Tarot History Forum

The following is arranged from chapter V + the sonnet at the end of the Boiardo Tarocchi poem at archive.org.
Earlier it was presented by Tarotpedia.com. Chapter V presents only the 22 special cards, not the suit cards.
https://web.archive.org/web/20060204111 ... hp/Boiardo
This is arranged from the version 2006-02-04, the earliest entry for the webpage. I remember, that it was translated by Marco, who was also active in this forum.

The production of this page was once accompanied by this thread:
https://www.tarotforum.net/threads/the- ... ust.53835/

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Trump 0 - Mondo (World)

Italian text
Mondo, da pazzi vanamente amato,
Portarti un fol su l'asino presume,
Ché i stolti sol confidano in tuo stato.

English translation
World, you are vainly loved by the mad,
And a fool thinks he can bring you on his donkey,
Because the stupids only trust your state.

Notes to Language Problems
I don't know if the name of this trump should be fool of World. In the other trump, the first word seems to be the "title". In this deck, the fool and the world are very close.
Huck 08:30, 30 January 2006 (PST) I think, that "Fool" should appear only once translated as "Fool" ... the Italian source uses 3 different terms.

p_marco_ I corrected using madmen, fool, stupids. The standard Italian for Fool is Matto.

Field for actual Discussion
Huck 08:30, 30 January 2006 (PST) I guess, the idea of the position is a combination of Fool and World ... Boiardo uses the other Tarocchi, which also exist, as a background for his own poetical composition.
External Links to Content Problems

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Trump 1 - Ocio (Lazyness)

Italian text
L'ocio Sardanapallo occisoso in piume
Tenne, e in lascive concubine e gola,
Tanto che del regnar perse il costume.

English translation
Lazyness kept Sardanapalus idle between feathers,
Lustful concubines and banquet,
For so long that he lost the habit of reigning.

Notes to Content
"Herodotus simply mentions a certain King Ninus, seen probably as an - eponymous - founder of the metropolis, located on the river Tigris, and he considers Sardanapallus to be his son. And probably – but this is not verbally the information given by Herodotus – this Ninus is the same person as Ninus, the son of Belus, grandson of Alcaeus and great-grandson of Heracles. On the other hand the lastmentioned Ninus is the father of Agron, the first king of the Heraclid dynasty in Lydia. Following this concept, the origins of nearly all imperial power in Asia can be traced back to Heracles ..."

"... It is only by dealing with the Egyptian affairs that he (Herodotus) suddenly sidesteps and tells us a story of King Sardanapallus, son of Ninus, who was robbed in a cunning way by some thieves who dug a channel from the River Tigris to his famous treasury. There is no hint here of the frivolous tradition of an effeminate king, living a secret and scandalous life behind the walls of his palace as described by Ctesias. However, we should observe that Herodotus does not apparently give us the full story and that Aristophanes took the knowledge of some negative stories about Sardanapallus for granted since he makes a very short allusion to this in his Birds dated 415 BC"

"But Sardanapallus’ place in an imaginative Herodotean king-list is not beyond doubt, since we cannot take for granted that this Sardanapallus, son of Ninus, is considered to be the grandson of Belus, father of Ninus, and therefore belongs to the early years of the Assyrian kingdom. However, Ctesias created his Sardanapallus as an effeminate representative of a late period of decline and consequently places him at the end of his Assyrian king-list. This was then generally accepted by later historians."
Herodot quote

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Trump 2 - Fatica (Effort)

Italian text
Fatica fece Hyppolita, che sola
De le amazone merito corona:
E in Scithia e in Gretia anchor suo nome vola.

English translation
Hyppolita endured such efforts, that she is the only
Of the amazons who is crowned by merit:
And her name still flies in Scythia and in Greece.

Notes to Content
Central person: Hyppolita, appears in the Theseus legend as amazon and his wife.

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Trump 3 - Desio (Desire)

Italian text
Desio accese Actheon de una persona
Celeste, si che in cervo fu converso:
Perho troppo alto l'hom desio non pona.

English translation
Actheon was inflamed of love for an heavenly
Person, so much that he was transformed in deer:
So a man should not put his desire too high.

Notes to Content
Actaeon fell in love with Diana. He was transformed in a stag and killed by his own dogs.
Ovid's Metamporphoses Book III
They hem him in on everie side, and in the shape of Stagge,
With greedie teeth and griping pawes their Lord in peeces dragge.
External Links to Content Problems
http://www.elizabethanauthors.com/ovid03.htm

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Trump 4 - Ragion (Reason)

Italian text
Ragion fe’ Laura del fanciul perverso
Cupìdo trionfar, ché mai non torse
Occhio da la virtù né il piè in traverso.

English translation
Reason made Laura triumph over the perverted
Child Cupidus, because she never moved
Her eye from virtue nor misplaced her foot.

Notes to Content
This is particularly obscure. In particular, the third verse. What does "intraverso" mean? Pie' is "piede" (?). I think it is "più intraverso" (?).
The Viti version has "ne il pié in traverso".
I found Viti here http://www.geocities.com/autorbis/viti.html
In this case, it seems to make much more sense. I replace with the Viti edition the precedent version (Ragion fe' Laura del fanciul perverso/ Cupido triomphar, ché mai non torse/ Odio da la virtu nel pie' intraverso.). Viti verses make sense perfectly.

Huck 09:00, 30 January 2006 (PST) Central person: Laura, as it seems as a second name for Daphne (? any other opinions?). Perhaps the "traverso" problem comes from Daphne's final state as a tree (she cannot misplace her foot.

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Trump 5 - Secreto (Secrecy)

Italian text
Secreto Anthioco fo, tanto che corse
Per Strathonica quasi fino a morte;
Ma il phisico gentil ben lo soccorse.

English translation
Antiochus was so secret, that he almost
Died for his love for Stratonica;
But the kind physician helped him effectively.

Notes to Language Problems
I think "fo" (I do) is a spelling error for "fu" (he was)

External Links to Content Problems
http://www.abcgallery.com/liter/plutarch.html

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Trump 6 - Gratia (Grace)

Italian text
Gratia a secreti e savii non va a sorte,
Ma con ragion, ché con amore ha il vanto
Colui che asconde le passion piu forte.

English translation
Grace does not go by chance, but with reason,
To the discreet and wise, for in love can be proud
He that hides his strongest passion.

Notes to Content
Huck 09:10, 30 January 2006 (PST) Astonishingly NO focussed person. Most trumps seem to focus on "lovers". So Boiardo perhaps left position Nr. 6 (traditional position of the Lovers card) free, without person. Perhaps he identified himself with the lover of this card, and wished to reassure, that he's dicreet and wise and doesn't tell any names.
So that's possible the place, where the author in "discreet" manner signed his work ... when the work was, as suspected, made for a loved girl ... this as of course "very elegant" chosen by the author.

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Trump 7 Sdegno (Anger)

Italian text
Sdegno Herode Re occupo tanto
Che fatta occider Marianna, poi
La chiama, e con amor si duol col pianto.

English translation
Anger filled king Herod so much
That he ordered to kill Mariamne than
He calls her, and crying suffers with love.

Notes
Herod the Great (74BC - 4 BC)
Josephus writes that Herod had great passion and also great jealousy concerning his wife Mariamne. She learns of Herod's plans to murder her, and stops sleeping with him. Herod puts her on trial on a trumped-up charge of adultery. His sister Salome (not Herodias's daughter Salomé) was chief witness against her.

External Links to Content Problems http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_the_Great http://www.publicbookshelf.com/public_h ... od_cc.html

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Trump 8 - Patientia (Patience)

Italian text
Patientia hebbe Psiche ai casi soi,
E perho fu soccorsa nelli affanni,
E fatta Dea nel fin, che è exemplo a noi.

English translation
Psyche was patient in what happened to her,
And because of that she found help in her troubles,
And in the end she was made a Goddess, so that she can be an example for us.

Notes to Content Centered Person: Psyche from Amor and Psyche Ovid's Metamorphoses (5.28)

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Trump 9 - Error

Italian text
Error Iacob fe' sette e sette anni
Servir, ché di Rachel Laban non disse;
Ma il tempo restauro tutti i soi danni.

English translation
An error make Jabob a slave for seven years,
Because he did not speak of Rachel to Laban;
But time repaired all his damage.

External Links to Content Problems
Genesis 29
29:18 And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. 29:19 And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me. 29:20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her. 29:21 And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. 29:22 And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.

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Trump 10 - Perseveranza (Perseverance)

Italian text
Perseveranza in Penelope visse
Tanta, che al tessere e disfar le tele
Merito rihaver lo amato Ulisse.

English translation
In Penelopes there was such perseverance,
That, by weaving and undoing her web,
She deserved to rejoin her beloved Ulysses.

from Ulysses, Penelope's waits for her husband.

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Trump 11 - Dubbio (Doubt)

Italian text
Dubbio a se stesso Egeo fece crudele,
Che a morir se gitto nel mare in fretta,
Visto Theseo tornar con negre vele.

English translation
Egeus made for himself a cruel doubt,
So that he was quick to seek death in the sea,
As soon as he saw Theseus come back with black sails.

Egeus is father of Theseus. He thinks his son is dead cause of black sails.

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Trump 12 - Fede (Faith)

Italian text
Fede hebbe Sophonisba non suspetta
A Massinissa, che 'l venen promisse
Se a seguire el triompho era constretta.

English translation
Sophonisba was faithful to Massinissa
Beyond doubt, because she promised to drink poison
If she were forced to follow the triumph.

Note the word "Triompho" in the third verse.
External Links to Content Problems http://www.livius.org/so-st/sophoniba/sophoniba.html

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Trump 13 - Inganno (Deception)

Italian text
Inganno Nesso che a Dianira disse:
Dà questa veste ad Hercole col sangue,
Se advien che d'amor mai teco habbia risse.

English translation
Nesso deceived when he said to Dianira:
Give this cloth with blood to Hercules,
If it ever happens that you have to fight for love.

Notes to Content Centered person: Nessus for his deception of Deianira (deception) "When his second wife, Deianira, daughter of King Oeneus, was seized by the centaur Nessus, Hercules killed Nessus with arrows dipped in the poisonous blood of the Hydra. As he died, Nessus told Deianira that blood from his wound would restore Hercules’ love for her if ever it were to wane. Later, when Deianira sought to win back her husband’s love, she contrived to have him don a robe smeared with the blood. The robe stuck fast to Hercules’ skin, burning him unbearably. In agony, he built a huge pyre atop Mt. Oite and had it set afire. His mortal parts burned away, but the rest rose to heaven, where he was finally reconciled with Hera and married Hebe." From Dictionasry entry

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Trump 14 - Sapientia (Wisdom)

Italian text
Sapientia fu, come in un callido angue,
In Hipermestra, che in feminei panni
Salvo il marito dal timore exangue.

English translation
In Hipermestra, as in a cunning snake,
There was wisdom because wearing the clohes of a woman
She saved her husband who was bloodless with fear.

Notes to Language Problems
The third verse could also mean "She saved her husband from a bloodless fear".

Central Person: Hypermestra, "one of Danaus' fifty daughters, who failed to kill her bridegroom, Lynkeus, thus disobeying her father. Lynkeus (meaning: "the man lying on the bed") killed Danaus, fulfilling thus the oracle's prophecy."
"Lynkeus: A son of Aegyptus and the husband of Hypermnestra.

Aegyptus tried to force the marriage of his sons to the daughters of his brother, Danaus; Danaus fled Egypt with his daughters and took refuge in Argos but, through a series of unexplained events, the girls were eventually forced into marriages with Aegyptus’ sons; Danaus was enraged and commanded his daughters to murder their husbands on their wedding night.

Lynkeus had the good fortune to marry Hypermnestra; she truly loved Lynkeus and did not resent the marriage; she defied her father and spared Lynkeus’ life; the other daughters did as their father had ordered and stabbed their husbands to death in their wedding bed; as punishment for this heinous crime, when the girls finally went to the Underworld, they were condemned to forever pour water into a leaky vessel."

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Trump 15 - Caso (Chance)

Italian text
Caso cadde in Pompeo, che per tanti anni
Era reducto al summo da la rota,
E al fin fortuna il sommerse in affanni.

English translation
Chance fell on Pompeyus, that for many years
Had seated at the top of the wheel,
But in the end fortune submerged him with troubles.

Notes to Content
The Wheel of Fortune. Central Person: Pompeyus, killed by Ptolemy in Egyptia likely.

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Trump 16 - Modestia (Modesty)

Italian text
Modestia Aemilia, de Scipion devota
Moglie, hebbe; ché, trovato con l'ancilla,
Tacque el peccato per non dargli nota.

English translation
Emilia, the faithful wife of Scipio, showed
Modesty; because when she found him with a maid,
He did not talk of his sin not to make it public.

Notes
Central person: Emilia, who is modest
Scipio was one of Rome's greatest generals, possibly on par with Julius Caesar. After his vicories he "then retired to his country seat at Liternum on the coast of Campania where he lived until his death. With his wife Aemilia, daughter of the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus who fell at Cannae, he had a daughter, Cornelia Africana, who became the mother of the two famous Gracchi by her marriage with Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus."

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Trump 17 - Pericul (Danger)

Italian text
Pericul de gran focho una favilla
Porta: ecco Cesar morto nel senato
Da doi; e fuggi già il furor de Scilla.

English translation
A spark brings danger of a big fire:
See how Cesar was killed in the senate
By only two people; after he survived the anger of Sulla.

Notes to Language Problem
I think "Scilla" should be "Silla" here. Viti also has "Scilla".

Huck 14:26, 30 January 2006 (PST) I agree, Sulla (alias "Silla") is good.

"81 BC Sulla conquered Rome .... In total control of the city and its affairs, Sulla instituted a reign of terror, the likes of which had never been seen in Rome before. Proscribing or outlawing every one of his political opponents, Sulla ordered some 1,500 Roman nobles (Senator and Equites) executed. The blood bath went on for months. Romans were executed for any reason or none at all. Helping or sheltering a person who was proscribed was also punishable by death. The state confiscated the wealth of the outlawed, making Sulla (and his supporters) vastly rich. The women and children of the outlawed who weren't killed outright were sold into slavery. The young Caesar, as Cinna's son-in-law, was one of Sulla's targets and fled the city. He was spared through the efforts of his supporters, but Sulla noted in his memoirs that he regretted sparing Caesar's life because of the young man's notorious ambition." (Wikipedia-article to Sulla)

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Trump 18 - Experientia (Experience)

Italian text
Experientia in Rhea fu, che occultato
Giove nel monte de Ida, ordino i suoni
Che al pianger suo non fusse ritrovato.

English translation
Experience was in Rhea, who after hiding
Jove in mount Ida, ordered to make noise
So that he could not be found because of his crying.

Central person: Rhea, wife of Kronos, Mother to Iove. (Experience)

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Trump 19 - Tempo (Time)

Italian text
Tempo, che gli homini a la morte sproni,
Nestor servasti, e si pur vinne al fine,
De un viver tal non par che se ragioni.

English translation
Time, you that hurry men to death,
You saved Nestor, and if in the end he came to an end,
It seems impossible to think of such a life.

Central Person: Nestor is the "old man" in the fight of Troja, so a reprentant for the idea "Father Time"

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Trump 20 - Oblivion

Italian text
Oblivion di termine e confine
Del tutto sei, Elice e Dido a Lethe
Menasti, e famma e tempo hai in toe ruine.

English translation
Oblivion, you are the end and boundary
Of all, you took to Lethe Elice and Dido,
And among your ruins you have fame and time.

Dido and Elissa seem to be the same person, from the Aeneas legend

Elice could be a reference to one of the cities destroyed by the Vesuvius vulcan: Think continually how many physicians are dead after often contracting their eyebrows over the sick; and how many astrologers after predicting with great pretensions the deaths of others; and how many philosophers after endless discourses on death or immortality; how many heroes after killing thousands; and how many tyrants who have used their power over men's lives with terrible insolence as if they were immortal; and how many cities are entirely dead, so to speak, Helice and Pompeii and Herculaneum, and others innumerable. Add to the reckoning all whom thou hast known, one after another. One man after burying another has been laid out dead, and another buries him: and all this in a short time. To conclude, always observe how ephemeral and worthless human things are, and what was yesterday a little mucus to-morrow will be a mummy or ashes. Pass then through this little space of time conformably to nature, and end thy journey in content, just as an olive falls off when it is ripe, blessing nature who produced it, and thanking the tree on which it grew. Marcus Aurelius 4:48

http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/medit ... .four.html

Trump 21 - Fortezza (Strength)

Italian text
Fortezza d'animo in Lucretia liete
Exequie fece: per purgar sua fama
Se uccise, e all'offensor tese atra rethe,
Dando exempio a chi 'l nome e l'honore ama

English translation
Inner strength made happy the death of
Lucretia: to clean her fame
She killed herself, and she prepared for the offender a dark net,
Giving an example to those who love their own name and honour.

Notes to Content
We should note, that the position is Nr. 21 and the word FAMA appears !!!! Lucretia is well known in the current as the victim of Tarquinius Superbus, the last of the 7 early kings of Rome. Her death gave the start signal for the Roman republic.

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There is a sonnet, which finishes the Boiardo Tarocchi poem:

SONETTO EXCUSATO

Veggio il mio error, pur il commun inganno
Sieguo, e stimo il mio fallo assai minore,
Ché errar con la piu parte è mancho errore
Che sol salvarsi in un publico danno.

Gli homini veggio che ingannando vanno
Lor stessi, in farsi parer corte l’ore:
Onde, per far l'inganno anchor magiore,
Questo gioco ho composto e i' stesso il danno.

Perché altro non è lui che sproni, anci ale
Che 'l tempo è tanto pretioso e caro,
Via manda, come corda d'archo un strale.

Ma poi che a traer quel non è riparo,
E il fuggir tedio è instincto naturale,
Scusomi anch'io si da natura imparo.

English translation

SONNET OF EXCUSE

I see my error, but I follow
The common deception, and I esteem this to be a small fault,
Because being wrong together with the majority of people is better
Than saving oneself in case of a public damage.

I see men go deceiving themselves
And try to make hours seem short to them:
So, in order to make the deception even greater,
I have made this game, and I am the first to condemn it.

Because there is nothing else to spur it, but wings
That time, which is so precious and dear,
Sends away, like the string of a bow sends an arrow.

But since there is no way to stop it,
And escaping tedium is a natural instinct,
I excuse myself for learning from nature.

****************

Marco, the translator, added to this ...

There is a difficulty with this verse. I follow Viti, because the general meaning of the sonnet seems clearer:
Lor stessi in farsi tal hor tor l'honore: (Viti: Lor stessi, in farsi parer corte l’ore:)
And let their honour be taken from them: (And try to make hours seem short to them)
With Viti, the first tercine is less obscure. Still, those verses are not clear to me.
The overall meaning is: the poet sees that looking for pastimes is a common error, and chooses to follow the other people in this error. He has invented this card game, which is a pastime. Time is like an arrow: you cannot stop it. Let's learn from nature and follow the natural instinct of avoiding boredom.

The Viti text, which is occasionally quoted, is now here: http://trionfi.com/0/h/03/

Thanks for resurrecting this very valuable original and translation, Huck. One odd thing is that if I click on the link, all I get is an error message. On the other hand, if I start a reply and then go down and click on the link, it works. Strange. Here it is again:

https://web.archive.org/web/20060204111 ... hp/Boiardo

There are a few minor errors, typographical and otherwise, that need correcting. Also, are the "titles" in the original, or constructed by Marco from the first words of each verse?

0: "stupids" should be "stupid ones"; "fool of World. In the other trump," should be "Fool or World. In the other trumps,'

1: This quote needs a source. I find the first paragraph quoted at https://www.academia.edu/30098137/F_Que ... -container, note 1. Probably the rest is from the same source: R. Bichler, ‘Some Observations on the Image of the Assyrian and Babylonian Kingdoms within the Greek Tradition’, Melammu Symposia V. Commerce and Monetary Systems in the Ancient World: Means of Transmission and Cultural Interaction, R. Rollinger/Ch. Ulf (Hg.), Stuttgart 2004. There is a link, but it seems to be dead: http://www.achemenet.com/ressources/souspresse/
annonces/RB.Assyria&Babylonia.pdf.

2: "only" should be "only one"

3: "an heavenly" should be "a heavenly"; "in deer" should be "into a deer"; "in a stag" should be "into a stag".

4: "perverted" should be "depraved". The end parenthesis is missing at the end of Huck's comment.

6: "focussed" should be "focused"; "possible" should be "possibly".

7: "Anger" should be "Resentment"; "ordered to kill Mariamne than" should be "ordered the killing of Mariamne, then"

9: " make Jabob a slave for seven years" should be "made Jacob a slave for seven and seven years"

10: "Penelopes" should be "Penelope"; "from Ulysses, Penelope's" should be "From the Odyssey, Penelope" (the work is known in English as the Odyssey; Ulysses is by James Joyce)

11: "cause" should be "because"

To be continued.

12 - The translation seems wrong. Italian text

Fede hebbe Sophonisba non suspetta
A Massinissa, che 'l venen promisse
Se a seguire el triompho era constretta.

Marco's translation:

Sophonisba was faithful to Massinissa
Beyond doubt, because she promised to drink poison
If she were forced to follow the triumph.

What I think:

Faith had Sophonisba not doubting
Massinissa, who promised her poison
If she was forced to follow the triumph.

In the story, Sophonisba begs Massinissa to keep her from being paraded in Rome as a captive, even if he has to supply her with poison so she can kill herself. Massinissa, who loves her, marries her, but that is not enough. So he sends her poison, which she takes. The story is in Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 30, at https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/te ... apter%3D12 and the next two pages.

15 - "Pompeyus" should be "Pompey" (two occurrences). And "Pompeyus, killed by Ptolemy in Egyptia likely" should be "Pompey was likely killed by Ptolemy in Egypt".

16 - "He" should be "she". "She also assisted in suppressing news of Africanus' affair with one of their slave girls to protect his reputation; after Africanus' death, the girl was manumitted and married to one of their freedmen." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aemilia_Tertia.

17 - "da doi": "by two". A source is needed for this number, as there were the famous 23 stab wounds. Only one was fatal, but he died by loss of blood. Perhaps Boiardo has in mind the two who started the conspiracy. "The conspiracy to assassinate Julius Caesar began with a meeting between Cassius Longinus and his brother-in-law Marcus Brutus[14] in the evening of 22 February 44 BC,[15] when after some discussion the two agreed that something had to be done to prevent Caesar from becoming king of the Romans.[16] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassina ... ius_Caesar. That may be implied by Plutarch's "Life of Julius Caesar," but it is not very clear.

18 - "ordered to make noise" should be "ordered noise". A source is needed for this. "The god was raised in secrecy on Mount Dikte in Krete (Crete) where he was nursed by nymphs on the milk of the goat Amaltheia and guarded by the warrior Kouretes (Curetes) who drowned out the sound of his crying with their shield-clashing battle-dance." https://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Zeus.html/

19 - "if in the end he came to an end," seems capable of improvement, but I do not know the word "vinne" in "e si pur vinne al fine"; "fight at Troja, so a reprentant" should be "Trojan War, so a representative".

In the end sonnet, it seems to me that "I am the first to condemn it" would be more accurately "I myself condemn it" (i' stesso il danno).

Ideally, the sources would be ones that Boiardo himself would have known, but I suppose it doesn't matter much.

For the original I have used the following as a source, and found it very useful, especially with all its links of the words:

https://www.intratext.com/IXT/ITA2795/_P6.HTM

The text was expanded and then moved to ....
viewtopic.php?p=27426#p27426

Steve: there is also the commentary, at https://www.intratext.com/IXT/ITA2795/_P1.HTM#2QK
Since it is concerned to describe the cards to be made with the verses, and it contains the lines usually attributed to him, I assume that it is that by Viti, even though the verses are presented as though by the author of the commentary. In any case, the commentary nicely says more about the literary references. Unfortunately the descriptions of the twelfth through sixteenth triumphs are omitted from this account. Are they available somewhere? That would help especially for the twelfth, where I thought Marco's translation was wrong. For all those that are there at least, all my corrections are confirmed, including the one about Brutus and Cassius being the two who killed Caesar. The noise that drowns out the infant Jove's screams are the cymbals of the"populi Corifanti," the Coriphantan people, as opposed to the Kouretes. But they are the same. The line about Jacob's "seven and seven" seems to be from Petrarch.

Here I find it of interest that the first tercet, which he says refers to the card of the fool, is not called a triumph; the numbers start with the second tercet. So at least by Viti's time, the Fool card had its special function of not being able to win a trick.

Another thing of interest is the description of the figure for Time, along with "On the right is a stag with long horns, which for being of very long life is placed with Time" (Cum la dritta un cervo cum le corna lunghe, che per essere di longhissima vita col Tempo si pone). That is the first indication I know of that detail, which we know from the minchiate card. And the stag is not therefore for swiftness, in this opinion. To me that raises the possibility that in the Alessandro Sforza deck, the Temperance card may well have been either just before or just after Death - more likely, just after, indicating that temperance, bringing long life, is a temporary triumph over Death - because of the association of the stag with long life.

Huck: I would think, as far as dating the poem, that it should be seen mostly in the context of when Boiardo had an interest in these examples, all from classical writers on myth or history. In reference to history, there is a Columbia University web-page that is of interest, apparently a download of an article in The Literary Encyclopedia (file:///C:/Users/flowe/DownloadsMatteo_Maria_Boiardo_by_Jo_Ann_Cavallo_Jo_Ann_Cavallo_from_the_Literary_Encyclopedia_07-11-2014-2.pdf):

Boiardo also translated four historical works into Italian over the course of his career: the Le vite degli eccellenti capitani (Lives of Famous Captains) by Cornelius Nepos and Xenophon’s Ciropedia (Education of Cyrus) between 1467 and 1471, the thirteenth-century Ferrarese chronicler Ricobaldo’s Storia
imperiale (Imperial History) between 1472 and 1478, and Herodotus’s Guerre di Greci e Persi (Histories). This latter work of unknown date was based primarily on Lorenzo Valla’s Latin edition, and was the first translation of Herodotus into a modern vernacular. In prefaces to these works, all dedicated to Ercole d’Este, Boiardo adopts the perspective of a humanist teacher, underscoring the role of history as a guide of moral conduct and manual of good government. It has been noted that his method of translation, often approximate and not devoid of errors, privileges instruction over philological accuracy. In addition to his translations of historical texts, Boiardo rendered Apuleius’s Golden Ass into Italian around 1479, apparently continuing a translation begun by his grandfather Feltrino. Sometime between 1469 and 1478 Boiardo also composed Capitoli del giuoco dei tarocchi (Verses for the Game of Tarot Cards).

That date range for the Capitoli seems reasonable to me.

MikeH wrote ...

Steve: there is also the commentary, at https://www.intratext.com/IXT/ITA2795/_P1.HTM#2QK
Since it is concerned to describe the cards to be made with the verses, and it contains the lines usually attributed to him, I assume that it is that by Viti, even though the verses are presented as though by the author of the commentary. In any case, the commentary nicely says more about the literary references. Unfortunately the descriptions of the twelfth through sixteenth triumphs are omitted from this account. Are they available somewhere?

Viti text
http://trionfi.com/0/h/03
and a google translation of this page
https://trionfi-com.translate.goog/0/h/ ... r_pto=wapp

... and more Boiardo material at the same place

mikeh wrote: 22 Jun 2025, 02:51 The line about Jacob's "seven and seven" seems to be from Petrarch.

Volgi in qua gli occhi al gran padre schernito,
Che non si muta, e d’aver non gli ’ncresce
Sette e sette anni per Rachel servito:
Vivace amor che negli affanni cresce!
Vedi ’l padre di questo, e vedi l’avo
Come di sua magion sol con Sara esce.

https://it.wikisource.org/wiki/Pagina:L ... I.djvu/361

Re: Viti's commentary - I just checked the text at the trionfi site (see Huck's post above) and it is missing that section too - going from the verse on King Aegeus and the black sail to the one on Caesar.

Re: Viti's commentary - according to the site that section (12-16) is missing in the manuscript. The text on Huck's site I think is missing that section too.

Hm. What is this ?

Mondo, da pazzi vanamente amato,
Portarti un fol su l’asino presume,
Che i stolti, sol confidano in tuo stato.

Ozio, Sardanapalo ozioso in piume
Tenne e in lascivie concubine e gola,
Tanto che del regnar perse il costume.

Fatica, fece Ipolita, che sola
Meritò de la Amazone corona:
E in Scizia e in Grecia ancor suo nome vola.

Disio accese Atteon de una persona
Celeste, sí che in cervo fu converso:
Però el desio tropp’alto alcun non pona.

Ragion fe’ Laura del fanciul perverso
Cupìdo trionfar, ché mai non torse
Occhio da la virtù né il piè in traverso.

Secreto Antioco fu, tanto che corse
Per Stratonica quasi in fin ad morte;
Ma el fisico gentil ben lo soccorse.

Grazia a secreti e savii non va a sorte,
Ma cum ragion, ché nel amore ha il vanto
Colui che è a asconder le passion più forte.

Sdegno questo re Erode occupò tanto,
Che facta occider Mariana, poi
La chiama, e con Amor si dôl col pianto.

Pazienza Psiche ebbe ne i casi soi,
E però fu soccorsa ne li affanni
E facta Dea nel fin, ch’è exempio ad noi.

Error fece Jacob septe e septe anni
Servir, ché di Rachel Laban non dixe;
Ma el tempo ristorò tucti i suo’ damni.

Perseveranza in Penelope vixe
Tanta, che, al texer e disfar le tele,
Meritò riaver l’amato Ulixe.

Dubio a se stesso Egeo fece crudele,
Che a morte se gittò nel mare in frecta,
Visto Teseo tornar cum negre vele.

Fede ebbe Sofonisba non suspecta, = 12
A Massinissa, ch’el venen promisse
Se a seguire il trionfo era constrecta.

Ingannò Nesso, che a Dianira disse:
Ad Ercul dà questa vesta col sangue,
Se advien che abbia d’amor mai teco risse.

Sapienza fu, come in un callido angue,
In Ippermestra, che in feminei panni
Salvò il marito dal timor exangue.

Caso cadde in Pompeo, che per tanti anni
Avea seduto al summo de la rota,
E al fin fortuna el sommerse in affanni.

Modestia Emilia, di Scipion devota = 16
Moglie, ebbe; ché, trovatol con l’ancilla,
Tacque il peccato, per non darli nota.

Pericol di gran foco una favilla
Porta: ecco Cesar morta nel Senato
Da duo; e fuggì già furor di Scilla.

Experienza in Rea fu, che occultato
Jove nel monte de Ida, ordinò i suoni,
Ché al pianger suo non fusse ritrovato.

Tempo, che gli omini a la morte sproni,
Nestor servasti, e, se pur venne al fine,
De un viver tal non par che se ne ragioni.

Oblivion, che termine e confine
Di tutto sei, Elice e Dido e Lete
Menasti, e fama e tempo hai in toe ruine.

Fortezza d’animo in Lucrezia liete
Exequie fece: pe purgar sua fama
Se occise, a l’offensor tese atra rete
Dando exempio a chi 'l nome e l'onore ama.

Huck wrote: 22 Jun 2025, 05:05

Re: Viti's commentary - according to the site that section (12-16) is missing in the manuscript. The text on Huck's site I think is missing that section too.

Hm. What is this ?

It is not what we are taking about. We are referring to this section, which goes from King Aegeus to Ceasar, missing 12-16:

Dubio nel undecimo loco se trova cum versi ad esso appropriati, e per il Re Egeo è significato: che dubio stando de la venuta del suo figliolo Teseo per avere...
[Pericolo]...per la figura di Cesare descripto, lo qual da Bruto e Cassio fu occiso nel Senato; vestito ne la pictura de uno manto morello, e sotto di veste d'oro: lo quale manto li cade da le spalle. Et appresso de lui sono e Bruto e Cassio, coperti de rosso: uno col pugnale nel pecto di Cesare ficto:l'altro in acto di cacciarlo; a piede di quali uno furioso toro si vede, che pericolo significa, percioché egli con le corna ferisce non vedendo il modo, il che al feritore è periculosissimo.

The missing part is alerted by [Pericolo]

http://trionfi.com/0/h/03/