GIOVANNI RUCELLAI, a nephew of Lorenzo the Magnificent, was also indebted to the Georgics for his poem, _Le Api_ (on Bees), in blank verse, of which there is an excellent defence in the introductory lines, quite the most original and pleasing passage in the poem.
Monsignor GIOVANNI DELLA CASA acquired an immense reputation in his own age for his works in prose and verse, in Latin and Italian; but as his merit consists exclusively in the finished style--his thoughts not rising above conventionality--he has been neglected for writers combining equal, if not greater, beauty of language with more originality of thought.
ANNIBAL CARO rendered signal service to his country by giving it a spirited translation of the _Æneid,_ and his works in prose and verse are all characterised by vigour of style. He rose from a humble origin to considerable wealth and prominence, and he became notorious by reason of a bitter feud with a contemporary critic of the name of CASTELVETRO. He had written a poem in praise of the House of Valois, "Venite all'ombra de' gran gigli d'oro," and Castelvetro wrote a sharp and acrimonious criticism upon it, to which he retorted in his _Apologia_ with almost insane rancour. Castelvetro was not tardy in replying, and Caro is suspected of having used all his influence to ruin the career of his adversary. But it is painful to dwell upon these ebullitions of spite, unfortunately too frequent in the annals of literature.
CARDINAL BEMBO was a writer fastidiously elegant. He is reported to have possessed forty portfolios, in the first of which he put the first draft of his works; in the second, the second; and so on until the fortieth revision reached the fortieth receptacle, after which alone would he suffer the work to see the light. His productions are such as might be expected from a man so minutely laborious. He is more intent upon words than upon realities. His poetry is modelled on Petrarch, his prose on Boccaccio. He wrote a _History of Venice_ in twelve books, originally in Latin, translating it himself into Italian. A dialogue, entitled _Gli Asolani,_ is interesting to English readers from its similarity of title to Browning's _Asolando._ The name is taken from Asolo, a spot on the mainland not far from Venice, whither he loved to retire, as Browning did three hundred years later. His letters are esteemed his best production, being less over-elaborated in style than his other works. His Latin works are entirely modelled on those of Cicero.