Agostino Mascardi

Agostino Mascardi (2 September 1590 – 1640) was an Italian rhetorician, historian and poet.

Expelled from the Jesuit Order by his superiors, Mascardi pursued a successful career as a secretary for various important figures, and became a renowned writer and professor of rhetoric at the Sapienza University of Rome. He was a member of several learned societies and wrote a seminal treatise, "Dell'arte historica" (1636) advocating history as a powerful instrument of ethical and religious persuasion and largely focusing on the interplay between truth and believability. Provided by Wikipedia