[Ariostos seven planets governing Italie or his satyrs] [by Robert Tofte] |
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| 6. | THE SIXT SATYRE OF Ariosto. |
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 | [Ariostos seven planets governing Italie or his satyrs] |  |
75
THE SIXT SATYRE OF Ariosto.
The Argvment.
He sheweth what qualities a good Schoolemaster ought to haue, and how hardly any is found honest of that coat, and in the end setteth downe certaine grieuous losses which he endured in his youth time.
To Master Peter Bembo.
Bembo
, I nothing couet or require
(Though tis the careful parēts strōg desire)
So much, as I might my Virginio see,
Rarely instructed in Philosophy,
Which who so hath he then is in request,
And may take vp his ranke amongst the best.
Now since I know that thou most learned art,
And of each liberall science hold'k best part:
Euen from my best of loue, I humbly craue
That of this youth, some watchfull care thou haue
And yet I would not haue thee to conceiue,
That with thee any trouble I would leaue:
Or that I would thou should'st his Pedant be
To teach him Grammar rules industriously
Tis not my mind: for I would haue thee know,
Better good manners doth within me grow.
Such men of worth as thou, and of thy place,
With these disparagements we doe not disgrace:
Onely my meaning is that at thy leasure,
Thou would'st vouchsafe to doe me that high pleasure,
As to bethinke thee, if vnto this end,
Thou know'st in Venice any worthy friend,
Or else in Padoa 'mongst the learned throng,
Who speakes the Grecian and the Caldean tong;
Skilfull in knowledge, iust in deed and word,
With whom he may haue learning and his board.
If such a one thou know'st of worth and skill,
He shall (with reason) haue what e're he will:
Let him be learned, but especially
Looke that his life be fixt to honesty:
For if in vertue he doe not surmount,
Of th' other qualities I make no account.
'Tis easie to finde learned, but we can
Hardly finde out a learned honest man.
For in this age, who most of art doth braue,
Hath oft most vice (reading makes him a knaue.)
Besides, the Peccadillos small of Spaine,
They say he in his speeches doth maintaine.
Of Atheisme they him challenge, and approue
The faith Apostolike he doth not loue:
Nor of that Vnity (admired most)
Betwixt the Father, Sonne and holy Ghost.
He cannot thinke how th' one from th' other goes,
Like diuers springs wch from one fountaine flowes:
Nor can he in his sense conceiue how one,
Should or be three, or that three still be one.
He rather thinketh that if hold he shall,
An argument quite opposite to all,
Contesting with all sacred verity,
Alleadging for sound reason Sophistrie;
That then his wit is excellent and rare,
And his conceit beyond the best compare,
Making the world beleeue he climbes the ayre,
And reaches to Iehouah's sacred chaire.
If Nicoletto preaching holy writ,
Or famous Martin with his learned wit,
Suspected be of infidelitie,
Or if they chance to hold strong heresie:
Their too much knowledge, I accuse thereof,
Nor will I angry be thereat or scoffe,
Sith, their ambitious spirits mounting hie,
To search Gods deepe forbidden secrecie,
No maruell 'tis though they confounded are,
When they beyond their strengths will wade so far.
(Though tis the careful parēts strōg desire)
So much, as I might my Virginio see,
Rarely instructed in Philosophy,
Which who so hath he then is in request,
And may take vp his ranke amongst the best.
Now since I know that thou most learned art,
And of each liberall science hold'k best part:
Euen from my best of loue, I humbly craue
That of this youth, some watchfull care thou haue
And yet I would not haue thee to conceiue,
That with thee any trouble I would leaue:
Or that I would thou should'st his Pedant be
To teach him Grammar rules industriously
Tis not my mind: for I would haue thee know,
Better good manners doth within me grow.
Such men of worth as thou, and of thy place,
76
Onely my meaning is that at thy leasure,
Thou would'st vouchsafe to doe me that high pleasure,
As to bethinke thee, if vnto this end,
Thou know'st in Venice any worthy friend,
Or else in Padoa 'mongst the learned throng,
Who speakes the Grecian and the Caldean tong;
Skilfull in knowledge, iust in deed and word,
With whom he may haue learning and his board.
If such a one thou know'st of worth and skill,
He shall (with reason) haue what e're he will:
Let him be learned, but especially
Looke that his life be fixt to honesty:
For if in vertue he doe not surmount,
Of th' other qualities I make no account.
'Tis easie to finde learned, but we can
Hardly finde out a learned honest man.
For in this age, who most of art doth braue,
Hath oft most vice (reading makes him a knaue.)
Besides, the Peccadillos small of Spaine,
77
Of Atheisme they him challenge, and approue
The faith Apostolike he doth not loue:
Nor of that Vnity (admired most)
Betwixt the Father, Sonne and holy Ghost.
He cannot thinke how th' one from th' other goes,
Like diuers springs wch from one fountaine flowes:
Nor can he in his sense conceiue how one,
Should or be three, or that three still be one.
He rather thinketh that if hold he shall,
An argument quite opposite to all,
Contesting with all sacred verity,
Alleadging for sound reason Sophistrie;
That then his wit is excellent and rare,
And his conceit beyond the best compare,
Making the world beleeue he climbes the ayre,
And reaches to Iehouah's sacred chaire.
If Nicoletto preaching holy writ,
Or famous Martin with his learned wit,
Suspected be of infidelitie,
Or if they chance to hold strong heresie:
Their too much knowledge, I accuse thereof,
Nor will I angry be thereat or scoffe,
Sith, their ambitious spirits mounting hie,
To search Gods deepe forbidden secrecie,
No maruell 'tis though they confounded are,
When they beyond their strengths will wade so far.
But thou whose study is humanity,
Wherein no such depth lies confusedly:
Whose subiects are the woods and shaddowing hils,
Or crystall springs whence water cleans'd distils:
Whilest thou old martiall stories dost rehearse,
And blaze abroad in proude Heroicke verse:
Or with the Rethoricke of sweet wordes dost moue,
And turnest harsh thought into pliant loue,
Or else with pleasing flattery too too base,
Princes dost praise when they deserue disgrace:
Tell me what thou in thy conceit dost find,
That thou with madnes should'st perturbe thy mind?
Or what doth with thy knowledge disagree,
That thou as others should'st not honest be?
The name thou did'st receiue when thou wert born
Of Saint or of Apostle, thou dost scorne:
When thee thy suerties do Christian make,
And so into the holy Church do take,
In Cosnico or in Pomponio,
Thou changest Peter to Pierio,
Iohn into Iano or Iouinian:
Turning the Cat Renuerso in the pan,
As if the worse thou should'st be for the name,
Or thou thereby should'st purchase greater fame,
To be a better Poet, then if seriously
Thou plid'st thy booke with lesser vanity.
Such fooles as these, are such as Plato did,
From euery ciuill Common-wealth forbid
By his graue discreet lawes, since he well knew,
Nor good nor profite would from them accrew.
Yet Phœbus musicke nor Amphions art,
Shall not compare with these in any part;
Nor those which first did holy verse deuise,
Whose sacred tunes perswaded Angell wise,
Men for to liue with men, and to giue o're
To feed like beasts on Achornes (as before)
Whil'st in the woods and thickets wofully,
They sauage-like did range confusedly.
Wherein no such depth lies confusedly:
Whose subiects are the woods and shaddowing hils,
Or crystall springs whence water cleans'd distils:
Whilest thou old martiall stories dost rehearse,
And blaze abroad in proude Heroicke verse:
Or with the Rethoricke of sweet wordes dost moue,
And turnest harsh thought into pliant loue,
Or else with pleasing flattery too too base,
Princes dost praise when they deserue disgrace:
Tell me what thou in thy conceit dost find,
78
Or what doth with thy knowledge disagree,
That thou as others should'st not honest be?
The name thou did'st receiue when thou wert born
Of Saint or of Apostle, thou dost scorne:
When thee thy suerties do Christian make,
And so into the holy Church do take,
In Cosnico or in Pomponio,
Thou changest Peter to Pierio,
Iohn into Iano or Iouinian:
Turning the Cat Renuerso in the pan,
As if the worse thou should'st be for the name,
Or thou thereby should'st purchase greater fame,
To be a better Poet, then if seriously
Thou plid'st thy booke with lesser vanity.
Such fooles as these, are such as Plato did,
From euery ciuill Common-wealth forbid
By his graue discreet lawes, since he well knew,
Nor good nor profite would from them accrew.
Yet Phœbus musicke nor Amphions art,
Shall not compare with these in any part;
Nor those which first did holy verse deuise,
Whose sacred tunes perswaded Angell wise,
Men for to liue with men, and to giue o're
To feed like beasts on Achornes (as before)
Whil'st in the woods and thickets wofully,
They sauage-like did range confusedly.
Most true it is, such as were strong'st of all,
(Whose lawlesse force the weakest did enthrall,
Taking from thē their flocks, their food, their wiues,
And oftentimes (without all cause) their liues,
At last became obedient to that law;
Which to be needfull for themselues they saw,
Whilest following plowes and tilling of the land,
They iustly got by labour of their hand,
And through the sweat which issued from their paines,
The worthy haruest of their honest gaines.
Hence did the learn'd perswade the ignorant,
And simple people who did iudgement want,
That Phœbus built vp Troy with musickes sound,
And Amphions harp rais'd Thebes out of the ground:
That musicke could make mountaines to obay,
And stones to daunce about when they did play:
As Orpheus did, who with his holy song,
Lyons and Tygres drew with him along.
Yet thinke not though 'gainst these of mine owne coat,
I thus enueigh with loud and open throat,
But that (besides vs Poets) I doe see,
In other schoolemen as much vanity,
Who doe deserue worse punishment then speach,
If to the world I durst their crimes appeach.
'Tis not Quintilian, 'tis not he alone,
That doth his Scholers villanies bemone,
But others, whom if here I should display,
And tell their vices, thou would'st quickly say,
That from Pistoius closset (not from mine)
They stolne haue, and from Peter Aretine.
From others studies, honour oft and shame
I reape, and so with pleasure mixe defame:
Yet not in such wise as when I doe spie,
That Poets praise as well do liue as die.
More I do grieue and inwardly lament,
To heare how faire Aonio by consent,
Is senselesse held without all braine or wit,
And that the winde so wauering doth not flit:
Then if from some most foolish Doctors voice,
His neare Ally in folly and in choice,
I should haue heard the same, to whom some foole,
(Like to himselfe) in his vnlettred schoole,
The selfe same honour on his fame should clap,
With a scarlet gowne and formall corner cap.
It grieues me more that weake Placidian still
With feasts and surfets should his olde age fill,
As when he did his youths first heat enioy;
And that from man he should become a boy:
Then for to know how that the same disease,
Andronico my neighbour doth displease,
Who hath possest it full this seauen yeare,
And yet (as at the first) is nothing cleare.
If it be told me, greedy Pandarus
Is o're-much griping, Curio iealous,
That Ponticus affects Idolatry,
And Flauius sweareth most egregiously:
It doth with spite goe to my heart more neare,
Then when for small gaines I Cusatro heare
False iudgements vpon any one to fixe,
Or that Masse Baptist doth strong poison mixe
Amongst his Phisicke, whilst (through trechery)
His Spanish figs kils vs vnnaturally.
Or, sith that Master in Theologie,
(The counterfeit of deepe Diuinity)
Who (for the nonce) to doe his country wrong,
Mixeth his Burgamaskes with the Tuscan tongue,
Keepeth in pay a sniueling durty whore,
Who at one birth two bastards to him bore:
Whil'st for to please her greedy ne're-fild gut,
He spends Gods cope vpon that brothell slut,
Though his own sterued mother 'mongst the poore,
Goes vp and downe, and begs from doore to doore:
Yet afterward I heare him blushlesse cry,
As if he were nought else but sanctitie,
Saying I am the man doth pray and fast,
Giues almes, and leads my life pure virgine chast:
And which is more, thou know'st O God aboue,
Deare as my selfe I doe my neighbour loue.
But neither this dissembling nor the rest,
Brings to my thoughts or trouble or vnrest,
So that it shall nor breake my quiet sleepe,
Nor me from food or other pleasures keepe.
It is not me, it is themselues they wound,
The sores whereof will on their soules be found.
But to returne from whence this speech me draue,
I for my sonne would such a Master haue,
As by my good will with these vgly crimes,
Should not be stain'd, nor challeng'd by the times:
One that would truly make him vnderstand,
From the great language (so loued in our land)
What politicke Vlysses did at Troy,
Both of his trauels, and his sad annoy;
Or all that euer Appolonius writ,
Or what Euripides (that fount of wit)
With Tragedies of stately Sophocles,
And the Astrean Poets workes of praise.
To them adde Pindarus, whose famous bookes
Call'd Galatea from the water-brookes:
With all those other writers, which so long
Haue beene renowned for the Greekish tongue.
Already hath my selfe taught him to know,
Virgil and Ouid, and Horace long agoe.
Plautus and Terence he doth vnderstand,
And oft haue seene them acted in our land.
Thus (without me) by this his Latin aide,
He may hereafter safe to Delphos traide:
Nor can he misse the way to Hellicon,
But safely to his iourney's end passe on.
Yet that his iourney may the safer be,
And he more strengthned by his industry,
I faine would haue for him a trusty guide,
Whose knowledge in these countreyes hath beene tride.
My slothfulnesse, or rather destiny,
(Whose lawlesse force the weakest did enthrall,
Taking from thē their flocks, their food, their wiues,
And oftentimes (without all cause) their liues,
At last became obedient to that law;
Which to be needfull for themselues they saw,
Whilest following plowes and tilling of the land,
They iustly got by labour of their hand,
And through the sweat which issued from their paines,
The worthy haruest of their honest gaines.
Hence did the learn'd perswade the ignorant,
79
That Phœbus built vp Troy with musickes sound,
And Amphions harp rais'd Thebes out of the ground:
That musicke could make mountaines to obay,
And stones to daunce about when they did play:
As Orpheus did, who with his holy song,
Lyons and Tygres drew with him along.
Yet thinke not though 'gainst these of mine owne coat,
I thus enueigh with loud and open throat,
But that (besides vs Poets) I doe see,
In other schoolemen as much vanity,
Who doe deserue worse punishment then speach,
If to the world I durst their crimes appeach.
'Tis not Quintilian, 'tis not he alone,
That doth his Scholers villanies bemone,
But others, whom if here I should display,
And tell their vices, thou would'st quickly say,
That from Pistoius closset (not from mine)
They stolne haue, and from Peter Aretine.
From others studies, honour oft and shame
I reape, and so with pleasure mixe defame:
Yet not in such wise as when I doe spie,
That Poets praise as well do liue as die.
More I do grieue and inwardly lament,
To heare how faire Aonio by consent,
Is senselesse held without all braine or wit,
80
Then if from some most foolish Doctors voice,
His neare Ally in folly and in choice,
I should haue heard the same, to whom some foole,
(Like to himselfe) in his vnlettred schoole,
The selfe same honour on his fame should clap,
With a scarlet gowne and formall corner cap.
It grieues me more that weake Placidian still
With feasts and surfets should his olde age fill,
As when he did his youths first heat enioy;
And that from man he should become a boy:
Then for to know how that the same disease,
Andronico my neighbour doth displease,
Who hath possest it full this seauen yeare,
And yet (as at the first) is nothing cleare.
If it be told me, greedy Pandarus
Is o're-much griping, Curio iealous,
That Ponticus affects Idolatry,
And Flauius sweareth most egregiously:
It doth with spite goe to my heart more neare,
Then when for small gaines I Cusatro heare
False iudgements vpon any one to fixe,
Or that Masse Baptist doth strong poison mixe
Amongst his Phisicke, whilst (through trechery)
His Spanish figs kils vs vnnaturally.
Or, sith that Master in Theologie,
(The counterfeit of deepe Diuinity)
Who (for the nonce) to doe his country wrong,
Mixeth his Burgamaskes with the Tuscan tongue,
Keepeth in pay a sniueling durty whore,
Who at one birth two bastards to him bore:
Whil'st for to please her greedy ne're-fild gut,
He spends Gods cope vpon that brothell slut,
Though his own sterued mother 'mongst the poore,
Goes vp and downe, and begs from doore to doore:
Yet afterward I heare him blushlesse cry,
As if he were nought else but sanctitie,
Saying I am the man doth pray and fast,
81
And which is more, thou know'st O God aboue,
Deare as my selfe I doe my neighbour loue.
But neither this dissembling nor the rest,
Brings to my thoughts or trouble or vnrest,
So that it shall nor breake my quiet sleepe,
Nor me from food or other pleasures keepe.
It is not me, it is themselues they wound,
The sores whereof will on their soules be found.
But to returne from whence this speech me draue,
I for my sonne would such a Master haue,
As by my good will with these vgly crimes,
Should not be stain'd, nor challeng'd by the times:
One that would truly make him vnderstand,
From the great language (so loued in our land)
What politicke Vlysses did at Troy,
Both of his trauels, and his sad annoy;
Or all that euer Appolonius writ,
Or what Euripides (that fount of wit)
With Tragedies of stately Sophocles,
And the Astrean Poets workes of praise.
To them adde Pindarus, whose famous bookes
Call'd Galatea from the water-brookes:
With all those other writers, which so long
Haue beene renowned for the Greekish tongue.
Already hath my selfe taught him to know,
Virgil and Ouid, and Horace long agoe.
Plautus and Terence he doth vnderstand,
And oft haue seene them acted in our land.
Thus (without me) by this his Latin aide,
He may hereafter safe to Delphos traide:
Nor can he misse the way to Hellicon,
But safely to his iourney's end passe on.
Yet that his iourney may the safer be,
And he more strengthned by his industry,
I faine would haue for him a trusty guide,
Whose knowledge in these countreyes hath beene tride.
My slothfulnesse, or rather destiny,
82
Forbids my selfe to keepe him company
From Phœbus Temple vnto Delos Ile,
As Romane gates I opened him erewhile,
My meaning is, that I am farre to seeke,
Though Latine I him taught, to teach him Greeke.
Alas, when first I was by nature giuen
To verse, and not thereto by strong hand driuen:
My bloome of youth being in the first appeare,
As hauing on my chinne not one soft haire,
My father with all rigor of his wit,
Quickly compels me to abandon it,
To study glosses and the ciuill Law,
In which fiue yeares I spent, but no good saw.
But when he from his wisedome did perceiue
That I an endlesse web began to weaue,
And that against my nature I did climbe,
The scale I loued not, and so lost my time,
With much adoe he gaue me liberty,
And made his will my will accompany.
Now was I twenty yeares of age and more,
Nor had I any schoolemaster before,
So as (to tell you true) I scarce was able
To vnderstand in Æsope any fable,
Till smiling fortune brought me to conuerse
From Phœbus Temple vnto Delos Ile,
As Romane gates I opened him erewhile,
My meaning is, that I am farre to seeke,
Though Latine I him taught, to teach him Greeke.
Alas, when first I was by nature giuen
To verse, and not thereto by strong hand driuen:
My bloome of youth being in the first appeare,
As hauing on my chinne not one soft haire,
My father with all rigor of his wit,
Quickly compels me to abandon it,
To study glosses and the ciuill Law,
In which fiue yeares I spent, but no good saw.
But when he from his wisedome did perceiue
That I an endlesse web began to weaue,
And that against my nature I did climbe,
The scale I loued not, and so lost my time,
With much adoe he gaue me liberty,
And made his will my will accompany.
Now was I twenty yeares of age and more,
Nor had I any schoolemaster before,
So as (to tell you true) I scarce was able
To vnderstand in Æsope any fable,
Till smiling fortune brought me to conuerse
With Gregory of Spoleto, whose commerce
I shall renowne and euer loue his name,
Because what skill I haue, from him it came.
In Romane language he was excellent,
And in the Grecian tongue as eloquent;
So that he well could iudge from skill profound,
Whose trumpet had the shrill or better sound,
I shall renowne and euer loue his name,
Because what skill I haue, from him it came.
In Romane language he was excellent,
And in the Grecian tongue as eloquent;
So that he well could iudge from skill profound,
Whose trumpet had the shrill or better sound,
Or Venus sonne, or Thetis louely boy:
But I in those deepe iudgments tooke no ioy,
Nor sought to know the wrath of Hecuba,
Nor how Vlysses slily stole away
From valiant Rhesus, both his life and horse,
By art of wit, and not by manly force.
For I desirous was to know at first,
Why to Æneas, Iuno was so curst,
Or why her malice with prolixity,
Held him from being king of Italy.
Besides me thought no glory would arise,
From the Greeke tongue, to me in any wise,
If first I did not Latine vnderstand,
It being once the tongue of our owne Land.
Whilst thus the one with industry I sought,
Hoping the other would with ease be caught:
Angry occasion fled me, for because,
Offring her fore-lock, I did seeme to pause:
But I in those deepe iudgments tooke no ioy,
Nor sought to know the wrath of Hecuba,
Nor how Vlysses slily stole away
From valiant Rhesus, both his life and horse,
By art of wit, and not by manly force.
For I desirous was to know at first,
83
Or why her malice with prolixity,
Held him from being king of Italy.
Besides me thought no glory would arise,
From the Greeke tongue, to me in any wise,
If first I did not Latine vnderstand,
It being once the tongue of our owne Land.
Whilst thus the one with industry I sought,
Hoping the other would with ease be caught:
Angry occasion fled me, for because,
Offring her fore-lock, I did seeme to pause:
That haplesse dutchesse tooke my Gregory
From me, to fix in her sonnes company,
Whose vncle did vsurpe his soueraignty,
For which she saw reuenge sufficiently,
(Though to her cost) alasse why was't not meant,
That he which wrongs should haue the punishmēt!
From me, to fix in her sonnes company,
Whose vncle did vsurpe his soueraignty,
For which she saw reuenge sufficiently,
(Though to her cost) alasse why was't not meant,
That he which wrongs should haue the punishmēt!
The vncle and the nephew, such was fate,
Lost at one instant, kingdome, goods, and state:
Both being conuaid close prisoners into France,
One instant giuing date to each mischance.
But Gregory at the suite of Isabel,
Followed his scholler whom he lou'd so well,
Lost at one instant, kingdome, goods, and state:
Both being conuaid close prisoners into France,
One instant giuing date to each mischance.
But Gregory at the suite of Isabel,
Followed his scholler whom he lou'd so well,
To France he follow'd, where he liu'd, till death
Tooke from his best of friends their best of breath.
This losse so great with other losses more,
Which (vnexpected) I with patience bore,
Made me forget the Muses, and my song,
And all that to my study did belong.
Tooke from his best of friends their best of breath.
This losse so great with other losses more,
Which (vnexpected) I with patience bore,
Made me forget the Muses, and my song,
And all that to my study did belong.
Then dyed my father: from Maria now
My mind I to Maria needs must bow:
I now must finde a husband who must take
One of my sisters to his louing make.
Then for another I must straight prouide,
That to a lesser charge I might be tide:
84
I now must finde a husband who must take
One of my sisters to his louing make.
Then for another I must straight prouide,
That to a lesser charge I might be tide:
For though the Land came vnto me as heire,
Yet others held in it with me a share.
Then to my yonger brothers was I bound,
Who me a father in my loue haue found,
Doing that office which most dutiously
I ought performe to sacred piety.
Some of them vnto study did attaine,
Some in the Court did couet to remaine:
Each one to such good courses so well bent,
That to my conscience they gaue good content,
Where by I saw their vertuous infancy,
Would saue their age from all indignity.
Nor was this all the care which from my booke,
Kept my long thirsty and desiring looke:
But many more, (though these sufficient be)
That I was for'st in this extremity,
To tie my Barke vnto the safe calme shore,
Lest it should sayle at randon as before,
And so vnwares vpon the quicke-sands runne,
Whereby the rest and I might be vndone.
Yet others held in it with me a share.
Then to my yonger brothers was I bound,
Who me a father in my loue haue found,
Doing that office which most dutiously
I ought performe to sacred piety.
Some of them vnto study did attaine,
Some in the Court did couet to remaine:
Each one to such good courses so well bent,
That to my conscience they gaue good content,
Where by I saw their vertuous infancy,
Would saue their age from all indignity.
Nor was this all the care which from my booke,
Kept my long thirsty and desiring looke:
But many more, (though these sufficient be)
That I was for'st in this extremity,
To tie my Barke vnto the safe calme shore,
Lest it should sayle at randon as before,
And so vnwares vpon the quicke-sands runne,
Whereby the rest and I might be vndone.
But I as then so many crosses had,
And in so many folds of griefes was clad:
That I desired nothing but my death,
As weary onely of a weary breath.
And in so many folds of griefes was clad:
That I desired nothing but my death,
As weary onely of a weary breath.
Ay me! as then my chiefest pleasure died,
The columne whereon all my hopes relied,
He whose commerce did onely ioy my hart,
Gaue life vnto my study, bred mine art:
Whose sweetest emulation made me runne,
That from the world I might the goale haue wonne.
My kinsman, friend, my brother most, most deare,
My heart, my soule, nay then my soule more neare,
My best Pandolpho died; ô that my death
Had beene the happy ransome of his breath.
O hard mishap, O cruell ouerthrow,
That to the Ariostian house could grow,
To leese their choisest branch, their garlands grace,
Whose like shall neuer grow in any place.
In so great honour liuing didst thou liue,
That I but rightly said, when I did giue
Thee first preheminence to vertues crowne,
In all Ferrara or Bologna towne;
From whence thy noble ancestors first came,
And at this day doe flourish in the same.
If vertue honour giues, as vice disgrace,
Then neuer was there any of his place,
More likelier to obtaine in each degree,
All honour, worth, and famous dignity.
Now to my fathers death, and next to his,
(Two jmages my soule can neuer misse.)
Adde how I was oppressed with the thrall,
Of seruitude vnto the Cardinall:
And yet no Prince with him may be compar'd
For bounty, though to me perpetuall hard.
For from the time Pope Iulio was create,
Euen till his breath of life did consumate,
And afterward, of Leo seuen yeare,
He did not suffer me stay any where,
And so my wits about his worke applide,
That in no certaine place I could bide:
That from a Poet I was straight transuerted,
And to a worthlesse Caualier conuerted.
Note then if posting alwaies vp and downe,
Through Cities, Courts, and euery countrey towne,
I could the Greeke or Chaldean tongue obtaine,
Whil'st to my selfe my selfe did not remaine.
Now I assure thee I doe much admire,
That such a fate my fate did not acquire,
As did to that Philosopher befall,
Vpon whose head a stone fell from the wall,
Whose very stroke did from his braine disseuer
All former thoughts and motions whatsoeuer.
But to be briefe, good Bembo I thee pray,
(E're I too late should wish) elect the way,
To choose for my Virgnio such a friend,
As thy best iudgement may with worth commend,
That right might guide him to Pernassus hill,
Since I thereto haue neither fate nor skill:
Yet no such Pedagogue I craue as this,
Whose story I'le relate, and this it is.
The columne whereon all my hopes relied,
He whose commerce did onely ioy my hart,
Gaue life vnto my study, bred mine art:
Whose sweetest emulation made me runne,
That from the world I might the goale haue wonne.
My kinsman, friend, my brother most, most deare,
My heart, my soule, nay then my soule more neare,
My best Pandolpho died; ô that my death
85
O hard mishap, O cruell ouerthrow,
That to the Ariostian house could grow,
To leese their choisest branch, their garlands grace,
Whose like shall neuer grow in any place.
In so great honour liuing didst thou liue,
That I but rightly said, when I did giue
Thee first preheminence to vertues crowne,
In all Ferrara or Bologna towne;
From whence thy noble ancestors first came,
And at this day doe flourish in the same.
If vertue honour giues, as vice disgrace,
Then neuer was there any of his place,
More likelier to obtaine in each degree,
All honour, worth, and famous dignity.
Now to my fathers death, and next to his,
(Two jmages my soule can neuer misse.)
Adde how I was oppressed with the thrall,
Of seruitude vnto the Cardinall:
And yet no Prince with him may be compar'd
For bounty, though to me perpetuall hard.
For from the time Pope Iulio was create,
Euen till his breath of life did consumate,
And afterward, of Leo seuen yeare,
He did not suffer me stay any where,
And so my wits about his worke applide,
That in no certaine place I could bide:
That from a Poet I was straight transuerted,
And to a worthlesse Caualier conuerted.
Note then if posting alwaies vp and downe,
Through Cities, Courts, and euery countrey towne,
I could the Greeke or Chaldean tongue obtaine,
Whil'st to my selfe my selfe did not remaine.
Now I assure thee I doe much admire,
That such a fate my fate did not acquire,
As did to that Philosopher befall,
Vpon whose head a stone fell from the wall,
Whose very stroke did from his braine disseuer
86
But to be briefe, good Bembo I thee pray,
(E're I too late should wish) elect the way,
To choose for my Virgnio such a friend,
As thy best iudgement may with worth commend,
That right might guide him to Pernassus hill,
Since I thereto haue neither fate nor skill:
Yet no such Pedagogue I craue as this,
Whose story I'le relate, and this it is.
A Tale.
There was a youth in Spaine of il-bred blood,In learning poore, but rich in worldly good,
Whose frends when he was yong put him to schoole,
But all in vaine, the foole prou'd still more foole.
At last a liuing of the Church there fell,
In that same towne where this rich foole did dwell:
And to the same a free-schoole ioyned was,
Whither the towns-mens children all might passe
Gratis, and teaching haue, sith stypends great,
Allotted was to th' one and th' others seate.
Now when his kinne of this had heard the fame,
They thought with coyne to plant him in the same:
Meaning for schoole an vsher he should haue,
And for his Church some Deacon, sober, graue,
To both of which, small pensions he should giue,
And on the surplussage himselfe would liue:
For this was in the daies of ignorance,
When men did wealth, not worthy artes aduance.
Besides, they thought by this deuice to make
The world, this foole for some wise Solon take:
When they should heare what liuings he possest,
In which they none but men of note inuest.
Hence from the King of Spaine by coine they got
His royall letters, to commend this sot
Vnto the Pope himselfe, for it was he,
That held this gift in his owne charity.
Besides, a priuy item in them was,
His Holinesse should suffer this rich Asse
To be instald, and not examined,
87
Onely three words of Latine he was taught,
When with his letters first he should be brought
Before the Pope: which spoken artfully,
He should haue his dispatch with breuity.
The first was this making a reuerence,
He onely should say, Salue sancte parens.
The Pope then, Vnde venisti, would reply,
De Spania must he say, then by and by.
Vbi sunt litteræ (last) the Pope would say,
He then must answere, In mantica mea:
And take them forth, and kissing them he shold,
Forthwith dispatcht be, with his bribing gold.
Thus being taught his lesson by his friends,
Towards Rome he hies, for there his iourney tends.
But halfe the way he hardly had discern'd,
E're he had lost the Latine he had learn'd.
Now as he beate his braines againe to find,
What he had lost, though 'twas out of his mind:
It fortun'd as he did amuze thereon,
To see come by a great Procession:
One of the Priests whereof did loudly sing,
Salue sancta mater, that the streetes did ring.
When as this dunce no sooner heard the same,
But into his dull braine forthwith it came,
Those were the words he onely had forgot:
And therefore ouer-ioyed at his lot,
Great hast he makes to haue a swift accesse,
(By meanes of friends) vnto his Holinesse.
Where falling downe low, Salue sancta mater,
Sayes the foole scholler with an open clatter.
The Pope not knowing what he meant by this,
Sayes, Non sum mater Christi, you your marke doe misse
The other senselesse (Paraquito like)
Not knowing what he spake, or wrong or right,
De Spania did reply with count'nance bold.
The Pope, that with a frowne did him behold,
Mumbled, Demonium habes adolescens tu;
88
His bag, to giue his letters to the Pope:
Who thinking with the diuell he should cope,
Cried out, and for to run was ready prest,
Till one of some more wit then all the rest,
Found that an Asse was in a Lions hide,
Whose base ambition all men did deride.
But when the Pope the Spanish King did see,
So earnest in this fooles behalfe to be:
And likewise did consider how much gaine,
His coffers by such Idiots did retaine:
Accipiamus pecuniam then he said,
Et admittamus Asinum in his stead.
Thus was the Spaniard lightned of his gold,
And both these liuings vndeseru'd did hold.
Bembo, no such like Pedant do I craue,
We and the world too many of them haue.
Let him be learned, and an honest man,
Let him haue both these vertues if you can.
“Where vertue reigneth most, least vice is still:
“Thy iudgement's good, I aske but thy good will.
We and the world too many of them haue.
Let him be learned, and an honest man,
Let him haue both these vertues if you can.
“Where vertue reigneth most, least vice is still:
“Thy iudgement's good, I aske but thy good will.
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