Appendix B—Letter of Frate Ilario to Uguccione della Faggiuola
APPENDIX B
LETTER OF FRATE ILARIO TO UGUCCIONE DELLA FAGGIUOLA1
“To the most illustrious and magnificent Lord, Uguccione della Faggiuola, among the Princes of Italy the foremost and most eminent, Frate Ilario, a humble monk of the monastery of Corvo, at the mouth of the Magra, sendeth greeting in His name who verily is the salvation of all men.
“In the words of our Saviour in the Gospel, ‘A good man out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth that which is good’. Wherefrom we learn two things,—firstly, that by what cometh out of a man we may judge of that which is in his heart; and secondly, that by our speech, which was given to us for this purpose, we may make manifest that which is in our own hearts. As it is written, ‘By their fruits ye shall know them’. And albeit this was said of the unrighteous, yet it may be understood much more generally of the righteous, inasmuch as these are ever more ready to make known their thoughts, and the others to hide them. Nor is it only the desire of glory which moves the good that is within us to bring forth fruit, but the very commandment of God, which forbids us to leave idle the gifts that are given to us. For God and Nature abhor that which is idle; wherefore the tree that bringeth not forth fruit in due season is cast into the fire. Truly, therefore, this man, whose work, together with mine own exposition thereon, I now purpose to send to you, above all men of Italy appears to have observed from his youth up this precept as to the bringing forth of the treasure of the heart; seeing that, according as I have been informed—and it is a marvel to hear—he tried, even when a child, to express himself upon subjects such as had never been told of before. And, greater marvel still, he set himself to discuss in the vulgar tongue matters which could scarce be expounded by the most accomplished scholars even in Latin—in the vulgar tongue, I say, not in unadorned prose, but in the music of verse. But leaving his praises to his works, where without doubt every wise man will most plainly perceive them, come briefly to my present purpose.
“Know, then, that this man, when he was on his way to cross the mountains, and was passing through the diocese of Luni, whether from reverence for the place, or from some other motive, betook himself to the monastery mentioned above. And when I saw him, and as yet neither I nor the other monks knew who he was, I enquired what he sought. As he returned no reply, but only kept his eyes fixed on the buildings of the monastery, I again asked him what he sought. Whereupon, looking at me and my brother monks, he said ‘Peace’. This made me burn more and more to know what manner of man he was; so drawing him apart from the others I entered into conversation with him, and at last recognised who he was; for though I had never set eyes on him before that day, his fame had long ago reached me. Now when he noted that my whole attention was set on him, and that I was interested in what he was saying, he drew forth from his bosom with a friendly air a small book, which he frankly offered to me. ‘This,’ he said, is part of a work of mine, which perhaps you have never seen. I leave it to you as a memento, that you may the better keep me in mind.’ So saying he handed me the book, which I gratefully accepted; and pressing it to my bosom I opened it, and in his presence lovingly fixed my gaze upon it. And when I caught sight of words in the vulgar tongue, and exhibited some degree of astonishment, he asked what was the cause of my hesitation. To which I replied that I was surprised at the nature of the language; for not only did it seem to me a difficult, nay, an inconceivable, task to express such an arduous theme in the vulgar tongue; but also it appeared not altogether fitting that such weighty matters should be clothed in a popular dress. ‘Your opinion,’ he replied, ‘is certainly in accordance with reason. When at the outset the seed (sent to me perchance from heaven) began to germinate in the form of this undertaking, I made choice of the language most appropriate for it. And not only did I make choice of it, but I made a beginning with it, in the usual poetical style, as follows :—
Ultima regna canam fluvido contermina mundo,
Spiritibus quae lata patent, quae praemia solvunt
Pro meritis cuicunque suis.
“‘But when I came to consider the condition of the present time, I observed that the songs of illustrious poets were rejected as things almost of no worth; and this because the nobles, for whom in better times such things were written, to their shame be it said, had abandoned the liberal arts to men of low estate. For this reason I laid aside the poor lyre which I had ventured to use, and made ready another, better adapted to the intelligence of the public of to-day. For it is vain to put solid food to the lips of sucklings.’ After saying this he added very kindly that if I had leisure for such a task I might furnish this work of his with a running commentary, and send it to you along with my notes. If I have not always succeeded in unravelling his hidden meaning, at any rate I have laboured faithfully and in an ungrudging spirit; and I now, in obedience to the behest of this devoted friend of yours, despatch to you the work in question, as requested. Any ambiguities that may be discovered in it you must set down to my insufficiency, for be assured that the text itself is in every respect to be regarded as unimpeachable. If at any time your Highness should enquire for the other two parts of this work, with the intention of uniting them together into a single whole, you may ask for the second part, which is the sequel to this, from the eminent Marquis Moroello ; and the third and last part will be found in the hands of the most illustrious Frederick, King of Sicily. For as the author assured me was his intention—after surveying the whole of Italy, he made choice of you three, in preference to all others, to be the patrons of this threefold work of his.”
(The original of this letter, with an Italian translation, is printed by Fraticelli in his Vita di Dante, pp. 346-9, 357-9; a critical text is given by Rajna, op. cit.2 pp. 126-8).
1See above, p. 92 note.
2See above, p. 92 note.