were carried away to the library of
Paris, a certain inhabitant of Pavia had the address to snatch this copy
of Virgil from the general rapine.
Paris, a certain inhabitant of Pavia had the address to snatch this copy
of Virgil from the general rapine.
Petrarch
His words were the following:--
"Laura, illustrious for her virtues, and for a long time celebrated in
my verses, for the first time appeared to my eyes on the 6th of April,
1327, in the church of St. Clara, at the first hour of the day. I was
then in my youth. In the same city, and at the same hour, in the year
1348, this luminary disappeared from our world. I was then at Verona,
ignorant of my wretched situation. Her chaste and beautiful body was
buried the same day, after vespers, in the church of the Cordeliers. Her
soul returned to its native mansion in heaven. I have written this with
a pleasure mixed with bitterness, to retrace the melancholy remembrance
of 'MY GREAT LOSS. ' This loss convinces me that I have nothing
now left worth living for, since the strongest cord of my life is
broken. By the grace of God, I shall easily renounce a world where my
hopes have been vain and perishing. It is time for me to fly from
Babylon when the knot that bound me to it is untied. "
This copy of Virgil is famous, also, for a miniature picture expressing
the subject of the AEneid; which, by the common consent of connoisseurs
in painting, is the work of Simone Memmi. Mention has already been made
of the friendly terms that subsisted between that painter and our poet;
whence it may be concluded that Petrarch, who received this precious MS.
in 1338, requested of Simone this mark of his friendship, to render it
more valuable.
When the library of Pavia, together with the city, was plundered by the
French in 1499, and when many MSS.
were carried away to the library of
Paris, a certain inhabitant of Pavia had the address to snatch this copy
of Virgil from the general rapine. This individual was, probably,
Antonio di Pirro, in whose hands or house the Virgil continued till the
beginning of the sixteenth century, as Vellutello attests in his article
on the origin of Laura. From him it passed to Antonio Agostino;
afterwards to Fulvio Orsino, who prized it very dearly. At Orsino's
death it was bought at a high price by Cardinal Federigo Borromeo, and
placed in the Ambrosian library, which had been founded by him with much
care and at vast expense.
Until the year 1795, this copy of Virgil was celebrated only on account
of the memorandum already quoted, and a few short marginal notes,
written for illustrations of the text; but, a part of the same leaf
having been torn and detached from the cover, the librarians, by chance,
perceived some written characters. Curiosity urged them to unglue it
with the greatest care; but the parchment was so conglutinated with the
board that the letters left their impression on the latter so palely and
weakly, that the librarians had great difficulty in making out the
following notice, written by Petrarch himself: "Liber hic furto mihi
subreptus fuerat, anno domini mcccxxvi. , in Kalend. Novembr. , ac deinde
restitutus, anno mcccxxxvii. , die xvii. Aprilis, apud Aivino. "
Then follows a note by the poet himself, regarding his son: "Johannes
noster, natus ad laborem et dolorem meum, et vivens gravibus atque
perpetuis me curis exercuit, et acri dolore moriens vulneravit, qui cum
paucos et laetos dies vidisset in vita sua, decessit in anno domini 1361,
aetatis suae xxv. , die Julii x. seu ix. medio noctis inter diem veneris et
sabbati. Rumor ad me pervenerat xiiio mensis ad vesperam, obiit autem
Mlni illo publico excidio pestis insolito, quae urbem illam, hactenus
immunem, talibus malis nunc reperit atque invasit.
"Laura, illustrious for her virtues, and for a long time celebrated in
my verses, for the first time appeared to my eyes on the 6th of April,
1327, in the church of St. Clara, at the first hour of the day. I was
then in my youth. In the same city, and at the same hour, in the year
1348, this luminary disappeared from our world. I was then at Verona,
ignorant of my wretched situation. Her chaste and beautiful body was
buried the same day, after vespers, in the church of the Cordeliers. Her
soul returned to its native mansion in heaven. I have written this with
a pleasure mixed with bitterness, to retrace the melancholy remembrance
of 'MY GREAT LOSS. ' This loss convinces me that I have nothing
now left worth living for, since the strongest cord of my life is
broken. By the grace of God, I shall easily renounce a world where my
hopes have been vain and perishing. It is time for me to fly from
Babylon when the knot that bound me to it is untied. "
This copy of Virgil is famous, also, for a miniature picture expressing
the subject of the AEneid; which, by the common consent of connoisseurs
in painting, is the work of Simone Memmi. Mention has already been made
of the friendly terms that subsisted between that painter and our poet;
whence it may be concluded that Petrarch, who received this precious MS.
in 1338, requested of Simone this mark of his friendship, to render it
more valuable.
When the library of Pavia, together with the city, was plundered by the
French in 1499, and when many MSS.
were carried away to the library of
Paris, a certain inhabitant of Pavia had the address to snatch this copy
of Virgil from the general rapine. This individual was, probably,
Antonio di Pirro, in whose hands or house the Virgil continued till the
beginning of the sixteenth century, as Vellutello attests in his article
on the origin of Laura. From him it passed to Antonio Agostino;
afterwards to Fulvio Orsino, who prized it very dearly. At Orsino's
death it was bought at a high price by Cardinal Federigo Borromeo, and
placed in the Ambrosian library, which had been founded by him with much
care and at vast expense.
Until the year 1795, this copy of Virgil was celebrated only on account
of the memorandum already quoted, and a few short marginal notes,
written for illustrations of the text; but, a part of the same leaf
having been torn and detached from the cover, the librarians, by chance,
perceived some written characters. Curiosity urged them to unglue it
with the greatest care; but the parchment was so conglutinated with the
board that the letters left their impression on the latter so palely and
weakly, that the librarians had great difficulty in making out the
following notice, written by Petrarch himself: "Liber hic furto mihi
subreptus fuerat, anno domini mcccxxvi. , in Kalend. Novembr. , ac deinde
restitutus, anno mcccxxxvii. , die xvii. Aprilis, apud Aivino. "
Then follows a note by the poet himself, regarding his son: "Johannes
noster, natus ad laborem et dolorem meum, et vivens gravibus atque
perpetuis me curis exercuit, et acri dolore moriens vulneravit, qui cum
paucos et laetos dies vidisset in vita sua, decessit in anno domini 1361,
aetatis suae xxv. , die Julii x. seu ix. medio noctis inter diem veneris et
sabbati. Rumor ad me pervenerat xiiio mensis ad vesperam, obiit autem
Mlni illo publico excidio pestis insolito, quae urbem illam, hactenus
immunem, talibus malis nunc reperit atque invasit.
