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The Poems of Galeatius Ponticus Facinus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2019

J. F. C. Richards*
Affiliation:
Columbia University
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Extract

Some of the Neo-Latin poetry written in the fifteenth century attains real literary distinction, even though the authors may not follow all the rules of classical prosody as they are known to us today. There is also another class of poetry which is less distinguished as literature; but this attracts a certain amount of interest owing to the position of the author, the importance of the men to whom the poems are addressed, or the historical significance of the events to which they refer. The poems written by Galeazzo Pontico Faccino (Galeatius Ponticus Facinus) belong to this second class. The author was active in Padua during a famous period in the history of the university and had a personal relationship with several persons who are better known than he is himself.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 1959

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References

1 Branca, Vittore, Ernwlao Barbaro, Epistulae, orationes et carmina, 2 vols. (Firenze, 1943)Google Scholar.

2 II, 145.

3 Valeriano, Giovanni Pierio, De litteratorum infelicitate (Venezia, 1620), nova editio (Genevae, 1821), pp. 65-66Google Scholar.

4 Serena, Augusto, La cultura umanistica a Treviso (Venezia, 1912), pp. 200201 Google Scholar and p. 367 (document 27). For Faccino see also: Pavanello, Giuseppe, Un maestro del quattrocento (Giovanni Aurelio Augurello) (Venezia, 1905), pp. 104106 Google Scholar.

5

Est mihi qui decimum frater quater egerit annum;

Cognita vix bene sunt lustra quaterna mihi.

6 I, nos. 13, 40, 43, 45, 48, 49, 50, 67, 73; II, 125, no. 9.

7 II, 150.

8 I, no. 37.

9 E. A. Cicogna, Delle inscrizioni Veneziane, 1, 67, no. 104: ‘Marco Longo Pat. Ven. Aloysii F. qui Sici praetor diem suum obiit. Alyosius Longus F. patri benem. sibi haeredibusque V. F. Obiit MDLXV.’ Here Sici seems to refer to Sebenico.

10 Op. cit., p. 105.

11 Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 23, 25, 29, 34, 36, 38, 40, 47, 54, 56, 58, 68, 70, 72, 74, 75, 83.

12 Op. cit., pp. 6-7.

13 Kristeller, Paul O., Studies in Renaissance Thought and Letters (Roma, 1956, Storia e Letteratura raccolta di studi e testi, vol. 54), pp. 342, 346Google Scholar. Kristeller considers that certain remarks written on a manuscript (Plimpton 17) at Columbia University are in Ermolao Barbaro's handwriting (e.g. Libros politicorum octo praelegi in gymnasio patavino … MCCCCLXXVI). For Barbaro see also: Stickney, T., De Hermolai Barbari vita atque ingenio (Paris, 1913)Google Scholar; Ferriguto, A., Almord Barbarò (Venezia, 1922)Google Scholar.

14 Branca, II, 145.

15 I, nos. 12, 41; II, 90, 94, 97, 98, 106, 108, 109, 117, 128.

16 Dennistoun, James, Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino (London, 1851), 1, 283284 Google Scholar.

17 I, no. 32. See also II, 154.

18 I, nos. 31,42. See also II, 161.

19 For Vernia see also Randall, J. H., ‘Introduction to Pomponazzi’, in Cassirer, Ernst and others, The Renaissance Philosophy of Man (Chicago, 1948), pp. 257 Google Scholar ff.; Ragnisco, Pietro, Nicoletto Vemia: Studi storici sullafilosofia Padovana nella seconda metà del secolo XV (Venezia, 1891)Google Scholar.

20 Eubel, Conrad, Hierarchia catholica medii aevi (Monasterii, 1901-1952), II, 19, 232Google Scholar.

21 I, nos. 1 bis, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. See also II, 147.

22 Kristeller, Paul O., Supplementum Ficinianum (Florentiae, 1937), II, 266, 311, 347Google Scholar. See also Tonini, Carlo, La cultura letteraria e scientifica in Rimini (Rimini, 1884), II, 138 ffGoogle Scholar.

23 For Calderini see: Levi, Gino, Cenni intomo alia vita ed agli scritti di Domizio Calderini (Padova, 1900)Google Scholar.

24 These poems also occur in a manuscript at Verona (Capitolare, cod. 257, f. 7). The title of the first, Galeacius Facinus Patavinuspro Domitio Cal., shows that Domitius is Domizio Calderini.

25 II, no. 157. See also II, 147.

26 The following are some examples of the spelling:

27 See Platnauer, Maurice, Latin Elegiac Verse (Cambridge, 1951), pp. 15, 17Google Scholar.

28 The writer would like to thank Professor Paul O. Kristeller for referring him to the manuscript containing Faccino's poems and also for information about the following manuscripts which contain relevant material.

  • 1.

    1. Verona, Capitolare, cod. 257, ff. 2-10v. Verses about Domitius Calderinus by several authors, including two poems by Galeatius Facinus Patavinus on f. 7, which are the same as poems 79 and 80 in Faccino's collection.

  • 2.

    2. Treviso, Comunale, cod. 1404. Collection of carmina. Ponticus Facinus appears among the authors.

  • 3.

    3. Venice, Marciana, cod. lat. XII 91 (4123). Franciscus de Lignamine, carmina. There are some verses addressed to Galeatius Facinus (f. 32v).

  • 4.

    4. Venice, Marciana, cod. lat. XIV 267 (4344), f. 59v. Antonius Facinus, letter to Galeacius Facinus artium doctor, dated 1490.

  • 5.

    5. Venice, Marciana, cod. ital. IX 363 (7386), f. 95v. Latin verses by Ponticus (identity uncertain).

  • 6.

    6. Venice, Museo Civico Correr, cod. Cicogna 949. Poems by Hieronymus Bononius. They include verses to Ponticus (identity uncertain).

  • 7.

    7. Venice, cod. Cicogna 2664. Poems by Bononius. There are verses to Lud. Ponticus (Tarvisinus), but also to Galeacius Facinus.

  • 8 and 9.

    8 and 9. Venice, cod. Cicogna 2665,2666. Poems by Bononius, including verses to Galeacius Facinus.

  • 10.

    10. Cesena, Malatestiana, cod. D 1 2. Poems by Franciscus Ubertus, including verses to Ponticus Facinus.

    The writer would also like to thank Dr. Irma Merolle Tondi, director of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, for her help in reading Faccino's dedication. Some of the letters are illegible in the manuscript.