C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Giovanni Maria Cecchi (1518–1587)
Cecchi, Giovanni Maria (chek’ē). An Italian dramatist; born in Florence, April 14, 1518; died there, Oct. 28, 1587. He was the rival of Bibbiena, Machiavelli, and Ariosto in portraiture of character and in liveliness of dialogue. Of his plays, 95 in number, but few have been printed. These are mainly imitations of Plautus and Terence; the best of them are: ‘The Hammer,’ ‘The Slave’ and (the most famous of all) ‘The Owl.’ He wrote also religious dramas; among them ‘The Exaltation of the Holy Cross’ (1589).