That this view of
the lower ranks in the pope's dominions is just, we have the indubitable
testimony of Addison.
the lower ranks in the pope's dominions is just, we have the indubitable
testimony of Addison.
Camoes - Lusiades
filled the throne of
England when our author wrote: his luxury and conjugal brutality amply
deserved the censure of the honest poet.
[443] France.
[444] _What impious lust of empire steels thy breast. _--The French
translator very cordially agrees with the Portuguese poet in the
strictures upon Germany, England, and Italy.
[445] The Mohammedans.
[446] _Where Cynifio flows. _--A river in Africa, near Tripoli. --VIRGIL,
Georg. iii. 311. --_Ed. _
[447] _O Italy! how fall'n, how low, how lost! _--However these severe
reflections on modern Italy may displease the admirers of Italian
manners, the picture on the whole is too just to admit of confutation.
Never did the history of any court afford such instances of villainy and
all the baseness of intrigue as that of the pope's.
That this view of
the lower ranks in the pope's dominions is just, we have the indubitable
testimony of Addison. Our poet is justifiable in his censures, for he
only follows the severe reflections of the greatest of the Italian
poets. It were easy to give fifty instances; two or three, however,
shall suffice. Dante, in his sixth canto, del Purg. --
_Ahi, serva Italia, di dolore ostello,
Nave senza nocchiero in gran tempesta,
Non donna di provincie, bordello. _
"Ah, slavish Italy, the inn of dolour, a ship without a pilot in a
horrid tempest:--not the mistress of provinces, but a brothel! "
Ariosto, canto 17:--
_O d' ogni vitio fetida sentina
Dormi Italia imbriaco. _
"O inebriated Italy, thou sleepest the sink of every filthy vice! "
And Petrarch:--
_Del'empia Babilonia, ond'e fuggita
Ogni vergogna, ond'ogni bene e fuori,
Albergo di dolor, madre d'errori
Son fuggit'io per allungar la vita. _
"From the impious Babylon (the Papal Court) from whence all shame and
all good are fled, the inn of dolour, the mother of errors, have I
hastened away to prolong my life. "
[448] _The fables old of Cadmus_. --Cadmus having slain the dragon which
guarded the fountain of Dirce, in Boeotia, sowed the teeth of the
monster. A number of armed men immediately sprang up, and surrounded
Cadmus, in order to kill him. By the counsel of Minerva he threw a
precious stone among them, in striving for which they slew one another.
Only five survived, who afterwards assisted him to build the city of
Thebes. --Vid.
England when our author wrote: his luxury and conjugal brutality amply
deserved the censure of the honest poet.
[443] France.
[444] _What impious lust of empire steels thy breast. _--The French
translator very cordially agrees with the Portuguese poet in the
strictures upon Germany, England, and Italy.
[445] The Mohammedans.
[446] _Where Cynifio flows. _--A river in Africa, near Tripoli. --VIRGIL,
Georg. iii. 311. --_Ed. _
[447] _O Italy! how fall'n, how low, how lost! _--However these severe
reflections on modern Italy may displease the admirers of Italian
manners, the picture on the whole is too just to admit of confutation.
Never did the history of any court afford such instances of villainy and
all the baseness of intrigue as that of the pope's.
That this view of
the lower ranks in the pope's dominions is just, we have the indubitable
testimony of Addison. Our poet is justifiable in his censures, for he
only follows the severe reflections of the greatest of the Italian
poets. It were easy to give fifty instances; two or three, however,
shall suffice. Dante, in his sixth canto, del Purg. --
_Ahi, serva Italia, di dolore ostello,
Nave senza nocchiero in gran tempesta,
Non donna di provincie, bordello. _
"Ah, slavish Italy, the inn of dolour, a ship without a pilot in a
horrid tempest:--not the mistress of provinces, but a brothel! "
Ariosto, canto 17:--
_O d' ogni vitio fetida sentina
Dormi Italia imbriaco. _
"O inebriated Italy, thou sleepest the sink of every filthy vice! "
And Petrarch:--
_Del'empia Babilonia, ond'e fuggita
Ogni vergogna, ond'ogni bene e fuori,
Albergo di dolor, madre d'errori
Son fuggit'io per allungar la vita. _
"From the impious Babylon (the Papal Court) from whence all shame and
all good are fled, the inn of dolour, the mother of errors, have I
hastened away to prolong my life. "
[448] _The fables old of Cadmus_. --Cadmus having slain the dragon which
guarded the fountain of Dirce, in Boeotia, sowed the teeth of the
monster. A number of armed men immediately sprang up, and surrounded
Cadmus, in order to kill him. By the counsel of Minerva he threw a
precious stone among them, in striving for which they slew one another.
Only five survived, who afterwards assisted him to build the city of
Thebes. --Vid.
