Camoens - The Lyrics part 1 - Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890)

1 8 LYRICKS OF CAMOENS.4Rhodiginus (/>., of Rovigo): Ludovicus Celius Ricchieri,bomcirc. 1450. He was protected by FrancoisI.during theItalian troubles, and he issupposed to have died brokenheartedafter the Battle of Pavia. He " left Antiquarurn LectionumLibri xvi." (Venice, 1516; Paris, 1517); his life waswritten by Camillo Silvestri (Raccolta Calogera, IV. p. 157),and he is mentioned in the " Storia " of Tiraboschi (Vol. VIII.Part II. p. 225).5Dante so defines poetry in his famous philosophico- metricalTreatise ** De Vulgan Eloquio." It has been introduced to theEnglish public by the late Dante Gabriel Rossetti, painter andpoet."Rhythmus," says Aristoxenus of Tarentum, a high authorityquoted by Dr. Francis Hueffer (" The Troubadours," etc.;London, Chatto and Wmdus, 1878), "is the division of time intoequally recurring paits longer and shorter (z.. quantity), madeperceptible to certain metrical movements (TO pvOfjuZopti/ov").In music it is the notes of a melody (/z*Xo); in dancing, bodilygesture ((Tnu^ariK)} Kivtvic}; and in poetry, diction (X*.). Theweaker part of the metre was originally called apcrtg whenthe voice or the foot was raised (a/ sis at elevatio); and thestronger was QkmQ, when the tone fell as the dancer trod theground (thesis est deposilio t'ocis ac remissio}. The terms havefrequently changed meaning, and in Latin they were applied notto quantity, but to that rhetorical accent, as inDies iras,dies iliawhich by slow degrees overcame its rival, and led to thedevelopment of "Rhyme" or "Rime" proper. The latterwas known to Homer and Horace, but the rhythmical principleprevented its development. *6 Little need be said concerning Bembo, the Platonist andPetrarchist (born in 1470), who was made a Cardinal malgrc* Nil satis est pulchra esse :poemata dulcia sun toEt quocumque volent anirnum auditoris agunto.II Epist., III. 99, 100.So I Odes, I. 2, 3. Meum + Olympicum I :Odes, VIII. 4, 5,Solis T militaris and many others.