His irritable sensibilities caused him to suffer intensely from the petty vengeance of the people he annoyed; while a kind of amiable egotism blinded his eyes to his own faults, and made him blame fortune for sufferings of which his indiscretion was the cause.
After leaving Bologna, Tasso became for some months house-guest of his father's earliest patrons, the Modenese Rangoni.

With them he seems to have composed his Dialogues upon the Art of Poetry.

For many years the learned men of Italy had been contesting the true nature of the Epic.
One party affirmed that the ancients ought to be followed; and that the rules of Aristotle regarding unity of plot, dignity of style, and subordination of episodes, should be observed.

The other party upheld the romantic manner of Ariosto, pleading for liberty of fancy, richness of execution, variety of incident, intricacy of design.

Torquato from his earliest boyhood had heard these points discussed, and had watched his father's epic, the _Amadigi_, which was in effect a romantic poem petrified by classical convention, in process of production.