Renaissance in Italy Volume V Part 25

Berni's theory of poetry revealed a common-sense and insight which were no less rare than commendable in that age of artificial literature. He refused to write at command, pleading that spontaneity of inspiration is essential to art, and quoting Vida's dictum:

Nec jussa canas, nisi forte coactus Magnorum imperio regum.

Notwithstanding his avoidance of publication and parsimony of production, Berni won an almost unique reputation during his lifetime, and after his death was worshiped as a saint by the lovers of burlesque.[464] In one of his drollest sonnets he complains that poets were wont to steal their neighbors' verses, but that he is compelled to take the credit of more than he ever wrote:[465]

A me quei d'altri son per forza dati, E dicon tu gli arai, vuoi o non vuoi.

[Footnote 464: Il Lasca prefixed a sonnet to his edition of 1548, in which he speaks of "Il Berni nostro dabbene e gentile," calls him "primo e vero trovatore, Maestro e padre del burlesco stile," says that it is possible to envy but impossible to imitate him, and compares him thus with Burchiello:

Non sia chi mi ragioni di Burchiello, Che saria proprio come comparare Caron Dimonio all'Agnol Gabriello.

In another sonnet he climbs a further height of panegyric:

Quanti mai fur poeti al mondo e sono, Volete in Greco, in Ebreo, o in Latino, A petto a lui non vagliono un lupino, Tant'e dotto, faceto, bello e buono:

and winds up with the strange a.s.surance that:

da lui si sente Anzi s'impara con gioja infinita Come viver si debbe in questa vita.]

[Footnote 465: Sonnet xxvii.]

A piece of comic prose or verse cannot appear but that it is at once ascribed to him:

E la gente faceta Mi vuole pure impiastrar di prose e carmi, Come s'io fussi di razza di marmi: Non posso ripararmi; Come si vede fuor qualche sonetto, Il Berni l'ha composto a suo dispetto.

E fanvi su un guazzetto Di chiose e di sensi, che rinnieghi il cielo, Se Luter fa piu stracci del Vangelo.

One of the glosses referred to in this _coda_, lies before me as I write. It was composed by Gianmaria Cecchi on Berni's sonnet which begins "Cancheri e beccafichi." The sonnet is an amusing imprecation upon matrimony, written in one paragraph, and containing the sting of the epigram in its short _coda_ of three lines.[466] But it did not need a commentary, and Cecchi's voluminous annotations justify the poet's comic anger.

[Footnote 466: Sonnet ix.]

Berni's _Capitoli_ may be broadly divided into three cla.s.ses. The first includes his poetical epistles, addressed to Fracastoro, Sebastian del Piombo, Ippolito de' Medici, Marco Veneziano, and other friends. Except for the peculiar humor, which elevates the trivial accidents of life to comedy, except for the consummate style, which dignifies the details of familiar correspondence and renders fugitive effusions cla.s.sical, these letters in verse would scarcely detach themselves from a ma.s.s of similar compositions. As it is, Berni's personality renders them worthy companions of Ariosto's masterpieces in a similar but nicely differentiated branch of literature. It remains for the amateurs of autobiographical poetry to choose between the self-revelation of the philosophizing Ferrarese poet and the brilliant trifling of the Florentine. The second cla.s.s embraces a number of occasional poems--the Complaint against Love, the Deluge in Mugello, the Satire upon Adrian VI., the Lamentation of Nardino--descriptive or sarcastic pieces, where the poet chooses a theme and develops it with rhetorical abundance. The third cla.s.s may be regarded as the special source and fountain of the Bernesque manner, as afterwards adopted and elaborated by Berni's imitators.

Omitting personal or occasional motives, he sings the praises of the Plague, of Primiera, of Aristotle, of Peaches, of Debt, of Eels, of the Urinal, of Thistles, and of other trifling subjects. Here his burlesque genius takes the most fantastic flight, soaring to the ether of absurdity and sinking to the nadir of obscenity, combining heterogeneous elements of fun and farce, yet never transgressing the limits of refined taste. These _Capitoli_ revealed a new vehicle of artistic expression to his contemporaries. Penetrated with their author's individuality, they caught the spirit of the age and met its sense of humor. Consequently they became the touchstones of burlesque inspiration, the models which tempted men of feebler force and more uncertain tact to hopeless tasks of emulation. We still possess La Casa's _Capitolo_ on the Oven; Molza's on Salad and the Fig; Firenzuola's on the Sausage and the Legno Santo; Bronzino's on the Paint-brush and the Radish; Aretino's on the Quartan Fever; Franzesi's on Carrots and Chestnuts; Varchi's on Hard Eggs and Fennel; Mauro's on Beans and Priapus; Dolce's on Spittle and Noses; Bini's on the _Mal Franzese_; Lori's on Apples; Ruscelli's on the Spindle--not to speak of many authors, the obscurity of whose names and the obscenity of the themes they celebrated, condemn them to condign oblivion. Not without reason did Gregorovius stigmatize these poems as a moral syphilis, invading Italian literature and penetrating to the remotest fibers of its organism. After their publication in academical circles and their further diffusion through the press, simple terms which had been used to cloak their improprieties, became the bywords of p.o.r.nographic pamphleteers and poets. Figs, beans, peaches, apples, chestnuts acquired a new and scandalous significance. Sins secluded from the light of day by a modest instinct of humanity, flaunted their loathsomeness without shame beneath the ensigns of these literary allegories. The corruption of society, hypocritically veiled or cynically half-revealed in coteries, expressed itself too plainly through the phraseology invented by a set of sensual poets. The most distinguished members of society, Cardinals like Bembo, prelates like La Casa, painters like Bronzino, critics like Varchi, scholars like Molza, lent the prestige of their position and their talents to the diffusion of this leprosy, which still remains the final most convincing testimony to the demoralization of Italy in the Renaissance.[467]

[Footnote 467: The scholars of the day were not content with writing burlesque _Capitoli_. They must needs annotate them. See Caro's Commentary on the _Ficheide_ of Molza (Romagnoli, _Scelta di Curiosita Letterarie_, Dispensa vii. Bologna, 1862) for the most celebrated example. There is not a sentence in this long and witty composition, read before the Accademia delle Virtu, which does not contain a grossly obscene allusion, scarcely a paragraph which does not refer to an unmentionable vice.]

To what extent, it may be asked, was Berni responsible for these consequences? He brought the indecencies of the piazza, where they were the comparatively innocuous expression of coa.r.s.e instincts, into the close atmosphere of the study and the academical circle, refined their vulgarisms, and made their viciousness attractive by the charm of his incomparable style. This transition from the _Canto Carnascialesco_ to the _Capitolo_ may be observed in Berni's _Caccia di Amore_, a very licentious poem dedicated to "n.o.ble and gentle ladies." It is a Carnival Song or _Canzone a Ballo_ rewritten in octave stanzas of roseate fluency and seductive softness. A band of youthful huntsmen pay their court in it to women, and the _double entendre_ exactly reproduces the style of innuendo rendered fashionable by Lorenzo de' Medici. Yet, though Berni is unquestionably answerable for the obscene _Capitoli_ of the sixteenth century, it must not be forgotten that he only gave form to material already sufficiently appropriated by the literary cla.s.ses. With him, the grossness which formed the staple of Mauro's, Molza's, Bini's, La Casa's and Bronzino's poems, the depravities of appet.i.te which poisoned the very substance of their compositions, were but accidental. The poet stood above them and in some measure aloof from them, employing these ingredients in the concoction of his burlesque, but never losing the main object of his art in their development. A bizarre literary effect, rather than the indulgence of a sensual imagination, was the aim he had in view. Therefore, while we regret that his example gave occasion to coa.r.s.er debaucheries of talent, we are bound to acknowledge that the jests to which he condescended, do not represent his most essential self. This, however, is but a feeble apology. That without the excuse of pa.s.sion, without satirical motive or overmastering personal proclivity, he should have penned the _Capitolo a M. Antonio da Bibbiena_, and have joked about giving and taking his metaphorical peaches, remains an ineradicable blot upon his nature.[468]

[Footnote 468: The six opening lines of the _Lamentazion d'Amore_ prevent our regarding Berni's jests as wholly separate from his experience and practice.]

The Bernesque _Capitoli_ were invariably written in _terza rima_, which at this epoch became the recognized meter of epistolary, satirical, and dissertational poetry throughout Italy.[469] Thus the rhythm of the Divine Comedy received final development by lending itself to the expression of whims, fancies, personal invectives and scurrilities. To quote from Berni's masterpieces in this style would be impossible. Each poem of about one hundred lines is a perfect and connected unity, which admits of no mutilation by the detachment of separate pa.s.sages. Still readers may be referred to the _Capitolo a Fracastoro_ and the two _Capitoli della Peste_ as representative of the poet's humor in its purest form, without the moral deformities of the still more celebrated _Pesche_ or the uncleanliness of the _Orinale_.

[Footnote 469: A familiar ill.u.s.tration is Cellini's _Capitolo del Carcere_. Curious examples of these occasional poems, written for the popular taste, are furnished by Mutinelli in his _Annali Urbani di Venezia_. See above, Part i. pp. 172, 519, for the vicissitudes of _terza rima_ after the close of the fourteenth century.]

At the close of the _Capitolo_ written on the occasion of Adrian VI.'s election to the Papacy, Berni declared that it had never been his custom to speak ill of people:

L'usanza mia non fu mai di dir male; E che sia il ver, leggi le cose mie, Leggi l'Anguille, leggi l'Orinale, Le Pesche, i Cardi e l'altre fantasie: Tutte sono inni, salmi, laudi ed ode.

We have reason to believe this declaration. Genial good humor is a characteristic note of his literary temperament. At the same time he was no mean master of caricature and epigram. The _Capitolo_ in question is a sustained tirade against the Fleming, who had come to break the peace of polished Rome--a shriek of angry lamentation over altered times, intolerable insults, odious innovations. The amazement and discomfiture of the poet, contrasted with his burlesque utterance, render this composition comic in a double sense. Its satire cuts both ways, against the author and the object of his rage. Yet when Adrian gave place to Giulio de' Medici, and Berni discovered what kind of a man the new Pope was, he vented n.o.bler scorn in verse of far more pungent criticism. His sonnet on Clement is remarkable for exactly expressing the verdict posterity has formed after cool and mature inquiry into this Pope's actions. Clement's weakness and irresolution must end, the poet says, by making even Adrian seem a saint:[470]

Un Papato composto di rispetti, Di considerazioni e di discorsi, Di piu, di poi, di ma, di s, di forsi, Di pur, di a.s.sai parole senza effetti; Di pensier, di consigli, di concetti, Di congetture magre per apporsi D'intrattenerti, purche non si sborsi, Con audienze, risposte, e bei detti: Di pie di piombo e di neutralita, Di pazienza, di dimostrazione, Di Fede, di Speranza e Carita, D'innocenza, di buona intenzione; Ch'e quasi come dir, semplicita.

Per non le dare altra interpretazione, Sia con sopportazione, Lo dir pur, vedrete che pian piano Fara canonizzar Papa Adriano.

[Footnote 470:

A Papacy composed of compliment, Debate, consideration, complaisance, Of furthermore, then, but, yes, well, perchance, Haply, and such-like terms inconsequent; Of thought, conjecture, counsel, argument, Starveling surmise to summon countenance, Negotiations, audiences, romance, Fine words and shifts, disburs.e.m.e.nt to prevent; Of feet of lead, of tame neutrality, Of patience and parade to outer view.

Of fawning Faith, of Hope and Charity, Of Innocence and good intentions too, Which it were well to dub simplicity, Uglier interpretations to eschew; With your permission, you, To speak the plain truth out, shall live to see Pope Adrian sainted through this Papacy.]

The insight into Clement's character displayed in this sonnet, the invective against Adrian, and the acerbity of another sonnet against Alessandro de' Medici:

Empio Signor, che de la roba altrui Lieto ti vai G.o.dendo, e del sudore:

would gain in cogency, could we attach more value to the manliness of Berni's utterances. But when we know that, while he was showering curses on the Duke of Civita di Penna, he frequented the Medicean Court and wrote a humorous _Capitolo_ upon Grada.s.so, a dwarf of Cardinal Ippolito, we feel forced to place these epigrammatic effusions among the ebullitions of personal rather than political animosity. There was nothing of the patriot in Berni, not even so much as in Machiavelli, who himself avowed his readiness to roll stones for the Signori Medici.

As a satirist, Berni appears to better advantage in his caricatures of private or domestic personages. The portrait of his housekeeper, who combined in her single person all the antiquities of all the viragos of romance:

Io ho per cameriera mia l'Ancroja Madre di Ferrau, zia di Morgante, Arcavola maggior dell'Amostante, Balia del Turco e suocera del Boja:

Alcionio upon his mule:

Quella che per soperchio digiunare Tra l'anime celesti benedette Come un corpo diafano traspare:

Ser Cecco who could never be severed from the Court, nor the Court from Ser Cecco:

Perch'ambedue son la Corte e ser Cecco:

the pompous doctor:

l'ambasciador del Boja, Un medico, maestro Guazzaletto:

Domenico d'Ancona, the memory of whose beard, shorn by some Vandal of a barber, draws tears from every sympathetic soul:

Or hai dato, barbier, l'ultimo crollo Ad una barba la piu singolare Che mai fosse descritta in verso o 'n prosa:

these form a gallery of comic likenesses, drawn from the life and communicated with the force of reality to the reader. Each is perfect in style, clearly cut like some antique chalcedony, bringing the object of the poet's mirth before us with the exact measure of ridicule he sought to inflict.[471]

[Footnote 471: Sonnets xi. xvi. xiv. iii. xx. The same vivid picturesqueness is displayed in the desecrated Abbey (Sonnet xvii.), which deserves to be called an etching in words.]

This satiric power culminates in the sonnet on Pietro Aretino.[472]

The tartness of Berni's more good-humored pasquinades is concentrated to vitriol by unadulterated loathing. He flings this biting acid in the face of one whom he has found a scoundrel. The sonnet starts at the white heat of fury:

Tu ne dirai e farai tante e tante, Lingua fracida, marcia, senza sale.

[Footnote 472: Sonnet xix. In the _Capitolo_ to Ippolito de' Medici, Berni thus alludes to Aretino:

Com'ha fatto non so chi mio vicino, Che veste d'oro, e piu non degna il panno, E da.s.si del messere e del divino.]

It proceeds with execration; and when the required fourteen lines have been terminated, it foams over into rage more voluble and still more voluble, unwinding the folds of an interminable _Coda_ with ever-increasing _crescendo_ of vituperation, as though the pa.s.sion of the writer could not be appeased. The whole has to be read at one breath. No quotation can render a conception of its rhetorical art.

Every word strikes home because every word contains a truth expressed in language of malignant undiluted heartfelt hate. That most difficult of literary triumphs, to render abuse sublime, to sustain a single note of fierce invective without relaxing or weakening the several grades that lead to the catastrophe, has been accomplished. This achievement is no doubt due in some measure to the exact correspondence between what we know of Pietro Aretino and what Berni has written of him. Yet its blunt fidelity to fact does not detract from the skill displayed in the handling of those triple series of rhymes, each one of which descends like a lash upon the writhing back beneath: