was of Arezzo in Tuscany, and has been enumerated among the learned
was of Arezzo in Tuscany, and
has been enumerated among the learned men of the
fifteenth century. He is praised by Poggius, which Bayle
chooses to suspect was done merely because Aretino was
an enemy of Philelphus, whom Poggius hated. Philelphus,
on the other hand, represents Aretino in a very unfavourable
light. He is allowed, however, to have been a good Greek
and Latin scholar, and to have given some translations
from the former. He was also a pretty good poet, and
wrote prose comedies, of which Albert de Eyb has inserted
some fragments in his “Margarita Poetica.
” But what
Bayle considers as the most evident proof of his talents, is,
that on the death of Leonard Aretin, in 1443, he was
chosen to succeed him in the office of secretary of the
republic of Florence. The year of his death is not known.