The satires on Mabilius (so he called Marullus) are too filthy to be quoted. They may be read in the collection cited above, pp. 275-280.
[324] See Carducci, preface to Le Stanze, Florence, 1863, and Isidoro del Lungo in Arch. Stor. series iii. vol. ii.
[325] Julius Cæsar Scaliger wrote thus about them in the Hypercriticus:—'Græcis vero, quæ puerum se conscripsisse dicit, ætatem minus prudenter apposuit suam; tam enim bona sunt ut ne virum quidem Latina æque bene scripsisse putem.'
[326] Quinque Illustrium Poetarum Carmina, pp. 299, 301. These epigrams, as well as two on pp. 303, 307, are significant in their illustration of the poet's morality. Giovio's account of Poliziano's death was certainly accepted by contemporaries:—'Ferunt eum ingenui adolescentis insano amore percitum facile in letalem morbum incidisse.' The whole Elogium, however, is a covert libel, like many of Giovio's sketches.
[327] 'Erat distortis sæpe moribus, uti facie nequaquam ingenuâ et liberali ab enormi præsertim naso, subluscoque oculo perabsurdâ.' Giovio, Elogia. Cf. Poliziano's own verses to Mabilius, beginning:—
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Quod nasum mihi, quod reflexa colla Demens objicis. Carmina Quinque Poetarum, p. 277. |
[328] The first words of the dedication run as follows:—'Cum tibi superioribus diebus Laurenti Medices, nostra hæc Miscellanea inter equitandum recitaremus.'
[329] Angeli Politiani Epistolæ, lib. iii. ed. Ald. 1498. The letter is dated Nov. 1488.
[330] In a letter to Hieronymus Donatus, dated Florence, May 1480, Angeli Politiani Epistolæ, lib. ii.
[331] The well-known scandal about Poliziano's death is traceable to the Elogia of Paulus Jovius—very suspicious authority. See above, [p. 252], [note 2].