Trionfi card poem by Pico de Mirandola

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Once found by Ross Caldwell ... somehow lost in the jungle for some time ...

Finally ... the Trionfi poem of Pico de Mirandola ("triunfi soi le carte")
Sonetto 28
Amor ben mille volte e cun mille arte,
come uom sagio che amico se dimostra,
temptato ha pormi ne la schera vostra,
che empieti de triunfi soi le carte;
ma la ragion di Lui m’era in disparte,
che la strata dil cel vera mi mostra:
così l’uno pensier cun l’altro giostra
e ‘l cor voria partir, né pur si parte.
Onde ancor né gioir nostra alma o trista
far può Fortuna, e furno in grande errore
gli ochi, se lo contrario a lor pareva.
Gelosia forse, che ‘l nostro Signore
seguir suol sempre, offerse cotal vista
al cor, che di Madonna alor temeva.
https://inpoesia.me/2011/01/22/giovanni ... e-volgari/

Somehow I've in memory, that there were reasons to assume 1481 as the year of production ... I might err.
... .-) ... perhaps a friendly poet finds reason to translate it.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Trionfi card poem by Pico de Mirandola

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I don't remember finding this, but thanks for the credit, Huck.

I'm having to struggle for the meaning, but I don't think this qualifies as a "trionfi poem", if by that you mean something like trionfi appropriati. Carte can mean pages of a book, too, so it could be a reference to Petrarch's trionfi.

We just have to a get a decent translation to figure out what he means in this sonnet.
Image

Re: Trionfi card poem by Pico de Mirandola

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Pico was in Padua in 1480-82 so would have been composed there.

A quick (botched) google-machine translation:
https://translate.google.com/translate? ... rev=search

Amor a thousand times and a thousand cun art,
as a man who Sagio friend if he proves,
temptato he will ask me to your mask,
that empieti de soi triunfi cards;
but the raison He Was in the sidelines,
that the strata dil cel real shows me:
so each thought the other carousel cun
and 'l cor Voria partir, or even part of it.
Waves or even our soul rejoice or sad
Fortuna can be, and in great error furno
After eye, if contrary to their thought.
Perhaps jealousy, that 's our Lord
seguir wont always, offered Cotal views
the cor, which alor Madonna feared.

Re: Trionfi card poem by Pico de Mirandola

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Ross G. R. Caldwell wrote:I don't remember finding this, but thanks for the credit, Huck.
...:-) ... long ago, but it was you. It was a Trionfi (triunfi) note to us then, but then it was forgotten to add it to the list. ... in private communication ...
Yesterday I found this sonnet by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. The meaning is obscure, but he appears to be inspired by playing a game of trionfi to think of the torments of love.

I have tried to translate the first few lines.

...

(A thousand times and with a thousand arts,
Like a wise man who shows himself to be a friend,
Love has tempted me in your group,
That the cards are full of trumps;

But His reason was beyond me,
That the road of the true heaven showed to me:
…)

Pico scholar Giovanni Pasetti says the sonnets were written between 1479-1486. He has this comment:

"Troviamo qui un componimento complesso, che racconta il conflitto fra Amor terreno e Amor celeste. Molto interessante è la paralisi psicologica che tormenta il protagonista, incapace di comprendere la vera natura della situazione. Egli assiste ad un gioco, ad un torneo amoroso i cui esiti sono del tutto incerti; mentre ammira le carte su cui spiccano i trionfi, con doppio riferimento al mazzo dei Tarocchi e alle virtù della donna che riempiono i fogli di poesie, i suoi pensieri combattono fra loro, e la strada del Paradiso non può sopraffare il sentimento."

"Here we find a complex poem that recounts the conflict between earthly Love and heavenly Love. Very interesting is the psychological paralysis that haunts the protagonist, unable to comprehend the true nature of the situation. He takes part in a game, a love tournament whose results are quite uncertain; while admiring the cards in which the triumphs stand out, with double reference to the Tarot deck and the virtues of women who fill the pages of poems, his thoughts are fighting each other, and the road of Paradise can not overcome the feeling. "
(I have modified the surprisingly good Google translation only slightly)

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/gpasett/h5.htm


13th of October, 2011, short before Franco Pratesi started his activities with "1453 AN EARLY ARRIVAL OF TRIUMPHS INTO ROME" / 3 November 2011"

At 21st of October 2011 we'd started the discussion of the Arnold Esch book 2007.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=743&p=10624&hilit=Esch#p10624

... :-) .. in the follow-up we had a lot of Triunfi notes ... .-) .. especially in the Arnold Esch paper.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Trionfi card poem by Pico de Mirandola

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The dialect is strange - google seems to analyse it as Corsican rather than Italian (but indeed, Corsican may well be closer to the archaic Italian dialect than modern Italian!?), and translates 'triunfi' as cuturnu (Lit, a woman with horns, figurative a cuckhold, a man married to an unfaithful wife).*

empieti I thought probably impiety, wickedness, ungodly (that blasphemous triumph of his cards); but I see Ross translates it as 'full' (?), presumably reading it as empito (to fill, full), and am inclined to go with Ross's expertise rather than my wild guesses.

Voria I think is an archaic form of vorrei;

'soi' = archaic dialect 'of his' ? (of his, that is Amor's/Love's, cards)? which cards/pages of his are full of triumphs (Amor's cards are filled with / full of triumphs?

Amor has tempted me to your tribe/mask/train,
his cards/pages are filled with triumphs.

his thoughts are fighting each other I get:
così l’uno pensier cun l’altro giostra
so each thought with another joust

"... and the road of Paradise can not overcome the feeling." ?

ma la ragion di Lui m’era in disparte,
che la strata dil cel vera mi mostra:
così l’uno pensier cun l’altro giostra
e ‘l cor vorrei partire, né pur si parte.

but reason was on the sidelines,
to show me the true path of heaven:
so one thought with another joust
and let me start with the heart, at least part of it.

Am unsure of the 'double reference to the Tarot deck and the virtues of women who fill the pages of poems...'? Does it mean 'carte' is to read with a double meaning, as both cards and pages?

It seems partly play on the common trope (as found in Dante, Boccacio, Petrarch and of course Boiardo) between Reason/Desire-love (Ragione/Amore):

Ragion fe’ Laura del fanciul perverso
Cupìdo trionfar, ché mai non torse
Occhio da la virtù né il piè in traverso.

Reason made Laura triumphant
over the perverse child cupid, she never turned
her eyes from virtue, nor put a foot wrong.

SteveM

*Which, though I don't believe it is the meaning in this poem, reminds me of Pulci's minchi- poem:

Milan puo far di molti ravibuoli;
tal ch’i perdono a que’ miei minchiattarri,
se non dicessin chiu come assivoli.

Which I think means something along the lines of:

Milan can make so make so many kinds of ravioli
for this I forgive them, my minchiattarri,
if they did not say chiu like the horned-owl.

L'Assivolo' The Horned Owl- similar allocco (owl/fool) -- the horns of the owl = the horns of a cuckolded husband, as in the Florentine poet Cecchi's play L'Assivolo' The Horned Owl -- in Cecchi's play he is cuckolded several times and so is said to have 'horns three time high'. Cecchi also uses 'chiu' as a sound alike syllable for the hoot of the owl -- the would be lover Ambrogio 'hoots' three times like an owl as a password 'chiu chiu chiu'.

Re: Trionfi card poem by Pico de Mirandola

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The dialect is strange - google seems to analyse it as Corsican rather than Italian (but indeed, Corsican may well be closer to the archaic Italian dialect than modern Italian!?), and translates 'triunfi' as cuturnu (Lit, a woman with horns, figurative a cuckhold, a man married to an unfaithful wife).*
"triunfi" instead "trionfi" is very much used in the Esch paper (related to the custom register in Rome), it seems to be common in the language of the custom officers (in Rome). And the import is rare, it's for the officer a word, that they spell different:

One importing merchant: 7x triunfi, 2x trunfi, 2x trumfi
Another: 5x triunfi, 1 trunfi, 1x trumfi

but also "triumphi, treunfi, treumfi, triomfi, trionfi, trumpfi, trionphi, triomphi, trumfi" (all these more rare)

triunfi is definitely the winner in the spelling race (in Rome), roughly counted 55x triunfi of 107 (so a little more than 50%), 1x trionfi of 107

*************

Pico in his wiki biography ...
Soon after this stay in Florence, Pico was travelling on his way to Rome where he intended to publish his 900 Theses and prepare for a "congress" of scholars from all over Europe to debate them. Stopping in Arezzo he became embroiled in a love affair with the wife of one of Lorenzo de' Medici's cousins. It almost cost him his life. Giovanni attempted to run off with the woman, but he was caught, wounded and thrown into prison by her husband. He was released only upon the intervention of Lorenzo himself. The incident is wholly representative of Pico's often audacious temperament and of the loyalty and affection he nevertheless could inspire.

Pico spent several months in Perugia and nearby Fratta, recovering from his injuries. It was there, as he wrote to Ficino, that "divine Providence ... caused certain books to fall into my hands. They are Chaldean books ... of Esdras, of Zoroaster and of Melchior, oracles of the magi, which contain a brief and dry interpretation of Chaldean philosophy, but full of mystery."[9] It was also in Perugia that Pico was introduced to the mystical Hebrew Kabbalah, which fascinated him, as did the late classical Hermetic writers, such as Hermes Trismegistus.
It looks, that Pico wasn't often close to Rome. I don't know much of his life. The love affair was May 1486 and then (after this) he wrote his 900 theses (so he can't have intended to publish them in Rome before) in a state of writer ecstasy, half crazy (so says my memory of that, what I read, but this wasn't much).

Perhaps the "triunfi" in the poem tells, that he wrote this 1486? Naturally not as a sure evidence ...
Last edited by Huck on 02 Oct 2016, 13:35, edited 1 time in total.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Trionfi card poem by Pico de Mirandola

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Huck wrote: Perhaps the "triunfi" in the poem tells, that he wrote this 1486? Naturally not as a sure evidence ...
Spelling variants were widespread across and within dialects. I think Mirandola is just writing in his usual (Gallo-Italic/Emiliano) dialect (not a strange dialect, just strange to me), to which Corsican might be related due to the immigration to Corsica from Gallo-Italic regions of Italy (some of Pico's siblings were wed to hereditary rulers of Corsica). I wouldn't take the spelling of triunfi as even a remote evidence, let alone a sure one, of a location in Rome in 1486. What have you to compare it too? How many variants are there in Lombardian, or Emiliano, or Genoese, or Tuscan, etc, etc.

Mirandola as is known burnt most of his poems. The 45 sonnets that remain for us were preserved in a single anthology of poems with a variety of poets of varying quality from the court of Ludovico (il Moro) Sforza.

Re: Trionfi card poem by Pico de Mirandola

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I made some analyses about the poem. It has the number "Sonett 28" from totally 45 sonnetts. This is the discussed poem:
Sonetto 28
Amor ben mille volte e cun mille arte,
come uom sagio che amico se dimostra,
temptato ha pormi ne la schera vostra,
che empieti de triunfi soi le carte;

ma la ragion di Lui m’era in disparte,
che la strata dil cel vera mi mostra:
così l’uno pensier cun l’altro giostra
e ‘l cor voria partir, né pur si parte.

Onde ancor né gioir nostra alma o trista
far può Fortuna, e furno in grande errore
gli ochi, se lo contrario a lor pareva.

Gelosia forse, che ‘l nostro Signore
seguir suol sempre, offerse cotal vista
al cor, che di Madonna alor temeva.
triunfi soi le carte is the object, which had interested us. When I looked today at the poem again, I observed the words Amor and Gelosia . These words are names of suits in the Boiardo Tarocchi poem. This interested me and I searched for the other suit words Timor and Speranza (or Speranze). I started with Timor and detected this: There is only one Timor in all 45 Sonnets and it is in Sonnett 5:
Sonetto 5
Amor, focoso giacio e fredda face;
Amor, mal dilectoso e dolce affanno;
Amor, pena suave et util danno;
Amor, eterna guerra senza pace.

Amor, tetro timor, speme fallace;
Amor, bugïa, fraude, sdegno e inganno;
Amor, false promesse, che l’uom fanno
gioir del mal come d’un ben verace.

Amore, amaro felle, amaro asenzio;
Amor, vane speranze e van destri;
Amor, roco parlar, longo silenzio.

Amor, faville, lacrime e sospiri;
Amor, segnor crudel più che Mezenzio,
che gode sempre de gli altrui martiri.
In the Sonnett 5 I find the suit name Timor and the suit name Speranze. Also I find the suit name Amor, but not only once but 12 times. This is the only place, where such Amor-flood is happening in the 45 sonnets.

***************

The Boiardo Tarocchi poem is the first source, from which we know, that it contained 22 trump cards (or 21 trumps + 1 Fool).
From Pico de Mirandola (*1463) we know, that he was the 22 years younger cousin of Matteo Maria Boiardo(*1441).
(later added: one source gives 1441 as birth year, another 1440 and a 3rd 1434, so these 22 years as difference between Boiardo and Pico are possible, but not proven).
Later added:
Italian wiki: May or June 1441
German wiki: 1441
English wiki: 1440
My own earlier work with no reference where I got it from: "probably May 1441", other values.: "1440" and "1434"
Treccani.it: 1441

Later added: In the year 1486, in which so much exiting things happened with Pico de Mirandola ....
Giovanni Pico de Mirandola was 23 years old. Matteo Maria Boiardo was (probably) 45 years old.
Giovanni had later a collection of 45 Love poems. Boiardo had later a playing card poem, which knew 22 trumps (or 21 trumps + 1 Fool). In both works appear the 4 Stoic passions,
Last edited by Huck on 04 Jul 2022, 10:05, edited 5 times in total.
Huck
http://trionfi.com

Re: Trionfi card poem by Pico de Mirandola

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Ross Caldwell wrote: 21 Jun 2022, 09:23 I think it likely means "his triumphs fill pages."

But there is a recent French translation that can settle the matter for us.

https://www.fabula.org/actualites/pic-d ... _46800.php
Franco Pratesi made of it on my request ...
che empieti de triunfi soi le carte

"who fills (to you?) papers/leaves/folios (not at all necessarily playing cards!) of his triumphs."

(THIS could be the best help, but I fear you don’t accept it)
The third part was Franco's suspicion, but I don't mind this meaning. Boiardo's Tarocchi poem is mainly a poem, and it gets the card meaning only by accompanying commentaries.
Quatro passion de l’anima signora
Hanno quaranta carte in questo gioco;
A la più degna la minor dà loco,
E il lor significato le colora.

Quatro figure ha ogni color ancora,
Che a i debiti soi officii tucte loco,
Con vinti et un Trionfo, e al più vil loco
È un Folle, poi che ’l folle el mondo adora.

Amor, Speranza, Gelosia, Timore
Son le passion, e un terzetto han le carte,
Per non lassar, chi giocarà, in errore.

El numero ne i verse se comparte:
Uno, duo, tre, fin al grado magiore:
Resta mo a te trovar del gioco l’arte.
If the descriptions of the 22 trumps and its 67 lines would stand alone, would it be clear, that this is a Trionfi card description?
Mondo, da pazzi vanamente amato,
Portarti un fol su l’asino presume,
Che i stolti, sol confidano in tuo stato.

Ozio, Sardanapalo ozioso in piume
Tenne e in lascivie concubine e gola,
Tanto che del regnar perse il costume.

Fatica, fece Ipolita, che sola
Meritò de la Amazone corona:
E in Scizia e in Grecia ancor suo nome vola.

Disio accese Atteon de una persona
Celeste, sí che in cervo fu converso:
Però el desio tropp’alto alcun non pona.

Ragion fe’ Laura del fanciul perverso
Cupìdo trionfar, ché mai non torse
Occhio da la virtù né il piè in traverso.

Secreto Antioco fu, tanto che corse
Per Stratonica quasi in fin ad morte;
Ma el fisico gentil ben lo soccorse.

Grazia a secreti e savii non va a sorte,
Ma cum ragion, ché nel amore ha il vanto
Colui che è a asconder le passion più forte.

Sdegno questo re Erode occupò tanto,
Che facta occider Mariana, poi
La chiama, e con Amor si dôl col pianto.

Pazienza Psiche ebbe ne i casi soi,
E però fu soccorsa ne li affanni
E facta Dea nel fin, ch’è exempio ad noi.

Error fece Jacob septe e septe anni
Servir, ché di Rachel Laban non dixe;
Ma el tempo ristorò tucti i suo’ damni.

Perseveranza in Penelope vixe
Tanta, che, al texer e disfar le tele,
Meritò riaver l’amato Ulixe.

Dubio a se stesso Egeo fece crudele,
Che a morte se gittò nel mare in frecta,
Visto Teseo tornar cum negre vele.

Fede ebbe Sofonisba non suspecta,
A Massinissa, ch’el venen promisse
Se a seguire il trionfo era constrecta.

Ingannò Nesso, che a Dianira disse:
Ad Ercul dà questa vesta col sangue,
Se advien che abbia d’amor mai teco risse.

Sapienza fu, come in un callido angue,
In Ippermestra, che in feminei panni
Salvò il marito dal timor exangue.

Caso cadde in Pompeo, che per tanti anni
Avea seduto al summo de la rota,
E al fin fortuna el sommerse in affanni.

Modestia Emilia, di Scipion devota
Moglie, ebbe; ché, trovatol con l’ancilla,
Tacque il peccato, per non darli nota.

Pericol di gran foco una favilla
Porta: ecco Cesar morta nel Senato
Da duo; e fuggì già furor di Scilla.

Experienza in Rea fu, che occultato
Jove nel monte de Ida, ordinò i suoni,
Ché al pianger suo non fusse ritrovato.

Tempo, che gli omini a la morte sproni,
Nestor servasti, e, se pur venne al fine,
De un viver tal non par che se ne ragioni.

Oblivion, che termine e confine
Di tutto sei, Elice e Dido e Lete
Menasti, e fama e tempo hai in toe ruine.

Fortezza d’animo in Lucrezia liete
Exequie fece: pe purgar sua fama
Se occise, a l’offensor tese atra rete
Dando exempio a chi 'l nome e l'onore ama.
TRANSLATION, earlier at tarotpedia.com (once done by Marco Ponzi, as I remember)
http://www.tarotpedia.com/wiki/Boiardo_ ... Vano_Mondo

World, you are vainly loved by the mad,
And a fool thinks he can bring you on his donkey,
Because the stupid only trust your state.

Lazyness kept Sardanapalus idle between feathers,
Lustful concubines and banquet,
For so long that he lost the habit of reigning.

Hyppolita endured such efforts, that she is the only one
Of the amazons who is crowned by merit:
And her name still flies in Scythia and in Greece.

Actheon was inflamed by desire of an heavenly
Person, so much that he was transformed into a deer:
So a man should not put his desire too high.

Reason made Laura triumph over the perverted
Child Cupid, because she neither moved
Her eye from virtue nor ever put a foot wrong.

Antiochus was so secret, that he almost
Died for his love for Stratonica;
But the kind physician helped him effectively.

Grace does not go by chance, but with reason,
To the discreet and wise, for in love can be proud
He that hides his strongest passion.

Anger filled king Herod so much
That he ordered to kill Mariamne, then
He calls her, and crying suffers with love.

Psyche was patient in what happened to her,
And because of that she found help in her troubles,
And in the end was made a Goddess, to be an example for us.

An error made Jacob a slave for seven years,
Because he did not speak of Rachel to Laban;
But time repaired all his damage.

In Penelopes there was such perseverance,
That, by weaving and undoing her web,
She deserved to rejoin her beloved Ulysses.

Egeus made for himself a cruel doubt,
So that he was quick to seek death in the sea,
As soon as he saw Theseus come back with black sails.

Sophonisba was faithful to Massinissa
Beyond doubt, because she promised to drink poison
If she were forced to follow the triumph.

Nesso deceived when he said to Deianira:
Give this cloth with blood to Hercules,
If it ever happens that you have to fight for love.

In Hipermestra, as in a cunning snake,
There was wisdom because wearing the clothes of a woman
She saved her husband who was bloodless with fear.

Chance fell on Pompeyus, that for many years
Had seated at the top of the wheel,
But in the end fortune submerged him with troubles.

Emilia, the faithful wife of Scipio, showed
Modesty; because when she found him with a maid,
She did not talk of his sin not to make it public.

A spark brings danger of a big fire:
See how Cesar was killed in the senate
By only two people; after he survived the anger of Sulla.

Experience was in Rhea, who after hiding
Jove in mount Ida, ordered to make noise
So that he could not be found because of his crying.

Time, you that hurry men to death,
You saved Nestor, and if in the end he came to an end,
It seems impossible to think of such a life.

Oblivion, you are the end and boundary
Of all, you took to Lethe Elice and Dido,
And among your ruins you have fame and time.

Inner strength made happy the death of
Lucretia: to clean her fame
She killed herself, and she prepared for the offender a dark net,

Giving an example to those who love their own name and honour.
Considering the length of the texts, then the triumph texts of Boiardo have 67 lines, nearly as much as 5 sonnets (70 lines). The 45 Love sonnets of Pico have totally 630 lines.

The tarotpedia article at archive.org starts here ...
https://web.archive.org/web/20110708080 ... tteo_Maria
They had also an attempt to translate the commentary of Viti, which was published in Italian at a trionfi.com page:
https://web.archive.org/web/20100811191 ... do_Comment
http://trionfi.com/0/h/03/
Huck
http://trionfi.com