Renaissance in Italy, Volume 5 (of 7) Italian Literature, Part 2

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[Transcriber's Note: Obvious printer errors have been corrected
without note. For ease of reading, the Table of Contents has been
formatted as paragraphs, rather than as a table.

This is Part II of a two-part work. Part I is available at Project
Gutenberg.]




RENAISSANCE IN ITALY

_ITALIAN LITERATURE_

_In Two Parts_


BY

JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS

_Author of_

_"Studies of the Greek Poets," "Sketches in Italy and Greece," etc._


    "Italia, sepoltura
    De' lumi suoi, d'esterni candeliere"

    CAMPANELLA: _Poesie Filosofiche_.


PART II


[Illustration]


  NEW YORK
  HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
  1888




CONTENTS

OF

THE SECOND PART.


CHAPTER IX.

THE ORLANDO FURIOSO.

_Orlando Furioso_ and _Divina Commedia_--Ariosto expresses the
Renaissance as Dante the Middle Ages--Definition of Romantic, Heroic,
Burlesque, Heroic-comic, and Satiric Poems--Ariosto's Bias toward
Romance--Sense of Beauty in the _Cinque Cento_--Choice of Boiardo's
unfinished Theme--The Propriety of this Choice--Ariosto's Irony and
Humor--The Subject of the _Furioso_--Siege of Paris--Orlando's
Madness--Loves of Ruggiero and Bradamante--Flattery of the House of
Este--The World of Chivalry--Ariosto's Delight in the Creatures of his
Fancy--Close Structure of the Poem--Exaggeration of Motives--Power of
Picture-painting--Faculty of Vision--Minute Description--Rhetorical
Amplification--Rapidity of Movement--Solidity--Nicety of Ethical
Analysis--The Introductions to the Cantos--Episodes and
_Novelle_--Imitations of the Classics--Power of Appropriation and
Transmutation--Irony--Astolfo's Journey to the Moon--Ariosto's
Portrait--S. Michael in the Monastery--The Cave of Sleep--Humor--Pathos
and Sublimity--Olimpia and Bireno--Conception of Female Character--The
Heroines--Passion and Love--Ariosto's Morality--His Style--The
Epithet of Divine--Exquisite Finish--Ariosto and Tasso--Little
Landscape-Painting--Similes--Realism--Adaptation of Homeric
Images--Ariosto's Relation to his Age 1


CHAPTER X.

THE NOVELLIERI.

Boccaccio's Legacy--Social Conditions of Literature in
Italy--Importance of the _Novella_--Definition of the
_Novella_--Method of the Novelists--Their Style--Materials used--Large
Numbers of _Novelle_ in Print--Lombard and Tuscan Species--Introductions
to Il Lasca's _Cene_, Parabosco's _Diporti_--Bandello's
Dedications--Life of Bandello--His Moral Attitude--Bandello as an
Artist--Comparison of Bandello and Fletcher--The Tale of _Gerardo and
Elena_--_Romeo and Juliet_--The Tale of _Nicuola_--The _Countess of
Salisbury_--Bandello's Apology for his Morals and his Style--Il
Lasca--Mixture of Cruelty and Lust--Extravagant Situations--Treatment
of the _Parisina_ Motive--The Florentine _Burla_--Apology for Il
Lasca's Repulsiveness--Firenzuola--His Life--His Satires on the
Clergy--His Dialogue on Beauty--Novelettes and Poems--Doni's
Career--His Bizarre Humor--Bohemian Life at Venice--The
Pellegrini--His _Novelle_--Miscellaneous Works--The _Marmi_--The
Novelists of Siena--Their specific Character--Sermini--Fortini--Bargagli's
Description of the Siege of Siena--Illicini's Novel of _Angelica_--The
_Proverbi_ of Cornazano--The _Notti Piacevoli_ of Straparola--The
Novel of _Belphegor_--Straparola and Machiavelli--Giraldi Cinthio's
_Hecatommithi_--Description of the Sack of Rome--Plan of the
Collection--The Legend of the Borgias--Comparison of Italian Novels
and English Plays 51


CHAPTER XI.

THE DRAMA.

First attempts at Secular Drama--The _Orfeo_ and _Timone_--General
Character of Italian Plays--Court Pageants and Comedies borrowed from
the Latin--Conditions under which a National Drama is formed--Their
absence in Italy--Lack of Tragic Genius--Eminently Tragic Material in
Italian History--The Use made of this by English Playwrights--The
Ballad and the Drama--The Humanistic Bias in Italy--Parallels between
Greek and Italian Life--Il Lasca's Critique of the Latinizing
Playwrights--The _Sofonisba_ of Trissino--Rucellai's _Rosmunda_--Sperone's
_Canace_--Giraldi's _Orbecche_--Dolce's _Marianna_--Transcripts from
the Greek Tragedians and Seneca--General Character of Italian
Tragedies--Sources of their Failure--Influence of Plautus and Terence
over Comedy--Latin Comedies acted at Florence, Rome, Ferrara--Translations
of Latin Comedies--Manner of Representation at Court--Want of
Permanent Theaters--Bibbiena's _Calandra_--Leo X. and Comedy at
Rome--Ariosto's Treatment of his Latin Models--The _Cassaria_,
_Suppositi_, _Lena_, _Negromante_, _Scolastica_--Qualities of
Ariosto's Comedies--Machiavelli's Plays--The _Commedia in
Prosa_--Fra Alberigo and Margherita--The _Clizia_--Its Humor--The
_Mandragola_--Its sinister Philosophy--Conditions under which it was
Composed--Aretin