Francesco Robortello ( la, Franciscus Robortellus; 1516–1567) was a

Renaissance humanist Renaissance humanism was a revival in the study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term ''humanist'' ( it, umanista) referred to teache ...

, nicknamed ''Canis grammaticus'' ("the grammatical dog") for his confrontational and demanding manner.

As scholar

Robortello, who was born in

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...

, was an editor of rediscovered works of

Antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

, who taught philosophy and rhetoric, as well as ethics (following

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

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

Lucca 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 has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one o ...

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' 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 its leaning tower, the cit ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

, and

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

before finally returning to Padua in 1560. Robortello's scientific approach to

textual emendation Conjecture (conjectural emendation) is a critical reconstruction of the original reading of a clearly corrupt, contaminated, nonsensical or illegible textual fragment. Conjecture is one of the techniques of textual criticism used by philologists w ...

s 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. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles or methods used when immediate c ...

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

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or 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. The term o ...

, influential in writing for the

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

everywhere save in England. At the same time he was the conservative Aristotelian philosopher who urged 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 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

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

genre Genre () is any form or type 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 for ...

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 and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

and history he sustained controversies in print with

Carolus Sigonius Carolus Sigonius (Carlo Sigonio or Sigone) (c. 152412 August 1584) was an Italian humanist, born in Modena. Biography Having studied Greek under the learned Franciscus Portus of Candia, he attended the philosophical schools of Bologna and ...

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, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

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

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

, and even philological missteps of

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

. 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 established poetic patterns that would become integral to the Polish literary language. He is commonly regarded as the greatest Polish poet before Adam Mickiewicz. Li ...

, 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 of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

. *''De rhetorica facultate'', 1548 *''In Aristotelis poeticam explicationes'', Florence 1548, 2nd edition 1555. Reinterpreting Aristotle's ''

Poetics Poetics is the theory of structure, form, and discourse within literature, and, in particular, within poetry. History The term ''poetics'' derives from the Ancient Greek ποιητικός ''poietikos'' "pertaining to poetry"; also "creative" an ...

'' for the humanist. *''Dionysi Longini rhetoris praestantissimi liber de grandi sive sublimiorationis genere ... cum adnotationibus'', Basel 1554. Recovering the lost

literary 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 discussion of literature's goals and methods. Th ...

Longinus Longinus () is the name given to the unnamed Roman soldier who pierced the side of Jesus with a lance and who in medieval and some modern Christian traditions is described as a convert to Christianity. His name first appeared in the apocryphal G ...

, ''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