Yes! hope may with my strong desire keep pace,
And I be undeluded, unbetray’d;
For, if of our affections none find grace
In sight of Heaven, then wherefore hath God made
The world which we inhabit? Better plea
Love cannot have, than that in loving thee,
Glory to that eternal Peace is paid,
Who such divinity to thee imparts
As hallows and makes pure all gentle hearts.
His hope is treacherous only, whose love dies
With beauty, which is varying every hour;
But in chaste hearts, uninfluenced by the power
Of outward change, there blooms a deathless flower
That breathes on earth the air of Paradise.
The personal beauty and intellectual endowments of Vittoria Colonna,
marchioness of Pescara, impressed Michael Angelo with sentiments of
affectionate esteem. She admired his genius, and frequently left her
residence at Viterbo for the sole purpose of enjoying his society at
Rome. He addressed three sonnets and a madrigal to her. In her last
moments he paid her a visit, and told Condivi he grieved he had not
kissed her cheek, as he had her hand, for there was little hope of his
ever seeing her again. He penned an epitaph on her decease: the
recollection of her death constantly dejected him.
To the purity of his thoughts, there is a high testimony by Condivi. “In
a long intimacy, I have never heard from his mouth a single word that
was not perfectly decorous, and had not for its object to extinguish in
youth every improper and lawless desire: his nature is a stranger to
depravity.” He was religious, not by the show, but from feeling and
conviction As an instance, a short poetical supplication, translated by
Mr. Duppa into prose, is remarkable for its self-knowledge and
simplicity; it is here subjoined:--
“_To the Supreme Being._
“My prayers will be sweet if thou lendest me virtue to make them worthy
to be heard; my unfruitful soil cannot produce virtue of itself. Thou
knowest the seed, and how to sow it, that it may spring up in the mind
to produce just and pious works: if thou showest not the hallowed path,
no one by his own knowledge can follow thee. Pour thou into my mind the
thoughts that may conduct me in thy holy steps; and endue me with a
fervent tongue, that I may alway praise, exalt, and sing thy glory.”
Finally, it may be added, that in an age of splendid vice, Michael
Angelo was an illustrious example of virtue.