Classical Epic Tradition

VII: The Italian Tradition

VII THE ITALIAN TRADITION T HE European drive towards Greek has already been observed in Dante, who died in 1321. In Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), it becomes unmistakable.l Boccaccio composed the Teseida delle nozze di Emilia expressly to fill a gap noted by Dante in Italian literature. There was no poem which dealt with the theme of arms.2 Finished probably by 1341, the youthful epic intended to answer this challenge occupies twelve books, and as many lines as the Aeneid. I The Teseida made such an impression that it was translated into modern Greek and published in Venice in 1529. Even earlier (1387?), Chaucer adapted and abbreviated it for his Knight's Tale, and the nature of this adaptation must claim attention in a later chapter. It forms a long meditation, well aware of its Statian model, on the troubled inheritance of the sons of Oedipus. Two brothers, Arcita and Palemone, are captured at Thebes by Theseus and imprisoned at Athens. There, from a window, they espy Emilia, younger sister of Theseus' Amazon queen, and fall hopelessly in love. Eventually, one of the brothers, Arcita, is released. He visits Thebes, assuming the name of "Penteo." Returning to Athens, he finds employment in Theseus' household as a servant. Only Emilia recognizes him. I He secured the appointment of Leonzio Pilato as professor of Greek at Florence about 1360: R. Pfeiffer, History of Classical Scholarship, 1300-1850 (Oxford 1976), p. 24. As early as the Teseida he puns on Greek (VIII. 104.2, chesta da due, mentre ch'io son mia = ~.) But Greek had never been forgotten, even by Dante, who had defined poetry as fictio rhetorica in musica poita (De Vulgari Eloquentia II. 4), and its survival is discussed by Walter Berschin, Griechisch-lateinisches Mittelalter (Bern 1980). 2 This point is made both in Boccaccio's Preface addressed to Fiammetta, and at XII. 84 of the poem. The allusion is to De Vulgari Eloquentia II. 2. Unlike Petrarch, Boccaccio maintained the deepest possible admiration for Dante, and nowadays we admire him the more for it. Contrast E. Norden on Petrarch's embarrassing dislike of his great predecessor: Die Antike Kunstprosa (5th ed., repro Stuttgart 1958), p. 771 note 2. 293 294 The Italian Tradition Even though the two brothers have sworn friendship, love proves stronger. The Fury Tisiphone poisons Palemone, still languishing in his cell, against the absent Arcita. When he too manages to give his captors the slip, he seeks out Arcita in the countryside, determined to finish the business by force of arms. A furious duel breaks out. It is interrupted by Emilia, out hunting with her sister and Theseus. When the story is told, it is agreed that the pair will return in a year with a company of knights to settle their differences in a tournament. Before the decisive combat, each hero prays to his chosen patron: Arcita to Mars, and Palemone to Venus. Emilia in her turn sacrifices to Diana. In the tournament, Palemone is captured by an opponent's horse, and Emilia loses no time in ditching him. Arcita is victor in the fray. After all, had he not invoked the aid of Mars? But Venus must have her hour. A Fury upsets Arcita's horse in the moment of victory. Gravely injured, the hero is conveyed away from the lists in a triumphal chariot. He insists on the completion of the marriage ceremony, even though Emilia has already given a ring to Palemone, which has on it a reminder ofthe betrayal ofAmphiaraus by his wife. The ailing hero's nuptial night is dismissed in three stanzas. Arcita grows worse. The poet who had little time for his wedding night has a whole book (X) to give to his death. Pathetically, Arcita explains his plight by arguing that "the gods made a mistake." We already know just how wrong he is. Arcita's corpse will be burned in the very bosco where he used to lament his lovelorn fate. It is Emilia who brings the flame for his pyre. Into it she throws the ring which her husband gave her. The lovely young widow is disfigured by grief. It is time for Theseus to intervene and draw out the moral lesson of the story. He explains that death comes to everyone, and that Arcita has been fortunate in dying young. Mourning has gone on long enough. Arcita's last wish was that Emilia should remarry. That must be respected, and obviously she must...