The Collected Prose

by Zbigniew Herbert

  2“Ici vécut Marie Martel…”: Here lived Marie Martel—midwife and officer of the Academy. Her life…was doing good. Her joy…to accomplish her duty.

  3L’abbé Breuil: Henri Breuil (1877–1961), French archaeologist, ethnologist, geologist, and priest noted for his studies of cave art in the Somme and Dordogne valleys as well as in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, China (with Teilhard de Chardin), Ethiopia, Somaliland, and Southern Africa.

  4Sieroszewski: Wacław Sieroszewski (1858–1945), Polish writer and soldier. For activities subversive of the Russian Empire, he spent much of the 1880s and 1890s in Siberian exile, where he wrote fiction and did ethnographic research on the Yakut, the largest native people of Siberia.

  5Avesta: or Zend Avesta [Persian: commentary on the law], scripture of the Zoroastrian religion, consisting of the Yasna, a liturgy with songs (Gathas) the Vispered, a supplement to the Yasna, the Yashts, hymns of praise, and the Videvdat, a code of ritual purification.

  6Bushman artists: the San, a people of southern Africa, with a highly developed artistic culture. The San resisted the encroachments of Dutch settlers in the 18th and 19th centuries, but by the 1860s had been effectively crushed.

  7Piltdown skull: a palaeontological hoax; fragments of a human skull and orangutan jawbone collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown, a village in East Sussex, England, and thought by many experts to be the remains of an unknown form of early man—given the name Eoanthropus dawsoni (“Dawson’s dawn-man,” after the collector)—until exposed as a forgery in 1953.

  1“The only harmony…”: paraphrase of Aristotle, Politics, Book VIII, 1340a/b:…pieces of music on the contrary do actually contain in themselves imitations of character;…so that people when hearing them are affected differently and have not the same feelings in regard to each of them, but listen to some in a more mournful and restrained state…and to others in a softer state of mind, but in a midway state and with the greatest composure to another, as the Dorian mode alone of tunes seems to act…(trans. B. Jowett)

  2Pythagoreans of Croton: Pythagoras founded his school at Croton in Calabria c. 530 B.C. and they acquired great influence with the supreme council of one thousand by which Croton was ruled. In 510 B.C. Croton sent an army of one hundred thousand men to destroy its rival Sybaris.

  3Metapontum: important city of Magna Graecia, situated on the gulf of Tarentum. The ruins of Metapontum are located in the Basilicata region of Italy.

  4Battle of Cannae: major battle of the Second Punic War, August 2, 216 B.C. near the town of Cannae in Apulia in southeast Italy, where the army of Carthage under Hannibal decisively defeated a numerically superior army of the Roman Republic.

  5aoidos: bard, poet

  6Vitruvius: Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (c. 80–70 B.C., died after c. 15 B.C.) was a Roman writer, architect, and engineer active in the 1st century B.C.

  7Kant’s view of geometry: in his Critique of Pure Reason and Prolegomena, Kant argues the truths of geometry are synthetic (not analytic) truths, relying on an element of intuition or sensibility.

  8Alberti: Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472), Italian author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, cryptographer, and general Renaissance humanist polymath.

  9“Nestor, the aged lord…”: from The Iliad.

  10“biferi rosaria Paesti”: slightly misquoted from Virgil, Georgics, Book 4:119; “biferique rosaria Paesti,” twice-blooming roses of Paestum.

  1the VI Legion: the Legio Sexta Ferrata (Sixth Ironclad Legion), a Roman Legion formed in 65 B.C., and in existence up to at least 215 A.D. It served under Julius Caesar in the Gallic Wars (58–51 B.C.), and in various civil wars; temporarily disbanded in 45 B.C., it established a colony at Arles.

  2Barbegal: The Barbegal aqueduct and mill is a Roman watermill complex located on the territory of the commune of Fontvieille, near Arles.

  3Foch: Ferdinand Foch (1851–1929) general in the French army during World War I, Marshal of France from 1918 and then supreme commander of the Allied armies, until the armistice.

  4Emperor Honorius: Flavius Honorius (384–423), Roman Emperor (393–395) and then Western Roman Emperor from 395 until his death. He was the younger son of Theodosius I.

  5“Dans Arles, ou sont les Alyscamps…”: from a poem by Paul-Jean Toulet (1867–1920), poet, novelist, translator, and descendant of Charlotte Corday.

  6Gamaliel: or Rabbi Gamaliel I, a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the mid 1st century. In the Christian tradition, celebrated as a Pharisee doctor of Jewish Law and teacher of the apostle Paul.

  7Mistral: Frederic Mistral (1830–1914), Occitan writer and lexicographer of the Occitan language who won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1904.

  8Pan Tadeusz: epic poem depicting the country life of the Polish-Lithuanian nobility, by Polish Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855)

  1Robbe-Grillet: (1922–2008), Alain Robbe-Grillet, French Nouveau Roman writer and filmmaker.

  2Pisano: Andrea Pisano (1290–1348), also known as Andrea da Pontedera, Italian sculptor and architect. In 1347 he became Master of the Works at Orvieto Cathedral. His two sons, Nino and Tommaso, both succeeded him as Master of the Works.

  3Orcagna: Andrea di Cione di Arcangelo (c. 1308–1368), better known as Orcagna, was an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect active in Florence. A student of Andrea Pisano.

  4Sanmicheli: Michele Sanmicheli (1484–1559) was a Venetian architect. In 1509 he went to Orvieto, where he practiced for two decades.

  5Luca Signorelli: (c. 1445–1523), painter noted for his ability as a draughtsman and his use of foreshortening. His massive frescoes of the Last Judgment (1499–1503) in Orvieto Cathedral are considered his masterpiece.

  6Pinturicchio: Bernardino di Betto, called Pintoricchio or Pinturicchio (1454–1513), Italian painter of the Renaissance born in Perugia.

  7Perugino: Pietro Perugino (1446–1524), born Pietro Vannucci in Città della Pieve, Umbria, a leading painter of the Umbrian school.

  8coro dei dottori: choir of doctors of the Church.

  9Bramante: Donato Bramante (1444–1514), Italian architect most famous for the design of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

  10Bentivoglia: Antonio Bentivoglia, Italian jurist (d. 1435).

  11Matejko’s “Battle of Grunwald”: 1878 work by Polish painter Jan Matejko (1838–1893) depicting the 1410 Polish and Lithuanian victory over the Teutonic Knights; an icon of Polish nationalism.

  12“Zweifelhaft”: doubtful.

  1milites et mercatores sieneses: Sienese soldiers and merchants.

  2che fece l’Arbia…: Dante, Inferno, Canto X, 1.85–86. “the carnage/And devastation that dyed the Arbia red.” (Trans. Robert Pinsky) The Arbia is a stream near the site of the battle at Montaperti, where Farinata, to whom Dante speaks, led the Ghibellines to victory over the Guelphs in 1260.

  3Duccio: Duccio di Buoninsegna (c. 1255–1260–c. 1318–1319), born in Siena, one of the most influential artists of his age.

  4Ambrogio Lorenzetti: or Ambruogio Laurati; c. 1290–1348) painter of the Sienese school, active between approximately 1317 to 1348. His elder brother was the painter Pietro Lorenzetti.

  5Pietro Lorenzetti: (or Pietro Laurati; c. 1280–1348) Italian painter active between approximately 1306 and 1345.

  6Sir John Hawkwood: (1320–1394) English mercenary or condottiero active in 14th century Italy. The French chronicler Jean Froissart knew him as Haccoude and Italians as Giovanni Acuto. Hawkwood served first the Pope and then various factions in Italy for over 30 years.

  7Pandolfo Petrucci: (1452–1512) ruler of Siena from c. 1500 to 1512; a brutal authoritarian and absolutist, but careful to pacify the people of Siena by improving the city’s economy and encouraging the advancement of art.

  8Blaise de Montluc: Blaise de Lasseran-Massencôme, seigneur de Montluc (c. 1502–1577), was a marshal of France.

  9“Vous etes digne…”: You deserve undying praise.

  10Jaroslław Iwaszkiewicz: also known u
nder his literary pseudonym Eleuter (1894–1980) Polish poet, essayist, dramatist, and writer.

  11Simone Martini: (c. 1284-c. 1344) Sienese painter, major figure in the development of early Italian painting, thought to have been a pupil of Duccio di Buoninsegna. Martini died while in the service of the Papal court at Avignon.

  12Bernard Berenson: (1865–1959) American art historian specializing in the Renaissance.

  13Moniuszko: (1819–1872) Polish composer, conductor, and teacher whose musical style is filled with Polish folk themes.

  14Silenus: companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus. The name is derived from Silenoi, the followers of Dionysus, drunks, usually bald and fat with thick lips, squat noses, and human legs. Later, the plural “silenoi” went out of use and references were to one individual named Silenus.

  15Chessman: Caryl Whittier Chessman (1921–May 2, 1960) convicted robber and rapist who became a Death Row inmate in California. Chessman’s case attracted worldwide attention, and as a result he became a focus for the movement to ban capital punishment.

  16tympana: semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surfaces over an entrance bounded by a lintel and arch, often containing sculptures or other ornaments

  17“O Omega, the violet ray of his eyes”: from the poem “Voyelles” (Vowels) by Arthur Rimbaud.

  18triforium: space in a church above the nave arcade, below the clerestory, and extending over the vaults, or ceilings, of the side aisles.

  19Jankowski: Possibly Czeslaw Jankowski (1857–1929), Polish poet, critic, and amateur painter.

  20Domenico Beccafumi: Domenico di Pace Beccafumi (1486–1551) Italian Renaissance-Mannerist painter active predominantly in Siena.

  21Piccolomini: Enea Silvio Piccolomini (1405–1464) was Pope from 1458 until his death in 1464. Born at Corsignano in the Sienese territory of a noble but decayed family. His longest and most enduring work is Commentaries, the only autobiography ever written by a reigning Pope.

  22Verrocchio: Andrea del Verrocchio, born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de ’Cioni, (c. 1435–1488) sculptor, goldsmith, and painter who worked at the court of Lorenzo de ’Medici in Florence.

  23Ghirlandaio: Domenico di Tommaso Curradi di Doffo Bigordi (1449–1494) Florentine painter. The nickname “Il Ghirlandaio” (garland-maker) came to Domenico from his father, a goldsmith who was famed for creating the metallic garland-like necklaces worn by Florentine women.

  24Mirrors: Mirrors for princes (Latin: specula principum), medieval or Renaissance textbooks, histories or literary works creating images of kings for imitation or avoidance, often composed at the accession of a new king. One famous “mirror” is Il Principe (c. 1513) by Machiavelli.

  25Jacopo della Quercia: (c. 1374–1438), sculptor of the Italian Renaissance, a contemporary of Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, and Donatello, and regarded as a precursor of Michelanagelo.

  26a provincial Modugno: Domenico Modugno (1928–1994) was a Grammy Award-winning Italian singer, songwriter, actor and later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament.

  27Palace of Culture: originally the Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science, a vast building erected in the 1950s in downtown Warsaw as a “gift from the Soviet Union” and used for public events, now housing cinemas, theaters, a university, and an exhibition center.

  28“The Red Poppies of Monte Cassino”: Polish song of the Second World War Italian campaign.

  29Sassetta: Stefano di Giovanni (c. 1390?–1450) preeminent artist of 15th century Siena. His first documented work was an altarpiece for the Arte della Lana (guild of wool merchants) in 1423–6; his masterpiece a double-sided altarpiece for San Francesco, Borgo San Sepolcro 1437–1444.

  30Guido da Siena: also Guido di Graziano, Italian Byzantine style painter of the 13th century. The church of S. Domenico in Siena contains his Virgin and Child Enthroned.

  31Folgore da San Gimignano: pseudonym of Giacomo di Michele or Jacopo di Michele (c. 1270–c. 1332), Italian poet. His humorous and satirical (anti-Ghibelline) poems, mostly sonnets, are written in a derivation of Provençal.

  32Andrea Vanni: (1332–c. 1414) Sienese painter, correspondent of St. Catherine, member of the Great Council, and twice an Envoy to the Pope. He decorated three chapels in the cathedral of Siena, finished other work on its facade in 1380; and in 1398 painted an “Annunciation” for it.

  33Mattea di Giovanni: (c. 1430–1495) Sienese painter. He originally came from Borgo san Sepolcro and he painted the wings and predella (Pinacoteca Sansepolcro) of the altarpiece of which Piero della Francesca’s Baptism of Christ was the center panel.

  34Domenico Veneziano: (c. 1410–1461) early Renaissance painter active mostly in Perugia and Tuscany.

  35Sano di Pietro: (1406–1481) early Renaissance painter from Siena.

  36Zwischenruf: German: interjection, aside.

  37Neroccio: Neroccio di Bartolomeo de ’Landi (1447–1500) painter and sculptor. In 1475 he created a statue of Saint Catherine for the Sienese church dedicated to her. In 1483, he designed the Hellespontine Sybil for the mosaic pavement of the Cathedral of Siena. A student of Vecchietta.

  38Vecchietta: Francesco di Giorgio e di Lorenzo (1412–1480), also known as Lorenzo di Pietro, Sienese painter, sculptor, goldsmith, and architect, among the artists profiled in Vasari’s Lives.

  39Sodoma: (1477–1549?) Mannerist painter Giovanni Antonio Bazzi whose manner superimposed the High Renaissance style of early 16th-century Rome onto the traditions of the Sienese school.

  40Ungaretti: Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888–1970), Italian modernist poet. The poem is titled “Canto” (Song)

  1“Il y a du louche…”: Fr. there’s something fishy about this business.

  2Institution of Honor and Bread: organization founded in…to provide financial support to veterans of the Polish independence movement living in emigration.

  3Zamoyski: count Władysław Zamoyski, or Zamojski (1853–1924), member of an old Polish noble family, philanthropist engaged in numerous social projects on behalf of Poles and Polish culture both in Paris where he was born, and in Poland, where he died.

  4chevalier de Jaucourt: Louis de Jaucourt (1704–1779) French scholar and the most prolific contributor to the Encyclopédie. He wrote about 18,000 articles, or 25% of the encyclopedia.

  5Girart de Roussillon: (c. 810–877/879?) Burgundian chief who became Count of Paris in 837, and titular hero of a 12th century chanson de geste, probably written by a monk in the abbey of Pothières or Vézelay, both of which were founded in about 860 by Girart.

  The text from which Herbert quotes is in a dialect midway between French and Provençal:

  He sees coming from afar/the lady and her servants/and her most private virgin maids,/who came carrying sand for scouring and building/so much that they barely had strength to climb.

  6Abbot Suger: (c. 1081–1151) abbot-statesman, historian, and influential first patron of Gothic architecture. Served as a regent of the kingdom (1147–1149) during the Second Crusade.

  7Renaud de Montauban: fictional hero introduced to literature in the 12th century chanson de geste as one of the Four Sons of Duke Aymon: Renaud, Richard, Alard, and Guiscard; their cousin is the magician Maugris who has a magical horse Bayard and the sword Froberge.

  8Étienne Boileau: (1200/1210–1270), was one of the first known provosts of Paris. Boileau brought together the regulations on the police, industry, and the trades of Paris in his Book of the Trades (1268), the oldest document on the legislation of communities of craftsmen in France.

  9Étienne de Bonneuil: fl. 1287–8) French architect of the ambulatory and radiating chapels at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Uppsala, Sweden (from 1287), the largest church in Scandinavia.