X. soon afterwards. We are next informed, that c H AP. in a fit of amorous impatience, he occasioned his own death, by striking his head against the wall": whilst a fourth author assures us, that he was killed by a fall from the stairs, as he was singing to his lute an elegy which he had composed on the death of Lorenzo de' Medici. The contrariety of these relations, not one of which is supported a "Politien, ce bel esprit, qui parloit si bien Latin, "s'appelloit Ange; mais il s'en falloit beaucoup qu'il en "eut la pureté. La passion honteuse et l'abominable "amour dont il bruloit pour un jeune garçon, qui etoit "Grec de naissance, a fletri à perpetuité sa memorie, et ❝causa sa mort. Car etant tombé dans une fievre chaude, "il se leva brusquement de son lit, la nuit, que sa garde "etoit endormie, prit la luth à la main, et en alla jouer "sous la fenètre du petit Grec. On l'en retira à demi "mort, et on le remporta dans son lit, ou il expira "bientôt après," &c. Ab. Faydit, Remarques sur Virgile et sur Homere, &c. b❝ Vulgo fertur," says Vossius, De Hist. Lat. lib. iii. c. 8. "obiise Politianum fœdi amoris impatientia capite "in parietem illiso." Ap. Menck. 470. c Bullart Acad. des Hommes illustres, tom. i. p. 278. "Politien tomba d'un escalier comme il chantoit "sur son luth une elegie, qu'il avoit composée sur la "mort de Laurent. de Medicis." X. CHAP. supported by the slightest pretence to serious or authentick testimony, is itself a sufficient proof of their futility. Some years after the death of Politiano, the celebrated cardinal Bembo, touched with the untimely fate of a man whom he was induced, by a similarity of taste and character, to love and admire, paid a tribute of gratitude and respect to his memory in a few elegiack verses, in which, alluding to the unfinished monody of Politiano, he represents him as sinking under the stroke of fate, at the moment when, frantick with excess of grief, he was attempting, by the power of musick, to revoke the fatal decree which had deprived him of his friend. Politiaro celebrated by Cardinal Bembo. Politiani Tumulus. Duceret extincto cum mors LAURENTE triumphum, Respicit insano ferientem pollice chordas, Viscera singultu concutiente, virum. Mirata est, tenuitque jugum furit ipse, pioque Miscebat precibus lachrymas, lachrymisque dolorem ; Risit, et antiquæ non immemor illa querelæ, Protinus Protinus et flentem percussit dura poetam ; СНАР. Whilst born in sable state, LORENZO'S bier Smite with delirious hand the sounding strings. For lost LORENZO, war with fate he wag'd, The fiction of the poet, that Politiano had incurred the resentment of death by his affection for the object of his passion, suggests nothing more than that this death was occasioned by sorrow for the loss of his friend; but X. CHAP. but the verses of Bembo seem to have given à further pretext to the enemies of Politiano, who appear to have mistaken the friend whom he has celebrated, for the object of an amorous passion, and to have interpreted these lines, so honourable to Politiano, in a manner not only the most unfavourable to his character, but the most opposite to their real purport, and to the occasion which gave them birth". From d "Nous sçavons maintenant la veritable mort de “Politien, que le Cardinal Bembe a deguisée dans l'epi"taphe qu'il lui a dressée. Comme il chantoit sur le "luth au dessus d'un escalier une chanson qu'il avoit "faite autrefois pour une fille qu'il aimoit, lorsqu'il vint ❝ à certains vers fort patetiques, son luth lui tomba des "mains, et lui tomba aussi de l'escalier en bas, et se rompit le col." Pier. de S. Romuald, Abregé du Tresor Chronol. tom. iii. p. 262. ap. Menck. p. 476. These imputations on the moral character of Politiano have also been frequently adverted to by other authors: thus J. C. Scaliger: "Obscæno moreris sed, Politiane, furore." And in yet grosser terms by Andrea Dati : "Et ne te teneam diutius, quot "Pædicat pueros Politianus." v. Menagiana. v. iv. p. 122. account of From much more authentick documents C H AP. which yet remain respecting the death of this X. eminent scholar, there is reason to conclude, Authentick that it was occasioned by his grief for the loss of his death. his great patron, and by the subsequent misfortunes of a family with which he was connected by so many endearing ties. That he had incurred the publick odium in a high degree, on account of his attachment to that family, is also certain; and the mortification and anxiety which he on this account experienced perhaps accelerated the fatal event. It may also be observed, that his property was plundered during the commotions at Florence, and many of his works destroyed or lost in the general devastation of the Laurentian Library, which incident made a deep impression on his mind. In short, such was the sudden tide of misfortune that burst in upon him from all quarters, that it is probable his fortitude was unable to support the shock; and, notwithstanding his industry, his accomplishments, and his unwearied exertions in promoting the e This is sufficiently apparent from the beautiful lines addressed to him by Titus Vespasiano Strozzi, published in the collection of the poems of the two Strozzi, father and son, by Aldo, 1513. v. App. No. LXXXII. |