Palingenio e Rej. Alcune osservazioni sulle affinità tra lo Zodiacus vitae e il Wizerunk własny żywota człowieka poczciwego

The paper focuses on the relations between two 16th century works: Marcellus Palingenius’ The Zodiac of Life and Mikołaj Rej’s The Image of a Good Man’s Life. The philosophical poem Zodiacus vitae fell into oblivion in Italy, but has gained considerable popularity all over Europe since the 16th century. In Poland all the greatest Renaissance humanists, such as Jan Kochanowski and Mikołaj Rej, knew and read it. The latter, clearly inspired by the work of the Italian master, published The Image of a Good Man’s Life in 1558. Since the 19th century there have been some comparative studies of The Zodiac and The Image in the field of Polish literature. This article presents the current state of the research and points out general similarities and differences between these works, regarding both the story line and philosophy.