De laudibus Sophiae ad Herculem Ferrariae ducem II

In a fragmentary ode in Latin hexameter that was probably written in 1495 for the inauguration of the lessons at the Studio in Ferrara. The origin of Knowledge is attributed to ancient Egypt, where Jupiter brings together the gods for a banquet, in a cultural context that can be traced to Neoplatonism and the concept of the hermetic. Ariosto suggests a link between ancient Egyptian wisdom and Jewish wisdom of which he highlights the founding force for civilization. The work is characterised by a desire for all-absorbing and well defined knowledge. The De laudibus points to Ariosto’s interest for philosophical themes and motives of platonic and hermetic inspiration that from Florence had spread also to Ferrara with varying results. Even if it would not be right to say that Ariosto was close to Neoplatonism  in this ode, we should in any case recall that Ariosto’s interest in Latin was not just literary. The ambitious use of poetry as a vehicle for mythological interpretation of knowledge belongs to courtly humanism, and foresees the political exaltation of  Ercole I d’Este through stereotyped models. This ode reveals how ductile and sensitive was the young Ludovico, who did not just adopt the Latin models of  Ovid, Virgil and Catullus, which can however be identified in the ode. Ariosto’s Latin poetry is not just centred on the idea of elegy but there is also a marked propensity at writing occasional poetry, both private (as the well wishing odes and epicediums show), and public as revealed by the De laudibus.