The great qualities of Filicaja are majesty and tenderness. The _non bene conveniunt nec in una sede morantur majestas et amor_ only applies to him in so far as these gifts, though dwelling in the same breast, are not often found united in the same poem. His canzoni possess amplitude of form and pomp of diction, seldom or never bombastic, or transgressing the limits of good taste. From this the poet was preserved by his deep seriousness, to which anything like tinsel was utterly abhorrent. He strongly felt the obligation to exert his utmost strength when writing on an important theme, as he usually did when he wrote at all. It is his manner to approach his subject from a variety of sides, and make each the topic of a separate poem. Thus his great cycle of odes on the relief of Vienna, perhaps the finest of his works, consists of six separate productions, constituting a grand whole, but any one of which could have stood perfectly well by itself. Such a method of composition implies great deliberation, and Filicaja rarely conveys the impression of a seer or a bard. His thoughts are sometimes trite, but the feeling which gives them birth is always deep and sincere. The same is true of the best of his numerous sonnets, some of which rise to grandeur. By far the finest is the famous _Italia, Italia, a cui feò la sorte_, which is to Italian literature what Milton’s sonnet on the massacre of the Vaudois is to English: _Italia, O Italia, doomed to wear The fatal wreath of loveliness, and so The record of illimitable woe Branded for ever on thy brow to bear! Would that less beauty or more vigour were Thy heritage! that they who madly glow For that which their own fury layeth low, More terrible might find thee, or less fair! Not from thine Alpine rampart should the horde Of spoilers then descend, or crimson stain Of rolling Po quench thirst of Gallic steed: Nor should’st thou, girded with another’s sword, Smite with a foreign arm, enslavement’s chain, Victor or vanquished, equally thy meed._ Filicaja, however, did not always compose in this majestic style. He could be light and playful. Some of his sonnets, like those of Tansillo and other writers of the Cinque Cento, strongly bring out the characteristic distinction between the Italian and the English sonnet, which is entirely in favour of the former. The English sonnet, even when dealing with a light theme, is apt to be ponderous. The Italian, even when serious, is tuneful, and buoyant on the wing.