17th To 20th Centuries
The transition between the humanist and classicist period began during the 17th century, with humanists becoming scientists. For about a century, epochal works appeared in Latin from representatives of the sciences and philosophy: Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon, René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Leibniz. Among the Croatian Latinists of this period was Stephanus Gradius (1613–1683), a Dubrovnik diplomat at the Roman Curia who was curator and director of the Vatican Library. He wrote treatises on philosophy, theology, mathematics and physics, and speeches and songs. Among Gradius' best-known poems is "Prejasne Venetian Republic", which explored the troubles faced by his native city ("De laudibus Serenissimae Reipublicae Venetae et Patriae cladibus drought Carmen", 1675) in 315 hexameters, providing a striking description of the 1667 Dubrovnik earthquake.
Among 17th-century Latinists was Joannes Lucius 1604–1679), whose best-known work was The Kingdom of Dalmatia and Croatia (De regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae, 1666), which provides an overview of Croatian history from prehistoric times to the 15th century supported by source material and illustrated with six maps. Lucius is considered the founder of Croatian historiography, and was involved in a dispute about the authenticity of Trimalhionove Feast (Cena Trimalchionis) by the Roman satirist Petronius, which was found in Trogir. Another historian of this era was Paul Ritter Vitezović (1652–1713); although his best-known work, Revived (Croatia rediviva regnante Leopoldo Magno caesar, 1700) was only 32 pages long, portions of his other historiographical works (both prose and verse) remain in manuscript.
During the 18th century, Latin was less a part of European literature; what Latin literature was still written lacked its previous creativity and thematic cohesion. However, in the Republic of Dubrovnik Latin literature flourished until its abolition by Napoleon in 1808. Cultural creativity revived after the earthquake and fire of 1667. Dubrovnik had no deep cultural ties with the rest of Croatia, preferring to remain in contact with the rest of Europe by retaining Latin as a lingua franca.
The last four prominent Croatian Latinists (Ruđer Bošković, Raymond Rabbits, Brno Džamanjić and Mark Galjuf) primarily lived and worked abroad. Georgius Ferrich (1739–1820), on the contrary, spent his life in his hometown. His first literary work was a version of the Psalms; first in hexameter, and then in lyrical verse. Since folk literature was popular, in 1794 Ferrich assembled a collection of 113 fables in Latin verse entitled Fabulae ab Illyricis adagiis desumptae (Croatian: Anecdote Prorečja Slovinskijeh). This work, along with correspondence with Johannes Müller (curator of the imperial poetry library in Vienna) and Julius Bajamonti (mayor of Split) during the late 18th century, is still extant. In these letters and poetry, Ferrich includes observations about local folklore (especially folk songs). One of Müller's letters concerns translations of 37 folk songs, including "Hasanaginica". Ferrich compiled a collection of Latin translations of Slovenian poems (Slavica poematia Latine reddita), written in the spirit and style of folk poetry. Ferrich's interest in folk literature is a precursor of Romanticism. He also wrote many epigrams, and a verse on the Dubrovnik coast (Periegesis orae Rhacusanae, 1803) in 3379 hexameters, describing natural beauty, customs and historical events.
Raymond Rabbit (Raymundus Cunichius, 1719–1794) is known primarily as a translator from Greek and an epigrammatic poet. He spent his life in Italy (along with Džamanjić and Galjuf) and was a member of the Roman Arcadia literary academy, established in 1690. His translation of Homer's Iliad into Latin verse (Homer Ilias Latinis versibus Express, 1776), while flawed, is considered a valuable Homeric Latin translation. In addition to Homer, he translated the poet Theocritus and the Greek Anthology into Latin.
Rabbit's disciple and friend, Brno Džamanjić (Bernardus Zamagna, 1735–1820), published Ulysses in Latin verse (Homer Odyssee Latinis versibus Express) in 1777. Like Rabbit, he was influenced by Virgil. Džamonjić wrote epic poetry, commemorative and educational elegies, epigrams and hexametric letters (Epistolae). Two short poems—"Echo" ("Echo", 1764) and "Airships" ("Navis aëria", 1768)—established him as a Latin poet.
Mark Faustin Galjuf (Marcus Faustinus Gagliuffius, 1765–1834) said of himself, "Sort Ragusinus, vita Italus, ore Latinus" ("I'm from Dubrovnik, my life is in Italy and my language is Latin"). Often persecuted because of his political activities, he wandered through Europe celebrated as an improviser of Latin verses. Džono Rastic (Junius Restius, 1755–1814) was a satirist in Croatian Latinist poetry ("Carmina", 1816) who was influenced by Horace (he is known as the Croatian Horace), Virgil and Juvenal. He was a critic of the late Dubrovnik Republic, arguing that any evil came from outside Dubrovnik.
In northern Croatia, Matthias Peter Katančić (Petrus Mathias Katancsich, 1750–1825) was the chief representative of Croatian literary classicism. He wrote poems in Latin, Croatian and Hungarian and was also known as a philologist, historian, archaeologist and numismatist. Katančić's seasonal Latin poems, influenced by Horace and published with his Croatian poems in the collection Autumn Fruits (Fructus Autumnales, 1791), demonstrated his mastery of classical verse. Two other works are attributed to him: a short note about Illyrian-language prosody ("Brevis in prosodiam Illyricae linguae animadversio", 1791) and a booklet about Illyrian poetry and the laws of aesthetics (De poes Illyrica Libellus ad aestheticae exactus Legesse, 1817). The former is the first attempt to develop principles for composing Croatian poetry in classical meter, and the latter discusses Croatian literature from the aesthetic point of view.
Ruđer Bošković (Rogerius Josephus Boscovich, 1711–1787) was one of the most distinguished East European writers of the 18th century. Versatile, equally creative in theoretical and practical scientific disciplines, he worked in the cultural and scientific centers of Europe. His theory of a single law of nature is presented in his Theory of Natural Philosophy (Philosophiae Naturalis Theoria, 1758). His poem about the solar eclipse and the moon ("Luna De Solis ac defectibus", 1760) explores the causes of these phenomena.
Bošković's countryman, Benedict Stay (Stay Benedictus, 1714–1801), lived in Italy after 1746. His philosophical poem, Six Books of Philosophy Poems (Versibus traditae Philosophiae libri sex, 1744), was written in his native Dubrovnik. This poem, of more than 10,000 verses, attempts to reconcile Descartes' work in philosophy and physics with Christian teaching. Known by his contemporaries as the new Lucretius. Encouraged by this success, in Rome Stay began to expound Newtonian philosophy and scientific discoveries in verse. The finished poem, with more than 24,000 lines, was entitled Ten Books of Philosophy in Verse (Philosophiae recentioris versibus traditae libri decem, 1755–1792).
During the 19th century, Latin literature began to disappear throughout Europe, and in the 20th century (in spite of individual efforts) it almost completely disappeared. A Croatian Latinist of this period was Ton Smerdel (1904–1970), a classical philologist who has published seven books of Latin verse by modern neo-Latin poets.
Read more about this topic: Croatian Latin Literature
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