, a very learned man of the fifteenth century, was a native of Spezia,
, a very learned man of the fifteenth century, was a native of Spezia, a sea-port in the Genoese territory. The most curious inquirers into the history of literature have not yet been able to ascertain the precise period of his birth. From many passages, however, which occur in his works, it appears, that he was indebted for instruction in the Latin and Greek languages to Guarino Veronese, whom he frequently mentions in terms of affectionate esteem. Facio was one of the numerous assemblage of scholars that rendered illustrious the court of Alphonsus, king of Naples, by whom he was treated with distinguished honour. He had been sent by the Genoese to Alphonsus on a political erraod, in which he failed; but the interviews he had gave the king so favourable an opinion of him, that he invited him into his service, and made him his secretary, an office which he filled for many years. During his residence at Naples, the jealousy of rival ship betrayed him into a violent quarrel with Laurentius Valla, against whom he composed four invectives, and as he happened to die soon after Valla, the circumstance occasioned the following lines: