BOCCACCIO. 215 BOCCHUS. their relative positions, representing Fiammetta as the one who is abandoned, so that the story becomes simply a personal record of her grief and sufferings. (6) Xiiifale Fiesohiiio; (7) Aniorosa Visione : and (8) Corbaccio — three minor works of uncertain date. (9) Vita di Dante (1364); and (10) numerous Latin poems and prose writings. The work, however, upon which his fame rests is the Decameron, a col- lection of 100 stories, supposed to have been told during ten successive days by a party of ten peo- ple who, to escape the plague, have retired to a charming retreat a short distance outside of Florence. The stories themselves are few of them original with Boccaccio. They are drawn from the French fabliaux, from classical or Ori- entiil sources, from current folk-lore, and are pruned and polished and worked over in order to suit the spirit of the time and place and the supposed characters of the narrators. He went for his material and his inspiration mainly to the simple and homely humor of the people; he turned it, with an alchemist's touch, into liter- ary gems, which in his own time won the plau- dits of the most fastidious. Tlie licentiousness of these stories has been, from his time to the pres- ent, a standing reproach against Boccaccio ; yet allowance must be made for his age and his environment. He gave only what he found, and the chief interest which the Decameron possesses to-day is due to the fidelity with which it mir- rors for us the life of his time and country, while in the delicate art of the short story — of clear, vivid, swift narration — he set a standard which has seldom been attained by those who have come since. The Decameron has been translated into al- most all modern languages, and has proved a useful mine for many a later author — Shake- speare, lloli^re, and La Fontaine among them. Of Italian editions, the earliest of all, the so- called "Deo gratias" edition, is without date; the second is dated Venice. 1471. Both are folios and both verj' rare. For biographies of Boccac- cio, consult: Baldelli, Vita di Giovanni Boccac- cio (Florence, ISOti) ; Landau, Boccaccio, seiii Leben und seine Werke (Stuttgart, 1877) ; trans- lated by Antona-Traversi, much amplified (Na- ples, 1881); and Cochin, Boccaccio, etudes ita- liennes (Paris, 1800). BOCCAGE, JI..NOEL M.Ri. Babbosa du ( 1765- 180o). A popular Portuguese poet, born at Setubal. His admission to the army at the age of 14 ; his five years' service in the East Indies, with the rank of lieutenant; his re- turn to Lisbon in 1790, where he soon became the most distinguished member of the circle of young poets known as the Nova Arcadia; his eager advocacj' of the cause of the French Revolution, his arrest in 1797. and imprison- ment for the revolutionary and atheistic tone of certain poems, notably his "Verdades Duras," and his death in 1805, complete the chronicle of his short and troubled life. The quality of Boccage's poems is extremely uneven. He bad an unusual gift for improvisation, and wasted himself to a large extent upon verse of that sort, often upon the most frivolous subjects. Yet among his poems there are some of high order — sonnets that are little masterpieces of polished verse and amply justify the admiration of his contemporaries; while the popular and national spirit that animates them is the new note which he introduced into Portuguese literature, and which later foimd further expression in the younger national .school led by Almeida-Garreit and Castillio. An excellent biography of Boc- cage, by Braga. forms the introduction to the latest edition of his poems (Oporto, 1876). BOCCAGE, Mabie Anne Fiquet du (Lepage) (1710-180-2). A French poetess, remarkable chiefly for the praises she inspired as '"Venus in form, Minerva in art." She was a member of the academies of Rome, Bologna, Padua, Ly- ons, and Rouen. She imitated Milton in An Earthly Paradise (Paradis terrestre) (1748), and wrote also miscellaneous Poems (1746), and La Colombiade (1756)'. Her letters to her sister while traveling in England, Holland, and Italy have still an interest quite absent from her verses. BOCCALINI, bok'ka-le'ne, Tr.a.jaxo (1556- 1(!13). .-Vn Italian satirist, born at Loreto. Under favor of Gregory XIII. he held several offices, the most important being that of Gov- ernor of Benevento. His principal work is his Ragguagli di Parnaso ("News from Parnas- sus"), in which he professes to give informa- tion regarding events in the Kingdom of Apollo. The work, which is full of cutting satire, enjoyed great popularity in its day, and was extensively translated. It probably exerted considerable in- fluence upon Swift and Addison. Other works by Boecalini are the Pictre del paragone politico, and his Commentaries Upon Tacitus, which earned him, from Bentivoglio, the title of 'grande anatomista di Tacito.'. BOCCHE DI CATTARO, bo'ka de kiit'ta-rO. See C-TTAr.o, Gulf of. BOCCHEBINI, bo'ka-re'ne, LuiGI (1743- 1805). An Italian composer and violoncello vir- tuoso. He was born in Lucca, February 19, 1743. He was the son of a contrabassist, who instructed him on the violoncello. Afterwards he studied in Rome, and traveled through Italy and Ger- many, playing in concerts with success. He went to Paris (1768) and to Madrid (1769), and became composer and violoncellist in the Chapel of the Infante Don Luiz, which post he held until 1785. Owing to impaired health, he fell into ])overty, and was aided by friends. Boceherini occupies a place in Italian music somewhat similar to that of Haydn and ^Mozart in German. His style is antiquated, but the simple melodies are still fresh in their naivete and grace. His adagios and minuets are noted for their quaint beauty. Boccherini's quintets are famous. They are written for two violins, viola, and two violoncellos — an arrangement that has seldom been imitated; and they arc noted for the difficulties of the first violoncello part, evidently written to display his ability as a virtuoso". He died in Madrid, May 28, 1805. BOCCHUS, bokTcus (Gk. BA/cxos, Bokchos). King (if Maurctania and father-in-law of .lugur- llia. Witb .Jugurtha he made war against the Romans, but afterwards (B.C. 106) delivered him up to Sulla, the quaestor of Marius (Sallust, Jug. 80-120; Plutarch, .l/or. 8-32 ) , — Bocciius ( ? — 33 B.C. ) . A son of the preceding. In the early part of his career he reigned over Maurc- tania with his brother, Bogudes, and after assist- ing Caesar in his war against the Pompeians in Africa was rewarded with a part of the king-
