“Poeta son io, non son causidico,
E mio difetto è sol d’esser veridico.”[213]
His unfailing insistence on this point gives his repeated professions an air of stock conventionality. Byron also employs this mocking manner of calling attention to the verisimilitude of his own work:
“My muse by no means deals in fiction;
She gathers a repertory of facts.”[214]
More significant, perhaps, is the colloquial tone which Casti habitually adopts towards his readers, turning to them constantly to speak about himself, his plans, and his difficulties, sometimes to apologize, sometimes to make a confession:—
“M’attengo a ciò che tocco, a ciò che vedo,
Ne mi diverto a far castella in aria.”[215]
This sort of intimate gossip is also characteristic of Don Juan; indeed Byron has elucidated his theory of procedure:
“I rattle on exactly as I’d talk