Note 115 — CHAP. III.

Flavio Biondo, who was born at Forli, in the year 1388, was a descendant of the illustrious family of Ravaldini. He has himself recorded the fact, that he studied Grammar, Rhetoric, and Poetry, under the instructions of Giovanni Ballistario, of Cremona. At an early age he was commissioned by his countrymen to conduct some negociations at the court of Milan; and it was during his visit to that city, that he executed the task of copying the newly-discovered manuscript of Cicero’s treatise, De Claris Oratoribus. In the year 1430, he was making preparations for a journey to Rome; but Francesco Barbaro, who held him in the highest esteem, and who had procured for him the privileges of a Venetian citizen, having been lately appointed governor of the Bergamese district, induced him to give up this design, and to accompany him to Bergamo, invested with the confidential office of chancellor of that city. He afterwards entered into the Roman chancery, under the patronage of Eugenius IV., by whom he was employed in the year 1434, in conjunction with the bishop of Recanati, to solicit, on his behalf, the assistance of the Florentines and Venetians. He continued to hold the office of apostolic secretary during the pontificate of Nicholas V., Calixtus III., and Pius II. In the year 1459 he attended the last mentioned pontiff to the council of Mantua. From that city he returned to Rome, where he died on the 4th of June, 1463, leaving five sons, all well instructed in literature.

Of his numerous publications the following are the most considerable.

1. Roma Instaurata—A work of great erudition, in which he gave a most exact description of the buildings, gates, temples, and other monuments of ancient Rome, which still resisted the destructive hand of time.

2. Roma Triumphans—This is also a most elaborate treatise, which contains an account of the laws, constitution, religion, and sacred ceremonies of the Roman republic, collected from the incidental notices of these subjects, which are scattered through the wide extent of Latin literature.

3. Of a similar description is his Italia Illustrata, in which he describes Italy, according to its ancient division into fourteen regions, and details the origin and history of each province and city. This work he composed at the request of Alphonso, king of Naples.

4. A treatise, De Origine et Gestis Venetorum.

5. He undertook a work of still greater extent than any of those which have been enumerated above, viz. A General History of the period extending from the decline of the Roman Empire to his own times. He had finished three decads and the first book of the fourth of this work, when its prosecution was interrupted by his death.

“In all these works,” says Tiraboschi, “though Biondo occasionally deviates into various errors, he displays a singular diligence in collecting from all authors whatever appertains to his subject; and when it is considered, that they are the first essays in their kind, they cannot but give the reader a high idea of the prodigious learning and unwearied application of their author.”

The historical works of Biondo, translated into Italian by Lucio Fauno, were printed at Venice by Michel Tramezzino. A general collection of his writings was also printed in folio, at Basil, by Frobenius, A. D. 1531 and 1539. Apostolo Zeno Dissertazioni Vossiane, tom. i. p. 229, &c. Tiraboschi Storia della Let. Ital. tom. vi. p. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.