Chapter Traduzioni e riusi del «Grillo» di Plutarco nel Rinascimento fiorentino: Machiavelli e Gelli

Overview & Synopsis

Plutarch’s works were well known in the Florentine Renaissance, and were translated into Italian many times. The mythical dialogue Gryllus was highly appreciated and imitated. Machiavelli, the famous writer, repeatedly refers to it in his unfinished satyrical poem entitled L’Asino (The Ass), which takes the cue from Dante’s Divina Commedia and Apuleius’ Golden Ass. This paper discusses several quotations showing mockeries of Plutarch’s work. Besides, it briefly illustrates G. B. Gelli’s Circe, a perfectly complete prose work with extensive reminiscences of the Plutarchean dialogue.