CHAP. VII. Poet, than whom the bard of Thrace The tenants of the wilds thou bring, To sweet Eolian numbers strung! When late impervious glooms o'erhung Midst her cool shades and gushing springs. Again with tales of whispered love, With sprightly wit of happiest vein, Through bands of vine-crown'd youths to rove, It is greatly to the credit of Politiano that these verses were addressed to the person who was his most formidable rival in those studies to which he had VII. had particularly devoted his talents. In restoring c HAP. to their original purity the ancient authors, he was himself indefatigable; and if to the munificence of Lorenzo de' Medici we are to attribute the preservation of many of these works, Politiano is perhaps entitled to our equal acknowledgments for his elucidations and corrections of the text, which, from a variety of causes, was frequently unintelligible, illegible, or corrupt. In the exercise of his critical talents, he did not confine himself to any precise method, but adopted such as he conceived best suited his purpose; on some occasions only comparing different copies, diligently marking the variations, rejecting spurious readings, and substituting the true. In other cases he proceeded further, and added Scholia and notes illustrative of the text, either from his own conjectures, or the authority of other authors ". Besides the advantages w In the edition of Cato, Varro, and Columella, published at Paris, ex off. Rob. Stephani, 1543, with the corrections of Pet. Victorius, that excellent critick thus adverts to the labours of Politiano: "Non exemplar "ipsum semper consului, sed habui excusos formis "libros, quos cum antiquis illis Angelus Politianus studiose "olim contulerat, eosque, quantum mihi commodum "fuit, pertractavi; illi enim quoque publici sunt. "Eruditissimi igitur viri labor, magno mė labore levavit ; « qui CHAP. advantages which he derived from various copies VII. of the same work, which enabled him to collate them so as to ascertain the true reading, he obtained great assistance from the collection of antiques formed by Lorenzo and his ancestors; and amongst his coins, inscriptions on marble, and other authentick documents, frequently elucidated and determined what might otherwise have remained in darkness or in doubt*. At the close of his remarks on Catullus, a memorial appears in his own hand-writing, in which he indulges himself in an exultation of youthful vanity, in the idea of having surpassed all his contemporaries in the diligence which he has shown in correcting the ancient authors. This memorial, which bears the date of 1473, at which time he was only eighteen years of age, is "qui quidem, ut erat diligens, & accuratus, hac librorum "collatione mirifice delectabatur: & ita posse bonos "auctores multis maculis purgari, vere existimabat. "Quæcumque igitur in priscis exemplaribus inveniebat, "in impressis sedulo adnotabat. Quod si diutius ille "vixisset, & quæ mente destinaverat perficere potuisset, "opera sedulitasque ipsius magnos studiosis litterarum "fructus attulisset, multosque qui postea huic muneri "corrigendorum librorum necessario incubuerunt, magna prorsus molestia liberasset." * Menck. in vitâ Pol. p. 237. VII. is subscribed Angelus Bassus Politianus. Before, c H AP. however, we accuse our youthful critick of an ostentatious display of learning, or an improper confidence in his own abilities, we ought to advert to another entry made two years afterwards at the close of the works of Propertius in the same volume, by which he confesses, that many of his previous observations do not approve themselves to his riper judgment, and requests the reader not to form an opinion of his talents, his learning, or his industry, from such a specimen: there being many things, says he, Me quoque, qui scripsi, judice, digna lini. Which I, their author, well might wish to bloty. In this subsequent entry he denominates himself Angelus Politianus, which sufficiently marks the period when he chose to discontinue the appellation of Bassus; but, what is of more importance, it serves to convince us, that with the y The reader may consult these memoranda in the Appendix, No. LII. z On this point, which has been so much contested, I find the opinion of Bandini, before cited in this work, v. i. p. 189, is confirmed by that of Laur. Mehus Vita, Amb. Traversarii, p. 87. CHAP. the errours of his judgment Politiano corrected VII. also those of his temper, and that his proficiency in learning was accompanied by an equal improvement in modesty and candour. Among the ancient authors which he has thus illustrated, are Ovid, Suetonius, Statius, the younger Pliny, the Scriptores Historiæ Augustæ, and Quintilian'; some of which have been published with his emendations, while his valuable remarks on others are yet confined to the limits of the Italian libraries. The example of Politiano was followed by many other celebrated scholars, who regarded Lorenzo de' Medici as the patron of their studies, and inscribed their labours with his name. Thus Domitio Calderino undertook to regulate the text of Martials, Bartolommeo Fontio a In the Bibliotheca Marciana. b In the Laurentian Library. Plut. LXIV. cod. 1. In the Corsini Library at Rome. d In the Laurentian Library. Plut. LXVII. cod. 7. e Ib. Plut. XLIV. cod. 1. f Ib. Plut. XLVI. cod. 5. 8 Printed at Rome per Joannem Gensberg, 1474. v. De Eure, No. 2818. |