Sonnets | Page 3

in Rome, received from him some of the most
pathetically beautiful of his love-poems. But to suppose that either the
one or the other was the object of more than a few well-authenticated
sonnets would be hazardous. Nothing is more clear than that Michael
Angelo worshipped Beauty in the Platonic spirit, passing beyond its
personal and specific manifestations to the universal and impersonal.
This thought is repeated over and over again in his poetry; and if we
bear in mind that he habitually regarded the loveliness of man or

woman as a sign and symbol of eternal and immutable beauty, we shall
feel it of less importance to discover who it was that prompted him to
this or that poetic utterance. That the loves of his youth were not so
tranquil as those of his old age, appears not only from the regrets
expressed in his religious verses, but also from one or two of the rare
sonnets referable to his manhood.
The love of beauty, the love of Florence, and the love of Christ, are the
three main motives of his poetry. This is not the place to discuss at
length the nature of his philosophy, his patriotism, or his religion; to
enquire how far he retained the early teaching of Ficino and Savonarola;
or to trace the influence of Dante and the Bible on his mind. I may,
however, refer my readers who are interested in these questions, to the
Discourse of Signor Guasti, the learned essay of Mr. J.E. Taylor, and
the refined study of Mr. W.H. Pater. My own views will be found
expressed in the third volume of my 'Renaissance in Italy'; and where I
think it necessary, I shall take occasion to repeat them in the notes
appended to my translation.
III.
Michael Angelo's madrigals and sonnets were eagerly sought for during
his lifetime. They formed the themes of learned academical discourses,
and won for him the poet's crown in death. Upon his tomb the Muse of
Song was carved in company with Sculpture, Architecture, and
Painting. Since the publication of the rifacimento in 1623, his verses
have been used among the testi di lingua by Italians, and have been
studied in the three great languages of Europe. The fate of
Campanella's philosophical poems has been very different. It was
owing to a fortunate chance that they survived their author; and until
the year 1834 they were wholly and entirely unknown in Italy. The
history of their preservation is so curious that I cannot refrain from
giving some account of it, before proceeding to sketch so much of
Campanella's life and doctrine as may be necessary for the
understanding of his sonnets.
The poems were composed during Campanella's imprisonment at
Naples; and from internal evidence there is good reason to suppose that

the greater part of them were written at intervals in the first fourteen
years of the twenty-five he passed in confinement.[9] In the descriptive
catalogue of his own works, the philosopher mentions seven books of
sonnets and canzoni, which he called 'Le Cantiche.'[10] Whether any of
these would have been printed but for a mere accident is doubtful. A
German gentleman, named Tobia Adami, who is supposed to have been
a Court-Counsellor at Weimar, after travelling through Greece, Syria,
and Palestine, in company with a young friend called Rodolph von
Bunau, visited Campanella in his dungeon. A close intimacy sprang up
between them, and Adami undertook to publish several works of the
philosopher in testimony of his admiration. Among these were 'Le
Cantiche.' Instead, however, of printing the poems in extenso, he made
a selection, choosing those apparently which took his fancy, and which,
in his opinion, threw most light on Campanella's philosophical theories.
It is clear that he neglected the author's own arrangement, since there is
no trace of the division into seven books. What proportion the selection
bore to the whole bulk of the MS. seems to me uncertain, though the
latest editor asserts that it formed only a seventh part.[11] The
manuscript itself is lost, and Adami's edition of the specimens is all that
now remains as basis for the text of Campanella's poems.
This first edition was badly printed in Germany on very bad paper,
without the name of press or place. Besides the poems, it contained a
brief prose commentary by the editor, the value of which is still very
great, since we have the right to suppose that Adami's explanations
embodied what he had received by word of mouth from Campanella.
The little book bore this title:--'Scelta d' alcune poesie filosofiche di
Settimontano Squilla cavate da' suo' libri detti La Cantica, con
l'esposizione, stampato nell' anno MDCXXII.' The pseudonym Squilla
is a pun upon Campanella's name, since both Campana_ and _Squilla
mean a bell; while Settimontano contains a