"Think how the self devoted Decii died, And leave their memories when they were no more. Is that which hopes and pants for things above! "And now, my friends and brethren, O receive Even now, in faith's bright mirror, I perceive Thus said, he once more vaulted on his steed, And mark with blood, till time itself is o'er (7)." On every front the holy Turpin traced And pardon'd them through him in whom are placed Our hope and trust, who died mankind to save. Then all the valiant band in tears embraced, And drew their swords, and stood, resolved and brave: Almonte's banner waved their lines before, The banner won in Aspramount of yore (18). 滁 NOTES TO CANTO THE 'SECOND. (1) The names of the four sons of Duke Aymon are given in a preceding note. The famous rebellion alluded to in this stanza is detailed, together with a variety of romantic incident, in the 10th and 11th cantos of Pulci, who borrowed it, not from the Chronicle of Turpin, but from a second source of chivalrous fiction, the old French romance of " Les quatre filz Aymon." (2) "The reverend Turpin vouches for my theme."] The fabulous Chronicle, so often mentioned already, being the avowed authority for the fictions of the early Italian romance writers, it became a prevailing fashion among them (in which they are followed by Boyardo and Ariosto) to employ the same fanciful cover for all the extravagances of their own imaginations: and thus the poor archbishop, who has lies enough to answer for of his own begetting, became the reputed father of so many others, in the proportion of at least a hundred to one, that he never dreamed of. In adopting the same contrivance, my only object has been to give my poem some air of resemblance to the originals on which it is founded. (3) "When false Maganza," &c.] Compare Pulci, Ib. canto xxv. st. 115. et seq. (4) "A spirit wise and strong," &c.] Compare Pulci, Ib. st. 116. Uno Spirto chiamato è Astarotte, Molto savio, terribil, molto fiero; Non è Spirto folletto,—egli è più nero, &c. (5)" Henceforth be broke The mighty spell," &c.] Ib. stanza 117. After this, in the poem of Pulci, follows one of the most extraordinary passages to be found in that most whimsical production. It is the conversation of the enchanter and dæmon, which turns almost entirely on points of abstruse theology, and those discussed with a degree of sceptical freedom which one would imagine to be altogether remote from the spirit of the fifteenth century. The poet informs us that his authority, in this instance, is no longer the orthodox archbishop, but a certain Provençal poet by name Arnauld. Whether there is any more reality in this, than in so many other assertions of the same nature, there seems to be at the present day no possibility of judging; but tradition (probably founded on the nature of the doctrines which are hazarded in this curious dialogue) assigns the invention of it to Marsilius Ficinus, the philosophical friend of Lorenzo de' Medici. I have ventured to embody a very small portion only of these metaphysics in some of my succeeding stanzas, and refer the reader to M. Ginguené (tom. iv. p. 237.) for an exposition of the whole passage. (6) -" Eye Of creature never pierced futurity.”] Pulci, or his colleague Ficinus, pushes this idea much further, so as to decide, in no very orthodox manner, the most grave and important question of Christian doctrine. Colui che tutto fè sa il tutto solo, E non sa ogni cosa il suo figliuolo. Ib. st. 133. (7) "But nothing certain."] Speaking of the power of spirits to penetrate futurity, Dante makes Farinata degli Ubertì declare, (8) Noi veggiam, come quei che a mala luce Le cose, disse, che ne son lontane. Inferno, c.10. "God hath clipp'd our wings," &c.] Pulci, c. xxv. st. 132. |