Poggio Fiorentino (Bracciolini), 1380 – 1459, is not generally known as an author of chivalric or epic narratives. However, his “Facetiae” (in Latin) or “Facezie” (in Italian), clever responses and short tales, first published in 1470, contain two tales that will be of interest to readers of the epic genre. Leslie Zarker Morgan (Professor Emerita of Italian and French at Loyola University Maryland) has translated these two tales and made them available online. As she notes: “Placed on the Index, of the Council of Trent, these [“Facetiae”] nonetheless were well known and have been translated into Italian in multiple editions… without the name(s) of the translators! As far as I have been able to ascertain, there are no full translations into English, and the one online does not include these two tales. They are useful for the study of the romance epic, referring to Orlando (Roland) and Ettore (Hector) as narrated by street-singers.”
81. Comparison made by Anthony Lusco.
Cyriac of Ancona, a long-winded and overly loquacious man, one day when we were together, lamented the fall and destruction of the Roman Empire, and it seemed that he truly was affected by it. Then Anthony Lusco, a very learned man, who was present, laughing about the foolish sorrow of Cyriac, said, “He reminds me of that man in Milan, who, on a feast day, heard one of those public singers who sing about the deeds of heroes to the public. That fellow was singing about the death of Roland, who had died a good seven hundred years before in battle, and the man began to weep hot tears. When he went home, his wife, who saw him sad and weeping, asked him what tragedy had occurred. “Oh, my dear,” he said, “I am prostrated!” “Dear friend,” said his wife, “what adversity befell you? Come, now, and console yourself at dinner.” And he continued to weep, not wanting to eat. Finally, he gave in to the pleas of his wife and told her the source of his pain: “Didn’t you know, what news I heard today?” “What in the world?” asked his wife. “Roland is dead, who was the sole defender of Christianity.” His wife cheered up on hearing the foolish affliction of her husband and was finally able to persuade him to have dinner.
82. About a singer who said he would sing about the death of Hector.
Another person present told another story of similar foolishness. “One of my neighbors,” he said, “a man short of wit, was listening one day to one of those singers, who, at the end, in order to persuade the listeners to attend another performance, said that the next day he would sing about the death of Hector. Our friend, before the singer left, gave him money so that he wouldn’t kill off Hector, a man so talented in war, so soon. And the singer put off Hector’s death until the next day. And the fool continued to give him money, always to extend Hector’s life. And when he was out of cash, with great pain and weeping he had to finally listen to the story of Hector’s death.”
Translated from: Bracciolino (Poggio Firentino). Facezie. I Corvi, Collana Universale Moderna, numero 5. 2° della ‘sezione avorio’. Milan: Corbaccio, 1933. pp. 67-68.
Also on pp. 73-74 of https://archive.org/details/faceziedipoggio00bracgoog/page/n78/mode/2up. Facezie di Poggio Fiorentino. 2a ed. Roma: Sommaruga, 1885. (No translator’s name, though in the preface they speak of translating without commenting; it’s a book ‘not for good people’ since it was on the Indice of the Council of Trent.)
Translated 27 July 2024, Leslie Zarker Morgan.
Deposited in MLA Commons at the following link: https://hcommons.org/deposits/item/hc:68391/