Thus he conjured:
“Statua da due faccie
Due, e un corpo solo,
Due faccie ed avete
Un sol cervello. Siete
Due esseri l’ uno per altro,
Dovete essere marito e moglie,
Dovete peccare con un sol pensiero.“Avete bene quattro occhi
Ma una sol vista,
Come tutti i mariti,
E moglie dorebbere essere,
E dovete fare la buona fortuna
Di tutti gli inamorati.”“Statue gifted with two faces,
Two and yet a single body!
Two and but one brain—then art thou
Two intended for each other—
Two who should be wife and husband,
Acting by the same reflection.“Unto you four eyes are given,
And but a single sight—ye are then
What indeed all wives and husbands
Ought to be if they’d be happy;
Therefore shalt thou bring good fortune
Unto all devoted lovers!”
Then Virgil touched the statue with his rod, and it replied:
“Tutti quelli che mi pregherano.
Di cuore sincera, amanti o sposi,
Tutti quelli saranno felice!”“All of those who’ll come here to adore me,
Be they lovers, be they married couples,
I will ever make them truly happy.”
The conception of a head with two faces, one male and the other female, is still very common in Italy. In the cloister of Santa Maria Novella in Florence the portraits of a husband and wife are thus united on a marble monumental tablet. And in Baveno, among the many graffiti or sketches and scrawls made by children on the walls on or near the church, there is one which is evidently traditional, representing Janus. This double-headed deity was continued in the Baphomet of the Knights Templars.
In the older legends are two tales declaring that Virgil made and enchanted two statues. This appears to be a variation of the story of Janus.
VIRGIL AND HIS COURTIERS.
“Virgilius also made a belfry.”—The Wonderful History of Virgilius the Sorcerer of Rome.
“To be a crow and seem a swan,
To look all truth, possessing none,
To appear a saint by every act,
And be a devil meanwhile at heart,
To prove that black is white, in sooth,
And cover up the false with truth;
And be a living lie, in short—
Such are the lives men lead at court.”Old Italian saying cited by Francesco Panico in his “Poetiche Dicerie” (1643); article, Courtiers.
“Above all lying is the lie as practised by evil courtiers, it being falsehood par excellence. For they are the arch architects, the cleverest of artists at forming lies, pre-eminent in cooking, seasoning, serving them with the honey of flattery or the vinegar of reproof.”—Francesco Panico (1643).
On a time Virgilio remained for many weeks alone at home, and never went to court. And during this retirement he made seven bells of gold, and on every one there was engraved a name or word.
On the first there was “Bugiardo” (or lying), on the second “Chiacchiera” (or tattling gossip), on the third “Malignità” (or evil spite), on the fourth “Chalugna” (or calumny), on the fifth “Maldicenza” (or vituperation), on the sixth “Invidia” (or envy), and on the seventh “Bassezza” (or vileness).