Pierio Valeriano on the ill fortune of learned men

the long version

"Julia Haig Gaisser provides us with a translation of and context for the interesting and often misunderstood sixteenth century dialogue De litteratorum infelicitate (On the Ill Fortune of Learned Men) by Pierio Valeriano. The dialogue among several humanists takes place during Lent, 1529, less than two years after the Sack of Rome and just before the stirrings of the Counter Reformation. These humanists, including Valeriano, are gathered together discussing the lives and unhappy fortunes of humanists from 1470 to 1540. The stories are interesting not only for the direct historical information they provide but also because they present Italian humanism as an organic network of intersecting lives and because they portray complex response to both the Sack of Rome and to its psychological aftereffects in the curial and humanist community."--BOOK JACKET.