The prayer is worthy, in its solemn tone, of this exordium; and the desired effect soon follows. But now Pulci changes his note from grave to gay[540]:
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E disse: Pazienzia, come Giobbe; Or oltre in Roncisvalle andar si vuole. Chè come savio il partito conobbe, Per non tenere in disagio più il sole. |
A few lines further he describes the carnage in the dolorous valley, and finds this comic phrase to express the confusion of the field[541]:
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Chi mostra sanguinosa la percossa, Chi il capo avea quattro braccia discosto, Da non trovarli in Giusaffà si tosto. |
Pulci's grotesque humor gives an air of false absurdity to many incidents which, together with his hearers, he undoubtedly took in good faith. During the slaughter of the Christians he wishes to impress the audience with the multitude of souls who crowded into Paradise. S. Peter is tired to death with opening the door for them and deafened with their jubilations[542]:
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E così in ciel si faceva apparecchio D'ambrosia e nettar con celeste manna, E perchè Pietro alla porta è pur vecchio, Credo che molto quel giorno s'affanna; E converrà ch'egli abbi buono orecchio, Tanto gridavan quelle anime Osanna Ch'eran portate dagli angeli in cielo; Sicchè la barba gli sudava e 'l pelo. |
In the same spirit is the picture of the fiends seated like hawks upon the bell-towers of a little chapel, waiting to pounce upon the souls of Pagans.[543]
Sometimes a flash of purely Bernesque humor appears in Pulci; as when he says that the Saracens:
Bestemmiavano Dio divotamente,