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The Elysium of Julius Caesar Bordonius (Scaliger)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2019

J. F. C. Richards
J. F. C. Richards*
Affiliation:
Columbia University
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Extract

The Elysium Atestinum of Julius Caesar Bordonius (or Bordonus) is a Latin poem of 411 hexameters, dedicated to Isabella d'Este, marchioness of Mantua (1474-1539). The purpose of the poem is to flatter Isabella and her brothers, Alfonso I, duke of Ferrara (1486-1534), and Cardinal Ippolito d'Este (1479-1520), by inventing a myth showing the interest of the Olympian gods in the house of Este and by providing it with an eponymous ancestor, the Trojan Atestes.

It also describes an elaborate park and zoological garden on an island in the Po, which Alfonso is to make. This is presumably the park belonging to the Belvedere Palace built for Alfonso by Girolamo da Carpi between 1514 and 1516, which was celebrated not only by Bordonius, but also by Scipione Balbo in a Latin poem called Pulcher visus, by Celio Calcagnini in an epigram, and by Ariosto in the Orlando furioso.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in the Renaissance , Volume 9 , 1962 , pp. 195 - 217
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 1962

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References

1 For an account of Isabella see Julia Cartwright (Mrs. Ady), Isabella d'Este, Marchioness of Mantua, 1474-1539, a Study of the Renaissance (New York and London, 1903). For Isabella see Elysium, lines 14, 197, 287, 309, 396; for Alfonso see 7-8, 190, 290, 337; for Ippolito see 286; for Mantua and Gonsaga domus see 301-303; for Ferrara see 187, 232.

2 Conrad Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica medii aevi (Monasterii, 1901-1952), II, 24, and III, 4. He was made a cardinal in 1493. He was the elder of the two cardinals called Ippolito. He died on 2 September 1520, according to Pompeo Litta, Famiglie celebri d'Italia (Milano, 1819-1902), IV, tav. 12.

3 Gustave Gruyerin L'Art ferrarais à l'époque des princes d'Este (Paris, 1897), 1, 483-485, discusses the Belvedere palace and mentions the writers who have described it in both verse and prose.

4 Litta, op. cit., IV, tav. 13.

5 Litta, op. cit., IV, tav. 5.

6 Something is known about the provenance of the manuscript. Since it has all the earmarks of a presentation copy, presumably it formed part of the Gonzaga library at Mantua. After this was dispersed, eventually it made its way to Ferrara. Some of the Gonzaga manuscripts were sold to the duke of Savoy after 1627, but a much larger number went to Venice after 1708. See A. Luzio and R. Renier, Giomale storico della letteratura italiana XXXIII (1899), 6. There is an interesting inventory of the books owned by Isabella d'Este which contains the following entry: ‘Item Versi latini di Cesare Bordono scritti a mano in carta pergamena in ottavo coperti di corame verde’ (Luzio and Renier, ibid, XLII [1903], 77 n. 51). Ferri says that he had the poem copied before he published it, while it was ‘apud Bapt. Barberium Brixianum’ (p. 201). He adds that the owner gave it to Alfonso Varano, and Varano gave it to the library in Ferrara. The manuscript itself, at the end, bears the legend: ‘Donato alia Pubblica Biblioteca da S.E. il Sigr Don Alfonso Varano Fanno 1774’. Ferri also says that the first page of the manuscript has the arms of the houses of Gonzaga and Este at the bottom. This is confirmed by Dr. Luciano Capra, the librarian at Ferrara: ‘L’affermazione del Ferri può essere perfettamente controllata sulF originale e risponde al vero: lo stemma contiene l'arma dei Gonzaga nella mèta di sinistra, per chi guarda, quella Estense nell’ altra metà.'

7 There is also a seventeenth-century copy of the poem, written on parchment, no. 1029 in the Biblioteca Comunale at Verona. The following words are written on the flyleaf: ‘Id est J. Ces. Scaligeri vedi Maffei, Verona Illustrata, Scrittori Veronese …'. Here the first word of the poem is Ve. The large capital H of the word Hue in the Ferrara manuscript was written on the left of the page. This is the reason why it was not noticed and Vc was mistaken for Ve. The manuscript is described in G. Biadego, Catologo descrittivo dei manoscritti della Biblioteca Comunale di Verona (p. 12, n. 17).

8 Scaliger's dates are 1484-1558; it is not certain when he left Italy for Agen on the Garonne in France, but it was probably about 1525. His letter of naturalization is dated 1528 and he had to wait for several years before he married his French wife, Andiette de la Roque Lobejac, in 1529. He was certainly in Italy in 1519-1520 and could have written the Elysium then.

9 ‘Life of Julius Caesar Scaliger (1484-1558)’ in Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series, XL (1950), 85-170.

10 American Historical Review XL (1952), 394-396.

11 Litta, op. cit., II, ‘Scaligeri di Verona (Famiglia estinta nel 1598)’. This book does not support Scaliger's claims.

12 Scioppius or Kaspar Schoppe in Scaliger Hypobolimaeus (Mainz, 1607) tried to prove that Scaliger came from a family called Bordoni. Joseph Justus Scaliger wrote a reply to Scioppius, Confutatio stultissimae Burdonum fabulae (Leyden, 1608), but Hall admits that he was unable to prove his main point. Hall thinks that ‘no final word can be said on the matter unless new documents come to light’ (p. 87).

13 Joseph Justus Scaliger did not question the authenticity of the Elysius, but only the name attributed to Scaliger; he said he was not called Burdo but had the title a Burden. See Epistola de vetustate et spJendore gentis Scaligerae (Lugd. Bat., 1594), p. 118: ‘Non Burdo sed a Burden cognominabatur’.

14 It is curious that Giraldi should select this particular poem out of such a large number written by Scaliger. The answer must be that the ordinary reader would not expect this poem to be by Scaliger, since his name was well known at the time when Giraldi wrote the De poetis, but the name Bordonius was not.

15 Kaspar Schoppe, op. cit., pp. 113, 148. See Tiraboschi, Girolamo, Storia delta letteratura italiana (Napoli, 1777-1786) VII, pt. 2, p. 159 Google Scholar. Here Bordonis seems to be a misprint for Burdonis.

16 ‘Sed quis, rogo, Julius Caesar iste Bordonius? Bordonii nomine non novum Julium Caesarem appellatum, qui postea se Scaligerum dixit.’ Ferri adds that what is new is that Fontanini has made him a Paduan instead of a citizen of Verona: ‘Illud novum a Fontaninio … e Veronensi factum Patavinum.’ He then quotes Francesco Pola, who says that ‘Julius natus est in agro Veronensi ad arcem Ferrariam, quae est in valle Caprina'. See also Scipione Maffei, Verona illustrata (Milano, 1825-1826) m, pt. 2, p. 285. He also refers to Giraldi, who called him Veronensis, but he is scornful of Joseph's claim that Scaliger was born at Ripa on Lake Benacus: ‘quidquid obganniat Josephus filius, qui Ripae ad Benacum ortum esse somniet’ (p. 195). He also rejects the statements about Scaliger's mother and ancestors: ‘FiliusJosephus… se aperte Scaligerum venditavit; neque homini religio fuit matrem mentiri, avosque sibi procreare salebrae nescio cuius Burdensis in Carnorum finibus dynastas’ (pp. 197-198). ‘Berenicem Paridis Ladronii filiam sibi matrem adscivit, quam nusquam gentium invenias’ (p. 198, n. 1).

17 Tiraboschi, op. cit., VII, pt. 2, pp. 157 ff. See also Maffei, op. cit., III, pt. 2, pp. 283 ff., Apostolo Zeno, notes in Giusto Fontanini, Biblioteca dell' eloquenza italiana (Venezia, 1753). II, 267 ff. Hall says that ‘Zeno, though not accepting the Delia Scala story, demolishes the Bordoni fable’ (p. 88).

18 When Gustave Gruyer (op. cit.) refers to Bordoni, he adds a note saying that he was also called Scaligero. Presumably he took this information from one of the sources that he quotes. Antonio Frizzi, for example, in Memorie per la storia di Ferrara (2 ed., Ferrara, 1848), IV, 273-274, mentions the Belvedere Palace and in a footnote refers to ‘Giul. Ces. Scalig. sotto nome di Bordoni’. He also says that the Elysium was published in the fifth volume of the Raccolta Ferrarese.

19 The following books are also useful: Giovanni Maria Mazzuchelli, Gli scrittori d’ Italia (Brescia, 1762), II, pt. 3, pp. 1702 ff.; Giuseppe Vedova, Biografia degli scrittori Padovani (Padova, 1832), 1, 136 ff.; Luigi Ferrari, Onomasticon (Milano, 1947), pp. 33 and 614; Jacques George de Chauffepié, Nouveau dictionnaire historique et critique (Amsterdam, 1756), iv, 192 ff.; Jean Pierre Nicéron, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des hommes illustres (Paris, 1733), XXIII, 258 ff.

20 Tomasinus, Jacobus Philippus, Elogia virorum literis et sapientia illustrium (Padua, 1644), pp. 65–66 Google Scholar.

21 ‘Julius Caesar Scaliger qui tamen tunc temporis in Principem nondum evaserat, sed vero et proprio nomine Julius Bordonus Patavinus appellabatur. Quod non semel ex parente suo, qui ejus condiscipulus fuerat, audivisse nobis amrmavit spectatae fidei vir Jo. Marius Avantius Poeta et J. C. celeberrimus.’ See Tiraboschi, VII, pt. 2, p. 158.

22 Tiraboschi, VII, pt. 2, pp. 158-159; Zeno in Fontanini, II, 268.

23 This was the author of the Isolario (Venice, 1528). Two writers of the sixteenth century (lo Scardeone and Leandro Alberti) say he came from Padua; a third (Girolamo Corte) says he came from Verona.

24 Tiraboschi, VII, pt. 2, p. 157: Zeno in Fontanini, II, 268.

25 ‘… a praeceptoribus meis, Buccaferrea, Petro Pomponatio, Zimarra, Tiberio, Nipho.’

26 See Encyclopedia Cattolica, VIII (1952), 1875: Nifo by Bruno Nardi; x (1952), 1731-1734: Pomponazzi by Bruno Nardi; XII (1954), 1799: Zimara by Enrico Garulli; C. Oliva, ‘Note sulF insegnamento di Pietro Pomponazzi’, Ciornale critico delta filosqfia italianavn. (1926), 83-103, 179-190, 254-275, especially 181-182.

27 Umberto Dallari in I rotuli del lettori legisti e artisti dello studio bolognese del 1384 al 179a. (Bologna, 1888-1924) gives the following dates for their residence at Bologna: Petrus Pomponatius, 1511-1512 to 1524-1525; Tiberius de Bacileriis, 1492-1493 to 1495-1496, 1499 to 1500, 1500-1501, 1503-1504, 1508-1509, 1511-1512; Ludovicus de Boccadeferris, 1515-1516 to 1523-1524, 1527-1528 to 1544-1545.

28 Jacobus Facciolati, Fasti Gymnasii Patavini (Patavii, 1757), 1, 108 (Pomponazzi). See also 1, III (Nifo), II, 274 (Zimara), but he lists a teaching appointment for Zimara as late as 1525.

29 ‘In Academia nostra Ferrariensi et Leonicenum … et Pomponatium audivisse … Julius non dissimulat’ (Ferri, p. 196). Ferri also thinks that Scaliger fought at the battle of Ravenna, but the author of the Elysium does not actually say he was there. Hall thinks Scaliger was at Bologna: ‘All we know, however, is that he did spend some time at the University of Bologna … and such teachers as Pomponazzi, Ferro, and Nifo gave him new enthusiam for letters’ (p. 89).

30 The Euganei were the original inhabitants of Venetia. They are mentioned in Livy 1, 1. According to the legend Antenor brought the Eneti from Paphlagonia and settled in Venetia, where he founded Patavium (Padua).

31 Leyden Cod. Seal. 18, f. 92, part of Adamantii Catelli tumulus, was examined. This appears on pp. 275-277 in the 1621 edition of Scaliger's Poemata.

32 Vedova, op. cit., II, 242, 244, refers to his ‘amore per Costanza Rangona moglie di Cesare Fregoso’ and adds ‘… della bella Italiana sotto il nome di Thaumantia (Maraviglia) con un numero di versi troppo lodati e troppo disprezzati’.

33 The following poems are dedicated to Costanza Rangona; the page numbers are taken from the 1621 edition of Scaliger's Poemata:

55-70, Nemesis ad divam Constantiam Ranconiam (iambics).

106-139, Nova Epigrammata ad divam Constantiam Rangoniam (elegiacs).

209-238, Thaumantia ad divam Constantiam Rangoniam (elegiacs).

254-270, Nymphae Indigenae (hexameters in honor of various ladies) especially 269-270, Hamadryas. Pro diva Constantia Rangonia, quae defiet absentiam divi Caesaris Fregosi mariti.

334-359, Heroinae. Constantia Rangonia Caesaris Fregosi (elegiacs).

428-440, Sidera (hexameters in honor of various ladies including queens and princesses) especially 437, Diva Constantia Rangonia.

492-510, Lacrymae ad divam Constantiam Rangoniam (elegiacs).

543-573. Urbes ad divam Constantiam Rangoniam (elegiacs).

34 The adjective Atestinus is used by Martial (x, 93, 3). The noun A teste occurs in Tacitus (Hist, III, 6) as the name of a town in the country of the Venetians. It was later called Ad Este and Ab Este, from which the present name is derived.

35 Permessus is a river in Boeotia.

36 Alcides (=Hercules) must be Ercole 1 (1431-1505), the father of Isabella, Alfonso 1, and the elder Cardinal Ippolito.

37 This seems to be an echo of Horace, Odes, 1, I, 36, ‘Sublimi feriam sidera vertice’.

38 Sappho was called the tenth muse, but this must refer to Isabella.

39 The writer would like to thank Dr. Luciano Capra, the librarian of the Biblioteca Comunale at Ferrara for a microfilm of the manuscript of the Elysium, which was lent to him by Professor Paul Kristeller, and also the librarian of the University Library at Leyden for a microfilm of a manuscript containing some of Scaliger's Latin verses. He is also grateful to Professor Kristeller, Professor James Hutton, Professor Leonard Grant, Mr. John Sparrow, warden of All Souls’ College, Oxford, and Dr. Cecil Clough for their help and advice, and to Professor Leicester Bradner for the loan of a copy of Scaliger's poems.

40 Tiberis plana urbis stagnaverat, Tacitus, Annals 1, 76; cf. stagnata paludibus, Ovid, Metamorphoses XV, 269.

41 ‘… nostros quae Nais amores Invenisse potes subterlabentibus undis’ (270).

42 fluminaque antiquos subterlabentia muros, II, 157.

43 decurre laborem, II, 39.

44 Aeneid v, 819.

45 libat harenam, Ovid, Metamorphoses x, 653.

46 But cf. sparsa ad pugnam proludit harena, Georgics III, 234.

47 florem depasta salicti, 1, 55.

48 quoniam poenas in morte timendum est, 1, 110.

49 pacem petendum, Aeneid XI, 230, according to Servius, though the best manuscripts have petendam, which is more usual.

50 erratas dicere terras, Fasti IV, 573; errata… litora, Aeneid III, 690-691.

51 Aeneid x, 174.

52 prqferrier, denserier, vertier, I, 207, 395, 710.

53 Aeneid v, 822.

54 64, 52.

55 Aeneid x, 750.

56 ab ore scintillae absistunt, Aeneid XII, 101.

57 magnanimi heroes nati melioribus annis, Aeneid VI, 649.

6 I, 4.

59 Aeneid VIII, 698.

60 Since pix cannot mean ‘pitch’ in this context, perhaps it should be pyx from the Greek pyxos, box-tree; cf. Latin pyxacanthus, box-thorn, pyxis, a box, originally of boxwood, pyx, late Middle English (eccl.), a vessel for reserving the Sacrament.

61 sic orsa vicissim \ Ore refert, Aeneid VII, 435; cf. X, 632; XI, 24.

62 exsinuabat amictus, Idyll, XV, 29.

63 Sylvam (17) for silvam (cf. 24, 57, 86,202, 347), pulcerrima (18) for pulcherrima, rosida (33) for roscida, tedis (38) for taedis, dissidium (70) for discidium, fiamae (149) for flammae (cf.flamis [19s],flamea [302],flamato [383], flamatum [409]), but flammis (76), flammarum (145), humectis (127) for umectis, obiice (131) for obice, sobolem (179) for subolem, nanque (184, cf. 293) for namque, hyemem (185) for hiemem, ocia (202) for otia, Mussarum (233, cf. 405) for Musarum, trophaea (298) for tropaea, solicitas (301) for sollicitas, foetu (312, cf. 365) forfetu, cede (321) for caede, ceso (329) for caeso, damae (353) for dammae, hoedus (363) for haedus, sepibus (363) for saepibus, corili (370) for coryli, himbris (370) for imbris (imbres), pyrus (376) for pirus, Phoebaeo (399) for Phoebeo.

64 fontesque fluviosque, Aeneid XII, 181; Chloreaque Sybarimque, XII, 363.

65 Iliad III, 147.

66 Aeneid VII, 33.

67 hymenaeos, Aeneid X, 720; ululatu, Aeneid IX, 477.

68 abscondantur, Georgics 1, 221; Thermodontis Aeneid XI, 659.

69 The present text has been taken from the manuscript, but a few changes have been made where the Latin seems inaccurate or the spelling could be improved. These have been listed at the foot of the page together with variant readings where Ferri's text is different. Letters added to the text are enclosed in pointed brackets ( ); letters removed from the text in square brackets [ ]; letters corrected in the text in parentheses ().