[265] Berni was a priest, who became, with Molza, La Casa, Firenzuola, and Bini, a member of the famous Accademia della Vignajuoli in Rome, in which circle he was accustomed to recite his humorous poetry. He died under suspicious circumstances, perhaps poisoned by one of the Medicean princesses. He was the bitter enemy of Pietro Aretino, the most scurrilous satirist of the age.
[266] See, Don Juan, XII., 1–22, with its discussion of avarice.
[267] See, for example, the Innamorato, II., 70:
“Ma s’io dicesse ogni cosa al presente
Da dire un’ altra volta non aria;
Pero tornate, e s’attenti starete,
Sempre piu belle cose sentirete.”
[268] Don Juan, VII., 85.
[269] Many characteristics of the Innamorato, however, are like those of the work of Pulci and Casti. There are the same equivocal allusions and obscenities, the same pervasive skepticism and pessimism, and the same colloquial style that are to be met with in the Morgante and the Novelle. Berni was perhaps greater as a craftsman and artist, but otherwise had the virtues and the faults of the other burlesque poets.
[270] Letters, iii., 444–445.