DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36839#0084
62 COUNT BAUD ASS ARE CASTIGLIONE
These complaints inspired Castiglione with one of
his Rnest poems—the Latin Elegy—which he feigns
to have been addressed to himself in Rome by his
absent wife. On the one hand Ippolita paints a vivid
picture of the glorious delights of the Eternal City,
which keep her lord from her embraces. On the
other she laments her own loneliness, and reproaches
him with his forgetfulness. Her only comfort lies in
the portrait which Raphael has painted of him—a
portrait so living that it seems to smile, and even
speak, and that the babe in her arms recognizes its
parent's features and lisps the word ' Father !' Then
a guest from Rome enters—Count Lodovico or Luigi
Gonzaga—and the young wife turns with joy to learn
from him what her lord is saying and doing. But
his account Rlls her with anxiety, for he tells of
trouble and strife in the Forum and of frequent
lights between Colonna and Orsini. In her fears she
implores her lord not to expose his precious life to these
perils, and, like Andromache of old, reminds him how
he promised to be father and mother, as well as
husband, to his orphan bride, asking piteously if he
has quite forgotten her. Suddenly a courier arrives,
bringing letters from Rome. Ippolita tears them open,
and reads her lord's tender and loving words, and her
heart revives like the grass after a summer shower. Her
courage returns, and she calls upon great Leo and all
the gods to send her beloved home. Once more she
begs him to hasten his return, and wreathes the house
with garlands of Rowers, to show that the very stones
rejoice at his coming.
This Elegy, there can be little doubt, was the poem
which the Count sent to Matteo Bandello in the
winter of 1519, and which the friar acknowledged by
dedicating to him his tragic tale of Ugo and Parisina.
These complaints inspired Castiglione with one of
his Rnest poems—the Latin Elegy—which he feigns
to have been addressed to himself in Rome by his
absent wife. On the one hand Ippolita paints a vivid
picture of the glorious delights of the Eternal City,
which keep her lord from her embraces. On the
other she laments her own loneliness, and reproaches
him with his forgetfulness. Her only comfort lies in
the portrait which Raphael has painted of him—a
portrait so living that it seems to smile, and even
speak, and that the babe in her arms recognizes its
parent's features and lisps the word ' Father !' Then
a guest from Rome enters—Count Lodovico or Luigi
Gonzaga—and the young wife turns with joy to learn
from him what her lord is saying and doing. But
his account Rlls her with anxiety, for he tells of
trouble and strife in the Forum and of frequent
lights between Colonna and Orsini. In her fears she
implores her lord not to expose his precious life to these
perils, and, like Andromache of old, reminds him how
he promised to be father and mother, as well as
husband, to his orphan bride, asking piteously if he
has quite forgotten her. Suddenly a courier arrives,
bringing letters from Rome. Ippolita tears them open,
and reads her lord's tender and loving words, and her
heart revives like the grass after a summer shower. Her
courage returns, and she calls upon great Leo and all
the gods to send her beloved home. Once more she
begs him to hasten his return, and wreathes the house
with garlands of Rowers, to show that the very stones
rejoice at his coming.
This Elegy, there can be little doubt, was the poem
which the Count sent to Matteo Bandello in the
winter of 1519, and which the friar acknowledged by
dedicating to him his tragic tale of Ugo and Parisina.