"And as we see two dogs the combat wage,
Whether by envy moved, or other hate,
Approaching whet the teeth, nor yet engage.
With eyes askance, and red as coals in grate,
Then to their biting come, on fire with rage.
With bitter cries, and backs with spite elate, [{445}] So came with swords and cries and many a taunt
Circassia's knight and he of Chiaramont."
Ariosto's other poems, besides his Epic, are of minor significance. He wrote a series of satires that are rather chatty essays, on subjects literary and personal, in verse, than satires in our sense of the word. Above all, Ariosto took his own disappointments in life good-humoredly, and his optimism would remind one of Cervantes in certain ways. Garnett in his "History of Italian Literature" (page 151) says, "His lyrical pieces are not remarkable, except one impressive sonnet in which he appears to express compunction for the irregularities of his life:
"How may I deem that Thou in heaven wilt hear,
O Lord divine, my fruitless prayer to Thee,
If for all clamor of the tongue Thou see
That yet unto the heart the net is dear?
Sunder it Thou, who all behold'st so clear,
Nor heed the stubborn will's oppugnancy.
And this do Thou perform, ere, fraught with me,
Charon to Tartarus his pinnace steer.
By habitude of ill that veils Thy light.
And sensual lure, and paths in error trod.
Evil from good no more I know aright.
Ruth for frail soul submissive to the rod
May move a mortal; in her own despite
To drag her heavenward is work of God."
In Italy the sacre rappresentazioni, as the Miracle and Mystery plays were called, had a distinct period of development, though not equal to that of the English, and good specimens of them have not been preserved for us. We have evidence of the influence of them, however, in the fact that some of the scholarly poets of the time wrote plays founded on the myths of the old Olympian religion after the model of some of these mystery plays. Politian's "Orfeo" is perhaps the best example of this. It was little better than an improvisation composed in the short space of two days at Mantua on the [{446}] occasion of Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga's visit to his native town in 1472, but it marks an epoch in the evolution of Italian poetry. Addington Symonds has even gone so far as to say that "it is the earliest example of the secular drama, containing within the compass of its brief scenes the germ of the opera, the tragedy and the pastoral play." It contained portions that were to be sung as well as to be spoken, and there are episodes of terza rima, Madrigals, a Carnival song, a Ballata as well as the choral passages that are distinctly operatic. After Orpheus has violated the law that he must not look upon his wife until they have reached the upper world, his complaint is of lyric quality that has something of the Grecian choric ode in it. Addington Symonds in his "Sketches and Studies in Southern Europe" has translated the passages so as to give an excellent idea of the character of the play:
"Who hath laid laws on Love?
Will pity not be given
For one short look so full thereof?
Since I am robbed of heaven,
Since all my joy so great is turned to pain,
I will go back and plead with Death again!
TISIPHONE
Nay, seek not back to turn!
Vain is thy weeping, all thy words are vain.
Eurydice may not complain
Of aught but thee--albeit her grief is great.
Vain are thy verses 'gainst the voice of fate!
How vain thy song! For death is stern!
Try not the backward path: thy feet refrain!
The laws of the abyss are fixed and firm remain."
Addington Symonds has given a number of examples of the popular Italian poetry of the Renaissance [Footnote 44] which show the qualities of this mode of literature very well, and above all illustrate how like in its character it is to the lighter modes of [{447}] verse at all times and especially our own. Politian, the great scholar whose learning filled the lecture rooms of Florence with students of all nations and whose critical and rhetorical works marked an epoch in the history of scholarship, was able to unbend at times and write ballate, as they were called, though they were very different from our ballads, which were to be sung during the dances in the piazzas on summer evenings. Stanzas from some of these will serve to show their character. The last stanza, for instance, of his May Ballad is on the world-old theme, "Gather ye rose-buds while ye may."
"I went a-roaming, maidens, one bright day.
In a green garden in mid month of May.
For when the full rose quits her tender sheath.
When she is sweetest and most fair to see.
Then is the time to place her in thy wreath,
Before her beauty and her freshness flee.
Gather ye therefore roses with great glee.
Sweet girls, or ere their perfume pass away.
I went a-roaming, maidens, one bright day,
In a green garden in mid month of May."
[Footnote 44: "Sketches and Studies in Southern Europe," New York, 1880]
Many of the Italian scholars of the period gave the time to the writing of ballads, and one which has been ascribed to Lorenzo dei Medici is often quoted. In it the word signore, which means lord, is used instead of the name of the lady, because she is the lord of the singer's soul.
"How can I sing light-souled and fancy-free
When my loved lord no longer smiles on me?
One only comfort soothes my heart's despair.
And mid this sorrow lends my soul some cheer;
Unto my lord I ever yielded fair
Service of faith untainted pure and clear;
If then I die thus guiltless, on my bier
It may be she will shed one tear for me. [{448}]
How can I sing light-souled and fancy-free
When my loved lord no longer smiles on me?"