Ariosto was but second-rate among the Latin versifiers of his century. It must, however, be added that his Latin poems were written in early manhood and only published after his death by Giambattista Pigna, in 1553.
[615] Op. Min. vol. i. p. 333:
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Quid nostra an Gallo regi an servire Latino, Si sit idem hinc atque hinc non leve servitium? Barbaricone esse est pejus sub nomine, quam sub Moribus? At ducibus, Dii, date digna malis. |
What Ariosto thought about the Italian despots finds full expression in the Cinque Canti, ii. 5, 6, where he protests that Caligula, Nero, Phalaris, Dionysius and Creon were surpassed by them in cruelty and crime.
[616] I have followed the order of Lemonnier's edition, vol. i. of Opere Minori, Florence, 1857. But the dates of composition are uncertain, and it may be doubted whether Ariosto's own autograph can be taken as the basis of a chronological arrangement. Much obscurity rests upon these poems. We do not know, for instance, whether they were sent to the friends addressed in them by name, or whether the author intended them for publication. The student may profitably consult upon these points the lithographed facsimile of the autograph, published at Bologna by Zanichelli in 1875. Meanwhile it is enough to mention that the first epistle was addressed to Messer Galasso Ariosto, the poet's brother, the second to Messer Alessandro Ariosto and Messer Lodovico da Bagno, the third and fourth to Messer Annibale Maleguccio, the fifth to Messer Sismondo Maleguccio, the sixth to Messer Buonaventura Pistofilo, and the seventh to Monsignore Pietro Bembo.
[617] The first and second Capitoli, upon the irksome and exhausting service of the Cardinal, as dangerous to Ariosto's health as it was irritating to his temper, should be read side by side with this Epistle.
[618] See above, [p. 505], for Ariosto's liking for turnips. He ate them with vinegar and wine sauce.
[619] Compare the apologue of the gourd and the pear-tree in the sixth Satire (55-114). It is to the same effect, but even plainer.
[620] The word I have translated "magpie" is gaza in the autograph. This has been interpreted as a slip of the pen for ganza; but it may be a Lombardism for gazza. In the latter case we should translate it "magpie," in the former "sweetheart." I prefer to read gazza, as the ironical analogy between a magpie and a poet is characteristic of Ariosto.
[621] The irony of this passage is justly celebrated. After all his hopes and all the pontiff's promises, the poet gets a kiss, a trifling favor, and has to trudge down from the Vatican to his inn. The mezza bolla is supposed to refer to the fine for entrance on the little benefice of Sant'Agata, half of which Leo remitted.