icle history in Latin prose on Cardinal Albornoz' capture of
Caesena.[14] Purely classical themes were treated in the _Achilleis_ of
A. de' Loschi of Vicenza (d. 1441), formerly attributed to Mussato,
several passages of which are taken verbally from Seneca; in the
celebrated _Progne_ of the Venetian Gregorio Cornaro, which is dated
1428-1429, and in later Latin productions included among the
translations and imitations of Greek and Latin tragedies and comedies by
Bishop Martirano (d. 1557), the friend of Pope Leo X.,[15] and the
efforts of Pomponius Laetus and his followers, who, with the aid of
Cardinal Raffaele Riario (1451-1521), sought to revive the ancient
theatre, with all its classical associations, at Rome.

In this general movement Latin comedy had quickly followed suit, and, as
just indicated, it is almost impossible, when we reach the height of the
Italian Renaissance under the Medici at Florence and at Rome in
particular, to review the progress of either species apart from that of
the other. If we possessed the lost _Philologia_ of Petrarch, of which,
as of a juvenile work, he declared himself ashamed, this would be the
earliest of extant humanistic comedies. As it is, this position is held
by _Paulus_, a Latin comedy of life on the classic model, by the
orthodox P. P. Vergerio (1370-1444); which was followed by many
others.[16]

Italian tragedy in the 16th century.

Early in the 16th century, tragedy began to be written in the native
tongue; but it retained from the first, and never wholly lost, the
impress of its origin. Whatever the source of its subjects--which,
though mostly of classical origin, were occasionally derived from native
romance, or even due to invention--they were all treated with a
predilection for the horrible, inspired by the example of Seneca, though
no doubt encouraged by a perennial national taste. The chorus,
stationary on the stage as in old Roman tragedy, was not reduced to a
merely occasional appearance between the acts till the beginning of the
17th century, or ousted altogether from the tragic drama till the
earlier half of the 18th. Thus the changes undergone by Italian tragedy
were for a long series of generations chiefly confined to the form of
versification and the choice of themes; nor was it, at all events till
the last century of the course which it has hitherto run, more than the
aftergrowth of an aftergrowth. The honour of having been the earliest
tragedy in Ita