XVII. nazzaro must have been extremely unreason- CHAP. able if the reception of his work did not af ford him entire satisfaction.(a) That the poem De partu Virginis contains His poem many fine passages, and exhibits the powers De partu of the author and his command of the Latin Virginis. language in a more striking point of view than any of his other writings, cannot be denied; and it is even probable that he chose this subject, for the purpose of displaying the facility with which he could apply the language and the imagery of paganism to the illustration of the truths of the Christian creed. But after all, it must be confessed that he was unfortunate in his choice; and that VOL. III. CC Homer; to whom it may also be presumed to belong, from a similar passage in the Iliad. Τῦ καὶ ἀπὸ γλώσσης μέλιτος γλυκίων ῥέεν αὐδή. Iλ. a. 249. (a) This poem was translated into Italian, in versi sciolti, by Giovanni Giolito, one of the sons of the celebrated printer Gabriel Giolito, and published at Venice, in 1588, in a beautiful edition entitled "DEL PARTO DELLA VERGINE "del Sanazaro, libri tre, tradotti in versi Toscani da Gio"vanni Giolito de' Ferrari. al Ser. Sig. Don Vincenzo Gon zaga, Duca di Mantoua e di Monferrato," &c. A. D. 1518. A. Pont. VI. XVII. A. t. 43. A. Pont. VI. CHAP. that the work, if not deserving of reprehension for its impiety, was at least deserving of it A. D .1518. in the estimation of a true and correct taste. To require the attention of the reader through a poem containing nearly fifteen hundred lines, to an event over which the common feelings of mankind have agreed to throw a respectful veil, is itself injudicious, if not indelicate; but to expose the mysteries of the Christian faith in the language of profane poetry; to discuss with particular minuteness the circumstances of the miraculous conception and delivery of the virgin, and to call upon the heathen deities to guide him through all the recesses of the mysterious rite,(a) can only occasion disgust and horror to (a) These improprieties did not escape the animadversion of Erasmus, in his Ciceronianus: "Præferendus est (Sanazzarius) Pontano, quod rem sacram tractare non "piguit; quod nec dormitanter eam, nec inamæne trac"tavit; sed meo quidem suffragio plus laudis erat laturus, "si materiam sacram tractâsset aliquanto sacratius." "Nunc quorsum attinebat hic toties invocare Musas et "Phoebum? Quid quod Virginem fingit intentam præcipue "Sibyllinis versibus, quod non apte Proteum inducit de "Christo vaticinantem, quod Nympharum Hamadryadum ac Nereidum plena facit omnia? Quam dure respondet "Christianis 66 XVII. to the true believer, and afford the incredulous CHAP. á subject for ridicule or contempt. Hence it is probable that the elegies and other pieces of Sanazzaro, which he has devoted to natural and simple subjects or to the commemoration of historical facts and characters, will continue to interest and delight the reader, when the poem De partu Virginis will be consulted only as an object of literary curiosity, or regarded as an instance of the waste of labour and of the misapplication of genius. Among the followers of the muses, Sanazzaro may be considered as one of the most fortunate. The destruction of his beloved villa of Mergoglino, by Philibert prince of Orange, on account of its having been occupied as a military station by the French, is said, however, to have occasioned him great concern: (a) but with the exception of this event, amidst all the convulsions of his country his talents CC 2 "Christianis auribus versus ille, qui, ni fallor, virgini matri -" dicitur. Tuque adeo, spes fida hominum, spes fida De66 orum," &c. Ciceron. p. 90. Ed. Tolosa, 1620, where this passage is followed by some very judicious remarks on the manner of treating sacred subjects in poetry. (a) Crispo, vita del Sanazzaro, p. 28. e nota 75. A. D. 1518. A. Æt. 43. A. Pout. VI. CHAP. talents and integrity procured for him general XVII. respect, and he enjoyed to the close of his life an honourable independence. His latter years were past in the pleasant vicinity of Somma, in the society of Cassandra Marchese, who is the frequent subject of panegyric in his writings. (a) The wishes of the poet, that she might be present to close his eyes and perform his funeral rites, were literally fulfilled; and under her care his remains were deposited in a chapel which he had erected at his villa of Mergoglino, and where a superb monument was some years afterwards raised to his memory, on which was inscribed the following lines by Bembo: A. D. 1518. A. Pont. VI. A. Et. 43. "Da sacro cineri flores. Hic ille Maroni, Fresh (a) "Tu quoque vel fessæ testis, Cassandra, senectæ, To the same lady, Sannazzaro has also addressed the fifth of his piscatory eclogues. Fresh flow'rets strew, for Sanazzar lies here, A. D. 1518. A. Pont. VI The extraordinary talents displayed by A. Æt. 43. Sanazzaro in his Latin compositions, did not, however, secure to him an uncontested preeminence over his contemporaries. Before he had brought to a conclusion the work on which he meant to found his poetical reputation, several powerful rivals arose, one of whom, in particular, produced under the auspices of Leo X. a poem of great merit and considerable extent, which will secure to its author a lasting reputation among the Latin writers of modern times. This poem is the Christiad of Vida; a man who may be considered as one of the chief luminaries of the age in which he lived, and of whose life and writings a more particular account cannot fail to be generally interesting. Marco Girolamo Vida was a native of Cremona. Some diversity of opinion has arisen as to the time of his birth, which event has generally been placed about the year 1470,(a) whilst some have contended, that it could not have occurred CHAP. (a) De vita et scriptis auctoris. in op. Vida. vol. ii. App. p. 154. in not. Ed Comin. 1731. 4to. Girolamo Vida. |