In concluding this chapter, it may be well to say a few words, and only a few, upon the classification of poetic forms. There were during the Renaissance numerous attempts at distinguishing these forms, but on the whole all of them are fundamentally equivalent to that of Minturno, who recognizes three _genres_,--the lyric or melic, the dramatic or scenic, and the epic or narrative. This classification is essentially that of the Greeks, and it has lasted down to this very day. With lyric poetry this essay is scarcely concerned, for during the Renaissance there was no systematic lyric theory. Those who discussed it at all gave most of their attention to its formal structure, its style, and especially the conceit it contained. The model of all lyrical poetry was Petrarch, and it was in accordance with the lyrical poet's agreement or disagreement with the Petrarchan method that he was regarded as a success or a failure. Muzio's critical poem (1551) deals almost entirely with lyrical verse, and there are discussions on this subject in the works of Trissino, Equicola, Ruscelli, Scaliger, and Minturno. But the real question at issue in all these discussions is merely that of external form, and it is with the question of principles, in so far as they regard literary criticism, that this essay is primarily concerned. The theory of dramatic and epic poetry, being fundamental, will therefore receive almost exclusive attention. FOOT-NOTES: [40] Robortelli, p. 1 _sq._ [41] This analysis of Zabarella, _Opera Logica, De Natura Logicae_, ii. 13-23, I owe to the kindness of Professor Butcher of Edinburgh. Zabarella probably derived his knowledge of Aristotle's _Poetics_ from Robortelli, under whom he studied Greek. _Cf._ Bayle, _Dict._ s. v. Zabarella. [42] Maggi, p. 28 _sq._ _Cf._ B. Tasso, _Lettere_, ii. 514; Scaliger, _Poet._ i. 2; Castelvetro, _Poetica_, p. 7; Salviati, Cod. Magliabech. ii. ii. 11, fol. 384 v.; B. Jonson, _Timber_, p. 74. [43] Daniello, p. 41 _sq._ [44] Robortelli, p. 86 _sq._ [45] Robortelli, p. 90 _sq._ [46] Fracastoro, i. 340. [47] Fracastoro, i. 357 _sq._ [48] _Poet._ vi. 2. [49] Varchi, p. 578. [50] _E.g._ Piccolomini, p. 27 _sq._ [51] Tiraboschi, vii. 1331. [52] Summo, pp. 61-69. [53] _Poet._ iii. 95. [54] _Poet._ i. 1. [55] Another critic of the time, Vettori, 1560, pp. 14, 93, attacks poetic prose on the ground that in Aristotle's definition of the various poetic forms, verse is always spoken of as an essential part. It is interesting to note that the phrase "poetic prose" is used, perhaps for the first time, in Minturno, _Arte Poetica_, 1564, p. 3, etc. [56] _Opere_, x. 254. _Cf._ Minturno, _Arte Poetica_, p. 33. [57] _Poet._ iii. 96. [58] Muzio, p. 69. [59] Giraldi Cintio, i. 61. [60] _Art Poet._ iii. 50. _Cf._ Horace, _Ars Poet._ 188. [61] _Zodiac. Vitae_, i. 143. [62] Butcher, pp. 117, 118. [63] _Poet._ i. 8. [64] Fracastoro, i. 335 _sq._ [65] _Cf._ Castelvetro, _Poetica_, p. 27 _sq._