Chapter V: General Disintegration of Belief (7)

[933] _Arch. Stor._ append. ii. p. 310. The Mystery of the Annunciation at Ferrara, on the occasion of the wedding of Alfonso, with fireworks and flying apparatus. For an account of the representation of Susanna, John the Baptist, and of a legend, at the house of the Cardinal Riario, see Corio, fol. 417. For the Mystery of Constantine the Great in the Papal Palace at the Carnival, 1484, see Jac. Volaterran. (Murat. xxiii. col. 194). The chief actor was a Genoese born and educated at Constantinople.

[934] Graziani, _Cronaca di Perugia, Arch. Stor._ xvi. 1. p. 598. At the Crucifixion, a figure was kept ready and put in the place of the actor.

[935] For this, see Graziani, l. c. and _Pii II. Comment._ l. viii. pp. 383, 386. The poetry of the fifteenth century sometimes shows the same coarseness. A ‘canzone’ of Andrea da Basso traces in detail the corruption of the corpse of a hard-hearted fair one. In a monkish drama of the twelfth century King Herod was put on the stage with the worms eating him (_Carmina Burana_, pp. 80 sqq.). Many of the German dramas of the seventeenth century offer parallel instances.

[936] Allegretto, _Diarii Sanesi_, in Murat. xxiii. col. 767.

[937] Matarazzo, _Arch. Stor._ xvi. ii. p. 36. The monk had previously undertaken a voyage to Rome to make the necessary studies for the festival.

[938] Extracts from the ‘Vergier d’honneur,’ in Roscoe, _Leone X._, ed. Bossi, i. p. 220, and iii. p. 263.

[939] _Pii II. Comment._ l. viii. pp. 382 sqq. Another gorgeous celebration of the ‘Corpus Domini’ is mentioned by Bursellis, _Annal. Bonon._ in Murat. xxiii. col. 911, for the year 1492. The representations were from the Old and New Testaments.

[940] On such occasions we read, ‘Nulla di muro si potea vedere.’

[941] The same is true of many such descriptions.

[942] Five kings with an armed retinue, and a savage who fought with a (tamed?) lion; the latter, perhaps, with an allusion to the name of the Pope--Sylvius.

[943] Instances under Sixtus IV., Jac. Volaterr. in Murat. xxiii. col. 135 (bombardorum et sclopulorum crepitus), 139. At the accession of Alexander VI. there were great salvos of artillery. Fireworks, a beautiful invention due to Italy, belong, like festive decorations generally, rather to the history of art than to our present work. So, too, the brilliant illuminations we read of in connexion with many festivals, and the hunting-trophies and table-ornaments. (See p. 319. The elevation of Julius II. to the Papal throne was celebrated at Venice by three days’ illumination. Brosch, _Julius II._ p. 325, note 17.)

[944] Allegretto, in Murat. xxiii. col. 772. See, besides, col. 770, for the reception of Pius II. in 1459. A paradise, or choir of angels, was represented, out of which came an angel and sang to the Pope, ‘in modo che il Papa si commosse a lagrime per gran tenerezza da si dolci parole.’

[945] See the authorities quoted in Favre, _Mélanges d’Hist. Lit._ i. 138; Corio, fol. 417 sqq. The _menu_ fills almost two closely printed pages. ‘Among other dishes a mountain was brought in, out of which stepped a living man, with signs of astonishment to find himself amid this festive splendour; he repeated some verses and then disappeared’ (Gregorovius, vii. 241). Infessura, in Eccard, _Scriptt._ ii. col. 1896; _Strozzii Poetae_, fol. 193 sqq. A word or two may here be added on eating and drinking. Leon. Aretino (_Epist._ lib. iii. ep. 18) complains that he had to spend so much for his wedding feast, garments, and so forth, that on the same day he had concluded a ‘matrimonium’ and squandered a ‘patrimonium.’ Ermolao Barbaro describes, in a letter to Pietro Cara, the bill of fare at a wedding-feast at Trivulzio’s (_Angeli Politiani Epist._ lib. iii.). The list of meats and drinks in the Appendix to Landi’s _Commentario_ (above) is of special interest. Landi speaks of the great trouble he had taken over it, collecting it from five hundred writers. The passage is too long to be quoted (we there read: ‘Li antropofagi furono i primi che mangiassero carne humana’). Poggio (_Opera_, 1513, fol. 14 sqq.) discusses the question’: ‘Uter alteri gratias debeat pro convivio impenso, isne qui vocatus est ad convivium an qui vocavit?’ Platina wrote a treatise ‘De Arte Coquinaria,’ said to have been printed several times, and quoted under various titles, but which, according to his own account (_Dissert. Vossiane_, i. 253 sqq.), contains more warnings against excess than instructions on the art in question.

[946] Vasari, ix. p. 37, _Vita di Puntormo_, tells how a child, during such a festival at Florence in the year 1513, died from the effects of the exertion--or shall we say, of the gilding? The poor boy had to represent the ‘golden age’!

[947] Phil. Beroaldi, _Nuptiae Bentivolorum_, in the _Orationes Ph. B._ Paris, 1492, c. 3 sqq. The description of the other festivities at this wedding is very remarkable.

[948] M. Anton. Sabellici, _Epist._ l. iii. fol. 17.

[949] Amoretti, _Memorie, &c. su. Lionardo da Vinci_, pp. 38 sqq.

[950] To what extent astrology influenced even the festivals of this century is shown by the introduction of the planets (not described with sufficient clearness) at the reception of the ducal brides at Ferrara. _Diario Ferrarese_, in Muratori, xxiv. col. 248, ad. a. 1473; col. 282, ad. a. 1491. So, too, at Mantua, _Arch. Stor._ append. ii. p. 233.

[951] _Annal. Estens._ in Murat. xx. col. 468 sqq. The description is unclear and printed from an incorrect transcript.

[952] We read that the ropes of the machine used for this purpose were made to imitate garlands.

[953] Strictly the ship of Isis, which entered the water on the 5th of March, as a symbol that navigation was reopened. For analogies in the German religion, see Jac. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_.

[954] _Purgatorio_, xxix. 43 to the end, and xxx. at the beginning. According to v. 115, the chariot is more splendid than the triumphal chariot of Scipio, of Augustus, and even of the Sun-God.

[955] Ranke, _Gesch. der Roman. und German. Völker_, ed. 2, p. 95. P. Villari, _Savonarola_.

[956] Fazio degli Uberti, _Dittamondo_ (lib. ii. cap. 3), treats specially ‘del modo del triumphare.’

[957] Corio, fol. 401: ‘dicendo tali cose essere superstitioni de’ Re.’ Comp. Cagnola, _Arch. Stor._ iii. p. 127, who says that the duke declined from modesty.

[958] See above, vol. i. p. 315 sqq.; comp. i. p. 15, note 1. ‘Triumphus Alfonsi,’ as appendix to the _Dicta et Facta_ of Panormita, ed. 1538, pp. 129-139, 256 sqq. A dislike to excessive display on such occasions was shown by the gallant Comneni. Comp. Cinnamus, i. 5, vi. 1.

[959] The position assigned to Fortune is characteristic of the naïveté of the Renaissance. At the entrance of Massimiliano Sforza into Milan (1512), she stood as the chief figure of a triumphal arch _above_ Fama, Speranza, Audacia, and Penitenza, all represented by living persons. Comp. Prato, _Arch. Stor._ iii. p. 305.

[960] The entrance of Borso of Este into Reggio, described above (p. 417), shows the impression which Alfonso’s triumph had made in all Italy,. On the entrance of Cæsar Borgia into Rome in 1500, see Gregorovius, vii. 439.

[961] Prato, _Arch. Stor._ iii. 260 sqq. The author says expressly, ‘le quali cose da li triumfanti Romani se soliano anticamente usare.’

[962] Her three ‘capitoli’ in terzines, _Anecd. Litt._ iv. 461 sqq.

[963] Old paintings of similar scenes are by no means rare, and no doubt often represent masquerades actually performed. The wealthy classes soon became accustomed to drive in chariots at every public solemnity. We read that Annibale Bentivoglio, eldest son of the ruler of Bologna, returned to the palace after presiding as umpire at the regular military exercises, ‘cum triumpho more romano.’ Bursellis, l. c. col. 909. ad. a. 1490.

[964] The remarkable funeral of Malatesta Baglione, poisoned at Bologna in 1437 (Graziani, _Arch. Stor._ xvi. i. p. 413), reminds us of the splendour of an Etruscan funeral. The knights in mourning, however, and other features of the ceremony, were in accordance with the customs of the nobility throughout Europe. See e.g. the funeral of Bertrand Duguesclin, in Juvénal des Ursins, ad. a. 1389. See also Graziani, l. c. p. 360.

[965] Vasari, ix. p. 218, _Vita di Granacci_. On the triumphs and processions in Florence, see Reumont, _Lorenzo_, ii. 433.

[966] Mich. Cannesius, _Vita Pauli II._ in Murat. iii. ii. col. 118 sqq.

[967] Tommasi, _Vita di Caesare Borgia_, p. 251.

[968] Vasari ix. p. 34 sqq., _Vita di Puntormo_. A most important passage of its kind.

[969] Vasari, viii. p. 264, _Vita di Andrea del Sarto_.

[970] Allegretto, in Murat. xxiii. col. 783. It was reckoned a bad omen that one of the wheels broke.

[971] _M. Anton. Sabellici Epist._ l. iii. letter to M. Anton. Barbavarus. He says: ‘Vetus est mos civitatis in illustrium hospitum adventu eam navim auro et purpura insternere.’

[972] Sansovino, _Venezia_, fol. 151 sqq. The names of these corporations were: Pavoni, Accessi, Eterni, Reali, Sempiterni. The academies probably had their origin in these guilds.

[973] Probably in 1495. Comp. _M. Anton. Sabellici Epist._ l. v. fol. 28; last letter to M. Ant. Barbavarus.

[974] ‘Terræ globum socialibus signis circunquaque figuratum,’ and ‘quinis pegmatibus, quorum singula foederatorum regum, principumque suas habuere effigies et cum his ministros signaque in auro affabre caelata.’

[975] Infessura, in Eccard, _Scriptt._ ii. col. 1093, 2000; Mich. Cannesius, _Vita Pauli II._ in Murat. iii. ii. col. 1012; Platina. _Vitae Pontiff._ p. 318; Jac. Volaterran. in Murat. xiii. col. 163, 194; Paul. Jov. _Elogia_, sub Juliano Cæsarino. Elsewhere, too, there were races for women, _Diario Ferrarese_, in Murat. xxiv. col. 384: comp. Gregorovius, vi. 690 sqq., vii. 219, 616 sqq.

[976] Once under Alexander VI. from October till Lent. See Tommasi, l. c. p. 322.

[977] Baluz. _Miscell._ iv. 517 (comp. Gregorovius, vii. 288 sqq.).

[978] _Pii II. Comment._ l. iv. p. 211.

[979] Nantiporto, in Murat. iii. ii. col. 1080. They wished to thank him for a peace which he had concluded, but found the gates of the palace closed and troops posted in all the open places.

[980] ‘Tutti i trionfi, carri, mascherate, o canti carnascialeschi.’ Cosmopoli, 1750. Macchiavelli, _Opere Minori_, p. 505; Vasari, vii. p. 115 sqq. _Vita di Piero di Cosimo_, to whom a chief part in the development of these festivities is ascribed. Comp. B. Loos (above, p. 154, note 1) p. 12 sqq. and Reumont, _Lorenzo_, ii. 443 sqq., where the authorities are collected which show that the Carnival was soon restrained. Comp. ibid ii. p. 24.

[981] _Discorsi_, l. i. c. 12. Also c. 55: Italy is more corrupt than all other countries; then come the French and Spaniards.

[982] Paul. Jov. _Viri Illustres_: Jo. Gal. Vicecomes. Comp. p. 12 sqq. and notes.

[983] On the part filled by the sense of honour in the modern world, see Prévost-Paradol, _La France Nouvelle_, liv. iii. chap. 2.

[984] Compare what Mr. Darwin says of blushing in the ‘Expression of the Emotions,’ and of the relations between shame and conscience.

[985] Franc. Guicciardini, _Ricordi Politici e Civili_, n. 118 (_Opere inedite_, vol. i.).

[986] His closest counterpart is Merlinus Coccajus (Teofilo Folengo), whose _Opus Maccaronicorum_ Rabelais certainly knew, and quotes more than once (_Pantagruel_, l. ii. ch. 1. and ch. 7, at the end). It is possible that Merlinus Coccajus may have given the impulse which resulted in Pantagruel and Gargantua.

[987] _Gargantua_, l. i. cap. 57.

[988] That is, well-born in the higher sense of the word, since Rabelais, son of the innkeeper of Chinon, has here no motive for assigning any special privilege to the nobility. The preaching of the Gospel, which is spoken of in the inscription at the entrance to the monastery, would fit in badly with the rest of the life of the inmates; it must be understood in a negative sense, as implying defiance of the Roman Church.

[989] See extracts from his diary in Delécluze, _Florence et ses Vicissitudes_, vol. 2.

[990] Infessura, ap. Eccard, _Scriptt._ ii. col. 1992. On F. C. see above, p. 108.

[991] This opinion of Stendhal (_La Chartreuse de Parme_, ed. Delahays, p. 335) seems to me to rest on profound psychological observation.

[992] Graziani, _Cronaca di Perugia_, for the year 1437 (_Arch. Stor._ xvi. i. p. 415).

[993] Giraldi, _Hecatommithi_, i. nov. 7.

[994] Infessura, in Eccard, _Scriptt._ ii. col. 1892, for the year 1464.

[995] Allegretto, _Diari Sanisi_, in Murat. xxiii. col. 837. Allegretto was himself present when the oath was taken, and had no doubt of its efficacy.

[996] Those who leave vengeance to God are ridiculed by Pulci, _Morgante_, canto xxi. str. 83 sqq., 104 sqq.

[997] Guicciardini, _Ricordi_, l. c. n. 74.

[998] Thus Cardanus (_De Propria Vita_, cap. 13) describes himself as very revengeful, but also as ‘verax, memor beneficiorum, amans justitiæ.’

[999] It is true that when the Spanish rule was fully established the population fell off to a certain extent. Had this fact been due to the demoralisation of the people, it would have appeared much earlier.

[1000] Giraldi, _Hecatommithi_, iii. nov. 2. In the same strain, _Cortigiano_, l. iv. fol. 180.

[1001] A shocking instance of vengeance taken by a brother at Perugia in the year 1455, is to be found in the chronicle of Graziani (_Arch. Stor._ xvi. p. 629). The brother forces the gallant to tear out the sister’s eyes, and then beats him from the place. It is true that the family was a branch of the Oddi, and the lover only a cordwainer.

[1002] Bandello, parte i. nov. 9 and 26. Sometimes the wife’s confessor is bribed by the husband and betrays the adultery.

[1003] See above p. 394, and note 1.

[1004] As instance, Bandello, part i. nov. 4.

[1005] ‘Piaccia al Signore Iddio che non si ritrovi,’ say the women in Giraldi (iii. nov. 10), when they are told that the deed may cost the murderer his head.

[1006] This is the case, for example, with Gioviano Pontano (_De Fortitudine_, l. ii.). His heroic Ascolans, who spend their last night in singing and dancing, the Abruzzian mother, who cheers up her son on his way to the gallows, &c., belong probably to brigand families, but he forgets to say so.

[1007] _Diarium Parmense_, in Murat. xxii. col. 330 to 349 _passim_. The sonnet, col. 340.

[1008] _Diario Ferrarese_, in Murat. xxiv. col. 312. We are reminded of the gang led by a priest, which for some time before the year 1837 infested western Lombardy.

[1009] Massuccio, nov. 29. As a matter of course, the man has luck in his amours.

[1010] If he appeared as a corsair in the war between the two lines of Anjou for the possession of Naples, he may have done so as a political partisan, and this, according to the notions of the time, implied no dishonour. The Archbishop Paolo Fregoso of Genoa, in the second half of the fifteenth century probably allowed himself quite as much freedom, or more. Contemporaries and later writers, e.g. Aretino and Poggio, record much worse things of John. Gregorovius, vi. p. 600.

[1011] Poggio, _Facetiae_, fol. 164. Anyone familiar with Naples at the present time, may have heard things as comical, though bearing on other sides of human life.

[1012] _Jovian. Pontani Antonius_: ‘Nec est quod Neapoli quam hominis vita minoris vendatur.’ It is true he thinks it was not so under the House of Anjou, ‘sicam ab iis (the Aragonese) accepimus.’ The state of things about the year 1534 is described by Benvenuto Cellini, i. 70.

[1013] Absolute proof of this cannot be given, but few murders are recorded, and the imagination of the Florentine writers at the best period is not filled with the suspicion of them.

[1014] See on this point the report of Fedeli, in Alberi, _Relazioni Serie_, ii. vol. i. pp. 353 sqq.

[1015] M. Brosch (_Hist. Zeitschr._ bd. 27, p. 295 sqq.) has collected from the Venetian archives five proposals, approved by the council, to poison the Sultan (1471-1504), as well as evidence of the plan to murder Charles VIII. (1495) and of the order given to the Proveditor at Faenza to have Cæsar Borgia put to death (1504).

[1016] Dr. Geiger adds several conjectural statements and references on this subject. It may be remarked that the suspicion of poisoning, which I believe to be now generally unfounded, is often expressed in certain parts of Italy with regard to any death not at once to be accounted for.--[The Translator.]

[1017] Infessura, in Eccard, _Scriptor._ ii. col. 1956.

[1018] _Chron. Venetum_, in Murat. xxiv. col. 131. In northern countries still more wonderful things were believed as to the art of poisoning in Italy. See _Juvénal des Ursins_, ad. ann. 1382 (ed. Buchon, p. 336), for the lancet of the poisoner, whom Charles of Durazzo took into his service; whoever looked at it steadily, died.

[1019] Petr. Crinitus, _De Honesta Disciplina_, l. xviii. cap. 9.

[1020] _Pii II. Comment._ l. xi. p. 562. Joh. Ant. Campanus, _Vita Pii II._ in Murat. iii. ii. col. 988.

[1021] Vasari, ix. 82, _Vita di Rosso_. In the case of unhappy marriages it is hard to say whether there were more real or imaginary instances of poisoning. Comp. Bandello, ii. nov. 5 and 54: ii. nov. 40 is more serious. In one and the same city of Western Lombardy, the name of which is not given, lived two poisoners. A husband, wishing to convince himself of the genuineness of his wife’s despair, made her drink what she believed to be poison, but which was really coloured water, whereupon they were reconciled. In the family of Cardanus alone four cases of poisoning occurred (_De Propria Vita_, cap. 30, 50). Even at a banquet given at the coronation of a pope each cardinal brought his own cupbearer with him, and his own wine, ‘probably because they knew from experience that otherwise they would run the risk of being poisoned.’ And this usage was general at Rome, and practised ‘sine injuria invitantis!’ Blas Ortiz, _Itinerar. Hadriani VI._ ap. Baluz. Miscell. ed. Mansi, i. 380.

[1022] For the magic arts used against Leonello of Ferrara, see _Diario Ferrarese_, in Murat. xxiv. col. 194, ad a. 1445. When the sentence was read in the public square to the author of them, a certain Benato, a man in other respects of bad character, a noise was heard in the air and the earth shook, so that many people fled away or fell to the ground; this happened because Benato ‘havea chiamato e scongiurato il diavolo.’ What Guicciardini (l. i.) says of the wicked arts practised by Ludovico Moro against his nephew Giangaleazzo, rests on his own responsibility. On magic, see below, cap. 4.

[1023] Ezzelino da Romano might be put first, were it not that he rather acted under the influence of ambitious motives and astrological delusions.

[1024] _Giornali Napoletani_, in Murat. xxi. col. 1092 ad a. 1425. According to the narrative this deed seems to have been committed out of mere pleasure in cruelty. Br., it is true, believed neither in God nor in the saints, and despised and neglected all the precepts and ceremonies of the Church.

[1025] _Pii II. Comment._ l. vii. p. 338.

[1026] Jovian. Pontan. _De Immanitate_, cap. 17, where he relates how Malatesta got his own daughter with child--and so forth.

[1027] Varchi, _Storie Fiorentine_, at the end. (When the work is published without expurgations, as in the Milanese edition.)

[1028] On which point feeling differs according to the place and the people. The Renaissance prevailed in times and cities where the tendency was to enjoy life heartily. The general darkening of the spirits of thoughtful men did not begin to show itself till the time of the foreign supremacy in the sixteenth century.

[1029] What is termed the spirit of the Counter-Reformation was developed in Spain some time before the Reformation itself, chiefly through the sharp surveillance and partial reorganisation of the Church under Ferdinand and Isabella. The principal authority on this subject is Gomez, _Life of Cardinal Ximenes_, in Rob. Belus, _Rer. Hispan. Scriptores_, 3 vols. 1581.

[1030] It is to be noticed that the novelists and satirists scarcely ever mention the bishops, although they might, under altered names, have attacked them like the rest. They do so, however, e.g. in Bandello, ii. nov. 45; yet in ii. 40, he describes a virtuous bishop. Gioviano Pontano in the _Charon_ introduces the ghost of a luxurious bishop with a ‘duck’s walk.’

[1031] Foscolo, _Discorso sul testo del Decamerone_, ‘Ma dei preti in dignità niuno poteva far motto senza pericolo; onde ogni frate fu l’irco delle iniquita d’Israele,’ &c. Timotheus Maffeus dedicates a book against the monks to Pope Nicholas V.; Facius, _De Vir. Ill._ p. 24. There are specially strong passages against the monks and clergy in the work of Palingenius already mentioned iv. 289, v. 184 sqq., 586 sqq.

[1032] Bandello prefaces ii. nov. i. with the statement that the vice of avarice was more discreditable to priests than to any other class of men, since they had no families to provide for. On this ground he justifies the disgraceful attack made on a parsonage by two soldiers or brigands at the orders of a young gentleman, on which occasion a sheep was stolen from the stingy and gouty old priest. A single story of this kind illustrates the ideas in which men lived and acted better than all the dissertations in the world.

[1033] Giov. Villani, iii. 29, says this clearly a century later.

[1034] _L’Ordine._ Probably the tablet with the inscription I. H. S. is meant.

[1035] He adds, ‘and in the _seggi_,’ i.e. the clubs into which the Neapolitan nobility was divided. The rivalry of the two orders is often ridiculed, e.g. Bandello, iii. nov. 14.

[1036] Nov. 6, ed. Settembrini, p. 83, where it is remarked that in the Index of 1564 a book is mentioned, _Matrimonio delli Preti e delle Monache_.

[1037] For what follows, see Jovian. Pontan. _De Sermone_, l. ii. cap. 17, and Bandello, parte i. nov. 32. The fury of brother Franciscus, who attempted to work upon the king by a vision of St. Cataldus, was so great at his failure, and the talk on the subject so universal, ‘ut Italia ferme omnis ipse in primis Romanus pontifex de tabulæ hujus fuerit inventione sollicitus atque anxius.’

[1038] Alexander VI. and Julius II., whose cruel measures, however, did not appear to the Venetian ambassadors Giustiniani and Soderini as anything but a means of extorting money. Comp. M. Brosch, _Hist. Zeitscher._ bd. 37.

[1039] Panormita, _De Dictis et Factis Alphonsi_, lib. ii. Æneas Sylvius in his commentary to it (_Opp._ ed. 1651, p. 79) tells of the detection of a pretended faster, who was said to have eaten nothing for four years.

[1040] For which reason they could be openly denounced in the neighbourhood of the court. See Jovian. Pontan. _Antonius_ and _Charon_. One of the stories is the same as in Massuccio, nov. ii.

[1041] See for one example the eighth canto of the _Macaroneide_.

[1042] The story in Vasari, v. p. 120, _Vita di Sandro Botticelli_ shows that the Inquisition was sometimes treated jocularly. It is true that the ‘Vicario’ here mentioned may have been the archbishop’s deputy instead of the inquisitor’s.

[1043] Bursellis, _Ann. Bonon._ ap. Murat. xxiii. col. 886, cf. 896. Malv. died 1468; his ‘beneficium’ passed to his nephew.

[1044] See p. 88 sqq. He was abbot at Vallombrosa. The passage, of which we give a free translation, is to be found _Opere_, vol. ii. p. 209, in the tenth novel. See an inviting description of the comfortable life of the Carthusians in the _Commentario d’Italia_, fol. 32 sqq. quoted at p. 84.

[1045] Pius II. was on principle in favour of the abolition of the celibacy of the clergy. One of his favourite sentences was, ‘Sacerdotibus magna ratione sublatus nuptias majori restituendas videri.’ Platina, _Vitae Pontiff._ p. 311.

[1046] Ricordi, n. 28, in the _Opere inedite_, vol. i.

[1047] Ricordi, n. i. 123, 125.

[1048] See the _Orlandino_, cap. vi. str. 40 sqq.; cap. vii. str. 57; cap. viii. str. 3 sqq., especially 75.

[1049] _Diaria Ferrarese_, in Murat. xxiv. col. 362.

[1050] He had with him a German and a Slavonian interpreter. St. Bernard had to use the same means when he preached in the Rhineland.

[1051] Capistrano, for instance, contented himself with making the sign of the cross over the thousands of sick persons brought to him, and with blessing them in the name of the Trinity and of his master San Bernadino, after which some of them not unnaturally got well. The Brescian chronicle puts it in this way, ‘He worked fine miracles, yet not so many as were told of him’ (Murat. xxi.).

[1052] So e.g. Poggio, _De Avaritia_, in the _Opera_, fol. 2. He says they had an easy matter of it, since they said the same thing in every city, and sent the people away more stupid than they came. Poggio elsewhere (_Epist._ ed. Tonelli i. 281) speaks of Albert of Sarteano as ‘doctus’ and ‘perhumanus.’ Filelfo defended Bernadino of Siena and a certain Nicolaus, probably out of opposition to Poggio (_Sat._ ii. 3, vi. 5) rather than from liking for the preachers. Filelfo was a correspondent of A. of Sarteano. He also praises Roberto da Lecce in some respects, but blames him for not using suitable gestures and expressions, for looking miserable when he ought to look cheerful, and for weeping too much and thus offending the ears and tastes of his audience. Fil. _Epist._ Venet. 1502, fol. 96 _b_.

[1053] Franco Sacchetti, nov. 72. Preachers who fail are a constant subject of ridicule in all the novels.

[1054] Compare the well-known story in the _Decamerone_ vi. nov. 10.

[1055] In which case the sermons took a special colour. See Malipiero, _Ann. Venet. Archiv. Stor._ vii. i. p. 18. _Chron. Venet._ in Murat. xxiv. col. 114. _Storia Bresciana_, in Murat. xxi. col. 898. Absolution was freely promised to those who took part in, or contributed money for the crusade.

[1056] _Storia Bresciana_, in Murat. xxiii. col. 865 sqq. On the first day 10,000 persons were present, 2,000 of them strangers.

[1057] Allegretto, _Diari Sanesi_, in Murat. xxiii. col. 819 sqq. (July 13 to 18, 1486); the preacher was Pietro dell’Osservanza di S. Francesco.

[1058] Infessura (in Eccard, _Scriptores_, ii. col. 1874) says: ‘Canti, brevi, sorti.’ The first may refer to song-books, which actually were burnt by Savonarola. But Graziani (_Cron. di Perugia, Arch. Stor._ xvi. i., p. 314) says on a similar occasion, ‘brieve incanti,’ when we must without doubt read ‘brevi e incanti,’ and perhaps the same emendation is desirable in Infessura, whose ‘sorti’ point to some instrument of superstition, perhaps a pack of cards for fortune-telling. Similarly after the introduction of printing, collections were made of all the attainable copies of Martial, which then were burnt. Bandello, iii. 10.

[1059] See his remarkable biography in _Vespasiano Fiorent._ p. 244 sqq., and that by Æneas Sylvius, _De Viris Illustr._ p. 24. In the latter we read: ‘Is quoque in tabella pictum nomen Jesus deferebat, hominibusque adorandum ostendebat multumque suadebat ante ostia domorum hoc nomen depingi.’

[1060] Allegretto, l. c. col. 823. A preacher excited the people against the judges (if instead of ‘giudici’ we are not to read ‘giudei’), upon which they narrowly escaped being burnt in their houses. The opposite party threatened the life of the preacher in return.

[1061] Infessura, l. c. In the date of the witch’s death there seems to be a clerical error. How the same saint caused an ill-famed wood near Arezzo to be cut down, is told in Vasari, iii. 148, _Vita di Parri Spinelli_. Often, no doubt, the penitential zeal of the hearers went no further than such outward sacrifices.

[1062] ‘Pareva che l’aria si fendesse,’ we read somewhere.

[1063] Jac. Volaterran. in Murat. xxiii. col. 166 sqq. It is not expressly said that he interfered with this feud, but it can hardly be doubted that he did so. Once (1445), when Jacopo della Marca had but just quitted Perugia after an extraordinary success, a frightful _vendetta_ broke out in the family of the Ranieri. Comp. Graziani, l. c. p. 565 sqq. We may here remark that Perugia was visited by these preachers remarkably often, comp. pp. 597, 626, 631, 637, 647.

[1064] Capistrano admitted fifty soldiers after one sermon, _Stor. Bresciana_, l. c. Graziani, l. c. p. 565 sqq. Æn. Sylvius (_De Viris Illustr._ p. 25), when a young man, was once so affected by a sermon of San Bernadino as to be on the point of joining his Order. We read in Graziani of a convert quitting the order; he married, ‘e fu magiore ribaldo, che non era prima.’

[1065] That there was no want of disputes between the famous Observantine preachers and their Dominican rivals is shown by the quarrel about the blood of Christ which was said to have fallen from the cross to the earth (1462). See Voigt. _Enea Silvio_ iii. 591 sqq. Fra Jacopo della Marca, who would not yield to the Dominican Inquisitor, is criticised by Pius II. in his detailed account (_Comment._ l. xi. p. 511), with delicate irony: ‘Pauperiem pati, et famam et sitim et corporis cruciatum et mortem pro Christi nomine nonnulli possunt; jacturam nominis vel minimam ferre recusant tanquam sua deficiente fama Dei quoque gloria pereat.’

[1066] Their reputation oscillated even then between two extremes. They must be distinguished from the hermit-monks. The line was not always clearly drawn in this respect. The Spoletans, who travelled about working miracles, took St. Anthony and St. Paul as their patrons, the latter on account of the snakes which they carried with them. We read of the money they got from the peasantry even in the thirteenth century by a sort of clerical conjuring. Their horses were trained to kneel down at the name of St. Anthony. They pretended to collect for hospitals (Massuccio, nov. 18; Bandello iii., nov. 17). Firenzuola in his _Asino d’Oro_ makes them play the part of the begging priests in Apulejus.

[1067] Prato, _Arch. Stor._ iii. p. 357. Burigozzo, _ibid._ p. 431 sqq.

[1068] Allegretto, in Murat. xxiii. col. 856 sqq. The quotation was: ‘Ecce venio cito et velociter. Estote parati.’

[1069] Matteo Villani, viii. cap. 2 sqq. He first preached against tyranny in general, and then, when the ruling house of the Beccaria tried to have him murdered, he began to preach a change of government and constitution, and forced the Beccaria to fly from Pavia (1357). See Petrarch, _Epp. Fam._ xix. 18, and A. _Hortis, Scritti Inediti di F. P._ 174-181.

[1070] Sometimes at critical moments the ruling house itself used the services of monks to exhort the people to loyalty. For an instance of this kind at Ferrara, see Sanudo (Murat. xxii. col. 1218). A preacher from Bologna reminded the people of the benefits they had received from the House of Este, and of the fate that awaited them at the hands of the victorious Venetians.

[1071] Prato, _Arch. Stor._ iii. p. 251. Other fanatical anti-French preachers, who appeared after the expulsion of the French, are mentioned by Burigozzo, _ibid._ pp. 443, 449, 485; ad a. 1523, 1526, 1529.

[1072] Jac. Pitti, _Storia Fior._ l. ii. p. 112.

[1073] Perrens, _Jérôme Savonarole_, two vols. Perhaps the most systematic and sober of all the many works on the subject. P. Villari, _La Storia di Girol. Savonarola_ (two vols. 8vo. Firenze, Lemonnier). The view taken by the latter writer differs considerably from that maintained in the text. Comp. also Ranke in _Historisch-biographische Studien_, Lpzg. 1878, pp. 181-358. On Genaz. see Vill. i. 57 sqq. ii. 343 sqq. Reumont, _Lorenzo_, ii. 522-526, 533 sqq.

[1074] Sermons on Haggai; close of sermon 6.

[1075] Savonarola was perhaps the only man who could have made the subject cities free and yet kept Tuscany together. But he never seems to have thought of doing so. Pisa he hated like a genuine Florentine.

[1076] A remarkable contrast to the Sienese who in 1483 solemnly dedicated their distracted city to the Madonna. Allegretto, in Murat. xxiii. col. 815.

[1077] He says of the ‘impii astrologi’: ‘non è dar disputar (con loro) altrimenti che col fuoco.’

[1078] See Villari on this point.

[1079] See the passage in the fourteenth sermon on Ezechiel, in Perrens, o. c. vol. i. 30 note.

[1080] With the title, _De Rusticorum Religione_. See above p. 352.

[1081] Franco Sacchetti, nov. 109, where there is more of the same kind.

[1082] Bapt. Mantuan. _De Sacris Diebus_, l. ii. exclaims:--

Ista superstitio, ducens a Manibus ortum
Tartareis, sancta de religione facessat
Christigenûm! vivis epulas date, sacra sepultis.

A century earlier, when the army of John XXII. entered the Marches to attack the Ghibellines, the pretext was avowedly ‘eresia’ and ‘idolatria.’ Recanti, which surrendered voluntarily, was nevertheless burnt, ‘because idols had been worshipped there,’ in reality, as a revenge for those whom the citizens had killed. Giov. Villani, ix. 139, 141. Under Pius II. we read of an obstinate sun-worshipper, born at Urbino. Æn. Sylv. _Opera_, p. 289. _Hist. Rer. ubique Gestar._ c. 12. More wonderful still was what happened in the Forum in Rome under Leo X. (more properly in the interregnum between Hadrian and Leo. June 1522, Gregorovius, viii. 388). To stay the plague, a bull was solemnly offered up with pagan rites. Paul. Jov. _Hist._ xxi. 8.

[1083] See Sabellico, _De Situ Venetae Urbis_. He mentions the names of the saints, after the manner of many philologists, without the addition of ‘sanctus’ or ‘divus,’ but speaks frequently of different relics, and in the most respectful tone, and even boasts that he kissed several of them.

[1084] _De Laudibus Patavii_, in Murat. xxiv. col. 1149 to 1151.

[1085] Prato, _Arch. Stor._ iii. pp. 408 sqq. Though he is by no means a freethinker, he still protests against the causal nexus.

[1086] _Pii II. Comment._ l. viii. pp. 352 sqq. ‘Verebatur Pontifex, ne in honore tanti apostoli diminute agere videretur,’ &c.

[1087] Jac. Volaterran. in Murat. xxiii. col. 187. The Pope excused himself on the ground of Louis’ great services to the Church, and by the example of other Popes, e.g. St. Gregory, who had done the like. Louis was able to pay his devotion to the relic, but died after all. The Catacombs were at that time forgotten, yet even Savonarola (l. c. col. 1150) says of Rome: ‘Velut ager Aceldama Sanctorum habita est.’

[1088] Bursellis, _Annal. Bonon._ in Murat. xxiii. col. 905. It was one of the sixteen patricians, Bartol. della Volta, d. 1485 or 1486.

[1089] Vasari, iii. 111 sqq. note. _Vita di Ghiberti._

[1090] Matteo Villani, iii. 15 and 16.

[1091] We must make a further distinction between the Italian cultus of the bodies of historical saints of recent date, and the northern practice of collecting bones and relics of a sacred antiquity. Such remains were preserved in great abundance in the Lateran, which, for that reason, was of special importance for pilgrims. But on the tombs of St. Dominic and St. Anthony of Padua rested, not only the halo of sanctity, but the splendour of historical fame.

[1092] The remarkable judgment in his _De Sacris Diebus_, the work of his later years, refers both to sacred and profane art (l. i.). Among the Jews, he says, there was a good reason for prohibiting all graven images, else they would have relapsed into the idolatry or devil-worship of the nations around them:

Nunc autem, postquam penitus natura Satanum
Cognita, et antiqua sine majestate relicta est,
Nulla ferunt nobis statuae discrimina, nullos
Fert pictura dolos; jam sunt innoxia signa;
Sunt modo virtutum testes monimentaque laudum
Marmora, et aeternae decora immortalia famae.

[1093] Battista Mantovano complains of certain ‘nebulones’ (_De Sacris Diebus_, l. v.) who would not believe in the genuineness of the Sacred Blood at Mantua. The same criticism which called in question the Donation of Constantine was also, though indirectly, hostile to the belief in relics.

[1094] Especially the famous prayer of St. Bernard, _Paradiso_, xxxiii. 1, ‘Vergine madre, figlia del tuo figlio.’

[1095] Perhaps we may add Pius II., whose elegy on the Virgin is printed in the _Opera_, p. 964, and who from his youth believed himself to be under her special protection. Jac. Card. Papiens. ‘De Morte Pii,’ _Opp._ p. 656.

[1096] That is, at the time when Sixtus IV. was so zealous for the Immaculate Conception. _Extravag. Commun._ l. iii. tit. xii. He founded, too, the Feast of the Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, and the Feasts of St. Anne and St. Joseph. See Trithem. _Ann. Hirsaug._ ii. p. 518.

[1097] The few frigid sonnets of Vittoria on the Madonna are most instructive in this respect (n. 85 sqq. ed. P. Visconti, Rome, 1840).

[1098] Bapt. Mantuan. _De Sacris Diebus_, l. v., and especially the speech of the younger Pico, which was intended for the Lateran Council, in Roscoe, _Leone X._ ed. Bossi, viii. p. 115. Comp. p. 121, note 3.

[1099] _Monach. Paduani Chron._ l. iii. at the beginning. We there read of this revival: ‘Invasit primitus Perusinos, Romanes postmodum, deinde fere Italiæ populos universos.’ Guil. Ventura (_Fragmenta de Gestis Astensium_ in _Mon. Hist. Patr. SS._ tom. iii. col. 701) calls the Flagellant pilgrimage ‘admirabilis Lombardorum commotio;’ hermits came forth from their cells and summoned the cities to repent.

[1100] G. Villani, viii. 122, xi. 23. The former were not received in Florence, the latter were welcomed all the more readily.

[1101] Corio, fol. 281. Leon. Aretinus, _Hist. Flor._ lib. xii. (at the beginning) mentions a sudden revival called forth by the processions of the ‘dealbati’ from the Alps to Lucca, Florence, and still farther.

[1102] Pilgrimages to distant places had already become very rare. Those of the princes of the House of Este to Jerusalem, St. Jago, and Vienne are enumerated in Murat. xxiv. col. 182, 187, 190, 279. For that of Rinaldo Albizzi to the Holy Land, see Macchiavelli, _Stor. Fior._ l. v. Here, too, the desire of fame is sometimes the motive. The chronicler Giov. Cavalcanti (_Ist. Fiorentine_, ed. Polidori, ii. 478) says of Lionardo Fescobaldi, who wanted to go with a companion (about the year 1400) to the Holy Sepulchre: ‘Stimarono di eternarsi nella mente degli uomini futuri.’

[1103] Bursellis, _Annal. Bon._ in Murat. xxiii. col. 890.

[1104] Allegretto, in Murat. xxiii. col. 855 sqq. The report had got about that it had rained blood outside the gate. All rushed forth, yet ‘gli uomini di guidizio non lo credono.’

[1105] Burigozzo, _Arch. Stor._ iii. 486. For the misery which then prevailed in Lombardy, Galeazzo Capello (_De Rebus nuper in Italia Gestis_) is the best authority. Milan suffered hardly less than Rome did in the sack of 1527.

[1106] It was also called ‘l’arca del testimonio,’ and people told how it was ‘conzado’ (constructed) ‘con gran misterio.’

[1107] _Diario Ferrarese_, in Murat. xxiv. col. 317, 322, 323, 326, 386, 401.

[1108] ‘Ad uno santo homo o santa donna,’ says the chronicle. Married men were forbidden to keep concubines.

[1109] The sermon was especially addressed to them; after it a Jew was baptised, ‘ma non di quelli’ adds the annalist, ‘che erano stati a udire la predica.’

[1110] ‘Per buono rispetto a lui noto e perchè sempre è buono a star bene con Iddio,’ says the annalist. After describing the arrangements, he adds resignedly: ‘La cagione perchè sia fatto et si habbia a fare non s’intende, basta che ogni bene è bene.’

[1111] He is called ‘Messo del Cancellieri del Duca.’ The whole thing was evidently intended to appear the work of the court only, and not of any ecclesiastical authority.

[1112] See the quotations from Pico’s _Discourse on the Dignity of Man_ above, pp. 354-5.

[1113] Not to speak of the fact that a similar tolerance or indifference was not uncommon among the Arabians themselves.

[1114] So in the _Decameron_. Sultans without name in Massuccio nov. 46, 48, 49; one called ‘Rè di Fes,’ another ‘Rè di Tunisi.’ In _Dittamondo_, ii. 25, we read, ‘il buono Saladin.’ For the Venetian alliance with the Sultan of Egypt in the year 1202, see G. Hanotaux in the _Revue Historique_ iv. (1877) pp. 74-102. There were naturally also many attacks on Mohammedanism. For the Turkish woman baptized first in Venice and again in Rome, see Cechetti i. 487.

[1115] _Philelphi Epistolae_, Venet. 1502 fol. 90 _b._ sqq.

[1116] _Decamerone_ i. nov. 3. Boccaccio is the first to name the Christian religion, which the others do not. For an old French authority of the thirteenth century, see Tobler, _Li di dou Vrai Aniel_, Leipzig, 1871. For the Hebrew story of Abr. Abulafia (b. 1241 in Spain, came to Italy about 1290 in the hope of converting the Pope to Judaism), in which two servants claim each to hold the jewel buried for the son, see Steinschneider, _Polem. und Apol. Lit. der Arab. Sprache_, pp. 319 and 360. From these and other sources we conclude that the story originally was less definite than as we now have it (in Abul. e.g. it is used polemically against the Christians), and that the doctrine of the equality of the three religions is a later addition. Comp. Reuter, _Gesch. der Relig. Aufklärung im M. A._ (Berlin, 1877), iii. 302 sqq. 390.

[1117] _De Tribus Impostoribus_, the name of a work attributed to Frederick II. among many other people, and which by no means answers the expectations raised by the title. Latest ed. by Weller, Heilbronn, 1876. The nationality of the author and the date of composition are both disputed. See Reuter, op. cit. ii. 273-302.

[1118] In the mouth, nevertheless, of the fiend Astarotte, canto xxv. str. 231 sqq. Comp. str. 141 sqq.

[1119] Canto xxviii. str. 38 sqq.

[1120] Canto xviii. str. 112 to the end.

[1121] Pulci touches, though hastily, on a similar conception in his Prince Chiaristante (canto xxi. str. 101 sqq., 121 sqq., 145 sqq., 163 sqq.), who believes nothing and causes himself and his wife to be worshipped. We are reminded of Sigismondo Malatesta (p. 245).

[1122] Giov. Villani, iv. 29, vi. 46. The name occurs as early as 1150 in Northern countries. It is defined by William of Malmesbury (iii. 237, ed. Londin, 1840): ‘Epicureorum ... qui opinantur animam corpore solutam in aerem evanescere, in auras effluere.’

[1123] See the argument in the third book of Lucretius. The name of Epicurean was afterwards used as synonymous with freethinker. Lorenzo Valla (_Opp._ 795 sqq.) speaks as follows of Epicurus: ‘Quis eo parcior, quis contentior, quis modestior, et quidem in nullo philosophorum omnium minus invenio fuisse vitiorum, plurimique honesti viri cum Graecorum, tum Romanorum, Epicurei fuerunt.’ Valla was defending himself to Eugenius IV. against the attacks of Fra Antonio da Bitonto and others.

[1124] _Inferno_, vii. 67-96.

[1125] _Purgatorio_, xvi. 73. Compare the theory of the influence of the planets in the _Convito_. Even the fiend Astarotte in Pulci (_Morgante_, xxv. str. 150) attests the freedom of the human will and the justice of God.

[1126] Comp. Voigt, _Wiederbelebung_, 165-170.

[1127] _Vespasiano Fiorent._ pp. 26, 320, 435, 626, 651. Murat. xx. col. 532.

[1128] In Platina’s introd. to his Life of Christ the religious influence of the Renaissance is curiously exemplified (_Vitæ Paparum_, at the beginning): Christ, he says, fully attained the fourfold Platonic ‘nobilitas’ according to his ‘genus’: ‘quem enim ex gentilibus habemus qui gloria et nomine cum David et Salomone, quique sapientia et doctrina cum Christo ipso conferri merito debeat et possit?’ Judaism, like classical antiquity, was also explained on a Christian hypothesis. Pico and Pietro Galatino endeavoured to show that Christian doctrine was foreshadowed in the Talmud and other Jewish writings.

[1129] On Pomponazzo, see the special works; among others, Bitter, _Geschichte der Philosophie_, bd. ix.

[1130] Paul. Jovii, _Elog. Lit._ p. 90. G. M. was, however, compelled to recant publicly. His letter to Lorenzo (May 17, 1478) begging him to intercede with the Pope, ‘satis enim poenarum dedi,’ is given by Malagola, Codro Urceo, p. 433.

[1131] _Codri Urcei Opera_, with his life by Bart. Bianchini; and in his philological lectures, pp. 65, 151, 278, &c.

[1132] On one occasion he says, ‘In Laudem Christi:’

Phoebum alii vates musasque Jovemque sequuntur,
At mihi pro vero nomine Christus erit.

He also (fol. x. _b_) attacks the Bohemians. Huss and Jerome of Prague are defended by Poggio in his famous letter to Lion. Aretino, and placed on a level with Mucius Scaevola and Socrates.

[1133] ‘Audi virgo ea quae tibi mentis compos et ex animo dicam. Si forte cum ad ultimum vitae finem pervenero supplex accedam ad te spem oratum, ne me audias neve inter tuos accipias oro; cum infernis diis in aeternum vitam degere decrevi.’

[1134] ‘Animum meum seu animam’--a distinction by which philology used then to perplex theology.

[1135] Platina, _Vitae Pontiff._ p. 311: ‘Christianam fidem si miraculis non esset confirmata, honestate sua recipi debuisse.’ It may be questioned whether all that Platina attributes to the Pope is in fact authentic.

[1136] Preface to the _Historia Ferdinandi I._ (_Hist. Ztschr._ xxxiii. 61) and _Antid. in Pogg._ lib. iv. _Opp._ p. 256 sqq. Pontanus (_De Sermone_, i. 18) says that Valla did not hesitate ‘dicere profiterique palam habere se quoque in Christum spicula.’ Pontano, however, was a friend of Valla’s enemies at Naples.

[1137] Especially when the monks improvised them in the pulpit. But the old and recognised miracles did not remain unassailed. Firenzuola (_Opere_, vol. ii. p. 208, in the tenth novel) ridicules the Franciscans of Novara, who wanted to spend money which they had embezzled, in adding a chapel to their church, ‘dove fusse dipinta quella bella storia, quando S. Francesco predicava agli uccelli nel deserto; e quando ei fece la santa zuppa, e che l’agnolo Gabriello gli portò i zoccoli.’

[1138] Some facts about him are to be found in Bapt. Mantuan. _De Patientia_, l. iii. cap. 13.

[1139] Bursellis, _Ann. Bonon._ in Murat. xxiii. col. 915.

[1140] How far these blasphemous utterances sometimes went, has been shown by Gieseler (_Kirchengeschichte_, ii. iv. § 154, anm.) who quotes several striking instances.

[1141] Voigt, _Enea Silvio_, iii. 581. It is not known what happened to the Bishop Petro of Aranda who (1500) denied the Divinity of Christ and the existence of Hell and Purgatory, and denounced indulgences as a device of the popes invented for their private advantage. For him, see _Burchardi Diarium_, ed. Leibnitz, p. 63 sqq.

[1142] Jov. Pontanus, _De Fortuna_, _Opp._ i. 792-921. Comp. _Opp._ ii. 286.

[1143] Æn. Sylvii, _Opera_, p. 611.

[1144] Poggius, _De Miseriis Humanae Conditionis_.

[1145] Caracciolo, _De Varietate Fortunae_, in Murat. xxii., one of the most valuable writings of a period rich in such works. On Fortune in public processions, see p. 421.

[1146] _Leonis X. Vita Anonyma_, in Roscoe, ed. Bossi, xii. p. 153.

[1147] Bursellis, _Ann. Bonon._ in Murat. xxiii. col. 909: ‘Monimentum hoc conditum a Joanne Bentivolo secundo patriae rectore, cui virtus et fortuna cuncta quæ optari possunt affatim praestiterunt.’ It is still not quite certain whether this inscription was outside, and visible to everybody, or, like another mentioned just before, hidden on one of the foundation stones. In the latter case, a fresh idea is involved. By this secret inscription, which perhaps only the chronicler knew of, Fortune is to be magically bound to the building.

[According to the words of the chronicle, the inscription cannot have stood on the walls of the newly built tower. The exact spot is uncertain.--L.G.]

[1148] ‘Quod nimium gentilitatis amatores essemus.’ Paganism, at least in externals, certainly went rather far. Inscriptions lately found in the Catacombs show that the members of the Academy described themselves as ‘sacerdotes,’ and called Pomponius Lætus ‘pontifex maximus;’ the latter once addressed Platina as ‘pater sanctissimus.’ Gregorovius, vii. 578.

[1149] While the plastic arts at all events distinguished between angels and ‘putti,’ and used the former for all serious purposes. In the _Annal. Estens._ Murat. xx. col. 468, the ‘amorino’ is naively called ‘instar Cupidinis angelus.’ Comp. the speech made before Leo X. (1521), in which the passage occurs: ‘Quare et te non jam Juppiter, sed Virgo Capitolina Dei parens quæ hujus urbis et collis reliquis præsides, Romamque et Capitolium tutaris.’ Greg. viii. 294.

[1150] Della Valle, _Lettere Sanesi_, iii. 18.

[1151] Macrob. _Saturnal._ iii. 9. Doubtless the canon did not omit the gestures there prescribed. Comp. Gregorovius, viii. 294, for Bembo. For the paganism thus prevalent in Rome, see also Ranke, _Päpste_, i. 73 sqq. Comp. also Gregorovius, viii. 268.

[1152] _Monachus Paduan._ l. ii. ap. Urstisius, _Scriptt._ i. pp. 598, 599, 602, 607. The last Visconti (p. 37) had also a number of these men in his service (Comp. Decembrio, in Murat. xx. col. 1017): he undertook nothing without their advice. Among them was a Jew named Helias. Gasparino da Barzizzi once addressed him: ‘Magna vi astrorum fortuna tuas res reget.’ G. B. _Opera_, ed. Furietto, p. 38.

[1153] E.g. Florence, where Bonatto filled the office for a long period. See too Matteo Villani, xi. 3, where the city astrologer is evidently meant.

[1154] Libri, _Hist. des Sciences Mathém._ ii. 52, 193. At Bologna this professorship is said to have existed in 1125. Comp. the list of professors at Pavia, in Corio, fol. 290. For the professorship at the Sapienza under Leo X., see Roscoe, _Leone X._ ed. Bossi, v. p. 283.

[1155] J. A. Campanus lays stress on the value and importance of astrology, and concludes with the words: ‘Quamquam Augustinus sanctissimus ille vir quidem ac doctissimus, sed fortassis ad fidem religionemque propensior negat quicquam vel boni vel mali astrorum necessitate contingere.’ ‘Oratio initio studii Perugiæ habita,’ compare _Opera_, Rome, 1495.

[1156] About 1260 Pope Alexander IV. compelled a Cardinal (and shamefaced astrologer) Bianco to bring out a number of political prophecies. Giov. Villani, vi. 81.

[1157] _De Dictis, &c. Alfonsi, Opera_, p. 493. He held it to be ‘pulchrius quam utile.’ Platina, _Vitae Pontiff._ p. 310. For Sixtus IV. comp. Jac. Volaterran. in Murat. xxiii. col. 173, 186. He caused the hours for audiences, receptions, and the like, to be fixed by the ‘planetarii.’ In the _Europa_, c. 49, Pius II. mentions that Baptista Blasius, an astronomer from Cremona, had prophesied the misfortunes of Fr. Foscaro ‘tanquam prævidisset.’

[1158] Brosch, _Julius II._ (Gotha, 1878), pp. 97 and 323.

[1159] P. Valeriano, _De Infel. Lit._ (318-324) speaks of Fr. Friuli, who wrote on Leo’s horoscope, and ‘abditissima quæque anteactæ ætatis et uni ipsi cognita principi explicuerat quæque incumberent quæque futura essent ad unguem ut eventus postmodum comprobavit, in singulos fere dies prædixerat.’

[1160] Ranke, _Päpste_, i. 247.

[1161] _Vespas. Fiorent._ p. 660, comp. 341. _Ibid._ p. 121, another Pagolo is mentioned as court mathematician and astrologer of Federigo of Montefeltro. Curiously enough, he was a German.

[1162] Firmicus Maternus, _Matheseos Libri_ viii. at the end of the second book.

[1163] In Bandello, iii. nov. 60, the astrologer of Alessandro Bentivoglio, in Milan, confessed himself a poor devil before the whole company.

[1164] It was in such a moment of resolution that Ludovico Moro had the cross with this inscription made, which is now in the Minster at Chur. Sixtus IV. too once said that he would try if the proverb was true. On this saying of the astrologer Ptolemæus, which B. Fazio took to be Virgilian, see Laur. Valla, _Opera_, p. 461.

[1165] The father of Piero Capponi, himself an astrologer, put his son into trade lest he should get the dangerous wound in the head which threatened him. _Vita di P. Capponi, Arch. Stor._ iv. ii. 15. For an instance in the life of Cardanus, see p. 334. The physician and astrologer Pierleoni of Spoleto believed that he would be drowned, avoided in consequence all watery places, and refused brilliant positions offered him at Venice and Padua. Paul. Jov. _Elog. Liter._ pp. 67 sqq. Finally he threw himself into the water, in despair at the charge brought against him of complicity in Lorenzo’s death, and was actually drowned. Hier. Aliottus had been told to be careful in his sixty-second year, as his life would then be in danger. He lived with great circumspection, kept clear of the doctors, and the year passed safely. H. A. _Opuscula_ (Arezzo, 1769), ii. 72. Marsilio Ficino, who despised astrology (_Opp._ p. 772) was written to by a friend (_Epist._ lib. 17): ‘Praeterea me memini a duobus vestrorum astrologis audivisse, te ex quadam siderum positione antiquas revocaturum philosophorum sententias.’

[1166] For instances in the life of Ludovico Moro, see Senarega, in Murat, xxiv. col. 518, 524. Benedictus, in Eccard, ii. col. 1623. And yet his father, the great Francesco Sforza, had despised astrology, and his grandfather Giacomo had not at any rate followed its warnings. Corio, fol. 321, 413.

[1167] For the facts here quoted, see _Annal. Foroliviens_. in Murat. xxii. col. 233 sqq. (comp. col. 150). Leonbattista Alberti endeavoured to give a spiritual meaning to the ceremony of laying the foundation. _Opere Volgari_, tom. iv. p. 314 (or _De Re Ædific_. 1. i.). For Bonatto see Filippo Villani, _Vite_ and _Delia Vita e delle Opere di Guido Bonati, Astrologo e Astronomo del Secolo Decimoterzo, raccolte da E. Boncompagni_, Rome 1851. B.’s great work, _De Astronomia_, lib. x. has been often printed.

[1168] In the horoscopes of the second foundation of Florence (Giov. Villani, iii. 1. under Charles the Great) and of the first of Venice (see above, p. 62), an old tradition is perhaps mingled with the poetry of the Middle Ages.

[1169] For one of these victories, see the remarkable passage quoted from Bonatto in Steinschneider, in the _Zeitschr. d. D. Morg. Ges._ xxv. p. 416. On B. comp. _ibid._ xviii. 120 sqq.