h Literature, p. '■'•■> Bq.; Edersheim, History
of tin Jewish Nation, p. 349 sq., 559 sq.; id. The Temple,
ttt Ministry and Services as they wen in tk< Tirm of
. 246 Bq., 270 Bq., 266 sq. | 1!. P.)
P( )|. L'RY, < HBiSTi w See Hymsolooi ; Psal- mody.
Poggio, Bracciolini Giovanni - Francesco, a celebrated Italian humanist, who contributed richly to the revival of classical studies in the period of the Ital- ian Renaissa and did much to encourage scholar- ship in the Church of Rome, Mas born at Terranuova, hi 1380. He was the grandson of a notary, and studied the Lttin language under the • 1 i — rection of( liovanni « 1 i l.'a\ enna, the Greek under Eman- uel Chn soloras, and applied himself also to the Hi brew, i h confutes the opinion of Huetius and others, who have said thai this language was nol cultivated till after the llih and 15th centuries. Alter i ducation he went to Rome, and was for Borne time a copyist, and finally entered the I the cardinal di Bari. In 1413 Poggio was retary, a poorly paid charge, which he occupied forty y< ars, I bus he spent a large part of his [ife in brilliant surroundings. Eight popes • I bira to one another, as if he bad belonged to the chattels ol St. Peter. I he life which he led in the office he held was favorable to study, and be de- voted much of it to inquiries into antiquity. His greal title to the esteem ol posterity is the zeal be displayed in the search for the monuments of Roman literature. He made his mosl important discoveries during a pro- tracted stay in Switzerland, whither he repaired in 111! to attend the Council of Constance. He visited the library of the monastery of St, Gall, which he found in akindofi eon. Here he discovered a copy, almost ■ of Quintilian's Tnstitutiones Oratorio;, of which only were known at the time; lour books of ol Val< mis Flaccus, and th< i
mils. Afterwards he found, in
. of Aromianus Marcellinus and
I hi searches which
n the mona8terii i of] ram e and
I thi works of Ma
Vitruvi IU18 Mar.
irtion of the poi ms of Lucn tius
andSilin I Cicero,
with which P | several
iallj in the affair of Joromi is punished with a short dis-
bich he visited England. I
i him with distinction, tic • ii- • r followed the brilliant pron i
BR red no tempta-
tions to a man of Poggio's propensities, he left a coun- try the inhabitants of which he describes as plunged in the grossest sensuality, and returned to Rome at the close of 1420. He was reinstated into bis former I he calm which the pontifical court enjoyed ive him full leisure to correspond with his friends Niccoli, Leonardo d'Arezzo. Travereari, etc., and to write several dialogues and philosophical trea- ties, in which be i sposes without mercy the failings of monks and priests, which Poggio was most compe- tent to describe, as he had himsell at the time three son- by a mistress, though he was an ecclesiastic. His own course he excuses in the following pleasantry, in one ot his letters lo cardinal .1 ul ian of Si. Angelo: " Ifou say that I have sous, which is nol lawful for a cleric; and without a wife, which does nol become a laic. I may answer that I have son-, which is fitting for laics; and without a wife, which from the beginning of the world has been the custom of clerics: but 1 will not defend my failings by any excuse."
When, after the accession of Eugenius IV. in 1 134, a
Sedition compelled the pope to retire to Florence , Pogr
gio set out on bis way to join his master. He was taken by soldiers of Piccinino, and given his liberty only after a heavy ransom paid by his friends. In Florem e he met Filelfo, against whom he had long en- tertained a secrel jealousy, which changed into actual hatred when bis venerated and beloved Niccoli was the object of a violent attack from Filelfo. He launched against bis enemy a libel, in which he heaped up all the most injurious and obscene expressions which the Latin language would afford. Filelfo answered him in the same style: whereupon Poggio replied in a Still more insulting strain. After a truce of four years this edify- ing dispute between two of the most distinguished men of their time recommenced: Poggio wrote against fi- lelfo a libel full of the most atrocious accusations, al- most allot' his own invention. Filelfo again returned
the blow. They were reconciled afterwards: neither had damaged himself in the eyes of their contempo- raries, who enjoyed these invectives as literary dainties. Meanwhile Poggio bad bought a villa in the vicinity of Florence, and formed there a museum of sculptures, medals, ami other objects of art. Towards the close of 1435 he had married the young and beautiful Vaggia di Bondelmonti. He was poor and on the decline of life: but the young heiress of an illustrious and ancient family was in love with his literary fame, which had induced the senate of Florence to -rant immunity from taxes to him and his descendant-. Hi- married life was a happy one.