Renaissance in Italy, Volume 4 (of 7) / Italian Literature, Part 1

by John Addington Symonds

[246] He calls it il nostro tempio massimo and speaks of il culto divino, pp. 7-9.

[247] Op. Volg. vol. iii.

[248] Ibid. p. 160. This enables us to fix the date within certain limits. Niccolò III. of Este died 1441. Lionello died 1450. Alberti speaks of the essay as having been already some time in circulation. It must therefore have been written before 1440.

[249] Like Boccaccio, Alberti is fond of bad Greek etymologies. Perhaps we may translate these names, "the God-born" and "the little pupil." In the same dialogue Tichipedio seems to be "the youth of fortune."

[250] See Revival of Learning, p. 339.

[251] Op. Volg. iii. 179.

[252] Ibid. p. 186.

[253] Op. Volg. vol. ii. pp. 320-322.

[254] Il Santo. Probably S. John.

[255] Alberti in a Letter of Condolement to a friend (Op. Volg. v. 357) chooses examples from the Bible. Yet the tone of that most strictly pious of his writings is rather Theistic than Christian.