Robortello nei "Foricoenia" e negli "Elegiarum Libri Quattuor" di Jan Kochanowski
Robortello in Jan Kochanowski’s "Foricoenia" and "Elegiarum Libri Quattuor"

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to study Jan Kochanowski’s "Foricoenia" and "Elegiarum Libri Quattuor" in the light of Francesco Robortello’s treatise "Eorum omnium quae ad methodum et artificium scribendi epigrammatis spectant explicatio". After having set Robortello’s treatise in its historical and literary context, the article shows how Jan Kochanowski, who probably attended Robortello’s classes during his first two stays in Padua (1552–1555; 1556–1557), agreed with the ideas presented in the treatise. The fact that Kochanowski agrees with his professor’s ideas on the epigram does not mean that he behaves in a totally passive and uncritical way, for he clearly shows his independence when writing his Latin epigrams, sometimes refusing to comply with Robortello’s suggestions (e.g., Kochanowski does not avoid the use of elegant and rare Graecisms, which Robortello advises against excessively using). Kochanowski owes Robortello his high consideration for Catullus: when imitating Catullus’s epigrams, Kochanowski often chooses to imitate (or to hint at) the same epigrams Robortello commends in his treatises (for instance, Cat. LXIX is clearly imitated in "Foricoenia" XXV, while Cat. XV is quoted in elegy I 7). We encounter the same situation when Kochanowski deals with Martial: although Robortello clearly prefers Catullus over Martial, he praises the love epigrams written by the latter poet, and Kochanowski, in writing his "foricoenium" CV, imitates Cat. XCIX as well as Mart. III 65 and XI 8, the latter two epigrams not quoted explicitly by Robortello, but chosen by Kochanowski himself.

• Details
• Contents