Molza, Francis-Maria

, an eminent Italian and Latin poet, was born of a noble family at Modena, in 1489; and, after being educated at Rome, where he made extraordinary proficiency in the Greek and Latin languages, and even in the Hebrew, he was recalled to Modena, where, in 1512, he married, and intended to settle. The fame, however, of Leo X's court, led him about four years after, back to Rome, where he formed an acquaintance with many eminent scholars; but appears to have paid more attention to the cultivation of his taste than his morals, as he formed | a licentious connexion with a Roman lady, in consequence of which he received a wound from the hand of an unknown assassin, which had nearly cost him his life. Even when, on the death of Leo X. he left Rome, he did not return to his family, but went to Bologna, where he became enamoured of Camilla Gonzaga, a lady of rank and beauty, and a warm admirer of Italian poetry. His life after this appears to have been wholly divided between poetry and dissipation; and he died of the consequences of the latter, in 1544. His Italian and Latin poems were for many years published in detached forms until 1749, when Serassi produced an entire edition at Bergamo. ¹