[97] _Ambrosii Traversarii Opera, tom. ii. p. 285._ To the decline of life Poggio retained a considerable degree of indignation, which was at this time excited in his mind, by the indifference with which his labours to recover the lost writers of antiquity were regarded by the great. In the introduction to his dialogue, _De Infelicitate Principum_, he puts the following strictures on their conduct into the mouth of Niccolo Niccoli.—“When many of the ancient classics had been brought to light by our friend Poggio, and there was a most flattering prospect of the recovery of others of still greater consequence, no sovereign prince or pontiff contributed in the least degree to the liberation of those most excellent authors from the prisons of the barbarians. These exalted personages spend their days and their money in pleasures, in unworthy pursuits, in pestiferous and destructive wars. So great is their mental torpidity, that nothing can rouse them to search after the works of excellent writers, by whose wisdom and learning mankind are taught the way to true felicity.”—_Poggii Opera, p. 394._ [98] _Mehi Præfatio, p. xlvi. xlvii._ [99] _Poggii Epistolæ lvii. ep. xxx._ [100] _Mehi Præfatio, p. xlvii._ [101] Mehus, on the authority of one Vespasiano di Filippo, says, that he was born of poor parents. The author of his life, in the _Elogi degli Illustri uomini Toscani_, maintains, on the contrary, that his family was graced with the honours of nobility; and he supports his position by very cogent arguments. These different statements may be reconciled by an hypothesis by no means devoid of probability, namely, that the father of Ambrogio was descended of noble blood, but that the fortunes of his house were fallen to decay. [102] Demetrius was so much pleased with the respectful attention which he received from his Camaldolese pupils, that he became a member of their fraternity in the year 1416.—_Mehi Vita Ambros. Travers. p. ccclxv._ [103] _Elogi degli uomini illus. Toscani, tom. i. p. cccxl. Mehi Vita Ambros. Travers. p. ccclxiv. & seq. Ejusdem Præfatio ad Colucii Salutati Epistolas, p. xli._ [104] _Poggii Opera, p. 252-261._ [105] _Muratori Annali d’Italia, tom. ix. p. 84._ [106] _Ibid._