visitant is directed to plunge himself thrice, and on his restoration to health, and his return to the regions of day, not to forget to pay his vows to Diana, and to the chaste nymphs of the sacred fount.13 It would be tedious, if not impracticable, on the present occasion, to repeat the numerous testimonies of approbation with which this poem and its author have been honoured, as well on its first appearance as in subsequent times;" but the most decisive proof of its merit is derived from the acknowledgment of Sanazzaro, who is generally accused of having estimated the writings of his contemporaries with an invidious severity, but who, on perusing the "Syphilis," confessed that Fracastoro had, in this work, not only surpassed any of the writings of Pontano, but even the poem "De partu Virginis," on which he had himself bestowed the labour of twenty years." 45 The reputation of Fracastoro as a skilful physician, had, however, increased no less than his fame as an elegant poet; and besides being resorted to by great numbers for his assistance, he was frequently obliged to quit his retreat, for the purpose of attending on his particular friends, among whom were many men of rank and eminence in different parts of Italy. By the desire of Paul III. he attended also in his medical character at the council of Trent, and it was principally by his advice that the session was removed from that city to Bologna." The fatigues of his public life were, 46 43 Count Bossi has conjectured, that Fracastoro, in adopting a new mythology, and placing the scene of his poem in the Atlantis, has intended to allude to the recent discovery of America, and to the supposed introduction of the disease in question, by the first navigators; a supposition which seems highly probable. Vide Ital. Ed. vol. vii. p. 157. Respecting the first notice of the use of mercury in this disease Count Bossi has also quoted some tracts of Giorgio Sommaripa of Verona, printed at Venice in 1487, which shew that this remedy was adopted much earlier than is generally imagined. Ibid. p. 323.* Many of these testimonies may be found in the ARE FRACASTORIÆ of Julius Cæsar Scaliger, printed, with other commendatory pieces, at the close of the second volume of the works of Fracastoro, by Comino, Patav. 1739, 4to., and in the Life of Fracastoro, by Menckenius, sec. 9. 45 Thuani Histor. lib. xii. tom. i. p. 430, ed. Buckley. But it is proper to observe, that the veracity of this anecdote has been much contested by several modern Italian critics. particularly cited by Count Bossi; who has added some judicious remarks of his own. Vide Ital. Ed. vol. vii. p. 324, et seq. 46 If De Thou was not misinformed, Fracastoro exercised his profession without deriving from it a pecuniary reward. Ibid. 47 Tirab. vol. vii. par. iii. p. 294. The reason assigned was the apprehension of however, compensated by the pleasures which he found on his return to his villa, in the society of Giammatteo Ghiberti, who then resided at his bishopric of Verona, and expended his large revenues in the encouragement of learning and learned men; and by the occasional visits of the most celebrated scholars from different parts of Italy. Among these, were Marc-Antonio Flaminio, Andrea Navagero, GiovanBattista Rannusio, and the three brothers of the Torriani, all of whom he has celebrated in his writings, some of which are also devoted to the praises of the cardinal Alessandro Farnese, to whom he dedicated his treatise in prose "De morbis contagiosis." The smaller poems of Fracastoro, in which he frequently refers to his beloved villa, to his mode of life, his literary associates, and his domestic concerns, are peculiarly interesting, and place him, both as a man and an author, in the most advantageous light.48 The detached pieces of a few lines, to each of which he has given the title of "Incidens," may be regarded as so many miniature pictures, sketched with all the freedom of the Italian, and finished with all the correctness of the Flemish school. His sacred poem, entitled "Joseph," which he begun in his advanced years, and did not live to terminate, is sufficiently characteristic of his talents; although not considered as equal to the more vigorous productions of his youth. His specimens of Italian poetry are too few to add to his reputation, but will not derogate from the high character which he has by his various other labours so deservedly attained. The death of Fracastoro was occasioned by an apoplexy, and occurred at his villa of Incaffi, in the year 1553; he being then upwards of seventy years of age." A splendid 49 a contagious disorder; but it has been suggested, that the real cause was the desire of the pope to transfer the council from the dominions of the emperor to some city in Italy. Vide Ital. Ed. vol. vii. p. 327. However this may be, Fracastoro confirmed his opinion on oath. Salig. Hist. Conc. Trent. ap. Henke, Germ. Ed. vol. iii. p. 103.* 48 A translation of Fracastoro's description of his Caphian villa, in his beautiful epistle to Franc. Torriano, may be found in Mr. Greswell's account of some of the Latin poets of Italy in the sixteenth century; but, perhaps, the most exquisite production of Fracastoro, is his epistle on the untimely death of his two sons, addressed to Giovan-Battista Torriano, and which, in point of elegance, pathos, and true sublimity, may bear a comparison with any production of the kind, either in ancient or modern times. 49 Thuani Histor. lib. xii. vol. i. p. 430. gero. monument was erected to his memory in the cathedral of Verona; besides which he was honoured, by a public decree of the city, with a statue, which was accordingly erected at the common expense. A similar testimony of respect was paid to his memory at Padua, where the statue of Fracastoro, and another of Navagero, were erected by their surviving friend Giovan-Battista Rannusio.50 Of the prose compositions and scientific labours of Fracastoro, a further account will occur in the sequel of the present work. Among the learned friends of Bembo and Fracastoro, who, by their character and writings did honour to the age, no one held a higher rank than Andrea NavaAndrea Navagero. He was born of a patrician family at Venice, in the year 1483,51 and from his childhood gave indications of that extraordinary proficiency to which he afterwards attained. So retentive was his memory, and so highly was he delighted with the writings of the Latin poets, that whilst yet very young, he was accustomed to recite pieces of great length, which from his fine voice and correct pronunciation, acquired additional interest. His first instructor was the eminent Antonio Cocci, called Sabellicus, and author of the earliest history of Venice; but the assiduous perusal of the ancient authors refined his taste, and improved his judgment much more than the precepts of his teacher; and his proficiency was manifested by his committing to the flames several of his poems, which he had written in his early youth in imitation of the "Sylvæ" 50 The motives of this are beautifully assigned by De Thou: "Ut, qui arcta inter se necessitudine conjuncti vixerant, et pulcherrimarum rerum scientias ac politiores literas excoluerant, eodem in loco spectarentur, et a juventute Patavina universoque Gymnasio quotidie salutarentur." Ibid. Of the numerous testimonies of respect to the memory of Fracastoro, by the scholars of the time, the following lines of Adam Fumani, prefixed to the Giuntine edition of the works of Fracastoro, Ven. 1574, 4to, may perhaps be considered as the most elegant: "Longe vir unus omnium doctissimus, Ad tristem acerbæ mortis ejus nuntium, Vicina flevit ora, flerunt ultimæ Gentes, periisse musicorum candidum Florem, optimarum et lumen artium omnium." JA. Vulpius, in Vita Naugerii, ejusd. op. præf. p. 10. Ed. Comino, 1718. of Statius, but of which he could not in his maturer estimation approve. On the arrival of Marcus Musurus at Venice, Navagero became one of his most assiduous pupils, and by his indefatigable attention, acquired such a thorough acquaintance with the Greek tongue, as enabled him not only to understand the authors in that language, but to perceive their most refined excellences and convert them to his use in his own writings.52 For this purpose, it was his custom not only to read, but to copy the works of the authors whom he studied, and this task he had executed more than once in the writings of Pindar, which he always held in the highest admiration.53 Not confining himself, however, to the study of languages and the cultivation of his taste, he repaired to Padua for the purpose of obtaining instructions in philosophy and eloquence from Pietro Pomponazzo; and it was in that distinguished seminary of learning that he formed connexions of friendship with Fracastoro, Rannusio, the three brothers of the Torriani, and other men of rank and eminence, which continued unbroken throughout the rest of his life. On his return to Venice he became one of the most able and active supporters of the academy of Aldo Manuzio, and was indefatigable in collecting manuscripts of the ancient authors, several of whose works were published with his emendations and notes, in a more correct and elegant form than they had before appeared. It was, indeed, chiefly by his exhortations that Aldo was induced, amidst all the calamities of the times, to persevere in his useful undertaking;55 and the obligations which this great scholar and eminent artist owed to Navagero, are expressed 52 Vulpius, in Vita Naugerii, p. 14. 53 54 Sic delectaris hoc poeta, ut sæpe eum tua manu accurate descripseris; puto, ut tibi magis fieret familiaris, tum ut edisceretur a te facilius, et teneretur memoria tenacius. Id quod describendo Thucydidem fecit Demosthenes, qui, ut Lucianus ait pòs aπaldevrov, octics illum descripsit; idque ad suam ipsius utilitatem." Aldi Manutii Ep. ad Nauger. in Ed. Pindar. Ven. 1515, 8vo. 54 Among these were the "Orations of Cicero," composing three volumes of the edition of Cicero, printed at the Aldine press, in 1519, and the second volume of the edition of the works of Cicero, printed by the Junta at Venice, 1534, in 4 vols. fo., which were edited by Petrus Victorius. To which may also be added, his "Varia Lectiones in omnia opera Ovidii," printed in the Aldine edition of 1516, in three volumes, and again in 1533. These readings are also met with in other editions derived from the Aldine. 55 Aldi Ep. ad Nauger. Pindari Ed. præf. Ven. 1513. in several dedicatory epistles, addressed to him with a warmth of gratitude that evinces the deep sense which Aldo entertained of his merits and his services. An infirm state of health, occasioned by incessant study, rendered some relaxation necessary, and Navagero therefore accompanied his great patron D'Alviano to his academy at Pordonone, where he had an opportunity of enjoying once more the society of his friend Fracastoro," and where he some time afterwards delivered public instructions. The high reputation which he had now acquired induced the senate to recall him to Venice, and to intrust to him the care of the library of cardinal Bessarion," and the task of continuing the history of the republic of Venice, from the termination of the work of his preceptor Sabellicus. It soon, however, appeared that the talents of Navagero were not confined to the study of literature, but were equally calculated for the service of his country in the most difficult and honourable departments of the state. In the year 1523, after the battle of Pavia, in which Francis I. was made prisoner, he was despatched as the ambassador of the republic to the emperor Charles V. in Spain, and was absent from his country nearly four years. Soon after his return to Venice, 58 he was sent as ambassador to Francis I., who then held his court at Blois, where he died in the year 1529, being then only in the forty-sixth year of his age. Of the cause of the death of Navagero, of his character and acquirements, and of the fate of his writings, a particular account is introduced 56 On the reconciliation which took place between Julius II. and the Venetian republic, in the year 1509, and which first broke the formidable league of Cambray, (vide ante, chap. viii.) Navagero addressed to that pontiff, in terms of the highest commendation, a Latin Eclogue, which deserves notice, as well from its intrinsic merit, as from the particularity with which it applies to the events before related. 57 This collection, which was the foundation of the celebrated library of S. Marco, had in the year 1468 been presented by Bessarion to the Venetians. Vide Life of Lor. de' Medici. 58 On this event he had begun a Latin poem, in which he was interrupted, and of which only the following beautiful lines are preserved : "Salve, cura Deum, mundi felicior ora, |