ABSTRACT
A number of the classical sources employed in Leon Battista Alberti’s Dinner Pieces is also cited in his Italian prose works. Examples of this bilingual adaptation of Latin sources are illuminating. A further indication of Alberti's mastery of Latin poetry may be seen in a passage influenced by the elegiac poet Propertius. In Rings, Alberti's alter ego Philoponius bitterly says farewell to Rome and his deluded hopes. A further note on Rings arises from an observation made by Mark Jarzombek in his study of Alberti's literary and aesthetic theories. In Alberti's dialogue, the disenchanted Philoponius complains to Minerva that his efforts to serve her have proved vain. The identity of Philoponius' pebbles with Alberti's dinner pieces can be confirmed by comparing two passages in Alberti's writings. Philoponius' characterization of his pebbles as "rare and remarkable" echoes Alberti's preface of the Dinner Pieces, where in addressing Poggio Bracciolini he calls his pieces "various and quite rare inventions".
