[51] A letter written by Guarini, the old friend, rival and constant Court-companion of Tasso at Ferrara, upon the news of his death in 1595, shows how a man of cold intellect judged his case. 'The death by which Tasso has now paid his debt to nature, seems to me like the termination of that death of his in this world which only bore the outer semblance of life.' See Casella's Pastor Fido, p. xxxii. Guarini means that when Tasso's mind gave way, he had really died in his own higher self, and that his actual death was a release.
[52] Tasso's own letters after the beginning of 1579, and Manso's Life (op. cit. pp. 156-176), are the authorities for the symptoms detailed above. Tasso so often alludes to his infirmities that it is not needful to accumulate citations. I will, however, quote two striking examples. 'Sono infermo come soleva, e stanco della infermita, la quale è non sol malattia del corpo ma de la mente' (Lettere, vol. iii. p. 160). 'Io sono poco sano e tanto maninconico che sono riputato matto da gli altri e da me stesso' (Ib. p. 262).
[53] Op. cit. p. 155.
[54] Lacrime di diversi poeti volgari, &c. (Vicenza, 1585).
[55] Lettere, vol. ii. p. 103. The significance of this message to Panigarola is doubtful. Did Tasso mean that the contrast between past and present was too bitter? 'Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly.'
[56] All the letters written from Mantua abound in references to this neglect of duty.
[57] Lettere, vol. iv. p. 147.
[58] Ibid. p. 229.
[59] Lettere, vol. iv. p. 315.
[60] Yet he now felt that his genius had expired. 'Non posso più fare un verso: la vena è secca, e l'ingegno è stanco' (Lettere, vol. v. p. 90).