The Book of the Courtier
of which good proof can be found in the fall of Troy. And beautiful
women are for the most part either proud or cruel, or (as has been said)
immodest; but this would not seem to my lord Morello a fault. There are
also many wicked men who have the gift of fair looks, and it seems that
nature made them thus to the end that they should be better fitted to
deceive, and that this gracious seeming is like the bait upon the hook.”
Then messer Pietro Bembo said:
“Do not believe that beauty is not always good.”
Here Count Ludovico, in order to return to the original subject,
interrupted and said:
“Since my lord Morello does not care to know what so deeply concerns
him, teach it to me, and show me how old men attain this happiness in
love, for I shall not mind having myself thought old, provided it help
me.”
57.—Messer Pietro laughed, and said:
“I wish first to free these gentlemen’s minds from their errour; then I
will satisfy you too.” Resuming thus, he said:
“My Lords, I would not have any of us, like profane and sacrilegious
men, incur God’s wrath by speaking ill of beauty, which is a sacred
thing. Therefore, to the end that my lord Morello and messer Federico
may be warned, and not lose their sight, like Stesichorus (which is a
very fitting punishment for one who scorns beauty),[476] I say that
beauty springs from God, and is like a circle of which goodness is the
centre. And hence, as there can be no circle without a centre, there can
be no beauty without goodness. Thus a wicked soul rarely inhabits a
beautiful body, and for that reason outward beauty is a true sign of
inward goodness. And this grace is impressed upon bodies, more or less,
as an index of the soul, whereby she is known outwardly, as in the case
of trees, in which the beauty of the blossom gives token of the
excellence of the fruit. The same is true in the case of human bodies,
as we see that the Physiognomists often recognize in the face the
character and sometimes the thoughts of men; and what is more, in beasts
also we discern from the aspect the quality of the mind, which is
expressed as much as possible in the body. Think how clearly we read
anger, ferocity and pride in the face of the lion, the horse, the eagle;
a pure and simple innocence in lambs and doves; cunning malice in foxes
and wolves, and so of nearly all other animals.
58.—“The ugly are therefore for the most part wicked too, and the
beautiful are good: and we may say that beauty is the pleasant, gay,
acceptable and desirable face of good, and that ugliness is the dark,
disagreeable, unpleasant and sad face of evil. And if you will consider
all things, you will find that those which are good and useful always
have a charm of beauty also.
“Look at the state of this great fabric of the world, which was made by
God for the health and preservation of every created thing. The round
firmament, adorned with so many heavenly lights, and the earth in the
centre, surrounded by the elements and sustained by its own weight; the
sun, which in its revolving illumines the whole, and in winter
approaches the lowest sign, then little by little mounts to the other
side; the moon, which derives her light from it, according as it
approaches her or withdraws from her; and the five other stars, which
separately travel the same course.[477] These things have such influence
upon one another through the linking of an order thus precisely framed,
that if they were changed for an instant, they could not hold together,
and would wreck the world; they have also such beauty and grace that
human wit cannot imagine anything more beautiful.
“Think now of the shape of man, which may be called a little world;
wherein we see every part of the body precisely composed with skill, and
not by chance; and then the whole form together so beautiful that we
could hardly decide whether more utility or more grace is given to the
human features and the rest of the body by all the members, such as the
eyes, nose, mouth, ears, arms, breast, and other parts withal. The same
can be said of all the animals. Look at the feathers of birds, the
leaves and branches of trees, which are given them by nature to preserve
their being, and yet have also very great loveliness.
“Leave nature, and come to art. What thing is so necessary in ships as
the prow, the sides, the yards, the masts, the sails, the helm, the
oars, the anchors and the cordage? Yet all these things have so much
comeliness, that it seems to him who looks upon them that they are thus
devised as much for beauty as for use. Columns and architraves support
lofty galleries and palaces, yet they are not on that account less
pleasing to the eyes of him who looks upon them, than useful to the
buildings. When men first began to build, they set that middle ridge in
their temples and houses, not in order that the buildings might have
more grace, but to the end that the water might flow off conveniently on
either side; yet to utility soon was added comeliness, so that if a
temple were built under a sky where no hail or rain falls, it would not
seem able to have any dignity or beauty without the ridge.
59.—“Much praise is therefore bestowed, not only upon other things, but
upon the world, by saying that it is beautiful. We praise when we say:
‘Beautiful sky, beautiful earth, beautiful sea, beautiful rivers,
beautiful lands, beautiful woods, trees, gardens; beautiful cities,
beautiful churches, houses, armies.’ In short, this gracious and sacred
beauty gives highest ornament to everything; and we may say that the
good and the beautiful are in a way one and the same thing, and
especially in the human body; of whose beauty I think the most immediate
cause is beauty of the soul, which (as partaker of true divine beauty)
brightens and beautifies whatever it touches, and especially if the body
wherein it dwells is not of such base material that it cannot impress
thereon its quality. Therefore beauty is the true trophy of the soul’s
victory, when with power divine she holds sway over material nature, and
by her light overcomes the darkness of the body.
“Hence we must not say that beauty makes women proud or cruel, although
it may seem so to my lord Morello; nor yet ought we to ascribe to
beautiful women those enmities, deaths and destructions of which the
immoderate appetites of men are the cause. I do not by any means deny
that it is possible to find beautiful women in the world who are also
immodest, but it is not at all because their beauty inclines them to
immodesty; nay, it turns them therefrom and leads them to the path of
virtuous behaviour, by the connection that beauty has with goodness. But
sometimes evil training, the continual urgence of their lovers, gifts,
poverty, hope, deceits, fear and a thousand other causes, overcome the
steadfastness even of beautiful and good women; and through these or
similar causes beautiful men also may become wicked.”
60.—Then messer Cesare said:
“If that is true which my lord Gaspar alleged yesterday, there is no
doubt that beautiful women are more chaste than ugly women.”
“And what did I allege?” said my lord Gaspar.
Messer Cesare replied:
“If I remember rightly, you said that women who are wooed always refuse
to satisfy him who wooes them, and that those who are not wooed woo
others. Certain it is that the beautiful are always more wooed and
besought in love than are the ugly; therefore the beautiful always
refuse, and hence are more chaste than the ugly, who, not being wooed,
woo others.”
Bembo laughed, and said:
“To this argument no answer can be made.” Then he added: “It often
happens also that our sight deceives us like our other senses, and
accounts a face beautiful which in truth is not beautiful; and since in
some women’s eyes and whole aspect a certain wantonness is seen
depicted, together with unseemly blandishments,—many (who like such
manner because it promises them ease in attaining what they desire) call
it beauty: but in truth it is disguised immodesty, unworthy a name so
honoured and so sacred.”
Messer Pietro Bembo was silent, and those gentlemen still urged him to
speak further of this love and of the mode of enjoying beauty truly; and
he at last said:
“Methinks I have shown clearly enough that old men can love more happily
than young, which was my thesis; therefore it does not become me to go
further.”
Count Ludovico replied:
“You have better shown the unhappiness of youths than the happiness of
old men, whom as yet you have not taught what road to follow in this
love of theirs, but have only told them to be guided by reason; and by
many it is thought impossible for love to abide with reason.”
61.—Bembo still sought to put an end to his discourse, but my lady
Duchess begged him to speak; and he began anew thus:
“Too unhappy would human nature be, if our soul (wherein such ardent
desire can spring up easily) were forced to feed it solely upon that
which is common to her with the beasts, and could not direct it to that
other nobler part which is peculiar to herself. Therefore, since so
indeed it pleases you, I have no wish to avoid discoursing upon this
noble subject. And as I feel myself unworthy to speak of Love’s most
sacred mysteries, I pray him so to inspire my thought and tongue that I
may be able to show this excellent Courtier how to love beyond the
manner of the vulgar crowd; and since from boyhood up I have dedicated
my whole life to him, so now also may my words comport with this intent
and with his praise.
“I say, then, that as in youth human nature is so greatly prone to
sense, the Courtier may be allowed to love sensually while he is young.
But if afterwards in maturer years he chances still to be kindled with
this amourous desire, he must be very wary and take care not to deceive
himself by allowing himself to be led into those calamities which in the
young merit more compassion than blame, and, on the contrary, in the old
more blame than compassion.
62.—“Therefore when the gracious aspect of some fair woman meets his
view, accompanied with such sweet behaviour and gentle manners that he,
as an adept in love, feels that his spirit accords with hers: as soon as
he finds that his eyes lay hold upon her image and carry it to his
heart; and that his soul begins to contemplate her with pleasure and to
feel that influence within which stirs and warms it little by little;
and that those quick spirits which shine out through the eyes
continually add fresh tinder to the fire;—he ought at this first stage
to provide a speedy cure, and arouse his reason, and therewith arm the
fortress of his heart, and so shut the way to sense and appetite that
they cannot enter there by force or trickery. Thus, if the flame is
extinguished, the danger is extinguished also; but if it survives or
grows, then the Courtier, feeling himself caught, must resolve on
shunning wholly every stain of vulgar love, and thus enter on the path
of divine love, with reason for guide. And first he must consider that
the body wherein this beauty shines is not the fountain whence it
springs, but rather that beauty (being an incorporeal thing and, as we
have said, a heavenly beam) loses much of its dignity when it finds
itself joined to vile and corruptible matter; for the more perfect it is
the less it partakes thereof, and is most perfect when wholly separate
therefrom. And he must consider that just as one cannot hear with the
palate or smell with the ears, so too can beauty in no wise be enjoyed,
nor can the desire which it excites in our minds be satisfied, by means
of touch, but by that sense of which this beauty is the very object,
namely, the power of vision.
“Therefore let him shun the blind judgment of sense, and with his eyes