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[Borghini’s observations on a selection of RVF poems]

Overview

Current Location

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale
Florence
Italy

Shelfmark
II X 107
Date
sixteenth century
Mode of exegesis
Related to Petrarch's

RVF 1, 6, 11, 13, 18, 29, 35, 52, 102, 105, 128, 135, 136, 204, 325, 327, 338, 339, 347, 348, 354, 357, 366.

Description

Physical Description: Format

214x145 mm; IX + 170 (numbered at both recto and verso as 1-308;
 
fols. 123-132 have been counted twice)+ II fols.

Physical Description: Textblock

paper; sixteenth-century cursive hand; various layouts, mostly in prose.

Title Page

<inc> Solo et pensoso ipiu deserti campi et poi nella conclusione. Perche negliatti d’allegrezza spenti

Internal Description

fols. 1-2: Vincenzo Borghini’s observations on the use of the verb ‘avampi’ in RVF 35.8 and on the way to express the indirect complement in Dante’s, Inferno X (<inc> Solo et pensoso ipiu deserti campi et poi nella conclusione. Perche negliatti d’allegrezza spenti Di fuor si legge come dentro auampi Questi versj del Petrarcha sono et di parole et di affetti tenuti bellissimi, et io no[n] per biasimare il Petrarcha, il quale in vero fu unico, et forse sanza pari nel suo genere; <exp> cosi disse disopra nel xmo Risposi lui et l’una et l’altra fiata, ond et in certi testi no[n] troppo buoni seguendo luso d’hoggi, truovo scritto, diss’io alui);
 
fols. 87-97: note on correspondence poetry with samples from Dante da Maiano, Guido Cavalcanti, and Petrarch (<inc> El modo di rispondere delle rime fra uersi, fu cosa molto anticha, et da qu[e]i primi autorj della lingua toscana, assai usata ne’ uersi. et p[er] costume, come tuttj gli altri, fu dal Petrarcha, usato qualche uolta; <exp> et questo basti allap[resente] consideratione’);
 
fols. 141-145: Borghini’s unsystematic linguistic observations on RVF 204.7, 325.74, 327.5, 338, 347.11, 348.10, 357.2, 354.14, 128.40,52,102, 136.10, 339.11 (‘PETR[ARCA]’; <inc> ‘I duo bei lumi accensi’ – s[onetto] ‘Anima ch[e] diuerse’. Nota accensi latinamente detto et qui si consideri se è lecito in poema lyrico, come è un sonetto, ch[e] no[n] ha tanto bisogno di licenze è bene usare q[uesta] uoce; <exp> Ma q[uesto] no’l puo far bene chi no[n] è assoluto padrone della lingua et conosca e sappia aperta[mente] la forza sua, et q[ue]llo hauer andare alla burchia e p[er] sola imitatione farà forse infiniti errori. Sed d[e] hac alias animo liberiori ut a curis ocioso);
 
fols. 146-155: blank;
 
fol. 296: note on the choice of the verb ‘ascoltare’ in RVF 1.1 and on the ancient way of composing sonnets (<inc> Uoi ch’alscoltate etc. dicendo uoi ch[e] udite non era la voce udire tanto sonora et grande quanto ascoltare, che non solo è piu atta à quel uerso per fuggire il concorso delle uocali; <exp> et q[uest]o modo ben più verisimile);
 
Other contents:
 
fol. Ir: brief note on Cicero’s De Oratore, III, 43;
 
fol. Iv: blank;
 
fol. 2r: brief summary of the content of the ms.;
 
fols. IIv-IXv: blank;
 
fols. 3-5: notes on Aristotle’s Rhetoric, in particular on versification;
 
fols. 5-20: linguistic observations on Dante, on the defence of speech, and on the comparison between Italian, Latin, and Greek languages;
 
fols. 39-40: brief notes on Torquato Tasso’s poetics;
 
fols. 41-46: blank: fols. 47-49: brief notes on Pietro Bembo’s Prose nelle quali si ragiona della volgar lingua;
 
fols. 50-61: blank;
 
fol. 62: brief list of verbs;
 
fols. 63-77: critical observations on the words or the alphabet and orthographical system newly created by Pierfrancesco Giambullari;
 
fols. 78-86: blank;
 
fols. 99-102: notes on the rima equivoca and on the rhyming system of the sestina with a sample from Dante’s canzone ‘Io son venuto al punto della rota’;
 
fols. 103-109: notes on the controversy between Annibale Caro and Lodovico Castevetro;
 
fols. 110-113: blank;
 
fols. 114-115: comparison between Paolo Giovio and Girolamo Ruscelli on the topic of the impresa;
 
fols. 116-118: blank;
 
fols. 119-137 (with the inclusion of 1231-1321): notes on various topics: on Pietro Bembo’s Prose nelle quali si ragiona della volgar lingua and on rhetorical figures (such as metalepsis);
 
fols. 138-140: blank;
 
fol. 156: brief linguistic note on the sequence liquid + consonants ‘sp’;
 
fols. 157-159: extract from Trissino’s letter with dedication to Charles V;
 
fols. 160-164: blank;
 
fols. 165-216: treatise with an overview on literary controversy;
 
fols. 217-220: blank;
 
fols. 221-223: notes on Bernardo Tasso’s Amadigi;
 
fols. 224-248: blank;
 
fols. 249-271: notes on Cicero’s Brutus and other writings and rhetorical reflections by Cicero;
 
fols. 272-280: blank;
 
fol. 281: linguistic note on misunderstandings in the use of ‘incignere’ and ‘incinta’;
 
fols. 282-295: blank;
 
fols. 297-300: blank;
 
fols. 301-308: linguistic reflections on the relationship between Latin and Italian.

Material Copy

Location

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale
Florence
Italy

Shelfmark
II X 107
Copy seen by
Lorenzo
Sacchini
Notes

In the first two fols., Borghini states that the verb ‘avampare’ does not fit semantically with the rest of the sonnet. Fols. 87-97: Borghini claims here that modern poets are better than ancient ones in correspondence poetry; he celebrates in particular Giovan Battista Strozzi; he then makes observations on internal rhymes, quoting, and often criticising, Petrarch’s poems (RVF 105.1-3; 366.25-26; 135.14-15; 29.4, 6, 11, 13, 18). Fols. 141-145: Borghini here provides a series of mostly linguistic notes; he focuses on gender in words, on the correspondence between style and poetic genre, and on literary lexicon, making reference exclusively to Petrarch’s poems. At fol. 1 there is a pen drawing of Cino da Pistoia.

Bibliography

Mazzatinti, XII, 57