Other dramas were contributed by Ludovico Ariosto, considered the best writer of early Italian vernacular comedy and a principal figure in the establishment of this literary form; the philosopher-playwright Giambattista della Porta, author of a number of stinging satires; and Niccolo Machiavelli, whose La mandragola (first dated publication 1524; "The Mandrake") was one of the outstanding comedies of the century.