VIDA, MARCO GIROLAMO, a very elegant Latin poet, was a native of Cremona, but the time of his birth is uncertain. Different writers have placed it in 1470, 1480, and 1490. His parents were noble, but not wealthy. He prosecuted his studies at Padua and Bologna, and at an early age was admitted into the congregation of the canons re-
gular of St Mark at Mantua. Here, however, he did not long remain, but removed to Rome, where he became a canon of St John of the Lateran. His poetical talents recommended him to the favour of Leo X., who bestowed upon him the priorship of St Sylvester near Tivoli. Vida published a collection of his poems at Rome in the year 1527. This collection, a quarto of 110 leaves, contains De Arte Poetica libri iii., De Bombyce libri ii., De Ludo Scacchiarum, Hymni, Bucolica. Leo recommended to him the subject of a sacred poem, which was not completed till after the death of that pontiff. Under the title of Christiados, it was published at Cremona in 1535. In 1532 Clement VII. had promoted him to the bishopric of Alba. Another pope, Paul III., destined him for the bishopric of Cremona, but died before he could fulfil his intentions. Vida composed several other works in verse, and some in prose. When his episcopal city was attacked by the French and the imperialists in 1542, he displayed his courage by urging the garrison to make a strenuous defence, and he afterwards contributed to the recovery of this conquest out of their hands. He accompanied the papal legates to the Council of Trent; and upon that occasion composed a prose work, entitled Dialogi de Republica Dignitate, and printed at Cremona in 1556. He died at Alba on the 27th of September 1566, and his remains were interred in the cathedral. Vida possessed a very elegant taste, and was a great master of Latin versification. The art of poetry, the operations of the silk-worm, and even the game of chess, he has discussed with singular grace and harmony. The encomium of Pope rendered his name familiar to English ears:
Immortal Vida, on whose honour'd brow
The poet's bays and critic's ivy grow.
Of his poems there are several collective editions. A collection exclusive of his sacred poems, was published by Thomas Tristram, A.M., Oxon. 1722-3. 2 part. 8vo. But the best edition, containing all the poems which he acknowledged as his, together with the Dialogi, appeared soon afterwards, under the care of J. Ant. et Cajetano Vulpis. Patav. 1731, 2 tom. 4to. Some of Vida's poems have been translated into various languages. Of the Poetica, an English translation was published by Pitt in 1725, and another by Hampson in 1793. Of the poem on Chess, an English version is said to have been published by Erskine in 1735. A translation of another work, accompanying the original, appeared under the title of The Christiados, a poem in six books: translated from the Latin of Marcus Iheronimus Vida, by J. Cranwell, M.A., Cambridge, 1768, 8vo.