Part 14

I do not know what the origin may be of the head of the sorcerer rising from the surface of the earth with ears like mushrooms, implying that they were very large; but I find in an edition of the “Meditations of Saint Augustin,” Venice, A.D. 1588, illustrated with rude, quaint pictures, one in which the holy father is kneeling before a crucifix, while there rises from the ground before him a great and terrible head with one very long ear. By it lies the usual skull, one-fifth its size. Were two women substituted for the saint, it would be a perfect illustration of the strange scene described in the story. It is, to say the least, a singular coincidence.

This story is therefore of some value as indicating that the general term of sorcerer, magician or wizard, is used as a synonym for Virgil, or _vice versâ_. As Lucan writes in his “Pharsalia”: “Nec sua Virgilio permisit nomina soli.” {150}

It is worth noting that there is in the Museum of Florence an Etruscan mirror on which Mercury and Minerva are represented as looking at a human head apparently coming from the ground. It may be that of Orpheus lying upon it; in any case, it is strangely suggestive of these tales. I am indebted for a tracing of this mirror to the Rev. J. Wood Brown, author of the “Life of Michael Scott, the Magician and Philosopher,” wherein the latter hath a dual affinity to Virgil, and it is very remarkable, as I have elsewhere noted, that the splitting a hill into three is near Rome ascribed to the Roman poet.

A curious book could be written on heads, decapitated, which have spoken. There is, I believe, a legend to the effect that the caput of John the Baptist thus conversed, and it may be that the New Testament only gives a fragment of the original history. The belief that Herodias was a sorceress, and a counterpart of Diana as queen of the witches, was generally established so early as the second century, but is far older, the original Herodias having been a form of Lilith. {151}

It is specially to be noted in connection with this tale that one of the older legends given in “Virgilius the Sorcerer of Rome” expressly declares that

“Virgilius made an iron head which could not only speak, but also foretell the future; and, as some say, it was by misinterpreting the oracle that Virgilius met his death in this wise. Being about to undertake a journey, he asked the head if it would come to a good end. The reply was: ‘Yes, if he took care of _his head_.’ Taking this to mean the oracle itself, Virgilius took every measure to secure it, and with light heart went his way, but while journeying, exposed to sunshine, he was seized with a fever in the head, of which he died.”

This is again like the death of Michael Scott.

VIRGIL, THE WICKED PRINCESS, AND THE IRON MAN.

“An iron man who did on her attend, His name was Talus, made of yron mould, Immoveable, resistlesse—without end.”

SPENSER: _Faerie Queene_, v. c. i.

There once lived a Princess who was beautiful beyond words, but wicked beyond belief; her whole soul was given to murder and licentiousness; yet she was so crafty as to escape all suspicion, and this pleased her best of all, for deceit was to her as dear as life itself. And this she managed, as many another did in those days, by inveigling through her agents handsome young men into her palace by night, where they were invited to a banquet and then to a bed, and all went gaily till the next morning at breakfast, when the Princess gave her victim in wine or food a terrible and rapid poison, after which the corpse was carried away secretly by her servants to be thrown into the river, or hidden in some secret vault; and thus it was the lady sinned in secret while she kept up a white name before the world.

Now it came to pass that a young man, who was a great friend of Virgil, was taken in the snare by this Princess, and put to death and no more heard of, when the great poet by his magic art learned the whole truth. Then for revenge or punishment he made a man of iron with golden locks, very beautiful to behold as a man, with sympathetic, pleasing air, one who conversed fluently and in a winning voice; and yet he was all of iron, and the spirit who was conjured into him was one without pity or mercy.

Then Virgil bade the Iron Man walk to and fro past the palace of the Princess, and she, seeing him, was more pleased than she had ever been before, and at once sent out a messenger, who invited him to enter by a secret gate, which he did, and was warmly received, and treated with a great display of love. And in the morning at breakfast, as the Princess hesitated to give him the deadly drink, for she had at last fallen madly in love, he said:

“Well, where is the poison? Don’t keep me waiting! Quick, that I may drink!”

And when she heard that she was indeed terrified, thinking, “This man knows all my secret.” But as she hesitated, he took the deadly cup and drained it to the last drop. “And now,” she thought, “I am saved.” But the Iron Man said with scorn:

“Do you call _that_ stuff poison? Why, it would hardly kill a mouse. Give me stronger, I say—stronger! I live on poison, and the stronger it is the better I like it.”

Hearing this, the Princess felt from head to foot as if her blood were all turned to ice, for now she knew that she was lost, and her punishment at hand.

“And now,” said the Iron Man, “since all the poisoning and treachery and putting away of young gentlemen is at an end, you must come with me;” and with this he took her under his left arm and went forth.

At her screams all her retainers came armed, and after them twenty soldiers, but all were of no avail against such an enemy, whom they could neither pierce with steel nor restrain by strength; and escaping with her, he mounted a black steed, which a Moor was holding outside, and with his victim flew over the land till they came to a dark and savage place in the mountains. And here he bore her into a vast cavern, where many men were seated round a table, and as she looked she saw that they were all the lovers whom she had put to death. Then they all cried:

“_Ecco la nostra moglie_! Behold our wife! Behold our Drusiana!”

And another said:

“Let us give her to drink, and let us drink to her!”

And they gave her a full goblet, which she could not help swallowing, and the wine was like fire, the fire of hell itself in all her veins. The men assembled round burst into laughter at seeing her suffering, and one shouted:

“Drink, Princess, drink! Thou feelest the same fire, Only in greater measure, Hotter, wilder and fiercer, Which thou didst feel before, When thy blood boiled with passion, And with love of secret murder; Then thou didst feel it a little, Now thou shalt feel it greatly; Once it ran drop by drop, Now in full goblets and frequent.”

Then another gave her a glass of wine which she could not help swallowing, and it was cold, and her blood again grew cold as ice, and she shivered in an agony of freezing. And so it went on, everyone giving her first the scalding hot wine and then the cold, while all sang in chorus:

“We give thee again in thy heart What thou didst give to us: The heat of love which burned in us, Burned in us and in thee, And the cold of desire when satisfied. Thou hadst no mercy on us: We have as little for thee.”

* * * * *

The connection of Virgil with the classic Talus, or Iron Man, and so many other ancient legends, as shown in these which I have gathered, renders the more striking the assertion that “after the sixteenth century the Vergilian legends disappear, and become known only to scholars,” as worded by E. F. M. Beneche in his translation of Comparetti’s work. The truth is, that as the age of credulity and mere marvels passed away among the higher classes, the learned ceased to collect or take an interest in heaping up “wonders upon wonders.” But the people went on telling and making tales about Virgil, just as they had always done. And the full proof that there was not a soul who for centuries took the least interest in folklore or popular tradition in Central and Northern Italy is to be found in the fact that, while such material _abounds_ in the English, French, and especially German literature of later ages, there is hardly a trace of it in a single Roman or Tuscan writer till of late years. Even at the present day there is small search or seeking in Northern Italy for the rich treasures of old Roman tradition which still exist among the people.

GIOVANNI DI BOLOGNA AND THE GOD MERCURY.

“Mercurium omnium Deorum antiquorum vigilantissimum ac maxime negotiis implicatum, scribit Hesiodus in Theogonià.”—NATALIS COMITIS: _Mythologia_, lib. v., 1616.

In the old times in Florence the Tuscans worshipped the idols of Jupiter, and Bacchus, and Venus, and Mercury in their temples. And sometimes those gods when conjured {155a} came down to earth.

In those times there was in Florence {155b} a sculptor of Bologna named Giovanni, the same who made the Diavolino in the Mercato Vecchio. He was tormented by the desire to make a statue of such beauty that there should not be its like in all the world; and he, moreover, desired that this statue should be as if living, one not stiff and fixed, but one like Mercury, all activity, and he was so full of this thought that he had no rest even by night, for a certain gentleman had said to him:

“All in vain dost thou intoxicate thyself by studying statues, saying, ‘This one is beautiful, that still more so; this sculptor—_é bravo_—has talent, that even cleverer;’ but, after all, the best of their work is motionless, and produces on me the effect of a corpse. I should call him a clever sculptor who could make a statue inspired with motion like a living man—_che caminasse o magari saltasse_—who runs and hops, but not a piece of marble merely carved.”

And this moved Giovanni to make a statue which should not have its equal in the world. And thinking of Mercury, the liveliest and quickest of all the gods, who is ever flying like a falcon, he said:

“If I could behold him, Though ’twere but for once, I should have the model Of a wondrous statue Inspired unto life!”

One evening Giovanni found himself in the Temple of Mercury, that which is to-day called the Baptistery of Saint John [and there he found Virgilio], to whom he said that he so greatly longed to see Mercury living and in flight.

Virgilio replied:

“Go at midnight to the hill of Vallombrosa when the moon is full, and call the fairy Bellaria, who will aid thee.”

Giovanni went to the hill and called to Bellaria, but she made no reply. So he returned to Virgilio, who said:

“It is not enough to simply call to her, she must be _scongiurata_—called by an incantation.”

Then Giovanni, having learned this, thus conjured her:

“Stella lucente, Ed aria splendente, Col tuo splendor, Bell’ Aria infiamma Mercurio, e fa lo scendere In terra che io posso Levarne il modello! Tu che siei bella, Bella quanto buona, Fa mi questa grazia; Perche io sono molto, Molto infelice, Se non faro una statua Come il desiderio mio, Vedi Bellaria. Finquaseù in questo monte, Son venuto per potermi A te raccomandare; Tù prego non indugiare A far mi questa grazia, Perche sono infelice.”

“Shining star! Resplendent glowing air, {156} With thy burning splendour, Bell’ Aria, inflame, Inspire great Mercury, Make him descend to earth That he may copied be. Thou who art beautiful, As beautiful as good, Grant me, I pray, this grace, For I am lost in grief Because I cannot make A statue as I wish. Behold, Bellaria! I’ve come unto this hill To beg this thing of thee! I pray thee grant my prayer, For I am suffering.”

Then Bellaria thus evoked Mercury:

“Mercurio mio, bel Mercurio, Per quell’ acqua corrente, E cel (cielo) splendente, E tu risplendi, risplendi amor Di bellezza, e come il vento, Come il fulmine lesto siei, Io sono stata Scongiurata, Scongiurata pel mio splendor, Per infiammarti Del mio calor Che tu scenda in terra Che vié Giovanni Gian di Bologna, Primo scultore, vuol prendere da te Il modello, Ti prego di scendere Come un baleno Perche fino che non sarai sesato, Ne pure a me tornerebbe La mia pace perche Mi hanno scongiurata per te; Se questa grazia mi farai Non per me, ma per Giovanni, Tre segni mi darai— Lampo, tuono e fulmine Se questa grazi mi farai, I tre seguali mi darai!”

“Mercury, beauteous God! By the rushing water! By the glowing heaven! As thou shinest, reflecting again Their beauty, and as the wind Or the lightning thou art fleet. Even so am I Conjured and compelled Even by mine own splendour To inspire, inflame Thee by mine own heat! That thou descend to earth, That Giovanni, born In Bologna, may As sculptor copy thee! I pray thee to descend, Even like lightning’s flash, Since till thou art measured, I shall not be in peace, Being myself invoked. If thou wilt grant this grace, Yet not for me but _Gian_, Accord to me three signs: The flash, the crash and bolt; Even as lightning comes, I pray thee grant me this!”

And in an instant there came all together in one the flash and roar and thunderbolt, and Giovanni di Bologna beheld Mercury flying in the heaven, and said:

“E troppo leggiadro, troppo bello! Non posso dipingere una Stella Ne il vento, ne un balén, E finito la mia speranza. Amen!”

“Thou art too little and light, by far! I cannot paint a shining star, Nor the wild wind or lightning—then All hope is lost, ah me! Amen!”

Then the beautiful Bellaria said:

“If thou canst not depict Mercury flying through the air, it may be that thou canst make him passing over the waves, for then his speed is not so great.” [So she invoked Mercury again, and he was seen flitting over the ocean.] {158}

But when Giovanni di Bologna beheld Mercury leaping from wave to wave like a dolphin, he cried:

“Bel Mercurio, sempre _vale_! Io non sono che un mortale, Io non posso tanto fare, Ne le tue grazzie combinare.”

“Farewell, fair Mercury, all is o’er, I’m but a mortal and no more, I cannot give again thy face, And least of all thy wondrous grace.”

Bellaria said to him:

“Thou hast asked too much; it is not possible for thee to make fire and water to the life. Yet be at ease, for what may not be done in water or in air may come to pass with ease upon the earth.”

Bellaria again invoked Mercury, who descended like the wind in a leap, even as a man leaps down and alights on earth.

Then Giovanni cried:

“Grazia à Dio! Io ho l’ ideà!”

“Thanks to God divine! The _idea_ is mine!”

And so Giovanni made the beautiful statue of Mercury in bronze; and so long as the Tuscans worshipped their idols it was wont to dance, but after they ceased this worship, it danced no more. [At present, the beautiful statue of Mercury in bronze is in the Bargello.]

It is said that Bellaria is the sister of Mercury, and that both fly in the air. When the _Fate_ or fairies, or good witches die, Bellaria descends, and then bears their souls to heaven.

Mercury is the god of all people who are in haste, who have occasion to go rapidly—as, for instance, those who wish to send a letter quickly and receive a speedy reply. To do this, you must have an image of Mercury cast in bronze, and it must be made to shine like silver, with a bright colour like a looking-glass; {159} and this should be worshipped before going to bed, and on rising in the morning adore it again. And to invoke Mercury, this is the manner: You must have a basin full of water, taken from a stream when agitated (_i.e._, running water), and in the evening, as in the morning, take that basin and make a cross on the earth where you kneel down, and then say:

“Acqua corrente E vento furente, Avanti la statua di Mercurio Mi inghinnocchio, perche Mercurio, E il mio idole, Mercurio! E il mio dio; Acqua corrente E vento furente, Infuriate Mercurio A farmi questa grazia!”

“Running water, raging wind! Before the form of Mercury I kneel, For Mercury is my idol and my god! Running water, raging wind, Inspire great Mercury To do what I desire!”

Then you shall pause and sing again:

“Mercurio, Mercurio! Tu che siei il mio Dio! Fammi questa grazia Che io ti chiedo, Se questa grazia a me concedi Tre cose fammi vedere; Tuono, lampo e vento infuriato!”

“Mercury, Mercury divine! Who ever art a god of mine! Grant me that which I do need, And if’t be given me indeed, Cause me then three things to see— The lightning’s flash, The thunder crash, And the wind roaring furiously!”

And where the water from the running stream has been poured it must be carefully covered over, so that no one can tread thereon, or else from that time the favour of Mercury will cease.

* * * * *

It would seem as if this story were originally intended to imply that the sculptor, unable to give a higher conception of vivacity or motion, represented the mobile god as in the moment of descending on earth, still preserving the attitude of flight. This conception was probably too subtle for the narrator, who describes the image as having been a kind of marionette, or dancing Jack. “Whate’er it be, it is a curious tale.”

The connection of Mercury with moving water is also remarkable. He bears serpents on his _caduceus_ or wand; and among other ancient myth-fancies, a rushing river, from its shape or windings and its apparent life, was a symbol of a serpent.

It is hardly worth while to note that Giovanni di Bologna was really a Frenchman—Jean de Boulogne. The bronze Mercury by him described in this story, and now in the Bargello Museum, is supposed to have suggested the allusion to the god as

“just alighted On a heaven-kissing hill,”

and the probability is indeed of the strongest. Many judges good and true are of the opinion that, as regards motive or conception, this is the best statue ever made by any save a Greek, as there is assuredly none in which the lightness of motion is so perfectly expressed in matter. I believe, however, that Giovanni di Bologna was indebted for this figure to some earlier type or motive. There is something not unlike it among the old Etruscan small bronze _figurini_.

THE DOUBLE-FACED STATUE, OR HOW VIRGILIO CONJURED JANUS.

“Now by two-headed Janus! Nature hath formed strange fellows in her time!”

SHAKESPEARE.

“There were in Rome many temples of Janus, some unto him as _bifrons_, or double-faced. Caylus has published pictures of Greek vases on which are seen two heads thus united, the one of an elderly man, the other of a young woman.”—_Dizionario Mitologico_.

There was once in Florence, in the Tower della Zeccha, a statue of great antiquity, and it had only one body, or bust, but two heads; and one of these was of a man and the other of a woman, a thing marvellous to behold.

And Virgil, seeing this when it was first found in digging amid old ruins, had it placed upright and said:

“Behold two beings who form but a single person! I will conjure the image; it shall be a charm to do good; it shall teach a lesson to all.”

Thus he conjured:

“Statua da due faccie Due, e un corpo solo, Due faccie ed avete Un sol cervello. Siete Due esseri l’ uno per altro, Dovete essere marito e moglie, Dovete peccare con un sol pensiero.

“Avete bene quattro occhi Ma una sol vista, Come tutti i mariti, E moglie dorebbere essere, E dovete fare la buona fortuna Di tutti gli inamorati.”

“Statue gifted with two faces, Two and yet a single body! Two and but one brain—then art thou Two intended for each other— Two who should be wife and husband, Acting by the same reflection.

“Unto you four eyes are given, And but a single sight—ye are then What indeed all wives and husbands Ought to be if they’d be happy; Therefore shalt thou bring good fortune Unto all devoted lovers!”

Then Virgil touched the statue with his rod, and it replied:

“Tutti quelli che mi pregherano. Di cuore sincera, amanti o sposi, Tutti quelli saranno felice!”

“All of those who’ll come here to adore me, Be they lovers, be they married couples, I will ever make them truly happy.”

* * * * *

The conception of a head with two faces, one male and the other female, is still very common in Italy. In the cloister of Santa Maria Novella in Florence the portraits of a husband and wife are thus united on a marble monumental tablet. And in Baveno, among the many _graffiti_ or sketches and scrawls made by children on the walls on or near the church, there is one which is evidently traditional, representing Janus. This double-headed deity was continued in the Baphomet of the Knights Templars.

In the older legends are two tales declaring that Virgil made and enchanted two statues. This appears to be a variation of the story of Janus.

VIRGIL AND HIS COURTIERS.

“Virgilius also made a belfry.”—_The Wonderful History of Virgilius the Sorcerer of Rome_.

“To be a crow and seem a swan, To look all truth, possessing none, To appear a saint by every act, And be a devil meanwhile at heart, To prove that black is white, in sooth, And cover up the false with truth; And be a living lie, in short— Such are the lives men lead at court.”

_Old Italian saying cited by_ FRANCESCO PANICO _in his_ “_Poetiche Dicerie_” (1643); article, Courtiers.

“Above all lying is the lie as practised by evil _courtiers_, it being falsehood _par excellence_. For they are the arch architects, the cleverest of artists at forming lies, pre-eminent in cooking, seasoning, serving them with the honey of flattery or the vinegar of reproof.”—FRANCESCO PANICO (1643).

On a time Virgilio remained for many weeks alone at home, and never went to court. And during this retirement he made seven bells of gold, and on every one there was engraved a name or word.

On the first there was “Bugiardo” (or lying), on the second “Chiacchiera” (or tattling gossip), on the third “Malignità” (or evil spite), on the fourth “Chalugna” (or calumny), on the fifth “Maldicenza” (or vituperation), on the sixth “Invidia” (or envy), and on the seventh “Bassezza” (or vileness).

And these he hung up in a draught of air, so that as they swung in the breeze they rang and tinkled, first one alone, and then all.

One day the Emperor sent a messenger to Virgilio, asking him why he never came to court as of old. And Virgilio wrote in reply:

“MY DEAR EMPEROR,

“It is no longer necessary that I should come to court to learn all that is said there. For where I am at home I hear all day long the voices of Falsehood, Tattling, Evil Spite, Calumny, Vituperation, Envy, and Vileness.”

And then he showed the bells to the messenger. The Emperor, when he had read the letter and heard all, laughed heartily, and said:

“So Virgilio keeps a court of his own! Yes, and a finer one than mine, for all his courtiers are clad in gold.”

VIRGIL AND THE THREE SHEPHERDS. A LEGEND OF THE MONTE SYBILLA, NEAR ROME.

“And, warrior, I could tell to thee The words which split Eildon Hill in three, And bridled the Tweed with a curb of stone; But to speak them were a deadly sin, And for having but thought them my heart within A treble penance must be done.”—SCOTT.