Those abrupt transitions, whereby he sought to simulate the lordly _sprezzatura_ of the Theban eagle, 'soaring with supreme dominion in the azure depths of air,' remind us mainly of the hoppings of a frog.
Chiabrera failed: failed all the more lamentably because he was so scholarly, so estimable.

He is chiefly interesting now as the example of a man devoted to the Church, a pupil of Jesuits, a moralist, and a humanist, in some sense also a patriot, who felt the temper of his time, and strove to innovate in literature.

Devoid of sincere sympathy with his academically chosen models, thinking he had discovered a safe path for innovation, he fell flat in the slime and perished.
Marino had human life and vulgar nature, the sensualities and frivolities of the century, to help him.

Chiabrera claimed none of these advantages.

What had Tassoni for his outfit?
Sound common sense, critical acumen, the irony of humor, hatred of tyrants and humbug, an acrid temper mollified by genial love of letters, a manly spirit of independence.