“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_.