quarrels and a thousand other suchlike evils, since Cupid, by reason of
the hurt received from the cruel lamp, was not able to attend to his
customary office of inflaming the hearts of living mortals, in the
fourth interlude, in place of the seven mounds that had been shown on
the stage the time before, there were seen to appear in this one (to
give material for the disturbances of the comedy) seven little abysses,
from which there first came a black smoke, and then, little by little,
was seen to appear Discord with an ensign in the hand, recognized,
besides her arms, by the torn and varied dress and by the tresses, and
with her Rage, also recognized, besides the arms, by the buskins in the
form of claws, and by the bear's head in place of a helmet, from which
poured a constant stream of smoke and flame; and Cruelty, with the great
scythe in her hand, known by the helmet in the likeness of a tiger's
head and by the buskins after the manner of the feet of a crocodile; and
Rapine, also, with the pruning-hook in her hand, with the bird of prey
on the helmet, and with the feet in the likeness of an eagle; and
Vengeance, with a bloody scimitar in the hand, and with buskins and
helmet all woven of vipers; and two Anthropophagi, or Lestrigonians, as
we would rather call them, who, sounding two trombones in the form of
ordinary trumpets, appeared to be seeking with a certain bellicose
movement (besides the sound) to excite the audience of bystanders to
combat. Each of these was between two Furies, horrible companions,
furnished with drums, whips of iron, and various arms, beneath which
with the same dexterity had been hidden various musical instruments. The
above-named Furies could be recognized by the wounds wherewith their
whole persons were covered, from which were seen pouring flames of fire,
by the serpents with which they were all encircled and bound, by the
broken chains that hung from their legs and arms, and by the fire and
smoke that issued from their hair. And all these, having sung the
following madrigal all together with a certain fiery and warlike
harmony, performed in the manner of combatants a novel, bold, and most
extravagant Moorish dance; at the end of which, running here and there
in confusion about the stage, they were seen finally to take themselves
in a horrible and fearsome rout out of the sight of the spectators:
In bando itene, vili
Inganni; il mondo solo ira e furore
Sent' oggi; audaci voi, spirti gentili,
Venite a dimostrar vostro valore;
Che se per la lucerna or langue amore,
Nostro convien, non che lor sia l' impero.
Su dunque ogni piu fero
Cor surga; il nostro bellicoso carme
Guerra, guerra sol grida, e solo arm', arme.
FIFTH INTERLUDE.
Poor simple Psyche, having (as has been hinted in the last interlude)
injured her beloved spouse with the torch by her rash and eager
curiosity, and being abandoned by him, and having finally fallen into
the hands of angry Venus, provided most convenient material for the
fifth and most sorrowful interlude, accompanying the sadness of the
fourth act of the comedy; for it was feigned that she was sent by that
same Venus to the infernal Proserpine, whence she should never be able
to return among living creatures. And so, wrapped in despair and very
sad, she was seen approaching by one of the passages, accompanied by
hateful Jealousy, who had an aspect all pallid and afflicted, like her
other followers, and was known by the four heads and by the dress of
turquoise-blue all interwoven with eyes and ears; by Envy, known
likewise by the serpents that she was devouring; by Thought, Care, or
Solicitude, whichever we may choose to call her, known by the raven that
she had on the head, and by the vulture that was tearing her entrails;
and by Scorn, or Disdain (to make it a woman's name), who could be
recognized not only by the owl that she had on the head, but also by the
ill-made, ill-fitting and tattered dress. When these four, beating and
goading her, had made their way near the middle of the stage, in an
instant the ground opened in four places with fire and smoke, and they,
as if they sought to defend themselves, seized hold of four most
horrible serpents that were seen without any warning to issue from
below, and struck them a thousand different blows with their thorny
staves, under which were concealed four little bows, until in the end,
after much terror in the bystanders, it appeared that the serpents had
been torn open by them; and then, striking again in the blood-stained
bellies and entrails, all at once there was heard to issue--Psyche
singing the while the madrigal given below--a mournful but most delicate
and sweet harmony; for in the serpents were concealed with singular
artifice four excellent bass-viols, which, accompanying (together with
four trombones that sounded behind the stage) the single plaintive and
gracious voice of Psyche, produced an effect at once so sad and so
sweet, that there were seen drawn from the eyes of more than one person
tears that were not feigned. Which finished, and each figure having
taken her serpent on her shoulders, there was seen, with no less terror
among the spectators, a new and very large opening appearing in the
floor, from which issued a thick and continuous stream of flame and
smoke, and an awful barking was heard, and there was seen to issue from
the hole the infernal Cerberus with his three heads, to whom, in
accordance with the fable, Psyche was seen to throw one of the two flat
cakes that she had in her hand; and shortly afterwards there was seen
likewise to appear, together with various monsters, old Charon with his
customary barque, into which the despairing Psyche having entered, the
four tormentors described above kept her unwelcome and displeasing
company.
Fuggi, speme mia, fuggi,
E fuggi per non far piu mai ritorno;
Sola tu, che distruggi
Ogni mia pace, a far vienne soggiorno,
Invidia, Gelosia, Pensiero e Scorno
Meco nel cieco Inferno
Ove l' aspro martir mio viva eterno.
LAST INTERLUDE.
The sixth and last interlude was all joyous, for the reason that, the
comedy being finished, there was seen to issue in an instant from the
floor of the stage a verdant mound all adorned with laurels and
different flowers, which, having on the summit the winged horse Pegasus,
was soon recognized to be the Mount of Helicon, from which were seen
descending one by one that most pleasing company of little Cupids
already described, and with them Zephyr, Music, and Cupid, all joining
hands, and Psyche also, all joyful and merry now that she was safe
returned from Hell, and that by the prayers of her husband Cupid, at the
intercession of Jove, after such mighty wrath in Venus, there had been
won for her grace and pardon. With these were Pan and nine other Satyrs,
with various pastoral instruments in their hands, under which other
musical instruments were concealed; and all descending from the mound
described above, they were seen bringing with them Hymen, God of
nuptials, in whose praise they sang and played, as in the following
canzonets, and performed in the second a novel, most merry and most
graceful dance, giving a gracious conclusion to the festival:
Dal bel monte Elicona
Ecco Imeneo che scende,
E gia la face accende, e s' incorona;
Di persa s' incorona.
Odorata e soave,
Onde il mondo ogni grave cura scaccia.
Dunque e tu, Psiche, scaccia
L' aspra tua fera doglia,
E sol gioia s' accoglia entro al tuo seno.
Amor dentro al suo seno
Pur lieto albergo datti,
E con mille dolci atti ti consola.
Ne men Giove consola
Il tuo passato pianto,
Ma con riso e con canto al Ciel ti chiede.
Imeneo dunque ognun chiede,
Imeneo vago ed adorno,
Deh che lieto e chiaro giorno,
Imeneo, teco oggi riede!
Imeneo, per l' alma e diva
Sua Giovanna ogn' or si sente
Del gran Ren ciascuna riva
Risonar soavemente;
E non men l' Arno lucente
Pel gratioso, inclito e pio
Suo Francesco aver desio
D' Imeneo lodar si vede.
Imeneo ecc.
Flora lieta, Arno beato,
Arno umil, Flora cortese,
Deh qual piu felice stato
Mai si vide, mai s' intese?
Fortunato almo paese,
Terra in Ciel gradita e cara,
A cui coppia cosi rara
Imeneo benigno diede.
Imeneo ecc.
Lauri or dunque, olive e palme
E corone e scettri e regni
Per le due si felici alme,
Flora, in te sol si disegni;
Tutti i vili atti ed indegni
Lungi stien; sol pace vera
E diletto e primavera
Abbia in te perpetua sede.
And all the rich vestments and all the other things, which one might
think it impossible to make, were executed by the ingenious craftsmen
with such dexterity, loveliness and grace, and made to appear so
natural, real, and true, that it seemed that without a doubt the real
action could surpass the counterfeited spectacle by but a little.
OF THE TRIUMPH OF DREAMS AND OTHER FESTIVITIES.
Now after this, although every square and every street, as has been
told, resounded with music and song, merriment and festivity, our
magnanimous Lords, distributing everything most prudently, to the end
that excessive abundance might not produce excessive satiety, had
ordained that one of the principal festivals should be performed on each
Sunday, and for this reason, and for the greater convenience of the
spectators, they had caused the sides of the most beautiful squares of
S. Croce and S. Maria Novella to be furnished after the likeness of a
theatre, with very strong and very capacious tribunes. And since within
these there were held games, in which the young noblemen played a
greater part by their exercises than did our craftsmen by attiring them,
I shall treat of them briefly, saying that on one occasion there was
presented therein by our most liberal Lords, with six companies of most
elegant cavaliers, eight to a company, the play of the canes and the
carousel, so celebrated among the Spaniards, each of the companies,
which were all resplendent in cloth of gold and silver, being
distinguished from the rest, one in the ancient habit of the Castilians,
another in the Portuguese, another in the Moorish, a fourth in the
Hungarian, a fifth in the Greek, and the last in the Tartar; and
finally, after a perilous combat, partly with assegais and horses
likewise in the Spanish manner, and partly with men on foot and dogs,
some most ferocious bulls were killed. Another time, renewing the
ancient pomp of the Roman chase, there was seen a beautifully ordered
spectacle of certain elegant huntsmen and a good quantity of various
dogs, chasing forth from a little counterfeited wood and slaying an
innumerable multitude of animals, which came out in succession one kind
after another, first rabbits, hares, roebucks, foxes, porcupines, and
badgers, and then stags, boars, and bears, and even some savage horses
all burning with love; and in the end, as the most noble and most superb
chase of all, after they had sought several times by means of an immense
turtle and a vast and most hideous mask of a monster, which were full of
men and were made to move hither and thither with various wheels, to
incite a most fierce lion to do battle with a very valiant bull;
finally, since that could not be achieved, both the animals were seen
struck down and slain, not without a long and bloody struggle, by the
multitude of dogs and huntsmen. Besides this, every evening the noble
youth of the city exercised themselves with most elegant dexterity and
valour, according to their custom, at the game of football, the peculiar
and particular sport of that people, with which finally there was given
on one of those Sundays one of the most agreeable and most graceful
spectacles that anyone could ever behold, in very rich costumes of cloth
of gold in red and green colours, with all the rules, which are many and
beautiful.
But since variety seems generally to enhance the pleasure of most
things, another time the illustrious Prince sought with a different show
to satisfy the expectant people by means of his so much desired Triumph
of Dreams. The invention of this, although, since he went to Germany to
see his exalted bride and to do reverence to the most august Emperor
Maximilian and to his other illustrious kinsmen, it was arranged and
composed by others with great learning and diligence, may yet be said to
have been born in the beginning from his most noble genius, so competent
in no matter how subtle and exacting a task; and with it he who
afterwards executed the work, and was the composer of the song, sought
to demonstrate that moral opinion expressed by Dante when he says that
innumerable errors arise among living mortals because many are set to do
many things for which they do not seem to have been born fitted by
nature, deviating, on the other hand, from those for which, following
their natural inclination, they might be very well adapted. This he also
strove to demonstrate with five companies of masks led by five of those
human desires that were considered by him the greatest; by Love, namely,
behind whom followed the lovers; by Beauty, figured under the form of
Narcissus, and followed by those who strive too much to appear
beautiful; by Fame, who had as followers those too hungry for glory; by
Pluto, signifying Riches, behind whom were seen those eager and greedy
for them, and by Bellona, who was followed by the men enamoured of war;
contriving that the sixth company, which comprised all the five
described above, and to which he wished that they should all be
referred, should be guided by Madness, likewise with a good number of
her followers behind her, signifying that he who sinks himself too deep
and against the inclination of Nature in the above-named desires, which
are in truth dreams and spectres, comes in the end to be seized and
bound by Madness. And then this judgment, turning, as a thing of feast
and carnival, to the amorous, announces to young women that the great
father Sleep is come with all his ministers and companions in order to
show to them with his matutinal dreams, which are reputed as true
(comprised, as has been told, in the first five companies), that all the
above-named things that are done by us against Nature, are to be
considered, as has been said, as dreams and spectres; and therefore,
exhorting them to pursue that to which their nature inclines them, it
appears that in the end he wishes, as it were, to conclude that if they
feel themselves by nature inclined to be loved, they should not seek to
abstain from that natural desire; nay, despising any other counsel as
something vain and mad, they should dispose themselves to follow the
wise, natural, and true. And then, around the Car of Sleep and the masks
that were to express this conception, were accommodated and placed as
ornaments those things that are judged to be in keeping with sleep and
with dreams. There was seen, therefore, after two most beautiful Sirens,
who, blowing two great trumpets in place of two trumpeters, preceded
all the rest, and after two extravagant masks, the guides of all the
others, by which, mingling white, yellow, red, and black over their
cloth of silver, were demonstrated the four humours of which bodies are
composed, and after the bearer of a large red ensign adorned with
various poppies, on which was painted a great gryphon, with three verses
that encircled it, saying:
Non solo aquila e questo, e non leone,
Ma l' uno e l' altro; cosi 'l Sonno ancora
Ed humana e divina ha condizione.
There was seen coming, I say, as has been told above, the joyous Love,
figured as is customary, and accompanied on one side by ever-verdant
Hope, who had a chameleon on the head, and on the other by pallid Fear,
with the head likewise adorned by a timorous deer; and he was seen
followed by the lovers, his captives and slaves, dressed for the most
part with infinite grace and richness in draperies of flaming gold, for
the flames wherewith they are ever burning, and all girt and bound with
most delicate gilded chains. After these (to avoid excessive minuteness)
there was seen coming, to represent Beauty, in a graceful habit of
turquoise-blue all interwoven with his own flowers, the beautiful
Narcissus, likewise accompanied, as was said of Love, on one side by
Youth adorned with flowers and garlands, and dressed all in white, and
on the other by Proportion, adorned with draperies of turquoise-blue,
and recognized by the spectators by an equilateral triangle that was
upon the head. After these were seen those who seek to be esteemed for
the sake of their beauty, and who appeared to be following their guide
Narcissus; and they, also, were of an aspect youthful and gracious, and
had the same narcissus-blooms most beautifully embroidered upon the
cloth of silver wherein they were robed, with their blonde and curly
locks all crowned in lovely fashion with the same flowers. And after
them was seen approaching Fame, who seemed to be sounding a great
trumpet that had three mouths, with a globe on her head that represented
the world, and with immense wings of peacock's feathers; having in her
company Glory, who had a head-dress fashioned likewise of a peacock, and
Reward, who in like manner carried a crowned eagle on the head; and her
followers, who were divided into three companies, Emperors, Kings, and
Dukes, although they were all dressed in gold with the richest
embroideries and pearls, and although they all presented an aspect of
singular grandeur and majesty, nevertheless were distinguished very
clearly one from another by the forms of the different crowns that they
wore on their heads, each in accord with his rank. Then the blind Pluto,
the God (as has been told) of Riches, who followed after these with rods
of gold and silver in the hands, was seen, like the others, accompanied
on either side by Avarice dressed in yellow, with a she-wolf on the
head, and by Rapacity robed in red draperies, who had a falcon on the
head to make her known; but it would be a difficult thing to seek to
describe the quantity of gold, pearls, and other precious gems, and the
various kinds of draperies with which his followers were covered and
adorned. And Bellona, Goddess of War, most richly robed in many parts
with cloth of silver in place of arms, and crowned with a garland of
verdant laurel, with all the rest of her habit composed in a thousand
rich and gracious ways, was seen likewise coming after them with a large
and warlike horn in the hand, and accompanied, like the others, by
Terror, known by the cuckoo in the head-dress, and by Boldness, also
known by the lion's head worn in place of a cap; and with her the
military men in her train were seen following her in like manner with
swords and iron-shod maces in their hands, and draperies of gold and
silver arranged most fancifully in the likeness of armour and helmets.
These and all the others in the other companies had each, to demonstrate
that they represented dreams, a large, winged, and very well fashioned
bat of grey cloth of silver fitted on the shoulders, and forming a sort
of little mantle; which, besides the necessary significance, gave to all
the companies (which, as has been shown, were all different) the
necessary unity, and also grace and beauty beyond measure. And all this
left in the minds of the spectators a firm belief that there had never
been seen in Florence, and perhaps elsewhere, any spectacle so rich, so
gracious, and so beautiful; for, in addition to all the gold, the
pearls, and the other most precious gems wherewith the embroideries,
which were very fine, were made, all the dresses were executed with
such diligence, design, and grace, that they seemed to be costumes
fashioned not for masquerades, but enduring and permanent, and worthy to
be used only by great Princes.
There followed Madness, the men of whose company alone, for the reason
that she had to be shown not as a dream but as real in those who sought
against the inclination of nature to pursue the things described above,
were seen without the bat upon the shoulders; and she was dressed in
various colours, but all put together most inharmoniously and without
any manner of grace, while upon her dishevelled tresses, to demonstrate
her disordered thoughts, were seen a pair of gilded spurs with the
rowels turned upwards, and on either side of her were a Satyr and a
Bacchante. Her followers, then, in the semblance of lunatics and
drunkards, were seen dressed most extravagantly in cloth of gold,
embroidered with varied boughs of ivy and vine-leaves with their little
bunches of ripe grapes. And these and all the others in the companies
already described, besides a good number of grooms, likewise very richly
and ingeniously dressed according to the company wherein they were
serving, had horses of different colours distributed among them, a
particular colour to each company, so that one had dappled horses,
another sorrel, a third black, a fourth peach-coloured, another bay, and
yet another of a varied coat, according as the invention required. And
to the end that the above-described masques, which were composed almost
entirely of the most noble lords, might not be constrained to carry the
customary torches at night, forty-eight different witches--who during
the day preceded in most beautiful order all those six companies, guided
by Mercury and Diana, who had each three heads to signify their three
powers; being themselves also divided into six companies, and each
particular company being ruled by two dishevelled and barefooted
priestesses--when night came, went in due order on either side of the
particular company of dreams to which they were assigned, and, with the
lighted torches which they and the grooms bore, rendered it abundantly
luminous and clear. These witches, besides their different faces, all
old and hideous, and besides the different colours of the rich draperies
wherewith they were clothed, were known in particular, and one company
distinguished from another, by the animals that they had upon their
heads, into the shapes of which, so men say and believe, they transform
themselves often by their incantations; for some had upon the cloth of
silver that served as kerchief for their heads a black bird, with wings
and claws outspread, and with two little phials about the head,
signifying their maleficent distillations; and some had cats, others
black and white dogs, and others, by their false blonde tresses and by
the natural white hair that could be seen, as it were against their
will, beneath them, betrayed their vain desire to appear young and
beautiful to their lovers.
The immense car, drawn by six large and shaggy bears crowned with
poppies, which came at the end after all that lovely train, was without
a doubt the richest, the most imposing, and the most masterly in
execution that has ever been seen for a long time back. That car was
guided by Silence, a figure adorned with grey draperies and with the
customary shoes of felt upon the feet, who, placing a finger on the
mouth, appeared to be making sign to the spectators that they should be
silent; and with him were three women, representing Quiet, plump and
full in countenance, and dressed in rich robes of azure-blue, and each
with a tortoise upon the head, who appeared to be seeking to assist that
same Silence to guide those bears. The car itself, resting upon a
graceful hexagonal platform, was shaped in the form of a vast head of an
elephant, within which, also, there was represented as the house of
Sleep a fantastic cavern, wherein the great father Sleep was likewise
seen lying at his ease, fat and ruddy, and partly nude, with a garland
of poppies, and with his cheek resting upon one of his arms; having
about him Morpheus, Icelus, Phantasus, and his other sons, figured in
various extravagant and bizarre forms. At the summit of the same cavern
was seen the white, luminous, and beautiful Dawn, with her blonde
tresses all soft and moist with dew; and at the foot of the cavern, with
a badger that served her for a pillow, was dark Night, who, being held
to be the mother of true dreams, was thought likely to lend no little
faith to the words of the dreams described above. For the adornment of
the car, then, were seen some most lovely little stories, accommodated
to the invention and distributed with so much diligence, delicacy, and
grace, that it appeared impossible for anything more to be desired. In
the first of these was seen Bacchus, the father of Sleep, upon a car
wreathed in vine-leaves and drawn by two spotted tigers, with a verse to
make him known, which said:
Bacco, del Sonno sei tu vero padre.
Even as in another was seen Ceres, the mother of the same Sleep, crowned
with the customary ears of corn, and likewise with a verse placed there
for the same reason, which said:
Cerer del dolce Sonno e dolce madre.
And in a third was seen Pasithea, wife of the same Sleep, who, seeming
to fly over the earth, appeared to have infused most placid sleep in the
animals that were dispersed among the trees and upon the earth; likewise
with her motto which made her known, saying:
Sposa del Sonno questa e Pasitea.