni sacre. The prose works of the second half of the century are for the most part collections of tales, like the Trcecnto norellc of Franco Sacchetti (c.13351400), the Pccorone of Giovanni Fiorentino (or da Firenze), wherein occurs the story best known to us from Shake speare's treatment of it in his of Venice and the tales of Giovanni Sercambi (1347-1424). The imitation of the Decamerone is obvious in these and the other novelistic productions of the time In the •pecchio di rcra pcnitenza (1354) of Jacopo Passavanti we find the tale so adapt ed to moralizing and religious purposes that it really becomes an ascetic treatise. In the let ters of Saint Catharine (Caterina Benincasa, 1347-80) of Siena, the religions and mystic feelings of the time are best expressed. For the history of the prose of the time the chronicle is equally important with the tale, and the writers of the former are much more nunierous than in the first hall of the century, although by no means so imposing, and they include among their best representatives Abate() Villani (1300G3), the brother of Giovanni Villani, whose Chronicle he continued. ,Nlarchionne Stefani (c.1320-85), and Donato Velluti. Travel literature is well represented in the Libro d'oltra in arc of Niceol6 d The Renaissance, heralded by Tetrarch and Boccaccio, becomes all-important in the fifteenth century, when the humanists, aided by the re cently invented printing-press, diffused it knowl edge of the literature of ancient Greece and Rome through the length and breadth of the land, and ultimately through the whole Occident. Florence is still to the fore in this period. hut there are now other important centres of learn ing and literary productivity, such as Naples, where the House of Aragon ruled; Ferrara, where the Dukes of Este were the patrons of men of letters; Rome, Mantua. Venice. Bologna, and Milan. In other words, although the Florentine influence still remained predominant, the litera ture of this period is more truly a national one in that it is not confined to a single region. but comes into being all through the peninsula. Here we need not. enumerate the many writers engaged in translating from Greek and Latin. or writing only in the latter language. We need only bear in mind that for us their chief importance lies in the fact that they gave to the Italian people those elements of culture and humanism which. blended with the more popular and inedheval elements already manifested in the preceding periods, were to produce the brilliant and thor oughly national literature of the sixteenth cen tury. Taking up the works of those who wrote in the vulgar tongue. we find in the Della famiglia of Leon, Battista Alberti (c.1407-72) picture of the ideal domestic life of the Renais sance age. Of a more popular coloring and espe cially notable because of their relation to the chivalrous niatt(q.• which is approaching nearer and nearer to artistic perfection of treatment, are the prose romances I rcali. di Franria and Guerin() it Aleschino. These were compiled by _Andrea. da Batherino (1372-1431) and give ver sions still read by the people at large of the epic traditions formerly written in French and in Franco-Venetian. Likewise popular in their constitution were the burlesque poems of Do menico Giovanni (c.1390-144S), surnamed II Burchiello. Probably of the first half of the fifteenth century was the anonymous poem Orlando, written in ottara rim°. which harks hack to the ehanRons de geste. as the name Orlando. i.e. Roland, indicates, and which. crude though it be, was a prototype of the chivalrous poem, especially so as it later entered into the composition of Piders work. Religious lyrics or landi, and profane lyrics, mainly dance songs and straMfird (1. were developed along the same lines as in the fourteenth century. until in the verse of Leonardo (instiniani (13SS-1446) they received a more finished treatment, clue to his tendency to combine classic and popular elements. Religious dramas or rappresenta::ioni were ap pear with greater frequency than before. From the middle of the century on, there becomes more decidedly manifest the tendency to elevate popular poetry by infusing into it elements of culture with which the Renaissance had endowed the leading spirits of the land. This was the case particularly in three centres of great literary activity—Naples in the south, Ferrara in the mirth, and Florence in the centre of the country. Many of the writers of the Court of Ferdinand I. at Naples used the Neapolitan dialect, but they tempered it with forms borrowed from Tuscan and Latin. The most famous of their number Was Jacopo Sannazaro (145S-1530), who wrote in the more general speech and in mingled prose and verse his pastoral romance, Arcadia, which, combining factors drawn from Boccaccio's Amuck) with others borrowed from classic an tiquity, soon made its fortune in the world. It was at Ferrara, one of the various literary centres of the north, that the best work of the time was produced. and there. living in close relations with the ducal rulers. .latteo Maria Boiardo, Count of Scandiano ( 1431-94 ) , com posed his celebrated Orlando innamoroto, a poem in octaves which happily blends together elements from of the chief Old French cycles of legends, that of Charlemagne and that of the matiere de Bretagne, and adds to these elements of popular tradition certain others of classical origin, such as Homeric and Vergilian episodes; so that the Orlando innamorato, the first true romantic poem in Italian, marks the arrival of the chivalrous poem at a stage where it can be said to have a genuine artistic value. As a humanist Boiardo translated classical works, and as a Petrarchist he wrote sonnets and love poems that make him the most successful imitator of the master (luring this century. At Florence, Antonio Manetti (1423-97) produced his attrac tive Novella del grasso legnainolo, and Girolamo Savonarola (1452-9S) composed poems and ser mons replete with asceticism. But the most illustrious writers of the Florentine group were Luigi Pulei (1431-S7), Lorenzo de' Medici (1449 (t2). and Politian (1454-94). To Pulci we owe the Morgante Maggiore. He elaborated the mat ter contained in the Orlando and the Spogna, and added to this epic matter of French origin sentiments and tendencies of his own of a humor ous character. As a poem of chivalry, the Mor ganic is certainly devoid of the serious spirit that animates Tloiardo's work, but it must not be deemed an intentional parody of chivalry. In style and tone it is one of the most charming productions of the century. Lorenzo de' Medici (il Magnifico), a most liberal patron of the arts, wrote love poems, idyls, pastorals, satires, dra mati• poems, landi, and carnival songs, and by these personal efforts exercised a great deal of influence for the better upon the circle of writers about him. In Politian (Angelo Ambrogini, known as Poliziano from his native place, Monte puleiano) there comes to light the noblest and highest type of the Italian humanist of the fif teenth century; for in him we find the classic' and modern traditions in perfect union. His Oleo (1472 or 1453) was the first profane drama in the language. his Stanzr per lu giostra are as finished in form as the best works of the six teenth century, and his Rime, or love songs, reveal the influence of the culture of the Renais sance upon lyric forms of popular origin. Poll tian's death. coining near the end of the century. nearly coincides with the end of the Renaissance period. It. is followed by a new classic period in Italian literature—called by the Italians the Cingueeento—an age almost equal in glory to that of Dante, Boccaccio, and Pe•rar•h, and one *which manifests most clearly the immense artistic benefits that Italy had received from the human istic movement of the previous century. Al though disturbed by foreign domination in cer tain parts of the land and by the passage of Florence from the state of a republic to that of a duchy. Italy never had a livelier national consciousness than that which actuated her at this time; and the development of art always stands in close relationship with the growth of national sentiment. The period opens with the works of Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533), one of its most striking figures, the author of comedies, lyrics, satires, and other poems in Italian and of some Latin verse, but famous for his Orlando furioso. This poem marks the apogee of chival rous poetry in Italy. Starting where Boiardo's Orlando innamorato ends, and presupposing that the reader is acquainted with the story there un folded, Ariosto develops still further the love affair of Orlando and Angelica, interweaving with it many other romantic episodes. especially that of Ruggiero and Bradamante. For his sub ject-matter Ariosto is indebted to French poems and romances of the Middle Ages, to Latin classic verse, and to Italian writers of the Renaissance period; but he is most original in the way in which he has breathed new life into the old material. His style has a charm due in no slight degree to the skill with which he has combined the pomp of classic diction with a sim plicity of expression peculiarly his own; and his versification is satisfactory because of the ability with which lie has handled the otter(' rime. Ariosto had many imitators. but their poems, like that of his predecessor Boiardo. are now little read. Several attempts were made to remodel the Orlando innamorato, the most suc cessful being that of Francesco Berni (c.1497 1535), a master of style. Seriousness of purpose still persists in the Italia liberate da' Goti of Gian Giorgio Trissino (147S-1550) and in the .4madigi of Bernardo Tasso (1493-1569), this latter based on the Amadis story told in the Spanish peninsula,•but the spirit of parody and burlesque prevails in the Orlandino and the Pal des of Teofilo Folengo (1492-1544), otherwise notable as a macaronis poet. Of rank equal to that of Ariosto was Torquato Tasso (1544-95; the son of Bernardo), the greatest Italian writer of the second half of the sixteenth century. A man of extraordinary genius, which reveals itself in all his works, as well in his masterpiece. La Gcrusalem me liberate, as in his lyrics, dramas, dialogues, and letters, he suffered at times from a mental disorder which. theugh it necessitated
placing him tinder restraint, did not impair his literary productivity. His poem, Rinaldo, is a youthful work of the category of chivalrous poems, dealing with the adventures of the Caro lingian hero Renaut de Montauban. But Ariosto had uttered the supreme word in chivalrous story, and Tasso was to gain his laurels by per fecting a new' genre, that of the crusading or Chris tian epic. This he did with his Grrusafrinnic liberate, a poem of markedly serious intent. pri marily concerned with the Crusades in which Godfrey of Bouillon played a part. The author did not disdain to admit as subordinate elements certain features of the chivalrous romance, espe cially in connection with the love episodes, just as he also drew from his favorite authors of classic antiquity. Like Ariosto, whom he re sembles very much in his imitation of passages of ancient writers. he has also the gift of style, and like him he uses the ottani. rime with (Jose and grace. An individual note in Tasso's work is that of melancholy, which is really an echo of the man's personal experience and of his mental anguish. Although contemporaries, like pos terity, applauded the Gerusalemme liberate, Tas so was not satisfied with his work, and, yielding to religious impulses of an ascetic nature, he published a remodeled form of it, La Gerusa lfmme conquistata, which is much inferior to the original poem, and is, therefore, neglected. while the Gerusalemme liberate remains dear to the whole Italian people. In the lyric verse of the sixteenth century there soon declared itself a revolt against the too conventional nature of the Petrarchistie verse of the preceding century. In his Rime, Pietro Bembo (1470-1547) showed how better results could be obtained in lyric song if one would but go directly back to Petrarch for his inspiration, and Bemho's example was fol lowed by a. host of poets. Another very note worthy trait of this author, seen in his Asolani and in his Prose della rolgare lingua, is his desire to stress the importance of having a gen eral literary speech for the land, that unity of style may be attained and the character of the literature be made national. In the lyrics of Torquato Tasso, the influence of Tetrarch is not absolute, and the same may be said of the verse of the sculptor and painter Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564). Of the other numerous lyric poets of the time, mention need be made only of Francesco Maria Molza (1459-1544, au thor of the Vinfa t iberina), Vittoria Colonna, (1490-1547), and Luigi Tansillo (1510-68). Op ponents of the Petrarchists were Niccolo Franco (1515-70) and Claudio Tolomei (1492-1555), the latter of whom sought to introduce Latin metres. In his Rime Francesco Berni develops a bur lesque and humorous vein which recalls the methods of Rustic() di Filippo and Burehiello, and which he brings into use against the un reasoning Petrarchists. This burlesque manner was adopted by not a few other poets of the time. Among the didactic poets of the period were several who made Vergil's Georgics their starting point; such were Giovanni Rucellai (1475-1525, author of Le api). Luigi Alamanni, and Erasmo da Valvassone (c.1523-93). Asa result of the Renaissance movement, the old dramatic form known as rappresec.tazioni saere, disappeared horn the towns in the early part of the sixteenth century. and withdrew to the cloisters and the country districts. Their place was taken by prose translations of ancient dramas, which paved the way for Italian imitations of the works of an tiquity. The first Italian tragedy and, in fact, the first regular tragedy in all modern literature was the Sofonisba (1515) of Gian Giorgio Tris sino (147S-1550). This was followed by many tragedies, nearly all of them of but little origi nality and modeled on the works of Euripides. Sophocles, and Seneca; e.g. the Rosmunde and the Orcste of Giovanni Rueellai, the ('amass of Sperone Speroni (1500-SS), the Orbecrhe of G'i.• laldi (1504-73), the Ora :in of Pietro Aretino (1492-1556). Torquato Tasso's Torrismondo deals with matter of Germanic origin. Most of the tragedies were composed in blank verse (rcrsi the comedies of the time, nearly all based on Plautus and Terence, and a few original. were written sometimes in verse and in prose. The masterpiece among the comedies was the .1/andrayoia (1513) of Niecol3 Machiavelli ( 1469-1527 ) . tit her writers of come dies. which were. unfortunately, often licentious in character. were l)ovizi (1470-1520), .\gnolo Freinzuola (1493-e.1545). Giovanni Maria Ceeehi (151s-87), Ariosto ( who was really the first to produce Italian comedies formed regularly ne• cording to the classic models), and especially Pietro Aretino. the most original and realistic of them all. Several popular forms of the drama assumed importance in the first half of the six teenth century: thus. the satirical comedies, called farsc ca•aino/c. were performed in Naples, a rustic comedy enjoyed great vogue at Siena, and comedies in dialect were favorites in the Venetian territory. The most widespread of all the popular forms after the middle of the six teenth century was the so-called rommtdia del l'orte, a drama of improvisation. in which only the scenario or scenes had a definite written char acter, for the dialogue of the personages ( Pan talone, Arleeehino being conventional personages in the masks) was left to the ingenuity of the It. is the existence of this comedy of improvisation that explains the dearth of writ ten comedies of any value until the eighteenth century. The pastoral drama. an outgrowth of the dramatic eelogne. also enjoyed much favor in the second half of the century. Already fully formed in the Sarrilicio (135-1) of ..\gostino Bee cari (c.1510-901, it reached its height of excel lence in the Amin/a (1573) of Tasso and the Pastor Pido of I uarini (1537-1612).
Production in prose was considerable dur ing the sixteenth century, to which time belong a number of important historical and politi cal works. Generally speaking, the style is somewhat too stilted and labored, following too closely the periods and emistruction of classi cal Latin prose. First rank among the better writers of prose must lie accorded to Niee014 :Machiavelli (1469-1527). to xvhoin we owe the Principe. a treatise on statecraft which has been rather too harshly criticised. because the author disregarded moral considerations in his state ment of rules for political conduct: the Disrorsi sopra in prima deco di Tito Lirio, which reveals Machiavelli's republicanism ; the .1ric (Alla ra and the Istoric liorratinc, a history of the modern type. A great many historians followed :Machiavelli, the most important being, Fran cesco Guiceiardini (14S3-15401. who in hi: Is toria d'Italia put forth the best historical work of the century. and also displayed remarkable of observation in his Storia fiorentina, and nmeh political aeumen in the Disrorsi on the government of Florence and in the two hooks of the Del rrogiturato di l'iren:e. ac well as in his letters and memoirs. Of lesser note were Jacopo Nardi ( 1476-1565), Benedet to Varehi (1503-65), Paolo Paruta A bio graphical work of much repute is the Vile de' pia recillenti pittori, scaltori c oelaitu lii of Giorgio Vasari (1511-741. and an autobiography most graphically told in a familiar style is that of Benvennto Cellini (1500-711. Excellent pictures of the manners of the time may he found in the tales of Matteo Bandello (e.14S0, (lied after 1562), Agnolo Firenzuola, Giovanni Forteguerri (150S-82), and others. The ideal life of a cour tier is depicted in the ('ortcyiano of Baldassare Castiglione ( 1478-1529), who also discusses Mat ters of language and art. platonic lot e, etc. A similar work on the rules of etiquette to lie ob served by a gentleman is the Ga/aho of Giovanni della Casa (1503-56). Among the writers of litters. Torquato Tasso is most meritorious for naturalness of tone; other deserving collections of letters are those of Annibale Cairo Pietro Ilembo, Giovanni della Casa, etc. Of moralists there may be mentioned Giambattista Gelli, and above all, Tasso, who, in his Dia s(night to reconcile ancient philosophy with the Christian religion. Not the least industrious of the prose writers of the age were those en gaged in translating the classics. is here to be given to Annibale Cairo for his ver sions of the ..-Eneid (Eneide), and of Longus's Pastoral Loves (.1inori pastorali).
To the sixteenth century there succeeded a period of decay, the most lamentable in all the history of Italian literature. Political circum and particularly the domination of Spain and the intermeddling of northern nations, tended to suppress the national eonseionsness that had stirred so many writers of the preceding century. More stress is laid upon outer form than upon the nature of the subje•t-matter, and there prevails an extreme artificiality of style which revels in plays upon words. antitheses, double meanings. and conceits. The greatest im perfections of the kind belong to the first half of the seventeenth century. From the middle of the seventeenth century to the middle of the eighteenth century. attempts were made, with but moderate success. to rid the literatnre of formal and stylistie exaggerations. The Arcadian Academy (founded in 1690) urns established to correct the dominant had taste in poetry. but none of its members attained to real eminence as poets. At the outset there were many servile and trivial imitators of Tasso's epic. A writer who exercised a good deal of intim-nee upon his own time was Giambattista Marini (1560-1625), whose more ambitious mythological poem. Ado or. which is hardly more than a tissue of de scriptive matter, as well as his lyrics and idyls, is full of empty conceits and other artificialities of style. (inc of the few who avoided the de plorable tendencies of the age was Alessandro Tassoni (1565-16351 : lie gave forth in his Sccchia Twilit the first important nmek-lie•oic poem, and had many followers. as, for example. Francesco Bracciolini (1566-16441, who satirized the im moderate use of mythological elements in the literature of the day. In lyric verse there is a manifest endeavor to substitute classic models for the Canzoniere of Petrareh. and Gabriella Chiabrera (1552-163R) imitates. the manner an 1 metrical form of the poems of Pindar and Anacreon. and Fulvio Testi (159316461 takes Horace for his master. The commrdia drll' arta still monopolizes the stage, and true dramatic composition languishes, although imitations of the pastoral drama of Tasso and Guarini ap pear. We have to note, however. that the melo drama or opera begins with the Thifiir. Euridirr, and .trionna of Ottavio Einneeini (1564-16:211, and makes its way all over Europe. The prose of historical work: exhibits the general formal defects already noted in the verse. Historians of seine force were Paolo Sarpi (1552-1623, Lquria del coneilio tridentino), Enrico Caterino Davila (1576-1631). Guido Bentivoglio ( 1579 1(44, Guerra di Fiandra), Agostino Mascardi (1591-1640). 5forza Pallavicino (1607-67, Is forma del eoncilio di Trento), Danielo (1608 S5, Storia della Compugnia di Gesii). Mar cantonio Mambelli 11582-1644) in his Osscrra zioni della lingua italiana. and Benedetto Buom mattei (1582-1647), in his treatise Della lingua toscana, gave definite grammatical rules for the writing of Dalian. The greatest credit is to be given to the writers of scientific prose. and above all to Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). whose influ ence was most potent over the form of the later scientific literature of Italy. About the middle of the seventeenth century, and largely through the impulse given by Galileo's scientific and lit erary efforts. a reaction was attempted against the affectation of the foregoing period. A part was played in it by the painter Salvator Rosa (1615-73), the author of satires, odes, and letters; by Vincenzo da (1642-1707), and Ales sandro Guidi (1650-1712) , lyric poets who con tinued the classic manner of Chiabrera and Testis and by Lorenzo Magalotti (1637-1712). known for his Saggi di naturali espericir.-.e and his Lettere faniiliuri and Lettere seicntifielie. The imitators of Marini's artificial methods were much more numerous than were the writers gifted with good sense. As has already been intimated, an academy called the Arcadia was founded at Route, in 1690. by Giovanni Maria Creseimbeni (16113-172R) and Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina (1664-1718), for the purpose of bringing into poetry greater natu ralness of expression. The means employed therein were too childish. and the Arcadia achieved no reform. It did, however, produce a good deal of poetry, written in its three manners. the first being one in which the sonnet and the madrigal were cultivated. the second that of love lyrics fashioned after the model of Chiabrera's, and the third that of the occasional poem, best represented in the work of Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni (1692-17681. with whom the activity of the Arcadia ended. It was as a lyric poet of the second Arcadian manner that Pietro Metas tasio (169S-1782). the most distinguished of all who shared iu the movement, began his career, but he is now remembered rather for his operatic dramas (Tomistocle, Didone, Olimpiadr, Attilia Regolo, Clemenza di Tito), masterpieces of a time when it was still •onsideted necessary that the libretto of an opera should be a work of art. Toward the end of the seventeenth century, a not able French influence is clear in writers of trage dies. Pier .Jacopo Martelli (1655-1721) introduced into the drama verses of the French Alexandrine type, called after him. rersi Scipi one Maffei (1675-1755) wrote a tragedy on the classical subject of and. with his trage dies based on Roman history and strongly sug gestive of the Shakespearean method, Antonio Conti (1677-17491 heralded the coming of Al fieri. Although he wrote during the time of the Arcadia. Niceolb Fo•teguerri 11674-1735). the author of many satires, stood apart from all contemporary tendencies. For the inspiration for his poem Riceiardetto he went hack to Ariosto. The prose style of the period of the Arcadia is still full of affectation, unless when used for purely scientific purposes. as in the histories and learned treatises of Giambattista Vico (1668 1744), of Giovanni Maria Mazzuchelli (1707-6S), author of the biographical and bibliographical Serittori d'Italia, and particularly of Ludovieo Antonio (1672-1750), who compiled the Annuli d'Italia and other works of great worth in the development of historical studies.