SECT. I. Here the classical reader will find our author improving on his original; for Euripides only makes Orestes slightly allude to the dissentions between Atreus and Thyestes. But this is not the only instance in which Rucellai departs from his author with an happy boldness. Indeed he so frequently improves on the Greek tragedian, that he almost makes the subject his own. This tragedy was not given to the press during the life-time of the author. It lay for two hundred years after his death, concealed in the chaos of his papers. At length it was discovered by the Marquis Maffei, and published in his Teatro Italiano. Riccoboni speaks with pride of having, as he believes, first introduced it upon the stage. Besides the Rosmunda and Oreste, Rucellai wrote a poem entitled le Api, of which M. de Tenhove thus speaks: "Homme de gout," says this elegant enthusiast, "dans vos promenades solitaires prenez quelque fois son poeme, Ed odi quel che sopra un verde prato, Cinto d'abeti e d' onorati allori, Che bagna or un muscoso e chiaro fonte, Canta de l'api del suo florid' orto. And listen while he sings, at ease reclin'd On a soft bank within his garden's bound, (a) By piny cincture, and the laurel shade In reverential gloom encurtain'd deep, (a) We learn from the annotations of Roberto Titi on the Api, that it was written in the village of Quaracchi near Florence, where the author's villa stood. Ven. 1751. p. 220. Where, Where, ever and anon, a mossy fount Tells its soft warbl'd tale. The toiling hive All at their fragrant task, with busy hum Are heard, wide hovering o'er the flowery mead. The poem concludes with the author's determination to resume his tragedy of Orestes: Ma tempo è, ch' io ritorni al tristo Oreste, Come conviensi a i tragici coturni. While Rucellai lay on his death bed, he solemnly charged his brother Palla to submit this poem to the perusal of his friend Trissino, and when it had received his last corrections, to dedicate it to him; an injunction which was religiously observed. Again, raising his faultering voice, " I would gladly" said he, "impose also on my dear Trissino, the irksome task of correcting my Oreste, if I thought the memory of our long friendship would serve to mitigate the trouble." (b) From a few brilliant touches in this drama, which indicate the master-hand of Trissino, it is conjectured that the wish of the expiring bard was not heard with indifference by his friend. It reflects honor on the memory of those amiable poets, that though they pursued together the same road to fame, their friendship was never interrupted by the rancour of jealousy, or the malignant whisper of envy; "un caratteristico indubitato," says Maffei, "ď'ingegni (b) This pathetic scene is decribed by Palla Rucellai in the dedication to the Api, (Fir. 1539); a poem which rivals, while it imitates, the fourth georgic of Virgil. vera SECT. I. I. SECT. veramente grandi, e d' animi veramente nobili." United by congeniality of mind and similarity of studies, they were only divided by death. They consulted each other on their different compositions, and, the better to judge of the flow of their numbers, they occasionally selected passages from their respective poetical productions, for recitation in their social meetings, each finding like a friend, Something to blame, and fomething to commend. With talents so splendid, and a birth so illustrious, it is natural to suppose that Rucellai would be induced to take an active part in the political concerns of his country, or his family. Accordingly we are not surprised at finding him abandoning the muses, in order to go as ambassador from Florence to Venice, and as nuncio from the court of Rome to that of Francis I. With Leo, died his hopes of the porpora. But Clement VII. appointed him to the honorable office of Castellano, or keeper of the fortress of St. Angelo ;(c) in the enjoyment of which office he died in 1526. As Luigi Alamanni has ventured to dispute with Trissino the honor of first employing blank verse in "longer works," we shall notice him here, though he only appears in the humble rank of a translator or imitator, amongst the early dramatic (c) Rucellai has left an immortal monument of his gratitude to Clement, in the apostrophe to the sacred college, in his Api, beginning Però voi, che creaste in terra un Dio, &c. writers I. writers of Italy. Alamanni, like our Milton, not less fond SECT. of poetical than political liberty, soon threw off the shackles of ______ rhyme. His imitation of the Antigone, of Sophocles, (d) which appeared in 1532, and his didactic poem of Coltivazione, printed at Paris in 1546, are both in blank verse. Besides these productions, he published Rime in various measures. In his Inni, or Hymns, which are praised by Crescimbeni, he uses the Greek divisions of strophe, antistrophe, and epode, giving to those divisions, in allusion to the original accompaniment of dancing, the denominations of ballata, contraballata, and stanza. Signor Signorelli vindicates Alamanni from the imputation of being the author of a tragedy entitled Libero Arbitrio. (e) This "diabolica tragedia," he says was written by Francesco Negri of Bassano, "apostata dalla nostra cattolico fede." Of the correctness of Signor Signorelli's information, I do not entertain a doubt; but I am sure he will not deny that the character of our author afforded grounds for the foul suspicion. Amongst the disturbers of the peace of (d) Giraldi Cinthio makes the eloge of this drama, in the discourse which Tragedy de livers after the Orbecche. E quel, che 'nsino oltre le rigid' Alpi Da Thebe, in Toscano habito tradusse I' dico d' Alamanni, che mi vide Per mio raro destino uscire in scena. (e) Count Mazzuchelli labours to prove Alamanni innocent of this diabolical tragedy; but acknowledges, at the same time, that he wrote a tragedy, which still remains inedited, entitled la Libertà. See his Vita di L. Alamanni, prefixed to La Coltivazione. Ven. 1755. p. 71. Florence, When I SECT. Florence, Alamanni makes a conspicuous figure. courage of an army,-flying from court to court for the vile "toute noire de crimes." Stimulated by this frantic zeal in the cause of liberty, he not only broke the strong ties of friendship and gratitude, but over-leaped all moral and religious bounds. He has been accused of apostacy to his church; and, in consequence of having entered into a conspiracy to assassinate his friend and benefactor, cardinal Giulio de' Medici, he was obliged to abandon his country. To admire Alamanni, we must attend him to the literary meetings in the garden (f) of Bernardo Rucellai (ƒ) The garden, or academic grove, in which Bernardo Ruccellai held his literary meetings, and in which the Rosmunda of his son was recited in the presence of Leo X. stands near Florence, in the Via della Scala. The design of this garden and the palace (now the property of the Stiozzi family) to which it belongs, was given by Leon Batista Alberti, Feci," says Vasari, "il disegno della casa, ed orto, de' medesimi Ruccellai nello via della Scala ; la quale è fatta con molto giudizio, e comodissima, avendo, oltre agli altri molti agi, due logge, una volta a mezzogiorno, e l'altra a ponente, amendue bellissime, e fatte senza archi sopra le colonne." Vita di L. B. Alberti. p. 240. Alberti was not only an architect, but a painter, a sculptor, and a successful poet. Some of his sonnets are much admired; and his latin comedy of Philodoxios, which he distributed amongst his friends as the work of Lepidus, an ancient Roman poet, so effectually deceived the literati of his own and the succeeding age, that the younger Aldus published it as a precious remnant of antiquity. Vide Elog. degli uomini illust, tosc. tom. ii. Life of Lorenz. de' Medici, vol. i. p. 87. near |