Chapter 37

[420]"De fossa compositore quando venit patavio" (Mac. Andra, p. 39).

[421]Alione says:Cum nos Astenses reputemur undique Galli.

[421]Alione says:

Cum nos Astenses reputemur undique Galli.

[422]See the passage beginning "O Longobardi frapatores," and ending with these lines:Tunc baratasti Gallorum nobile nomenCum Longobardo, etc.Daelli,op. cit.p. 94.

[422]See the passage beginning "O Longobardi frapatores," and ending with these lines:

Daelli,op. cit.p. 94.

[423]Daelli, p. 93.

[424]In the first book of theMoscheis, line 7, he says:Gens ceratana sinat vecchias cantare batajas,Squarzet Virgilios turba pedanta suos.The end of theMaccaroneasets forth the impossibility of modern bards contending with the great poet of antiquity. Pontanus, Sannazzarius, all the best Latin writers of the age, pale before Virgil:Non tamen æquatur vati quem protulit Andes,Namque vetusta nocet laus nobis sæpe modernis.This refrain he repeats for each poet with whimsical reiteration. Folengo's own ambition to take the first place among burlesque writers appears in the final lines ofMac.book iii.:Mantua Virgilio gaudet, Verona Catullo,Dante suo florens urbs Tusca, Cipada Cocajo:Dicor ego superans alios levitate poetas,Ut Maro medesimos superans gravitate poetas.The induction to theMoscheispoints to a serious heroic poem on Mantua which he abandoned for want of inspiration. We have in these references enough to account for the myth above mentioned.

[424]In the first book of theMoscheis, line 7, he says:

The end of theMaccaroneasets forth the impossibility of modern bards contending with the great poet of antiquity. Pontanus, Sannazzarius, all the best Latin writers of the age, pale before Virgil:

This refrain he repeats for each poet with whimsical reiteration. Folengo's own ambition to take the first place among burlesque writers appears in the final lines ofMac.book iii.:

The induction to theMoscheispoints to a serious heroic poem on Mantua which he abandoned for want of inspiration. We have in these references enough to account for the myth above mentioned.

[425]CompareMac.vii. p. 195.Nil nisi crassiloquas dicor scrivisse camœnas,Crassiloquis igitur dicamus magna camœnis.Thisgreat themeis nothing less than monasticism in its vilest aspects.

[425]CompareMac.vii. p. 195.

Thisgreat themeis nothing less than monasticism in its vilest aspects.

[426]At the end of theMaccaroneaI think there may be an allusion to Odassi conveyed in these words,Tifi Caroloque futuris.

[427]I do not recognize Pulicanus, who is said to be the ancestor of Falchettus. Is it a misprint for Fulicanus? Fulicano is a giant in Bello'sMambriano, one of Folengo's favorite poems of romance.

[428]Mac.iii. The edition I quote from is that of Mantua (?) under name of Amsterdam, 1769 and 1771, 2 vols. 4to. See vol. i. p. 117, for a satire on the frauds and injustice of a country law-court, followed by a mock heroic panegyric of the Casa Gonzaga. The description of their celebrated stud and breed of horses may be read with interest.

[429]The episode of Berta's battle with her sister Laena (Mac.iv. p. 144), the apostrophe to old age (Mac.v. p. 152), the village ball (ibid.p. 163), the tricks played by Cingar on Zambellus (ibid.p. 168, andMac.vi.), the description of the convent of Motella (Mac.vii. 196), the portrait of the ignorant parish-priest (Mac.vii. p. 202), the Carnival Mass (Mac.viii. p. 212), followed by a drunkenKer Mess(ibid.p. 214), are all executed in the broad style of a Dutch painter, and abound in realistic sketches of Lombard country-life.

[430]Mac.vii. p. 204.

[431]Mac.vii. p. 212. Folengo seems to have been fond of music. See the whimsical description of four-part singing,Mac.xx. p. 139, followed by the panegyric of Music and the malediction of her detractors.

[432]This episode of Cingar's triumph over the enemies of Baldus, his craft, his rhetoric, his ready wit, his infinite powers of persuasion, his monkey tricks and fox-like cunning, is executed with an energy of humor and breadth of conception, that places it upon a level with the choicest passages in Rabelais.

[433]Mac.xii. p. 296.

[434]In the course of this oration Folengo introduces an extraordinarily venomous invective againstcontadini, which may be paralleled with his allegory in theOrlandino. It begins (Mac.xiii. p. 11):Progenies maledicta quidem villana vocatur,and extends through forty lines of condensed abuse.

[434]In the course of this oration Folengo introduces an extraordinarily venomous invective againstcontadini, which may be paralleled with his allegory in theOrlandino. It begins (Mac.xiii. p. 11):

Progenies maledicta quidem villana vocatur,

and extends through forty lines of condensed abuse.

[435]Mac.xvi. p. 66.

[436]Mac.xx. p. 152. From this point onward the poet and Merlin are one person:Nomine Merlinos dicor, de sanguine Mantus,Est mihi cognomen Cocajus Maccaronensis.

[436]Mac.xx. p. 152. From this point onward the poet and Merlin are one person:

[437]TheNovellaof Luca Philippus, who kept a tavern at the door of Paradise, and had no custom, since no one came that way so long as Gulfora ruled on earth, forms a significant preface to her episode. SeeMac.xxi. p. 180. The altercation between this host and Peter at the rusty gate of heaven is written in the purest Italian style of pious parody.

[438]Aretino'sCortigianacontains a very humorous exorcism inflicted by way of a practical joke upon a fisherman.

[439]See above,Part i, p. 453, note 2, for the distinction between the fiends and the sprites drawn by Pulci.

[440]See Lasca'sNovellaofZoroastro; Bandello's novels of witchcraft (Part iii. 29 and 52); Cellini's celebrated conjuration in the Coliseum; and Ariosto's comedy of theNegromante. These sources may be illustrated from the evidence given by Virginia Maria Lezia before her judges, and the trial of witches at Nogaredo, both of which are printed in Dandolo'sSignora di Monza(Milano, 1855). Compare the curious details about Lombard witchcraft in Cantù'sDiocesi di Como.

[441]It may be remembered that the necromancer in Cellini sent his book to be enchanted in the Apennines of Norcia. Folengo alludes to this superstition:Qualiter ad stagnum Nursæ sacrare quadernos.With regard to Val Camonica, see the actual state of that district as reported by Cantù. Folengo in theOrlandinomentions its witches. Bandello (iii. 52) speaks of it thus: "Val Camonica, ove si dice essere di molte streghe."

[441]It may be remembered that the necromancer in Cellini sent his book to be enchanted in the Apennines of Norcia. Folengo alludes to this superstition:

Qualiter ad stagnum Nursæ sacrare quadernos.

With regard to Val Camonica, see the actual state of that district as reported by Cantù. Folengo in theOrlandinomentions its witches. Bandello (iii. 52) speaks of it thus: "Val Camonica, ove si dice essere di molte streghe."

[442]Witchcraft in Italy grew the more formidable the closer it approached the German frontier. It seems to have assumed the features of an epidemic at the close of the fifteenth century. Up to that date little is heard of it, and little heed was paid to it. The exacerbation of the malady portended and accompanied the dissolution of medieval beliefs in a population vexed by war, famine and pestilence, and vitiated by ecclesiastical corruption.

[443]Hic sunt Grammaticæ populi, gentesque reductæ,Huc, illuc, istuc, reliqua seguitante fameja:Argumenta volant dialectica, mille sophistæAdsunt bajanæ, pro, contra, non, ita, lyque:Adsunt Errores, asunt mendacia, bollæ,Atque solecismi, fallacia, fictio vatum...Omnes altandem tanto rumore volutantEthicen et Physicen, Animam, centumque novellas,Ut sibi stornito Baldus stopparet orecchias.Squarnazzam Scoti Fracassus repperit illic,Quam vestit, gabbatque Deum, pugnatque Thomistas.Alberti magni Lironus somnia zaffat.

[443]

[444]This hypothesis receives support from the passage in which Baldus compares his new love for Crispis, the paragon of all virtues, with his old infatuation for Berta, who is the personification of vulgar appetite, unrefined natural instinct. See the end of Book xxiii.

[445]The rage of a man who knows that he has chosen the lower while he might have trodden the higher paths of life and art, flames out at intervals through this burlesque. Take this example, the last five lines of Book xxiii.:Sic ego Macronicum penitus volo linquere carmenCum mihi tempus erit, quod erit, si celsa voluntasFlectitur et nostris lachrymis et supplice voto.Heu heu! quod volui misero mihi? floribus AustrumPerditus et liquidis immisi fontibus aprum.

[446]Zanitonella, p. 3.

[447]Ibid.p. 2. Compare Sonolegia xiii.ib.p. 40.

[448]Op. cit.p. 42.

[449]We may ascend to the very sources of popular Tuscan poetry, and we shall find this literature ofdouble entendrein theCanzoniof theNicchioandUgellino, noticed above,Part i. p. 38. Besides theCanti Carnascialeschiedited by Il Lasca, we have a collection ofCanzoni a Ballo, printed at Florence in 1569, which proves that the raw material of theCapitolilay ready to the hand of the burlesque poets in plebeian literature.

[450]My references are made toOpere Burlesche, 3 vols., 1723, with the names of Londra and Firenze. Gregorovius says of them: "Wenn man diese 'scherzenden' Gedichte liest, muss man entweder über die Nichtigkeit ihrer Gegenstände staunen, oder vor dem Abgrund der Unsittlichkeit erschrecken, den sie frech entschleiern."Stadt Rom.vol. viii. p. 345.

[451]The probable date is 1496.

[452]Orl. Inn. Rifatto da Fr. Berni, i. 14, 23-28, makes it clear that Berni was an eye-witness of the Sack of Rome. Panizzi's reference to this passage (Boiardo ed Ariosto, London, 1830, vol. ii. p. cxi.) involves what seems to me a confusion.

[453]The matter is fully discussed by Mazzuchelli in his biography of Berni. He, relying on the hypothesis of Berni having lived till 1536, if not till 1543, points out the impossibility of his having been murdered by the Cardinal, who died himself in July, 1535. This difficulty has recently been removed by Signor Antonio Virgili's demonstration of the real date of Berni's death in May, 1535. SeeRassegna Settimanale, February 23, 1879, a paper of great importance for students of Berni's life and works, to which I shall frequently refer.

[454]It is enough to mention theCapitoli"Delle Pesche," "A M. Antonio da Bibbiena," "Sopra un Garzone," "Lamentazion d'Amore." References are made to theRime e Lettere di Fr. Berni, Firenze, Barbèra, 1865. For theRifacimentoof theOrlando InnamoratoI shall use the Milan reprint in 5 vols., 1806, which also contains theRime.

[455]Book III. canto vii. (canto 67 of theRifacimento, vol. iv. p. 266).

[456]This translation will be found in Panizzi's edition of theOrlando Innamorato(London, Pickering, 1830), vol. ii. p. cxiv.

[457]Letter vi. to Messer Giamb. Montebuona.

[458]Letter xvii.

[459]Letter xxiv.

[460]Letter to Ippolito de' Medici (ed. Milan, vol. v. p. 227).

[461]Letter ix.

[462]Letter vii. Compare the sonnet "In nome di M. Prinzivalle da Pontremoli" (ed. Milan, vol. v. p. 3).

[463]It was published at Rome by Calvo in 1526, with the comment of M. Pietro Paolo da S. Chirico.

[464]Il Lasca prefixed a sonnet to his edition of 1548, in which he speaks of "Il Berni nostro dabbene e gentile," calls him "primo e vero trovatore, Maestro e padre del burlesco stile," says that it is possible to envy but impossible to imitate him, and compares him thus with Burchiello:Non sia chi mi ragioni di Burchiello,Che saria proprio come comparareCaron Dimonio all'Agnol Gabriello.In another sonnet he climbs a further height of panegyric:Quanti mai fur poeti al mondo e sono,Volete in Greco, in Ebreo, o in Latino,A petto a lui non vagliono un lupino,Tant'è dotto, faceto, bello e buono:and winds up with the strange assurance that:da lui si senteAnzi s'impara con gioja infinitaCome viver si debbe in questa vita.

In another sonnet he climbs a further height of panegyric:

and winds up with the strange assurance that:

[465]Sonnet xxvii.

[466]Sonnet ix.

[467]The scholars of the day were not content with writing burlesqueCapitoli. They must needs annotate them. See Caro's Commentary on theFicheideof Molza (Romagnoli,Scelta di Curiosità Letterarie, Dispensa vii. Bologna, 1862) for the most celebrated example. There is not a sentence in this long and witty composition, read before the Accademia delle Virtù, which does not contain a grossly obscene allusion, scarcely a paragraph which does not refer to an unmentionable vice.

[468]The six opening lines of theLamentazion d'Amoreprevent our regarding Berni's jests as wholly separate from his experience and practice.

[469]A familiar illustration is Cellini'sCapitolo del Carcere. Curious examples of these occasional poems, written for the popular taste, are furnished by Mutinelli in hisAnnali Urbani di Venezia. See above,Part i. pp. 172,519, for the vicissitudes ofterza rimaafter the close of the fourteenth century.

[470]A Papacy composed of compliment,Debate, consideration, complaisance,Of furthermore, then, but, yes, well, perchance,Haply, and such-like terms inconsequent;Of thought, conjecture, counsel, argument,Starveling surmise to summon countenance,Negotiations, audiences, romance,Fine words and shifts, disbursement to prevent;Of feet of lead, of tame neutrality,Of patience and parade to outer view.Of fawning Faith, of Hope and Charity,Of Innocence and good intentions too,Which it were well to dub simplicity,Uglier interpretations to eschew;With your permission, you,To speak the plain truth out, shall live to seePope Adrian sainted through this Papacy.

[470]

[471]Sonnets xi. xvi. xiv. iii. xx. The same vivid picturesqueness is displayed in the desecrated Abbey (Sonnet xvii.), which deserves to be called an etching in words.

[472]Sonnet xix. In theCapitoloto Ippolito de' Medici, Berni thus alludes to Aretino:Com'ha fatto non so chi mio vicino,Che veste d'oro, e più non degna il panno,E dassi del messere e del divino.

[472]Sonnet xix. In theCapitoloto Ippolito de' Medici, Berni thus alludes to Aretino:

[473]"Di chi presuntuosamente gli ha voluto fare tanta ingiuria." This note occurs at Stanza 83 of Canto 1.

[474]In some cases the readings of the second edition are inferior to those of the first, while both fall short of Boiardo. Boiardo wrote in his description of Astolfo (Canto i. 60):Quel solea dir, ch'egli era per sciagura,E tornava a cader senza paura.In therifacimentoof 1541 we have:E alle volte cadeva per sciagura,E si levava poi senza paura.In that of 1545:Un sol dispetto avea: dice TurpinoChe nel cader alquanto era latino.I take these instances from Panizzi.

[474]In some cases the readings of the second edition are inferior to those of the first, while both fall short of Boiardo. Boiardo wrote in his description of Astolfo (Canto i. 60):

In therifacimentoof 1541 we have:

In that of 1545:

I take these instances from Panizzi.

[475]Boiardo ed Ariosto, vol. ii. p. cxxxiv.

[476]Lettere, Book ii. p. 121.

[477]Ibid.p. 249. We might quote a parallel passage from the Prologue to theIpocrita, which Aretino published in 1542, just after accomplishing his revenge on Berni: "Io non ho pensato al gastigo che io darei a quegli che pongono il lor nome nei libri che essi guastano nella foggia che un non so chi ha guasto il Boiardo, per non mi credere che si trovasse cotanta temerità nella presunzione del mondo." The hypocrisy of this is worthy of the play's title.

[478]Mazzuchelli (Scrittori d'Italia: Albicante, Giov. Alberto) may be consulted about the relations between these two ruffians, who alternately praised and abused each other in print.

[479]See Mazzuchelli,op. cit., under "Brocardo, Antonio." The spelling of the name varies. Bembo, six years afterwards, told Varchi that Aretino drove Broccardo for him into an early grave. SeeLettere all'Aretino, vol. ii. p. 186, ed. Romagnoli. The probability is that Broccardo died of fever aggravated by the annoyance caused him by Aretino's calumnies. There is no valid suspicion of poison.

[480]This curious pamphlet was reprinted from a unique copy by Panizzi,op. cit.vol. iii. p. 361. In the introduction, Vergerio gives an interesting account of Berni. He represents him as a man of worldly life, addicted to gross pleasures and indecent literature until within a few years of his death. Having been converted to evangelical faith in Christ, Berni then resolved to use theOrlandoas a vehicle for Lutheran opinions; and hisrifacimentowas already almost printed, when the devil found means to suppress it. Vergerio is emphatic in his statement that the poem was finished and nearly printed. If this was indeed the case, we must suppose that Albicante worked upon the sheets, canceling some and leaving others, and that the book thus treated was afterwards shared by Giunta and Calvo.

[481]I shall print a translation of the eighteen stanzas in anAppendixto this volume. Lines like the following,Arrandellarsi come un salsicciuolo,which are common in the mangled version, would never have passed Berni's censure.

[481]I shall print a translation of the eighteen stanzas in anAppendixto this volume. Lines like the following,

Arrandellarsi come un salsicciuolo,

which are common in the mangled version, would never have passed Berni's censure.

[482]This appears from a reference in Aretino's second letter to Calvo, where he talks of Berni's "friends and relatives." It might be going too far to suggest that Berni was murdered by his ecclesiastical enemies, who feared the scandal which would be caused by the publication of his opinions.

[483]Vergerio may have communicated the eighteen stanzas to Aretino; or conversely he may have received them from him. I have read through the letters exchanged between him and Aretino—and they are numerous—without, however, finding any passage that throws light on this transaction. Aretino published both series of letters. He had therefore opportunity to suppress inconvenient allusions.

[484]We may note the dates and fates of the chief actors in this tragedy. Broccardo died of grief in 1531. Berni died, under suspicion of poison, in 1535. Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici was poisoned a few months later, in 1535. Alessandro de' Medici was murdered by Lorenzino in 1537. Pietro Paolo Vergerio was deprived of his see and accused of heresy in 1544. Berni's old friend, the author ofIl Forno, M. La Casa, conducted his trial, as Papal Nuncio at Venice. Aretino, who had assumed the part of inquisitor and mutilator to gratify his private spite, survived triumphant.

[485]See theRaccolta di Poesie Satiriche, Milano, 1808.

[486]See, for the latter series,Poesie Satiriche, pp. 138-156.

[487]SeeSonetti di Matteo Franco e di Luigi Pulci, 1759. Cp. above,Part i. p. 431.

[488]The best source of information regarding Pietro Aretino is his own correspondence published in six volumes (Paris, 1609), and the two volumes of letters written to him by eminent personages, which are indeed a rich mine of details regarding Italian society and manners in the sixteenth century. Mazzuchelli'sVita di Pietro Aretino(Padua, 1741) is a conscientious, sober, and laborious piece of work, on which all subsequent notices have been based.

[489]It may be mentioned that Ariosto has immortalized this bully in theOrlando(xlvi. 14), among the most illustrious men and women of his age:ecco il flagelloDe' principi, il divin Pietro Aretino.

[489]It may be mentioned that Ariosto has immortalized this bully in theOrlando(xlvi. 14), among the most illustrious men and women of his age:

[490]Aretino's comedies, letters, and occasional poems are our best sources for acquaintance with the actual conditions of palace-life. TheDialogo de le Cortiopens with a truly terrible description of the debauchery and degradation to which a youth was exposed on his first entrance into the service of a Roman noble. It may have been drawn from the author's own experience. The nauseous picture of thetinello, or upper-servants' hall, which occurs in the comedyCortigiana(act v. sc. 15), proves intimate familiarity with the most revolting details of domestic drudgery. The dirt of these places made an ineffaceable impression on Aretino's memory. In his burlesqueOrlandino, when he wishes to call up a disgusting image, he writes:Odorava la sala come odoraUn gran tinel d'un Monsignor Francese,O come quel d'un Cardinal ancoraQuando Febo riscalda un bestial mese.

[491]Aretino's correspondence and the comedy above mentioned throw sufficient light upon these features of Roman society. It will, for the rest, suffice to quote a passage from Monsignore Guidiccioni's letter to Giambattista Bernardi (Opere di M. Giov. Guidiccioni, Barbèra, 1867, vol. i. p. 195): "Non solamenteda questi illustri per ricchezzenon si può avere, ma non si puote ancora sperare premio che sia di lunghe fatiche o di rischio di morte, sel'uomo non si rivolge ad acquistarlo per vie disoneste. Perciocchè essi non carezzano e non esaltano se non adulatori, equelli che sanno per alfabeto le abitazioni, le pratiche e le qualità delle cortigiane." The whole letter should be read by those who would understand Roman society of the Renaissance. The italics are mine.

[492]Quoted by Philarète Chasles from Gamurrini,Ist. Gen. delle famiglie nobili Toscane ed Umbre, iii. 332. I do not know exactly to what period the letter refers.

[493]Lettere, vol. i. p. 258.

[494]It may be remembered that Giberti, Bishop of Verona, was Berni's patron. This helps to account for the animosity between Berni and Aretino.

[495]Op. Burl.ii. p. 11:Sotto Milano dieci volte, non ch'una,Mi disse: Pietro, se di questa guerraMi scampa Dio e la buona fortuna,Ti voglio impadronir della tua terra.Giovanni de' Medici wrote to him thus: "Vieni presto.... Il re a buon proposito si dolse che non ti aveva menato al solito, onde io diedi la colpa al piacerti più lo stare in Corte che in Campo ... non so vivere senza l'Aretino."—Lettere scritte all'Aretino, i. 6.

[495]Op. Burl.ii. p. 11:

Giovanni de' Medici wrote to him thus: "Vieni presto.... Il re a buon proposito si dolse che non ti aveva menato al solito, onde io diedi la colpa al piacerti più lo stare in Corte che in Campo ... non so vivere senza l'Aretino."—Lettere scritte all'Aretino, i. 6.

[496]The sonnet by Berni quoted above,p. 371, was written to meet these libels of Aretino. It contains an allusion to Achille della Volta's poignard.

[497]See Aretino's Letters, vol. i. pp. 8, 10, for very interesting details concerning the death of Giovanni de' Medici. He here used the interest of his old master to secure the favor of Duke Cosimo.

[498]The edition of Aretino's own letters which I shall use is that of Paris, 1609 in six books. The edition of theLettere scritte all'Aretinois Romagnoli's reprint,Scelta di Curiosità, Bologna, 1873-1876, Dispensa cxxxii., two books divided into four volumes; to these, for convenience sake, I shall refer as 1, 2, 3, 4.

[499]It is clear from a perusal of theLettere all'Aretinothat his reputation depended in a great measure upon these pious romances. The panegyrics heaped on them are too lengthy and too copious to be quoted. They are curiously mixed with no less fervent praises of theDialoghi.

[500]Lettere, vol. i. p. 3.

[501]Lettere, i. 204.

[502]Lettere, ii. 58.

[503]Lettere, iii. 145; cp. iii. 89. The whole of the passage translated above is an abstract of a letter professedly written to Aretino by Doni (Lett. all'Ar.vol. iv. p. 395), which may be read with profit as an instance of flattery. The occurrence of the same phrases in both series of epistles raises a doubt whether Aretino did not tamper with the text of the correspondence he published, penning panegyrics of himself and printing them under fictitious names as advertisements. Doni was a man who might have lent himself to such imposture on the public.

[504]SeeLettere all'Ar.vol. iv. p. 352, for a vivid description, written by Francesco Marcolini, of Aretino's train of living and prodigal hospitality. It realizes the vast banqueting-pictures of Veronese.

[505]Lettere, iii. 72.

[506]Lettere, i. 206. This passage occurs also in a letter addressed to Aretino by one Alessandro Andrea (Lett. all'Ar.vol. iii. p. 178); whence Mazzuchelli argues that Aretino tampered with the letters written to him, and interpolated passages before he sent them to the press. See last page, note 1.

[507]Lettere, ii. 213.

[508]Lettere, iii. 70.

[509]SeeLettere, ii. 257; iii. 340; v. 251.

[510]See theCapitolo al Duca di Fiorenza.

[511]Marcolini's letter (Lettere all'Aretino, vol. iv. p. 352), and some letters from obscure scholars (for example,ib.vol. ii. pp. 118-121), seem to prove that he was really openhanded in cases of distress.

[512]There is a letter from Barbarossa to Aretino in theLettere all'Ar.vol. iii. p. 269.

[513]See the frank admissions inLettere, ii. 52; iv. 168; i. 19, 30, 142.

[514]See the plates prefixed to Mazzuchelli's Life of Aretino. Compare a passage in his Letters, vi. 115, and the headings of the Letters addressed to him,passim.

[515]After studying theLettere scritte all'Aretino—epistles, it must be remembered, from foreign kings and princes, from cardinals and bishops, from Italian dukes and noblemen, from illustrious ladies and great artists, and from the most distinguished men of letters of his day—I am quite at a loss to comprehend thefuroreof fashion which accompanied this man through his career. One and all praise him as the most powerful, the most virtuous, the bravest, the wittiest, the wisest, or, to use their favorite phrase, thedivinestman of his century. Was all this a mere convention? Was it evoked by fear and desire of being flattered in return? Or, after all, had Aretino some now occult splendor, some real, but now unintelligible, utility for his contemporaries?

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