Lodovico Scapinelli (1585 – 3 January 1634) was an Italian philologist and poet.

Lodovico Scapinelli
Lodovico Scapinelli
Born1585
Died3 January 1634(1634-01-03) (aged 48–49)
NationalityItalian
Occupations
  • University teacher
  • Philologist
  • Poet
Parent(s)Bartolomeo Scapinelli and Orsola Scapinelli (née Levizzani)
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Bologna
Academic work
DisciplineClassics
Institutions

Biography

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Lodovico Scapinelli was born in Modena in 1585. He was blind from his birth.[1] He obtained his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Bologna on 15 October 1609.[2] He tutored the son of the Duke of Modena to such good effect that his patron sent him to the University of Bologna, where he became professor of rhetoric. He later filled the chair of literature both at Modena and Pisa, until ill-health forced him to retire in 1621.[3] But in the next seven years knowledge of his literary labors spread throughout Italy.[3]

In 1628 he was recalled to Bologna to fill the chair of rhetoric again.[3] Scapinelli was renowned for his scholarship and his lessons attracted numerous students.[4] He lectured on Virgil, Horace, Tacitus and Livy.[4] His academic prolusions on Livy's Ab urbe condita occupy an entire volume of a modern edition,[5] and gained him an international reputation.[4] Scapinelli died suddenly in Modena on 3 January 1634, at the age of forty-eight.[6] By this time his work was known, not only in Italy, but all over Europe.[3] Scapinelli was a close friend of the poet Cesare Rinaldi and a member of the Accademia degli Intrepidi of Ferrara.[7]

Works

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The edition of his works published in Parma under the title of Opere del dottore Lodovico Scapinelli, 2 vols. 8vo, contains several Italian and Latin poems, and also some pieces in prose, and fifteen dissertations on Livy.[1] He also wrote Commentaries on the works of Horace, Justin, and Seneca, and translated part of Virgil's Aeneid, but these works have not appeared in print.[3]

List of works

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  • In Nvptiis Sereniss. DD. D. Alphonsi Estensis et Infantae D. Isabellae de Sabavdia, Lvdovici Scapinelli Mvtinen. Carmen (in Latin). Mutinae: Apud Iulianum Cassianum. 1608. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
  • Opere del dottore Lodovico Scapinelli Patrizio Modenese soprannominato Il Cieco. Vol. 1. Parma: Reale Tipografia. 1801. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  • Opere del dottore Lodovico Scapinelli Patrizio Modenese soprannominato Il Cieco. Vol. 2. Parma: Reale Tipografia. 1801. Retrieved 1 July 2021.

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Boccardo 1886, p. 149.
  2. ^ Tiraboschi 1784, p. 51.
  3. ^ a b c d e Ross 1951, p. 44.
  4. ^ a b c Lines, David A. (2023). The Dynamics of Learning in Early Modern Italy. Arts and Medicine at the University of Bologna. Harvard University Press. p. 184. ISBN 9780674278424.
  5. ^ Pompilio Pozzetti, ed. (1801). "Oratio et dissertationes XV in T. Livium". in Opere del dottore Lodovico Scapinelli patrizio modenese soprannominato Il cieco. Vol. II. Parma: dalla reale tipografia. p. 5–342.
  6. ^ Tiraboschi 1784, p. 59.
  7. ^ Tiraboschi 1784, pp. 61–62.

Bibliography

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