So now here is the conclusion of Part One, starting with a photo of the whole page that Dorez will be describing. I will also post details of the individual parts as we go.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9qteFa3Lb-A/U ... 0476ab.jpg
And here is Dorez. The original Italian for his part is at the end of this post, I will interrupt occasionally to post details from the previous picture. And I will give Dorez's transcription of the Latin without translation, but after each transcription of the Italian I will give my attempt to translate. I have no doubt that there are many errors, which is why I include the original medieval Italian in the same place :
Folio 6 r. – In this one we summarize what is contained in the previous sheets.
ON a chair sits Discretio, Virtutum mater [mother of virtues], a lady crowned, veiled, covered with a blue dress trimmed with green, who, in an attitude
34 LEONE DOREZ
immobile and almost reverential, holds her robe with her hands, in which are scattered flowers mixed with thorns.
Here is that detail:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3xrmssLDUBk/U ... 0476aa.jpg
I continue:
Behind the chair stands a tree, from which depart seven branches ending in as many fruits, stylized in the form of a disc, on which are represented the seven cardinal and theological virtues.
It should be noted that the symbols of the Virtues almost never appear the same as we saw those already assigned to them. The Four Cardinal Virtues sit on their usual chair, but if Justice, who is above Discretion, still holds in her right hand a drawn sword, in the left, instead of a book she carries a balance. Nor does the color of the dress remain the same: the blue robe has become red.
I interrupt here to give the detail of the four cardinal virtues. Observe the word "fortitudo" on the tower next to Fortezza, which is what Dorez calls the virtue on the left.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0SGNGUllfOg/U ... _0476b.jpg
I continue:
More remarkable still is the transformation of Fortezza. In place of Samson accompanied by the lion and Judith with Holofernes, the Virtue is here alone, dressed in a red and green robe; with her left arm she holds a crenelated tower and in her right the club of Hercules.
Opposite her, Temperance, in a green robe, has exchanged her tower and bridle for a gold pot and silver basin, in which she is mixing hot and cold water (or water and wine); on the left can be seen another jar on the chair. Above, most loyal to her first symbols, Prudence (green robe and blue cloak) again holds the lit candle in her right and in her left the disc with the words: Presens, preteritum et futurum.
The three theological virtues have suffered more profound changes. Faith, dressed in green with a white veil, kneeling, bears in her right, a crucifix and turns her eyes to the Christ in majesty, all covered with red and blessing, with his hands up, as does also Hope, wrapped up in a white cloak, kneeling, hands clasped, in the middle of a small boat, the mast of which is broken.
I interrupt now to show you the detail of the the three theologicals, with Christ in back of Charity.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SwBsYaBi8E4/U ... _0476c.jpg
I continue:
Finally, in a disc almost double the others, at the top, is Omnipotens Deus, dressed in green, and with clasped hands winged Charity (red robe, red mantle lined with green), to whom is reserved the place of honor.
In this summary, to give each its own greater variety, the miniaturist drew representations of the Virtues of which he spoke earlier by another series of paintings.
On the bottom margin, in another disc, we see the ugly face of an evil old man with beard and horns, it is Vice or the Devil, and out of him extends the heads of seven chimeras in green, the seven deadly Sins, which crush with their sharp teeth the bloody heads of Sardanapalus, Holofernes, Epicurus, Nero, Arius, Judas and Herod.
I interrupt to give you this detail.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wHbwm_IWEqg/U ... _0476d.jpg
You will notice the similarity of each of the "chimeras" with the Visconti viper, with its red man in a viper's mouth-- especially given the red paint Dorez describes on the heads of the seven negative examples.
I continue with Dorez, including the original of the verses, as well as my translation, because I don't doubt that I have made errors.
Here now are the inscriptions of each verse placed in the mouths of the symbolic characters of the Tree:
OMNIPOTENS DEUS: l' sono eterno et in eterno e' fui
E sserò sempre e son quel che mai fui.
LA CANZONE DELLE VIRTÙ E DELLE SCIENZE 35
KARITAS: Karità sum eh' in Dio sempre m' abraxo,
Et ello in mi se possa, et in lui giaxo.
SPES: Chon più me trovo in fievoletta barcha,
Più spiero in Dio, del ciel patre e monarcha.
FIDES: De vergen naque e po' fu crucifixo
Quel che de giudicare lo mondo è fisso.
PRUDENTIA: E m' aspiecho in tri tempi, e sì i dispono
Chon voi raxon: però Prudentia sono.
TEMPERANTIA: De l' apetito inordinà la falda
Cum l' aqua freda amorto e cum la calda.
FORTITUDO: Per mia forteza i' porto tutto il carcho
D'ogne vertute, e done ai mei lo barcho.
JUSTICIA: Defendo i boni e cum la spada offexo
O qui ch' a la stadiera enno a mal pexo.
DISCRETIO: Dicerno spin da belle roxe e fiuri,
Perch' o[m] no 'm lassi i primi e gli altri honori.
[VITIUM:] Sardanaphallo, Olofferne, Epichurio,
Nerone et Ario, Juda et Herode
Cum la mia spada percottendo i' schurio,
Chon voi l'eterno re degno di lode.
(OMNIPOTENS DEUS: I am eternal and in eternity was
And always will be and am that which ever was.
THE SONG OF VIRTUES AND SCIENCES 35
KARITAS: Charity I am and am always in God's embrace,
And as much as possible, in his glory.
SPES: The more I am in this feeble boat,
The more I have hope in God, heaven’s father and king.
FIDES: Of a virgin was born, and then was crucified
The one on whom judgment of the world is fixed.
PRUDENTIA: And I have aspects in three times, and yes, act
With a rational will, for I am Prudence.
TEMPERANZA: Those with inordinate appetite enfold
With water cold to death and hot.
FORTITUDO: By my strength I bear the whole load
Of every virtue, and given to me I exceed it.
JUSTICIA; I defend good men and with the sword injure
Or here on the scale the malefactors are hung.
DISCRETIO; I separate the thorns of the beautiful roses and flowers
So that the first are left and the others are honored.
[VICE] Sardanaphallo, Olofferne, Epichurio,
Nero and Ario, Juda and Herod
With my sword obtaining the darkness,
By will of the eternal king worthy of praise.)
Above we see that Temperance's "water cold to death and hot" is the reason why Dorez characterizes her two vessels, normally water and wine, as cold and hot.
The "forteza" in Fortitude's verse is the only occurrence I see of that word in the manuscript text.
Notice also that the order on the tree is different from the order in the book: Justice is here the first above Discretio, followed by Fortitudo and Temperantia, and Prudence the one immediately before Fides and Spes. It is only if you go from the top down, in each set separately, but go from the bottom up for the three sets (Discretio-Cardinals-Theologicals) that the order would be the same.
This part of the book concludes with its Coda:
Text of the Coda of the first part.
Chanzone, ogne vertù ven giù dal cielo
Et al ciel tutte Charità le porta,
O' l'amor ce conforta,
Che de lei nasce, et ella in Dio ci anida.
Chossì schiven le strìda
Di sottoposti a le donne dolen[tri]
Che de l'inferno i centri
Provan per suoi difetti el caldo e 'l zielo.
Nesun lor nome i' cielo;
Mo i va narrando, e s' tu vi' che '1 sezorni
In vitio alehun, fa eh' a vertù mei torni.
(Song, every virtue comes down from heaven
And to heaven Charity bears,
Oh the love there, comfort,
He who is born of her, and she in God there nests.
So avoid the squeeling
Of the above-mentioned ladies’ grief
For one in hell’s center
Experiencing for his faults the heat and zeal.
None of their names in heaven;
Even now is the telling, and if you have the least
Of any vice, make it turn to virtue.)
EXPLICIT PRIOR PARS BREUZE CANTICE IN QUA
TRACTATUR DE VIRTUTIBUS VULGARITER DISTINCTIS.
AMEN.
To the right and left of Discretion reads the Coda of the first part of the Song.
In the Latin at the end we again have Bruzio's name mentioned as the dedicatee.
And here is the original Italian of Dorez's commentary (omitting his transcriptions from the pictures):
Carta 6r. - In essa noi rinveniamo il riassunto di quanto contengono le
carte precedenti.
Sopra una cattedra siede Discretio, mater Virtutum, donna incoronata,
velata, coperta d'una veste azzurra orlata di verde, che, stando in atteggia-
34 LEONE DOREZ
mento immobile e quasi ieratico, tien colle mani i lembi della veste, dove sono
sparsi de' fiorì misti a spine.
Dietro alla cattedra sorge un albero, donde partono sette rami terminati
da altrettanti frutti stilizzati a modo di dischi in cui sono rappresentate le sette
Virtù cardinali e teologali.
È da notare che i simboli delle Virtù non appaiono quasi mai gli stessi che
vedemmo già loro attribuiti. Le quattro Virtù cardinali seggono bensì sulla
solita cattedra ; ma se la GIUSTICIA, che sta al disopra della Discrezione,
stringe pur sempre nella destra la spada sguainata, nella sinistra, in luogo del
libro, porta una bilancia. Né il colore della veste rimane lo stesso : che la veste
azzurra è divenuta rossa. Più notevole ancora è la trasformazione della For-
tezza. In luogo d' essere accompagnata da Sansone col leone e da Giuditta
con Oloferne, la Virtù appare qui sola, vestita d'abito partito rosso e verde; col
braccio sinistro essa regge una torre merlata e col dritto la clava di Ercole.
Dirimpetto ad essa la TEMPERANZA, in veste verde, ha mutato la sua torre e
il freno in una brocca d'oro ed un bacino d'argento nel quale debbono mesco-
larsi l'acqua calda e l'acqua fredda (o l'acqua e il vino) ; a sinistra, sì vede
sulla cattedra un'altra brocca. Al disopra, più fedele a' suoi primi simboli, la
PRUDENZA (veste verde e mantello azzurro) tiene sempre nella destra il cero
acceso e nella sinistra il disco colle sole parole : Presens, preteritum et futurum.
Più profonde modificazioni hanno sofferto le tre VITRÙ TEOLOGALI. La FEDE,
vestita di verde, con un velo bianco, inginocchiata, porta nella destra un
crocifisso e rivolge gli occhi verso il Cristo in maestà, tutto rivestito di rosso
e benedicente con le mani alzate, come fa pure la SPERANZA, ravviluppata in un
bianco ammanto, inginocchiata, colle mani giunte, nel mezzo di una navicella,
l'albero della quale è spezzato. Finalmente, in un disco quasi doppio degli altri,
nel grembo dell'Omnipotens Deus, vestito di verde, sta colle mani giunte la
CARITA alata (veste rossa, mantello rosso foderato di verde), alla quale venne
riservato il posto d'onore.
In questo riassunto, per dare maggior varietà all'opera propria, trasse il
miniatore le rappresentazioni delle Virtù da un altro ciclo di pitture, di cui fra
poco parleremo più a lungo.
Nel margine inferiore, in un altro disco, vedesi il diabolico ceffo di un
vecchio con barba e corna ; è il VIZIO O DEMONIO, e da lui escono sette teste
di chimere di color verde, i sette Peccati mortali, che fra ì denti acuti maciul-
lano le teste sanguinose di Sardanapalo, Oloferne, Epicuro, Nerone, Ario, Giuda
ed Erode.
Ecco ora le inscrizioni metriche poste in bocca a ciascuno de' personaggi
dell'Albero simbolico:
...
Testo del congedo della prima parte.
...
A destra e a sinistra della Discrezione si legge il congedo della prima parte
della Canzone.