The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-12-23
ITALIAN ACADEMIES AND UNITER.
SITES.

Sicily claims the palm for having the first
university in Italy. To Frederick the Second
King ofScly, is the honor due of introducing
the Italian language at his court "a. D. 1879.
His courts at Naples and Palermo were the
rendezvous of men OF talent and OF genus In
1924 he founded the University of Naples
which soon fourished in that popuIous city:
he opened various schools at Palermo and in
other cities of Sicily; he reorganized the Aca.
deny Of Salerno-an academy of medicine
founded 1t is supposed, by the Moors in the
tenth century.
The crusades, which threw open the East to
the populations of the West, unfolding to the
Admlring gaze of the less cultivated Europeans
the treasures and the masterpieces OF Greek
Literature and art, school of Jurisprudence
established at Bologna, in which Irnerlo Cor
Guarnerlol expounded the Roman law, and
Guido Aretino new system of music, led to the
establishment OF academies and universities in
other cities of Italy. From 1914 to 1884 we
find Cino di Pistoja lecturing at the universi-
ties OF Perug1a and Flore1ce, and after wards ct
Bologna, where Petrarch and Boccacio were
among his pupils. Giovanni Andrea, who ac-
cording to Traboschi, is the greatest lawyer that
ever hved, was holding course OF lectures.
his daughter Novella was so we'll instructed by
her father that at times she used to lecture in
his stead. On these occasions she sat behind a
small curtain, that the attention of the students
might not be distracted by her great beauty.
In April, 1861, Boccacio was sent on a special
mission to Petrarch by the republic of Florence
offering him the chancellorship of the university
there. The Greek professorship at Florence
was in 1868 con erred upon Greek, on the re-
commentator of BoccaCie. LeonzIo plato was
a man, according to BoccaCio's description, OF
Tepugnant aspect and horrible features. He
wore long tangled beard, matted, as was his
black, uncombed hair; he Stunned all society;
he possessed, however, perfect knowledge OF
the language and literature of the Greeks, and
was q pupil of the celebrated Barlaam For
two years he expounded the works of Homer
and translated the "0dysseyn and "Iliadn into
Latin. The revival of Greek literature is owing
in great measure to him and to the encourage
ment he received from his two patrons Boccaclo
and Petrarch. This was the first chair of Greek
literature established in Italy. AT q Graat
5zpensS Boceaclo collected ali "a cree r6anS
scripts nc ne SH".u near Of and for three years
studied assiduously under Plato In Petrarch's
letters to Boccacio there are many passages
which throw considerable light upon this inte-
resting subject. In a letter. dated 9th March,
1854, he thus describes to Boccaclo the departure
Of Leonzio. "This Leonzio, notwithstanding my
entreaties, more obdurate than the rocks he is
about to encounter, left me shortly after your
departure. Fearing lest, from continual in
tercouTse with him, l should catch his ill
humor-for the in6rmiues of the mind are as
contagious as those of the body-I let him go,
and gave him Terence to beguile him on the
way, book of which he seemed especially
fond, though cannot explain what this most
melancholy Greek has in common with that
are no dlssimilarities that have not some point
of resemblance. He embarked, uttering in my
presence q thousand imprecations against Italy
and the Latin name. He could scarcely have
landed in Greece when l received letter
from him more ragged and of greater
Aength than his beard, in which he lauds Italy
above the skies, utters maedictons against
Constantinople, and entreats me to invite him
back, in terms OF supplicatlon such as Peter
nsed when he found he was sinking.n LeonzIo
persisted on his way back.
linn illnn1 urhr NkaN Tsgvn1 SF
rious Florentines,n - was in l404 appointed public
lecturer on Dante, at Florence.
The student of Italian literature will be as.
tonished to lind that the Italian language
which, In the fourteenth century, as poets
Dante and PetraIch had cultivated with SC
much elegance, and which Boccacio had raised
almost to perfection by his tales in prose- SHOULD
have become suddenly neglected and have fallen
years after the death of Boccacio, which tool
place on the 2lst of December, 1876, no author
ThiS any emlnence wrote in the Italian dialect
1ns explained by the memorable events
t MniCn occurred In the first part of the fifteenth
century, The great schism in the Church O
r;nf;nS .ed TO The Reformation, the art o
Ptl5sInE ulsSoVered in Germany, and almost i'm
med1ately uansplanted 10 Itaiv h1 incraaein,
the copies OF the ancient classics he taIl of IN,
Eastern EHnpte' ana the consequent migration
the study OF Greek literature Tba n ipu,se y
of Vasco d Gama, of new worl1 bv CoInnoh
tI494), attracted the attention of the IeornnS !,
scientifc Investigations. Libraries vvera os. y
bllshed for public use, universities founded 5rr
fessorships Instituted, PiN
But il must not be supposed that the Italia
language was entirely forgotten. II men {
learning and science preferred the idiom of th
Greeks and Latins, the people learned by heal
abe verses of the Divine Comedy and the some
OF Petrarch. Whilst this stately sage or ass
duous student pored over Greek and Lat
manuscripts, the hight hearted gOndolier, on IL
other hand, hummed the ditties of Petrarch
ne piled his oar. or sang them under the balloon
oi his mistress; and the muleteeT, as he led b
etrlIg of mules up the steep ascent of the ADeI
nines, pondered over the mysteries of II Librt
whilst the Hundred Tales elected many an u
roarious burst OF laughter from the gay az