FIORI DI VIRTÙ. - A classic work of civic and moral education, founded on the authority of the greatest theologians and philosophers; much recommended by the ancients to the young as rich in examples of pure Tuscan language and filled with precious teachings for good conduct and for rightly governing oneself and others.
It is divided into 40 chapters, in which the most necessary virtues and the principal vices are treated, each associated with an animal. In some editions the work is called Fiori di virtuali e costumi or F. di s. Among the oldest editions, the best is that of 515 (Rome, Marcello Silberg Alf Frank); among the more recent, the Roman edition of 1710 and that of Padua of 1751 are highly esteemed. Its author is not known with certainty, but it is now quite commonly attributed to Tomaso Leena and is believed to have been composed before 1323, that is, before the canonization of s. Tommaso.