Mi sento in sen esaltar la bile”—
but he is too wise to let himself be entangled in any controversy. This discretion does not, necessarily, imply cowardice or fear, for his indirect attacks are often as malignant as any of Byron’s more direct invectives, and their victims cannot be mistaken. Byron, however, always wished to meet his enemies face to face, while Casti preferred to reach his in a less open way.
In general, the methods employed in Il Poema Tartaro are those used in Gli Animali Parlanti. There are the same short digressions, illustrated in such passages as,
“Ciò di Toto piccar dovea la boria
E con ragion; ma proseguiam la storia,”[231]
in which the author pulls himself away in order to continue his narrative, and which have frequently almost the same phraseology as Byron’s “Return we to our story.” Sometimes the digressions take the form of philosophical reflections on various abstract subjects such as death, mutability, or love:
“Amor, la bella passion che i petti
Empie si soavissima dolcezza.”[232]
We meet often with the familiar insistence on the veracious character of the author’s writing.[233] Irony occurs intermittently, mingled at times with sarcasm.
One peculiarity of Casti’s manner deserves particular attention, although it is not unique with him and is derived originally from the earlier burlesque poets. This is his habit of shifting the mood from the serious to the ludicrous by the use of unexpected phrases. Examples of this sudden turn in thought are numerous in Il Poema Tartaro. When the report of rebellion arrives at the Russian court, the description of terrible alarm ends with the couplet,