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CHAPTER XI.
Clement VIII and Learning.—Torquato
Tasso.
The predilection for scholars and writers which
Clement VIII had already displayed while a Cardinal, was continued after he had
become Pope. How highly he esteemed intellectual ability is shown by the
preference for scholars which he displayed in conferring the highest
ecclesiastical dignities. At his very first consistory the purple was conferred
on Francisco Toledo, who was looked upon as the most learned man in Spain. So
in subsequent creations men of learning were always taken into consideration :
for example, in 1596 the Oratorian Francesco Maria Tarugi,
the canonist Francesco Mantica, and the greatest historian of his time, Cesare Baronius. The most distinguished of the theologians of the
day, Robert Bellarmine, received the red hat in 1599; at the same time there
were admitted to the senate of the Church Silvio Antoniano and Domenico Toschi,
who was well known everywhere as a canonist. In the conferring of the purple on
Du Perron in 1604, a decisive factor were the scientific attainments of this
man, who was called the Augustine of France.
Among the men who formed the entourage of the Pope
there were to be found men of distinction and great literary culture, such as
Guido Bentivoglio and Giampietro Maffei. Clement VIII liked to have scientific
works read at table ; thus, for example, the works of the celebrated English
theologian, Thomas Stapleton, who was looked upon as one of the best
controversialists against the reformers whom the Church possessed.
Clement VIII took a prominent part in the activities
of the intellectual life of the time, and a number of theologians were honoured by him with special briefs on account of their
works. Writers who had returned to the Church, after having hitherto employed
their talents to the injury of the Catholic religion, were invited by him to labour on her behalf. The Pope showed special interest in
continuing the publication of the works of the great Doctors of the Church,
begun under Sixtus V. Of the edition of St. Bonaventure, the third, fifth,
sixth and seventh volumes appeared in 1596. The two last volumes of the works
of St. Gregory the Great had already appeared in 1593. The Pope caused study of
the best manuscripts to be made writh a view to a
complete edition of the writings of St. Athanasius. He also took a keen
interest in the collection of General Councils suggested by Cardinal Santori in
the time of Gregory XIV. By his command Christopher Clavius published a defence of the Gregorian Calendar. The Theatine Antonio Agellio was given the bishopric of Acerno in reward of the
services which he had rendered as an exegetist. Antonio Maria Graziani was made
nuncio at Venice, and also honoured in other ways.
Giovanni Francesco Bordini, who had done good service
to the memory of Sixtus V, received in 1597 the archbishopric of Avignon, while
the Augustinian, Angelo Rocca, the founder of the Angelica Library, was
appointed Bishop of Tagasta.
Among all these scholars, after Antoniano, the dearest
to the Pope were Baronius and Bellarmine; they were
consulted in all matters of importance, and often had to preach before him.
Both were shining lights in the Sacred College, and were pioneers in the world
of scholarship.
Robert Bellarmine, one of the most learned and
outstanding theologians of his time, and above all of modern times, was born in
1542 at Montepulciano, and in 1560 entered the Society of Jesus. It was a
decisive factor in his future intellectual activities when in 1569 his
superiors sent him as preacher and professor to Louvain. Bellarmine thus found
himself in surroundings where the struggle against Luther and Calvin played an
all important part. After his return to the Eternal City in 1576 he was
recognized as a man able to give the students of the German and English
Colleges the necessary training for their intellectual struggle against the
heretics in their own countries. For fifteen years Bellarmine devoted himself
to this work with all the thoroughness which characterized him; copies of his
lectures were very soon much sought after in Germany and England, and from
these there gradually grew up his great work on the religious controversies in
which “the defence of the Roman Church was at the
same time made use of as a weapon of attack against his adversaries, with
greater power, exactitude and skill than was done by others, both before and
after him. The assertions and arguments of the Protestants are used in this
very fully and in their own words ; to learning there is added facility of
expression, order and a pleasing style; his zeal is manifested with such
well-weighed moderation that the supreme disdain which the author feels for
Protestantism cannot be looked upon as an instrument of passion, but only as
the expression of his own convictions. His work thus afforded abundant
materials for the weapons which, towards the end of the last decade of the
century, were employed by the German Jesuits in their ever renewed attacks upon
the Protestant Church.”
When Bellarmine began the publication of his
“Controversies” many champions had already arisen in defence of the ancient faith. In the treatment of individual questions enough had
already been done, especially in the countries bordering on Germany, by the
Polish Hosius and the Netherlander Lindanus, while at
Louvain the Englishman Stapleton, leaving details aside, had struck at the
roots of the differences between the old and the new faiths, treating of them
“in a way not as yet surpassed” in his masterpiece on the sources and rules of
faith. There was still needed, however, a work which should review all these
special studies, and which should, concisely and clearly, gather together their
final results. Bellarmine set himself to do this,1 but he quickly realized that
a mere collection of the works that had already been composed would not
suffice, since, as he wrote later on, “concerning the Word of God, the
controverted points had been dealt with by many persons, but concerning the
Church and the Pope by few, and concerning the remainder by hardly anyone.”
Many questions had therefore to be dealt with which so far had not been touched
upon in controversial works. During the struggles of the XVIth century only this or that divergent doctrine had been dealt with; the
fundamentals had been left on one side, and thus the whole doctrine of the
faith had to some extent to be brought under discussion. “Thus Bellarmine
includes almost the whole field of dogma, in a manner entirely in accordance
with this particular purpose.” It is possible to gather from the very extent of
the work how much it contains that is new ; in spite of its concise nature as
far as details are concerned, it extends to three heavy folio volumes, the
contents of which were afterwards divided into four.
Bellarmine realized well enough the difficulty of his
undertaking; in his opinion it called for almost unlimited learning; but he had
the necessary equipment; acuteness of intellect, soundness of judgment,
knowledge of languages, together with an acquaintance with the Fathers of the
Church and with more recent theologians, such as to excite constant wonder; it
seemed as though he retained indelibly in his memory everything that he had
ever read.
An especially attractive characteristic of Bellarmine,
both as a scholar and as a man, was his simple frankness. An episode belonging
to the days of his studies is characteristic in this respect of the whole man;
at one of the disputations which were customary for the intellectual training
in philosophical and theological studies, he could not find an answer to a
certain objection, and the professor suggested that he might get out of the
difficulty by calling upon his adversary to prove a thesis for which the latter
was probably not prepared. But young Bellarmine would not hear of this, and
made reply that the thesis was true, and preferred to take upon himself the
humiliation of not being able to reply, than to make use of a means which did
not seem to him quite honest. Thus the simple frankness which characterized him
was shown in his relations with others. It was in a like spirit that he came
forward in the world of learning ; he sometimes admitted that not everyone had
been happy in their refutations of Calvin. In no part of his great work does he
look upon the struggle with his adversaries as easy; he always quotes their own
words, and admits that part of them which is true, and allows himself no rest
until he has clearly shown their weakness. This very fact explains the
extraordinary success of the work. In 1588 men wrote to the author from Mayence that at the Frankfort fair the second volume had
been bought up as soon as it was published; if the printer had had two thousand
copies he would have sold them all down to the very last. The three or four
huge folio volumes had run through about thirty editions by the end of the XVIIth century; they formed the pivot upon which the
controversy with the innovators turned, in a almost incalculable number of
works on either side. Many Protestants, convinced by the reasoning of
Bellarmine, returned to the ancient Church. Cardinal Du Perron, who, like
Stapleton and Bellarmine, was one of the greatest controversialists against
Protestantism, called Bellarmine and Baronius the two
stars of the Church in his time, and was of opinion that the articles of
Bellarmine concerning the Eucharist contained all that was best that had been
written on the subject for the last five hundred years. Baronius,
in his Annals, twice, so to speak, went out of his way to extol his friend
Bellarmine. The exegetist Cornelius a Lapide, was of
the opinion that from the beginning of Christianity there had been no work
comparable to that of this theologian. It may be added that by his defence of the Papal authority he aroused the opposition,
not only of the Protestants, but also of the Gallicans. His first volume was
prohibited in France.
After the completion of the second volume of the
Controversies, Bellarmine gave up lecturing. In 1589 Sixtus V appointed him
theological adviser to Cardinal Errico Caetani, on
his mission to France. After his return, the General, Aquaviva, employed him in
the government of the Order; he probably saw in him his own successor, and
wished to give him an opportunity of acquiring experience in questions of
administration. Thus in 1592 he was able to complete the third volume of the
Controversies, but was then appointed rector of the Roman College, and soon
after, in 1594, superior of the province of the Order in Naples. But Aquaviva’s plans were never realized; the Holy See had cast
its eyes upon the clever scholar, and employed him in the preparation of the
edition of the Vulgate, and in the work of the Inquisition. When the death of
Toledo had left vacant the post of a Jesuit Cardinal, Clement VIII conferred
the red hat upon him in 1599. “We have chosen him—the Pope said on that
occasion—because in the Church of God there is no one equal to him in doctrine,
and because he is the nephew of Marcellus II.” How highly Clement VIII esteemed
him at that time may be seen from a treatise on the duties of a Pope, which he
allowed Bellarmine to present to him, and in which he wrote replies to certain
remarks. A catechism which Bellarmine had drawn up for the instruction of the
people was made obligatory by Clement VIII. for the whole of the States of the
Church. In 1602 he was appointed Archbishop of Capua; the Pope himself
consecrated him. It was only natural that a Pope with such great knowledge of
history as Pius XI. Should have held up Bellarmine as a star of the first
magnitude in the firmament of the Church, and as one of the most energetic
champions of Catholic doctrine.
How dear to Clement VIII was Cesare Baronius, may be seen from the fact of his having chosen
him as his confessor. Clement took a keen and active interest in Baronius’ monumental work, the Annals of the Church. He
summoned the learned Benedictine, Constantino Gaetano, to Rome to assist him in
his laborious task. Baronius showed his gratitude for
the extraordinary interest taken by the Pope, a thing which he also showed in
other ways, by dedicating to him the fourth, fifth and sixth volumes of his
gigantic work, which, drawing as it did upon an enormous treasury of documents,
formed an entirely new basis for the history of the Church. The Catholic point
of view was rigorously adhered to and courageously maintained against the
attacks of the Protestants; at the same time, however, Baronius did not shrink from frankness and even severity in his judgments; his great
work is still today of great value to scholars. The fear which was expressed by
some that his elevation to the cardinalate would hamper the great historian in
his continuation of the Annals was fortunately not verified. The seventh volume
appeared in 1596, which, like the eighth, published in 1599, was dedicated to
Clement VIII. After the sudden death of the learned Cardinal Colonna, in May
1597, Baronius was able to thank the Pope for his
appointment as head of the Vatican Library.
The precious collection of manuscripts which Cardinal Sirleto had increased to a considerable number, now
possessed, thanks to the care of Sixtus V, a magnificent home in the Papal
palace; united to them was also a part of the Papal Secret Archives. How much
importance Clement VIII attached to increasing these treasures may be seen from
the invitation which he addressed to all the bishops of the Papal States to
send to the Vatican Library all the manuscripts and documents which came to
their knowledge, so that a selection might be made of those which were of
value. Those which were preserved at the Vatican were not to be a buried
treasure. By the order of Clement VIII, and under the superintendence of Baronius, the custodians of the Library, who belonged to
the Rainaldi family, laboured with unwearied and
altruistic zeal to render it available, and above all Domenico Rainaldi, who in
the time of Clement VIII worked with such delight in cataloguing the
manuscripts and printed books, and the material in the archives, that in this
respect as well the Vatican was able to take the first place among all the
collections of manuscripts in the world.
At the same time Domenico Rainaldi set in order the
Archives of the Castle of St. Angelo, for which Clement VIII, soon after his
election, prepared as a resting place a special hall on the upper floor, which
was richly decorated and furnished with valuable presses. With this measure,
which was immortalized in a poem by Mafieo Barberini,
was connected a plan for placing all the archival treasures of the Holy See in
this safe place. Even though this plan was not fully realized, nevertheless not
a little was done to make the collection in the Castle of St. Angelo a real
State Archivium. Innumerable documents were removed
thither from the Guardaroba, accompanied by copies of documents on a large
scale. The Papal treasurer, Bartolomeo Cesi, who was
the real originator of this great and useful project, was appointed prefect.
After his appointment as Cardinal, on June 5th, 1596, Domenico Rainaldi took
his place, which he filled with great zeal. It is almost impossible to do
justice to the importance of the collection of documents and acta on the most
important questions of the day furnished by this indefatigable worker for the
purposes of the Secretariate of State. They were of inestimable value, together
with the memorials attached to them, in the questions of the absolution of
Henry IV., the acquisition of Ferrara, the discussions concerning the Papal
election, and the controversies with Spain. Again in 1604 the Pope caused
documents to be brought to Rome, so that copies might be made of them.
It was of highest importance for the Vatican Library
that the librarian of the Farnese, Fulvio Orsini, who after the death of Muret
held the first place in the world of letters, left a legacy in 1600 of his most
precious collection of manuscripts and books to the library of the Pope.1 The
former custodian of the library, Tommaso Sirleto,
also gave his manuscripts to that collection. The acquisition of the legacies
of Aldus Manutius and the learned Dominican Alphonsus Ciaconius added to its wealth. Some Persian manuscripts were also acquired.
Closely connected with the Vatican Library was the
Vatican Press, which was directed by Domenico Basa, and from 1596 by Bernardo
Basa. Sixtus V had united several benefices for the maintenance of the
correctors of this institution, the revenues of which, however, were employed
in other ways by Gregory XIV. Clement VIII therefore took steps to remedy the
lack of skilled correctors of the press, by abolishing certain posts in the
library, and founding in their place five posts for correctors of Latin and Greek
works, and on August 20th, 1593, he conferred these for life on the Benedictine
Adriano Cipriano, the Florentine priest Giovanni Battista Bandini, the doctor
in theology Francesco Lamata, a Spaniard, and on Gerhard Vossius of the diocese of Liege. When this scholar, who had done good service as editor
of the works of the Fathers of the Church, resigned, his place was taken by
Maurizio Bressio. There were also employed Federico Metio, and lastly, as unpaid corrector, the Augustinian
Angelo Rocca. These six correctors were also to work in the library, as these
two institutions were connected with each other.
Clement VIII concerned himself in various ways with
the Roman University; he confirmed the union established by Sixtus V between
the rectorate and the College of Protonotaries, and carried on the new
buildings of the university. In his pontificate the great hall, which was
adorned with an artistic carved wooden ceiling and a magnificent pulpit, was
completed.
Clement VIII did good service by summoning the
celebrated botanist and physiologist Andrea Cesalpino from Pisa to the Roman University, where that scholar also held the office of
principal physician to Clement VIII, an office which he held with the greatest
success until his death in 1603. Giulio de Angelis, who was also summoned by
Clement VIII to the medical faculty, was less celebrated than Cesalpino, but he too was one of the Pope’s physicians and
accompanied him to Ferrara. A disciple of Cesalpino,
Michele Mercati, had been since the time of Pius V
director of the botanical gardens of the Vatican, and professor of botany at
the Roman University. In 1593 he was succeeded by Andrea Bacci, then by Castore
Durante, and lastly by the celebrated German scholar Johann Fabri of Bamberg.
The summoning of the Platonist, Fr. Patrizi to be professor of philosophy in
the spring of 1592, was not a success, as he passionately attacked Aristotle as
an enemy of the faith. The attitude adopted by the Pope in this dispute is
clearly shown by the fact that after the death of Patrizi in February, 1597, he
appointed his opponent Giacomo Mazzoni to his office at the Sapienza, assigning
to him the large annual stipend of 1,000 gold scudi. Great patrons of Mazzoni
were the two Aldobrandini Cardinals, who also generously supported scholars and
poets in other ways. The best known of the poets who entered the service of
Pietro Aldobrandini was Giambattista Marini. Cinzio Aldobrandini established an Academy in his palace, to which belonged the most
distinguished scholars, such as Antonio Quarengho,
Patrizi, Giovanni Battista Raimondi, and also the composer, Luca Marenzio, who was named “the most sweet swan” and who from
1595 was organist at the Papal Chapel; later on there were Battista Guarino,
the author of the celebrated pastoral drama II pastor fido, Guidobaldo Bonarelli and Tasso.
Just as was the case with Cardinals Pietro and Cinzio Aldobrandini,2 many works were dedicated to the Pope
himself. Among the prose works the greater number were religious and
ecclesiastical ; not a few were concerned with the Turkish peril, and some of
the acquisition of Ferrara. The most important dedications, after the
Controversies of Bellarmine, was that of the Annals of Baronius.
During one of his sojourns at Frascati the Pope obliged Bellarmine and Silvio
Antoniano to engage in a poetical contest, in which the palm was to be given to
the one who composed the most beautiful poem on the saint of that day, Mary
Magdalen. This was the origin of
Bellarmine’s magnificent hymn, Pater superni luminis, which was afterwards inserted in the Breviary.
As Clement VIII had a great liking for poetry, very
many poems were dedicated to him. Among these were one by Maffeo Barberini on
the Pope’s gout, and another on the new archivium in
the Castle of St. Angelo. Mention must also be made of how Orlando di Lasso,
who, with Palestrina and Marenzio, was the most
celebrated musician of the time, had in 1597, a short time before his death,
dedicated to the Aldobrandini Pope his last composition, Le Lagrime di san Pietro. To the
Jesuit Pietro Maffei, who had made a name as an historical writer, Clement
VIII. assigned an apartment in the Vatican, and charged him to write the
history of his pontificate, a task which unfortunately was never carried out,
owing to the death of Maffei in 1603.
The name of Clement VIII is also connected with that
of Torquato Tasso. The great poet had known the Pope as a Cardinal and had
received various favours from him. From Naples, where
he was then living, he had at once celebrated his election in a poem, in which
he makes all the virtues from heaven descend upon him. He composed an Italian
sonnet for the anniversary of his coronation, and a longer Latin poem in which
he extols the ecclesiastical and civil power of the head of the Church. In this
he does not omit mention of the nephews of Clement VIIi, to whom there are also
addressed three other sonnets, probably composed on this occasion. After this
Tasso received an invitation to go to Rome, where he arrived at the beginning
of May, 1592. As had been the case in the time of Sixtus V, he took up his
abode with his former patron, Cardinal Scipione Gonzaga, in the Via della Scrofa, but as early as June he had removed to the
palace of the Pope’s nephew, in the Via dei Banchi,
where there was an open house with scholars and poets. When in November, 1592, Cinzio Aldobrandini removed to the Vatican, Tasso was
invited to follow him. Then the poet took up his residence in the most
beautiful palace in the world, where he was waited upon with all honour, invited to the tables of Cardinals and princes, and honoured and distinguished in every way.
If, with all this, a certain melancholy and
restlessness, and a morbid desire for change did not leave him, this was an
evident sign of his melancholia (periodical dementia), which, however—so
closely akin are genius and madness—did not in any way interfere with his
literary activity. Cinzio Aldobrandini, who had a
sincere veneration for the sorely tried poet, felt a sincere compassion for
him. He efficaciously promoted the re-writing of Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata, giving him in the person of Angelo Ingegneri
an amanuensis, who was able to decipher with facility the difficult
handwriting of the poet.
Besides his masterpiece Tasso also composed with
feverish activity other poems in which he has given expression to his
To this exalted patron Tasso dedicated the new version
of the Gerusalemme liberata, which was at last completed in May, 1593, and was given the title of Gerusalemme conquistata. The printing was begun in July; the expenses were borne by Cinzio Aldobrandini, while the profits were all to go to the author. Cinzio, who became a member of the Sacred College on
September 17th, 1593, saw to it that he received the necessary privileges to
protect his rights as author. The first copies of the work, from which there
had been removed all the tributes to the House of Este, originally in connexion with the character of Rinaldo, but which were now
replaced by others to the Cardinal nephews and the Pope, were able to be issued
in the early days of December. Of greater importance than these external
changes were the internal ones, by which the new poetical work was intended to
be distinguished from the former one, as the heavenly Jerusalem from the
earthly one. In conformity with this idea the religious character of the Crusades
was emphasized, by means of a dream of Godfrey de Bouillon, with the purpose of
introducing a magnificent description of heaven, and unfolding a grandiose
prophetic vision of the future development of Christendom. The episode of
Olindo and Sophronia was omitted, but in so doing Tasso was rather influenced
by literary considerations, since a long digression such as this did not seem
opportune, especially at the beginning of the poem. Literary considerations
also led to the curtailing of the romance of Rinaldo and Armida, as well as
that of Tancred. If the work thus received' unity and harmony, on the other
hand it suffered by the omission of certain beautiful passages, such as the
magnificent description of the sea voyage of the two heroes, when seeking for
Rinaldo on the enchanted island. How unfortunate was such a change from the
original form of this first daring
outburst of genius” was proved by the wretched success of the Gerusalemme conquistata,
which was unable to overshadow the Gerusalemme liberata, which was entirely permeated by the
enthusiasm of youth.
Stricken once more at the beginning of 1594 by
illness, Tasso resolved to seek repose at Naples, whither he was also drawn by
a long-standing law-suit concerning the inheritance of his mother. He passed
the summer and autumn at the Benedictine convent of S. Severino, engaged,
despite his bad state of health, in constant literary activity. While he was
still in Rome he had already completed a long Latin poem on Clement VIII.
Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini, to whom Tasso dedicated
his Discorsi del poema eroico, insisted in September on his return to
the Eternal City; Tasso agreed to do so, but only after his law-suit had been
happily terminated by means of a compromise. On November 10th he wrote from
Rome: “I have returned; alive it is true, but very ill.” A week later he
expressed the wish that all his works might be printed at Venice, either before
or after his death. The poet, who was at that time once again living at the
Vatican, finished during that time a religious poem on the Creazione del Mondo, and composed two sonnets for the anniversary of the Pope’s
coronation. The latter was so enthusiastic about these poems that he assigned
to the author, out of his privy purse, an annual pension of 200 scudi, which
was afterwards followed by other gifts of money. For a long time past a special honour had been projected for him, namely his
coronation at the Capitol, a thing that had not been done in the case of any
poet since the time of Petrarch. The news of this had been so widely spread
that it was spoken of as an accomplished fact. The ceremony was probably to
take place after Easter, which in 1595 fell on March 26th. In the meantime the
poet was constantly harassed by the thought of death. On March 15th Cardinal Altemps died, and the sonnet which he composed on this
Prince of the Church was probably the last of Tasso’s poems. When his health
became worse after Easter he addressed a touching letter of farewell to his
friend Antonio Costantini at Mantua: “What will Signor Antonio say—this states—
when he hears of the death of his Tasso? I do not think that the news will be
long delayed, for I feel myself at the end of my life, and have not been able
to find any remedy for my wretched indisposition, which has supervened upon my
many usual ailments, like a swift stream by which, without being able to find
any foot-hold, I plainly find myself being carried away. There is no longer any
time for me to speak of my hapless fortune, to say nothing of the ingratitude
of the world, which has willed to triumph over me by bringing me to a beggar’s
grave, when I had thought that the glory which, despite those who do not so
desire, the world will have from my writings, would not leave me in some way
without guerdon. I have had myself brought to this monastery of S. Onofrio, not
only because its air is praised by the doctors above that of any other part of
Rome, but as it were to begin in that sublime eminence, and helped by the
conversation of these pious fathers, my own conversation in heaven. Pray to
God for me, and rest assured that if I have always loved and esteemed you in
this life, I will still do so in that other more true life, where veritable and
not feigned charity is to be found. And I recommend you as well as myself to
the divine grace.”
Cardinal Aldobrandini did all that lay in his power to
preserve this precious life, or at any rate to alleviate the sufferings of the
poet, who was not only racked by fever, but by attacks of melancholy. The
Cardinal gave him two servants and sent to him his own physician and that of
the Pope, but all was in vain. The few days that still remained to the sick man
were passed by him in prayer and pious meditation. It is not possible to visit
without deep emotion the simple room, in which the poet passed his last days;
later on it was transformed into the “Museo del Tasso.” The poet left to the
convent of S. Gregorio as well as to that of S. Onofrio money for the
celebration of masses for his soul, while to the latter he left the bronze
crucifix which had been given him by the Pope. On April 24th he received Holy
Viaticum and Extreme Unction with touching piety; on hearing of this Cardinal
Aldobrandini hastened to the Pope to ask for a blessing and absolution for his
dying friend. Deeply grieved, Clement VIII. granted the request of his nephew,
who then went in person to S. Onofrio to give the dying man, in proof of the favour of the head of the Church, this last consolation.
“This is the coach—exclaimed Tasso— in which I shall go, not as a poet to the
Capitol, but as one of the blessed to heaven.” Ever praying, and meditating on
his last moments, the poet felt the approach of death on the morning of April
26th. Kissing the cross, he began to repeat the words of Christ : “ Into Thy
hands, O Lord ...” but his words went no further, and without any agony he
breathed forth his noble soul.
His burial, according to Italian usage, took place the
same evening. After a cast of his face had been taken in plaster, his body was
taken with princely pomp to the parish church of S. Spirito in Sassia, and in
the cortege were to be seen the retinues of the Cardinal nephews, many members
of the Papal court, the professors of the University, and many other scholars,
nobles, priests and religious. All of them, after the obsequies, followed the
dead poet to S. Onofrio, where the burial took place. Tasso’s brow was
girt with the coveted laurels, while in his joined hands he held the sign of
the Redemption, of which he had once sung :
To the Cross my heart I consecrate, and hymns ;
Victory’s great standard, and the sign
In which weak men still triumph over death.
Tasso died a fervent Catholic, as he had always lived.
He had dedicated magnificent poems, filled with the deepest feeling, to the
Queen of Heaven. All the ardour of his faith found
most heartfelt expression in the sonnet in which lie venerated the Most Holy
Sacrament. His most celebrated work, La Gerusalemme liberata, is entirely penetrated with Catholic sentiment.
This was already clearly shown in the first draft of the poem, which was
intended to describe the struggle between Christendom and Islam, in its most
sublime chivalrous achievement:
Arms, and the chief I sing, whose righteous hands
Redeem’d the tomb of Christ from impious bands ;
Who much in council, much in field sustain’d,
Till just success his glorious labours gained ;
In vain the powers of hell opposed his course,
And Asia’s arms, and Libya’s mingled force ;
Heaven bless’d his
standards, and beneath his care
Reduc’d his wandering partners of the war.
(Hoole’s
Tasso.)
It has been rightly pointed out to what a high degree
the revival of Catholic consciousness was reflected in Tasso’s immortal poem.
Like Petrus Angelus Bargaeus, he too was of the
opinion that it is better “to treat of an historical event in a Christian
manner, than to seek by deceit for a glory that is unchristian.” Therefore he
did not draw his heroes from mythology, but from Christian history. It was the
great Christian epoch that attracted him ; and he gave his hero the impress of
a true Christian. Blameless, brave, wise, humble, generous, careless of earthly
glory, filled with the true faith and a deep love for Christ and his Church,
Godfrey de Bouillon is put before us almost in the guise of a saint. By placing
this hero in the forefront of his poem, Tasso fulfilled in a high degree the
task of composing a Christian epopee. He completely turned his back on ancient
pagan mythology, except for a few passages of secondary importance. In his poem
he accepted prodigies in the Christian sense as an indispensable part of epic
poetry, but out of deference for Italian taste adopted a prudent middle course.
Entirely Christian in sentiment is the struggle of Godfrey de Bouillon with his
fanatical Mohammedan adversaries, which was willed by God, for which reason the
paladins of God on earth must have by their side the great spirits of heaven,
though they too must experience the operations of the enemies of God and of
their followers. The whole power of hell is enlisted to turn aside the
crusaders from their sublime goal, and it can find no better weapon than an
abandoned woman, to confound the noblest heroes with the pleasures of sense,
until the strength of the enemy should be so increased as to render the
conquest of Jerusalem impossible. But however great is the part played in the
epic by the most powerful of all the passions, Love, by which the heroic song
of the holy war is to a great extent transformed into a romance of chivalry,
yet it is conceived and developed in an absolutely moral way. The
transgressions of Rinaldo are not extolled in a single verse, and the latter
abandons the beautiful she-devil Armida, who is depicted in the most vivid colours, and cleanses his conscience by confession to Peter
the Hermit :
But think not yet, impure with many a stain,
In his high cause to lift thy hand profane.
All the Christian combatants too prepare themselves by
confession and communion for the decisive attack. The assault begins : victory
follows the standards of the Christian army : Armida herself, held back from
her intended suicide by Rinaldo, is converted, and the poem, suddenly cut
short, concludes with the celebrated strophe of the entry into Jerusalem :
Thus conquer’d Godfrey, and
as yet the day
Gave from the western waves the parting ray :
Swift to the walls the glorious victor rode,
The domes where Christ had made His blest abode ;
In sanguine vest, with all his princely train,
The chief of chiefs then sought the sacred fane ;
There o’er the hallowed tomb his arms display’d,
And there to heaven his vow’d devotions paid.
In spite of its numerous episodes, the classical unity
of the epic remains inviolate, for the recovery of the Sepulchre of the Saviour shines forth throughout as the
dominant idea of the poem. The strong relief into which the religious aspect of
the Crusade is thrown is not indeed in accordance with history, but rather with
the new spirit of religion which had become predominant in Italy.
When the inspired poet sang his song of Gerusalemme liberata, founded
upon a great act of Christian heroism, he bestowed the aureole of poetry upon
one of the most sublime aspects of the Catholic restoration, and upon the idea
fostered by all the Popes of the time, the defence of
Christendom against Islam. Tasso had been living as a young man in Rome on the
glorious day of Lepanto, the greatest success ever won by Christian arms, and
his celebrated poem reflects the jubilee that filled the Catholic world on that
day. The triumph that it met with was fully deserved, for it contained immortal
beauties. Few creations of secular literature equal it in depth of conception,
in the intensity and variety of its episodes, in the magnificent and impressive
animation of its characters, in the strength and veracity of its descriptions
of scenery, in its delicate touch of true lyric life, and in irresistible charm
of style. It holds an eminent place in the splendid culture of the epoch of
Catholic restoration. It is no longer the worldly Ariosto, but the grave Tasso,
so profoundly religious, who was the chosen poet of that time. Even in the XVIIth century the Gerusalemme liberata became the popular epic, and was printed and sung
in all the principal dialects of Italy. It also became the inspiration of the
music1 and art of the time.
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