Tre quattrini mi dia senza più parole.’
The woodcuts prefixed to the ballad represent this saintly Nebuchadnezzar on all fours, surprised by the king with his huntsmen and dogs; but no female figure, as in the German prints, in which the German version of the legend has evidently been in the mind of the artists. It differs in some respects from the Italian ballad. I shall therefore give as much of it here as will explain the artistic treatment of the story.
‘When John Chrysostom was baptized, the Pope[293] stood godfather. At seven years old he went to school, but he was so dull and backward, that he became the laughing-stock of his schoolfellows. Unable to endure their mockery, he took refuge in a neighbouring church, and prayed to the Virgin; and a voice whispered, “Kiss me on the mouth, and thou shalt be endowed with all learning.” He did so, and, returning to the school, he surpassed all his companions, so that they remained in astonishment: as they looked, they saw a golden ring or streak round his mouth, and asked him how it came there? and when he told them, they wondered yet more. Thence he obtained the name of Chrysostom. John was much beloved by his godfather the Pope, who ordained him priest at a very early age; but the first time he offered the sacrifice of the mass, he was struck to the heart by his unworthiness, and resolved to seek his salvation in solitude; therefore, throwing off his priestly garments, he fled from the city, and made his dwelling in a cavern of the rock, and lived there a long while in prayer and meditation.
‘Now not far from the wilderness in which Chrysostom dwelt, was the capital of a great king; and it happened that one day, as the princess his daughter, who was young and very fair, was walking with her companions, there came a sudden and violent gust of wind, which lifted her up and carried her away, and set her down in the forest, far off; and she wandered about till she came to the cave of Chrysostom, and knocked at the door. He, fearing some temptation of the devil, would not let her in; but she entreated, and said, “I am no demon, but a Christian woman; and if thou leavest me here, the wild beasts will devour me!” So he yielded perforce, and arose and let her in. And he drew a line down the middle of his cell, and said, “That is your part, this is mine; and neither shall pass this line.” But this precaution was in vain, for passion and temptation overpowered his virtue; he over-stepped the line, and sinned. Both repented sorely; and Chrysostom, thinking that if the damsel remained longer in his cave it would only occasion further sin, carried her to a neighbouring precipice, and flung her down. When he had done this deed, he was seized with horror and remorse; and he departed and went to Rome to his godfather the Pope, and confessed all, and entreated absolution. But his godfather knew him not; and, being seized with horror, he drove him forth, and refused to absolve him. So the unhappy sinner fled to the wilderness, and made a solemn vow that he would never rise from the earth nor look up, but crawl on his hands and knees, until he had expiated his great sin and was absolved by Heaven.
‘When he had thus crawled on the earth for fifteen years, the queen brought forth a son; and when the Pope came to baptize the child, the infant opened its mouth and said, “I will not be baptized by thee, but by St. John;” and he repeated this three times: and none could understand this miracle; but the Pope was afraid to proceed. In the meantime, the king’s huntsmen had gone to the forest to bring home game for the christening feast: there, as they rode, they beheld a strange beast creeping on the ground; and not knowing what it might be, they threw a mantle over it and bound it in a chain and brought it to the palace. Many came to look on this strange beast, and with them came the nurse with the king’s son in her arms; and immediately the child opened its mouth and spake, “John, come thou and baptize me!” He answered, “If it be God’s will, speak again!” And the child spoke the same words a second and a third time. Then John stood up; and the hair and the moss fell from his body, and they brought him garments; and he took the child, and baptized him with great devotion.
‘When the king heard his confession, he thought, “Perhaps this was my daughter, who was lost and never found;” and he sent messengers into the forest to seek for the remains of his daughter, that her bones at least might rest in consecrated ground. When they came to the foot of the precipice, there they found a beautiful woman seated, naked, and holding a child in her arms; and John said to her, “Why sittest thou here alone in the wilderness?” And she said, “Dost thou not know me? I am the woman who came to thy cave by night, and whom thou didst hurl down this rock!” Then they brought her home with great joy to her parents.‘[294]
This extravagant legend becomes interesting for two reasons: it shows the existence of the popular feeling and belief with regard to Chrysostom, long subsequent to those events which aroused the hatred of the early monks; and it has been, from its popular notoriety, embodied in some rare and valuable works of art, which all go under the name of ‘the Penance or Penitence of Johannes Chrysostom or Crisostomos.’
1. A rare print by Lucas Cranach, composed and engraved by himself. In the centre is an undraped woman reclining on the ground against a rock, and contemplating her sleeping infant, which is lying on her lap; a stag, a hind crouching, a pheasant feeding near her, express the solitude of her life; in the background is ‘the savage man’ on all fours, and browsing: here, he has no glory round his head. The whole composition is exceedingly picturesque.
2. A rare and beautiful print by B. Beham, and repeated by Hans Sebald Beham, represents a woman lying on the ground with her back turned to the spectator; a child is near her; Chrysostom is seen crawling in the background, with the glory round his head.
3. A small print by Albert Dürer, also exquisitely engraved (from which I give a sketch). Here the woman is sitting at the entrance of a rocky cave, feeding her child from her bosom: in the background the ‘savage man’ crawling on all fours, and a glory round his head. This subject has been called St. Geneviève of Brabant; but it is evidently the same as in the two last-named compositions.