Selections From The Poems And Plays Of Robert Browning Part 49

39. _This minion._ This favorite. Bessarion (1395-1472), a learned Greek cardinal, discovered a poem, "The Rape of Helen," written by a Greek epic poet, Coluthus, in the sixth century, and Bessarion's scribe copied it out on parchment with blue, red, and dark-brown lettering.

43. _Odyssey._ Homer's account of the adventures of Ulysses. The quoted pa.s.sage is in the _Odyssey_, Bk. XXII, 10. When Ulysses reached home he wreaked vengeance on the suitors of his wife. Antinous was the first to fall. The story of the "bitter shaft" blotted out by a flower is symbolic of the story of the hatred of Lutwyche, which was robbed of its bitterness by Phene's love.

50. _Almaign Kaiser._ The German Emperor. _Swart-green_ is really "black-green"; here it means the "dark-green" of bronze. The Emperor's truncheon is a short staff, the emblem of his office.

54. _Hippolyta._ The Queen of the Amazons on a fine horse from Numidia.

59. _Bay-filleted._ The bay or laurel with which victors were crowned was supposed to be an antidote against thunder because it was the tree of Apollo. Pliny says that Tiberius and some other Roman emperors wore a wreath of bay leaves as an amulet, especially in thunder-storms. (See Brewer, _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_; also Byron, _Childe Harold_, IV, 41.)

61. _Hipparchus._ In B. C. 514 Harmodius and Aristogeiton conspired against the tyrants Hippias and Hipparchus, and carrying swords hid in myrtle, they slew Hipparchus. Cf. Byron, _Childe Harold_, III, 20.

"All that most endears Glory, is when the myrtle wreathes a sword Such as Harmodius drew on Athens' tyrant lord."

75. _Parsley._ An aromatic herb used in ancient time in crowns worn at feasts.

86. _Archetype._ The original pattern or model. Beautiful colors and shapes in flowers, in flames, trees, and fruit suggested to the poet the beauty of perfect human forms. The rosy bloom of the peach bending close over the bough and nestled among the leaves is sufficient to suggest rosy limbs, and from that suggestion comes the whole imaginative picture of the dryad, the nymph of the woods.

95. _Facile chalk._ Jules exults in the facility with which the artist, in any realm of art, manipulates his implements and his materials. His especial enthusiasm is for marble, which he has come to regard as an original, primitive substance, containing in itself all other substances. It may be made to seem as light and clear as air, as brilliant as diamonds. Sometimes as his chisel strikes, it seems to be metal. Again it seems to be actual flesh and blood. At moments when the sculptor works with swift intensity it seems to flush and glow like flame.

181. _I am a painter_, etc. The poem by Lutwyche is professedly "slow, involved, and mystical." But Jules gradually perceives the purport of the words. Lutwyche's hate is to have its most hideous possible aspect because it is to appear suddenly through Love's rose-braided mask.

272. _The Cornaro._ Catharine Cornaro was the wife of James, King of Cyprus. After his death she was induced to abdicate in favor of the Republic of Venice, which took possession of Cyprus in 1487. She was a.s.signed a palace and court at Asolo. She was generous, kind, just, and deeply beloved. Her life seemed to hold all possible external conditions of happiness. The song is further explained in lines 275-279.

306. _Ancona._ A lovely city in eastern Italy.

INTERLUDE II

1. _Bluphocks._ Browning's note on this character reads, "He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (_Matthew_ v, 45.)

2. _Your Bishop's Intendant._ The Bishop's Superintendent (whose real name is Maffeo) has charge of the estate the Bishop has just inherited from his brother. The money Bluphocks has is the bribe given him by Maffeo to destroy Pippa, who is really the heir to the estate. Maffeo expects the Bishop to reward him well for this service.

11. _Prussia Improper._ "The arm of land bounded on the north by the Baltic and on the south by Poland was long called 'Prussia Proper' to distinguish it from the other provinces of the kingdom. Konigsberg is just over the boundary of Brandenberg." (Rolfe, _Select Poems of Browning_.)

14. _Chaldee._ A Semitic dialect.

21. _Celarent_, _Darii_, _Ferio_. Coined words used in logic to designate certain valid forms of syllogism.

24. _Posy._ A brief inscription or motto originally in verse, and suitable for a ring or some trinket.

25. _How Moses_, etc. For the story of Moses and the plagues of Egypt see _Exodus_ viii and x. For the story of Jonah (who was commanded, however, not to go to Tars.h.i.+sh) see _Jonah_ i. For Balaam and his a.s.s see _Numbers_ xxii, 22.

33. _Bishop Beveridge._ There was a Bishop of that name, but of course Bluphocks is making a pun.

35. _Charon's wherry._ Charon was a G.o.d of h.e.l.l. It was his business to carry the dead across the river Styx. People thus carried over the Stygian ferry paid Charon by a small coin put between their lips.

36. _Lupine-seed._ "In plant-lore 'lupine' means wolfish, and is suggestive of the Evil One." (Berdoe, _Browning Cyclopaedia_.)

36. _Hecate's supper._ Hecate was a G.o.ddess of h.e.l.l to whom offerings of food were made. An _obolus_ is a silver coin worth about fifteen cents.

39. _Zwanziger._ A twenty-kreuzer piece of money.

47. _Prince Metternich._ A celebrated Austrian statesman. (1773-1859.)

54. _Panurge._ A prominent character in _Gargantua and Pantagruel_ by Rabelais. Hertrippa is a magician who gives Panurge advice on the subject of marriage. Bluphocks is simply racking his brain for words to rhyme with "Pippa," so that he may write doggerel poetry to or about her. For "King Agrippa" see _Acts_ xxvi, 27.

77. _Carbonari._ All persons leaving a city had to have a pa.s.sport officially signed giving the destination and the date of departure.

Luigi had obtained such a pa.s.sport for Vienna for that night. It was, however, suspected that this was a mere trick to give a wrong notion of his whereabouts. If the pa.s.sport should prove to be a pretense, other suspicions against Luigi would be confirmed; it would be taken for granted that he belonged to the Carbonari, a secret society of Italian patriots; he would be arrested and sent to the prison at Spielberg. But if he should go to Vienna he is to be let alone. The officers are, of course, on the wrong track. If Luigi goes to Vienna it is to carry out his purpose of killing the tyrant. If he stays in Asolo it means that he has abandoned that purpose.

EVENING

6. _Lucius Junius._ This name comes easily to Luigi's lips because Lucius Junius Brutus inspired the Romans against Tarquin.

14. _Old Franz._ The Austrian Emperor, Francis, I. Luigi's fancy is caught by the echoes and the flowers, but they play into his dominant idea of the freedom of Italy.

19. _Pellicos._ Silvio Pellico was an Italian patriot who had suffered a long imprisonment in Spielberg Castle.

122. _Andrea_, etc. Three former Italian patriots who had conspired against Austria.

135-143. Note in these lines how little Luigi really understands of the point at issue. His emotional temperament has been stirred to the point of desperate action, but the "ground for killing the King" he hardly knows.

152. _Jupiter._ The largest of the planets. When a planet rises after midnight it becomes a morning star.

163. _t.i.tian at Treviso._ Treviso is seventeen miles from Venice. Its cathedral contains a fine Annunciation by t.i.tian which Luigi and his betrothed Chiara had planned to see together.

164. _A king lived long ago._ This song was published in 1835 and later adapted for this poem. The song has a great effect on Luigi because beside his mental picture of the hated Austrian ruler he now places his old folk-king who judged his people wisely, whose dignity and grace awed even a python, and whom the G.o.ds loved. The possibility of having good kings stirs his waning determination to rid the earth of evil ones.

INTERLUDE III

6. _The same treat._ The feast of the girl is made up of fig-p.e.c.k.e.rs (birds that feed on figs), lampreys (eel-like fish esteemed a delicacy), and red wine from Breganze, a town noted for its wines.

17. _Spring's come_, etc. These girls are well differentiated. The "first girl" is set apart from the others by her superior refinement, by her longing for her country home, and by her unhappiness with Cecco. The "third girl" seems to be the leader in the plan against Pippa.

22. _Deuzans_, etc. Varieties of apples.

64. _Ortolans._ Birds about the size of larks, and an expensive delicacy.

66. _Polenta._ A coa.r.s.e corn-meal pudding.

89. _Great rich handsome Englishman._ Bluphocks, who has been hired by the Intendant to lure Pippa into evil courses.

NIGHT

1. _Monsignor._ The Bishop has come from Messina in Sicily to take possession of his dead brother's estate. The "Ugo" to whom he speaks is the Intendant mentioned at the beginning of _Interlude II_.

4. _Benedicto benedicatur._ A form of blessing for the repast. "Let it be consecrated with a good saying."

9. _a.s.sumption Day._ The festival of the a.s.sumption of the Virgin into Heaven comes August 25.

36. _Jules._ This is the Jules of _Noon_. His history is thus carried on beyond the point where we left him at the close of his interview with Phene.