The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 4Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron
General
The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 4
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron
Poetry
The allusion to "Ormanno," who has been identified with a mythical
chronicler, "Urmano from Paris" (see Rajna's _Ricerche sui Reali di
Francia_, 1872, p. 51), and the appeal to the authority of Leonardo
Aretino, must not be taken _au pied de la lettre_. At the same time, the
opinion attributed to Leonardo is in accordance with contemporary
sentiment and phraseology. Compare "Horum res gestas si qui auctores
digni celebrassent, quam magnæ, quam admirabiles, quam veteribus illis
similes viderentur."--B. Accolti Aretini (_ob._ 1466) _Dialogus de
Præstantiâ Virorum sui Ævi_. P. Villani, _Liber de Florentiæ Famosis
Civibus_, 1847, p. 112. From information kindly supplied by Professor V.
Rossi, of the University of Pavia.]
FOOTNOTES:
[332] {283}[Matteo Maria Bojardo (1434-1494) published his _Orlando
Innamorato_ in 1486; Lodovico Ariosto (1474-1533) published the _Orlando
Furioso_ in 1516. A first edition of Cantos I.-XXV. of Luigi Pulci's
(1431-1487) _Il Morgante Maggiore_ was printed surreptitiously by Luca
Veneziano in 1481. Francesco Berni, who recast the _Orlando Innamorato_,
was born circ. 1490, and died in 1536.]
[333] [John Hermann Merivale (1779-1844), the father of Charles
Merivale, the historian (Dean of Ely, 1869), and of Herman,
Under-Secretary for India, published his _Orlando in Roncesvalles_ in
1814.]
[334] {284}[Parson Adams and Barnabas are characters in _Joseph
Andrews_; Thwackum and Supple, in _The History of Tom Jones, a
Foundling_.]
[335] {285}[Byron insisted, in the first place with Murray (February 7,
1820, _Letters_, 1900, iv. 402), and afterwards, no doubt, with the
Hunts, that his translation of the _Morgante Maggiore_ should be "put by
the original, stanza for stanza, and verse for verse." In the present
issue a few stanzas are inserted for purposes of comparison, but it has
not been thought necessary to reprint the whole of the Canto.
"IL MORGANTE MAGGIORE.
ARGOMENTO.
"Vivendo Carlo Magno Imperadore
Co' Paladini in festa e in allegria,
Orlando contra Gano traditore
S'adira, e parte verso Pagania:
Giunge a un deserto, e del bestial furore
Di tre giganti salva una badia,
Che due n'uccide, e con Morgante elegge,
Di buon sozio e d'amico usar la legge."
CANTO PRIMO.
I.
"In principio era il Verbo appresso a Dio;
Ed era Iddio il Verbo, e 'l Verbo lui:
Quest' era nel principio, al parer mio;
E nulla si può far sanza costui:
Però, giusto Signor benigno e pio,
Mandami solo un de gli angeli tui,
Che m'accompagni, e rechimi a memoria
Una famosa antica e degna storia.
II.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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