Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/861

Rh number. At the Litter s public examination in the noble science of poetry by the king, previous to his receiving the laurel crown at Home, Boccaccio was present, without, however, making his personal acquaintance at this period. In the atmosphere of this gay court, enlivened and adorned by the wit of men and the beauty of women, Boccaccio lived for several years We can imagine how the tedious duties of the market and the counting-house became more and more distasteful to his aspiring nature We are told that finding himself by chance on the supposed grave of Virgil, near Naples, Boccaccio on that sacred spot took the firm resolution of devoting himself for ever to poetry. But perhaps another event, which happened some time after, led quite as much as the first mentioned occurrence to this decisive turning point in his life. On Easter-eve, 1341, in the church of San Lorenzo, Boccaccio saw for the first time the natural daughter of King Robert, Maria, whom he immortalized as Fiannnetta in the noblest creations of his muse. Boccaccio s passion on seeing her was instantaneous, and (if we may accept as genuine the con fessions contained in one of her lover s works) was returned with equal ardour on the part of the lady. But not till after much delay did she yield to the amorous demands of the poet, in spite of her honour and her duty as the wife of another. All the information we have with regard to Maria or Fiammetta is derived from the Avorks of Boc caccio himself, and owing to several apparently contradic tory statements occurring in these works, the very existence of the lady has been doubted by commentators, who seem to forget that, surrounded by the chattering tongues of a court, and watched perhaps by a jealous husband, Boc caccio had all possible reason to give the appearance of fictitious incongruity to the effusions of his real passion. But there seems no more reason to call into question the main features of the story, or even the identity of the person, than there would be in the case of Petrarch s Laura or of Dante s Beatrice. It has been ingeniously pointed out by Baldelli, that the fact of her descent from King Robert being known cyily to Maria herself, and through he r to Boccaccio, the latter was the more at liberty to refer to this circumstance, the bold expression of the truth serving in this case to increase the mystery with which the poets of the Middle Ages loved, or were obliged, to surround the objects of their praise. From Boccaccio s Ameto we learn that Maria s mother was, like his own, a French lady, whose husband, according to Baldelli s ingenious conjecture, was of the noble house of Aquino, and therefore of the same family with the celebrated Thomas Aquinas. Maria died, according to his account, long before her lover, who cherished her memory to the end of his life, as we see from a sonnet written shortly before his death. The first work of Boccaccio, composed by him at Fiam- metta s command, was the prose tale, Filocopo, describing the romantic love and adventures of Florio and B ianca- fiore, a favourite subject with the knightly minstrels of France, Italy, and Germany. The treatment of the story by Boccaccio is not remarkable for originality or beauty, and the narrative is encumbered by classical allusions and allegorical conceits. The style also cannot be held worthy of the future great master of Italian prose. Considering, however, that this prose was in its infancy, and that this was Boccaccio s first attempt at remoulding the unwieldy material at his disposal, it would be unjust to deny that Filocopo is a highly interesting work, full of promise and all but articulate power. Another work, written about the same time by Fiam- metta s desire and dedicated to her, is the Testicle,- an epic poem, and indeed the first heroic epic in the Italian lan guage. The name is chosen somewhat inappropriately, as King Theseus plays a secondary part, and the interest of the story centres in the two noble knights, Palemone and Arcito, and their wooing of the beautiful Emelia. The Teseide is of particular interest to the student of poetry, because it exhibits the first example of the ottava rima, a metre which has been adopted by Tasso and Ariosto, and in our own language by Byron in his Don Jvan. Another link between Boccaccio s epic and our literature is formed by the fact of Chaucer having in the Knights Tale adopted its main features. Boccaccio s poetry has been severely criticized by his countrymen, and most severely by the author himself. On reading Petrarch s sonnets, Boccaccio resolved in a fit of despair to burn his own attempts/ and only the kindly encouragement of his great friend prevented the holocaust. Posterity has justly differed from the author s sweeping self-criticism. It is true, that compared with Dante s grandeur and passion, and with Petrarch s absolute master ship of metre and language, Boccaccio s poetry seems to be somewhat thrown into shade. His verse is occasionally slip-shod, and particularly his epic poetry lacks what in modern parlance is called poetic diction, the quality, that is, which distinguishes the elevated pathos of the recorder of heroic deeds from the easy grace of the mere conteur. This latter feature, so charmingly displayed in Boccaccio s prose, has to some extent proved fatal to his verse. At the same time, his narrative is always fluent and interesting, and his lyrical pieces, particularly the poetic interludes in the Decameron, abound with charming gallantry, and frequently rise to lyrical pathos. About the year 1341 Boccaccio returned to Florence by command of his father, who in his old age desired the assistance and company of his son. Florence, at that time disturbed by civil feuds, and the silent gloom of his father s house could not but appear in an unfavourable light to one accustomed to the gay life of the Neapolitan court. But more than all this, Boccaccio regretted the separation from his beloved Fiammetta. The thought of her at once embittered and consoled his loneliness. Three of his works owe their existence to this period. With all of them Fiammetta is connected ; of one of them she alone is the subject. The first work, called Ameto. describes the civilizing influence of love, which subdues the ferocious manners of the savage with its gentle power. Fiammetta, although not the heroine of the story, is amongst the nymphs who with their tales of true love soften the mind of the hunts man. Ameto is written in prose alternating with verse, speci mens of which form occur in old and middle-Latin writings. It is more probable, however, that Boccaccio rdopted it from that sweetest and purest blossom of wediceval French literature, Aiicassin et Nicolette, which dates from the 13th century, and was undoubtedly known to him. So pleased was Boccaccio with the idea em bodied in the character of Ameto that he repeated its essential features in the Cimone of his Decameron (Day 5th, tale i.) The second work referred to is a poem in fifty chapters, called L amorofa Viaione. It describes a dream in which the poet, guided by a lady, sees the heroes and lovers of ancient and mediaeval times. Boccaccio evidently has tried to imitate the celebrated Trionfi of Petrarch, but without much success. There if; little organic development in the poem, which reads like the catalogue raisonne of a picture gallery ; but it is remarkable from another point of view. It is perhaps the most astounding instance in literature of ingenuity wasted on trifles ; even Edgar Poe, had he known Boccaccio s puzzle, must have confessed him self surpassed. For the whole of the Amoroso, Visione [3 nothing but an acrostic on a gigantic scale. The poem 