Re: The Scarlatti Curse Epub Download
Takeshi Krueger
If we turn to the history of Florence we shall find thatthe last thirty-five years of the thirteenth century hadbeen, perhaps, the happiest in her history. From thetriumph of the Guelfs at Benevento to the quarrel ofNeri and Bianchi she was at least at peace with herself,while in her relations with her sister cities she became thegreatest power in Tuscany. Art and Poetry flourishedwithin her walls. Dante, Cavalcanti, Giotto, the Pisani,and Arnolfo di Cambio were busy with their work, and thegreat churches we know so well, the beautiful palaces of[xiv]the officers of the Republic were then built with pride andenthusiasm. In 1289, the last sparks, as it was thought,of Tuscan Ghibellinism had been stamped out at Campaldino.There followed the old quarrel and Dante's exile.
Something has already been said of the life at thecourt of King Robert. The very soul of it was the threeladies: Agnes de Perigord, wife of Jean D'Anjou, brotherof King Robert; Marie de Valois, wife of Charles, Dukeof Calabria, son of the king; and Catherine de Courteney,who at twelve years of age had married Philip of Taranto,another of the King's brothers.[152] The luxury in the citywas by far the greatest to be found in Italy. Themerchants of Florence, Lucca, Venice, and Genoa furnishedto the court "scarlatti di Gant," "sciamiti, panniricamati ad uso orientale," "oggetti d' oro ed argento," and"gemmas et lapides pretiosas ad camere regie usum."Boccaccio himself describes Naples: "Città, oltre a tuttel' altre italiche, di lietissime feste abbondevole, non solamenterallegra i suoi cittadini o con le nozze o con libagni o con li marini liti, ma, copiosa di molti giuochi,sovente or con uno, or con un altro letifica la sua gente:ma tra l' altre cose, nelle quali essa appare splendidissima,è nel sovente armeggiare."[153] Or again of the spring there:"I giovani, quando sopra i correnti cavalli con le fiere armigiostravano, e quando circondati da' sonanti sonagliarmeggiavano, quando con ammaestrata mano lieti mostravanocome gli arditi cavalli con ispumante freno si debbano[45]reggere. Le giovani donne di queste cose vaghe,inghirlandate di nuove frondi, lieti sguardi porgevano ailoro amanti, ora dall' alte finestre ed ora dalle basse porte;e quale con nuovo dono, e quale con sembiante, e quale conparole confortava il suo del suo amore."[154]
Those cries, and the anger which causes them, fill thefirst part of the Eclogue. In the second part, it is clearlyrecounted how King Louis of Hungary came down intoItaly to avenge the murder of his brother Andrew. Argo,the head shepherd worthy to be praised by all, hasperforce abandoned the sheep.[339] Argo is Robert King of[122]Naples,[340] wise as King Solomon, who follows the Muses.Alexis is Andrew of Hungary and Naples, who, made freeof the woods by Argo, being careless and without caution,has been assailed by a she-wolf, pregnant and enraged, thatis by Queen Giovanna; for here, at any rate, Boccaccioeagerly sides with the rabble and accepts the guilt of theQueen as fact. They say, he adds, that the woods heldmany cruel wild beasts and lions, and that Alexis met thedeath of Adonis. Now Tityrus, that is King Louis ofHungary, the brother of the dead Alexis, heard of thisbeyond Ister or the Danube, and set forth with innumerablehunters to punish the wolf and the lions.[341] And manyItalians joined with Tityrus, says Boccaccio; among themwas Faunus, although Testili threatened him and cursedhim sore.[342]
[157]In the New Year Petrarch left Florence, and threemonths later we find Boccaccio visiting him in Padua asambassador for the republic, which, no doubt to his delightand very probably at his suggestion, wished to offerthe great poet a chair in her new university. For partlyin rivalry with Pisa, partly to attract foreigners and evennew citizens after the plague,[413] the republic had foundeda new university in Florence at the end of 1348, to which,in May, 1349, Pope Clement VI had conceded all theprivileges and liberties of the universities of Paris andBologna. For some reason or another, however, the newuniversity had not brought to Florence either the fame orthe population she desired. It was therefore a brilliantand characteristic policy which prompted her to invite themost famous man of learning of the day to accept a chairin it; for if Petrarch could have been persuaded to acceptthe offer, the university of Florence would have easilyoutshone any other then in existence: all Italy and halfEurope might well have flocked thither.
[158]It was doubtless this consideration and some remembranceof her humiliation before the contempt of thatother exile who had died in Ravenna, that promptedFlorence, always so business-like, to try to repair thewrong she had done to Petrarch. So she decided toreturn him in money the value of the property confiscatedfrom his father, and to send Boccaccio on the delicatemission of persuading him to accept the offer she nowmade him of a chair in her university.[414] With a letter thenfrom the Republic, Boccaccio set out for Padua in thespring of 1351, meeting Petrarch there, as De Sade tellsus, on April 6, the anniversary of the day of Petrarch'sfirst meeting with Laura and of her death.
The letter which Boccaccio took with him was from thePrior of the Arti: Reverendo Viro D. Francisco Petrarcha,Canonico Padoano, Laureato Poetæ, concivi nostro carissimo,Prior Artium Vexillifer Justitiæ Populi et CommunisFlorentiæ. It was very flattering, laudatory, and moving.It greeted Petrarch as a citizen of Florence, spoke of his"admirable profession," his "excellent merit in studies,"his "utter worthiness of the laurel crown," his "most raregenius which shall be an example to latest posterity,"etc. etc. etc. Then it spoke of the offer. "No long timesince," it said, "seeing our city deprived of learning andstudy, we wisely decided that henceforth the arts mustflourish and ought to be cultivated among us, and that it[159]would be necessary to introduce studies of every sort intoour city so that by their help our Republic, like Rome ofold, should be glorious above the other cities of Italy andgrow always more happy and more illustrious. Now ourfatherland believes that you are the one and only man bywhom this result can be attained. The Republic praysyou, then, as warmly as it may, to give yourself to thesestudies and to make them flourish...." So on and soforth, quoting Virgil, Sallust, and Cicero, with allusionsto that "immortal work the Africa which...."Boccaccio was to do the rest. "Other things," the letterends, "many and of infinitely greater consideration, youwill hear from Giovanni Boccaccio, our citizen, who is sentto you by special commission...."[415]
With this letter in his pocket Boccaccio made his wayto Padua, where, as we know, he was delighted to come,nor was Petrarch less happy to see him. And when hereturned he bore Petrarch's answer to the Republic:"Boccaccio, the bearer of your letter and of your commands,will tell you how I desire to obey you and whatare my projects." No doubt while Boccaccio was withhim, seeing his sincerity, Petrarch felt half inclined toaccept; but he was at all times infirm of purpose. "If Ibreak my word that I have given to my friends," hewrites,[416] "it is because of the variation of the humanspirit, from which none is exempt except the perfect man.Uniformity is the mother of boredom, that one can onlyavoid by changing one's place." However that may be,when later in the year he left Padua, it was to return notto Florence, but to France.
That a Guelf republic should turn for assistance tothe head of the Ghibelline cause seems perhaps morestrange than in fact it was. Guelf and Ghibelline hadbecome mere names beneath which local jealousies hidand flourished, caring nothing for the greater but lessreal quarrel between Empire and Papacy. Charles,however, was to fail Florence; for at the last moment[164]he withdrew from the treaty, fearing to leave Germany;when he did descend later, things had so far improvedfor her that she was anything but glad to see himespecially when she was forced to remember that itwas she who had called him there. After these twofailures Florence was compelled to make terms with theVisconti at Sarzana in April, 1353, promising not to interferein Lombardy or Bologna, while Visconti for his partundertook not to molest Tuscany.[425] But by this treaty theVisconti gained a recognition of their hold in Bolognafrom the only power that wished to dispute it. Theyprofited too by the peace, extending their dominion inNorthern Italy. In this, though fortune favoured them,they began to threaten others who had looked on withcomposure when they were busy with Tuscany. Amongthese were the Venetians, who made an alliance withMantua, Verona, Ferrara, and Padua, and were soon tryingto persuade Florence, Siena, and Perugia to join them.[426]Nor did they stop there, for in December, 1353, they tootried to interest Charles IV in Italian affairs. When itwas seen that Charles was likely to listen to the Venetiansthe Visconti too sent ambassadors to him, nor was thePapacy slow to make friends.
Can it be that Florence really did not understand thesituation as we see it, or was that situation in reality verydangerous to her liberty? It is difficult to understand howshe can have failed to see that the Pope had already won.It was obvious that he had come to some arrangement withCharles, which proved to be that the Church would crownhim on condition that he only spent the day of his incoronationin Rome and respected the sovereignty of the Popein the states of the Church. Moreover, if this were notenough, as Florence knew, the presence of Albornoz inRomagna had already drawn the teeth of the Visconti sofar as they were dangerous to Tuscany. However, it seemsto have been in considerable fear and perplexity that shesaw Charles enter Padua early in November, 1354. Now ifever, some thought doubtless, the White Guelf ideal wasto be realised. Among these idealists was, alas, Petrarch,whose hymn, not long written perhaps, Italia Mia, surelydreamed of quite another king than a German prince.Boccaccio was, as I think, better advised. In his seventhEclogue he mercilessly ridicules Charles, who in fact,though not maybe in seeming, was the instrument of thePope. He entered Italy by the Pope's leave. Paduareceived him with honour, but Cane della Scala of Veronaclanged to his gates, and the Visconti with bared teethwaited to see what he would do. He went to Mantuaand Gonzaga received him well. There he expected the[168]ambassador of Tuscany, but as the Pope's friend theGhibellines knew him not, they smiled bitterly at the"Priests' Emperor," only Pisa pathetically stretching outher hands to Cæsar's ghost, while, as claimant of theimperial title the Guelf republics would have none of him.Florence need have had no fear, the Church had out-manœuvredher enemies as in old time.
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