CHAPTER XII

MEDICEAN ROME.

 

HOWEVER blameworthy the worldliness of the Curia might be in itself, it, like the lavish expenditure of the Pope, conduced rather to the advantage of Rome than otherwise, by the impetus which it gave to the extraordinary development of the city. There was no place in the world where capital could be put out to better advantage, where riches and importance could be obtained more rapidly, or where fewer taxes were paid. Rome was exempt from the miseries of war; hence the influx of immigrants, especially from the heavily-burdened north of Italy. This was so considerable that Giovio speaks of a whole colony of these immigrants having established themselves in the neighbour hood of the Campo de’ Fiori. The Pope encouraged this influx as much as he could. He was active in promoting the development of Rome, and exerted himself a great deal in the maintenance of quiet and security in all the States of the Church, as well as in the Eternal City itself. He regulated the importation as well as the price of food, promoted husbandry in the Campagna, busied himself with draining; the Pontine Marshes, protected all the benevolent institutions, especially the hospitals, of Rome, and did much to improve the architecture of the city. The works of restoration begun by Julius II in the Via Alessandrina, leading from the Castle of St. Angelo to the Vatican, were continued under Leo by Giuliano di Sangallo. In the northern part of the Campo Marzio, the fine design of the three streets converging on the Piazza, del Popolo was begun in this Pontificate, to be finished under Clement VII. The Bull of November 2nd, 1516, which revived the projects of Sixtus IV for widening and embellishing the streets, was of the greatest importance for Rome. It stirred up architectural activity to such an extent that many parts of the city acquired a totally new aspect.

Contemporaries were astonished to see Rome becoming each day more beautiful, while her prosperity grew with her beauty. “From day to day”, says an orator, “new buildings spring up in your midst, and new quarters spring into life along the Tiber, on the Janiculum, and around the Porta Flaminia (del Popolo)”. The Venetian Ambassador, writing in 1523, puts the number of houses built in Rome by northern Italians since the election of Leo X at ten thousand. This calculation may be as greatly exaggerated as is Giovio’s statement that the inhabitants of Rome had increased to eighty-five thousand during Leo’s Pontificate. But a considerable and extra ordinary development of the city is beyond all question. Witness to this are the notes of Marc Antonio Altieri, a Roman who lamented the rapid change in the condition of things, as much as the undoubted increase of luxury. He told the Pope many painful truths. “Not only do we see fine and commodious houses springing up on all sides”, he writes, “but with them splendid palaces full of distinguished inhabitants, noted for the unwonted splendour of their appearance, and the numbers among them of young exquisites decked out with brilliant caps on their heads, and velvet slippers and shoes on their feet, and surrounded by many servants. Women no longer don their finery only on feast-days, but wear it every day; when they go abroad they are proudly adorned, spreading around them the perfume of sweet scents; and at home there is the revelry of dancing and music, for all the world as if each one of them was about to ascend a throne”. What a contrast was this age to the time of Eugenius IV, about sixty years before, when, as is related, the Florentines looked on the Romans as a people of cow-herds!

The Leonine city, the central part of which had already been remodelled, chiefly under Alexander VI, was, during Leo’s Pontificate, the essentially ecclesiastical quarter of Rome. Here, under the shadow of the chief church, St Peter’s, and the chief fortress, St Angelo, the greater number of Cardinals, prelates, and officials of the Court and the Curia dwelt. To the palaces already existing there was added one, begun by Cardinal Armellini, and later belonging to the Cesi family. The largest piazza after St. Peter’s was that of S. Giacomo Scossacavalli, better known as the Piazza of the Cardinal S. Clemente, near which stood the palace of Domenico della Rovere, now the palace of the Penitenzieri. In a magnificent building which, though now hidden and crowded up by houses, retains many traces of its former splendour, lived Cardinal Luigi d’Aragona, who vied with Leo X. both in magnificence and generosity. Just opposite to him, on the other side of the Piazza, lived Cardinal Adriano Castellesi, in a still more beautiful palace, which was for a long time ascribed to Bramante. Where the palace of the Convertendi now stands, there then stood Raphael’s elegant mansion. Cardinal Soderini lived next to Cardinal Adriano Castellesi. Near these stood the mansion of Giannantonio Battiferri of Urbino, the facade of which was embellished by Raphael with paintings and drawings. This memorial has vanished, but on the right or northern side of the Borgo Nuovo, there still exists the house of the court physician, Febo Brigotti, and the palace designed by Raphael for the Papal surgeon, Giacomo da Brescia. On the left side of the street, adjoining Raphael’s palace, stood the house of the Zoni, and the palace of Cardinal Accolti. Further on, near the Piazza of St. Peter’s, could be seen the magnificent palace of Raphael’s friend, Giovan Battista Branconio, destroyed when the Piazza Rusticucci was made.

In the part of Rome on the left bank of the Tiber the finest palace was the Cancelleria, and the largest the Palazzo di San Marco, now known as the Palazzo di Venezia. Soon there arose a palace of truly Roman proportions, which has immortalized the name of the Farnese. As originally planned, the facade of the palace  was intended to look towards the Via Giulia. This street, at that time the broadest and finest in the Eternal City, took the place of the present Corso. A chronicler of Perugia, writing in the time of Clement VII, says that there was to be found the flower of Rome. Next to it in the way of brilliancy came the Canale di Ponte (now the Via del Banco di Santo Spirito) and the Via de' Banchi, where stood the houses of business of the merchant princes and lesser bankers, mostly Florentines. In the neighbour hood Leo erected the national church of S. Giovanni de' Fiorentini for his compatriots.

The whole of the district of Ponte, as far as the Piazza Navona and the Campo de' Fiori, was the most thickly populated and most lively quarter of the city. In the first named, the market had been held ever since 1477; the Campo de' Fiori was the place of execution of criminals ; there was to be seen the greatest number of taverns.

During Leo's pontificate many northern Italians settled in this quarter and erected new buildings, many of which were remarkable for their beauty. Not far from the University, which had been enlarged by Leo X, stood two new palaces which rivalled in magnificence the imposing Palazzo Cicciaporci built for Giulio Alteriori in 1521; these were the Palazzo Lante ai Capretari, built by Jacopo Sansovino, and the Palazzo Maccarani, which Giulio Romano built for the family of Cenci. The custom of painting the façade added not a little to the beauty of the houses. About the same time stucco-work, busts and other plaster ornaments, became more common. The dark, gloomy aspect of medieval Rome began generally to disappear. Obviously it was in the more beautiful and renovated parts of the city that the signs of the new era could be more clearly read. In the labyrinths of narrow streets which surrounded the foot of the Capitol, and in the thickly populated district of the Trastevere, the medieval character of the city was preserved for a long time. The houses there were for the most part small, with porticoes or open galleries on the first floor, which was reached by outside stone staircases. Here and there among them were towers, of which that of the Anguillara is the only one remaining. The Campo Marzio, which was no less thickly inhabited, presented in its irregularities a rare mixture of modern and mediaeval buildings, palaces, and churches, in the midst of the bustle of commerce in which the most varied nationalities took part.

While the city itself was being ever more and more transformed, under Leo X, the monuments of antiquity were left more or less untouched. In spite of the increasing interest taken in the antique, the old pagan monuments still served as convenient quarries for marble and travertine; nevertheless, the demolitions of this sort remained inconsiderable. The zeal of antiquarians saved many works of art and old inscriptions. The Colosseum suffered most, whereas the Baths of Diocletian and Constantine, with those of Caracalla, remained practically intact.

The silent world of ruins formed a striking contrast with the restless life of the modern Rome of that time. The uninhabited portions were far more extensive than those built over. The Pincio was for the most part garden-land ; country-houses began to arise on the Quirinal, and there were but few dwelling-houses on the Viminal, Esquiline, and Coelian hills. The venerable basilicas and other churches gave its character to this part of Rome. S. Maria Maggiore and the Lateran, and the buildings belonging to them, as yet untouched by later restorations, stood in imposing grandeur with their rows of ancient marble pillars and mosaic decorations. The gigantic halls of the Baths of Diocletian commanded a vast field of ruins, grand in their loneliness; while close to the Baths was a formal wood in which deer were kept. Testaccio was waste land ; the Aventine was sparsely inhabited; the Pyramid of Caius Cestus was buried in rubbish. With the exception of some venerable churches and convents, nothing was to be seen in the neighbourhood except fields and meadows. The site of the Forums of Augustus and Nerva was partly field and partly marsh, the memory of which is kept alive by the name Arco de' Pantani. The treasures of the Forum were buried under about thirty feet of rubbish and earth. The pillars of the Temple of Saturn were buried to their base, while those of the Temple of Vespasian were buried to half their height. The Arches of Septimus Severus and Titus were surrounded by mean buildings. The remaining open space of the Forum, on which a great part of Roman history had been played, served as a cattle­market (Campo vaccino), while scattered around were old churches and single houses.

On the Capitol, the Palace of the Senators, with its four metal-crowned corner towers of the time of Boniface VIII, bore quite a mediaeval appearance, in spite of the slight alterations made by Nicholas V, to whom the Palace of the Conservatori owed its actual form. The south-eastern summit of the historic hill was waste ground in the time of Leo X. The Tarpeian rock was called Monte Caprino, from the goats which climbed about it.

The Palatine, with its world of ruins, was an indescribably romantic wilderness. On the south side, in the midst of weeds and creepers, stood the magnificent remains of the Septizonium. The other colossal ruins of the Palace of the Caesars were equally overrun by a wild growth of vegetation. In every rift and fissure of the red-brown walls grew dark-green ivy; while everywhere there bloomed wild­roses and yellow broom. Laurel trees, dark cypresses and picturesque pines, stood all about ; while, in the midst of this confusion of wild growth, vines had been cultivated on every favourable spot. Deep silence reigned in the halls whence, in days gone by, the Caesars had controlled the fate of the world. No one but learned and artistic men, who had visited the neighbouring baths for the sake of the remnants of decoration left there, ever thought of visiting the Palace of the Caesars.

What men of culture cared to visit in Rome, is told us in the reports of some of the Venetians. The first thing that every stranger did on arriving in Rome was to visit St. Peter’s, the mosaic façade of which met his eyes from afar. A large part of the old church was still standing. The great relics there, the head of St. Andrew, and the Santo Volto (Sudarium of St. Veronica), were shown only on great festivals, except by the personal permission of the Pope. A provisional choir had been put up, so that worship could be carried on in the central nave. Everywhere, however, could be seen signs that the venerable building was doomed to destruction. The foundations of the new dome covered such an immense space that the beholders felt that their grandchildren would scarcely live to see the completion of the wonderful work.

Great architectural activity reigned at the Vatican and also at St. Angelo. The Loggie of the Cortile of St. Damasus were approaching completion. About three hundred Swiss, tall, fine men in white, green, and yellow uniforms, bearing halberds, guarded the entrance to the Pope's residence, which was fitted up with every conceivable luxury which a highly-developed civilization could supply. Even the Venetian Ambassadors, accustomed as they were to all that art could contrive in the way of magnificence, were astounded by the splendour and beauty of the Vatican, with which no royal palace in the world could be compared.

In addition to the paintings on the walls and ceilings, which proclaimed the zenith of art, there was a great profusion of tapestry, and embroideries in gold and silk. The furniture and the gold and silver plate were models of the most refined taste. The Pope’s chairs were covered with crimson velvet, with silver knobs, and the arms of Leo X worked in gold. Within the Vatican the greatest conceivable activity prevailed; the pressure of business was so great that even prelates in high position had to wait four or five hours before they could have access to Cardinal Medici. Often six hours passed before an audience could be obtained with the Pope himself; for Leo’s intimates among the Cardinals went frequently to the Vatican. Bembo wrote to Bibbiena on the 19th of July, 1517: “The rooms of His Holiness, which Raphael painted, are made incomparably beautiful by these paint­ings; but the greatest attraction in them is the sight of the Cardinals, who are nearly always walking to and fro in them.”

However much the works of Raphael in the Vatican were admired by his contemporaries, they placed a still higher value on the great creations of Michael Angelo in the Papal chapel. But the devotees of antiquity found their central attraction in the court of the Vatican Belvedere, where the masterpieces of sculpture—the Nile, the Tiber, Hercules, Ariadne, Venus, the world-renowned Apollo, and, lastly, the Laocoon, which was at that time more admired than any— stood in the midst of cypresses, laurels, and orange trees, amidst which played running fountains. Leo X gave free access to this sanctuary of ancient art. Finally, no one who went to the Vatican failed to visit the Popes menagerie, in which there were several lions.

The pilgrimage to the seven churches, which no devout visitor to Rome failed to perform, had to be made in one day, and usually took about eight hours. As a rule the visits began at St. Paul’s, with its famous ancient pillars. Thence the pilgrim went to St. Sebastian; admission to the adjacent catacombs was not easily obtained, on account of several strangers having become hopelessly lost in the underground passages. From these venerable sanctuaries the pilgrim went on to the basilica of the Lateran, extra ordinarily rich in relics; in front of the church there then stood the statue of Marcus Aurelius. Thence he proceeded to the Church of Santa Croce, where Cardinal Carvajal was carrying on his great improvements. After this he visited S. Lorenzo fuori le mure, and S. Maria Maggiore, finishing his pilgrimage by a visit to the tomb of St. Peter in his church.

Lovers of antiquity did not neglect a visit to the colossal statues of Monte Cavallo, or the collection in the Palace of the Conservatori, where were to be found the Warrior extracting a thorn from his foot, and the She-wolf, which the Venetian Ambassador, Pietro Pesaro, calls the finest bronzes in the world. Among the principal ancient buildings, the same authority specially mentions the Pantheon, reached by eight steps, and the Baths of Diocletian. These last, which were then in a better state of preservation than at present, are, he says, among the finest buildings in Rome : yet the Colosseum surpasses all. The enthusiasm for antiquity which pervades Pesaro’s report is not so conspicuous in the accounts of foreign travellers, which is a proof of the finely-cultivated taste of the representative of Venice; yet his was no isolated example.

The diplomatic corps vied with Cardinals, prelates, and bankers in their patronage of art and literature, as well as in the magnificence and brilliancy of their establishments. In those days men prominent in the field of literature and in the ecclesiastical state were always to be found in the ranks of diplomacy in Rome. Two names shine forth beyond all others : the learned Alberto Pio di Carpi, high in the favour of Leo, who first represented the Emperor and afterwards Francis I, and Baldassare Castiglione, the agent in Rome of the Marquis of Mantua. In the hospitable house of this “Chevalier of the world”, as he was called by Charles V, there were gathered all the literati and artists in Rome. Castiglione was the friend not only of Raphael, but also of Michael Angelo, intimacy with whom was so difficult to obtain. The famous Cortegiano, finished by the Mantuan diplomatist in the first year of the reign of Leo X, describes, and indeed idealizes, in wonderfully fluent classical Italian, the manner of life in the most cultivated circles of that day; a society in which the Renaissance had reached its ripest development, and in which signs of decay were already apparent. The perusal of this little book, which unfolds an unique picture of the civilization of the time, gives an excellent idea of the intellectual and brilliant salons of that period. It is true—as Bibbiena deplores—that there was lacking at Rome an element which formed a striking feature in the Court of Urbino, which he describes, namely, the influence of women. But, in default of this, poets, savants, and artists were the more numerously represented in the Eternal City.

The Renaissance observed no class distinctions, at least they were little insisted on at the Court of Leo X. The highest prelates and diplomatists treated as their equals all who possessed talent and personality. Consequently, humanists, poets, men of learning, and artists came more and more into the foreground, and formed an essential element in the higher society of Rome, which was described as the light and stage of the world.

The Eternal City was then what Paris became centuries later—the centre of European culture. To dwell in Rome was the climax of good fortune for every intellectual man of the time. Erasmus speaks for all when he wrote to a Cardinal : “Before I can forget Rome, I must plunge into the river of Lethe”. Each time he recalled his sojourn there, this cold and satirical man was seized with an irresistible longing to return to a place which offered much more to him than the mere monuments of antiquity. “What precious freedom”, he writes, “what treasures in the way of books, what depths of knowledge among the learned, what beneficial social intercourse ! Where else could one find such literary society or such versatility of talent in one and the same place?”

The extracts from authors devoted to the promotion of literature and art give a complete picture of the intellectual aristocracy of the Rome of the time. To them especially do we owe our knowledge of the importance of the Leonine Court, and, in a measure, of Pope Leo himself as a centre of culture. What a wealth of brilliant names do they make known to us! On one side there are learned men and literati such as Bibbiena, Bembo, Sadoleto, Castiglione, Carpi, Giovio, Lascaris, Inghirami, whose portraits, by the first painters of the time, have been handed down to posterity ; and on the other hand the noble company of artists themselves, Raphael, Bramante, Michael Angelo, Baldassare Peruzzi, the two Sansovini, Giuliano and Antonio di Sangallo, Soddoma, Sebastiano del Piombo, Fra Gio­condo, Caradosso and many others. It is thanks to these painters that posterity has forgotten much that was repulsive in that corrupt and semi-paganized society. They, together with Giovio in his brilliant historic descriptions, have cast an idealized glamour and light over the Leonine Court which, even if they only correspond in part to the reality, cast their rays on us to this day.

What wonder that men of the time, carried away by the impression made on them by the capital of the world, spent their whole lives there? However great the evil which may have lurked in the society of those days, still they contained not a little of what was good, which, by the very nature of things, was less spoken of than what was bad. Bearing this in mind, the Leonine age comes before us in a far better moral light than when we allow our judgment to be biassed, at first sight, by manifest and deplorable excesses. We understand how a man as highly intellectual, earnest, and pious as Sadoleto could look back on his gay youth in Rome with a gentle melancholy.

It is a characteristic of the Eternal City that it possesses the power of attracting all that is prominent in the way of intellect, knowledge, and art. But never before or since have her walls contained within them a more brilliant society. It must be admitted that the prevailing tone of society which surrounded the Holy See was worldly, and, in some respects, wholly secular. The priest and the theologian, as such, disappeared when he entered the court circle, teeming with distinguished men, full of the enjoyment of life and of intellectual interests, and absorbed in their enthusiasm for literature, art, music, and the stage.

Leo X was in every respect fitted to be the centre of this circle. For who exhibited greater splendour than he? Who subsidized so many artists, men of learning, and poets? Who drank in more eagerly all the pleasure that they could offer him? His days were passed in a series of bright and shifting scenes. Great ecclesiastical functions, solemn processions, impressive feasts of the Church, grave Consistories, stately diplomatic receptions, tedious political negotiations, rang the changes with long hunting expeditions, brilliant banquets, musical and dramatic entertainments, recitations of speeches and poetry on the classic model, and the inspection of old and new creations of art. He spent his life in a sort of intellectual intoxication. Small wonder that no time remained for the serious task of ecclesiastical reform !

The mode of life and chief occupations of Leo in the vortex of this brilliant existence are attested by so many documents, that it is not difficult to make a sketch of them as they really existed.

Leo X was accustomed to rise late. The first person to enter his room was Cardinal Medici's secretary, Gian Matteo Giberti, who received instructions relating to the more important business of state. After him came the datary, with whom the Pope settled matters referring to benefices ; after him, the chamberlains. This business being over, the Pope heard Mass, a habit from which he never departed. After Mass he granted audiences, in the number of which he was very generous. Then followed his dinner, which was usually at an advanced hour. After the meal the Pope usually rested for a short time, and then gave more audiences, or talked with his intimate friends. On these latter occasions cards or chess were played ; Leo detested dice-throwing as immoral. The Pope possessed a very valuable set of chess-men, made of silver gilt. These were quite in keeping with the beautiful bell, as painted in his portrait by Raphael, and show how the articles which served Leo for his daily use bore the mark of his artistic taste. In the afternoon the Pope usually took a ride through the Vatican gardens; though, if he were living out of Rome, he devoted the time to the chase. But his usual residence was in the palace of the Vatican, though during the summer heat he preferred the Belvedere or the cool Castle of St. Angelo.

Leo X showed the greatest temperance at all parties of pleasure and festivities. He confined himself to one meal in the day, and at this he ate heartily; but, on the other hand, he fasted three days in the week. On Wednesdays and Fridays he ate only fasting food, and on the latter only fruit, vegetables, and bread. He took a special pleasure in music played during and after the meal ; and, like a true son of the Renaissance, considered that the entertainment was incomplete without song or the accompaniment of a violin.

From his youth Leo, who had a fine ear and a melodious voice, loved music to the pitch of fanaticism. It was his favourite subject of conversation, and in his private room there stood a musical instrument on which he improvised. When a Cardinal, he tried his hand at composition. The sumptuous banquets which he gave to the members of the Sacred College and other intimates after he was Pope, always terminated with music ; and deep into the night the Vatican was filled with joyous strains. When the performance was exceptionally good the Pope was enraptured. With head sunk on his breast and eyes closed he sat, lost to everything, drinking in the sweet tones, which he often accompanied with his voice in an under tone.

The most distinguished musicians were drawn from all parts of Italy, France, and Spain to the Papal Court. Briefs were sent to various princes and Cardinals for the sole purpose of obtaining the services of some musician or to express thanks for those received. If anyone will run his eye through Leo’s books of accounts, he will find that, next to goldsmiths, the names of musicians are entered as receiving the highest salaries. Besides the comparatively high pay which they received, there is frequent mention of gratuities from the Pope's private purse. The Jew Giammaria, to whom the nickname of Medici was given, received a monthly pension of twenty-three gold florins,and the appointment of castellan of the town of Verucchio. Musical talent among the clergy was often made the occasion of ecclesiastical promotion.

With his love of music it was natural that Leo should attach great importance to its use in the services of the Church. The numerous musicians above mentioned were not subsidized by him solely for his own gratification, or for the purpose of social entertainment, but largely for the increase of devotion in the great ecclesiastical functions, on the worthy celebration of which the heart of the Pope was so set. However devoid he might be of formalism in the ordinary intellectual affairs of life, he always exacted great punctiliousness in the details of divine worship. On such occasions he gave the most edifying example by his solemn demeanour and pious behaviour.

The Papal Choir, for which French, Dutch, and Spanish as well as Italian singers were engaged, was raised to such perfection that contemporaries could not contain their enthusiasm. There was, therefore, good reason why the choir should occupy such an important place in the painting of the Coronation of Charlemagne in the Stanze. Further, it is only when we learn how constantly Leo X was sending to Florence for books of sacred music, especially masses, that we can understand why Raphael painted his patron holding such a book. This was quite as illustrative of the mind of Leo X as the introduction of musical instruments in the arabesques of the Loggie.

Leo often procured costly instruments ornamented with gold and silver, and ordered them himself from German makers. He procured from Naples an organ adorned with alabaster, which Baldassare Castiglione declared was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen or heard. Cardinal Luigi d'Aragona presented the Pope with a valuable little organ.

Next to music, improvisation was the entertainment most appreciated by the Renaissance. The art of giving expression in verse to the things of the moment is inherent in the gifted Italian people. Leo X would not have been the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent had he not taken special delight in this kind of amusement. He himself often took part in the elegant poetic contests, which were a greater ornament to his table than the costly plate, choice dishes, and rare wines.

In the art of improvisation, after Tebaldeo, Accolti, and Strascino, Raffaello Brandolini and Andrea Marone displayed most talent. They were both men of real poetical gifts. The first, a fellow-countryman of Leo’s, had enjoyed special marks of favour from the latter even before his election. Apartments in the Vatican were now given to him; and so indispensable was he to Leo, that he went by the name of the apple of the Pope’s eye—a curious nickname for one who was blind. Marone of Brescia possessed even greater readiness in clothing the most ordinary events on the spur of the moment in elegant Latin verse. Raphael has immortalized him in his picture of the violin-player. He knew how to enhance the effect of his improvisations by an accompaniment on the lute or violin, and by the lively play of his features. The verses which flowed from his lips displayed such power and richness of thought that his hearers were quite carried away. He won especial renown by his verses delivered at a banquet given by the Pope to the Ambassadors in 1517; his theme was the Turkish question, which at that time absorbed all interest. Giovio has preserved for posterity the beginning of this improvisation, and the Pope rewarded the poet by the gift of a benefice in the archdiocese of Capua.

On festivals Leo X sometimes started a contest among his improvisatori, the theme of which was set by himself. Once—on the feast of the patron saints of the Medici, SS. Cosmas and Damian— Brandolini and Marone were thus measured against each other. The Pope, who acted as a severe critic of subject, language and metre, this time adjudged the prize to Marone.

The discussion of serious, learned, and even religious subjects alternated at the Pope’s table with these lighter recreations ; for Leo X lost no opportunity of extending his knowledge and cultivating his mind. He was, however, so essentially a child of his age that, in spite of his interest in higher subjects, he took the greatest pleasure in the low jokes of professional buffoons. The mummery in which they indulged might seem incredible, were it not for the testimony of the most reliable contemporary writers. At the very table with Cardinals, Ambassadors, poets and artists, jesters, half-crazy poetasters, and parasites carried on their repulsive and foolish calling. Leo X, who was himself exceedingly temperate both in eating and drinking, treated his guests with lavish pro fusion. His successor was amazed by the enormous kitchen bills, in which peacocks' tongues occupied a large place. The greediness of the buffoons, about which the strangest anecdotes were circulated, was turned into a joke by Leo himself, who gave orders that dishes of apes and ravens should be placed before them.

The names have come down to us of a number of such jesters, by whose coarse jokes and wit Leo X allowed himself to pass the time; he had a notion that diversions of this kind would serve to prolong his life. The most famous of all the buffoons was Fra Mariano ; this man, whose real name was Fetti, had been barber to the Pope's father, Lorenzo the Magnificent. Later he attached himself to Savonarola and entered the Dominican Order, with out, however, giving up his buffooneries; it was not only his low wit, but also his total want of manners and incredible appetite, that caused merriment to his master and the Court, even though the story of his having devoured forty eggs and twenty roast chickens at one meal is certainly an exaggeration. It cannot be established with certainty what position he held in his Order, but it is most likely that he was only a lay-brother.

But Fra Mariano must have been in some ways better than his reputation; otherwise he could not have been the friend of the earnest Fra Bartolommeo. He showed his love of art by the decorations of the chapel in S. Silvestro on the Quirinal, which he employed Baldassare Peruzzi and Polidoro da Caravaggio to paint. Fra Mariano must have been a man of some capacity, for, when Bramante died in April, 1514, Leo X made him piombatore (or one of those whose business it was to seal the Papal Bulls with lead), with an annual income of 800 ducats. This appoint­ment was found fault with even by a courtier so devoted to the Medici as Baldassare Turini. On a par with this was the Pope’s consent to his transfer to the Cistercian Order, without his being deprived of the right of living as before in the monastery of S. Silvestro.

In a certain sense this half-crazy poetaster belonged to that class of buffoons whose vanity was often made ridiculous in a cruel way. One of these, Camillo Querno by name, had come to Rome from his native town of Monopoli in Apulia, hoping to make his fortune; the Roman literati soon took the measure of their man. Querno, a corpulent creature with long flowing hair, was invited by them to a symposium at which he was made to drink and sing alternately. After he had proved his qualifications in both these respects, he was crowned with a wreath of vine-leaves, cabbage, and laurel, and solemnly dubbed with the name of arch-poet The poor man took all this quite seriously, and shed tears of joy; his self-conceit rose when he was invited to the Pope’s table, where he became the occasion of constant mirth, not only by his improvised verse—which he declamed on one occasion clad as Venus—but by his prodigious hunger and thirst. If he made a mistake in his verses, he was punished by water being mixed with his wine. Sometimes, the story goes, Leo replied to his arch-poet in verses improvised by himself; he gave him a monthly pension of nine ducats. If these stories are true, it is clear that the Pope possessed great facility in improvising verses.

Still more cruel was the ridicule cast on the improvisatore Baraballo of Gaeta, whose vanity knew no bounds. This rhymester considered himself another Petrarch. The more mad his poems the greater was the praise showered on him at the Pope's table; he swallowed all this, and was at last so puffed up that he claimed the right to be crowned poet on the Capitol. It was decided by his tormentors that his wish would be granted, and it was arranged that he should ride to the Capitol, in the garb of a Roman conqueror, and mounted on the back of the elephant which the King of Portugal had presented to Leo X. Those who organized the farce were not ashamed to fix it for the feast of the patron saints of the Medici. Even the fact that Baraballo was a cleric, and belonged to a distinguished family, was not allowed to stand in the way of the jest. So full of conceit was Baraballo that, disregarding the remonstrances of his relatives, he went to the Vatican at the appointed time, clad in festal robes of green velvet and crimson silk trimmed with ermine, made after an ancient pattern. He was solemnly received at the palace and conducted to the Pope. “Had I not seen it with my own eyes”, writes Giovio, “I would not have believed that a man, sixty years of age, and with grey hair, could have lent himself to such a comedy”. The verses recited by Baraballo were so foolish that those who heard him could with difficulty smother their laughter; then the poet was led to the Piazza. of St. Peter's. The Pope looked out of the window, and through his glass could see the poet mounted on the magnificently ornamented beast, and led away to the sound of drums and trumpets. However, on the bridge of St. Angelo, the elephant shied and threw the hero on to the pavement, and the jest was nearly turned into a tragedy. The spirit of the age was such that we must not be surprised that poets were found to celebrate the incident in verse. But that this act of buffoonery should have been immortalized in an intarsia .on one of the doors of the Stanze, shows a want of taste difficult to surpass.

Baraballo might have congratulated himself on coming out of the affair with a whole skin ; for it fared worse with other poets of his stamp. During the Carnival of 1519, a comedy was acted which proved to be a complete fiasco; as a penalty for his failure, Leo X had its author—a monk—punished before his eyes in a truly cruel manner. He was tossed in a blanket, and then scourged till the blood flowed. As a compensation he received two ducats. The poetaster Gazoldo also often received the bastinado as a reward for his bad verses.  The roughness and unseemliness of manners at the Papal Court is further shown by the story of a gentleman who was so provoked by Querno’s gluttony that he wounded him in the face.

In explanation of Leo’s love for jokes of all sorts, it has been pointed out that this was a characteristic of all Florentines, and especially of the Medici. Nevertheless, there is something in the highest degree incongruous in a prince as capable as he was of the most refined intellectual enjoyment, taking pleasure in coarse and foolish buffoonery. The matter has, however, a very serious side. Though in nearly every other place, princes—and in Germany many secularized bishops—might indulge in these kinds of amusements, in a Pope pleasure of this kind was utterly unworthy. This is admitted by Giovio in spite of his enthusiasm for the hero of his book. Such things must be judged even more severely from the stand point of the present day ; with a total disregard for the menacing signs of the time, he threw himself more and more into such coarse and foolish pleasures up to the very brink of the great catastrophe.

More comprehensible was Leo’s great devotion to the noble art of venery. In spite of the prohibitions of the Church, many Cardinals had, ever since the days of Scarampo, devoted themselves to the chase, to the pleasures of which a Pope now gave himself over.

In July, 1513, Leo X. wrote thus to Cardinal Farnese, who had invited him to a hunt: “Would that I were free like you, and could accept your invitation”. Whether pressure of business or scruples restrained the Pope on this occasion, it is impossible to say. In January, 1514, he yielded to a similar invitation from Farnese, and devoted nearly the whole of October to the delights of hunting. Thenceforward this became a yearly custom. As soon as the first rains had tempered the heat of the Roman summer, the Pope began his progress through the immediate and more remote neighbourhood of Rome. The time was well chosen, for most of the business was dormant, as, according to ancient custom, October was regarded as a holiday month by the officials of the Curia. The Campagna, fresh with its new vegetation, offered irresistible enticements to country excursions; as for sport, no better time of the year could be chosen. Leo, as a rule, went along the Via Cassia, over Monterosi and Nepi, to the woody hill­country round Viterbo, where he took the warm baths. The neighbourhood was favourable for hawking, a sport to which Leo was devoted with all the passion of a true Italian; for hours together he would watch the carefully-trained hawks bringing down quails, partridges, and pheasants. From Viterbo he proceeded to the Lake of Bolsena, famous for its eel-fishery; there Cardinal Farnese entertained his sovereign in regal fashion at his beautiful estate of Capo di Monte. Leo delighted to dwell on the picturesque island of Mariana, which was equally fitted for fishing and hawking. “Year after year”, sings the Farnese poet, “is Leo pleased to visit my domain, and bathe his sacred countenance in my waters”. From Bolsena the Pope moved on by short stages over Toscanella to Corneto, whence, hunting all the while, he passed over the stretch of country covered with Etruscan monuments to Civitavecchia and the forests of Cervetri. The locality abounded in deer and wild boars, for the pursuit of which the plain, surrounded by pleasant hills, was so suited that it could be compared to a trap for game. A mile from Civitavecchia, at Santa Marinella, the deer used to take to the sea, where they were caught by huntsmen in boats. By Palo, still the eldorado of quail-hunters, the Pope returned to Rome via Magliana.

His was indeed a truly royal hunting-ground, bounded on the south by the Tiber, on the east by the ancient Via Cassia, and on the west by the glistening sea, while on the north it extended to the steep precipices of Corneto. Here too lay the territory of his relatives the Orsini, whose hospitable castle was thrown open to him. Roughly speaking, these hunting excursions took up a month of every autumn. Sometimes, under pressure of business, either political or ecclesiastical, the Pope had to shorten or interrupt his holiday ; but he would never forego it altogether. Neither wind, rain, nor cold, nor the gravity of the political situation, could keep him from this recreation. His chief companions were the younger Cardinals, of whom, as regards the chase, Luigi d'Aragona, and after him Orsini, were the leaders.

In the age of the Renaissance Cardinals could often be seen in the hunting-ground, and Ascanio Sforza, as well as Sanseverino, were ardent disciples of Nimrod. But hitherto Popes had been present on only a few occasions. Leo X was the first who regularly devoted his time to the sport, reserved for himself a hunting preserve, and organized Papal hunting expeditions on a large scale. To do this he spared no expense. A special huntsman-in-chief was appointed in the person of Domenico Boccamazzo; nets, hounds, and a great part of the hunting equipment were sent for from France.  Cardinals, Princes, and Ambassadors vied with one another in making rich presents to the Pope of valuable hounds, pheasants, and trained hawks, an eloquent proof of the passion of Leo X for the chase.

Even then this occupation of the Pope caused scandal. In reply to those who found fault with it, considerations of health were adduced, which did, as a matter of fact, count for a great deal in the pursuits favoured by Leo. Physicians, having regard to his extreme stoutness and heated blood, urged him strongly to take bodily exercise, to ride, and to be as much as possible in the open air. But none of these considerations for his health can justify the excessive devotion to the chase, which is emphasized even by Giovio.

In the panegyrics of the court poets, the Pope, when following the chase, is described as playing the part of a king of the gods, who, like a calm and disinterested on looker, sits enthroned above the turmoil. In contrast with the excited Cardinals, he is represented as benignly observing the mad scurry from an elevated position, dispensing praise and blame, and at sunset solemnly commanding the slaughter to cease, and dividing the booty with noble generosity among the huntsmen on their return. Giovio gives a more realistic picture of the Pope as a sportsman, and tells how he understood the art of waiting with un failing patience, according to the recognized laws of venery, and also how he would show unwonted severity towards anyone who frightened the game by loud speech. He was almost inconceivably sharp and violent in his expressions of displeasure, even with those of high estate, if the result of the hunt were unfavourable, owing to the neglect or inexperience of any in the party. Woe to him who, after a misadventure of this kind, had the folly to approach the incensed Pontiff with a petition ! Those who knew him best seized their opportunity to make a request when Leo was returning from a successful hunt. Then he would grant extraordinary favours with lavish profusion, especially to those who had distinguished themselves in the day's sport.

Giovio does not inform us of the part taken personally by the Pope in the sport. According to the account given by the secretary of Cardinal d'Aragona, the Pope, spectacles on nose, would at times despatch with a lance a deer taken in the nets.

In the Ovidian verses in which Guido Postumo described Leo's hunt at Palo, he clothes the Pope in a white garment; but the picture drawn by Paris de Grassis of how his master set forth to hunt is certainly nearer the truth. “He left Rome without a stole”, writes the shocked Master of Ceremonies in January, 1514; “and, what is worse, without his rochet; and, worst of all, with boots on. That is quite improper, for no one can kiss his feet”. When this was pointed out to the Pope, he laughed, as though it did not concern him in the least. The Cardinals who accompanied Leo X showed still less regard for what was suitable in the way of attire. A Venetian Ambassador saw Cardinal Cornaro hunting in a short scarlet doublet and a Spanish hat.

In a report of the 29th of April, 1518, the Venetian Ambassador gives a short sketch of the day’s programme on one of these hunting expeditions, at which the Pope was present, sometimes on horseback, sometimes in a sedan­ chair. The first thing in the morning, the masters of the hunt came to inform him of the places where spoil was to be found. Roe-deer and boars were the first to be sought, and then hawking began. Immediately after a luncheon the Pope started forth again, conversing until he reached the point at which he could let loose the dogs after some beast.

The grand style in which the hunt was conducted is shown by authoritative accounts. In January, 1514, a Mantuan Ambassador gives an account of a hunt organized by Alessandro Farnese, in which the Pope and eighteen Cardinals took part. The number of dogs sent out to track the game was between sixty and seventy. The suite of the Pope—Cardinals, prelates, servants, literati, buffoons, actors, and musicians—amounted, roughly speaking, to one hundred and forty. To this was added the bodyguard of about one hundred and sixty men. If we take into account the difficulties of their maintenance in a poor district, this number was very considerable. Some times hunting excursions are mentioned in which from a thousand to two thousand horsemen took part.

In all his excursions the kindly master of the hunt was greeted with joy by the poor, who made every preparation in their power to do him honour. His biographer describes in vivid colours how boys and girls and old people arranged themselves on the road where Leo X. was to pass by, to greet him and offer him presents. He rewarded these in such princely fashion that the peasants, according to the expression of the same author, saw in his arrival among them a harvest far more productive, than the most fruitful in their fields. He gave money without counting it ; he even called bystanders up to him and asked them if there was anything amiss with them in their homes. As he went by he gladly dowered poor girls, and paid the debts of the sick and aged, and of those burdened with large families. The account-books of his confidential chamberlain Serapica testify to this. Some times it is a church or convent, sometimes a woman with child, sometimes an unfortunate person whose house has been burnt down, sometimes a boy who wishes to study, sometimes a girl who wants to marry, or some times the poor of St. Lazarus—whose motley ranks, clamouring “For the love of God”, experience the well-known liberality of the large-hearted Pontiff. Not one returned home empty-handed who had in any way helped in the hunt. Each disbursement varies from ten to fifty ducats.

Leo showed the same benevolent spirit when he was living at his country-house at Magliana, whither he went not only during his autumn hunting excursion, but often in the course of the year when the turmoil and business of Rome became too great. There, in the solitude of the silent Campagna, he lived at his ease, and delighted in mixing in his kindly way with the shepherds and peasants of the neighbourhood.

Magliana was well suited for a holiday resort, because the more important affairs of government could be carried on from there, being only a few miles to the west of the Porta Portese in Rome, close to the Tiber, and on the left­ hand side of the road to Fiumicino. Numbers of trees had been cut down, and owing to this the air was becoming more and more malarious. The castle and its neighbour­hood offered but few attractions saving those connected with sport; this alone explains why Girolamo Riario, the nephew of Sixtus IV, built it as a pleasure place; it was also enlarged under Innocent VIII and Julius II, and embellished by the favourite of the latter, Cardinal Alidosi. The place, once so beautifully decorated, in which Leo X loved to dwell with his intimate friends, his huntsmen, musicians, poets, and buffoons, is now a dilapidated farm, the halls of which are used as barns. Thousands pass it by every year in the railway to Civita vecchia, without giving a thought to the brilliant feasts which used to be held there, or the important decisions arrived at within its walls. Battlements crown the surrounding walls and a moat encloses it. At first sight it seems to be only one of the many deserted castles scattered over the Campagna ; but as we enter through the great door into the courtyard, we see at once by the buildings on either side that it must have been the abode of some great noble. A hall, with three arches and octagonal pilasters, and a groined roof, stands in the left wing, above the windows of which the name of Innocent VIII. can be read. A hall contiguous to the right corner of this, with five arches, was erected, as we are told by an inscription, by Julius II. The arms of the Rovere Pope and those of Alidosi can be seen in the banqueting-hall on the ground­floor. A broad and magnificent staircase, a portion of the tiled floor of which remains, leads to the first floor, in the hall of which there used to be frescoes of Apollo and the Muses, now removed to the gallery of the Capitol. From the windows there is a beautiful view of the winding Tiber, and the undulations of the green Campagna extending to the Alban hills. The frescoes in the little chapel, representing on one side the martyrdom of St. Cecilia, and on the other God the Father blessing the world, are no longer there. The first has been destroyed, and the other taken to Paris. Nothing— not even a coat of arms—reminds us of the Medici Pope, whose favourite abode it was.

The chief reason of this was his absorption in the chase, for in the neighbourhood of Magliana was the Campo dei Merli, so favourable for sport. Round about the castle roamed wild pigs, deer, and hares, while the locality was equally favourable for the pursuit of herons and gulls. As is shown by the register of his private accounts, the Pope's passion for the chase devoured large sums; nevertheless, his financial difficulties could never induce Leo X to think of any retrenchments. He paid not the slightest attention to the fact that his hunting pleasures, and still more the boisterous way in which they were carried out, were totally incompatible with sacerdotal gravity, and were contrary to canonical precept. Leo knew this well enough, for, at the request of King Emanuel, he had forbidden ecclesiastics to take part in the chase in Portugal, as being unsuited to their state. Such a contradiction between precept and practice produces a painful impression on the mind. Still more painful is it to contemplate the enormous cost of the festivals and theatrical performances arranged by Leo X.

The wonderful spectacle of the taking possession of the Lateran in 1513 gave the Romans a foretaste of what they might expect in the way of magnificence and extravagance from the new government. Just as the Romans then tried to outvie each other in splendour, so did they again, on a subsequent occasion, when the patriciate was conferred on the Pope’s nephews, Giuliano and Lorenzo, in September, 1513. Leo had himself begged the Conservatori to bestow this dignity on his family. This act, which took place at the Capitol, secured, at one stroke, for the young nephews of the Pope, popularity with the Romans.

Few of the pageants which gratified the festal spirit of the Renaissance have been described with so much detail as this great gala, which filled Rome, from end to end, with excitement. On the morning of the 13th of September a deputation of fifty nobles waited on Giuliano—for Lorenzo was absent—to take him in solemn procession to the Capitol. There a great surprise awaited him : overnight a theatre had been erected in the historic square in front of the Palace of the Senators. The wonderful building was made almost entirely of wood, but it had the appearance of being an antique monument and an architectural gem of rare beauty. The facade, with a great entrance in the centre, was copied from one of the Roman triumphal arches and decorated with paintings in imitation of antique bas-reliefs. The gallery, thirty-one metres in length, was bounded by a wall which gave it a magnificent appearance. Gilded pillars divided the wall into five parts : in each of these there was a doorway covered by a curtain of gold brocade. Above the doors was a frieze ornamented with vine-tendrils, sea-gods, and emblems of the Medici ; above these again were five great paintings depicting the ancient friendship between the Romans and the Etruscans (Florentines). Besides these there were other historical pictures, one of them having been designed by Peruzzi.

Giuliano was received in this wonderful building by the Imperial Ambassador and the representatives of France, Spain, Milan, and Florence, the Despot of the Morea, and the Conservatori and magnates of the city. On the stage, facing the antique pictures, there was set up a richly-ornamented altar, where High Mass was sung, in order, says a contemporary, that the help of God might be invoked, as was fitting on such an occasion. Lorenzo Vallati and one of the Conservatori made speeches, to which Giuliano responded. This was followed by the solemn reading of a proclamation, written in letters of gold, by which the Senate and people of Rome gave to Giuliano and Lorenzo de' Medici, and their heirs, the rights of citizenship. The day's solemnities terminated with a number of banquets.

The Cardinals and higher prelates were entertained in the Palace of the Conservatori, and the lower ecclesiastics, nobles, singers, and actors, in the Palace of the Senators. But the banquet given to Giuliano, the Senators, and the Ambassadors was laid out on the stage of the theatre in view of the crowd who filled the arena. These also had their share in the choice food, which was carried round in extravagant profusion on magnificent silver plate. After the tables were cleared, an allegorical and pantomimic spectacle was given on the stage, with recitations in verse and an eclogue. To an accompaniment of music Roma appeared, along with Justice and Strength, while Cybele entered in a triumphal car, and Florentia on a lion.

The festivities of the second day consisted in similar representations, with the acting of the comedy of Plautus, “Poenulus”, in Latin. The actors, who were nearly all Roman nobles, were clad in silk, velvet, and cloth of gold, set with precious stones. The director of the play was the learned Tommaso Inghirami, who had drawn the designs for the painted decorations of the theatre.

Leo X had not seen fit to be present at the ceremonial and brilliant festivals on the Capitol, the cost of which amounted to six thousand ducats. But he would not forego the pleasure of the celebration, and, on September the 18th, had everything repeated at the Vatican, in the presence of his relatives and the whole Court. Nor, as far as was possible, did he fail to be present at the numerous feasts in the following year. His interest in such things was so great that he was always kept closely informed about all the festivities which were going on outside.

A genuine Medici, Leo enjoyed the gay, fantastic doings and masquerades of the Carnival, as it came by year after year. He usually watched the fun from the Loggia of Julius II in the Castle of St. Angelo. In 1519 he remained there throughout the whole Carnival, returning to the Vatican only when necessary to hold a Consistory. While at St. Angelo he sent for a famous company of actors from Siena, renowned for their boisterous comedies of peasant life.

Theatrical pieces, brilliantly staged, with pleasant music and graceful dances, were among the Pope’s favourite amusements, and under his patronage theatrical performances reached their zenith. Not only during the Carnival, but throughout the year, comedies were acted before him.

Next to hunting and music, Leo's passion was for the theatre. In his unbounded desire for pleasure he gave himself over in this respect to a wholly worldly pursuit; nor did he shrink from degrading his palace to the level of a theatre for the performance of the most unseemly comedies. In the autumn of 1514 he was present, amid great pomp, at the performance of Calandria, an immoral piece, the representation of which, Cardinal Bibbiena, its author, had carried out in his own apartments, in honour of Isabella d'Este. The splendid scenery was painted by Baldassare Peruzzi.

On Carnival Sunday, in March, 1519, the Pope was present at another comedy, of like character, Ariosto’s Suppositi, which was put on the stage at St. Angelo by Cardinal Cibo, who was residing there. About two thousand spectators were admitted to a hall transformed into a large amphitheatre. Leo sat on a raised seat facing the stage, surrounded by Cardinals and Ambassadors. On the proscenium was a representation of Fra Mariano teased by little devils. The classical description of the Ferrara Ambassador, Alfonso Paolucci, gives an idea of the play. “When the audience was seated”, he writes, “the pipers began to play, and the curtain was raised. During the music the Pope looked through his glass at the stage, on which Raphael had painted the town of Ferrara in perspective”. Artistic candelabra, with five lights in each, were arranged to form the monogram of Leo X. First of all entered a messenger, who spoke the prologue and made jests about the title of the comedy, at which the Pope and those near him laughed heartily, though I understand that some Frenchmen were offended. The recitation of the comedy was excellent. Music was played between the acts, and among the other instruments used was a flute, and the little organ presented to the Pope by our dead Cardinal ; the vocal music was less to be praised. During the last intermezzo the moresca (a kind of ballet) was danced, to illustrate the fable of the Gorgon: it was fine, but could not be compared with that at Your Highness’s Court. Now the spectators began to leave the hall in such haste that I, being dragged over one of the rows of seats, was in danger of breaking my leg, a danger averted by the blessing of His Holiness. In the apartment where supper was prepared I met Cardinals Rangoni and Salviati; we spoke about Messer Ludovico Ariosto and how distinguished he was in his art. As I went away with Lanfranco Spinola, we remarked what a pity it was that such unbecoming plays should be represented before so noble a lord ; this being especially the case in the beginning of the piece”.

At the end of the evening Cardinal Cibo gave a banquet, to which the Pope, seventeen Cardinals, and several Ambassadors and prelates sat down. On Monday there took place a bull-fight in the Piazza of St. Peter’s, in which several men lost their lives. The bull-fighters wore costly costumes given by the Pope, such as had not been given by any of the Cardinals; though a Venetian Ambassador regretted the good old days when Cardinal Petrucci had paid four thousand ducats for one such outfit. In the evening another play was acted in the presence of the Pope; and on Shrove Tuesday two were acted, one before, and another after, supper.

Yet the times were as anxious as they could well be. Regardless of this, and regardless of the scandal given by his presence at the acting of the Suppositi, Leo X urged its author to write another play. Thereupon Ariosto sent in the Negromante. When this was produced, and it was perceived that the prologue cast ridicule on indulgences, and the abuses connected with them, the acting of it was discontinued.

The year 1520 opened with a grave outlook. To the complications of the political situation were added the affairs of Luther, and in addition to these came the death of Alfonsina Orsini on the 6th of February. Notwithstanding this, Leo X made no change in his wonted habits. He had comedies played during the Carnival, and watched day by day from the ramparts of St. Angelo the antics of the masqueraders. Far from discouraging its observance, the Carnival of 1520 was kept with unusual brilliancy. “Every day”, writes a contemporary, we have a fresh entertainment; and in the evening theatrical and musical performances in the presence of the Pope”. In the town the usual races were varied by bull-fights, and the ordinary barbarous sports, dating from the Middle Ages, took place on Monte Testaccio, where cars full of pigs were tumbled headlong from the summit to be scrambled for by the people below.

In front of St. Angelo a mimic fight was held on a wooden fortification. The Papal household were given special costumes, and fought with oranges, which amused the Pope so much that he had the fight repeated next day in front of the palace. The principal civic pageant which, in accordance with traditional custom, was always held in the Piazza Navona on Carnival Thursday (Giovedi grasso), was celebrated with close adherence to ancient style. It surpassed anything of the kind seen hitherto. A great triumphal procession set forth from the Capitol, passing through the Via de’ Banchi to St Angelo, from which the Pope looked on; it then proceeded to the Piazza of St. Peter’s, and finally wound back to the Piazza Navona, arriv­ing there towards dusk. In the procession were thirteen cars with representations of Italia, Isis (taken from an ancient statue in possession of the Pope), Neptune, Hercules, Atlas, Aeolus, Vulcan, the Tiber, and the Capitoline She-wolf. Alexander the Great, on horseback, figured in the procession as well as two camels which had been presented to Leo X. Lastly came a globe surmounted by an angel, which was meant to symbolize the triumph of religion. The cars were accompanied by two hundred youths in ancient costumes, representing the various guilds and districts of the city, with their banners. On another occasion Leo X arranged that the girls who had been presented with their dowries at Pentecost should also take part in the procession, clad in semi-antique costumes. Antiquity laid its stamp on everything. Can we wonder that even a Dominican should compare Leo X with the Sun-god?

The Carnival of 1521 found Leo X once more at St. Angelo. In spite of the menacing state of the world, he was able to enjoy himself more than ever with masquerades, music, theatrical performances, dances, and sham fights. All business remained at a standstill. In the evening of Carnival Sunday (Quinquagesima), some Sienese actors came before the Court at St. Angelo to dance a moresca which Baldassare Castiglione has described. The Pope and those with him looked at it from a window. The courtyard, where a tent of dark-green satin was put up, was used as a stage.

The play began with the entrance of a woman, who, in graceful verse, prayed to Venus to send her a lover. On this, to the sound of drums, there appeared eight hermits clad in grey tunics. These danced, and began to drive away a Cupid, who had appeared on the stage with his quiver. Cupid, in tears, prayed Venus to deliver him out of the hands of the hermits, who had snatched away his bow. Thereupon Venus appeared, and, calling to her, the love-sick woman bade her give the hermits a charmed potion, which sent them all to sleep. Cupid now took back his bow, and waked up the hermits with his arrows; they danced round Cupid and made declarations of love to the woman, and finally, casting away their grey tunics, they appeared as comely young men. When they had performed a moresca, the woman commanded them to make proof of their weapons; a combat then ensued, in which seven of them were killed, the survivor receiving the woman as the prize of victory.

Had not this been related by an absolutely trustworthy witness, it would seem incredible. So far did the irresponsible frivolity of Leo X. carry him, that, at the very time when Luther’s case was being dealt with before the Diet of Worms, and when many monks in sympathy with the reformer were breaking their vows and entering wedlock, this sort of trifling could be enacted on the stage under the Pope’s very eyes, and be made almost matter for encomium. No wonder that, to the north of the Alps, the opposition to the Papacy daily increased in strength and that the cry for reform in head and members sounded louder and louder, or that the most venomous accusations of Hutten, Luther, and many other bitter enemies of the Roman See in Germany met with a ready response from thousands and thousands of malcontents, so that many despaired of the survival of the Papacy.

How widespread the danger was is made clear by the fact that the flames of a passionate antagonism from the most opposite quarters of Christendom were on the point of kindling the heap of inflammable material which had been piling itself up for centuries. Not only was a large portion of Germany ready to sever the bonds which had united it to Rome for a thousand years, but in Italy the upper and middle classes were in a ferment of hostility to the secularized Papacy.

It is true that only some individuals went as far as Machiavelli in desiring the destruction of the whole institution of the Papacy, as the root of all evil. Nevertheless, year after year, the voices which pointed out the unnatural preponderance of purely secular tendencies in the Roman Court increased in volume and in number. The startling contrast between the apostolic simplicity and purity of the early days of Christianity, with the worldliness of the Church as it then existed, was drawn out in attractive antitheses by Francesco Vettori, whose relations with the house of Medici were most intimate.

The historian Guicciardini, after having served Leo X and Clement VII faithfully for long years, broke out into violent accusations against Rome, and cherished the hope that Luther might bring about the destruction of the ecclesiastical polity. A passage in his Aphorisms shows the bitter hatred which filled his soul. He wrote at a time (1529) when the consequences of Luther’s movements could in a great measure be surveyed as a whole. “To no man”, says he, “is it more displeasing than to me, to see the ambition, covetousness, and excesses of priests, not only because all wickedness is hateful in itself, but because, taken generally and individually, such wickedness should find no place in men whose state of life implies a special relationship to God. Also, they are so divided one from the other that it is only in particular individuals that the spirit of unity can be found. At the same time, my relations with several Popes have made me desire their greatness at the expense of my own interest. Had it not been for this consideration, I would have loved Martin Luther as myself; not that I might set myself free from the laws imposed on us by Christianity, as it is commonly interpreted and under stood, but that I might see this flock of good-for-nothings (questa caterva di scelerati) confined within due limits, so that they might be forced to choose between a life without crime or a life without power.”

It must be remembered that Guicciardini’s anti-Papal opinions are manifestly connected with his belief that man must of necessity remain in the dark in respect of super natural things. His enmity to the Catholic Church cannot therefore cause surprise. But the same is more remarkable in the case of really believing Italians, amongst whom we find equally severe expressions about the secularization of higher and lower ecclesiastics. The Milanese chronicle of Giovanni Andrea Prato contains very strongly- worded passages to this effect, directed especially against those monks who, “having nothing, yet possessed every thing”. The severe judgments of Prato gain in importance if we realize his pregnant saying that, from respect for the keys, he desires to keep silence about the Pope.

Another chronicler, the Florentine Bartolomeo Cerretani (ob. 1524), though an adherent of the Medici, sets, forth the necessity of reform in an imaginary dialogue between some Florentine friends, followers, and adversaries of Savonarola in which the condition of the Church is painted in the darkest colours, and the necessity for reform is emphasized. Cerretani’s hopes of salvation were placed in no other than Martin Luther. In him he hails a man distinguished equally for morals, learning, and piety, whose views are penetrated by the ideas of the ancient Church, and whose writings are marked by a true and solid learning. The date of Cerretani's Dialogue is 1520, when the later developments of Lutheranism were still unknown. Still, the Bull Exsurge was known to him, and had in no way affected his deep sympathy with the German professor. In spite of the Papal condemnation, he still believed that from Luther would come the ardently desired reform of the Church.

Even in Rome, in a treatise dedicated to Leo X himself, Mario Salomoni, professor of jurisprudence, complains about the simony which prevailed, the wars carried on by the Pope, and the worldliness of the Curia. Nevertheless, like Dante and Prato, respect for the keys made him speak with reverence and reserve about the Supreme Head of the Church. This does not prevent him from remarking that, although the Pope, as bearer of the highest dignity on earth, can be judged of no man, even for the misuse of his authority, he cannot escape the judgment of God.

Especially remarkable are the casual opinions of really ecclesiastically minded contemporaries, such as are to be found in the still unprinted chronicle of the Sienese canon, Sigismondo Tizio, who was deeply disgusted by the Pope's unceasing demands for money. Here we have evidence of the offence caused by Leo’s worldly actions among those who, in spite of such disorders, remained in all essentials faithful members of the Church.

Most of Tizio’s complaints concern the impoverishment of the clergy by the Pope’s insatiable demands for money and his frivolous generosity. Here he agrees with many of his contemporaries in Italy as well as Germany, in severely condemning abuses in the matter of indulgences, as well as Leo's military enterprises. He is sometimes led away into making complaints of a more general nature, which fall little short of the worst examples of German hostility. Tizio’s indignation is vented most heavily on the striking contrast between the high and noble task inherent in the Papacy and the inconceivable want of appreciation of this task in those who held the highest ecclesiastical positions. Nevertheless, Tizio never dreams of renouncing obedience to the Roman See, nor does he in any way give ear to Luther’s new doctrines. He con siders Luther a very learned man, but utterly condemns his opinions as false. In this he, unlike Cerretani, takes up a strong and thoroughly sound Catholic position. The clear line drawn by Tizio between persons and things is very remarkable. Amid all his indignation against the needy and pleasure-seeking Pope, he always finds a word of excuse to say for him, as, e.g., when he is describing Leo’s love of buffoonery, he remarks that the Florentines kept everything sad, or even anything relating to the affairs of the Church, away from the Pope. It is, however, true that in his concluding sentence there is a note of severity : “In his delight in such jests and amusements the Pope forgets himself, and thinks not of the burden which rests on his shoulders. Neither does he give a thought to what is the will of God, to the dangers threatening the Church in Germany, to the growth of error, or to the severe decrees of Councils”.

Expressions such as these show that in Italy also, anti- Papal opinions were more widespread than has been what it was to the north of the Alps. Various causes contributed to this; in no other country was the whole life of the people bound up with that of the Church as it was in Italy; the Catholic Faith had taken the deepest root there. It is true that the people were not blind to the transgressions of the clergy of all degrees; but nowhere was such a clear line drawn between persons and offices. There was a general conviction among the Italians that, in the same way that a bad setting does not take from the value of a precious stone, so no sinfulness on the part of the priest affects in any essential manner either the sacrifice he offers, the sacraments he dispenses, or even the doctrine he teaches. The people knew that gold remains gold whether the hand which gives it be clean or unclean.

There were also other very material reasons which prevented Italians of the day from even contemplating a breach with the Papacy. To most it was a matter of no small pride that the centre of Western Christendom should have been established in their country ; to a great number of others it was of the utmost importance that the existing order should be preserved. A fact which, moreover, had a very great influence, especially on the educated classes, was that, for at least half a century, the Papacy had taken on itself the position of leader in the field of art and learning.

 

CHAPTER XIII.

THE RENAISSANCE IN THE FIELD OF LITERATURE. —BEMBO AND SADOLETO —VIDA AND SANNAZARO.