lie returned to Rome with the papal court, after a sojourn often years at Florence. During this period he had published a choice selection of letters, and com- posed two dialogues, full of the mosl curious remarks on the manners of his time {On Nobility ami On Ih* Mis- fortunes of Princes'), lie had. be-ides. written the pan- egyrics of Niccoli. Lorenzo di Medici, of the cardinal Albergato, and of Leonardo d'Arezzo. At the request of pope Nicholas V. with whom he was in great favor, he translated into Latin the first five books of Diodorus Siculus; about the same time he dedicated his ver- sion of Xenophon'a Cyropcedia to Alfonso, king of Na- ples, and compelled the king, by the sarcastic remarks with which he tilled bis letters to his friends, to reward him with a present of six hundred ducats, whereupon he chanted, in th< most pompous strains, the encomiums
of the king. To please pope N i, I lol.i-. 1 le wrote a \ io-
lenl invective against the antipope, Felix V. He wrote also, under the same pope'- au-piees. an interesting dia- logue On th< Vicissitudes of Fortune, which, besides many curious incidents in the history ol Italy in the l lib and Lull centurii -. contains an account of the jour- ney of the Venetian Niccolo Conti into India ami Persia, and a precious description of the monuments oi Rome
as they wire at his time. During the plague which broke out in Lome in 1 150, he retired to his birthplace,
POGODA
329
POHLMAN
where he published his famous Facetiee, a collection of tales, partly borrowed from the French fabliaux, and excessively licentious. This book was eagerly read throughout Europe. Soon afterwards he published his Historia Bisceptativa Convivalis, a dialogue full of sa- tirical attacks against physicians and lawyers. He re- turned to Rome in 1451, but in 1453 he was offered the position of chancellor of the republic of Florence, and a few months after his removal to that city was in addi- tion made prior of the arts. In the latter quality he had to look to the maintenance of good order and of the public liberties. Though he was now fully seventy- two years of age, he applied himself to study more in- tensely than ever; and in that last period of his life, though he had an employment which took up much of his time, he composed the most considerable of his works. His 16ve of retirement induced him to build a country- house near Florence, which he called his academy, and in which he took much delight. He always spent the summer there. From this period and place dates his History of Florence, for which he consulted the ar- chives of the republic, which were committed to his care. This book is one of the best historical works of the time. The Florentines, to show their grateful- ness, erected to the author a statue, which now forms part of a group of the twelve apostles in the church of S. Maria del Fiore. Poggio died at Florence Oct. 30, 1459. He had some estimable parts, but these can- not make us forget his vindictive character, his irasci- bility, his bad manners and bad morals. Poggio ap- pears by his works to have had a great passion for let- ters, and as great a regard for those that cultivated them. He excelled in Greek and Latin literature, and was one of the principal restorers of it. His pursuits were not confined to profane antiquity: we see by his quotations that he was versed in ecclesiastical history and the fathers, and especially in the writings of Chry- sostom and Augustine. Poggio's treatises, especially his dialogues, are feeble imitations of the classics; though written in an easy, witty, and sometimes ele- gant manner, they are full of solecisms, Italicisms, and even barbarisms. His letters are altogether neglected. But the rest of his writings are still read, owing to their variety of subjects, to some ingenious ideas, and to the freedom of speech, sometimes the grace, by which they are characterized. His Works were pub- lished at Strasburg (1510, fob; 1513, 4to), at Paris (1511, 4to; 1513, fob), and at Basle (1538, fob). The latter edition, by Bebel, is the best; but it is still in- complete, and does not contain the following works, afterwards published apart: Be Hypocrisia (Lyons, 1679, 4to), a violent pamphlet against the clergy : — Historia Florentina (Yen. 1715, 4to; and in torn, xx of the Scriptores of Muratori), translated into Italian by Giacomo, the third of the five sons whom Poggio had by his legitimate wife (Veil. 1476, fob; Florence, 1492 and 1598,'4to) :— Be Varietate Fortunes (Par. 1723, 4to), with fifty-seven unpublished Letters of Poggio. The Facetics have often been printed apart (1470, 4to; Ferrara, 1471; Nuremb. 1475; Milan, 1477; Par. 1478, 4to ; Utrecht, 1797, 2 vols. 24mo). Poggio's Latin trans- lation of Diodorus Siculus was published at Venice (1473, 1476, fol.) and at Basle (1530, 1578, fob). See Thorschmidt, Vita Poyyiei (Wittemb. 1713); Recanate. Vita (Yen. 1715) ; Lenfant, Poyyiana (1720, and enlarged 1721); Nice'ron, Memoires, vol. ix; Shepherd, Life of Poyyio (Lond. 1802, 8vo) ; Nisard, Les Gladiateurs de la Republique eles L^ettres, vol. i ; Trollope, History of Florence, (see Index in vol. v) ; Hallam, Literary Hist, of Europe (Harper's edition), i, 64, 92 ; id. Middle Ayes (see Index); Christiem Schools and Scholars, ii, 306- 310; Piper, Monumental Theologie, § 148, 150, 153, 214; Milman, Latin Christianity, viii, 123; Fdinb. Rev. lxiv, 32 sq. ; Schlegel, Hist, of Literature, lect. xi ; Hoefer, Nouv. Bioy. Generale, s. v.