In Italy the Muses have ever had numerous priestesses, welcomed with an enthusiasm measured rather by the gallantry of their admirers than by their real deserts. Among these was Laura Battiferri, born at Urbino in 1522-3, whose genius has inspired the pens of Caro, Varchi, Mazzuchelli, and others; and whom by a questionable, and, as regarded her morals, a most unmerited compliment, Pietro Vettori compared to Sappho. Following a very different model, she, like Vittoria Colonna, composed many devotional pieces, often versifying the sadder portions of sacred writ, two volumes of which were published at Florence. Rarer perhaps, and more creditable than her poetic celebrity, was the reputation for moral worth transmitted to us in connection with her name, which she happily exchanged by her union with Bartolomeo Ammanati, notwithstanding frowns from a high quarter. The Duchess Vittoria, proud of her talents, laid upon her an injunction not to marry out of her native state. This restriction had the usual result; her husband was a Florentine sculptor, and it required all the influence of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese with his sister to obtain pardon for such flagrant disobedience.
"In 1558, there were at the court of Urbino—of old the resort of talented persons—many great and famous poets, such as Messer Bernardo Capello, Messer Bernardo Tasso, Messer Girolamo Muzio, and Messer Antonio Gallo, whose whole occupation it was, like white gentle swans, emulously to sing, and celebrate in verse, the eminent beauty, and far more eminent virtues, of the illustrious Duchess." With these names might be coupled Dionigi Atanagi, the writer of this euphuism, and also Annibale Caro, Antonio Allegretti, Marco Montano, and Cornelio Lanci. Of Tasso and Muzio we elsewhere speak. Caro and Capello were connected with the ducal family only by one or two complimentary effusions, in return for occasional hospitality. Allegretti indited an epithalamium on the marriage of Duchess Vittoria, in which, alluding to the heraldic bearings then united, he celebrated the prudent hand of the wise shepherd (Paul III.), who transplanted that virgin Lily into good soil under the shadow of the mighty Oak; in conclusion, he summoned the attendants to scatter acorns and fleurs-de-lis before the bridal pair. Lanci's comedies no longer "fret and strut their hour upon the stage," but they are said to deserve the praise of comparative purity in an age when decency was no necessary ingredient of scenic merit. Three names remain for consideration, who, as natives of the duchy, may claim a brief notice.
Dionigi Atanagi was born at Cagli, and, after twenty-five years spent at the Roman court, returned, in 1557, to recruit his constitution in his native air. He was invited to Pesaro by his sovereign, at the suggestion of Bernardo Tasso, who wished him to revise the Amadigi; but there he found his health still further impaired by mental fatigue. Several of his sonnets are addressed to members of the ducal family and court; one of them, inscribed to Guidobaldo II., lauds him as "a prince and captain of invincible valour, of wisdom superhuman, of bounty and benignity past belief, of ineffable eloquence, of incomparable liberality and magnificence, a paragon of religion, the lofty stay of Italian honour and renown. Being the natural sovereign as well as special patron and singular benefactor of the author, whose every hope rests in him next to God, it is his desire, in the full knowledge how much is due to his Excellency's infinite merits, to fill with heroic praises of him whatever work he may undertake; but overwhelmed by the grandeur of the theme, his silence is broken only by excuses for his deficiency." This fulsome trash is no unfair specimen of such compositions. The following invitation to Urbino, as an asylum of the Muses, is in a somewhat happier vein, which we have endeavoured to render:—
|
"Anime belle, e di virtute amiche, Cui fero sdegno di fortuna offende, Sì che ven gite povere e mendiche, Come e lei piace, che pietà contende; Se di por fine alle miserie antiche Caldo desio l'afflitto cor v'incende, Ratte correte alia gran QUERCIA d'oro, Ond'avrete alimento ombra e ristoro. "Qui regna un Signor placido e benigno, Ch'altro ch'altrui giovar unqua non pensa, Cortese, e d'ogni real laude degno; Che ciascun pasce a sua ricca mensa, E 'n buon revolge ogni destin maligno, Mentre le grazie sue largo dispensa Guidobaldo, di principi fenici, Che può col guardo sol far l'uom felice. "Qui le buone arti ed i nobili costumi, Senno, fede e valor, fido albergo hanno; Qui fioriscon gl'ingegni, e chiari lumi Via più ch'il sol spargendo intorno vanno: Qui mel le piante, qui dan latte i fiumi; Qui pace è queta senza alcuno affanno; Qui 'l vizio è morto, e virtù bella è viva Beato chi ci nasce e chi ci arriva." |
1.
2.
|
A gentle and benignant Prince there reigns, On other's weal exclusively intent, Courteous, and worth all praise in royal strains, From whose well plenished table none are sent. Each evil destiny by him disarmed, His gracious boons are scattered widely round; E'en by his winning glance is each one charmed, Phœnix of princes, Guidobaldo crowned. |
3.