Chapter XVI: Introduction (2)

[From his tomb in Santa Maria del Parto at Naples, by Girolamo Santa
Croce, a Neapolitan sculptor of the 15th century. His tomb is one of
the most beautiful monuments of the time; designed by Santa Croce, and
sculptured by Montorsoli. Two weeping angels lean over the bust which
bears the name ACTIUS SINCERUS, under which he published many of his
works. At the sides of the tomb are statues of Apollo and Minerva,
said to be antique, but now called David and Judith.]

176. LUIGI ARIOSTO. _Poet._

[Born at Reggio, in Italy, 1474. Died at Ferrara, 1533. Aged 59.]

A poet from the cradle: constrained by his father to bestow five years on the study of the law: then released to literature. He was Gentleman of the Court to two princes: from both he received scanty pay: from the one 75 crowns (or about £15 a year), from the other 84 crowns. He lived and died poor, having enjoyed great independence of spirit, and the barren respect of Italian princes. His talents for business were remarkable. His great poem the “Orlando Furioso” is of a species which then deluged Italian literature. It is a web of adventures of knight errantry. These turn round the person of Charlemagne, and the invasion of France by the Moors--poetically misdated to his reign. The copious flow and untiring spirit of the narrative is without comparison. The skill with which Ariosto carries on a labyrinth of separate adventures, and brings them to meet, is peculiar to himself. The variety in the invention of the characters, and the flexibility of the pure and musical style to the humorous or the pathetic, the warlike or the tender, the natural and the marvellous, are singularly characteristic of the power of this poet; who grasps his subject meanwhile like a man of business and of the world, and whose tone is, on the whole, rather that of intellectual superiority to his subject than of passionate absorption by it. A vein even of irony breaks through; and the enthusiastic lover of romance suffers a pang of scepticism from the suggested incredulity of his priest. They tell, how, when governor of a wild Appenine province, he fell, on a solitary walk, into the hands of banditti. The captain, on recognising the poet of the Orlando Furioso, apologized for the rudeness of his men, and set his captive at liberty.

[By Carlo Finelli. There is a life-size bust upon his monument in the
Benedictine Monastery at Ferrara, where he is buried.]

177. TORQUATO TASSO. _Poet._

[Born at Sorrento, near Naples, 1544. Died at Rome, 1595. Aged 51.]

One of the small cluster of spirits whose uttered thoughts have fastened upon the world’s ear for all time. One of the still smaller group whose personal history, growing out of the poetical temperament, weighs in interest against their consummate work. We discover too little of the life of Shakspeare. We know too much of the story of Torquato Tasso. The Swan of Avon sings, and not a milk-white feather is ruffled in the song. Personal anguish quivers through the high heroic strain of him who, in Italian, with unequalled art, told the inspiriting story of the recovered Holy City. How shall Torquato’s touching and saddening tale be concentrated in a sentence? He was already a scholar when a child--delicately organized in the flesh--wondrously endowed in soul. At eighteen he had given forth a poem--worthy sign of his coming strength. He was at the Court of Alphonso II., Duke of Ferrara, when he commenced his great epic, and dared--he was a poet’s son--to fix his strong affection upon the Princess Leonora, sister of the Duke. In 1575, the “Jerusalem Delivered” was completed. Its beauty was too evident, for it raised a pitiless storm of envy, enmity, and persecution. His passion for the princess was detected, and he was imprisoned as a madman. Breaking loose, he wandered footsore from place to place, but found his way too speedily back to Ferrara. Caught again, he was again confined, suffering new imprisonment for seven long years. He came forth at last, a melancholy man. It availed him little that at Rome, in 1595, he was solemnly crowned with laurel by the pope, and every honour showered upon his illustrious head. He died, worn out with troubles of heart and mind, only a few days after his sublime coronation. The “Jerusalem Delivered” is built upon the essential basis of epic poetry--the profound and associated sympathy of innumerable hearers. In the poem, as out of it, the universal heart of Christendom is arrayed against the misbelieving world. Tasso wrote in an age when the religious passion, which was the soul of the Crusades, survived sufficiently for a hope in the poet that his strain would reanimate the Red-cross warfare. As man, and as poet, enthusiasm was predominant in him. The salient characters of the poem are well-defined, each complete in itself, and all standing well apart from, and relieving one another, although hardly, perhaps, flung forth in desirable plenitude of dramatic life and effect. The subject, as we all know, was the successful first Crusade--which took Jerusalem--under the pious, magnanimous, and truly heroic Godfrey of Bouillon. The structure of the plot is well balanced: the art of the writing exquisite: possibly too much so. It is generally self-conscious and elaborate, rather than inspired and impetuous.

[By Alessandro d’Este, and presented to the Capitoline Museum by
Canova. Tasso’s tomb in St. Onuphrius was not erected until some time
after his death. There is a portrait in mosaic over it.]

178. PIETRO BONAVENTURA METASTASIO. _Poet._

[Born at Rome, 1698. Died at Vienna, 1782. Aged 84.]

Born of poor parents. When ten years old, improvised in the streets of Rome; then adopted and educated by Gravina, a rich juris-consult, who left the poet all his fortune. Forty editions of Metastasio’s works were published before his death. He wrote many tragic operas, besides numerous smaller compositions. Invited by Charles VI. of Austria, he settled in Vienna, and received the title of Imperial Poet. His style is singularly chaste, harmonious, and elegant. Attracted to, and attracting by, the delineation of characters, morally pure and elevated. Pathetic, but his passion lacks individuality. When we have read a few of his works, we have read all. In person tall and commanding.

[By Ceracchi. There is a fine bust of him by Vinnazar of Vienna.
Metastasio was buried in St. Michael’s Church, at Vienna, but the
place is not known.]

179. CARLO GOLDONI. _Poet._

[Born at Venice, 1707. Died at Paris, 1793. Aged 86.]

The most celebrated Italian comic poet of the eighteenth century, and the renovator of the comic stage in his country. When eight years old, sketched out a play. After some reverses of fortune, settled in Paris, where he wrote his last work, “Materials for a History of his Life and Theatre.” He wrote 150 pieces for the stage, introducing all classes of men, whom he described with surprising truth. He reformed the Italian drama by extinguishing the fashion of playing in masks, and by doing away with certain conventional characters before introduced into every play. His works are not without the defects of an over-abundant and extraordinarily rapid composition; but he has the great merit of faithfully portraying men in their affections, their habits, follies, and vices.

[By Leandro Biglioschi.]

180. VITTORIO ALFIERI. _Poet._

[Born at Asti, in Piedmont, 1749. Died at Florence, 1803. Aged 54.]

He was of noble origin, and acceded, at the age of 14, to large hereditary estates. His passions were strong, ardent, and irregular: his education was neglected. He travelled much,--rapidly and impatiently, like a man fleeing from himself, or seeking, without finding, objects to satisfy the capacity of a mind, large but unstored. He was first drawn with passion to literature by Plutarch’s Lives; and his first tragedy, “Cleopatra,” was acted at Turin in 1775, when he was 26 years old. Thenceforward he was devoted to the study of his art. The subjects of his tragedies, which follow the simplicity of the Greek model, are chiefly from ancient mythology, or history. They are distinguished by intense absorption of the poet in his dramatic action and persons, by the austere exclusion from the plot of everything accidental or inoperative to the main purpose and catastrophe, and by the rejection of all accessory ornament from his sedulously laboured style. In his hands the flowing and languishing Italian speech becomes abrupt, concentrated, darted, fiery; harsh, often, until it is dilated into harmony by the swelling and emphatic intonations of the actual theatre. He raised at once the prostrate Italian tragedy to the rank of an art, and to a competition with the nations. He was a passionate lover of horses, licentious in his attachments, and an ardent partisan of liberty.

[Alfieri was buried in Santa Croce. Canova, commissioned by the
Countess of Albany, sculptured his tomb and the medallion of him which
is upon it. This bust is by Domenica Manera, and no doubt is a good
likeness, having been executed under Canova’s eye.]

181. ALESSANDRO GAVAZZI. _Monk and Orator._

[Born at Bologna, in Italy, 1809. Still living.]

At the age of 16, entered the religious order of St. Barnabas. Subsequently appointed Professor of Rhetoric at Naples. Upon the accession of Pope Pius IX. to the pontifical chair, Gavazzi warmly upheld the liberal policy then announced by the head of the Catholic Church. He was the “Peter the Hermit” of the crusade in Lombardy against Austria in 1848: and shared the dangers of the troops, whom he animated by his eloquence. Upon the entry of the French under Oudinot into Rome, Gavazzi quitted Italy with the patriots. He has since lived in London, where his extraordinary political discourses have created a marked impression upon his listeners. His oratory is adapted to large masses, his memoir is extraordinary, and his manner exceedingly picturesque and striking. He is not a scholar, and his patriotism is not of the kind that suffers by defeat. Gavazzi makes a good income as a popular preacher. Mazzini lives upon a crust.

[This bust is by Piericcini.]

SCIENTIFIC MEN AND WRITERS.

182. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. _The Discoverer of the New World._

[Born at Genoa, 1436. Died at Valladolid, in Spain, 1506. Aged 70.]

Lord Bacon says, that he, who unites the faculties of speculation and of action, is like one born, according to the faith of the astrologers, under Saturn and Jupiter in conjunction, and may command the world. Columbus--profound in thought, intense in action--did even more. To one world he gave another. He was essentially an intellectual hero; for he dared to believe, on grounds sufficing to reason, that which the world disbelieves, and scoffs, and scorns. He was essentially a practical hero: witness his persevering urgency of kings and states to undertake the first visiting of a world which his instructed spirit already discerned in the far off seas. Witness also his conduct of his fleet, wearied with vain expectation on the silent main, and rising to mutiny on the apparently confirmed disappointment of its hopes. His services to man no human gratitude could repay, yet he died overwhelmed with affliction, great vexation and bodily infirmity. In 1492, he discovered San Salvador, Cuba, and St. Domingo. In 1493, his eager foot first trod the Antilles. In 1498, America opened to his importunate gaze. His fourth voyage of discovery was delayed by an event that merits record in every history of the world’s progress. He was thrown into prison. Obtaining liberty, his eager and mysteriously informed spirit was brooding again on the wide ocean. He reached the Gulf of Darien. We witness to-day, in the prosperity, might, and civilization of the American people, the latest glorious results of the restless intrepidity and bright intelligence of Christopher Columbus. Before the dazzling spectacle we may yet learn humility, if we will only remember the sorrow of those upon whom the unveiling of America instantly let in the sword and the fire. Columbus was the first observer of the variation and the dip of the needle.

[By Raimondo Trentanove.]

183. NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI. _Political Writer and Historian._

[Born at Florence, 1469. Died there, 1527. Aged 58.]

For fourteen years, Machiavelli, born of a noble family, acted as Secretary of the Florentine Republic, and was charged with several important missions. Upon the return of the Medici to Florence in 1512, he was implicated in a conspiracy formed against them, was imprisoned and put to the torture. Subsequently released by Pope Leo X., he was reinstated in his office. It was after his liberation that he wrote his Discourses upon Livy, his books on the Art of War, and his celebrated essay, called “The Prince.” Machiavelli, to our imagination, embodies in his individual person the Idea of Italian political subtlety. His chief work, already mentioned, “The Prince,” expounds the art of Reigning: _i. e._ of acquiring and preserving Power;--of which art perfidy and murder are, in this exposition, two accepted instruments. The prevalent assumption has been that Machiavelli recommends the practice of the art, such as he expounds it. Later vindicators have said that he describes, without approving, the Art of Reigning as exercised by the Italian princes of his day, and that his book is to be regarded as containing a satire, and not a doctrine. The bust before the visitor may furnish materials for the study of this curious question.

[From the bust in the Florence Gallery. A most interesting work of the
time, bearing the date 1495. An undoubted likeness of this celebrated
man. Full of character, with every indication of having been done from
the life, although the author is now unknown. Machiavelli’s tomb is in
St^{a}. Croce at Florence. Two centuries after his death, Lord Cowper,
in 1787, placed over it a bas-relief portrait which was paid for by
public subscription set on foot by Lord Cowper, and was executed by
Innocenzo Spinazzi.]

184. ANNIBALE CARO. _Writer._

[Born at Città-Nuova, in Illyria, 1507. Died, 1566. Aged 59.]

His chief work was a free translation of the Æneid in blank verse: the style is pure, and the sense faithful. Also wrote humorous pieces in the purest Tuscan.

[The work of Antonio d’Este, at the expense of Elizabeth, Duchess of
Devonshire, the second wife of the late Duke, a lady to whom we are
indebted for originating the excavations in the Forum at Rome.]

185. GALILEO GALILEI. _Philosopher._

[Born at Pisa, 1564. Died 1642. Aged 78.]

One of the self-dedicated inquiring spirits, to whom to behold Truth is--to live:--a hierophant of Nature! Whilst Bacon in England was laying down, in form, and theoretically, the laws of experimental philosophy, Galileo in Italy, led by instinct or intuition, was putting them in force. If Bacon stands out as the legislator of our great modern students in physical science, Galileo is assuredly their most illustrious and animating exemplar. We think of the stern and strenuous observer as we do of the prophets, who stand up in the might of invincible truth, solitary against a world. In the very first sentence of the “Novum Organum” it is written that, “Man, the servant and interpreter of Nature, knoweth, and can, so much as, in the fact or in thought, he may have observed, of the order of Nature.” Of all men Galileo was essentially the one who allowed Nature to speak for herself,--and waited patiently, piously, and thoughtfully for her utterances, never imposing upon her his own wilful and imperfect conceptions. His spirit was self-sustaining. Hundreds, or thousands, have in the later time risen, who from the cradle to the grave have watched Nature. But they are the officers of an organized army. He walked like Hercules, with his club and lion’s skin cloak, alone. Because his worship was pure, his punishment was great. Suffering for truth’s sake, he was imprisoned for years; yet his only crime had been, that he had faithfully recorded the revelations that came down to him directly from the skies. To Galileo we owe, amongst other obligations, the discovery of the laws of gravity, the invention of the pendulum, of the hydrostatic balance, of the thermometer. He constructed a telescope, and with it discovered the satellites and rings of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, and the spots on the sun. Noting down what he saw, he changed the whole system of astronomy, and led men on the right track of observation for all ages to come. Italy, with her many titles to our admiration, gratitude and respect, has no prouder claim than this:--She gave us Galileo. The face before us does not belie the soul. Upon it are stamped the rigid signs of robust and intrepid intellect.

[From the marble, by Domenico Manera, which was placed in the
Capitoline Museum at the cost of Canova. About a century after
Galileo’s death, in the year 1737, leave was at last granted to erect
a monument to his memory in Santa Croce, at Florence; it was placed
opposite to that of Michelangelo, and the bones of the great
philosopher were removed into it. In the Museum of the Florence
Gallery is preserved the small telescope which he used. The bust, No.
185A, is a cast from that on his tomb.]

185A. GALILEO GALILEI. _Philosopher._

SOLDIERS AND STATESMEN.

187. COSMO DE’ MEDICI. _Merchant and Statesman._

[Born 1389. Died, 1464. Aged 75.]

The grandfather of Lorenzo de’ Medici, surnamed the Magnificent: himself illustrious for the services which he rendered to the Florentine Republic, of which he was a member, and for his munificent encouragement of art, science, and literature. Upon his death, the grateful Florentine people inscribed on his tomb the title of “Father of his Country.” A member of the Signory, which legislated for the Florentine Republic, he strove to curb the oligarchy in the State. Accordingly, many of the chief families combined against him, and it was only by the most admirable judgment and consummate prudence that he was enabled to elude their toils, and to advance the popular cause. Possessed of immense wealth, he parted freely with his riches for the glory of his country, and for the promotion of all those arts that add dignity to human nature and beautify the world.

[From the bust in the Florence Gallery, a most characteristic head.]

188. BARTOLOMEO COLEONI. _Soldier of Fortune._

[Born at Bergamo, in Italy, 1400. Died at Venice, 1475. Aged 75.]

Remarkable for his unstable loyalty. Served at first under Sforza and De Montone in the army of Queen Joan of Naples. Then passed into the service of Venice. Fighting against and nearly destroying the army of the ambitious Duke of Milan, he went over to the enemy with 500 soldiers. He now fought against the Venetians; but in 1446, was thrown into prison on a charge of treason. Released by the Milanese, he deserted to the Venetians, whom he again led on against his latest employers. Instead of fighting Sforza, the Milanese general, he deserted to his side, and assisted him to gain the sovereignty of Milan. Immediately afterwards he returned to the Venetians, and, strange to say, continued their generalissimo for twenty-one years. The Senate, upon his death, employed the celebrated Andrea Verrocchio to raise an equestrian statue in bronze to his memory, of which the one before the visitor is a cast. Shortly before his death, Coleoni, not without reason, warned the Venetian Senate not to trust another man with such power as they had confided to him.

[For account of this fine equestrian statue, see Handbook to the
Renaissance Court.]

189. STEFANO GATTAMELATA. _Warrior._

[Born at Narni, in Italy. Died at Venice, 1443.]

First served in the army of the Church: but in 1434 passed over to the Venetians, and was made Captain-General of their army. A zealous servant of the State. He was raised to the rank of Venetian noble in 1438; rich pensions were conferred upon him, and a palace was given him in the city. The equestrian statue of which the one in the Crystal Palace is a cast, is by Donatello, and is at Padua.

[For account of this equestrian statue, see Handbook to the
Renaissance Court.]

190. GIOVANNI MEDICI, surnamed BANDINERI. _Italian Soldier._

[Born 1498. Died near Borgo-Forte, in Italy, 1526. Aged 28.]

A descendant of Cosmo, “the father of his country,” and the son of the celebrated Catharine Sforza. Passionately fond of arms, he was employed, in 1521, by the Florentines against the Duke of Urbino. In 1524, he entered the service of France, and a year or two afterwards died of a wound. He was ferocious, and mercilessly cruel. After his death his soldiers, who had profited by his instruction and example, styled themselves “The Black Bands”--“Bandineri.” The chief of the butchers is distinguished in history by the unenviable title.

[A very finely-formed head, from the figure in the Piazza San Lorenzo,
Florence.]

191. FRANCESCO PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA.

[Died, 1321.]

A gentleman of Modena, at the head of the Ghibelline faction, in fighting whose battles with the Guelphs he passed his life. In 1312, he filled the office of Podestà of Modena, but was expelled from the city the very same year by the Guelph party. Returning, he sold his authority for 50,000 florins to Bonacossi, Lord of Mantua, and retired to his estates at Mirandola, whither Bonacossi followed him, assassinated him and his two sons, and made off with the purchase money.

[From a terracotta in the Berlin Museum. A youthful portrait.]

192. FRANÇOIS EUGÈNE OF SAVOY, called PRINCE EUGÈNE. _Military Commander._

[Born in Paris, 1663. Died at Vienna, 1736. Aged 73.]

One of the world’s great and successful generals. The great-grandson of Emanuel, Duke of Savoy, his mother being niece of Cardinal Mazarin. Refused a regiment by Louis XIV., he offered his services to the flag of Austria, and fought as a volunteer for the Emperor against the Turks. The deeds of the young soldier caused Louis XIV. to repent of his former refusal, but the most tempting offers came in vain to Eugene. He took part with Marlborough in all his great victories in the Low Countries, expelled the French from Italy, and overthrew the Turks, from whom he took the city of Belgrade. His renown at the peace of 1718, when he retired from active service, stood as high as any soldier’s of the age. In retirement Prince Eugene cultivated literature and the arts. His services had extended through the reigns of three Emperors, and he fought with almost unvarying success. He was ambitious of glory, and of nothing else. He was never married. He invented no system of military tactics, and he followed none. He had the faculty of discerning the right thing to do at the right time, and of arranging his plans quickly and ably in conformity with the circumstances by which he was surrounded. His mind once made up, his intrepidity was boundless. He was rigid in disposition; his figure was well made, though not tall; his eye was black and piercing, and his complexion dark.

[A fine portrait statue by Canigia, a Piedmontese sculptor lately
dead.]

PRELATES AND THEOLOGIANS.

193. FRANCISCO XIMENEZ DE CISNEROS. _Cardinal and Regent of Spain._

[Born in Castile, 1437. Died, 1517. Aged 80.]

A learned priest who had withdrawn to a convent, and was in his fifty-sixth year, when Queen Isabella of Spain brought him from his retirement, and appointed him Archbishop of Toledo, and her own Confessor. His power over the queen was used, according to the ideas of his time, in the interests of his country, for the benefit of the Spanish people, and for the advancement of learning and religion. After the death of Isabella, in 1504, he was made Governor of Spain, in the absence of the King, and he managed to steer his political course with consummate skill and prudence. In 1516, he became Governor of Castille for the young Emperor, Charles V. He possessed in an eminent degree the genius of government, and his rule paved the way for the greatness of Charles V.’s reign. He was unbending in authority, and organized with a rigid sense of justice, that amounted to cruelty. As Inquisitor-General, he had suffered, during eleven years of office, 50,000 condemnations to be passed, and 2500 human beings to be consigned to the flames. Shortly before his own death he fell into disgrace, and he closed his eyes in grief. He was a fanatic without passion. Pious with sword in hand; austere in his way of life, sagacious, imperious, and a profound politician.

194. CARLO REZZONICO, afterwards POPE CLEMENT XIII. _Pope._

[Born at Venice, 1693. Died at Rome, 1769. Aged 76.]

Commenced his pontifical reign by an endeavour to improve the morals of his clergy and his people; but, later, he created displeasure in Europe by protecting the Jesuits, who had been expelled from France and Portugal. He consented at last to the suppression of the Order, and expired almost as soon as the consent was given. It is rather surprising that he did not die shortly before. A man of sincere piety, pure intentions, and great charity.

[From the celebrated monument by Canova. Although the bust is of
colossal proportions, the features preserve their natural, harmonious
expression.]

194*. PADRE VENTURA. _Italian Priest._

[Still living.]

Born at Palermo, towards the close of the last century. At an early age, entered the order of the Teatini: subsequently appointed Professor of the University of Rome. When, in 1821, Naples, Piedmont, and Spain rose for the recovery of freedom, and the hopes of the liberal party were raised to the highest pitch in Italy, Ventura sympathized with the popular voice. He was instantly dismissed from his office, and his writings were denounced. When, in 1831, the Italian liberals were crushed by Austria, the Padre took counsel of his judgment, craved to be reconciled with the clerical party, and was made supreme head of his Order. Deceived by the early policy and promises of Pius IX., Ventura, in 1846, again gave rein to his liberal ideas, and returned to his original sympathies. His oration on the death of O’Connell, delivered at Rome, was bold and pathetic, and so far won for him the regard of his ancient allies, that on the success of the Sicilians, who threw off the Neapolitan yoke, he was named their representative at the court of Rome. Another change came over the spirit of Ventura’s life. The Pope--his friend--was chased from Rome; and he himself prudently awaited, in Cività Vecchia, the result of the French invasion undertaken on the Pope’s behalf. Upon the fall of Rome he repaired to France, and there speedily wrote a formal recantation of all his “errors.” At this hour he preaches in Paris in favour of Ultra-montane doctrines, and is surrounded by admirers. He is learned, polished, courtier-like, and very eloquent: not a popular preacher like Gavazzi, but with a style and manner adapted to a cultivated audience.

[By Rinaldo Rinaldi, of Rome.]

KINGS AND QUEENS.

195. CHARLES ALBERT. _King of Sardinia._

[Born 1798. Died at Oporto, 1849. Aged 51.]

A man of unstable principles. Inclined to liberal views, but unequal to the effort of steadily maintaining them. At the time of his birth, seven male heirs stood between him and the Sardinian throne, but in his thirty-third year he found himself king. Received his education in Paris. In 1821, headed a conspiracy in order to force more liberal measures upon his sovereign; but betrayed the design before it was ripe for execution. In 1823, entered the French service under the Duc d’Angoulême, and attached himself to the cause of despotism in France. From the date of his ascending the throne, 1831, until his death, he continually vacillated between the extremes of absolutism, and downright radicalism. In 1848--the year of revolution--he gave his subjects a constitution, and the eyes of Italy were turned anxiously towards him as to a deliverer and friend. Discontent rose against Austria, and he became the champion of Italy against the foreign intruder. Success at first crowned his arms; but weakness and indecision again visited him at the crisis of his career, and he suffered defeat at Novara, at the hands of the Austrian general, Radetzky. Abdicating in favour of his eldest son, Charles Albert quitted Italy, crossed Spain, and reached Oporto, where he soon died, a disappointed, vexed, and broken-hearted man.

[By Canigia, a Piedmontese sculptor of the time.]

THE FRENCH PORTRAITS.