‘O most sacred Love, what tongue is there that can praise you worthily? Full of beauty, goodness and wisdom, you flow from the union of beauty, goodness and divine wisdom, there you dwell, and through it you return to it perpetually. Graciously binding the universe together, midway between celestial and earthy things, by your benign disposition you direct the heavenly powers in their government of the lower, and turning the minds of men to their source, you unite them with it. You unite the elements in harmony, inspire Nature to produce, and move all that is born to the perpetuation of life. You join together the things that are separate, give perfection to the imperfect, likeness to the unlike, friendship to the hostile, fruit to the earth, tranquillity to the sea, its life-giving light to the sky. You are the father of true pleasures, of all blessings, of peace, of gentleness and of good will; the enemy of rough savagery and vileness; the beginning and the end of every good. And since you delight to inhabit the flower of beautiful bodies and beautiful souls, and there sometimes consent to reveal a little of yourself to those worthy to see you, I believe that you now dwell here among us. Consent then, O Lord, to hear our prayers, pour yourself into our hearts, and with the radiance of your most sacred fire illumine our darkness and like a trusted guide show us the right path through this blind maze. Correct the falsity of our senses, and after our long delirium give us the true substance of goodness. Quicken our intellects with the incense of spirituality and make us so attuned to the celestial harmony that there is no longer room within us for any discord of passion. Inebriate our souls at the inexhaustible fountain of contentment hat always delights and never satiates and that gives a taste of true blessedness to whoever drinks from its living and limpid waters. With the rays of your light cleanse our eyes of their misty ignorance, so that they may no longer prize mortal beauty but know that the things which they first thought to see are not, and that those they did not see truly are. Accept the sacrifice of our souls; and burn them in the living flame that consumes all earthly dross, so that wholly freed from the body they may unite with divine beauty in a sweet and perpetual bond and that we, liberated from our own selves, like true lovers can be transformed into the object of our love and soar above the earth to join the feast of the angels, where, with ambrosia and immortal nectar for our food, we may at last die a most happy death in life, as did those ancient Fathers whose souls, by the searing power of contemplation, you ravished from their bodies to unite with God.’
Having spoken in that way with such vehemence that he seemed transported out of himself, Bembo then remained silent and still, looking towards heaven, as if dazed. And then signora Emilia, who together with all the others had listened to all he had to say with the utmost attention, plucked the hem of his robe and said:
‘Take care, Pietro, that with these thoughts of yours you too do not cause your soul to leave your body.’
‘Madam,’ answered Pietro, ‘that would not be the first miracle that love has worked in me.’
Then the Duchess and all the others began once again to insist that Bembo should continue his discourse; and everyone almost seemed to feel in his mind a spark of the divine love that had inspired Bembo himself. They were all anxious to hear more, but he then added:
‘Gentlemen, I have said all that was dictated to me on the spur of the moment by the holy frenzy of love. And now that its inspiration seems to have failed, I would not know what to say; and I think that love does not wish its secrets to be revealed any further, or that the courtier should pass beyond the stage I have been graciously permitted to show him; and so perhaps I may speak no further about this subject.’
‘Truly,’ said the Duchess, ‘if the courtier who is no longer young is such that he is able to follow the path you have shown him he should rightly be content with such great happiness and feel no envy of the young.’
Then Cesare Gonzaga remarked: ‘The road that leads to happiness seems to me so steep that I hardly think anyone can travel it.’
And then signor Gaspare added: ‘I think to travel this road would be difficult for men, but impossible for women.’
Signora Emilia laughed and said:
‘Signor Gaspare, if you return to giving us so many insults, I promise you will not be forgiven again.’
Signor Gaspare replied: ‘It is no insult to you to say that the souls of women are not as purged of the passions as those of men or as versed in contemplation as Pietro has said those which are to taste divine love must be. Thus do we not read that any woman has ever received this grace, but we do read of many men who have, such as Plato, Socrates, Plotinus26 and many others; and similarly many of our holy Fathers, such as St Francis, upon whom an ardent messenger of love impressed the most holy seal of the five wounds27. And only the power of love could transport the Apostle St Paul to the vision of those secrets of which no man is allowed to speak, or show St Stephen the heavens opening.’28
Then the Magnifico Giuliano replied:
‘But women would not be surpassed by men in the slightest as far as this is concerned: for Socrates himself confessed that all the mysteries of love that he knew had been revealed to him by a woman, the famous Diotima,29 and the angel who pierced St Francis with the fire of love has also made several women of our own time worthy of the same seal. You should also remember that many sins were forgiven St Mary Magdalene because she loved much and that she, perhaps in no less a state of grace than St Paul, was many times rapt to the third heaven by angelic love,30 and remember many others who, as I told at greater length yesterday, for the love of Christ’s name have cared nothing for their own life, nor have they feared tortures or any manner of death, however horrible and cruel. And these were not old, as Pietro wishes his courtier to be, but tender and delicate girls, of the age at which he says sensual love should be allowed to men.’
Signor Gaspare was preparing to reply; but then the Duchess said:
‘Let Pietro Bembo be the judge of this, and let us abide by his decision as to whether or not women are as capable of divine love as men. But, as the argument between you could last too long, it would be as well to postpone it until tomorrow.’
‘Rather, till this evening,’ said Cesare Gonzaga.
‘Why this evening?’ asked the Duchess.
Cesare replied: ‘Because it is already day’; and he showed her the light that was beginning to come in through the clefts of the windows. Then they all rose to their feet, greatly astonished, because it did not seem that the discussion had lasted longer than usual, but as they had started far later and taken greater pleasure in it, those gentlemen had been so absorbed that they had not noticed the way time was passing; nor did anyone feel at all tired: and this often happens when the accustomed time of sleep is spent in wakefulness. So when the windows on the side of the palace that faces the lofty peak of Mount Catria had been opened, they saw that dawn had already come to the east, with the beauty and colour of a rose, and all the stars had been scattered, save only the lovely mistress of heaven, Venus, who guards the confines of night and day. From there, there seemed to come a delicate breeze, filling the air with biting cold, and among the murmuring woods on nearby hills wakening the birds into joyous song. Then all, having taken their respectful leave of the Duchess, went to their rooms, without torches, for the light of day was sufficient; and, as they were about to leave the room, the Prefect turned to the Duchess and said:
‘Madam, to settle the argument between signor Gaspare and the Magnifico, we shall come with our judge this evening earlier than we did yesterday.’
Signora Emilia replied: ‘On condition that if signor Gaspare should want to criticize women and slander them in his usual manner he shall give his bond to stand trial, for I arraign him as a fugitive from justice.’
NOTES
DEDICATORY LETTER AND FIRST BOOK
1. (p. 35) Theophrastus (date of birth uncertain, died 287 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher, the favourite pupil of Aristotle. The anecdote is based on a story in Cicero’s Brutus xlvi, 172.
&nbs
p; 2. (p. 44) These ‘emblems’ (imprese) worn on clothing or armour were very popular in Court society during the sixteenth century. They consisted of a picture and motto, usually in Latin.
3. (p. 47) Fra Mariano – for this Court buffoon, and for Fra Serafino, see the List of Characters.
4. (p. 48) The letter S worn by the Duchess was probably one of the emblems already mentioned, in this case a golden cipher. It has been suggested that the S may have stood for scorpion.
5. (p. 58) Berto – mentioned later for his clowning abilities – was another buffoon in the service of the papal Court.
6. (p. 66) Galleazzo Sanseverino was a mercenary who married into the family of Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, after whose defeat by the French he entered the service of King Louis XII.
7. (p. 69) Apelles, a contemporary of Alexander the Great, was the most famous painter of ancient Greece. He ‘discovered’ Protogenes and convinced the latter’s fellow-citizens of his merits by paying well over the odds for his work.
8. (p. 73) Francesco Petrarch (1304–74) and Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–75) provided the two great Tuscan models, in verse and prose respectively, for writers in the vernacular determined to apply strictly the humanist canon of imitation.
9. (p. 76) Evander was the mythical son of Hermes (by a nymph) supposed to have founded a town on the Tiber, before the Trojan War, subsequently incorporated into Rome.
Turnus was the legendary king of an Italian tribe at the time of the arrival in Italy of Aeneas, by whom he was slain.
The Salii were Roman priests of patrician rank, responsible for guarding the holy shields, fallen from Heaven. Their hymns in praise of the gods were supposed to have become unintelligible.
Marcus Antonius (143–87 B.C.) and Licinius Crassus (140–91 B.C.) were the most notable orators of early Rome and were the chief speakers in Cicero’s dialogue, De Oratore.
Quintus Hortensius Hortalus (114–50 B.C.) florid in speech and fastidious in dress, was the most respected Roman orator until outshone by Cicero himself.
Marcus Porcius Cato (234–149 B.C.) was an author, soldier and moral reformer, responsible for the demand: Delenda est Carthago.
Quintus Ennius (239–169 B.C.) was a Roman subject of Greek birth, a teacher and epic poet.
T. Maccius Plautus (c. 254–184 B.C.) was Rome’s greatest comic dramatist.
Sergius Sulpicius Galba earned qualified praise from Cicero for his oratory; was consul in 144 B.C.
10. (p. 81) Hesiod was one of the earliest Greek poets after Homer, flourishing about the eighth century B.C.
11. (p. 82) Bidon was a greatly admired chorister in the service of Pope Leo X.
Marchetto Cara was another singer, and composer, who served the Gonzaga rulers of Mantua and also visited the Court at Urbino.
12. (p. 82) Isocrates (436–338 B.C.) was an Attic orator, very successful financially, chiefly as a teacher.
Lysias (458–378 B.C.) was another, noted for the elegance of the speeches he wrote for others.
Aeschines (389–314 B.C.) flourished as a public speaker (after failing as an actor) in rivalry with Demosthenes.
Caius Papirius Carbo was a Roman consul in 120 B.C., a distinguished orator whose murky political career ended in suicide.
Caius Laelius Sapiens was consul in 140 B.C.; his intimate friendship with Scipio Africanus the younger was immortalized in Cicero’s treatise De Amicitia (On Friendship).
Scipio Africanus the younger (c. 185–129 B.C.) inherited the name Africanus by adoption from Hannibal’s conqueror, Scipio Africanus Major, and lived up to it by capturing Carthage in the 3rd Punic War.
Publius Suplius Sulpicius Rufus (124–88 B.C.) was a distinguished orator who met a violent death during the civil war between Marius and Sulla.
Caius Aurelius Cotta, consul in 75 B.C., was introduced as one of the speakers in Cicero’s De Oratore.
Caius Sempronius Gracchus was a popular reformer, twice elected tribune of the plebs (123 and 122 B.C.), intrigued against by the Roman senate and killed, at his own request, by his slave.
13. (p. 83) Politian (1454–94) (Angelo Poliziano) was a classical scholar, tutor to the sons of Lorenzo de’ Medici, and a charming and important poet.
Lorenzo de’ Medici (1448–92) was effective ruler of Florence, scholar, patron and poet, and the father of the Giuliano de’ Medici who takes part in the conversations of The Courtier.
Francesco Diacceto (1466–1522) was a writer and philosopher, influenced by the ideas of Ficino, whose own influence is discernible in the neo-Platonic passages on love in the Fourth Book of The Courtier.
14. (p. 85) Demosthenes’ rejoinder to Aeschines is reported in Cicero’s Orator viii, 26–7: Demosthenes said the fortunes of Greece didn’t depend on his using this word or that, or extending his hand in this direction or that.
15. (p. 87) The 39th Ode of Catullus (c. 87–47 B.C.), In Egnatium, begins ‘Egnatius, because he has white teeth, smiles wherever he goes….’ And nothing, Catullus adds, is more pointless than a pointless laugh.
16. (p. 88) Monseigneur d’Angoulême (1494–1547), son of the Valois Charles d’Angoulême, succeeded to the French throne as Francis I in 1515.
17. (p. 89) These references are drawn from Plutarch’s Lives, Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations and the Life of Hannibal by Cornelius Nepos.
Lucius Licinius Lucullus and Lucius Cornelius Sulla were Roman generals (consuls in 74 B.C. and 78 B.C. respectively).
18. (p. 91) Aristippus flourished about 370 B.C. and founded the Cyrenaic school of philosophy which took its name from his birthplace Cyrene in Africa. Diogenes Laertius in his Lives of the Philosophers says that when Aristippus was asked what he had chiefly learned from philosophy he replied: ‘The ability to meet all men with confidence.’
19. (p. 94) Grasso (Fatty) was the nickname of a courtier and soldier in the service of the Medici, well-known in Florence and in Court circles in Rome and Urbino.
20. (p. 95) Lycurgus (probably ninth century B.C.) was the great legislator of Sparta reputed to have been responsible for all its laws and constitution.
Epaminondas (fourth century B.C.) was the famous Theban general who destroyed Spartan supremacy by his victory at Leuctra in 371 B.C.
Themistocles (c. 514–449 B.C.) was one of the greatest of Athenian generals and statesmen, responsible for the defeat of the Persians at Salamis in 480 B.C.
Achilles, of course, was the hero of the Iliad who was educated by Chiron the Centaur, half-man and half-horse.
21. (p. 100) The anecdote about Protogenes and Metrodorus comes from Pliny’s Natural History.
Demetrius I of Macedon was the son of Antigonus, King of Asia, one of the generals of Alexander the Great. He besieged Rhodes with gigantic machines in 305 B.C., when he won the name of Poliorcetes or Besieger.
Metrodorus is recorded in Pliny as a painter and philosopher.
Lucius Aemilius Paulus was a Roman consul (181 and 168 B.C.) and general.
22. (p. 102) Zeuxis flourished as a painter in 424–380 B.C. and was noted for his naturalistic effects. His most famous picture, referred to here, was of Helen of Troy.
23. (p. 104) In their volume of the Pelican History of Music (Volume 2: Renaissance and Baroque, Penguin Books 1963) Alec Robertson and Denis Stevens remark:
‘The fifteenth century was the great age of the dance. The basse dance reached the French and Burgundian courts from Spain some time before 1445. It was second in favour only to the morris, which had the added attraction of fancy dress. Dances proved an agreeable ending to a festal evening, but they were also a symbolic act in the ritual of courtly love….’ After noting that in Italy the bassadanza was ‘a particular balletic creation of an individual master, a spatial exercise in the true Renaissance manner’, Robertson and Stevens add: ‘All sorts of characteristic and national dances became the rage towards the end of the fifteenth century; the tedesca, the branle, the schiavo, round dances, the zingaresca, Spanish, Polish, Turkish and Neopolitan da
nces, and latterly the pavane are amongst those recorded….’
SECOND BOOK
1. (p. 108) What Themistocles said is recorded in Cicero’s De Oratore lxxiv, II. A learned man came to him and offered to teach him the art of good memory; when Themistocles asked what use it was, he was told it would enable him to remember everything. Themistocles answered that it would be better if he were taught how to forget what he wanted to.
2. (p. 109) Duke Filippo Maria Visconti (1391–1447) was the last Visconti ruler of Milan, a despot with modest literary interests, fearfully suspicious and superstitious.
Duke Borso d’Este (1413–71), ruler of Ferrara, was a patron of the arts and literature greatly admired by contemporary humanists.
The Book of the Courtier Page 39