[283] Ibid.
[284] Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. lxii.
[285] Gianozzo Manetti, who wrote memoirs of Niccolo Niccoli, which are printed from a Vatican MS. in Mehus’s life of Ambrogio Traversari, p. lxvi. et seq. “Raro tamen,” says Gianozzo, “vel numquam, latine loquendi, latineve scribendi onus suscipere voluit, eâ de causâ abductus, ut arbritror, quod quum nihil ab eo nisi plenum et perfectum probaretur, neque orationes, neque scripta sua sibi ipsi omni ex parte, ceu in aliis hominibus exigebat, satisfactura videbantur.” The testimony of Poggio may be adduced in confirmation of Gianozzo’s assertion. “Cum enim nihil nisi politum ac perfectum probaret, nequaquam sibi ipsi ejus scripta satisfacere videbantur.”—Poggii Opera, p. 274.
[286] Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. lxi.
[287] “Illud quoque animadvertendum est Nicolaum Nicolum veluti parentem fuisse artis criticæ, quæ auctores veteres distinguit emendatque. Nam quum eos auctores ex vetustissimis codicibus exscriberet, qui suo potissimum consilio, aliorum vero operâ inventi sunt, non solum a mendis quibus obsiti erant expurgavit, sed etiam distinxit capitibusque locupletavit. Testis sit Lucretius, qui in Cod. Chart. Bibliothecæ Mediceo-Laurentianæ adservatur. In hoc enim codice manu Nicolai Niccoli diligentissime scripto aliquot libris capitula præfixa a Niccolo sunt. Testes duodecim Comœdiæ Plauti noviter eodem sæculo repertæ, Niccolique nostri manu in Cod. Chartaceo Bibliothecæ Marcianæ ut supra diximus exaratæ. Has enim quum descripsisset ex vetustissimo Codice Jordani Cardinalis Ursini ex Germaniâ Romam advecto, quem mendosissimum judicavit Poggius, earum tamen exemplum a Niccolo nostro confectum paucis mendis, iisque levissimis deturpatum est.”—Mehi Vita Ambrosii Traversarii, p. 1.
[288] Gianotti Manettii Vita Nicolai Nicoli, apud Mehi Vitam Ambros. Travers. p. lxxvi.
[289] Ibid, p. lxxvii.
[290] These and the following particulars are collected from a life of Niccolo Niccoli, written by Gianozzo Manetti, and composing part of a volume, De Illustribus Longævis, dedicated by him to Lodovico Gusman, governor of the province of Calatrava. In proof of the delicacy of Niccolo’s feelings, Gianozzo assures his reader of the wonderful fact, that he disliked the braying of an ass, the grating of a saw, and the squeaking of a mouse caught in a trap. “Neque rudentem asinum, neque secantem serram, neque muscipulam vagientem sentire audireve poterat.”—Mehi Vita Ambros. Travers. p. lxxvii.
[291] Concil. tom. xxx. p. 212-217. The orthodoxy of the editor of the acts of the councils has induced him to attach the following marginal observation to the decree which thus levelled the thunder of the rebels of Basil at the sacred head of the pontiff—“Multa in hac synodo sparsim habentur quæ pontifici et ejus auctoritati derogant, quæ sunt caute legenda.”
[292] Concil. tom. xxx. p. 221, 222.