CHAPTER I.

BEFORE DANTE.

Characteristics of mediæval literature 372 Its attitude to criticism 373 Importance of prosody 373 The early formal Rhetorics—Bede 374 Isidore 375 Alcuin(?) 375 Another track of inquiry 377 St Augustine a Professor of Rhetoric 377 His attitude to literature before and after his conversion 378 Analysis of the _Confessions_ from this point of view 378 A conclusion from this to the general patristic view of 380 literature Sidonius Apollinaris 383 His elaborate epithet-comparison 385 And minute criticisms of style and metre 386 A deliberate critique 388 Cassiodorus 389

Boethius 390 Critical attitude of the fifth century 391 The sixth—Fulgentius 392 The Fulgentii and their books 393 The _Super Thebaiden_ and _Expositio Virgiliana_ 394 Venantius Fortunatus 396 Isidore of Seville again 400 Bede again 402 His _Ars Metrica_ 403 The Central Middle Ages to be more rapidly passed over 405 Provençal and Latin treatises 407 The _De Dictamine Rhythmico_ 407 John of Garlandia 408 The _Labyrinthus_ 408 Critical review of poets contained in it 409 Minor rhythmical treatises 411 Geoffrey de Vinsauf: his _Nova Poetria_ 412