Chapter VI: Lorenzo De' Medici and Poliziano (3)

[496] I must refer my readers to the original, and to the translations published by me in _Sketches and Studies in Italy_, pp. 217-224. The description of Simonetta in the meadow (_Giostra_, i. 43 and following) might be compared to a Florentine Idyll by Benozzo Gozzoli; the birth of Venus from the waves (i. 99-107) is a blending of Botticelli's _Venus_ in the Uffizzi with his _Primavera_ in the Belle Arti; the picture of Venus in the lap of Mars (i. 122-124) might be compared to work by Piero di Cosimo, or, since poetry embraces many suggestions, to paintings from the schools of Venice. The metamorphoses of Jupiter (i. 104-107) remind us of Giulio Romano. The episode of Ariadne and the Bacchic revel (i. 110-112) is in the style of Mantegna's engravings. All these passages will be found translated by me in the book above quoted.

[497] I believe the _Favola di Orfeo_, first published in 1494, and republished from time to time up to the year 1776, was the original play acted at Mantua before the Cardinal Gonzaga. It is not divided into acts, and has the usual "Annunziatore della Festa," of the _Sacre Rappresentazioni_. The _Orphei Tragaedia_, published by the Padre Ireneo Affo at Venice in 1776, from two MSS. collated by him, may be regarded as a subsequent recension of his own work made by Poliziano. It is divided into five acts, and is far richer in lyrical passages. Carducci prints both in his excellent edition of Poliziano's Italian poems. I may refer English readers to my own translation of the _Orfeo_ and the note upon its text, _Studies and Sketches in Italy_, pp. 226-242, 429, 430.

[498] The popularity of Poliziano's poems is proved by the frequency of their editions. The _Orfeo_ and the _Stanze_ were printed together or separately twenty-two times between 1494 and 1541, thirteen times between 1541 and 1653. A redaction of the _Orfeo_ in octave stanzas was published at Florence in 1558 for the use of the common people. It was entitled _La Historia e Favola d'Orfeo alla dolce lira_. This narrative version of Poliziano's play is still reprinted from time to time for the Tuscan _contadini_. Carducci cites an edition of Prato, 1860.

[499] No one who has read Poliziano's Greek epigrams on Chrysocomus, or who knows the scandal falsely circulated regarding his death, will have failed to connect the sentiments put into the mouth of Orpheus (Carducci, pp. 109-110) with the personality of the poet-scholar. That the passage in question could have been recited with applause before a Cardinal, is a fact of much significance.

[500] Perhaps Ficino was the first to give him this title. In a letter of his to Lorenzo de' Medici we read: "Nutris domi Homericum ilium adolescentem Angelum Politianum qui Graecam Homeri personam Latinis coloribus exprimat. Exprimit jam; atque, id quod mirum est ita tenera aetate, ita exprimit ut nisi quivis Graecum fuisse Homerum noverit dubitaturus sit e duobus uter naturalis sit et uter pictus Homerus" (_Ep._ ed. Flor. 1494, lib. i. p. 6). Ficino always addressed Poliziano as "Poeta Homericus."

[501] Among the frescoes by Signorelli at Orvieto there is a _tondo_ in monochrome, representing Orpheus before the throne of Pluto. He is dressed like a poet, with a laurel crown, and he is playing on a violin of antique form. Medieval demons are guarding the prostrate Eurydice. It would be curious to know whether a rumor of the Mantuan pageant had reached the ears of the Cortonese painter, or whether he had read the edition of 1494.

[502] The original should be read in the version first published by the Padre Affo (Carducci, pp. 148-154). My translation will be found in _Studies and Sketches in Italy_, pp. 235-237.

[503] "La notte esceva per Barletta (re Manfredi) cantando strambotti e canzoni, che iva pigliando lo frisco, e con isso ivano due musici Siciliani ch'erano gran romanzatori." M. Spinello, in _Scr. Rer. Ital._ vii. Spinello's Chronicles are, however, probably a sixteenth-century forgery.

[504] A letter addressed by Poliziano to Lorenzo in 1488 from Acquapendente justifies the belief that the cultivation of popular poetry had become a kind of pastime in the Medicean circle. He says: "Yesterday we set off for Viterbo. We are all gay, and make good cheer, and all along the road we whet our wits at furbishing up some song or May-day ditty, which here in Acquapendente with their Roman costume seem to me more fanciful than those at home." See Del Lungo's edition of the _Prose Volgari_, etc., p. 75.

[505] See above, p. 378. For translations of several _Ballate_ by Poliziano I may refer to my _Sketches and Studies in Italy_, pp. 190-225.

[506] For translations of detached _Rispetti_, see my _Sketches and Studies in Italy_, p. 197.

[507] I have translated one long _Rispetto Continuato_ or _Lettera in Istrambotti_; see _Sketches and Studies in Italy_, pp. 198-201. It is probable that Poliziano wrote these love-poems for his young friends, which may excuse the frequent repetitions of the same thoughts and phrases.

[508] In Carducci's edition, pp. 342, 355, 363. The first seems to me untranslatable. The second and third are translated by me in _Sketches and Studies, etc._, pp. 202-207.

[509]

But she who gives my soul sorrow and mirth,
Seemed Pallas in her gait, and in her face
Venus; for every grace
And beauty of the world in her combined.
Merely to think, far more to tell my mind,
Of that most wondrous sight, confoundeth me;
For mid the maidens she
Who most resembled her was found most rare.
Call ye another first among the fair;
Not first, but sole before my lady set:
Lily and violet.
And all the flowers below the rose must bow.
Down from her royal head and lustrous brow
The golden curls fell sportively unpent.
While through the choir she went
With feet well lessoned to the rhythmic sound.

[510]

White is the maid, and white the robe around her,
With buds and roses and thin grasses pied;
Enwreathed folds of golden tresses crowned her,
Shadowing her forehead fair with modest pride:
The wild wood smiled; the thicket, where he found her,
To ease his anguish, bloomed on every side:
Serene she sits, with gesture queenly mild,
And with her brow tempers the tempests wild.

* * * * *

Reclined he found her on the swarded grass
In jocund mood; and garlands she had made
Of every flower that in the meadow was,
Or on her robe of many hues displayed;
But when she saw the youth before her pass,
Raising her timid head awhile she stayed;
Then with her white hand gathered up her dress,
And stood, lap full of flowers, in loveliness.

[511] Praised for their incomparable sweetness by Scaliger, and translated into softest Italian by Firenzuola.