The composition of Battista Fregoso's Anteros (1496): A New Hypothesis, with a Proposed Emendation of Piattino Piatti’s Epistolae (1506)

Although Battista Fregoso (1452-1503) has been characterized in recent times as “a minor humanist”,¹ in his own day and well into the nineteenth century he was known not only as an erudite author but also as a significant political and military figure (“fu gran politico, gran capitano e gran letterato”).² He served as Doge of Genoa for five years from 1478, until overthrown in 1483 by his uncle in an intra-familial coup, a not uncommon feature of Quattrocento Genoese politics.³ Going into exile, he spent the next fifteen years dividing his time between arms and letters, alternating between military operations aimed at regaining power in Genoa, and literary activities based on the thorough humanist education he had received in his youth.⁴