dark, and crowned with funeral cypress, holding a little sceptre in one
of his hands as a sign of his royal power, and having at his feet the
great, horrible, and triple-throated Cerberus; but Proserpine, who was
seen with him (accompanied by two Nymphs, one holding in the hand a
round ball, and the other a great and strong key, denoting that one who
has once come into that kingdom must abandon all hope of return), was
shown clothed in a white and rich dress, ornate beyond belief. And both
were in the usual car, drawn by four jet-black horses, whose reins were
seen guided by a most hideous and infernal monster, who had with him, as
worthy companions, the three likewise infernal Furies, bloody, foul, and
awful, with the hair and the whole person entwined with various venomous
serpents. Behind these were seen following the two Centaurs, Nessus and
Astylus, with bows and arrows, and besides these arms Astylus carried in
the hand a great eagle; and with them the proud giant Briareus, who had
a hundred hands armed with sword and buckler, and fifty heads, from
which a stream of fire was seen spouting through the mouth and nostrils.
These were followed by turbid Acheron, pouring water and sand, livid and
stinking, from a great vase that he carried in his hands, and with him
was seen coming the other infernal river, Cocytus, likewise pallid and
dark, and likewise pouring from a similar vase a similar fetid and
turbid stream; having with them the horrible and sluggish Styx, daughter
of Oceanus, so much feared by all the Gods, who was dressed in a nymph's
habit, but dark and foul, and carried a similar vase, and seemed to be
encompassed by the other infernal river, Phlegethon, whose whole person,
with his vase and the boiling waters, was tinted with a dark and fearful
redness. Then followed old Charon, with the oar, and with the eyes (as
Dante said) of glowing coal; accompanied, to the end that not one of the
infernal rivers might be absent, by the pallid, meagre, emaciated, and
oblivious Lethe, in whose hand was seen a similar vase, which likewise
poured from every side turbid and livid water; and following behind them
were the three great judges of Hell, Minos, AEacus, and Rhadamanthus, the
first being figured in royal form and habit, and the second and third
attired in dark, grave, and venerable vestments. After these was seen
coming Phlegyas, the sacrilegious King of the Lapithae, recalling, by an
arrow that transfixed his breast, the memory of the burned temple of
Phoebus and the chastisement received from him, and, for clearer
demonstration, carrying that temple all burning in one of his hands.
Next was seen the afflicted Sisyphus under the great and ponderous
stone, and with him the famished and miserable Tantalus, who was shown
with the fruits so vainly desired close to his mouth. And then were seen
coming, but in more gracious aspect, as if setting out from the glad
Elysian Fields, with the comet-like star on the brow, and wearing the
imperial habit, the divine Julius and the happy Octavianus Augustus, his
successor; the terrible and dreadful company being finally concluded in
most noble fashion by the Amazon Penthesileia, adorned with the spear,
the half-moon shield, and the royal band upon the head, and by the
widowed Queen Tomyris, who likewise had the hands and side adorned with
the bow and barbaric arrows.
SEVENTEENTH CAR, OF CYBELE.
After these was seen coming Cybele, the great mother of the Gods,
crowned with towers, and, for the reason that she is held to be Goddess
of the Earth, robed in a vestment woven of various plants, with a
sceptre in the hand, and seated upon a quadrangular car, which contained
many other empty seats besides her own, and was drawn by two great
lions; and for the adornment of the car were painted with most beautiful
design four of her stories. For the first of these was seen how, when
she was conveyed from Pessinus to Rome, the ship that was carrying her
being stuck fast in the Tiber, she was drawn miraculously to the bank by
the Vestal Claudia with only her own simple girdle, to the rare marvel
of the bystanders; even as for the second she was seen taken by command
of her priests to the house of Scipio Nasica, who was judged to be the
best and most holy man to be found in Rome at that time. For the third,
likewise, she was seen visited in Phrygia by the Goddess Ceres, after
she thought to have hidden her daughter Proserpine safely in Sicily; and
for the fourth and last she was seen flying from the fury of the Giants
into Egypt, as the poets relate, and constrained to transform herself
into a blackbird. At the foot of the car, then, were seen riding ten
Corybantes, armed after the ancient fashion, who were making various
extravagant gestures of head and person; after whom were seen coming two
Roman matrons in Roman dress, with the head covered by a yellow veil,
and with them the above-named Scipio Nasica and the Vestal Virgin
Claudia, who had over the head a square white kerchief with a border all
around, which was fastened under the throat. And for the last, to give a
gracious conclusion to the little company, there was seen coming with an
aspect of great loveliness the young and beautiful Atys, beloved most
ardently, as we read, by Cybele; who, besides the rich, easy, and
charming costume of a huntsman, was seen most gracefully adorned by a
very beautiful gilded collar.
EIGHTEENTH CAR, OF DIANA.
In the eighteenth and incredibly beautiful car, drawn by two white
stags, there was seen coming, with the gilded bow and gilded quiver, the
huntress Diana, who was shown seated with infinite grace and loveliness
upon two other stags, which with their hindquarters made for her, as it
were, a most fanciful seat; the rest of the car being rendered strangely
gracious, lovely, and ornate by nine of her most pleasing fables. For
the first of these was seen how, moved by pity for the flying Arethusa,
who was seen pursued by the enamoured Alpheus, the Goddess converted her
into a fountain; even as for the second she was seen praying AEsculapius
that he should consent to restore to life for her the dead but innocent
Hippolytus; which being accomplished, she was then seen in the third
ordaining him guardian of her temple and her sacred wood in Aricia. For
the fourth she was seen chasing Cynthia, violated by Jove, from the pure
waters where she used to bathe with her other virgin Nymphs; and for the
fifth was seen the deceit practised by her on the above-named Alpheus,
when, seeking presumptuously to obtain her as his wife, he was taken by
her to see her dance, and there, having smeared her face with mire in
company with the other Nymphs, she constrained him, not being able to
recognize her in that guise, to depart all derided and scorned. For the
sixth, then, she was seen in company with her brother Apollo, chastising
proud Niobe and slaying her with all her children; and for the seventh
she was seen sending the great and savage boar into the Calydonian
forest, which laid all AEtolia waste, having been moved to just and
righteous wrath against that people because they had discontinued her
sacrifices. Even as for the eighth she was seen not less wrathfully
converting the unhappy Actaeon into a stag; but in the ninth and last,
moved on the contrary by pity, she was seen transforming Egeria, weeping
for the death of her husband, Numa Pompilius, into a fountain. At the
foot of the car, then, were seen coming eight of her huntress Nymphs,
with their bows and quivers, dressed in graceful, pleasing, loose, and
easy garments, composed of skins of various animals as it were slain by
them; and with them, as the last, concluding the small but gracious
company, was young Virbius, crowned with spotted-leaf myrtle, and
holding in one hand a little broken chariot, and in the other a bunch of
tresses virginal and blonde.
NINETEENTH CAR, OF CERES.
In the nineteenth car, drawn by two great dragons, coming in no less
pomp than the others, was seen Ceres, the Goddess of grain-crops, in the
habit of a matron, with a garland of ears of corn and with ruddy locks;
and with no less pomp that car was seen adorned by nine of her fables,
which had been painted there. For the first of these was seen figured
the happy birth of Pluto, the God of Riches, born, as we read in certain
poets, from her and from the hero Iasius; even as for the second she was
seen washing with great care and feeding with her own milk the little
Triptolemus, son of Eleusis and Hyona. For the third was seen the same
Triptolemus flying by her advice upon one of the two dragons that had
been presented to him by her, together with the car, to the end that he
might go through the world piously teaching the care and cultivation of
the fields; the other dragon having been killed by the impious King of
the Getae, who sought with every effort likewise to slay Triptolemus. For
the fourth was seen how she hid her beloved daughter Proserpine in
Sicily, foreseeing in a certain sense that which afterwards befell her;
even as in the fifth, likewise, she was seen after that event, as has
been told elsewhere, going to Phrygia to visit her mother Cybele; and in
the sixth, as she was dwelling in that place, the same Proserpine was
seen appearing to her in a dream, and demonstrating to her in what a
plight she found herself from Pluto's rape of her; on which account,
being all distraught, she was seen in the seventh returning in great
haste to Sicily. For the eighth, likewise, was seen how, not finding her
there, in her deep anguish she kindled two great torches, being moved to
the resolution to seek her throughout the whole world; and in the ninth
and last she was seen arriving at the well of Cyane, and there coming by
chance upon the girdle of her stolen daughter, a sure proof of what had
befallen her; whereupon in her great wrath, not having aught else on
which to vent it, she was seen turning to break to pieces the rakes,
hoes, ploughs, and other rustic implements that chanced to have been
left there in the fields by the peasants. At the foot of the car, then,
were seen walking figures signifying her various sacrifices; first, for
those that are called the Eleusinia, two little virgins attired in white
vestments, each with a gracious little basket in the hands, one of which
was seen to be all filled with various flowers, and the other with
various ears of corn. After which, for those sacrifices that were
offered to Ceres as Goddess of Earth, there were seen coming two boys,
two women, and two men, likewise all dressed in white, and all crowned
with hyacinths, who were leading two great oxen, as it were to sacrifice
them; and then, for those others that were offered to Ceres the
Law-giver, called by the Greeks Thesmophoros, were seen coming two
matrons only, very chaste in aspect, likewise dressed in white, and in
like manner crowned with ears of corn and agnus-castus. And after
these, in order to display in full the whole order of her sacrifices,
there were seen coming three Greek priests, likewise attired in white
draperies, two of whom carried in the hands two lighted torches, and the
other an ancient lamp, likewise lighted. And, finally, the sacred
company was concluded by the two heroes so much beloved by Ceres, of
whom mention has been made above--Triptolemus, namely, who carried a
plough in the hand and was shown riding upon a dragon, and Iasius, whom
it was thought proper to figure in the easy, rich, and gracious habit of
a huntsman.
TWENTIETH CAR, OF BACCHUS.
Then followed the twentieth car, of Bacchus, likewise shaped with
singular artistry and with novel and truly most fanciful and bizarre
invention; and it was seen in the form of a very graceful little ship
all overlaid with silver, which was balanced in such wise upon a great
base that had the true and natural appearance of the cerulean sea, that
at the slightest movement it was seen, with extraordinary pleasure for
the spectators, to roll from side to side in the very manner of a real
ship upon the real sea. In it, besides the merry and laughing Bacchus,
attired in the usual manner and set in the most commanding place, there
were seen in company with Maron, King of Thrace, some Bacchantes and
some Satyrs all merry and joyful, sounding various cymbals and other
suchlike instruments; and since, as it were, from a part of that happy
ship there rose an abundant fount of bright and foaming wine, they were
seen not only drinking the wine very often from various cups, with much
rejoicing, but also with the licence that wine induces inviting the
bystanders to drink and sing in their company. In place of a mast, also,
the little ship had a great thyrsus wreathed in vine-leaves, which
supported a graceful and swelling sail, upon which, to the end that it
might be gladsome and ornate, were seen painted many of those Bacchantes
who, so it is said, are wont to run about, drinking and dancing and
singing with much licence, over Mount Tmolus, father of the choicest
wines. At the foot of the car, then, was seen walking the beautiful
Syce, beloved by Bacchus, who had upon the head a garland, and in the
hand a branch, of fig; and with her, likewise, was the other love of the
same Bacchus, Staphyle by name, who, besides a great vine-branch with
many grapes that she carried in the hand, was also seen to have made in
no less lovely fashion about her head, with vine-leaves and bunches of
similar grapes, a green and graceful garland. After these came the fair
and youthful Cissus, also beloved by Bacchus, who, falling by
misfortune, was transformed by Mother Earth into ivy, on which account
he was seen in a habit all covered with ivy in every part. And behind
him was seen coming old Silenus, all naked and bound upon an ass with
various garlands of ivy, as if by reason of his drunkenness he were
unable to support himself, and carrying attached to his girdle a great
wooden cup all worn away; and with him, likewise, came the God of
Banquets, called by the ancients Comus, represented in the form of a
ruddy, beardless, and most beautiful youth, all crowned with roses, but
in aspect so somnolent and languid, that it appeared almost as if the
huntsman's boar-spear and the lighted torch that he carried in the hands
might fall from them at any moment. There followed with a panther upon
the back the old and likewise ruddy and laughing Drunkenness, attired in
a red habit, with a great foaming vessel of wine in the hands, and with
her the young and merry Laughter; and behind these were seen coming in
the garb of shepherds and nymphs two men and two women, followers of
Bacchus, crowned and adorned in various ways with various leaves of the
vine. And Semele, the mother of Bacchus, all smoky and scorched in
memory of the ancient fable, with Narcaeus, the first ordinator of the
sacrifices to Bacchus, who had a great he-goat upon his back, and was
adorned with antique and shining arms, appeared to form a worthy,
appropriate, and gracious end to that glad and festive company.
TWENTY-FIRST AND LAST CAR.
The twenty-first and last car, representing the Roman Mount Janiculum,
and drawn by two great white rams, was given to the venerable Janus,
figured with two heads, one young and the other old, as is the custom,
and holding in the hands a great key and a thin wand, to demonstrate the
power over doors and streets that is attributed to him. At the foot of
the car was seen coming sacred Religion, attired in white linen
vestments, with one of the hands open, and carrying in the other an
ancient altar with a burning flame; and on either side of her were the
Prayers, represented, as they are described by Homer, in the form of two
wrinkled, lame, cross-eyed, and melancholy old women, dressed in
draperies of turquoise-blue. After these were seen coming Antevorta and
Postvorta, the companions of Divinity, of whom it was believed that the
first had power to know whether prayers were or were not to be heard by
the Gods; and the second, who rendered account only of the past, was
able to say whether prayers had or had not been heard; the first being
figured in the comely aspect and habit of a matron, with a lamp and a
corn-sieve in the hands, and a head-dress covered with ants upon the
head; and the second, clothed in front all in white, and figured with
the face of an old woman, was seen to be attired at the back in heavy
black draperies, and to have the hair, on the contrary, blonde, curling,
and beautiful, such as is generally seen in young and love-compelling
women. Then followed that Favour which we seek from the Gods, to the end
that our desires may have a happy and fortunate end; and he, although
shown in the aspect of a youth, blind and with wings, and with a proud
and haughty presence, yet at times appeared timid and trembling because
of the rolling wheel upon which he was seen standing, doubting that, as
is often seen to happen, at every least turn he might come with great
ease to fall from it; and with him was seen Success, or, as we would
rather say, the happy end of our enterprises, figured as a gay and
lovely youth, holding in one of the hands a cup, and in the other an ear
of corn and a poppy. Then there followed, in the form of a virgin
crowned with oriental palm, with a star upon the brow and with a branch
of the same palm in the hand, Anna Perenna, revered by the ancients as a
Goddess, believing that she was able to make the year fortunate, and
with her were seen coming two Fetiales with the Roman toga, adorned with
garlands of verbenae and with a sow and a stone in the hands, to denote
the kind of oath that they were wont to take when they made any
declaration for the Roman people. Behind these, then, following the
religious ceremonies of war, was seen coming a Roman Consul in the
Gabinian and purple toga, and with a spear in the hand, and with him two
Roman Senators likewise in the toga, and two soldiers in full armour and
with the Roman javelin. And finally, concluding that company and all the
others, there followed Money, attired in draperies of yellow, white, and
tawny colour, and holding in the hands various instruments for striking
coins; the use of which, so it is believed, was first discovered and
introduced, as a thing necessary to the human race, by Janus.
Such were the cars and companies of that marvellous masquerade, the like
of which was never seen before, and, perchance, will never be seen again
in our day. And about it--leaving on one side, as a burden too great for
my shoulders, the vast and incomparable praises that would be due to
it--there had been marshalled with much judgment six very rich masks in
the guise of sergeants, or rather, captains, who, harmonizing very well
with the invention of the whole, were seen, according as necessity
demanded, running hither and thither and keeping all that long line,
which occupied about half a mile of road, advancing in due order with
decorum and grace.
Now, drawing near at length to the end of that splendid and most merry
Carnival, which would have been much more merry and celebrated with much
more splendour, if the inopportune death of Pius IV, which happened a
short time before, had not incommoded a good number of very reverend
Cardinals and other very illustrious lords from all Italy, who, invited
to those most royal nuptials, had made preparations to come; and leaving
on one side the rich and lovely inventions without number seen in the
separate masks, thanks to the amorous young men, not only in the
innumerable banquets and other suchlike entertainments, but wherever
they broke a lance or tilted at the ring, now in one place and now in
another, and wherever they made similar trial of their dexterity and
valour in a thousand other games; and treating only of the last
festival, which was seen on the last day, I shall say that although
there had been seen the innumerable things, so rare, so rich, and so
ingenious, of which mention has been made above, yet this festival,
from the pleasing nature of the play, from the richness, emulation and
competence shown in it by our craftsmen (some of whom, as always
happens, considered themselves surpassed in the things accomplished),
and from a certain extravagance and variety in the inventions, some of
which appeared beautiful and ingenious, and others ridiculous and
clumsy, this one, I say, also displayed an extraordinary and most
charming beauty, and likewise gave to the admiring people, amid all that
satiety, a pleasure and a delight that were marvellous and perhaps
unexpected; and it was a buffalo-race, composed of ten distinct
companies, which were distributed, besides those that the Sovereign
Princes took for themselves, partly among the lords of the Court and the
strangers, and partly among the gentlemen of the city and the two
colonies of merchants, the Spanish and the Genoese. First, then, upon
the first buffalo that appeared in the appointed place, there was seen
coming Wickedness, adorned with great art and judgment, who was shown
being chased, goaded and beaten by six cavaliers likewise figured most
ingeniously as Scourging, or rather, Scourges. After that, upon the
second buffalo, which had the appearance of a lazy ass, was seen coming
the old and drunken Silenus, supported by six Bacchants, who were seen
striving at the same time to goad and spur the ass; even as upon the
third, which had the form of a calf, there was likewise seen coming the
ancient Osiris, accompanied by six of the companions or soldiers with
whom, it is believed, that Deity travelled over many parts of the world
and taught to the still new and barbarous races the cultivation of the
fields. Upon the fourth, without any disguise, was placed as on
horseback Human Life, likewise chased and goaded by six cavaliers who
represented the Years; even as upon the fifth, also without any
disguise, was seen coming Fame with the many mouths and with the great
wings of desire that are customary, also chased by six cavaliers who
resembled Virtue, or the Virtues; which Virtues, so it was said, chasing
her, were aspiring to obtain the due and well-deserved reward of honour.
Upon the sixth, then, was seen coming a very rich Mercury, who was shown
being goaded and urged on no less than the others by six other similar
figures of Mercury; and upon the seventh was seen the nurse of Romulus,
Acca Laurentia, with six of her Fratres Arvales, who were not only
urging her lazy animal to a run with their goads, but seemed almost to
have been introduced to keep her company with much fittingness and pomp.
Upon the eighth, next, was seen coming with much grace and richness a
large and very natural owl, with six cavaliers in the form of bats most
natural and marvellously similar to the reality, who with most dexterous
horses, goading the buffalo now from one side and now from another, were
seen delivering a thousand joyous and most festive assaults. For the
ninth, with singular artifice and ingenious illusion, there was seen
appearing little by little a Cloud, which, after it had held the eyes of
the spectators for some time in suspense, was seen in an instant as it
were to part asunder, and from it issued the seafaring Misenus seated
upon the buffalo, which at once was seen pursued and pricked by six
Tritons adorned in a very rich and most masterly fashion. And for the
tenth and last there was seen coming, almost with the same artifice, but
in a different and much larger form and in a different colour, another
similar Cloud, which, parting asunder in like manner at the appointed
place with smoke and flame and a horrible thunder, was seen to have
within it infernal Pluto, drawn in his usual car, and from it in a most
gracious manner was seen to come forth in place of a buffalo a great and
awful Cerberus, who was chased by six of those glorious ancient heroes
who are supposed to dwell in peace in the Elysian Fields. All those
companies, when they had appeared one by one upon the piazza, and
presented the due and gracious spectacle, and after a long breaking of
lances, a great caracoling of horses, and a thousand other suchlike
games, with which the fair ladies and the multitude of spectators were
entertained for a good time, finally made their way to the place where
the buffaloes were to be set to race. And there, the trumpet having
sounded, and each company striving that its buffalo should arrive at the
appointed goal before the others, and now one prevailing and now
another, all of a sudden, when they were come within a certain distance
of the place, all the air about them was seen filled with terror and
alarm from the great and deafening fires that smote them now on one side
and now on another, in a thousand strange fashions, insomuch that very
often it was seen to happen that one who at the beginning had been
nearest to winning the coveted prize, the timid and not very obedient
animal taking fright at the noise, the smoke, and the fires above
described, which, in proportion as one went ahead, became ever greater
and assailed that one with ever greater vehemence, so that the animals
turned in various directions, and very often took to headlong flight--it
was seen many times, I say, that the first were constrained to return
among the last; while the confusion of men, buffaloes, and horses, and
the lightning-flashes, noises, and thunderings, produced a strange,
novel, and incomparable pleasure and delight. And thus with that
spectacle was finally contrived a splendid, although for many perhaps
disturbing, conclusion of the joyous and most festive Carnival.