Chapter 30

[905]Infessura, in Eccard,Scriptores, ii. col. 1997. The public women only, not the kept women, are meant. The number, compared with the population of Rome, is certainly enormous, perhaps owing to some clerical error. According to Giraldi, vi. 7, Venice was exceptionally rich ‘di quella sorte di donne che cortigiane son dette;’ see also the epigram of Pasquinus (Gregor. viii. 279, note 2); but Rome did not stand behind Venice (Giraldi,Introduz.nov. 2). Comp. the notice of the ‘meretrices’ in Rome (1480) who met in a church and were robbed of their jewels and ornaments, Murat. xxii. 342 sqq., and the account inBurchardi, Diarium, ed. Leibnitz, pp. 75-77, &c. Landi (Commentario, fol. 76) mentions Rome, Naples, and Venice as the chief seats of the ‘cortigiane;’ibid.286, the fame of the women of Chiavenna is to be understood ironically. TheQuaestiones Forcianae, fol. 9, of the same author give most interesting information on love and love’s delights, and the style and position of women in the different cities of Italy. On the other hand, Egnatius (De Exemp. III. Vir.Ven. fol. 212bsqq.) praises the chastity of the Venetian women, and says that the prostitutes come every year from Germany. Corn. Agr.de van. Scientiae, cap. 63 (Opp.ed. Lugd. ii. 158) says: ‘Vidi ego nuper atque legi sub titulo “Cortosanæ” Italica lingua editum et Venetiis typis excusum de arte meretricia dialogum, utriusque Veneris omnium flagitiosissimum et dignissimum, qui ipse cum autore suo ardeat.’ Ambr. Traversari (Epist.viii. 2 sqq.) calls the beloved of Niccolò Niccoli ‘foemina fidelissima.’ In theLettere dei Principi, i. 108 (report of Negro, Sept. 1, 1522) the ‘donne Greche’ are described as ‘fonte di ogni cortesia et amorevolezza.’ A great authority, esp. for Siena, is theHermaphroditusof Panormitanus. The enumeration of the ‘lenae lupaeque’ in Florence (ii. 37) is hardly fictitious; the line there occurs:‘AnnaqueTheutonicotibi si dabit obvia cantu.’[906]Were these wandering knights really married?[907]Trattato del Governo della Famiglia.See above, p. 132, note 1. Pandolfini died in 1446, L. B. Alberti, by whom the work was really written, in 1472.[908]A thorough history of ‘flogging’ among the Germanic and Latin races treated with some psychological power, would be worth volumes of dispatches and negotiations. (A modest beginning has been made by Lichtenberg,Vermischte Schriften, v. 276-283.) When, and through what influence, did flogging become a daily practice in the German household? Not till after Walther sang: ‘Nieman kan mit gerten kindes zuht beherten.’In Italy beating ceased early; Maffeo Vegio (d. 1458) recommends (De Educ. Liber.lib. i. c. 19) moderation in flogging, but adds: ‘Caedendos magis esse filios quam pestilentissmis blanditiis laetandos.’ At a later time a child of seven was no longer beaten. The little Roland (Orlandino, cap. vii. str. 42) lays down the principle:‘Sol gli asini si ponno bastonare,Se una tal bestia fussi, patirei.’The German humanists of the Renaissance, like Rudolf Agricola and Erasmus, speak decisively against flogging, which the elder schoolmasters regarded as an indispensable means of education. In the biographies of theFahrenden Schülerat the close of the fifteenth century (Platter’s Lebensbeschriebung, ed. Fechter, Basel, 1840;Butzbach’s Wanderbuch, ed. Becher, Regensburg, 1869) there are gross examples of the corporal punishment of the time.[909]But the taste was not universal. J. A. Campanus (Epist.iv. 4) writes vigorously against country life. He admits: ‘Ego si rusticus natus non essem, facile tangerer voluptate;’ but since he was born a peasant, ‘quod tibi deliciae, mihi satietas est.’[910]Giovanni Villani, xi. 93, our principal authority for the building of villas before the middle of the fourteenth century. The villas were more beautiful than the town houses, and great exertions were made by the Florentines to have them so, ‘onde erano tenuti matti.’[911]Trattato del Governo della Famiglia(Torino, 1829), pp. 84, 88.[912]See above, part iv. chap. 2. Petrarch was called ‘Silvanus,’ on the ground of his dislike of the town and love of the country.Epp. Fam.ed. Fracass. ii. 87 sqq. Guarino’s description of a villa to Gianbattista Candrata, in Rosmini, ii. 13 sqq., 157 sqq. Poggio, in a letter to Facius (De Vir. Ill.p. 106): ‘Sum enim deditior senectutis gratia rei rusticæ quam antea.’ See also Poggio,Opp.(1513), p 112 sqq.; and Shepherd-Tonelli, i. 255 and 261. Similarly Maffeo Vegio (De Lib. Educ.vi. 4), and B. Platina at the beginning of his dialogue, ‘De Vera Nobilitate.’ Politian’s descriptions of the country-houses of the Medici in Reumont,Lorenzo, ii. 73, 87. For the Farnesina, see Gregorovius, viii. 114.[913]Comp. J. Burckhardt,Geschichte der Renaissance in Italien(Stuttg. 1868), pp. 320-332.[914]Compare pp. 47 sqq., where the magnificence of the festivals is shown to have been a hindrance to the higher development of the drama.[915]In comparison with the cities of the North.[916]The procession at the feast of Corpus Christi was not established at Venice until 1407; Cecchetti,Venezia e la Corte di Roma, i. 108.[917]The festivities which took place when Visconti was made Duke of Milan, 1395 (Corio, fol. 274), had, with all their splendour, something of mediæval coarseness about them, and the dramatic element was wholly wanting. Notice, too, the relative insignificance of the processions in Pavia during the fourteenth century (Anonymus de Laudibus Papiae, in Murat. xi. col. 34 sqq.).[918]Gio. Villani, viii. 70.[919]See e.g. Infessura, in Eccard,Scrippt.ii. col. 1896; Corio, fols. 417, 421.[920]The dialogue in the Mysteries was chiefly in octaves, the monologue in ‘terzine.’ For the Mysteries, see J. L. Klein,Geschichte der Ital. Dramas, i. 153 sqq.[921]We have no need to refer to the realism of the schoolmen for proof of this. About the year 970 Bishop Wibold of Cambray recommended to his clergy, instead of dice, a sort of spiritual bézique, with fifty-six abstract names represented by as many combinations of cards. ‘Gesta Episcopori Cameracens.’ inMon. Germ.SS. vii. p. 433.[922]E.g. when he found pictures on metaphors. At the gate of Purgatory the central broken step signifies contrition of heart (Purg.ix. 97), though the slab through being broken loses its value as a step. And again (Purg.xviii. 94), the idle in this world have to show their penitence by running in the other, though running could be a symbol of flight.[923]Inferno, ix. 61;Purgat.viii. 19.[924]Poesie Satiriche, ed. Milan, p. 70 sqq. Dating from the end of the fourteenth century.[925]The latter e.g. in theVenatioof the Cardinal Adriano da Corneto (Strasburg, 1512; often printed). Ascanio Sforza is there supposed to find consolation for the fall of his house in the pleasures of the chase. See above, p. 261.[926]More properly 1454. See Olivier de la Marche,Mémoires, chap. 29.[927]For other French festivals, see e.g. Juvénal des Ursins (Paris, 1614), ad. a. 1389 (entrance of Queen Isabella); John de Troyes, ad. a. 1461) (often printed) (entrance of Louis XI.). Here, too, we meet with living statues, machines for raising bodies, and so forth; but the whole is confused and disconnected, and the allegories are mostly unintelligible. The festivals at Lisbon in 1452, held at the departure of the Infanta Eleonora, the bride of the Emperor Frederick III., lasted several days and were remarkable for their magnificence. See Freher-Struve,Rer. German. Script.ii. fol. 51—the report of Nic. Lauckmann.[928]A great advantage for those poets and artists who knew how to use it.[929]Comp. Bartol. Gambia,Notizie intorno alle Opere di Feo Belcari, Milano, 1808; and especially the introduction to the work,Le Rappresentazioni di Feo Belcari ed altre di lui Poesie, Firenze, 1833. As a parallel, see the introduction of the bibliophile Jacob to his edition of Pathelin (Paris, 1859).[930]It is true that a Mystery at Siena on the subject of the Massacre of the Innocents closed with a scene in which the disconsolate mothers seized one another by the hair. Della Valle,Lettere Sanesi, iii. p. 53. It was one of the chief aims of Feo Belcari (d. 1484), of whom we have spoken, to free the Mysteries from these monstrosities.[931]Franco Sacchetti, nov. 72.[932]Vasari, iii. 232 sqq.:Vita di Brunellesco; v. 36 sqq.:Vita del Cecca. Comp. v. 32,Vita di Don Bartolommeo.[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. andPii 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. Themenufills 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’sCommentario(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 theOrationes 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 theDicta et Factaof 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 archaboveFama, 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), whoseOpus MaccaronicorumRabelais 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 349passim. 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.

‘AnnaqueTheutonicotibi si dabit obvia cantu.’

[906]Were these wandering knights really married?

[907]Trattato del Governo della Famiglia.See above, p. 132, note 1. Pandolfini died in 1446, L. B. Alberti, by whom the work was really written, in 1472.

[908]A thorough history of ‘flogging’ among the Germanic and Latin races treated with some psychological power, would be worth volumes of dispatches and negotiations. (A modest beginning has been made by Lichtenberg,Vermischte Schriften, v. 276-283.) When, and through what influence, did flogging become a daily practice in the German household? Not till after Walther sang: ‘Nieman kan mit gerten kindes zuht beherten.’In Italy beating ceased early; Maffeo Vegio (d. 1458) recommends (De Educ. Liber.lib. i. c. 19) moderation in flogging, but adds: ‘Caedendos magis esse filios quam pestilentissmis blanditiis laetandos.’ At a later time a child of seven was no longer beaten. The little Roland (Orlandino, cap. vii. str. 42) lays down the principle:‘Sol gli asini si ponno bastonare,Se una tal bestia fussi, patirei.’The German humanists of the Renaissance, like Rudolf Agricola and Erasmus, speak decisively against flogging, which the elder schoolmasters regarded as an indispensable means of education. In the biographies of theFahrenden Schülerat the close of the fifteenth century (Platter’s Lebensbeschriebung, ed. Fechter, Basel, 1840;Butzbach’s Wanderbuch, ed. Becher, Regensburg, 1869) there are gross examples of the corporal punishment of the time.

In Italy beating ceased early; Maffeo Vegio (d. 1458) recommends (De Educ. Liber.lib. i. c. 19) moderation in flogging, but adds: ‘Caedendos magis esse filios quam pestilentissmis blanditiis laetandos.’ At a later time a child of seven was no longer beaten. The little Roland (Orlandino, cap. vii. str. 42) lays down the principle:

‘Sol gli asini si ponno bastonare,Se una tal bestia fussi, patirei.’

The German humanists of the Renaissance, like Rudolf Agricola and Erasmus, speak decisively against flogging, which the elder schoolmasters regarded as an indispensable means of education. In the biographies of theFahrenden Schülerat the close of the fifteenth century (Platter’s Lebensbeschriebung, ed. Fechter, Basel, 1840;Butzbach’s Wanderbuch, ed. Becher, Regensburg, 1869) there are gross examples of the corporal punishment of the time.

[909]But the taste was not universal. J. A. Campanus (Epist.iv. 4) writes vigorously against country life. He admits: ‘Ego si rusticus natus non essem, facile tangerer voluptate;’ but since he was born a peasant, ‘quod tibi deliciae, mihi satietas est.’

[910]Giovanni Villani, xi. 93, our principal authority for the building of villas before the middle of the fourteenth century. The villas were more beautiful than the town houses, and great exertions were made by the Florentines to have them so, ‘onde erano tenuti matti.’

[911]Trattato del Governo della Famiglia(Torino, 1829), pp. 84, 88.

[912]See above, part iv. chap. 2. Petrarch was called ‘Silvanus,’ on the ground of his dislike of the town and love of the country.Epp. Fam.ed. Fracass. ii. 87 sqq. Guarino’s description of a villa to Gianbattista Candrata, in Rosmini, ii. 13 sqq., 157 sqq. Poggio, in a letter to Facius (De Vir. Ill.p. 106): ‘Sum enim deditior senectutis gratia rei rusticæ quam antea.’ See also Poggio,Opp.(1513), p 112 sqq.; and Shepherd-Tonelli, i. 255 and 261. Similarly Maffeo Vegio (De Lib. Educ.vi. 4), and B. Platina at the beginning of his dialogue, ‘De Vera Nobilitate.’ Politian’s descriptions of the country-houses of the Medici in Reumont,Lorenzo, ii. 73, 87. For the Farnesina, see Gregorovius, viii. 114.

[913]Comp. J. Burckhardt,Geschichte der Renaissance in Italien(Stuttg. 1868), pp. 320-332.

[914]Compare pp. 47 sqq., where the magnificence of the festivals is shown to have been a hindrance to the higher development of the drama.

[915]In comparison with the cities of the North.

[916]The procession at the feast of Corpus Christi was not established at Venice until 1407; Cecchetti,Venezia e la Corte di Roma, i. 108.

[917]The festivities which took place when Visconti was made Duke of Milan, 1395 (Corio, fol. 274), had, with all their splendour, something of mediæval coarseness about them, and the dramatic element was wholly wanting. Notice, too, the relative insignificance of the processions in Pavia during the fourteenth century (Anonymus de Laudibus Papiae, in Murat. xi. col. 34 sqq.).

[918]Gio. Villani, viii. 70.

[919]See e.g. Infessura, in Eccard,Scrippt.ii. col. 1896; Corio, fols. 417, 421.

[920]The dialogue in the Mysteries was chiefly in octaves, the monologue in ‘terzine.’ For the Mysteries, see J. L. Klein,Geschichte der Ital. Dramas, i. 153 sqq.

[921]We have no need to refer to the realism of the schoolmen for proof of this. About the year 970 Bishop Wibold of Cambray recommended to his clergy, instead of dice, a sort of spiritual bézique, with fifty-six abstract names represented by as many combinations of cards. ‘Gesta Episcopori Cameracens.’ inMon. Germ.SS. vii. p. 433.

[922]E.g. when he found pictures on metaphors. At the gate of Purgatory the central broken step signifies contrition of heart (Purg.ix. 97), though the slab through being broken loses its value as a step. And again (Purg.xviii. 94), the idle in this world have to show their penitence by running in the other, though running could be a symbol of flight.

[923]Inferno, ix. 61;Purgat.viii. 19.

[924]Poesie Satiriche, ed. Milan, p. 70 sqq. Dating from the end of the fourteenth century.

[925]The latter e.g. in theVenatioof the Cardinal Adriano da Corneto (Strasburg, 1512; often printed). Ascanio Sforza is there supposed to find consolation for the fall of his house in the pleasures of the chase. See above, p. 261.

[926]More properly 1454. See Olivier de la Marche,Mémoires, chap. 29.

[927]For other French festivals, see e.g. Juvénal des Ursins (Paris, 1614), ad. a. 1389 (entrance of Queen Isabella); John de Troyes, ad. a. 1461) (often printed) (entrance of Louis XI.). Here, too, we meet with living statues, machines for raising bodies, and so forth; but the whole is confused and disconnected, and the allegories are mostly unintelligible. The festivals at Lisbon in 1452, held at the departure of the Infanta Eleonora, the bride of the Emperor Frederick III., lasted several days and were remarkable for their magnificence. See Freher-Struve,Rer. German. Script.ii. fol. 51—the report of Nic. Lauckmann.

[928]A great advantage for those poets and artists who knew how to use it.

[929]Comp. Bartol. Gambia,Notizie intorno alle Opere di Feo Belcari, Milano, 1808; and especially the introduction to the work,Le Rappresentazioni di Feo Belcari ed altre di lui Poesie, Firenze, 1833. As a parallel, see the introduction of the bibliophile Jacob to his edition of Pathelin (Paris, 1859).

[930]It is true that a Mystery at Siena on the subject of the Massacre of the Innocents closed with a scene in which the disconsolate mothers seized one another by the hair. Della Valle,Lettere Sanesi, iii. p. 53. It was one of the chief aims of Feo Belcari (d. 1484), of whom we have spoken, to free the Mysteries from these monstrosities.

[931]Franco Sacchetti, nov. 72.

[932]Vasari, iii. 232 sqq.:Vita di Brunellesco; v. 36 sqq.:Vita del Cecca. Comp. v. 32,Vita di Don Bartolommeo.

[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. andPii 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. Themenufills 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’sCommentario(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 theOrationes 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 theDicta et Factaof 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 archaboveFama, 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), whoseOpus MaccaronicorumRabelais 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 349passim. 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.

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