whereas the English can resort to at least two distinct roots, ræd and leg, from which we have readable as well as legible, these words expressing two very closely allied, but yet different, ideas, both of which the Germanic as well as the Neo-Latin languages are compelled to crowd into one word alone. Without entering into details which are obvious to every body, the same may be said of the relations between lead and duc-ere, bring or bear and jer-re or port-are, see and vid-ere, full and cad-ere, shine and splend-ere, give and d-are, bind and lig-are, bid and mand-are, take or hold and cap-ere, turn and vert ere, die and mor i, hold and ten-ere, show and monstr-are, sing and can-ere, wrath and ira, speak and loqu-i, say and dic-ere, breathe and spir-are, buy and em-ere (redeem, redemption) plough and ar-are, burn and ardere, throw and jac-ere (reject, inject), own and possid-ere, swell and tum-ere, seek and quaer-ere, (inquire, acquire), laugh and rid. ere, hide and cel-are, make and fac-ere, stir and excit are, come and ven-ire, live and viv-ere, pour and fund-ere (confuse, diffuse), bind and jung-ere, gather and leg-ere (colligere), work and labor-are, grow and cresc-ere, wish and desider-are (desire), wash and lavare, clothe and vest-ire, stream and flu-ere,etc. In each of these cases we have two series of words running parallel with nearly but not entirely the same meaning. One of those series is derived from a Germanic source, the other from Latin. English is the only language that is possessed of both series, the German and the Neo-Latin languages possessing each, only either series. No need to spend words on the advantages accruing to the English tongue from such a twofold constituency. We must take also into consideration the important fact that another large source of words we have in the mixing and crossing of those two series, when to Latin words are added Anglo-Saxon suffixes, and vice versa. Thus we have, for instance, power and powerful, grace and graceful, noble and nobleness, consul and consulship, prudent and prudently, cautious and cautiously, etc. Finally we must not forget that the Latin, and therewith the French, syntax certainly has contributed to give that simplicity, straightforwardness, and compactedness, for which the English language is so justly envied and praised. Certainly the Latin influence has helped to save the English tongue from the risk of adopting such a stiff, clumsy, and illogical structure as all students deplore in the German sentence. Through the large influx of Latin elements the English tongue has come into an exceptionally fortunate position. Leaving aside the Slavonic races, whose future still lies hidden in darkness, the power of the world is now divided between the Teutonic and the Latin races. English finds itself, so to say, astraddle of these two great families; on one side it holds out its hand to the Teutons, on the other to the Latins. Both find in it, more than in any other language except their own, linguistic elements conformable to their mental needs and constitution. Thus, by virtue of its intrinsical formation alone, the English tongue is fitter than any other to become, for civilized Europe, an interna. tional tongue; the unparalleled strength, alertness, and expressive power of the great race that speaks it, stand good sponsors to its becoming one day an universal language. much later, toward the end of the thirteen century. From the poetical reformation of Guittone d'Arezzo and Guido Guinicelli arose, later on, that style of poetry known as the Dolce stil nuovo,* which is in reality the first manifestation of art in Italian poetry. The poets of this school, at the head of which stand Dante Alighieri (dan'ta al-e-gya're) and his friend Guido Cavalcanti (cav-al-can'ti), have a theory, indeed, about love, but they have also deep and earnest throbs of affection in their verse. Their art though still hampered by traditional forms, has already the gift of originality. They sing what they feel, and express their feelings with the highest beauty TRARCA, BOCCACCIO. Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in 1265. Italy was then divided into two political parties, the Guelfs, or partisans of the pope, and the Ghibellines, or partisans of the em was subdivided into two factions of the Neri (blacks) and Bianchi (byan'ke) (whites) both contending for the supremacy. The Neri supported the papal claims and the Bianchi were more favorable to the Ghibelline party. In its origin, Italian Literature is closely connected with the Provençal and French, which had been in existence for some centuries previous. Many Provençal troubadours* had come to Italy even in the twelfth century. Many Italian poets wrote in the Provençal dialect. Other Italians imitated Chansons de Geste, in a language which is a mixture of Italian and French. The most ancient Italian lyrical poetry, which had its origin in Sicily at the court of the Emperor Frederick II. of Hohenstaufen is a frank imitation of the amatory of diction. poetry of the Provençals. This poetical school of Sicily owned Frederick himself, his THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY, DANTE, PEson, Enzo, and his prime minister, Pietro delle Vigne (vēn-ya) as disciples, and afterward it spread over Tuscany and other parts of Italy. Side by side with it, there grew up another class of lyrical poetry independent of the Provençal school, more genuine in its ex-perors. In Florence, later on, the Guelf party pression, simpler in its outward form, but of which very few examples are now extant. In northern Italy literary productions, during this first period, were more varied, for besides amorous poetry, there existed other kinds of a religious and political bearing, and some of a humoristic turn. Some of these compositions are extremely noteworthy. Meanwhile in the school of love-lyrics, imitated from the Provençals, a first evolution was taking place. Toward the end of the thirteenth century the empty and monotonous love-songs were superseded by a new style of poetry, intended to teach the "art of loving," as it was understood in the Middle Ages, and thus, a philosophical element was introduced into lyrical poetry. The heads of this school were Guittone d'Arezzo (gwē'tone dă ret'so), a Tuscan. Guido Guinicelli (gwe-ne-chel'le), a Bolognese. At the same period a rich school of religious lyrics had been developed in Umbria. In Tuscany, satirical and comic poets began to write; some of whom, like Angialieri (anzhe-a-lē ́re) of Siena may be compared to the humorists of modern times. And other poets appeared who wrote short allegorical poems of a moral tendency. *A school of poets who flourished from the eleventh to the thirteenth century. They often wandered from place to place singing their productions. These bards were called troubadours in the south and trouvères in the north; with the latter originated the chansons de geste (shansong de jest), songs of action, epic poems. But little is known of the life of Dante. Born of a Guelf family, he took part in the government of his native town, and in 1300, was one of the Priori, or magistrates, of the city. In the bitter struggle between Florence and Pope Boniface VIII., who wished to gain possession of Tuscany, Dante vigorously resisted papal violence and for this, in 1302, upon the victory of the Neri, or papal faction, he was condemned to exile. He wandered through many parts of Italy, stopping at Verona, at Padua, in Lunigiana, the guest sometimes of the Scaligeri (skal'i-jā-rē) and sometimes of the Malespina families. Late in life, he lived at Ravenna the guest of Guido Novello da Polenta. He died in 1321 without having revisited Florence. Among the works of Dante, one, the Vita Nuova,† undoubtedly was written before his exile. This is a work of marvelous sweetness in which, partly in prose and partly in verse, he tells of his love for a woman whom he calls Beatrice, and who is believed generally * Sweet new style. + The translation of the words is New Life. Of the other works mentioned De Monarchia means Concerning Monarchy, De Vulgari Eloquentia, Concerning Vulgar (Common) Eloquence. to have been Beatrice Portinari (ba-a-tre'cha por-te-na're) of Florence. The poems of the Vita Nuova are the most beautiful, for their depth of feeling and exquisite delicacy of expression, in the whole domain of Italian lyrical poetry. The other minor works of Dante are, the Latin treatise De Monarchia; another in the same language entitled De Vulgari Eloquentia, and an Italian treatise called Convivio. In the treatise De Monarchia he maintains that the exercise of universal government belongs rightfully to the Roman people and that the authority of the emperor proceeds, not from the pope, but from God. For the times in which Dante lived, this was a new and startling idea. Another new thing in this work is, his having given in it a true definition of jurisprudence and having considered it as the sole reasonable basis of society and the state. The book De Vulgari Eloquentia is a study on the various forms of Italian poetry. The Convivio is a treatise on moral philosophy in the garb of a commentary on some of his allegorical poems. Neither of these last mentioned works was finished by the author. The work that has bestowed on Dante immortal fame and has stamped him as not only the greatest poet of Italian literature but the highest and most daring genius ever yet seen in the world, is the Divina Commedia (Divine Comedy). This in its outward form, is the narrative of a vision, seen by Dante himself, of the three ultramundane regions, that of Perdition (or hell), that of Purification (or purgatory), and that of Blessedness (or heaven). But into this already well-worn subject the the Florentine poet infuses a new soul, and his poem becomes a drama in which every human passion throbs; in which emperors, kings, popes, statesmen, churchmen, men of every age and of every condition, appear and are judged. Thus, what appeared to be a purely religious subject, is transformed into one of vivid, political, and burning actuality. The theologian and moralist disappear, and we see only Dante himself summoning before his terrible judgment seat, the Emperor Frederick II., Pope Boniface VIII., Farinata degli Uberti, Ezzelino da Romano, Pietro delle Vigne, Brunetto Latini, Vanni Fucci, Guido di Montefeltro, Ugolino della Gherardesca, Rugger degli Ubaldini, and hundreds and hundreds of the most celebrated men of his time. The "Divine Comedy" is the sublime expression of a great hatred and a great love : hate of all the baseness, cowardice, and guilt which Dante sees around him and love for all noble and lofty things which he dreams of for Rome, for Italy, and for mankind. Yet we must not consider the "Divine Comedy " from this point of view alone. If it excites general interest for its political and historical value, it excites also universal admiration as a work of art. When we consider that in Alighieri's time Italian literature was scarcely a century old, how few and uncultured had been his predecessors, how scholasticism still hampered and hindered thought, the apparition of Dante's poem seems little short of miraculous. The man of the Middle Ages becomes a welldefined being. A doctrinal work, conceived according to the scholastic theories of the day, is made to represent, at the touch of this powerful writer, all that is deepest, most tragic, and most impassioned in a great historical epoch. Dante's descriptive power is varied, multiform, and inexhaustible; in a few strokes he draws figures and scenery which become so vivid at his touch as to seem to belong, not to the realms of fancy, but to living reality; he knows how to use a diction of marvelous efficacy, how to express simply, ideas most difficult of expression. And besides this, he is a sovereign nature-painter and an incomparable analyst of the deepest recesses of the human heart. From the works of this mediæval poet comes the breath of a more modern spirit that reminds us of Shakspere, of Byron, or of Goethe. With the "Divine Comedy," the Middle Ages period closes and the splendid era of a modern literature begins. Francesco Petrarca (fran-ches'ko pe-trar'ka), who was born in 1304 and died in 1370, must be considered under a twofold aspect : as a scholar and as a poet. He was the first to devote himself with enthusiasm to the research and study of the ancient Latin authors; he himself wrote many works in Latin, which in diction and style far surpass the rough productions of the Middle Ages. Among the most noteworthy are, the Africa, a poem in nine books, in which he sings the exploits of Scipio Africanus, and the Epistolæ in which he has endeavored to imitate Cicero. He was the first, also, to study Greek and he it was who had Homer's Iliad translated into Latin. Petrarca threw himself with all the ardor of his temperament and the strength of his genius into this movement of thought toward classic antiquity, and, therefore, he may be considered as the most effectual promoter of the revival of letters. The poetical works of Petrarca are the Canzoniere (Book of Songs) and the Trionfi (Triumphs). While at Avignon he became enamored of a lady whom he calls Laura, and who generally is supposed to have been Laura de No'ves, wife of Ugo di Sade (săd). He wrote many poems in her honor during her life-time and many more after her death. Dante's lyrical poetry has much that is mystical and ideal, while in that of Petrarca, all is real and hu man. He has none of the conventionalism of his predecessors. Petrarca loves, suffers, hopes, and despairs with genuine sincerity. His song bursts forth spontaneously from his heart. And not alone in love does he seek his inspiration but in religion and patriotism as well. In words of intense feeling, he implores the aid of the Virgin; calls down curses on the corruption of the papal court at Avignon; praises his fatherland and its hoped-for deliverers. And all this with sustained study and incomparable delicacy in the choice and placing of words, in the construction of verse and strophes, in every thing, in a word, which constitutes poetry. Besides being a scholar and an excellent artist, Petrarca has other qualities which must be noted. He was, for the times in which he lived, an indefatigable traveler, and the greater number of his journeys had, as he himself tells us, no other aim than to see new things. We might almost term him the first Alpinist, for he made the perilous ascent of Mount Ventoux (2,000 meters) near Valchiusa in Provence. He was the first to write his autobiography. The feelings which seemed to have been most vivid in him are friendship and desire of fame. His nature, so full of contradictory elements, his soul, so full of unrest, would have constituted what in modern language is called a neurotic subject. Giovanni Boccaccio (zho-van'ni bok kat'cho) (1313-1375) was equally enamored of classical antiquity and was an eminent prosewriter. He continued the work which Petrarca had begun, but while Petrarca was in *(Nu-rot'ic.) Nervous. his day the most successful promoter of classical learning, Boccaccio was the writer who most contributed to its revival by using his own erudition for the common benefit of all. Among his Latin works, that entitled De genealogiis deorum gentilitium deserves spicial mention. In it, he has collected all the information he was able to gather from ancient writers concerning the pagan divinities, and has endeavored to explain the origin of these myths. Equally worthy of mention in his book De montibus, silvis, pontibus lacubus, fluminibus, etc., a geographical dictionary intended to facilitate the understanding of the old Greek and Latin authors and which bears witness to the vast erudition of its author. Boccaccio wrote also many works in Italian; some in verse and some in prose. The one on which his fame chiefly rests is the Decamerone, a collection of a hundred tales. He supposes that, in 1348, when the plague was raging in Florence, a party of seven young and lovely women, with three men, retire to a pleasant villa near the city, where for the space of ten days, each person narrates a tale daily. One of the most characteristic qualities in Boccaccio's work is the immense variety in the narratives in which figure a succession of characters, totally distinct from one another, yet all perfectly real and life-like. In this book Boccaccio shows himself as a man of the world and a subtle analyst of human nature as well as an excellent artist. To his classical studies he owed his exquisite diction which, though it may have rendered his compositions rather too Latin in form, however, has enabled him to give to his prose writings every possible beauty of language and style. MINOR WORKS OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. Contemporary with the three great writers of the fourteenth century flourished many others. Every literary style was largely developed during this period. Lyrical poetry, in all its forms, religious or moral, amatory, historical and political, satirical and humorous, was cultivated by many, though but few ever soared beyond mediocrity. As narrative or didactic poetry we must class the Dittamondo of Fazio degli Uberti and the Acerba of Cecco d'Ascoli. As historical poetry, the Centiloquio of Antonio Pucci (pook'che). Popular tales in verse were very much in vogue ; they treated of various subjects: historical, tioned Leonardo Bruni and Poggio Braccio, legendary, chivalry, and love tales. The lini (pod'jo brat-cho-lē'ne) both chancellors above mentioned Antonio Pucci, a Florentine of the republic, searchers and translators of of humble birth, was the most productive au- the classics and authors of a history, in Latin, thor of this class. of the city of Florence, Marsilio Ficino, the translator of Plato, and Angelo Poliziano (pole-tse-ä'no), the most learned and elegant writer of Latin prose and verse. Historical works also abounded and among these the two Cronache (chronicles) of Dino Compagni (con-pan ́ye) and Giovanni Villani (zho-van'ni ve-lä'ne) hold the first place. Compagni (1256-1323) narrates in a clear and emphatic manner the events of Florentine history from the institution of the Priori to the reign of Emperor Henry VII. Villani (1275-1348) relates in a plain, clear style the history of Florence from the founding of the city, down to the year 1348. His book, for its carefully ascertained and minute particulars, is one of the principal sources of Italian history. Many other kinds of prose composition such as ascetic works, romances of chivalry, and didactic writings flourished at this time, and the Latin authors, Cicero, Ovid, Virgil, and others were translated into Italian. Rome and Naples were also centers of learning. In Rome, Flavio Biando wrote on history, geography, and archæology. Lorenzo Valle translated Greek and Latin classics, while at Naples, Antonio Beccadelli (surnamed Panormita) surpassed all others in style and erudition. Meanwhile, amid this ardor for classical learning, Italian literature seemed in danger of being neglected. Many of the Humanists despised the Italian idiom and maintained that Latin was to be preferred. Florence may claim the honor of having saved Italian literature by reconciling the ancient to the more modern scholarship and among those who exerted themselves to this end, we find two enthusiastic patrons of classical learning, Lorenzo De' Medici and Angelo Poliziano. RENAISSANCE, FIFTEENTH CENTURY. Classical learning had never been entirely neglected in Italy. Revived in the fourteenth century by Petrarca and Boccaccio, it burst forth with renewed splendor in the following century and constituted that phenomenon in the history of literature, known as the Renaissance, or Restoration of Learning; because, in this age, the civilization of the two most glorious nations, the Latin and the Greek, seems to have received a new birth. A passion for researches among ancient MSS. and collecting Greek and Latin books took possession of the learned men of that time. Princes vied with each other in favoring scholars, by calling them to the higher offices of state, to take part in the public instruction and in the education of their sons, while republics used them for their embassies and legations. The Greeks exiled from Constantinople were welcomed gladly as teachers of the language and literature of their ancestors. The invention of printing largely contributed to spread the fruits of study throughout Italy. It was a period in which all intellectual activity and energy turned to the study of the classics. The center of the study of Latin, or Humanity as it was called, was Florence where the Medici, then aspiring to the government of the city, patronized this study. Among the times. Their subjects were Bible narratives or stories of most celebrated Humanists must be menC-Apr. Lorenzo de' Medici wrote many Italian poems, songs, and love-sonnets, short, narrative, and descriptive poems, carnival songs, and sacred hymns, all with equally classical elegance, with a deep and vivid sense of natural beauties, and he endeavored as much as possible to follow the popular diction while maintaining throughout a noble elevation of sentiment; a gentleman in art as he was in his life; lordly in art as in his manner of living; a master in art as in life. We have to thank him, chiefly, that the high literary tradition of the fourteenth century was not lost. We owe it to him and to Angelo Poliziano, who surpassed him in artistic perfection and who also struggled to elevate and ennoble the tone of popular poetry by infusing into it the soul and spirit of the classics. We have of Poliziano several love-poems, a fragment of a poem written to celebrate a tourney of Giuliano de' Medici (zhu-li-ä ́no de med ́e-chee), a brother of Lorenzo, and the Orfeo which treats of the mythical history of Orpheus and Eurydice,* in a form somewhat resembling that of the Miracle Plays,† so much in vogue in * See note on p. 606 of THE CHAUTAUQUAN for February. Religious plays which constituted the drama of these the saints. |