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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: JEE-JUN |
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JOVIUS, PAULUS , or Paolo Giovio (1483-1552), Italian historian and biographer, was born of an ancient and noble family at Como on the 19th of April 1483. His father died when he was a child, and Giovio owed his education to his brother Benedetto. After studying the humanities, he applied himself to medicine and philosophy at his brother's request. He was Pomponazzi's pupil at Padua; and afterwards he took a medical degree in the university of Pavia. He exercised the medical profession in Rome, but the attraction of literature proved irresistible for Giovio, and he was bent upon becoming the historian of his age. He presented a portion of his history to Leo X., who read the MS., and pronounced it superior in elegance to anything since Livy, Thus encouraged, Giovio took up his residence in Rome, and attached himself to Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, the pope's nephew. The next pope, Adrian VI., gave him a canonry in Como, on the condition, it is said, that Giovio should mention him with honour in his history. This patronage from a pontiff who was averse from the current tone of Italian humanism proves that Giovio at this period passed for a man of sound learning and sober manners. After Adrian's, death, Giulio de' Medici became pope as Clement VII. and assigned him chambers in the Vatican, with maintenance for servants befitting a courtier of rank. In addition to other benefices, he finally, in 1528, bestowed on him the bishopric of Nocera. Giovio had now become in a special
In the sack he suffered a serious pecuniary and literary loss, if we may credit his own statement. The story runs that he deposited the MS. of his history, together with some silver, in a box at S. Maria Sopra Minerva for safety. This box was discovered by two Spaniards, one of whom secured the silver, while the other, named Herrera, knowing who Giovio was, preferred to hold the MSS. for ransom . Herrera was so careless, however, as to throw away the sheets he found in paper , reserving only that portion of the work which was transcribed on parchment. This he subsequently sold to Giovo in exchange for a benifice at Cordova , which Clement VII. conceded to the Spaniard. Six books of the history were lost in this transaction. Giovo contented himself with indicating their substance in a summary. Perhaps he was not unwilling that his work should resemble that of Livy, even in its imperfection. But' See, more fully, Harnack, Hist.of Dogma, v. 57. doubt rests upon the whole of this story. Apostolo Zeno affirms that in the middle of the last century three of the missing books turned up among family papers in the possession of Count Giov. Batt. Giovio, who wrote a panegyric on his ancestor. It is therefore not improbable that Giovio possessed his history intact, but preferred to withhold from publication those portions which might have involved him in difficulties with living persons of importance. The omissions were afterwards made good by Curtio Marinello in the Italian edition, published at Venice in 1581. But whether Marinello was the author of these additions is not known. After Clement's death Giovio found himself out of favour with the next pope, Paul III. The failure of his career is usually ascribed to the irregularity of the life he led in the literary society of Rome. We may also remember that Paul had special
Giovio's principal work was the History of His Own Times, from the invasion of Charles VIII. to the year 1547. It was divided into two parts, containing altogether forty
series of biographies, entitled Elogia virorum illustrium. They commemorate men distinguished for letters and arms, selected from all periods, and are said to have been written in illustration
Giovio preferred Latin in the composition of his more important works. Though contemporary with Machiavelli, Guicciardini
Varchi
Horace Walpole.The best and most complete edition of Giovio's works is that of Basel (1678). For his life see Giuseppe Sanesi, "Alcuni osservazioni e notizie intorno a tre storici minori del cinquecentoGiovio; Nerli, Segni" (in A rchivio Storico Italiano, 5th series , vol.xxiii.) ; Eug. Mfintz, Sul museo di ritratti composto da Paolo Giovio (ibid., vol. xix.).End of Article: JOVIUS, PAULUS If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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