Jupiter hunc coeli dignatus honore fuisset,
Censorem lingua sed timet esse suae._
Raphael Maffei, surnamed Volaterranus, the compiler of the _Commentarii
urbani_ (1506), a huge encyclopaedia published in thirty-eight books,
composed the following witty stanza on the death of Valla:--
_Tandem Valla silet solitus qui parcere nulli est
Si quaeris quid agat? nunc quoque mordet humum._
Our list of Italian satirists closes with Ferrante Pallavicino, a witty
Canon, born at Plaisance in 1618, who ventured to write satirical poems on
the famous nepotist, Pope Urban VIII., and all his family, the Barberini.
Some of his poems were entitled _Il corriero sualigiato, Il divortio
celeste, La baccinata_, which were published in a collection of his
complete works at Venice in 1655. His selected works were published at
Geneva in 1660. He made a playful allusion to the Barberini on the title-
page of his work, where there appeared a crucifix surrounded by burning
thorns and bees, with the verse of the Psalmist _Circumdederunt me sicut
apes, et exarserunt sicut ignis in spinis_, alluding to the bees which
that family bear on their arms. Pallavicino lived in safety for some time
at Venice, braving the anger of his enemies. Unfortunately he wished to
retire to France, and during his journey passed through the territory of
the Pope. He was accompanied by a Frenchman, one Charles Morfu, who
pretended great friendship for him, admired his works, and scoffed at the
Barberini with jests as keen as the Canon's own satires.
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