ITALY. SECTION XIII.-ALBERTO DELLA PIAGENTINA (fl. 1332) AND OTHERS. Authorities.-Argelati, Biblioteca degli Volgazarizzatori.' Milan, 1767. Tiraboschi, 'Storia della Letteratura Italiana,' t. iv. and v. Florence, 1806-7. The merits of Boethius received a more tardy recognition in the land of his birth, and apparently it was not until the fourteenth century was fairly on its course that an Italian translator took the field. It is true that Brunetto Latino, the great Florentine encyclopædist, the teacher of Dante, was accredited by Voigt,1 on whose authority I know not, with a vernacular translation of 'Boethius.' I should not take the trouble to notice this error, which was exploded more than a hundred years ago, if Peiper had not perpetuated it in his list of interpretes.2 The assertion that Brunetto translated the 'De Consolatione' was made in the first volume of Argelati's 'Biblioteca,' only to be retracted in the fifth.3 And if his evidence and that of Tiraboschi is not 1 Wiederbeleburg des Klassischen Alterthums, p. 13: Berlin, 1880. 2 Op. cit., p. 54. 4 Op. cit., t. iv. 477, 3 i. p. 170; v. p. 429. considered sufficiently convincing, let Thor Sundby's silence be added thereto, and there is little doubt upon which side the balance will kick the beam. The Danish professor, who is the final authority for Brunetto Latino, does not say a word about any such translation.1 The mistake seems to have arisen from the fact that in a book published by Manni of Florence in 1735 Brunetto's Motti de' Filosofi' is found in close connection with a 'Boezio della Consolazione Volgarizzato da Maestro Alberto Fiorento.' We may confidently identify this translator with the Alberto della Piagentina who thus beguiled the hours of his incarceration at Venice in 1332. "Io sono Alberto della Piagentina he writes; and although he does not further enlighten us as to who he was, or why he was put in prison, still it is pleasant to think that Boethius's 1 B. L.'s Levnet og Skrifter, Copenhagen, 1869, of which there is an Italian translation by Renier: Florence, 1884. words could afford comfort and relief to this later tenant of an Italian dungeon.1 2 Argelati's list contains as many as ten translations in manuscript, presumably before the fifteenth century, of whose different authors we know absolutely nothing, save that one was Fra Giovanni da Foligno, and another Messer Grazia da Siena, who undertook this work at the request of Nicolò di Guio in 1343. Three other translators of the De Consolatione' before the Renaissance-a Greek, a Spaniard, and a German-claim a passing notice. The first of these, both in point of time and interest, is Maximus Planudes. GREECE. SECTION XIV.-MAXIMUS PLANUDES (fl. 134-). Authorities. Fabricius, 'Bibl. Græca' (ed. Harles), tom. xi. C. F. Weber, Carmina A. M. T. S. Boetii Græce conversa per 1 Tiraboschi (op. cit., t. v. p. 623) is inclined to identify him with Albertino da Piacenza, professor of grammar at Bologna in 1315. 2 Among them is mentioned "four books of the Consolation, translated by Brunetto Latino." The value of the entry will be best appreciated by Argelati's own note: "Stà nella Bibl. Magliabecchiana, come dall' Indice de MSS. che abbiamo riportato della medesima, e dalle nostre vecchie Schede, nelle quali notammo d'averlo veduto, e nulla di più." Maximum Planudem.' Darmstadt, 1833. C. F. Weber,' Dissertatio de latine scriptis,' &c. Cassel, 1852. E. A. Bétant, De la Cons. de la Phil.,' Traduction grecque de Maxime Planude. Geneva, 1871. The rendering into his native Greek of the Consolation' is no discredit to the reputation of the learned monk of Constantinople, the compiler of the 'Anthology.' In it he shows himself a very skilful versifier, turning the various numbers of Boethius into their appropriate metres. There is a satisfaction in finding that right in the middle of the fourteenth century-we have reason to believe that Planudes lived till at least 1352-Greek verses were being written, which, if they are deficient in the finer qualities of the old poetry, are still dexterous and graceful. The following lines, the beginning and end of ii. m. 5, are copied from Weber's edition: Ὡς ὄλβιος ὧν ὁ πρὶν αἰών, σπατάλαις τ ̓ οὐκ ἔκλυτος ἄρχαις 5 δαιτ ̓ ἀκροδρύοισι ποιεῖσθαι. 25 αὖτ ̓ ὀξύτερος πυρὸς Αἴτνης σεπτὸν μάλα πῆμ ̓ ἀνόρυξεν ; SPAIN. SECTION XV.-FRA ANTONIO GINEBREDA. Authorities.--Amat, 'Diccionario de los escritores Catalanes.' Barcelona, 1836. Incunable in Mus. Brit., 'Boecio, De Consolacion.' Sevilla, 1511. Peiper's words (op. cit., p. lv) would lead one to suppose that there was no other Spanish translator of our author before 1500. But the prologue to the Seville edition of 1511 describes how the present version was undertaken at the request of a young noble of Valencia, "porque obra tan solenne no remaniesse imperfecta"; and mentions, among other foregoing translations, one, which left much to be desired, dedicated to the Infante of Mallorca.1 There is little to record of this Fra Antonio beyond the fact that he was a Dominican, and an ornament to his order, who died in 1395, but not before he had turned all the works of Boethius into Catalan. So at least says Amat (op. cit., p. 295), although I have not been able to find cause why Fra Antonio should be credited with more than the rendering of the 'Consolation.' 1 I take it this prologue was prefixed to the first edition, 1493. It can hardly be that Fra Antonio is covertly attacking his own work. |