[5] Ariosto's method of introducing flattery is simple. He makes Merlin utter predictions from his tomb, Melissa prophesy to Bradamante and Atlante to Ruggiero; or he displays magic frescoes, statues, and embroideries, where the future splendors of the Este family are figured; or, again, in the exordia of his cantos he directly addresses his patrons. Omitting lesser passages, we may reckon fifteen principal panegyrics of the Este house: canto iii. 16 to end, the fabulous pedigree; viii. 62, 63, praise of Ippolito; xiii. 57 and on, praises of the women of the family; xiv. beginning, the battle of Ravenna and Alfonso; xv. 2, 29, Alfonso's defeat of the Venetians; xviii. 1, 2, Alfonso's justice; xxxv. 4-9, prophecy of Ippolito; xxxvi. 1-9, Ippolito and the Venetians; xl. 1-5, defeat of the Venetians again; xli. 1-3, general adulation; xli. 62-67, pedigree again; xlii. 3, Alfonso wounded; xlii. 83-92, women of the family again; xliii. 54-62, praises of Ferrara; xlvii. 85-97, life of Ippolito. The most extravagant flatteries are lavished upon Ippolito and Lucrezia Borgia. When we remember who and what these Este princes were—how brutal in his cruelty Alfonso, how coarse and selfish and sensual Ippolito, how doubtful in her life Lucrezia—we cannot but feel these panegyrics to be sickening in their impudence.
[6] See the ending of the ninth and the beginning of the eleventh cantos of the Furioso.
[7] What Ariosto thought about contemporary Italy may be gathered from these lines (xvii. 76):
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O d'ogni vizio fetida sentina, Dormi, Italia imbriaca, e non ti pesa Ch'ora di questa gente, ora di quella, Che già serva ti fu, sei fatta ancella? |
[8] Those who are curious may compare the three lines in which Dante likens Piero delle Vigne's voice issuing from his tree of torment to the hissing of sap in a green log upon the fire (Inf. xiii. 40) with the eight lines used by Ariosto to expand the same simile (Orl. Fur. vi. 27); or, again, Dante's picture of the sick woman on her bed of fever (Purg. vi. 149) with Ariosto's copy (Orl. Fur. xxviii. 90).
[9] Canto x. 52 et seq.
[10] Canto xxxvii. 104 et seq.
[11] Cantos xxxviii. xxxi. xxi. xliii. xlv. xliv. xvi.
[12] Canto xxxiv. 76-85.
[13] Par. Lost, iii. 440.