Francesco Robortello (; 1516–1567) was a Renaissance humanist, nicknamed ''Canis grammaticus'' ("the grammatical dog") for his confrontational and demanding manner.

As scholar

Robortello, who was born in

Udine Udine ( ; ; ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Carnic Alps. It is the capital of the Province of Udine, Regional decentralization entity ...

, was an editor of rediscovered works of Antiquity, who taught philosophy and rhetoric, as well as ethics (following

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

), and Latin and Greek, roving from Padua through universities at

Lucca Città di Lucca ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its Province of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

, and

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

before finally returning to Padua in 1560. Robortello's scientific approach to textual emendations laid the groundwork for modern

Hermeneutics Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. As necessary, hermeneutics may include the art of understanding and communication. ...

. His commentary on Aristotle's ''Poetics'' formed the basis for Renaissance and 17th-century theories of

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

, influential in writing for the

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

everywhere save in England. At the same time he was the conservative Aristotelian philosopher who urged a woman to submit her will to that of her husband on the basis of her moral weakness, in his ''libro politicos: Aristotelis disputatio'' (Venice, 1552, p. 175, quoted Comensoli 1989). He followed his ''In librum Aristotelis de arte poetica explicationes'' (1548), in which he emended the Latin version of Alessandro de’ Pazzi (published 1536), with a paraphrase of

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...

's '' Ars Poetica'' and with explications of

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

s missing in the surviving text of Aristotle: ''De Satyra'', ''De Epigrammate'', ''De Comoedia'', ''De Salibus'', ''De Elegia.'' In the fields of

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

and history, he sustained controversies in print with Carolus Sigonius and Vincenzo Maggi in the form of

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

-like ''orations'', correcting the editions published in Venice by

Aldus Manutius Aldus Pius Manutius (; ; 6 February 1515) was an Italian printer and Renaissance humanism, humanist who founded the Aldine Press. Manutius devoted the later part of his life to publishing and disseminating rare texts. His interest in and preser ...

, and even philological missteps of

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...

. These brief essays were collected and published at intervals. A convention of surveys of Italian linguistics (Gensini 1993) is to start with Robortello. Robortello died at Padua, where, in the 1550s, one of his pupils was Giacomo Zabarella. Another pupil was

Jan Kochanowski Jan Kochanowski (; 1530 – 22 August 1584) was a Polish Renaissance poet who wrote in Latin and Polish and established poetic patterns that would become integral to Polish literary language. He has been called the greatest Polish poet before ...

, a poet who wrote both in Polish and Latin and introduced the ideas, forms and spirit of the Renaissance into Polish literature.

Main works

* ''De historica facultate disputatio'' (alternatively as ''De arte historica''), 1548; 1567. An incunable of

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods used by historians in developing history as an academic discipline. By extension, the term ":wikt:historiography, historiography" is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiog ...

. * ''De rhetorica facultate'', 1548 * ''In Aristotelis poeticam explicationes'', Florence 1548, 2nd edition 1555. Reinterpreting Aristotle's '' Poetics'' for the humanist. * ''Dionysi Longini rhetoris praestantissimi liber de grandi sive sublimiorationis genere ... cum adnotationibus'', Basel 1554. Recovering the lost

literary criticism A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

of Longinus, ''On the Sublime''. * ''Thesaurus criticus'', 1557, second edition, 1604 * ''De arte, sive ratione corrigendi antiquorum libros disputatio,'' Florence 1548;''"Firenze, Lorenzo Torrentino, 1548"''
2nd edition 1562 This "Lecture on the art and method of correcting the books of the old writers" was one of the first critical discussions of the methodologies to apply in correcting texts of Antiquity. * ''De artificio dicendi'' 1567. A textbook of rhetoric.

Notes

References

*Ryan, E. E. "Robortello and Maggi on Aristotle's Theory of Catharsis". in ''Rinascimento XXII'' (1982) pp 263–273.

External links

note. * ttp://www.theatredatabase.com/16th_century/italian_dramatic_criticism_of_the_renaissance.html Theaterbase: Barret H. Clark, Italian Dramatic Criticism of the Renaissance Context of Robortello's works.

As scholar

Main works

Notes

References

External links

Further reading