SATYRA E COMOEDIA NELLA TEORIA UMANISTICA DEI GENERI LETTERARI: I PROLEGOMENA TZETZAE NEL DE SATYRA DI GIOVANNI BRITANNICO

The article aims to highlight the features of Giovanni Britannico’s paratext about literary genre of satire, published for the first time in Brescia in 1481 in the preface of his commentary on Persius. After comparing Britannico’s work to other contemporary sources about Roman satire, the contribution points out the dependence of the text from a passage of Tzetzes’ Prolegomena De comoedia. The humanist probably came to know about this source through the teaching of the humanist Giorgio Merula, the owner of the ms. Milan, Ambrosiano C 222 inf. The use of Prolegomena Tzetzae by Britannico and some quotations in G. Merula’s works from the ms. Ambros. C 222 inf. demonstrate that the manuscript was acquired by G. Merula before 1474.