§ 64. PROGRESS AND PATRONS OF CLASSICAL STUDIES. 581
The poets not only revived the ancient mythologies but peopled Italy with new gods and nymphs. Especially active were they in celebrating the glories of the powerful men of their age, princes and popes. A Borgiad was dedicated to Alexander VI., a Borsead to Borso, duke of Este, a Sforzias to one of the viconti of Milan and the Laurentias to Lorenzo de' Medici. The most offensive panegyric of all was the poetical effusion of Ercole Strozzi at the death of Caesar Borgia. In this laudation, Roma is represented as having placed her hopes in the Borgias, Calixtus III. and Alexander VI., and last of all in Ctesar, whose deeds are then glorified.
In historic compositionalso, a new chapter was opened. The annals of cities and the careers of individuals were studied and written down. The histories of Florence, first in Latin by Lionardo Bruni and then down to 1362 by the brothers Villani, who wrote in Italian, and then by Poggio to 1455, were followed by other histories down to the valuable Diaries of Rome by Infessura and Burchard, the History of Venice, 1487-1513, by Bembo, and the works of Machiavelli and Guicciardini, who wrote in Italian. In 1463, Flavio Biondo compiled his encyclopgedic work in three parts on the history, customs, topography and monuments of Rome and Italy, Roma instaurata, Roma triumphans and Italia illustrata. Lionardo Bruni wrote Lives of Cicero and Aristotle in Latin and of Dante and Petrarca in Italian. The passion for composition was displayed in the despatches of Venetian, Mantuan and other ambassadors at the courts of Rome or Este and by the elaborate letters, which were in reality finished essays, for the most part written in Latin and introducing comments on books and matters of literary interest, by Politian, Bembo and others, a form of writing revived by Petrarca. JThe zeal for Latin culture also found exhijji^ii^in_the habit^ giving to children ancient names, such as Agamemnon and Achilles, Atalanta and Pentesilea. A painter called his daughter Minerva and his son Apelles. The habit also took root of ^assuminjy Latin.iiames- A Sanseverino, howbeit of illegitimate birth, proudly called himself Julius Pomponius Laetus. This custom extended to Germany, where Schwarz-
582 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
erd gave up his original German patronymic for Melanclithon, Hausschein for Q:^colampadius, Reuchlin for Capiiio, Buchmann for Bibliander; Hutten, Luther, Zwingli, who were more patriotic, adhered to their vernacular names. J^edants adopted a more serious change when they paganized sacred terms and substituted mythological for Christian ideas. The saints were called diiund dece ; their statues, simidacra sancta deorum ; holy images of the gods, Peter and Paul, dii titidares Bomce or S. Romulus and S. Remus ; the nuns, vestales virgines; heaven, Olympus ; cardinals, augurs^ and the College of Cardinals, Senatus saeer ; the i)oi>e, pontif ex maximus, and his thunders, dirce ; the tiara, infula Romulea ; and God, Jupiter optimus maximusf^ Erasmus protested against such absurd pedantry as characterizing Humanism in its dotage. Another sign of the cult of the ancients was the imitation of Roman burial usages even in the churches. At Bruni's death in 1443, the priors of Florence decreed him a public funeral " after the manner of the ancients." Before the laying-away of his body in S. Croce, Manetti pronounced a funeral oration and placed the crown of laurel on the deceased author's head.
The higlijveneration of antiquity was also shown in the regard which cities and individuals paid to the relics of classical writers. Padua thought she had the genuine bones of Livy, and Alfonso of Naples considered himself happy in securing one of the arms of the dead historian. Naples gloried in the real or supposed tomb of Virgil. Parma boasted of the bones of Cassius. Como claimed both the Plinies, but Verona proved that the elder belonged to it. Alfonso of Naples, as he was crossing over the Abruzzi, saluted Sulmona, the birthplace of Ovid.
The larger Italian towns were not without Latin schools. Among the lenowjied teachers were Vittorino da Feltre, whom Gonzaga of Mantua called to his court, and Guarino of Verona. Children of princes from abroad went to Mantua to sit at the feet of Feltre, who also gave instruction to as many as 70 poor and talented cliildren at a time. J^iaiin authors were committed to memory and translated by the pupils^QJid maih- 1 Burckhardt-Geiger, I. 274 ; Syinonds, 11. 390 sqq.