Some  of  these  opinions  throw  light  on  important  controversies
of  contemporary  history,  as,  for  example,  the  conflict  between
Duke  Ulrich  of  Wurtemberg  and  Ferdinand  of  Austria,1  and  that
between  Duke  Henry  the  younger  of  Brunswick  and  Goslar.2
Alciati's  interest  in  history  is  shown  apart  from  his  devotion
to  ancient  life  and  institutions,  by  his  Encomium  historiae  (1530),
though  already  in  1519,  in  his  dedicatory  epistle  to  his  Notes  on
Tacitus,  he  emphasized  the  value  and  importance  of  historical
science.    In  the  latter  work  he  skilfully  compares  and  contrasts
Livy  and  Tacitus,  and,  being  the  sound  judge  that  he  is,  he  has
no  hesitation  in  awarding  to  the  latter  a  much  higher  rank.3    He
began  also  a  history  of  Milan,  which  reaches  to  the  fifteenth
century  ;  in  this  work,  however,  he  does  not  manifest  a  very  great
critical  power  in  the  handling  of  the  sources,  but  shows  too  strong
a  leaning  to  roam  in  curious  interesting  by-paths.     "  Er  besass
in  hohem  Masse  .  .  .  den  Sinn  fiir  das  Interessante."4    But  his
collection  of  inscriptions  has  a  much  greater  value,  and  has  been
utilized  by  later  researchers.    No  less  a  writer  than  Mommsen,
whose  authority  in  this  category  of    historical  documents  is
supreme,  has  declared  that  not  only  did  Alciati  reform  juris-
prudence, but  he  also  laid  the  foundations  of  the  science  of  epi-
graphy.5   As  a  humanist  he  had  a  deep  love  for  classical  litera-

1  Responsa,  col.  354  seq.  2  Ibid.,  col.  694  seq.
3  Opera,  iv.  col.  876.  *  Moeller,  p.  125.
