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Journal of Italian Translation
island. The painting was executed for the Oratory of S. Giovanni Decollato
which is attached to the Conventual Church of St. John in Valletta. The
church served as a hall for instruction of the novice knights and for devotions.
Pers, in Malta from 1627-1629, would have taken his monastic vows
before the canvas, which was installed, as intended, in 1608, as the altarpiece
(and where it remains in place today). For a history of the painting, see:
David M. Stone, “The context of Caravaggio’s ‘Beheading of St John’ in Malta,”
The Burlington Magazine, 139, no.1128 (March 1997): 161-170. A thorough
study of Caravaggio in Malta can be found in: Keith Sciberras and David M.
Stone, Caravaggio: Art, Knighthood and Malta (midseaBooksLtd: University of
Malta, 2006).
9. Rak (op.cit., p. xxx) observes that Pers employs the word-play ‘mare/
cielo’ with the proper name, Maria/‘Celia’ in sonnet 131, addressed to a
lady of his acquaintance. Pers may have had the same lady in mind when
composing the sonnet here translated.
10. Bettella, “Female Old Age Revisited,” op.cit., pp. 152-160. Bettella
observes the elegiac qualities of Pers’s sonnets to Nicea. The section also
traces the theme of the aging beloved as an aesthetic concept within the
Italian poetic canon.
11. Ibid., pp. 138-144. Bettella’s section, “In Praise of Dark Hair,” discusses
the ‘dark-haired’ lady as a Marinist theme. Bettella also contributes
a prose translation of the sonnet (pp. 140-141).
12. Cloto: in Greco-Roman mythology, one of the three Parcae, or Fates,
who determine the destiny of mortals. Cloto holds the distaff and spins the
thread of life; Lachesi measures length; Atropo cuts the thread at time of
death.
13. Batto: Rak (op.cit., p. 22) reproduces this proper name as ‘Patto’ in
brackets to indicate uncertainty. Bettella (op.cit., pp. 141, 226) observes
that the Croce anthology, Lirici Marinisti (op.cit., p. 363), reproduces the
name as ‘Batto’ to suggest a mythological basis for the metaphor. The Stone
of Batto, according to Bettella, was a rock used by goldsmiths to determine
true from false gold. Bettella interprets the allusion to mean that the dark
hair behaves like the Stone in showing the ‘gold’ of golden hair to be ‘false’
in comparison to the ‘true’ gold of black hair (i.e., black hair becoming in
the Marinist aesthetic the defining quality of ‘true’ beauty.)
Rak (op.cit., p. 408), on the other hand, suggests that ‘Patto’ may reference
the stones of the river Pactolus in Lydia, known for its gold nuggets.
Rak’s interpretation would then encourage a visual image of the black hair
as a flowing river, glinting with gold sparks.
14. Pasitea: according to Rak (op.cit., p. 422), the Homeric name of the
youngest of the three Graces and fiancée of Hypnos, or Sleep. Pers may be
alluding here to the harmony that this Grace would bestow upon those
inher favor, i.e., those who sleep. Since the beloved Pasitea is wedded to
Hypnos, then only in sleep (dream), perhaps, may the ‘combattuti affetti’ or
physical longings be given ‘tregua’ (truce), thus satisfying sexual desire.