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If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: The Unpublished Legends of Virgil - - -Author: Charles Godfrey Leland - - - -Release Date: June 7, 2020 [eBook #62335] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNPUBLISHED LEGENDS OF -VIRGIL*** - - -Transcribed from the 1899 Elliot Stock edition by David Price, email -ccx074@pglaf.org - - [Picture: Book cover] - - - - - - THE - UNPUBLISHED LEGENDS - OF - VIRGIL. - - - COLLECTED BY - CHARLES GODFREY LELAND. - - * * * * * - - LONDON: - ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. - 1899. - - TO THE - SENATOR AND PROFESSOR - DOMENICO COMPARETTI, - - AUTHOR OF - “VIRGIL IN THE MIDDLE AGES,” - - THIS WORK IS DEDICATED - BY - CHARLES GODFREY LELAND - -FLORENCE, _September_, 1899. - - - - -PREFACE. - - -All classic scholars are familiar with the Legends of Virgil in the -Middle Ages, in which the poet appears as a magician, the last and best -collection of these being that which forms the second volume of “Virgilio -nel Medio Aevo,” by Senator Professor Domenico Comparetti. But having -conjectured that Dante must have made Virgil familiar to the people, and -that many legends or traditions still remained to be collected, I applied -myself to this task, with the result that in due time I gathered, or had -gathered for me, about one hundred tales, of which only three or four had -a plot in common with the old Neapolitan Virgilian stories, and even -these contained original and very curious additional lore. One half of -these traditions will be found in this work. - -As these were nearly all taken down by a fortune-teller or witch among -her kind—she being singularly well qualified by years of practice in -finding and recording such recondite lore—they very naturally contain -much more that is occult, strange and heathen, than can be found in the -other tales. Thus, wherever there is opportunity, magical ceremonies are -described and incantations given; in fact, the story is often only a mere -frame, as it were, in which the picture or true subject is a lesson in -sorcery. - -But what is most remarkable and interesting in these traditions, as I -have often had occasion to remark, is the fact that they embody a vast -amount of old Etrusco-Roman minor mythology of the kind chronicled by -Ovid, and incidentally touched on or quoted here and there by gossiping -Latin writers, yet of which no record was ever made. I am sincerely -persuaded that there was an immense repertory of this fairy, goblin, or -witch religion believed in by the Roman people which was never written -down, but of which a great deal was preserved by sorcerers, who are -mostly at the same time story-tellers among themselves, and of this much -may be found in this work. And I think no critic, however inclined to -doubt he may be, will deny that there is in the old mythologists -collateral evidence to prove what I have asserted. - -It may be observed that in these Northern legends, Virgil is in most -cases spoken of as a poet as well as magician, but that he is before all, -benevolent and genial, a great sage invariably doing good, while always -inspired with humour. Mr. Robinson Ellis has shrewdly observed that, in -reading the Neapolitan tales of Virgil, “we are painfully struck with the -absence, for the most part, of any imaginative element in them.” I -would, however, suggest, that in these which I have gathered with no -small pains—having devoted a great part of my time for several years to -the task—there is no want of imagination, romance or humour. - -Such are, in brief, the contents of this book. Sincerely trusting that -the press and public may treat it as kindly as they did the -“Etrusco-Roman Remains,” and “The Legends of Florence,” I await the -verdict, which will probably determine whether I shall publish other -Italian traditions, of which I have still a very large collection. - - CHARLES GODFREY LELAND. - -FLORENCE, - 1899. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - PAGE -PREFACE vii -INTRODUCTION xi -THE STORY OF ROMOLO AND REMOLO 1 -HOW VIRGIL WAS BORN 4 -VIRGIL, THE EMPEROR, AND THE TWO DOVES 11 -VIRGIL AND THE ROCK OF POSILIPPO 14 -VIRGIL, THE EMPEROR, AND THE TRUFFLES 17 -BALSÀBO 21 -VIRGIL, MINUZZOLO, AND THE SIREN 33 -LAVERNA 38 -VIRGIL AND THE UGLY GIRL 43 -VIRGIL AND THE GEM 44 -II. THE FLIES IN ROME 45 -THE COLUMNS OF VIRGIL AND HIS THREE WONDERFUL STATUES 49 -VIRGIL AND ADELONE 54 -VIRGIL AND DORIONE, OR THE MAGIC VASE 58 -VIRGIL AND THE LADY OF ICE AND WATER 63 -VIRGIL THE MAGICIAN, OR THE FOUR VENUSES 66 -VIRGIL, THE LADY, AND THE CHAIR 71 -VIRGIL AND THE GODDESS OF THE CHASE 75 -VIRGIL AND THE SPIRIT OF MIRTH 80 -NERO AND SENECA 88 -VIRGIL AND CICERO 92 -VIRGIL AND THE GODDESS VESTA 97 -THE STONE FISH, AND HOW VIRGIL MADE IT EATABLE 103 -VIRGIL AND THE BRONZE HORSE 106 -VIRGIL AND THE BALL-PLAYER 108 -VIRGIL AND THE GENTLEMAN WHO BRAYED 111 -VIRGIL AND THE GIRL WITH GOLDEN LOCKS 113 -VIRGIL AND THE PEASANT OF AREZZO 117 -THE GIRL AND THE FLAGEOLET 123 -LA BEGHINA DI AREZZO, OR VIRGIL AND THE SORCERESS 128 -THE SPIRIT OF THE SNOW OF COLLE ALTO 134 -THE LEGEND OF LA MADONNA DELLA NEVE 139 -THE MAGICIAN VIRGIL: A LEGEND FROM THE SABINE 140 -VIRGIL, THE WICKED PRINCESS, AND THE IRON MAN 152 -GIOVANNI DI BOLOGNA AND THE GOD MERCURY 155 -THE DOUBLE-FACED STATUE, OR HOW VIRGIL CONJURED JANUS 161 -VIRGIL AND HIS COURTIERS 163 -VIRGIL AND THE THREE SHEPHERDS 164 -THE GOLDEN PINE-CONE 167 -VIRGIL’S MAGIC LOOM 172 -VIRGIL AND THE PRIEST 180 -IL GIGLIO DI FIRENZE, OR THE STORY OF VIRGIL AND THE LILIES 182 -II. VIRGIL AND THE BEAUTIFUL LADY OF THE LILY 185 -VIRGIL AND THE DAUGHTER OF THE EMPEROR OF ROME 185 -PROVERB STORIES OF VIRGIL -I. VIRGIL AND POLLIONE 190 -II. VIRGIL AND MATTEO 194 -VIRGIL AND THE FATHER OF TWELVE CHILDREN 197 -VIRGIL AS A PHYSICIAN, OR VIRGIL AND THE MOUSE 199 -THE ONION OF CETTARDO 203 - - - - -INTRODUCTION. - - - “C’est bien raison que je vous compte des histoires de Virgille de - Romme lequel en son temps, fis moult de merveilles.”—_Les Faictz - Merveilleux de Virgille_. _XVIth Century_. - -The reader is probably aware that during the Middle Ages, Virgil, who had -always retained great fame as a poet, and who was kindly regarded as -almost a Christian from a conjectured pious prophecy in his works, -underwent the process of being made romantic and converted into a -magician. How it all came to pass is admirably set forth by Professor -Domenico Comparetti in his truly great work on “Virgil in the Middle -Ages.” {0a} - -During the twelfth century, and for some time after, many learned -pilgrims or tourists from different parts of Europe, while in Italy, -hearing from the people these tales, which had a great charm in an age -when the marvellous formed the basis of nearly all literature, gave them -to the world in different forms. And as the fame of Virgil as a poet was -almost the first fact learned by those who studied Latin, legends -relating to him spread far and wide. The Mantuan bard had been well-nigh -deified by the Romans. “Silius Italicus used to celebrate his birthday -every year, visiting his tomb as if it were a temple, and as a temple the -Neapolitan Statius used to regard it.” {0b} And this reverence was -preserved by the Christians, who even added to it a peculiar lore. - -“These tales,” says Comparetti, “originated in Naples, and thence spread -into European literature, in the first instance, however, outside Italy. -Their origin in Italy was entirely the work of the lower classes, and had -nothing to do with poetry or literature; it was a popular superstition -founded on local records connected with Virgil’s long residence in -Naples, and the celebrity of his tomb in that city.” - -This latter is a shrewd observation, for as the tomb is close by the -mysterious grotto of Posilippo, which was always supposed to have been -made by magic, it was natural that Virgil, who was famed for wisdom, -should have been supposed to have wrought the miracle, and it may well be -that this was really the very first, or the beginning of all the legends -in question. These were “connected with certain localities, statues and -monuments in the neighbourhood of Naples itself, to which Virgil was -supposed to have given a magic power.” . . . Foreigners who visited -Naples thus learned these legends, and they passed “even into Latin works -of a learned nature.” So it resulted that from the twelfth century -onward the fame of Virgil as a magician spread all over Europe. Among -those who thus made of him a wonder-worker were Conrad von Querfurt, -Gervase of Tilbury, Alexander Neckham, and John of Salisbury. - -That these marvellous tales were localized in Naples, and there first -applied to Virgil, may be freely admitted, but that they really -originated or were first invented there will be claimed by no one -familiar with older or Oriental legends. This has not escaped Senator -Comparetti, who observes that wonders attributed long before to -Apollonius of Tyana and others “are practically identical with those -attributed in Naples to Virgil.” The idea of setting up the image of a -fly to drive away flies, as Virgil did in one legend, is Babylonian, for -in Lenormand’s Chaldæan Magic we are told that demons are driven away by -their own images, and Baalzebub, as chief of flies, was probably the -first honoured in this respect. - -That is to say, that little by little and year by year the tales which -had been told of other men in earlier times—magicians, sorcerers, and -wizards wild—were remade and attributed to Virgil. The very first -specimen of an ancient Italian _novella_, given by Roscoe, is a Virgilian -legend, though the translator makes no mention of it. So in the -“Pentamerone” of Giambattista Basile of Naples we find that most of the -tales come from the East, and had been of old attributed to Buddha, or -some other great man. - -The Neapolitan stories of Virgil were spread far and wide, into almost -every language in Europe; but they had their day, and now rank with -black-letter literature, being republished still, but for scholars only. -I had read most of them in my youth, and when the work of Senator -Comparetti appeared, I was struck by the singular fact that there is next -to nothing in all the vast amount of Virgilianæ which he quotes, which -appears to have been gathered of late among the people at large. A great -number of classic and mediæval names and characters are very familiar to -the most ignorant Italians. How came it to pass that nothing is known of -Virgil, who appears in the “Divina Commedia” as the guide, philosopher, -and friend of Dante, whose works are read by all. - -Inspired with this idea, I went to work and soon found that, as I had -conjectured, there were still extant among the people a really great -number of what may be called post-Virgilian legends, which possibly owe -their existence, or popularity, to the Virgil of Dante. A very few of -them are like certain of the old Neapolitan tales, but even these have -been greatly changed in details. As might have been expected of Northern -Italian narratives, they partake more of the nature of the _novella_ or -short romance, than of the nursery-tale or the mere anecdote, as given by -the earlier writers. That is to say, there was, after Dante, among the -people a kind of renaissance in the fame of Virgil as a magician. It is -by a curious coincidence that, as Senator Comparetti admits, all the -earlier legends of the bard were gathered and published by foreigners; so -have these of later time been collected by one not to the country born. - -One good reason why I obtained so many of these tales so readily is that -they were gathered, like my “Florentine Legends” and “Etrusco-Roman -Remains,” chiefly among witches or fortune-tellers, who, above all other -people, preserve with very natural interest all that smacks of sorcery. -It is the case in every country—among Red Indians, Hindus or -Italians—that wherever there are families in which witchcraft is handed -down from generation to generation there will be traditional tales in -abundance, and those not of the common fairy-tale kind, but of a -mysterious, marvellous nature. Now, that the narratives in this book -contain—quite apart from any connection with Virgil—in almost every -instance some curious traces of very ancient tradition, is perhaps to be -admitted by all. Such is the description of Agamene, the Spirit of the -Diamond, which is one of the oldest of Græco-Roman myths, and Pæonia, who -kills or revives human beings by means of flowers, wherein she is the -very counterpart of Minerva-Pæonia, who taught Esculapius, as mythology -expressly states, “the power of flowers and herbs,” even as the statue -Pæonia teaches Virgil. These are only two out of scores of instances, -and they are to me, as they will be to every scholar, by far the most -valuable part of my book. - -These incidents, which I in many cases did not know, until after -subsequent search in mythologies, were ancient, certainly could not have -been invented by the very ignorant old women from whom they were -gathered. And this brings me to the important consideration as to -whether these stories are really _authentic_. A learned Italian -professor very lately asked me how I could be sure that the common people -did not palm off on me their own inventions as legends of Virgil. To -which I replied that I would not be responsible for the antiquity or -origin of a single tale. For, in the first place, any story of any -sorcerer is often attributed to Virgil, so that in two or three instances -which I have specially noted “a Virgil” means any magician. And very -often I have myself told some story as a hint or suggestion, in order to -give some idea as to what I wanted, or to revive the memory. But in all -cases they have come back to me so changed, and with such strange -fragments of classic lore of the most recondite kind added, that I had no -scruple in giving them just for what they were worth, leaving it for -critics to sift out the ancient from the modern, even as the eagles -described by Sinbad the Sailor, brought back the legs of mutton with -diamonds sticking to them. “You would not,” I said to the professor of -classical lore, “reject newly-mined gold because it is encumbered with -dross; and that there may be much dross in all which I have gathered I am -sure; but there is gold in it all.” - -The nursery peasant tales collected by Grimm and Crane, and many more, -represent surface-diggings. Those who were first in the field had an -easy time in gathering what thousands knew. But these finds are becoming -exhausted, and the collector of the future must mine out of the rock, and -seek for deeper traditions which have been sedulously concealed or kept -secret. There are still many peasants who know this lore, though their -number is very rapidly diminishing, and they are, as a rule, without -exception, extremely averse to communicating it to anyone whom they know -or think is not what I may call a fellow-heathen, or in true sympathy -with them. I may give in illustration of this an incident which occurred -recently as I write: Miss Roma Lister, who had an old Italian -witch-nurse, still living in Rome (and who has contributed several of -these tales of Virgil), who taught her something of the art “which none -may name,” while walking with a priest near Calmaldoli, met with a man -whom she knew had the reputation of being a _stregone_, or wizard. She -asked him, _sotto voce_, if he knew the name of _Tinia_, one of the -Etruscan gods, still remembered by a few, and who is described in the -“Etrusco-Roman Remains.” He hastily replied in a whisper: “Yes, yes; and -I know the incantation to him also—but don’t let the priest hear us.” At -a subsequent meeting they interchanged confidences freely. Maddalena, -whom I have chiefly employed to make collections among witches and -others, has often told me how unwilling those who knew any witch-lore are -to confess it, especially to ladies or gentlemen. One must literally -conjure it out of them. - -These tales of Virgil were collected in Florence, Volterra, -Rocca-Casciano, Arezzo, Siena, and several places near it, and Rome. I -have several not to be published, because they are so trifling, or so -utterly confused and badly written, or “shocking,” that I could make -nothing of them. In all, however, which I have collected, with one -exception—which is manifestly a mere common fairy-tale arbitrarily -attributed to the subject as a _magus_—Virgil appears as a great and very -benevolent man. He aids the poor and suffering, has great sympathy for -the weak and lowly, and is ever ready to reprove arrogance and defeat the -plans of evil sorcerers. But while great and wise and dignified, he is -very fond of a joke. Sometimes he boldly punishes and reproves the -Emperor of Rome—anon he contrives some merry jest to amuse him. The -general agreement of so many stories drawn from different sources as to -this character is indeed remarkable. - -As regards the general “value” of these Virgilian tales, and a vast -number of others which I have collected, all of them turning on magic or -occult motives, it is well worth mentioning that from one to three -centuries ago a great number of tales very much resembling them were -published by Grosius, Prætorius, and others, as at a later date the -“Histoire des Fantômes et des Demons,” Paris, 1819, which work -unquestionably supplied Washington Irving with the story of the Spectre -Bridegroom, and another tale. {0c} In Italy, the writers of _novella_, -such as Boccaccio, Bandello, Cinthio, and in fact nearly all of them, -shook off and ridiculed all that was associated with barbarous -superstitions and incantations, and yet in the “Metamorphosi” of Lorenzo -Selva, Florence, 1591, and here and there in similar obscure works by -writers not so painfully afflicted by “culture” and style as the leaders, -there are witch and fairy-tales which might have come from very old -women, and would be certainly recognised by them as familiar traditions. -That these mysterious stories contained an immense amount of valuable old -Latin classic lore and minor mythology, or that they were not altogether -silly and useless, does not seem to have entered the head of any one -Italian from Dante downward. Men like Straparola and Basile made, it is -true, collections of merry tales to amuse, but that there was anything in -them of solid traditional value never occurred to them. I mention the -few and far-between witch-tales which are found in certain writers, -because they are marvellously like those which I have given. Some of -these, especially the later, are so elaborate or dramatic, or inspired -with what seems to be literary culture, that many who are only familiar -with simple fairy-tales might doubt whether the former are really -traditional folklore of the people, or even of fortune-tellers. There is -a curious fact, unnoted now, which will be deeply dwelt on in a future -age when folklore and phases of culture will be far more broadly and -deeply or genially considered than they are at present. This is, that -among the masses in Italy there exists an extraordinary amount of a -certain kind of culture allied to gross ignorance, as is amusingly -illustrated in the commonest language, in which, even among the lowest -peasants, one hears in every sentence some transformed or melted Latin -word of three or four syllables, suggesting excess of culture—like unto -which is the universal use of the sonnet and _terzarime_ among the most -ignorant. - -If there are any readers who find it strange that in these legends and -traditions there are not only extraordinary but apparently incredible -remains of culture, fragments of mythology and incantations, which pierce -into the most mysterious depths of archæology, they would do well to -remember that the same apparent paradox struck “Vernon Lee,” who treated -it very fully in her “Euphorion,” in the chapters on the Outdoor Poetry -of Italy. And among other things she thus remarks: - - “Nothing can be too artificial or highflown for the Italian - peasantry; its tales are all of kings, princesses, fairies, knights, - winged horses, marvellous jewels . . . its songs, almost without - exception, about love, constancy, moon, stars, flowers. Such things - have not been degraded by familiarity and parody, as in the town; - they retain for the country-folk the vague charm, like that of music, - automatic and independent of thorough comprehension, of belonging to - a sphere of the marvellous—hence they are repeated with almost - religious servility.” - -But it must be remembered that with elaborate poetic forms and fancies, -which would be foreign or unintelligible, and certainly unsympathetic, -even to the fairly well-educated citizen of England or America, there has -been preserved to the very letter, especially in Tuscany, a mass of -literature which, while resembling the romances of chivalry which Chaucer -ridiculed, is far ruder; it even surpasses the Norse prose sagas in -barbarism. The principal work of this kind is the “Reali di Francia,” -which is reprinted every year, and which is at least a thousand years -old. This work, and several like it, are the greatest literary -curiosities or anomalies of the age. In them we are hurried from battle -to battle, from carnage to carnage, with rude interludes of love and -magic, as if even the Middle Age had never existed. The “Nibelungen -Lied” and “Heldenbuch” are by comparison to them refined and modern. - -Can the reader imagine this as existing in combination with the literary -relics of the Renaissance and many strangely-refined forms of speech? -Just so among the youngest children in Florence one sees gestures and -glances and hears phrases which would seem to have been peculiar to -grown-up people in some bygone stage of society. It is really necessary -to bear all this in mind when reading the legends which I have collected, -for they present the contradictions of barbarism and culture, of old -Latin traditions and crass ignorance, as I have never seen them even -imagined by students of culture. - -And here I would remark, as allied to this subject, that folklore is as -yet far from being understood in all its fulness. In France, for -example, no scholar seems to have got beyond the idea that it consists -entirely of _traditions populaires_, necessarily ancient. In England we -have advanced further, but we are still far from realizing that with -every day there springs up and grows among the masses that which in days -to come will be deeply interesting, as expressing the spirit of the age. -This accretive folklore is just as valuable as any—or will be so—and it -should be gathered and studied, no matter what its origin may be. So of -this book of mine, I express the conviction that it contains many tales -which have, since the days of Dante, and many perhaps very recently, been -attached to the name of Virgil, yet do not consider them less interesting -than those collected in the twelfth century by Gervais of Tilbury, -Neckham, and others. In fact, these here given actually contain far more -ancient and curious traditional matter, because they have not been -abridged or filed down by literary mediæval Latinists into mere plots or -anecdotes as contracted as the “variants” of a modern folklorist. The -older writers, and many of the modern, regarded as ugly excrescence all -that did not belong, firstly, to scholarship or “style”; secondly, to the -fact or subject in hand. Thus, Lorenzo Selva gives a witch story with -six incantations, which are far more interesting than all the washy -poetry in his book, but is so ashamed of having done so, that he states -in a marginal note that he has only preserved them to give an idea of -“the silliness of all such iniquitous trash”—the “iniquitous trash” in -question being evidently of Etrusco-Roman origin, to judge from form and -similarity to other ancient spells. In these later Virgilian tales there -has been no scruple, either as regards literary elegance or piety, to -prevent the chronicler from giving them just as they were told, the -“sinful and silly” incantations, when they occurred, being faithfully -retained, with all that can give an idea of the true spirit of the whole. -The mean fear of appearing to be vulgar, or credulous, or not literally -“genteel,” has caused thousands of such writers to suppress traditions -worth far more than all they ever penned. - -I write this in the belief that all my critics will admit that in these, -as in my “Florentine Legends” and “Etrusco-Roman Remains,” I have really -recovered and recorded a great deal of valuable ancient tradition. Also -that what was preserved to us of ancient Etruscan or Græco-Latin lore -regarding the minor gods and sylvan deities, goblins, etc., by classic -writers is very trifling indeed compared to the _immense_ quantity which -existed, and that a great deal of it may still be found among the -peasantry, especially among wizards and witches, is unquestionable. That -I have secured some of this in my books is, I trust, true; future critics -will winnow it all out, and separate the wheat from the chaff. - -I have entitled this work “The Unpublished Legends of Virgil,” which may -be called a contradiction in terms, since it is now given in type. But -it is the only succinct title of which I can think which expresses its -real nature, and separates it from the earlier collections of such tales, -the latest of which was issued by Mr. D. Nutt. - -And, finally, I would remark with some hesitation in advancing so strange -an idea, that in all the legends which I have gathered, I find -persistence in a very rude and earlier faith, which the Græco-Roman -religion and Christianity itself, instead of destroying, seem to have -simply strengthened. Indeed, there are remote villages in Italy in which -Catholicism in sober truth has come down to sorcery, or gradually -conformed to it, not only in form, but in spirit; from which I conclude -that, till science _pur et simple_ shall be all-prevalent, the oldest and -lowest cults will exist among those whose minds are adapted to them. And -as Edward Clodd, the President of the Folklore Society, has clearly -shown, {0d} there are thousands, even among the highly-educated in -Europe, who really belong to these old believers. - -There will come a day, and that not very far off, when the last traces of -these strange semi-spiritual-romantic or classic traditions will have -vanished from the _people_, and then what has been recorded will be -sought for and studied with keenest interest, and conclusions drawn from -it of which we have no conception. To some of us they are even now only -as - - “Departing sunbeams, loth to stop, - Still smiling on the mountain-top.” - -To the vast majority even of the somewhat educated world, collecting such -lore is like sending frigates to watch eclipses and North Pole -explorations, and the digging up old skulls in Neanderthals—that is, a -mere fond waste of money and study to no really useful purpose. There is -a law of evolution which is so strictly and persistently carried out, -that it would seem as if the mocking devil, who, according to the -Buddhists, is the real head of the Universe, had it in his mind to jeer -mankind thereby—and it is that the work of man in the past shall perish -rapidly, and those who seek _vestigia rerum_ shall have as little -material as possible, even as dreams flit. So the strife goes ever on, -chiefly aided by the ignorant, who “take no interest” in the past; and so -it will be for some time to come. I have often observed that in Italy, -as in all countries, children and peasants take pleasure in destroying -old vases and the like, even when they could sell them at a profit; and -there is something of the same spirit among all people regarding things -which they do not understand. Blessed are they who do something in their -generation to teach to the many the true value of all which conduces to -culture or science! Blessed be they who save up anything for the future, -“and they shall be blest” by wiser men to come! The primeval savages who -heaped up vast _koken middens_, or thousands of tons of oyster-shells and -bones, did not know that they were writing history; but they did it. -Perhaps the wisest of us will be as savages to those who are to come, as -they in turn will be to later men. - - - - -THE STORY OF ROMOLO AND REMOLO. - - - “In quei buon tempi, ne i primi principii del Mondo, dicon li Poeti - che gli uomini e le Bestie facevano tutti una medesima vita. . . . E - che sia il vero ch’ eglino s’ impastassino del feroce, como loro, e - s’ incorporassino, leggete di Romolo e Remulo i quali si pascevon di - latte di lupa. Ecco già che divennero in opera lupi ingordissimi, e - voraci.”—_La Zucca del Doni Fiorentino_, 1607. - -There was of old a King who had a beautiful wife, and also two children, -twins, who were exactly alike. This King was named Romo and his wife -Roma, and the children were called Romolo and Remolo. - -Now, it came to pass that the Queen and her twins, both as yet sucklings -(_ancora poppanti_), were besieged in a castle when the King was far -away. The enemy had sworn to kill the whole royal family and to -extirpate the kingly race. - -Now, when the Queen was in sore distress, seeing death close upon her, -there came to her a wizard, who said: - -“There is only one way by which you can save your life and that of your -babes. I can change you all three into _lupi manari_, or were-wolves, -and thus in the form of wolves you may escape.” - -Then the Queen had the power to become a she-wolf or a human being at her -will, and it was the same with the children. So they fled away, and -lived in the woods for seven years; and the boys grew up like young -giants, as strong as six common children. And the Queen became more -beautiful than ever, for she lived under a spell. - -One day the King was hunting in the forest, when he found himself alone, -and surrounded by such a flock of raging wolves that his life was in -great danger, when all at once there came a very beautiful woman, who -seemed to have great power over the beasts, as if she were their queen, -for they obeyed her and retreated. Then the King recognised in her his -lost wife. So they returned with the twins to their castle, but the King -did not know that his wife and children were themselves were-wolves. - -One day the same enemy who had sought to kill the Queen seven years -before, of which the King knew nothing, came to the castle pretending to -be a friend, and was kindly treated. But when the Queen and her two sons -beheld him, they flew at him as if they were mad, and tore him to pieces -before all the Court, and began to devour him like raging wolves. Yet -still the King did not know the whole truth. - -Then a brother of the King who was thus slain gathered an army and -besieged Romo, who found himself in great danger. One evening he said: - - “There is danger within the walls, - The sound of enemies without, - The sun set in blood, - To-morrow it may rise to death. - Would that I had more warriors to fight! - Two hundred fierce and bold; - Two hundred would save us all, - Three hundred would give us full victory.” - -The Queen said nothing, but that night she stole secretly out of the -castle with her sons, and when alone they began to howl, and soon all the -were-wolves in the country assembled. So the Queen returned with three -hundred men, so fierce and wild that they looked like devils. - -They were strange in every way, and talked or howled among themselves in -a horrible language, which, however, the Queen and her sons seemed to -understand. And in the first battle Romo gained a great victory. And it -was observed that the three hundred men ate the dead. However, the King -was well pleased to conquer. - -When Romolo and Remolo were grown up to be men they learned that in a -land not far away were two Princesses named Sabina and Sabinella, who -were the two most beautiful, and also the strongest, maidens in the -world. And it was also made known that he who would win either must come -and conquer her in fight and carry her away by main strength. - -So Romolo and Remolo went to their city, and on an appointed day the two -Princesses appeared in the public place, ready for the combat. But -Romolo advanced with his brother riding on his shoulders, pick-back, -_sulle spalle_, as boys do, and, catching up Sabina with one hand and -Sabinella with the other, he ran away like the wind—so rapidly that he -soon distanced all pursuers. And when Romolo was tired, Remolo took his -place, carrying the sisters and bearing his brother. And Romolo made a -song on it: - - “Up and down the mountain, - Over the fields and through the rivulets, - Over gray rocks and green grass, - I saw a strange beast run; - It had three bodies and three heads, - Six arms and six legs, - Yet did it never run on more than two. - Read the riddle rightly, if you can.” - -The two brothers wished to build a new and great city of their own. They -went to a certain goddess, who told them: - - “The city which ye hope to build will be - The greatest ever seen in Italy; - Above all others it will tower sublime, - And rule the world in a far future time; - But know that at the first, ere it can rise, - It calls for blood and human sacrifice. - I know not where the choice or fate doth lie, - But of ye two the one must surely die.” - -Now, men were greatly wanting for this city, because in those days there -were but few in the land. Then the brothers assembled many wolves, -bears, foxes, and all wild beasts, and by their power changed them into -men. And they did it thus: A sorcerer took an ox and enchanted it, and -slew it, and sang over it a magic song, and left it in an enchanted -place. Then the wolves and other wild beasts came by night to the great -stone of the sacrifice, by a running stream. A god beheld it. They ate -the meat—they became men. These were the first Romans. - -Last of all came a serpent with a gold crown—the Queen of the Serpents. -She ate of the meat and became the most beautiful woman in the world. -She was a great magician. Thus she became the goddess of the city, and -dwelt in the tower of the temple. And her name was Venus. She was like -a star. - -Then Romolo and Remolo wished to know which of them was to die to save -the city. And both desired it. Then they resolved to take an immense -stone and cast it one at the other. So Remolo picked it up and cast it -at his brother, and all who beheld it thought he must be slain. But -Romolo caught it in his hands and threw it back; yet Remolo caught it -easily. But in that instant his foot slipped, and he fell backward over -the Tarpeian Rock, and so he perished. This is an old story. - -And thus it was that Rome was built. - -[Now, it was in this city, or near by, that in after-time Virgil was -born, who in his day did such wonders. But the first wonder of all was -the manner of his birth. For Virgil was the glory of Rome, and the -greatest poet and sorcerer ever known therein.] - - * * * * * - -It did not occur to me to include this tale among the Virgilian legends, -but finding that the compiler of “Virgilius the Sorcerer” (1893) has -begun with a legend of Romulus and Remus, I have done the same, having -one by me. As the giant said to the storytelling ram, “There is nothing -like beginning at the commencement.” - - - - -HOW VIRGIL WAS BORN. - - - “And truly this _aurum potabile_, or drinkable gold, is a marvellous - thing, for it worketh wonders to sustain human life, removing all - disorders, and ’tis said that it will revive the dead.”—PHIL. - ULSTADT: _Cælum Philosophorum_, _seu Liber de Secretis_. - - “And there be magic mirrors in which we may see the forms of our - enemies, and the like, battalions for battle, and sieges, and all - such things.”—PETER GOLDSCHMID: _The Witch and Wizard’s Advocate - overthrown_ (1705). - -There was once in an old temple in Rome a great man, a very learned -Signore. His name was Virgilio, or Virgil. He was a magician, but very -good in all things to all men; he had a kind heart, and was ever a friend -to the poor. - -Virgil was as brave and fearless as he was good. And he was a famous -poet—his songs were sung all over Italy. Some say that he was the son of -a fairy (_fata_), and that his father was a King of the magicians; others -declared that his mother was the most beautiful woman in the whole world, -and that her name was _Elena_ (Helen), and his father was a spirit. And -how it came about was thus: - -When all the great lords and princes were in love with the beautiful -Elena, she replied that she would marry no one, having a great dread of -bearing children. She would not become a mother. And to avoid further -wooing and pursuing she shut herself up in a tower, and believed herself -to be in safety, because it was far without the walls of Rome. And the -door to it was walled up, so that no one could enter it. But the god -Jove (_Giove_) entered; he did so by changing himself into many small -pieces of gilded paper (gold-leaf), which came down into the tower like a -shower. - -The beautiful Helen held in her hand a cup of wine, and many of the bits -of gold-leaf fell into it. - -“How pretty it looks!” said Helen. “It would be a pity to throw it away. -The gold does not change the wine. If I drink the gold I shall enjoy -good health and ever preserve my beauty.” - -But hardly had Helen drunk the wine, before she felt a strange thrill in -all her body, a marvellous rapture, a change of her whole being, followed -by complete exhaustion. And in time she found herself with child, and -cursed the moment when she drank the wine. And to her in this way was -born Virgil, who had in his forehead a most beautiful star of gold. -Three fairies aided at his birth; the Queen of the Fairies cradled him in -a cradle made of roses. She made a fire of twigs of laurel; it crackled -loudly. To the crackling of twigs of laurel he was born. His mother -felt no pain. The three each gave him a blessing; the wind as it blew -into the window wished him good fortune; the light of the stars, and the -lamp and the fire, who are all spirits, gave him glory and song. He was -born fair and strong and beautiful; all who saw him wondered. - -Then it happened, when Virgil was fourteen years old, that one day in -summer he went to an old solitary temple, all ruined and deserted, and -therein he laid down to sleep. But ere he had closed his eyes he heard a -sound as of a voice lamenting, and it said: - - “Alas! I am a prisoner! - Will no one set me free? - If any man can do it, - Full happy shall he be.” - -Then Virgil said: - -“Tell me who thou art and where thou art.” - -And the voice answered: - - “I am a spirit, - Imprisoned in a vase - Under the stone - Which is beneath thy head.” - -Then Virgil lifted the stone and found a vase, which was closed; and he -opened it, and there came forth a beautiful spirit, who told him that -there was also in the vase a book of magic and necromancy (_magia e -gramanzia_). - - “Therein wilt thou find all secrets - Which thou desirest to obtain, - To make what thou wilt into gold, - To make the dead speak, - To make them come before thee, - To go invisibly where thou wilt, - To become a great poet. - Thou wilt learn the lost secret - How to become great and beautiful; - Thou wilt rediscover the mystery - Of predicting what is to take place; - Yea, to win fortune in every game.” - -By the vase was a magic wand, the most powerful ever known. And from -that day Virgil, who had been as small as a dwarf, became a tall, -stately, very handsome man. - -This was his first great work: he made a mirror wherein one could see all -that was going on in any country in the world, in any city, as well into -any house as anywhere. Keeping the mirror hidden (beneath his cloak), he -went to the Emperor. And because he was a very handsome man, well -dressed, and also by the aid of the mirror, he was permitted to go into -the hall where the Emperor sat. And, conversing with him, the Emperor -was so pleased that he spoke more familiarly and confidentially than he -was wont to do with his best friends; at which the courtiers who were -present were angry with jealousy. - -Turning to Virgil, the Emperor said: - -“I would give a thousand gold crowns to know just what the Turks are -doing now, and if they mean to make war on me.” - -Virgil replied: - -“If your Highness will go into another room, I can show in secret what -the Turks are now doing.” - -“But how you can make me see what the Turks are doing is more than I can -understand,” replied the Emperor. “However, let us go, if it be only to -see what fancy thou hast in thy head.” - -Then the Emperor rose, and giving his arm to Virgil, went to a room -apart, where the magician showed and explained to him (_per filo e per -segna_) all that the Turks were about. And the Emperor was amazed at -seeing clearly what Virgil had promised to show. Then he gave to Virgil -the thousand crowns with his own hand, and was ever from that day his -friend. And so Virgil rose in the world. - - * * * * * - -In this tale there is as quaint and naïve a mixture of traditions and -ideas as one could desire. The fair Helen, in her tower of Troy, becomes -Danae visited by Jupiter, and as the narrator had certainly seen Dantzic -Golden Water, or some other cordial with gold-leaf in it, the story of -the shower is changed into aureated wine. It is evident that the one who -recast the legend endeavoured to make this incident intelligible. All -the rest is mediæval. “Gold,” says Helen, “will preserve my beauty.” -Thus the _aurum potabile_ of the alchemists was supposed to do the same -as Paracelsus declared. - -We all recognise a great idea when put into elaborate form by a skilled -artist, but to perceive it as a diamond in the rough and recognise its -value is apparently given to few. It is true that those few may -themselves be neither poets nor geniuses—just as the Hottentot who can -find or discern diamonds may be no lapidary or jeweller. What I would -say is, that such ideas or motives abound in this Italian witch-lore to a -strange extent. - -Thus, the making Virgil a son of Jupiter by a Helen-Danae is a flight of -mythologic invention, far surpassing in boldness anything given in the -Neapolitan legends of the poet. Thomas Carlyle and Vernon Lee have -expressed with great skill great admiration of the idea that Faust begat -with the fair Helen the Renaissance. It was indeed a magnificent -conception, but in very truth this fathering of Virgil, the grand type of -poetry and magic, and of all earthly wisdom, by Jupiter on Helen-Danae is -far superior to it in every way. For Virgil to the legend-maker -represented the Gothic or Middle Ages in all their beauty and exuberance, -their varied learning and splendid adventure, far more perfectly than did -the mere vulgar juggler and thaumaturgist Faust, as the latter appears in -every legend until Goethe transfigured him. And, strangely enough, the -Virgilian cyclus, as I have given it, is as much of the Renaissance as it -is classic or mediæval. The Medicis are in it to the life. In very -truth it was Virgil, and not Faust, who was the typical magician _par -éminence_ after Apollonius, some of whose legends he, in fact, inherited. -And Virgil has come to us with a traditional character as marked and -peculiar as any in Shakespeare—which Faust did not. He has passed -through the ages not only as a magus and poet, but as a personality, and -a very remarkable one. - -There is another very curious, and, indeed, great idea lurking in these -witch-Virgilian legends, especially set forth in this of the birth and -continued in all. It is that there is in them a cryptic, latent -heathenism, a sincere, lingering love of the old gods, and especially of -the _dii minores_, of _fate_ or fays, and fauns and fairies, of spirits -of the air and of rivers and fountains, an adoration of Diana as the -moon-queen of the witches, and a far greater familiarity with -incantations than prayers, or more love of sorceries than sacraments. -Whenever it can be done, even as a post-scriptum, we have a conjuration -or spell, as if the tale had awakened in the mind of the narrator a -feeling of piety towards “the old religion.” The romances of Mercury, -and Janus, and Vesta, and Apollo, and Diana all inspire the narrator to -pray to them in all sincerity, just as a Catholic, after telling a legend -of a saint, naturally repeats a prayer to him or a novena. It is the -last remains of classic faith. - -Or we may say, as things fell out, that the -Goethean-Helen-Faust-Renaissance poem represents things as they were, or -as they came to pass, as if it were the acme, while the Virgilian -tradition which I here impart indicates things as they might have -happened, had the stream of evolution been allowed to run on in its -natural course, just as Julian the apostate (or rather apostle of the -gospel of letting things be) held that progress or culture and science -might have advanced just as surely and rapidly on the old heathen lines -as any other. According to Heine, this would have saved us all an -immense amount of trouble in our school-studies, in learning Latin and -mythology, had we kept on as we were. - -I mean by this that these traditions of Virgil indicate, as no other book -does, the condition of a naïvely heathen mind, “suckled in a creed -out-worn,” believing in the classic mythology half turned to fairies, -much more sincerely, I fear, than many of my readers do in the Bible, and -from this we may gather very curious reflection as to whether men may not -have ideas of culture, honesty, and mercy in common, whatever their -religion may be. - -The marvels of the birth of Virgil of old, as told by Donatus, probably -after the lost work of Suetonius, are that his mother Maia dreamed, _se -enixam laureum ramum_, that she gave birth to a branch of laurel; that he -did not cry when born, and that the pine-tree planted according to -ancient custom on that occasion attained in a very short time to a great -height, which thing often happens when plants grow near hot springs, as -is the case on the Margariten Island, by Budapesth, where everything -attains to full-size in one-third of the usual time. The custom of -planting a pine-tree on the birth of a child, in the belief that its -condition will always indicate its subject’s health and prosperity, is -still common among the Passamaquoddy, and other Red Indians in America, I -having had such a tree pointed out to me by an old grandfather. - -In the Aryan or Hindu mythology Buddha, who subsequently becomes a great -_magus_ and healer of all ills, like Christ, “was born of the mother-tree -Maya,” according to J. F. Hewitt (“L’Histoire et les Migrations de la -Croix et du Su-astika,” Bruxelles, 1898). He was the son of Kapila -Vastu, who was born holding in his hands a medicament, whence he became -“the Child of Medicine,” or of healing. Buddha appears to be confused -with his father. - -Now Virgil is clearly stated to be born of Maya or Maia, who is a -mythical tree; his life is involved in that of a mysterious tree, and in -more than one legend he is unquestionably identical with Esculapius, the -god of medicine. - - - - -VIRGIL, THE EMPEROR, AND THE TWO DOVES. - - - “Qualis spelunca subito commota Columba, - Cui domus, et dulces latebroso in pumice nidi, - Fertur in arva volans, plausumque exterrita pennis - Dat tecto ingentem; mox ære lapsa quieto - Radit iter liquidum, celeres neque commovet alas.” - - VIRGILIUS: _Aen._, V. 213. - -This is another story, telling how Virgil first met the Emperor. - - * * * * * - -It happened on a time that the Emperor of Rome invited many of his -friends to a hunt, and on the appointed day all assembled with fine -horses and hounds, gay attendants, and sounding horns—_tutti allegri e -contenti_, “all as gay as larks.” - -And when they came to the place, they left their horses and went into the -forest, where it befell, as usual, that some got game, while others -returned lame; but on the whole they came to camp with full bags and many -brags of their adventures and prowess, and supped merrily. - -“It is ever so,” said the Emperor to a courtier, “one stumbles, and -another grumbles; then the next minute something joyful comes, and he -smiles. - - “‘Thus it is true in every land - Good luck and bad go hand in hand.’” - -“When men speak in that tone,” replied the courtier, “they often -prophesy. Now, there is near by an ancient grotto, long forgot by men, -wherein if you will sleep you may have significant dreams, even as people -had in the olden time.” - -So when night came on some of the courtiers went to a contadino house to -lodge, while others camped out _alla stella_, or in the _albergo al -fresco_, while the Emperor was guided by the courtier to an old ruin, -where in a solid rock there was a door of stone, which Virgil opened by a -spell. (_Sic_ in MS.) - -The Emperor was then led through a long passage into a cave, which was -dry and comfortable enough, and where the attendants made a bed, whereon -His Highness lay down, and, being very weary, was soon asleep. - -But he had not slumbered long ere, as it seemed to him, he was awakened -by the loud barking of a dog, and saw before him to his amazement a -marvellously beautiful lady clad in white, with a resplendent star -(crescent) on her forehead. In her right hand she bore a white dove, and -in her left another, which was black. - -When the lady, or goddess, saw that the Emperor was awake, she let both -the doves fly. The white one, after circling several times round his -head, alighted on his shoulder. The black one also flew about him, and -then winged its course far away. - -Then the lady disappeared, and the white dove followed her, and sat on -her shoulder as she fled. - -The Emperor was so much amazed, or deeply moved, by this strange sight -that he slept no more, but remained all night meditating on it, nor did -he on the morrow give any heed to the chase, but ever reflected on the -lady and her doves. - -The courtier asked him what had occurred. And the Emperor replied: - -“I have had a wonderful vision, and I cannot tell the meaning thereof.” - -The gentleman replied: - -“There is in Rome a young man, a poet and sage, of whom I have heard -strange things, and I believe that he excels in unfolding signs and -mysteries.” - -“It is well,” replied the Emperor. So when they returned to Rome he sent -for the magician, who came, yet he knew beforehand why he was summoned to -Court. And it is said that this was the first time when the Emperor knew -Virgil. {12} - -Now, Virgil was as yet a young man. And when the Emperor set forth what -he had beheld, he replied: - -“It is a marvellously favourable sign for you, oh my Emperor, for in that -lady you have seen your star. There is a planet allotted to every man, -and thine is of the greatest. Thou hast one—call to her, invoke her ever -when in need of help, and she will never abandon thee. Thou hast seen -thy star. Her greeting to thee (_saluto_) means that a year hence a -danger will threaten thee. The black dove signifies that one year hence -thou wilt have an enemy who will make war on thee. When the dove fled -afar, it was not the dove but the enemy, who will be put to flight. And -the white dove was not a dove, but your victory announced to you in that -form, and your star has announced it because in one year you will have, -as the proverb says, ‘the enemy at your heels.’” - -And all this came to pass as he had foretold. - -Then the poet and magician became his friend, and from that time the -Emperor never moved a leaf (_i.e._ did nothing) without taking the advice -of Virgil. - - * * * * * - -The goddess, or planet, described in this tale is very evidently Diana, -appropriately introduced as the deity of the chase, but more -significantly as the queen of the witches, and mistress of mysteries and -divination. In both forms the dog has a peculiar adaptation, because a -black dog was the common attendant of a sorcerer, as exampled by that of -Henry C. Agrippa. - -The dove is so widely spread in this world, and is everywhere so -naturally recognised as a pretty, innocent creature, that it is no wonder -that very different and distant races should have formed much the same -ideas and traditions regarding it. It is a curious anomaly that while -doves, especially in Roman Catholic symbolism, are the special symbols of -love and peace, there are in reality no animals or birds which fight and -peck so assiduously among themselves, as I have verified by much -observation. However, herein the pious mythologists “builded better than -they knew,” for the _odium theologicum_, either with heretics or among -rivals in the Church, has been the cause of more quarrelling than any -other in the world—woman perhaps excepted. - -In the Egyptian symbolism, a widow who, out of love for her husband, will -not wed again was typified by a black dove. {13} The dove who brought -the olive-leaf to Noah was generally recognised as symbolizing the new -birth of the world, or its regeneration after a divine bath or -lustration, and the same meaning is attached to its appearance at the -baptism of Christ. A German writer named Wernsdorf has written two books -on the dove as a symbol, viz., “De simulacro columbæ in locis sacris -antiquitas recepto,” Viterbo, 1773; and “De Columba auriculæ Gregorii -adhærente,” Witteberg, 1780. - -As Diana always bears the crescent, here confounded or identified very -naturally with a star—both being heavenly bodies—the representing her as -the peculiar planet of the Emperor is very ingenious. In seeing her he -beholds his star, and, in the mute language of emblems, hears her voice. -Truly there is unto all of us a star, but it is within and not without, -and its name is the Will, which, when revealed or understood, can work -miracles. - -“So mote it be!” - - - - -VIRGILIO AND THE ROCK. - - -One night, when he was young, Virgil was in Naples; he went to visit a -very beautiful woman. And when he left her at midnight he found the -house surrounded by _bravi_ or assassins, who had been placed there to -kill him by a signore who was his rival. - -Then the magician ran for his life, followed by all the crew, till he -came to a steep rock like a high wall. And here he paused, and cried -aloud during the minute which he had gained, this incantation: - - “Apri spirito della rupe, - Apri il tuo cuore a me. - Spirito gentile, abbi, - Abbi pietà di me, - Se tu vuoi che Iddio - Abbia pietà di te.” - - “Mighty spirit of the mountain, - Ope thy rocky heart to me. - Gentle sprite, I pray thee - Have mercy upon me, - As thou truly hopest - That God may pity thee.” - -Then the rock opened, and Virgil fled into it and was saved. - -Those who sought his life followed. And Virgil went forth, but while -they were in the passage it closed at both ends, and they all perished. -So was Virgil saved. - -It came to pass in time that Virgil, seeing it would be of great use, -opened the grotto, and it is there to this day. - -There was no place where Virgil did not leave some great work, whence it -came that his name is known to all the world. - - * * * * * - -There is a curious reflection, and one of great value to folk-lore, to be -drawn from this, and in fact from all of these stories. It is -believed—actually believed, and not merely assumed to make a tale—that -the conjurations given in them have the effect attributed to them when -they are uttered by any wizard or witch or person who is prepared by -magic or faith. Therefore such tales as told by witches are only a -frame, as it were, wherein a lesson-picture is set. This induces a -deeper, hence a more advanced, kind of reflection or moral than is -conveyed by common, popular fairy-tales. The one condition naturally -leads to another. There is very little trace of it in the “Mährchen” of -Grimm, Crane, Pitré, or Bernoni. In the _novelle_ of Boccacio, Sachetti, -Bandello and others, of which literally thousands were produced during -and after the Renaissance, there is very often a commonplace kind of -moral, such as follows all fables, but it is not of the same kind as that -which is involved in witch-stories. Even in this of Virgil the -invocation to the Spirit of the Rock, adjuring it to be merciful as it -hopes for mercy from God, is beyond what is generally found in common -traditions. - -All of these conjurations, to have due effect, must be intoned in a -certain manner, which is so peculiar that anyone who is familiar with it -can recognise at a distance, where the words are not to be distinguished, -by the mere sound of the voice, whether an incantation is being sung. -Hence the greatest care and secresy is observed when teaching or chanting -them. - -Among the Red Indians of North America this is carried so far that, as -one who took lessons from an Oneida sorcerer informs us, it required -study every day for seven years to learn how to correctly intone one -spell of twelve lines. The same is told of the old Etruscan-Latin spells -in the “_Dizionario Myth. Storico_.” - -This legend is specially interesting because the tomb of Virgil is close -by the grotto of Posillippo, and it is conjectured that as it was, -according to tradition, made by magic, Virgil probably made it. -Therefore it may have been the first of these tales. Why the grotto was -specially regarded as mysterious is almost apparent to all who have -studied cave and stone worship. In early times, in the mysteries, the -going through a hole or passage, especially in a rock, signified the new -birth, or illumination, or initiation, hence the cult of holy or holed -stones, great or small, found all over the world. Such writers as Faber -and Bryant have, it is true, somewhat overdone guess-work symbolism, or -fanciful interpretation, but that the passing through the dark tunnel and -coming to light played a part in old rites is unquestionable, and that -this respect for the subject extended to all perforated stones and even -beads. - -Incantations or spells are of two kinds—the traditional, and those which -a powerful or gifted magician or witch improvises. This of Virgil is of -the latter kind. - - - - -VIRGIL, THE EMPEROR, AND THE TRUFFLES. - - - “Quo ducit gula?”—_Latin Saying_. - - “I am passionately fond of truffles, though I never tasted - them.”—XAVIER DE MONTEPIN. - -One day Virgil was at table with the Emperor, and the latter complained -that his cook was a dolt, because he could never find anything new to -tempt his appetite, and that he had to eat the same kind of dishes over -and over again. - -“What I would like,” he said, “would be some kind of new taste or -flavour. There must be many a one as yet unknown to the kitchen.” - -Then Virgil, reflecting, said: - -“I will see to-morrow if I cannot find something of the kind which will -please your Highness.” Whereupon all who were present expressed delight, -for no one doubted that he could do whatever he attempted. - -So the next day Virgil went into the forests, where there were many pigs, -and considered attentively what the roots might be which they dug up with -such great care; for he had remarked that whatever men eat pigs also -like, above all other animals. And having obtained some of the roots, -which were like dark-brown or black lumps, he took them to the Emperor’s -cook, and said: - -“Wash these well and cut them fine, and I will see to the cooking.” - -That day the Emperor had invited several friends to see what new dish -Virgil would produce; and when they were assembled at table, Virgilio -took the roots, cut fine, put them into a pan with oil and beaten eggs, -and served them up with his own hands. And the smell thereof was so -appetizing that all cried, “_Evviva Virgilio_!” even before they had -tasted the dish. But when they had eaten of it, they were delighted -indeed, and one and all wished to know what the roots were which gave -such a delicate flavour; to which Virgil, rising, replied: - -“Truffles!” {18} - -And ever since that time, even at the table of the Pope, or any other -rich man, no one has ever discovered any better flavour for food than -this which was first found out by Virgil. - -One day not long after this took place Virgil was in his study, when, -looking at the stone in a ring which he wore, he exclaimed: “The Emperor -wishes to see me!” And sure enough, a few minutes later a messenger -entered, saying that his imperial master desired to speak to the sage. -And, having obeyed the call, he found the Emperor ill and suffering from -an indigestion. - -“_Caro Virgilio_,” exclaimed the Emperor, “I have made thee come because -I am suffering from disorder; and as that pig of a cook who caused it can -give me nothing to eat to relieve it, I have recourse to science, for I -know that thou art a great doctor.” - -“Truly,” replied Virgil. “Very simple doctoring is needed here. Just -tell the cook to boil wheat-bran in water, mix it with the yolk of an -egg, and drink it in the morning before you rise.” - -“Bran boiled in water!” repeated the Emperor slowly. “Just what they -give to pigs! Truly, it seems that you have brought me down to a pig’s -level, since you give me ‘hogs’ broth,’ as they call it.” - -“I wonder,” exclaimed Virgil, “since your Highness is so humble, that you -do not put yourself below the pigs, because you have abused like a pig, -and many a time, that poor devil of a cook for not pleasing your palate. -It is not long since I delighted you, and had applause from all, for -serving truffles at your imperial table. Had _he_ done so, you would -have curiously inquired what the roots were and whence they came; and -having learned that they were _cibo di maiali_, or pigs’ food, you would -have cast him forth, and the truffles after him. For such is the wisdom -of this world, and so is man deluded! But as for the bran boiled in -water, whether it be pigs’ broth or not, ’tis the specific for your -illness.” - -“Ah well, my dear Virgilio,” replied the Emperor, “in future serve me up -as many pigs’ dainties and give me as much pigs’-doctor stuff as you -please, provided that all be as good as truffles, or the medicine bran -broth. It is foolish to be led by mere fancies: a pig or a peasant may -know as well as a prince what is pleasant for the palate or good as a -cure. _Evviva Virgilio_!” - - * * * * * - -In this merry tale I have followed to the letter an undoubted original, -which was in every detail new to me; and this is the more remarkable -since there is in it decidedly the stamp and expression of a kind of -humour and philosophy which seems to be peculiar to individual or -literary genius. The joke of pigs’ dainties, pigs’ remedies, the calling -the cook a pig, and the final reduction of the Emperor to a degree below -that animal, is carried out with great ingenuity, yet as marked -simplicity. - -The best truffles in Italy are sold as coming from _Norcia_, and Nortia, -who was an old Etruscan goddess, known to the original Virgil, is in -popular tradition in Tuscany the Spirit of Truffles, to whom those who -seek them address a _scongiurazione_, or evocation, which may be found in -my “Etrusco-Roman Remains.” In Christian symbolism the truffle is -associated with St. Antony and his pig. When the saint had resolved to -die by hunger, the pig dug up and brought to him a number of truffles, -the saint seeing in this an intimation by a miracle that he should eat -and live, which thing would seem to be poetically commemorated in the -_saucisses aux truffes_, or Gotha sausages, in which pork and truffles -are beautifully combined. - -The most remarkable variety of the truffle is one found in the United -States, south of Pennsylvania. It is called _tuckahoe_, or Indian bread, -and, with most things American, is remarkable for bigness at least, since -it weighs sometimes fifteen pounds and hides at a depth of fifteen feet -underground. Like California fruit, it is far more remarkable for size -or weight than excellence. An incredible quantity of so-called truffles, -which appear thinly sliced or in small bits in dishes even in first-class -hotels or restaurants all over Europe, are nothing but burned potatoes, -or similar vegetable carbon, flavoured sometimes with extract of -mushrooms, but much oftener are simply tasteless soft coal. Very good -truffles, equal to the French, for which they are sold, are found in the -South of England. The truffle is, like raw meat, caviare, and oysters, -strongly stimulating food, and as a _purée_ or paste is beneficial for -anæmic invalids. - - - - -BALSÀBO. - - -There once lived in Florence in the days of King Long-Ago or Queen -Formerly a signore who went beyond all the men who ever sinned, in making -evil out of good and turning light into darkness. For, under cover of -being very devout and serving the saints, he well-nigh outdid many a -devil in making all about him unhappy. He had six children, three boys -and three girls, all as fine young folk as there were in Tuscany. For he -was severe in punishing and slow in rewarding, always reviling, never -giving a kind word. Once when his eldest son saved him from drowning at -the risk of his own life, he abused and struck the youth for tearing his -garment in so doing. And in his family there was ever the wolf at the -table with such a hunger that one could see it, {21a} while all save -himself went so sorrily clad that it was a shame to behold, and if anyone -made a jest or so much as smiled there came abuse and blows. And to -offend and grieve and insult was so deeply in him that it became a -disease. - -However, evil weeds must fade as well as flowers; everything dies except -Death, and the longer time he takes to sharpen his scythe, the more -keenly will it cut. So it came to pass that one day this good man, but -very bad parent, came suddenly to his death-bed, while his children stood -round with eyes as dry as the Arno in August, which, though it may shine -here and there, never runs over. {21b} - -Now, by chance there stood by the dying man the great magician Virgilio, -who indeed had much love and pity for these young people. And at the -same minute, but seen only by him, there came floating in, like a bit of -gold-leaf on a light feather, borne on the current of air, a certain -_folletto_, or devil, who had been drifting about in the world for a -thousand years, and in all that time had only learned more and more that -everything is naught, or nothing of much consequence, and that good or -evil stand for one another, according to circumstances. And as the dying -man was one who, above all people living, made the meanest trifle a thing -of vast importance, so this devil, whose name was Balsàbo, went beyond -all his own kind of _diavoli pococuranti_ in being unlike the great -Signore di Tribaldo (as the dead man was called), he being a _diavolo a -dirittura_, a devil in a straight line, or directly forward. And this -demon being invisible to all save Virgil, the master said to him -secretly: - -“Art thou willing to enter this man’s body and act as his soul, and -become father of a family?” - -“As ready for that as for anything. No doubt I will find fun in it,” -answered Balsàbo. - -Then Virgil said: - - “Spirito di Belsàbo, - Io ti scongiurò - Che per comando mio - Tu lasci una vita sfrenata - Come ’ai tenuto per il passato - E dentro il corpo di Tribaldo - Tu possa entrare e divenire - Un capo di famiglia - Fino a ordine mio. - E tutti quei - Fanciulli educherai (_sic_).” - - “Spirit of Belsàbo, - I now conjure thee - That by my command - Thou shalt leave the lewd life - Which thou did’st lead of old, - And enter into this body - Of Di Tribaldo, and become - Head of a family, - And educate his children.” - -So into the body he went, as the spirit of Di Tribaldo went out, like the -toy which shows the weather in which one puppet pops forth as the other -goes in. So there he lay for a minute, all the children around in silent -amazement that he had departed without cursing them. When all at once up -leaped Balsàbo, as gay as a lark, crying like a _Scaramuccio_: - -“Whoop, pigs! here we are again!” - -Hearing which, the dear children, understanding that he had come to life -again, did indeed weep bitterly, so that Di Tribaldo, had he stopped a -little longer, might have been amazed. But he had no sooner gone out of -his body than a great grim devil, a kind of detective demon, who was on -the look-out for souls, whipped him up, gave him a couple of cuffs to -keep him quiet, and, putting him into a game-bag, drawing the cords -tight, and then rolling them round and tying them, flew off to give the -prey up to the proper authorities, and what disposition they made of this -precious piece of property I know not, nor truly do I much care. All -that can be said is that ’twas a good riddance of bad rubbish, and that -we may all rejoice that he comes no more into this story. - -But what was the amazement of the well-nigh bereaved children when their -solemn parent made a leap half-way to the ceiling, and then, while -imitating with his mouth a _zufolo_, or shepherd’s pipe, to perfection, -began to dance with grace a wild _coranto_, and anon sang: - - “Chi ben vive, ben muore, - Io lo credo in mio cuore; - Oggi vivo, in figura, - E doman in sepoltura, - Ho scappato ben il orco, - Morto io, morto il porco!” {23} - - “He who lives well may well depart, - As I believe with all my heart. - To-day alive, and all in bloom, - To-morrow buried in the tomb; - But I’ve escaped, and don’t care why! - If I were dead the pig might die! - The pig might die, the world be burned! - And everything to ashes turned!” - -Which pious song being ended, he asked them why they were all staring at -him like a party of stuck pigs, and bade them scamper and send out for a -good supper, with flowers and wine; and on their asking what he would -have, he replied, still singing: - - “Everything to please the palate, - Venison, woodcocks, larks, and sallet, - Partridges both wild and tame, - And every other kind of game, - Buttered eggs and macaroni, - Salmagundi, rice and honey, - Mince-pies and oyster too, - Lobster patties, veal ragoût, - Beef, with mushrooms round the dish, - And everything that heart could wish.” - -Whereupon, being told by his eldest daughter, who was of opinion that he -had gone mad, that such a supper would cost twenty crowns, he replied -that it could not be done for the money, and that he should always expect -such a meal every day, and a much better one when guests should come. -Wherein he kept his word, and amazed them all by urging them to stuff and -cram to their hearts’ desire, but especially by pressing them to drink; -and whereas it had been of yore that they had been scolded like beasts if -they so much as begged for a second glass of sour, half-watered wine, -they were now jeered and jibed as duffers and sticks for not swigging off -their bumpers of the best and strongest like men. - -And they also noted a great change in this, that while the late Signore -Tribaldo had ever been as severe in manner and conversation as any saint, -and grim as an old owl, the Signore Balsàbo during the meal cracked one -joke after the other, some of them none too seemly, and roared with -laughter at their frightened looks. But as ’tis easy to teach young cats -the way to the dairy, they began to slowly put out one paw after the -other, and be of the opinion that on the whole their dear papa had been -much improved by his death and revival. And some word having been said -of games, he suddenly whipped out a pack of cards and proposed play. At -which his eldest son replying that it would be but a thin game with them -who had hardly a _quattrino_ apiece, Balsàbo sent for his strong-box, -which was indeed well-lined, and gave them each a hundred crowns in gold, -swearing it was a shame that such a magnificent family as his should go -about like poor beggars, because handsome youth and beautiful girls -needed fine clothes, and that in future they were all to spend what they -liked—and bless the expense at that!—for as long as there was twopence in -the locker, half of it should be theirs. - -Then they sat down to play, and Gianni, the eldest son, and Bianca, the -eldest daughter, who had aforetime learned to play a little on the sly, -thought they would surely win. But Balsàbo in the end beat them all, and -when they marvelled at his luck roared with laughter, and said ’twas no -wonder, for he had cheated at every turn; and then, sitting down again, -showed them how ’twas done, but bade them keep it all a family secret. -“For thus,” said he, “we can among us cheat all the gamesters in -Florence, and ever be as rich as so many Cardinals.” - -And then he said to them, as in apology: “Ye have no doubt, my dear -children, marvelled that I have this evening been somewhat strict and -austere with you, which is not to be blamed, considering that I have been -dead and am only just now alive again; but I trust that in future I shall -be far more kind and indulgent, and lend you a helping hand in all your -little games, whatever they be; for the only thing which can grieve me is -that there shall be any fun or devilry going on, and I not have a hand in -it. And as it is becoming that children should obey their parents, and -have no secrets from them, I enjoin it strictly on you that whatever you -may be up to, from swindling at pitch-and-toss, up to manslaughter or -duels, ye do nothing without first taking counsel with me, because I, -being more experienced in the ways of this wicked world, can best guard -you against its deceptions. And so, my beloved infants, go in peace, -which means go it while you are young, and as peacefully as you can, and -merrily if you must!” - -Now, the eldest son, Gianni, had longed well nigh to being ill, and even -to tears, to wear fine clothes (in which Bianca and the others were well -up with him), and have a gallant horse, like the other youths of his rank -in Florence. But kind as Balsàbo had been to him, he hardly dared to -broach the subject, when all at once his father introduced it by asking -him why he went footing about like a pitiful beggar, instead of riding -like a cavalier; and learning that it was because he had no steed, -Balsàbo gave a long whistle and said: - -“Well, you are a fool of forty-five degrees! Why the devil, if you -thought I would not approve it, did you not buy a horse on post-obit -credit, and ride him on the sly? However, ’tis never too late to mend. -But such a goose as you would be certainly cheated in the buying. Come -with me.” - -And Gianni soon found that his saint of a father was well up to all the -tricks of the horse trade, the end being that he had the best steed in -Florence for half of what it would have cost him. And from this -accomplished parent he also learned to ride and fence, and in the latter -he taught his son so many sly passes and subtle tricks, crafty glissades -and _botte_, that he had not his master in all the land. - -And now a strange thing came to pass: that as all these young people, -though willing enough to be gay and well attired, were good at heart and -honest, as they day by day found that their father, though really bad in -nothing, had, on the other hand, no more conscience or virtue than an old -shoe or a rag scarecrow, so it was they who began to sermonize him, even -as the late Signore Tribaldo had lectured them, the tables being quite -turned. But what was most marvellous was that Signore Balsàbo, far from -taking any offence, seemed to find in this being scolded for his want of -heart, morals, and other crimes, a deep and wondrous joy, a sweet -delight, as of one who has discovered a new pleasure or great treasure. -This was especially the case when he was brought to book, or hauled over -the coals, by his daughter Bianca, who was gifted with the severe -eloquence of her other father, which she now poured forth in floods on -his successor. - -Now, you may well imagine that an old devil-goblin who had been kicked -and footed about the world for a thousand years between the back-kitchen -of hell unto the inner courts of the Vatican, including all kinds of -life, but especially the bad, thus having a family to support and beloved -daughters and sons to blow him up, and, in fact, the mere having any -decent Christian care enough for him to call him a soulless old -blackguard, was like undreamed-of bliss. He had been in his time -exorcised by priests in Latin through all that grammar and vocabulary -could supply, and cursed in Etruscan, Greek, Lombard, and everything -else; but the Italian of his daughter had in it the exquisite and novel -charm that there was real _love_ mingled with it and gratitude for his -profuse kindness and indulgence, so that ’twas to him like the pecking of -an angry and dear canary bird, the which thing acted on him so strangely -that he at times was fain to look about him for some stray sin to commit, -in order to get a good sound scolding. For he had fallen so much into -decent life and ways by living with his dear children that it often -happened that he did nothing wrong for as much as three or four days -together. - -And truly it was a brave sight to see him, when reprimanded, cast down -his eyes and sigh: “Yes, yes! ’tis too true: _mea culpa_! _mea maxima -culpa_! It was indeed wicked!” when all the while he hardly knew where -the sin was or wherein he had done wrong or right or anything else. Now, -it may seem a strange thing that so old a sinner should ever come to -grace; but as ye know that in old tombs raspberry or other seeds, hard -and dry, a thousand years old, have been found which, however, grew when -planted, so Balsàbo began to think and change, and try, even for -curiosity’s sake, what being good meant. - -Meanwhile it was a marvel to see how well—notwithstanding all the -expenditure, to which there was no limit, save the consciences of the -children—Balsàbo kept the treasury supplied. And this was to him a joke, -as all life was, save, indeed, the children, in whom he began to take -interest, or for whom he felt love; for, what with knowing where many an -old treasure lay hidden, or the true value of many a cheap estate, and a -hundred other devices and tricks, he ever gained so much that in time he -gave great dowers to his daughters, and castles and lands, with titles, -to his sons. - -Now, it came to pass—and it was the greatest marvel of all—that Bianca, -by her reproving and reforming Balsàbo, had her own heart turned to -goodness, and gave herself up to good works and study and prayer; and -unto her studies Balsàbo, curiously interested, gave great aid. Then she -learned marvellously deep secrets of magic and spirits, but nothing evil; -and it came to pass that in her books she found that there were beings -born of the elements, creatures appointed to live a thousand years or -more, and then pass away into air or fire, and exist no longer. -Furthermore, she discovered that such wandering spirits sometimes took up -their abode in human bodies, and that, being neither good nor bad, they -were always wild and strange, given up of all things to quaint tricks and -strange devices, as ready unto one thing as another. - -And it came to her mind, as she noted how Balsàbo knew all languages, and -spoke of things which took place ages before as if he had lived in them, -and of men long dead as if he had known them, that he who was her father -aforetime was ignorant of all this as he was of gentleness or kindness or -good nature, all which Balsàbo carried to a fault, not caring to take the -pains to injure his worst enemy or to do a good turn to his best friend, -unless it amused him, in which case he would kill the one with as little -sorrow as if he were a fly, and give the other a castle or a thousand -crowns, and think no more of it than if he had fed a hawk or a hound. -And all such good deeds he played off in some droll fashion, like tricks, -as if thinking that sport, and nothing else, was the end and aim of all -benevolence. However, as regarded Bianca and her brothers and sisters, -he seemed to have other ideas, and to her he appeared to be as another -being, in love and awe obeying her as a child and striving to understand -her lessons. - -So this went on for years, till at last one day Bianca, full of strange -suspicions, which had become well nigh certainties, went to Virgilio and -said: - -“Tell me in truth who is this being whom thou didst send us as my father, -for that he is not the Di Tribaldo of earlier days, I am sure. Good and -kind he hath been, but too strange to be human; wild hart is he, not to -be measured as a man.” - -Virgil replied: - -“Thou hast guessed the riddle, and yet not all; for he is a spirit of the -elements, and his appointed time is drawing near to an end, and, being -neither good nor evil, he would have passed away in peace into the -nothing which is the end of all his kind. But thou hast awakened in him -a knowledge of love and duty, so that he will die in sorrow, for he has -learned from thee what he has lost.” - -Then Bianca asked: - -“Can he not be saved?” - -And Virgil replied: - -“If anyone would give his or her life, then by virtue of that sacrifice, -when the thousand years of his existence shall be at an end, the two -lives shall be as one in the world where all are one in love for ever.” - -Bianca replied: - -“That which I have begun I will finish. Having opened the bud, I will -not leave the flower; having the flower, I will bring it to fruit and -seed; the egg which I found and saved, I will hatch. She who hath said -‘A’ must also say ‘B,’ till all the letters are learned. - - “‘Who such a course hath once begun, - To the very end must run.’ - -And so will I give my life to give a soul to this poor spirit, even as -the Lord gave His to save mankind.” - -Then Bianca departed, and many days passed. On a time Virgilio saw -Balsàbo, who greeted him with a sad smile. - -“My sand is well-nigh run out, oh master,” said the spirit. “Yet another -day, and the sun which is to rise no more will go down behind the -mountain-range of life. _Il sole tramonta_.” - -“And art thou pleased to have been for a time a man?” asked Virgil. - -“It was not an ill thing to be loved by the children,” replied Balsàbo. -“There I had great joy and learned much—yea, far too much for my own -happiness, for I found that I was lost. When I was ignorant, and only a -poor child of air and earth, fire and water, I knew nothing of good or -evil, or of a soul or a better life in eternity; now I have learned all -that by love, and also that it is not for me.” - -“Wait and see,” replied Virgilio. “He who has learned to love has made -the first step to immortality.” - -And after a few days, news was brought to Virgilio that Balsàbo, whom men -called Di Tribaldo, was dying, and that Bianca also could not live long; -and that night the master, looking from his tower beyond the Arno on the -hill, that which is now called the San Gallo, or the Torre di Galileo, -saw afar in the night a strange vision, the forms of a man and of a young -woman, divinely beautiful, sweetly spiritual, in a golden, rosy light, -ever rising higher and higher, while afar there was a sound as of harps -and voices singing: - - “They walked in the world as in a dream, - For nothing they saw as it now doth seem; - And all they knew of care and woe - Is now but a tale of the long ago; - And they will walk in the land on high - Where flowers are blooming ever and aye, - And every flower in its breath and bloom - Sings in the spirit with song perfume, - And the song which it sings in the land above, - In a thousand forms, is eternal love.” - -And as they rose Virgilio saw falling from them, as it were, a rain of -rose-leaves and lilies, and every leaf as it fell faded, yet became a -spirit which entered some newborn babe, and the spirit was its life. - -“Sweetly hast thou sung, oh Spirit of God,” said Virgilio, as the last -note was heard and the sight vanished. “The poorest devil may be saved -by Love.” - - * * * * * - -The idea that a soul or spirit, human or other, can enter into a dead -body and revive it is to be found in the legends of all lands, from those -of ancient Egypt, as appears in that of “Anpu and Bata,” which has been -nine times translated into English, down to several of these Italian -tales. It is a fancy which need not be traditional or borrowed; it would -occur to man as soon as the Shaman pretended to go out of his body while -in a trance. - -After the foregoing was written out, including the allusion to seeds -found in tombs a thousand years old which grew again, and which were, of -course, Roman or Etruscan, as the only kind known in Italy—I never having -read of any such thing save as regards corn found in Egypt—I met with the -following passage in “The Sagacity and Morality of Plants,” by Dr. J. E. -Taylor: - - “Seeds have been found in Celtic tumuli . . . which, after an - interval of perhaps two thousand years, have germinated into plants, - and similar successful experiments have been made with seeds found in - ancient Roman tombs.” - -As regards the original of this story, it was so imperfect, brief, and -trifling that I have, as it were, well-nigh reconstructed it, and might -as well claim to be its author as not, as I should have done were I an -earlier Italian novelist, who without scruple appropriated popular -stories with as little conscience as Robert Burns did old ballads. -Bishop Percy amended them, and owned it, and all that he got thereby was -much abuse and ridicule. But it is of little consequence when the legend -is not offered as a mere tradition, and this is only a scrap of tradition -_réchauffé_. - -The character of Balsàbo belongs closely to the class which includes -Falstaff, Panurge, Punch, Belphegor, and many other types who are -“without conscience or cognition” of right or wrong, neither adapted to -be banned or blessed, genially selfish, extravagantly generous, good -fellows and bad Christians, yet who have ever been pre-eminently popular. -But I am not aware that it ever entered into a mortal head to dream of -their being reformed, any more than their cousins Manfred and Don -Giovanni, for which reason I consider this tale of Balsàbo as decidedly -original. Sinners we have had repentant by thousands, but this is really -the only history of the conversion of Nothingarian. - -Paracelsus was the first writer, following the Neo-Platonists and popular -traditions, to make a mythology of elementary spirits and define their -nature. - -“There dwell,” he says, “under the earth semi-homines, or half-human -beings, who have all temporal things which can be enjoyed and desired. -They are called ‘gnomes,’ though properly the name should be sylphs or -pygmies. They are not spirits, yet may be compared to them . . . between -them and the devil is a great difference, because he does not die and -they do, albeit they are very long-lived. And they are not _spirits_, -because a spirit is immortal.” - -This gave birth in later days to the “Entertainments” of the Comte de -Gabalis, and the exquisite “Undine” of La Motte Fouqué. Of late years -exact science, by its investigations into zoology and botany, has -approached Paracelsus by discovering incredible developments in -_instinctive_ intelligence, as distinguished from self-conscious reason, -in all that exists. - - * * * * * - -Since the foregoing tale, with the comment on it, was written, even to -the last word, I met with and read a novel entitled “Entombed in the -Flesh,” by Michael Henry Dziewicki, {32} which, both as regards plot and -many details, bears such an extraordinary, and yet absolutely accidental, -resemblance to the story of “Balsàbo” that, unless I enter a protest to -the contrary, I can hardly escape the accusation of having borrowed -largely from it. In it a demon, neither angel nor devil, enters into the -body of a man just dead, and has many marvellous and amusing adventures, -being, of course, involved in the fate of a girl whom Lucifer wishes to -destroy. The end is, however, very different, because in the novel -Phantasto, the spirit, is set free, and the maiden rescued by the latter -going into a Salvation Army meeting and being moved by hearing the name -and teaching of Jesus. In “Balsàbo” the demon has immortality conferred -on him by Bianca’s giving her own _life_ to effect it. This is, I think, -more ingenious than any other sacrifice could be, because in the tale, -though it be rudely expressed, there is the exquisite conception that an -immortal existence can take in, include with it, and identify a minor -intelligence or raise it to a higher sphere. - -That I have somewhat enlarged the original tale or written it up will be -evident to everyone, but I have omitted very little which is in the text, -save an incantation at the end which Virgil addresses to the unborn souls -who are to enter into the bodies of the children born of the rose-leaves. -But I have inadvertently missed one point, to the effect that, after -having been kicked out of hell, Balsàbo got down so low in morality as to -be finally expelled from the Vatican. The literal translation of the -passage is as follows: - -“But poor Balsàbo, who had been kicked out of the kitchen of hell, . . . -and even from the Vatican (felt honoured) . . . when Bianca scolded him -like a child, and said: ‘_Vergogna_!’—‘For shame!’” - - - - -VIRGIL, MINUZZOLO, AND THE SIREN. - - - “Caperat hic cantus _Minyas_ mulcere, nec ullus - Præteriturus erat Sirenum tristia fata - Iam manibus remi exciderant stetit uncta carina.” - - ORPHEUS: _Argonauticis_. - -[Virgil had a pupil named Minuzzolo, who was very small indeed, but a -very beautiful youth, and the great master was very fond of his -disciple.] - -They undertook a long journey round the world, since Virgil wished that -his little Minuzzolo should learn all the wonders which are hidden in the -earth. - -So he said to him one day: - -“Know, Minuzzolo, that we are going on a long journey which may last for -years, and thou must be right brave, my boy, for many are the perils -through which we must pass, and dire are the monsters which we shall -meet.” - -So they went forth into the world, far and wide, and little Minuzzolo -showed himself as brave as the biggest, and as eager to learn as a whole -school with a holiday before it when it shall have got its lesson. - -All things he learned: how to resist all sorceries and evil spells; he -could call the eagle down from the sky, and the fish from the sea; but -one thing he did not learn from his master. - -One day Virgil gave him a book wherein was the charm against the Song of -the Siren, the words which protect him who knows them against the music -of the Voice. But two leaves stuck together like one, so that Minuzzolo -skipped two pages, and never knew it. - -Virgil had gone forth, and Minuzzolo, seated in a hut in the forest where -they lived, began to sing. Then he heard in the wood a girl’s voice, -which seemed to come from a torrent, singing in answer; and it was so -sweet that all his soul and senses were captured, he forgot all duty and -desire, his master and everything, all in a mad yearning to follow the -sound. So he went on and on, led by the song; day and night were -unnoticed by him. The Voice went with the torrent, he followed it to a -river, and the river to the sea, where the waves rolled high in foam and -fog; he followed the song, it went deep into the sea, but he gave no -heed, but went ever on. - -Then he found himself in a very beautiful but extremely strange old -city—a city like a dream of an ancient age. And as eve came on, the -youth asked of this and that person where he could pass the night, and -all said that they knew of no place, for into that city no strangers ever -came. However, at last one said to him: “I know where there dwells a -witch, and she often hath strange guests; perhaps she will give thee -shelter.” - -“I will go to her,” replied Minuzzolo. - -“Better not,” was the reply. “I did but jest, and I would be sorry if so -fair a youth should be devoured by some monster.” {34} - -“Little fear of that have I,” replied the young magician. “He who has -harmed no one need fear none, and in the name of my Master I am safe.” - -So he went to the house and knocked, and there came to his call an old -woman of such unearthly ugliness, that Minuzzolo saw at once that she was -a sorceress. So when she asked what he wanted, he replied: - - “In the name of him whom all - Like thee obey, and heed his call, - And tremble at his lightest word, - VIRGIL, my master and thy lord, - I bid thee give me food and rest, - Whate’er thou canst and of the best!” - -And she answered: - - “Whate’er is asked in that dread name, - I’m sworn to answer to the same.” - -So the youth stayed there and was well served. And in the morning he -thanked the old woman, and asked her where he could find Virgil. She -replied: - -“Do not seek him in the forest where thou didst leave him. Since then -thou hast passed over half the world, for she who called thee was a -Siren, whom none can resist unless they learn the spell which thy master, -foreseeing that thou wert in danger, gave thee, and which thou didst not -learn. However, I will give thee a ring which will be of use, but do not -seek its help until thou shalt be in dire need. And then thou shalt say -to it: - - “‘In nome del gran Mago, - In nome di Virgilio, - A chi sara buono! - Questo anello sara mia sposa!’” - - “In the name of the great magician! - In the name of Virgil! - To whom be all good, - This ring shall be my spouse!” - -“Well shall I remember it,” replied Minuzzolo. So he went on to the land -and by the strand ever on, till he came to a great and fine ship, and -pausing as he looked at it, he thought he would like to be a sailor. -Therefore he asked the captain if a boy was wanted. And the captain, -being much pleased, took him and treated him very kindly, and for three -years Minuzzolo was a mariner. - -But one night there was a great storm, and there came in an instant such -a tremendous wave and gale of wind that Minuzzolo was blown afar into the -sea and wafted away a mile ere he was missed. However, he gained a beach -and scrambled ashore, where he lay for a long time as if asleep. Yet it -seemed to him, while thinking of the captain and his mates, that he were -being borne away and ever on, as if in a dream, and indeed, when he -awoke, he found himself in what he knew must be another country, in -another clime. - -And being very hungry, and seeing a fine garden wherein delicious fruit -was growing, he approached a tree to pluck a pear; when all at once there -sprang out a man of terrible form, with eyes like a dragon, who -threatened him with death. - -But Minuzzolo drew the ring from his pocket and repeated the charm, and -as he did this the sorcerer fell dead. And then he heard the voice of -the Siren singing afar, and it drew nearer and nearer, till a beautiful -girl appeared. And when she saw the hideous sorcerer lying dead, she -exclaimed with joy: “At last I am free! This the great Master Virgilio -has done; over land and sea and afar off he has put forth his power. -Blessed be his name!” - -Then she explained to the youth that she and others had been enslaved and -enchanted, and compelled to become a Siren and bewitch men. But -Virgilio, knowing that she was lurking near to charm his pupil, had given -him the book to read, but that her master by his power had closed the -leaves, so that Minuzzolo had yielded to her song. But Virgilio had put -forth a greater power, and brought it to pass that the Siren was herself -enchanted with love, and in the end the sorcerer was defeated. - -Then Virgilio appeared and blessed the young couple, who were wedded and -lived ever after happily. Such things did Virgilio. - - * * * * * - -This strange story, in which classic traditions are blended with the -common form of a fairy-tale, was sent to me from Siena, where it had been -taken down from some authority to me unknown. It begins very abruptly, -for which reason I have supplied the introductory passage in parenthesis. - -Minuzzolo, led strangely afar over the sea, drawn by the voice of the -Siren, suggests that the Argonauts were called _Minii_, because they were -descended, like Jason, from the daughters of _Minia_. There may be here -some confusion with Minos, of whom Virgil says that “he holds in his hand -an urn and shakes the destiny of all human beings, citing them to appear -before his tribunal,” “Quæsitor Minos urnam movet.” In the Italian -legend Minuzzolo, or Minos, has a ring which compels all who hear his -charm to obey. - -Minuzzolo wins his Siren by means of a ring, and it is remarkable that -Hesychius derives the name _Siren_ from _σεἰρη_, _seire_, a small ring. -Moreover, the sirens in the old Greek mythology did not of their own -accord or will entice sailors to death. “The oracle,” says Pozzoli -(Dizionario Mit.) “had predicted that they should perish whenever a -single mortal who had heard their enchanting voices should escape them.” -Therefore they were compelled by a superior power to act as they did. - -Confused and garbled as it all is, it seems almost certain that in this -tale there are relics of old Græco-Latin mythology. - -The names of the three Sirens were Aglaope, Pisinoe, Thexiopia; according -to Cherilus, Thelxiope, Molpe and Aglaophonos. _Clearchus_, however, -gives one as Leucosia, another as Ligea, the third as Parthenope. -“Aglaope was sweetest to behold, Aglaophone had the most enchanting -voice.” Therefore we may infer that Aglaope, or Aglaophone, was the -heroine of this tale. It is remarkable that _Aglaia_, a daughter of -Jupiter, was the fairest and first of the three Muses, as Aglaope was of -the Sirens. - -It would seem evident that Edgar A. Poe had the Siren Ligea in mind when -he wrote: - - “Ligeia, Ligeia, - My beautiful one, - Whose harshest idea - Will to melody run . . . - Ligeia! wherever - Thy image may be, - No magic shall sever - Thy music from thee; - Thou hast bound many eyes - In a dreamy sleep, - But the strains still arise - Which thy vigilance keep.” - -Most remarkable of all is the fact that the Sirens, who were regarded as -evil witches or enchantresses of old, are in this story, which was -written by a witch, indicated as women compelled by fate to delude -mariners, which has escaped all commentators, and yet was plainly enough -declared by the Oracle. - - - - -LAVERNA. - - - One day a fox entered a sculptor’s shop, - And found a marble head, when thus he spoke: - ‘O Head! there is such feeling shown in thee - By art—and yet thou canst not feel at all!’ - - _Æsop’s Fables_. - -It happened on a time that Virgil, who knew all things hidden or magical, -he being a magician and poet, having heard an oration, was asked what he -thought of it. - -And he replied: - -“It seems impossible for me to tell whether it is all introduction or -conclusion. It is like certain fish, of whom one is in doubt whether -they are all head or all tail, or the goddess Laverna, of whom no one -ever knew whether she was all head or all body, or both.” - -Then the Emperor asked him who this deity might be, for he had never -heard of her. - -And Virgil answered: - -“Among the gods or spirits who were of the ancient times there was one -female, who was the craftiest and most knavish of all. She was called -Laverna; she was a thief, and very little known to the other deities, who -were honest and dignified, while Laverna was rarely in heaven or in the -country of the fairies. She was almost always on earth among thieves, -pickpockets, and panders; (she lived) in darkness. Once it happened that -she went to a great priest, in the form of a very beautiful, stately -priestess, and said to him: - -“‘Sell me your estate. I wish to raise on it a temple to (our) god. I -swear to you on my body that I will pay thee within a year.’ {39} - -“Therefore the priest gave her the estate. And very soon Laverna had -sold off all the crops, grain, cattle, and poultry. There was not left -the value of four farthings. But on the day fixed for payment there was -no Laverna to be seen. The fair goddess was far away, and had left her -creditor in the lurch—_in asso_. - -“At the same time Laverna went to a great lord, and bought of him a -castle, well-furnished, with much land. But this time she swore _on her -head_ to pay in full in six months. And she did as she had done by the -priest; she stole and sold everything—furniture, cattle, crops; there was -not left wherewith to feed a fly. - -“Then the priest and the lord appealed to the gods, complaining that they -had been robbed by a goddess. And it was soon found that the thief was -Laverna. Therefore she was called to judgment before all the gods. And -she was asked what she had done with the property of the priest, unto -whom she had sworn by her body to make payment at the time appointed. -And she replied by a strange deed, which amazed them all, for she made -her body disappear, so that only her head remained, and it cried: - -“‘Behold me! I swore by my body, but body have I none.’ - -“Then all the gods laughed. - -“After the priest came the lord, who had also been tricked, and to whom -she had sworn by her head. And in reply to him Laverna showed to all -present her whole body, and it was one of the greatest beauty, but -without a head, and from the neck there came a voice which said: - - “‘Behold me, for I am Laverna, who - Have come to answer to that lord’s complaint - Who swears that I contracted debt with him, - And have not paid, although the time is o’er, - And that I am a thief because I swore - Upon my head; but, as you all can see, - I have no head at all, and therefore I - Assuredly ne’er swore by such an oath!’ - -“Then there was indeed a storm of laughter among the gods, who made the -matter right by ordering the head to join the body, and bidding Laverna -pay up her dues, which she did. - -“Then Jove spoke and said: - -“‘Here is a roguish deity without a duty, while there are in Rome -innumerable thieves, sharpers, cheats, and rascals—_ladri_, _bindolini_, -_truffatori e scrocconi_—who live by deceit. These good folk have -neither a church nor a god, and it is a great pity, for even the very -devils have their master Satan. Therefore I command that in future -Laverna shall be the goddess of all the knaves or dishonest tradesmen, -and all the rubbish and refuse of the human race, who have been hitherto -without a god or devil, inasmuch as they have been too despicable for the -one or the other.’ - -“And so Laverna became the goddess of all dishonest people. Whenever -anyone planned or intended any knavery or aught wicked, he entered her -temple and invoked Laverna, who appeared to him as a woman’s head. But -if he did his work badly and maladroitly, when he again invoked her he -saw only the body. But if he was clever, then he beheld the whole -goddess, head and body. - -“Laverna was not more chaste than she was honest, and had many lovers and -many children. It is said that, not being bad at heart, she often -repented her life and sins; but do what she might she could not reform, -because her passions were so inveterate. And if a man had got any woman -with child, or any maid found herself _incinta_, and would hide it from -the world and escape scandal, they would go every day to invoke Laverna. -{40} Then, when the time came for the suppliant to be delivered, Laverna -would bear her in sleep during the night to her temple, and after the -birth cast her into slumber again, and carry her back to her bed. And -when she awoke in the morning she was ever in vigorous health and felt no -weariness, and all seemed to her as a dream. - -“But to those who desired in time to reclaim their children Laverna was -indulgent, if they led such lives as pleased her and faithfully -worshipped her. And this is the manner of the ceremony and the -incantation to be offered to Laverna every night: - -“There must be a set place devoted to the goddess, be it a room, a -cellar, or a grove, ever a solitary place. Then take a small table of -the size of forty playing-cards set close together, and this must be hid -in the same place, and going there at night. . . . - -“Take the forty cards and spread them on the table, making of them, as it -were, a close carpet on it. Take of the herbs _paura_ {41a} and -_concordia_ and boil the two together, repeating meanwhile: - - “‘Fo bollire la mano della concordia, - Per tenere a me concorde. - La Laverna, che possa portare a me - Il mio figlio e che possa - Guardarmelo da qual un pericolo! - - “‘Bollo questa erba ma non bollo l’erba. - Bollo la _paura_ {41b} che possa tenere lontano - Qualunque persona, e se le viene, - L’idea a qualchuno di avvicinarsi, - Possa essere preso da paura, - E fuggire lontano!’” - - “I boil the cluster of _concordia_ - To keep in concord and at peace with me - Laverna, that she may restore to me - My child, and that she, by her favouring care, - May guard me well from danger all my life! - - “I boil this herb, yet ’tis not it which boils; - I boil the _fear_ that it may keep afar - Any intruder, and if such should come - [To spy upon my rite], may he be struck - With fear, and in his terror haste away!” - -“Having said this, put the boiled herbs in a bottle, and spread the cards -on the table, one by one, saying: - - “‘Batezzo queste quarante carte - Ma non batezzo le quarante carte. - Batezzo quaranta dei superiori - Alla dea Laverna che le sue - Persone divengono un vulcano - Fino che la Laverna non sara - Venuta da me colla mia creatura. - E questi dei dal naso dalla bocca, - E dall’ orecchie possino buttare - Fiammi di fuoco e cenere, - E lasciare pace e bene alia dea - Laverna, che possa anche essa - Abbracciare i suoi figli, - A sua volunta!’” - - “I spread before me now the forty cards, - Yet ’tis not forty cards which here I spread, - But forty of the gods superior - To the deity Laverna, that their forms - May each and all become volcanoes hot, - Until Laverna comes and brings my child. - And till ’tis done, may they all cast - Hot flames of fire and coals from their lungs, - And leave her in all peace and happiness, - And still embrace her children at her will.” - - * * * * * - -The character of Virgil is here clearly enough only an introduction by -the narrator, in order to make a Virgilian tale or narrative. But the -incantation, which I believe to be _bonâ fide_ and ancient, is very -curious and full of tradition. The daring to conjure the forty gods that -they may suffer till they compel Laverna to yield is a very bold and -original conception, but something like it is found very often in Italian -witchcraft. It is of classic origin. In the witchcraft manufactured by -the Church, which only dates from the last decade of the fifteenth -century, it never occurs. The witches of Sprenger and Co. never lay any -of the Trinity under a ban of torture till a desire is accomplished, nor -are they ever even invoked. - -_La femme comme il faut_, or “the only good woman,” is a very ungallant -misogamic corner tavern sign once common in France. It represents a -headless woman. Perhaps she was derived from some story like this of -Laverna. It recalls the inhuman saying: “The only good (Red) Indian is a -dead Indian.” - -Laverna is in this tale another form of Diana. There are also traces of -Lucina in the character. - - - - -VIRGIL AND THE UGLY GIRL. - - - “Though her ugliness may scare, - Money maketh all things fair.” - - _Proverb_. - - “_Gelt—wie lieb’ich Dich_.”—How truly I love thee! or, “Money—how I - love thee!”—_German Jest_. - -There was once in Rome an ugly young lady; yes, the ugliest on earth! -And, as if this were not enough, she was ill-tempered and spiteful, and -in his whole course the sun did not shine on a more treacherous being. -She was a true devilkin, being as small as a dwarf. However, devil or -not, she was worth millions, and had the luck to be betrothed to the -handsomest young man in Rome, who was, indeed, poor. - -One day a certain Countess said to Virgil: - -“I cannot understand how it comes to pass that such a splendid fellow is -allied to such a horrid little fright—_un tal spauracchio_!” - -Virgil said nothing, but he went home and took two scorpions, and by his -magic art turned them into gold, and of these he made two ear-rings and -sent them to the Countess, who was delighted with them, and when Virgil -asked her if she liked them, answered: “_Tanta_, _tanta_, _sono molto -belli_”—“Very much, they are so beautiful!” - -“You said to me a little while ago,” replied Virgil, “that you did not -see what the handsomest man in Rome finds to admire in the ugliest girl. -It is gold, Signora Contessa, which does it all—gold which makes -scorpions so charming that you wear them in your ears, and call them -beautiful!” - -The Countess laughed, and said: “Thou speakest truth— - - “‘Gold like the sun turns darkness to night, - And fear or hatred to love and delight. - Gold makes raptures out of alarms, - Gold turns horror to beautiful charms, - And gives the beauty of youth to the old. - On earth there’s no magic like that of gold.’” - - - - -VIRGIL AND THE GEM. - - - SHOWING HOW VIRGIL BY HIS ART DROVE ALL THE FLIES OUT OF ROME. - - “Cil une mouche d’arain fist, - Que toutes mouches qui estoient. - Celle approchier ne povoient.” - - RENARS CONTREFAIS, A.D. 1318. - - “Et fist une mousche d’arain, - De quoi encor le pris et ain. - A Naples cele mousche mist - Et de tel maniere la fist, - Que tant com la mousche fu la - Mousche dedenz Naples n’entra, - Mais je ne sai que puis devint, - La mousche, ne qu’il en avint.” - - ADENÈS LI ROIS: _Roman de Cleomadès_. _XIIIth Century_. - - “There were at that time near the city many swamps, in consequence of - which were swarms of _flies_, which caused death. And VIRGIL . . . - made a fly of gold, as large as a frog, by virtue of which all the - flies left the city.”—_La Cronaca di Partenope_, 1350. - - “Trovasi chi egli fece una moscha di rame, che dove la posa niuna - moscha apariva mai presso a due saettate che incontanente non - morissi.” - - ANTONIO PUCCI, _XIVth Century_. - -Once there came to the Emperor a merchant with many gems and jewels, and -begged him to purchase some. - -The Emperor asked of Virgil, who was present: - -“Which is the very best of all these stones?” - -Virgil replied: - -“Let them all remain for a time in the light of the sun, and I will tell -you which is the gem of them all.” - -This was done, and after a time a fly alighted on one. - -“This is the gem of greatest value,” said Virgil. - -“But it is really hardly worth a crown,” replied the merchant. - -“And yet it is worth all the rest put together,” answered Virgil; “for it -increases marvellously the intellect or understanding, and thereby one -can win with it the love of whom he will.” - -“Very well,” said the Emperor, “I will buy it, and find by experience -whether it can increase wit whereby we gain hearts.” - -He did so, and finding that the stone had the virtue which Virgil -ascribed to it, said to the sage one day: - -“How was it that thou didst find out and understand the value of that -gem?” - -“I knew it, because I saw that there was in the stone a very small fly -(_moschettina_—gnat), and I knew that flies are very quick and gay, and -have great cleverness, as anyone can see if he tries to catch them, and -they make love all the time.” - -“Truly thou art a devil, oh Virgil,” replied the Emperor; “and for reward -I hereby make thee Emperor or Pope over all the flies. There are, by the -way, far too many of them, and a perfect plague—they spoil all the meat -in the shops. I would that thou couldst banish all thy subjects from -Rome.” - -“I will do it,” answered Virgil. - -Then, by his magic, he summoned the Great Fly—Il Moscone, the King of all -the Flies—and said to him: - -“Thy subjects are far too many, and a sore plague to all mankind. I -desire that thou wilt drive them all out of Rome.” - -“I will do it,” replied the Moscone, “if thou wilt make a fly of gold as -large as a great frog, and put it in my honour in the Church of Saint -Peter. After which, there will no more flies be seen in Rome.” - -Then Virgil went to the Emperor and told him what Il Moscone had said, -and the Emperor commanded that the fly should be made of many pounds of -gold, and it was placed in the Church of Saint Peter, and so long as it -remained there no fly was ever seen within the walls of Rome. - - * * * * * - -I have another version of what is partially the same story, but with a -curious addition, which is of greater antiquity and most unconsciously -really Virgilian, or the old tale of the bull’s hide. - - - - -THE FLIES IN ROME. - - -It happened one summer in Rome that people were sadly afflicted with -flies. Nothing like it had ever been seen; they swarmed by millions -everywhere, they blackened the walls, the meat on the butchers’ stands -was hidden under masses of them. And the poor suffered in their -children, many of whom died, while all kinds of food was poisoned and -corrupted everywhere. Then the Emperor said to Virgil: - -“Truly, if thou hast indeed the art of conjuring, now is the time to show -it, by conjuring away this curse, for I verily believe that all the flies -of Egypt are come here to Rome.” - -Virgil replied: - -“If thou wilt give me so much land as I can enclose in an ox’s hide, I -will drive all the flies away from Rome.” - -The Emperor was well pleased to get so much for so small a price, as it -seemed to him, and promised that he should truly have as much land as -could be enclosed or covered {46} in the skin of an ox. - -Virgil summoned Il Moscone, the King of the Flies, and said to him: - -“I wish that all flies in Rome leave the city this very day!” - -Il Moscone, the King of the Flies, replied: - -“Cause me to become by magic a great fly of gold, and then put me in the -Church of Saint Peter, and after that there will be no more insects in -the city.” - -Then Virgil conjured him into the form of a fly of gold, and it was -placed in the church, and at that instant all the flies left Rome. At -which the Emperor was well pleased. - -Then the Emperor asked Virgil where the land lay which was to be taken in -the ox-hide. - -“Come to-morrow and you shall see,” answered the sage. - -So the Emperor came with all his Court, and found Virgil mounted on -horseback, bearing a great bundle of leather cord, like shoe-strings, and -this had been made from the skin of the ox. And beginning at one gate -and letting fall the cord, he rode around the city until all Rome was -surrounded. - -“Your Highness will observe,” said Virgil, “that I have taken exactly as -much land as could be enclosed in an ox’s hide, and as Rome stands on the -ground, therefore all Rome is mine.” - -“And what wilt thou take for this bit of earth—houses, people and all?” -inquired the Emperor. - -“I ask what to me is its full value, oh my Emperor, for I have long loved -your beautiful niece! Give her to me with one hundred thousand crowns in -gold, and I will restore to you your city.” - -The Emperor was well pleased to grant this, and so it came to pass that -all Rome was bought and sold in one day for a purse and a princess, or -for a woman and one hundred thousand crowns. - - * * * * * - -It will be observed by many readers that in the first tale here narrated -there are combined two of the older Virgilian legends, one being that of -the Gem which has within it a mysterious power, and which is thus told in -“The Wonderful History of Virgil the Sorcerer.” {47} - - “Soon after, the Emperor having his crown-jewels laid out before him, - sent for Virgilius, and said: ‘Master, you know many things, and few - are hid from your ken. Tell me now, if you be indeed a judge of - gems, which think you is the best of these?’ The Emperor having - pointed out one gem of peculiar brilliancy, Virgilius laid it, first - in the palm of his hand, then to his ear, and said: ‘Sire, in this - stone there is a worm.’ Forthwith the Emperor caused the stone to be - sawn asunder, and lo, in the centre was found a worm concealed! - Amazed at the sagacity of Virgilius, the Emperor, at the charge of - the country, raised his allowance to a whole loaf per diem.” - -The story of the fly is told in almost all the collections. The reader -will bear in mind the following frank and full admission, of which all -critics are invited to make the worst, that in many cases I had already -narrated these Virgilian tales to my collector, as I did here—a course -which it is simply impossible to avoid where one is collecting in a -speciality. If you want fairy-tales, take whatever the gods may send, -but if you require nothing but legends of Red Cap, you must specify, and -show samples of the wares demanded. But it may here be observed, that -after I had communicated these tales, they all returned to me with -important changes. In the older legends the fly made by Virgil is -manifestly—like the leech which he also fabricated—simply an _amulet_ or -talisman formed under the influence of the planets, or by astrology. In -the version which I give there is an altogether different, far more -ancient and mysterious motive power described. This is the direct aid of -_Moscone_, the King of the Flies, suggestive of _Baal tse Bul_, or -Beelzebub himself. The reader may find a chapter on this mystical being, -who is also the god of news, in the “Legends of Florence,” Part II. -According to my story, the Golden Fly is not a _talisman_ made by -planetary influences, but a tribute of respect to a demon, which he -demands shall be set up in Saint Peter’s. Here the _witch_, ever -inimical to orthodox faith, appears in black and white—so true is it, as -I have before remarked, that even where my assistant has been asked to -re-tell a tale, it always returned with darker and stranger colouring, -which gave it an interest far greater than existed in the simple -narrative. The tale of the fly, as a mere amulet, is of almost no -importance whatever, beyond its being an insignificant variant; but as a -legend of the chief of the flies, or Beelzebub, claiming honour and a -place in the great Christian Church, it is of extraordinary novelty. - -Amber, in which insects are often found, especially small flies or -midges, was anciently regarded as a gem, and is classed as one in the -_Tesoro delle Goie_. _Trattato curioso_, Venice, 1676. - -It may be observed that something like this story of the gem with an -insect in it occurs not only in the early legends of Virgil, but also in -the oldest _novelle_, as may be seen in Roscoe’s “Italian Novelists.” In -fact, there is probably not one of the old Neapolitan Virgilian stories -which is not, like this, of Oriental origin. - - - - -THE COLUMNS OF VIRGIL AND HIS THREE WONDERFUL STATUES. - - - “En sic meum opus ago, - Ut Romæ fecit imago - Quam sculpsit Virgilius, - Quæ manifestare suevit - Fures, sed cæsa quievit - Et os clausit digito.” - - DE CORRUPTO ECCLESIÆ STATU: _XVIth Century_. _Virgilius the - Sorcerer_ (1892). - -The reader who is familiar with “The Legends of Florence” will remember -that, in the second series of that work, {49} there are several tales -referring to the Red Pillars of the Baptistery, of which, as Murray’s -“Guide Book” states, “at each side of the eastern entrance of the -Battisterio di San Giovanni there is a shaft of red porphyry, presented -by the Pisans in 1117.” To which I added: - - “Other accounts state that the Florentines attached immense value to - these columns, and that once when there was to be a grand division of - plunder between Florence and Pisa, the people of the former city - preferred to take them, instead of a large sum of money, or something - which was apparently far more valuable. And the Pisans parted from - them most unwillingly, and to deprive them of value passed them - through a fire. Which is all unintelligible nonsense, but which - becomes clear when we read further. - - “I had spoken of this to Mr. W. de Morgan, the distinguished scholar, - artist, and discoverer in ceramics, when he informed me that he had - found, in the ‘Cronaca Pisana’ of Gardo, a passage which clearly - explains the whole. It is as follows: - - “In the year 1016, the Pisans brought the gates of wood which are in - the Duomo, and a small column, which is in the façade, or above the - gate of the Duomo. There are also at the chief entrance two columns, - about two fathoms each in length, of a reddish colour, and it is said - that whoever sees them is sure in that day not to be betrayed. And - these two columns which were so beautiful had been so enchanted by - the Saracens, {50a} that when a theft had been committed the face of - the thief could be seen reflected in them. And when they had - scorched them they sent them to Florence, after which time the - pillars lost their power; whence came the saying, _Fiorentini - ciechi_, or ‘blind Florentines.’ {50b} - - “Unto which was added, _Pisani traditori_, or ‘treacherous Pisans.’ - Those pillars were, in fact, magic mirrors which had acquired their - power by certain ceremonies performed when they were first polished, - and which were lost.” - -A German writer on witchcraft, Peter Goldschmidt, states that there was -once in olden time in Constantinople a certain Peter Corsa, who, by -looking in two polished stones or magic mirrors, beheld in them proof -that his wife, then far away, was unfaithful to him. It is possible, or -probable, that this refers to the same pillars, before they had been -brought to Pisa, even as the column of the Medicis in the Piazza -Annunciata was sent from the East to Florence. - -What renders this the more probable is the following passage by -Comparetti, given in his “Virgilio nel Medio Evo”: - - “In a History of the Pisans, written in French in the fifteenth - century and existing in manuscript in Berne, there is mention of two - columns made by Virgil, and which were then in the cathedral of Pisa, - on the tops of which one could see the likeness of anyone who had - stolen or fornicated.” See De Sinner, “Catal. Codicum MSS. Bibl. - Bernensis,” II., p. 129; Du Meril, “Mélanges,” p. 472. - -It is most unlikely that the Pisans had _two_ pairs of columns, in each -of which appeared the forms or phantoms or _simulacra_, of criminals, for -which reason we may conclude that those in the Battisterio of Florence -are quite the same as those which were said to have been made by Virgil. -And it is also probable that the belief that they were made by Virgil -went far to give them the great value which was attached to them. They -should be called the columns of Virgil. - -It may be observed that the Berne manuscript cited mentions that it was -on the _top_ of the pillars that the visions were seen, and that the tops -of the columns of the Battisterio have been knocked away, possibly by the -Pisans, in order to deprive them of their peculiar value. - -Virgil is also accredited with having made a statue which, like Mahomet’s -coffin, hung free in mid-air, and was visible from every part of Rome, or -in fact from every door and window. And it had the property that no -woman who had once beheld it had, after that, any desire to behave -improperly, which thing, according to the plainly-speaking author of “Les -Faicts Merveilleux de Virgille,” was a sad affliction to the Roman dames, -_qui aymoyent par amour_, since they could not put foot out of doors -without seeing “that nasty-image” which prevented them from having -_soulas de leurs amours_. So they all complained bitterly to Virgil’s -wife, who promised to aid them. Therefore, one day when her husband was -absent, she went up the bridge or ladder which led to the statue and -threw down the latter. “So, from that time forth, the _dames de Rome -firent à leur volonté et a leur plaisance_, _et furent bien ayses de -lymage qui fut abbatu_.” Truly the Ibsenite and other novelists of the -present day, but especially the lady realists of our time, have great -cause to be thankful that no such statues are stuck up in the public -places of our cities, for if such were the case their occupation would be -gone for ever—or until they had overturned them. - -Virgil would appear, however, to have been somewhat inconsistent in this -matter of statues, or else desirous of demonstrating to the world that he -could go to opposite extremes, since he made another, which is thus -delicately hinted at in a footnote by Comparetti: {52} - - “In contradizione con questo racconto in cui Virgilio apparisce come - protettore del buon costume, trovasi un altro racconto, secondo il - quale . . . egli avrebbe fatto una donna pubblica artificiale. Cosi - Enenkel nel suo ‘Weltbuch’; vede V. J. Hagen, ‘Gesammtten Abenteuer,’ - II., 515; Massmonn, ‘Kaiser Chronik,’ III., 451. Una leggenda - rabbinica parla anch’ essa di una statua destinata a quell’ uso ed - esistente in Romæ. Vede Praetorius, ‘Anthropodemus Plutonicus,’ I., - 150, e Liebrecht nella ‘Germania di Pfeiffer,’ X., 414.” - -The passage in Enenkel referred to is given with the rest of the -“Weltbuch” by Comparetti, and is as follows: - - “Virgilius der selbe man, - Begunde nu ze Rôme gân, - Und versuocht ’sain maisterschaft, - Ob es wær’ wâr der teuvel kraft, - Er macht’ ze Rôm’ ain stainein Weib - Von Künste den het ainen Leib - Swann’ ain Schalk, ain boeser Man - Wolte ze ainem Weibe gân, - Daz er gie zu dem Staine, - Der boese, der unraine, - Das im was bei des Staines Leib - Recht als ob er wær im Weib, - Nicht vür baz ich en sagen sol - Main mainung ’witzt ihr alle wol.” - -Bonifacius, in his “Ludicra,” Ravisius Textor (“Officina”), and Kornmann -(“Curiosa”) have brought together all the instances in special chapters -of men who have fallen in love with statues. I observe that in a late -popular novel this device of the _donna artificiale_ is described in a -manner which leaves actually nothing to be desired to the lovers of -indecency, vileness, blasphemy, or “realism”—_c’est tout un_. - -It may be observed that in another tale collected by me, Virgil has for -his Egeria a statue called Pæonia, which comes to life when he would -confer with her, and which I regard, on what is at least startling -coincidence if not full proof, a tradition of Minerva-Pæonia and -Esculapius. - -The tale in question declares that the magician Virgil, who had a marked -fancy for making statues love, or turning women into stone—ever petting -or petrifying among the petticoats—had a third favourite, a Pæonia, who -was marble when not specially required for other purposes than ornament. -These three ladies suggest the Graces: - - “Aglaia, Euphrosyne que Thaliaque splendida - Clara letitiæ matres!” - -It is probably by mere coincidence or chance that in Keats’ “Endymion” -the habitual friend and comforter of the hero is: - - “_Peona_, his sweet sister; of all those - His friends, the dearest, . . . - Whose eloquence did breathe away the curse. - She led him like some midnight spirit-nurse.” - -But that Peona, through all the poem, plays the part which Pæonia has -with Virgil is unquestionable. It would seem as if there is, if not a -spiritual, at least an æsthetic influence in names. _Nomen est omen_. -“All Bobs are bobbish,” said a farmer, “and all Dicks dickies.” - - - - -VIRGIL AND ADELONE. - - - “Who would have ever said that amid the horrors of prison I would - find a true friend to console me?”—BOETHIUS _to_ PATRICIUS. - - “All by prayer and penitence - May be at length forgiven.” - - _Ballad of Sir Tannhäuser_. - -There once lived in Florence a young man who was not really bad at heart, -but utterly selfish, especially to his relations, and was without heed or -feeling as to the sufferings of others. And, it being in his power, he -wasted all the income of the family on sport, letting his brothers and -sisters endure great privations; nor would he have cared much had they -starved. He was like all such people—frivolous and capricious. If he -met a poor child in the street, he would give it a gold crown, and then -let all at home hunger for days. - -One day his suffering mother went to Virgilio, and, telling him all about -her son, begged the master, if it were possible, to reform him. - -Virgilio said to her: “I will indeed do something which will bring thy -son to his senses.” - -The young man was named Adelone, and Virgilio, meeting him the next day, -said: - -“If thou wouldst fain see a strange thing indeed—such as thou hast -erewhile prayed me to show thee by my art—then be to-night at twelve in -the cloister of Santa Maria Novella, where thou wilt see and learn that -which it is most needful for thee to know. But to behold and bear the -sight thou muse be bold, for a faint heart will fail before it.” - -Then Adelone, who, to do him justice, was no coward, did not fail to be -in the cloister of Santa Maria Novella at the appointed hour. And as the -last stroke of twelve was heard, Adelone saw before him the spirit of a -young man named Geronio, who had died one year before, and who had been, -as one like him in all respects, his most intimate friend. They were -always together, and what one did the other joined in; both were reckless -wasters of money, and selfishly indifferent to their families. And as -Adelone looked at Geronio he saw in the face of the latter such an -expression of awful suffering, that it was a torture to behold him. And -Geronio, seeing this, said: - -“Depart now, for it is time; but this night I will come to thee and -remain with thee till morning.” {55} - -And Adelone was glad to have seen Geronio once more, but greatly grieved -at finding him in such suffering. - -That night he was in his room, which was on the ground, and at the -appointed hour the spirit came. And, looking with awe at his friend, -Adelone said: - -“I see that thou art in pain beyond all belief.” - -“Yes,” replied Geronio; “I suffer the greatest agony, such as no mortal -could endure. But I pray you come with me.” - -Then the two sunk softly down into the earth, ever deeper and deeper in -silent darkness, until Adelone saw that they were in an immense cavern, -all of gray ice, dimly lighted, with dripping icicles hanging from the -roof, and all the floor was covered with dirty, half-freezing water, -under which was a bed of stinking mud, and over all was an air of sadness -and wretchedness beyond description. - -“This is my home,” said Geronio; “but it is as nothing compared to what I -suffer in my soul—which is a thousand times more terrible than anything -which mortals can imagine, for they have no idea of what spiritual -torture is like, because they always think of pain as bodily. But know -that I had rather be beaten or burned in fire for a year than suffer for -an instant the remorse which I endure.” - -“Can anything be done to help you?” asked Adelone. - -“Yes, all can be done; and you can save me and not only give me peace, -but do as much for thyself, and thereby escape what I have suffered. If -thou wilt lead a good and loving life—good and kind to all, especially to -thy family and friends, no longer wasting money and life on selfish -follies, no longer neglecting duty and acting as an egoist—thus thou -canst give me peace, and rescue me from this inferno. But woe unto thee, -shouldst thou promise this and fail to keep thy word. For when thy time -cometh, as come it will, thou wilt suffer as I do—yea, with redoubled -remorse.” - -Then Adelone, looking about him, saw many sad shades of men and women -wandering or wading through the icy water; all people who had lived for -themselves alone, all waiting till someone as yet alive should, by good -conduct, save them. And none spoke, for they were doomed to silence. So -they looked at one another, and passed on, and such looks were the only -thing like comfort allowed them. - -Then Adelone fell, as it seemed to him, asleep, and when he awoke he was -in his own room, but he well knew that it was no dream which he had -beheld. And from that hour he was another man, becoming as good as he -had been bad, living to make all others happy, and devoted in every way -to his family. And thereby he became for the first time truly contented. - - * * * * * - -Six months passed, and one night at twelve o’clock, on awaking, he saw -before him Geronio, who no longer seemed to suffer as before, though -there was still in his eyes something terrible. - -“How is it with thee?” asked Adelone. - -“Far better. Come with me.” - -Then Adelone found himself in a great castle, which seemed like a free -prison, which was grim and without comfort. Many souls were in it, but -they were walking about together, or resting and conversing, apparently -in no suffering. It was a joyless place, but not one of torture, nor was -it filthy. {57} - -“We do not suffer so much here,” said Geronio. “We have still much -remorse, but at least we have the consolation of being able to converse -one with another, and enjoy sympathy in sorrow.” - -“What do you talk about?” asked Adelone. - -“Chiefly about the people whom we hope will set us free. I talk of thee, -because all my hope is in thee. I think of nothing else by day or -night.” - -Then Adelone returned to his home. After six months he beheld Geronio -again. Again he found himself in a castle, but the spirits were -conversing happily, many were singing hymns, they had guitars and -mandolins, and here and there were vases of flowers which gave forth -delightful perfume. - -Geronio said to him: - -“Here we are happier still, and, believe me, friend, if thou canst in -this life make others as good as thou art, to love their relations and -friends, and cease to be selfish, thereby everyone can save another soul, -and win great reward for himself.” - -Adelone replied: - -“I truly will do all I can to content thee.” - -From that day he did all that he could, not only to do good himself, but -to cause others to act like him. Six months after this Geronio came to -him and said: - -“Now that I know that thou art truly good, learn that I am at peace. And -as thou hast been the means of giving it to others, know that in future -all good spirits will aid thee!” - -It is not enough not to be a sinner. He who does not take care and pains -and labour earnestly to make others happy will be punished as an -evil-doer. He who does not love (us) is an enemy. - - * * * * * - -It is to be remarked in this, as in all the other tales from the same -sources, when a moral end or plot is to be worked out, it is done without -benefit of clergy or aid of priest, or the Church. For these are legends -of the witches and wizards, who have ever been the foes, and consequently -the hated and afflicted, of the orthodox. It is a curious reflection -that as it has been said that the last savage in America will die with -the last Indian, so the _strega_, or witch, will remain to the end a -heathen. And I find curious emotion in the thought that what I have -gathered, or am gathering, with such care, is the last remainder of -antique heathenism in Europe. Superstitions there are everywhere, but in -this kind Italy is alone. - - - - -VIRGIL AND DORIONE, or THE MAGIC VASE. - - - I have a vase in which I daily throw - All scraps and useless rubbish—oh that I - Had one wherein to cast away all thoughts, - Imaginations, dreams and memories - Which haunt and vex the soul, to disappear - For ever, lost in fast forgetfulness! - That were a vase indeed, and worth far more - Than that which forms the subject of this tale. - -Many centuries ago there was in Naples a young man named Dorione, who -studied magic, and his master was a great sorcerer named Virgil. One -evening Dorione found himself in company with friends, and there was -present another wizard named Belsevo. {58} Now, there was not bread -enough in the house for supper for all. - -“Never mind,” remarked Belsevo. “He who hath art will find his bread in -any part. Observe me.” - -Taking a large vase, he turned it upside down and said: - - “Viene pane! - Abbiamo fame; - Dimmi o Cerere del pane! - Se questa grazia mi farai, - Sempre fedele a te sarai.” - - “Come, bread, to me, - For hungry are we! - Oh, Ceres, give us bread! - Grant me this grace benign, - And I will be ever thine!” - -Then he removed the vase, and there were on the table eight small loaves. - -Then Belsevo said to Dorione: - -“Canst thou not give us wine for the bread, O scholar of the grand master -Virgil?” - -But Dorione, being only a beginner in magic, could not effect such a -miracle, and was much ashamed because all laughed at him. - -The next morning Dorione told what had happened to Virgil. - -“Well didst thou deserve,” replied the master, “to be thus scoffed at and -jeered, for a young magician should never play tricks at a table like a -juggler to amuse fools. But thou hast been sufficiently punished, and to -please thee I will give thee a fine present. And if thou canst not make -bread come, thou shalt at least have the power to make it and other -things disappear. I will give thee this vase of bronze. It is but -small, as thou seest, but tell any object, however large, to disappear in -it, then the vase will swallow it. Thou shalt keep for thyself in secret -a house somewhere, and whatever the vase may swallow thou wilt find it in -the house, however distant thou mayst be from it. Only say, ‘Go into the -vase!’ and by the vase it will be swallowed up. But thou shalt never use -it to steal, or for any dishonest purpose. So long as thou art honest it -will serve, and none shall rob thee of it. And if that should come to -pass, call to it and it will return to thee.” - -Then Dorione took the vase, and thanked the grand master Virgil. After a -time the scholar went on a long journey. Dorione possessed a small -castle in a remote place in the mountains of Tuscany, and in it was a -secret vault. “There,” he said, “I will send all that the vase may -swallow. Many a thing may be come by honestly, if one knew how to send -it away and where to put it. - - “‘He who hath a cage, I’ve heard, - In time will surely get a bird.’” - -It came to pass that he became the secretary of a certain lord, who, like -many of the brave gentry of his time, was ever at war with somebody, -plundering or being plundered, every one in his turn, as fortune -favoured. - - “Up on the top of the hill to-day, - Down in the dale to-morrow; - Oft in the morning happy and gay, - After a night of sorrow; - For some must fall that others may rise, - And the swallow goes chirping as she flies.” - -One evening his master heard a trumpet afar, and, looking forth, seemed -suddenly startled, like a man in great alarm. Pointing to a splendid -suit of armour, he said: - -“Seest thou that armour, Dorione? It is worth ten thousand crowns, and I -would give ten thousand it were this instant in hell. I took it in a -raid from the Grand Duke, and he will be here in ten minutes with all his -men. If he finds the armour I shall lose my head. And there, too, is an -iron chest full of gold and jewels—all plunder, and all in evidence -against me.” - -“If you will give it to me,” answered Dorione, “I will make it all vanish -in an instant.” - -“Yea, I give it with all my heart; but be quick about it, for the Grand -Duke and his soldiers are at the gate, and I feel the rope round my -neck!” - -Then Dorione brought his vase in a minute, and uttered the conjuration: - - “Vattene via! Vattene via! - Roba bella, cosa mia! - Vai nell’ istante al mio castello! - Apri la bocca, vaso bello!” - - “Hasten away! Begone! begone! - All ye fine things which are now mine own, - Fly to my castle—never pause; - Beautiful vase, now open thy jaws.” - -And in an instant the armour and chest went flying into the vase and -disappeared. - -Just as they vanished the Duke and his men entered, but though they -sought in every cranny they found nothing; and so, having come for a -bargain of wool, went away shorn, {60} as the proverb says. - -“Thou hast saved my life,” said the Signore. “God only knows how you ran -away with the things, but you are welcome to them. Truly I was glad to -get them, but a thousand times better pleased to see them go.” - -One day the Signore and Dorione found themselves in a battle together, -sore beset and separated from all their troop. They were in extremest -danger of being killed. {61} When all at once there came an idea to -Dorione, who had his vase slung to his side like a canteen. He -pronounced the spell, ordering all the arms in the hands of the enemy to -fly through the vase to his castle. In an instant swords and spears, -daggers and battle-axes, had left their owners, who stood unarmed and -amazed. So the two were saved. - -The Signore took a great deal of booty, and rewarded Dorione very -liberally, the more so because he was greatly delighted to see the gifts -disappear in the vase—no matter what, all was fish to that net, and all -the sheep black—and Dorione liked to please his kind master, especially -in this way. Yes, to amuse him he would often wish away a gold-hilted -and jewelled sword or helm from an enemy, and was pleased to hear the -brave old knight laugh to see the things fly. - -The generosity of the lord stopped, however, at a certain point. He had -a beautiful daughter whom Dorione loved, _alla follia_, to distraction, -but the father would not consent to bestow her on him. But it came to -pass that one day the castle was besieged by a vast force, which spared -neither man, woman nor child, and it seemed plain that the besieged must -yield. The lord bade Dorione to cause the arms of the enemy to vanish. - -“This time,” replied his secretary, “I cannot do it. The fame of my vase -or of my power has spread far and wide, and the enemy have had their arms -enchanted by a mighty sorcerer, so that I cannot take them.” - -They fought on until of all the garrison only Dorione, with the lord and -his daughter, were left alive. They were in extremity. - -“And now,” thought Dorione, “something must be done, for there is many a -wolf at the door. Let me see whether I cannot make the young lady go -into my vase, and then her father.” So, bringing them together, he said: - - “Signora bella, signora mia! - La più bella che su questa terra sia! - Ti prego—subito, subito, - Di qua vattene via! - Vai nell istante al mio castello, - Vi troverai un vaso bello, - Che la sua bocca aprira, - E li dentro ti salvera!” - - “Lovely lady, lady mine own, - The fairest whom earth has ever known; - Fly in a hurry, oh, fly away! - Leave the castle—flit while you may, - And off to my distant shelter flee! - The beautiful vase is ready for thee, - Who will open her mouth to take you in. - Safe you will be when once within!” - -In a second, ere the eye could follow, the young lady was whirled away -mysteriously, and, the conjuration being repeated, then her father. -After which Dorione prayed to the spirit of the vase, who was no other -than Saint Virgil himself, {62a} to save him also. And in an instant he -felt himself swallowed up like a bean in the mouth of a horse. And as -soon he found himself in the vault of the castle with the lady and her -father. And they were amazed, in looking about, to see what wealth was -there gathered up, for Dorione had been very industrious in many a battle -in sending arms and booty to his home. - -Then all three, joining hands, danced and sang for joy to find themselves -safe, Dorione and the lady doing the most rejoicing, because the lord had -promptly said: - -“After this you may get married.” And they had the wedding that night. - -The good lord, as a proof of affection and esteem for Dorione, pronounced -an oration of regret as a penance on himself for not having sooner -consented to the nuptials, ending with these words: “And now let everyone -here present drink a cask of wine, and get as drunk as a tile, or four -fiddlers.” {62b} - - - - -VIRGIL AND THE LADY OF ICE AND WATER. {63} - - - “And truly at that time it came to pass - That Virgil, by the power of sorcery, - Made a fair lady, who did shine like glass - Or diamonds with wondrous brilliancy, - Whom to the Emperor he did present, - And who therewith, I trow, was well content.” - - VIRGILO IL MAGO (MS.). - -It happened on a time that the Emperor, coming from Rome to Florence, was -guest in the Duke’s palace, and treated so magnificently and in a manner -so much after his own heart, that he was indeed well content. - -Now, in those days there was in Florence no Signore who, when he gave an -entertainment, did not invite Virgil, not only because he was the -greatest poet in Italy, but because he always played some admirable trick -or jest, which made men merry and was always new. - -So at the first great feast the Emperor was greatly delighted at the -endless jokes, as well as by the genius of the distinguished guest. - -Therefore, when the Emperor, before his departure, gave in turn a great -entertainment to all the nobles of Florence, as well as of Rome, who were -in the city, he sent the first invitation to Virgil, requesting him at -the same time to invent for the occasion a jest of the first magnitude. - -So unto this for such occasion the magician gave all his mind. And that -the Emperor should really “_catch_ the fly,” he resolved that the jest -should be one at the Imperial expense—_e lo scherzo voleva farlo a lui -medesimo_. - -After long meditation he exclaimed, “_Ecco_, _l’ ho trovato_! I’ve got -it! I will give him a girl made of water!” - -Forthwith he wrote to the Emperor that he would not fail to be at the -festival, but also begged permission to bring with him a beautiful young -lady—his cousin. - -The Emperor, who was very devoted to the fair sex, inferred from this -directly that the jest was to be of a kind which would please all free -gallants—that is to say, the being introduced to some easy and beautiful -conquest—either wedded or a maid. And, delighted at the thought that the -trick would take this turn, he replied to Virgil that he had _carta -biancha_, or full permission to bring with him whomever he pleased. - -Then the magician made a woman of ice and light and water, clear as the -light of day he made her, and touched her thrice with his wand, and lo! -she became beautiful—but such a beauty, indeed, that you would not find -the like in going round the world; the sun or moon ne’er shone upon her -like, for she was made of star-rays and ice and dewdrops, so that she -looked like all the stars swimming in a burnished golden sky, and shining -like the sun, so resplendent in her beauty that she dazzled the eyes. - -When Virgilio arrived at the palace, all the guests were there before -him, and they were so overwhelmed with blank amazement at the sight of -the sorcerer with such a beauty, that they, in silence and awed, drew -apart on either side, leaving open space through which Virgilio passed to -the Emperor. And the latter was himself for a minute stupefied at the -sight of such brilliancy and beauty, when, recovering himself, he gave -his arm to the fair cousin, and asked her name. To which she replied: -“_La Donna di Diaccio_” (ice). - -“_Donna di Fuoco_! (Our Lady of Fire), {64} rather,” cried the Emperor, -“since all hearts are inflamed at thy beauty. Truly, I had no idea that -the great poet had such a lovely cousin!” - -The dance began, and the Emperor would have no other partner than this -lady, who outshone the rest as the moon the stars, and yet surpassed them -even more by her exquisite grace in every movement, and by her skill as a -dancer, so that one seemed to see a thousand exquisite statues or studied -forms of grace succeeding to one another as she moved. Nor was she less -fascinating in her language than in her beauty, and no wonder, for -Virgilio had called into the form one of the wittiest and most gifted of -all the fairies to aid the jest. - -So the dance swept on, and the Emperor, utterly enchanted, forgot -Virgilio and his promised jest, and the time, and the court, and all -things save the beauty beside him. Finally he withdrew with her to a -side-room, where, sending for refreshment, he sat pouring forth wine into -himself and love into the ears of the lady by turns. - -Virgil, indeed, wishing the Emperor to have a fine time of it for awhile, -did nothing to disturb the splendid pair. But as daybreak would soon -appear, he spoke to one and another, saying that he had promised the -Emperor a merry jest to make them all laugh. Whereupon there was a -general cry for the diversion, and by one consent the gay company invaded -the room where the fond couple sat. - -Then Virgil, with the greatest politeness and a laughing air, said: - -“Excuse me, your Highness, but it seems that my fair cousin here has so -engrossed you that you have forgotten that you laid an absolute command -on me that I should prepare and play some rare jest, the like of which -you had never seen, and I fear, should I forget it, you may ne’er forgive -me.” - -Then the Emperor, good-natured and grateful to the poet for his fair -cousin’s sake, excused the intrusion, and begged for the jest, expressing -a hope that it would be a thoroughly good one. - -Then Virgil said to the Emperor: - -“Take my cousin upon thy lap, and let her arms be round thy neck!” - -“_Per Bacco_!” cried the Emperor, “the jest begins well!” - -“And now embrace her firmly!” exclaimed Virgil. - -“Better and better!” quoth the Emperor. - -Then Virgil spoke solemnly to the lady, and said: - -“What is thy name?” - -“Donna di Diaccia,” was her reply. - -“Then, Lady of Ice,” replied the wondrous man, “in the name of my magic -power, I summon you to return to the ice from which you sprung, and to -the water from which you were born!” - -Then little by little, as she sat in the Emperor’s lap, the beautiful -girl became a brilliant block of ice, and truly the great man, as his -fingers and all his person began to freeze, was fain to place the image -on the sofa, where they saw it presently thaw—features and feet and all -dispersing, and running away in a stream, till every trace had flown, and -the Emperor and the company understood that they had been admiring a -Woman of Water. - -There was a pause of utter bewilderment, as of awe, at this strange -ending, and then a roar of laughter, in which the Emperor himself finally -joined, crying: “_Viva Virgilio_! Long may he flourish with his magic -art!” And so the feast ended with the clattering of cups, laughter, and -merry cheers. - -[So the Donna di Diaccio was a spirit? Certainly—the Spirit of -Ice-water. If there is spirit in vermouth, why should there not be one -in the iced water which you mix with it?] - - * * * * * - -This story may remind the reader of “Our Lady of the Snow,” or Byron’s -“Witch of the Alps,” or Shelley’s “They all seem to be Sisters,” or else -suggest “Frozen Champagne,” and “Philadelphia Frozen Oysters.” - - - - -VIRGIL THE MAGICIAN, OR THE FOUR VENUSES. - - - “Maint autres grand clercs ont estè - Au monde de grand poesié - Qui aprisrent tote lor vie, - Des sept ars et le astronomie, - Dont aucuns i ot qui a leur tens, - Firent merveille par lor sens; - Mais cil qui plus s’en entremist, - Fu Virgile qui mainte enfist. - Pour ce si vous en conterons - Aucune dont oi avons.” - - _L’Image du Monde_ (1245). - -Virgilio was as great a magician as he was a distinguished post. And of -the great works which he did when alive many are yet remembered here in -Florence, and among other things his skill was such that by means of it -he made statues sing and dance. - -_Ecco come avenne_—behold how it came to pass! It chanced one day that -when walking alone in the environs of Florence, he found himself in a -place where there were four very beautiful Venuses. {67} And looking at -them with great admiration, and observing their forms, he said: - -“Truly they all please me well; and if they could converse I hardly know -which I would choose for a companion. _Ebbene_! I will make them all -talk and walk, live and move, and can then see if anyone of them will -show any gratitude for the gift of life.” - -Then he took human fat, and anointed with it all the statues, and then of -the blood of a wild boar, and rubbed it very thoroughly over them, and -when this was done he waved his magic wand, and said: - -“In the name of my magic art and power I order you to speak and move and -live!” - -And with this they all awoke, as it were, from a long dream, and stepping -down from their pedestals, they walked about, seeming far more beautiful -than before. And they gathered round Virgil, for truly they were -enchanted with him as well as by him, in more ways than one, and embraced -and kissed him with a thousand caresses and endearments, and each and all -wished him to select her as his mate. - -Then Virgilio, laughing, said: - - “I know not which to choose among the four; - I cannot make all four into a wife; - But to determine who shall be the first, - Do ye go forth and seek each one a gift, - And come to-morrow evening to my house, - And she who brings the gift which I prefer - Shall be the fair one first preferred by me.” - -And on the following eve the first who came was the Venus Agamene; thus -was she called who brought the first gift, and this was a splendid -diamond. Virgilio received it with admiration, but said that he must -wait to see what the others would bring before he could decide. - -Then the second was announced, whose name was Enrichetta, and she -presented a marvellous garment, richly embroidered and adorned. And this -too was admired; but to her also Virgilio said he would await what was to -come. - -The third, whose name was Veronica, brought such a wonderful bouquet of -flowers that the magician was more pleased with it than he had been by -the diamond or the robe. - -Then there came the fourth, called Diomira, and she brought a splendid -crown of —. {68} And Virgil preferred this to all, and gave the prize to -Diomira. So he bade them all come the next evening to a grand festival. -And when they came, it was indeed a wonderful assembly, for there were -present, and in life, all the statues from all the palaces. They came -down from their pedestals and danced in the house of Virgilio—nor did -they return until the early dawn; and so it came to pass that on that -night all the statues spoke and danced. - - “They danced so merrily all the night, - Till the sun came in with a rosy light, - And touched the statues fair, - When in an instant every one - Was changed again to marble stone. - Per Bacco! I was there!” - - * * * * * - -It is not remarkable that there should be so many tales in Italy of -statues speaking or coming to life. They abounded among the Romans, and -are to be found in later literature. Bonifacius, in his “Ludicra,” as I -have said, collects instances of men who have loved statues, and Zaghi, -whom I shall quote again directly, does the same. But the idea of images -speaking is so natural that we need not have recourse to tradition to -account for its existence. - -Among the archaic and very curious traditions in this tale we are told -that Virgil rubbed the statues with human fat and the blood of a wild -boar. Both of these occur not only in witchcraft, but also in the wild -science of the earlier time, as potent to give or take life. For the -blood of a boar that of a bull is equivalent. In the recipes for -preparing the celebrated poison of the Borgias one or the other is -presented. That of the boar still exists in the poisoning common in -Germany caused by eating _Blutwurst_. In the “Selva di Curiosità,” by -Gabriel Zaghi, 1674, there is a chapter (xx.) devoted to showing that -bull’s blood—_sangue di toro_—is a deadly poison; to prove this he cites -Plutarch, Pliny, Dioscorides, and others, from which it appears that the -idea is ancient. That it gives life to statues in the tale is quite in -keeping with the strange and rude homœopathy which is found in -Paracelsus, and all the writers on mystical medicine of his time, from -which Hahnemann drew his system, _i.e._, that what will kill can also -cure, or revive. - -It is very remarkable that in this tale Agamene brings a diamond. -According to Hyginius (“Astronom.,” II., 13, _vide_ Friedrich, “Symbolich -der Natur.,” p. 658), Aega (or Aegamene) nursed the youthful Jupiter. In -another legend (No. 1) Virgil is the son of Jove. “Aega was a daughter -of the Sun, and of such brilliancy that the Titans, dazzled by her -splendour, begged their mother _Gäa_, or Gea, to hide her in the earth.” -This clearly indicates a diamond. Jupiter transformed her into a star. - -It is simply possible, and only a conjecture of mine, that in Diomira we -find the name of Diomedea, the _Diomedea necessitas_ of Plato (“De -Repub,” lib. 6), who carried all before her. Diomira conquers all her -rivals in this legend. She is the _Venus Victrix_. - -I cannot help believing when we find such curious instances of tradition -as that of Aega, or Agamene, surviving in these tales, that there is a -possibility that the whole story may, more or less, be of classic or very -ancient origin. We are not as yet able to _prove_ it, and so there are -none who attach much value to these fragments. But a day will come when -scholars will think more of them. That there still survives a great deal -of Græco-Latin lore which was not recorded by classic writers has become -to us a certainty. Therefore it is possible, though not now to be -proved, that these statues of Virgil had a common origin with the image -of Selostre, or _Testimonium luminis_, described by Pausanius, which -spoke when the sun rose or at the Aurora. - -If it be possible, and it certainly is conjectural, that Diomira is the -same with Diadumena, we have beyond question a very remarkable -illustration of old tradition surviving in a popular tale; for Diadumena, -or “She who binds her forehead with a fillet,” or band, was the name of -one of the most beautiful statues of Polycletus. According to Winkelmann -(“Ist. dell Acte,” lib. 6, cap. 2), this statue was very frequently -copied and familiarly known. A statue in the Villa Farnese is believed -to be an imitation of it. Were this conjecture true, the gift brought by -Diomira would be the fillet which Virgil wears by tradition, as typical -of a poet. An ornament, fillet, or tiara is, effectively, a crown. -Therefore, the meaning of the myth is that a true poet is such by -necessity; he cannot help it—_poeta nascitur_, _non fit_. - - - - -VIRGIL, THE LADY, AND THE CHAIR. - - - “Now the golden chair wherein Juno was compelled to sit, by the - artifice of Vulcan, means that the earth is the mother of riches, and - with it that part of the air which cannot leave the earth, Juno being - air.”—NATALIS COMITIS: _Mythologia_, lib. ii., 79 (1616). - - “Thou wolt algates wete how we be shape! - Thou shalt hereafterward, my brother dere, - Come wher thee needeth not of me to lere, - For thou shalt by thine own experience - Conne in a chaiere rede of this sentence - Better than Virgile while he was on live - Or Dante also.” - - CHAUCER: _The Frere’s Tale_. - -There once lived in Rome a very great, rich, and beautiful Princess, but -she was as bad at heart as could be, and her life was of the wickedest. -However, she kept up a good appearance, and was really at last in love -with a fine young man, who returned her affections. - -But Virgil, knowing all, and pitying the youth, said to him that the -woman would certainly be the cause of his ruin, as she had been of many -others, and told him so many terrible things of her, that he ceased to -visit the Princess. - -And she, first suspecting and then learning what Virgil had done, fell -into bitter hatred, and swore that she would be revenged on him. - -So one evening she invited the Emperor and many nobles, among them -Virgil, to a splendid supper. - -And being petty and spiteful by nature, the Princess had devised a mean -trick to annoy Virgil. For she had prepared with great craft a chair, -the seat of which was of paper, but which seemed to be of solid wood. It -appeared to be a handsome seat of great honour. - -But when the great man sat on it, there was a great crash, and he went -down, indeed, but with his legs high in the air. So there was a peal of -laughter, in which he joined so heartily and said so many droll things -over it, that one would have thought he had contrived the jest himself, -at which the lady was more angry than ever, since she had hoped to see -him angry and ashamed. And Virgil, taking all the blame of the accident -on himself, promised to send her in return a chair to pay for it. And he -requested leave to take the proper measure for it, so that she might be -fitly taken in. - -Which she was. For, having returned to his home, Virgil went to work and -had a splendid chair made—_con molto artifizio_. With great art he made -it, with much gold inlaid with pearls, studded with gems. It was all -artificial. {72} - -And having finished it, Virgil begged the Emperor to send it to the -Princess as a gift. - -The Emperor did so at the proper time, but there was in it a more cunning -trick than in the one which she had devised. For there were concealed -therein several fine nets, or snares, so that whoever sat in it could not -rise. - -Then the Princess, overjoyed at this magnificent gift, at once sent an -invitation to her friends to come to a supper where she could display it; -nor did she suspect any trick, having no idea that she had any enemy. - -And all came to pass as Virgil planned. For the lady, having seated -herself in great state, found herself caught, and could not rise. - -Then there was great laughter, and it was proposed that everyone present -should kiss her. And as one beginning leads to strange ending, the end -thereof was that they treated her _senza vergogna_, saying that when a -bird is once caught in a snare, everybody who pleases may pluck a -feather. - - * * * * * - -The classical scholar will find in this tale a probable reminiscence of -the chair made by Vulcan wherein to entrap Juno, in which he succeeded, -so that she was made to appear ridiculous to all the gods. It is worth -noting in this connection that such chairs are made even to the present -day, and that without invisible nets or any magic. One is mentioned in a -book entitled “The Life of Dr. Jennings the Poisoner” (Philadelphia, T. -B. Peterson, Bros.). If any person sat in it, he or she fell back, and -certain clasps closed over the victim, holding him or her down perfectly -helpless, rendering robbery or violence easy. Since writing the -foregoing, I have in a recent French novel read a description of such a -chair, with the additional information that such seats were originally -invented for and used by physicians to confine lunatic patients. A -friend of mine told me that he had seen one in a house of ill-fame in New -York. - -The legend of the Lady and the Chair suggests a very curious subject of -investigation. It is very probably known to the reader that, to make a -mesmerized or hypnotized subject remain seated, whether he or she will or -not, is one of the common experiments of the modern magicians. It is -thus described by M. Debay in his work “Les Mystères du Sommeil et -Magnetisme.” - - The operator asks the subject, “Are you asleep?” - - “No.” - - “Rise from your chair.” (_He rises_.) “Tell all present that you - are not asleep.” - - “No. I am wide awake.” - - The operator takes the subject by the hand, leads him to different - persons present with whom he is acquainted, and asks him if he knows - them. He replies: - - “Certainly I know them.” - - “Name them.” - - He does so. - - “All right. Now sit down.” (_The subject obeys_.) “And now I - forbid you to rise. It is for you impossible—you cannot move!” - - The subject makes ineffectual efforts to rise, but remains attached - to the chair as if held fast by an invisible power. - - The operator then says: - - “Now you may rise. I permit you to do so. Rise—I order it!” - - The subject rises from the chair without an effort. - -I have frequently had occasion to observe that, in all of these legends -which I have received from witches, the story, unlike the common fairy -tale or _novella_ of any kind, is only, as it were, a painted casket in -which is enclosed the jewel of some secret in sorcery, generally with an -incantation. Was not this the case with many of the old myths? Do they -not all, in fact, really set forth, so far as their makers understood -them, the mysteries of Nature, and possibly in some cases those of the -wonder-works or miracles of the priests and magicians? There was a -German—I forget his name—who wrote a book to prove that Jupiter, Juno, -and all the rest, were the elements as known to us now, and all the -wonders told of all the gods, with the “Metamorphoses” of Ovid, only a -marvellous poetic allegory of chemical combinations and changes. That -hypnotism was known to Egyptians of old is perfectly established—at least -to his own satisfaction—by Louis Figuier in his “Histoire du Merveilleux -dans les Temps Modernes,” Paris, 1861; and it is extremely possible. -Therefore it may be that Juno in the chair is but the prototype of a -Mademoiselle Adèle, or Angelique Cottin, or Marie Raynard, or some other -of the “little Foxes,” who, by the way, are alluded to in the Old -Testament. - - - - -VIRGIL AND THE GODDESS OF THE CHASE. - - - “_Images_, though made by men, are the bodies of gods, rendered - perceptible to the sight and touch. In the images are certain - spirits brought by invitation, after which they have the power of - doing whatever they please; either to hurt, or to a certain extent to - fulfil the desires of those persons by whom divine honours and - duteous worship are rendered unto them. . . . Do you not see, O - Asclepias, that _statues_ are animated by sense, and actually capable - of doing such actions?”—HERMES TRISMEGISTUS, AP. AUGUSTINE, C. D., - viii. 23. - - “And there withall Diana gan appere - With bowe in hand, right as an hunteresse, - And saydé, ‘Daughter—stint thin heavinesse. . . .’ - And forth she went and made a vanishing.” - - CHAUCER: _The Knighte’s Tale_. - -There was in the oldest times in Florence a noble family, but one so -impoverished that their _giorni di festa_, or feast-days, were few and -far between. However, they dwelt in their old palace, which was in the -street now called the Via Citadella, which was a fine old building, and -so they lived in style before the world, when many a day they hardly had -anything to eat. - -Round this palace was a large garden in which stood an ancient marble -statue of a beautiful woman, running very rapidly, with a dog by her -side. She held in her hand a bow, and on her forehead was a small moon; -it seemed as if, instead of being in a garden, she was in a forest -hunting wild game. And it was said that by night, when all was still and -no one present, and the moon shone, the statue became like life, and very -beautiful, and then she fled away and did not return till the moon set, -or the sun rose. - -The father of the family had two children, a boy and a girl, of nine or -ten years of age, and they were as good as they were intelligent, and -like most clever children, very fond of curious stories. - -One day they came home with a large bunch of flowers which had been given -to them. And while playing in the garden the little girl said: - -“The beautiful lady with the bow ought to have her share of the flowers.” - -“Certainly,” answered her brother, “because I believe that she is as good -as she is beautiful.” - -Saying this, they laid flowers before the statue, and made a wreath, -which the boy placed on her head. - -Just then the great poet and magician Virgil, who knew everything about -the gods and _folletti_, whom people used to worship, entered the garden, -and said, smiling: - -“You have made the offering of flowers to the goddess quite correctly, as -they did in old times; all that remains is to make the prayer properly, -and it is this. Listen, and learn it.” So he sang: - - “Bella dea dell arco! - Bella dea delle freccie! - Delia caccia e dei cani! - Tu vegli colle stelle - Quando il sole va dormir, - Tu colla Luna in fronte, - Cacci la notte meglio del di - Colle tue Ninfe al suono - Di trombe—sei la regina - Dei cacciatori, - Regina della notte! - Tu che siei la cacciatrice - Più potente di ogni - Cacciator—ti prego - Pensa un poco a noi!” - - “Lovely Goddess of the bow! - Lovely Goddess of the arrows! - Of all hounds and of all hunting; - Thou who wakest in starry heaven - When the sun has gone to sleep; - Thou with moon upon thy forehead - Who the chase by night preferrest - Unto hunting by the day, - With thy nymphs unto the sound - Of the horn—thou Queen of Hunters! - Queen of night, thyself the huntress, - And most powerful, I pray thee, - Think, although but for an instant, - Upon us who pray unto thee!” - -Then Virgil taught them the _Scongiurazione_, or spell to the goddess -Diana: - - “Bella dea dell’ arco del cielo, - Delle stelle e della Luna. - La regina più potente - Dei cacciatori e della notte; - A te riccoriamo, - E chiedamo il tuo aiuto - Che tu possa darci - Sempre la buona fortuna!” - - “Fair goddess of the rainbow! - Of the stars and of the moon! - The queen all-powerful - Of hunters and the night, - We beg of thee thy aid - To give good fortune to us!” - -Then he added the conclusion: - - “Se la nostra scongiurazione, - Ascolterai, - E buona fortuna ci darei, - Un segnale a noi lo darei!” - - “If thou heedest our evocation, - And wilt give good fortune to us, - Then give us in proof a token.” - -And having taught them this, Virgilio departed. - -Then the children ran to tell their parents all that had happened, and -the latter impressed it on them to keep it all a secret, nor breathe a -word or hint of it to anyone. But what was their amazement, when they -found early the next morning before the statue a deer freshly killed, -which gave them good dinners for many a day—nor did they want thereafter -at any time game of all kinds. - -There was a neighbour of theirs, a priest, who held in hate all the -idolatry of the olden time, and all which did not belong to his religion, -{77} and he, passing the garden one day, beheld the statue crowned with -roses and (other) flowers. And in a rage, seeing in the street a -decaying cabbage, he rolled it in the mud, and threw it, all dripping, at -the face of the statue, saying: - -“Ecco male bestia d’idolo, questo e l’omaggio che io ti do, gia che il -diavolo ti aiuta!”—(Behold, thou vile beast of an idol, this is the -homage which I render thee, and may the devil help thee!) - -Then the priest heard a voice in the gloom where the trees were thick, -which said: - - “Bene bene—tu mi hai fatto - L’ offrande—tu avrai - La tua porzione - Di caccia. Aspetta!” - - “It is well—since thou hast made - Thy offering, thou’lt get thy portion - Of the game—but wait till morning!” - -All that night the priest suffered from horrible fancies and fears, and -when at last, just before three, he fell asleep, he soon awoke from a -nightmare, in which it seemed as if something heavy rested on his chest. -And something indeed fell from him and rolled on the ground. And when he -rose and picked it up, and looked at it by the light of the moon, he saw -that it was a human head, half decayed. {78a} - -Another priest who, hearing the cry which he had uttered, entered his -room, said: - -“I know that head. It is of a man whom I confessed, and who was beheaded -three months ago at Siena.” - -And three days after this the priest who had insulted the goddess died. - - * * * * * - -In a single incident this tale recalls that of Falkenstein, one of the -synonyms of the wild huntsman in Germany, of whom it is said that as he -passed by, a reckless fellow wished him luck, whereupon he heard the -words, “Thou hast wished me luck; thou shalt share the game;” whereat -there was thrown to him a great piece of carrion. And soon after he -died. {78b} But the true plot of this narrative is the conduct of the -goddess Diana, who rewards the children for their worship and punishes -the priest for his sacrilege. - -And, noting the sincere spirit of heathenism which inspires many of these -legends, the belief in _folletti_ and _fate_, and curiously changed forms -of the gods of Græco-Roman mythology, still existing among the peasants, -it is worth inquiring whether, as the very practical Emperor Julian -believed, a sincerely religious and moral spirit, under any form, could -not be adapted to the progress of humanity? The truth is that as the -heathen gods are one and all, to us, as something theatrical and unreal, -we think they must have been the same to their worshippers. Through all -the Renaissance to the present day the pretended appreciation and worship -of classic deities, and with them of classic art and mythology, reminds -one of the French billiard-player Berger, who, when desirous of making a -very brilliant exhibition of his skill, declared that he would invoke the -god of billiards! They may seem beautiful, but they are dead relics, and -the worst is that no one realizes now that they ever really lived, moved, -and had a being in the human heart. And yet the Italian witch still has -a spark of the old fire. - -Diana Artemis is known to poets and scholars in certain varied characters -thus summed up by Browning: - - “I am a Goddess of the ambrosial courts, - And save by Here, Queen of Pride, surpassed - By none whose temples whiten this the world. - Through Heaven I roll my lucid moon along; - I shed in Hell o’er my pale people peace; - On Earth, I, caring for the creatures, guard - Each pregnant yellow wolf and fox-bitch sleep, - And every feathered mother’s callow brood, - And all that love green haunts and loneliness - Of men; the chaste adore me.” - -But to her only believers and worshippers now left on earth—such as -Maddalena—Diana is far more than this, for she is the queen of all -witchcraft, magic, sorcery, the mistress of all the mysteries, of all -deep knowledge, and therefore the greatest of the goddesses—all the rest, -in fact, except Venus and Bacchus, who only exist in oaths, being now -well-nigh forgotten and unknown to them. - - - - -VIRGIL AND THE SPIRIT OF MIRTH. - - - “’Tis an ancient tale that a boy for laughing at Ceres was turned - into a stone. For truly too much merriment hardens us all.”—_Comment - on L. M. Brusonii_ ‘_Facetiæ_.’ - -In ancient times there lived in Florence a young lord who was very -beautiful, and ever merry—and no wonder, because he was _Il Dio della -Allegria_—the God of Mirth—himself. - -He was greatly beloved, not only by his friends, but by all the people, -because he was always so joyous, kind-hearted, and very charitable. - -Every evening this spirit-lord went with his friends to the theatre, or -to his parties (_al circolo_), and the name by which he was known was -Eustachio. All awaited with impatience his arrival, for with it the -merriment began, and when he came there was a joyous shout of “Evviva il -Dio dell’ Allegria!” - -It came to pass that in a theatre Eustachio met with a girl, a singer, of -such marvellous beauty and wit, that he fell, like one lost, in love with -her; which love being reciprocated, he took her to himself, and kept her -in a magnificent home, with many fine attendants, and all that heart -could desire. In those days every signore in Florence thus had an -_amante_, and there was great rivalry among them as to who should keep -his favourite in the best style—_con più di lusso_. And this lady so -beloved by Eustachio, was not only the most beautiful, but the most -magnificently entertained of any or all in the city. - -Now, one evening there was a grand festival in a _palazzo_, where there -was dancing and gay conversation, Eustachio being as usual present, for -all his love for his lady did not keep him from the world, or making -mirth for all. And as they diverted themselves or sung to music, there -entered a group of young lords, among whom was Virgilio, the great poet. -{80} - -Then Eustachio rose and began to clap his hands and cry, “_Evviva_! Long -live the great poet!” and those who were at table ceased to eat, and -those who were dancing left the dance with their partners, and all in -welcome cried, “_Evviva il gran poeta_!” - -Then Eustachio begged Virgilio to sing, and the poet did so, for there -was no one who would have refused anything to Eustachio, so winning were -his ways. - -So Virgil made him the subject of his song, telling in pleasing verse how -free he was from care, ever laughing like sunshine, ever keeping himself -free from thought, which kills joy and brings sorrow. - -And Eustachio, singing and laughing, said that it was because he was ever -among friends who banished thought, and so kept away melancholy. - -Then Virgil, still softly singing, asked him whether, if he should lose -his lady-love, he would not be melancholy for a time, despite the -consolations of friends and relations. - -Eustachio replied that he would indeed regret the loss, and it would make -him sad for a time, but not as a settled grief or incurable sorrow, for -that all things pass away, every night hath its morning, after every -death new life, when the sea has sunk to its lowest ebb then it rises, -and that he who knows this can never know trouble. - -Virgil ended the dialogue of song by saying that he who believes he can -never be sad knows not what sorrow and trials are, that grief must come -some time or other to all, even to the God of Mirth himself, and offered -to make a wager of a banquet for all present, if he could not within two -weeks’ time cause Eustachio to know what grief, and a melancholy which -should seem incurable, was like. - -Eustachio assented, and said he would add a thousand gold crowns to the -bet. - -There was a statue named Peonia to whom Virgil had given life; and going -to her, who was now as other women, he said: - -“I can give life to a statue, but how to change a human being to marble -is beyond my power; I pray thee, tell me how I may turn into an image, -such as thou wert, this beautiful girl whom Eustachio adores.” - -And Peonia, smiling, replied: “Before thou didst come hither I knew thy -thought and thy purpose. Lo! here I have prepared a bouquet of flowers -of such intense magic perfume that it will make Eustachio love to -madness, as he never did before; but when his mistress inhales the -perfume she will become a statue.” - -And as she bid he did, and placed the bouquet in the lady’s chamber, and -when she smelt at it she became a statue, and sat holding the flowers. -And Eustachio seeing her sitting there in the dim twilight, knew not the -truth, but also smelt of the perfume, and became more in love than man -can dream, but when he found that the lady was petrified he was well-nigh -mad with grief, nor could anyone console him. And this passed into an -iron-like melancholy, nor would he leave the room where the statue sat. - -Now, the friends of all, though they well knew that Virgilio had done -this, still remembered that he had mighty and mysterious power, and then, -thinking over the wager, concluded that he had been in some manner in the -affair. So they went to him, praying that he would do something to keep -Eustachio from madness or death. - -Then Virgilio, the great master, went to the room where Eustachio sat in -profound grief by the statue, and said, with a smile, “_Caro giovane_ (My -dear youth), I have won my wager, and expect to see thee this evening in -the hall at the banquet and dance, bringing the thousand crowns.” - -“Dear Virgilio,” answered Eustachio, “go to my parents or friends, and -receive thy gold, and assemble them all to banquet or to dance; but do -not expect me, for from this room I never more will stir.” - -Then Virgilio, gently removing the magic bouquet from the hand of the -statue, stepped to the window and threw it down into the street—when lo! -the lady flushed into life, and with a laugh asked them what they were -all doing there? And then Eustachio burst out laughing for joy, and they -danced in a circle round Virgilio. Eustachio paid down the thousand -crowns, which Virgil gave as a wedding present to the bride—for of course -there was a wedding, and a grander banquet than ever. But though he was -the God of Mirth himself, Eustachio never declared after this that he -would or could never mourn or think of grief. - - * * * * * - -What is remarkable in this tale is the confusion between the conception -of the hero as a spirit, or the God of Mirth, and his social condition as -a young Italian gentleman about town. It is this transition from the god -to the popular hero, a mere mortal, which forms the subject of Heine’s -“Gods in Exile.” - -There is another Florentine legend, in which this god appears by the more -appropriate name _Momo_, evidently _Momus_, in which a young lord who had -never laughed in his life is made merry for ever by having presented to -him the image of a laughing goblin, which one of his peasants had dug up -in a ruin. Whenever he looks at it, he bursts into a roar of laughter, -which has the effect of changing his character very much for the better. - -What is perhaps most significant in this tale is the name _Peonia_. -Pæonia in classic mythology was Minerva, as a healing goddess. As such, -alone, she bears the serpent. Esculapius is termed by Claudian the -_Pæonio_—dragon or snake. In reference to which I find the following in -the “Dizionario Mitologico”: - - “_Peonia_, an additional name of Minerva, worshipped . . . as - guardian of health. Therefore she has for a tribute the serpent, as - emblem of the art of healing. _Peonico_ was a surname of Apollo.” - -When medicine was synonymous with magic, Peonia-Minerva would naturally -appear as one familiar with occult arts. The changing to a statue and -being revived from a statue to life is a very evident symbol of raising -from death to life. Æsculapius, who was the male equivalent of Peonia, -revived corpses. As Minerva and other deities were familiar to the -people as statues, in which there was believed to be a peculiar spirit or -life, we can readily understand how any image of a goddess was supposed -to be at times revived. - -Peonia in our story works her miracle by means of flowers. This, if we -are really dealing with an archaically old Italian tradition, is -marvellously significant. The _pœonia_, or peony, or _rose de Nôtre -Dame_, was believed in earliest Roman times to be _primus inter magnos_, -the very first and strongest of all floral amulets, or to possess the -greatest power in magic. This was due to its extreme redness, this -colour alone having great force to resist the evil eye and sorcery. The -most dreaded of all deities among the earliest Etrusco-Latin races was -Picus, who appeared as a woodpecker, to which bird he had been changed by -Circe. “Nam Picus, etiam rex, ab eadem Circe virga tactus, in volucrem -picum evolavit,” as Tritonius declares. When people dug for treasure -which was guarded by this dreaded bird, he slew them unless they bore as -a protecting amulet the root of the peony. But there is a mass of -testimony to prove that the _pæonia_, or peony, was magical. Many -classic writers, cited by Wolf in his work on amulets, 1692, declare its -root drives away phantasms and demons. It was held, according to the -same writer, that the same root protected ships from storms and houses -from lightning. It is true that this writer evidently confuses the peony -with the poppy, but the former was from earliest times strong in all -sorcery. - -It is also curious that, in old tradition, Pygmalion the sculptor is -represented as indifferent to women. Venus punishes him by making him -fall in love with a statue. Eustachio, the Spirit of Mirth, declares -that the death of his love would not cause him deep grief and for this -Pæonia and Virgil change the lady into a marble image. It is the very -same story, but with the plot reversed. - -Peonia, or peony, regarded as the poppy, since the two very similar -plants were beyond question often confused, had a deep significance as -lulling to sleep—a synonym for death, a reviving force—and it was also an -emblem of love and fertility (Pausanias, II., 10). Peonia lulls the lady -to sleep with flowers, that is, into a statue. - -I do not regard it as more than _probable_, but I think it possible that -in this story we have one of the innumerable _novelle_ or minor myths of -the lesser gods, which circulated like fairy-tales among the Latin -people, of which only a small portion were ever written down. That there -were many of these not recorded by Ovid, and other mythologists, is very -certain, for it is proved by the scraps of such lore which come to light -in many authors and casual inscriptions. It requires no specially keen -imagination, or active faculty of association, to observe that in this, -and many other legends which I have collected and recorded, there are -beyond question very remarkable relics of old faith and ancient -tradition, drawn from a source which has been strangely neglected, which -neglect will be to future and more enlightened antiquaries or historians -a source of wonder and regret. - -A certain Giovanni Maria Turrini, in a collection of odds and ends -entitled “Selva di Curiositá,” Bologna, 1674, declares that “the peony, -if patients be touched with it, cures them of epilepsy, which results -from the influence of the sun, to which this plant is subject, the same -effect resulting from coral.” Here we also have the restoring to life or -reason, as if from death; that is to say, from a fit or swoon. Truly, -the ancients did not know botany as we do, but there was for them far -more poetry and wonder in flowers. - -Some time after all the foregoing was written I found—truly to my great -astonishment—that in a novel by Xavier Montepin there is a student named -Virgil, who has a mistress named Pivoine—the title of the book—which word -is in Latin _Pæonia_. This, according to the kind of criticism which is -now extensively current, would settle the whole business, and determine -“the undoubted original.” I believe it to be a mere chance coincidence -of names—strange, indeed, but nothing more. For, in the first place, I -am sure that my collector or her informants are about as likely to have -read the _Sohar_, or “Book of Light,” or Hegel’s “Cyclopædia,” as any -novel whatever. But the great part of what is curious in my narrative is -not that Virgil loves Pæonia, but that Pæonia-Minerva depresses people -to, or _raises them from_, _death by means of flowers_. Very clearly in -the Italian tale, as in others, Virgil is a physician, and Pæonia is his -counterpart, of all which there is no hint in the French novel. - -So it once befell that in a very strange Italian tale of Galatea, the -Spirit of the White Pebble, there was a narrative agreeing in _names_ -with one in a romance by Eugene Sue. But on carefully examining the -account of the Virgins of Sen, given by Pomponius Mela (Edition 1526, p. -34, for which purpose I expressly purchased the book), I found that the -legend, as known to Maddalena, and also to an old woman whom she did not -know, contained the main element as given by Mela, which is _not_ to be -found in the French story, namely, the transmigration of the soul or -metamorphosis into different forms. The Latin writer states that such -enchantresses are called Gallicenas. Now, there was at one time a great -infusion of Celtic blood into Northern Italy, and if it was in -correspondence with the Gauls, it _may_ possibly be that the story of Sen -and Galatea of the White Stone passed all round. - -It may be observed, however, that there may linger among French peasants -some legend of Virgil and Pivoine, or Pæonia, which Montepin had picked -up, and should this be so, doubtless there is some folklorist who can -confirm it. This is far more likely than that my authority took the -names from a French novel. - -The Spirit of Mirth in this story has really nothing in common with -Momus, who was, in fact, the God of Sneering, or captious, petty -criticism of the kind which objects to great and grand or beautiful -subjects, because of small defects. The Virgilian spirit is that of the -minor rural gods, or the daughters of the dawn, who were all smiling -sub-forms of the laughing Venus. These play the principal part in the -mythology of the Tuscan peasantry. This spirit differs from that of -Momus as an angel from a devil. - -Psellus held that there was a soul in all statues. - -That the God of Mirth, or Laughter, is in this tale also a gay young -cavalier in Florentine society is paralleled or outdone by Chaucer in the -“Manciple’s Tale,” in which Apollo is described as follows: - - “Whan Phebus dwelled here in erth adoun, - As oldé bookes maken mentioun, - He was the mosté lusty bacheler - Of all this world, and eke the best archer. . . . - Thereto he was the semelieste man - That is or was sithen the world began.” - -That is, this “flour of bachelerie as well in fredom as in chivalrie” was -simply human while here below, having “a wif which that he loved more -than his lif.” Chaucer wrote this evidently with conscious humour of the -naïve paradox by which those of his age could thus confuse gods and -common mortals, even as a Red Indian vaguely confuses the great beaver or -wolf with a human being. It is a curious reflection that, at the present -day in Italy, there are believers in the old gods who regard the latter -in the same way, as half divine and half like other folk. - - - - -NERO AND SENECA. - - - “This Seneka, of which that I devise, - Because Nero had of him swiché drede, - For he fro vices wold him ay chastise - Discretely, as by word, and not by dede. - ‘Sire,’ he wold say, ‘an Emperor mote nede - Be vertuous, and haten tyrannie.’ - For which he made him in a bathe to blede - On both his armès till he mustè die.” - - CHAUCER: _The Monke’s Tale_: _Nero_. - - “Già tra le infamie delle regie sale - Due uomini vedevansi soltanto - A cui volera orribilmente male, - Questo amatore delle stragi, e pianto, - Uno di questi è Seneca, ch’ eguale - In Roma non aver per nobil vanto - Nelle dottrine di filosofia, - E nel fare una bella poesia. . . . - Nerone che non vuol d’ogni folliá, - Avere appreso un rigido censore, - Fece morir, con modi scellerati, - Tanto costui, che Seneca, svenati!” - - _Storia di Nerone_: _A Florentine Halfpenny Ballad_. - - “Alteri vivere oportet si vis tibi vivere.” - - “Thou must live for others if thou wouldst live for thyself.”— - - SENECA: _Epistolæ_. - -There was once in Rome a young Emperor named Nerone. As a boy, he was by -no means badly inclined, and it seemed for a long time as if he would -grow up into a great and good man. - -He had a tutor or teacher named Seneco, {88} who was benevolent and wise -beyond all the men of his time, and he had such influence on the young -Nerone, that for two years the youth behaved well and did no harm to -anyone. - -But little by little he was led astray by courtiers who flattered and -corrupted him, and who of course did all they could to injure Seneco in -his esteem, saying that the sage was really an old knave, and that he was -engaged in plots with the design of becoming Emperor himself. And the -end of it all was that Nerone believed them. - -So he sent a letter to Seneco, in which he declared that the time had -come for the old man to die; but that he might choose his own manner of -death by suicide. - -Seneco, having read it, said: “What an evil youth is this, of what a -corrupted heart! Well, infamous as the command is, I will die! But I -will leave him a legacy which shall be his ruin.” - -Thus he wrote to Nerone: - -“I will die this very day, but I leave you a gift which is more than a -fortune. It is a book of magic and necromancy. If you wish for -anything, be it the love of a woman or the death of a man, or his -disaster, or to destroy all Rome, you will find in the book spells by -which it may be done.” - -And when he knew that Nerone had the book, he went at once into a hot -bath, and said to his surgeon: - -“Open my veins, so that I may bleed to death. I will die, but I know -that the Emperor will soon follow me.” - -So he died, and all Rome wept. {89a} - -Then Nerone read the book, and it seemed as if it were poisoned, for -while reading it he perceived as it were an exhalation {89b} from hell. - -He read in the book how to commit all crimes and sins, how to seize on -fortunes, or rob whom he would, and learned from it all the secrets of -licentiousness—_tutte cose voluttiose_—and having finished it, he became -a veritable devil. - -He collected many lions and tigers, and all kinds of terrible wild -beasts, and then drove among them all the Christians and saints in Rome, -and they were devoured by the beasts. Then he took the fortunes of all -the rich men, {89c} and decreed that all the women in the city were his -wives. After which he every day debauched them in the open streets -before their husbands, and likewise ordained that all men and women -should do the same openly. And he committed even more infamous deeds in -public places, with an orchestra, saying it was best to make love to the -sound or accompaniment of music. - -And one day, to make a scene in an opera, he (set fire to and) burned all -Rome. - -Then the people made a revolution, and drove him out of his palace. It -is said that this palace was all gilded. (_Era tutto dorato_.) - -In a public square was a statue of Seneco, and it was of marble. So the -people in a rage drove Nerone before them until, utterly weary and -exhausted, he fell down at the foot of the statue of Seneco. And -beholding the image of his tutor, Nerone cried: - -“_Tu mi vincesti_, _tu mi inperasti_—Thou hast conquered, O Seneco; thou -hast prevailed over me, and had thy revenge! And accursed be the day in -which thou didst send me the book which gave me the power to have all -which I desired!” - -And all who were present were astonished when they heard the statue -reply: - -“I am avenged, and thou art punished.” - -Then a butcher struck him heavily; he gave him a death-wound with an axe, -and Nerone, dying, said: - -“If thou hast no shame for having killed an Emperor, thou shouldst at -least blush at having put to death the best actor in Rome!” - -Then the ground opened, and there came forth the flame and thunder of -hell, with many devils who howled. . . . - -And so did Nero die, who was the most infamous king {90} who ever lived -in this world since it was a world. - - * * * * * - -Though there are so many authentic traits of the Emperor Nero in this -tradition, the reader is not to infer from them that she who wrote it has -had access to a copy of Suetonius. There is a “halfpenny dreadful,” or -_sou_ shocker, entitled the “Life of Nero”—_Vita di Nerone_—published by -Adriano Salani, the Catnach of Florence, Via Militare, No. 24 (No. 107 on -his catalogue), to say nothing of other halfpenny classical works, such -as the “Story of the Proud Emperor,” “The Empress Flavia,” and the “Tale -of Pyramus and Thisbe,” which, as they are to be found on many open-air -stands, may account for a great deal of such learning in the popular -mind. One may meet daily in Italy with marvellous proof in many forms of -what a strange, curious, confused mass of old Latin lore still lingers -among the people, and the marvellous contrast which it presents to what -the common folk read and reflect over in other lands. But Nero would be -most likely to be remembered, because he is frequently mentioned or -described in popular Lives of the Saints as a great maker of martyrs, and -caster of them unto lions. - -This does not belong to the cycle of Virgilian tales, but it was sent to -me as one from Siena. To my collector it was all one, so that it -referred to a magician, and had the idea occurred to the writer, the name -of Virgilio would have been substituted for that of Seneca. Doubtless in -their time, since they began life in India, or Egypt, or Arabia, these -legends have borne many names, and been as garments to the memory of many -sages—even as Buddha in his Jatakas was the first of a line which has -ended in the heroes of European nurseries. - -The halfpenny, or _soldo_, or _sou_ ballad of Nero, to which I have -referred, is too curious as illustrating the remarkable knowledge of -classical antiquity still current among the Italian people, to be lightly -passed by. Its title-page is as follows: - - “Storia di Nerone, dove si narrano, le Stragi, i Delitti, le - Persecuzioni e gli Incendi commessi da questo infame Tiranno in - Roma”—“History of Nero; in which is told the Murders and Crimes - committed by this Infamous Tyrant in Rome.” - -This poem and others of the same stamp are quite as barbarously -classic-mediæval or Romanesque as anything in any of these stories of -Virgilio, and if I cite it, it is to give a clear idea of the remarkable -degree to which strange traditions, and very ancient legends or -“learning,” have lingered among the people. I really cannot understand -why this marvellous survival of old Latin romance, and this spirit of the -Dark Ages among the people, attracts so little attention among literary -people, and especially Italians. For it certainly indicates to any -thinking mind the survival of a great deal of classic tradition which has -never been recorded. - - - - -VIRGIL AND CICERO. - - - “Magic is genius most mysterious, - And poetry is genius passed to form, - And these allied give birth to Eloquence; - For never yet was there an orator - Who did not owe his best to Poetry.”—C. G. L. - -There was once a young man named Cicero, who was a student with Virgil, -and who, being poor, served the great magician in all things. - -When Christmas came, with the New Year, Virgil, being well pleased with -his fidelity, resolved to make a handsome gift to Cicero, and so said: - -“_Che vuoi_? What wilt thou have?” - -“I would like,” replied young Cicero, “to be master of the art of -speech”—_Il dono di parlar bene_. - -“Would you not prefer wealth?” asked Virgil. - -“He who hath a ready tongue can have his will mid old or young,” answered -Cicero; “and as the proverb says: - - “Chi ha eloquenza, - Ad ogni cosa ha pretenza.” - - “He who hath but eloquence - Hath unto everything pretence.” - -“But do not forget,” remarked Virgil, “that amiable speech is courteous -and refined. And remember to always speak well of women—everywhere.” - - “If it be false, or if it be true, - Speak gently of women, whatever you do.” - -After a while Cicero, wanting change of life or to try his fortune, left -Virgil and Rome, going first to Florence and then to Ravenna, where his -parents dwelt. - -So ever travelling on afoot, he came one night to a solitary place among -rocks in a forest, where he saw at some distance a ruined castle. And -entering, hoping to find a place to sleep, he was astonished to perceive -a light, and going further, came into a spacious hall, where, seated at a -table, were six gentlemen and a lady, all of them far more beautiful and -magnificent in every respect than ordinary mortals, especially the lady, -who, as Cicero thought, surpassed all women whom he had ever seen, as the -moon outshines the stars. - -“_Salve Domine_!” exclaimed the scholar; “and excuse my intrusion, since -I did not expect to find company here, though I would have indeed come -many a day’s journey, had I known of it, to behold such handsome and -brilliant cavaliers, and such a marvel of beauty as yon lady, as all the -world would do.” - -“Thou hast a smooth tongue and a sweet gift of speech,” replied the lady, -with a smile; “and I not only thank thee for the whole company, but -invite thee to sup with us, and lodge here, and be most welcome.” - -So they supped gaily; and Cicero, who from the company of Virgil and his -friends and the court was familiar with the world, was amazed, and -wondered who these marvellous people could be. At last he chanced to -ask: - -“What day of the week is this?” - -“Truly you can here take your choice,” replied the lady, with a laugh. -“But of all the days of the week, which do you prefer?” - -“Friday,” replied Cicero; “because it is the only one which bears a -woman’s name or that of Venus. _Evviva Venere_, _evviva le donne_! - - “Hurrah for Venus, whate’er befall! - Long life unto love, and to ladies all!” - -“This youth has a tongue of gold and honey,” said the lady. “And what do -you think of the other days of the week?” - -“Other people do not think much about them in any way,” replied Cicero. -“But that is not the case with me. To me they are all saints and gods. -_Domenica_ is a holy name, which praises the Lord. _Giovedi_ (Tuesday) -is the day of Jove, and that is a glorious name. _Evviva Giove_! So it -is with them all; and were I rich enough, I would build a temple to the -days of the week wherein to worship them.” - -“That money shall not be wanting, O thou happy man!” replied the lady. -“Knowest thou who we are? We are the Seven Days of the Week; and for -what thou hast said of me, every Friday thou shalt find a hundred gold -crowns under thy pillow. And when thou needest any special favour, then -pray to us all.” - -And as he heard the last word Cicero fell asleep. When he awoke he was -alone in the ruin, but by him was a purse with one hundred crowns in -gold. - -Then in time Cicero built the temple, as he had promised, to Venus, and -in it he placed all the images of the seven gods. Then whoever wanted a -favour invoked those deities, as indeed did Cicero when he needed aught; -and those gods were the seven youths, and those youths whom he had found -in the hall were the days of the week. - -Then for a time Cicero lived in happiness. But something came to disturb -it, for one morning he saw at a window near by a young lady of such -marvellous beauty that he was as if enchanted, nor was she less pleased -with him. - -“Tell me, thou splendid star,” said Cicero, “the very truth now passing -in thy mind. Dost thou love me?” - -“In very truth,” she replied, “I do love thee. O Cicero, but thou lovest -only to lose, for this day I am to leave Rome never to return, unless -thou canst by some miracle so manage it as to prevent the journey, and -keep me here!” - -Then Cicero went to the Temple of the Days and conjured them thus: - - “Lunedi e Marte! (Martedi.) - Fai che la stella mia non parta! - Mercurio e Giove! - Fai che la stella non mova!” - - “Monday and Tuesday, - I pray you cause my love to remain! - Wednesday and Thursday, - Let her not move! - Venus, thou who art the fairest day, - The one whom I most adore! - Thou who hast put me in the way of wealth, - And unto whom I truly built a temple, - As I did promise in the bygone time, - And as thou thyself didst promise, - That if I needed aught, and came to thee, - My wishes should be granted, now I pray - To Venus and to Saturn—Saturday, - That as I have no peace, and none can know, - Till I have won the maid, give her to me! - And thou, O Sunday, when the wedding comes, - I pray thee give her to me with thy hand!” - -Then a voice from the depth of the temple replied: - - “Because thou hast spoken so well, - What thou hast asked is granted; - She whom thou lovest - Is not of the race of men; - She is an enchantress, - Born of Venus, who loves her, - Venus, who bent her to love thee; - The grace is granted: - Wed and be happy!” - - * * * * * - -This pretty and fanciful, or strange, tale recalls that in the -“Pentamerone” of Gianbattista Basile, the Neapolitan, in which a young -man meets the Twelve Months in human form, and pleases March by speaking -well of him. In this story the hero is a famed orator, who not only -possesses the _gaber_—or “gift of the gab”—but of whom we are told how he -came by it, namely, from Virgil, whose verse has indeed for ages wakened -eloquence in many hearts. - -The days of the week in English are derived as follows: - -Sunday Sun day. -Monday Moon day. -Tuesday Tuisco’s day. -Wednesday Woden or Odin’s day. -Thursday Thor’s day. -Friday Frey’s day. -Saturday Seater’s day. - -According to this, Friday is the luckiest day, because Frey was the god -who gave good fortune, and Freya, his female counterpart, was the -Northern Venus. The Italian names with their gods correspond to ours, as -the deities of the North resembled those of the Latin pantheon. As this -is an interesting subject, I take from the Italian -Historical-Mythological Dictionary the following: - - “_Settimana_ is a time composed of seven days. Dion Cassius asserts - that the Egyptians were the first to divide time into periods of - seven days, and that it was suggested by the seven planets. However, - the ancients in this did not follow the rule, since in that case we - should have had Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and - the Moon. Saturday, Sabato, is derived from Saturn, who ruled the - first hour.” - -It was, in fact, from the disposition of the _hours_ that the days of the -week received their names; hence the transposition of names, as is very -ingeniously worked out by the author. - -It is almost amusing to observe that in this, as in all tales coming from -a witch source, the incantations, though not at all necessary to the -story, are given with scrupulous care. - -To the reader who would seriously study Cicero, yet in a deeply -interesting form, I commend “Cicero and his Friends,” by Gaston Bussier -(London: A. D. Innes and Co., 1897). According to this genial and -vigorous French writer, there is a great deal of mystery as to the manner -in which the noble orator acquired the money to purchase estates and -villas, when he was notoriously devoid of income. It is true that a -great deal of public money was passing through his hands just then, but -as he was as incorruptible and pure as an average American senator, of -course _this_ cannot account for his acquisitions. Here the legend comes -to our aid and meets the difficulty. Having the Seven Days to draw upon, -which probably means infinite extension of time and renewal of his notes, -the great Roman, borrowing, like his friend Cæsar, by millions, got along -very comfortably. In fact, they borrowed so much that all Rome was -interested in their prosperity, and helped to make them rich that they -might pay. - - - - -VIRGIL AND THE GODDESS VESTA. - - - “Put out the light, and then—put out the light!” - - “Ut inquit Hecateus in Genealogiis: Enim vero cùm _duæ_ essent Vestæ, - per antiquiorem Saturni matrem; terram; at per juniorem ignem purum - ætheris significarunt.”—_Mythologia Natalis Comitis_, A.D. 1616. - -Many centuries have passed since there was (worshipped) in Florence a -goddess who was the great spirit of virtue and chastity, (yet) when a -maid had gone astray she always devoted herself to worship the beautiful -Avesta, as this deity was called, and the latter never failed in such -case to get her devotee out of the difficulty. Her temple was that -building which is now called the Baptistery of Saint John, and she was -the goddess of light, as of candles, torches, and all that illuminates. -And Avesta was, as I have said, known as the deity of virtue, albeit many -of the people shrugged their shoulders when they heard this, being -evidently strongly inclined to doubt, but they said nothing for fear of -punishment. - -For it was rumoured that Avesta had many lovers, and that in the rites of -her religion there were secrets too dark to discover, and that as -everything in her worship was involved in mystery and carried on -occultly, it followed, of course, that it involved something wrong. And -it was observed that once a month many women who worshipped her met in -her temple by night, and that they were accompanied by their lovers, who -with them adored the goddess in the form of a large lighted lamp. But -that when this rite was at an end and the multitude had departed, there -remained unnoted a number, by whom the doors were closed and the light -extinguished, when a general orgy ensued, no one knowing who the others -might be. {98a} And it was from this came the saying which is always -heard when two lovers are seated together by a light and it goes out, -that Avesta did it. {98b} - -There was in Florence a young lord who loved a lady of great beauty. But -she had a bitter rival, who to cross their love had recourse to sorcery -or witchcraft, and so “bound” or cast on him a spell which weakened his -very life, and made him impotent and wretched, that his very heart seemed -to be turned to water. - -And this spell the witch worked by taking a padlock and locking it, -saying: - - “Chiudo la catena, - Ma non chiudo la catena, - Chiudo il corpo e l’anima - Di questo bel signor ingrato, - Chi non ha voluto, - Corrispondermi in amore, {98c} - Ha preferito un’ altra a me, - E questa io l’odio - Come odio la signorina, - Pure catena che incateni - Tanti diavoli tieni! - Tengo incatenata questo signor - Fino a mio comando - Che nessuno la possa disciogliere - E incatenato possa stare, - Fino che non si decidera - Di sposarmi. . . .” - - “Now here I close the lock, - Yet ’tis not a lock which I close; - I shut the body and soul - Of this ungrateful lord, - Who would not meet my love, - But loves another instead, - Another whom I hate, - Whom I here lock and chain - With devil’s power again. - I hold this man fast bound - That none shall set him free - Until I so command, - And bound he shall remain - Till he will marry me.” - -One day Virgil was passing the Piazza del Duomo, when he met with the -young man who had thus been bound or bewitched, and the victim was so -pale and evidently in terrible suffering, that the great poet and -magician, who was ever pitying and kind, was moved to the heart, and -said: - -“Fair youth, what trouble have you, that you seem to be in such -suffering?” - -The young man replied that he, being in love unto life and death, had -been bewitched by some malignant sorcery. - -“That I can well see,” replied the sage, “and I am glad that it will be -an easy thing for me to cure you. Go thou into a field which is just -beyond Fiesole, in a place among the rocks. There thou wilt find a flat -stone bearing a mark. Lift it, and beneath thou wilt find a padlock and -chain. Take this golden key: it is enchanted, for with it thou canst -open any lock in the world of door or chain. {99} Keep the lock, open -it, and then go to the Temple of Vesta and return thanks with prayer, and -wait for what will come.” - -So the young man did as Virgil had told him, and among the rocks found -the stone and the padlock, and went to the Temple of Avesta, where he -opened the lock and made the prayer to the goddess, which having done, he -fell asleep, and no one beheld him. - -And while he was there the young lady entered the Baptistery to worship -Avesta, to offer her devotions, which being ended, she sat down and also -fell into a deep sleep, and no one observed her. - -But later in the night, when the doors were closed and the light -extinguished, and the worshippers who remained were calling “Avesta!” the -two sleepers who were side by side were awakened by a rustling of silk, -and this was caused by the dress of the goddess, who roused them. And -the young man found himself restored to vigorous health and unwonted -passion, and quickly noting that a lady was by him, and carried away by -feelings beyond his control, embraced and kissed her—nor did she indeed -resist, for the will of Avesta was on them both. But noting that the -lady had a silk handkerchief {100} partly out of her pocket, he adroitly -stole it, putting in its place his own, and so with a kiss he left her, -neither knowing who the other was. But on awaking, as if it were from a -dream or a delirium, the lady was overcome with shame and grief, and -could only think that madness or magic had overcome her reason, to cause -her to yield as she had done. For this morning she felt more -passionately in love with her betrothed than she had ever done before, -and this was because the spell which had bound her was broken with the -opening of the padlock. - -But what was the astonishment of the lover, who was also restored to all -his health and strength, when in the morning he looked at the -handkerchief which he had carried away and found embroidered on it the -arms and name of his love! So he went to visit her, and his greeting -was: - -“Signorina, have you lost a handkerchief?” - -“Not that I know of,” replied the lady, amazed. - -“Look at the one in your pocket, and then at _this_,” was his laughing -reply. - -She did so, and understanding all in an instant, cried out in shame and -horror, while she became at first like blood and then milk. Then the -gentleman said: - -“It seems to me, Signorina, that we must by mistake have exchanged -handkerchiefs last night in the dark, and no wonder, considering the -fervency of our devotions. And since we have begun to worship and pray -so devoutly, and have entered on such a good path, it were a pity for us -to turn back, and therefore it were well for us to continue to travel on -it hand in hand together. But I propose that instead of changing -pocket-handkerchiefs, we exchange rings before the altar and get -married.” - -The lady laughed and replied: - -“I accept with great pleasure, Signore, the handkerchief; just as the -women in Turkey do when it is thrown to them. And you know the proverb: - - “‘La donna chi prende - Tosto si rende - E poi si vende.’” - - “She who will take will give herself away, - And she who gives will sell herself, they say.” - -“Even so will I sell mine for thine; but you must take the bargain on the -nail, and the ball on the bound in the game of love.” - -“Yes,” replied the young man; “I do so with all my heart. But as for our -handkerchiefs, I now see that it is true that the peasant does not always -know what it is that he carries home in his bag from the mill. Thanks be -to Avesta that we found such good flour in our sacks!” - -“To Vesta and to Virgil be all praise!” replied the lady. “But I think -that while we continue our daily worship in the temple, we will go there -no longer by night. _Vi sono troppo donne devote nel buio_”—There are -too many lady devotees there in the darkness. - - * * * * * - -As a mere story this legend were as well left out, but it is one of a -hundred as regards curious relics of mythologic and other lore. Firstly, -be it observed that a secret doctrine, or esoteric as opposed to exoteric -teaching, was taught in all the mysteries of the gods. Diana, who is -identical with Vesta, Avesta, or Hestia, as a goddess of light by night -and also of chastity, had her lovers in secret. What further identifies -the two is that in this tale girls who have got into trouble through -love, pray to Vesta, even as Roman maids did under similar circumstances -specially to Diana. - -There is no historical proof whatever that the Baptistery was ever a -temple of Vesta, but there is very remarkable circumstantial evidence to -that effect which I have indicated in detail in an article in the -_Architectural Review_. Both Vesta and Saint John were each in her or -his religion the special deities or incarnations of Light or Fire, and -Purity or Chastity. The temples of Vesta were like those of Mars, and -Mars alone, either round, hexagonal, or square, to indicate the form -attributed with variations to the world. The early tradition of all -writers on Florence speaks of the Baptistery of Saint John as having been -a temple of Mars, which legend the priests naturally endeavoured to deny, -thinking it more devout and “genteel” to attribute its erection to a -Christian Empress. - -The binding and rendering impotent by means of a padlock, and forty other -devices, to render married folk miserable, or lovers languid, was so -common two centuries ago, that there is almost a literature, occult, -theological, and legal, on the subject. The Rabbis say it was invented -by Ham, the son of Noah. The superstition was generally spread in Greece -and Rome. It is still very commonly believed in and practised by witches -all over Europe, and especially by gipsies and the Italian _strege_. - -What is above all to be remarked in this tale is that it recognises a -double nature in Vesta—one as a chaste goddess of fire, the other of a -voluptuous or generative deity, signified by extinguishing the lights. -And this is precisely what the oldest writers declared, though it was -quite forgotten in later times. As Natalis Comes declares, “There were -_two_ Vestas, one by the first wife of Saturn, another by the younger -one, meaning the earth, the other fire,” as Ovid witnesses, “Fastorum,” -lib. 6. In fact, there was a double or second to every one of the Greek -or Etruscan gods. And this belief which was forgotten by the higher -classes remained among the people. And it may be specially noted that -the second Vesta was called the mother of the gods, as Strabo declares, -and she was in fact the Venus of the primitive or Saturnian mythology. - - - - -THE STONE FISH, AND HOW VIRGIL MADE IT EATABLE. - - - “Virgille plus fu sapïens - Plus clerc, plus sage et plus scïens. - Que nul a son temps vesquist, - Et plus de grans merveilles fist - Pour voir il fist de grans merveilles; - Homs naturels ne fist pareilles.” - - RENARS CONTREFAIS, A.D. 1319. - -In the old times, when things were so different from what they are -now—the blue bluer, the red redder, when the grains of maize were as big -as grapes, and grapes as big as pomegranates, and pomegranates as big as -melons, and the Arno was always full of water, and the water so full of -fine large fish that everybody had as many as he wanted for nothing, and -the sun and moon gave twice as much light—there was, not far from Via -Reggio, a castle, and the signore who owned it was a great bandit, who -robbed all the country round, as all the gentlemen did in those times -when they could, for it is true that with all the blessings of those days -they had some curses! - -One day there passed by a poor fisherman with an ass, and on it was a -very large, wonderfully fine fish, a tunny, which was a load for the -beast, and which was intended for the good monks of an abbey hard by, to -whom the man hoped to sell it, partly for money and partly for blessings. -When lo! he was met by Il Bandito, as the signore was called, and, as you -may suppose, the gentleman was not slow to seize the prey, which fell as -it were like a roasted lark from heaven into his mouth. And to mock the -poor fellow, the signore gave him a small bottle of wine to repay him. - -Then the fisherman in his despair cursed the Bandito to his face, saying: - -“May God forget and the devil remember thee, and as thou hast mocked my -poverty, mayest thou pass centuries in worse suffering than ever was -known to the poorest man on earth. - -“Thou shalt live in groans and lamentations, thou accursed of God and -despised by the devil; thou shalt never have peace by day or night! - -“Thou shalt be in utter wretchedness till thou shalt see someone eat this -fish. - - “‘In pietra cambiato - E in pietra sarai confinata.’” - - “Thyself a stone, as thou shalt find, - And in a stone thou’lt be confined, - And the fish likewise a stone shall be - Till someone shall eat it and set thee free!” - -And as the poor man prophesied, it came to pass: the fish was changed -into a stone, and the signore into a statue. And the latter stood in a -corner of the dining-hall, and every day the fish was placed at dinner on -the table, but no one could eat it. - -So three hundred years passed away, and the lord who had inherited the -castle had a beautiful daughter, who was beloved by a young signore named -Luigi, who was in every way deserving of her, but whom the father -disliked on account of his family. So when he asked the father for her -hand, the latter replied that he might have it when he should have eaten -the stone fish, and not till then. So the young man went away in grief. - -One day, when this young gentleman was returning from the chase bearing -two fine hares, he met Virgilio, who asked him to sell him one. -Whereupon the young man replied: “Oh, take your pick of them, and -welcome; but say nothing about payment. Perhaps some day you may do as -much for me.” - -“Perhaps,” replied Virgilio, “that day may be nearer than you think. I -never make my creditors wait, nor let my debts run into arrears. What is -there on earth which you most desire?” - -“Truly it is something, signore, which I trow that neither you nor any -man can render possible, for it is to eat the stone fish in the castle up -there.” - -“I think that it can be managed,” replied Virgil, with a smile. “Take -this silver box full of salt, and when the fish is before you, sprinkle -the salt on it, and it will grow tender and taste well, and you can eat -it. But first say unto it: - - “‘Se tu pesce sei fatto - Da un uomo, pel suo atto, - Rimane sempre come sei, - Ma se tu sei scongiurato, - O vere scongiurato, - Non restare pietra—ritorna come eri.’” - - “Fish, if once a man thou wert, - Then remain e’en as thou art! - But if a fish, I here ordain - That thou become a fish again.” - -Then Luigi went to the castle, and was with much laughter placed before -the fish, and the signore asked him if he would have a hammer to carve it -with. - -“Nay, I will eat it after my own fashion,” he replied. “I do but beg -permission to use my own salt, and say my own grace.” - -Then he sprinkled the salt and murmured the incantation, when the fish -became soft and savoury, as if well cooked, and Luigi ate of it, till the -signore of the castle was satisfied, and admitted that he had fulfilled -the conditions—when lo! the fish became whole as before, and a stone -again. - -Then an old statue which was in the hall, in a corner of the wall, spoke -and said: - -“Now I am at peace, since the fish has been eaten. - - “‘Dacche il pesce ha stato mangiato, - Io non sono più confinato.’” - -And saying this, there went forth from the image a spirit-form, which -vanished. - -Then Luigi wedded the young lady of the castle, and Virgilio, who was -present, promised the pair a happy life. And he said: - -“Thou wilt be, O Luigi, the beginner of a family or race which, like the -Holy Church, will have been founded on a stone, and while the Church -lasts thy name shall endure.” - - * * * * * - -The concluding paragraph refers to _pietra_, a stone, and to the text, -well known to the most ignorant Catholic, “Petrus es et super hanc petram -edificabo ecclesiam meam,” whence it has been said that the Roman Church -was founded on a pun, to which the reply might be, “And what if it was?” -since there was no suspicion in early times that the pun, as a poetical -form, might not be seriously employed in illustration. Dr. Johnson made -the silly assertion that a pun upon a proper name is the lowest kind of -wit, in which saying there is—as in many of his axioms—more sound than -sense; nor is it altogether reverent or respectful, when we reflect that -both Christ and Cicero used the despised figure of speech. In one of the -tales in this collection the Emperor of Rome speaks of a wheat-bran -(_tisane_) which had been ordered as “pigs’ broth,” which was exactly the -term by which Cicero alluded to the Verrine law, which also bears that -meaning. As his adversary was a Jew, and the query was, “What has a -Hebrew to do with pig-broth, or pork-soup?”—_i.e._, the law of Verres—the -joke, with all due deference to the law-giver Samuel, may be fairly -called a very good one. {106} - - - - -VIRGILIO AND THE BRONZE HORSE. - - - “The horse of brass.”—MILTON. - - “But evermore their moste wonder was - About this horsé, since it was of brass. - It was of faerie as the peple seemed, - Diversè folk diversely han deemed.” - - CHAUCER: _The Squiere’s Tale_. - -One day Virgilio went to visit the Emperor, and not finding him in his -usual good temper, asked what was the matter, adding that he hoped it -would be in his power to do something to relieve him. - -Then the Emperor complained that what troubled him was that all his -horses seemed to be ill or bewitched, behaving like wild beasts, or as if -evil spirits were in them, and that which grieved him most was that his -favourite white horse was most afflicted of all. - -“Do not vex yourself for such a thing,” replied Virgil. “I will cure -your horses and all the others in the city.” - -Then he caused to be made a beautiful horse of bronze, and it was so well -made that no one, unless by the will of Virgil (_senza il volere di -Virgilio_), could have made the like. And whenever a horse which -suffered in any way beheld it, the animal was at once cured. - -All the smiths and horse-doctors in Rome were greatly angered at this, -because after Virgil made the bronze horse they had nothing to do. So -they planned to revenge themselves on him. And they all assembled in a -vile place frequented by thieves and assassins, and there agreed to kill -Virgil. Going to his house by night, they sought for him, but he -escaped; so they, finding the bronze horse, broke it to pieces, and then -fled. - -When Virgil returned and found the horse in fragments he was greatly -grieved, and said: - -“The smiths have done this. However, I will yet do some good with the -metal, for I will make from it a bell; and when the smiths hear it ring, -I will give them a peal to remember me by.” - -So the bell was made and given to the Church of San Martino. And the -first time it was tolled it sang: - - “Io ero un cavallo di bronzo. - Dai nemici son’ stato spezzato. - Ma un amico che mi ama, - In campana, mi ha cambiato - E la prima volta che faro - _Dindo_, _dindo_! dichiarero - Chi e becco a caprone.” - - “I was a horse of bronze, and tall. - My enemies broke me to pieces small. - But a friend who loves me well - Had me made into a bell. - Now here on high I proudly ring, - And as I _dindo_! _dindo_ sing, - I tell aloud, as I toll and wave, - Who is a _wittol_ and a knave.” - -And all the smiths who had broken the horse when they heard the bell -became as deaf as posts. Then great remorse came over them and shame, -and they threw themselves down on the ground before Virgil and begged his -pardon. - -Virgil replied: - -“I pardon you; but for a penance you must have six other bells made to -add to this, to make a peal, and put them all in the same church.” - -This they did, and then regained their hearing. - - * * * * * - -This same story is told of Virgil in Comparetti’s collection; but the -present tale in the original has about it a smack or tone of the people -which is wanting in the older version. Thus, the song of the bell is a -peculiarly quaint conception, and probably an adaptation of some popular -jest to the effect that bells proclaim the name and shame of certain -persons. I have found that, with rare exception, the legends which I -have given, as preserved by a class to whom tradition has a special -value, are more complete in every respect than the variants drawn from -other sources. - - - - -VIRGILIO AND THE BALL-PLAYER. - - - “Ima subit, resilit. Ventosi prælia vento, - Exagitant juvenes: pellunt dextra atque repellunt, - Corruit ille iterùm; levisque aere truditur aer; - Ictibus impatiens obmurmurat; altaque rursus - Nubila metitur cursu; si forte globosa - Excipiant miserata globum patiturque repulsam.” - - P. CAR. DE LUCA, 1. 19, EX. J. B. GANDUTIO: _Harpastum Florentinum_; - _or_, _On the Florentine Game of Ball_ (1603). - - “Jamque calent lusorum animi; color ardet in ore - In vultu sanguis rubet, omnesque occupat artus; - Præcipites hinc, inde ruunt, cursuque sequaci - Atque oculis sphæræ volucri vigilantibus justant.” - - PILÆ LUDUS: _The Game of Ball_. _Auctor Incertus_. _XVIth Century_. - - “Now the playing at _ball_ is allowed to Christians, because, like - chess, draughts, billiards, bowls, _trucca_, and the like, it is a - game of skill and not of chance, which latter makes illicit the most - innocent play.”—_Trattato di Giochi_, etc., _Rome_, 1708. - -There was once upon a time a grand signore in Florence who had a clever -servant, a young man, who, whether he had a fairy god-mother or a witch -grandmother is not told; but it is certain that he had such luck at -playing ball as to always win and never lose. And his master so arranged -it with him as to bet and win immense sums. - -One day Virgilio, being present at a match in which this young man -played, observed that there sat upon his ball a tiny invisible goblin, -who directed its course as he pleased. - -“Beautiful indeed is thy play,” said Virgilio to the youth, “and thy -ball—_ha tutta la finezza dell’ arte_—hath all the refinement of its art; -but ’tis a pity that it is not an honest ball.” - -“Thou art mistaken,” replied the young man; but he reddened as he spoke. - -“Ah, well,” answered Virgil, “I will show thee anon whether I have made a -mistake or told the truth. _A carne di lupo dente di cane_—A dog’s teeth -to a wolf’s hide. My young friend and his old master need a bite or two -to cure them of their evil ways.” - -There was in Florence the next day a great fair, or _festa_, and Virgil, -passing where young people were diverting themselves, saw a very -beautiful, bold-faced girl, who looked like a gipsy, or as if she -belonged to some show, playing ball. Then Virgil, calling a goblin not -bigger than a babe’s finger, {109} bade it go and sit on the girl’s ball, -and inhabit and inspire it to win. It did so, and the girl won every -time. Then Virgilio said to her: - -“Come with me, and I will show you how to win one hundred crowns. There -is a young man who carries all before him at playing; thou must drive him -before thee; _e render la pariglia_—pay him back in his own money. Then -shalt thou have one hundred crowns.” - -So they went together to the castle, and Virgilio said to the old -signore: - -“I have found a young girl who plays ball so well, that I am anxious to -try her game against that of your young man.” - -“What will you bet on her?” asked the old signore. - -“A thousand crowns,” replied Virgilio. - -“Done!” was the response. - -But when they met on the ground the youth and the girl fell in love at -first sight to the last degree, and not being much troubled with modesty, -told one another so—_schiettamente e senza preamboli_—plainly, without -prelude, preamble, or preface, as is the way and wont of professionals or -show-people, wherein they showed their common sense of the value of time, -which is to them as money. - -Then they began to play, and it was in the old fashion, with two balls at -once, each player tossing one to the other with the drum. {110a} And it -came to pass that in the instant that the two goblins beheld one another -from afar they also fell in love. And as fairies and _folletti_ do -everything, when they will, a thousand times more rapidly than human -beings, and as neither could or would conquer in the game, they both -cried: - -“Let us be for ever united in love.” - -So the two balls met with a bump half-way in their course and fell to the -ground as one, while the fays embraced; and at the same instant the youth -and the girl, unable to suppress their feelings, rushed into one -another’s arms and began to kiss, and Virgilio and the old signore roared -with laughter, the latter having a second attack of merriment when -Virgilio explained to him the entire trick and plot. - -Then, as it was a drawn game, the thousand crowns were by common consent -bestowed on the young couple, who were married to their hearts’ content, -having one _festa_ after another, at which all the guests went from -bottle to bottle, even as the ass of a dealer in pottery goeth from door -to door, or as the pig of Saint Antonio went from house to house. Amen! - - * * * * * - -Singularly enough, though this story comes from a witch source, there is -in it no incantation addressed to a ball to make it always win for its -owner; and, oddly enough, I recall one for that purpose, taken from an -American burlesque of “Der Freyschütz,” {110b} in which the demon-hunter -calls on Zamiel the fiend to give him a magic ninepin or skittle-ball. - - “Sammy-hell, a boon I beg! - By thy well and wooden leg! - We ask for that ’ere bowling ball - Wot’ll knock down one and all. - Give us all the queer ingredients, - And we’ll remain your most obedients!” - -The idea of enchanted dice which always throw sixes and the like, forms -the subject of stories possibly wherever dice are thrown or cards played, -inasmuch as all gamblers who live or lose by chance are naturally led to -believe that fortune can be invoked or propitiated. Hence the majority -of them carry charms, fetishes, or amulets. - - - - -VIRGIL AND THE GENTLEMAN WHO BRAYED. - - - “Braire comme des Asnes en plain marché.” - - _Cf._ LEROUX DE LUICY: _Facetieux Réveille-matin_, pp. 103, 171. - _XVII. Siècle_. - - “Ha, Sire Ane, ohé! - Belle bouche, rechignez! - Vous aurez du foin assez - Et de l’avoine à-plantez!” - - _Chanson_, _XII. Siècle_. - -There were once assembled at the table of the Emperor many friends of -Virgilio, who praised him highly. But there was also one who abused him -bitterly, and called him an ass; and the word went forth to all the city, -and much was said of it, and there was a great scandal over it. - -When Virgil heard of it he smiled, and said that he thought he would ere -long be even with the gentleman who had jackassed him; and those who knew -him were of the same opinion, for certainly the means of retaliation were -not wanting to him. - -Now, the Emperor had given to Virgilio an ass to ride, and the poet said -to his patron that, if he would order that the animal might go or come -wherever he pleased, he would show him some time a merry jest. To which -the Emperor right willingly assented. - -So one day there were many lords seated at the imperial table, and among -them were Virgilio and his enemy. But what was the amazement of all save -the magician when the servants, flying in, said that the ass of the -Signore Virgilio had entered the door, and insisted on coming into the -banqueting-hall. - -“Admit him instantly,” said the Emperor. - -The ass came in as politely as an ass could. He bowed down before the -Emperor and kissed his hand. - -“He has come to visit his dear brother,” remarked the enemy of Virgil. - -“_That is true_,” replied the ass; and walking up to the gentleman, he -stared him in the face, and said: “Good brother, good-day!” - -The signore, bursting into a rage, tried to utter something, but only -brayed—and such a bray, the King of the Asses himself could not have -equalled it. There was a roar of laughter long and loud, revived again -with each succeeding roar. At last, when there was silence, Virgil said: - -“But tell me, Ciuchino, donkey mine, which of us three is the _real_ ass? -For thy brother there says that I am one, and thou callest him brother, -and yet from thy appearance I should say that thou art truly ‘the one.’” - -And the ass replied: - -“Trust not to looks in this world, for in outward seeming there is great -deceit. By their _voice_ shall ye know them; by their song, which is the -same in all lands. For many are the languages of mankind, but there is -only one among asses, for we all bray and pray in the same tongue.” - -“Truly,” replied Virgilio, “thou almost deservest to become a Christian, -and I will help thee to it.” Saying this, he touched the donkey’s nose -with his wand, and his face became as the face of the gentleman, on whom -there now appeared a donkey’s head. - -“Now we are indeed beginning to look more like ourselves,” quoth the ass. - -“_Aun-ky—aunky—aunky—ooooh_!” brayed the gentleman. - -“That, my lords,” explained the donkey, “when translated into _volgare_ -from our holy tongue, is my brother’s confession of faith, wherein he -declares that he is the very Ass of Asses—the _summa summarum_, and the -_somaro dei somari_.” - -“That will do,” exclaimed Virgilio; and touching the ass and the signore, -he restored to each his natural form and language. And the signore -rushed out in a blind rage, but the ass went with proper dignity, first -saluting the company, and then bowing low before the Emperor ere he -departed. - -“_Per Bacco_!” exclaimed the Emperor; “the ass, it seems to me, hath -better manners and a finer intellect than his brother.” - -“’Tis sometimes the case in this world, your Imperial Highness, that -asses appear to advantage—even at court.” - - - - -VIRGIL AND THE GIRL WITH GOLDEN LOCKS. - - - “And they had fixed the wedding day, - The morning that must wed them both, - For Stephen to another maid - Had sworn another oath; - And with this other maid to church - Unthinking Stephen went— - Poor Martha, on that woeful day, - A pang of pitiless dismay - Into her soul was sent.” - - WORDSWORTH: _Poems of the Imagination_: _The Thorn_. - -There was once in Florence a wealthy widow lady of noble family, who had -a son who was all that a parent could have wished, had he not been -somewhat reckless and dissipated, and selfish withal, which he showed by -winning the love of girls and then leaving them; which thing became such -a scandal that it caused great grief to the mother, who was a truly good -woman. And so the youth, who was really a devoted son, seeing this, -reformed his ways for a long time. - -But as the proverb says, he who has once drunk at this fountain will ever -remember the taste, and probably drink again. So it came to pass that in -time the young gentleman fell again into temptation, and then began to -tempt, albeit with greater care and caution—’tis so that all timid -sinners go, resolving the next step shall be the last—till finally, under -solemn promise of marriage, he led astray into the very forest of despair -a very poor and friendless maid, who was, however, of exquisite beauty, -and known as “the girl of golden locks,” from her hair. It might be that -the young man might have kept his word, but at an evil time he was -tempted by the charms of a young lady of great wealth and greater family, -who met him more than half-way, giving him to understand that her hand -was to be had for asking; whereupon he, who never lost a chance or left a -fruit unplucked, asked at once and was accepted, the wedding-day being at -once determined on. - -Then the girl with the golden hair, finding herself abandoned, became -well-nigh desperate. Ere long, too, she gave birth to a child, which was -a boy. And it was some months after this, indeed, ere the wedding of the -youth to the heiress was to take place, when one day, as the young -unmarried mother was passing along the Arno, she met the great poet and -sorcerer Virgil, who saw in her face the signs of such deep suffering, -and of such a refined and noble nature, that he paused and asked her if -she had any cause of affliction. So with little trouble he induced her -to confide in him, saying that she had no hope, because her betrayer -would soon be wedded to another. - -“Perhaps not,” replied Virgil. “Many a tree destined to be felled has -escaped the axe and lived till God blew it down. On the day appointed we -three will all go to the wedding.” - -And truly when the time came all Florence was much amazed to see the -great Virgil going into the Church of Santa Maria with the beautiful girl -with the golden hair and bearing her babe in his arms. So the building -was speedily filled with people waiting eagerly to witness some strange -sight. - -And they were not disappointed. For when the bride in all her beauty and -the bridegroom in all his glory came to the altar and paused, ere the -priest spoke Virgil stepped forward, and presenting the girl with golden -locks, said: - -“This is she whom thou art to wed, having sworn to make her thy wife, and -this is thy child.” - -Then the infant, who had never before in his life uttered a word, -exclaimed, in loud, sweet tones: - - “Thou’rt my father, I’m thy son; - Other father I have none.” - -Then there was a great scene, the bride being as one mad, and all the -people crying, “_Evviva_, Virgilio! If the Signore Cosino {114} does not -wed the girl with golden hair, he shall not escape us!” Which he did -indeed, and that not so unwillingly, for the sight of the girl and the -authority of Virgil, the cries of the people, his own conscience, and the -marvellous occurrence of the babe’s speaking, all reconciled him to it. - -So the wedding was carried out forthwith, and every soul in Florence who -could make music went with his instrument that night and serenaded the -newly-married pair. - -And the mother was not a little astonished when she saw her son, who had -gone forth with one bride, return with another. However, she was soon -persuaded by Virgil that it was all for the best, and found in time that -she had a perfect daughter-in-law. - - * * * * * - -I had rejected this story as not worth translating, since it presents so -few traditional features, when it occurred to me that it indeed very -clearly and rather curiously sets forth Virgil as a benevolent man and a -sympathizer with suffering without regard to rank or class. This -Christian kindness was associated with his name all through the Middle -Ages in literature, and it is wonderful how the form of it has been -preserved unto these our times among the people. - -There is a tale told by one Surius, “In Vita S. Anselmi,” cited by -Kornmann in his work “De Miraculis Vivorum” in 1614, which bears on this -which I have told. A certain dame in Rome not only had a child, _ex -incestu_, but magnified her sin by swearing the child on the Pope, -Sergius. The question being referred to Saint Anselm, he asked the babe, -which had never spoken, whether his papa was the Pope. To which the -infant answered, “Certainly not,” adding that Sergius “_nihil cum Venere -commercium habere_”—Anselmus, as is evident, being resolved to make a -clean sweep of the whole affair and whitewash the Holy Father to the -utmost while he was about it. Salverté would, like a sinner, have said -that Anselm was perhaps a ventriloquist—_es kann sein_! - -But let us not discuss it, and pass on, just mentioning that since I -wrote the above I found another legend of an Abbot Daniel, of whom -Gregory of Tours and Sophronius relate that he, having prayed that a -certain lady might become a mother, and the request being complied with, -some of Daniel’s enemies suggested that other means as well as prayer, -and much more efficacious, had been resorted to by the saint to obtain -the desired result. But Daniel, inquiring of the babe when it was -twenty-five days of age, was, _coram omnibus_, fully acquitted, the -_bambino_ pointing to his true father, and saying, with a nod, “_Verbis -et mitibus_”—_That’s_ the man! And the same happened to a Bishop -Britius. But Saint Augustine beats the record by declaring that, “It -hath sometimes happened that infants as yet unborn have cried out _ex -utero matris_—which is indeed a marvellous thing!” (“De Civitate Dei,” -III., c. 31). - -And yet it seems to me that Justinus, Procopius, and several others, have -done as well, if not better; for it is related by them that a number of -orthodox believers who had their tongues cut out by Socinians, or -Unitarians (whom the zealous Dean Hole declares are all so many little -ungodly antichrists, or words to that effect), went on praying and -preaching more volubly than ever. The same is told by Evagrius of some -pious women, but I do not offer this as a miracle, there being in it -nothing improbable or remarkable. - -That the Arians, or Unitarians, or Socinians have set tongues to -wagging—especially the tongues of flame which play round the pyres of -martyrdom—is matter of history—and breviary. But that they have been the -cause of making dead and tongueless Trinitarians talk, seems doubtful. -However, as the Canadian said of the ox: “There is no knowing what the -subtlest form of Antichrist _may_ do.” _Passons_! - - - - -VIRGIL AND THE PEASANT OF AREZZO. - - - “Optuma tornæ - Forma bovis, cui turpe caput, cui plurima cervix, - Et crurum tenus a mento palearia pendent; - Tum longo nullus lateri modus; omnia magna, - Pes etiam, et camuris hirtæ sub cornibus aures. - Nec mihi displiceat maculis insignis, et albo, - Aut juga detrectans, interdumque aspera cornu, - Et faciem taurs propior, quæque ardua tota, - Et gradiens ima verrit vestigia cauda.” - - VIRGILIUS: _Georgics_, lib. iii. - - “Annescis, pinguem carnibus esse bovem?” - - _Epigrams by_ FRIED. HOFMANN (1633). - - “_Pallium non facit philosophum nec_ - _Cucullus monachum_—” - - “Dress if you will - A knave in silk, he will be shabby still.” - -This legend, with several others, was gathered in or near Arezzo. - - * * * * * - -In the old times people suffered in many things far more than they now -do, firstly from the signori, who treated them worse than brutes, and as -if this were not enough, they were tormented by witches and wizards and -wicked people who went to the devil or his angels to revenge them on -their enemies. However, there were good and wise men who had the power -to conquer these evil ones, and who did all they could to untie their -knots and turn back their spells and curses on themselves, and the -greatest of these was named Virgilio, who passed all his life in doing -good. - -Now, it is an old custom in Arezzo that when men take cattle to a fair, -be it oxen or cows or calves, the animals are tricked out or ornamented -as much as possible, and there is great competition as to this among the -peasants, for it is a great triumph for a contadino when all the people -say that his beasts made the finest show of any in the place; so that it -is said a man of Arezzo will spend more to bedeck his cattle for a fair -than he will to dress his daughters for a dance. - -Now, there was a very worthy, honest man named Gianni, who was the head -or manager under the proprietor of a very fine estate near Arezzo, and -one day he went to the fair to buy a yoke of oxen. And what he cared for -was to get the best, for his master was rich and generous, and did not -much heed the price so that he really got his money’s worth. - -But good as Gianni was, he had to suffer the affliction which none can -escape of being envied and hated. For wicked and spiteful souls find -something to hate in people who have not done them any wrong, and whom -they have not the least motive to harm—_nessunissimo motive_. - -So the good Gianni found at the fair a pair of oxen which, so far as -ornament was concerned, were a sight to behold. For they were covered -with nets, and adorned with many bands of red woollen stuff all -embroidered with gold, and bearing in gold the name of their owner, -having many cords and tassels and scarfs of all colours on their heads. -And these cords were elaborately braided, while there hung a mirror on -the forehead of each animal, so that the elegance of their decoration was -the admiration of all who were at the fair. - -Then Gianni, seeing the oxen, drew near, but before making an offer, -complimented the owner on their beautiful appearance. And this done, he -said: - -“All very fine, but in doing business for my patron I set aside all -personal friendship. Your cattle are finely dressed up, but how are the -beasts themselves? That is all that I care to know, and I don’t wish to -have them turn out as it happened to a man who married a wife because he -admired her clothes, and found, when she was undressed, that she was a -mere scrap, and looked like a dried cod-fish.” - -So they talked till the dealer took off the coverings, when Gianni found, -in fact, that the oxen had many faults. - -“I am sorry to say, my friend,” quoth Gianni, “that I cannot buy them. I -have done you more than one good turn before now, as you well know, but -business is business, and I am buying for my master, so good-day.” - -Then the owner was in a great rage, and grated his teeth, and swore -revenge, for there were many round about who laughed at him, and he -resolved to do evil to Gianni, who, however, thought no more of it, but -went about the fair till he found a pair of excellent oxen which were the -best for sale, and drove them home. - -But as soon as they were in the stable they fell on the ground (dead). -Gianni was in despair, but the master, who had seen the cattle and found -them fine and in good condition when they arrived, did not blame him. - -So the next day Gianni went to another fair, and bought another yoke of -oxen. But when in the evening they were in the stable, they fell dead at -once, as the others had done. Still the master had such faith in him, -that although he was greatly vexed at the loss, he bade the man go once -more to a fair and try his luck. So he went, and indeed returned with a -magnificent pair, which were carefully examined; but there was the same -result, for they also fell dead as soon as they were stabled. - -Then the master resolved to go and buy cattle for himself, and did so. -But there was the same result: these fell dead like the others. And the -master, in despair and rage, said to Gianni: - -“Here I give thee some money, and now begone, for I believe that thou -bringest evil to me. I have lost four yoke of oxen, and will lose no -more.” - -So Gianni went forth with his wife and children, in great suffering. And -the master took in his place Dorione. This was the very man who had -owned the oxen which Gianni would not buy, and he was one who was versed -in all the sorcery of cattle, as such people in the mountains always are, -and by his witchcraft he had brought all this to pass. - -But under his care all the cattle flourished wonderfully, and the master -was much pleased with him. But Gianni was in extreme misery, and could -see nothing but beggary before him, because it was reported everywhere -that he brought bad luck, and he could get no employment. - -One day, when matters were at their worst with him and there was not even -a piece of bread in his poor home, he met on the road a troop of -cavaliers, at the head of whom were two magnificently clad gentlemen, and -these were the Emperor and Virgil. - -The poor peasant had stepped aside to admire the procession as it passed, -when all at once Virgil looked with a piercing glance at Gianni, and -cried: - -“Man, what aileth thee that thou seemest so wretched? For I read in thy -face that thou sufferest unjustly, well-nigh to death.” - -Then Gianni told his story, and Virgil answered: - -“For all of this there is a remedy. Now, come with me to the house of -thy late master, where there is work to be done.” - -“But they will drive me out headlong,” replied Gianni; “I dare not go. -And if I do not return to my family, who are all ill or starving to -death, they will think that some disaster has befallen me.” - -“For that too there is also a remedy,” said Virgil, with a smile. “Have -no care. Now to thy master!” - -“Why didst thou send away this honest man?” asked Virgil of the -_padrone_. - -To which the master replied by telling all about the oxen. “Therefore, -because he brought ruin into my house did I dismiss him.” - -“Well,” replied Virgil, “this time thou didst get rid of an honest man -and keep the knave. Now let us go and see to thy dead oxen.” - -So they went apace to the spot where the dead oxen had all been thrown, -where the whole eight lay unchanged, for decay had not come upon them, -they were as sound as ever. - -Then Virgil exclaimed, as he waved his wand: - - “If ye are charmed, retake your breath! - If you’re bewitched, then wake from death! - Speak with a voice, and tell us why, - And who it was that made ye die!” - -Then all the oxen came to life, and sang in chorus with human voices: - - “Dorione slew us for revenge, - Because Gianni would not buy his oxen, - Truly they were greatly ornamented, - Yet withal were wretched, sorry cattle. - So he swore to be revenged upon him, - So he was revenged by witching us.” - -“You have heard the whole truth,” said Virgil to the Emperor. “It is for -you to condemn the culprit.” - -“I condemn him to be at once put to death,” replied the Emperor. “Hast -thou anything to add?” - -“Yes,” said Virgil; “I condemn him to immediately become a goat after -death.” - -Then Dorione was burnt alive for an evil wizard, and he leapt from the -flame in the form of a black goat and vanished. - -Gianni returned in favour to his master, and all went well with him -evermore. - - * * * * * - -The very singular or unusual name of Dorione intimates a classical -origin, and it is true that one of the Danaides, the bride of Cerceste, -was called thus; but on this hook hangs no analogy. Dordione was the -Roman god of blackguardism _pur et simple_, unto whom people made obscene -offerings—which, according to sundry reviewers, might suggest the Dorian -of a certain novel of the ultra Greek-æsthetic school, which had many -admirers in certain circles, both in America and England. But it is very -remarkable that wherever it occurs, be it in pagan antiquity or modern -times, the name has always had a certain evil smell about it, a something -fish-like and ancient, but not venerable. It is true that I have already -given a legend of another Dorione, who was a protégé of Virgil; but even -this latter example was sadly given to “rapacious appropriation.” The -Dorians were all a bad lot from a moral point of view, according to -history. - -It is remarkable that Dorione, who is a mountain shepherd or herdsman, is -noted as a sorcerer. Owing to their solitary lives and knowledge of -secrets in the medical treatment and management of cattle, this class in -many countries (but especially in France and Italy) is regarded as -consisting entirely of sorcerers. This is specially the case with -smiths, farriers, and all who exercise the veterinary art. - -It may also strike the reader as singular that Dorione in the tale should -be moved to such deadly vengeance, simply because Gianni would not buy -his cattle, and preferred others. This is a very common and marked -characteristic of Italians. If you examine a man’s wares, talk about, -and especially if you touch them, you will often be expected to buy as a -matter of course. I have been seriously cautioned in a fair, by one who -was to the manner born, against examining anything unless I bought it, or -something. A few years ago, in Florence, a flower-girl asked an -Englishman to buy of her ware, which he declined to do, and then changing -his mind, bought a bouquet from another girl close by. Whereupon the -first _floriste_ stabbed and slew the second—to the great astonishment of -the tourist! - -There is an unconscious fitness and propriety in making the author of the -“Georgics” so familiar with cattle that he is able to raise them from the -dead. The chorus of oxen, accusing the evil-doer, is an idea or motive -which also occurs in the story of Cain, as given in my “Legends of -Florence.” - -The black goat is, and ever was in Italy, specially accursed as a type of -evil. Witches are rarely described as riding brooms—their steed is the -goat. Evil spirits, or souls of men accursed, haunt bridges in this -form. The perverse and mischievous spirit of the animal, as well as his -appearance, is sufficient to explain this. - - - - -THE GIRL AND THE FLAGEOLET. - - - “Thus playing sweetly on the flageolet, - He charmed them all; and playing yet again, - Led them away, won by the magic sound.” - - _De Pueris Hamleënsibus_, 1400. - -There is in the Toscana Romagna a place known as La Valle della Fame, or -Valley of Hunger, in which dwelt a family of peasants, or three brothers -and two sisters. The elder brother had married a wife who was good and -beautiful, and she had given birth to a daughter, but died when the babe -was only one year old. Then, according to the advice of the sisters and -brothers, he married again, that he might have someone to take care of -his child. The second wife was a pretty young woman, but after she had -been wedded a year she gave birth to a daughter, who was very ugly indeed -and evil; but the mother seemed to love her all the more for this, and -began to hate the elder, who was as good and beautiful as an angel. And -as her hatred grew she beat and abused the poor little girl all day long. - -One morning the latter went into the woods to hide herself from her -stepmother till it should be evening, when she could return home and be -safe with her father and aunts. And while sitting all alone beneath a -tree, she heard a bird above her singing so sweetly that she felt -enchanted. It was a marvellous sound, at times like the music of a flute -played by a fairy, then like a human voice carolling in soft tones, and -then like a horn echoing far away. The little girl said: - -“Oh dear, sweet bird, I wish I could pipe and play like you!” - -As she said this the bird fell from the tree, and when she picked it up -she found that it was a _zufolo_, or shepherd’s flageolet, in the form of -a bird. And when she blew on it, it gave forth such sweet sounds—_suone -belle da rimanere incantati_—as would charm all who heard them. And as -she practised, she found the art to play it seemed to come of itself, and -every now and then she could hear a fairy voice in the sound speaking to -her. - -Now, this was a miracle which had been wrought by Virgil the magician, -who did so many wonderful things in the olden time. - -In the evening she returned home and played on the bird-pipe, and all -were charmed except the stepmother, who alone heard in the music a voice -which said: - - “Though sweet thy smile, and smooth thy brow, - Evil and cold at heart art thou; - I never yet did harm to thee, - Yet thou hast beat me cruelly, - And given me curses fierce and wild - Because I’m fairer than thy child. - Unless thou lettest me alone - Henceforth, all ill shall be thine own, - With all the suffering I have known.” - -But to the girl the pipe sang: - - “Sing to thy father, gently say - That thou the morrow goest away, - And tell him thou hast borne too long - Great cruelty and cruel wrong; - For truly he was much to blame - That he so long allowed the same; - But now the evil spell is broken, - The time has come, the word is spoken!” - -Then her father would fain have kept her, but the spell was on her, and -she went out into the wide world playing on her pipe. And when she was -in the woods, the birds and wild beasts came and listened to her and did -as she bade; and when she was in towns, the people gathered round and -were charmed to hear her play, and gave her money and often jewels, and -no one dared to say an evil word to her, for a spell was on her, and a -charm which kept away evil. - -So years passed by, and she was blooming into maidenhood, when one day a -young lord, passing with his mother, who was a woman as noble of soul and -good as her son, paused to hear the girl play on her pipe and sing, for -they thought the marvellous song of the _zufolo_ was her voice. - -Then the lady asked the girl if she would enter a monastery, where she -would be educated and brought up to live in a noble family in return for -her music. The girl replied that she had already a great deal of money -and many jewels, but that she would be very glad to be better educated -and advanced in life. So she entered the convent, where she was very -happy, and the end thereof was that she became betrothed to the young -signore, and great preparations were made for the wedding. - -Now, the stepmother had but one idea in life, which was that her own -daughter should make some great match, and for this purpose she was glad -when the second went away, as she hoped, to become a mere vagabond, -playing the flute for a living. But when she heard that the girl was -very prosperous in a convent in Florence, and had not only been educated -like a princess in the best society, but would ere long marry a nobleman, -she became mad with rage; and going to a witch, she paid her a great sum -to prepare a powder which, if strewed in the path of the bride, would -cause her prompt and agonizing pain, and after a time death in the most -dreadful suffering. And this was to be laid in the way of the wedding -procession. But on that morning the pipe sang: - - “Where’er on earth the wind doth blow, - All leaves and dust before it go. - Evil or good, they fly away - Before its breath, as if in play; - And so shall it for thee this day, - Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, - And death to the witch, for so it must - Ever happen as ’twas decreed, - For death is the pay for an evil deed!” - -Now, the bridegroom and all friends had begged the bride to play the -flute as she walked in the wedding procession, and she did so, and it -seemed to her that it had never played so sweetly. The stepmother was -looking on anxiously in the crowd, and when the bride was just coming to -the powder in the way, the wicked woman cried: - -“Play louder—_louder_!” - -The bride, to oblige everyone, blew hard, and a wind came from the pipe -which blew all the powder into the stepmother’s eyes and open mouth, and -in an instant she gave a cry of agony, and then rolled on the ground, -screaming: - -“_Il polvore_! I have swallowed the powder!” - -And the flute played: - - “By thy mother I was slain; - A fairy gave me life again. - I was killed for jealousy, - And all as false as false could be. - Now thou art dead and I am free.” - -And from that time the pipe played no more. But the young lady married -the signore, and all went well with them. - -And this was done by Virgil, who was ever benevolent. - - * * * * * - -The pipe, flute, or whistle, which fascinates all who hear it, is to be -found in the traditions of all races, from the story of Orpheus onward; -it even forms the plot of what is one of the prettiest tales of the -Algonkin Indians, {126} and one which is probably original with them. -What is also common to many is the conception of the one unjustly put to -death turned into a musical instrument, which by a song betrays the -murderer. But what is peculiar to this story is the power of the pipe to -blow away enchantment and dissipate the witch-dust laid in the path. -This is a very ingenious addition to the conception of the music and -voice. - -It is to be observed that sometimes rustic performers on the pipe, who -have chiefly learned their music in the woods from birds and Nature, -sometimes attain to a very fascinating and singular execution, quite -unlike that which is heard from the most cultivated and artistic -musicians. The celebrated Dr. Justinus Kerner, whom I have heard play, -could produce on the Jew’s-harp such results as would be deemed -incredible. It struck me as an extraordinary expression of will and -character beyond all teaching or imitation. - -There are also many learned writers on music who are not aware that the -human throat or voice is capable of producing sounds which are not, so to -speak, _vocal_, but like those of the musical-box and several -wind-instruments. This accomplishment is common among the blacks of the -Southern States, and the performances, as I can bear witness, are most -extraordinary and amazing. I once mistook the playing of two coloured -boys in Nashville for the sound of a somewhat distant hand-organ. Even -the twang of the banjo is thus rendered with startling accuracy. It is -also true that reed-pipes can be made which, by combining the voice and -blowing (as with the _mirliton_), give results which are very little -known, but which probably suggested this and other tales in which the -flute or pipe speaks. There are not many people who know the bull-roarer -save as a boy’s toy—that is to say, a mere flat bit of wood whirled round -at the end of a cord—but by modification and combination, this or several -of them produce sounds like those of an organ; and when heard by night at -a distance, the effect is such as to fairly awe those who are ignorant of -its cause. Finally, there is the application by a tube of air to the -Æolian harp, etc., so as to produce tunes, which is very remarkable, and -as little known as the rest—albeit, a traveller, who found something of -the kind among the heathen, avowed his belief that something might be -made of it. If people would only find out what resources they all have -within themselves, or in very cheap and easily-made instruments, there -might be far more music or art in the world than there now is. On which -subject the reader may consult a book, written by me, and entitled “The -Cheapest Musical Instruments,” etc., now being published by Whittaker and -Co., 2, White Hart Street, London. - - - - -LA BEGHINA DI AREZZO, OR VIRGIL AND THE SORCERESS. - - - Beauty, when blent with wickedness, - Ne’er yet did faile to bring distresse, - A lovely thing that is an evil - Is the own daughter of the devil; - And what was wicked from the first - Unto the ende will be accurst, - And sow, I trow, full sinfull seede, - As ye may in this story reade! - -Once upon a time there was in Arezzo a young woman of rare beauty, though -of base condition. This girl showed from her earliest years a very -strong character, great and varied talents or gifts, and the outward -appearance, at least, of great piety and morality, so that she was always -in church or absorbed in thought, which passed for pious meditation, -while she never missed early Mass on a single morning. - -It came to pass that a young gentleman who was rich, handsome, clever, -and of good family, fell in love with her and offered marriage, but this -she refused, to the amazement of all, especially her parents. But the -girl declared that her disposition to religion made marriage -objectionable to her; and indeed at this time she so devoted herself to -devotion that she hardly found time to eat. Yet as she did not become a -nun, the Aretini, or people of Arezzo, called her the Beghina (Beguine), -or Sister of Charity. Yet in doing all this she had ideas of her own, or -more fish in her net than the world was aware of, for the peasants for -her services and prayers, regarding her as a saint who could work -miracles, because she indeed effected many strange things which seemed to -them to be Divine, brought her many gifts, including money, all of which -she declared would be devoted in future to the Madonna, regarding all -which she had a great work in view. - -At last her reputation for sanctity spread over all the country, and it -was greatly increased when it was reported that so poor a girl had -refused to marry a rich young gentleman, so that she was visited by the -nobility, among whom she acquired great influence. And as she declared -that it was her ambition to build a small church, and with it a home for -herself, they, hoping that this would bring many pilgrims and greatly -benefit the town, at last offered her thirty thousand crowns wherewith to -carry out her pious purposes, which she with thanks and tears gratefully -accepted. - -The first thing which she did, however, was to build for herself a house, -for which there was (secretly) constructed a long subterranean passage -which led out to the river. Then she left her parents, saying that for -the present she must lead a life of devotion in absolute seclusion. Then -it was observed that from time to time young gentlemen were missing, and -more than once their bodies were found floating in the river below the -house of La Beghina, yet so great was her reputation for sanctity that no -one connected their loss with her name. - -So years passed by. But there was one who put no faith in her piety, and -this was the signore whom she had refused, and with whom love for her had -been succeeded by a bitter love of revenge, and by constant observation -and inquiry he found out several things which greatly confirmed his -suspicions. The first of these was the discovery of the bodies in the -river; and being resolved to find out all the secrets of her house, he -visited the mason who had built it, saying that he wished to erect a -mansion for himself, and as he greatly admired that of La Beghina, would -like to have one exactly like it. To which the old man replied that he -was willing, but as every person who built a house kept certain details a -secret to secure the safety of persons or property in certain -emergencies, he must be excused if he withheld certain particulars. But -the young signore replied that he had set his heart on having just such a -house in every respect; that he himself wished to conceal all secrets, -and, finally, that he would pay a round sum extra to have his desire -fulfilled. This was an argument which the mason could not resist, and so -explained to his patron every detail of the building, which made more -than one mystery clear to him. And having learned the secret of the -underground passage which led to the river, he began to watch it by night -with great care; and found that the exit by the river was by a stone -door, which was so artfully concealed in a rock by bushes that it was -hardly perceptible. - -One night, when it was very dark, the Signore Primo, for such was his -name, being on the watch, heard a noise and saw the door open. Then -there appeared the Beghina, bearing or dragging a long package or -bundle—_un involto_—which she let fall into the flood. And at this sight -the signore could not restrain a cry of rage, understanding it all, -whereat La Beghina fled in terror into the passage, leaving the door -unfastened behind her. But the young man, unheeding her, cast himself -headlong into the river after the bundle, which he succeeded in bringing -to land, and on opening it found the body of a young gentleman of his -acquaintance, who was not, however, quite dead, as he had been merely -heavily drugged, and who with care was restored to life. And truly he -had a strange tale to tell, how he had been inveigled mysteriously and -blindfolded, and introduced to some unknown house where there was a -handsome woman, who, after he had made love with her, drugged and robbed -him, after which he became unconscious. - -The Signore Primo conveyed his friend to his own home, and after caring -for his comfort and earnestly recommending him to keep the whole matter a -secret, went back to the stone door, and finding it open, and having -already learned how the house was built, he entered, and concealed -himself where he could watch the mistress. - -Early in the morning there came an elderly lady, who with many tears and -in great emotion told the Beghina that she had a son gone to the war, and -was in great fear lest he should be slain, and that she had prayed to the -Virgin that he might return safe and sound; and that if the Beghina by -her piety would bring this to pass, she would at once give her fifty gold -crowns, and a very much larger sum in case her son should come to her -again soon and well. To which La Beghina replied that she could go home -with a happy heart, for in a few days she should have her son with her. -So the lady departed. - -Then the Beghina went into a secret room [but the Signore Primo continued -to follow and observe her] and taking a pack of cards and a chain, she -threw them against the wall and beat on the ground, saying: - - “Diavoli tutti che siete nell’ inferno! - Scatenatevi, e damme portatevi, - Un comando - Vi voglio dare - Fino alla cittá - Dov’é la guerra dovete andare, - E salvare - Il figlio della signora; - Che pochanzi damme e venuta - E portatelo subito a casa sua, - In carne anima ed ossa, - Se questa grazia mi farete - L’anima di quel giovane l’avrete!” - - “All ye devils who are in hell, - Loosen your chains, and come at once to me! - I give you a command— - Go to the city where the war is waged, - And save the life of the son - Of the lady who came to me of late, - And bear him quickly to her in her home! - Bear him in flesh, soul and bones! - If ye do me this favour, - Ye shall have the soul of that youth!” - -And when this was sung many devils appeared and saluted her as a queen. - -The Signore Primo was indeed amazed and terrified, for now he realized -that the Beghina was worse than he had supposed, or a witch of the most -malignant kind. But he left the place, and going to the lady, told her -all he had witnessed. Then she in great terror fainted, and when -restored to life declared that, if anyone could save the soul of her son, -he should have all her fortune. - -Then the Signore Primo told her that if anyone could defeat the evil -witch it was a great magician who by lucky chance was in Arezzo, and that -she should seek him forthwith. This great magician was no other than -Virgil. And as soon as the lady appeared, Virgil said: - -“I know why thou art come.” - -Then he led her to the form of an angel clad in a rose-coloured garb, -and, kneeling before it, said: - - “O tu angelo del paradiso! - Ma benche puro e innocente sei stato - In questa terra confinata - Per salvare tua madre de suoi peccati, - Ma anche nel altro mondo - Ne fa sempre di peggio, - E per questo sarai liberato te - E confinata nel tuo posto, - La compagna e complice - Di tua madre la Beghina - La Beghina di Arezzo. - Vai tu angelo beato! - Da l’angelo custode! - E dilli che invochi - Lo spirito che di la ha piu comando, - E potenza di volere salvare - L’anima di quel giovane, - Che la Beghina le ha venduta - E cosi tu tu sarai in pace!” - - “Oh, thou angel of Paradise! - Yet who, though pure and ever innocent, - Hast been enchanted on this earth - (Confined in the form which thou wearest), - To save thy mother for her sins; - Yet even in another world - She will ever be worse. - Therefore thou shalt now be freed, - And thy mother and her accomplice - Be enchanted in thy place. - The Beghina of Arezzo, - Go, thou blessed angel, - To the angel who guards thee! - Bid him invoke the spirit who has most power - To save the soul of that youth - Whom the Beghina has sold; - Thus shalt thou be in peace.” - -At that instant there was heard a clap of thunder, the sound of a roaring -storm, and there fell down before them two human beings like two corpses, -yet not dead, and these were La Beghina and her companion witch. - -Then there entered a grand sun-ray, which flashed in light upon the angel -whom Virgil had summoned. And it said: - -“The youth is saved, and whoever doeth good shall find good even in -another world. Farewell; I too am saved!” - -Then the Beghina and her companion began to spit fire and flame, and they -were condemned to wander for ever, without resting, from one town to -another, ever possessed with a mad desire to do evil, but without the -ability, for Virgil had taken the power from them. - - * * * * * - -This story seemed to me in the original, after more than one reading, so -confused and high-flown, that I was on the point of rejecting it, when a -friend who had also perused it persuaded me that, under all its dialectic -mis-spellings, barbarous divisions of words, and manifest omissions (as, -for instance, what became of the Sieur Buridan of the Italian Tour de -Nesle, who was so nearly drowned), there was a legend which was -manifestly the mangled version of a far better original. Therefore I -have translated it very faithfully, and would specify that there was from -me no suggestion or hint of any kind, but that it is entirely of the -people. - -Firstly, it may be observed that the long-continued, -deliberately-contrived hypocrisy of the Beghina, as well as the Red -Indian-like vindictiveness of the hero, is perfectly Italian or natural. -The construction of secret passages and hiding-places in buildings is -almost common even to-day. The idea of a holy spirit who undergoes a -penance, _confinata_, or enchanted and imprisoned in a statue to redeem -her mother, is also finely conceived, as is the final statement that the -Beghina and her mysterious accomplice, who is so abruptly introduced, are -condemned to wander for ever, tormented with a desire to do evil which -they are unable to satisfy. - -The Beghina is an incarnation of hypocrisy, deceit, lust and treachery. -The four symbols for these were the serpent, wren, chameleon, and -goose—the latter because a certain Athenian named Lampon was wont to -swear “by the goose!” and then break his oath. Possibly the origin of -the saying “He is sound upon the goose” is derived from this. - -But I sometimes think that to decide between tradition or borrowing and -independent creation is beyond the folklore of the present day. - - - - -THE SPIRIT OF THE SNOW OF COLLE ALTO. {134} - - - “And hence, O virgin mother mild, - Though plenteous flowers around thee blow, - Not only from the dreary strife - Of winter, but the storms of life, - Thee have thy votaries aptly styled - Our Lady of the Snow.” - - WORDSWORTH: _Tour on the Continent_. - -Once in the olden time, in Colle Alto, the snow fell in one night many -yards in depth, and the people were astonished and frightened when they -awoke in the morning at beholding it spreading far and wide. Many tried -to shovel it away, but were discouraged, because, as they removed it, as -much came in its place, so that at last they all remained at home, for no -one could pass through the snow, and they were afraid of being buried in -it. - -But the poor, who had but scant provision in their homes, suffered from -hunger. And among these was a good man to whom his five children -pitifully cried: - -“_Babbo-il pane_!”—Papa, give us bread! - -And he replied: - -“My children weep, and I must risk my life to save them.” And looking -out, he cried unthinkingly: - - “And yet the snow is very beautiful! - O Spirit of the Snow—no mortal knows - How beautiful thou art. Be kind to us!” - -As he said this there appeared before the window, and then among them, a -lady of marvellous beauty and dazzling brightness, all clad in white, who -said: - -“What wilt thou have, since thou hast invoked me?” - -“Lady,” replied the astonished peasant, “I know not who thou art, nor did -I call thee!” - -“Yes; in thy speech thou didst pronounce my name in invocation, and to -those who do that, and deserve it, I give my aid. Follow me!” - -The poor man was surprised and bewildered, but he followed, while -trembling, the lady. - -And she spoke in a voice which was heard in every house far and near in -Colle Alto: - -“Let him who will come forth without fear, for this good man hath opened -unto you the way. But it is only the poor who can do this, because, -while they have suffered and starved in their homes, not one of the rich -who dwell here have made any effort to relieve the suffering, therefore -none of them shall come forth till the snow is gone.” - -Then all the poor folk found that they could walk upon the snow, {135} -which was a pleasure, but the gentlefolk could not stir a step out of -doors till it melted. And it vexed them sorely to stand at their windows -and see women and children running merrily over the snow, so that some of -them cursed their wealth, and wished that they were of the poor and free. - -For fifteen days not a flake of snow disappeared, and then all at once it -went away, and the poor, on opening their windows in the morning, found -the sun shining, and a warm breeze blowing, which was scented as with -roses, and the streets and roofs all as clean as if new. Then all the -poor gathered every man a stone, and meeting in one place, they there -built a little church (_chiesina_), and called it the Chapel of the -Goddess of the Snow, and adored her as if she had been the Madonna or a -saint. - -Then for some time, as usually happens, there was great enthusiasm—_vie -un gran fanatismo_—and then again all was gradually forgotten. So with -the Goddess of the Snow: as years went by people talked about her less -and less, and she was even ridiculed by those who were of evil hearts and -souls, such as abuse and ill-treat their benefactors—as was shown by a -certain waggoner, who found himself one day many miles afar from any -house, when snow began to fall. And with it he began to curse, so as to -shock even a sinner; whereupon it drifted round him so deeply that he -with his waggon could get no further. And so he kept on blaspheming. -His poor starved horses looked at him with meaning, as if calling his -attention, and then cast their glances to the wall or a shrine, whereon -was depicted an image of the Goddess of the Snow, as if begging him to -notice or to appeal to it. And the wretch beholding it, swore worse than -ever, saying that she was an accursed (witch). - -He had not time to pronounce the word ere he sank down (into the snow), -so that only his head remained uncovered. And his horses also were in -the same place, but a warm wind began to blow. And so the man remained -fast, freezing and starving, for three days, but it did not make him -repent, and he swore more than ever. - -Then, on the third day, Virgil, the great magician, passed by, and was -amazed at seeing the horses quietly feeding on grass in the warm -sunshine, while a pleasant breeze was blowing, and close by them a man -buried to his neck in the snow. And being questioned, the waggoner -replied that he was thus buried for blaspheming the Goddess of the Snow. - -Virgil asked him if he repented it. - -“I will repent,” replied the waggoner, “when I see it proved by a -miracle—but in miracles I put no faith.” - -“Well,” said Virgil, “pray to the goddess to pardon you. Pray with me -thus: - - “‘Dea della neve che sei candida, - E pura la sera a lume di Luna, - Un bel lenzuola candida sembra - Distesa sulla terra e sui tetti: - Col sol sei splendida e rilucente: - E vero ti sprezzai, ma non fu io - Fu il diavolo che mia ha tentato. - E spero da oggi non mi tentera più, - Perche amo essere in grazia tua e come, - Stella tu sei bella, sei bianca, - Sei candida e pura e sei l’unica - Che fra le Dee non faccia altro - Che bene, e mai male, bella dea! - O dea della Neve tu che sei - L’unico mio pensiero, unica speme, - Unica mia speranza—da ora avanti, - Tutti e tutti miei pensieri - Saranna a te rivolti—neppur da casa - Mi partero prima di fare a te - Una preghiera che possa spiegar - Il mio pensier al dar farsi - Partir o restar a te domandero, - A te domandero che devo far. - Tutto questo a te rivago - E sempre rivolgero se tu mi perdonerai - E questa grazia mi farai - Che son pentito assai - Di farmi sortir di qui - Che tanto sofro—farmi sortir— - Sano e salvo che io posso tornar - In braccio alla mia famiglia! - Che da tre sere mi chiamami desidera!’” - - “O Goddess of the Snow, who art so white - And pure that in the evening, in the light - Of the full moon, thou seem’st to be - A fair bright sheet spread over earth and roofs - (That all may sleep beneath it and in peace), - But who art splendid with a ruddy glow - In the using sunlight—it is very true - That I did scorn thee, yet it was not I. - For ’twas the devil in truth who tempted me, - And who, I hope, will never tempt me more, - Because I fain would be in thy good grace! - O Star, thou art most beautiful and white, - Candid and pure, because thou truly art - Among the goddesses the only one - Who only doest good, and by no chance - Art sullied with aught evil—O most fair! - O Goddess of the Snow, who art indeed - My only thought, my only hope in life, - My only trust from now till ever on! - My all and every thought shall turn to thee - Nor will I ever from my house depart - Till I have offered thee a fervent prayer, - In which I’ll lay before thee all my soul, - And ask of thee what ’tis that I must do, - And if I must remain or mend my way! - All this do I repeat to thee again, - And ever will repeat if thou wilt but - Pardon my sin and grant to me the grace, - Having repented from my very heart, - To draw me from this place of suffering, - That safe and sound I may return again - Unto the embraces of my family, - Who for three nights have called to me in vain!” - -He had hardly ended this invocation before a voice replied: - - “Alzati e cammina e porta con te - Anche i tuoi animali ma non bestemmiare - Mai più, perche questaltra voltra - Sprafonderesti nell’ abisso dove - Gnenti (niente) più bastarrebbe per levarti - Dall’ inferno.” . . . - - “Rise and depart, and take away with thee - Thy beasts in peace, but never more blaspheme, - Because another time thou’lt sink so deep - To the abyss that nothing will avail - To draw thee out, for thou wilt fall to hell!” - -Then the waggoner took his horses and rode home at double-quick speed. -He related to all what had happened, and the chapel was again restored -with the image of the goddess. But even among the experienced -(_conoscenti_) none could tell him [for a long time] who was the one who -had taught him what to do. But it was at last made known to them that it -was the great magician and the great poet Virgil, because the Goddess of -the Snow and Virgil are good spirits. {138} - -So this waggoner, from being evil became so good that one could not find -his equal. - - * * * * * - -Our Lady of the Snow, or Maria vom Schnee, is one of the more familiar -avatars of the Madonna all over Middle and Northern Italy and Germany, -including Austria and Switzerland. One of the commonest halfpenny or -_soldo_ pamphlets sold at corners in Florence is devoted to her. A very -famous Madonna of the Snow is that of Laveno, to whom there is a special -festival. Wordsworth has devoted a poem to her. - -In the legend which I have given the general resemblance of the whole to -the Madonna tales, as in the building a chapel, the threat of hell, and -the punishment for profanity, suggest that it is borrowed from a Catholic -source. This I doubt, for several reasons. It is of the witch witchy, -and heathen, as shown by calling the lady a goddess, and especially by -the long _scongiurazione_ or evocations in which the sorcerer takes such -delight that for him they form the solid portion of the whole, possibly -because they are, if not actually prohibited, at least secret things, -cryptic or of esoteric lore. Now, be it noted that wherever, as regards -other legends, as in that of the Madonna del Fuoco, given in my -“Etrusco-Roman Legends,” the witch claims that her tradition has been -borrowed by the priests, she is probably in the right. But what gives -colour to the opinion that this Madonna is of heathen origin is the fact -that in the Old German mythology, as Friedrich declares, there is a deity -known as Lady Holde, Holle, or Hilda (who may be again found in the -Christian Maria), who is a kind and friendly being. She was the Goddess -of the Snow, hence it is commonly said when it snows that Lady Holde is -making her bed and shaking out the feathers. As there is no German -supernatural character, especially in the fairy mythology, which does not -exist in Northern Italy, it would be very remarkable indeed if such a -widely known and popular spirit as the Lady of the Snow had not been -known there long before the Christian Madonna. I would add that this is -purely and literally a legend of the people, not asked for by me, and not -the result of any inquiry or suggestion. - -The Madonna della Neve is especially honoured at Laveno, where there is -an annual procession in her honour. I am indebted to the kindness of the -Rev. Arthur Mangles, who knew that I was interested in the subject, for -the following, translated by him from some small local book there -published: - - - - -THE LEGEND OF LA MADONNA DELLA NEVE. - - -In the fourth century there lived in Rome two devout people, husband and -wife, who, having no children, prayed to the Virgin that she would -indicate to them the best way in which to leave their money. - -On the night of the fifth of August, A.D. 352, the Virgin appeared to -them and told them to build a church upon the summit of the Esquiline -Hill, in Rome, exactly upon the area then covered with snow. - -The Pope had the same vision of the Virgin, with the same communication -as that of the husband and wife. Therefore he sent to the place -indicated a messenger, accompanied by many priests, who found the snow. - -The husband and wife forthwith built a handsome church upon the spot. - -The church, which is now on the same hill, and on the foundation of the -early edifice, is that of Santa Maria Maggiore. - - * * * * * - -Snow in August is rather a thin miracle whereon to found a legend, or a -church, but it may pass. The one which I have translated seems to me to -have a greater air of antiquity, with its retribution and beautiful -Latin-like invocation to the Spirit of the Snow. - - - - -THE MAGICIAN VIRGIL; A LEGEND FROM THE SABINE. - - -The following tale was obtained by Miss Roma Lister from the vicinity of -Rome, and from an old woman who is learned in sorcery and incantations. -It begins with the note that, on February 8, 1897, it was taken down as -given, literally word for word, and I translate it accordingly verbatim. - - * * * * * - -There were a husband, a wizard, and his wife (who was a witch), who had a -beautiful daughter, and a house with a fine garden which was full of -broccoli—oh, the finest broccoli in the world! - -And opposite to this, or overlooking the garden, dwelt two women, and one -of these was _incinta_, or with child, and she said to the other woman: - -“_Comare_, {140} how I would like to have two broccoli from the -magician’s garden. They’re so nice!” - -“Yes, _comare_, but how to get them? It would be dangerous!” - -“_La cosa si farà_—it can be done, at midnight when the sorcerer is -asleep, by stealing a little.” - -And so they did, for at midnight both went with a sack, climbed over the -iron gate, and, having filled their bag, went away. {141a} - -In the morning the magician Virgilio went to his garden and found that -many broccoli were gone. In a rage he ran to his wife, and said: “What’s -to be done?” - -She replied: “This night we’ll set the cat on guard upon the gate.” - -Which was done. That evening, _fra il lusco e il brusco_, {141b} the one -said: - -“Ah, gossip, this night it can’t be done.” - -“And why not, my dear?” - -“Why! Because they’ve set a guard.” - -“Guard! An old cat, you mean. Are you afraid of her?” - -“Yes, because she mews when she sees something.” - -“I say, I’ll tell you what to do. Take a bit of meat, and when she opens -her mouth to mew, pitch it in. That’ll keep her jaws quiet while we pick -the broccoli.” - -And so it was done, and they got away with another bagful of broccoli. - -In the morning the _mago_ Virgil found that he had been robbed again. He -complained again to his wife, who said: - -“Well, to-night we will put the dog on.” - -Said and done. But the dame at the window was on the watch. And seeing -all, she said: - -“No broccoli to-night, gossip. This time they’ve put the dog to look -out.” - -“Oh, bother the dog! When he opens _his_ jaws to bark, I’ll pitch in a -good bit of hard cheese. That’ll keep him quiet.” - -Said and done again. The next morning the magician found a still greater -disappearance of broccoli from his garden. - -“The thing is becoming serious,” he said. “To-night I will watch -myself.” - -With that he went to his gate and remained there, looking closely at all -those who passed by. So he said to the first: - -“What is your trade?” - -“I’m a carpenter.” - -“Pass on,” replied the magician. “You’re not the man I want.” - -There came another. - -“What’s your calling?” - -“I’m a tailor.” - -“Pass on—_non fate per me_” (you won’t do). - -There came a baker. He was not wanted. But the next was a digger of -ditches and of graves—a _fossaruolo_—and the wizard cried: - -“Bravo! You’re my man! Come with me; I want you to dig a pit in my -garden.” - -So the poor man went, for he was as much frightened at the terrible face -and stature of the wizard as he was in hope of being paid. And being -directed, he dug a hole nearly as deep as the magician was tall. - -“Now,” said the master, “get some light sticks and cover over the pit -while I stand in it, and then strew some twigs and leaves over it, with a -few leaves to hide the top of my head.” - -It was done, and there he stood covered. The ditcher, or sexton, hurried -away, glad that he had dug this strange grave for another, and not for -himself. - -Evening came, and the gossip looked out. - -“Good! There is not even a dog on guard. Come, let us hurry! This time -we will take all that remains of the broccoli.” - -Said and done. And when they had gathered the last plant, the gossip -cried: - -“See what beautiful mushrooms! Let us pick them.” - -She had seen the two ears of the sorcerer, which peeped out uncovered. -So she took hold of one and pulled. - -“It will not come out!” she cried. “Do thou pull at one, while I draw at -this.” - -Each pulled, when the magician raised his awful face and glared at them. -_E sorte fuori la terribile testa del mago_! - -“Now you shall die for robbing me!” he exclaimed. - -They were in a fine fright. At last Virgil said: - -“I will spare thy life, if thou wilt give me all thou bearest—all within -thee.” - -She consented, and they departed. After a time she became a mother, and -the magician came and demanded the child. And as she had promised it, -she consented to give it to him, but begged that it might be left to her -for a time. - -“I will give it to thee for seven years,” he replied. Saying this, he -left her in peace for a long time. So the child, which was a boy, was -born, and as he grew older was sent every day to school. - -One morning the magician met him, and said: “Tell thy mother to remember -her promise.” Then he gave the child some sweets, and left him. When at -home the boy said: - -“Mamma, a gentleman met me to-day at the door of the school, and said to -me that I should tell you to remember your promise. Then he gave me some -comfits.” - -The poor mother was in a great fright. - -“Tell him, when you next meet him,” she answered, “that you forgot to -give his message to me.” - -The next day the boy met the magician, and said to him that he had -forgotten all about it, and told his mother nothing. - -“Very well, tell her this evening, and be sure to remember.” - -The mother heard this, and bade him tell the sorcerer the same thing -again. - -When he met the magician Virgil again and told the same story, the latter -smiled, and said: - -“It seems that thou hast a bad memory. This time I will give thee -something by which to remember me. Give me thy hand.” - -The boy gave his hand; the magician bit into one finger, and as the child -screamed, he said: “This time thou wilt remember.” The boy ran yelling -home. - -“See what has happened to me, _brutta mammacia_—you naughty mamma—because -I did what you bade, and told the gentleman that I forgot.” - -The poor woman, hearing herself called _brutta mammacia_, {143} was -overcome with grief and shame, and said, “_Vai bene_—I will tell him -myself.” So the next day she took the child and gave him to the -magician, who led him to his home. - -But when his wife, the witch, beheld the boy, she cried: - -“Kill that child at once, for I read it in his face that he will be the -ruin of our daughter Marietta!” - -But the magician declared that nothing would induce him to harm the boy, -so the little fellow remained, and was treated by the master like a son. -In due time he became a tall and handsome young man, and he was called -Antonuccio. But the witch always said: - -“We should kill and eat him, for he will be the ruin of our Marietta.” - -At last the magician, weary of her complaints, said: - -“_Bene_! I will set him a task, and if he cannot accomplish it, that -same night shall he be slain.” - -Now, Antonuccio, as he slept in the next room, had overheard all this. - -The next morning the magician took the youth to a stable which was very -large and horribly filthy, such as no one had ever seen, and said: - -“Now, Antonuccio, you must clean this stable out and out—_bene e -bene_—repave it on the ground, and whitewash all above it; and moreover, -when I speak, an echo shall answer me.” {144} - -The poor youth went to work, but soon found that he could do next to -nothing. So he sat down in despair. - -At noon came Marietta, to bring him his lunch, and found him in tears. - -“What’s the matter, Antonuccio?” - -“If you knew that I am to be killed this evening—” - -“What for?” - -“Your father has said that unless I clean out the stable, and pave and -whitewash it to the echo—” - -“Is that all? _Sta allegro_—be of good cheer—I’ll attend to that.” - -Marietta went home, and stealing in on tip-toe while the sorcerer slept, -softly carried away his magic wand, and with a few words cleaned out the -stable to the echo, and Antonuccio was delighted. - -In the evening the magician came, and finding the stable clean as a new -pin, was much pleased, and kissed him and took him home. The witch-wife -was furious at learning that the stable had been cleaned, and declared -that Marietta had done it, and ended by screaming for his life. At last -the wizard said: - -“To-morrow I will set him another task, and should he fail in that, he -shall surely die.” - -The next morning he led the youth into a dense forest of mighty trees, -and said: - -“Thou seest this wood? In one day it must be all cut down and cleared -away to a clean field, in which must be growing all kinds of plants which -are to be found in the world.” - -And Antonuccio began to hew with an axe, and worked well, but soon gave -up the task in despair. - -At noon came Marietta with her basket. - -“What, crying again! What is the trouble to-day?” - -“Only to clear away all this forest, make a clean field, and plant it -with all the herbs in the world.” - -“Oh, well, eat your lunch, and I will see about it. It is lucky that it -is not something difficult!” - -She ran home, got a magic wand, and went to work. Down the trees came -crashing—away they flew! ’Twas a fine sight, upon my word! And then up -sprouted all kinds of herbs and flowers, till there was the finest garden -in the world. - -In the evening came the magician, and was well pleased at finding how -well Antonuccio had done the work. But when his wife heard all, she -raged more than ever, declaring that it had all been done by Marietta, -who was destined to be ruined by the boy. - -“Well, well!” exclaimed the wizard. “If you will give me no peace, I -must put an end to this trouble. I will give the boy nothing to do -to-morrow—he may remain idle—and in the evening I will chop off his head -with this axe.” - -Antonuccio heard this speech as he had done the others, and this time was -in despair. In the morning Marietta found him weeping. - -“What is the matter, Antonuccio?” - -“I am to do no work to-day, but this evening I am to have my head chopped -off.” - -“Is that all? Be of good cheer—_sta allegro_—I will see what can be -done.” - -She put the pot on the fire to boil, and began to make the macaroni. -When she had cooked a great deal, they fed all the furniture, pots and -pans, chairs and tables, to please them, and induce them to be silent—all -except the hearth-brush, whom by oversight they forgot. - -“And now,” said Marietta, “we must be off and away; it is time for us to -go!” - -So away they ran. After a while the wizard and his wife returned and -knocked at the door. No answer. They rapped and called, but got no -reply. At last the hearth-brush cried: - -“Who’s there?” - -“Marietta, open the door—it is I.” - -“I’m not Marietta. She has run away with Antonuccio. First they fed -everybody with ever so much macaroni, but gave me none.” - -Then the witch cried to the wizard: - -“Hurry—hasten—catch them if you can!” - -The good man did as he was bid, and began to travel—travel far and fast. - -All at once, while the lovers were on their way, Antonuccio turned his -head and saw afar their pursuer on a mountain-road, and cried: - -“Marietta, I see your father coming.” - -“Then, my dear, I will become a fair church and thou shalt be the fine -sexton (_sacristano_). And he will ask thee if thou hast seen a girl and -youth pass, and thou shalt reply that he must first repeat the -Paternoster and not the Ave Maria. And if he asks again, tell him to say -the Ave Maria and not the Paternoster. And then, out of patience, he -will depart.” - -So it came to pass, and the wizard was deceived. When he had returned, -his wife asked him what he had seen. - -“Nothing but a church and a sacristan.” - -“Stupid that you are! The church was Marietta—fly, fly and catch them!” - -So he set forth again, and again he was seen from afar by Antonuccio. - -“Marietta, I see your father coming.” - -“Good. Now I will become a beautiful garden, and thou the gardener. And -when my father comes and asks if thou hast seen a couple pass, reply that -thou weedest lettuces, not broccoli. And when he asks again, answer that -thou weedest broccoli, not lettuces.” - -So it all came to pass, and the wizard, out of patience, returned home. - -“Well, and what did you see?” inquired his wife. - -“Only a garden and a gardener.” - -“_Ahi—stupido_! Those were the two. Start! This time I will go with -you!” - -After a while Antonuccio saw the two following, and gaining on them -rapidly. - -“Marietta, here come your father and mother. Now we are in a nice mess.” -{147} - -“Don’t be afraid. Now I will become a fountain fair and broad, like a -small lake, and thou a pretty pigeon, to whom they will call; but for -mercy’s sake don’t let yourself be taken, for then all will be over with -us.” - -The wizard and his wife came to the fountain and saw the dove, and tried -to inveigle and catch it with grain. But it would not be caught, neither -could the witch quench her thirst with the water. So, finding that both -were beyond her power, she cried in a rage: - - “When Antonuccio kisses his mother, - He’ll forget Marietta and every other.” - -So, when the parents were gone, the pair set forth again, till they came -to a place not far from where the mother of Antonuccio lived. - -“I will go and see my mother,” he said. - -“Do not go, for she will kiss thee, and thou wilt forget me,” replied -Marietta. - -“But I will take good care that she does not kiss me,” answered -Antonuccio. “Only wait a day.” - -He went and saw his mother, and both were in great joy at meeting again, -but he implored her not to kiss him. And being weary, he went to sleep, -and his mother, unheeding his request, kissed him while he slept. And -when he awoke, Marietta was completely forgotten. - -So the curse of the witch came to pass. And he lived with his mother, -and in time fell in love with another girl. Then they appointed a day -for their wedding. - -Meanwhile, Marietta lived where she had been left, and made a fairy -friend who knew all that was going on far and near. One day she told -Marietta that Antonuccio was to be married. - -Marietta begged her to go and steal some dough (from the house of the -bride). The friend did so, and Marietta made of the dough two cakes in -the form of puppets, or children, and one she called Antonuccio and the -other Marietta. - -Then, on the day of the feast, the first day of the wedding, she begged -her friend to go and put the two puppets on the bridal table. - -She did so, and when all were assembled, the puppet Marietta began to -speak: - - “Dost thou remember, Antonuccio, - How, when my father brought thee to his house, - My mother wished to take away thy life? - And how he bade thee sweep the stable clean?” - -And the other replied: - - “Passing away, passing away, - Well do I remember the day.” {148} - -Then Marietta sang: - - “Dost thou remember, Antonuccio, - How ’twas I aided thee to clear the field?” - -He replied: - - “Passing away, passing away, - Well do I remember the day.” - -She sang again: - - “Dost thou remember how thou hadst no work - Upon the day when they would murder thee, - And how we fled together to escape?” - -He replied: - - “Passing away, passing away, - Well do I remember the day.” - -Meanwhile the true Antonuccio, who was present, began to remember what -had taken place. Then the puppet Marietta sang again: - - “Dost thou remember how I was the church, - And thou of it becam’st the sacristan?” - -He answered: - - “Passing away, passing away, - Well do I remember the day.” - - “Dost thou remember how I was a garden, - And how thou didst become its gardener?” - - “Passing away, passing away, - Well do I now remember the day.” - - “Dost thou remember how I was a fountain, - And thou a pigeon flying over it?” - - “Passing away, passing away, - Well do I now remember the day.” - - “Dost thou remember, Antonuccio, - How ’twas my mother laid a curse on me, - And how she said before she went away— - When Antonuccio kisses his mother - He’ll forget Marietta and every other?’” - - “Passing away, passing away, - Well do I now remember the day.” - -Then Antonuccio himself remembered it all, and rising from the table, ran -from the house to where Marietta dwelt—and married her. - - * * * * * - -This story, adds Miss Lister, is somewhat abbreviated, since in the -original the puppet Marietta, for the edification of all assembled, -repeats the whole story. - -It will be at once observed that there is in all this no special -reference to Virgil as a character, as he appears in other legends, the -reason being that the old woman who narrated it simply understood by the -word Virgilio _any_ magician of any kind. So in another tale a youth -exclaims, “Art thou what is called _a_ Virgil?” This is curious as -indicating that the word has become generic in Italian folk-lore. But -Virgil is even here, as elsewhere on the whole, a man of kind heart. He -has had his garden robbed and his daughter stolen, but he displays at all -times a kindly feeling to Antonuccio. It is his wife, the witch, who -shows all the spite. - -Nor is this, like the rest, a witch-story which belongs entirely to -esoteric, unholy, or secret lore, specially embodying instruction and an -incantation. It is a mere nursery legend, the commonest of Italian -fairy-tales, to be found in all collections in whole or in part. It is -spread all over Europe, and has found its way through Canadian-French to -the Red Indians of North America—apropos of which I would remind a -certain very clever reviewer and learned folk-lorist that because many -French tales are found among the Algonkin tribes, it does not follow, as -he really intimates, that the said Redskins have no other traditions. - -But even in this version there are classic traces. The cleaning out of -the Augean stables by Hercules is one, and the spell of oblivion another. - -I do not know what the origin may be of the head of the sorcerer rising -from the surface of the earth with ears like mushrooms, implying that -they were very large; but I find in an edition of the “Meditations of -Saint Augustin,” Venice, A.D. 1588, illustrated with rude, quaint -pictures, one in which the holy father is kneeling before a crucifix, -while there rises from the ground before him a great and terrible head -with one very long ear. By it lies the usual skull, one-fifth its size. -Were two women substituted for the saint, it would be a perfect -illustration of the strange scene described in the story. It is, to say -the least, a singular coincidence. - -This story is therefore of some value as indicating that the general term -of sorcerer, magician or wizard, is used as a synonym for Virgil, or -_vice versâ_. As Lucan writes in his “Pharsalia”: “Nec sua Virgilio -permisit nomina soli.” {150} - -It is worth noting that there is in the Museum of Florence an Etruscan -mirror on which Mercury and Minerva are represented as looking at a human -head apparently coming from the ground. It may be that of Orpheus lying -upon it; in any case, it is strangely suggestive of these tales. I am -indebted for a tracing of this mirror to the Rev. J. Wood Brown, author -of the “Life of Michael Scott, the Magician and Philosopher,” wherein the -latter hath a dual affinity to Virgil, and it is very remarkable, as I -have elsewhere noted, that the splitting a hill into three is near Rome -ascribed to the Roman poet. - -A curious book could be written on heads, decapitated, which have spoken. -There is, I believe, a legend to the effect that the caput of John the -Baptist thus conversed, and it may be that the New Testament only gives a -fragment of the original history. The belief that Herodias was a -sorceress, and a counterpart of Diana as queen of the witches, was -generally established so early as the second century, but is far older, -the original Herodias having been a form of Lilith. {151} - -It is specially to be noted in connection with this tale that one of the -older legends given in “Virgilius the Sorcerer of Rome” expressly -declares that - - “Virgilius made an iron head which could not only speak, but also - foretell the future; and, as some say, it was by misinterpreting the - oracle that Virgilius met his death in this wise. Being about to - undertake a journey, he asked the head if it would come to a good - end. The reply was: ‘Yes, if he took care of _his head_.’ Taking - this to mean the oracle itself, Virgilius took every measure to - secure it, and with light heart went his way, but while journeying, - exposed to sunshine, he was seized with a fever in the head, of which - he died.” - -This is again like the death of Michael Scott. - - - - -VIRGIL, THE WICKED PRINCESS, AND THE IRON MAN. - - - “An iron man who did on her attend, - His name was Talus, made of yron mould, - Immoveable, resistlesse—without end.” - - SPENSER: _Faerie Queene_, v. c. i. - -There once lived a Princess who was beautiful beyond words, but wicked -beyond belief; her whole soul was given to murder and licentiousness; yet -she was so crafty as to escape all suspicion, and this pleased her best -of all, for deceit was to her as dear as life itself. And this she -managed, as many another did in those days, by inveigling through her -agents handsome young men into her palace by night, where they were -invited to a banquet and then to a bed, and all went gaily till the next -morning at breakfast, when the Princess gave her victim in wine or food a -terrible and rapid poison, after which the corpse was carried away -secretly by her servants to be thrown into the river, or hidden in some -secret vault; and thus it was the lady sinned in secret while she kept up -a white name before the world. - -Now it came to pass that a young man, who was a great friend of Virgil, -was taken in the snare by this Princess, and put to death and no more -heard of, when the great poet by his magic art learned the whole truth. -Then for revenge or punishment he made a man of iron with golden locks, -very beautiful to behold as a man, with sympathetic, pleasing air, one -who conversed fluently and in a winning voice; and yet he was all of -iron, and the spirit who was conjured into him was one without pity or -mercy. - -Then Virgil bade the Iron Man walk to and fro past the palace of the -Princess, and she, seeing him, was more pleased than she had ever been -before, and at once sent out a messenger, who invited him to enter by a -secret gate, which he did, and was warmly received, and treated with a -great display of love. And in the morning at breakfast, as the Princess -hesitated to give him the deadly drink, for she had at last fallen madly -in love, he said: - -“Well, where is the poison? Don’t keep me waiting! Quick, that I may -drink!” - -And when she heard that she was indeed terrified, thinking, “This man -knows all my secret.” But as she hesitated, he took the deadly cup and -drained it to the last drop. “And now,” she thought, “I am saved.” But -the Iron Man said with scorn: - -“Do you call _that_ stuff poison? Why, it would hardly kill a mouse. -Give me stronger, I say—stronger! I live on poison, and the stronger it -is the better I like it.” - -Hearing this, the Princess felt from head to foot as if her blood were -all turned to ice, for now she knew that she was lost, and her punishment -at hand. - -“And now,” said the Iron Man, “since all the poisoning and treachery and -putting away of young gentlemen is at an end, you must come with me;” and -with this he took her under his left arm and went forth. - -At her screams all her retainers came armed, and after them twenty -soldiers, but all were of no avail against such an enemy, whom they could -neither pierce with steel nor restrain by strength; and escaping with -her, he mounted a black steed, which a Moor was holding outside, and with -his victim flew over the land till they came to a dark and savage place -in the mountains. And here he bore her into a vast cavern, where many -men were seated round a table, and as she looked she saw that they were -all the lovers whom she had put to death. Then they all cried: - -“_Ecco la nostra moglie_! Behold our wife! Behold our Drusiana!” - -And another said: - -“Let us give her to drink, and let us drink to her!” - -And they gave her a full goblet, which she could not help swallowing, and -the wine was like fire, the fire of hell itself in all her veins. The -men assembled round burst into laughter at seeing her suffering, and one -shouted: - - “Drink, Princess, drink! - Thou feelest the same fire, - Only in greater measure, - Hotter, wilder and fiercer, - Which thou didst feel before, - When thy blood boiled with passion, - And with love of secret murder; - Then thou didst feel it a little, - Now thou shalt feel it greatly; - Once it ran drop by drop, - Now in full goblets and frequent.” - -Then another gave her a glass of wine which she could not help -swallowing, and it was cold, and her blood again grew cold as ice, and -she shivered in an agony of freezing. And so it went on, everyone giving -her first the scalding hot wine and then the cold, while all sang in -chorus: - - “We give thee again in thy heart - What thou didst give to us: - The heat of love which burned in us, - Burned in us and in thee, - And the cold of desire when satisfied. - Thou hadst no mercy on us: - We have as little for thee.” - - * * * * * - -The connection of Virgil with the classic Talus, or Iron Man, and so many -other ancient legends, as shown in these which I have gathered, renders -the more striking the assertion that “after the sixteenth century the -Vergilian legends disappear, and become known only to scholars,” as -worded by E. F. M. Beneche in his translation of Comparetti’s work. The -truth is, that as the age of credulity and mere marvels passed away among -the higher classes, the learned ceased to collect or take an interest in -heaping up “wonders upon wonders.” But the people went on telling and -making tales about Virgil, just as they had always done. And the full -proof that there was not a soul who for centuries took the least interest -in folklore or popular tradition in Central and Northern Italy is to be -found in the fact that, while such material _abounds_ in the English, -French, and especially German literature of later ages, there is hardly a -trace of it in a single Roman or Tuscan writer till of late years. Even -at the present day there is small search or seeking in Northern Italy for -the rich treasures of old Roman tradition which still exist among the -people. - - - - -GIOVANNI DI BOLOGNA AND THE GOD MERCURY. - - -“Mercurium omnium Deorum antiquorum vigilantissimum ac maxime negotiis -implicatum, scribit Hesiodus in Theogonià.”—NATALIS COMITIS: -_Mythologia_, lib. v., 1616. - -In the old times in Florence the Tuscans worshipped the idols of Jupiter, -and Bacchus, and Venus, and Mercury in their temples. And sometimes -those gods when conjured {155a} came down to earth. - -In those times there was in Florence {155b} a sculptor of Bologna named -Giovanni, the same who made the Diavolino in the Mercato Vecchio. He was -tormented by the desire to make a statue of such beauty that there should -not be its like in all the world; and he, moreover, desired that this -statue should be as if living, one not stiff and fixed, but one like -Mercury, all activity, and he was so full of this thought that he had no -rest even by night, for a certain gentleman had said to him: - -“All in vain dost thou intoxicate thyself by studying statues, saying, -‘This one is beautiful, that still more so; this sculptor—_é bravo_—has -talent, that even cleverer;’ but, after all, the best of their work is -motionless, and produces on me the effect of a corpse. I should call him -a clever sculptor who could make a statue inspired with motion like a -living man—_che caminasse o magari saltasse_—who runs and hops, but not a -piece of marble merely carved.” - -And this moved Giovanni to make a statue which should not have its equal -in the world. And thinking of Mercury, the liveliest and quickest of all -the gods, who is ever flying like a falcon, he said: - - “If I could behold him, - Though ’twere but for once, - I should have the model - Of a wondrous statue - Inspired unto life!” - -One evening Giovanni found himself in the Temple of Mercury, that which -is to-day called the Baptistery of Saint John [and there he found -Virgilio], to whom he said that he so greatly longed to see Mercury -living and in flight. - -Virgilio replied: - -“Go at midnight to the hill of Vallombrosa when the moon is full, and -call the fairy Bellaria, who will aid thee.” - -Giovanni went to the hill and called to Bellaria, but she made no reply. -So he returned to Virgilio, who said: - -“It is not enough to simply call to her, she must be _scongiurata_—called -by an incantation.” - -Then Giovanni, having learned this, thus conjured her: - - “Stella lucente, - Ed aria splendente, - Col tuo splendor, - Bell’ Aria infiamma - Mercurio, e fa lo scendere - In terra che io posso - Levarne il modello! - Tu che siei bella, - Bella quanto buona, - Fa mi questa grazia; - Perche io sono molto, - Molto infelice, - Se non faro una statua - Come il desiderio mio, - Vedi Bellaria. - Finquaseù in questo monte, - Son venuto per potermi - A te raccomandare; - Tù prego non indugiare - A far mi questa grazia, - Perche sono infelice.” - - “Shining star! - Resplendent glowing air, {156} - With thy burning splendour, - Bell’ Aria, inflame, - Inspire great Mercury, - Make him descend to earth - That he may copied be. - Thou who art beautiful, - As beautiful as good, - Grant me, I pray, this grace, - For I am lost in grief - Because I cannot make - A statue as I wish. - Behold, Bellaria! - I’ve come unto this hill - To beg this thing of thee! - I pray thee grant my prayer, - For I am suffering.” - -Then Bellaria thus evoked Mercury: - - “Mercurio mio, bel Mercurio, - Per quell’ acqua corrente, - E cel (cielo) splendente, - E tu risplendi, risplendi amor - Di bellezza, e come il vento, - Come il fulmine lesto siei, - Io sono stata - Scongiurata, - Scongiurata pel mio splendor, - Per infiammarti - Del mio calor - Che tu scenda in terra - Che vié Giovanni - Gian di Bologna, - Primo scultore, vuol prendere da te - Il modello, - Ti prego di scendere - Come un baleno - Perche fino che non sarai sesato, - Ne pure a me tornerebbe - La mia pace perche - Mi hanno scongiurata per te; - Se questa grazia mi farai - Non per me, ma per Giovanni, - Tre segni mi darai— - Lampo, tuono e fulmine - Se questa grazi mi farai, - I tre seguali mi darai!” - - “Mercury, beauteous God! - By the rushing water! - By the glowing heaven! - As thou shinest, reflecting again - Their beauty, and as the wind - Or the lightning thou art fleet. - Even so am I - Conjured and compelled - Even by mine own splendour - To inspire, inflame - Thee by mine own heat! - That thou descend to earth, - That Giovanni, born - In Bologna, may - As sculptor copy thee! - I pray thee to descend, - Even like lightning’s flash, - Since till thou art measured, - I shall not be in peace, - Being myself invoked. - If thou wilt grant this grace, - Yet not for me but _Gian_, - Accord to me three signs: - The flash, the crash and bolt; - Even as lightning comes, - I pray thee grant me this!” - -And in an instant there came all together in one the flash and roar and -thunderbolt, and Giovanni di Bologna beheld Mercury flying in the heaven, -and said: - - “E troppo leggiadro, troppo bello! - Non posso dipingere una Stella - Ne il vento, ne un balén, - E finito la mia speranza. Amen!” - - “Thou art too little and light, by far! - I cannot paint a shining star, - Nor the wild wind or lightning—then - All hope is lost, ah me! Amen!” - -Then the beautiful Bellaria said: - -“If thou canst not depict Mercury flying through the air, it may be that -thou canst make him passing over the waves, for then his speed is not so -great.” [So she invoked Mercury again, and he was seen flitting over the -ocean.] {158} - -But when Giovanni di Bologna beheld Mercury leaping from wave to wave -like a dolphin, he cried: - - “Bel Mercurio, sempre _vale_! - Io non sono che un mortale, - Io non posso tanto fare, - Ne le tue grazzie combinare.” - - “Farewell, fair Mercury, all is o’er, - I’m but a mortal and no more, - I cannot give again thy face, - And least of all thy wondrous grace.” - -Bellaria said to him: - -“Thou hast asked too much; it is not possible for thee to make fire and -water to the life. Yet be at ease, for what may not be done in water or -in air may come to pass with ease upon the earth.” - -Bellaria again invoked Mercury, who descended like the wind in a leap, -even as a man leaps down and alights on earth. - -Then Giovanni cried: - - “Grazia à Dio! - Io ho l’ ideà!” - - “Thanks to God divine! - The _idea_ is mine!” - -And so Giovanni made the beautiful statue of Mercury in bronze; and so -long as the Tuscans worshipped their idols it was wont to dance, but -after they ceased this worship, it danced no more. [At present, the -beautiful statue of Mercury in bronze is in the Bargello.] - -It is said that Bellaria is the sister of Mercury, and that both fly in -the air. When the _Fate_ or fairies, or good witches die, Bellaria -descends, and then bears their souls to heaven. - -Mercury is the god of all people who are in haste, who have occasion to -go rapidly—as, for instance, those who wish to send a letter quickly and -receive a speedy reply. To do this, you must have an image of Mercury -cast in bronze, and it must be made to shine like silver, with a bright -colour like a looking-glass; {159} and this should be worshipped before -going to bed, and on rising in the morning adore it again. And to invoke -Mercury, this is the manner: You must have a basin full of water, taken -from a stream when agitated (_i.e._, running water), and in the evening, -as in the morning, take that basin and make a cross on the earth where -you kneel down, and then say: - - “Acqua corrente - E vento furente, - Avanti la statua di Mercurio - Mi inghinnocchio, perche Mercurio, - E il mio idole, Mercurio! - E il mio dio; - Acqua corrente - E vento furente, - Infuriate Mercurio - A farmi questa grazia!” - - “Running water, raging wind! - Before the form of Mercury I kneel, - For Mercury is my idol and my god! - Running water, raging wind, - Inspire great Mercury - To do what I desire!” - -Then you shall pause and sing again: - - “Mercurio, Mercurio! - Tu che siei il mio Dio! - Fammi questa grazia - Che io ti chiedo, - Se questa grazia a me concedi - Tre cose fammi vedere; - Tuono, lampo e vento infuriato!” - - “Mercury, Mercury divine! - Who ever art a god of mine! - Grant me that which I do need, - And if’t be given me indeed, - Cause me then three things to see— - The lightning’s flash, - The thunder crash, - And the wind roaring furiously!” - -And where the water from the running stream has been poured it must be -carefully covered over, so that no one can tread thereon, or else from -that time the favour of Mercury will cease. - - * * * * * - -It would seem as if this story were originally intended to imply that the -sculptor, unable to give a higher conception of vivacity or motion, -represented the mobile god as in the moment of descending on earth, still -preserving the attitude of flight. This conception was probably too -subtle for the narrator, who describes the image as having been a kind of -marionette, or dancing Jack. “Whate’er it be, it is a curious tale.” - -The connection of Mercury with moving water is also remarkable. He bears -serpents on his _caduceus_ or wand; and among other ancient myth-fancies, -a rushing river, from its shape or windings and its apparent life, was a -symbol of a serpent. - -It is hardly worth while to note that Giovanni di Bologna was really a -Frenchman—Jean de Boulogne. The bronze Mercury by him described in this -story, and now in the Bargello Museum, is supposed to have suggested the -allusion to the god as - - “just alighted - On a heaven-kissing hill,” - -and the probability is indeed of the strongest. Many judges good and -true are of the opinion that, as regards motive or conception, this is -the best statue ever made by any save a Greek, as there is assuredly none -in which the lightness of motion is so perfectly expressed in matter. I -believe, however, that Giovanni di Bologna was indebted for this figure -to some earlier type or motive. There is something not unlike it among -the old Etruscan small bronze _figurini_. - - - - -THE DOUBLE-FACED STATUE, OR HOW VIRGILIO CONJURED JANUS. - - - “Now by two-headed Janus! - Nature hath formed strange fellows in her time!” - - SHAKESPEARE. - - “There were in Rome many temples of Janus, some unto him as - _bifrons_, or double-faced. Caylus has published pictures of Greek - vases on which are seen two heads thus united, the one of an elderly - man, the other of a young woman.”—_Dizionario Mitologico_. - -There was once in Florence, in the Tower della Zeccha, a statue of great -antiquity, and it had only one body, or bust, but two heads; and one of -these was of a man and the other of a woman, a thing marvellous to -behold. - -And Virgil, seeing this when it was first found in digging amid old -ruins, had it placed upright and said: - -“Behold two beings who form but a single person! I will conjure the -image; it shall be a charm to do good; it shall teach a lesson to all.” - -Thus he conjured: - - “Statua da due faccie - Due, e un corpo solo, - Due faccie ed avete - Un sol cervello. Siete - Due esseri l’ uno per altro, - Dovete essere marito e moglie, - Dovete peccare con un sol pensiero. - - “Avete bene quattro occhi - Ma una sol vista, - Come tutti i mariti, - E moglie dorebbere essere, - E dovete fare la buona fortuna - Di tutti gli inamorati.” - - “Statue gifted with two faces, - Two and yet a single body! - Two and but one brain—then art thou - Two intended for each other— - Two who should be wife and husband, - Acting by the same reflection. - - “Unto you four eyes are given, - And but a single sight—ye are then - What indeed all wives and husbands - Ought to be if they’d be happy; - Therefore shalt thou bring good fortune - Unto all devoted lovers!” - -Then Virgil touched the statue with his rod, and it replied: - - “Tutti quelli che mi pregherano. - Di cuore sincera, amanti o sposi, - Tutti quelli saranno felice!” - - “All of those who’ll come here to adore me, - Be they lovers, be they married couples, - I will ever make them truly happy.” - - * * * * * - -The conception of a head with two faces, one male and the other female, -is still very common in Italy. In the cloister of Santa Maria Novella in -Florence the portraits of a husband and wife are thus united on a marble -monumental tablet. And in Baveno, among the many _graffiti_ or sketches -and scrawls made by children on the walls on or near the church, there is -one which is evidently traditional, representing Janus. This -double-headed deity was continued in the Baphomet of the Knights -Templars. - -In the older legends are two tales declaring that Virgil made and -enchanted two statues. This appears to be a variation of the story of -Janus. - - - - -VIRGIL AND HIS COURTIERS. - - - “Virgilius also made a belfry.”—_The Wonderful History of Virgilius - the Sorcerer of Rome_. - - “To be a crow and seem a swan, - To look all truth, possessing none, - To appear a saint by every act, - And be a devil meanwhile at heart, - To prove that black is white, in sooth, - And cover up the false with truth; - And be a living lie, in short— - Such are the lives men lead at court.” - - _Old Italian saying cited by_ FRANCESCO PANICO _in his_ “_Poetiche - Dicerie_” (1643); article, Courtiers. - - “Above all lying is the lie as practised by evil _courtiers_, it - being falsehood _par excellence_. For they are the arch architects, - the cleverest of artists at forming lies, pre-eminent in cooking, - seasoning, serving them with the honey of flattery or the vinegar of - reproof.”—FRANCESCO PANICO (1643). - -On a time Virgilio remained for many weeks alone at home, and never went -to court. And during this retirement he made seven bells of gold, and on -every one there was engraved a name or word. - -On the first there was “Bugiardo” (or lying), on the second “Chiacchiera” -(or tattling gossip), on the third “Malignità” (or evil spite), on the -fourth “Chalugna” (or calumny), on the fifth “Maldicenza” (or -vituperation), on the sixth “Invidia” (or envy), and on the seventh -“Bassezza” (or vileness). - -And these he hung up in a draught of air, so that as they swung in the -breeze they rang and tinkled, first one alone, and then all. - -One day the Emperor sent a messenger to Virgilio, asking him why he never -came to court as of old. And Virgilio wrote in reply: - - “MY DEAR EMPEROR, - - “It is no longer necessary that I should come to court to learn all - that is said there. For where I am at home I hear all day long the - voices of Falsehood, Tattling, Evil Spite, Calumny, Vituperation, - Envy, and Vileness.” - -And then he showed the bells to the messenger. The Emperor, when he had -read the letter and heard all, laughed heartily, and said: - -“So Virgilio keeps a court of his own! Yes, and a finer one than mine, -for all his courtiers are clad in gold.” - - - - -VIRGIL AND THE THREE SHEPHERDS. -A LEGEND OF THE MONTE SYBILLA, NEAR ROME. - - - “And, warrior, I could tell to thee - The words which split Eildon Hill in three, - And bridled the Tweed with a curb of stone; - But to speak them were a deadly sin, - And for having but thought them my heart within - A treble penance must be done.”—SCOTT. - -Miss Roma Lister, when residing in Florence, having written to her old -nurse Maria, in Rome, asking her if she knew, or could find, any tales of -Virgil, received after a while the following letter, written out by her -son, who has evidently been well educated, to judge by his style and -admirable handwriting: - - “ROME, _January_ 28, 1897. - - “MIA BUONA SIGNORINA, - - “I have been seeking for some old person, a native of the Castelli - Romani, who knew something relative to the magician Virgil, and I - found in a street of the new quarters of Rome an old acquaintance, a - man who is more than eighty years of age; and on asking him for what - I wanted, he, after some reflection, recalled the following story: - - “‘I was a small boy when my parents told me that in the Montagna - della Sibilla there was once an old man who was indeed so very old - that the most ancient people had ever known him as appearing of the - same age, and he was called the magician Virgilio. - - “‘One day three shepherds were in a cabin at the foot of the - mountain, when the magician entered, and they were at first afraid of - him, knowing his reputation. But he calmed them by saying that he - never did harm to anyone, and that he had come down from the mountain - to beg a favour from them. - - “‘“There is,” he continued, “half-way up the mountain, a grotto, in - which there is a great serpent which keeps me from entering. - Therefore I beg you do me the kindness to capture it.” - - “‘The shepherds replied that they would do so, thinking that he - wanted them to kill the snake, but he explained to them that he - wished to have it taken in a very large bottle (_grandissimo - boccione_) {165} by means of certain herbs which he had provided. - - “‘And the next day he came with the bottle and certain herbs which - were strange to them, and certainly not grown in the country. And he - said: - - “‘“Go to the grotto, and lay the bottle down with its mouth towards - the cavern, and when the serpent shall smell the herbs he will enter - the bottle. Then do ye close it quickly and bring it to me. And all - of this must be done without a word being spoken, else ye will meet - with disaster.” - - “‘So the three shepherds went their way, and after a time came to the - grotto, which they entered, and did as the magician had ordered. - Then, after a quarter of an hour, the serpent, smelling the herbs, - came forth and entered the bottle. No sooner was he in it than one - of the shepherds adroitly closed it, and cried unthinkingly: - - “‘“Now you’re caught!” - - “‘When all at once they felt the whole mountain shake, and heard an - awful roar, and crashing timber round on every side, so that they - fell on the ground half dead with fear. When they came to their - senses each one found himself on the summit of a mountain, and the - three peaks were far apart. It took them several days to return to - their cabin, and all of them died a few days after. - - “‘From that time the magician Virgil was no more seen in the land.’ - - “This is all which I could learn; should I hear more I will write at - once to you.” - -This is beyond question an imperfectly-told tale. What the sorcerer -intended and effected was to divide a mountain into three peaks, as did -Michael Scott, of whom legends are still left in Italy, as the reader may -find by consulting the interesting work by the Rev. J. Wood Brown. {166} -In the Italian tale the three shepherds who were together find themselves -suddenly apart on the tops of three peaks, which clearly indicates the -real aim of the narrative. - -An old Indian woman, widow of an Indian governor, told me, as a thing -unknown, that the three hills of Boston had been thus split by Glusgábe -or Glooscap, the great Algonkin god. As this deity introduced culture to -North America, it will be at once perceived that there was something -truly _weirdly_, or strangely prophetic, in this act. As Glooscap was -the first to lay out Boston—_à la Trinité_—he certainly ought to be -regarded as the patron saint of that cultured city, and have at least a -library, a lyceum, or a hotel named after him in the American Athens. -The coincidence is very singular—Rome and Boston! - -Eildon Hill, by which, as I have heard, Andrew Lang was born, is one of -the picturesque places which attract legends and masters in folk-lore. -Of it I have a strange souvenir. While in its vicinity I for three -nights saw in a dream the Fairy Queen, and the “vision” was remarkably -vivid, or so much so as to leave a strong or haunting impression on my -waking hours. It was like a glimpse into elf-land. Of course it was -simply the result of my recalling and thinking deeply on the legend of -“True Thomas,” but the dream was very pleasant and sympathetic. - - - - -THE GOLDEN PINE-CONE. - - - “Quid sibi vult, illa _Pinus_, quàm semper statis diebus in deum - matris intromittis sanctuarium?”—ARNOBIUS, i. 5. - -There was once a young man named Constanzo, who was blessed, as they say, -in form and fortune, he being both fair in face and rich. Now, whether -it was that what he had seen and learned of ladies at court had -displeased him, is not recorded or remembered, but one thing is certain, -that he had made up his mind to marry a poor girl, and so began to look -about among humble folk at the maids, which indeed pleased many of them -beyond belief, though it was taken ill by their parents, who had but -small faith in such attentions. - -But the one whom it displeased most of all was the mother of Constanzo, -who, when he said that he would marry a poor girl, declared in a rage -that he should do nothing of the kind, because she would allow no such -person to come in the house. To which he replied that as he was of age, -and the master, he would do as he pleased. Then there were ill words, -for the mother had a bad temper and worse will, and had gone the worst -way to work, because of all things her son could least endure being -governed. And she was the more enraged because her son had hitherto -always been docile and quiet, but she now found that she had driven him -up to a height which he had not before dreamed of occupying and where he -would now remain. But she vowed vengeance in her heart, saying: “Marry -or not—this shall cost thee dear. _Te lo farò pagare_!” - -Many months passed, and no more was said, when one day the young -gentleman went to the chase with his friends, and impelled by some -strange influence, took a road and went afar into a part of the country -which was unknown to him. At noon they dismounted to rest, when, being -very thirsty, Constanzo expressed a desire for water. - -And just as he said it there came by a _contadina_, carrying two jars of -water, cold and dripping, fresh from a fountain. And the young signor -having drunk, observed that the girl was of enchanting or dazzling -beauty, with a charming expression of innocence, which went to his heart. - -“What is thy name?” he asked. - -“Constanza,” the girl replied. - -“And I am Constanzo,” he cried; “and as our names so our hearts shall -be—one made for the other!” - -“But you are a rich lord, and I am a poor girl,” she slowly answered, “so -it can never be.” - -But as both had loved at sight, and sincerely, it was soon arranged, and -the end was that the pair were married, and Constanza became a signora -and went to live in the castle with her lord. His mother, who was more -his enemy than ever, and ten times that of his wife, made no sign of -anger, but professed love and devotion, expressing delight every day and -oftener that her son had chosen so fair a wife, and one so worthy of him. - -It came to pass that Constanza was about to become a mother, and at this -time her husband was called to the wars, and that so far away that many -days must pass before he could send a letter to his home. But his mother -showed herself so kind, though she had death and revenge at her heart, -that Constanzo was greatly relieved, and departed almost light of heart, -for he was a brave man, as well as good, and such people borrow no -trouble ere it is due. - -But the old signora looked after him with bitterness, saying, “Thou shalt -pay me, and the hour is not far off.” And when she saw his wife she -murmured: - - “Now revenge shall take its shape; - Truly thou canst not escape; - Be it death or be it dole, - I will sting thee to the soul.” - -Then when the hour came that the countess was to be confined, the old -woman told her that she herself alone would serve and attend to all—_e -che avrebbe fatto tutto da se_. But going forth, she found a pine-tree -and took from it a cone, which she in secret set to boil in water, -singing to it: - - “Bolli, bolli! - Senza posa. - Che nel letto - Vi é la sposa, - Un fanciullo - Alla luce mi dara, - E una pina diventera! - - “Bolli, bolli! - Mio decotto - Bolli, bolli! - Senza posa! - Il profumo - Che tu spandi, - Si spanda - In corpo alla - Alla sposa e il figlio, - Il figlio che fara - Pina d’ oro diventera!” - - “Boil and boil, - Rest defying! - In the bed - The wife is lying; - Soon her babe - The light will see, - But a pine-cone - It shall be! - - “Boil and boil, - And well digest! - Boil and boil, - And never rest! - May the perfume - Which you spread - Thrill the body - To the head, - And the child - Which we shall see, - A golden pine-cone - Let it be!” - -And soon the countess gave birth to a beautiful daughter with golden -hair, but the old woman promptly took the little one and bathed it in the -water in which she had boiled the pine-cone, whereupon it became a golden -pine-cone, and the poor mother was made to believe that this was her -first-born; and the same was written to the father, who replied to his -wife that, whatever might happen, he would ever remain as he had been. - -The mother-in-law took the pine-cone and placed it on a mantelpiece, as -such curious or odd things are generally disposed of. And when her son -returned she contrived in so many ways and with craft to calumniate his -wife that the poor lady was ere long imprisoned in a tower. - -But a strange thing now happened, for every night the pine-cone, unseen -by all, left like a living thing its place on the chimney-piece and -wandered over the castle, returning at five o’clock to its place, but -ever going just below the lady’s window, where it sang: - - “O cara madre mia! - Luce degli occhi miei! - Cessa quel pianto, - E non farmi più soffrir!” - - “O mother, darling mother, - Light of my eyes, I pray - That thou wilt cease thy weeping, - So mine may pass away.” - -Yet, after he had shut his wife up in the tower, Constanzo had not an -instant’s peace of mind. Therefore, to be assured, he one day went to -consult the great magician Virgil. And having told all that had -happened, the wise man said: - -“Thou hast imprisoned thy wife, she who is pure and true, in a tower, and -all on the lying words and slanders of that vile witch your mother. And -thou hast suffered bitterly, and well deserved it, as all do who are weak -enough to believe evil reports of a single witness; for who is there who -may not lie, especially among women, when they are jealous and full of -revenge? Now do thou set free thy wife (and bid her come to me and I -will teach her what to do).” - -So the count obeyed. - -Then the mother took the pine-cone and threw it up three times into the -air, singing: - - “Pina, mia bella pina! - Dei pini tu sei regina! - Dei pini sei prottetrice, - D’ un pino pianta la radice! - E torna una fanciulla bella - Come un occhio - Di sole in braccio - A tuo padre - Ed a tua madre! - - “Pine, the fairest ever seen, - Of all cones thou art the queen! - Guarding them in sun or shade, - And ’tis granted that, when planted, - Thou shalt be a charming maid, - Ever sweet and ever true - To thy sire and mother too.” - -And this was done, and the cone forthwith grew up a fair maid, who was -the joy of her parents’ life. But the people in a rage seized on the old -witch, who was covered with a coat of pitch and burned alive in the -public square. - - * * * * * - -This legend was gathered in and sent to me from Siena. As a narrative it -is a fairy-tale of the most commonplace description, its incidents being -found in many others. But so far as the pine-cone is concerned it is of -great originality, and retains remarkable relics of old Latin lore. The -pine-tree was a favourite of Cybele, and it was consecrated to Silvanus, -who is still known and has a cult in the mountains of the Romagna -Toscana. This rural deity often bore a pine-cone in his hand. -Propertius also assigns the pine to Pan. The cone was pre-eminently a -phallic emblem, therefore specially holy; in this sense it was placed on -the staff borne by the specially initiated to Bacchus. It was incredibly -popular as an amulet, on account of its supposed magical virtues, -therefore no one object is more frequently produced in ancient art. A -modern writer, observing this, and not being able to account for it, very -feebly attributes it to the fact that the object is so common that it is -naturally used for a model. “Artists,” he says, “in fact prefer to use -what comes ready to hand, and to copy such plants as are ever under their -eye.” So writes the great dilettante Caylus, forgetting that a thousand -objects quite as suitable to decoration as the pine-cone, and quite as -common, were not used at all. - -The pine typified a new birth, according to Friedrich; this was because -it was evergreen, and therefore sacred as immortal to Cybele. Thus Ovid -(“Metamorphoses,” x. 103) writes, “_Pinus grata deum matri_.” The French -Layard, in the new “Annales de l’Institut Archæologique,” vol. xix., has -emphatically indicated the connection of the pine-cone with the cult of -Venus, and as a reproductive symbol. It is in this sense clearly set -forth in the Italian or Sienese legend, where the pine-cone planted in -the earth grows up as the girl with golden locks. This is very probably -indeed the relic of an old Roman mythical tale or poem. - -The golden pine-cone appears in other tales. Wolf (“Zeitschrift für -deutsche Mythologie,” vol. i., p. 297) says that in Franconia there were -once three travelling _Handwerksburschen_, or craftsmen, who met with a -beautiful lady, who when asked for alms gave to each a pine-cone from a -tree. Two of them threw the gifts away, but the third found his changed -to solid gold. In order to make an amulet which is kept in the house, -pine-cones are often gilded in Italy. I have seen them here in Florence, -and very pretty ornaments they make. - - - - -VIRGIL’S MAGIC LOOM. - - - “I heard a loom at work, and thus it spoke, - As though its clatter like a metre woke, - And echoed in my mind like an old song, - Rising while growing dimmer e’en like smoke. - - “And thus it spoke, ‘God is a loom like me, - His chiefest weaving is Humanity, - And man and woman are the warp and woof, - Which make a mingling light of mystery.’” - - _The Loom_: C. G. L. - -Gega was a girl of fifteen years of age, and without parents or friends, -with nothing in the world but eyes to weep and arms to work. Yet she had -this luck, that an old woman who was a fellow-lodger in the place where -she lived, {172} moved by compassion, took the girl to live with her, -though all she had was a very small room, in which was a poor bed and a -little loom, so crazy-looking and old that it seemed impossible to work -with it. - -Nunzia, {173} for such was the old woman’s name, took Gega indeed as a -daughter, and taught her to weave, which was a good trade in those days, -and in that place where few practised it. So it came to pass that they -made money, which was laid by. [This was no great wonder, for the old -loom had a strange enchantment in it, by which marvellous work could be -produced.] - -The old woman very often bade Gega take great care of the loom, and the -girl could not understand why Nunzia thought so much of it, since it -seemed to her to be like any other. [For it never appeared strange to -her that when she wove the cloth seemed to almost come of itself—a great -deal for a little thread—and that its quality or kind improved as she -applied herself to work, for in her ignorance she believed that this was -the way with all weaving.] - -At last the old Mamma Nunzia died, and Gega, left alone, began to make -acquaintances and friends with other girls who came to visit her. Among -these was one named Ermelinda, who was at heart as treacherous and -rapacious as she was shrewd, yet one withal who, what with her beauty and -deceitful airs, knew how to flatter and persuade to perfection, so that -she could make a simple girl like Gega believe that the moon was a pewter -plate, or a black fly white. - -Now, the first time that she and several others, who were all weavers, -saw Gega at work, they were greatly amazed, for the cloth seemed to come -of itself from a wretched old loom which appeared to be incapable of -making anything, and it was so fine and even, and had such a gloss that -it looked like silk. - -“How wonderful! One would say it was silk!” cried a girl. - -“Oh, I can make silk when I try,” answered Gega; and applying her will to -it, she presently spun from cotton-thread a yard of what was certainly -real silk stuff. - -And seeing this, all present declared that Gega must be a witch. - -“Nonsense,” she replied; “you could all do it if you tried as I do. As -for being a witch, it is Ermelinda and not I who should be so, for she -first said it was like silk, and made it so.” - -Then Ermelinda saw that there was magic in the loom, of which Gega knew -nothing, so she resolved to do all in her power to obtain it. And this -she effected firstly by flattery, and giving the innocent girl -extravagant ideas of her beauty, assuring her that she had an -attractiveness which could not fail to win her a noble husband, and that, -having laid by a large sum of money, she should live on it in style till -married, and that in any case she could go back to her weaving. But that -on which she laid most stress was that Gega should leave her old lodging -and get rid of her dirty old furniture, and especially of that horrible, -crazy old loom, persuading her that, if she ever should have occasion to -weave again, she, with her talent, could do far better with a new loom, -and probably gain thrice as much, all of which the simple girl believed, -and so let her false friend dispose of everything, in doing which -Ermelinda did not fail to keep the loom herself, declaring that nobody -would buy it. - -“Now,” said the latter, “I am content. Thou art very beautiful; all that -thou needest is to be elegantly dressed, and have fine things about thee, -to soon catch a fine husband.” - -Gega assented to this, but was loth to part with her old loom, which she -had promised Nunzia should never be neglected; but Ermelinda promised so -faithfully to keep it carefully for her, that she was persuaded to let -her have it. Then the young girl took a fine apartment, well furnished, -and bought herself beautiful clothes, and, guided by her false friend, -began to go to entertainments and make fashionable friends, and live as -if she were rich. - -Then Ermelinda, having obtained the old loom, went to work with it, in -full hope that she too could spin silk out of cotton, but found out to -her amazement and rage that she could do nothing of the kind—nay, she -could not so much as weave common cloth from it; all that she got after -hours of fruitless effort was a headache, and the conviction that she had -thrown away all her time and trouble, which made her hate Gega all the -more. - -Meanwhile the latter for a time enjoyed life as she had never done -before; but though she looked anxiously to the right and the left for a -husband, found none, the well-to-do young men being quite as anxious to -wed wealth as she was, and all of them soon discovered on inquiry that -she had little or nothing, despite her style of living, and her money -rapidly melted away, till at last she found that to live she must -work—there was no help for it. With what remained she bought a fine loom -and thread, and sat down to weave; but though she succeeded in making -common stuff like others, it was not silk, nor anything like it, nor was -there anyone who would buy what she made. In despair she remembered what -Mamma Nunzia had solemnly said to her, that she must never part from the -old loom, so she went to Ermelinda to reclaim it. But her false friend, -although she could do nothing with the loom herself, was not willing that -Gega, whom she hated with all her heart, should in any way profit, and -declared that her mother had broken up and burned the rubbishy old thing, -and to this story she adhered, and when Gega insisted on proof of it, -drove her in a rage out of the house. - -While Mamma Nunzia was living she, being a very wise woman, had taught -Gega with care the properties and nature of plants, roots, herbs, and -flowers, saying that some day it might be of value to her, as it is to -everyone. So whenever they had a holiday they had gone into the fields -and woods, where the girl became so expert that she could have taught -many a doctor very strange secrets; and withal, the Mamma also made her -learn the charms and incantations which increase the power of the plants. -So now, having come to her last coin, and finding there was some profit -in it, she began to gather herbs for medicine, which she sold to chemists -and others in the towns. And finding a deserted old tower in a wild and -rocky place, she was allowed to make it her home; and indeed, after all -she had gone through, and her disappointment both as to friends and -lovers, she found herself far happier when alone than when in a town, -where she was ashamed to meet people who had known her when she lived in -style. - -One evening as she was returning home she heard a groaning in the woods -as of someone in great suffering, and, guided by the sound, found a poor -old woman seated on a stone, who told her that she had hurt her leg by -slipping from a rock. And Gega, who was as strong as she was kind and -compassionate, carried the poor soul in her arms to the tower, where she -bound an application of healing herbs to the wound, and bade her remain -and welcome. - -“I have nothing to give you for it all,” said the old woman on the -following day. - -“Nor did I do it in the hope of aught,” replied Gega. - -“And yet,” said the sufferer, “I might be of use to you. If, for -example, you have lost anything, I can tell you how to recover it or -where it is.” - -“Ah!” cried Gega, “if thou canst do that, thou wilt be a friend indeed, -for I have lost my fortune—it was a loom which was left to me by Mamma -Nunzia. I did not regard her advice never to part with it, and I have -bitterly repented my folly. I trusted it to a friend, who betrayed me, -for she burned it.” - -“No, my dear, she did nothing of the kind,” replied the old woman; “she -has it yet, and I will make it return to thee.” - -Then she repeated this invocation: - - “Telaio! Telaio! Telaio! - Che per opera e virtú - Del gran mago Virgilio - Fosti fabricato, - E di tante virtù adornato - Ti prego per opera e virtu - Del gran mago Virgilio - Tu possa di una tela - Di oro di argento - Essere ordito. - E come il vento, - Dalla casa di Ermelinda, - Tu possa sortire, - Sortire e tornare - Nella vecchia sofitta - Della figlia mia - Per opera e virtú - Dal gran mago Virgilio!” - - “Loom! Loom! O loom! - Who by the labour and skill - Of the great magician Virgil - Wert made so long ago, - And gifted with such power! - I pray thee by that skill - And labour given by - Virgil, the great magician, - As thou canst spin a web - Of silver or of gold, - Fly like the wind away - From Ermelinda’s house - Into the small old room - Where once my daughter dwelt, - All by the skill and power - Of great Virgilius!” - -When in an instant they were borne away on a mighty wind and found -themselves in the old room, and there also they found the loom, from -which Gega could now weave at will cloth of gold or silver as well as -silk. - -Then the old woman looked steadily at Gega, and the girl saw the features -of the former change to those of Nunzia, and as she embraced her, the old -woman said: - -“Yes, I am Mamma Nunzia, and I came from afar to restore to thee thy -loom; but guard it well now, for if lost thou canst never recover it -again. But if thou shouldst ever need aught, then invoke the grand -magician Virgil, because he has always been my god.” {177} - -Having said this, she departed, and Gega knew now that Nunzia was a white -witch or a fairy. So, becoming rich, she was a lady, and ever after took -good care of her loom and distrusted flattering friends. - - * * * * * - -This legend exists as a fairy-tale in many forms, and may be found in -many countries; perhaps its beginning was in that of the princess who -could spin straw into gold. To have some object which produces food or -money _ad libitum_ when called on, to be cheated out of it, and finally -be revenged on the cheater, is known to all. - -Virgil is in one of these tales naïvely called a saint, and in this he is -seriously addressed as a god, by which we, of course, understand a -classical heathen deity, or any spirit powerful enough to answer prayer -with personal favours. But Virgil as the maker of a magic loom which -yields gold and silk, and as a _god_ at the same time, indicates a very -possible derivation from a very grand ancient myth. The reader is -probably familiar with the address of the Time Spirit in Goethe’s -“Faust”: - - “In Being’s flood, in action’s storm, - I work and weave, above, beneath— - Work and weave in endless motion - Birth and Death—an infinite ocean, - A-seizing and giving - The fire of the Living. - ’Tis thus at the roaring loom of Time I ply, - And weave for God the garment thou see’st Him by.” - -Thomas Carlyle informs us, in “Sartor Resartus,” that of the thousands -who have spouted this really very intelligible formula of pantheism, none -have understood it—implying thereby that to him it was no mystery. But -Carlyle apparently did not know, else he would surely have told the -reader, that the idea was derived from the Sanskrit myth that Maya -(delusion or appearance), “the feminine half of the divine primitive -creator (Urwesen), was represented as weaving the palpable universe from -herself, for which reason she was typified as a spider.” {178} Hence -Maia of the Greeks; and it is a curious coincidence that Maia in the -Neapolitan legends is the mother of Virgil, all of which is confused, and -may be accidental, but there may also be in it the remains of some -curious and very ancient tradition. The spider was, however, certainly -the emblem of domestic, stay-at-home, steady industry, as Friedrich -illustrates, therefore of prosperity, hence it is believed to bring luck -to those on whom it crawls, as set forth in the novel of “The Red -Spider.” And it is evident that the moral of this tale of Virgil’s loom -is to the effect that the heroine gained her good fortune by hard work at -home, and came to grief by gadding abroad and playing the belle. - -That Maia, or Illusion or Glamour, should, according to our tradition, be -the mother of the greatest thaumaturgist, wonder-worker, poet, and -sorcerer of yore is curious. That the original Maya of India should be -the living loom from which the universe is spun, and that in another tale -the _same_ magician, her son, is a god who makes a magic loom which spins -gold, silver, and silk, may be all mere chance coincidence, but, if so, -it is strange enough to rank as a miracle _per se_. - -The name Gega, with _g_ the second soft, is very nearly _Gaia_, the -Goddess of the Earth, who was one with Maia, as a type of the Universe. - -As I regard this as a tradition of some importance, I would state that it -owes nothing whatever to any inquiry, hint, or suggestion from me; that -it was gathered from witch authority by Maddalena, near Prato; and, -finally, that it is very faithfully translated, with the exception of the -passages indicated by brackets, which were inserted by me to make the -text clearer—a very necessary thing in most of these tales, where much is -often palpably omitted. I have seldom had a story so badly written as -this was; it appears to have been taken down without correction from some -illiterate old woman, who hardly understood what she was narrating. - -It is to be observed that in a number of these tales the proper names are -strangely antique and significant. They are not such as are in use among -the people, they would not even be known to most who are tolerably well -read. I have only found several after special search in mythologies, -etc.; and yet they are, I sincerely believe, in all cases appropriate to -the tradition as in this case. - - - - -VIRGIL AND THE PRIEST. - - - “Beware, beware of the Black Friar, - Who sitteth by Norman stone.”—BYRON. - - “Seven times shall he be accursed who returns evil for good, and - seven times seven he who lives for himself alone, but seventy times - seven the one who wrongs the orphan, the weak, the helpless, the - widow or the young!”—_The Ladder of Sin_. - -There is in Arezzo a lonely old lane or silent street where few people -care to go after dark, nor do they love it much even by daylight, the -reason being that it is haunted, for many have seen walking up and down -in it after midnight the form of a ghostly friar, who is ever muttering -to himself. So he wanders, speaking to none, but now and then he seems -to be in great distress, and screams as if in agony, when light dim -flames fly from his mouth and nostrils, and then he suddenly vanishes. - -It is said that long, long ago there lived in or near Arezzo a poor young -orphan girl who had no relations, and had been taken in charity as a -servant in a farmer’s family, where she was not unkindly treated, but -where everything was in harsh contrast to the life which she had led at -home, for her parents, though poor, were gentle folk, and had brought her -up tenderly. - -So it happened that when at Easter she was ordered to kill for the usual -feast a pet lamb, because all the rest were too busy to attend to it, she -could not bring herself to do it, and wept bitterly when the lamb looked -at her, which the master and mistress could not understand, and thought -her very silly. And being deeply grieved at all this, she could eat -nothing, and so went along weeping, wishing that her life were at an end. -And while walking she met a priest, who was indeed a black sheep of the -flock, or rather a wolf, for he was a hardened villain at heart, and -ready for any knavery; and he, seeing that the girl, whose name was -Ortenzia, was in distress, drew from her all her sad story, and was very -much interested at learning that she had some small store of money and a -few jewels and clothes, which her mother had charged her not to part -with, but to keep till she should be married or for dire need. - -Then the priest, pretending great sympathy and pity, said that the farm -was no place for her, and that he himself was in great need of a -maid-servant, and if she would come and live with him she should be to -him as a daughter, and treated like a lady, with much more honeyed talk -of the kind, till at last she assented to his request, at which he -greatly rejoiced, and bade her be careful to bring with her all her -property; whereupon he lost no time in inducing her to sign a paper -transferring it all to him, which she in her ignorance very willingly -did. - -The poor child found very soon indeed that she had only changed the -frying-pan for the fire, for the same night the priest made proposals to -her, which she rejected in anger, when he attempted force, which she -resisted, being strong and resolute, and declared that she would leave -his house at once. But when she asked for her money and small property -he jeered at her, saying that she had _given_ it to him, and all the law -in the land could not take it away. And more than this, he declared she -was possessed by a devil, and would certainly be damned for resisting -him, and that he would excommunicate and curse her. Hearing all this, -the girl became mad in fact, and rushed forth. For a long time she went -roaming about the roads, in woods, and living on what people gave her in -pity; but no one knew what it was that had turned her brain, and the -priest, of course, said all that was ill and false of her. - -One day, as the poor lunatic sat in a lonely place singing and making -bouquets of wild-flowers, the priest passed, and he, seeing her still -young and beautiful, was again inspired by passion, and threw his arms -about her. She, seized with horror, again resisted, when all at once a -voice was heard, and there stood before them a tall and dignified man, -who said to the priest: - -“Leave untouched that poor girl, who is all purity and goodness, thou who -art all that is vile and foul!” - -Then the priest, in great terror and white as death, replied: - -“Pardon me, Signore Virgilio!” - -“What thou hast deserved, thou must endure,” replied Virgil, “and long -and bitter must thy penance be; but first of all restore to this poor -creature all that of which thou hast robbed her, and make a public avowal -of her innocence and of all thy crimes.” - -And this he did; when Virgil said: - -“Now from this hour thy spirit shall haunt the street where thou hast -lived, and thou shalt never leave it, but wander up and down, thinking of -all the evil thou hast wrought. And when thou wouldst curse or rage, it -shall come forth from thy mouth in flames, and therewith thou shalt have -some short relief.” - -As for the girl, she was restored to health, and Virgil made for her a -happy life, and she married well, and after a long and prosperous life -passed away, having founded a great family in the land. - -But the goblin friar still haunts the street in Arezzo, for he has not -yet fully and truly repented, and a life as evil as his leaves its stain -long after death. - - - - -IL GIGLIO DI FIRENZE, OR THE STORY OF VIRGIL AND THE LILIES. - - - “The lily is the symbol of beauty and love. By the Greeks it was - called Χαρμα Αφροδιτης, the joy of Venus, and according to Alciatus, - Venus Urania was represented with a lily in her hand.”—J. B. - FRIEDRICH: _Die Symbolik der Natur_. - -This story is of the lily, or the _stemma_, or crest of Florence. One -day Virgilio went forth to walk when he met with a Florentine, who -saluted him, saying: - -“Thou truly shouldst be a Florentine, since thou art by name a _vero -giglio_”—a true lily (_Ver_’-_giglio_). - -Then the poet replied: - -“Truly I am entitled to the name, since our first ancestors were as the -lilies of the field, who toiled not, neither did they spin, hence it came -that they left me nothing.” - -“But thou wilt leave a lordly heritage,” replied the nobleman, smiling; -“the glory of a great name which shall honour all thy fellow-citizens, -and which will ever remain in the shield as the flower of Florence.” -{182} - - * * * * * - -This is a pretty tale, though it turns on a pun, and has nothing more -than that in it. Much has been written to prove that the lilies in the -shields of France and Florence and on the ends of sceptres are not -lilies, but there can be no reasonable doubt of its Latin symbolical -origin. Among the Romans the lily was the emblem of public hope, of -patriotic expectation, hence we see Roman coins with lilies bearing the -mottoes: _Spes Publica_, _Spes Augusta_, _Spes Populi Romani_, and Virgil -himself, in referring to Marcellus, the presumed heir to the throne of -Augustus, makes Anchises cry: “Bring handfuls of lilies!” - -This did not occur to me till after translating the foregoing little -tradition, and it is appropriate enough to suggest that it may have had -some connection with the tale. The idea of its being attached to power, -probably in reference to the community governed, was ancient and widely -spread. Not only was the garment of the Olympian Jupiter adorned with -lilies, {183a} but the old German Thor held in one hand the lightning and -in the other a lily sceptre {183b} indicating peace and purity, or the -welfare of the people. The lily was also the type of purity from its -whiteness, the origin of which came from Susanna the Chaste, who during -the Babylonian captivity remained the only virgin. Susan is in Hebrew -_Shusam_, which means a lily. “This was transferred to the Virgin Mary.” -Hence the legend that Saint Ægidius, when the immaculateness of the -Virgin was questioned, wrote in sand the query as to whether she was a -maid before, during, and after the Conception, whereupon a lily at once -grew forth out of the sand, as is set forth in a poem by the German -Smetz—of which lily-legends of many kinds there are enough to make a book -as large as this of mine. - -The cult of the lily in a poetical sense was carried to a great extent at -one time. The Dominican P. Tommaso Caraffa, in his “Poetiche Dicerie,” -or avowed efforts at fine writing, devotes a page of affected and -certainly florid Italian to the “Giglio,” and there are Latin poems or -passages on it by Bisselius, P. Laurent le Brun, P. Alb. Ines, given by -Gandutius (“Descriptiones Poeticæ”), Leo Sanctius and A. Chanutius. -There is also a passage in Martial eulogizing the flower in comparing to -it the white tunic given to him by Parthenio: - - “Lilia tu vincis, nec adhuc dilapsa ligustra, - Et Tiburtino monte quod albet ebur. - Spartanus tibi cedit color, Paphiæque columna - Cedit Erithræis eruta gemma vadis.” - -I saw once upon a time in Venice a magnificent snow-white carpet covered -with lilies—a present from the Sultan to the well-known English diplomat -and scholar, Layard—to which it seems to me that those lines of the Latin -poet would be far more applicable than they could have been to what was -in reality about the same as an ordinary clean shirt or blouse—for such -was in fact the Roman tunic. It must, however, be candidly admitted that -he does good service to humanity who in any way renders romantic, poetic, -or popular, clean linen or personal purity of any kind. - - - - -VIRGIL AND THE BEAUTIFUL LADY OF THE LILY. - - - “Ecce tibi viridi se _Lilia_ candice tollunt, - Atque humiles alto despactant vertice flores - Virginea ridente coma.” - - P. LAURENCE LE BRUN, _El._ 50, 1. 7. - -Once the Emperor went hunting, when he heard a marvellously sweet voice -as of a lady singing, and all his dogs, as if called, ran into the -forest. - -The Emperor followed and was amazed at seeing a lady, beautiful beyond -any he had ever beheld, holding in one hand a lily and wearing a broad -girdle as of steel and gold, which shone like diamonds. The dogs fawned -round her when the Emperor addressed her, but as he spoke she sank into -the ground, and left no trace. - -The Emperor came the second day also, alone, and beheld her again, when -she disappeared as before. - -The third day he told the whole to Virgil, and took the sage with him. -And when the lady appeared Virgil touched her with his wand, and she -stood still as a statue. - -Then Virgil said: - -“Oh, my lord, consider well this Lady of the Lily, and especially her -girdle; for in the time when that lady shall lose that girdle Florence -will gain more in one year than it now increases in ten.” - -And with this the lady vanished as before, and they returned home. - - - - -VIRGIL AND THE DAUGHTER OF THE EMPEROR OF ROME. - - - “As the lily dies away - In the garden, in the plain, - Then as beautiful and gay - In the summer comes again; - So may life, when love is o’er, - In a child appear once more.” - -The following strange legend, which was taken down by Maddalena from some -authority to me unknown, near Arezzo, is so imperfectly told in the -original, and is, moreover, so evidently repieced and botched by an -ignorant narrator, that I at first rejected it altogether; but finding on -consideration that it had some curious relations with other tales, I -determined to give it for what it may be worth. - - * * * * * - -Once the Emperor of Rome was in his palace very melancholy, nor could he -rally (_ralegrarla_), do what he might. Then he went forth into the -groves to hear the birds sing, for this generally cheered him, but now it -was of no avail. - -Then he sent a courier to Florence, and bade him call Virgil with all -haste. - -Virgil followed the messenger at full speed. - -“What wilt thou of me?” asked the sorcerer of the Emperor. - -“I wish to be relieved from the melancholy which oppresses me. I want -joy.” - -“Do like me, and thou wilt always have a peaceful mind: - - “‘I work no evil to any man; - I ever do what good I can. - He who acts thus has ever the power - To turn to peace the darkest hour!’” - -“Nor do I recall that I ever did anything to regret,” replied the -Emperor. - -“Well, then, come with me, for I think that a little journey will be the -best means of distracting your mind and relieving you from melancholy.” - -“Very well,” replied the Emperor. “Lead where you will; anything for a -change.” - -“We will take a look at all the small districts of Tuscany,” answered -Virgil. - - “Going from the Florentino, - Through Valdarno to Casentino; - Where’er we see the olives bloom, - And smell the lily’s rich perfume, - And mountains rise and rivulets flow, - Thither, my lord, we two will go.” - -To which the Emperor replied: - - “Where’er you will, all things to see, - High or low—’tis all one to me, - If I can only happy be.” - -So they travelled on through many places, but the Emperor was ever dull -and sad; but when in Cortona he said that he felt a little better, and -went forth with Virgil to look about the town. - -[And it was unto this place and to a certain end that Virgil led his -lord.] - -Passing along a street, they saw at a window a girl of extraordinary -beauty, who was knitting. . . . {187a} - -The girl instead of being angered, laughed, showing two rows of beautiful -teeth, and said: - -“Thou mayst become gold, and the skein a twist of gold.” - -The girl was utterly surprised and confused at this, and knew not whether -to accept or refuse (the gift offered). - -The Emperor said to Virgil: - -“Just see how beautiful she is. I would like to win her love, and make -her mine.” - -“Always the same song,” replied Virgil. “You never so much as say, ‘I -wish she were my daughter.’” - -“She can never be my daughter,” answered the Emperor; “but as she is as -poor as she is beautiful, she may very easily become my love. Honour is -of no value to a poor person.” - -“Nay,” replied Virgil, “when the poor know its value, it is worth as much -to them as gold to you who are wealthy. {187b} And it is from your -neglecting this that you have so long suffered, you knew not why [but an -evil deed will burn, though you see no light and know not what it is]. -For thus didst thou once betray a poor maid, and then cast her away -without a further thought, not even bestowing aught upon her. And thou -hadst a daughter, and her mother now lies ill and is well nigh to death. -And it is this which afflicted thee [for every deed sends its light or -shadow at some time unto the doer]. And now, if thou dost not repair -this wrong, thou wilt never more know peace, and shalt ever sit in the -chair of penitence.” - -“And where is my daughter and her mother?” asked the Emperor. - -“That girl is the daughter, and if you would see her mother, follow me,” -replied Virgil. - -When they entered the room where the dying woman lay, the Emperor -recognised in her one whom he had loved. - -“Truly,” he said, “she was the most beautiful to me of all.” - -And he embraced and kissed her; she was of marvellous beauty; she asked -him if he recognised their daughter. - -“I recognise and acknowledge her,” he replied. “Wilt thou live?” - -“No,” she replied; “for I have lived to the end, and return to life. [I -am a fairy (_fata_) who came to earth to teach thee that fortune and -power are given to the great not to oppress the weak and poor, but to -benefit.”] - -Saying this she died, and there remained a great bouquet of flowers. - -The Emperor took his daughter to the palace, where she passed for his -niece, and with her the flowers in which he ever beheld his old fairy -love, and thus he lived happy and contented. - - * * * * * - -To supply a very important omission in this legend, I would add that the -bouquet was certainly of lilies, as occurs in other legends, and the real -meaning of the whole is a very significant illustration of the history -and meaning of the flower. Old writers and mythic symbolism, as -Friedrich and many more have shown, believed that Nature taught, not -vaguely and metaphorically, but directly, many moral lessons, and that of -the lily was purity and truth. By comparing this with the other stories -relating to this flower which I have given, it will hardly be denied that -my conjectural emendations formed part of the original, which the -narrator had not remembered or understood. - -There is something beautifully poetical in the fancy that spirits, -_fata_, assume human form, that they by their influence on great men, -princes or kaisars, may change their lives, and teach them lessons by -means of love or flowers. This makes of the tale an allegory. It was in -this light that Dante saw all the poems of Virgil, as appears by passages -in the “Convito,” in which curious book (p. 36, ed. 1490) there is a -passage declaring that the world is round and hath a North and South -Pole, in the former of which there is a city named Maria, and on the -other one called Lucia, and that Rome is 2,600 miles from the one, “more -or less,” and 7,500 miles from the other. - - “And thus do men, each in his different way, - From fancies unto wilder fancies stray.” - -Or as the same great poet expresses it in the same curious book: “Man is -like unto a weary pilgrim upon a road which he hath never before -travelled, who every time that he sees from afar a house, deems that it -is the lodging which he seeks, and finding his mistake, believes it is -the next, and so he erreth on from place to place until he finds the -tavern which he seeks. And ’tis the same, be it with boys seeking apples -or birds, or their elders taking fancies to garments, or a horse, or a -woman, or wealth, ever wanting something else or more and so ever on.” - -The lily in Italian tales is the flower of happy, saintly deaths; it -fills the beds of the departing, it sprouts from the graves of the holy -and the good. In one legend it is the white flower of the departing soul -which changes into a white bird. But in this story it has a doubly -significant meaning, as the crest of Florence and as conveying a -significant meaning to its ruler. - -The “Convito” of Dante is not nearly so well known as the “Commedia,” but -it deserves study. The only copy which I have ever read is the editio -princeps of 1490, which I bought of an itinerant street-vendor for 4 -soldi, or twopence. - - - - -VIRGIL AND POLLIONE, OR THE SPIRIT OF THE PROVERB. - - - “A Proverb is a relic or remain of ancient philosophy, preserved - among many ruins by its brevity and fitness.”—ARISTOTLE AP. SYNESIUS. - - “I Proverbi e la sapienza dell uomo - El Proverbio no fale.” - - _Proverbi Veneti_, _da_ PASQUALIGO. - - “He who leaves money leaves what may be lost, - But he who leaves a _Proverb_ keen and true - Leaves that wherein his soul will never die.” - - C. G. LELAND. - - “Tremendo leone, destriero animoso - Che in lungo riposo giaceste al suo pié. - Mostrate agli audaci cui grato e l’ errore - Che ’l vostro vigore scemato non è.” - - GABRIEL ROSSETTI (1832). - -There was once a young man of genius, and honest; he was a true gentleman -(_vero galantuomo_), with a good heart. - -At that time there was also in Rome a great magician who was called the -Poet, but his real name was Virgilio. And the honest youth, whose name -was Pollione, was a student with Virgilio, and also his servant. - -Everybody may have heard who Virgilio was, and how he was a sorcerer -above all others. He had a custom of giving to his friends sayings and -proverbs, or sentences {190a} wherein there was always wisdom or a moral. -His friends did not know it, but with every one of these sayings there -went a spirit, and if they gave heed to the saying {190b} the spirit took -care that from it some good resulted to them. - -One day when Virgil gave sayings to his friends, he said to Pollione: - -“When a man speaks to you, hear to the end all that he has to say before -answering.” - -After a while Pollione left Rome, and went to Florence. While wandering, -he found himself not far from Lucca, in a solitary forest. And while -resting he observed a stone, almost hidden under the grass, on which -stone were letters, and, clearing it away, he read the word “Lift.” So -he raised the stone, and found under it a small ancient vase, in which -was a gold ring. Then he took the ring, and went his way. - -And after weary wandering he found a small house, empty, into which he -entered. It was one of the cabins in which peasants store chestnuts or -grain or their implements for work. Therein was a partition of boards, -and the youth lay down behind it and went to sleep. - -After a little time there entered two friars, who never suspected there -was anybody behind the screen, so they began to talk freely. And -Pollione, awaking, listened to them. - -One friar said to the other: - -“It is now a year since old Father Girolamo died, who on his deathbed -left to us both, to wear by turns, the gold ring which is hid somewhere -in this wood in a vase under a stone on which is the word ‘Lift.’ Pity -that he died before he could tell us just where it is. So we have sought -and sought in vain, and so we must seek on, seek ever.” - -When Pollione heard that, in the honesty of his heart, he was about to -show himself and cry out, “Here is your ring!” when all at once he -recalled the proverb of Virgilio to always hear all that a man has to say -before answering. So he kept quiet, while the other friar said: - -“Thou knowest that with that ring one can turn any man or woman into any -kind of an animal. What wouldst thou do with it if it were thine?” - -“I,” replied the other, “would at once change our Abbot into an ass, and -beat him half to death ten times a day, because he put me _in penitenza_ -and in prison because I got drunk.” - -“And I,” answered the second friar, “would change the proud, beautiful -daughter of the count who lives in the castle yonder into a female dog, -and keep her in that form till she should consent to be my mistress. -Truly, I would give her a good lesson, and make her repent having scorned -me.” - -When Pollione heard such talk as this he reflected: - -“I think I would do well to keep the ring myself.” - -Then he took a piece of paper and wrote on it: - - “L’ anello non avrai, - Ma asinello tu sarai, - Tu asinello diventerai - E non l’Abate, - Cosi dicono le Fate.” - - “The ring of gold is not for thee, - For thou thyself an ass shalt be; - Not the Abbot, but thou in truth, - This the Fairies say in sooth.” - -This poem he placed on the stone which had covered the ring. And when -the two friars found and read it, and discovered that the ring was gone, -they verily believed that the fairies had overheard them and taken away -the ring, and so, full of sorrow, returned to their convent. - -Then Pollione, ever travelling on, one day met in Verona a clever, -bold-looking young man, who was playing marvellous juggler’s tricks in a -public place. And, looking closely at one another, each recognised in -his observer the wizard who knew hidden things. - -“Let us go together,” said Pollione. “We shall do better by mutual aid.” - -So they went into partnership. - -One evening they found themselves in a castle, where the signore treated -them very kindly; and this lord had a beautiful daughter, who looked at -Pollione with long glances, nor were his at her one whit shorter. - -But the father seemed to be dying with some great sorrow; and at last he -said to Pollione: - -“Thou art a gentleman, and a man who is learned in books and wise. It -may be that thou canst give me good advice and save me. If thou canst, -there is nothing of mine which I will not give thee. And this is the -story: - -“A year ago I was sent on State affairs to Constantinople, where the -Sultan promised me that within a certain time he would send me a lion as -a gift for our Grand Duke. - -“And after I had returned to Italy I told the Duke of this, at which he -was greatly pleased. But when the time had come to an end the lion did -not arrive. Then several of the courtiers who were my envious enemies -made the Duke believe that the tale of the lion was all a lie, and a mere -boast of mine. - -“Then the Duke said to me that if the lion did not arrive within six -months I should lose my head, and the allotted time is nearly past.” - -“I believe that I can save you,” replied Pollione. “I will do it, if -only to please your daughter.” - -“Do it, and she shall be thine,” answered the father. - -And the daughter smiled. - -So the signore wrote to the Grand Duke that on a certain day the lion -would be his, and invited him with all the court to his castle to see it. - -Then there was at the time appointed a grand pavilion, in which was the -Grand Duke, with all the courtiers and music. - -The sorcerer Jannes, who was the companion of Pollione, had formed a deep -attachment to the signore, as the latter had to him. Then the magician -asked the lord to point out carefully to him all those who were his -enemies. - -And then from a tent there came forth a great lion. It was the magician, -who had been touched by the ring. - -The music sounded, and the people cried, “_Evviva il lione_!” Hurrah for -the lion! - -But when the lion, running round the course, came to the courtiers, he -roared and became like a raging devil. He leaped over the barrier, and, -attacking the courtiers, tore them limb from limb, and did terrible -things. Nor could the Duke say anything, for it was his own fault. - -Then the lion bounded away and was seen no more. - -So the signore was saved, and Pollione wedded his daughter, and became -very wealthy and a great lord. - -And it is a true thing that there are wizards’ sayings or proverbs which -cause good luck—_buona fortuna_; and if such a proverb remains always in -the memory the spirit of the proverb will aid him who knows it. And to -secure his aid one should repeat this spell: - - “Spirito del proverbio! - Ti prego di stampare - Questo proverbio corretamente - Per sempre nella mia mente, - Ti prego di aiutarlo, - Sempre cosi la detta sara - Cagione della felicità.” - - “Spirit of the proverb, - I pray thee to impress - This proverb exactly - And for ever in my mind, - So that it may ever be - A blessing and a joy to me.” - -And this done, the proverb or poem will become a living spirit, which -will aid you to become learned and wise. {194} - - * * * * * - -As the _Jatakas_ of Buddha, which perhaps give the origin of the fable, -were all intended to set forth the great doctrine of the immortality of -the soul in transmigrations, so most stories like the preceding have for -an aim or object the teaching of a spell. That which is here explained -is very singular, yet the idea is one which would naturally occur to a -student of magic. It is that in a deep meaning or moral there is a -_charm_, and every charm implies a spirit. Hence a spirit may go with a -proverb, which in its form is like a spell. It is simply a perception of -the similarity of a saying or proverb to a charm. As the Pythagoreans -and Neo-Platonists believed there were spirits in numbers and ideas, so a -believer might even more rationally conceive of a soul in a wise saying. - - - - -VIRGIL AND MATTEO, OR ANOTHER PROVERB OF VIRGILIO. - - - “Proverbi, noti spontaneamente, e quasi inconsciamente sulle labbre - del popolo, oltre contenere una profonda sapienza . . . manifestano - la prontezza, il brio.”—DA AUGUSTO ALFANI: _Proverbi e Modi - Proverbiali_ (1882). - -The following story is translated from the Romognola, or mountain -dialect, also called Bolognesa, which is a rude, strange patois, believed -to be very ancient. It was written by a native of Rocca Casciano, near -Forli. The beginning of it in the original is as follows: - -“_Un Eter proverbi di Virgilio_.—Ho iera una volta un om co des a -Verzeglie che un su usen lera un ledre e vieva rube quaicosa, e é bon om -ed nom Matei, e pregheva Verzeglie ed ulei de un det, ho proverbi, -incontre a e le der.” - -There was once a man who said to Virgil that one of his neighbours was a -thief, who had stolen something from him, and the man, whose name was -Matteo, begged Virgil to give him a saying or a proverb against the -thief. - -Virgil replied: “Truly thou hast been robbed; but be of good cheer, and -thou mayst regain thine own again if thou wilt remember this saying: - - “Se un dievele ti disprezza, - Tu guent un dievele e mezza, - E quan e lup la e tu agnel, - L’ e temp et tolá su pel.” - - “If a devil should injure thee, - Doubly a devil thou shouldst be; - And if a wolf thy lamb should win, - ’Tis time for thee to take his skin.” - -Matteo had learned that the thief, whose name was Bandelone, was in the -habit of sitting by a pool or pond, and whenever any traveller came by he -would cry that he had let fall a bag of gold into the water, and, being -very lame and ill, could not dive for it. So he would promise a great -reward to him who would recover it. - -Then the traveller, deluded by the tale, would strip himself and dive -into the pool, which was very deep, with steep banks. And while he was -under water the crafty thief would seize on his clothes, arms, and money, -mount his horse, and ride away. - -Matteo reflected on this. Then he got a small bag and filled it with -nails, so that it seemed to be heavy, as if with money. So he went to -the pool, where Bandelone was waiting like a spider for flies, and seeing -Matteo, whom he did not recognise, because the latter was disguised, he -began to cry: - -“Oh, kind sir, have pity on a poor man who has lost his whole fortune!” -And so he went on to tell how he had dropped his bag full of gold in the -water, and was too weak to dive for it, with all the rest of the tale. - -Then Matteo consented to dive for the purse; but first of all put his -horse, with all his arms and clothes, on the opposite bank, where they -would be in safety. - -Bandelone was angry enough at this, and cried: - -“Why do you do that? Do you think I am a thief?” - -“No, friend,” answered Matteo. “But if a thief should come to take my -things thou wouldst be too weak to defend them, and he might do thee -harm. It is all for thy good that I take such care.” - -Bandelone wished all this kind care to the devil, but he had to submit. -Then Matteo dived twice or thrice, and then came out of the water as if -overjoyed, crying, as he held his bag of nails {196} on high: - -“Ech! Ho alo trovè e sac d’ oro! Com le grand!”—Behold, I have found -the bag of gold! How large it is! - -Bandelone was indeed surprised at this; but, believing that Matteo had by -chance really found a treasure, he cried: - -“Yes, that is mine! Give it to me!” - -“_Zentiment_! Fair and softly, friend,” replied Matteo. “Give me half, -or I will keep it all.” - -Bandelone would by no means consent to this. At last Matteo said: - -“Well, as I do not know what is in the bag, I will take a risk. Give me -your horse and sword and cloak for the bag. That is my last word, and if -you utter another I will ride away with the bag and keep all.” - -So Bandelone gave him his horse and cloak and a fine sword. And Matteo, -when mounted, pitched him the bag, and rode away singing merrily: - - “If a devil should injure thee, - Doubly a devil thou must be; - And if a wolf thy lamb should win, - ’Tis time for thee to take his skin.” - - - - -VIRGILIO AND THE FATHER OF TWELVE CHILDREN. -A LEGEND FROM COLLE DI VAL D’ELSA, TUSCANY. - - - “In the earliest form of the legend, Virgil appears not only as doing - no harm, but also as a great benefactor.”—COMPARETTI: _Virgil in the - Middle Ages_. - -Once when Virgil was in Colle di Val d’Elsa, he found that the utmost -poverty and wretchedness prevailed among the people. Everywhere were men -and women wailing and weeping because they could not get food for their -children. - -Virgil began by giving alms right and left, but was obliged to cease, -finding that all his means would be but a trifle towards relieving such -suffering. Therefore he resolved to go to the Emperor and beg him to use -his authority in the matter. But while in the first furlong of his -journey he met a man wailing bitterly, and on asking the cause, the one -who wept replied: - -“_Caro Signore_, I weep in despair not for myself, but for my twelve -children, who, starving, lie on the bare ground. And this day we are to -be turned out of the house because I owe for the rent. And I have gone -hither and thither to seek work and found none, and now thou knowest -all.” - -Then Virgil, who was kind of heart, replied: - -“Be not afraid of the future. Holy Providence which takes care of the -birds of the air will also provide for you.” - -“My dear lord,” replied the poor man, “I trust it is true what you tell -me, but I have waited a long time now for Holy Providence without seeing -it.” - -“Hope yet a little longer,” answered Virgil. “Just now I will go with -you to your house and see how I can aid you.” - -“Thank you, my lord,” replied the poor man, whose doubts in a Holy -Providence began to weaken. So they went together, and truly found -twelve children with their mother, well-nigh dying from cold, hunger, and -exposure. - -Then Virgil, having relieved them, thought deeply what could be done to -help all this wretchedness, and invoked a certain spirit in whom he -trusted—_un spirito di sua fiducia_—asking how he could aid the suffering -_Colligiani_. - -And the spirit replied: - - “Sorti da quella casa, - E passa disotto a una torre, - E nel passare - Si senti a chiamare - A nome, alze il capo, - Ma non videte nessuno, - Soltanto senti una voce, - Una voce che le disse - ‘Sali su questa torre!’” - - “Leave this house, in going, - Thou’lt pass beneath a tower, - And hear a voice which calls thee, - Yet looking, thou’lt see nothing, - Yet still will hear it crying, - ‘Virgil, ascend the tower!’” - -Virgil did this, and heard the Voice call him, when he ascended the tower -and there beheld a small red goblin, who was visible to him alone, -because Virgil had invoked him. And the Spirit said to him: - -“Behold this little dog. Return with it to the house whence thou hast -come, and go forth with the poor man, and take the dog with you. And -where the dog stops there dig!” - -And they did so. And they went away, and at last the dog stopped at a -place, and the poor man began to dig. And lo! ere long the earth became -red, and he came to iron ore. And from this discovery resulted the iron -factory of Colle, and by it that of glass; wherever the dog led they -found minerals. So from that time there was no more suffering because -there was work for all. - - * * * * * - -This legend is a full confirmation of what I have elsewhere remarked, -that these “witch-stories” have almost invariably a deeper meaning or -moral than is to be found in the “popular tales” generally prevalent -among peasants and children. Thus, while we find in this the magician -Virgil, his invocation to a familiar spirit, the apparition of the Red -Goblin of the Tower and the mystical dog of the Kobold, or goblins of the -mines, there is with it a noble reflection that the best way to relieve -suffering is to provide work. In an ordinary fairy-tale the magician -would have simply conjured up a treasure and have given it to the poor. - -Apropos of the word _goblin_, which is generally supposed to be from the -German _Kobold_, I would observe that the Greek κοβαλι or _cobali_ are -defined in a curious old French work as _lutins_, “household spirits, or -domestic fairies.” - - - - -VIRGILIO AS A PHYSICIAN, OR VIRGIL AND THE MOUSE. - - - “Now to signify destruction and death they paint a _mouse_. For it - gnaweth all things, and works ruin.”—HORI APOLLI: _Hieroglyphica_; - _Rome_, 1606. - -There once lived in Florence a young gentleman—_un gran signore_—who -wedded a beautiful young lady to whom he was passionately attached, as -she indeed was for a time to him. But “fickle and fair is nothing rare,” -and it came to pass that before long she gave her love again to an -intimate friend of her husband. And the latter did not indeed perceive -the cause, but he was much grieved at the indifference to him which his -wife began to show. - -Then the wife began to tell her lover how her husband had scolded her for -her neglect, and how much afraid she was lest their intrigue would be -discovered, and that she was so uneasy that she was ready to poison her -spouse “if she could only get rid of him!” - -The lover replied that there were many ways to get rid of a man without -really killing him, for that a violent death would lead to suspicion, -inquiry, scandal, and perhaps legal punishment. And then he hinted that -a better method would be to consult a witch. - -The lady lost no time in running to one, to whom she told her whole -story, and what she wanted, and as she began by paying a large fee, the -sorceress promised she should have her wish. - -Then the witch prepared with magic skill a flask of water, and a powder. -The water she gave to the wife, and bade her sprinkle it over her -husband’s clothes. But she changed herself into a mouse, and having been -carried to the bedroom which the married couple occupied, she gnawed a -hole in the mattress, and crawling in, dragged after her the bag, and so -remained hidden. - -When the husband went to bed, there came over him an utter weakness and -sickness, so that he lay in pain as if dead, and this grew worse day by -day. His parents in vain called in the first physicians, and every -remedy was resorted to without result. - -Then Virgilio, who knew much and suspected all the rest of this affair, -was angry that so vile a woman and her gallant should inflict such -torture on an excellent and innocent man, and resolved to have a hand in -the affair. - -Therewith he dressed himself as a _medico_, or doctor, from some distant -land, saying that he had heard of this extraordinary case of illness, and -would like to see the sufferer. To which the parents replied that he was -welcome to do so, since all the professors of medicine in Florence could -make nothing of it. - -The doctor looked steadily for some time at the patient, who appeared to -be in such utter prostration and misery as might have moved the hardest -heart. By him sat his wife, pretending to weep, but counting to herself -with pleasure the time which would pass before her husband should -die—giving now and then a suspicious glance at the new-comer. - -Then Virgilio said to the wife: - -“Signora, I beg you to leave the room for a while. I must be alone with -this man!” - -Whereupon she, with a great show of tears and passion, declared she would -not leave the room, because her husband might die at any minute, and she -could never forgive herself were she to be absent, and so on. To which -Virgilio angrily replied, that she might depart in peace, with the -assurance that her husband would be cured. So she went out, cursing him -in her heart, if there was a chance that he could do as he declared. - -Then Virgilio took a mirror which he had brought with him, and placing it -before the eyes of the invalid, bade him look at it as steadily and as -long as he could. The young man did so, and then said, as if in despair: - -“For me there is no remedy, O doctor, for what you show me is worse than -my disorder, as I supposed it to be. Truly I see death, and not myself.” - -“Courage!” replied Virgilio. “You shall be cured.” - -“Cure me,” he answered, “and you shall have all that I possess.” - -“Nay, I will cure you first,” said Virgilio, “and then settle on easier -terms.” - -The patient looked steadily at the mirror. Virgilio rapped thrice with a -wand, when there suddenly leaped from the bed a mouse, which uttered -three horrible, piercing screams. The doctor bade the invalid continue -to look steadily at himself in the mirror, and for his life not to cease -doing so. Without turning round, the doctor ordered the mouse to enter -the bed and lick up and bring away with her on her tongue all the water -which the wife had sprinkled on the clothes. And this done, he bade her -bring again out of the bed all the powder which she had placed there. -Which being effected, he ordered the mouse to make of it a pellet, and -devour it; but here she resisted, for to do that meant death to her and a -cure to the invalid. - -But the doctor was inflexible, and she had to obey. Nor had she begun to -eat it before he bade the husband rise, which he did, feeling perfectly -recovered, though much confused at such a sudden change. - -Then Virgilio ordered the mouse to mount the bed, and lo! she changed to -a woman, for she was, of course, the witch who had done all this devil’s -work. And the sorceress bade them call parents and wife and all. And -when they came the witch said: - -“Evil my life has been, and evil will be the death which in a few minutes -will come to me; yet am I not so evil as this woman, who would have -killed by the worst suffering the husband who loved her. For hell hath -many who are bad, but the worst are they who return evil for good. And -he who hath ended this thing by his power is the great Virgilio, who is -the lord of magic in all this land.” - -Then she told, step by step, how the wife had turned her heart from her -husband, almost as soon as she was married, and wished to kill him, and -had paid her to bewitch him. Then Virgilio opened the window and the -witch indeed died, or it was the last seen of her, for with a horrible -howl she vanished in the night, flying away. - -The husband recovered, and would have given Virgilio all his wealth, but -he would accept nothing but the young man’s friendship. And the guilty -wife was imprisoned for life in a castle, far away in the mountains and -alone. - - * * * * * - -Virgil appears as a _physician_ so distinctly in this and other tales as -to induce the question whether he had not, quite apart from his -reputation as poet and magician, some fame as professor of the healing -art. And in fact, as I have shown in the legend of Virgil and the Spirit -of Mirth, he on one occasion at least is, by Pæonia, identified with -Esculapius. The latter is described as having “a countenance bright with -joy and serenity,” and being very benevolent and genial—wherein he agrees -with the poet. The God of Medicine, it is expressly stated, used “sweet -incantations,” or poetical spells, which is also significant. He was -also associated with Apollo and the Muses, as in the temple of Messina. -The author of the great “Dizionario Storico Mitologico” (1824) plainly -declares that “Esculapius is another form of Apollo, in whom poetry and -medicine were combined. In the temple devoted to him in Sycione, -Esculapius is associated with Diana. In a Roman bas-relief he appears -with the Three Graces; in one of these legends Virgil is associated with -four Venuses.” Making every allowance, it must be admitted that, -comparing all that is known of the God of Medicine with what appears in -these legends of the Mantuan bard, there is a remarkable general likeness -between the two. Virgil is also, here and there, curiously identified -with the serpent and the staff, which were the symbols of Esculapius; -and, as I have before noted, Buddha, who had so much in common with -Virgil, was in his first incarnation a physician. - - - - -THE ONION OF CETTARDO. - - - “On, Stanley, on!”—MARMION. - - “Were I in noble Stanley’s place, - When Marmion urged him to the chase, - The word which you would then descry - Might bring a tear to every eye.”—ANONYMOUS. - -Virgil is introduced, I may say, almost incidentally in the following -tale, not by any means as _coryphæus_ or hero, as is indeed the case in -several other stories, which fact, on due reflection, is of importance, -because it indicates unmistakably that he is so well known in popular -tradition as to be recognisable even in a minor rôle. It is as when one -swears by a saint, or Bacchus—in Florence one hears the latter invoked -forty times where a Christian deity is apostrophized once—’tis not to -form a portion of the sentence, but to give it force, as Chinese -artillerymen, when they fire a ball at an enemy, sometimes grease the -mouth of a gun, to increase the loudness of the report and thereby -frighten the foe. Which figure of a saint is not that of Saint -Malapropos, because, as the reader may note in another tale, Virgil is -very seriously described as a santo. - -Now to the narrative. _Sancte Virgile_, _ora pro nobis_! - - * * * * * - -In very ancient times there were few families in Cettardo, and these were -all perfectly equal, there being among them neither rich nor poor. They -all worked hard in fields or forests for a living, and were like a -company of friends or brothers. - -And of evenings, when they were not too weary, they met many together in -some house, all in love and harmony, to talk about the crops, and their -children, or repeat the _rosario_, {203} or discuss their clothing, or -cattle, or whatever interested them. - -These people were all as one, and had no head or chief. {204a} But one -evening a very little girl came out with a thing (_sorti con una cosa_) -which astonished all who were present, because the child had received no -instruction, and did not know what a school meant. And what she said was -this: - -“_Babbo_—papa—I wish to tell thee something in presence of all who are -here assembled, with all due respect to them, since there are certainly -so many here who could with greater propriety set it forth. {204b} -Therefore, I trust you will pardon and bear with me, because I am but an -infant.” - -Then all exclaimed in chorus: “Speak, and we will listen to thee!” - -And then the infant, in this fashion, spoke: - -“Know that this night I have spoken with a spirit, the _bel Folettino col -beretta rossa_—the beautiful fairy with the red cap—and it told me that -for this our land we have no name or coat of arms. But the time has come -to have that which shall represent the country, and therefore we should -choose a chief who will open commerce for us, and found a school so that -our young people shall escape from ignorance.” - -“Truly, thou hast spoken well!” cried all present. “_Evviva il -capo_—hurrah for a chief!—and that chief shall be thy father, dear -child!” - -“Moreover,” added the good girl, “I will, to show my gratitude, give you -the design for the armorial bearings, and in due time tell you all that -is needful to be done. All of that will I find out, and also a name for -the country.” - -“Do so, and deserve our gratitude.” - -“I thank you again,” said the girl, “and I will pay attention to the -subject, since you show such sympathy.” - -The next day she went to herd a flock of sheep, as was her custom; and -then, lying down on the ground as wild boars are wont to do, {204c} said: - - “Spirito, capo di tutti i spiriti! - Re dei ré dei Maghi! - Portami qui presenti un hoggetto - Che possa servirmi per rappresentare - Un arme.” - -“Una voce le rispose: - - “Chiama e chiama più forte. - E chiama ancora per tre volte - E chiama il tuo prottetore, - Chi é con te a tutte le ore - E mai non ti lascera se sempre - Lui invochera.” - - “Spirit, who art the chief of all the spirits! - Who art the king of all the sorcerers! - Bring unto me some object which may serve - To represent our land, and be its crest.” - -“To which a voice replied: - - “Call out aloud, then more forcibly, - And yet again three times, and unto him - Who is thy guardian and ever with thee, - And who will never leave thee—call to him!” - -“And who art thou who speakest to me?” asked the girl. - -“I am the Spirit of the Red Cap.” - -“And who is my protector?” - -“The magician Virgil,” replied the Voice. - -Then she invoked Virgil, who appeared in person, and asked what she would -have. - -She replied that she had been charged to find a name and object to -represent the land. - -“It is well,” answered Virgil. “I have already written the name on a -leaf; now take this thing in thy hand”—here he gave her an onion—“and -cast it into yonder cavern, from which there is an underground way.” - -The girl obeyed; the onion spun round and rolled away; she followed it -afar, till at last it stopped at a leaf on which was written “Cettardo.” -And it was in this spot where the onion stopped that the town in after -time was built, and where the girl found the leaf is now the municipal -palace. And so, one by one, great buildings rose. Thus came the name -and arms of Cettardo. - -In due time the maid had a lover, and it was said that these two were the -only ones who could go through the subterranean passage. - -And it hath been, and may be still, proved that any person attempting -this passage will after a few steps be suffocated, and can go no further. - - * * * * * - -If we compare this legend with other traditions, there can be little -doubt that it is at least of Roman origin. The great veneration for the -onion among the Egyptians—“Happy people,” wrote Juvenal, “to have gods -growing in their gardens!”—which passed to the Romans, probably, in later -days through the priests of Serapis and Isis, {206} and the many -mysteries connected with it, fully account for its being chosen as the -symbol of a city. Its traditions were greatly mingled and confused with -those of the garlic and the leek, but it was above all other plants a -protector against sorcery; that is, against _all_ evil influence. Where -onions could not help, nothing availed, or as it was expressed, _bulbus -nihil profuerit_. It would appear from the conjectures of Nork -(_Andeutung eines Systemes der Mythologie_, p. 125) that the onion was -the sign or crest of the pyramid of Cheops, as it is of Cettardo. - -It is, however, in the mention of a subterranean passage full of mephitic -vapour, which seems to have no connection with the tale whatever, that -the clue to the whole tradition may be found. The people wanting a name -and a site for a city, receive them from a pythoness or sibyl, the two -being identified in many legends. The grotto of the Sybil near Naples is -approached by a long subterranean road, over which I have myself -passed—being carried on the back of a strong peasant-guide. Just in the -middle of the wet, winding cavern, I said: “You are a good horse.” - -“I am particularly good at eating macaroni,” he replied, and stopped. -This was equivalent to begging. - -“Horses who talk need the spur,” I replied, giving him a gentle reminder -with my heel. He laughed, and trotted on. However, he got his -“macaroni.” - -That the pythoness, or female oracle, was first intoxicated with the -vapour of carbonic acid gas in a cavern, and that her utterances were -recorded on leaves which blew about loosely and were then gathered and -put together, is well known, and it is this, apparently, which is meant -in this tale by the flying leaf bearing the name of Cettardo. Plutarch, -in his “Treatise on Abandoned Oracles,” declares that “the terrestrial -effluvium was the conductor of the god into the body of the Pythia.” As -the vapours disappeared, the oracle became dumb, or, as Cicero expresses -it: - - “They ceased because this terrestrial virtue, which moved the soul of - the Pythia by divine inspiration, disappeared in time, as we have - seen rivers dried up or turned away into other beds.” - -The onion was a symbol of fertility and increase of population, therefore -it was well adapted to serve as a fetish for a new city. It was also -among the Egyptians _par eminence_ typical of the resurrection, so that -no woman was buried without one. {207} - -It may be observed that in this legend Virgil appears as a guardian -spirit or god, certainly not as a mortal. - -It would almost seem as if there were an undercurrent of genial satire or -mockery in the part where the young Pythia graciously assures the simple -peasants that, out of sheer gratitude and to oblige them, she will -consult with—of all the gods—the Robin Good-fellow, or goblin of the -red-cap! who in all tales, Italian as well as English, is ever a tricksy -sprite, more given to teasing and kissing servant-girls, and playing with -children and cats, than aught more dignified. When we remember that the -object of this gracious benevolence is to make her father chief or king, -it verily appears as if the whole were a “put-up job” between parent and -child. - - * * * * * - - THE END. - - * * * * * - - _Elliot Stock_, 62, _Paternoster Row_, _London_. - - - - -FOOTNOTES. - - -{0a} Of which there is an English translation by E. F. M. Benecke -entitled “Virgil in the Middle Ages.” London, Swan Sonnenschein and Co. - -{0b} Comparetti. - -{0c} Alexandra Dumas also used this book very freely for his “Mille et -Une Fantômes”—in fact, the latter work may be said to be based on it. -The “Histoire des Fantômes” was the first and principal source from which -French lovers of the supernatural derived the interest in were-wolves and -vampires which manifested itself during the time of Napoleon and more -recently. - -{0d} “Pioneers of Evolution.” - -{12} Possibly meaning that it was the first time when he recognised his -power as a sage or sorcerer. - -{13} Horus Apollo, “Hieroglyph.,” II. 32. - -{18} Simply an _omelette aux truffes_, the common fashion of eating -truffles among the peasants. It is possibly an old Roman dish, and may -be in Apicius. - -{21a} “Egli ha la lupa” (_i.e._, fame); also “Ho una fame ch’io la -veggio.”—“Proverbi Italiani da Orlando,” Pescetti, 1618. - -{21b} In the Italian MS.: “I figlii erano al letto del padre che -sapevano alla fine, ma non una lacrima sortiva dal loro ciglio.” - -{23} “Morto io, morto il porco.” Latin: “Me mortuo terra misceatur -incendio” (Suetonius in “Vitâ Neronis”)—“When I shall be dead, the devil -may take everything!” - -{32} Published by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh, 1897. - -{34} _Male a far ti mangiare da qualche orco_—_Orco_ is from _Orcus_, -the Spirit of Hell. - -{39} Swearing by the body or any part thereof implied the destruction or -forfeiture of it, _i.e._, death or slavery in case the oath should be -broken. - -{40} The same was believed of Diana. I have omitted here much needless -verbiage and repetition, and abbreviated what follows. - -{41a} I conjecture that this is wild poppy. - -{41b} A play on _paura_ (fear) and the name of the plant. - -{46} Quaintly spelled _quo prire_ in the original MS. - -{47} London, D. Nutt, 1844, price 1s., Mediæval Legends, No. II. - -{49} “Legends of Florence,” collected from the people, etc., by Charles -Godfrey Leland. London, David Nutt, 1896. - -{50a} This is certain proof that the columns had been brought from the -East. - -{50b} This is mentioned by many writers. I read it last in a very -curious old manuscript History of Florence, written apparently about -1650, which—though it was in good condition, and well bound in -parchment—I purchased for four _soldi_, or twopence, from an itinerant -dealer. Finding by a note that the work belonged to the library of the -Liceo Dante, I restored it to that institution. I also found in this -manuscript an account of the miracle of the blooming of the elm-tree of -San Zenobio. - -{52} It is worth noting _en passant_ that, according to Max Nordau, one -of the Ibsenites, modern Illuminati or Naturalists—I forget to which -division of the great body of reformers he belongs—has seriously proposed -this creation of _donne artificiale_. _Vide_ Nordau, “Degeneration.” - -{55} This is finely conceived to give an idea of the great effect of the -agony expressed in the face of the spectre. Adelone would naturally be -so deeply impressed by it as to be unable to maintain the interview. - -{57} E ne un luogo sporco. - -{58} Evidently the Belsàbo of a preceding tale. - -{60} In the MS.: “‘Many are deluded, or get a thumb at the nose,’ says -the proverb.” “Maxima sero delusi, ho sia con un palma di’ naso cosi, -dice il proverbio.” This expressive sign of the thumb is represented in -an Irish Gospel of St. Mark of the sixth century. - -{61} This superlative is rendered in the original manuscript by the very -original expression: “They were so near being killed, that they were -almost at the point of death.” - -{62a} “Lo spirito del vaso che era quel santo Virgilio.” Here Virgil is -for once fairly sainted or canonized. - -{62b} “Bevve un barile pieno di vino, e divenne ubbriaco come un tegolo -o quattro suonatori di violini.” This recalls “tight as a brick” -(Manuscript). - -{63} “Virgiglio e la Donna di Diaccio” (Title in MS.). - -{64} In allusion, probably, to the “Madonna del Fuoco,” whose festival -is annually celebrated at Forli, in the Toscana Romagna. The writer of -this story was from the neighbourhood of Forli. “The Madonna del Fuoco -is probably Vesta” (_vide_ “Etrusco-Roman Legends,” by C. G. Leland). - -{67} Four antique marble statues of women. Any ancient female statue is -commonly called a _Venus_ by the people at large in Italy. - -{68} Here there is a hiatus, or blank in the manuscript. By crown is -here meant a fillet or tiara, as will be shown anon. - -{72} “Tutto era artificiale,” meaning very artistic or æsthetic. - -{77} “Alla _sua_ religione.” - -{78a} “La testa d’un uomo piena di vermi e puzzolente,” a parody of the -decayed cabbage. - -{78b} I may here note that the ruined castle of the dreaded Falkenstein -is in sight of the rooms where I am now writing in Homburg-les-Bains. - -{80} Singer or minstrel, one who sings his poems, and not merely a -writer of poems, is understood by _poeta_ in all these legends. - -{88} So given in the text for Seneca. - -{89a} “Cosi moriva e tutta Roma piangeva.” - -{89b} _Vampa_. - -{89c} _Capitalisti_, bankers. - -{90} “Il più grande birbone.” - -{98a} “E cosi tutti facevano l’amore nel buio, senza sapere chi era -quello che facevano. . . .” - -{98b} _Vide_ “Etrusco-Roman Remains.” - -{98c} By inadvertence or a blunder in the original manuscript, the -wizard or witch is made male and female, and the victim alternately the -young lady and the lover. It would make no difference as regards the -plot. - -{99} “Serratura o luchetta.” - -{100} Florentine _folar_, or _follo_, from _foglio_, a leaf. I -conjecture that this is the original of the English slang _vogel_, a silk -handerchief, and not the German _vogel_, a bird. - -{106} It may be noted that any clever modern juggler could perform the -miracle of the fish as here described. - -{109} The original reduces this to a minimum—“Non più grande del dito -mignole di un’ bimbo di nascita.” - -{110a} This is exactly like a small tambourine, but more strongly made. - -{110b} _The Boston Comic Annual_, 1828. - -{114} Signore Cosino, or Cosimo. This name appears here for the first -time in the story. - -{126} _Vide_ “Algonkin Tales of New England,” by Charles G. Leland. - -{134} In the original “La Dea della Neve.” In Italy the word “goddess” -is more familiarly and frequently used than it is by peasants in England, -but rather with application to great and good spirits of any kind than to -deities. - -{135} This was probably due to the very rapid formation of a frozen -crust. _Vide_ Nansen’s work. - -{138} Anime. - -{140} _Comare_, godmother, gossip, a familiar form of address. In -French _commère_; Scotch, _cummer_. - -{141a} “Andiede bene”—Cut their lucky. - -{141b} “I find this is a peasant’s expression for the ‘gloaming.’ -_Verso sera_ was the explanation” (Roma Lister). Literally “between the -dim and the dark.” “Entre chien et loup”—the owl’s light. - -{143} Literally “ugly mammy.” - -{144} This conveys the idea of complete cleanliness, as well-scoured -bare walls and floors are most easily vibrated by currents of air, and -consequently most echoing. - -{147} “Ora siamo belli fritti.” - -{148} “Passegiando, passegiando, -Me ne vengo, ricordando,” - -or “walking away.” - -{150} M. Annæi Lucani, “De Bello Civili, vel Pharsaliæ,” Liber X., 225. - -{151} The reader will find this Herodias-Lilith fully described in a -little work entitled “Aradia; or, The Gospel of the Witches,” by Charles -Godfrey Leland. London: D. Nutt. - -{155a} “Scongiurati”—evoked. - -{155b} The sentence is twice repeated in the original. - -{156} “Ed aria resplendente,” a play on the name Bell’ Aria. - -{158} This I have supplied to fill a blank. - -{159} Evidently with quicksilver or mercury—_similia similibus_. - -{165} Bottles for wine are sometimes made to contain several gallons. - -{166} “An Enquiry into the Life and Legend of Michael Scott,” by the -Rev. J. Wood Brown, M.A. Edinburgh, David Douglas, 1897. - -{172} “Pigionale come si dei ebbe volgarmente” (original text). - -{173} Annunziata. - -{177} “Perche e stato sempre il mio dio.” - -{178} Vollmer, “Wörterbuch der gesammten Mythologie,” p. 1162. - -{182} “Anche dopo morte rimarrai la stemma di Firenze, ovunque si -trovera il Giglio.” - -{183a} Pausanias, v. ii. - -{183b} “Christliche Kunstsymbolik,” p. 28; Frankfort, 1839, _apud_ -Friedrich. - -{187a} Here there is a manifest omission. It would appear that the -Emperor made love to the girl, and that the first speech which follows -was by him and not by her. - -{187b} Here the remark and answer are run together in absurd confusion, -but I believe that I have correctly restored the original. - -{190a} “Sentenze,” as defined by D’Ambra, “Apothegms.” - -{190b} Avviso, “Quando l’ amico guardara (o), ricordava bene l’ avviso, -cosi lo spirito lo guardava, e cosi quella persona diveniva buona.” - -{194} “Il proverbio o poema divena -Uno spirito vivente, -Che ti aiutera -A divenire savio e sapiente.” - -{196} The Bag of Nails was once a tavern sign in England. It was -conjectured to be a corruption of _Bacchanals_—a very unlikely -derivation. - -{203} This means here the recitation of five prayers, after which -stories are told or traditions imparted and discussed. An immense amount -of folklore can be gathered on such occasions. - -{204a} “Ne avevano un capo e ne gnente”—No head and no nothing—in the -original. - -{204b} The speech as given by the precocious maiden in the original text -is an amusing effort at fine talk or elevated language by an illiterate -person, its object being to strengthen the marvel of the child’s -inspiration. - -{204c} That is, on her face. To do this in a pig-sty was a special -means of invoking dreams or inspirations, as described in Norse sagas. -It is fully illustrated in my “Etrusco-Roman Remains.” - -{206} Their temples were the last which were abandoned in Rome, as -Wilkie Collins has minutely described in a novel. - -{207} “Wegen ihrer erregenden Eigenschaft wurde die Zwiebel ein -erotisches Symbol; deshalb _salaces_ genannt; daher in die Schamtheile -weiblicher Mumien als Sinnbilder der Auferstehung gelegt -wurden.”—Friedrich, “Symbolik.” - - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNPUBLISHED LEGENDS OF VIRGIL*** - - -******* This file should be named 62335-0.txt or 62335-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/2/3/3/62335 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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