Francesco Berni was born at Lamporecchio, in the Val di Nievole, towards
the end of the fifteenth century. The first eighteen years of his life
were spent at Florence; whence he transferred himself to Rome, and
entered on the service of his relation, the cardinal Bibbiena. On the
death of the cardinal, he attached himself to the nephew, Angelo Divizio
Bibbiena. He was at one time obliged to leave Rome, on account of some
adventure of gallantry[91]; and afterwards entered the service of
Giberti, the papal Datario, with whom he remained seven years,
accompanying him whenever Giberti's duties as a bishop took him to
Verona. But Berni was a poet, and fond of pleasure, and fortune could
not obtain from him the industry which might have advanced him with his
patrons. His vivacity and his poetry were agreeable in society; he
became courted as a literary man; and he was a distinguished member of
the academy of the Vignaiuoli, or vine-dressers, composed of the first
men in Rome. This learned association was established by a Mantuan
gentleman, Oberto Strozzi. The members assumed names adopted from the
vineyard; and its feasts became famous all over Italy. Berni was at Rome
when it was plundered by the Colonna party in 1526, and was robbed of
every thing: at the same time he was struck with horror at the cruelties
committed by the invaders. He mentions them with horror in the "Orlando
Innamorato." When describing the sacking of a town, he says, that his
unhappy eyes saw similar outrages perpetrated in Rome. He quitted the
service of the Datario after this, and retired to Florence, where he
lived tranquilly, being possessed of a canonicate, which had before been
given him in the cathedral of that city, and enjoying the protection of
cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, and of the duke Alexander. There is a
story of his being solicited by each of these princes to poison the
other, which is not supported by dates or facts. Alexander was
afterwards murdered by Lorenzino de' Medici. The cardinal Ippolito had
died before: Alexander was accused of having poisoned him; but
accusations of this sort were so frequent at that time, that, according
to historians and the popular voice, no man of any eminence ever died a
natural death. Berni is said to have died on the 26th of July, 1536.
Berni possessed, to an extraordinary degree, a liveliness of
imagination, and a facetiousness, which caused him to invent a new style
of poetry, light, witty, but highly fanciful, which became the delight
of his contemporaries. Mr. Stebbing speaks with great disapprobation of
him, saying, "that we shall not be guilty of much injustice, if we
regard him as one of those ecclesiastical Epicureans of the sixteenth
century, whose infidelity and licentiousness branded them with infamy."
His minor poems are witty, but indecent: they appear to be written, says
Tiraboschi, with ease and rapidity, yet the original manuscripts show
that he blotted and corrected them with care. He wrote also Latin
elegies; and came nearer to Catullus, the critics tell us, than any
other poet of the age.
The work by which he is known to us, is the Rifacimento of Bojardo's
"Orlando Innamorato," which was not published till after his death. He
occupied himself with this poem at Verona, while in the service of the
Datario. He addresses the Po in one of the cantos of the poem, begging
of it to restrain its rapid course while he writes beside its banks; and
yet at this very time his letters are full of complaints of the
occupations that take up all his time.
It is a curious subject to enquire, what the fault was in Bojardo's
poem, that rendered it necessary that it should be re-written. Berni was
not the first to discover this, as Domenichi had already altered the
style of every stanza; yet his rifacimento had not caused it to be
popular. Meanwhile Ariosto wrote a continuation to it, which he named
the "Orlando Furioso" and that became the delight and glory of Italy.
The choice of subject in these poets is admirable. When Milton thought
of making king Arthur and his knights the heroes of a poem, he selected
a subject which was devoid of any quick interest to his countrymen: wars
with France and civil struggles had caused the British name to be
forgotten. But the Mahometans were still the terror of Italy. After the
taking of Constantinople, they pressed near upon the peninsula; Venice
was kept in check, and at one time Ancona was actually taken by them.
Every Italian heart felt triumph in the overthrow of a Pagan and
Saracen, and warmed with interest when it was related how they were
driven from France. Bojardo made choice of the subject, and he added
life to it, by the introduction of Angelica. His invention, his poetic
fervour, his ceaseless flow of fancy, were admirable; yet he was
forgotten. Many of Ariosto's episodes are more tedious, and they are
less artificially introduced; but Ariosto was a greater poet: his style
is perfectly beautiful, and his higher flights entitle him to a very
high rank among the writers of verse. Perhaps, in the whole range of
narrative poetry, there is no passage to compete with the progress of
Orlando's madness.
Berni evidently appreciated Ariosto's merits, and he saw in Bojardo's a
groundwork that emulated them. His faults are doubtless greater than we
can judge, since style alone occasioned his want of popularity: he has
many Lombardisms; and I heard a learned Tuscan say, that nothing to
their refined ear was so intolerable as the pronunciation of the north.
Style, however, was his only fault; and Berni, in altering that, brought
at once to light the beauty of the poem: he changed no incident, no
sentiment, scarcely a thought; stanza by stanza he remodelled the
expression, and this was all; yet it would almost seem that he thus
communicated a Promethean spark. Nothing can be more false than the
accusation, that he added any thing licentious to the poem. Tiraboschi
even gives credit to this idea; but, on the contrary, his expressions
are always more reserved than those of the original. The comparison may
easily be made, by collating, in the two authors, the passages which
describe the meeting of Bradamante and Fiordelisa, the welcome given by
Angelica to Orlando when he arrives at Albracca, and the journey of
these two from Albracca to Provence; and the above assertion will at
once be proved; nor is it true that Berni turned a serious poem into a
burlesque. He added lightness and gaiety, but seldom any ridicule. It is
now easy, since Dr. Panizzi's edition of the original poem, to compare
it with the rifacimento: an Italian alone can be a competent judge; but
it is easy for any one to see the difference between the earnest
language of Bojardo, and the graceful wit of his improver. We will give,
as a specimen of the usual style of his alterations, two stanzas,
selected by chance in the poem: they describe the death of Agricane.
Bojardo writes thus, speaking of Orlando, when his adversary, having
received a mortal wound, asks him to baptize him[92]:--
"He had his face covered with tears, and he dismounted on the ground: he
took the wounded king in his arms, and placed him on the marble of the
fountain: he was never weary of weeping with him, entreating for pardon
with a gentle voice. Then he baptized him with water from the fountain,
praying God for him with joined hands. He remained but a short time,
finding his face and whole person cold, whence he perceived that he was
no more. He leaves him on the marble of the fountain, all armed as he
was, with his sword in his hand, and his crown, and then he turned
towards the horse, and thought that he recognised Bajardo."