Background
Cerva was born in 1463, belonging to one of the most important noble families of Ragusa, the House of Cerva.
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Ilija Crijevic
Edit ProfileEducation
He studied ancient drama and made a study of the comedies of Plautus.
Career
His life was stormy and restless. Here, in the circle of Pomponio Leto, his poetic talent awoke. lieutenant was in this period that he produced Lexicon (1480), an encyclopedic dictionary in Latin, 429 pages long and in quarto format (33 x 23 cm).
He returned to Ragusa in 1490, and became a spokesman for the Republic.
Finally, perhaps pushed by the circumstances in which he lived, Cerva decided to withdraw to the Ombla river island, where he remained until his death in 1520. Although called a poet, he published only four short components (all in Latin) during his life.
His main work, De Epidauro, was a draft of an epic poem, about the Ottoman invasions of Ragusan territory. A staunch supporter of Latin, he disliked Slavic, which was spoken in the Republic in great numbers.
He declared his nostalgia for the times when no language other than Latin had been officially used in Ragusa, and wished not to hear the "infecting Slavic language".
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Born
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Died
September 15, 1520 (aged 57) -
Nationality
Italy