f _commedia erudita_, or scholarly
comedy, are in blank verse, to which he gave a singular mobility by the
dactylic ending of the line (_sdrucciolo_). Ariosto's models were the
masterpieces of the _palliata_, and his morals those of his age, which
emulated those of the worst days of ancient Rome or Byzantium in
looseness, and surpassed them in effrontery. He chose his subjects
accordingly; but his dramatic genius displayed itself in the effective
drawing of character,[30] and more especially in the skilful management
of complicated intrigues.[31] Such, with an additional brilliancy of wit
and lasciviousness of tone, are likewise the characteristics of
Machiavelli's famous prose comedy, the _Mandragola_ (_The Magic
Draught_);[32] and at the height of their success, of the plays of P.
Aretino,[33] especially the prose _Marescalco_ (1526-1527) whose name,
it has been said, ought to be written in asterisks. It may be added that
the plays of Ariosto and his followers were represented with magnificent
scenery and settings. Other dramatists of the 16th century were B.
Accolti, whose _Virginia_ (prob. before 1513) treats the story from
Boccaccio which reappears in _All's Well that Ends Well_; G. Cecchi, F.
d'Ambra, A. F. Grazzini, N. Secco or Secchi and L. Dolce--all writers of
romantic comedy of intrigue in verse or prose.

The pastoral drama.

During the same century the "pastoral drama" flourished in Italy. The
origin of this peculiar species--which was the bucolic idyll in a
dramatic form, and which freely lent itself to the introduction of both
mythological and allegorical elements--was purely literary, and arose
directly out of the classical studies and tastes of the Renaissance. It
was very far removed from the genuine peasant plays which flourished in
Venetia and Tuscany early in the 16th century. The earliest example of
the artificial, but in some of its productions exquisite, growth in
question was the renowned scholar A. Politian's _Orfeo_ (1472), which
begins like an idyll and ends like a tragedy. Intended to be performed
with music--for the pastoral drama is the parent of the opera--this
beautiful work tells its story simply. N. da Correggio's (1450-1508)
_Cefalo_, or _Aurora_, and others followed, before in 1554 A. Beccari
produced, as totally new of its kind, his Arcadian pastoral drama _Il
Sagrifizio_, in which the comic element predominates. But an epoch in
the history of the species is marked by the _Amin