Abstract
The present essay is part of a larger project (a book) that argues that creative literary imitation, though based on old material, can lead to an original work of art and be a reflection of contemporary realities. Its central argument is that Cecchi, in imitating characters and plot elements from Plautus, Boccaccio, and Machiavelli, managed to produce a truly original play and bring on stage a reflection of his own world. The play's amator senex Ambrogio, for instance, thinks and acts in ways reminiscent of Plautus' Lysidamus, Boccaccio's Arriguccio, and Machiavelli's Nicia and Nicomaco. Yet, he resembles none of them in particular. For the spectators, his many flaws not only distinguished him from his source counterparts, but also make him a telling satire of unnatural marriages between old men and young women. The same may be said of his adulterous wife, whose unrestraint morals set her apart from her predecessors and, at the same time, contributed to the representation of a world totally different from that of either Boccaccio or Machiavelli, the principle literary sources. In this sense, Assiuolo is not only a successful imitation, but also a true reflection of Cicero's view that comedy speaks to the spectators of their own society by imitating their lives and mirroring their costumes.
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