Poggio Bracciolini in the context of "Silvae"

⭐ In the context of the *Silvae*, Poggio Bracciolini is considered…

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⭐ Core Definition: Poggio Bracciolini

Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini (Italian: [dʒaɱ franˈtʃesko ˈpɔddʒo brattʃoˈliːni]; 11 February 1380 – 30 October 1459), usually referred to simply as Poggio Bracciolini, was an Italian scholar and an early Renaissance humanist. He is noted for rediscovering and recovering many classical Latin manuscripts, mostly decaying and forgotten in German, Swiss, and French monastic libraries. His most celebrated finds are De rerum natura, the only surviving work by Lucretius, De architectura by Vitruvius, lost orations by Cicero such as Pro Sexto Roscio, Quintilian's Institutio Oratoria, Statius' Silvae, Ammianus Marcellinus' Res Gestae (Rerum gestarum Libri XXXI), and Silius Italicus's Punica, as well as works by several minor authors such as Frontinus' De aquaeductu, Nonius Marcellus, Probus, Flavius Caper, and Eutyches.

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👉 Poggio Bracciolini in the context of Silvae

The Silvae is a collection of Latin occasional poetry in hexameters, hendecasyllables, and lyric meters by Publius Papinius Statius (c. 45 – c. 96 CE). There are 32 poems in the collection, divided into five books. Each book contains a prose preface which introduces and dedicates the book. The subjects of the poetry are varied and provide scholars with a wealth of information on Domitian's Rome and Statius' life.

The Silvae were rediscovered by Poggio Bracciolini in the Library of Reichenau Abbey around 1417, along with the Punica of Silius Italicus.

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Poggio Bracciolini in the context of Lucretius

Titus Lucretius Carus (/ˈttəs lˈkrʃəs/ TY-təs loo-KREE-shəs; Latin: [ˈtitus luˈkreːti.us ˈkaːrus]; c. 99 – October 15, 55 BC) was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is the philosophical poem De rerum natura, a didactic work about the tenets and philosophy of Epicureanism, which usually is translated into English as On the Nature of Things—and somewhat less often as On the Nature of the Universe. Very little is known about Lucretius's life; the only certainty is that he was either a friend or client of Gaius Memmius, to whom the poem was addressed and dedicated. De rerum natura was a considerable influence on the Augustan poets, particularly Virgil (in his Aeneid and Georgics, and to a lesser extent on the Eclogues) and Horace. The work was almost lost during the Middle Ages, but was rediscovered in 1417 in a monastery in Germany by Poggio Bracciolini. It played an important role both in the development of atomism (Lucretius was an important influence on Pierre Gassendi) and the efforts of various figures of the Enlightenment era to construct a new Christian humanism.

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Poggio Bracciolini in the context of Bibliotheca historica

Bibliotheca Historica (Latin; Greek: Βιβλιοθήκη Ἱστορική, Bibliothḗkē Historikḗ), also known as the Historical Library or Library of History, is a work of universal history by Diodorus Siculus. It consisted of forty books, which were divided into three sections. The first six books are geographical in theme and describe the history and culture of Egypt (Book I), of Mesopotamia, India, Scythia, and Arabia (II), of North Africa (III), and of Greece and Europe (IV–VI). In the next ten books, he recounts human history starting with the Trojan War (Book VII) down to the death of Alexander the Great (XVII). The final section concerns the historical events from the successors of Alexander (Book XVIII) down to the time of the First Triumvirate of the late Roman Republic (XL). The end of the work has been lost, and it is unclear whether Diodorus actually reached the beginning of Caesar's Gallic War in 59 BC (as he promises at the beginning of the work) or, as evidence suggests, he stopped short at 60 BC owing to old age and weariness from his labors. He selected the name "Library" as an acknowledgement that he was assembling a composite work drawing from many sources. Of the authors he used, some who have been identified include Hecataeus of Abdera, Ctesias of Cnidus, Ephorus, Theopompus, Hieronymus of Cardia, Duris of Samos, Diyllus, Philistus, Timaeus, Polybius, and Posidonius.

Diodorus's immense work has not survived intact. Only Books I–V and Books XI–XX remain in their entirety. The rest exists only in fragments preserved in Photius and in the Excerpta of Constantine Porphyrogenitus.

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Poggio Bracciolini in the context of Punica (poem)

The Punica is a Latin epic poem in seventeen books in dactylic hexameter written by Silius Italicus (c. 28 – c. 103 AD), comprising some twelve thousand lines (12,202, to be exact, if one includes a probably spurious passage in book 8). It is the longest surviving Latin poem from antiquity. Its theme is the Second Punic War and the conflict between the two great generals Hannibal and Scipio Africanus. The poem was re-discovered in either 1416 or 1417 by the Italian humanist and scholar Poggio Bracciolini.

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Poggio Bracciolini in the context of De aquaeductu

De aquaeductu (English: On aqueducts) is a two-book official report given to the emperor Nerva or Trajan on the state of the aqueducts of Rome, and was written by Sextus Julius Frontinus at the end of the 1st century AD. It is also known as De Aquis or De Aqueductibus Urbis Romae. It is the earliest official report of an investigation made by a distinguished citizen on Roman engineering works to have survived. Frontinus had been appointed Water Commissioner by the emperor Nerva in AD 96.

With the recovery of Frontinus' manuscript from the library at Monte Cassino in 1425, effected by the tireless humanist Poggio Bracciolini, details of the construction and maintenance of the Roman aqueduct system became available once more, just as Renaissance Rome began to revive and require a dependable source of pure water.

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Poggio Bracciolini in the context of Agricola (book)

The Agricola (Latin: De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae, lit. On the life and character of Julius Agricola) is a book by the Roman writer, Tacitus, written c. AD 98. The work recounts the life of his father-in-law Gnaeus Julius Agricola, an eminent Roman general and Governor of Britain from AD 77/78 – 83/84. It also covers the geography and ethnography of ancient Britain.

The text survived in a single codex ascertained by Poggio Bracciolini to be in a German monastery (Hersfeld Abbey). It was eventually secured by the humanist Niccolò de' Niccoli. In modern times, two manuscripts of the Agricola are preserved in the Library of the Vatican. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, two more manuscripts are said by Duane Reed Stuart to have been brought to light, with one being held by the Chapter Library of the Cathedral at Toledo in Spain and the other being found in 1902 in the private library of Count Balleani of Jesi, in Italy.

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