Elio Lampridio Cervino or Cerva (, sh, Ilija Crijević; 1463–1520) was a

Ragusan Ragusan may refer to: * citizen of the Republic of Ragusa hr, Sloboda se ne prodaje za sve zlato svijeta it, La libertà non si vende nemmeno per tutto l'oro del mondo"Liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world" , population_estimate ...

poet who wrote in Latin.

Life

Cerva was born in 1463, belonging to one of the most important noble families of Ragusa, the

House of Cerva The House of Cerva or Crijević , ( la, Cervinus, also spelt ''Cereva'', ''Cerieva'', ''Creve'', ''Crieva'', ''Crevice'') was a Ragusan noble family from Ragusa (modern Dubrovnik), which held noble titles in the Republic of Ragusa, and in the Au ...

. He spent several years in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, where he arrived still child, to succeed his uncle Stephan, ambassador to

Pope Sixtus IV Pope Sixtus IV ( it, Sisto IV: 21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484), born Francesco della Rovere, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 to his death in August 1484. His accomplishments as pope include ...

. Here, in the circle of

Pomponio Leto Julius Pomponius Laetus (1428 – 9 June 1498), also known as Giulio Pomponio Leto, was an Italian humanist. Background Laetus was born at Teggiano, near Salerno, the illegitimate scion of the princely house of Sanseverino, the German historian ...

, his poetic talent awoke. He studied ancient drama and made a study of the comedies of

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the gen ...

. It was in this period that he produced ''Lexicon'' (1480), an encyclopedic dictionary in Latin, 429 pages long and '' in quarto'' format (33 x 23 cm). He returned to Ragusa in 1490, and became a spokesman for the Republic. Finally, Cerva decided to withdraw to the

Ombla The Ombla is a short river in Croatia, northeast of Dubrovnik. Its course is approximately long, and it empties into the Rijeka Dubrovačka, ria formed by the Adriatic Sea near Komolac in Dubrovnik-Neretva County. Rijeka Dubrovačka is actually ...

river island, where he remained until his death in 1520. Although called a poet, he published only four short components (all in Latin) during his life. His main work, ''De Epidauro'', was a draft of an epic poem, about the Ottoman invasions of Ragusan territory. A staunch supporter of Latin, he disliked Slavic, which was spoken in the Republic in great numbers. He declared his nostalgia for the times when no language other than Latin had been officially used in Ragusa, and wished not to hear the "infecting Slavic language".Documentation Centre of Dalmatian Culture
, ''Uomini Illustri, Elio Lampridio Cerva, poeta incoronato'' He knew and wrote solely in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, as mentioned by him in one of his works:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cerva, Elio People from the Republic of Ragusa 1463 births 1520 deaths 15th-century Latin writers People from Dubrovnik Ragusan poets 15th-century Croatian poets

Life

See also

References