Epizia: A Renaissance Tragedy by G. B. Giraldi , Philip Horne Gli Eudaimoni: An Italian Renaissance Comedy by G. B. Giraldi , Philip Horne Selene: An Italian Renaissance Tragedy by G. B. Giraldi , Philip Horne (review)

Abstract

some of its more obvious neoplatonic overtones, since Poliziano 'si muove in una cornice di poetica che rinviaall'esempiodi Stazio, ed e sull'ideadi subitus calor, di un dettato di rapidae veemente aggregazione, che egli principalmentefa leva'. The article on the Mantounderlines its rhetorical structurefrom the exordium in elegiac verse, to the narratio(lines 1-46), argomentatio (11. 47-318), and peroratio (11. 319-73). The poem's high point comes in the perorationwhen the main theme of the entirepoem isrestated:'lapoesia e eterna,la poesia rivelanello spiritoumano lo stesso grado di necessita delle rotazioni astrali, delle stagioni, delle maree, dei processi che interessano gli elementi nell'incessante metamorfosi del Tutto.' The Rusticus is seen to be even more in debt to the poetics of subitus calor, as the humanist shifts apparently at will from Hesiod to Virgil's pastoral poetry. Poliziano's own Arcadiaemerges as distinctand original:althoughbased on the ruralworld as idyll, thisis seen also as the cradleof the essentialmilitaryvirtues,as acknowledgedby the major Roman writersin this area from Cato to Vegetius. As Bettinzoli puts it, 'la poesia allontanada se l'impuritadelle sollecitazionimondane, l'eserciziodelpotere, gli onori, le ricchezze. Dietro l'immagine del rusticus siprofilacosi, a poco a poco, il volto sacerdotaledel vate'. UNIVERSITY OF ROME, LA SAPIENZA ITALO PANTANI Epizia: A RenaissanceTragedy.By G. B. GIRALDI. Ed. by PHILIP HORNE. (Medieval and Renaissance Studies, I4) Lewiston and Lampeter:Edwin Mellen Press. 1996. xlix + 174 pp. $89.95. Gli Eudaimoni: An ItalianRenaissance Comedy.By G. B. GIRALDI.Ed. by PHILIP HORNE. (Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 19) Lewiston and Lampeter: EdwinMellen Press. 1999. lxxxi + 140pp. $89.95. Selene:An Italian RenaissanceTragedy. By G. B. GIRALDI. Ed. by PHILIPHORNE. (Medieval and Renaissance Studies, I3) Lewiston and Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press. I996. lii+ 177pp. $89.95. In his publication of these three examples of Renaissance drama, Home presents the original Italian texts with some minor emendations and important notes regardinghis transcription.The glossaryat the end of each workprovesinvaluable, especially for the Latinisms and basic morphology no longer found in modern Italian. The notes afford a modern English translation of the more difficult expressions and turns of phrase, together with illuminating points of syntax and grammar. The editions thus become small handbooks, useful for teachers and students alike, of sixteenth-century language usage in a small but significant northern Italian court, that of Ferraraunder Duke Ercole II d'Este, between I532 (Giraldi's appointment to the Chair of Philosophy by the Duke) and I56I (his dismissalby Duke Ercole's son and successor, Alfonso II). They fill the gap, as it were, between the death of Ariosto in 1533 and the arrivalof Torquato Tasso in Ferrarain I565. Before the text of each drama, there is a two- or three-partintroduction. In the case of Selene,Horne introduces the reader to an appreciation of the work as a learned, entertainingexample of the literarygenre flourishingat the time, namely, the manualson courtlybehaviourat the onset of the Counter-Reformation.Though not wanting to dedicate the introduction to the literaryaspects of the play, Home does, however, place it in its broader context of anti-misogynisticliterature,which drewupon an illustriousantecedent, Boccaccio's Griselda. In not treatingthe literary aspects, however, Home does not explain why Giraldi termed the play a tragedia some of its more obvious neoplatonic overtones, since Poliziano 'si muove in una cornice di poetica che rinviaall'esempiodi Stazio, ed e sull'ideadi subitus calor, di un dettato di rapidae veemente aggregazione, che egli principalmentefa leva'. The article on the Mantounderlines its rhetorical structurefrom the exordium in elegiac verse, to the narratio(lines 1-46), argomentatio (11. 47-318), and peroratio (11. 319-73). The poem's high point comes in the perorationwhen the main theme of the entirepoem isrestated:'lapoesia e eterna,la poesia rivelanello spiritoumano lo stesso grado di necessita delle rotazioni astrali, delle stagioni, delle maree, dei processi che interessano gli elementi nell'incessante metamorfosi del Tutto.' The Rusticus is seen to be even more in debt to the poetics of subitus calor, as the humanist shifts apparently at will from Hesiod to Virgil's pastoral poetry. Poliziano's own Arcadiaemerges as distinctand original:althoughbased on the ruralworld as idyll, thisis seen also as the...