This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 68-3016

LOUCKS, n, James Frederick, 1936- "SCRIPTURE FOR HIS PURPOSE”: A STUDY OF ROBERT BROWNING'S USE OF BIBLICAL ALLUSIONS IN THE RING AND THE BOOK. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1967 Language and Literature, modem

University Microfilms, Inc.. Ann Arbor, Michigan "SCRIPTURE FOR HIS PURPOSE":

A STUDY OF

ROBERT BROWNING*S USE OF BIBLICAL ALLUSIONS

IN

THE RING AND THE BOOK

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University

er By James F.c Loucks, II, B.A. , M.A.

****#*•

The Ohio State University 1967

Approved by

Adviser Department of English Antonio: Mark you this, Bassanio, The dlvel can cite Scripture for his purpose, An evil soul producing holy witness, Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, A goodly apple rotten at the heart, O what a goodly outside falsehood hath.

Merchant of Venice (1.3,97-102)

ii PREFACE

To Browning*s readers it is perhaps a commonplace that the poet makes extraordinarily frequent use of Scriptural allusion, even when considered in the context of his own

Bible-quoting age. But few modern readers understand how

Browning used these allusions for rhetorical effect; this

lack has "been partially remedied by a few sketchy critical

studies, presided over by Mrs, Minnie Machen*s The Bible in

Browning» which shows commendable knowledge of the Bible,

but little of the poet*s use thereof. It was my desire to

elucidate some of the obscurer The Ring and the Book pas­

sages containing Biblical allusions that led me to the pre­

sent subject; but as I began to collect examples, I became

aware that Browning*s manipulation of Scripture raised a

larger question, that of the poet*s attitudes toward lan­

guage itself— its protean, elusive, impermanent and decep­

tive character. How better could one illustrate the verbal

trickery of men than to allow a monologuist to conveniently

alter Scripture for his purpose? To his contemporaries,

especially, the often unscrupulous distortion of the Bible

practiced by the more sly speakers (who are numerous, of

course, in Browning) was not only readily recognized, but

iii probably caused, among the more pious at least, a startling rhetorical effect which is largely lost todays a willful distortion of God*s word would instantly label a given speaker as a self-seeking and deceitful man. For Browning, then, Biblical allusions are usually bound up with moral and philosophical questions. Not that he is a theological speculator in the abstract; his interests lie almost invari­ ably in the practical verbal application of Biblical truths to the lives of specific men. In examining Browning*s allusiveness, therefore, one must first discuss the poet*s attitudes toward language, and then study inductively the poet*s use of the Bible in The Ring and the Book.

I wish to acknowledge the kind assistance of Professor

Richard D. Altick, and the patience of Beverly, whose time

has been given unstintingly.

iv VITA

February 7» 1936 Born— Lakewood, Ohio

1957 B.A., Yale University, New Haven Connectlcut

1960-1963 Teacher of English, The Columbus School for Girls, Columbus, Ohio

1963-1967 Teaching Assistant, Department of English, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

1965 M.A. , The Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio

PUBLICATIONS

Browning1 s Roman Murder Story: A Reading of 11 The Ring and the Book," in collaboration with Professor Richard D. Altick, To be published in 1968 by the University of Chicago Press.

FIELDS OF STUDY

Major Field: English Literature

Victorian Literature. Professor Richard D. Altick

v TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

PREFACE ...... ill

VITA ...... v

INTRODUCTION ...... 1

PART Is 11 THE VARIANCE NOW, THE EVENTUAL UNITY": THEMATIC PATTERNS IN BROWNING*S BIBLICAL ALLUSIONS

Chapter

1 . INTRODUCTORY ...... 13

2. MAJOR THEMATIC PATTERNS ...... 22

3. MINOR THEMES ...... 129

4. SINGLE ALLUSIONS . 156

PART II: "THE TWO-EDGED SWORD": IRONISTS VERSUS LITERALISTS

1. I N T R O D U C T O R Y ...... 172

2. IRONISTS ...... 185

3. LITERALISTS ...... 239

CONCLUSION ..... 325

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 328

Vi INTRODUCTION: BROWNING AND LANGUAGE AS DECEPTION

Browning*s longstanding mistrust of language— he

speaks of its imperfections as early as Sordello— is indis­

solubly connected with his ethical and moral concepts. In this Heraclitean world of flux, language is at best fraught with the imperfections inherent in flux: inconsistency, ambiguity, and attenuation of meaning. At worst— in the

hands of the unscrupulous or the deceitful— language can

become the very Instrument of falsehood. For Browning,

language is a mark of man*s fallen state, since it is by

nature indirect, using inherited symbols, signs and con­

ventions of expression to convey, with lamentable inade­

quacy, man's deepest truths. Speaking for Browning (as he

nearly always does), the Pope, in The Ring and the Book

wearied nearly to death by the repeated examination of

testimony and legal arguments, characterizes language as a

consequence of man's proclivity to err.

None of this vile way by the barren words Which, more than any deed, characterise Man as made subject to a curse: no speech— That still bursts o*er some lie which lurks inside, As the split skin across the coppery snake, And most denotes man! since, in all beside, In hate or lust or guile or unbelief, Out of some core of truth the excrescence comes, And, in the last resort, the man may urge "So was I made, a weak thing that gave way

1 2

To truth, to impulse only strong since true, And hated, lusted, used guile, forwent faith." But when man walks the garden of this world For his own solace, and, unchecked by law, Speaks or keeps silence as himself sees fit, Without the least incumbency to lie, — Why, can he tell you what a rose is like, Or how the birds fly, and not slip to false Though truth serve better? Man must tell his mate Of you, me and himself, knowing he lies, Knowing his fellow knows the same,— will think "He lies, it is the method of a man!" And yet will speak for answer "It is truth" To him who shall rejoin "Again a lie!" Therefore this fslcl filthy rags of speech, this coil Of statement, comment, query and response, Tatters all too contaminate for use, Having no renewing! He, the Truth, is, too, The Word. We men, in our degree, may know There, simply, instantaneously, as here After long time and amid many lies, Whatever we dare think we know indeed — That I am I, as He is He,— what else? But be man's method for man's life at least! (X. 3^8 -81)

The attitude toward language evinced here— especially in

the "rags of speech" metaphor— may have been inspired by

Carlyle's familiar likening of language to clothing which 1 at once conceals and wears to tatters. Carlyle's con­

ception of language as being "but a mockery of what one

means"2 had a continuous currency in the Victorian period,

*Seemingly it is one of those metaphors whose employ­ ment is almost inevitable. It occurs, for instance, in the North British Review (XIV [1830-18311,^), Max Muller's Lectures on the Science of Language (London, 186^, p. and the Cornhlll Magazine (XXXIX [1879], 586). Tennyson sums up the idea without recourse to the metaphor: "For words, like Nature, half reveal/ And half conceal the Soul within." (In Memoriam, V)

2Froude, Carlyle* s Life in London (London, I8 8 5 ), I. 198. 3 stretching not only from Sartor Resartus to The Ring and the Book but beyond the poem*s publication; for it was but the prelude to our far-reaching modern inquiry into the whole metaphysics of language. In an age of Angst and doubt equalled only by our own, when the ultimate questions

of the spiritual life loomed large, it was natural that

language itself should be held up to scrutiny.

This was of course nothing new; the inadequacies of

verbal communication are as old as Western philosophy.

Plato held the poet suspect, and thinkers from Aristotle

down through the German idealists inherited an ambivalent

attitude toward language: a concurrent deep-seated mis­

trust with a fearful respect for its powers, together with

an acute awareness of language’s failure to be precise and

its tendency to decay. In their various ways Kant, Goethe

and Hegel, while admitting the utility of language, said

that words were ultimately only counters or tokens either

drained of meaning or invested with factitious meaning, and

that the deepest truths lay altogether outside the pale of

speech.

Carlyle it is who best expresses this inherent decep­

tiveness of language in his Sartor:

The secret of Man’s being is still like the Sphinx’s secret: a riddle that he cannot rede; and for ignorance of which he suffers death, the worst death, a spiritual. What are your Axioms, and Categories, and Systems, and Apho­ risms? Words, words. High Air-Castles are cunningly built of Words, the Words well bedded also in good logic-mortar; wherein, however, no knowledge will come to lodge. . • . Be not the slave of words.3

The paradox here is clear: while language is our chief means of communication, it is also fraught with error. More

than any other poet of his age, Browning was conscious of

this built-in treachery, for he often sought to reach souls

through linguistic avenues obscure and untested; to him

therefore the imprecisions of language loomed especially

large.

The frailty of language is even more apparent when

contrasted with the enduring Word of God, whether spoken or

miraculously conveyed in silence through intuition. The

hierarchy of linguistic levels, in fact, parallels the

Great Chain of Being in which man is a link. The language

of the Deity must be paraphrased for the limited under­

standing of man. It is a necessary means of stepping down

the voltage of pure incandescent truth to the dull red glow

produced by the filament of common utterance: much heat,

therefore, and little light are the inevitable concomitants

of human intercourse. Oddly enough, it is the self-

interested rhetorician Arcangelis in The Ring and the Book

who first arrives at this important truth:

We must translate our motives like our speech Into the lower phrase that suits the sense

3Sartor Resartus (New York, 1937)* pp. 5^-55. 5

0* the limitedly apprehensive. Let Each level have its language! Heaven speaks first To the angel, then the angel tames the word Down to the ear of Tobit: he, in turn, Diminishes the message to his dog, And finally that dog finds how the flea (Which else, importunate, might check his speed) Shall learn its hunger must have holiday,— How many varied sorts of language here, Each following each with pace to match the step, Haud passlbus aequlsl (VIII. 1^98-1510)

This "translation" of language to lower levels is charac­ teristic of man and his institutions. Law itself, as well as the Church, is an institution reared on linguistic foun­ dations, and thus is subject to the same errors as one finds in language. A great part of the philosophic burden of

The Ring and the Book is that these errors are compounded by human malice and self-interest; those most adept in the arts of language are those most apt to use speech as a wea­ pon for their own ends— to charm or deceive others. Much of the sophistry in which the poem abounds has a double edge: fair-seeming words conceal dark intents. The Pope's verdict succinctly condemns such abuses: "All say good words/ To who will hear, all do thereby bad deeds/ To who must undergo; so thrive mankind!" (X. 517-19)

Beyond the conscious abuse of language, of course, lies a vast shadow-area of ambiguity and half-truth which are products of language's very imperfections. Fra

Celestino's text, in the poem's last book, that "God is true and every man a liar," thus has far wider application 6 than to Guido or to the murder case or to the Rome of the latter seventeenth century. Language itself is in part a

"lie" in that it cannot pretend to convey the whole of man's truth, let alone God's. Men's Institutions--law, liturgy, reputation— are edifices erected primarily with words; this fact alone attests to their inconstancy and

impermanence. Moreover, since words depend upon convention

or common consent for their meaning, and since there is

little enough common consent among men, the very usefulness

of language is held up to question. If its value in human

transactions and institutions is doubtful, it is even more

useless in matters of the spirit. Indeed, Fra Celestino's

sermon has as part of its burden the acknowledgment of the

near-total inability of communication and testimony to con­

vince men of the miraculous nature of the Pompilia-

Caponsacchi hegira to Rome. The common run of men insist

perversely that the events cannot be other than they appear

on the surface; and language's superficialities, together

with its being subservient to sense perception, contribute

markedly to the compounding of error. Small wonder, then,

that the numinous meaning of the elopement should be almost

entirely missed.

It is thus perhaps fitting that because language

proves so often inadequate, the best tribute to the divine

import of the latter-day miracle of Pompilia's salvation 7 and Caponsacchi*s conversion is silence. Like Carlyle, the

Pope of Book X recognizes the beneficence of Silence; for since language offers only tokens of fragmented truth— and it is the common failing of men to mistake the;se tokens for the whole truth— the best expression of reverence, para­ doxically enough, is no outward expression whatever. It is thematically appropriate, therefore, that the Pope, like

Fra Celestino, regards as doomed to failure any attempt to define or to glorify the spiritual lovers* transcendent silent act. "No bard," he says, will "describe in verse how Christ prevailed/ And Satan fell like lightning!" Even if such were possible, it would avail little: "What does the world, told truth, but lie the more?" (X. 670- 72)

In view of Brownlng*s attitude toward language, especially its tendency to distort or diminish truth, his use of the Bible is both fitting and effective. For the

Bible, as the sacred and immanent Word of God, is perhaps more often misread and misrepresented than any other perma­ nent literary work in Western culture. In the world of

The Ring and the Book, where man*s natural proclivity to err is purposely intensified in order to heighten the rela­ tive purity of the "pair of saints," the Bible becomes use­ ful both linguistically and morally. Linguistically, in that Browning allows the distortion of the Word to point up man*s distortion of words generally; and morally, in that 8 the Bible becomes, either explicitly or inferentially, a convenient norm against which to measure the characters in the poem--especially those who knowingly distort the meaning of Biblical passages or rip phrases out of context to fur­ ther their own narrow and often selfish purposes. Browning, then, is concerned not simply with the Bible as the inspired

Word of God, but with man*s relationship to the word; there­ fore, in The Ring and the Book one of the poet*s intentions is to catch men in the act of citing Scripture for their purpose. In each such glimpse of Scripture, we find that

Browning is weighing his monologuist*s intention against the intention of the writer of the Bible passage: meaning against original meaning; context against original context.

If the speaker has been guilty of distorting the word of

God, his degree of guilt is proportional to the degree and amount of distortion. Such glimpses of men using Scriptures allow Browning tacit comment upon the relative worth of each

of the souls in his drama. Each soul saves or condemns it­

self by its relationship to the Word. Clearly, the Bible

is ’’all things to all men," since it is used as authority

by both Godly and unscrupulous. Browning would agree with

Shakespeare*s Antonio that "the dlvel can cite Scripture for

his purpose." The eternal verities remain, however; it is

the protean character of man which is tinder scrutiny here.

For Browning, with his characteristic deep-rooted confidence, 9 is not afraid that the truth of Scripture will be vitiated by being distorted; he is rather concerned for the souls of those who are capable of appropriating the Word of God to their narrow and selfish ends. Indeed, it would seem that Browning*s casuists know the Bible better than their more honest fellow-men: in The Ring and the Book, for example, the two lawyers, whose legal methods are question­ able at best, resort much more often to Scriptural allusions than does the most saintly of the characters,

Pompilia. Moreover, their command of Scriptures exhibits a great acquaintance with memorized "legal” passages from

books such as Leviticus and Numbers. Such evidence indi­

cates that the Bible comes into use, especially in Books II,

V and VIII, as "legal precedent," on the assumption that

Mosaic Law is incontrovertible. But to these men, the

Bible holds no spiritual truths: it is simply a tool to be

freely wielded in legal cases to hammer away at malleable

orthodox minds.

Biblical allusiveness, then, serves Browning well as

implicit moral commentary; it serves also to underscore the

whole thematic pattern of the poem, which is based on the

Christian quest for salvation and ultimate truth. The

erratic and often circuitous progress of the poem*s

characters toward personal salvation and awareness is made

the more meaningful and poignant by continual cross­ 10 reference to parallel Biblical episodes. Thus Pompllia and

Gaetano her son become the pursued Mary with the Christ child;

Caponsacchi in this context becomes Mary*s husband Joseph;

their hegira to Rome finds its obvious parallel to that into

Egypt. On the highly ironic level, Guido conceives of his

whole life as being one long via crucis, one long torment:

he thus parallels his life*s trying episodes to those in

the lives of persecuted Biblical figures— Job, Samson, and,

most of all, Christ Himself. Thus, the poemfs texture is

not merely enriched by the liberal admixture of Biblical

allusion. What makes The Ring and the Book unique is the

degree to which these allusions prove to be functional in

both characterization and theme.

The allusions operate, too, in a unique way. Browning1s

technique of the dramatic monologue allows him to employ

Scriptural allusions as commentary on the person or event

the speaker is discussing. This commentary in either case

may be "straight" or ironic; that is, a given monologuist,

say Guido, might make an allusion quite in earnest, as when

he characterizes the Pope in Book XI (if-00 ff.) as the Bad

Shepherd who allows one of His own flock (Guido of course)

to perish in mire. But Browning has already taken consid­

erable care to portray Guido as the veritable wolf and not

the sheep, and so Guido1s aspersion against the Pope

redounds to his own discredit. Thus, in terms of the poen^s 11 total pattern, the allusion has Ironic overtones. Too, the speaker may be consciously ironic, as when Bottinius portrays

Pompilia as the healed leper or the (converted?) Magdalene

(IX. 936ff.); the real intention of these allusions in the immediate context is clearly ironic, for the tone of his characterization of Pompilia leads in a quite different direction. If she is a Magdalene, it is Magdalene as splendid courtesan, not as follower of Christ.

The dense and almost overdone pattern of "straight11 allusions needs little commentary. These appear most often to lend an atmosphere of awe and wonder to the often anom­ alous episodes in the Franceschinl affair; Browning clearly

felt the necessity of tipping the scales in favor of the

eloped pair. Accordingly, he casts Caponsacchi*s experi­

ence with the puzzling child-wife in mystic terms: he is

the new convert into the true "faith" based on sacrificial

service to a surrogate "Mary," Pompilia. The institutional

faith on which his adult life has been based is seen as

palely hypocritical by comparison with the new activist per­

suasion. Thus does Browning, by the continual suggestion

of discipleship, crowd out any nagging notions of guilt.

The Pope, too, characterizes the elopement in the same Bib­

lical terms, and inferentially casts himself in the role of

"disciple" to Pompilia, confirming the already palpable

aura of sanctity surrounding the elopement. Pompilia, 12

Caponsacchi and the Pope— these three become the conveyors of Biblical truths In action as well as in speech. But they are distinctly in the minority, and the chief interest in Biblical usage lies in the more complex patterns of ironic reference outlined above. I. "THE VARIANCE NOW, THE EVENTUAL UNITY”: THEMATIC PATTERNS IN BROWNING*S BIBLICAL ALLUSIONS

1. INTRODUCTORY

Upon close study, one discovers in The Ring and the

Book clusters of Ideas which finally fall Into a pattern closely resembling the larger movement of the Bible itself, namely the progression of man’s view of himself, as a moral being answerable to God's law, from Old Adam to New Adam

(to borrow St. Paul's terminology). The Old Adam is the

legalist who codifies everything and who expects (with some

Justification) Jehovah to be a vindictive Judge; and New

Adam operates under the New Dispensation of Christ's love,

and eschews the codified laws as inadequate to man's moral

needs. To transfer this concept to Browning's poem, in

which morals and ethics come under continuous scrutiny, one

finds— at least in its broadest outlines— that the poem

continually Juxtaposes the Old Adams and the New. There

are those who, like Guido, live under the Old Dispensation,

giving no quarter whatever though they expect the indul­

gence due their rank or station; and they are opposed by

those New Adams who see by Christ's light and who are in

13 consequence forgiving. Even more important, the latter recognize, in the elopement of the priest and the child- wife, a latter-day demonstration of Christian self- sacrifice, a great instance of Christ*s promise of sal­ vation. The others see only a scandalous act which merited the punishment so cruelly meted out by Guido. The Biblical allusions, so plentifully provided by speakers from both camps, heighten the poem*s theme of the quest for salvation, and ineluctably point to the New Dispensation as the only true path to grace. To make our recognition of the

salvation theme inescapable, Browning introduces events parallel to or suggestive of most of the pivotal Biblical acts; the original sin (perpetrated through Eve), the

ritual murder of Abel (Pompilia), the punishment of the

adulterous wife by death, the promise of Messiah, the Incar­ nation, the Plight into Egypt, and Christ*s life and death.

These events are of course translated into modern terms:

for the Plight into Egypt, for example, read the eloped

pair’s flight to Rome to save both Pompilia and her unborn

child.

The poem can be read as a dialectical argument about

salvation, in which the "light” of Pompilia and Caponsacchi

shines in the darkness of error, and is comprehended not—

or at least not by those most in need of saving grace. The

early books, appropriately entitled "Rome and Rumour," 15 graphically demonstrate the workihg of the unredeemed and totally secular mind (even the Other Half-Rome*s references

to sainthood are merely for effect). Their arguments are

largely based on the legalistic ground of convention or

privilege, and thus anticipate the more systematic legal

arguments of Books VIII and IX.

The triad of Books V, VI, and VII begins with spiritual

darkness, and ends with the affirmation of salvation.

Guido, for all his Bible-quoting, is the most clearly unre­

deemable character of the poem. For him there is no sal­

vation outside of human institutions, especially law and

church; and earthly station conveys even the privilege of

torturing and murdering one's own kin. With Caponsacchi

and Pompilia, on the other hand, we arrive at the appli­

cation of the Gospel of regeneration in human lives; out of

despair and suffering arises the hope of salvation, both

personal and universal, even in a world of alien values.

Just how alien these values can become is amply illustrated

by the monologues of the lawyers, whose sophistical dis­

tortions of the true spiritual import of the pair's actions

are roundly condemned by the Pope; the latter*s speech

reaffirms the necessity of such recrudescences of Christ's

power as evinced by the elopement. That Guido fails to per­

ceive the grace tendered to him by his union with the

saintly Pompilia (whom he torments precisely because she is 16 pure) is a measure of his damnation. Nor does his ultimate demise detract from the total movement toward regeneration.

Though the poem ends on a pessimistic note, with Guido as representative of the new race of infidels, the poem also affirms that at critical times in the history of men there occur events, however obscure, the import of which is to reassert Christ*s relevance to the age.

In smaller compass, but every bit as important as the total movement toward regeneration, there exists in many of the poem*s monologues the theme of damnation/salvation, usually expressed in terms of man*s fall and his possible redemption through Christ*s grace. Often the theme is

treated ironically, as in Book V (where Guido*s fall is marriage and his possible salvation is through privilege of

clergy) and Book IX (where Pompilia falls through animal nature and is redeemed by Bottinian fiat); but nearly as

often it is treated with great reverence, as in Book VI,

where Caponsacchi with some justification speaks of his

"fall11 through association with the Church and its Inherent

hypocrisy, and of his salvation through his chance meeting

with Pompilia. Illustrating this pattern of fall and

redemption is the secondary scheme of point for point simi­

larities between an individual passage and a Biblical one

in subject, phrasing or tone (or various combinations of the

three). Most of the poem*s allusive interest lies here, for 17 the reader can, with ready reference to the Bible, detect

the degree of fidelity to the Biblical original. In general,

the speakers who feel the least necessity to distort the

Biblical text are those whose apprehension of God or whose

actual experiences find close analogues among Biblical fig­

ures. Caponsacchi, for instance, recognizes his similarity

to St. Joseph, the husband of Mary (as does the reader),

and so a paralleling of roles is justified. In keeping with

his legitimate status as protector of the saintly Pompilia

(who is just as often paralleled to Mary) Caponsacchi is a

guardian of God’s word. Never does he distort a Biblical

text in order to justify his actions; he feels rightly

that all the truth is on his side. It is only such figures

as Guido (whose most notable arrogatlon of roles is that of

the constant likening of himself to Christ) who are driven

to misquote or Invent Scripture for their suspect purposes.

And in doing so, they only give further evidence that they

cannot comprehend in its primary sense the saving Word

which they exploit for merely intermediate and narrow ends.

Guido and his partisans are masters at citing (and often

glossing) appropriate texts, conveniently altered, as

authority or precedent for their acts or points of view.

It perhaps goes without saying that these characters

provide the greatest interest with respect to the use of

Biblical allusions. It is rather a challenge to find the 18 original Biblical passage alluded to, to measure the kind and degree of distortion, and then assess the poet*s pur­ poses. Often Biblical themes are used merely to lend an aura of divinity to an act or character; but more often

Browning intends ironic juxtaposition between the original

Biblical theme and its counterpart in the Roman murder case.

One smiles, for example, at the explicit likening, by

Archangelis, of Guido to Samson at Gaza; we smile not merely because Guido is hardly heroic and self-sacrificingr

but because Guido1s counsel has the nerve to insist upon

the analogy and to dramatize it in his bombastic Latinic

fashion.

The point for point similarities treated above form

part of still another pattern of Biblical allusion in The

Ring and the Book. Often the same allusion, or the same

theme (e.g., the Garden of Eden motif) is made in two or

more of the poem*s monologues; if one has the tenacity of

memory which Browning seemed to have demanded of all his

readers, one realizes that almost without exception there

exist ironic contrasts between successive appearances of

the same allusion. Whereas Violante, the mother of Pompilia,

is St. Elizabeth in the one monologue (praising God for

having opened her barren womb), in a succeeding monologue

Violante*s husband becomes— at least inferentially— St.

Elizabeth when his heart gives a leap for joy at the good 19 news that their child is in fact not theirs but the off­

spring of a drab, and so their property rights are main­ tained free of Guido* s grasp. This comic change of roles

is but one of scores of such shifts; each one becomes

implicit commentary on man's character. The ultimate result

of the 11 lamination" of two or more allusions to the same

Biblical source is a sort of tension, both semantic and

thematic. The various avatars of Christ, for example,

especially command the readers* attention. What are the

poet's motives for allowing Guido to arrogate the greater

share of the allusions to Christ's life and suffering? Is

not Pompilia more deserving of being seen as the exemplar

of Christian humility and sacrifice? Is the babe Gaetano

likened to Christ merely to add "texture" to the elopement

to Rome and its aftermath by suggesting a parallel to

Herod's persecution in Israel after Christ's birth? Does

it make any difference that the really extensive use of the

imagery and theme of Christ's life is Guido’s in Book V,

and that Pompilia, two books later, is allowed to see the

parallels between herself and Christ only dimly? All such

questions inevitably produce tensions within the reader; and

this is precisely the poet's intention. If one begins to

question Guido's motives for risking the charge of blas­

phemy by his constant and blatant invocations of Christian

imagery before the priests in order to palliate his crime 20 and (possibly) save his neck, one realizes the true measure of his desperation and moral depravity. The Biblical allusions, then, require the reader to make moral judgments: if Guido*s Christlike nature proves mere affectation or blasphemy, it is so not merely because he has done heinous deeds, but also because Pompilia and Caponsacchi have chosen to invoke cognate Christian themes to justify their ulti­ mately good acts. The principle of ironic contrast, of which the Christ parallels are an isolated example, is con­ stantly at work in The Ring and the Book, comprising what finally emerges as a separable moral argument.

Turning to the thematic organization of the individual books, we find striking similarities among their patterns.

First, each book throws emphasis on one Biblical theme, often to such a degree that it seems to exclude others.

The theme of militant Christian witness in a world of evil, for example, dominates the entire book of "Caponsacchi"

(Book VI). Usually the theme of one book sharply contrasts with those of its proximate books: surrounding the

"militant Christian" theme of Caponsacchi are the themes of harsh Old Testament justice in "Guido," (Book V) and that

of "Christian submission" (and the Incarnation) in

"Pompilia." The three themes in question are sharply diver­

gent: Guido*s sadistic severity contrasts acutely with

Caponsacchi*s aggressive Christianity. But Caponsacchi*s 21 brand of Christian witness is clearly inferior to Pompilia's

Christian submission and self-abnegation. Browning, more­ over, often increases the number of Biblical allusions during peak moments— emotional crises, decisive actions, or climaxes in persuasive speeches. In the first three hundred lines of '’Gu i d o , ’' for example, we are hit by a sal­ vo of allusions from the Gospels. The cause is evident:

Guido is desperately attempting to draw parallels from the outset between himself and Christ as "suffering servant."

Again, in "Pompilia," Biblical allusions are concentrated

in the passages (11. 600-900) in which the frantic bride attempts to win her release from the obligation to be

Guido's sexual partner. Prostrate before the Archbishop,

she hears familiar Biblical words turned against her:

That which was glory in the Mother of God Had been, for instance, damnable in Eve Created to be Mother of mankind (VII. 758- 60)

Thus, Browning uses the Bible to underscore climactic

passages in The Ring and the Book, achieving a kind of

charged atmosphere by superimposing an implied Biblical

frame of reference upon the natural structure of the mono-

liguist's narrative. 2. MAJOR THEMATIC PATTERNS

The Fall of Man. The myth of Eden and the Fall of Man are the donnees of The Ring and the Book; that Is, the en­ tire thematic pattern is based on the assumption that man has fallen from a pristine state of innocence, into "The

primal curse/ Which bids man love as well as make a lie."-*-

(I. 6^3-^) All Rome is torn by opposing factions both

secular and ecclesiastical: old beliefs are questioned.

Even the fallibility of the Pope is under scrutiny. Thus

the contemporary condition of man parallels closely the

chaotic, graceless state of Man after the Original Sin and

the expulsion from Eden.

The theme of the Fall is one of the three dominant

recurrent patterns in The Ring and the Book, the other two

being Law versus Gospel and the Incarnation and Passion of

Christ. The three themes provide a natural bridge from the

Old Testament concept of justice, law and punishment to the

New Testament mercy, grace and salvation. We become

sharply aware of a progression, sometimes erratic, often

disappointingly slow, from error and falsehood and cruelty,

iGen. 1; See also Rev. 22:15: "For without are. . . murderers and idolators, and who so ever loveth and maketh a lie." (cf. 2 Thes. 2:11)

22 23 toward a state of purity and newness. Often--as in the case of Pietro and Violante— the gift of salvation is ren­ dered only at the frightful expense of death. Their sacri­ fice, to he sure, is involuntary; but at last they are led to eternal life. There are those, however, like Guido, who remain fallen; but they are damned only after they are offered— and reject— God's gift of forgiveness and mercy.

The phrase natural man is used four times in The Ring and the Book. The term would seem to suggest man before the Fall (i.e. in a state of purity). Yet, with only one 2 exception, the term suggests postlapsarian Man ruled by passion and greed.^ in justifying Guido's act of murder,

for example, Archangelis types Guido as the "Old Adam":

"The natural man may effervesce in ire" (VIII. 685). The

Pope, too, sees that passion has driven Guido to his crime,

"Done at an instinct of the natural man" (X. 1582).

Bottinius, outlandish as always, brazenly classifies

Caponsacchi among the natural men who are governed by the

strictures of society, although below the glaze of law and

^The term "natural man" is here used in a laudatory sense: . . . for the natural man is roused At fools who first do wrong, then pour the blame Of their wrong-doing, Satan-like, on Job. (I. 961-63) Cf. Job 2:4, in which Job is blamed by Satan, not for the latter's wrong doing, but for human frailty. (Cook, Commentary, p. 25)

^Such a reading is based on the text, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." (1 Cor. 2:1^. ) 24- honor there lies the crude clay of evil:

Such mind is hampered so By growth of circumstance athwart the life O' the natural man, that decency forbids He stoop and take the common privilege. . . . (IX. 486-88)

Clearly, the term ’’natural man” is opprobrious, since it connotes the deprivation of God's grace. As such, it is linked with the whole concept of the Pall from Grace de­ picted in Genesis. The "natural" characters in The Ring and the Book all act from immediate, animal instincts, not as a result of God's mediating will. We are not surprised,

therefore, to see Pietro and Violante, the aging parents of

Pompilia, depicted as Adam and Eve. Their villa— to com­

plete the picture— is a latter day Garden, somewhat decadent

to be sure, but a garden nonetheless. The identification of

the dramatis personae, however, does not remain constant.

Indeed, although Pietro and Violante are most often por­

trayed as Adam and Eve, it is Pompilia who first takes her

bow as Eve:

. . . The gallant, Caponsacchi, Lucifer I' the garden where Pompilia, Eve-like, lured k Her Adam Guido to his fault and fall. (II. 167-69)

^Gen. 3*6. The echoes of Paradise Lost certainly affect the tone of the original, especially in the subtlety and colorfulness of Lucifer, and the insidious Intent of the woman, whom Milton consistently portrays as weak-willed and crafty. The Miltonic flavor of the description of the Abate Paolo (III. 250-376) is especially strong. 25

Lucifer, or the Serpent, is seen by Half-Rome as a destroyer of domestic unity. Yet, curiously, Caponsacchl- as-Lucifer enters Guido’s garden after the ’’fault and fall.”-* According to legend, it is Lucifer who has planted the seed of pride in Eve's mind; here, it is suggested that

Eve has acted without first being corrupted by Lucifer, but that she has within her the germ of her own fall.

Half-Rome’s next query about Guido implies wonder at the suceptlbility of man to womanly wiles:

Why did a middle-aged not-silly man Show himself thus besotted all at once? Quoth Solomon, one black eye does it all. ✓ (II. 426-28)

^In ’’Caponsacchi,” the positions of Guido and the priest are reversed. Caponsacchi bitterly conjectures: There [at Guido1s] will they lie in ambush, heads alert, Kith, kin, and Count mustered to bite my heel. No mother nor brother viper of the brood Shall scuttle off without the instinctive bruise. (VI. 687-90) Here, Caponsacchi, militant and wary as usual, senses danger. He comes close to being a St. Michael figure, anticipating the serpent (Guido) writhing beneath his foot. (Gen. 3*15» "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” )

^Cant. 4:9. ’’Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes." (The color black is nowhere mentioned in Canticles, except as a color of the skin.) But Pompilia has already been depicted as black-eyed: "Strangle the black-eyed babe, so far so good ..." (II. 244). 26

Pietro and Violante, in a world "Where Adam’s sin made peccable his seed,"? have become heirs of Adamic frailty,

Pietro, foolishly uxorious, has believed Violante*s little

"gospel" that she will be delivered of a child. Pietro

goes Adam one better, however: he allows Violante to trick

him again,

. . . lest Eve’s rule decline Over this Adam of hers, whose cabbage-plot Throve dubiously since turned fools* paradise . . . o (II. 426-28) Thus, Violante maneuvers her child into a match with Guido,

while Pietro remains blissfully ignorant.

The Other Half-Rome, too, sees Violante as Eve, and

Pietro as uxorious Adam:

Adam-like, Pietro sighed and said no more: Eve saw the apple was fair and good to taste, So, plucked it, having asked the snake advice. (III. 169-71F

?VIII. 1443. cf. Rom 5*12: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin . . . "

®Gen. 3*16, 17« Here is an ironic reversal of God’s command that Eve’s "desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." Such uxoriousness in man is cen­ tral to the Miltonic conception of the Pall of Man.

^Gen. 3*2-6. Note the inversion of woman and snake. Here the woman is the aggressor, the serpent merely a guide! 27

The aftermath of the Other Half-Rome's "Pall" is highly

Miltonic:

Violante sobbed the sobs and prayed the prayers, And said the serpent tempted so she fell, Till Pietro had to clear his brow apace n And make the best of matters. (III. 470-73)

Tertium Quid, like Half-Rome, regards Pompilia as an Eve,

equivocating and casuistic: But then this is the wife's— Pompilia*s tale— Eve's . . .no, not Eve's, since Eve, to speak the truth, Was hardly fallen (our candour might pronounce) So much of paradlsal nature, Eve's! When simply saying in her own defence "The serpent tempted me and I did eat." Her daughters ever since prefer to urge "Adam so starved me I was fain accept The apple any serpent pushed my way." (IV. 851-59)

Pompilia, then, compounds the sin of Eve— who was "hardly

fallen" next to her wicked "daughters"— by blaming not the

serpent but Adam for her disobedience. The serpent is thus

no more than a purveyor of apples to adulterous women.

Bottinlus, much like Tertium Quid, concedes that

Pompilia is a blameworthy Eve: in speaking of the love-

epistles which he wrongly assumes she has written to

Caponsacchi, he says,

Allow them hers— for though she could not write, In early days of Eve-like innocence That plucked no apple from the knowledge-tree,

10Gen. 3*13.

n Gen. 3:1-13 28

Yet, at the Serpent’s word, Eve plucks and eats And knows— especially how to read and write. 15> (IX. Jj48-52 ) It Is Interesting to mark Bottinlus1 capacity for reduction of Scriptural sources to suit his purpose. Here, to estab­ lish Pompilia’s literacy, he rips the concept of the

"Knowledge-tree" out of contexts no longer is there a question of awareness of Good and Evil, but simply of mechanical ability to understand and transmit the written word (one wonders whether Bottinius is not also admin­

istering a coup to the concept of the education of women).

The cognomen of Eve is again invidiously applied to

Pompilia by the casuistical Archbishop, who, in exhorting her to be a good wife— and no virgin— admonishes,

"That which was glory in the Mother of God Had been, for Instance, damnable in Eve Created to be mother of mankind." (VII. 758-60)1^

Pompilia, then, is fulfilling her earthly purpose not by

emulating the Virgin, but by being an Eve, in whom the

whole race of man should germinate:

"Had Eve, in answer to her Maker’s speech ’Be fruitful, multiply, replenish earth'—

l2Gen. 3:6-8. It is ironic that later Bottinius should reverse his ground, demonstratlng Pompilia’s earthly perfection, saying that she needs no lawyer’s argument, for her dying is "A flight, impossible to Adamic flesh. . . 1 " (IX. 14^3) (cf. Rom. 5’12: "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin . . . ").

l^Gen. 1:28 29

Pouted ’But I choose rather to remain Single*--why, she had spared herself forthwith Further probation by the apple and snake, Been pushed straight out of Paradise! For see— If motherhood be qualified impure, I catch you making God command Eve sin!" . , (VII. 761-68)1

The Archbishop cleverly manipulates Pompilia from a tenable position— justifiable physical fear— to one which the illiterate Pompilia cannot defend, since she is not (unlike the Archbishop) capable of reading, much less gainsaying the Word of God.

The Pope condemns Guido precisely because of the Fall.

Since Adam sinned, man is heritor of the knowledge of Good and Evil: such knowledge makes mandatory the exercise of restraint. Guido has thus knowingly chosen the path of error:

"So has he exceeded man’s due share In man’s fit license, wrung by Adam’s fall, To sin and yet not surely die." (X. 179-81

li*'Gen. 2:16-17; 3 ’^. ^Gen. 2:17, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. . . . And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die." (Note that the Pope echoes the words of the serpent. not of God. Yet there is a mild irony Intended here: Sin does bring "death," not in the Immediate and literal sense, but in the more remote judgment of God. Since sin is not attended by sudden death, man JLs "free" to commit evil— but he must be judged, too, as Guido is judged.) 30

The Pope asks,

Why must the sin, conceived thus, bring forth death?

At the moment, only recognised aright I1 the fulness of the days, for God's, lest sin Exceed the service, leap the line: such check

Guido must needs trip on a stumbling-block .... 16 (X, 800-811)

Guido, as the direct descendant of the "Old Adam," must

stumble Into error, since he sees no divine light.

Law versus Gospel. Yet a "light" Is offered to Adam,

if he will but open his eyest Browning's favorite Gospel,

the Johannlne, speaks thus of the Logos, or Word of God, as

the Light of Man. Unquestionably, the grand religious or

Biblical theme of The Bing and the Book is precisely this*

that the Old Dispensation no longer suffices to save man­

kind: he can be saved, not by Lay, but by the Gospel. The

conflict of Law and Gospel, In one form or another, is Im­

plied by every narrator of the poemj and it is the Pope, In

Book X, who resolves the conflict by uttering Browning's

great pronouncement of faith In the "tale" that Is the

Gospel.

l^Jas. 1:15* "Then when lust hath conceived, it brlngeth forth sin; and sin, when It Is finished, brlngeth forth death." Gal.4>*^. "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son." Ezek. 7*9* "• • • It Is the stumbling-block of their iniquity." 31

Law1? is, in The Ring and the Book, treated as anti­ thetical to the Gospel: while the one metes out justice, the other renders mercy.1® The conflict of Old and New

Testament is of course annunciated emphatically by St.

Paul,1^ whose Epistle to Galatians has as its theme that one cannot find salvation through obedience to the Mosaic

Law, but must "put off the Old man [and] put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him."2® The central conflict in The Ring and the

Book, when elevated above the specifics of Guido*s trial

1?Hereafter capitalized to distinguish Mosaic Law from •‘natural law,11 the rule of instinct, (cf. "What do they do but obey law— natural law?" [II. 1101] which denotes the drive for self-preservation.)

1®"Law" often refers as well to the secular court, while "Gospel" rather loosely suggests the ecclesiastical tribunal, as in Archangelis* sarcastic countering of the charge of Laesa Ma.lestas: Pall under such a censure, we,— who yearned So much that Majesty dispel the cloud And shine on us with healing on its wings, That we prayed the Pope, Majestas* very self To anticipate a little the tardy pack,

. . . and, Gospel leading Law, Grant there assemble in our own behoof A Congregation, a particular [Ecclesiastical] Court. (VIII. 1388-97) (cf. John 1:17, Mai. ^:2. "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.")

^St. Paul (2 Cor. 3*6) would concur with Guido*s "The letter kills, the spirit keeps alive/ In law and Gos­ pel." (XI. 1531-3 2 )

20Col. 3*9. 32 for murder, resolves Itself into a question of wherein lies the ultimate earthly authority: in the concrete laws by which man limits his physical freedom, or the moral re­ straints imposed by religion? This question Is argued by each narrator, beginning with Half-Rome, who queries,

And, whereas law and gospel held their peace, What wonder if the sticks and stones cried out? 0 (II. 1399-1400r 1

Half-Rome lets his vindictive streak show in a flash of

self-revelation. The Injection of "sticks" (from the famil­

iar children's taunt, "sticks and stones . • .") into the

words of Christ show a predisposition to Old Testament

harshness. Impatient with the slowness of justice, Half-

Home would take the law into his own hands; Guido finds a

sympathizer in a like-minded man!

Guido is portrayed as a poor clown, buffeted to and

fro, from secular to ecclesiastical authorities. When

Guido appeals to the Pope for a decision on Pompilia*s

A" . . . I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out." Luke 19'40. Another ironic use of familiar phraseology is in Pietro's bitter inveighing against Guido when he discovers that Pompilia is a whore's child: "Assuredly it shall be salve to mine When this great news red-letters him, the rogue!" (III. 639-40) This is a comic reversal of "great news" (or Gospel) in the disparity of Christ's and Pompilia's births. The "red- letter" is the Rubric, or words printed in red in the Scriptures: Guido will be "red," or will be singled out for derision. 33 adultery, the Pontiff counters with, "Render Caesar what Is 22 Caesar*s due." (III. 1*177) That Is, the Pope refuses to take a secular matter under consideration. Tertium Quid sardonloally pictures Guido as an "Ignoble hound" (IV. 1207) which has abjectly returned to the Church for succor:

Religion and Law lean forward from their chairs, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant!" oq (IV. 1208-1209) Such blind respect for authority Tertium Quid finds un­ becoming a nobleman: he instructs his listeners to consign

Guido henceforth to the rabble.

Guido, however, as well as his defender ArchangelIs,

bases his entire case on the twin causes of Honor and Law.

If Guido can establish his allegiance to law, he can then

2^Matt. 22:21. Guido uses the same frame of reference In his Law renovates even Lazarus, — cures me! Caesar thou seekest? To Caesar thou shalt go! (V. 1175-76) Here he is demonstrating his fealty to law, his faith in its processes: it can bring back Lazarus from the dead, (cf. Luke 16:20. According to the parable, Lazarus refused to return to earth to warn the rich man*s relatives of the torments of hell: "Abraham saith unto him. They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." Thus, fidelity to the Law can miraculously "renovate" Lazarus by admonishing men of their sins.) Acts 25*12. "Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? Unto Caesar thou shalt go."

23Matt. 25*21. 3^ argue that Law has "made him what he Is," and that he thus be admonished at worst:

Unless the court be generous, comprehend How one brought up at the very feet of law As I, awaits the grave Gamaliel's nod Ere he clench fist at outrage,--much less, stabt 2^ (V. 1105-1108)

Guido drives home his point that law is his god In the mor­ bidly humorous words: 25 I began life by hanging to the law, To the law It is I hang till life shall end. (V. 1750-5 1 ) The ambiguity of the second hang brings sharply to mind the

Image of the execution of felons, in addition to conveying the more literal concept of strict adherence. And as an adherent of the Law, Guido demands vindication; placing him­

self in the category of law's "defenders," he reasons that

2^Acts 22:3. ”• « • brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers," There is also a shadow of reference to another "Gamaliel" passage whloh is perfectly consonant with Guido's cause. In Acts 5'3^» Gamaliel, a Pharisee, says, "Refrain from these men, and let them [the disciples]) alone: . . . And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they . . . let them go." This "transfer" of reference contributes the effect of depth: the word Gamaliel suggests, on the one hand, strictness of Law, but on the other, a leniency in capital matters (cf. Archangells' words, "What utters, on this head, our oracle,/ Our Farinacci, by Gamaliel erst . . . ?" VIII 328-30).

25Cf. Matt. 22:4*0. "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." 35 all protectors of the law deserve to be vindicated, not chastised:

Absolve, then, me, law*s mere executant! (V, 2003) 26 Law Is only "A terror to the wicked” (V, 2001): to the

Innocent like Guido, Law should therefore be friendly, not minatory.

After the unctuous plea of Guido (V), we hear Capon-

sacchl*s harsh words striking out stinging sparks; up­ braiding the court for its failure to act decisively, he

flashes:

But you were the law and the gospel. . . . You blind guides who must needs lead eyes that see! Fools, alike Ignorant of man and God! (Italics mine)9>7 (VI. 178l-84r'

Law, having arrogated as well the prerogatives of the church,

has become a neuter, a sterile body, incapable of spiritual

insight. Like Caponsacchi, Archangelis criticizes Law as

ineffectual; however, he does so not to imply a corrective,

but simply to justify Guido*s taking the law into his own

o /£ ^Rom. 13*3* "For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.”

2?Matt. 23:16. "Woe unto you, ye blind guides. ...” Matt. 15*14. "If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Eph. 4:18. "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them." (This quotation, a "mosaic" allusion, having three distinct allusions buried within it, is typical of Browning*s montage effect.) 3 6 hands: "Do you blame us that we turn Law's instru- 28 ments . • • ?" (VIII* 882) Ironically Christ-like, Arch­ angel is patiently explains his little Parable of the Law:

That neighbour's Law, that couple are the Thief, We are the over-ready to help Law— Zeal of her house hath eaten us up: for which, Can it be, Law Intends to eat up us • • • ? 9Q (VIII. 893-96) y

Since the Comparinl have "stolen" Law's "purse," Guido simply is eager to restore this purse to its rightful owner; how can he help it if he be over-zealous?

So long as his client Guido is acquitted, Archangelis would of course be satisfied* There is thus a pretty piece of effrontery in the lawyer's suggestion that there Is a prize up for grabs: the glory of pronouncing Guido

innocent!

Law ducks to Gospel here: J Why should Law gain the glory and pronounce A judgment shall immortalise the Pope? Yes: our self-abnegating policy Was Joab's— we would rouse our David's sloth.

pQ 6°In carrying out the law, the casuist Archangelis concedes, we are free to work on the "spoils system": ". * . also pounce upon our neighbor's purse/ We oppor­ tunely find reposing there * * . " The "purse" Is the prerogative of the Law to punish felons; thus, "stealing the purse" is, in effect, usurping that prerogative.

29p s . 69:9* "For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." (Here Archangelis alters the connotation of eaten from "consumed with passion" to "masticated.")

3°John 1:17. 37

Bid him enoamp against a olty, sack A place whereto ourselves had long laid siege. Lest taking It at last, It take our name And be not InnocentopolIs. (VIII. 1407-1415)

"Our David" the Pope, It Is Implied, should shake himself out of his lethargy, lest the sacking of the "city" (the decision to free Guido) be attributed to another "warrior" such as the Law* Archangelis graciously leaves It to the court to win the laurels after the great Pronouncement of

Innocence [Innocent*s]: "Hath not my Court a conscience? 32 It Is of age,/ Ask It!" (VIII. 1425-26)

Bottinius, with the Law squarely on his side, makes little of the confllot of Law and Gospel* Joyfully affirming the need for law, he gloats,

• • • Why should sit the Twelve enthroned, To judge the tribes, unless the tribes be judged?

31Sam* 12:26-28. "And Joab fought against Babbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal olty. And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Babbah, and have taken the city of waters* Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and take It: lest I take the city, and It be called after my name."

32John 9*23* "Therefore said his parents, He Is of age; ask him." (The parents of a blind boy whom Christ has just cured are asked by the Pharisees whether their son has really been healed by Our Lord. Afraid, they voloe the demurrer quoted above. The Interest here is that the court by Implication has been blind, but Is now able to see— I.e., grant an acquittal.) 38

And 'tis Impossible but offences oome: So, all*s one lawsuit, all one long leet-day! «« (IX. 116^-67)33

Earthly paradise is impossible: hence the existence of lawyers. Yet in Bottinius we sense that law has diminished in moral power: to him, law cases are "mass produced"; such callousness allows him to do a volte-face and argue, on be­ half of the Convertite monastery, a subsequent case against the estate of Pompilia, on the basis that she has been a

sinful woman.

Guido also does a volte-face. but one of a different

order: whereas in Book V he has posed as a servant of the

Church, he later denies that there is any distinction be­

tween law and Gospel:

. . . Christ's Gospel changes names, not things, Renews the obsolete, does nothing more! Our fire-new gospel is retinkered law • • • • «i. (XI. 362-6^)^

33Luke 22:30. "That ye may . . . sit on thrones Judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Matt. 18:7* "For it must needs be that offences come! But woe to that man by whom the offence cometh." (cf. III. 103^: "And woe to friar by whom offences come!")

3^Guido here emphasizes Christ's claim: "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the Prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." Matt. 5*17. Guido construes these words to mean that Christ adds nothing to Old Testament Law. However, Guido is forgetting Christ's new order of Law: in John 13*3^» Christ says, "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another." Guido is thus guilty of taking Christ's words out of a larger context of the New Law. 39

Guido here gives a sample of the sour grapes with whloh he

force-feeds his ecclesiastical auditors before his death.

Since the Gospel does not save, as It promises to do. It Is

no better than the old law*

" 'Tis pity that old harsh Law somehow limps, Lingers on earth, although Law’s day be done,— Else would benignant Gospel interpose . . . ,

O’erflutter us with healing In her wings,35 Law Is all harshness, Gospel were all love!~ We like to put It, on the contrary, Gospel takes up the rod whloh Law lets fall . • , Does Law let Guido taste the Gospel-grace? " (XI. 367-7^)36

If Law Is opposed to Gospel, wny does the Church concur

with the court’s decision? Guido Implies, then, that the

Church has yet to outgrow the Old Laws. The Churchmen—

among them the Abate and the Cardinal before Guido— are

thus laboring under the misapprehension that they are men of

the Gospel: since they are harsh In executing the sentence

-upon him, they are only men of the law ("Law Is all harsh­

ness"). The question raised by Guido is really whether the

Gospel has fulfilled Its purpose as "good news," i.e.,

whether It has substituted for the old, harsh code the con­

cept of mercy. But for Guido the mercy asked Is limited:

^■5Mai. k:2, "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing In his wings."

3%om. 4-:15,16. "Because the law worketh wrath. . . ." 2 Cor. 3*6. "The letter kllleth, but the spirit giveth life." 40

it is for his own earthly life. To him spiritual "renewal” means nothing* Only with Pompilia, and to a lesser extent

with Caponsacchi, does one find a true extension of the new

dispensation into men's lives*

The "Old" versus "New" Man. For Caponsacchi, the in­

fusion of the "Holy Spirit" of Pompilia is a Pentecostal

experience:

By the invasion I lay passive to, In rushed new things, the old were rapt away. (VI* 947-48)J'

Guido, on a much diminished scale, speaks also of the new

life which the Comparlnl expect to lead at his expense. But

here the application is wholly secular:

The Comparlnl] Quit Home and qualify for Arezzo, take he tone o* the new sphere that absorbed the old. Putt away gossip Jack and goody Joan And go become familiar with the Great, Greatness to touch and taste and handle now,— Why, then,— they found that all was vanity, Vexation, and what Solomon describes! (V. 518-24)3°

This set of allusions, put together in a "mosaic" pattern,

develops a series of tensions between the poetic narrative

372 Cor. 5*17* "The old things are past away; behold, all things are new." (cf. Hev. 21:4,5).

38]sph. 4:22. "Put off concerning the former conver­ sation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and that ye put on the new man. ..." (See also Col* 3*9)• Col. 2:21,22* "Touch not; taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using." Eccles* 1:14 passim. and the Intention of the Biblical context. The "new sphere" is simply a higher social level; "gossip Jack" and

"goody Joan" are old neighbors rather than the "old man which is corrupt," as in the Bible. Also reversed is the

Biblical injunction to "touch not": here "Greatness"

(Guido) is handled a bit roughly by the Comparini, who find

"vexation" in Guido*s relative poverty. In all, we find a tension between the spiritual and the temporal. between

Scripture and its use out of context. The tensions thus generated serve as commentary upon the spiritual lowness, not only of the Comparini, but also of Guido, who has con­ ceived these expressions.

We get a glimpse of the real Guido in Book XI, in which he mocks those who have become saints:

• • . Saint this, Saint that, dutifully starved,

Keeping the while unspotted from the world!— 39 • . . who gives His life and emulates Saint that, and this? Hen mutiny, mutter who knows what excuse? In fine make up their minds to leave the new, hn Stick to the old . . . (XI. 1985-9*0

Here Guido is classing most men as "old Adams"; unregen-

erate, having received not the Gospel, they live by Law.

And Guido speaks for the great majority of which he is part

39jas. 1 :2 7 . ". . . to keep himself unspotted from the world." ^°A reversal of the Pauline doctrine of regeneration in Eph. ki22,2ki "Put off the old man, which is corrupt • • . And that ye put on the new man. ..." kz who choose not to be new men, since they cannot put off the old. It is for the Pope In Book X not only to vindicate the

Gospel as emanation of God*s grace, but also to imply that

it is necessary to receive the Gospel in order to be "new11 or regenerate:

There is, beside the works, a tale of Thee In the world*s mouth which I find credible: I love it with my heart: unsatisfied, I try it with my reason • . . (X. 13^7-50)

Here the Pope acknowledges that he falls heir to the Adamic pride of reason, which tries even the Word of God; yet at the same instant he rises above the Old Adam because he

finds nothing in the Word in disharmony with the dictates

of reason. One wonders, indeed, whether Browning envied

the assurance of the Pope; for the poet, to be sure, felt

grave doubts~although for him these merely gave sinew to

the substance of faith.

Finally, the grace of the Gospel— something utterly

denied Law— is precisely that which makes appropriate the

symbol of the Trinity: the perfect isosceles triangle,

the base of which (of indeterminate length) is love:

What lacks, then, of perfection fit for God But Just the instance which this tale supplies Of love without a limit? So is strength, So is intelligencej then love is so, Unlimited in its self-sacrifioe, ^3

Then Is the tale true and God shows complete. Beyond the tale, I reach Into the dark. . . . ua (x. 1366-72)

Although the Law can supply strength, even Intelligence, It cannot supply selfless love; only God*s sacrifice of Christ can redeem man from the debts he has incurred subject to the Law. The Pope, like St. Paul, has finally rejected the letter of the Law, which kills, and has supplanted it by asserting the spirit of goodness reflected in the Gospel.

The Old Law: Adultery and Punishment. The conflict of Law and Gospel in The Ring and the Book is centered specifically upon this question: is a husband justified in chastising his adulterous wife? On this issue the speakers of the poem are split into two opposing factions: the legalists, who adhere to the Mosaic concept that the husband must put away his sinful wife;**’2 and those who,

^ 1 John 4:7. "For love is of God.” (cf. "Death in the Desert," 605-606, in which St. John realizes that men will come to regard the Gospel as a stumbling-block, be­ cause of its supernatural events and occasional anach­ ronisms. These charges he forestalls by saying, God*s gift was that man should conceive of truth And yearn to gain it, catohlng at mistake. • • •)

^ A s legal precedent they cite the Seventh Command­ ment: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." (Ex. 20:l4) "The adulterers shall surely be put to death." (Lev. 20:10) lf4 following the example of Christ, would restrain the Indig­ nant husband and free the penitent wife.**3

Ensconced In the camp of the legalists is Half-Home IdL (who himself Is a cuckold). He assumes that Pompilia*s mur­ der is a punishment "for adultery, what else?” (II. 1280)

Sympathizing with the wronged Guido, he argues: "Cast loose a wife proved loose and castaway" (II, 1284) . ^ For failure to cast away his wife summarily, Guido is derided unmercifully by his neighbors. Half-Rome (who obsessively dwells on the theme of derision of the cuckold) imagines vividly the Jeers of Guido*s neighbors:

"Well thank God you*re safe and sound. Have kept the sixth commandment whether or no The lady broke the seventh." (II. 1254-56)

Such taunts Half-Rome finds intolerable since they signify

^3John 8:7. "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."

^ N o t e how Half-Rome uses "horn" and "hoof" imagery. It would seem that Browning is afflicting Half-Rome with a case of "horn-madness."

^Matt. 19*9. "Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication . . • committeth adultery."

^ E x . 20:13*14. "Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery." (It is evident that Browning finds irony in the fact that the commandments are apposite in the Mosaic Law. The numbers six and seven also, perhaps, connote chaos in the Franceschlnl household.) 45 loss of honor; Guido*s violent act Is not only Justified, but a God-given mandate:

Who is it dares impugn the natural law? Deny God*s word "the faithless wife shall die?" . What, are we blind? (II, 1477-79r 7

Half-Rome is only half-blind: he is neglecting the word of

Christ, which negates the old Law: "Neither do I condemn

thee," Christ tells the adulterous woman, "Go, and sin no

more" (John 8:11),

Half-Rome is not done with his glossing of Scripture,

however; his Bible lesson concludes with

"Henceforward let none dare Stand, like a natural in the public way, Letting the very urchins twitch his beard And tweak his nose, to earn the nickname so, Of the male-Grissel or the modern Job! " 1,0 (II. 1483-87) Guido, too, marshals Scripture for his purpose; finding in 49 Leviticus ^ the text that "the adulterers shall surely be

^7John 5:3 " • • • are we blind also?"

^Sjas. 5*11* "¥e have heard of the patience of Job." Between Chaucer*s Griselde and the Biblical Job exist worlds of patienoe, something which the cuckold needs if he is to be mocked by the multitude. Although Job contains no reference to cuckoldry, the smitten Job is taunted and ad­ vised endlessly by his former friends.

49Lev. 2 0 :1 0 46 to death,” he harps upon the theme In passages like the following*

The fault was furtive then that’s flagrant now, Their Intercourse a long established crime. I did not take the license law’s self gives To slay both criminals o ’ the spot at the time. But held my hand. . . . (V. 1876-80)

Although Guido’s hand is stayed, the lust for revenge ran­ kles within; it must soon erupt in a bizarre act (which

Other Half-Home morbidly describes)*

Then did the winch o* the winepress of all hate

Take the last turn that screws out pure revenge With a bright bubble at the brim beside. (III. 1542-45)50

Yet Guido feels Justified in treading his grapes of wrath; in fact, his defense is based on the assumption that he is guilty of the violent murder of Pompilia and the Com- parinl. Thus, the only evidence which Guido can adduce is that of mitigation and extenuation; moreover the clever

Count anticipates the charges of the court in order to give them less to bring out against him*

Why I enforced not exhortation mild To leave whore*s-tricks and let my brows alone,

50Rev. 14*20. 11 And the angel • . . gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out the winepress.” (Ironically the imagery here suggests Transubstantiatlon, the conversion of wine into the Blood of Christ. The “bubble” imagery is borrowed from Keats* ”Ode to a Nightingale,” line 17* “With beaded bubbles winking at the brim.” ) ^7

With mulct of comfits, promise of perfume?

"Par from that! No, you took the opposite course, Breathed threatenings, rage and slaughter!" What you will! And the end has come, the doom is verily here .... (V. 929-3*051

Here, Guido is depicted as a sadistic Saul, who seeks to stone his "Stephen," Pompilia.

Archangelis, in defense of Guido*s concept of stoning the recreant wife, argues that since the old Law comes into conflict with the Gospel, and since Guido is obedient to the last letter of the Scriptures, he cannot know what the proper punishment ought to be. In one of the longest and most complex allusions in The Ring and the Book, Arch­ angelis in mock despair points out contraditlons in Scrip­ ture:

Under old dispensation, argue they, The doom of the adulterous wife was death, Stoning by Moses* law. "Nay, stone her not, Put her away!" next legislates our Lord;

^•Here is an interesting "mosaic" allusion, the signif­ icance of which escapes the casual reader. Guido begins by dropping some phrases from Proverbs (7:17) to imply that his wife is an adulteress: "I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love . . . for the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long Journey." Guido, as "goodman" of the house of Franceschini, Is not an absentee landlord; clearly he will not countenance his wife's gamboling in his presence. The other two allusions are less obscure: the first is to Saul of Tarsus, who, "yet breathing out threatenings and slaugh­ ter ..." (Acts 9*1)» directs the stoning of Stephen, the first martyr. The nexus here is obviously the concept of stoning the adulteress. Finally, we have 1 Peter *f:7. "But the end of all things is at hand." 48

And last of all, "Nor yet divorce a wife!" Ordains the Church, “She typifies ourself, The Bride no fault shall cause to fal£ from Christ.11 Then,as no Jot or tittle of the Law Has passed away— which who presumes to doubt? As not one word of Christ Is rendered vain— Which, oould It be though heaven and earth should pass? — Where do I find my proper punishment For my adulterous wife, I humbly ask Of my Infallible Pope,— who now remits Even the divorce allowed by Christ in lieu Of lapidation Hoses licensed me? The Gospel checks the Law which throws the stone, The Church tears the dlvorce-bill Gospel grants* The wife sins and enjoys Impunity! What profits me the fulness of the days, The final dispensation, I demand, Unless Law, Gospel, and the Church subjoin ....

•'Use thou thy natural privilege of man, Else wert thou found like those old ingrate Jews, Despite the manna-banquet on the board, A-longing after melons, oucumbers, And such like trash of Egypt left behind! n KP (viii. 697-725)

52Lev. 2 0 : 1 0 . ” ... the adulterer and the adulter­ ess shall surely be put to death." (cf. II. 1478) John 8* 4-5 * 7 * "... Master, this woman was taken in adult­ ery. . . . Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned* but what sayest thou? [Jesus answered^ He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. Matt. 5 * 3 1 -2 . • . Whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery." (cf. VIII. 377) Bev. 2 1 * 9 .1 0 . "Come hither, I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb*s wife [the Churchj." (cf. Eph. 5 * 2 4 .) Matt. 24*35and Luke 2 1 * 3 3 . "Heaven and earth shall pass away* but my words shall not pass away." Matt.5 * 1 7 . "Think not that I am come to des­ troy the Law, or the Prophets* I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Eph. 1 * 1 0 . "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather in one all things in Christ." (of. X. 8 0 8j XII. 831 ) Num. 1 1 * 4 -6 . "We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the gar- liokt But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes." (This leads the ruminating Archangel is into an aside on the value of melon- rind in soup.) k9

One must admit that Archangelis has capitalized well on this formidable set of Scriptural contradictions; only an

"infallible” being— -certainly not the very human Count

Guido— -could thread his way through such a maze. To be sure, Crhsist*e commandments supersede those of the Mosaic code; yet to the layman, the contradictions are not easily reconciled. Indeed, Arohangelis argues, it is no wonder that puzzled man reverts to his atavistic (but consistent) law of revenge! Ve should here recognize that Arohangelis has constructed his own "triangle" of opposing forces: "Law,

Gospel, and the Church" (VIII. 729)* He has, moreover, shown that each contradicts the other on matters of adul­ tery and divorce. Having presumably undermined the author­ ity of the Church, Arohangelis is now in a position to show that Guido, a true servant of the Church, has been buffeted about by contrary winds of doctrine.

To cap his sermon on Law, Arohangelis attempts to secure Guido*s release by demonstrating that Law has out­ grown its need for oruel capital punishment:

Law, Gospel, and the Church— from these we leap To the very last revealment ....

"Behold," quoth James, "we bridle in a horse And turn his body as we would thereby!" Yea, but we change the bit to suit the growth, And rasp our colt*s Jaw with a rugged spike, 50

Ve hasten to remit our managed steed Who wheels round at persuasion of a touch. e (VIII. 729-39)53 The Archangelic revelation, then, is that the harsh law of our forefathers is no longer necessary, now that civili­ zation has come of age; thus, Guido ought not to he pun­ ished, for a mere tug at the reins of convention will wheel him round into the right paths. It is noteworthy that, at this point, Archangelis himself “wheels round”: whereas formerly he has endorsed the full legal prose­ cution of the adulterous wife, he now wbuld remit the legal punishment of the murderous husband.

The argument of Bottinius is even more equivocal than

Archangelis*; even in the very assertions of Pompilia*s

innocence, the former inserts sly innuendoes as to her

"peccability.” It is a singular revelation that, in the very words with which Bottinius Justifies Pompilia*s "rebel­ lion" against Guido, he uses the imagery of stoning the adulteress:

The injurious idle stone Rebounds and hits the head of him who flung. Careless rage breeds, i* the wife now, rageful cause,

53james 3:3* "Behold, we put bits in the horses* mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body." These words of James, however, refer not to the Law as bridle, but to man*s control over his own speech: "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able to bridle the whole body." Thus, control over one*s tongue implies total self-control. 51

Tyranny wakes rebellion from Its sleep. Rebellion, say I?~rather self-defenoe, Laudable wish to live and see good days. .... (IX. 408-^15 There Is here a tacit admission that Pompllla Is a tainted woman. Such Is Bottinius* modus operandIt by conceding, here and there, certain points which he feels irrelevant to the Issue (among them Pompllla*s purity), Bottinius can forestall debate by blunting his opponent's best weapon.

Here the cynic Bottinius concedes that Pompllla desires to kick over the traces--although he hastily qualifies his term rebellion by raising the issue of self-defense.

Even In his later assertions of Pompllla*s purity,

Bottinius uses the term only in its relative sense, im­ plying that Indeed Pompllla*s moral linen is somewhat soiled. Projecting himself into one of the crowd, the law­ yer remonstratesi

•iThls should be no wanton wife, No conscience-stricken creature, caught 1* the act, And patiently awaiting our first stone: But a poor hard-pressed all-bewildered thing, • • •

Even the blessed Magdalen mistook Par less forgiveably: consult the place—

5**Trov. 2?:3, "A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty? but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.** I Pet. 3*10» "For he that will love life and see good days . . . ,H (cf. XI. 1977) 52

Supposing him to be the gardener, •Sir,* said she, and so following.” (IX. 928-39)^5

Again Bottinius has impugned Pompllla*s purity, this time implying that she has made a minor "mistake” (obviously adultery) for which the crowd, far from throwing stones, is ready to forgive the poor wife. Bottinius* vehement rhe­ torical denial of guilt ("no wanton wife,/ No conscience- stricken sinner” ) serves only to germinate the seed of sus­ picion already planted. And the image of the "blessed Mad- dalen," Invoked here into the context of stoning the adul­ teress, gives the listener pause: is Bottinius not im­ plying that Pompilia is really a Magdelene, once sinful but now purified? The auditor cannot help making such a link­ age, since the question is one of adultery— and Magdalene suggests the sin of fornication. Thus, the phrase "Mag­ dalen mistook" has the effect of a side comment on Pom- pllia*s purity.

Since Guido's defense is based on the assumption that

Pompilia has in fact committed adultery, it would seem

curious that the prosecution should drop innuendoes as to

Pompilia*s sexual liberties. Yet we must remember that all

55john 8:3-5* 7* 10. Christ saves the woman about to be stoned. (Cf. VIII. 377, 699. 715.) "The place" of which Bottinius speaks is in John 20:15: "Jesus saith unto her [Magdalene], Why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away." 53

Bottinius need do is raise **reasonable doubt” that adultery was committed. Bottinius, a relativist himself, sees that to assert Pompilia*s absolute whiteness would be folly in this world of cynicism; therefore he takes the easier course— and the more reasonable— of pleading that even the saints have sinned; it is Pompilia*s relative purity that matters)

Marriage. As with adultery, the theme of marriage in­ volves the conflict between the Old and New Testaments.

Again, the speakers are divided into two camps: those who look upon marriage as a fleshly bond; and those who see in marriage a wholly spiritual concept involving a mystic union with Christ. In the first are Guido, the lawyers,

Half-Rome and Tertium Quid, while Pompilia, Caponsacchl,

the Pope and the Other Half-Rome comprise the second. To

be sure, the symbol of the Mystic Marriage of Christ and

the Church is often ironically used by those who, like Guido,

are attempting to sway the audience by Christian allusion.

The desirability of marriage as an aid to the spiri­

tual life is questioned by St. Paul, that misogynist who

urges men of God to remain celibate:

I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it 5k

t-c Is better to marry than to burn. (1 Cor. 7:8-9)

Hence It has become a binding tradition in the Roman Catho­ lic Church for priests and nuns to consider themselves

"married" to Christ, and thus to reject all earthly loves.

Such is the dilemma of Caponsacchl when he finds himself loving Pompilia but "married" to Christ.

For the layman, however, the Church elevates marriage

to a relative sanctity. Half-Rome, for example, describes

marriage as "the knot/ Which nothing cuts except this kind

of knife." (II. 66-67)^ Half-Rome, clearly in the "Old-

Testament" camps with respect to marriage, blames the whole

trouble on Violante, that type of Eve, who "listened to

the tempter" (II. 5^7).^® With heavy irony, he charac-

^ In one of Browning*s typically obscure allusions, the poet yokes two unrelated Biblical figures, using pre­ sumably the text quoted above: "King Solomon confirmed Apostle Paul." An anachronism, of course, since Solomon antedates Paul; but even more puzzling is that no such in­ junction against marriage appears in words attributed to Solomon. It follows, then, that we are to regard Solomon*s life as an exemplum; in 1 Kings 11:1 we are told that "King Solomon loved many strange women." For being uxorious, Solomon paid dearly: "The Lord was angry," and Solomon lost the respect of the elders of the tribes of Israel, for they could not abide his promiscuity and idolatry. As a man of God, then, Solomon profited not at all by marrying.

57Matt. 19,6. "What therefore God hath Joined together, let not man put asunder." (Half-Rome refers to Guido*s barbed knife.)

1 Thess. 3*5* 11 • • • lest by some means the tempter have tempted you." 55 terizes her as "That crown/ To the husband, virtue in a woman*s shape" (II. 5 7 2 - 7 3 ) At the other extreme, the

Other Half-Rome looks upon marriage with a perfervid awe; seeing in Pompilia the fruit of a blessed union, he says,

" *T is in a child, man and wife grow complete,/ One flesh:

God says so: let him do his work." (III. 153-5*0^® To this sentimentalist, then, God*s "definition" of marriage precludes the cynicism displayed by Half-Rome. Since they are one flesh, man and wife must share the burden of sin;

Half-Rome, on the other hand, would blame the wife— namely

Vlolante— for corrupting her spouse.

It is not surprising that Guido should be concerned with outlining the Old Testament rules for the game of monogamy:

"Prom the bride*s soul what is it you expect?" Why, loyalty and obedience,— wish and will To settle and suit her fresh and plastic mind.

Father and mother shall the woman leave, Cleave to the husband, be it for weal or woe. , (V. 577-82)61

59prov. 12:^. "A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband."

^°Matt. 19*5* "And they twain shall be one flesh,"

^ 1 Cor. "Women are commanded to be under obedience. • . . And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home." Guido would heartily approve of this injunction: he has above all a desire to Influence the mind of Pompilia. One can Imagine what kind of "education" she received, (cf. Titus. 2:5. ’’That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, 56

Guido's definition has a typically sinister twist to its

Guido, like one of Hawthorne's mesmerists, seeks complete domination of his wife, including the molding of her "plas­ tic mind." Such a sentiment, suggesting gratuitous villainy, reveals fiery glimpses of the inferno that is

Guido's soul.

The wife, then, is merely a chattel given to bind a legal contract;

Such was the pact: Pompilia from the first Broke it, refused from the beginning day Either in body or soul to cleave to mine. Crt (V. 607-609) Guido feigns amazement that his wife has not kept her end of the "bargain" to yield her entire being to him. He bases his defense upon her failure to prove the kind of

spouse which Scripture prescribes. Yet Pompilia avers that

the marrlage-contract was made only for what money Guido

could derive from the match: "He only stipulated for the wealth" (VII. 772-87). After the wedding, Pompilia realizes

that Guido wants "the fleshly venture I can reach/ And rend

. . . to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedi­ ent to their own husbands." See also Gen. 2:24. "There­ fore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.")

^2Gen. 2:24. (cf. note 67*) 57 and leave Just fit for hell to burn!11 (VII. 783-8*0^3 since

Pompllla*s eventual escape thwarts his sadistic desire to torture her, Guido feels cheated: Pompllla is not the docile animal which he has chaffered for, but shows an un­ quenchable spirit of her own.

The cheated Guido has filed for divorce on the grounds that Pompilia failed to keep the marriage contract. The

Church answers curtly,

"Your plan for the divorce is all mistake. It would hold, now, had you, taking thought to wed Eachel of the blue eye and golden hair, Pound swarth-skinned Leah cumber couch next day: But Eachel, blue-eyed golden-haired aright, Proving to be only Laban’s child, not Lot’s, Remains yours all the same for ever more." f (V. 1309-1315) Guido’s allusion here sends most readers back to their

Bibles for clarification. Here, Jacob works for the clever

Laban seven years, at the end of which period he is to take

Eachel to wife. Instead of Rachel, the "tender-eyed" Leah

greets Jacob after the wedding night: the crafty Laban has

it is doubly Ironic that, having twisted Pompilia’s flesh, Guido should try to elicit sympathy from his audience for his having been twisted on the rack,

^Gen. 29:16-18, 25. "Leah was tender-eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well-favored. And Jacob loved Rachel. . • And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold it was Leah: and he [Jacobi said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me?" Lot’s daughters, it will be recalled, seduced their father while he was drunk (Gen. 19*30-38); thus, Pompilia is inferentially not an adulteress. 58 tricked Jacob, knowing that the young man will work seven more years for Rachel*s hand. Guido cannot, however, claim that he has, like Jacob, been deceived as to the identity of his wife. And, since no divorce can be granted on the grounds of disappointment, the Church refuses to hear

Guido* s case.^ Guido finally concludes that his one mistake has been in marrying at all:

How I see my folly at a glance! *'A man requires a woman and a wife:'1 There was my folly; I believed the saw. (XI. 161-63)00

Guido here masquerades as a gullible believer in Scripture: his only failing has been in taking the Biblical text too literally. Turning back to Scripture, Guido finds the key to his problem: "Yet needs must look for what I seemed to lack,/ In a woman,--why, the woman's in the man! (XI. 165-

66 ) 6?

^5cook (pp. 106-7) comments, "Archangell says that Guido postponed his revenge 'so long as he had a hope of dissolving the marriage on the ground of a mistake about the person married, being ignorant of the passages in the 'Canon Law which show that a mistake about the quality (qualltas) of the person does not make the marriage void, but only a mistake about the individual.*(O.Y.B. CXV. [EL. 124]) The apposite Rachel-Leah illustration (from Genesis xxlx.) is Browning's own.1*

^Gen. 2:18,24. "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a help meet for him . • . .Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife. . . ." (cf. V. 581) 8?Gen. 2:23. 11 • • . she shall be called Woman, be­ cause she was taken out of Man.'1 59

Guido is saying that he is complete in himself, that he needs no Pompilia to make him whole, since she is only

Adam1s rib,

Bottinius, to counter Guido*s'claim that Pompilia has failed to fulfill her marriage contract, demonstrates

ironically that she has in fact been "obedient," With evi­ dent sarcasm, Bottinius points to her drawing a sword on

Guido at Castelnuovo as proof positive of loyalty, since

"swords are meant to draw" (IX. 897)* Thus Pompilia has

"Crowned him, this time, the virtuous woman*s way,/ With an

exact obedience ..." (IX. 895-96)^® Pursuing the theme

of obedience, Bottinius capitalizes on the defense lawyer*s

emphasis of honoris causa; since Guido relies so heavily on

the principle of honor, Pompilia cannot be blamed for

resisting her husband to keep her own honor stainless:

"Wife must follow whither husband leads,/ Vindicate honour

as himself prescribes . . . (IX. 912-13)^9 Again, Bottinius

besmirches the good name of Pompilia by paralleling her to

Guido; in actuality she is far from being motivated by a

desire for personal honor. When we hear Pompilia, or hear

the Pope render Judgment, we find no mention of her quest

for honor; it follows, then, that Bottinius is playing a

^®Prov. 12: ty. "A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband." 69Eph. 5*22. "Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as unto the Lord." 6o

'•matching game" with Archangelis, paralleling theme with theme, refuting him point hy point. To Bottinius, it matters little whether his case actually comports with

Pompilia*s true character and motivations.

In the other camp, that of the New Testament concept of marriage, a wedding becomes a type of Christ*s union with the Church, and thus possesses a mystical sanctity.

No longer can marriage be regarded as Guido sees it— a legal agreement, entailing specific obligations on the part of the wife. A product of divine love, it is under the aegis of Christ.

Ironically, the theme of the Divine Marriage is first exploited by a member of the opposite camp, Guido, who re­ minds the clergymen in his hearing that

My lords have chosen the happier part with Paul And neither marry nor b u m — yet priestliness 70 Can find a parallel to the marriage-bond In its own blessed special ordinance Whereof indeed was marriage made the type: The Church may show her Insubordinate, „ As marriage her refractory. (V. 723-29)

Guido broaches the problem of disobedience by reminding the clery of their own failure to be subordinate to Christ; by

70 i Cor. 7*8-9.

7lEph. 5*23-24. "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church: . • . Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing." (cf. V. 2043; VI. **47-72; XI. 1216; XI. 1304.) 61 analogy, then, how much worse is the Insubordinate wife?

Clearly, Guido is trying to demonstrate to those celibates in his audience what earthly marriage is: like the Church, a wife who proves "refractory” must be brought into line.

In Book XI, the Count is more direct in his assertion of the Old Testament concept of wife as property, although he still tempers his words with a tincture of New Testament mysticisms

She has her husband for her sole concern, His wife, the woman fashioned for his help Flesh of his flesh, bone of his bone, the bride To groom as is the Church and Spouse, to Christs There she stands in his presences "Thy desire Shall be to the husband, o'er thee shall he rulei" (xi. 1300-1305)'

The final words here leave no doubt as to Guido's real position on marriage: to him it is a fleshly estate, not a heavenly bond.

Caponsacchi and Pompilia, on the other hand, see marriage only as a heavenly unions all else is mere trav­ esty. Having seen Pompilia for the first time, Caponsacchi returns to My church: it seemed to say for the first time "But am not I the Bride, the mystic love

72Gen. 3:16. " . . . thy desire shall be to thy hus­ band, and he shall rule over thee." Gen. 2:18,23* "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make an help meet for him. • . . And Adam said. This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Eph. 5*23-24. 62

0* the Lamb, who took thy plighted troth, my priest?

This is a fleshly woman,— let the free Bestow their life-blood, thou art pulseless now!” (VI. 976-83)73

Caponsacchi, having already a holy Bride, is not free to love a fleshly woman. To do so would be 11 spiritual adul­ tery,11 for the priest cannot serve two masters. The Court has thus far failed to see Caponsacchi*s point, that he has never compromised his love for God. Since his love for

Pompilia is of the order of the veneration of saints, there exists no division of loyalty; even his love for Pompilia is part of his service to God.

To Pompilia, the earthly marriage is only a mockery of the heavenly union with Christ. The priest

. . • told me I was now a wife, Honoured indeed, since Christ thus weds the Church, And therefore turned he water into wine. To show I should obey my spouse like Christ. (VII. !|47_50)7i|-

'-%ev. 21:9# 10# "And there came unto me one of the seven angels . . . and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb*s wife ** (The Bride, of course, is the church).

7^Eph. 5*23-2^. The wedding at Cana, scene of Christ*s first miracle, that of the conversion of water into wine, is described in John 2si, 9« It should be noted that Christ performed the miracle reluctantly, not wishing to expend virtue on something merely physical. Our Savior drew no ‘’morals*’— as does the priest here— from his act. Indeed, Christ taught but little on the subject of marriage. Such is Browning’s habit— encouraged by his satiric purposes— to "read into" Scripture lessons which are never mentioned in the original. 63

We see In Pompilia's words "spouse like Christ" an uncharac­ teristically bitter irony. Sustaining the Wedding at Cana theme, Pompilia despairingly points up the immense dispar­

ity of her marriage to the mystic union of Christ and the

Church, showing how hollow are the words of the priest

quoted above:

When I saw nothing more, the next three weeks, Of Guido— "Nor the Churoh sees Christ" thought I: "Nothing is changed however, wine is wine And water only water in our house." (VII. 4-72-75)

Pompilia, unsophisticated and untutored as she is, has

Intuitively arrived at the truth: the churchmen of

Pompilia's day do not see Christ— save Caponsacchi and the

Pope; all the rest emerge as ravening wolves. Further,

Pompilia recognizes the sophistries of the priest who has

joined her and Guido: the promised "miracle" never occurs,

and their marriage remains wholly mundane.

Pompilia sadly concludes that earthly marriages are

counterfeit, and that

In heaven we have the real and true and sure. 'Tis there they neither marry nor are given In marriage but are as the angels: right, Oh how right that is, how like Jesus Christ To say that! Marriage-making for the earth. . • .

Be as the angels rather, who, apart, Know themselves into one, are found at length Married, but marry never, no, nor give In marriage; they are man and wife at once When the true time is. (VII. 1826-35)'*

75fiark 12:25. "For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven." 6k

In heaven, the opposites that are male and female are recon­ ciled, and each becomes complete in himself; what remains in heaven, then, is the marriage of minds in perfect know­ ledge. Such a spiritual vision of marriage contrasts sharply with Guido*s paradisiacal vision of marriage (V.

2039-44), in which the perfect marriage is conceived as

"Husbands once more God*s representative,/ Wives the typi­ cal Spouse once more."76 Such a view, although ostensibly

Christian, is really a renewed argument for the husband*s absolute mastery over his wife.

One wonders, after seeing these various points of view assembled, whether Browning himself is not Indeed ques­ tioning the institution of marriage. Those who are able to marshal Scriptural authority to defend their views of mar­

riage are usually the wicked or devious; and it is the good who ultimately reject the concept of earthly marriage. Even

though the New Testament view of marriage is an improvement

over that of the Old, marriage in practice proves to be

only the promise of a miracle at Cana which never happens;

only in the next life is marriage elevated into the truly

spiritual. The Ring and the Book, then, dialectically

moves toward a redefinition of marriage, in which matrimony

F^Eph. 5:24. The wife, in Christian typology, is cast as the Church. 65

Is conceived of as a state of spiritual union Independent of the world, the flesh— and Guldonian deviltry.

The Life of Christ. At the zenith of human experience are the Incarnation and life of Christ. At the nadir is the

Pall of Man. Between these two poles moves the whole dia­ lectic of the Christian Dispensation: man, presumed fallen, must pay for his sin; but in his stead the propitiatory

Christ stands. Man moves toward salvation; although he may falter and fall again, he is inevitably drawn upward by

Christian love. In The Ring and the Book we sense a similar polarity: indeed, the characters may be divided according

to whether they are 11 Old” or "New" Adams— whether they es­ pouse the old or the new dispensation. Half-Rome, for ex­ ample, dwells at length on the Pall, and presumes man cor­

rupt. So does the arch-cynic Bottinius, who defends the

Christlike Pompilia. But at the other pole we have the

Other Half-Rome, whose protestations of Pompilia1s saint­

hood are obviously meant to counter Half-Rome's cynicism.

Such a dialeotical movement continues as the poem progresses:

Guido's Old Testament vindictiveness is countered by Capon­

sacchi' s righteous indignation in passages that sound as if

they issued straight from Revelation. After the "Assumption11

of Pompilia into heaven, there is a legal and moral dark­

ness of the lawyers, who deal in half-truths and fine

points of law, as if they were Levites disputing one of 66

Moses* more obscure laws. Then comes the Pope with his intuitive spiritual prism, gathering all the broken rays of light into the white light of truth. Finally, after the

Pope hands down judgment, we again find Guido, already in hell, getting a foretaste of everlasting damnation. It is fitting that The Ring and the Book should focus last upon the damnation of its only unredeemed character. We can see

Browning*s artistic technique at work here with special forcefulness: in a sense, Guido answers all the unsettled questions. He not only proves his own guilt, but he openly reveals his diabolism as representative of the new moral darkness in the world. Finally, and most important, he acts

out fully the drama of man before God. He is offered the

saving Grace of God through Pompilia; yet, instead of re­

ceiving this grace, he attempts to subsume the goodness of

Pompilia under his own evil design. This falling, he takes

God*s own power into his hands, killing the innocent, Guido,

then, has consciously worked himself into the lmmoralist*s

ethos. Just as Caponsacchi has, as it were, argued his way

into heaven. Thus does the poet oppose, in dialectical

fashion, the Christian and the infidel, allowing his

speakers to debate the central issues of the Christian

ethos.

Let us turn now to some of the dominant themes sur­

rounding the life of Christ, to discover how Browning be- 67 gins, notably In the latter books of the poem, to throw em­ phasis upon the Christian, rather than the Old Testament concepts.

Birth of Christ. It Is deeply Ironic that the Christ- like Pompllla should be murdered at Christmastide. The horror of it is not lost on the Pope.

And thus they break And blaze on us at Rome, Christ's Birthnight-eve! Oh angels that sang erst n0n the earth, peacet To man, good will!"— such peace finds earth to-day! After the seventeen hundred years, so man Wills good to man, so Guido makes complete His murder! (X. 786-92)77

The irony here is complete; everything becomes its opposites birth becomes death, good will becomes hatred. It is thus understandable that, for the Pope, Guido becomes the very type of the inversion of values in the world at large. Be­

cause he cannot be good, man inverts all good things to palliate his own guilt.

Sustaining the irony behind the Christmas murder from

the first book onward, Browning casts Guido as an inverse

angel of God, coming to bring the Comparini the "Good

News"s

. . . at a known name whispered through the door Of a lone villa on a Christmas night, It opened that the Joyous hearts inside Might welcome as it were an angel-guest Come in Christ's name to knock and enter, sup

77Luke 2:13-14. (of. III. 1592; V. 1581; 1597; 1608; VII. 26l) 68 And satisfy the loving ones he saved; And so did welcome devils and their death. (I. 393-99) Thus, Guido*s crime is the more heinous since he masks him­ self as the man of God, Caponsacchi, the "angel11 who saved

Pompilia. Using similar imagery, albeit quite impression­ istically, Pompilia recalls the night on which she was stabbed : "... there*s the fold, And all the sheep together, big as cats! And such a shepherd, half the size of life, Starts up and hears the angel.11 (VII. 263-66)'“

Again, the "angel11 turns out to be Guido, bringing the bad tidings of death.

Guido*s actions, too, grotesquely parallel the events

of Christmastide. We have already seen Guido as the Christ­ mas angel. In Book V, Guido describes his "Advent" to Rome,

Unlike Christ's entry, Guido's, though no gift to man, is

silent. He seems to have been caught up in the Christmas

spirit: "Oft was rung o* the little wheels the chime/"Good

will on earth and peace to man" (III. 1591-92)®°— these joyous

?®Heb. 13*2. "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." Rev. 3: 20. "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me." (The "known name," of course, is Caponsacchils.) 79 n ' jLuke 2:8, 9» "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them."

80Luke 2:1^. 69 chimes, we are told by the Other Half-Borne, signal Guido's entry into Rome. Guido himself tells us that he arrived full of rancor against Pompilia, but that he was disarmed by the happiness about him:

I was at Borne on Christmas-Eve. Festive bells— everywhere the Feast o* the Babe, Joy upon earth, peace and goodwill to man! I am baptised. I started and let drop The dagger. "Where is it, His promised peace?" Nine days o' the Birth-Feast did I pause and pray To enter into no temptation more.

I stopped my ears even to the inner call Of the dread duty, heard only the song "Peace upon earth," saw nothing but the face 81 0* the Holy Infant and the halo there Able to cover yet another face Behind it, Satan's, which I else should see. QO (V. 1581-1601)B2

Guido, newborn and baptized like the Christ-child Himself, resolves for the moment to be saved; yet the face of the

Christ child gradually fades, leaving only Satan's visage—

the prospect of murder. In a reversal of the theme of the

8^Mark l4>:*H. "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation." Since these words are spoken by Christ to His Apostles, Guido's watching and praying class him with Christ's "disciples." Op ^Matt. 16:23. Browning is here perhaps playing upon the words, "Get thee behind me, Satan . . . •" spoken by Christ after his temptation in the wilderness. In Guido's impressionistic passage, Satan's face is directly behind Christ's, and thus Christ outshines— for the time being— Satan. Although Guido is pretending to be in the grips of a Manlchaean struggle between good and evil, he is by this time entirely committed to an evil course of action. 70

Epiphany, Guido himself sees not the Light but only dark­ ness and death:

But, day by day, Joy waned and withered off: The Babe's face, premature with peak and pine, Sank into wrinkled ruinous old age, Suffering and death, then mist-like disappeared, And showed only the Cross at end of all. . . . (V. 1602-1606)

In this cinematographic ,,montage,,, the life of Guido-Christ

is compressed into the twelve days of Christmas. The Babe

(Gaetano-Chrlst), aged suddenly by Guido's anguish and as

suddenly crucified, objectifies the raw horror of the

Christmas killings.

Incarnation. Another elaborate thematic pattern is

based on the Incarnation. As we have come to expect, most

of the Biblical allusions dealing with this theme are

ironic, particularly those which refer to Pompilia's

•'miraculous conception” by Violante, or those impugning the

legitimacy of Pompilia's baby, Gaetano. Yet not all the

allusions to the Incarnation are ironical: in fact, there

begins a steadily stronger wave of seriousness and piety

which culminates in the account by Pompilia of her flight

to Home and of the birth of her son. And the ironic voice

is finally stilled by the Pope, who indeed sees that

Pompilia is a type of the Virgin Mary.

The theme of the Incarnation is introduced sardon­

ically by Half-Rome, who describes the miraculous ooncep- 71 tlon of Pompilla; cleverly he suggests the Abraham-Sarah theme as well, by underscoring Vlolantefs age, to make such a "miracle" even more outlandish to his reasonable auditors:

When first Violante, 'twixt a smile and a blush . , , Announced that, spite of her unpromising age, The miracle would In time be manifest, An heir's birth was to happen: and it did. go (II. 220-24) J

Other Half-Rome, normally intense and serious, parallels

Half-Rome's irony in describing the gullibility of Pietro,

who swallows his wife's story of the miraculous conception:

She told her husband God was merciful And his and her prayer granted at the last. Q,, (III. 172-73) And Tertium Quid, paralleling Violante with the Virgin,

describes her praising God for granting that prayer: [Vio­

lante, triumphant]

Gains church in time for the Magnificat, And gives forth "My reproof Is taken away, And blessed shall mankind proclaim me now,"

®^And the Lord said unto Abraham, "Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am oldt' Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the time ap­ pointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son." Gen. 34:37. (Note the irony of the "miracle"— really a visit to a streetwalker and promise to "buy" the child. Note also echoes of the "VirgJn- blrth": "visitation" of the Lord; blessing of the mother; overtones of divinity— she is not related to the avaricious Comparini— her lineage is unknown. Browning capitalizes on this mvsterv of Pompilia's background to separate her from the quite ordinary Comparini.)

^^Magnlflcat. "For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden." 72

So that the officiating priest turns round To see who proffers the obstreperous praise* q C (17. 195-99) We note that the priest wheels sharply about, and for good causes Violante is blasphemously identifying herself with the Virgin Mary and Elizabeth Mary1s cousin, both of whom were with child by the Holy Spirit. Browning*s melange of

Elizabeth*s psalm and Mary’s Magnificat should not too readily be dismissed as an error of memory on Browning’s part. It is indeed far more likely that Browning Intended

Violante to make the mistakes after all, she is simply

overwhelmed with self-satisfaction, and simply grasps at 86 bits of Scripture to praise her cleverness. Also, we must not forget that Violante is trying hard to lend an air of

divine sanction to her "planned parenthood,"

85Luke 1:2*1-. "Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men." [spoken by Elizabeth^ Cf. Luke Is*1-6, *1-8.

®^The Elizabeth-Mary theme is echoed humorously in Other Half-Rome’s account of Violante*s breaking the "Gospel" to Pietro that she has "disbosomed all" regarding the trans­ action to secure Pompilia as a child from the whore. Like Elizabeth, whose "babe leaped in her womb for Joy," Pietro also exults in the news that Pompilia is illegitimate, be­ cause now he can recover his estate from Guido: . . . such a piece of news Like so much cold steel inched through his breast- blade, Now at its entry gave a leap for Joy. (III. 616-18) cf. Luke 6*23. "Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for Joy." Luke ls*fl. "The babe leaped in her womb for Joy." 73

Violante is not alone in her miraculous motherhood.

Bottinius depends heavily upon Scripture to suggest that

Pompilia’s mysterious conception of Gaetano is a possibil­ ity, if not a probability. To do so, he echoes Scriptural texts which suggest the advent of the Messiah, on the ana­ logical reasoning that if it happened once, why could it not happen again? In the tone of a Deutero-Isaiah, he exults:

0 admirable, there Is b o m a babe, A son, an heir, a Franceschini last a And best o* the stock! (IX. 1307-1309) '

Bottinius is already implying the concept of divine— hence miraculous— manipulation of events.

But lest Pietro doubt his wife's virginal purity,

Bottinius prepares a Biblical text, suggesting that Pietro

follow the example of Joseph, who once doubted Mary:

So, father, take thy child, for thine that child, Oh, nothing doubt! In wedlock bom, law holds Baseness impossible.

Yet doubt he dares! 0 faith where art thou flown from out the world? Ro (IX. 1321-27)DO

87Cf. Isa. 9: 5* "For unto us a child is bom, to us a son is given."

S^Matt. 1:19. "Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publlck example, was minded to put her away privily. But . . . behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying Joseph thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost•" 74

In arguing Pompilia's purity, Bottinius' chief gambit is blasphemously to suggest that Gaetano's birth is not con­

ceived by man at all, but by a god. With characteristic proclivity to "chop and change," Bottinius (whose Christian name is ironically John-the-Baptist) acts as his name im­

plies: he is a voice crying in the wilderness, making

straight the path for Gaetano's arrival. Here he implies

that there is an "Immaculate Conception" which is less than

wholly immaculate, the babe's "sire" being putrescent

matter:

And lo, a new birth filled the air with joy, Sprung from the bowels of the generous steed! Just so a son and heir rejoiced the Count! Spontaneous generation, need I prove Were facile feat to Nature at a pinch?

Therefore be peace again: exult, ye hills! Ye vales rejoicingly break forth in song! ftQ (IX. 1347-73) y In parody of the psalmist, Bottinius accounts for Gaetano's

birth in wholly naturalistic terms. Hardly able to refrain

from open laughter, Bottinius capitalizes upon Gaetano's

name as evidence of this "prodigy" of nature. (X. 13^5)

After all, is the child's namesake not "Gaetano— last saint

of the hierarchy • • .[?]What other motive could have

®9ps. 65*12, 13* "... and the little hills rejoice on every side. . • . the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing." 75 prompted choice?" (IX. 1369-71) What other motive, indeed?

Let us hear Pompilia:

Something put it in my head To call the boy "Gaetano"--no old name For sorrow*s sake; I looked up to the sky And took a new saint to begin anew. (VII. 100-103)

Bottinius* imputation that Pompilia is trying to establish divine intervention is, of course, absurd. Pompilia makes no such pretense. Her one desire is to renew the name of a saint, so that her son, born into a world of sin, may bear the name of a sinless man.

Like Bottinius, Guido also speaks of Gaetano as if the baby were a gift of God (though he is convinced otherwise):

The baby-softness of my first-born child—

At the feet so dim and distant and divine Of the apparition, as *twere Mary*s babe

B o m now in very deed to bear this brand On forehead and curse me who could not save! on (V. 1519-28)yu

Guido, in a rhetorical movement typical of him, has suddenly shifted pictures: against that of the Madonna and

Child is suddenly juxtaposed the Genesis legend of Cain, the heir of Adam*s sin. Christ*s purity is suddenly meta­ morphosed into Cain's ourse. And it is Guido, the Old Adam, who receives in turn the curse of Cain (Gaetano); Adam,

9°Luke 2:7. "And she brought forth her first-born son. ..." Gen. 4:15* "And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him." graceless himself, cannot save his son from sin. Thus,

Guido has once again brought into conflict the Old Testa­ ment concept of fallen man and the New Testament promise of

Grace, and, as usual, he falls to see the vision of salva­ tion promised by Christ. His spiritual myopia causes him to remain a fallen Adam.

Journey to Bethlehem. Browning*s description of the flight to Rome by Pompilia and Caponsacchi is tinctured with several Biblical themes: the Flight to Egypt to escape the menace of Herod (Guido); the suggestion of the Incar­ nation and Annunciation; and finally, the Christmas-

Bethlehem theme, in which Castelnuovo serves as the Bibli­ cal inn. Browning interweaves these patterns with the narrative to intensify the sense of Pompilia's divine enter­ prise; to deepen, by contrast, the blackness of Guido; and to lend to the narratives a "second context"— that of the

Biblical "tale" of Christ. The Bible serves constantly as a frame of reference by which to Judge the actions of those who only dimly sense that they are reenacting elements of

the life of Christ. To be sure, the reenactments are only

fragmentary, but they are part of an unconscious, dialec­

tical movement toward the truth of the whole Gospel. The

extent to which these passages are distorted or fragmented,

then, demonstrates the immense discrepancy between God's

providence and man's partial perception of it.

In the flight to Rome, we become aware of Pompilia's 77 intuitive grasp of the "divinity*1 of the mission; she asks

Caponsacchi for music meet for the occasion:

"— Wherefore do you not read The service at this hour? Read Gabriel*s song, The lesson, and then read the little prayer To Raphael, proper for us travellers!" (VI. 1270-73)91

The setting is now strikingly similar to that of the arrival at Bethlehem. Caponsacchi, nervous and wary of pursuers, takes little thought about the purport of the situation, but the reader sees it clearly: Pompilia, like the Virgin Mary, is sick with lassitude and heavy with child: "I have more life to save than mine" (VI. 1407), she cries. They stop at the inn at Castelnuovo, a small suburb of Rome, the holy city (cf. Bethlehem-Jerusalem).

Like the Virgin, Pompilia is "pure and pale" (VI. 1*H1).

Giuseppe Caponsacchi becomes Joseph, the husband of Mary:

9lLuke 1*28. Gabriel appears to Mary. There is thus an overtone of the Annunciation and Immaculate Conception (cf. IV. 195; V. 152*0. The reference to Raphael, whom Milton calls the "sociable Spirit, that deigned/ To travel with Tobias. • . ." (Paradise Lost.V. 221-22), Is nowhere found in canonical Scripture. The Apocryphal Book of Toblt, however, depicts Raphael as a desirable guide for travelers: (Tobit 5:2, 4) [Tobit says to his son Tobias] "Seek thee a man which may go with thee, whiles I yet live, and I will give him wages. • . . Therefore when he went to seek a man, he found Raphael that was an angel. But he knew not, and he said unto him, Canst thou go with me to Rages? . . . To whom the angel said, I will go with thee" (Cook, Commen­ tary. p. 129). 78 in diotion very similar to Luke 2:10, he recalls,

I paced the passage, kept watch all night long. I listened,— not one movement, not one sigh. "Fear not: she sleeps so sound!" they said. (VI. l*U8-20)

The priest here, in addition to being Joseph, is inferen- tially also one of the shepherds on Christmas Eve, "Keeping watch over their flocks by night."92

As much as Pompilia suffers, she realizes much more than Caponsacchi the divine "implications" of her flight.

Intuitively, she thinks and speaks in terms of Christ's

Incarnation and birth:

That thrill of dawn's suffusion through my dark, Which I perceive was promise of my child, The light his unborn face sent long before,— God's way of breaking the good news to flesh. oq (VII. 622-25)

Pompilia speaks of the fear for Gaetano's life as if she

were the Virgin; the theme of the Flight into Egypt to

92Luke 2:9. This seems especially appropriate Imagery when we recall how often Pompilia is depicted as a lamb.

93john 1:^. "In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. • . . And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. • • •" Also, the "promise" is that of the Annunciation (Luke 1), a visitation of the angel, who called Mary "blessed." Luke 2:10. "Fear not, for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." 79 escape Herod is "plotted out” before us:

They took, two days after he was born, My babe away from me to be baptised And hidden awhile, for fear his foe should find .... (VII. i*6-W9^

We cannot escape such a striking parallel: clearly Gaetano is to Guido as Christ is to Herod. As Herod is a blood­ thirsty tyrant, so is Guido: both are would be child- slayers who kill to protect their own interests.

Christmas Star and Epiphany. Not only is the central fact of Incarnation thoroughly exploited, but so are such peripheral themes as the symbol of the Star of Christmas and the showing of Christ to the Magi on the Epiphany. As for the star imagery, it seems especially apposite to

Caponsacchi. One finds in the priest*s fiery ardor and religious zeal the same paradoxical combination of phenom­ ena as in the star: although there is intense heat pro­ duced by inner burning, there is also the outward appear­ ance of coolness, stability and remoteness. In short,

Caponsacchi is the living oxymoron of "cold fire."

In the very first meeting of Pompilia and Caponsacchi, there is suggested the theme of violence among the stars— as it were, a premonition of the cruelty of fate:

The sudden strange interview

9**Rev. 8:10. "And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven. ..." Rev. 9*1. ”1 saw a star fell from heaven unto the earth." 80

Blazed as when star and star must needs go olose Till each hurts each and there Is loss In heaven. (III. 1057-60)95

Here. then, is the tragedy of fate suggested, much as In

Romeo and Juliet. In which the lovers are described as

Mstar-cross*d";96 both are heavenly bodies whose combined heat is too great to allow sustained union.

Browning reiterates the star Imagery throughout the monologues of Caponsacchi and Pompilia. In Pompilia's scheme of things, Caponsacchi is the Star of Bethlehem, symbol of the Advent, just as Gaetano is the Christ child:

"I guessed there would be born a star" (VII. 14-05)

Caponsacchi, who guides Pompilia to "Bethlehem,” where

Christ will be reborn in Gaetano:

So did the star rise, soon to lead my step, Lead on, nor pause before it should stand still Above the House o* the Babe, rtQ (VII. 1448-50) 9 °

T o Pompilia, Caponsacohi takes on the qualities of Christ, as well as Gaetano:

"Leave God the way! "

9^Matt. 2:7-19. 96jiomeo and Juliet. Prologue, 1. 6.

97Matt. 2:10. "When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy."

98Matt. 2:9. wAnd, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was." 81

And the way was Caponsacchi— "mine,11 thank Godt He was mine, he Is mine, he will be mine. QQ (VII. 1^55-57) The last line paraphrases the Gloria Excelsis, elevating

Caponsacchi to quasi-divinity.

The Star serves Browning in Book X as a symbol of re­ generation of faith: Caponsacchi»s leaping to Pompilia*s aid is to the Pope a satisfying sign that faith is not dead.

The "Advent” comes to us when a brave one such as the priest meets the challenge of Satan:

Whatever love and faith we looked should spring At advent of the authoritative star . . .

These have leapt forth profusely in old time, These still respond with promptitude to-day, At challenge of— what unacknowledged powers 0* the air. (X. 15^?-52)10°

Browning*s typical thematic "reversal" here occurs in the shift from star as symbol of regeneration (Advent-

Christmas-Epiphany) to that of Judgment and destruction.

A juxtaposition of hero and villain is set up in the twin symbols of the Christmas and "wormwood" stars, respectively: when we see Guido as the star which destroys a third of the

99john 1^:6. "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Gloria: "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. . . « Heb. 13*8. "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to day, and for ever."

100Matt. 2:2. "For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. Eph. 2:2. "According to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air." (cf. II. 566, 567; VI. 1820) 82 eaxth In its own "blazing fall," we carry into the image some of the residual impression of Caponsacchi as the Good

Star. The two "stars" thus become antithetical and Guido1s dying, destructive fall seems by comparison more damaging that it would otherwise bes

Our Glaring Guido: now decline must be. In its explosion, you have seen his act, By my power— may-be, judged it by your own,— Or composite as good orbs prove, or crammed With worse ingredients than the Wormwood Star...... (XII. 8-12) . . . So Did the Star Wormwood in a blazing fall Frighten awhile the waters and lie lost. So did this old woe fade from memory, Till after, in the fulness of the days, I needs must find an ember yet unquenched. And, breathing, blow the spark to flame. .ni (XII. 823-29)

The FIlght of the Holy Family. Pompilia's "blessed

flight" (III. 1136)102is the central motif of Bottinius*

defense. From the beginning of Book IX, the lawyer, more

than any other of Browning's characters, subtly twists and

alters, much like an artist in oils, who works and reworks

a figure, changing slowly until he has in effect repainted

the picture. This he does in the beginning of Book IX,

10lRev. 8:10, 11. "And there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp. . . . And the name of the star is called Wormwood." (cf. XII. 82?) The star poisons the waters. See also Eph. 1:10. "That in the dispensation of the fulness of the times. . . ." (cf. Gal. ^:^).

102Matt. 2:19. Flight into Egypt. 83 where he carefully delineates for his audience a portrait of the Holy Family, which at first suggest the presence of

Caponsacchi, Pompilia and the unborn Gaetano:

Afford my lords their Holy Family,

Suppose that Joseph, Mary and her Babe A-journeying to Egypt, prove the piece.

This painter,— girding loin and lighting lamp,—

He,— to art's surface rising from her depth, If some flax-polled soft-bearded sire be found, May simulate a Joseph. • • .

Is it a young and comely peasant-nurse That poseth? (be the phrase accorded met) Each feminine delight of florid lip, Eye brimming o'er and brow bowed down with love, Marmoreal neck and bosom uberous,— Glad on the paper in a trice they go . n~ To help his notion of the Mother-maid. (IX. 23-55)

We note immediately that Bottinius has taken pains to delin­

eate Pompilia as a sensuous "young and comely peasant-

nurse," no frail flower of virginity at all. Thus even at

this early stage in his argument, we notice that Bottinius

is beginning to suggest the possibility that Pompilia is in i nA fact unchaste.

103Matt. 2:13, Flight into Egypt. Pleased with his limning, Bottinius says, "No Jot nor tittle of these but in its turn/ Ministers to perfection of the piece." (IX. 6^-65) of. Matt. 5*18. "One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be ful­ filled."

lO^ere Browning may be satirizing the vogue of relig­ ious art of his day, especially among the Pre-Raphaelite painters of the i860*s. (Note that Bottinius characterizes his own speech as a "Journey through the Desert done in oils! ) 81*

Standing 'back to admire his verbal painting, Bottinius, with a few sudden brush-strokes, alters the painting sharply, adding another figure— Violante ("Saint Anne") — and converting the aging Caponsacchi into the doddering

Pietros

Thus then, just so and no whit otherwise, Have I,— engaged as I were Ciro’s self, To paint a parallel, a Family, The patriarch Pietro with his wise old wife To boot (as if one introduced Saint Anne By bold conjecture to complete the group) And juvenile Pompilia with her babe, Who, seeking safety in the wilderness, Were all surprised by Herod, while outstretched In sleep beneath a palm-tree by a spring, And killed • • *

How bloody Herod slew these innocents,~

Their slumber and his onslaught,— like as life. (IX. 120-39)1 5

Crucifixion. The Crucifixion— standing symbol of

man’s capacity for cruelty— serves Browning as a "key” to

setting the tone of pathos and suffering implicit in the

suffering and slow death of Pompilia. Caponsacchi, angered

at the court for its levity in the case, suddenly sets up a

l°5Matt. 2tl6. There is a psychological "persistence" in the image of the Holy Family (Joseph-Mary-Jesus). Thus when Bottinius changes the"painting," introducing Violante as St. Anne, he performs the changes so subtly that we per­ sist in linking this family group with the Holy Family, even though there is nothing holy about the Comparini. 85 little chiaroscuro of a group of men in a dice game:

Do you know that there was once This thing: a multitude of worthy folk Took recreation, watched a certain group Of soldiery intent upon a game,— How first they wrangled, hut soon fell to play, Threw dice,— the best diversion in the world. A word in your ear,— they are now casting lots, Ay, with that gesture quaint and cry uncouth. For the coat of One murdered an hour ago! i (VI. 51-59)

The "allegory" is clear: the "worthy folk" are the Jurors hearing Guido*s case, while Pompilia slowly bleeds to death like Christ on the Cross. The Jurors are spectators at a

latter-day Crucifixion; yet their attention is on a "game"

(the question of adultery). Caponsacchi*s words not only

sober the court, but also establish early the parallel be­

tween Pompilia and the suffering Christ.

More subtly drawn is a similar parallel between

Pompilia and the crucified Christ:

"A thief might save me from a murderer. *Twas a thief said the last kind word to Christ: Christ took the kindness and forgave the theft." . (VI. 868-70) '

Here Pompilia, still suspicious of Caponsacchi, reasons

that even though the priest may be a thief, he is still

1°8caponsacchl is sobering up the court by comparing it to the "worthy folk" who watched the Crucifixion of Christ (implicit comparison to Pompilia, "bleeding out her life" [cf. X. 1526]). John 19:23, 2#. Casting lots for Christ’s robe.

10?Luke 23:^2-^3 86

"better than a murderer (Guido). The sudden sharp image of

Calvary here forces the reader to imagine Caponsacchi as the Mthief11 hanging on a cross, suffering with Pompilia; thus, Pompilia suddenly projects prophetically her decision to trust Caponsacchi into the tragic future.

The Pope sees, in Pompilia*s Christlike suffering, the type of Christ’s Crucifixion: in "both, it is the pain en­ tailed which perfects

The moral qualities of man— how else?— To make him love in turn and be beloved, Creative and self-sacrificing too, And thus eventually God-like, (ay, MI have said ye are Gods,"— shall it be said for nought? ) (X. 1379-84)108

Unquestionably, then, the Pope sees a sharp moral ’'turning point” in the crime which he must judge: the conflict be­ comes resolved into a moral battle between Christ and anti­ christ, Pompilia and Guido. The issue is more than local and contemporary; it Involves a desperate need to reassert

the necessity for Christ. It is for this reason that we

can understand the fury of the Pope when he is requested to

free Guido since it is a Jubilee year:

"Why, on a certain feast, Barabbas* self Was set free not to cloud the general cheer; Neither shalt thou pollute thy Sabbath close!" ______(X. 2055-57)109

lO®Ps. 82:6. "I have said, X e are gods.” Heb. 2:10. "For it became him . . . in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation per­ fect through sufferings.” I09john 18:40. 87

Succumbing to such a plea would make the Pope a Pilate, a crowd-pleaser. Browning’s sharp, sudden paralleling of

Guido to Barabbas, and the ”certain feast” to the Passover, brings into focus the far-reaching moral issues at hand, and also serves to recall Caponsacchi*s similar reference to the Crucifixion as paradoxically a festive occasion, pointing up the terrible irony of Pompilia’s Christmas

”Cruciflxion.”

It is, then, doubly ironical that Guido should be the first to suggest the parallel of his trial to that of Christ before Pilate. Here, however, Guido is Christ, not

Barabbas. Exhorting the court not to fall into the same

error as Pilate (who conceded Christ’s guilt, knowing him to be innocent), Guido says,

You dreaded the crowd, succumbed to the popular cry, Or else, would nowise seem defer thereto And yield to public clamour though i* the right! You ridded your eye of my unseemliness, .... „,_ (V. 1855-58)110

Here the court is imagined washing Its hands of Guido as

Pilate performed a similar ritual, symbolically to declare

himself free of responsibility. Guido thus cleverly mani­

pulates the court into an analogous situation, implying

that if the court returns an unfavorable verdict, it has

pandered to the public wish. Such religious analogies,

il0Matt. 27:2^. . . . he washed his hands before the multitude.” 88 which largely inform the structure of Guido*s speech, are intended by the speaker not to be proofs of his innocence, but merely to cloud and confuse the moral Issues. We have noted that many of Guido*s analogies are based on the im­ plied parallel of himself to Christ: both are men of God who are wronged by a group of malignant accusers, the

“high priests” or Pharisees who are Jealous of the power and perfection of the holy man.

Satan-Antlehrlst-Hell. Perhaps the most pervasive conflict in The Ring and the Book is that of Christianity 111 with Satan or antichrist.AJ"L Even the populace of Rome is buzzing about Molinism, the latest threat to the Church;

Guido*s crime, for example, reminds the Other Half-Rome that

"Such crimes are very rife, Explode nor make us wonder now-a-days. Seeing that Antichrist disseminates That doctrine of the Philosophic Sin: Molinos* sect will soon make earth too hot." (III. 93-97)

***Antlehr1st. a false prophet, is worse than Satan; whereas Satan is openly evil, antichrist appears to be pro­ claiming religious truth, while in reality he perverts men*s minds.

l-^John 2:22. “He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. (cf. II. 127: “Antichrist surely comes and doomsday*s near.") See also Ezek. 7:23. Crime will not fail to flare up from men*s hearts while hearts are men*s and so b o m criminal. Eccl. 9*3» "also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil." Matt. 15*19. "out of the heart proceed evil thoughts." (cf. Mk. 7*21.) Rom. 5:12. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered the world, and 89

Such an ascription of Guido*s crime to "Antichrist" suggests the unsettled state of the Church in Rome of 1698. The very air is crackling with fear of new and insidious

satanic forces: the Pope pronounces that the Church has

been corrupted from within by men like Abate Paolo or Canon

Giroamo who

Go on with Satan*s service the old way. (X. 9 0 3 ) ^ 3

Such denizens o* the cave now cluster round 112J> And heat the furnace sevenfold. (X. 993-940

Since men of God, such as the Archbishop, torment the mar­

tyrs such as Pompilia, they are not better than Nebuchad­

nezzar, who heated the furnace "sevenfold" to b u m Shadrach,

Meshach, and Abed-nego. Thus, these "denizens" should be

punished by a "bolt from heaven" (X. 995)

The Archbishop, whose duty it is "To do the shepherd's

death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (cf. Ps. 51:5) (cf. X. 183; VIII. 1442; IX. 1443.) Jer. 17:9. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked."

113 Uo h n 3*38. "He that committeth sin is of the devil."

H^Dan. 3*19. "Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury. He spake, and commanded that they should heat therefore the furnace one seven more times than it was wont to be heated [to b u m Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego]."

H^Nebuchadnezzar was punished by being transformed into an ox, "and did eat grass as oxen." (Dan. 4^22) 90 office, feed the sheep” (X. 988), has been another anti­ christ, since he really acts for Satan*

How of this lamb that panted at thy foot While the wolf pressed on her within crook*s reach? Wast thou the hireling that did turn and flee? . (X. 989-91)116 The Pope concludes that no area is safe from the devil*

"guarded from the arch-tempter all must fight." (X. 429) H ?

And Fra Celestino agrees that the world*s light is all but extinguished:

” ... all, by procuration of the powers Of darkness, are transformed,— no single ray, Shot forth to show and save the inmost star, But, passed as through hell*s prism, proceeding ..o black ..." (XII. 569-72)

Against this sombre backdrop of satanic blackness stand the

brilliant white figures of Caponsacchi and Pompilia. Yet

1:1-6john 21*17. "Jesus saith unto him [Peter^. Feed my sheep." John 10*12, 13. "And the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. And the hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep." Browning*s use of hlrellng here suggests a meaning which supplements the Biblical usage (that of a person hired); here it sug­ gests that the Bishop is kept in office by those who hire him to cover their misdeeds* we recall from Pompilia*s account of her pleadings to the Archbishop, that the pre­ late, out of deference to Guido*s rank, ignored the precepts of Christ to force Pompilia back into line.

H?Matt. 4*3. Jesus, we find, was not exempt from temptation. At the end of his forty days* sojourn in the wilderness, the devil came even to Him.

Il8gph. 6*12. "For we wrestle • . • against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world." Luke 22*53. ". . . This is your hour, and the power of darkness." 91

in spite of their innocence, evil powers surround them.

Pompilia, for example, is described as

That child of theirs caught up thus in the cloud And carried by the Prince o* the Power of the Air Whither he would, to wilderness or sea. (I. 566-68)H“

Pompilia is caught up by Satan as is Christ in the account

of The Temptation in the Wilderness: both are shown what are the lusts of this world; yet both reject the offers of worldly things, remaining morally intact.

Caponsacchi, too, is beset by the devil in the smooth

and comely guise of love:

Do both contrive love's entry in the mind Shall look, i' the manner of it, a surprise. That after, once the flag o' the fort hauled down, Effrontery may sink drawbridge, open gate, Welcome and entertain the conqueror? Or what can you say to a touch of the devil's worst? ______(III. 9 ^ 3 - W l 20

made the sign, such God-glimpse must suffice Nor prejudice the Prince o' the Power of the Air Whose ministration piles us overhead What we call, first, earth's roof and, last, heaven's floor . . . (I. 596-99) Eph. 2:2. " . . . according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air." Luke 8:29. "For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the men. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bonds, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness." (cf. VI. 1821. "And prince o* the Power of the Air." X. 1552 f. "At challenge of— what unacknowledged powers/ 0* the air.")

■^^Luke 11:23-25. "When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are at peace . . . When an unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, 'I will return unto my house whence I came out.* And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first." 92

Caponsacchi likens himself to a fortress which has been be­ sieged by love. Yet love is only the devil*s lieutenant; once he commands the fortress, the drawbridge becomes the devil*s road straight to the heart. Clearly, Caponsacchi is admitting that his temptation is like Christ*s forty days in the wilderness* both are '*starved” for the things of the world. Like Pompilia, Caponsacchi resists the offers of the devil.

In another of Browning*s Biblical montages, Caponsacchi yokes the concepts of the Fall of Man and the Revelation theme of the devil-as-dragon:

The thing of perfect gold, The apple*s self: and, scarce my eye on that, Was 'ware as well o* the seven-fold dragon*s watch. 0 (VI. 1007-1009)X 1

l2icook (Commentary, p. 125) has rather hastily decided that "the seven-fold dragon is the Church"; yet, from a reading of Revelation, such a conclusion seems unfounded. It would rather seem that the seven-fold dragon is the enemy of Christ: (Rev. 12:4-5) "And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads . . . stood before the woman which was ready to be de­ livered, for to devour her child as soon as it was bom." The "seven-fold dragon's watch," then, is over the mother of Christ, the "man child, who was to rule all nations" (Rev. 12:5). Michael (Caponsacchi) wages war against the dragon (Rev. 12*7); "And there was war in heaven* Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. ..." The in­ tention of the poet, it must be conceded, is to demonstrate Caponsacchi*s awareness of the dangers which attend the service of "the thing of perfect gold," Pompilia. 93

Caponsacchi here has a private Eden, containing one of the

Golden Apples of the Hesperldes— Pompilia, whose plea is

•'The first authoritative word. T'was God*s." (VI. 1013)

Yet Caponsacchi's choice is not simples to pluck the apple

(i.e., to serve Pompilia), the priest would have to abandon his guard against the seven-fold dragon (the enemy of the

Church, slaughtered by St. Michael in Rev. 12:4, 5)« The dilemma of Caponsacchi, of course, is resolved in favor of the “Apple” (Pompilia), and, in helping her, the priest be­ comes St. George— a chivalrous kind of St. Michael who ultimately kills his own wicked “dragon,” by saving one of the Church's ”sa int s.”

The Pope sees, in the relationship of Caponsacchi and

Pompilia, a ”testing-ground,” containing a microcosm of

conflicting forces:

There is passion in the place. Power in the air for evil as for good, Promptings from heaven and hell, as if the stars Fought in their courses for a fate to be. (X. 660-63)122 We should note that the word passion, for the Pope, conveys

the concept of a kind of ”love-energy,” neutral in itself,

but— depending on how it is directed— productive of good or

of evil. Caponsacchi has encountered for the first time

*22Eph. 2: 2. "The prince of the power of the air." (Satan). Judg. 5:20. "They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." 9^ the forces at large In the world. He has fallen upon an

Eden* but has proved himself a New Adam because he refuses to taste the apple. The Pope thus pronounces the meeting- place of Pompilia and Caponsacchl "holy ground," where

"Christ prevailed/ And Satan fell like lightning!" (X. 6 7 1

73)

Guldo-as-Satan. Guido's defense is motivated by one drive— that of self-preservation:

Then must speak Guido yet a second time, Satan's old saw being apt here— skin for skin, All a man hath that will he give for life. (I. 1272-7^)123

Guido is from the beginning of the poem paralleled to Satan.

Indeed, he is much like the Lucifer-Satan of Paradise Lost,

who is eaten from within by his own drive to dominate the

souls of men.

Throughout The Ring and the Book it Is evident that

Guido is undergoing his own inner torment and damnation.

Book I speaks of Guido as breeding his own devils:

"Out of the man's own heart this monster curled. This crime coiled with connivancy at crime— His victim's breast, he tells you, hatched and reared; Uncoil we and stretch stark the worm of hell!" (I. 815-18)12^

123job 2:^. "And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea all that a man hath, will he give for his life."

•^^Mk. 9:^3, ^4. "into hell . . . Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." 95

Guido*s hell, then, is self-made; Caponsacchl uses a simi­ lar Image to depict the Count*s self-torment:

"Let the incarnate meanness, a cheat and spy, Mean to the marrow of him, make his heart His food, anticipate hell*s worm once morel” (vi. 603-605)125

Guido, baseness incarnate, becomes the antitype of Christ,

God incarnate.

If the drama of the Comparini is like that of Eden, then Guido is the serpent in the Comparini garden. To gain entry into the Comparini house, he identifies his devilish self as an angel: ” *Gabriel!* cried Lucifer at Eden-

Gate” (I. 623). However, it is not the angel of the Annun­ ciation, not Caponsacchl, but the fallen angel Guido who . 126 knocks.

Even Guido sees the parallel of himself and Satan:

And so at last, As Lucifer kept falling to find hell, Tumbled into the court-yard of an inn At the end, and fell on whom I thought to find. „__ (V. 10A5-^8)127

Caponsacchl envisions Guido*s private Inferno; Guido, walking alone in hell, meets another pariah,

Judas, made monstrous by much solitude! The two are at one now! . . .

125ibld.

l26Isa. 1^:12.

l2?Isa. 14:12. "Now art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer, son of the morning!" 96

• . . Let them each tear each In devil's-fun.

Kiss him the kiss, Iscariot! Pay that back, That snatch o* the slaver blistering on your llp~ By the better trick, the insult he spared Christ, OD (VI, 1937-46)1

The Pope, too, sees Guido as meeting his punishment in hell.

The furnace-coals alike of public scorn, Private remorse, heaped glowing on his head, (X. 709-710)129

The criminal ’’burns” himself in the fever of his own hatred— how true of Guido!

At the last, Guido himself openly expresses a satanlc outlook, one which rules out all thought of the afterlife:

’’Live, enjoy! Such life begins in death and ends in hell!” (XI. 807-808)1-50

Guido has by this time clearly abandoned all pretense to being the ’’suffering servant” of God: he now endorses a

Godless hedonism. Thus has Guido completed the circuit

1 ®Luke 22:47-^8. Judas betrays Christ by kissing him. Cook (Commentary. p. 135) says that the passage is suggested by the Inferno of Dante.

129pr0v. 25:21, 22. ”If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.” (cf. IX. 808-809. ” ... charge on charge of crime she [PompillaJ heaped/ 0* the head of Pietro and Violante.”)

130James 1:15. "And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (cf. X. 801). Eccl. 11:9. "Re­ joice, 0 young man, in thy youth . . . and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know, thou, that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment.” 97 from false Christ to antichrist, feeling almost comfortable

in his n e w role as sufferer in hell:

. . . the darkness let alone Grows tolerable twilight,— one may grope And get to guess at length and breadth and depth. What is this fact I feel persuaded of— This something like a foothold in the sea, Although Saint Peter*s bark scuds, billow-borne, Leaves me to founder where it flung me first? (XI. 2291-97)131

Truth-Falsehood. At the core of Browning*s religious

philosophy is the 11 gnawing maggot" of doubt, which casts

all truths into partial shadow. In The Ring and the Book, no one speaker entirely apprehends the truth; rather, each

grapples with fact in his own limited way, exposing such

truth as he can, consistent with his need for self-

protection or self-justification. Each character, for ex­

ample, asserts that only he has seen clearly enough to pre­

sent the truth. Tertlum Quid says:

Time to make the truth apparent, truth For God*s sake, lest men should believe a lie:

1^1Job. 12:45. "They grope in the dark without light. • • Eph. 3*17-i8» "That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend what is the breadth, and length and depth and height." Rom. 8:38-39. "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life . . . Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Note the ironic echoes of Paul's words in Guido's acceptance of damnation. Whereas Paul promises love, Guido revels in everlasting hate. 98

Which seems to have been about the single prayer , She ever put up. . . . (IV. 1429-32)

Guido, In the guise of the preacher, avers, "Now for truth!"

(V. 120) as he ends his exordium, adding, like a good ser- monlst, "I* the name of the Indivisible Trinity!" (V. 121)

Caponsacchl bitterly decries the absence of truth in the clergy; he speculates whether Pompilia*s confessor will become Pope, "His truth to teach the worlds I thirst for truth/ But shall not drink it till I reach the source."

(VI. 2067-68)*33 Caponsacchl, then, suspends his Judgment

in the earthly life, for he knows that only Christ is the arbiter of truth. Pompilia echoes Caponsacchl*s words as

to the source of truths

Now— I am speaking truth to the Truth*s selfs God will lend credit to my words this time. . (VII. 1198-99)*^ It is thus appropriate that Pra Celestino should adopt as

the text of his sermon in Book XII the theme of truth as a

function of the Godhead. By analogy, then, man— being In-

1322 Thess. 2sll, 12. "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness, (cf. VI. 1046-48. in which Caponsacchl explodes the myth that he is afraid of Guidos "I fear/ The sword of Guido! Let God see to that— / Hating lies, let not her believe a lie!")

133john l4s6. "Jesus salth unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life." 13^ibld. 99 ferior to God— is in the scale of things a liar:

"... One proof more that 'God is true And every man a liar*--that who trusts To human testimony for a fact Gets this sole fact— himself is proved a fool." ni; (XII. 600-603)

Celestino*s comments here serve as apt epigraphs to the lies

which have masqueraded as truth in the depositions of all

save Pompilia and Caponsacchl. To Celestino, "knowing" is

impossible on earth since men are "liars":

"As this world seems, I dare not say I know — Apart from Christ's assurance which decides— Whether I have not failed to taste some joy." . (XII. 619-21)136

Only in Christ is there assurance of truth. In view of

Celestino's sermon, then, it is ironic that Bottinius

should have the last words— words indeed on which he Judges

himself:

. • . [Earth's] liars may possess the world, Till God have had sufficiency of both. . 09 (XII. 657-58)

135Rom. 3:^. "Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar." (cf. XII. 651. "God Is true/ And every man a liar— save the Pope.")

136Acts 18:31* "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will Judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained: Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." 1 Cor. 2:2. "For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

137Matt. 5:5. "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." (Bottinius is one of those who now possess the world. Note the implication that a liar is "evil spirit" possessing men.) 100

Service of the Church. One of Browning's dominant themes is the "faithful servant" motif: as with most of

Browning's religious themes, it is most often used ironi-

cally~even bitterly. It is therefore significant that

Bottinius, the ungodly and vicious lawyer, is first to be depicted as the faithful servant.

"Well done, thou good and faithful!" She approves: (I. 1190)138

The cautious Bottinius has just set a metaphorical "fire"

on the rocks to "guide" the "mariners" to their destruction.

The fire, of course, is Bottinius' speech, rife with false­

hood, luring the jurors on to the rocks of error. Indeed,

the Fisc is, as it were, a vulture, feeding on the dead:

for when Pompilia dies, he uses his evidence as prosecutor

in the Guido case in prosecuting Pompilia on behalf of the

avaricious Convertites:

Pompilia's patron by the chance of the hour, To-morrow her prosecutor,— composite, he. (I. 1173-7^)

Like Iago, Bottinius is "all things to all men."

It is Guido, ironically, who is most often cast as the

servant of the Church; whereas only one allusion character­

izes the Pope as faithful steward, there are multiple

138ifatt. 25*2. "His lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant." Parable of the talents. The quotation refers to the servant who had gained five talents more than the original five. There is here a sug­ gestion of usury, shrewdness in the character of Bottinius, who is clearly an opportunist. Note that he later turns on Pompilia. 101 references to Guido as overworked servant of God. After

Guido1s exordium, for example, we see him as willing beast of burden:

I* the name of the indivisible Trinity! Will my lords, in the plenitude of their light Weigh well that all this trouble has come on me Through my persistent treading in the paths Where I was trained to go! — wearing that yoke „ My shoulder was predestined to receive. (V. 121-26

To Guido, then, God*s yoke is never light, as promised in the Gospel. In Book XI, Guido launches bitter invective

against the clergy who are yoked to God*s millwheel:

Take your word on life*s use? What I take his— The muzzled ox that treadeth out the corn, Gone blind in padding round and round one path,— As to the taste of green grass in the field! What do you know o* the world that*s trodden flat . . .

Leavened into a lump of loathsomeness? . (XI. Hf66-72)lZf0

Guido forgets that he has himself been one of the beasts

which he describes in such contemptuous terms; in fact, he

has characterized himself as one of the muzzled oxen who

139fiatt. 28:19. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Ps. 119:35* "Make me to go in the paths of thy commandments, for therein do I de­ light." Matt* 11:29, 30. "Take my yoke upon you: For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

l^Deut. 25:^. "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn." (Here Guido means that the priest, knowing nothing about the sins of the flesh, Is incapable of dealing with them, and thus is unqualified to adjudge Guido guilty of a crime of passion.) 102

"protruded nose/ To halter, bent my back of docile beast" in the service of the Church. (V. 132-33)

Browning means to say, I think, that merely putting the shoulder to God*s yoke or "treading in the paths" does not comprise service to God. The burden is "easy" only when the servant loves his master— and it Is clear that

Guido has never loved God.

Describing his duties as a minor church functionary,

Guido says,

They cast out evil spirits and exorcise, For example; bind a man to nothing more, Give clerical savour to his layman*s-salt, Facilitate his claim to loaf and fish Should miracle leave, beyond what feeds the flock Fragments to brim the basket of a friend. . iM (v. 271-75)1 4 4

Guido*s tone here indicates that the casting out of evil spirits is an accomplishment of a rather low order; indeed, the order to which he belongs is only on the fringe of the clergy. Guido*s "layman*s-salt," having lost its savor, is

"salted" by a touch of the Church— enough, at any rate, to assure the diligent servant some minor perquisites ("frag­ ments" from Christ*s feast).

I n one of Browning*s more eclectic allusions, Guido

i ^ M a r k 9:38* "Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us." Matt. 5*13* "But if the salt have lost its savour, wherewithal shall it be salted?" Matt. 14:17-20. Miracle of loaves and fishes. 103 compares his rigid "discipline" with that of the Church in its punishment of recalcitrant monks:

Remit a fast-day's rigor to the Monk Who fancied Francis' manna meant roast quails,— Concede the Deacon's sweet society, He never thought the Levite-rule renounced,— Or rather prescribe short chain and sharp scourge Corrective of such peccant humours? This— I take to be the Church's mode, and mine, . ,l0 (V. 737-4*3) Guido here Implies that, when churchmen— who have renounced the pleasures of the world— become refractory, then the Old

Testament strictness is invoked by the Church; by analogy, then, why is such action not equally Justifiable in Guido's case? Such a passage points toward a persistent thematic device in "Guido": that of constant paralleling of Guido's actions with the policies of the church. Such would ex­ plain Guido's early identification of himself with the clergy, and the constant reiteration of his fealty to Rome.

By identifying himself with the Church, Guido hopes that

some "fragments" will fall his way in the form of a modern miracle— acquittal.

As if to make his acquittal the more poignantly merci­

ful in the eyes of the court, Guido— in one of Browning's

Ex. 16:13, 14. God sends the manna to Israel. Deut. 21:5. "And the priests and the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto them in the name of the Lord; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried." Num. 11*31, 32. "And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea. ..." 10^ recondite allusions— promises a life of service to mankind, paralleling his earlier protestations of his own obedience and service to the Church: the Count promises to protect the Church against those who profane her

Thro* gibe and jest, those stones that Shimel flung! Ay, and the spirit-broken youth at home, The awe-struck altar-ministrant, shall make Amends for faith now palsied at the source .... , (V. 2020-23)1^3

Shimei is the “fugitive brother” who has to be “bidden back” by David to the service of the Church; Guido, like

David, is willing to be a target for the stones— so long as he remains a live one! As for the “youth at home," he is

Gaetano, reminiscent of the young Samuel (1 Sam. 3), the

“awe-struck altar-ministrant" who serves the “palsied" old priest Eli (Guido?). In Book XI, Browning again picks up the theme in the New Testament parable of the faithful son.

In his old age, Guido will hopefully be blessed by

The true son-servant that, when parent bids “Go work, son, in my vineyard!11 makes reply 1hj, “I go, sir!" (XI. 1881-83)

When we study the Biblical context, we find that Browning

1^3 2 Sam. 6:13. “And as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the hill*s side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust."

l^Matt. 21:28-30. "A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said I go, sir; and went not." 105 has made a curious transpositions the son he speaks of is in fact the unfaithful one! Yet I believe that Browning purposely caused Guido to allude to Scripture in this way:

Guido has really "compressed" the parable to suit his pur­ pose— to demonstrate his need for a son-servant. And

Browning has thereby achieved a kind of dramatic irony which depends upon the reader* s knowledge of the parable of

the vineyard: we see the slippery Guido for what he is, a

rhetorician capable of playing upon a wide range of Biblical

themes, distorting them to suit his purpose. Here Guido

has quoted the son who proves derelict in his duty; and the

perceptive reader sees clearly that Guido*s choice of this

son is symbolic of an inner distortion, a condition which

drives the perverse Guido toward the wrong moral choices.

The theme of service is also central to Book VI,

"Giuseppe Caponsacchl." Indeed, It is delightful, as an

exercise in appreciating the complexity of Browning*s less

obvious parallels, to contrast the development of the theme

of service in Books V and VI. We find striking parallels

at every point: for one thing, both Guido and Caponsacchl

are from old Arezzo families noted for service, military

and ecclesiastical. Both think of themselves as given over

to be servants of the church, although with Guido, the

"suffering-servant" and "beast-of-burden" motifs are argu­

ments ad misericordiam rather than statements of his real 106 relationship to the Church. With Caponsacchi, however, the situation is exactly the reverse of Guido*s: he considers the Church as vocation, not because of its perquisites, but because he has an inward spur to self-abnegation and ser­ vice. Whereas Caponsacchi worries deeply about ’’the day when I must read the vows,/ Declare the world renounced.’’ •j hti (VI. 262-63), the Bishop of Arrezo regards Caponsacchi*s plunge ’’into the other life” (VI. 265) almost lightly:

"Renounce the world? Nay, keep and give it us!" (VI. 309)

Actually the good Bishop wants no ordinary priest in

Caponsacchi, but a public-relations man, much like Chaucer’s

Monk, an ’’outrydere,’’ whose function it was to greet noble­ men and to charm the ladles:

"Saint Paul has had enough and to spare, I trow, Of ragged run-away Onesimus: He wants the right-hand with the signet-ring Of King Agrippa, now, to shake and use." (VI. 317-20)

1^5John 2:15. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

l46phiiem. 10, 15, l6 . "I beseech thee for my son, Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds: . . . for per­ haps he therefore departed for a season. ..." Acts 26:1, 2. "Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself: I think myself happy, King Agrippa." (The juxtaposition of these two passages in the allusion above is Browning's poetic means for implying a conflict between the earthly and the spiritual natures within even the most devout men of God. We should also note that there is implied a shift from the ascetic to the worldly in the sequence of themes from Onesimus to Agrippa.) 10?

Caponsacchi, then, is recruited to be a secularized priest, to mix grandly in the highest company: in the priest's words, I throve apace, Sub-deacon, Canon, the authority For delicate play at tarocs, and arbiter O' the magnitude of fan-mounts. (VI. 347-50)

To quiet Caponsacchi's conscience, the Bishop of Arezzo gives his young priest his own formula for diluting

Christianity so that it becomes comfortable in usage:

"The Jews who needs must, in their synagogue, Utter sometimes the holy name of God, A thing their superstition boggles at, Pronounce aloud the Ineffable sacrosanct,— How does their shrewdness help them? In this wise; Another set of sounds they substitute, Jumble so consonants and vowels— how Should I know?— that there grows from out the old Quite a new word that means the very same— And o'er the hard place slide they with a smile. . (VI. 280-89J1 ?

The Bishop, therefore, openly endorses the "masking” of

Christian duty by worldly and trivial occupation.

In Caponsacchi, however, this sense of duty never be­

comes vitiated: he voices bitter indictments against the

weak priests who, like hirelings, abandon their posts to

turn and flee, "keep the straight path and let the victim

147" it is a Jewish and Mohammedan tradition that the name of God is unknown to the uninitiated.” The name Jehovah was thus either abbreviated, or was read as Adonal. (Cook, Commentary, p. 120) 108

lAft die” (VI. 91)• Here, of course, he refers to the Arch­ bishop and the Friar, to whom Pompilia has pleaded for

Intervention on her behalf.

The cynical Bottinius, just as he has assumed the

11 peccability” of Pompilia, assumes as well that Capon­

sacchi, like taany other churchmen, is lustful. After seeing

Pompilia (who is here by implication a common trull), Capon­

sacchl is imagined

Waiting his turn unmoved amid the whirl, "Constans in levitate.11— Ha, my lords? Calm in his levity,— indulge the quip! — Since *tis a levite bears the bell away, Parades him henceforth as Pompilia*s choice. „ (IX. 339-^3)X 9 The Fisc, past master at distortion, first mis-translates

the Latin phrase to suggest frivolity in Caponsacchi; then

he pursues the pun on levitate to imply that the Levite

(priest) is bearing the bell (belle) away. Thus, the Fisc

"glosses11 Scripture to cast aspersions upon the priest.

Even the Pope comes into the path of the cross-fire of

l^®Luke 10;31. (Parable of the Good Samaritan) "And by chance there came down a certain priest that way; and when he saw him [the victim], he passed by on the other side." (As is usual with Browning, no such valuable allusion is lost, but crops up later in a passing reference by Archangells: "flat you fall,/ My Fisc! I waste no kick on you, but pass." (VIII. 1228)

1^ E x . 28 :33» "And beneath upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold be­ tween them round about." (This passage, clearly one of Browning*s favorites, explains the title of Bells and Pomegranates.) 109 criticism, for his own fallibility is at this very time being questioned. Furthermore, the Pope feels the pressure of extinction, and desires this, his last decision, to be right before God. It is thus appropriate that he should be concerned with himself as a steward, who must render to the

Lord of the Manor his account. In Book I, for example, the

Pope Is characterized as the faithful steward of the para­

ble: "What steward but knows when stewardship earns its

wage,/ May levy praise, anticipate the Lord?" (I. 1246-

47)1^° The Pope, in turn, adjudges Caponsacchi likewise

a "faithful servant," in spite of his passionate nature;

Caponsacchl is a sort of Gladlus Del, a soldier of God, who

did

resist— Anticipate the office that is mine— And with his own sword stay the upraised arm, The endeavour of the wicked. . . . • •••••••#•••••••• It was authentic to the experienced ear 0» the good and faithful servant. (X. 1080-91

l^Luke 12:42-44. "And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful suad wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him a ruler over all that he hath."

^iRom. 13*4. "For he beareth not the sword in vain; for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute the wrath upon him that doeth evil." (cf. Deut. 32:35.) Ps. 28:4. "Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavors." Matt. 25:23. "His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant." (cf. I. 1190; IV. 1209; VIII. 1782.) 110

Although Caponsacchl has acted virtuously In a situation In which a lesser priest would have succumbed to the lusts of the world, the Pope laments that so few churchmen are awake to their duties. Speaking of their delinquency, he philoso­ phizes (with some irony) that wicked individuals do not necessarily comprise a wicked Churchs

If foolish virgins disobey and sleep, What wonder? But the wise that watch, this time Sell lamps and buy lutes, exchange oil for wine, The mystic Spouse betrays the Bridegroom here. Our last resource, theni Since all flesh is weak, Bind weaknesses together, we get strength: The individual weighed, found wanting .... (X. 1^87-93) Here, Browning also '‘binds" to "get strength." The com­ plexity of this "mosaic" allusion shows clearly the extent to which Browning was able to tie together coherently passages from widely separated and unrelated portions of

Scripture. Here, the poet sets up a tension between the parable of the Foolish Virgins who await the Bridegroom

(God) and the Hevelation text of Christ*s mystic marriage with the Church. In so juxtaposing the two passages, the poet identifies the Foolish Virgins with the derelict

152natt. 25:1-13. Parable of the Foolish Virgins; Hev. 21:9, 10. The mystic spouse is the Churoh; Matt. 26: *H. "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Dan. 5*27. "TEKEL; thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting." (We should note that Guido is once depicted as a "wise Virgin." As a disappointed office-seeker in Rome, Guido "trimmed his lamp and girt his loins/ To go his jour­ ney and be wise at home." A wise decision, since the "Bridegroom" would never come to Guido at Rome, (cf. V. 231; IX. 29) Ill churchmen who have spiritually gone to sleep. Then, in a quick flash into the book of Daniel, Browning injects the vatic voice of Daniel interpreting the writing of God— the damnation of the kingdom of Belshazzar. Thus, the Pope would imply, individually we are damned, but being a part of the Body of Christ, the Church, we may be saved.

Not all will be saved, however; the Pope adjudges the

Convertites little more than female Judases:

The monastery called of Convertites Meant to help women because these helped Christ—

What does the body that lives through helpfulness To women for Christ*s sake? The kiss turns bite. . . . (X. 1498-1508)153

Bitterly the Pope arraigns the Convertites for betraying the name of Pompilia in its effort to gain her gold:

Why, scripture yields no parallel for this! The soldiers only threw dice for Christ*s coat; We want another legend of the Twelve Disputing if it was Christ's coat at all . . .

The Master was a thief, purloined the same. • . .

Can it be this is end and outcome, all I take with me to show as stewardship's fruit. . . ? ______(X. 1524-32)154

I53iiatt. 25:55* ’’And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him." (Cf. II. 1199* in which Half-Home labels the Convertites "Those sinners saved, those Magdalens re­ made. ..." The Pope, Interestingly, returns the same verdict, as it were, reversing the conversion of Mary Magdalene: "Who was saint is whore." [X. 1524])

154john 19:23-24. Soldiers "cast lots upon his ves­ ture." John 12:6. Judas Iscariot is the "thief." Thus, the perversion of the Word of God has gone the limit when Christ is identified with Iscariot; Luke 16:2. Parable of stewardship. 112

In studying the whole thematic texture of the service of the Church, we discover that by far the majority of the churchmen are worldly, vain and even villainous— hardly a comforting augury for the Church! It is no wonder, then, that the Pope feels winter in his soul, for he must con­ fess before God that the Church has failed even to keep its own clergy "unspotted from the world."

Faith. To Browning, the central source of strength was not might, but faith, "the feeling that there1s God, he reigns and rules/ Out of this low world." (VI. 1195-95

As in Browning's own day, when Christianity was being challenged by scientism and rationalism, so in the late seventeenth century was scepticism rampant in Europe; in­ deed, the Molinists are little more than symbols of the general malaise, that of the faith being called into ques­ tion. In fact, we sense that Christ himself is on trial here; the Pope certainly realizes that he must vindicate the "Christs"— Pompilia and Caponsacchi— before the world, and send Lucifer falling before mannala.

Faith, Browning would say, comes through unexpected avenues. For Caponsacchl, the Church Itself was devoid of

^55ps. 97*1» "The Lord relgneth; let the earth re­ joice." Mark 11:22. "Have faith in God." 113 inspiration. Yet, on behalf of Pompilia, Guido utters his first genuine prayer*

"Oh, if the God, that only can, would help! Am 1 his priest with power to cast out fiends? Let God arise and all his enemies . Be scattered!" (VI. 1300-1302)15°

Pompilia, too, finds faith In the crisis of despair and

fear*

And all day, I sent prayer like Incense up To God the strong, God the beneficent. . . . A cn (VII. 138 W 5)157

This steadfastness of faith in Pompilia, "despite the

plucking fiend" (X. 1023)1-*® causes the Pope to venerate

her as a saint, "Safe like the signet-stone with the new

name/ The saints are known by . . . " (X. 102^-25).*59

Pompilia is truly one of them "that overcometh," not by

worldly power, but by an inner integrity.

Yet Pompilia is a rarity, a lily with "intact leaf";

156ps. 60 *11. "Give us help from trouble* for vain is the help of man." Matt. 10*1. "... he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out." Fs. 68:1 . "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered." (Here is an excellent example of Browning's "stacking" of Biblical allusions, a technique which lends weight to the passage.)

157PS. 89*8. "0 Lord God of Hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee?"

1-58John 10*28. " . . . neither shall any man pluck them out of thy hand."

^-^Rev. 2*17. "To him that overcometh will I give . . . a white stone, and in the stone a new name writ- t en. . . . " 114 certainly the great majority who call themselves Christians have not her "armour of light":

Where are the Christians in their panoply? The loins we girt about with truth, the breasts Righteousness plated round, the shield of faith, The helmet of salvation, and that sword A 0* the Spirit, even the word of God? (X. 1565-69) The passage above, which barely alters the original text, demonstrates Browning*s skill at handling both theme and prosody at once in a single Biblical allusion. The passage is readily adapted to iambic pentameter: for example, the phrases "we girt about with truth" and "the shield of faith" both have natural iambic feet, and require no alteration.

Indeed, where Browning does alter the text from the orig­ inal here, he does so for the sake of the meter. The

imagery of the passage is also appropriate; since Pompilia appears outwardly so weak, we must conclude that she has the "Invisible armor" described here.- Finally, the mili­ tancy conveyed by the martial imagery suggests Caponsacchi*s willingness to do battle for Pompilia.

Stirred by Pompilia*s example, the Pope redefines

faith. It is not, he would say, comprised of good works:

"What boots deed . . . ? . . .Do not these publicans the

same?" (1580-84)*^- Faith, then, can be nothing less than

l60j2ph. 6:13-17.

■^^■Matt. 5*46-48. "For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?" 115

St. Paul's concept of total regeneration:

What were it else but the first things made new, But repetition of the miracle 1 The divine instance of self-sacrifice. (X. 165^-56)

One is faithful, then, to the extent that his life faithfully

copies Christ's. Yet there is a paradox involved in such an "imitation of Christ": that faith is strongest where it

is apparently weakest. With Christ, his very suffering and

ignoble death are far from worldly triumphs; yet these are

the keystones of Christian worship. The divine paradox,

then, is that destruction and death must precede regener­

ation, or, in the Pope's words, "the conflagration of the

world/ Which Christ awaits ere He make all things new."

(X. 1798-99)^^ In terms of the divine dispensation, then,

worldly strength is meaningless, as Pompilia intuitively

feels: " 'And strength may have its drawback, weakness

scapes'" (VI. 12*4-8).

The Pope sees faith as an illumination which causes

men to have confidence despite the encroaching darkness of

doubt. Indeed, man ought to thrive on doubt; the improb­

abilities of the Scriptures disturb the Pope not at all,

for they still contain light: "I have light nor fear the

l62uev. 21:5* "And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." (Cf. X. 1799i IX. 282)

I^3Rev. 21:5. 116 dark at all” (X. 1659).1^ ’ This light of faith is not so much a constant guiding star as it is an occasional illumi­ nation of “man's step/ In the true way . . . wherein it is ordained he walk . . . " (X. lSl^-lS).1^ In sum, it is man's duty to persist in the path of faith, gaining strength by the very exercise; God is under no obligation to illuminate this path by constant revelations of Himself,

As for the world at large, its faith depends upon the

“outward product," or the physical manifestation of God's power, in order to keep faith alive: “Behold, an engine hoists a tower aloft:/ *1 looked that it should move the mountain too.'" (X, l67*t—7 5 ) * ^ Guido is the end product

of the world's superficiality; he is the Machiavel, whose

power depends upon the extent to which he can deceive

others. Such a view is apparent in the enunciation of his

l ^ j o h n 12:35* "Walk while ye have light, lest dark­ ness come," 1 John 1:5* "God is light, and him is no dark­ ness at all." Of this passage, Cook (p. 226) says, "[Here] the Pope gives singularly beautiful expression to Browning's favorite paradox that the weakness of a faith may be its strength. Cf. e . g ,, “Easter-Day,“ where the speaker argues that “ You must mix some uncertainty With faith, if you would have faith be— "

l^Eph. 2:10. " . . . good works, which God hath be­ fore ordained that we should walk in them."

l66j|att. 17:20. “If ye have faith as a grain of mus­ tard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall be removed." 117 philosophy in Book XI, after the fagade has been stripped away:

Why should things change because men disbelieve? What's incompatible, in the whited tomb, With bones and rottenness one inch below? But saintly act is done in Rome to-day But might be prompted by the devil . . . ? 1 (XI. 602-606) f

To Guido, faith is only appearance, the whitewash on the

tomb; at least unbelief, Guido argues, is genuine, whereas

faith is always false. Thus its converse, atheism, can do

its work upon man, causing him "to play a faithful part"

(XI. 613). Thus, man in Guido*s scheme of things is a ser­

pent, who guilefully misleads men: if he plays, like Guido,

the role of a cleric, he deceives others into thinking him

a man of God; in fact, he may cast out devils in the name of

God. By implication, then, it is really the devil who

motivates Godly works. How far we have come from Book V,

in which Guido fawningly avows his everlasting loyalty to

the Church! Clearly, Guido is the type of the false prophet

or antichrist of which Christ speaks in his admonition

against the wolves in sheep's clothing: it is thus no

accident that Guido should betray his wolfish nature as he

spews out his bitterness in Book XI.

l6?Matt. 23:27-28. "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men*s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." 118

Martyrdom and Sainthood. Caponsacchl from the very first senses that he Is In the company of a saint as he leads Pompilia toward Rome. Recalling the escape, he speaks of himself and Pompilia as 11 two martyrs somewhere in a tomb/ Each by each as their blessing was to die." (VI. 1185-

86) They await the judgment-day, "When to arise before the trumpet scares" (XI. 1188).*^® With such a point of view,

Caponsacchi is impatient with the court, which is slow to regard Pompilia in the same holy light.

How miss, then, What's now forced on you by this flare of fact— As if Saint Peter failed to recognise Nero as no apostle, John or James, ^ Till someone burned a martyr. (VI. 1786-90)-'-°9

Caponsacchl is ever bitter against the "misapprehending

ignorance/ 0* the human heart, much more the mind of Christ"

(VI. 1 8 6 3 - 5 * 0 To still the suspicions of the court, he confesses "That I assuredly did bow, was blessed/ By the

1^8 i Cor. 15*52. "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible." (cf, VIII. 839; XI. 588)

i^Luke 6s 13-1^. Here Caponsacchi inveighs against the court for its blindness, and implies as well that Pompilia is the very martyr who is burning, so that they might have light to see. Such is Browning's economy of ex­ pressions he is able to compress vividly into one image two themes; judicial blindness and the suffering of the innocent.

170 i Cor. 2:l6. "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." 119 revelation of Pompilia11 (VI* 1865-66). The court has thus

far been viewing Caponsacchi simply as a priest gone astray; yet here, he must be regarded as a new "convert.” Somehow,

Pompilia has transformed the priest into a soldier of Gods

we can almost see the snickers of the court dying on their

lips, and a new awe supplant what was cynicism.

As Caponsacchi sees Pompilia as a saint, so does she

define sainthood by the name of Caponsacchi:

”By faith and not by sight, sight clearest so,— Such way the saints work,”— says Don Celestine. But I, not privileged to see a saint Of old, when such walked earth with crown and palm, If I call ”saint” what saints call something else— The saints must bear with me, impute the fault To the soul i1 the bud. . . . (VII. 1510-16)1'1

Browning portrays both Pompilia and the priest as saints,

but of entirely different orders: whereas Pompilia is the

very type of Christ, the priest is a warrior-saint— bitter,

violent, even vindictive. Yet both are to be admitted to

the company of the ”saints” because both have prevailed

against the world, the one by purity, and the other by

strength. Fittingly, each feels that salvation is made

possible only through the other: we have seen Caponsacchi1s

avowal of Pompilia^ “revelation” ; and here, Pompilia assev-

171 2 Cor. 5*7• "For we walk by faith, not by sight." 120 erates, ”1 am saved through him/ So as by fire.1’ (VII. 1738-

39 )172 The Pope, in defining the qualities of sainthood in

the latter day, concludes that total purity is much more

difficult to attain than formerly: the latter-day saint

must distinguish the light of God from the variegated

splendor of earthly light:

More praise to him who with his subtle prism Shall decompose both beams and name the true. In such sense, who is last proves first indeed. (X. 1824-26)173

Pompilia, the Pope has declared ’’First of the first. ...”

(X. 1003); she has held the prism of faith to the light of

the world, and has been guided only by the white.

Judgment. It is a singular curiosity that the two

characters in The Ring and the Book who are most concerned

about the judgment of God are the Pope and Guido, the polar

opposites. The Pope, wholly a man of God, and Guido, given

172 1 Cor. 3*15* "If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: But he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” The Pope uses similar imagery in X. 71^- 15» in speaking of Guido’s salvation: ’’The lost be saved even yet, so as by fire./ Let him, rebuked, go softly all his days.” There is here an interesting shift in the sem­ antic use of the adverb yet: in the Bible it Is a conjunc­ tive adverb Implying concession, while in Browning, the word Is an adverb of time, implying "eventually.”

*7^Matt. 19*30. "But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” 121 over to the uses of the world, come into sharp juxta­ position here. In fact, both have more in common than would superficially appear: both are soon to face death and to render their accounts before God; yet at the same time, both are in a sense being tried on earth as well—

Guido for his life, and the Pope for his honor. The case of Pompilia brings the two into sharp conflict, even though they never see one another on earth. The Pope clearly sees that the judgment he must render is part of a larger issue: whether the Papacy will survive the onslaught of such antichrists as Guido, The specific charges against Guido thus pale into insignificance next to the magnitude of the verdict*s Implications: a decision for Guido will vindicate the old order of rank and power, while a decision against him will render true the account of righteousness. No com­ promise is possible, for the Pope will have shortly to ren­ der his own account before the God of absolutes.

The Other Half-Rome is the first to set the theme of

judgment; with his typically pietlstic emotionalism, he avers,

There * s anyhow a child Of seventeen years, whether a flower or weed, Ruined: who did it shall acount to Christ— Having no pity on the harmless life And gentle face and girlish form he found, And thus flings back: go practise if you please 122

With men and women: leave a child alone k For Christ’s particular love’s sake! (III. 83-90)1'4'

It is the Pope who must act as Christ’s advocate in Guido’s case; yet he is far from confident that his Judgment will he infallible:

While twilight lasts and time therein to work I take His staff with my uncertain hand, And stay my six and fourscore years, my due Labour and sorrow. . . . (X. 163-66)1'*

The Pope, then, is working on time borrowed from God. He feels the pressure of time since he has outlived even the

"fourscore years" which the Bible describes as the years of sorrow and pain. And the night of death is upon the Pope, as he feels distinctly in voicing the lament following:

I have worn through this sombre wintry day, With winter in my soul beyond the world’s, Over these dismalest of documents Which drew night down on me ere eve befell. . . . (X. 211-14)

The Pope is by implication well into the "night . . . when no man can work." Furthermore, he senses that the dismal document before him has implicit in it the very elements of

l7^Rom. 14:12. "Every one shall give account of him­ self to God." Jer. 21:7. "He shall not spare, nor have pity nor mercy." Matt. 19:14. "But Jesus said, Suffer little Children, and forbid them not, to come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

^Sps. 90:16. "The days of our years are threescore and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow." John 9:^» ”1 must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." 12 3 death. Ironically, it must be this decision which will accompany the Pope to his very grave.

It is little wonder that, feeling as he does the pressure of circumstance, the Pope is anxious about the

judgment of God:

Why, then I stand already in God's face And hear, "Since by its fruit a tree is judged, Show me thy fruit, the latest act of thine! For in the last is summed the first and all." (X. 339-^2)17b

Objective as he is, the Pope cannot help being aware that

God is weighing him in the balances against Guido:

"... there is another man, weighed now/ By twice eight 177 years beyond the seven-times-ten." (X. 317-18) Such

temporal adjudications as the Pope must make are at best

only interim measures, however; at the Judgment Day, all

will be changed:

So should the frail become the perfect, rapt From glory of pain to glory of joy; and so, Even in the end,— the act renouncing earth. Lands, houses, husbands, wives and children here,— Begin that other act which finds all, lost, Regained, in this time even, a hundredfold. „Q (X. 1800-1805)170

17^Matt. 7s16. "Ye shall know them [men] by their fruits." John 12:48. "The same shall judge him in the last day."

i77Ps. 90:10. "The days of our years are threescore and ten."

2 Cor. 3s18. "But we all • . . are changed into the same image from glory to glory." Matt. 19s29. "And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethen, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an Guido recognizes finally that he is among the damned: spurning the sacraments proffered by the Cardinal and Abate who visit the death-cell, he seems to glory in the coming judgment much like Milton's self-destructive Lucifer:

Why, [the Pope] leaves me linger out my minute here, Since close on death come judgment and the doom. (XI. 342-^3)

Yet, Godless as he is, Guido fears the final confrontation:

"What shall I say to God?" (XI. 934)1®0 he asks, as though a justification of his behavior were possible, if only the words could be found.

Guido is, indeed, getting a foretaste of God's judg­ ment in the deposition of Pompilia. Cursing his luck that

Pompilia still lives, Guido wishes for a confrontation at

the " Judgment-seat/ Where I could twist her soul, as erst

her flesh,/ And turn her truth into a lie." (XI. 1683-85)1®!

hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." (The Pope's speech above is a close paraphrase of the King James Version, and yet was probably culled from memory, since the word husbands is not mentioned in the original, nor is the concept of the "lost regained." The Pope probably drew this image from the parable of the lost sheep [Luke 15*4].)

1?%eb. 9s2?. "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."

I80ps. 42:2. "When shall I appear before God?"

^•^Rom. 1:25. "Who changed the truth of God into a lie. . . . " Browning's omission of the phrase "of God" suggests, to those familiar with this passage, an inferential identification of Pompilia with God. 125

Yet, for all his words, the Count sees "God*s hand between us both,/ Striking me dumb, and helping her to speak" (XI,

1684-86). Thus, in terms of God*s Judgment, Guido1s articulateness means nothing, while Pompilia*s simplicity has infinite power.

Salvation. The theme of salvation is central to The

Ring and the Book; indeed, for the Pope, this concept as an article of Christian faith proves a stumbling-block. Why should sinners be saved, simply because they have received the Gospel, while those who have lived before Christ are doomed? Worried by these questions, the Pope imagines that he hears Euripedes speaking from the past:

"I . . . Adopted virtue as my rule of life, Waived all reward, loved for loving*s sake, . . . Five hundred years ere Paul spoke, [and] Felix heard,— How much of temperance and righteousness, Judgment to come, did I find reason for, . . .

How nearly did I guess at that Paul knew?

. . . so, who controverts I rendered rightly what proves wrongly wrought Q Beside Paul*s picture?" (X. l?09-32)10^

Euripedes anticipates,with his secular ethics,the Apostle

Paul, speaking to the "Felixes" of his day— those hearing

l^Acts 24:24-25. "And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and Judgment to come, Felix trembled." 126 for the first time the word of God. Browning (whose favor­ ite Greek was Euripedes) Is deeply concerned with the fate of such virtuous pagans. It Is clear that Euripedes has

Intuitively adopted the qualities of Christ; why, then, is he not eligible for the crown of eternal life? "How shall

I answer this Euripedes?" the Pope queries (X. 1790).

"Paul— *tls a legend,— answered Seneca, / But that was in the day-spring; noon is now ..." (X. 1791-92). The

Pope, like Paul apologist for Christianity, must answer a moral apologist of another age; yet he finds he cannot do so, because the question of salvation is now far too com­ plex to be settled definitively. The Pope is not simply dodging the issue. He is confessing something that

Browning himself must have realized: that some of the

Christian articles of faith are beyond manfs interpretation.

Browning himself would concede salvation to Euripedes; but to do so would be to contravene a basic Christian doctrine that Jesus is the only path to salvation. Browning is thus content to hold the question in suspension for God to arbi­ trate at the "conflagration of the world" (X. 1798

2 Pet. 3*12, 13. "Looking for the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dis­ solved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless we . . . look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." (cf. Rev. 21:5) 127

The Pope sees, however, that for Guido as a Christian, there is ironically at least the possibility of salvation:

"So may the truth be flashed out by one blow,/ And Guido *1 f t l t see, one Instant, and be saved” (X. 2126-27), Nor would

Pompilia withhold from Guido the saving grace: ”Let Guido touch the shadow [of Christ] and be healedt” (VII, 1722

Speaking in metaphorical terms, then, Guido is a sick or moribund member of the body of Christ. The Pope, thinking of Christ as the Tree of Life, casts Guido as one of the

'•grafted, the barren twigs,/ Into the living stock of

Christ.” (X. 1896-97) It is possible, then, that they "may bear/ One day, till when they lie death-like, not dead." (X. 1897-98)186 yet these "grafted twigs" must bear fruit eventually In order to be saved: Christ, in Matthew 3*1°» warns that the barren branches will be cut off and cast

into the fire. And from what we see of Guido in Book XI, we realize that Guido will be among the branches burned,

10M' Heb. 7:25. "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him."

!®^Acts 5*15. "They brought forth the sick • . . , that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might over­ shadow some of them."

H : i 7 . "... and thou, being a wild olive tree, were graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree." (Paul's text refers specifically to the Gentiles being "grafted" into the body of Christ among the Jews; Browning typically uses the text In a wider sense.) For a study of Pompilia as a grafted twig, see Chapter II of Part II. 128 since the only "fruit" he bears is bitter hatred. Later in his own monologue, the Pope, again using the imagery of grafting, regards Guido indeed as one of these barren branohes; thus, he resists the argument of those in Half-

Rome^ camp, who would

"Spare yet a term this barren stock, We pray thee dig about and dung and dress Till he repent and bring forth fruit even yet" .Q_ (x. 1967-69)187 The "Half-Romes" are appealing to the Pope as the Good

Husbandman to spare his own "stock"; yet intuitively the

Pope sees that no amount of cultivation will save the vine,

Guido, which "cumbereth the ground." Not surprisingly, it

is Guido who picks up this same theme in Book XI, when he

imagines his son Gaetano, Isaac-like, bringing gifts to him, "but half apprehensive how/ He cumbers earth ..."

(XI. 1864-65)•188 Guido, then, in a play for sympathy,

imagines himself as a useless vine, worn out by the very act

of bearing fruit (Gaetano).

?Luke 13*7* 8. "Then said he unto the dresser of the vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none; cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I dig about it, and dung it." (Cf. V. 230; XI. 1867)

188Ibid. See also Gen. 22, in which Abraham prepares to sacrifice Isaac. Guido, however, speaks as if he were Abraham, about to sacrifice himself for Isaac--Just the in­ verse of the Biblical legend! 3. MINOR THEMES

The minor Biblical themes in The Ring and the Book pro­ vide Browning with' miniature frames of reference whereby he can contrast or juxtapose widely variant passages for dramatic effects, chiefly ironic. Study of a few of the more interesting of these themes allows us to discover how

Browning sets up subtle tensions between apparently un­ related segments of the poem. These brief studies will reveal the extent of the poet*s virtuosity in treating familiar themes with imagination and often humor.

Leviathan. Browning makes use of the '’Leviathan11 theme in several passages in The Ring and the Book. At first the reader remembers only that he has seen the allusion somewhere before; but upon repeated readings, he begins to sense that there must be some underlying design behind such alius ions•

^The text referred to in all the Leviathan passages is Job k ls Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? . . • Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? . . • Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears? . . . I will not

129 130

The first reference to Leviathan is found in "Guido,” as the Count cries out against those who have joined forces

against him:

And how this three-fold cord could hook and fetch And land leviathan that king of pride! (V. 150*4—1505)

The "threefold cord"2 is comprised of the cunning Vlolante,

together with the weaker strands of Pietro and Pompilia*

Leviathan, naturally, is Guido, that marvel of nature de­

scribed in Job.

As with the major thematic patterns, so with the minor:

Browning allows his earlier references to carry over into

later allusions, a technique which might be labelled "the­

matic persistence," for it depends upon the readerrs ability

to recall, however, dimly, the former allusions, and to

superimpose them, as it were, upon the latter ones. For

example, in the next "levithan" passage, Archangel is exults,

Landed and stranded lies my very own [speech], My miracle, my monster of defence— Leviathan into the nose whereof I have put fish-hook, pierced his jaw with thorn, And given him to my maidens for a play! (VIII. 1729-33)

conceal his parts, nor his comely proportion , . . His scales are his pride. . . . His heart is as firm as a stone: yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone. . . . He maketh the deep to boil like a pot. . . . He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary. . . . He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.

2Eccl. *4-:l2. "And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken." 131

Here, Archanglls' speech, not Guido, is the Leviathan; yet we, recalling that Guido is the former "leviathan,11 tend to search for a relationship between the two allusions. And we find this relationship in the dramatic irony of Guido*s being reduced to lawyer*s logic— a victim of Arch- angells* defense speech. Leviathan surfaces again in the Pope*s speech— -here almost in its original Biblical form— as the aging Pontiff indicts the Church for trying to recruit hot-blooded young men for the priesthood. Browning achieves here a subtle interplay between the Pope*s sentiments and the original Biblical text. Except for one interpolation from a passage on Behemoth, the Pope manages to structure his own thinking in the same sequence as presented in Job 4-1: . . . ours the fault Who still misteach, mislead, throw hook and line Thinking to land leviathan forsooth, Tame the scaled neck, play with him as a bird, And bind him for our maidens! Better bear The King of Pride go wantoning awhile, Unplagued by cord in nose and thorn in jaw, Through deep to deep, followed by all that shine, Churning the blackness hoary: He who made The comely terror, He shall make the sword To match that piece of netherstone his heart. (X. 1100-1110)3 In the leviathan allusion, the Pope sees the priest Capon­ sacchi as a type of sea-monster: he has the natural grace,

3job ^0:19. "He that made him can make his sword to approach unto him." Ps. 42:7. "Deep calleth unto deep." 132 energy and power which are divine and awesome but un-

eccleslastleal. Caponsacchi, argues the Pope, should have been allowed to range freely In society before he withdrew from the world. As it is, the Church cannot snare Its

"kings of pride," for they have too great a resistance to

the binding "cords" of orthodoxy.

Two other less obvious allusions to the "Leviathan" passage demonstrate the subtlety with which Browning renews a Biblical reference without letting his readers forget the

previous passages in which the same image is used. Having

traced the Leviathan motif from its references to Guido, to

Archangelis* speech, and thence to the priest Caponsacchi,

we are surprised to find that the Pope becomes the next

Leviathant Here, Archangelis (who refers to the Pope as

"old Somebody") describes his defense as a double bridle,

the two cords being the "rescue from the ditch" of the name

of Franceschlni (XII. 370-71); and the presentation of an

eloquent argument, liberally laced with Latlnisms and fic­

tions, to lead the Pope along:^

"The other rein’s Judicious management Suffered old Somebody to keep the pace,

^Ironically, the Pope does seem to be drawn to Arch­ angelis1 defense speech; he even uses it as a mnemonicon when he forgets the source of a Biblical quotation, "Nemlni honorem trado," which itself is apocryphal! (X. 1982-88) Thus one might make the case that the Pope is indeed led by the nose, a captured Leviathan— except that the Pope’s loss of memory in no way affects his apprehension of truth, nor the Justness of his decision. 133

Hobblingly play the roadster: who but he Had his opinion, was not led by the nose In leash of quibbles strung to look like law! You’ll soon see, . , •

If, by a back-swing of the pendulum, Grace be not, thick and threefold, consequent." ? (XII. 375-83) With evident sarcasm, Archangelis— praising the Pope for not being confused by the facts ("leash of quibbles") adduced in the legal arguments— asserts that he has influenced the

Pope by his alluding so often to the Bible. At least the

Pope might render praise for the rhetorical splendor of the lawyer’s defense: "'Could eloquence avail to gainsay fact,/

Yours were the victory, be comforted" (XII. 387-88).

Leviathan appears last as a symbol of "truth"— as

Bottinius conceives it— in a letter describing his victory over Archangelis:

"I always knew the clearness of the stream Would show the fish so thoroughly, child might prong The clumsy monster: with no mud to splash, Small credit to lynx-eye and lightnlng-spear! f (XII. 410-13)

-5job 4l:13« "Who can discover the face of his gar­ ment? or who can come to him with his double bridle? ["Leviathan's]" Note that Archangelis converts his mammal from the whale to the horse, even though he alludes to the Leviathan passage. See also Eccl. 4:12. " . . . and a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

^Job 4l:7. "Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?" The lynx-eye is symbolic of God's perspicacity. Bottinius has fore­ shortened and distorted the passage considerably: he has inverted all of Leviathan's characteristics, making him weak and listless; then he has caused the fish to be 134

The stream of "truth" Issuing from the lips of Bottinius

is so pellucid, that Leviathan can be landed by a child; it

takes no divine vision to see the truth, since the waters

have not been muddied by the monster. Leviathan thus bows

out as a meek and docile fish, symbolic of the half-truths

of the Pise.

In the use of such a symbol as the Leviathan, Browning

was always aware of its capacity for being "all things to

all men"; since the "filthy rags of speech" clothe all

truths, the truth is available only by intuition, by

guessing what lies beneath these rags. Browning's motive

for putting Leviathan through his paces, then, is to demon­

strate how a Biblical symbol can be used to convey both

truth, as with the Pope, and falsehood, as in the Bottinius

passage just quoted, in which the original text is badly

distorted. Since the Word of God, not its truth, is access­

ible to all men, it is capable of being twisted and wrenched

out of context. It is therefore incumbent upon the reader

to winnow the chaff from the grain, to distinguish truth

from falsehood.

landed by a mere child (cf. "Wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?"), who sees the whale easily because the waters are clear (cf. "He maketh the deep to boll like a pot.") Thus, Bottinius* Leviathan is simply a hollow echo of the Biblical one. 135

Uzzah and the Ark of the Covenant. Browning, himself so familiar with the Bible that it often dictates his style, appears to expect equal erudition of his readers; he rarely explains a Biblical allusion, but rather passes quickly on.

Many of his allusions are composed of references to proper names coupled with the briefest of synopses of the passages

in which they appear. The very brevity of these allusions often causes them to pass unnoticed by the modern reader-- especially one who is unfamiliar with the Bible,

Yet with Browning, who wrote for a mid-Victorian audience which knew the Bible intimately, his choice of

Biblical allusions was prompted not by the desire to be recondite, but by his very desire to communicate. His allusions were not only familiar to most of his audience, but they were invested with a certain sanctity which made

them authoritative. Moreover, with them, the poet could achieve the economy of expression characteristic of his

best verse.

Such are the motives behind the selection of the

"Uzzah1* passage in 1 Chronicles 13; Uzzah is, to Bible

readers, a type of the servant of God who receives unjust

punishment at the hands of his Master:

And when they came unto the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God. And David was displeased, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzza. (1 Chr. 13s19-21) 136

This passage is useful in that it points up the vindictive­ ness of the Old Testament God, who is often characterized as demanding absolute obedience to the letter of the law.

For Browning, then, Uzzah becomes symbolic of the conflict

of the letter versus the spirit of the Law.

It is not surprising, therefore, that we should see

Guido portrayed as Uzzah by Archangelis:

’'All conscience and all courage,— there*s our Count Charactered in word; and, what*s more strange, He had companionship in privilege, Found four courageous conscientious friends: Absolve, applaud all five, as props of law, Sustainers of society!— perchance A trifle over-hasty with the hand To hold her tottering ark, had tumbled else; But that's a splendid fault whereat we wink. ...” (I. 188-96)

Here, Guldo-as-Uzzah is the scapegoat of society, who up­

holds her honor despite the harsh injunction to keep his

hands to himself. This statement anticipates Guido’s own

defense of himself in Book V as the suffering servant of

the Church and the victim of the very law which he pro­

fesses to love.

Uzzah next appears as the Friar to whom Pompilia has

gone in desperation for help. Yet the Friar, knowing that

he cannot aid Pompilia without contravening the command­

ments of the Archbishop, has no desire to suffer the same

fate as Uzzah:

”So a fool Once touched the ark— poor Uzzah that I am! Oh married ones, much rather should I bid» 137

In patience all of ye possess your souls! This life is brief and troubles die with it. (IV. 833-37V To the Pope, Uzzah becomes symbolic of the obligation of every man of God to save the "Ark," i.e* , to give aid to those members of the Church who are "falling":

"Save this child? Oh, my superiors, oh, the Archbishop here! Who was it dared lay hand upon the ark His betters saw fall nor put finger forth? Great ones could help yet help not: why should small?" (X. 1479-83)8

The "small" to whom the Pope refers are those like the Friar, who dare not act because their superiors would strike them as God struck Uzzah.

Thus a tension is generated in the use of the Uzzah passage. The ironic parallel of Guido to Uzzah is obvious:

Guido, far from being a sustalner of tottering society, is a very symbol of its decadence. To compound the irony,

Browning renews the Uzzah allusion in his reference to the derelict churchmen: they are not Uzzahs at all, since they let Pompilia (the Ark) tumble to her death. Browning has

set up a conflict between the implied Biblical precept—

7In addition to the Uzzah allusion, cf. also Luke 21: 19» "In patience possess ye your souls." Job 14:1, "Man . . . is of a few days, and full of trouble." The first edition has Hophnl for Uzzah.

®It is curious that the Pope should be the only one of the three to forget the name Uzzah; such lapses of memory, however, are characteristic of the Pope’s speech in Book X. 138 that men ought to extend support to the falling— and Its praotlee: In reality, there are very few Uzzahs In the worldi for men fear more for their own well-being than they i care for the welfare of society or of the church.

Samson. For Browning*s thematic purposes, the myth of Samson Is especially rich In parallels: the whole situation of Guido Is strikingly similar to that of Samson— whose only weakness was that he knew nothing about women. Guido*s very Samson-1Ike brand of vengeance provides an apt symbol for the monologulst In "Che Ring and the Book.N The par­ allel of Guido*s bloodletting to Samson*s arson Is Implicit In the speaker's Imagery here: That was a firebrand at each fox's tall Unleashed In a cornfield: soon spread flare enough, As hurtled thither and there heaped themselves From earth* s four comers, all authority And precedent for putting wives to death. Or letting wives live, sinful as they seem. o (I. 215-20) Although the speaker Is ostensibly using the firebrand metaphor to describe the controversy that was raging over Home at the time of Guido*s trial, the passage serves another, more subtle purpose: It sets up the parallel

9Judges 15:3-5* "[Samson has just returned to his estranged Philistine wife with the gift of a kid. But his father-in-law forbids Samson entrance Into his wife's house.] I verily thought that thou [Samson] hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion. • • . [Samson, angry at the loss of his wife, plans revenge] And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tall to tall, and put a firebrand In the midst be­ tween two tails. And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go Into the standing c o m of the Philistines.•••" 139 between Guido and Samson. Both are husbands, who, having lost their wives, wreak vengeance In the most crude and sadistic way, Inflicting gratuitous pain upon the lnnooent. Samson's wholesale revenge against the Philistines paral­ lels olosely the murder by Guido of the entire family of the Comparlnl. Archangelis finds an entirely different parallel be­ tween Guido and Samson. Guido, far from being a sadistic killer, Is the very type of him who sacrifices his life so that Honor might lives Samson in Gaza was the antetype Of Guido at Homes observe the Nazarite! Blinded he was,— an easy thing to bear, Intrepidly he took imprisonment, Gyves, stripes, and daily labour at the mills But when he found himself, 1* the public place, Destined to make the common people sport. Disdain burned up with such an impetus I* the breast of him that, all of him on fire, Morlatur. roared he, let my soul's self die, Anlma mea, with the Phil1stinesl So, pulled down pillar, roof, and death and all, And many more he killed thus, morlens. Dying, auam vivos, than in his whole life, A Occlderat. he ever killed before. (VIII. 639-57)10 Guido here plays two distinct roles. First, he is the Nazarite, a member of a strict holy order. As a servant of God, he performs his "daily labor at the mill" for the

^Judges 16s16-31. Samson is oaptured by the Philis­ tines, and is forced to grind corn like a beast of burden. Samson avenges this insult by toppling the pillars of the temple at the feast of Dagon. nLet me die with the Phllls- tines." "So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life." 140

Church— a labor without reward, Implies Archangelis. Then, In a play for sympathy, Archangelis suddenly shifts scenes: Guido Is Samson at the feast of Dagon, with the Philistines (Homans and Aretlnes) Jeering and spitting at him. Arch­ angelis mores swiftly to his final scene, the fabled self- immolation of Samson as he avenges himself on the Idola­ trous Philistines. By analogy, then, why Is not Guido Justified In his avenging the Insults of the Homans by killing only three of them? If Guido should die, Implies Arohangelis, he will have taken three "Philistines" with him— the Comparlnl. Thus has Guido remained faithful to his calling as a man of God, a Nazarlte: he has destroyed the godless, even at the expense of his own lifel If Guido Is Samson, then, we might expect Pompilia to be delineated as the wicked Delilah. It comes as no shook, therefore, to see that Bottinius— who Is supposed to be de­ fending Pompilia— conceives of his olient as Delilah, stirring the lusts of Samson (who Is here Caponsacchi): Shall she propose him lucre, dust o' the mine, Hubblsh o' the rock, some diamond, muckworms prize, Or pearl secreted by a sickly fish? *T Is love shall beckon, beauty bid to breast, Till all the Samson sink Into the snare! (IX. 510-15)

11 1 Tim. 3'3* (Reference to "filthy lucre"); Judg. 16: 16-17• Delilah tempts Samson until he reveals the secret of his strength. Bottinius Inferentlally construes this strength as sexual potency. Ikl Caponsacchi, who rejects the things of this world, will certainly not reject love, Bottinius implies,

Guido, in his final vituperations, bitterly classes

Pompilia among the great temptresses of history, among whom is Delilah, planning to betray Samson (Guido):

"Let me but seal up eye, sing ear to sleep Sounder than Samson,— pounce thou on the prize Shall slip from off my breast, and down couch-side, And on to floor, as far as my lord's feet— Where he stands in the shadow with the sword Waiting to see what Delilah dares do!" (XI. 2195-2200)

In delineating Guido as Samson, Browning has conceived a thematic pattern which proves to be a commentary upon the whole poem. He has patterned Guido after a Biblical charac­ ter who lacks intelligence, operates on impulse, and proves time and again how cruel and vindictive he can be. There is little morally good in Samson save his dying— and the same applies to Guido. That the Count could conceive of his wife as a Delilah shows how morally blind he is.

St. Peter and Malchus* Ear. The Gospel story of St.

Peter*s cutting off the ear of Malchus, the priest who accompanied Judas to Gesthemane to arrest Jesus, provides

Browning with a thematic reference appropriate to the poem.

The incident illustrates two ideas: that of the Church- militant, and that of effective chastisement. The latter theme appears first in the poem, as Guido, citing the action

of St. Peter as precedent, justifies the husband's punish­ ment of his erring wife: I don't hear much of harm that Malchus did 142

After the incident of the ear, my lords! Saint Peter took the efficacious way; Malchus was sore but silenced for his life: He did not hang himself l1 the Potter's Field Like Judas, who was trusted with the bag And treated to sops after he proved a thief. . • • I give that for a course a wise man takes; I took the other however, tried the fool's The lighter remedy, brandished rapier dread With cork-ball at the tip, boxed MAlohus' ear 9 Instead of severing the cartilage. . . . (V. 967-83 )1 2 Here Guido, in stressing the theme of admonitory punishment, subtly suppresses the real themes of the corresponding Biblical passage, substituting for them a bit of bombast: he focuses on Malchus, the least important figure in the tableau as described in the Gospel according to St. John, who incidentally never describes the aftermath of St. Peter's attack on Malchus; however, St. Luke is at pains to demon­ strate that Christ healed Malchus* ear.*^ Moreover, there is in this passage something else which Guido suppresses: If Guido is drawing a parallel between himself and the St. Peter who drew a sword to thwart the capture of Christ, he is subject to the same rebuke as Peter: Christ says, "Put up again thy sword into his place; for they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." (Matt. 26:52)

l^Matt. 27:5, 7. Judas hangs himself; he is buried in the potter's field, cf. Acts 1:18. John 12:6, 13, 26. Judas proves a thief; Christ gives a sop to him who should betray Him. John 18:10. Christ is apprehended. ^Luke 22:51. Christ touohes Malchus' ear, healing him. 1^3

Would that Guido had obeyed this injunction against violence. If Guido has subtly been implying a parallel between himself and St, Peter, he is inferentlally juxtaposed to Caponsacchi, who openly and defiantly plays the role of St, Peter-with-the-sword, ready to defend his "Christ," Pompilia, His defiant words—-which St. Peter himself might have conceived as he watched his Master apprehended-- typify Browning's code of virtuous and manly action: I stood as near The throat of him,— with these two hands, my own,— As now I stand near yours, Sir,— one quick spring, One great good satisfying gripe, and lot There had he lain abolished with his lie. Creation purged o' the mlscreate, man redeemed, A spittle wiped off from the face of God! (71. 1^73-79) It matters little whether Caponsacchi acted upon this im­ pulse; it remains that this desire to destroy evil lay very close to the surface of the priest's thoughts that morning at Castelnuovo. Here, the dramatic situation is sharply reversed: Guido is the betraying Judas, leading soldiers in to capture the Christ, The Castelnuovo scene parallels the Great Betrayal: Caponsacchi Is the hot- tempered Peter, the man of action and little forethought, who instinctively hates duplicity. It is part of the structural irony of The Ring and the Book that opposing sides in the controversy pick up the threads of each other's imagery. Since Guido here has first used the "Malchus” imagery, one might expect his lawyer 1 * 4

Archangel is to stress the Malchus legend in the same way as has Guido— as a type of condign punishment. It is Bottinius, however, who next employs the imagery, this time with a sardonic overtones The Count's good angel bade "Put up thy sword, bora enemy to the ear, . And let Law listen to thy difference!" (IX. 1170-72)14 Bottinius here echoes some of Christ's words: "Put up thy sword"; thus inferentially Guido's good angel is Christ Himself. Yet in his penchant for altering Biblical text, the lawyer reduces the sword to the un-heroic status of "enemy to the ear." Although Bott inius, in making the "ear" allusion, does introduce the Malchus story, he does to bring derision down on the Count. Moreover, Bottinius, a student of rhetoric himself, recognizes the value of the Malchus legend in driving home the theme of this passage: the good angel is perched next to Guido's ear. How can the ear of Law listen if it is "cut off" by the sword (i.e., thirst for vengeance)? Ve have seen, in the poet's use of the Malchus theme, the extent to which he can shift emphasis, suppress impor­ tant elements, and alter the wording to cause Scripture to fit his poetic context. First, Guido is a righteously indignant St. Peter, whose token punishment is only a fore­ shadowing of the wrath to come; next, Caponsacchl— in the

l ^ t t . 26:51, 52. 1^5 true spirit of St. Peter—-would defend his betrayed "Christ," Pompilia. Finally. Bottinius types the Count again as St. Peter, listening to his "good angel," the Law. The empha­ sis shifts sharply, depending upon what is suppressed. With Guido, the theme is one of Justifiable punishment, involving the use of a toy "sword." Yet with Bottinius, that very element which is suppressed in Guido's monologue oomes forth: "Put up thy sword." It is clear, then, that the same text can serve widely variant purposes: here the same allusion serves both to Justify and condemn punishment 1 The "sword" theme finds its way into another ironic pattern, again involving a Juxtaposition of three books whose them and purpose vary widely. First, Bottinius, sar­ donically twits the Governor and Archbishop of Arezzo for their Indifference to Pompilia. They Wished well to our Pompilia— in their dreams, Nor bore the secular sword in vain— asleep. (IX. 1115-16) The passage here alluded to is found in Paul's Epistle to the Homans (13:4), in which the apostle Justifies the use of the sword as an instrument of God's will: For he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Since the sword is unsheathed only in his dreams, the Arch­ bishop oan hardly execute the wrath of God upon wrongdoers. The irony of the passage from Bottinius is compounded by the 146 fact that the wily lawyer has just shown, in a freely l *5 adapted 11 parable" of Peter, John and Judas, -' that Hto keep wide awake Is man's best dream" (IX. 1108). Immediately upon the heels of this dictum follows the Implication that the men of authority In Arrezo are "asleep" to their duty to act as God's lieutenants. The Pope, however. Is keenly aware that he must soon wield God's sword. In his unqualified praise of Fompllla, the Pope evinces his awareness of the minister's militant role i [Pomp 11 la did]] resist— Anticipate the office that Is mine— And with his own sword stay the upraised arm, The endeavour of the wicked, and defend Him who,— again In my default,— was there For visible providence. (X. 1080-85) The Pontiff marvels that a mere woman should leap at God's bidding to wrest Guido's sword from out Its sheath to pro­ tect herself and the priest. The Pope, then, sees Pompllla, as well as Caponsacchl, aotlng In his stead as agent of God. Although Pompllla Is unable to execute God's judgment In bearing the sword against Guido, God will have His will upon the Count. Awaiting his execution at the guillotine, Guido understandably dwells a great deal on the sharp edges of knivest "The magistrate, he beareth not the sword

l-^Drawn from Sepher Toldoth Yeschu (Book of the Gener­ ation of Jesus), a collection of apooryphal legends. 1>7

In vain; who sins may taste Its edge, we see!" , (XI, 789-90)16 The Irony here lies in the diminution of the bearer of the sword from minister (agent of God) to magistrate (agent of Law), Thus Guido, even as he faces death, cannot forbear twisting the Sorlpture to achieve a bit of macabre humor.

Noah1s Ark and the Flood. The myth of Noah provides an interesting contrast of themes in Books X and XII. First, the Pope, seeing in the image of the Ark at the end of the Flood an apt metaphor to describe the dormant hatred of Guido, reoounts the effect of Gaetano*s birth upon the count: One final deluge to surprise the Ark Cradled and sleeping on its mountain-top: The outbreak-signal--what but the dove*s coo, Baok with the olive in her bill for news 19 Sorrow was over? (X. 747-51) ' The Pope sees the terrible discrepancy here between the joyful import of the news of a son's birth, and its baneful effect: Guido should have rejoiced at the end of his "Flood** of care; instead he originates a new wave of hatred. Thus, for Guido, the dove of peace becomes the raven from the Plutonian shore. Book XII sustains the Noah theme— in fact, the dove flies twice in the long letter of Bottinius; yet how differ-

l^Hom. 13*4. 17Gen. 8:4, 10-11. 148 ent are the two uses of the same Image! The dove first serves as a symbol of God's providence (of. dove as har­ binger of Guido's flood of wrath) in Fra Celestino's ser­ mon, quoted at length by the scornful Bottinius: "God, who seems acquiescent in the main With those who add 'So will he ever sleep* — Flutters their foolishness from time to time. Puts forth His right-hand recognlsably; He wakes remonstaace— 'Passive, Lord, how long?' So might those old Inhabitants of the ark, Witnessing haply their dove's safe return. Pronounce there was no danger, all the while. . . . " (XII. 465-76)18 Bottinius, vilifying the priest Celestino, picks up the same thread of imagery, this time turning it against the friar: And this foul-mouthed friar shall find His Noah's-dove that brought the olive back Turn into the other sooty scout, The raven, Noah first of all put forth the ark, And never came back, but ate carcasses! (XII. 722-26) In Fra Celestino's sermon Pompllla is the dove sent by providence to comfort the Comparinl after their long flood of woe. But Bottinius here serves notice that he will con­ vert the dove into a orow, .i.e., sully Pompilia's reputation in prosecuting her estate. In fine, we can see that the dove image has flown some tight circles within the two Books, X and XII. First the dove is Gaetano's birth, the "good news," as it were, sent

4 Q Ps. 6:3* "My soul is also vexed: but thou, 0 Lord, how long?" (cf. Ps. 94:1, 3*) 1>9 from Pompllla to Guido; then It Is Pompllla herself as a type of God's providence; finally It serves as a symbol of the whiteness of Pompllla— which Bottinius is about to drag through the mud of calumny. Although the dove reference is restricted to Pompllla, the tone and signlfloanee of the three references are strikingly different. It Is a mark of Browning's skill that he Is able to "shade" a Biblical pas­ sage In three such sharply divergent ways.

Nunc Dlmlttls.1^ Browning has a proclivity for putting

Scriptural passages to blashphemous uses. We have already

seen Violante chanting the Magnificat In praise of herself

(17. 193-99). Here the Rune DlmittIs similarly provides

an overtone of humorous Irreverence; yet at the same time,

it serves a structural function. Since the alert reader is

likely to remember previous uses of the same allusion,

Browning is enabled thus to set up a subtle Interplay be­

tween the passages In which the allusion appears. Let us

consider, for example, the first Nunc dlmlttls as sung by

^Luke 2:29-30. ^Simeon, an elder, awaits news of the Messiah's birth} "And when the parents brought in the child Jesus . . • then took he him up In his arms, and blessed God, and said: Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart In peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." 150 the Comparini, overjoyed at seeing their daughter married to Guidot As Guido Franoesehlni took away Pompllla to be his for evermore* . • • they sang "Now, let us depart in peace. Having beheld thy glory, Guido's wife," (I, 5^0-43) Thus is Pompllla "apotheosized" by the Comparlnl, not be­ cause she is spotless as the Lamb, but because she is now (they think) married into nobility. The first nunc dlmlttls carries its shadow into the second, this time intoned by an old man in the hearing of Half-Home in reference, not to Pompllla, but to antichrist: "Here the world's wickedness seals up the sum: Antichrist's surely come and doomsday's near Hay I depart in peace, I have seen my see." (II. 125-28)20 Here, antichrist takes the form of the murder of Pompllla, which the venerable Luca Clnl decries bitterly. As we might expect, Half-Rome sympathizes not at all with the old man: "Depart then," I advised, "nor block the road . • • " (II. 128). Clearly, Half-Rome is in accord with Guido's method of chastisement: a little severe, perhaps, but effective!

^Ezek. 28:12. "Thus salth the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty." (of. VI. 1019) "I thought the other way self-sacrifice:/ This is the true, seals up the perfect sum." Note Browning's in­ version of word order in this allusion: perfect sum, of course, is meaningless. Yet, from the Biblloal passage, we can "unsoramble" the wording to read "sum of perfection.") 1 John 2:18. "... even now are there many anti­ christs; whereby we know that it is the last time. 151

The power of the allusion to antichrist lies In Its Ironic reference to Christ*s second coming. Luca Cini, awaiting Christ like a good Christian* Is rewarded Instead toy the advent of antichrist. That he should want to pass away, then, is quite understandable; he has seen all that he can bear of man*s inversion of Christa teachings. The third Nunc dlmlttls returns full circle to the Comparlnl, this time before the wedding. Yet the Messiah here Is not Pompllla, as In Book I, but is Guido: And when such paragon was found and fixed. Why, they might chant their 11 Nunc dlmlttls1* straight. (IV. 337-38) The "paragon” for which the Comparlnl have longed, as the aging Simeon has longed for Christ, is the noble name of Franceschlnl. The interest in the Nunc Dlmlttls allusions, it is clear, lies In the extent to which they depart from the Biblical context of the coming of Christ, and in the corol­ lary that none of these allusions refer to Christ, but to earthly manifestations of evil.

Meat-Mllk/Truth. In a poem so deeply concerned with truth as The Bing and the Book, it seems natural that the poet should cull from the Bible the chief allusions to truth-telling. The one at hand, the meat-milk/truth analogy, fits especially well since one of the poem's leitmotifs is 152 food— both spiritual and physical. Here truth Itself Is perhaps the ultimate foods I hare fed you with milk* and not with meats for hitherto ye were not able to bear It, neither yet now are ye able. (1 Cor. 3*2) Paul alludes to the difficulty of expressing pure spiritual truths In ordinary language; men are spiritual babes who must be milk-fed until ready for the more substantial meat of God*s direct word. Browning's use of this passage provides another In­ stance of the thematic cross-commentary. In which the Bible passage Is Implicitly contrasted with a given speaker's use thereof. First, Browning's allusion In propria persona shows slight but significant distortion of the original: — No dose of purer truth than man digests, But truth with falsehood, milk that feeds him now, Not strong meat which he may get to bear some day. • • . (I. 830-32) The built-in assumption about human language (which Is correct) is that it conveys truth alloyed with falsehood; but one wonders whether Paul meant to convey that notion. It would rather seem that his Corinthians text says simply that the truths which he presents to the world must be fit for consumption by "children In the faith"; the necessity of falsehood does not enter the Scriptural text. The other passage alluding to the Pauline metaphor of meat and milk wanders even further from the original. Here 153

Arohangelis defends Guido's hiring— and failure to pay— his rustic accomplices: What though he lured base hinds by lucre's hope,— The only motive they could masticate. Milk for babes, not strong meat which men require? The deed done, those coarse hands were soiled enough, He spared them the pollution of the pay. (VIII. 1627-31)21 Characteristically, Arohangelis departs radically from the Scriptural text: his "milk" Is not parabolic revelation of God's word, but simply money; his "meat," fax from being the confrontation with God, Is nothing more than crude passion. The Irony of the departure from the Biblical text Is Intensified by another of Archangells' characteristics: he has ohosen this passage because he cannot restrain him­ self from thinking about food. Even his oholce of Biblical passages seems to be motivated by his proollvlty for gusta­ tory Images.

The Pearl of Great Price. Two passages from Matthew symbolize faith as the pearl of great price, whloh the 22 world undervalues* In the world of The Ring and the Book, the fact of the loss of faith in a cynical and materialistic

21 1 Pet. 5*2. ’’Feed the flock of God . . . not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind." The Interest here lies In the nexus of food; both passages, here neatly dovetailed, use nutrition as vehicle. 22Matt. 7:6. "Give not that whloh is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine." Matt. 13: if6. The Christian faith is spoken of as the "pearl of great price." 15** society Is evident. Nowhere Is this theme of the vitiation of faith brought home more powerfully than In "Half-Home," in whloh the pearl*s role Is diminished to that of "lucky happening.N The terrible irony is that Half-Rome*s bit of luck is precisely the death of the Comparlnl. which attracts so many morbid sight-seers into the Church of San Lorenzo, that the jostled and irritated Half-Rome cries out:

If this crush Hake not its priests ashamed of what they show For temple-room • • .

Why, to-day*s luoky pearl is cast to swine. (II. 8-1ty)

The swine, of course, are the clergymen who have failed to widen the nave of the church to accomodate the crowds athirst for a look at the mutilated bodies of Pompllla*s parents.

The luoky pearl is later found by Half-Rome in an oyster which he rudely pries open~the alleged epistolary relationship between Pompilia and Caponsacchi: "What if the friend did pen now verse now prose, Commend it to her notice now and then? *Twas pearls to swine: she read no more than wrote . . . . " (II. 1135-37)

Here it is Pompllla, not the priest, who is the swine; the pearls of literature allegedly distributed to the illit­

erate young wife are trampled into the mud, since she can­ not value them. The irony is that Half-Rome concedes

Pompilia*s illiteracy— a fact which makes her less culpable, whereas Bottinius, supposedly defending Pompllla, is at 155 pains to show that Pompllla can read— and appreciate— Caponsacchi*s missives* The symbol of the pearl, like so many other patterns of Imagery, comes to rest In Book X, "The Pope," Astonished at the secularism evidenced by Borne, the Pope finds it hard to accept that "faith, the pearl,/ Should be let lie by fishers wanting food? (X. 1441-42). The fishers, of course, are the "fishers of men" whom Christ has chosen for His ministry. Presumably, these men know the value of the pearl; yet this pearl, once evaluated By the residue made rich for evermore, These,— ay, these favoured ones, should in a trice Turn, and with double zest go dredge for whelks, Mud-worms that make the savoury soup! (X, 1446-^9) Sadly the Pope acknowledges that men of God turn away from the pearl of faith, whloh has ultimate value, and searoh like swine in the mud for the things of this world. Iron­ ically enough, the Pope has concluded, like Half-Borne, that some of the clergy are swine— but for how different a reason! *♦>. SINGLE ALLUSIONS The single allusions in The Ring and the Book have not as much structural value, clearly, as those recurring themes treated previously; but they give us Insight Into the poet*s ability to work simultaneously on two different levels. On the one hand, he is working with the narrative proper, with the labyrinth of words constructed by each speaker as he masks his true intentions from the world. But on the other hand, he is ever aware of the total weight behind each Biblical allusion he uses. That is to say. Browning never forgets that there exists a tension between his use of the allusion and the Biblical original from which the passage is derived. In Book I, Browning uses a rather obscure allusion in building the atmosphere of a hostile Rome which is Itching to Judge— -and condemn--the five apprehended killers: • • • each felon writhed transfixed. Awhile they palpitated on the spear Motionless over Tophet: stand or fall? nI say, the spear should fall— should stand, I say 111 i (I. 636-39r

*-Isa, 30*33. "For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared," Tonhet is Hebrew for drum.

156 157

The Isaiah allusion remains obscure until we study Hebrew culture for the source of the term "Tophet"* It Is thought that Tophet was the butchery* or place of slaughter at Jerusalem. . . . It was In the same place that they oast away the ashes and. remains of the Images of false gods. Tin addition, It was a place of sacrifice be­ fore the statue of Moloch.] They lighted a great fire within the statue, and another be­ fore it. They put upon Its arms the child they Intended to sacrifice, whloh soon fell into the fire at the foot of the statue, putting forth cries. . . . To stifle the noise of these cries and bowlings, they made a great rattling of drums.2 The spectacle of Tophet is recalled by Browning, who finds in the barbarous cries of the populace the din of the Hebrew drums. The trembling child Is replaced by the writhing felons, but the bloodthirsty crowd remains, awaiting the victims' fall Into the fire. Browning also has a way of altering Biblical texts slighty, so as to make them still recognizable, but so that they acquire a new and often sinister meaning, Take, for example. Half-Rome's description of the incarceration of Pompllla with the Convertites, who "Accept their ministration, well bestow Her body and patiently possess her soul. . . . " (II. 1200-1201) The original text. In Luke 21*19, reads, "In your patience

^Alexander Cruden, A Complete Concordance to the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. . . . "(New York, 1&71), P. 637. 158 possess ye your souls."3 Thus. Half-Rome*s rendering of the Biblical text causes the Convertites to appear evil, as if they were inexorably working, like Guido, toward complete domination of Pompilia. Nor does Browning miss the comic possibilities in a Biblical passage. The humor generated is dependent upon the reader* s recognition of a discrepancy between the more serious Biblical theme and its ironic reflection within the passage. Take, for example, the comment of Half-Rome on the advent of the Comparlnl at Arezzo: You understood what they came primed to see: While Guido who should minister the sight. Stay all this qualmish greediness of soul With apples and with flagons— for his part. Was set on life diverse as pole from pole: Lust of the flesh, lust of the eye— what else Was he just now awake from, sick and sage, j. After the very debauch they would begin? (II. 44-5-52) Guido, here being assiduously whitewashed by Half-Rome, is Intended to appear almost ascetic: he has given up all earthly pleasures, and, "sick and sage," intends to lead a new life. But the Comparini are “primed to see" Guido living lavishly. The humor lies in the implications of the Biblical passage from the Song of Solomon: inferentlally,

3cf. IV. 836. "In patience all of ye possess your souls!" (Here Tertium Quid refers to the friar who "coun­ sels" Pompllla after the Archbishop has thrice refused to hear her pleas.) **Cant. 2:5. "Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples." 1 John 2:16. "lust of the flesh, lust of the eye." 159

Guido is a lover, wooing his greedy mistress (the Comparini) with fruits and wines. The incongruity is apparent* Guido loves not the Comparini, nor does he have apples and flagons to stay them with! The humor is enriched by the role that Guido adopts: he is the very image of austerity and renun­ ciation. In his poverty, he can ill afford to live in lux­ ury; thus, he is foroed by oircumstanoe rather than inclin­ ation to renounce "lust of the flesh, lust of the eye." Browning's humor is often the result of complete re­ versals of popular legends. In the following ironic refer­ ence to the Passover, for example, it is the devil, not God, who institutes the custom: Why, once a dwelling's doorpost marked and crossed In rubric by the enemy on his rounds As eligible, as fit place of prey. Baffle him henceforth, keep him out who can! - ( i i . 7 6 6 -6 9 )5 The devil, not the Israelites, marks the thresholds of the houses with blood (It is the blood of lambs, according to legend; another covert reference to Pompllla). Most ironic of all is that the devil "marks" his houses (here the house of Guido at Arezzo) not beoause he wants to "pass over"

^Ex. 12:*»■. "And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. . . . For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt." l6o them, but precisely because he wants to enter in and tempt those— like Pompilia— who dwell therein* Presently at the window taps a horn And Satan's by your fireside, never fear! (II. 771-72) (One cannot miss the allusion to Guido's own "hom-madness.") Caponsacchi, of course, is the homed devil who enters Guido's Garden of Bden, violating the Count's domestic bliss. Thus, the reversal is complete: the actions attributed to God in the Bible are here Satanlo. The "rubric," instead of saving, leads to temptation and the fall of woman— and of Guido. Some of Browning's allusions are obscure because, in­ stead of alluding directly to a passage, the poet copies its syntactical pattern. The following passage exemplifies the poet's skill at altering tone and meaning while retaining the structure: . . . they were old friends Pushed in to have their stare and take their talk And go forth boasting of it and to boast. , (III. 48-50)6 To the few readers who recall the original passage, two facts occur instantly: first, the disparity between the conquering Messiah and the boasting, buzzing "friends" who

6fiev. 6:2. "And a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer." (cf. "George Bubb Dodington," 11. 168-70: Why call up Dodington, and none beside, To take his seat upon our backs and ride As statesmen conquering and to conquer?) l6i come to see Pompilia's body riddled, with wounds. The second property of this allusion Is its "mock heroic” effect. The tone of the Biblical passage, since It so resembles the passage quoted, lends a kind of comic emphasis to the scene, imparting a mock grandeur to It. Usually, Browning*s Ironic or humorous allusions sup­ press some element. Be it only a word or two, this suppres­ sion, when discovered, materially enriches the thematic content of the passage. The very absence of a word or phrase whets the reader's curiosity, causing him to supply, almost unconsciously, the missing elements; thus, the reader becomes as it were a participant, a commentator, on the passage he Is glossing. Consider the lines In whloh the Other Half-Home fleers at Pietro for believing Violante's "good news” about the impending birth of Pompllla: Stupid credulity of the foolish man Who swallowed such a tale nor strained a whit. „ (in. 190-91 r Pietro is thus one of the "blind guides" who swallow such "camels" as the preposterous tale of Vlolante*s Invention: the Other Half-Home sees something almost sinful In suoh blindness. The irony of this brief passage is deepened if we recall that the theme of "swallowing" has already been

?Matt. 23:24. "Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel." (cf. VI. 1783) 162 used by Half-Rome In a passage whloh contrasts sharply with that quoted above:

«' Innocent they were from first to last As male-babe haply laid by female-babe At ohureh on edge jof the baptismal font Together-for a minute, perfect-pure. Difficult to believe, yet possible, As witness Joseph, the friend*s patron-salnt. The night at the Inn— there charity nigh chokes Ere swallow that they both asseverate; Though down the gullet faith may feel it go, • • • " R (II. 1110-18)°

Guido, then, like Joseph, Mary's husband, must In perfect

charity do some hard swallowing of his own. Unlike Pietro,

however, Guido has trouble getting this "camel" down his

throat— and so Law has to force-feed him! Being the ser­

vant of Law from his youth upward, he Is required to accept

any decision handed down by the courts— even that affirming

Pompilia's improbably innocence.

Browning often indulges in some subtle shifting of

word connotations, even while preserving a passage intact.

In a verse from Book III, Law cries out, "To all men be our

® 1 Cor. 13*^» 7. "Charity • . . believeth all things,?' Matt. 1:18-19* "... Mary • • • was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a Just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is the Holy Ghost," (Cf. Gen. 39t In which Joseph is falsely accused by Potlphar's wife.) 163 moderation known!The word moderation here does not mean self-restraint. as in the Bible* but tendency to com­ promise. to adopt the via media. Thus, for Browning* a

Biblical passage can become a satiric weapon: inadvertently, the juror condemns Law for its vacillation.

Browning is capable of sudden shifts in tone within short compass, a mark more of Augustan poetry than of that of the nineteenth century. In a humorous undercutting of the Biblical "elevation" in tone, Tertlum Quid descends rapidly to ground level. Speaking as Guido, he whimpers,

"My being poor was a by-circumstance, Miscalculated piece of untowardness, Might end tomorrow did heaven's windows ope Or uncle die and leave me his estate." (IV. 585-88)10

Guido is waiting for God to dole out heavenly largesse— although he suddenly shifts into the realm of reality, accepting the earthly blessing of a rich uncle's death. The sharp change from the Biblical to the secular here drama­ tizes the entire development of Guido's character in The

Bing and the Book: although he at first appears to be measuring everything by God's words, he ultimately emerges

9phil, 5. "Let your moderation be known unto all men."

1°MA1. 3*10. "And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing." 164 as a false prophet, a very secular wolf In quasi-ecolesi- astlcal clothing.

Sometimes Browning's humor proves to be grim Indeed.

Take, for example, Caponsacchl*s terribly Ironic denunci­ ation of Guido as breaker of the scales of justice:

Guido has snatched at, broken In your hands. Metes to himself the murder of his wife. Full measure, pressed down, running over nowl 11 (VI. 1765-67 )1X Guido, Instead of giving, as the Bible enjoins, Is taking full measure (Pompilia's life). The last phrase, "running over now," takes on the added significance of flowing blood.

Such bitter Irony as this fits well the acrimony of Capon­ sacchl' s spirit.

Some passages which purport to be authentic allusions prove to be contrived— sometimes humorously so. Here he expresses puzzlement that the bee, which In one respect

Imitates Solomon (both the queen bee and Solomon are harem- keepers) should have a moral sense:

• • . for take the bee As Instance,— copying King Solomon,— Why that displeasure of the bee to aught Which savors of inoontlnency . . . ? (VIII. 4-90-93)

Despite the Inconsistency suggested by the conoept of a

11Luke 6:38. "Give, and It shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give Into your bosom.w (Note that this passage needs little paraphrasing, since its meter fits blank verse admirably.) 165 polygamist with a moral sense, Arohangelis persists with his anecdote drawn from his repertory of unnatural natural history, the purport of which is that bees Instinctively hate adulterers.

Arohangelis shows considerable talent at using snatches of Scripture to lend rhetorical flavor to his speech. Yet once we discover the passage alluded to, we find that Is serves as commentary upon the lawyer*s devious methods. For example, in the following passage, he implies that the four rustics who acted as Guido*s hatchet-men were true

Christians:

. . . these rustics bore no envy, hate, HalIce nor yet uncharitableness Against the people they had put to death. 0 (VIII. l597-99)Xd

The lawyer’s motive here is clearly more than the desire to lend the passage a sonorous Biblical flavor; he is attempting to draw a parallel between Guido* s crew and the zealous ministers of God who execute His will. Human sacrifice is ugly, Archangelis admits— but he suggests that It is ordained.

BottInius Is just as skillful as Archangelis at adapting Biblical texts to the themes of his legal argument.

In the example following, he quotes almost verbatim a pas­

sage from Luke to demonstrate his thesis that it was bad for

12Titus 3:3. “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living In malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.” 166

Guido to doubt the miracle of Gaetano1s birth. Like

Doubting Thomas, "the perverse Guido doubts his eyes. . . ."

(DC. 1380)*3 Guido*s refusal to accept this "spontaneous generation" (l,e., bastardy) In his family, Bottinius argues, results In something far worse— murder 1

Because his house Is swept and garnished now, He, having summoned seven like himself, Must hurry thither, knock and enter In, And make the last worse than the first. . . . (DC. 1382-85)

Bottinius cleverly makes use of the passage to outline, In swift strokes, Guido*s murder of the Comparlnl. Guido, possessed by the devil, summons four other devils (the rustics), knocks at the door of the Comparini and enters.

And certainly, the last state Is Incomparably worse than the first. Thus does the relativist Bottinius demonstrate that Guido would be better off had he accepted the evil of

Gaetano's bastardy, even though to do so would Invite dis­ honor.

Oddly enough, the Pope, like Bottinius, settles upon

13john 20:24. "Thomas, because thou hast seen, thou hast believed: blessed as they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

^ L u k e 11:24-26. "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, . . . he saith, 1 will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth It swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter In, and dwell there: and the last state of that man Is worse than the first." 167 a similar metaphor to express the devilish nature of the orime. Here, the murderers are the swine into whieh Christ drove the evil spirits; they

Wallow and sleep in the first wayside straw. As the other herd quenched, 1' the wash o' the wave, — Each swine, the devil inside him: so slept they...... (X. 848-50 )*5

Here, the wild rush down the precipitous slope ends in sleep— but also in death, as the Gospel implies. And we cannot forget that it is Christ himself who has cursed the swine and caused their drowning. The Pope is fully aware of the implications of the Scripture which he finds to parallel Guido's case; we may thus infer that, to the Pope,

Guido is already envisioned as one of the accursed of God.

Accursed Guido is— and oondemned to die. As he waits for mannala to do its work, he muses with morbid fasci­ nation on the death process. As usual, Guido has enough presence of mind to be able to comb Scripture for parallels.

Studying himself anatomically, as he is wont to do, he says:

And here's the silver cord which . . . what's our word? Depends from the golden bowl, which loosed (not "lost") Lets us from heaven to hell,— one chop, we're loose!

Such "losing" is scarce Mother Nature's mode. She fain would have cord ease itself away, Worn to a thread by threescore years and ten.

i^Mark 5*13* "And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a deep place into the sea, . . . and were ohoked in the sea." 168

That*s Nature*s way of loosing cordt — but Art, How of Art*s process with the engine here, When bowl and cord alike are orushed across (XI. 29^-310)1 6

Guido Is careful to gloss the Scriptures correctly: the

"golden bowl,1' or the repository of the soul, Is merely

loosed (not "lost"). Moreover, the Scriptures give a man

seventy years on this earth before that golden bowl Is

separated from him. Should not this mean an extra twenty

years for Guido? But not Art, superseding Nature, has

devised a new Instrument, Mannala, whereby death Is mech­

anized.

Guido, condemned to death, begins to look backward In

search of the errors he may have made. Finally, he Imagines

what charge the Pope might bring against him: clearly, his

only fault Is his over-zealousness. In slaying the

Comparlnl— heretics as they are— Guido has made his big

error:

" . • • wise men, here, Put the Church forward and efface themselves. The fit defence had been,— you stamped on wheat, Intending all the time to trample tares. . • • " (xi. 2032-35)17

l6Ps. 90:10. "The days of our years are threescore and ten. . . . " (This figure suggests the age at which man Is ripe for death.) Eccl. 12:6-7. "Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, . • • Then shall the dust return to the earth as It was."

■^Matt. 13:29-30. [An enemy sows tares In the field of wheat] "He salth unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, W U t thou then that we go and 169

Guido's guilt* then, lies In his disobedience of God's in­ junction, "Let both [wheat and tares] grow together until the harvest•" Guido has arrogated God's role at the Last

Judgment [the Harvest], and for doing so, he must be punished. Such self-justification on Guido's part is cer­ tainly at odds with the Pope's decision, which is based solely on Guido's evil in the sight of God. The Pope, far from praising Guido for his good intentions— as the Count would have it— condemns him for his black heart.

• • •

One might continue ad infinitum quoting Biblical allusions to demonstrate Browning's thoroughness and skill in weaving Scripture into the thematic structure in The

Ring and the Book. With the virtuosity characteristic of a musician writing a fugue, Browning builds up a repertory of major themes which are reintroduced into the various books, producing as it were a contrapuntal voice which comments— openly or covertly— upon the speakers or their ideas. As we have seen, the major patterns often run in cross-currents: the early Books— especially II-V— develop the Old Testament themes of the Fall of Man and the

gather them up? But he said. Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let them grow together until the harvest." 170 vindictivet merciless code of the Hosaio Law* But beginning with Books VI and VII, there is introduced the counter- theme of the pattern of Christ's life, with its self- sacrifice, humility, and love. This theme gathers force in the poem, culminating with the bold assurance of the Pope— the resolution provided by the "major chord" of the New

Testament, superseding all the Old Testament minors. Thus, the movement of the poem is toward the revelation of God in

Christ— and in the imitators of Christ, not the least of whom is Pompilia.

The minor themes, as we have seen, serve more to bring two or three speakers into oonfllct or juxtaposition than to provide structural unity. In such juxtapositions, there is developed a tension between the theme of the speakers and the original Biblical theme. The tension is most often the result of distortion, suppression, or Inversion of the original test. Finally, the single allusions serve as tacit commentary upon the theme and tone of a particular passage. Often Ironically conceived, these allusions tend to highlight a specific idea, usually calling it into question or undercutting the premises on which it is built.

One must concede that Browning is a conscious and delib­ erate craftsman whose effects are carefully, often elab­ orately conceived. That he seems so obscure to many m o d e m readers is a by-product, I think, of the poet's artistic code: Browning is an architect who works with an intricate 171 set of plans— -and he can he counted upon never to do the obvious. It Is to us as readers that the task falls* we must regain* Insofar as possible* Browning's point of view, to rediscover why the poet employed the Biblical allusions which we come upon. And since Browning studiously avoided glossing his own imagery* again it becomes our task to bring scholarship to bear upon our interpretation of the text. One thing* at least* is so far clears that Browning has been deeply influenced by the form and structure of the Bible* and that he has reached out* often unconsciously* toward the Scriptures as a source of archetypal themes and patterns of human experience. The Ring and the Book and the Bible, then* have between them a subtle and warm inter­ change of themes and structural patterns; indeed* the two books become almost fused. Both are finally appropriated to the poet as a testament of God's providence. II. "THE TWO-EDGED SWORD"* IRONISTS VERSUS LITERALISTS

"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword." (Heb. ktl2)

1. INTRODUCTORY

One aspect of the architectonics in The Ring said the

Book is the systematic juxtaposition of character: each speaker is succeeded by another acting as a foil or "mirror."

There is thus set up between pairs and even triads of books a structural tension; each characters ways of thought and

speech contrast sharply with those of another. This system

of contrasts is balanced by an equally extensive set of parallels; for example, Half-Rome, being a cuckold, may be

paralleled with Guido, whom he defends vehemently. In

addition, he may be paralleled with Archangelis, since both are family men whose ohief theme is honoris causa— that

wounded honor is man's worst pain, and that recovery of

honor is an end that justifies any means, including murder.

On the other hand, we find primary and secondary contrasts;

Half-Rome's rage and vindictiveness make him a foil for the

maudlin Other Half-Rome and the urbane and indifferent

Tertium Quid.

It might, therefore, be expected that to achieve 172 173

•'architectural1’ symmetry within this elaborate system of character parallels and contrasts, Browning would rely heavily upon Scripture, Indeed, the way in whioh a speaker uses the Bible provides a reliable means of judging his character: if he cites Scripture as "legal precedent," as do Arohangelis and Bottinius, he is reducing the word of

God to the status of a lever to pry recalcitrant judges into line. To thus utilize the Bible, the lawyers are foroed to distort, suppress and alter the original text; that is, they "rewrite" Scripture, bending it to their purposes. Since what they pass off as Scripture is often

the opposite in intention and significance from the orig­

inal, these speakers might be classed as Ironists, They

are fully aware of what they do: using the Bible as

authority, they hope to dupe the audienoe, to influenoe them

by propagandizing. Their alterations of texts, often so

subtle as to go unnoticed, have a disarming effect; yet

these alterations can mislead and unduly influence the

listener because the they cloud the real issues and "white­

wash" the guilty (or blacken the innocent).

The five Ironists— Half-Rome, Tertlum Quid, Guido (V

and XI), Archangelis and Bottinius— are nearly balanced by

four Literallsts: the Other Half-Rome, Caponsacchl,

Pompilia, and the Pope, These Literallsts, far from citing

Scripture for their purpose, have recourse to the Word for

guidance and spiritual power. Since the literallsts either m directly or lnferentlally oppose the ironists, there is set up a dialectical “argument” of falsehood (Ironists) versus truth (Literalists)t each lie is ultimately offset by the truth. Discrepancies between appearance and reality become evident when the speakers come into conflict in their use of Scripture.

This dialectic in a sense governs the entire structure of The Ring and the Book; the movements toward truth are countered by moves toward falsehood. Half-Rome, since he sees with the eyes of Guido, is ill-equipped to Judge the truth. The Other Half-Rome, blind to reality, nevertheless

sees the implication of divinity in Pompllla, as he cham­ pions her sainthood. But Tertium Quid, with his casuistical,

cynical mind, destroys all truth in endless compromise; for him, all is relative. Then Guido, casting himself as Christ,

darkens the whole atmosphere of the poem with his systematic

perversion of Scripture. Emerging through the dense clouds

of falsehood is Caponsacchl, who complains at the beginning

of Book VI that he cannot “see" because of the infernal

smoke. Quickly he disperses these clouds of lies with bitter,

incisive sword-blows of truth. However narrow his field

of vision, Caponsacchl never distorts what he sees. Like­

wise, the Madonna-like Pompllla, in her untutored innocence,

destroys the tissue of lies woven by Guido. Yet truth

suffers a serious loss with the advent of the two lawyers,

who argue Truth into the farthest corner of Rome; each, 175 according to his pitifully limited set of values, inter­ lards his legal argument with bits of deliberately distorted

Scripture, But these distortions do not confuse the one mind whioh must render the decision as to Guido*s guilt: the Pope tears away the "filthy rags of speech" to reveal

the ugly body of falsehood.

When the Pope ceases, the reader senses that he has

just passed a crisis: in the conflict of the world with

the Church, the Pope has emerged victorious. After such

a vindication of divine wisdom in the frail old Pope, we

are shocked to see a display of infernal pyrotechnics in

the final diatribes of the condemned— and damned— Guido,

Yet Browning*s purpose in giving Guido the last word is

evident: he is dramatizing the futility of the uses of

this world, Guido in Book XI is man at the Last Judgment—

and fittingly he condemns himself. His judges speak not a

word.

The position of the Ironists is articulated fully in

The Ring and the Book, whereas the Literallsts say very

little about their use of Scripture, Perhaps the latter

party feel little need to Justify themselves, since they

know they are voicing unmlxed truth. With Caponsacchl they

would asseverate:

I heard charge, and bore question, and told tale Noted down in the book there,— turn and see 176

If, by on Jot or tittle, I vary now! (VI, l6^3-^5)1

The Ironists, on the other hand, feel no such "first-hand" acquaintance with the Bible; to them It Is a persuasive tool, a lever with which the user can multiply his power.

The Arohblshop of Arrezo, for example, sees that Pompllla cannot be dissuaded from her obstinate Intention to remain a virgin. Knowing her to be deeply religious, the Aroh­ blshop takes advantage of Pompllla* s awe— and Ignorance— of the Scriptures. Fabricating a "parable" of his own, he prefaces It by saying,

"The rod were too advanced a punishment! Let*s try the honeyed cake. A parable! 'Without a parable spake He not to them.'" 9 (VII. 819-21)

The Archbishop, inferentially a latter-day Christ, unfolds the "Word" to Pompllla; It Is a parable of the "restif fig" which refuses to be eaten.3 Of Importance Is the fact

iMatt. 5*18• "One Jot or tittle shall In no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

^Mark 4s 3^. "But without a parable spake he not to them." _

3since fig commonly carried the added connotation of sexuality or obscenity (of. Romeo and Juliet. II. 1. 35-36), the Archbishop may have made an Infelicitous selection of fruit! The closest parallel among Christ's parables Is that of the barren fig tree (Matt. 21;19). "Now In the morning as he returned Into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree In the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto It, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away." The good Archbishop, somewhat a comic 177 that the "parable” Is nonexistent; thus, it amounts to false prophecy, and suggests that the Archbishop is a kind of antichrist, speaking sophistries in Christ's name.

Pompilia is, by implication, nothing more than a fruit ripe for eating, and Guido supplants Christ as "the natural lord"

(VII. 838) who condemns the fig-tree to be eaten by the bees.

This concept of parabolic utterance, which Informs the teaching of Christ, is well suited to the Ironists' modus operand!: both parable and irony imply a representation of fact by something else: with parable, abstract truths are cloaked in allegorical fictions. With irony, the "cloaking" is even more subtle and thoroughgoing: the ironist twists or inverts the literal "reading" of the Scriptures, masking their real truths and interpolating his own fictions, until the end product is far removed from its original Intention.

To this end, the ironist is a kind of artist who reorganizes and reinterprets the Scriptures, acting as an interlocutor between the original text and the reader. For Archangelis, the Scriptures lend the weight of authority to his other­ wise empty bundle of Latinisms. Indeed, the corpulent law­ yer on occasion becomes a second St. Jerome, coining figure here, is aware that his sermon has Inconsistencies: his parabolic fig was earlier an apple: "... Indeed, It [the gardener] might be the Creator's self, but then The tree should bear an apple, I suppose, ..." (VII. 827-2 9 ) 178 apocryphal "quotations” from the Vulgate* his entire case,

in fact, is built upon a misquoting of a Vulgate passage, attributing to Christ a jealousy over his honor, a charac­ teristic nowhere even suggested in canonical Scriptures*

Then outbroke indignation pent before— ^ "Honorem meum nemini dabo!" (VIII, 653-5*0

Archangelis makes no mere blunder when he misquotes; he

takes advantage of the superficial similarity between his

passage and the original, trusting that his readers will

dismiss any discrepancy, and pass on without questioning

his accuracy.

In justification of such distortions of God's word,

Archangelis says,

We must translate our motives like our speech, Into the lower phrase that suits the sense 0* the limitedly apprehensive. Let Each level have its language! Heaven speaks first To the angel, then the angel tames the word Down to the ear of Toblt: he, in turn, Diminishes the message to his dog. . . . ^ (VIII. 1498-150*05

The condescending Archangelis, hearing the words of his

^The Vulgate passage "adapted" to Archangelis' purpose appears, not in the Hew Testament, but in Isaiah *1-2*8* "Ego Domlnus. hoc est nomen meum* glorlam meam alterl non dabo." We should note that the word glory is "translated" as honor, to fit Guido's case!

^Toblt 5

"angel” (St. Jerome?), tames the word to the "dog"— the audience1 Here is implied the necessity of a three-fold

"reduction" of God's truths in order for the common "herd" to understand them. Yet Archangelis* real motive is not to achieve understanding: on the contrary, the more clouded the real issues become, the better off he is. In fact, he

is proud of this ability to "reinterpret" God's word so usefully*

. . . through the talent so employed as yield The Lord his own again with usury,~ A satisfaction, yea, to God Himself! Well, I have modelled me by Agur's wish, "Remove far from me vanity and lies, ✓ Peed me with food convenient for me!" (VIII. 1773-78)

The self-satisfied "good and faithful servant" has employed

the talent given by God (the Scriptures), and has returned

the Lord's "money" with usury (i.e., he has "used" the Word

of God to gain his ends). Yet one wonders whether Arch­

angelis' kind of "usury" will be a "satisfaction" to God.

Certainly, Archangelis exposes his hypocrisy in averring

that he eschews "vanity and lies"; his whole pattern of

^Matt. 25*15» 27-28, 30. Parable of the Talents. The interest here lies in the passage "Thou oughtest therefore to have put thy money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him • . • And cast ye the un­ profitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Inferentially, Archangelis is the "wicked servant" who kept the talent. Prov. 30*1-8. "The words of Agur the son of Jakeh . . • Remove far from me vanity and lies • • • , feed me with food convenient for me." 180 life may be subsumed under one of these two headings! Indeed, the only truth In ArchangelIs* words lies In the last line:

“Peed me with food convenient for me!" For Archangelis, food Is always "convenient"— JL.e., foremost In his thought.

Bottinius also feels the need to justify his distortion of Scripture: "Are not these things writ for example- sake?" he queries. (IX. 535)^ Using a Biblical passage for

self-justification, Bottinius thereafter cites Scripture as

"example" for the most unsorlptural Imputations Imaginable.

Like Archangelis, he interlards his speech with Biblical

axioms to establish legal precedent:

Tradition must precede all scripture, words Serve as our warrant ere books can be: So, to tradition back we needs must go For any fact's authority. . . . (IX. 1022-25)

Bottinius is fully aware, then of peopled awe of Scripture

as authority apart from Its significance. He knows that his

audience responds with a blind deference to anything that

purports to be Scriptural. Indeed, he at once composes his

own "parable," unashamedly palming It off as canonical:

Here is the story: fear not, I shall chop And change a little. . . . (IX. 1037-38)

Bottinius' case for Pompllla Indeed Is founded on the very

principle which all the Ironists speak: they all "chop and

7 1 Cor. 10:11. "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admon­ ition." 181 change a little." So successful Is Bottinius In creating half-truths from whole truths that he Is later enabled to capitalize on the very ambiguities he has created:

Who but I Institute procedure next Against the person of dishonest life, Pompllla, idiom last week I sainted so? 1, It Is, teach the monk what scripture means. And that the tongue should prove a two-edged sword....« (XII. 70^-708)°

Bottinius, the master Ironist, Is always poised on a middle ground between truth and falsehood, ready to leap to one side or another, depending upon the need of the moment.

Such casuists as Bottinius come under the primal curse of unredeemed man; they mouth

. . . words Which, more than any deed, characterise Man as made subject to a ourse: no speech— That still bursts o'er some lie which lurks inside. . • (X. 3^8-51)9

According to the Pope's judgment, then, the Ironists partake of man's basic sin: that of cloaking a lie In garb pleasant to the eye— the sin Instituted by the serpent In Eden.

Representing the party of the Literallsts— those who

Q Heb. 4>:12. "For the word of God is quick, and power­ ful, and sharper than any two-edged sword."

?Gal. 3:10. "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse." Matt. 12:37. "By words thou shalt be condemned." 182 embrace Scripture as the Inviolate word of God— the Pope condemns the Ironists and rejects their casuistry:

Therefore this [sic] filthy rags of speech, this coil Of statement, comment, query and response, Tatters all too contaminate for use, Have no renewing: He, the Truth, is, too, The Word. . . .

Whatever we dare think we know indeed .q — That I am I, as He is He,— what else? (X. 372-80)

Note that the Pope distinguishes between words and the Word, or Logos: whereas words are emanations of unregenerate men, the Word (Christ) saves. Thus, those who love Christ, re­ ject the Mfilthy rags of speech" which, as the Bible im­ plies, clothe the unclean man who pretends to be righteous.

With St. Paul, then, the Pope rejects the intellectual

"clothing" as "too contaminate for use," as if he were a

Levite priest pronouncing a leper unclean. For the Pope, the intellect, which alone is capable of producing "state­ ment, comment, query and response," makes man susceptible to the moral "leprosy" of intellectual pride, such as we find embodies in Bottinius. St. Paul»s curative is endorsed by the Pope: to know nothing save Christ crucified. Such knowledge enables the Pope to dismiss the mortal "coll of

1 Isa. 64:6. "But we are all as an unclean thing* And all our righteousness are as filthy rags. ..." John l4:6. "I am the way, the Truth, and the life." John 1:1. ". . . and the Word was God." Ex. 3*1^* M,I am that I am* hath sent me unto you." (God»s way of identifying himself to man.) 1 Cor. 2:2. "For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." 183 statement" as irrelevant. The case thus “becomes aston­ ishingly simple: Guido has in effect orucifled a second

Christ, Pompllla. He has reenacted mankind1s most heinous crime, the slaughter of the Saving Victim; for this, he must die. With this knowledge as a point of departure, the

Pope summarily rejects all the labyrinthine arguments sup­ ported by Scripture wrenched out of context.

Having defined the opposing tendencies and attitudes of the Ironists and Literallsts, we shall study six of the central characters from the standpoint of their attitudes toward, and use of, Scriptures. In doing so, we shall be excluding the first group of characters, the commentators

(Books I-IV, XII), since they are important only Insofar as they come into conflict in their judgments of Guido, Capon­ sacchl, and Pompllla. The two remaining classes are the adjudicators (Archangelis, Bottinius, and the Pope) and the principals (Guido, Caponsacchl, and Pompllla). Vlthln each

class of characters, we find the conflict of Ironists ver­

sus Literallsts: with the adjudicators, the two lawyers

are Ironists (though of different orders), while the Pope,

in resisting their arguments, asserts powerfully the need

for a literal reading of the Scriptures in all humility and

love, eschewing sophistry and irony. With the principals,

the life of Christ is reenacted in two entirely different

moods: with Guido, we see a heavily ironic, systematic por­

trayal of Christ as suffering servant of mankind. At each 18^ point, we sense an ironic inversion of values. When we re­ turn to earth from the smoky inferno that is Guido*s mind, we find Caponsacchl and Pompllla unconsciously reenacting

the whole pattern of Christ*s life;** indeed, the latter

becomes types of Christian goodness. By implication, then,

the very structure of The Ring and the Book is meant to

throw the Ironists and the Literallsts into juxtaposition:

as Books V, VI, and VII form a cohesive structural unit,

so do Books VIII, IX, and X. These units have as their

main intention the placing of the shadowy half-truths and

black lies next to the white light of truth. Moreover, we

notice that, within each triad, the movement is toward

truth; the Ironists have their turn on the stage first, but

they are followed by the Literallsts, whose truth exposes

the hypocrisy of those Ironists who have preceded them.

^Since Part I presents the dominant Christian themes (Incamation, Advent, Epiphany, etc.), the Christian typology will here be emphasized. 2. IRONISTS

ArchangelIs: Scripture as Precedent. Archangelis makes It clear from the outset that he will use Scripture

as an Implement:

It's hard: You have to plead before these priests And poke at them with Scripture, or you pass For heathen and, what's worse, for Ignorant O' the quality o' the Court and what It likes By way of Illustration of the law. To-morrow stick In this, and throw out that. And, having first eccleslastlclzed, Regularise the whole, next emphasise, Then latinize, and lastly Cicero-lse. . . . (viii. 1736-W

The priests, to Archangelis, are cattle which must be

prodded into line by judicious thrusts of Scripture. As

for his speech, he takes a peculiarly mechanistic view:

in "tooling up" his rhetorical assembly line, he adopts as

his first process of "eoclesiasticizlng" of his case. Arch­

angelis thus openly acknowledges that his use of Scripture

will proceed not from any love of God's word, but from a

cynical expectation that his auditors will be duped Into

thinking him religious if he liberally uses the Scripture

as a lever to multiply his power.

With such a philosophy, Archangelis might be expected

to produce a plethora of Blblioal allusions— as Indeed he

does. In fact, he is just behind the Pope and Guido in

185 186

1 number of Biblical allusions. Yet his allusions are largely to Scriptural 11 facts" which exist only In his Imag­

inary edition of the Vulgate; he oan be counted upon to

coin his own Scripture as authority for his central argu­

ment of honoris causa. Although Archangelis pretends to

quote St. Jerome, he Is In reality only composing Latin

sentences with a Vulgate tinge.

Before we see Archangelis In action, dreaming up his

"Vulgate" quotations, we find him Indulging In self-praise;

to hear him, we would think him the model of temperance:

How vain are chambering and wantonness, Revel and rout and pleasures that make mad! Commend me to home-joy, the family board, ~ Altar and hearth! (VIII. 49-52T

Archangelis is, In a sense, telling the truth: he Is no

Lothario, yet neither is he temperate, as he Implies. He

Is commended to "altar and hearth" as he Implies; yet his

altar Is his hearth, whereon is roasting a yearling lamb,

soon to be sacrificed to his gluttony! One wonders whether

Pompllla, In her lamb-like innocence, is not, figuratively,

*By my own count, the Pope is first with 142; Guido Is second with 111 in Book XI and 105 In Book V; and Aroh- angelis is a close third with 101. As might be expected, the nearest "competitor" is the Other Half-Rome, who attempts to canonize Pompllla, in an oddly secular sort of way.

^Rom. 13:13* "Let us walk honestly, as In the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not In chambering and wan­ tonness." Archangelis implies that the Fisc, as a bachelor, is the antitype of the good family man, and thus lnfer- entlally is a chamberer. 187 the very lamb about to be "eaten” by Archangelis and his rival.

Close upon the heels of the lamb trotting through

Archangelis1 mind is his son. Hyacinth:

(Ah, boy of my own bowels, Hyacinth, Wilt ever catch the knack, . . .

I* the how and why and when, the time to laugh, The time to weep, the time, again, to pray And all the times prescribed by Holy Writ? Well, well, we fathers can but care, but cast _ Our bread upon the waters! ) (VIII. 1^56-63 )-* Archangelis, indeed— preoooupied as he is with food— casts a great deal of "bread” to Hyacinth, hoping that some will eventually be recovered in the form of his son's learning

Latin. We can imagine Hyacinth sitting before his father, hearing him indite and then translate sonorous Latin phrases aloud. Thus is a long Latin lesson combined with the some­ what bothersome chore of preparing a brief— two birds killed with one stone!

Turning reluctantly to the business at hand, Archangelis

intones a psalm of praise to God, who has favored him above all men: I, the favoured advocate, Who pluck this flower o* the field, no Solomon

^Eccl. 3:A. ” ... A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” Eccl. 11:1. "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” "Of my bowels" is a term often used in Hebrew liter­ ature to denote deep parental love; with Archangelis, how­ ever, it takes on the more literal meaning of the alimentary canal— a rather unpleasant, although comical, association. 188

Was ever clothed in glorious gold to match, And set the same In Cinonclno*s cap! I defend Guido and his oomrades— I! Pray God, 1 keep me humble; not to me-- Non nobis. Domlne. sed tlbl lausi (VIII. 88-9*0^

Archangelis, as we can see, Is striving terribly hard to

remain humble; he Is even willing to ooncede that God

merits praise before one of His Archangels! It Is Ironic

that the lawyer should pick the lily as the metaphor of his

defense of Guido; we have only to recall that the Other

Half-Home has likened Pompllla to the lily:

Yea, Via Vlttorla did a marvel hide, Lily of a maiden, white with Intact leaf

A daughter with the mother*s hands still clasped Over her head for fillet virginal. (III. 36^-68)

The Other Half-Rome*s lily Is still unopened, unrevealed,

hooded by the "fillet virginal" which Is part of the Icono­

graphy of the saint. Guido, on the other hand, Is the

"plucked lily,"— or, to switch metaphors,— a feather In

young Hyacinth*s cap. Thus, even the most minor of meta­

phors In the poem undergoes a strange sequence of avatars;

here, the lily, first symbol of purity, becomes a symbol of

Matt. 6:29. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon In all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." In this parable, Christ asks his disciples to embrace poverty, trusting to God*s provi­ dence. Archangelis uses this parabolic lily In the opposite sense, as suggestive of riches and honor. Ps. 115:1. "Not unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory." 189 glory and worldly fame— and of Guido*s Infamy.

Having thus sanctimoniously Invoked his own Image of

God, the lawyer Is ready to begin preparing his brief. The

entire structure of his argument is, in Archangelis* termi­ nology, "ecclesiasticized"; that Is, every one of his basic

premises is accompanied by an apt Scriptural allusion.

Archangelis thus constructs his case under the hazy aureole

of divine sanction:

. . . we shall demonstrate first of all That Honour is a gift of God to man * Precious beyond compare. . . . (VIII. 4-57-59)

Yet, when we, like Caponsacchl, out through this smoke of

sophistry, we find that shame, rather than honor. is "a

gift of God to man*'; Christ, far from promising honor,

promised His followers suffering and persecution. Thus, if

Guido is truly the “servant of the Church,” as he pretends,

he should know that honor is to be rendered to God, but

that man cannot expect honor in return. Yet Archangelis*

entire case is presumably Justified by a Scriptural “author­

ity” which in fact does not exist. Thus the first— and

most vital— question has been begged.

Having smuggled his basic premise past his audience,

5 l Peter 2:17. "Honor all men." But note also Acts 5:4-1. "Rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." Cf. also the Beatitudes (Matt. 5* 11): "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." 190

Archangelis continues to Justify Guido's sadistic act by continually referring to honoris causa:

This were our warrant for eruptive Ire ✓ "To whose dominion I Impose no end." (VIII. 4-70-71)

Archangelis grandly converts the Kingdom of God to the

Kingdom of Ire, pronouncing its everlasting power.

Since Guido has already confessed, Archangelis makes no attempt to assert the Count's innocence. Thus, the ironist Archangelis, from this point onward, systematically inverts the teachings and character of Christ in order to establish extenuating circumstances. First, Archangelis appeals to tradition, Fagan as well as Christian, to justify murder:

If this were done of old, in a green tree.

What may be licensed in the Autumn dry . . . ? _ (VIII. 552-5^)7

Here the words of Christ are torn out of context: the

Master, being led to Calvary, laments the spread of evil

in his day ("green tree"), and prophesies that, in his ab­ sence, evil will grow rife. Archangelis* inversion is

simply analogical reasoning: if murder is condoned by ancient man, why is it not the more Justifiable, now that

6Ps. 14-5:13. "Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations•"

?Luke 23:21. "For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" 191 man has "ripened” in the sun of history? Again the same analogy is used:

If, with his poor and primitive half-lights, The Paga, whom our devils served for gods. Could stigmatise the breach of marriage-vow

Absolve the husband, outraged, • • •

How with the Christian in full blaze of day? Shall he not rather double penalty, o Multiply vengeance . • • ? (VIII, 556-6*0

The analogy, of course, is invalid, since Christianity specifically prohibits revenge. Yet the intrepid Arch­ angelis pursues his argument, assuming that since Christi­ anity has overcome Paganism, so should the Christian code of punishment exceed in stringency that of the Pagan,

Thus has Archangelis conveniently found Justification for a multiple murder.

Neither is Archangelis above coining his own Scripture

to lend weight to his plea of honoris causa. He adds his

own "chapter" to the Vulgate of St. Jerome:

. • . Honour is the supreme good. Why should I baulk Saint Jerome of his phrase? Ubl honor non est, where no honour is, Ibl contemptus est; and where contempt Ibl ln.lurla frequens; and where that, The frequent injury, ibl et Indlgnatlo: And where the indignation, lbi oules Nulla: and where there is no quietude.

8 1 Cor. 10:20. "The things which the Gentiles sacri­ fice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God." 192

Why, Ibl, there, the mind Is often cast Down from the heights where It proposed to dwell, • . . (VIII. 583-95)9

Thus has Archangelis delineated the Infernal madness of

Guido, cloaking hell In ecclesiastical garb. Not satisfied with his first incursion Into Scripture, Archangelis this time adopts the scholarly approach, citing chapter and verse:

. . . shame and scorn: quia,— says Solomon, (The Holy Spirit speaking by his mouth In Proverbs, the sixth chapter near the end) — Because, the zeal and fury of a man, Zelus et furor viri, will not spare, Non parcet. In the day of his revenge

Nor yet take, pro redemptions, for Redemption, dona plurlum, gifts of friends . . . * ------(VIII. 611-21)1°

Archangelis is ready for the piece de resistance: he

is now to Invoke Scripture to show that Guido, after the

9Num. 24:11. "The Lord hath kept thee back from honor." Esth. 1:20. "... all wives shall give to their hus­ bands honor." Prov. 5*9. "... lest thou give thine honor to others. ..." There is no canonical text parallel to that "quoted" by Archangelis, although several Old Testament heroes are sensi­ tive about their wounded honor, notably Saul and Samson. The latter is especially close in temperament and character to Guido. Note the frequency of the words Ubl and Ibl; evi­ dently, Archangelis is drilling Hyacinth on his Latin adverbs.

1®Prov. 6:34-35* "For jealousy Is the age of a man: therefore he will not spare In the day of vengeance. He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, thou givest many gifts." 193 advice of Thomas a Kempis, is only imitating Christ in the quest for honor:

Are these things writ for no example. Sirs?

One instance more, and let me see who doubtsl Our Lord Himself, made up of mansuetude. Sealing the sum of sufferance up, received Opprobrium, contumely and buffeting Without complaint: but when He found Himself Touched in his honour never so little for once, Then outbroke indignation pent before— " Honor em meum nemlnl dabo I" MNo, 11 My honour I to nobody will give.” (VIII, 656-65)

Archangelis leaves his audience wondering what could have been the occasion for an outburst of indignation on Christ*s part. Nowhere in the Gospels is honor even mentioned in connection with Christ. We must finally acknowledge that

Archangelis has executed a bit of legerdemain on the court: he has reverted to Isaiah for words he attributes to Christ.

** 1 Cor. 10:11. "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples." Bottinius says the same: "Are not these things writ for example-sake?" (IX. 53*>) Ezek. 28: 12. "Thus salth the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum. • • • " Matt. 26:67* Christ is reviled by his per­ secutors. Isa. **2:8. (cf. Isa. 4*8:11). "I am the Lord; that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another." (Vulgate: "Ego Domlnus. hoc est nomen meum: glorlam meam alter1 non dabo.") As Mrs. Machen (26-28)points out, it is highly inaccurate to ascribe such a thirst for honor to Christ. Yet the Pope later quotes this passage from Aroh- angelis* brief, commenting "Eight of him [Christ], Just as if pronounced today!" (X. 1988) The irony, of course, is that the words were indeed "pronounced today" by Archangelis. Note further that the Biblical passage cited is from the Old Testament, not from the Gospels at all, and that glorlam is transmuted to honoreml 19^

Such distortions of Scripture are common In Arch- angelis. Not only Christ but also Paul becomes subject to some convenient "alteration"*

We find Saint Paul No recreant to this faith delivered once: "Par worthier were it that I died," cries he, Expedlt mlhl magis morl, "than That any one should make my glory void," Quam ut glorlam meam quid evaouetl See, ad uorinthlenses: whereupon Saint Ambrose makes a comment with much fruit, Doubtless my Judges long since laid to heart. So I desist from bringing forward here— „ (I can't quite recollect it.) (VIII. 6? 1-81 )1<:

For a brief moment, the Ironist is exposed: he acknowledges

that his grasp of Scripture is weak, and tacitly admits the possibility of his deliberately altering those hazy texts

"long since laid to heart." In the quotation above, Arch- angelis alters the whole tone and intention of St. Paul's message by reducing "my glorying" to "my glory"; what St.

Paul means is that he would have nothing to live for if

he could not glory in Christ crucified. Yet the wily Arch-

angelis "translates" the term to signify the vanity of

St. Pauli We must remember that St. Paul, proud and head­

strong as he was, subordinated himself to Christ: in

l2Jude 3. "... that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." First edition reads miscreant for recreant. 2 Cor. 9*15» "For it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void." (Cook's note in Commentary, p. 170, is inaccurate. He affirms that "my glory" should be "my boast," but he refers mistakenly to 2 Cor. 9»3» "Lest our boasting of you should be in vain. • • . ") 195

Galatians 6:1*1-, he says, "God forbid that I should glory

save In the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ."

St. Paul, however, Is not yet free from the grasp of

ArchangelIs. He must now escape from Damascus In disguises

Read to thy profit how the Apostle once For ease and safety, when Damascus raged. Was let down In a basket by the wall To * scape the malice of the governor,

Many are of opinion,— covered close, Concealed with— what except that very cloak _ He left behind at Troas afterward? (VIII. 1322-29

Archangelis, In his attempt to cite St. Paul as authority

for dismissing the "fourth aggravation" of Guido*s crime—

the use of a rustic*s disguise— is forced to distort Scrip­

ture. There is no Scriptural evidence that Paul wore a 1 A cloak during his escape;*■ nevertheless, Archangelis capi­

talizes upon the human tendency to fuse patterns of Scrip­

ture together. That is, very few of his readers recognize

that Paul could not possibly have used the cloak to which

Archangelis alludes, since no garment lasts thirty years in

normal use. Yet to the uncritical reader, the two events—

the escape and the losing of the cloak— become fused in

time; thus does the reader play into the hands of Archangelis.

^ A c t s 9:2^-25. Paul escapes over the wall of Damascus in a wicker basket.

l^Cook catches Archangelis in a lie: "The *many* who held this opinion forgot that the apostle asked for the cloak he left at Troas some thirty years after his escape from Damascus." (Commentary, p. 175)• Cf* Tim* ***13* "The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou oomest, bring with thee." 196

To all appearances Archangelis Is citing authentic and verifiable Scriptural evidence; in reality, he distorts the

Word of God, fabricating his own "authorities" without

Justification.

Archangelis recognizes that by now his audience has had

a rather rich diet of Scripture:

Have I proved Satis superaue. both enough and to spare, Thai Revelation old and new admits The natural man may effervesce in ire,

At the first puncture of his self-respect? Then, Sirs, this Christian dogma, this law-bud Full-blown now, soon to bask the absolute flower Of papal doctrine in our blaze of day,— Bethink you, shall we miss one promise-streak, One doubtful birth of dawn crepuscular

Now that the chalice teems with noonday wine? (VIII. 682-9*015

Archangelis* feast of Biblical allusions comprises "Reve­

lation old and new"— not Old and New Testaments, as one

might suppose, but Biblical authority coupled with the new

% o t e again the gustatory allusions: Luke 15*17* "How many hired servants of my father*s have bread enough and to spare." Mrs. Machen (p. 165) notes that the vulgate text is not that of Archangelis; this is further evidence that the lawyer is coining Scriptural passages (the Vulgate reads Quant1 mercenarll patrls mel abundant uanlbus). The chalice, with its noon wine, completes the picture of Arch­ angelis* feast. Note that in Book IX Pompilia becomes the chalice which "entertained the company." 1 Cor. 2:1^. "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit." (Cf. I. 961, IX. 1*87* X. 1583.) 2 Pet. 1:19* "... a more sure word of prophecy, . . . a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star rise in your hearts." 197

"Revelation” of Archangelis. The audacity of Guido*s law­ yer is compounded by his insistence that the doctrine of vengeance for wounded honor is "Christian dogma," as if so pronounced by the Pope himself. Indeed, Archangelis pre­ sumes that, as a matter of course, such shall become Papal doctrine: "Why miss the birth of a new day?" Archangelis crows. "Drink your wine of true Revelation." And, priest­ like, he condescendingly offers them the chalice of "truth."

Even when not openly citing Scripture, Archangelis alludes especially to the life of Christ, adopting the style and tone of the Gospels:

Our case is, that the thing we lost, we found: The honour, we were robbed of eight months since, Being recoverable at any day By death of the delinquent. Go thy ways I Ere thou hast learned law, will be much to do. • . (VIII. 1048-52)10

There is a set of covert allusions here to Luke 15» in which

Christ speaks of the one lost sheep, the prodigal son, and— most Important— of the lost piece of silver. Presumably,

Guido*s honor is the lost (or robbed) money which may be re­ gained at the death of the robber (the Comparini). Too,

Guido, as the prodigal son, ought to be forgiven— since

l^Luke 15*6. "Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost." Luke 15*24. "For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." Matt. 9*13* "But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." 198 there Is Joy in heaven when one lost sheep returns to the fold. In finishing his priestly sermon, Archangelis closes with an exhortation to the court to release the sinner, that he may "go his ways and learn what law meaneth." The court can he Christlike if it releases Guido, since Christ*s

Justice is lenient: "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.”

Why sacrifice Guido, since he is now obviously so repentant?

Archangelis1 continual interweaving of Scriptural

"echoes” nowhere produces more irony than in the passage following, in which he condemns Pompilla as an adulteress.

The passage begins with an apparently straight quotation from Matthew, but quickly shifts to outright blasphemy:

Poxes have holes, and fowls o* the air their nests; Praise you the impiety that follows, Pise? Shall false wife yet have where to lay her head? (viii. 1301-1303 ) ' The sudden, sharp inversion of meaning from the original demonstrates Archangelis* awareness that he is perverting the word of God. The shift from Christ to false wife is more than blasphemy: it is part of Archangelis* clever method of using Scripture to dramatize key points in his argument. Certainly no one could remain indifferent to the

l?Matt. 8:20. "And Jesus saith unto him, the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." Even more ironic is the fact that Pompilia is seriously compared to Christ in Books VI and X; thus, Archangelis* Ironic allusion here is the dramatic counterpart of the deeply religious parallels drawn by the literal1sts. 199 discrepancy between the original passage and its inversion by Archangelis. And this is precisely what Archangelis desires: to stir his auditors— to anger and indignation

if necessary— -so long as they understand and are moved by his line of argument.

In his peroration, Archangelis flatters the court,

lending to it the attributes of God Himself; the lawyer is

merely

Seeking corroboration from thy nod Who art all justice— which means mercy too, In a low noisy smoky world like ours Where Adam's sin made peccable his seedl (VIII. 1^33-36)

Cleverly, Archangelis is using the familiar text from Micah

6:8 to imply that the judges— if they follow God's command­

ments— must at once be just and merciful. We should note

that, in the Old Testament, justice usually precludes mercy:

the familiar story of Abraham begging God for the lives of

the Just inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah underscores the

concept that God was Just before He was merciful (after all,

He destroyed the two cities utterly). Yet Archangelis

plainly hopes that mercy will precede Justice. In lines

1J145-56, he offers his Justification, as if to say, "After

all, aren't we all sinful? Why punish this peccadillo of

Guido's?"

l^Micah 6:8. "What does the Lord require of thee, but to do Justly, and to love mercy. • . ?" 200

Capping his defense of Guido is Archangelis* vision of the '•Resurrection11 of the Count's crucified honor:

. . . that The honour of him burled fathom-deep In infamy, in infamla. might arise, Resurgeret. as ghosts break sepulchre! ^ (VIII. 1636-39)19

Guido, now prepared in cerements for resurrection, is Christ by implication, and his honor is the spirit of the risen

Christ. Surely no court in Italy, much less in Rome, could fail to accord mercy to such a divinely sanctioned deed as that which is intended to reenact the resurrection of

Christ!

Bottinlus; Artist of the Ironical. Having seen the ironic inversions of the Scriptures in Archangelis, we might feel that no one else could possibly remove them further from their intention and meaning. Yet the prose­ cutor Bottinius does just that: whereas Archangelis works, at least, within the Biblical framework, Bottinius creates whole parables, passing them off as canonical. Bottinius is, as it were, the artist of the ironical: he, more than any other character, is a conscious rhetorician, aware of the effects which he produces by his artful fabrications.

It is evident from the outset that Bottinius enjoys

^ Resurgam: "I shall rise again" (Vulgate) Matt. 27: 63. "After three days I will rise again." Luke Z k i 2. (cf. John 20:1) The two Marys arrive at the Sepulchre on Easter morning to find it empty. 201 haring the upper hand In the case of Guido, since it assures him victory orer the hated Archangelis. The rery nature of the case enables Bottinius to Jab at his rival: Pompilia is a beautiful— and very human— saint, murdered by a man insane with Jealousy. All the artist need do is be a

"1imner of sa int s":

0 Advocate o* the Poor, thou b o m to make Their blessing void— beatl -pauperest By painting salntship I depicture sin: Beside my pearl, I prove how black thy Jet . . . (IX. 1^07-10)^°

Bottinius enjoys working with light and shadow; he is soon to show that his painter*s instinct extends to words as well. He remains in the penumbra of half-truth, playing

truth off against falsehood, until the two become hope­

lessly entangled.

Bottinius* great weapon, of course, is Guido*s confes­

sion:

Through this concession my full cup runs o*er: The guilty own his guilt without reserve. (IX. 148-^9)

Like the psalmist, Bottinius renders thanks to God for His

20Luke 6:20. ”Beatl pauperes; quia vestrum est regnum Del. (Vulgate) cf. VIII. 1524- ff. in which Archangelis says, in imitation of St. Paul*s style: Yet we must care for our companions, plead The cause o* the poor, the friends (of old-world faith) Who lie in tribulation for our sake.

2lPs. 23*5. 202 plenty have only to recall that Archangelis, too, has in­ voked the Lord*s blessing on his endeavors).

After invoking God, Bottinius calls upon the "guidance

of antiquity" to direct the course of .justIce— his way;

"Lucretia's soul comport with Tarquln*s lie, When thistles grow on vines or thorns yield figs, Or oblique Sentence leave this judgment-seat!" «« (IX. 187-89)

In other words, all tradition and nature will be subverted

if the court returns a verdict of "not guilty."

Most of Bottinius* Scriptural allusions totally invert

the original text. In the following passage, for example,

Bottinius reverses the normal pattern of marriage:

Yea, we have shown it lawful, necessary Pompilia leave her husband, seek the house 0* the parents. (IX. 581-83)23

Again we find total inversion of meaning in the passage in

which Bottinius cites Scripture to justify Pompilia*s

stealing money from Guido:

As in campaigns, we fight but others pay Suls expens is, nemo mil itat. (IX. 6^3-^)

St. Paul utters these words to point ou; that even apostles

22Matt. 7:16. "Do men gather grapes of thorns, figs of thistles?" Bottinius has garbled the original text.

23Gen. 2:2^. "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh."

^ 1 Cor. 9*7. "Quls militat suis stlpendils unquam?" (Vulgate) Like Archangelis, Bottinius is providing his own "translation" of the Bible. 203 are to reap the benefits of their labors for God; yet, by ripping the words out of context, Bottinius puts St. Paul to work for him.

Throughout his speech, Bottinius adopts a tongue-in- cheek, mordant satiric mood, the effect of which Is to undercut his own case for Pompllia*s purity. Bottinius, however, enjoys overcoming obstacles, especially those of his own making; in the following passage, for example, there is an insinuation of Pompilia*s guilt in the very ambiguity of its diction and structure:

Evidence shall be, Some witness to the world how white she walks I* the mire she wanders through ere Rome she reach. And who so proper witness as a priest? Gainsay ye? Let me hear who dares gainsay! I hope we still can punish heretics! "Give me the man,” I say with him of Gath, "That we may fight together!" None, I think: The priest is granted me. (IX. 589-97)

Bottinius— now a self-styled Goliath— wants to grapple with

any man who dares impugn Pompilia*s purity; yet he does so

himself! One cannot read of "the mire she wanders through"

without recognizing here the very imputation of sin. As

for the priest, we hear that he is a "proper witness"~but

not necessarily of Pompllia's purity. After all, has he not

walked with Pompilia through the mire? We cannot, therefore,

help shuddering somewhat when we hear Bottinius* exultation,

^5 1 Sam. 17*10. "And the Philistine [Goliath] said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together." "the priest is granted me"; the priest and Pompilia are in­ deed granted to Bottinius— by the devil— and must be re­ claimed from his clutches by the Pope.

The Ironist Bottinius secularizes Scripture at every turn. Even when admitting the probability of physical inti­ macy between Caponsacchi and Pompilia, he cannot forbear alluding ironically to a familiar line in Psalm ^6:

Such osculation was a potent means, A very efficacious help, no doubt. (IX. 709-10)

Here, a kiss replaces God as the "very present help." In like manner, he alters a passage from Matthew 16, in his description of the flight to Rome:

. . . that Rome whereof— this voice Would it might make our Molinists observe, That she is built upon a rock nor shall Their powers prevail against her!— Rome, I say, Is all but reached. . . . (IX. 72*1—28 )2'

Here St. Peter becomes the Roman Church, besieged by the heretic sect of Molinists, those infernal beings. The passage Itself Is buried in Bottinius* narrative about the

exhaustion of Pompilia on her way to Rome; she, like the

city of Rome, is besieged by the devil in the form of one

of the church*s priests— Caponsacchi;

Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,

26Ps. *f6:l. " . . . a very present help in time of trouble."

27Matt. 16:8. "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not pre­ vail against it." (Cf. X. 1075. 1957.) 205

Pompilia needs must acquiesce and swoon

The innocent sleep soundly: sound she sleeps,

— What harm ensued to her unconscious quite? For curiosity— how natural! Importunateness— what a privilege In the ardent sex! (IX. 732-50r°

The first line of the passage makes clear the whole tenor of Bottinius* argument: Pompilia doubtless sinned, but her sin is like that of the Apostles who slept while Christ agonized in the Garden: neither she nor the Apostles willed their sin, but succumbed to their need for sleep. By sleeping, they commit the sin of omission: after all, one ought to watch and pray, lest he enter into temptation.

Pompilia is violated by one who takes advantage of her lapse of moral watchfulness.

Bottinius* next— and. most audacious— distortion of

Scripture is his apocryphal story of Peter, John and Judas at the inn, the moral of which "parable” is "that to keep wide awake is man*s best dream" (IX. 1106). The story appears nowhere in Scripture, but Bottinius, having warned

"I shall chop/ And change a little" (IX. 1037-38), confi­

dently narrates the story as if it were canonical. As the

tale has it, Peter, John,and Judas stop at an inn, at which

the only food is a scrawny chicken, meat for only one. All

agree that each of them will, after an afternoon’s sleep,

^Matt. 26:4-1. "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 206 narrate his dream to the others, and he whose dream proves happiest will win the fowl. The "dreams" are characteristic of the Apostles: John says "... I was the Loved Disci­ ple; mine the meal!" (IX. 1074) 2^ Peter dreams of his por­ tion: ". . . a word • . . gave/ The keys of Heaven and

Hell into my hand. . . " (IX. 1073-76).3° Judas* dream, as might be expected, is "the pitifullest" (IX. 1082): he sees himself as "born foot-washer and foot-wiper, nay/ 31 Poot-kisser to each comrade of you all!" (IX. 1085-86).

Then Judas has a "dream within a dream," in which he awakes,

steals to the pot wherein cooks the solitary fowl, and eats his fill. Ironically, he then renounces his share of the

fowl:

Pie on the flesh • . .

See, that whate*er be left, ye give the poor! _ (IX. 1098-1100)^

Peter and John, suspecting the worst, rush to the hearth,

29john 19:26. " . . . and the disciple standing by whom he [Jesus] loved."

3°Matt. 16:19. "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven."

31John 13*4. Christ teaches his disciples that foot- washing is a virtuous act. Matt. 26:48-49. Judas betrays Christ with a kiss.

32john 12:4-6. Judas resents the anointment of Jesus, recommending that the ointment be sold to feed the poor. The Gospel points out that Judas wants the money for him­ self, "because he was a thief." 207 where they find no flesh, but only bones— "a goodly 33 savor,Bottinius quips sardonically.

This parable of Peter, John and Judas is so artfully conceived that it seems entire of Itself; indeed, Bottinius* purpose in fabricating the tale is all but obscured in the flourishes of Biblical rhetoric and the hortatory tone. Yet

Bottinius never forgets his purpose; in true priestly fash­

ion, he applies his exemplum to the case at hand: are not

Peter and John like the Governor and the Archbishop of

Arezzo? Have they not slept while the starveling fowl

(Pompilia) was being picked bare?

Just so, the Governor and all that*s great I* the city, never meant that Innocence Should starve thus while Authority sat at meat; They meant to fling a bone at banquet*s end: Wished well to our Pompilia— in their dreams. . . . (IX. 1109-1*0

The protean Bottinius, not content with merely being a

gospeller, now converts himself to Christ and pronounces a

blessing on Pompilia on the occasion of her release from the

Convertite monastery:

Being healed, Go blaze abroad the matter, blessed one! (IX. 1213-1*0

33e x . 29sl8. The tale Is of the same genre as Chaucer*s “Pardoner*s Tale”; e., it is an elaborate exemplum.

3^Mk. I:*f5» (Jesus enjoins the healed leper to tell no one of the miracle of his cleansing) “But he went out and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter." 208

Like Christ healing the leper, Bottinius ceremoniously re­ leases the child Pompilia, healed of sin. Yet, very much unlike Christ, he exhorts her to "blaze abroad the matter to publicize the modern miracle of another Magdalen born anew!

Speedily vacate The step by pool-side, leave Bethesda free To patients plentifully posted round, Since the whole need not the physician!

Welcome her, father, with wide arms once more. . . . (IX. 1215-19)35 Enjoying his role as Savior, Bottinius joyously dispenses healing to the sick daughter of Eve, who miraculously be­ comes whole. Like the Prodigal Son, she returns home, having— Implies Bottinius— wasted her substance in riotous living.

Never does Bottinius wear a mask for long before he adopts another more expedient one. Shifting, for example, to the role of prophet, Bottinius becomes Deutero-Isaiah foretelling the advent of the Messiah:

0 admirable, there is born a babe, A son, an heir, a Franceschini last And best o* the stock!

An infant for the apple of his eye. . . . , ______(ix.1307 -16)36

35john 5*23# " . . . a pool, which is called Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk. . . . " Luke 5*31. "They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick." Luke 15*11-32. Parable of the Prodigal Son. 36isa. 9:6. "For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given." Deut. 32:10. "He kept him for the apple of his eye." 209

Bottinius Indicates, by the heavily sardonic tone of the passage, that he believes not a word he is saying. Yet he hopes to sway his literal-minded audience by the vatic fer­ vor of his utterance. Moreover, much as Isaiah emphasizes the lineage of the Messiah ("a rod out of Jesse*s stem”), so does Bottinius rhetorically lead to the climactic fact that— legitimate or not— Gaetano is "a son, an heir, a

Franceschini." Let not Guido reject his first-born son, but keep him "for the apple of his eye."

In his employment of Scripture for his purpose,

Bottinius proves far more devious and paradoxical than

Archangelis. Whereas the latter distorts Scripture to de­ fend the Old Testament concept of the outraged husband*s vengeance, Bottinius constructs artful, apparently

Scriptural "illustrations" to prove Guido*s guilt— and to defame his own client! It is characteristic of his ironic

stance that he should portray Pompilia as a living paradox, a "sinful saint." Yet he does exactly this. After delin­

eating Pompilia as a lusty country maid in his "Plight into

Egypt," he begins to concede, point by point, every impu­

tation of her guilt. Then, to show his rhetorical skill, he

begins to portray her as a saint, using more and more Bibli­

cal "brush-strokes" to whiten her, until at the close, she

is limned as the Madonna, giving birth to the Messiah. He

has besmirched her, only to exhibit his own artistic skill

in molding and reworking her plastic image. It remains for 210 the Pope to restore this damaged portrait of Pompilia, and to counter the lies of the Ironists who pervert the intel­ lect and prey upon innocence,

Guido: Ironic Christian Typology. Browning, in allowing Guido to type himself as Christ, brings deep irony into play. Since Guido is so obviously evil, we recognize that he is a kind of antichrist, a diabolical "wolf in sheep*s clothing," one of the false prophets of whom Christ warned his followers. The tension between appearance and reality is nowhere stronger than in Book V, in which Guido, portraying himself as the "suffering servant of mankind," is in reality a beast who makes mankind suffer.

Guido never lets his audience forget that he is the type of the Saving Victim. He is a latter-day Christ who, loving society, gave his honor so that society should not die, but have everlasting life. Prom the very first lines, he introduces such leitmotifs as that of vinegar-and-gall:

I feel I can stand somehow, half sit down Without help, make shift to even speak, you see, Fortified by the sip of . . , why, *t is wine, Velletrl,— and not vinegar and gall, So changed and good the times grow! (V. 2-6)^'

Unlike Christ, Guido refuses not the vintage wine offered him; yet he knows he must be moderate: "I want my head/

To save my neck, there*s work awaits me still," (V. 7-8)

37Matt. 27:3^. "They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink." 211

Guido never lets drop the theme of the bitter drink offered to Christ on the Cross. Next, It becomes the

"galling" experience of being cuckolded by Caponsacchi:

Yes, this next cup of bitterness, my lords, Had to begin go filling, drop by drop, Its measure up of full disgust for me, Filtered Into by every noisome drain— Society1s sink toward which all moisture runs. (V. 879-83) We recall a sophisticated version of the slow Chinese water torture of Guido at the hands of the Comparini:

Ever in due succession, drop by drop. Came slow dlstllment from the alembic here

Corrosives keeping the man*s misery raw. (II. 1268-71)

The "alembic" of Half-Rome now becomes Guido*s sewage-filled cup, filled by the taunts of the Count’s neighbors. And it is Caponsacchi who forces the crucified Guido to drink:

Till one day, what is it knocks at my clenched teeth But the cup full, curse-collected all for me? And I must needs drink. . . . (V. 903-905)-'

Guido, teeth clenched in mortal pain, must suffer the final

indignity of being offered the Cup of Dishonor.

In Book XI, the vlnegar-and-gall symbol receives en-

OQ Matt. 26:39* "And he . . . fell on his face, and prayed, saying, 0 my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." 212 tirely different treatment; here it is not the bitter curses of Book V, but a welcome anodyne,

The appropriate drunkenness of the death-hour Crept on my sense, kind work o* the wine and myrrh.,,, (XI. 2326-27)39

It is worth noting that Guido begins Book V and ends Book

XI on the same note; this serves a strategic purpose: we are never allowed to forget that Guido regards himself "a man

of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Although the cup

serves different purposes, it always inferentially casts

Guido as Christ.

The parallels between Guido and Christ are so numerous

and so thoroughgoing that they form a dominant motif of

Guido*s monologues. For example, Guido, in establishing

his nobility, sounds much like an Isaiah prophesying the

lineage of the Messiah:

I am representative of a great line. . . . (V. 1^0)^°

Guido*s "nobility” is derived from the tradition of the

”old families,” much as Christ*s claim to kingship was

facilitated by his being of the line of David.

39Maric 15:23. ”And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not." Cook here notes: "Wine drugged with myrrh was usually offered to condemned malefactors, through the charity, it is said, of the women of Jerusalem, the intention being to deaden the sense of pain." (Commentary, p. 256)

^°Isa. 11:1. "There shall come a rod out of the stem of Jesse." 213

Archangelis, too, manages to apotheosize Guido. Here he is

Christ, forgiving the adulterous woman, Pompilia:

. . . Guido, touched by grace, Devotions ended, hastened to the spot, Meaning to pardon his convicted wife, "Neither do I condemn thee, go in peace! "~

Doubt ye the force of Christmas on the soul? "Is thine eye evil because mine is good?" ... (VIII. 37^-82

Christlike, Guido is willing to call off the "stoning" of his adulterous wife. Archangelis doubts not that Guido meant to carry out this divine dispensation; only cynics, whose "eye is evil," would question Guido's Intentions, implies the lawyer.

Yet Guido soon loses the "Christmas spirit" which

Archangelis so heavily emphasizes. Like Christ in the wilderness, Guido prays "to enter into no temptation more"

(X. 1577); "but he cannot avoid the confrontation with the devil:

But, day by day, joy waned and withered off: The Babe's face, premature with peak and pine, Sank into wrinkled ruinous old age, Suffering and death, then mist-like disappeared, And showed only the Cross at end of all. . . . (V. 1602-1606r 2

^Ijohn 8:11. "And Jesus said unto her [the adulteress}# Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." (Cf. VIII. 699, 715; IX. 931.) Matt. 20:15. "Is thine eye evil, be­ cause I am good?" Note that Browning converts the personal pronoun to the possessive, significantly altering the meaning of the text.

^2Matt. 27:35. Zlk

The Babe— both Gaetano and Christ— sinks, in a cinematic acceleration of time, into an old man. In this montage, the Babe, once so full of promise, beoomes Guido, now empty of honor. The Cross (dishonor) looms large, since it is the inevitable end of all Guido's hopes; Guido's youthful joy is suddenly chilled by the realization that suffering is imminent. And since he must suffer, so also must those who cause him pain.

Thus does Guido justify his striking out at the

Comparini. Yet in Book XI, he has cause for bitter self- recrimination; in imagery reminiscent of the Last Supper, he cries:

I, like the rest, wrote •'poison" on my bread, But broke and ate: — said "those that use the sword Shall perish by the same;" then stabbed my foe. . (XI. 2003-2005)^3 Guido mimics words of Christ, but then contravenes them in

his murderous wrath. He therefore acknowledges what in

Book V he would never have admitted: that there is an

immense discrepancy between appearance and reality, between

the professed intention and the ultimate action.

Throughout Book V, however, there is not the least

suggestion of culpability on Guido's part. Indeed, the

Count, in a masterly piece of sustained irony, refers again

^ L u k e 22:19. Christ breaks bread at the Last Supper. Matt. 26:52. "They that take the sword shall perish with the sword." (Cf. V. 967 ff; IX. 1173.) 215 and again to himself as unjustly persecuted. Here, for example, Guido implies that the court, if it convicted him, would be no better than Pontius Pilate, who gave Christ over to the Jews to be crucified:

You dreaded the crowd, succumbed to the popular cry, Or else, would nowise seem defer thereto And yield to public clamour though 1' the right! You ridded your eye of my unseemliness. . . . (V. 1855-58)

Again, Guido is Christ, being prepared for crucifixion; here he appears to await humbly

. . . my crown of punishments, When I am hanged or headed, time enough To prove the tenderness of only that. . . . . „ (V. 82-8*0^

Next we see Guido, as "suffering servant," bleeding from his self-sacrificing labor for the Church:

And now [I^ am whealed, one wide wound all of me, For being found at the eleventh hour o* the day . , Padding the mill-track. . . . (V. 135-37)

Guido, mixing his allusions profusely, is at once Christ

and beast of burden. Like Jesus, he is being whipped by

his persecutors— not for "standing idle," as in the parable

Matt. 27:2^. "He took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this Just person: see ye to it."

^Matt. 27:29. "And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head."

Matt. 20: 6. "And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle." Judg. 16:21. "Samson did grind in the prison-house." 216 of the vineyard, but for working himself to exhaustion In the service of the Church, A good ox, Guido has "protruded nose/ To halter, bent my back of docile beast" (V. 133-3*0» while others "have thrown their careless hoofs up at her call" (V. 131).^7 Even In his contemptuous treatment of the Comparini,

Guido somehow manages to Introduce the imagery of the

Crucifixion. Here, the Comparini are metamorphosed into the two thieves flanking Christ:

. . . the pot-house settle,— better such a bench Than the stiff crucifixion by my dais Under the piece-meal damask canopy With the coroneted coat of arms a-top! (V. 531-3*0

To Pompilia1s parents, living in poverty with Guido is an agonizing torture. "So be it," Guido would say, "Let the two thieves return to their old ways, and leave me in peace."

The road to Calvary finds a modern counterpart in the road from Rome to Arezzo,as Guido returns home in defer­

ence to the court’s injunction. Nevertheless, the pain of

dishonor is heightened at Guido’s seeing the way-stations

at which the runaway couple have probably stayed:

Station by station I retraced the road, Touched at this hostel, passed this post-house by. . . . ______(V. 1257-58)

^Bottinius later characterizes Pompilia as a restive heifer, kicking up her heels in rebellion. AR The road to Rome, for Caponsacchi and Pompilia, is the way to Bethlehem, where the Babe will be born. 217

We can easily visualize Guido punctuating these words with gasps of pain caused by his torture on the rack. He is stooped as if to accomodate the Cross; he sways as if bur­ dened by the intolerable weight. In all, he is quite con­ vincing in his role of Christ carrying the Cross past the

Twelve Stations on the way to Calvary.

The Twelfth Station is Arezzo itself:

Step By step, across the pelting, did I reach Arezzo, underwent the archway*s grin, Traversed the length of sarcasm in the street. . . . (V. 1265-68)

The Crucifixion is about to begin; Guido*s journey of pain, not physical, but psychological, measures out distances in

’’units’* of mental anguish, such as "length of sarcasm.’’ In

Book XI, Guido describes these psychological ’’spears” in his side, thrust by

Affront, failure, failure and affront,— This path, twixt crosses leading to a skull, Paced by me barefoot, bloodied by my palms ^g Prom the entry to the end. . . . (XI. 1768-71)

Guido is impaled on the nails of public scorn, and these rankle until he in turn ’’crucifies" another Christ,

Pompilia, with the two "thieves," the Comparini.

But let us return to Guido on the Cross:

"Save yourself!" The Pope subjoins— "Confess and be absolved! So shall my credit countervail your shame,

^Matt. 27:33. "They were come to Golgotha, that is to say, the place of a skull." 218

And all the world see I have not lost the knack Of trying all the spirits, . . .

. . . Come, cleanse you, ease the ache Of these old bones, refresh our bowels, boy!" (XI. 1784-91)50 Guido as Christ on the Cross, is reviled by his persecutor, the Pope, who invites him to come down from the Cross to prove the papal efficacy at saving souls— so cries the em­ bittered Guido, condemned to die.

Guido, in Book V, sees himself taken down from the

Cross and laid in the sepulchre (his house); but for the

Count there is no rest, no glory at the right hand of Gods

With the mother and the brothers, stiffened me Strait out from head to foot as dead man does, And, thus prepared for life as he for hell. Marched to the public Square and met the world. (7. 1271-74)

For Guido, his “tomb" is the world, and death is life.

Note that he parallels himself to Christ in hell, not in heaven; thus Christ*s three days in purgatory are analogous to the hell on earth through which Guido passes.

In her peroration, Guido suggests that he, like Christ,

■5°Matt. 27:39-40. "And they . . . reviled him • . . saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and bulldest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross." 1 John 4:1. "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God." Philem. 20. "Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my bowels in the Lord." 219 will "be resurrected. A phoenix, he will rise out of his own ashes and live on in his sons

Its aim is now to evoke life from death, Make me anew, satisfy in my son The hunger I may feed hut never sate, Tormented on to perpetuity,— My son, whom, dead, I shall know, and understand,

Moulded into the image and made one, Fashioned of soul as featured like in face. (V. 1964-73)51

Guido shifts from the role of Christ to that of God, and that Gaetano is Christ; both comprise a new “Trinity,'1 and one day they shall inherit everlasting honor— although they must now suffer the calumny of the world as misunderstood divines.

Even though he enjoys paralleling himself to the

crucified Christ, Guido has no intention of giving up his

life:

Give me my life, give me my liberty, My good name and my civic rights again! It would be too fond, too complacent play Into the hands o' the devil, should we lose The game here, I for God: a soldier-bee 52

5lRev. 21:5* “Behold, I make all things new." Note the ambiguity of the word dead; if its referent is Gaetano, then inferentially the boy is Christ after the Resurrection, sitting at the right hand of God. Yet dead most obviously refers to Guido, who visualizes himself as a spirit, somehow combining with the soul of his son.

52cf. V. 1349-50* MA voice beyond the law/ Enters my heart, Quls est pro Domino?" (Ex. 32:26) Cf. X. 2100: • . a voice other than yours/ Quickens my spirit. 'Quls pro Domino? Who is upon the Lord's side?* asked the Count./ I, who write. ..." John 10:11. “The good Shepherd giveth his life for his sheep." 220

That yields his life, exenterate with the stroke 0* the sting that saves the hive. I need that life. (V. 2005-2011)

Since Guido is on the side of God, the murder of the

Comparini ("the stroke • • • that saves the hive") is good; after all, does it not guarantee the safety of the "hive" of society? Guido is thus again cast as Jesus, the "Saving

Victim," killed by those he sustains. His plea, then, is that society not repeat the terrible sin of crucifying another Christ— himself•

Guido, even after being irrevocably sentenced, keeps

insisting on the divine sanction Tinder which he operates.

Indeed, his release has the blessing of St. Peter himself:

Oh, if men were but good! They are not good, Nowise like Peter: people called him rough, But if, as I left Rome, I spoke the Saint, — "Petrus, quo vadls?"— doubtless, I should hear, "To free the prisoner and forgive his fault! I plucked the absolute dead from God’s own bar, And raised up Dorcas,— why not rescue thee?" c (XI. 324-30)53

Although Guido has freely adapted the legend told by St.

53cook (Commentary. p. 24l) notes: "Guido alludes to the legend, told by St. Ambrose, that when, in the reign of Nero, St. Peter was fleeing from Rome along the Appian Way, he met our Lord coming to the city and asked him, ’Lord, whither goest thou?* (’Domlne. quo vadis?’). On hearing the answer, ’I come to be crucified again.* (’Venlo lterum oruclflgl*). he returned to Rome and was there martyred." Note that Guido, since he addresses Peter, is inferentially Christ. Acts 9:40-4l. "But Peter, . . . turning him to the body, said, Tabitha [Dorcas]* arise, And she opened her eyes. ..." 221

Ambrose, he Insists that his version typifies the behavior of St. Peter. With this premise, Guido turns on the Pope:

If Innocent succeeds to Peter*s place, Let him think Peter*s thought, speak Peter*s speech! I say, he is bound to it: friends, how say you? (XI. 332-3*0 The Pope, insists Guido, has no choice but to act as if he were Peter, the original Pope, and thus ought to 11 free the prisoner and forgive his fault.”

As if the running parallel of Guido and Christ were not blasphemous enough, the Count caps it all by apotheo­ sizing himself at the close of Book V. Envisioning a heaven on earth, he looks to the day when he is once more honored:

Then will I set my son at my right hand And tell his father*s story to this point, Adding, ”The task seemed superhuman, still I dared and did it, trusting God and law.” ^ (V. 20^8-51) * Here Guido has become a god in his own right; he will tell his son Gaetano of the godlike (”superhuman") task of saving

society. He yokes "God and law” together, to suggest that the court, operating under divine insight, cannot do other

than exonerate him.

For the final, and crowning, blasphemy of his first mono-

•^Apostle*s Creed: "He • . . sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” Acts 2:33. "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." 22 2 logue, Guido reverts to the image of Christ on the cross— the same image which begins his exordium:

And if, for answer, he shall stoop to kiss My hand, and peradventure start thereat,~ I engage to smile 11 That was an accident II the necessary process,— just a trip 0* the torture-irons in their search for truth. ..." (V. 2053-57) Guido*s hands, mutilated like Christ*s, win him the sym­ pathy of God— and hopefully an acquittal from the court.

In the Guido Books there are subtle inferential allusions saints and Biblical characters, the function of which is to complement the allusions to Christ, creating a complex and ironic commentary on Guido*s character. The chief thematic pattern of these allusions is the discrepancy between what

Guido appears to be and what he actually _is; contained in each allusion is an implied judgment on Guido*s evil.

The Pope, speaking in Book I, articulates fully his hatred of Guido*s hypocrisy: "Though Guido stood forth priest from head to heel, Instead of, as alleged, a piece of one,— And further, were he, from the tonsured scalp To the sandaled sole of him, my son and Christ*s, Instead of touching us by finger-tip As you assert, and pressing up so close Only to set a blood-smutch on our robe,— I and Christ would renounce all right in him." (I. 329-36)55

Inferentially a Judas, Guido only appears to be a follower

^ L u k e 22:47. "Judas, one of the twelve . . . drew near unto Jesus to kiss him." 223

of Christ; although he puts on the habit of the churchman, his heart remains unclaimed. He "presses up so close” to

the Pope in order to gain preferment, not to give his life

to humble service. Thus the Pope is betrayed by the kiss

of a latter-day Judas with bloody hands.

Guido*s "discipleship" is obviously superficial; he

treats his decision to enter the Church as simply another

business venture. Admiring the success of a young peasant,

the Count decides to emulate him;

"A clown dressed vines on somebody’s estate, His boy recoiled from muck, liked Latin more, Stuck to his pen, and got to be a priest, . . .

— Well, let me go, do likewise. ..." (V. 199-209) Here, Guido mouths the words of Christ, conveniently for­

getting that they were addressed originally to a rich man,

who, to inherit eternal life, was required to sell all that

he had. Guido, however, has no intention of doing so,

despite his honeyed words to the contrary;

Bidden qualify for Rome, I, having a field, Went, sold it, laid the sum at Peter*s foot. (V. 2*1-9-50)

5^ 2 Kings 25;12. "The captain of the guard left the poor of the land to become vlne-dressers." Luke 10:37. "Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise." (Jesus advises the rich man to sell his goods.)

57Acts *!>:36-37. "And Joses, who by the apostles was sumamed Barnabas • . . having land sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostle*s feet." 22k

Guido has, of course, been speaking figuratively, paral­ leling himself to Barnabas, who gave freely of his property to the Church. Guido, without question, has '’laid a sum at

Peter’s foot” ; he has probably bribed a church official to get him a sinecure within hailing distance of "Peter” (the

Pope). But with Guido, there is no selfless outpouring of goods and services to the Church; all is done with the hope of preferment.

Bitterly, Guido acknowledges his inferiority in the

"scale of being"; he is merely a vinedresser:

"Be not the vine but dig and dung its root, Be not a priest but gird up priesthood's loins. . . . (V. 230-31)58

Since the vine is symbolic of Christ, one may infer that

Guido has been denied entry into the company of Jesus, al­ though he is perfectly welcome to do day-labor on His be­ half. Lamenting this dearth of fortune at Home, Guido now slips into the role of the patient Job— with a bit of nauseated Moses on the side:

And, although fed by the east-wind, fulsome-fine With foretaste of the Land of Promise, still

58Luke 13*7-8. "Then said he unto the dresser of his vine yard . . . cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I dig about it, and dung it." (Cf. X. 1968-69, in which Guido is the vine which the Pope can save: "dig about and dung and dress/ Till he repent. • . . " Cf, also XI. I867. in which Guido again is the vine which "cumbers earth" but bears no fruit.) Luke 12:35. "Let your loins be girded about. ..." (Cf. II. 318, IX. 29.) 225

My gorge gave symptom it might play me false; Better not press it further,— he content With living and dying only a nobleman . . . (V. 347-48)59

Like Job, Guido patiently awaits a turn of fortune for the betters he cannot be satisfied with the ethereal glory of the Church, the "Promised Land." Shifting suddenly to the role of Moses, Guido visualizes his growing old after having been denied the "Promised Land" of priesthood, with all its perquisites. Guido, therefore, is willing, like Moses, to die without crossing over Jordans he resolves to return to Arezzo.

At Arezzo, Guido again is forced to play the role of

Job. Here Pompilia becomes "this plague-seed set to fester his sound flesh ..." (II. 629).^° Already plagued by disease, Guido is now beset by a"new gad-fly in that face"

(V. 912) in the form of Caponsacchi. Is there no end to the patience of Job? Guido avers that there iss

I felt this trouble flap my face, Already pricked with every shame could perch,— When, with her parents, my wife plagued me too. (V. 926-28)

59job 15*2. "Should a wise man • . . fill his belly with the east wind?" (i.e., the sirocco, which withers the crops and is thus a harbinger of famine.) Cf. Hamlet. Ill, ii. 93-95 "... of the chameleon’s dish. I eat the air, promise-crammed. You cannot feed capons so." Deut. 19*8. "And If the Lord thy God . . . give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers." £r\ ° Job. 2:8. "So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown." Job sits in a pool of mud during the plagues; note that Guido too is up to the chin in the mire. 226

For such a virulent 11 disease” as Pompilia, Guido would say, a strong curative must be administered.

Guido Is not yet free of the festering sores which have plagued him; the torments of Job are not ended:

This bastard then, a nest for him Is made, As the manner Is of vermin, in my flesh— Shall I let the filthy pest buzz, flap, and sting, Busy at my vitals and, nor hand nor foot Lift, but let be, lie still and rot resigned? No, I appeal to God. . . . (V. 1537-^2)

The passage above follows the major movements of the Book of Job: first there is torment; then conflict. Should he resist the will of God or be resigned? Finally there is the appeal to God, answered by the reconciling Voice.

Here Guido consciously imitates the pattern of Job*s experi­ ence, intending to convince his audience that he has, like

Job, not only suffered, but learned the will of God— that murder is justifiable! Thus, his suffering has not been in vain, for he is now in direct communication with God, and has been immunized against the mundane compunctions of other men.

In his campaign to establish himself as a true child of God, Guido links himself with various saints, all of whom are known as having lived in humility and poverty. He

is especially eager to boast his “line of descent” from his namesake, St. Francis:

. . . Francis boasts the primacy ^ I d saints;

— Rather 'tis Dominic such post befits: Why, at the worst, Francis stays Francis still, 227

Second, in rank to Dominic it may be, Still, very saintly, very like our Lord;

We "became poor as Francis or our Lord. (V. 1^9-6^)

Guido, in taking upon his name all the qualities of St.

Francis, draws a perilous analogy: if Francis* actions were saintly, and he is like St. Francis in poverty and service, then it follows that all Guido*s actions are saintly! To drive home this point, Guido repeats the name

Francis, never letting his audience miss the implication.

To maintain this aura of saintliness about Guido,

Abate Paolo describes his brother the Count as one who has rejected— until now— all worldly vanities:

Having, as one who puts his hand to the plough, Renounced the over-vivid family-feel— Poor brother Guido! (III. 302-303)

The Comparini are duly Impressed by this evidence of self- denial; but the critical reader, knowing the source of

Paolo*s allusion, might well accuse Guido of ’’looking back” over his shoulder as he ’’plows” for the Church: certainly,

Guido has one eye, at least, on the world at all times. And 62 such men, says Christ, are unfit for the Kingdom of God.

By judiciously alluding to Scripture, Guido keeps his aureole bright. For example, he styles himself a disciple

of Christ and the law: Will the Court of its charity teach poor me Anxious to learn, of any way i» the world,

6lMatt. 8:20. ^ L u k e 9*62. ’’And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.” 228

Allowed by custom and convenience, save This same which, taught from my youth up, I trod? ✓ _ (V. ^31-3*0 3 Being a devotee of law, Guido Is willing to take instruction from the Court— so long as the "lesson” is not too severe.

Guido*s lawyer voices the same apparent desire for gentle correction: "Wherewithal should the husband cleanse his way?" (VIII. 752)^^ The answer lies in the very psalm which Archangelis quotes: obedience to God*s word is the source of all correction.

As good, law-abiding husband at Arezzo, Guido is often depicted as the Good Shepherd— no mere hireling— who, like

Christ, would give his life for the sheep, his wife:

"Cry *wolf* i* the sheepfold, where’s the sheep dares bleat, Knowing the shepherd listens for a growl?" , (V. 892-93) *

Caponsacchi, here the ravening wolf, enters the peaceful

"fold" to carry off the one sheep. The irony is that the

"Good Shepherd," Guido, is fast asleep when his "wolf"

6 ? Matt. 19:20. "All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all thou hast, and give to the poor • . . and come and follow me."

Ps. 119:9* "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word."

65john 10:12. "But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, . . . seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth. . . . I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine." 229 attacks! And it Is further ironic that Guido, in Book XI, openly plays the wolf’s role, relinquishing the part of

Christ, therefore, to Caponsacchi.

This same imagery is slyly used by Bottinius, who in

Book IX casts Pompilia as the frisky lamb who rebels against her shepherd, Guido. (IX. 323-25) Then she is metamorphosed into a heifer who would fain throw off the yoke:

. . . let the heifer bear the yoke! Only, I crave he cast no patience off, This hind, for deem you she endures the whip, Nor winces at the goad, nay, restive, kicks? ,, (IX. 25^-57) Here, Guido is the hind (servant) who cannot control his beast of burden, and consequently plows a crooked furrow.

Clearly, as a husbandman, Guido is a failure.

In Books XI and XII, Guido plays a succession of saints* roles. First, he takes the sword of St. Michael and fights the seven-fold dragon:

I who, with outlet for escape to heaven. Would tarry if such flight allowed my foe To raise his head, relieved of that firm foot Had pinned him to the fiery pavement else! So am I made, !,who did not make myself.'1 , (XI. 209^-98)67

Guido, fashioned by God Himself to be a saint, has his own

^Prov. 5:19; Num. 19s2; Hosea 8:5. (of. James 11, Acts 26:1^.)

67Ps. 100:3. "Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves." 230 private escape-hatch to heaven, which expedient he declines to use since the "foe" must yet he slain. Thus does Guido show his magnanimity; while a single enemy of society re­ mains, his work is not done.

Next, Guido becomes St. Paul;

My fight is figurative, blows i* the air, Brain-war with powers and principalities, Spirit-bravado, no real fisticuffs! (XI. 2318-20)

Guido, in so quoting Paul, has in effect promised the

Cardinal that he will use no violence. Like the saint he emulates, the Count employs only spiritual resistance— so he would have us believe.

Ironically, in Book XII, popular sentiment and super­ stition give impetus to a movement to canonize the con­ demned Guido. Browning, in so applying this "twist" to his portraiture of Guido, completes in perfect symmetry a pattern begun in Book III. As the Other Half-Rome, repre­

senting public sentiment for the dying Pompilia, tries to

"canonize" her, so does the fickle public seize upon the last actions of Guido, in an attempt to find something

saintly therein. In both books we have, for example, a

foolish public clamoring after "miracles of healing" sup­

posedly wrought by the "saints." As the condemned Guido is

^®Eph. 6:12. Paul says, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers. ..." 231 carted to the Square, the air is alive with "supernatural’1 happenings, reduced to a low level of crass spectacle and sensation:

"Now did a car run over, kill a man, Just opposite a pork-shop numbered Twelve: And bitter were the outcries of the mob Against the Pope: for, but that he forbids The Lottery, why Twelve were Tern Quatem! Now did a beggar by Saint Agnes, lame Prom his youth up, recover use of leg, Through prayer of Guido as he glanced that way." Cr. (XII. 15*1-61 )69

Nor is the crowd ready to abandon its sentimentalizing of Guido’s death; here he is St. Stephen, the original mar­ tyr.

"And, with the name of Jesus on his lips, Received the fatal blow." (XII. 188-89)'

Browning’s narrator in "The Book and the Ring" admits that there is indeed something saintly about Guido’s mien:

"So died the man, and so his end was peace." (XII. 205)71 And the Pise, epigramatically describes Guido’s death in an oxymoron:

"Died like a saint, poor devil!" (XII. 420)

^9The lottery suggests the casting of Lots for Christ’s garments. Tern Q u a t e m : A special lottery prize.

?°Acts 7:59* "And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

71Ps. 37*37« "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace." 232

For all the whitewashing lavished on his character, the Count ultimately reveals his blackness. Indeed, part of the structural balance of The Ring and the Book requires that each book have an "opposite number,11 another book which serves as an extended cross-commentary or implied refutation of its counterpart. Just such a book is

"Guido" (Book XI). Whereas Book V depends for its dramatic effect upon the immense discrepancy between what Guido appears to be and what he actually is, Book XI has an en­ tirely different impact. Here the mask is ripped off: no longer does a discrepancy exist. Guido stands fully re­ vealed for what he is, a hateful wolf among men. The im­ pact of such stark revelation sets up a tension between the

Guido of Book V and the condemned and raving criminal of

Book XI. Even the titles of these books suggest something of the dramatic change which has taken place in the

Interim: Book V accords Guido his full title, "Count Guido

Franceschini," while the last monologue pictures him stripped of that title, leaving him with only his Christian name.

Guido begins Book XI with the promise— one which some readers wish he had kept— that "You have my last word":

. . . Innocent am I As Innocent my Pope and murderer, 233 Innocent as a babe, as Mary*s own, As Mary*s self. . . . (XI. 28-31)72

Some 2400 lines later, Guido is again to Invoke the names of Jesus and Mary, but in the interim he proves that he is no innocent Christ-child. Indeed, he preaches a "gospel" of pure hate, becoming the antitype of Christ and showing

"wolf-face whence the sheepskin fell." (III. 991)7^

All movements in Book XI are antithetical to those of

Book V. Whereas Guido has earlier pretended to be another

St. Francis in his fealty to the Church, now he curses the

Church, revealing that the Scriptural truths are nought to him;

All*s but a flourish, figure of rhetoric! (XI. 851)

With such reductlonism does Guido reveal his treatment of

Scripture. Since it is secularized and rendered non- revelatory, its universal truths are reduced to mere empty tropes.

Guido next turns on the clergy, the immediate source of his woe. Here he challenges the Abate to follow the example of Christ:

Abate, gird your loins and wash my feet! (XI. 6l6)7^

72It is worth noting that Guido begins both of his monologues with Imagery drawn from the life of Christ. In Book V, he is the crucified Christ being offered vinegar and gall: here he is the Babe. 73Matt. 7:15. 7*hXohn 13:4-14. Christ institutes the washing of feet as a manifestation of humility. Cook (Commentary, p. 244) notes: "The Pope washes the feet of old men on Maundy Thurs­ day in observance of our Lord*s precept in verse 14." 234

He savagely indicts the men of God for not knowing "The relative worth of things":

Gold is called gold, and dross called dross, i* the Book: Gold you let lie and dross pick up and prize! (XI. 696-97)75

Their faith, he contends, is based on false values; moreover,

Guido counts himself one such piece of gold, now about to be trampled into the dust.

Guido, completely exposing his former hypocrisy, now repudiates the Christian faith:

I think I never was at any time A Christian, as you nickname all the world,

Name me, a primitive religionist— As should the aboriginary be. . . . (XI. 1914-18)

Now entirely without Christian grace, Guido enjoys shocking

his auditors and depriving them of an opportunity to win a

convert to Christ. To him, Christianity is only down­

graded paganism:

So, the living truth Revealed to strike Pan dead, ducks low at last, Prays leave to hold its own and live good days Provided it go masque grotesquely, called Christian not Pagan. (XI. 1973-77)'

In a complete inversion of values, Guido labels Christianity

7^Ezek. 22:18. "The house of Israel is to me become dross." Isa. 1:22. "Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water.”

7^ l Pet. 3s10. "For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil. ..." 235 a mere paraphrase of the original truth as revealed in paganism. Ironically, Guido, in posing as Christian, has in Book V "masked grotesquely," calling himself "Christian not Pagan"; thus, the travesty of Christianity has been en­ tirely on the part of the Count.

At one point, Guido spews out tag-ends of Scriptural texts, as if in a final regurgitation of all the remnants of his faith. His theme here is the ultimate victory of sin over Christianity:

Where's the obedience that shall edify? Why, they laugh frankly in the face of faith And take the natural course,— this rends his hair Because his child is taken to God's breast, That gnashes teeth and raves at loss of trash Which rust corrupts and thieves break through and steal, And this, enabled to inherit earth Through meekness, curses till your blood runs coldt Down they all drop to my low level, . . .

We have the prodigal son of heavenly sire, Turning his nose up at the fatted calf, Fain to fill belly with the husks we swine Did eat by b o m depravity of taste! (XI. 7^9-63)

Perversely, Guido finds examples of the "leveling" force of

sin, in an attempt to prove that all men are swine like him; note that in doing so, he systematically Inverts familiar

Biblical texts. The parable of the Prodigal Son, for

^ 1 Cor. 8:1. "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edlfleth." Matt. 8:12. "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matt. 6:19. Matt. 5*5 (cf. Ps. 37:11) Luke 15:11-32. 236 example, is sharply reversed: the young man rejects the

’’fatted calf” (God*s grace) and hungers after the ’’husks, we swine/ Did eat” (sins of men). In such manner, Guido would say, do men betray their natural depravity; for man, apostasy is the natural state, and faith mere pretense.

Moreover, Guido adds, the Church confutes its own doctrine. Since it has convicted Guido for trying to warn wives to be chaste, and yet preaches chastity,

Then your house against itself Divides, nor stands your kingdom any more. (XI. 15^9-50)78

Because the Church is ridding itself of Guido, the upholder of chastity, it is defeating Itself.

Revealing himself as a wolf in the ecclesiastical sheepfold, Guido nevertheless finds a way to blame the

Church for his demise; the churchmen

forced me choose, indulge Or else renounce my instincts, still play wolf Or find my way submissive to the fold, Be red-crossed on the fleece, one sheep the more. But you as good as bade me wear sheep* s wool Over wolf*s-skin, suck blood and hide the noise. . . . (XI. 820-25)79

Guido, of course, commits the logical fallacy of reduction to an ”either-or" argument: either be a ’’ravening wolf” or

78Matt. 12:25.

79Matt. 7:15. ’’Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep*s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” (Cf. III. 990; XI. 443; XI. ll?6-8l; XI. 1188-90.) 237 a false churchman. Actually, Guido, by Joining the Church,

has forced himself into this dilemma; moreover, it is in

his nature to play the "wolf in sheep1s clothing," for

hypocrisy is Guido's natural state. It is only under the

pressure of Judgment and death that the erstwhile "sheep”

shows his wolfish fsings.

And wolf he is. Finally, he makes the stark and fear­

ful revelation of his true nature*

Say that I hated her for no one cause g0 Beyond my pleasure to do so. • . . (XI. 1432-33)

In a final vision, Guido sees himself actually trans­

mogrified into the animal which is the symbol of his

nature

Let me turn wolf, be whole, and sate, for once,—

Grow out of man, Glut the wolf-nature,— what remains but grow Into the man again, be man indeed And all man? Do I ring the changes right? Deformed, transformed, reformed, informed, conformed! (XI. 2054-61)81 The answer is that he "rings them wrongly." In this, the

final irony, Guido inverts the familiar Pauline doctrine of

transformation from the worldly to the spiritual. Guido's

"changes" merely transmute him from man to wolf and then

80 1 John 3*15* "Who so ever hateth his brother is a murderer."

8lHom. 12*2. "And be not conformed to this world* but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." 238 back to unredeemed man, the final state being conformation, not transformation. He has thus remained wholly graceless, reverting only to lower forms of nature, ’’conformed to this world.” 3. LITERAL ISTS

Caponsacchi; Militant Man of God. Guido*s natural perversity, we have seen, causes him to alter Scripture. To justify his "behavior, which is unnatural, he must distort the texts which he so plentifully quotes. With Caponsacchi and Pomp11la, however, no such artful manipulation of

Scripture is necessary, since their actions are sanctioned by God. We are now to consider the priest and Pompilla as true types of Christ; here we shall see Browning employing

Scripture with entirely different tone and intention from that of Books V and XI. The poet, especially in his tender portrayal of Pompilla, cites Scripture with deep seriousness and reverence. Gone is the ironic— and hence more highly dramatic— tone; in its stead is the tone of poet-as-priest, invoking Scripture as a divine "chorus" to sanctify the actions of the beleaguered couple. Ultimately, we sense that Browning is delineating, in the priest and Pompilla, a new miracle— the reenactment of the life of Christ, this time in all its sublimity.

It Is clear that Guido and Caponsacchi are meant to be dramatic foils; to this end their two monologues are adja­ cent. Moreover, they play directly antithetical roles:

239 240 whereas Guido delineates himself as a suffering servant of

God, he is in reality a false prophet, an unworthy church­ man. Caponsacchi is depicted as an unorthodox priest who

seems worldly and vain. Yet he proves ultimately to be a genuine man of God. Browning thereby demonstrates that a mere fagade of religiosity, such as Guido adopts, is no

trustworthy index of zeal or virtue. The Count finally

resists the grace of Absolution, just as he has rejected

the saving power of Pompilla. Yet the priest has the moral

insight to recognize wherein lies his salvation: it is out­

side the pale of the Church, and within Pompilla*s soul.

Again, the Count and the priest come into contrast in

their roles as husbands. Guido, espoused to Pompilla, acts

the role of false husband, since he fails to honor his

marriage-vows; indeed, he treats her as if she were a mere

chattel. Caponsacchi, however, who is forbidden the part

of husband since he is already "married" to the Church,

proves to be the genuine "husband" of Pompilla, as well as

the spiritual "father" of Gaetano.

Another similarity between Guido and Caponsacchi is

that they are both noblemen with a certain degree of honor

and family tradition. Guido, however, proves that he is

noble in name only, whereas Caponsacchi equates nobility

with humble service. Whereas Guido represents the old,

vitiated stock, Caponsacchi embodies a youthful vitality

characteristic of the new order. No longer is name itself 2^1 indicative of character; instead, it is inner virtue which renders man acceptable before God. The ’’new order,” then, consists of decisive and unselfish action rather than a parasitic life in the vitals of society.

Guido is a worn-out, cold and unproductive remnant of a once-great line, while Caponsacchi is warm and energetic, burning with restlessness. It is thus dramatically fit that Pompllia, in her spiritual ”flight” from Guido, should

instinctively select Guido’s antithesis, Caponsacchi. A study of the monologue of Caponsacchi reveals how Browning makes Pompilia’s flight to the priest dramatically necessary.

We shall see here that Caponsacchi, although he is head­

strong and narrow of vision, takes a decisive step toward

the truth, and that his actions serve therefore to counter

the lies of the Ironist Guido.

No two monologulsts of The Ring and the Book are more

sharply antithetical than ’’Count Guido Franceschinl” and

’’Giuseppe Caponsacchi.” We have seen the unctuous tone of

Book V; here is a glimpse of the fiery indignation of Capon­

sacchi in Book VI:

Answer you, Sirs? Do I understand aright? Have patience! In this sudden smoke from hell,— So things disguise themselves. . . . (VI. 1-3)

The ’’smoke from hell" has its source In Guido; it beclouds

the air, obscuring truth. It now remains for Caponsacchi 242 to dispel the smoke by lighting the brand of truth:

Well then, I have a mind to speak, see cause To relume the quenched flax by this dreadful light, B u m my soul out in showing you the truth. (VI. 147-49)1

Caponsacchi, it will become clear, has exposed the false

Guido; no longer will the image of Jesus be used as a mask.

With Caponsacchi, one sees Christ in terms of St. John*s

Logos, or the Light of Truth. Indeed, the priest Intends to " b u m his soul out” in the rendering of truth: as much as it causes him suffering, he must relate the events in fidelity to truth.

Caponsacchi begins his restoration of truth by trans­ ferring the image of the Crucified Christ from Guido to

Pompilia, to whom it rightly belongs:

. . . they are now casting lots, Ay, with that gesture quaint and cry uncouth, For the coat of One murdered an hour ago! I am a priest,— talk of what I have learned. Pompilla is bleeding out her life belike. . . . (VI. 57-61)d

The priest, indeed, regards Pompilla as no one earthly; to him, she is the embodiment at once of the Madonna and of

Christ:

But she— The glory of life, the beauty of the world, The splendour of heaven. . . . (VI. 117-19)

^Isa. 42:3. “A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench." (Cf. I. 752; X. 329-31.) 2John 19:23-24. 2^3

These words, reminiscent of epithets applied to the Virgin in the Homan Catholic Church, are intended to demonstrate the extent of Caponsacchi1s "conversion"; for the priest,

Pompilla, not the orthodox Church, becomes the mediator be­ tween God and man*

I Who, a priest, trained to live my whole life long On beauty and splendour, solely at their source, God,— have thus recognised my food in one, , . . (VI. 121-1*0

In what must seem to any churchman, either in 1698 or in

1868, to be blasphemy, Caponsacchi quite boldly attributes to Pompllia the qualities of Christ. And he, in his mono­ logue, is to work out fully this implication that Pompilla

is Christ. In fact, he forewarns the judges that Guido*s low appeal to law will now give way to a higher appeal:

You understand of a sudden, gospel too Has a claim here, may possibly pronounce Consistent with my priesthood, worthy Christ, That I endeavored to save Pompilla? (VI. 137-*J-0)3

Yet Caponsacchi is bent not on defending his own

actions, but on vindicating Pompilla*s honor? to this end,

he need only express the truth to counter Guido*s lies.

This is his priestly duty:

I heard, last time I stood here to be judged, What is priest*s-duty,— labor to pluck tares

3john 1:17. "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." 2 Thess. 11:12. "Where­ fore also we pray . . . that our God would count you worthy of this calling . . . : that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you. ..." 244 And weed the corn of Molinism; let me Make you hear, this time, how, In such a case, Man, "be he in the priesthood or at plough, Mindful of Christ . . .

How he is bound, better or worse, to act. . (VI. 150-59P Caponsacchi's very calling, then, makes it mandatory to act

decisively and effectively; he cannot remain immured in the

Church, isolated from human suffering. Like Christ, Capon­

sacchi fears not to enter into the world or to suffer dis­

honor, so long as he acts in the name of goodness. And now,

echoing the last words of Christ, Caponsacchi signifies

that his task is ended:

My part Is done; i* the doing it, I pass away Out of the world. I want no more with earth. ? (vi. 167-69P

These words, closely paralleling those of the crucified

Christ, are intended not only to vindicate Caponsacchi and

to delineate him as a martyr, but also to wrest away from

Guido the role of the Savior. Here, Browning is to assign

to Caponsacchi the earnest role of ''redeemer," in order to

counterbalance the arrogation of Christ's attributes by

the Ironist Guido.

^Matt. 13'25. Parable of wheat and tares. (Cf. II. 175; XI. 2036.) Luke 9*62. "And Jesus said unto him. No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God." 1 Cor. 3*16. "But we have the mind of Christ." The theme of decisive action, whether or not it involve sin, is central to Browning (cf. "The Statue and the Bust"). 5john 19:30. "It is finished." Luke 23:46. "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." 245

As Caponsacchi has redeemed Pompilia, so will he re­ deem the truth, by ’’burning" himself to illuminate the court:

Let me, in heaven’s name, use the very snuff 0 ’ the taper in one last spark shall show truth For a moment, show Pompilia who was true! , Not for her sake, but yours. (VI. 170-73)

Caponsacchi, hardly a diplomat, here implies that the learned judges sit in darkness and therefore need the

saving light of truth. In his bitterness, he further

exacerbates the judges by implying that they are among those who still mock Christ and cast lots for His garments:

I talk impertinently, and you bear, All the same. This it is to have to do With honest hearts: they easily may err, But in the main they wish well to the truth. You are Christians; somehow, no one ever plucked A rag, even, from the body of the Lord, To wear and mock with, but, despite himself, He looked the greater and was the better. (VI. 207-14)

Having thus sobered the court, Caponsacchi describes

his entry into the priesthood. The young priest can best

describe his own life in terms of paradoxes. The first

paradox is that Caponsacchi, in entering the church, will

not "declare the world renounced" (VI. 268)7 as he thinks,

but will be expected to be a man of the world. No renun-

^Matt. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

7John 17:6 (Cf. VI. 307). 246 elation is demanded of young Giuseppe; he is to be not so much a priest as a courtier:

"Renounce the world? Nay, keep and give it us! Let us have you, and boast of what you bring. We want the pick o* the earth to practise with, Not its offscouring, halt and deaf and blind « In soul and body." (VI. 309-13)°

The Archbishop, contravening the very word of God, rejects those whom God has invited to partake of His Kingdom; the

Church, then, wants worldly priests, not cloistered monks who mortify the flesh. Caponsacchi "rejects" the secular, only to find himself comitted to a Church which has become

secularized. It is no wonder, then, that Caponsacchi ulti­ mately escapes the Church in order to work out his own

salvation. Clearly, there is no saving grace in the office

of the priesthood.

Caponsacchi*s "priestly" duties consist of being an

ambassador to society, a liaison man between the Church and

the world. Thus is set up a conflict within Caponsacchi:

he desires to serve God, yet the Church forces him to serve

the world. Thus, the priesthood, as the Church defines it,

creates a conflict of interests, leaving Caponsacchi at

cross-purposes with himself.

Forced to play the part of worldly churchman, Capon-

®Luke 14:21. "Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind." (Parable of God*s feast.) 247 sacchi understandably becomes subject to imputations of incontinence. Bottinius, for example, Joyfully punning on the word Levite, suggests that the young priest is anything but celibates

"Constans in levitate,”— Ha, my lords? Calm in his levity,— indulge the quip! — Since *tis a levite bears the bell away, Parades him henceforth as Pompilia's choice. (IX. 340-43)?

And Half-Rome, in a parody of the Johannine gospel, sarcas­ tically types the priest as a latter-day "incarnation” of

Christ:

And lo There did in a trice turn up life and light,~ The man with the aureole, sympathy made flesh, _ The all-consoling Caponsacchi, Sir! (II. 780-83)10

The ironic inversion of the theme of Incarnation renders the word flesh highly ambiguous. One can imagine Half-

Rome's sarcastic inflection of the word, which, in con­ junction with the rather "commercial” tone of "the man with the aureole" (which suggests the priest's trade-mark), pro­ duces what must be considered a highly derogatory caricature of the priest. Half-Rome further characterizes the young

Giuseppe as: The oourtly Christian, not so much Saint Paul

9Ex. 28:33; 34.

*°John 1:4. "In him was life; and the life was the light of men." John l:l4. "And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, . . . full of grace and truth." The Holy Spirit is often referred to as the Comforter. 248

As a saint of Caesar*s household. (II. 791-92)11

The oxymorons of the "courtly Christian” and the ”saint of

Caesar*s household" involve a basic conflict of The Ring and the Book, that of the secular and the spiritual; and by

Caponsacchi*s own admission, he embodies this conflict by playing a dual role:

Well, then, According to prescription did I live, — Conformed myself, both read the breviary And wrote the rhymes, was punctual to my place I* the Pleve, and as diligent at my post Where beauty and fashion rule. (VI. 342-47)

Caponsacchi is clearly aware that he has compromised his

early ideal of the priesthood and is now resorting to the

uses of the world.

Bottinius, too, is aware of this discrepancy, and un­

mercifully exploits it. Here, in mock seriousness, he

delineates the attributes of the ideal priest, typing Capon­

sacchi as David:

On the selected levite be there found Nor mole nor scar nor blemish, lest the mind Come all uncandld through the thwarting flesh! Was not the son of Jesse ruddy, sleek, Pleasant to look on, pleasant every way? (IX. 353-57)1

llPhil. 4:22. "All the saints salute you, chiefly they that are of Caesar’s household." Cook notes that "St. Paul's * saints that are of Caesar’s household’ were ’prob­ ably slaves and freedmen* (Lightfoot), but Half-Rome, like many of the commentators, takes them to be persons of high position at the imperial court." (Commentary, p. 44)

•^Lev. 21:21. "No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord." 1 Sam. 16:12, 18* "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse [David] . . . a comely person, and the Lord is with him." 2k9

The lubricious Bottinius pointedly describes the priest as young, virile— and sexually potent. Pursuing his analogy, the lawyer finds a further ’'parallel” : if Caponsacchi is

David, then Pompllia is the passionate Abigail:

Since well he smote the harp and sweetly sang, And danced till Abigail came out to see, And seeing smiled and smiling ministered The raisin-cluster and the cake of figs, With ready meal refreshed the gifted youth, Till Nabal, who was absent shearing sheep, Felt heart sink, took to bed (discreetly done— They might have been beforehand with him else) And died— would Guido have behaved as well But ah, the faith of early days is gone. . . 1 _ (IX. 358-68)13

The cunning Bottinius wades into water over his head this

time; the parallels are indeed striking, particularly that

of Guido to Nabal (whose name means fool). Both are cruel

and austere husbands whose pride eventually leads to their

demise. Yet the discrepancies between Bottinius* account

and the original text are even more striking: (1) Abigail

goes to David, not because she is attracted to him, but

because she is afraid of his wrath; her husband Nabal has

refused to render tribute to the conqueror. Her food is

1 3 1 Sam. 25s1 8 , 19, 23, 37. "Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine . . . and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. . . . And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face. . . But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone- . nd it came to pass about ten days later, that the Lord smote Nabal, that he died." 250 brought to David*s host to conciliate the young and vindic­ tive warrior (1 Sam. 25*1-32). (2) David does not dance before Abigail, but before the Ark of the Covenant, and

Saul’s daughter Michal, who sees him, "despised him in her heart" (2 Sam. 6 ;l6 ). (3) There is no suggestion of adul­ tery in David’s encounter with Abigail; the Lord obligingly allows Nabal to die, giving Abigail freedom to marry David

(1 Sam. 25*^2). Note that Bottinius suppresses these points, particularly the last, in order to turn the Scrip­ tures against the priest.

Pursuing his innuendoes about Caponsacchi*s sexual prowess, Bottinius characterizes the priest as "one

juvenile and potent" (IX. 600); indeed, he is a young— and handsome— knight, whose strength is necessary

else, mayhap. That dragon, our Saint George would slay, slays him. (IX. 599-600)

Canon Conti, the matchmaking priest, also types his friend

Caponsacchi as a latter-day St. George who offers aid to

Pompilia:

" . • . he, my fellow-Canon, brother-prlest

Our Caponsacchi, he’s your true Saint George To slay the monster, set the Princess free. ..." (VII. 1320-2A)

And Margherita, Pompilia’s maid, romantically casts

Giuseppe into the image of St. Michael, fresh from the war

in heaven: "And Michael’s pair of wings will arrive first 251

At Rome, to introduce the company, Will bear him from our picture where he fights Satan,--expect to have that dragon loose And never a defender!” (VII, 1215-20)

Here, Caponsacchi, about to leave Arezzo for Rome, will leave Pompilia to the wrath of the dragon, Guido. In drawing the analogy, the maid (like Juliet*s nurse, a go- between) attempts to alarm Pompilla -into seeking out Capon­ sacchi and fleeing with him to Rome.

Caponsacchi*s own attempt to define his position and justify his acts leads inevitably to the myth of St. Georges

I rise in your esteem, sagacious Sirs, Stand up a Tenderer of reasons, not The officious priest would personate Saint George For a mock Princess in undragoned days. What, the blood startles you? What, after all The priest who needs must carry sword on thigh May find imperative use for it? Then, there was A Princess, a dragon belching flame, And should have been a Saint George also? Then, There might have been worse schemes than to break the bonds At Arezzo, lead her by the little hand, Till she reached Rome, and let her try to live? (vi. 1769-80)

Although Caponsacchi rejects such a romanticized view of him as "soldier of God" and chivalrous knight, he defends the principles under which St. George acted; he sees clearly the moral imperative involved in saving an oppressed woman from the monster her husband.

The Pope, too, recognizes the qualities of St. George

l^Rev. 12:7. 11 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels." 252 in Caponsacchi, but rejects any notion that the priest is a lover. Although he takes issue with Caponsacchi over the latter*s change of garb from the priest*s to the courtier*s, he has only praise for the "warrlor-priest*s" unhesitating act ions Nay, Caponsacchi, much I find amiss, Blameworthy, punishable in this freak Of thine, this youth prolonged though age was ripe, This masquerade in sober day . . .

With that symmetric soul inside my son, The Churchman's or the worldling*s,~let him judge, Our Adversary who enjoys the task! I rather chronicle the healthy rage,— When the first moan broke from the martyr-maid At that uncaging of the beasts,--made bare ^ My athlete on the instant. . . . (X. 1127-40

The Pope clearly recognizes the dual nature of Caponsacchi,

who never has become wholly reconciled to his calling as

priest, and whose fiery nature makes him unfit for the i cloister. He is the monster Leviathan, to be controlled

only by God, who shall make the sword To match that piece of netherstone his heart, Ay, nor miss praise thereby; who else shut fire I* the stone, to leap from mouth at sword's first stroke, In lamps of love and faith, the chivalry That dares the right and disregards alike A The yea and nay o' the world? (X. 1109-15)

1 Pet. 5*8. "Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."

16Job 41:24. 253

The priest, then, is beyond the pale of the Church; his volcanic fire is to be used by God for His purposes. The sword merely strikes the sparks of chivalry from Capon­ sacchi1 s heart, but does not weaken it.

Caponsacchi is not only typed— both ironically and

seriously— as St. George, the "warrior-priest," but he is also inevitably cast in the image of the youthful Joseph of

the Old Testament, who is thrown in prison by Potiphar for

allegedly attempting to force the latter’s wife. Even the

name Giuseppe tends to reinforce this inviting parallel

with Joseph, a fact which Half-Rome is quick to exploit.

Caponsacchi*s innocence is "difficult to believe, yet

possible,/ As witness Joseph, the friend’s patron-saint"

(II. 1 1 1 ^ - 1 5 ) Though the "patron-saint" is of course

St. Joseph, Mary’s husband, he is, by implication at least,

the Old Testament Joseph as well. If Caponsacchi is the

latter Joseph, then Pompilia is inferentially the lustful

wife of Potiphar, and Guido is the gullible cuckold Potiphar;

such parallels are only suggested, yet they are clearly

intended, since Half-Rome’s main theme is the dishonor done

a man by his adulterous wife.

Caponsacchi himself is aware of this "Giuseppe-Joseph"

parallel, and knows that Rome is buzzing with gossip over

■^An allusion to Joseph’s doubt of his wife Mary's chastity in Matt. 1:19-20. 2 54 the "romantic" relationship of the priest and Pompilia.

Anticipating this popular opinion, he rebukes the court for sharing it:

. . . Just romanced a little, sowed wild oats, But 1 scaped without a scandal, flagrant fault. My name helped to a mirthful circumstance: "Joseph" would do well to amend his plea: Undoubtedly— some toying with the wife, But as for ruffian violence and rape, Potiphar pressed too much on the other side! The intrigue, the elopement, the disguise,— well Q charged! (VI. 1726-33)1B

The priest, bitter with outraged innocence, indicts the

Judges for attributing to Pompilia the motives of Potiphar*s wife, and for being willing to believe that a priest would succumb to the lusts of ordinary men.

If Giuseppe Caponsacchi puts down all attempts to type him as the Old Testament Joseph, he cannot object to being cast as the New Testament Joseph, the husband of Mary. In­ deed the whole structural pattern of Book VI tends toward the revelation of Pompilia as the Madonna, and of Caponsacchi as her "spouse," whose salvation lies in the service of the

"lady, young, tall, beautiful, strange, and sad" (VI. 399).

Caponsacchi*s artistic consciousness forges the first

link between Pompilia and the Madonna. When he first sees

1 Gen. 39. Potiphar*s wife, unsuccessful in seducing Joseph, loudly accuses Joseph of trying to rape her. 255 the melancholy wife of Guido, he is transported back in time:

It was as when, in our cathedral once, As I got yawningly through matin-song, I saw facohlni bear a burden up, Base it on the high-altar, break away A board or two, and leave the thing inside Lofty and lone: and lo, when next I looked, There was the Rafael! (VI. 400-*K)6)

The Raphael painting merges with the image of Pompilia, until the priest begins to identify her with the Madonna.

For the first time, the priest finds an object of adoration;

the process of "conversion” has begun.

Since Caponsacchi regards Pompilia as saintly, he can not believe that she indited the seductive letters solic­

iting him to come to her. To the question "*What if the

lady loved? What if she wrote the letter?*" (VI. 665-66)

the indignant priest answers:

Learned Sir, I told you there*s a picture in our church. Well, if a low-browed verger sidled up Bringing me, like a blotch, on his prod*s point, A transfixed scorpion, let the reptile writhe. And then said, "See a thing that Rafael made— This venon issued from Madonna’s mouth!"— I should reply, "Rather, the soul of you Has Issued from your body, like from like, By way of the ordure-comer!" (VI. 667-7 6 )

Just as It is Impossible to envision the Raphael

Madonna as issuing forth stinging scorpions, so is it diffi­

cult to believe that Pompilia could be the author of the

"poisonous" letters; the "low-browed verger" Guido, has

produced them, in order to lure Caponsacchi into the scor­ 2 56 pion*s den. Yet Caponsacchi cannot readily dismiss the

"long black teasing lie"; there is enough truth in it to cause the priest to be strangely attracted:

the pest Was far too near the picture, anyhow: One does Madonna service, making clowns Remove their dung-heap from the sacristy. (VI. 679-82)

At the very least, Caponsacchi can do his "Madonna,"

Pompilia, service by exterminating the "scorpion" Guido, or by purging her name of the filth that Guido has forged.

Driven by desire to serve this earthly Madonna, Capon­ sacchi walks through the dark to her window, where he sees

Pompilia standing in

the same great, grave, griefful air As stands i* the dusk, on altar that I know, Left alone with one moonbeam in her cell, Our Lady of all the Sorrows. (VI. 704— 707) °

And on that night, Caponsacchi witnesses a miracle— that of his own sudden conversion: Suppose, that falsehood foiled, next eve Pictured Madonna raised her painted hand, Fixed the face Raphael bent above the Babe, On my face as I flung me at her feet: Such miracle vouchsafed and manifest, Would that prove the first lying tale was true? Pompilia spoke, and I at once received, Accepted my own fact, my miracle Self-authorised and self-explained. . . . (VI. 912-20)

l^Cook (Commentary, p. 120) notes that "Our Lady of all the Sorrows" Is a Holy Day in the Roman Catholic Church, based on the prophecy of Simeon in Luke 2:35, "A sword shall pierce through thy own soul also." The Mater Dolorosa is depicted in art with seven swords piercing her bosom or poised over her head— a fitting parallel to Pompilia. 2 57

Since Pompilia is the earthly manifestation of the Madonna, her commands become divinely sanctioned imperatives. For the first time, Caponsacchi is open to God*s will:

By the invasion I lay passive to, In rushed new things, the old were rapt away. . . . (VI. 9 ^ 7 - W 20

The "new things" of which Caponsacchi speaks are only of the spirit; there is clearly no question of physical attrac­ tion in the priest*s account of his conversion. He is con­

cerned only with doing his priestly duty, and wastes not a

thought on Pompilia*s ample charms.

Like a true soldier of the Lord, the priest, recog­

nizing his bond to the Church, awaits God*s orders:

This new thing . . . had been struck into me By the look o* the lady,— to dare disobey The first authoritative word. *Twas God*s. I had been lifted to the level of her, Could take such sounds into my sense. I said, "We two are cognisant o* the Master now; She it is bids me bow the head: how true, I am a priestt I see the function here; I thought the other way self-sacrifice: This is the true, seals up the perfect sum. I pay it, sit down, silently obey." (VI. 1011-21)

Caponsacchi, having paid the "sum" of devotion, still must

reconcile his inclination to help with the call of the

2® 2 Cor. 5*17. "Therefore If any man be In Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

2lEzek. 28:12. "Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty." 258

Church. "I am a priest," he reasons. "Duty to God Is duty to her." (VI. 1030) Yet if God so favors Pompilia, why will not He save her "by one miracle the more,/ Without me" (VI.

IO32-33)? He resolves to pray for her, and to "advise her seek/ Help at the source." (VI. 1059-60).22

Yet the vacillating Caponsacchi is brought up sharply by the orders of the "Madonna" to prepare for the journey.

The conflict within Caponsacchi is now resolved: the

Church no longer calls to him, for a more commanding Voice now directs his thoughts. He returns home, symbolically shutting the Summa of St. Thomas Aquinas:

"Shut his book, There*s other showing! *Twas a Thomas too Obtained,— more favoured than his namesake here,— A gift, tied faith fast, foiled the tug of doubt,— Our Lady's girdle; down he saw it drop As she ascended into heaven, they say: He kept it safe and bade all doubt adieu. I too have seen a lady and hold a grace." (vi. 1098-1105)

Again, the orthodoxy of the Church is supplanted by a wholly unorthodox form of "revelation": the epiphany of Pompilia

in the spiritual life of Caponsacchi, superseding all previous claims including the Christian, and ending all

doubt•

The Pope, however, takes issue with Caponsacchi on

22Ps. 128:3. "My help cometh from the Lord."

2^The legend of Our Lady*s Girdle is analogous to the story of Doubting Thomas in John 20:25, 27 . 259 this point. To the Pontiff, the priest*s identification of

Guido's wife with the Madonna amounts to mere idolatry’s

Self-sacrifice,— What if an idol took it? Ask the Church Why she was wont to turn each Venus here,— Poor Rome perversely lingered round, despite Instruction, for the sake of purblind love,-- Into Madonna* s shape, and waste no whit Of aught so rare on earth as gratitude! (X. 1115-21)

Inferentially, Pompilia Is not the Madonna, but Venus, the object of "purblind love,” even though the providence of

God worked through that love.

Caponsacchi would deny this implied accusation that he acted out of love:

You know this is not love, Sirs,— it is faith, The feeling that there's God, he reigns and rules . Out of this low world. (VI. 1193-95)

And he reiterates this later to quell any notion that he lusted after Pompilia; to him, the relationship was en­ tirely a religious experience:

. . . I apprise you,— in contempt For all misapprehending ignorance 0* the human heart, much more the mind of Christ,— That I assuredly did bow, was blessed oe By the revelation of Pompilia. (VI. 1862-66)^

The court, of course, has been thinking of another

"blessing” and yet another "revelation” of Pompilia— and well the priest knows this fact!

2^Ps. 97s1. "The Lord reigneth: let the earth rejoice." Mark 11:22. "Have faith in God."

2 5 x Cor. 2:16. "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." 260 /

The hegira to Borne Is fraught with religious symbolism.

Although Caponsacchi is not fully aware of his role as

Joseph, the husband of Mary, he is deeply awe-struck by the

presence of Pompilia:

Recorded motion, breath or look of hers, Which poured forth would present you one pure glass, Mirror you plain,— as God's sea, glassed in gold, His saints,— the perfect soul Pompilia. (VI. 1159-62) b

This "revelation" of Pompilia, couched in language borrowed

from the Revelation of St. John the Divine, illustrates the

priest*s deeply religious attitude. Nothing carnal can

be imputed to a man in such a frame of mind, although the

Pope does not dismiss entirely the possibility of a temp­

tation of the order of Christ*s in the Wilderness; both

Caponsacchi and Christ have had the moral strength to con­

front temptation and overcome it:

Was the trial sore? Temptatation sharp? Thank God for a second time! Why comes temptation but for man to meet And master and make crouch beneath his foot, And so be pedestailed in triumph? (X. 1182-86) '

Having thus prevailed, Caponsacchi is now inferentially

26 Rev. 15*2. "And I saw as It were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.”

2?Jas. 1*2, 12. "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; • • . Blessed Is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” 26l

St. Michael, who in Revelation 12 overcomes the seven-fold dragon. He is an intrepid soldiers Pray 9o "Lead us not into no such temptations, Lordl" co Yea, hut, 0 Thou whose servants are the bold, Lead such temptations by the head and hair. Reluctant dragons, up to who dares fight, That so he may do battle and have praise! (X. 1186-91)

Caponsacchi, then, must do battle to remain a priest and to avoid falling into the temptation of being sin earthly lover. Indeed does Caponsacchi prevail in this battle, for he never forgets his role as priest. For example, as he and Pompilia pass St. Francis* town of Assisi, Caponsacchi reverently points it out as "holy ground,and SOon after­ wards unconsciously enacts the Eucharists

I left the carriage and got bread and wine And brought it her. (VI. 1210-11)

In his priestly role, Caponsacchi, mirroring the actions of

Christ at the Last Supper, administers bread and wine— the

body and blood of Christ— to Pompilia, with Christ*s com­ mand, "therefore eat!" (VI. 1212)3°

2®Matt. 6:13* The Lord's Prayer. 1 Cor. lA:8. " . . . who shall prepare himself to the battle?"

^ E x . 3:5, "Put off the shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."

3°Matt. 26:26-27. "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it." 262

Pompilia, too, reminds Caponsacchi of his priestly duties; when she hears the angelus at the end of the long first day, she turns abruptly to him:

” ... but you— Who are a priest— wherefore do you not read The service at this hour? Read Gabriel*s song, The lesson, and then read the little prayer To Raphael, proper for us travellers!” (VI, 1269-7^)31

Reluctantly, Caponsacchi complies, reading the Mass aloud.

Later that night, as he sees Pompilia, delirious with exhaustion, screaming out against her satanic husband, he begins to pray in earnest for the first time:

Then I— ”Why, in my whole life I have never prayed! Oh, If the God, that only can, would help! Am I his priest with power to cast out fiends? Let God arise and all his enemies Be scattered!” (VI. 1298-1302)32

Caponsacchi, thus having made a prayer of Intercession, notices that Pompilia*s "evil spirit” leaves her soon afterward: "By morn, there was peace. . (VI. 1303).

On the last leg of the trip to Rome, the priest urges the exhausted wife to "bear up brave!/ Just some twelve hours to press through to the prize” (VI. 1308-1309).-^

31Gabriel*s Song. Luke 1:28. Raphael. The tradition that Raphael accompanied travelers is derived from the Apocryphal Book of Toblt.

32Ps. 60:11. ”0 grant us help against the foe, for vain is the help of man!” (R.S.V.) Matt, 10:1. "And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out." Ps. 68:1. "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered."

33phii. 3 *1^- "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." 263

Thus echoing St. Paul*s words, the priest lends a religious aura to the arduous Journey: the "prize" is no less than the "high calling of God" In terms of love and service to other human beings. As they press toward Rome, he sees

Pompilia once again slip Into delirium; once again he prays, "Help us, God,/ Whom the winds carry!" (VI. 1395-96)^

Arriving at Castelnuovo, the pair reenact the arrival of Joseph and Mary at Bethlehem. Seeking out an Inn, Capon­ sacchi resolves to let Pompilia sleep undisturbed; here he describes the priestly attitude with which he carries her into her room:

I never touched her with my finger-tip Except to carry her to the couch, that eve, Against my heart, beneath my head, bowed low, As we priests carry the paten. (VI. 1617-20)

Clearly, Caponsacchi is attempting to delineate himself as a reverent churchman whose relationship with Pompilia is none other than that of priest to sacramental object.

The entire flight to Rome, indeed, has taken on

aspects of the sacraments. The priest has, in effect, sung

the Mass and enacted the Eucharist. Now he becomes Joseph,

as he guards the sleeping Madonna:

I paced the passage, kept watch all night long. I listened,— not one movement, not one sigh. "Pear not: she sleeps so sound!" they said. (VI. 1M8-20)

2 Sam. 22:11. "And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly, and he was seen upon the wings of the wind." (Cf. Ps. 18:10) 264

Even Caponsacchi1s language here Is reminiscent of the

Christmas story; somehow he realizes that he is witnessing

a great religious mystery.

The quietude of Bethlehem is now transmuted into the

panic of the Plight into Egypt as Herod draws near: 111 Reach

Rome,/ Lest hell reach hert,M Caponsacchi cries (VI. 1424-

25). Guido plays the part of Herod convincingly; here he

is both wolf and serpent:

There leered new triumph, there Scowled the old malice in the visage bad And black o’ the scamp. Soon triumph suppled the tongue A little, malice glued to his dry throat, And he part howled, part hissed. (VI. 1436-40)

Guido, like Herod, is seen as an infernal creature,

prompted solely by malice; it is Caponsacchi-as-Joseph who

must protect the divine "spouse” and her unborn child.

Caponsacchi emerges not only as a Joseph figure, but

also as Christ; duty, humility, and goodness mark him as

worthy of the comparison. As for duty, Caponsacchi sees

it~clearly:

There was no duty patent in the world Like daring try be good and true myself, Leaving the shows of things to the Lord of Show And prince o1 the Power of the Air. (VI. 1818-21)3-5

35Eph. 2:2. " • . • according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air [Satan]." (cf. II. 566, 597? X. 1553) 265

And, in words reminiscent of St. Paul, Caponsacchi evinces humility:

I bow my head, bend to the very dust, Break myself up in shame of faultiness. (VI. 1888-89 )

Indeed, Caponsacchi1s mercurial moods, now of bitterness,

now of exultation, even divine Joy, seem characteristic of

St. Paul. Yet most constantly is Caponsacchi depicted as

having the goodness of Christ Himself; indeed, Pompilia

finds in the priest the very nature of divinity:

And this man, men call sinner? Jesus Christ! Of whom men said, with mouths Thyself mad*st once, ”He hath a devil”--say he -was Thy saint, My Caponsacchi! Shield and show— unshroud In Thine own time the glory of the soul. . . . , (VII. 1^83-87)30

Like Christ, Caponsacchi only appears to the unseeing

multitudes to be possessed of evil; yet Christ will vindi­

cate the priest*s name— through the efficacy of the poet*s

pen!

Again Caponsacchi is paralleled to Christ, as Pompilia

sees him an immutable being, elevated above earthly decay:

. . . no change Here, though all else changed in the changing world! (VII. 1^1^-15)37

36John 8:^8-^9. “Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonor me.11

37Heb. 13:8. ”Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.” 266

Caponsacchi is a source of divine strength, since he has the steadfastness of Christ. And this strength is given

Pompilia unstintingly; as she lies exhausted at Castle- nuovo, she has a vision of Christ in the figure of Capon­ sacchi j

The hovel is life: . . .

All outside is lone field, moon and such peace— Plowing in, filling up as with a sea Whereon comes Someone, walks fast on the white, Jesus Christ*s self, Don Celestine declares, To meet me and calm all things back again. «o (vii. 366-72 )-*

The persistent religious overtone in the Caponsacchl-

Fompllla relationship is reflected by the whole structure

of The Ring and the Book. The entire movement of Book VI,

"Giuseppe Caponsacchi," is toward the divine revelation of

truth in Pompilia, and toward affirming the sanctity of

their relationship. Thus does Book VI counteract the

pseudo-religious sophistries of Guido in Book V, in which

Caponsacchi is the serpent and Guido the provident Shepherd.

With Caponsacchi, the whole pattern is finally reversed:

Guido is assigned his proper wolfish role, and the hapless

couple are unmistakably cast as Joseph and Mary, traveling

painfully to Bethlehem, where the miracle of Christ*s birth

is to take place. This upsurge of religious fervor, begun

3®Matt. 14:25. Christ walks on the waters of the Sea of Galilee. 2 67

In Book VI, Is carried even further with Book VII, to be climaxed in Book X. Caponsacchi*s part in this religious movement is unquestionable: he stands, like St. Michaelr militant and aggressive. His duty is to kill the evil dragon that is Guido, and to expose his wicked lies. Only after Caponsacchi*s righteous wrath has echoed through the court and died can the whispering voice of Pompilia speak out of the awful silence.

Pompilia: The Sacrificial Lamb. The fact that

Pompilia makes, next to Caponsacchi, the fewest quoted allusions to Scripture attests to her untutored innocence.

Indeed, those who mouth the greatest number of allusions prove, in the poem*s scheme, generally the most wicked;

Guido, for example, refers to Scripture nearly twice as

often as does either Caponsacchi or Pompilia. Clearly,

Browning intends to demonstrate that mere knowledge of the

Bible bears no causal relationship to one*s moral purity.

Conversely, Pompilia, despite her apparently weak command

of Scripture, seems somehow to have an Intuitive grasp of

the truths revealed in the Bible. Even her diction, mellif­

luous and lyrical, seems unconsciously to reflect the tone

of the psalmist:

And, all day, I sent prayer like incense up To God the strong, God the beneficent, God ever mindful in all strife and strait. 268

Who, for our own good, makes the need extreme, Till at the last He puts forth might and saves. __ (VII. 1384-88)39

Without intentional reference to the Bible, Pompilia some­ how intersperses Biblical-sounding passages throughout her monologue, as if she had an inner divinity directing her thoughts.

Such is the poet's characterization of Pompilia. He fully Intends Pompilia's naivete to be a foil for the machiavellian ism of Guido and the pseudo-intellectual casuistry of the lawyers. She thus becomes the focal point for the entire drama, for all the characters and their actions are measured against her— and are found lacking; even Caponsacchi, with his bravery and strength, lacks

Pompilia*s abiding faith. Further, and more important,

Pompilia becomes the sacrificial victim, rendering the whole drama distinctively Christian in tone. She is most

consistently depicted as the Lamb of God, whose innocent

blood must be shed to atone for the sins of the "wolves"

who rend her. Even Guido receives her forgiveness: "A

cross of sheep redeeming the whole wolf" (I. 657)^® If

39ps. 72:12. "For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth." Ps. 46:1. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." 1 Cor. 10:13. "God . . . will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

^®Matt. 10:16. "I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves." 269

she is the sacrificial lamb, then the whole significance of

Guido1s murder of her and the Comparini becomes religious:

Guido and his henchmen become mankind, crucifying Christ

and the two 11 thieves’1 on Calvary. The gratuitous blood­

letting becomes a ritual atonement for sin, and the many

stab wounds become the marks on Christ*s body. (It is

worth noting that the Ironist Guido, at the end of Book V,

shows his "wounds,” made by torture, to stir the court*s

sympathies.) Structurally, viewing Pompilia as the cruci­

fied Christ causes us to see in her the literal counterpart

of the ironic portrayal in Book V of Guido as Christ. As

such, she restores to the theme of the Crucifixion the dig­

nity which Guido*s treatment has lacked; furthermore, her

painful dying serves as a stark reminder of Christ’s last

hours. By comparison, Guido*s torture on the rack seems

indeed pale.

With respect to the characterization of Pompilia, the

monologuists become sharply divided again into Ironists and

Literalists, into "wolves" and "sheep." The two camps find,

in the same animal imagery, cause for declaring her either

defiled or pure; the same Scriptural sources thus serve

Ironists and Literalists alike. For example, Half-Rome sar­

castically characterizes Pompilia as a lamb and as Samson

in the same breath:

This lamb-like innocent of fifteen years 270

Spoiled the Philistine and marched out of doors ^ In company of the Canon. (II. 903-10)

Half-Rome would say, then, that although Pompilia appears lamb-like, she has the vindictive nature of Samsons she despoils the house of her husband, escaping with all but the very doors!

Tertium Quid is hardly less sarcastic as he types

Pompilia a spoiled pet lambs

Unluckily temptation is at hand— To take revenge on a trifle overlooked, A pet lamb they have left in reach outside. Whose first bleat, when he plucks the wool away, Will strike the grinners graves his wife remains, Who, four months earlier, some thirteen years old, Never a mile away from mother's house And petted to the height of her desire, Was told one morning that her fate had come, She must be married . . .

These fools forgot their pet lamb, fed with flowers, Then 'ticed as usual by the bit of cake, ^ Out of the bower into the butchery. (IV. 663-77)

Here, Pompilia is nothing more than a decoy or an animal easily tempted and led astray. Her parents, careless shep­ herds, are to blame for allowing their lamb to become lost.

Yet, Tertium Quid, for all his irony, does not miss the tragic implications of the imagery: as she is led astray,

so may she be led dumbly to the slaughter-house.

^•Jer. 4-7:4. "Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines." Ex. 3*22. "When ye go, ye shall not go empty: but every woman shall borrow of her neighbor . . . Jewels of silver, and Jewels of gold. ..." Judges 16:4. "And Samson lay until midnight j_at Gaza, a Philis­ tine cityj, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city." ^2Isa. 53:7. 11. • .as a sheep before his shearers is dumb." 271

Bottinius, presumably on Pompilia1s side, turns the lamb metaphor into a weapon against his hapless client:

_ • . • lamb and lamb, How do they differ? Know one, you know all Manners of maidenhood* mere maiden she. And since all lambs are like in more than fleece, Prepare to find that, lamb-like, she too frisks— 0 * the weaker sex, my lords, the weaker sex! (IX. 220-25)^3 Here Pompilia is a spring lamb, whose very nature precludes moral restraint.

Guido, too, exploits the "lamb” imagery in his testi­ mony. Having first outlined the duties of his wife, he imagines her lamb-like protest against her wicked parents:

111 , spoil and prey of you from first to last,

. . . I, thus left To answer for my ignorant bleating there, I should have been remembered and withdrawn Prom the first o* the natural fury, not flung loose A proverb and a byeword men will mouth At the cross-way, in the comer, up and down . , Rome and Arezzo." (V. 796-803)

Fittingly, Guido attributes to Pompilia the fears which he has: it is Guido, not Pompilia, who fears the calumny and mockery of "Rome and Arezzo." Thus, Pompilia's "ignorant bleating" is really Guido's. Later in the same monologue,

Guido, in order to wring a tear of sympathy from his

^3 1 Pet. 3:7. "... give honor to the wife as the weaker vessel."

^ 2 Chr. 7:20. "... and this house . . . will I cast out of my sight and will make it to be a proverb and a by-word among all nations." 272 audience, types himself the Good Shepherd and Pompilia his

favorite lamb:

Had but Pompilia*s self, the tender thing Who once was good and pure, was once my lamb Had lay in my bosom, had the well-known shape Fronted me in the door-way— stood there faint With the recent pang, perhaps, of giving birth To what might, though by miracle, seem my child, . . . I had paused. (V. 1638-48)^5

To the reader familiar with the original Biblical text,

Guido is clearly paralleling himself to the "poor man1* who

"had nothing, save one little ewe lamb." In short, Guido

alludes to the passage in 2 Samuel 12 in order to under­

score his poverty and adversity, and to show that the

"lamb" Pompilia, far from evincing gratitude for being

"bought and nourished up," has become a strayaway.

Guido capitalizes upon his "lamb" imagery in delin­

eating the role of Caponsacchij here he sardonically mimics

the law*s protestation that the priest is simply being

faithful to his vows in escorting Pompilia, the lamb, to

Rome:

As for the priest*s part . . .

• . . will charity hesitate? What did he else but act the precept out,

^5 2 Sam. 12:3. "But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up; and it grew up together with him . . . , and lay in his bosom." (Cf. III. 1300.) 273

Leave, like a provident shepherd, his safe flock To follow the single lamb and strayaway? i (V. 1191-98)

This "shepherd," Guido would answer the court, far exceeds his duty in not merely following the lamb his wife, but guiding her away from the sheepfold at Arezzo.

The wolfish Guido, after having torn his wife with the fangs of his barbed knife, curses his luck that she, the

sacrificial lamb, still lives:

God takes his own part in each thing he made; Made for a reason, he conserves his work, Gives each its proper instinct of defence. My lamblike wife could neither bark nor bite, She bleated. . . . (XI. 2299-2303)

Pompilia*s "bleating," her long confession, is precisely

what incriminates Guido, the wolf who has attacked her.

And Guido, having bitten, barks out (in Book XI) his last

hours in cursing and vituperation before his confessors.

Among the Literalists, Pompilia-as-lamb becomes sym­

bolic of Christ, the Lamb of God who before His captors was

dumb. The Other Half-Rome, standing in the crowd outside

the Church where lies Pompilia, compares her to a silly lamb

he sees in the market-place: in the marriage-contract with

Guido, Pompilia

. • • all the while had borne, from first to last. As brisk a part 1* the bargain as you lamb

^ L u k e 15*^* "What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?" 27**

Brought forth from basket and set for sale, Bears while they chaffer, wary market-man, And voluble housewife, o*er it,--each In turn Patting the curly calm Inconscious head. . . . (III. **6l-66)47

Pompilia, then, has been '’sold*1 into marriage by her ambi­ tious parents; she becomes, inferentially, the sacrificial lamb to be fattened for the ritual slaughter.

Pietro, having sold his "lamb," Pompilia, asks for her return, exulting over the good news that his erstwhile daughter is really illegitimate and therefore ineligible for any dowry:

"Give us our lamb back, golden fleece and all, Let her creep in and warm our breasts again!11 (III. 6**2-43) The 11 golden fleece1* is, of course, the dowry which would return with her, once Guido had released her.

When release fails to come, Pompilia flees from the

wolf that is Guido. Her escape gains the sympathy of the

Other Half-Rome, who imagines what the self-pitying Guido

would say in self-Justification:

"the restif lamb Used to be cherished in his breast," he groaned— "Eat from his hand and drink from out his cup, The while his fingers pushed their loving way Through curl on curl of that soft coat— alas, And she all silverly baaed gratitude

^?Ps. **4:22. "We are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter." Isa. 53:7. ". • .and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb." Acts 8:32. "He was led as sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth." 275

While meditating mischief!”— and so forth. kR He must invent another story now! (III. 1300-1307)

The Literal1st Other Half-Rome exposes the hypocrisy of the

Ironist Guido: once the Count has betrayed his wolfish nature, his protestation that he has treated Pompilia kindly is by definition a lie.

The resignation of Christ to his fate is recalled by

Pompilia*s lamb-like compliance with Vlolante*s command that the girl act the part of the demure bride. Innocent as she is, Pompilia cannot understand that she is being

offered to Guido in exchange for his family name:

— Well, I no more saw sense in what she said Than a lamb does in people clipping wool; Only lay down and let myself be clipped. ,LCi (VII. 386-88r 9

The Pope*s interpretation of Pompilia1s behavior accords

with the glrl*s own testimony. As he visualizes Pompilia,

tortured by Guido and seeking refuge from pain in death, she

becomes one of Christ*s loved sheep:

0 God, Who shall pluck sheep Thou holdest, from Thy hand? Therefore she lay resigned to die,— so far The simple cruelty was foiled. (X. 6^0-k3)

Pompilia*s "defense” is that of Christ: she, trusting in

^ 2 Sam. 12:3. (Cf. V. 1638.)

^Isa. 53*7. •5°John 10:27-28. "My sheep hear my voice, . . . and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." 276

God, simply endures, waiting for the victory which should come in death. Thus, Pompilia inferentially becomes the sacrificial lamb of God, whose very innocence stirs hatred and vindictiveness in the hearts of sinful man. Browning implies, by her ritual sacrifice, that Pompilia atones for the sins of men in the same manner that Christ paid the debt of expiation on the Cross.

Just as Pompilia is Imaged as a lamb, so does she fall into the roles of other animals with oft-used Biblical overtones. She is on the one hand the dove of peace who appears after the Flood (Book X) and on the other she be­ comes its opposite. With Bottinius, Pompilia is metamor­ phosed from the pure-white dove to a black raven (^..e.» a woman of ill fame), in order to suit the lawyer*s case of the moment.

Again Bottinius types Pompilia as a dove— this time a moulted one— to show that she has been 11 converted” by the

Convertites; as the lawyer sees it, Guido*s duty is to for­ give his ’'healed” wife,

Proud that his dove which lay among the pots Hath mued those dingy feathers,— moulted now, Shows silver bosom clothed with yellow gold. (ix. 1230-32P 1

^ips. 68:13. "Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.” Pots are sheepfolds, which of course imply filth, hence sin. The added connotation of [flesh] pots is undoubtedly intended. (Cook, Commentary. P. 19^. ) 2 77

The implication here is that dirty "feathers"— the sins of adultery and impudence— once moulted, give way to a new bright plumage, Pompilia*s newly-acquired "virtues11! Again, Bottinius has compromised the reputation of Pompilia by suggesting that her "feathers" had once been dirty. Countering the Ironists’ charge that Pompilia is a soiled dove, the Other Half-Rome finds in her flight to Rome the same mystery as one finds in the migratory bird: there is an urgency, a sense of divine inspiration about the bird’s activity. So it is with Pompilia: She says, "God put it in my head to fly, As when the martin migrates: autumn claps Her hands, cries, ’Winter’s coming, will be here Off with you ere the white teeth overtake! Flee!’ So I fled: this friend was the warm day, And so we did fly rapidly all night, . . . the sense 0* the blessed flight absorbed me in the main. . . . " (III. 1121-37)52 Somehow, the "martin," Pompilia, is warned to "migrate" to Rome, ;just as the Holy Ghost warned Joseph to flee into Egypt with Mary and the Christ-child. Pompilia*s longing to fly from Guido takes even the form of prayer: There is a psalm Don Celestine recites, "Had I a dove’s wings, how I fain would fleet" The psalm runs not "I hope, I pray for wings,"— Not "If wings fall from heaven, I fix them fast," —

5^Matt. 2:19. Flight into Egypt. 278

Simply "How good it were to fly and rest, Have hope now, and one day expect content!" c (VII. 991-96)53

Pompilia here is praying not for material, hut for spiritual wings with which to flee the Satanic presence of

Guido.

So much for the ornithological imagery; let us now turn to the ample horticultural symbolism of The Ring and the Book. As in her l,bird,, metamorphoses, here she under­ goes a wide variety of graftings, plantings and prunings.

Here again, her passivity and Innocence are underscored by the imagery: she is merely a "plant11 which is tended by the husbandmen of the drama. Rather than operate, she is operated upon.

Bottinius is especially fond of depicting Pompilia in horticultural imagery. Here, Guido is the gardener who cannot control the 11 growth” of the plant his wife:

Every storm is laid, And forth from every plain each pleasant herb may peep, Each bloom of wifehood in abeyance late: (Confer a passage in the Canticles.)5^

But what is, as 'tis wont with plant and wife, Flowers— after a suppression to good end, Still, when they do spring forth,— sprout here, spread there,

53Ps. 55:6 . ”0 that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.” (R.S.V.)

3^Cant. 4:16. "Awake, 0 north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits." 279

Anywhere likelier than beneath the foot 0* the lawful good-man gardener of the ground? He dug and dibbled, sowed and watered,— still *TIs a chance wayfarer shall pluck the increase. (IX. 286-96)55

Pompilia, having been "pruned11 back to stunt her growth in

sin, sends out roots— Bottinius implies— which stretch out­

side Guido’s garden wall. And it is the "chance wayfarer"

Gaponsacchi who spies the new blossom. With this pastiche

of Biblical allusion, Bottinius suggests the lushness of

the lover's garden in the Song of Solomon, inferentially

converting an ordinary flower-patch into a blissful bower.

The ironic allusion to the passage in 1 Corinthians under­

scores the extent to which Guido is cheated: "God gave

the increase"— but to somebody other than the gardener!

Again, Guido— an unwise farmer— fails to observe good

agricultural practice:

If field with corn ye fail preoccupy, Darnel for wheat and thistle-beards for grain

Will grow apace in combination prompt, , Defraud the husbandman of his desire. (IX. 1238-^2)5°

The lustful bachelor Bottinius misses no opportunity to

sound sexual overtones: here Pompilia’s womb is the un-

55 l Cor. 3s6. "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase." Luke 13s8. "Let it alone this year also, till I dig about it, and dung it."

56Job 31:*K). "Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle Instead of barley." Matt. 13$26. "When the blade sprung up, then appeared the tares also." The tares are symbolic of the works of the devil. 280 planted field, in which the husbandman must sow his own seed before he finds the field choked by other "plants" not of his sowing.

Among the Literalists, the Other Half-Rome has pre­ empted most of the horticultural imagery. Indeed, the main structural pattern of Book III involves the extensive use of flower and fruit symbols. Pompilia from the beginning of the Other Half-Rome‘s monologue is a flower:

"Yon blossom at the brier’s end, that’s the rose Two jealous people fought for yesterday ..."

Truth lies between: there's anyhow a child Of seventeen years, whether a flower or weed, Ruined: who did it shall acount to Christ. . . . e (III. 77-85)57 Next, Pompilia is the apple which lures the Eve-like

Violante to the Original Sin: "Eve saw the apple was fair and good to taste ..." (III. 170).$^ More appropriately,

Pompilia becomes an exotic branch which has been grafted to the Comparini tree, "a chance sliver, branchlet slipt from bole/ Of some tongue-leaved eye-figured Eden tree" (III. 23^- 59 35)• That Pompilia is "grafted" suggests, of course, her

■5?Cant. 2:2. "As the lily among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters." (Cf. II. 327*) ■^Gen. 3s6.

59no such description of the "Eden tree" can be found in Scripture. Cook (Commentary, p. 57) deems the details products of Browning's poetic imagination, undoubtedly Inspired by Medieval woodcuts of the Tree of Eden, or by engravings in "emblem" books of the seventeenth century. 281 underhanded procurement by Violante; yet she is also

mysteriously pure and beauteous, something stolen out of

Paradise itself.

Like a well-nurtured plant, Pompilia grows until the

garden wall can hide her no longer:

The coping-stone was reached; Nay, light tuft of bloom towered above To be toyed with by butterfly or bee, Done good to or else harm to from outsides Pompilia*s root, stem, and a branch or two Home enclosed still, the rest would be the world's. Cr. (III. 243-^8)60

Pompilia, once she has blossomed into womanhood, is vulner­

able to the elements— even to being 11 stung” by the bee,

Guido, who, we learn from Abate Paolo, "had employed his

youth and age/ In culture of Rome's most productive

plant ...” (III. 255-56). Guido, then, is already some­

thing of an expert on gardening, since he has been tending

the "productive plant" (the Church) for years; thus,

"tending” a wife becomes simply another variety of the same

labor, "husbandry•"

But it is the Abate Paolo who first discovers the

"tree-top-tuft of bloom above the wall" which is Pompilia

(III. 381). To his practiced eye, she is a "lily of a

maiden, white with intact leaf ..." (III. 365). Serpent-

6 0 Ezek. 31'9. "... all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God." Dan. 11:7. "But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his estate." 282 like, Paolo tempts Violante to offer this untouched flower to Guido*s plucking hand, in exchange for nobility. Un­ characteristically, the Ironist Tertium Quid, too, waxes poetic as he imagines Pompilia a pure young maiden; note that he elaborates upon the same "lily*1 imagery used by his predecessor, the Other Half-Rome:

The strange tall pale beautiful creature grown Lily-like out o* the cleft i* the sun-smit rock To bow its white miraculous birth of buds I* the way of wandering Joseph and his spouse,— , So painters fancy: here it was a fact. (IV, 322-26)61

Here, Tertium Quid lends an aura of Biblical sanctity to his "painting" of the Comparini family (a painting, inci­ dentally, which is later greatly embellished by Bottinius, whose character in some ways resembles Tertium Quid). The commentator uses the metaphor of the lily and the rock to

show how miraculous it is that this child of sin should be­

come so beautiful and seemingly pure in such Infertile soil.

Tertium Quid pursues this imagery, evidently delighted with

his own words:

And this their lily,— could they but transplant And set in vase to stand by. Solomon*s porch *Twlxt lion and lion!— this Pompilia of theirs,

^Matt. 6:28. "Consider the lilies of the field. . . ." Cant. 2:l4. " . . . my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock." (Cf. Jer. 49:16; Obad. 3.) Matt. 2:l4. "When he [Joseph] arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt." 283

Could they see worthily married, well bestowed, In house and home! (IV, 327-31)

The lily, Pompilia, is thus to be uprooted from her cleft

in the rock to suffer one of her many " transplantings"; here, she will be set on the porch of Solomon (Guido). The

implication here is that Pompilia will, like Solomon*s lions, become a mere ornament, part of the interior decor­ ation of Guido*s house at Arezzo. Thus, Pompilia is reduced to the status of chattel or objet d ’ art, much as

she will be in Book IX. Like Bottinius, both the Other

Half-Rome and Tertium Quid find it convenient to think of

Pompilia as something less than human: to them, her pas­

sivity suggests the nature of the immobile flower or the

docile beast.

Pompilia, however, reacts with unwonted rancor to this

kind of manipulation at the hands of her parents and the

Abate Paolo. Here she indicts her mother for callously

turning her over to the Abate Paolo, who has asked for her

hand on his brother*s behalf:

. . . she, instead of piercing straight Through the pretence to the ignoble truth,

62 i Kings 7:19* "Now the capitals that were upon the tops of the pillars in the vestibule were of lily-work, four cubits." (R.S.V.) 1 Kings 7 s7• "He ^SolomonJ made a porch for the throne where he might judge, even the porch of Judg­ ment." 1 Kings 10:18-20. "Moreover the King made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold. The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind: . . . and two lions stood beside the stays. And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps." 284

Fancied she saw God's very finger point, Designate just the time for planting me (The wild-briar slip she plucked to love and wear) In soil where I could strike real root, and grow, And get to he the thing I called myself: For, wife and husband are one flesh, God says. . . ,

. . . how could it be aught but pain, To give me up, so, from her very breast, The wilding flower-tree-branch that, all those years, She had got used to feel for and find fixed? (VII. 326-42)b3

Ingenuously, Pompilia persists in believing that Violante has acted out of desire for her supposed daughter's wel­

fare. The truth is that Violante selfishly rips the tender plant Pompilia up by the roots to gratify her own lust for property and rank; the name Violante thus felicitously sug­

gests her modus operand1— her unfeeling manipulation of

daughter and husband to satisfy her own longings.

The Pompilla-as-flower metaphor is renewed now by the

Pope, who curiously combines the imagery of the Other Half-

Rome, Tertium Quid and Bottinius into one brief passage:

. . . see how this mere chance-sown, cleft-nursed seed, That sprang up by the wayside 'neath the foot Of the enemy, this breaks all into blaze. . . . ,,, (X. 1040-43)64

Unlike the "seed" of the parable, Pompilia manages to hold

^Ex. 8:19. "Then the magicians said unto Pharoah, This is the finger of God." (Gf. Ex. 31'18; Luke 11:26.) Matt. 19'5. "And they twain shall be one flesh." (Cf. Gen. 2:29; Mark 10:8; cf. III. 153» 551 for passages on the same theme.) ^Luke 8:5» "A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way-side: and it was trodden down." 285 onto life, despite her inimical environment. This endurance earns the Pope*s unqualified praise: she is his "one blos­ som that makes me proud at eve/ Born *mid the briers of my enclosure!" (X. 1033-34) Such fortitude, the Pope feels, earns Pompilia everlasting life:

My flower, My rose, I gather for the breast of God, This I praise most in thee, where all I praise, That having been obedient to the end According to the light allotted . . .

Thou, patient thus, couldst rise from law to law, The old to the new, promoted at one cry , 0* the trump of God. • . . (X. 1045-57) ^

Pompilia, then, emulates Christ, outgrowing the old Mosaic law and embracing the divine order of the new law as laid down by the Master. In a sense, then, Pompilia*s "growth"

into new life is a microcosm of the whole development of

The Ring and the Book: by growing out of the old soil of

sin and by turning her face to the sun as the source of divine truth, Pompilia makes the transition from unredeemed

Adam to angelic being. From being the bastard daughter of a whore and the wife of a depraved nobleman, Pompilia rises

toward the truth of Christ.

65phll. 2:8. ". . • he humbled himself, and became obe­ dient unto death, even the death of the cross." Rev. 2:10. "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." 1 Cor. 15*52. "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (Cf. VI. 1184; VIII. 839; XI. 588.) Rev. 21:4, 5. ". . .for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." (Cf. IX. 282; X. l655; X. 1799.) 286

Before the Pope finally affirms Pompilia1s spotless­ ness, however, controversy divides Rome into two campsj the

Ironists cynically declare Pompilia merely a daughter of

Eve, and the Literalists, awed by her miraculous cheating of death to testify against Guido, Just as avidly attempt to canonize her.

The Ironists see Pompilia only as a temptress, who lures the priest shamelessly. Half-Rome, for example, regards Pompilia as an emanation of Satan:

"Why, she must be the fondest of the frail, And fit, she for the ‘apage* he flung, Her letters for the flame they went to feed" (II. 1158-60)66

Inferentially, Gaponsacchi is now Christ in the wilderness, being offered earthly temptations, to which offer he replies, "Get thee hence, Satan [Pompilia3." Yet her letters (or the forgeries) burn within the priest*s heart, feeding an internal fire which soon erupts in what Half-

Rome regards as a rash and passionate action— aiding

Pompilia*s escape from her rightful guardian, Guido.

Tertium Quid finds Pompilia no better than a notorious woman "caught in converse with a negro page" (IV. 876). He cleverly implies that Pompilia is a defiled woman by paral­ leling her to two legendary objects of desire: "Had he,— instead of calling me fine names,

^Matt. ^:10. "Then Jesu-s saith unto him Get thee hence, Satan." The command in Greek reads, "Apage Satana." 287

Lucretia and Susanna and so forth,

— But once never so little tweaked my nose For peeping through my fan at Carnival,

Why, we were quits— I had wiped the harm away. ...” (IV. 886-96)

Inferentially, Pompilia is classed with such as Susanna, who, in the apocryphal book of the same name, is tried for promiscuity after being attacked by two lecherous elders.

Tertium Quid suppresses the information that Daniel, con­ vinced of Susanna*s purity, vindicates her good name.^

But Pompilia is no Susanna to Guido, who consistently

regards her as the Duke of Ferrara regards his last

duchess— as a piece of flesh to be bought. Indeed, much of

his monologue is occupied in answering this question:

"What? No blush at the avowal you dared buy A girl of age beseems your granddaughter, Like ox or ass? Are flesh and blood a ware? Are heart and soul a chattel?" (V. *1-25-29)

Yet Guido justifies this bargaining for Pompilia*s flesh on

the ground that he offered a fair deal: to sell his honor,

his "name,/ Style and condition to who buys them best!"

(V. *1-6*1—65) In exchange, he expects to receive the genuine

article:

With a wife I look to find all wifeliness, As when I buy, timber and twig, a tree— I buy the song o* the nightingale inside. (V. 60*1— 606)

^Bottinius and Guido (XI) both employ this "smear" technique, paralleling Pompilia with such temptresses as Phryne, Helen, Venus (Book IX); and Delilah, Circe and Lucrezia Borgia (Book XI). 288

Pompilia, however, fails to honor the terms of the

"pact"— to use Guido's terminology. Thus, to Guido,

Pompilia becomes an infernal "plague-prodlgy," which it is

Guido's duty to exterminate:

When I find That pure smooth egg which, laid within my nest, Could not but hatch a comfort to us all, Issues a cockatrice for me and mine, Do you dare to see me stamp on It? Swans are soft: Is it not clear that she you call my wife, That any wife of any husband, caught Whetting a sting like this against his breast,— Speckled with fragments of the fresh-broke shell, Married a month and making outcry thus,— . Proves a plague-prodigy to God and man? (V. 65^-6^)

Looking to find a soft swan, Guido faces instead a cockatrice, an infernal serpent. And according to the

Biblical text, it is useless to try eliminating the prest: even were he to stamp on the egg, it would produce a

"viper."

Guido, having called his wife a "plague-prodigy," now shows that her purity is all pretense:

And so Pompilia, set in the good path And left to go alone there, soon might see That all too frank-forward, all too simple-strait Her step was, and decline to tread the rough, When here lay, tempting foot, the meadow-side, And here the coppice called with singing-birds!

"What will she but exaggerate chastity,

6®Isa. 59:5# "They hatch cockatrice's eggs, and weave the spider's web. He that eateth of their eggs dieth. And that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper." 289

Err in excess of wifehood, as it were, Renounce even levities permitted youth . . . ?" (V. 871-90)69

Guido’s complaint, in short, is that his wife is too saintly; cynic that he is, he sees Pompilia*s wifely de­ mureness a subterfuge, a mask for sin.

Archangelis, too, speaks on the tacit assumption that

Pompilia is a dishonest woman. In citing precedent for the disposition of capital cases, he parallels Guido*s violent killings to those of one Leonardus, whose wife— like

Pompilia, Archangelis implies~has played fast and loose:

What then? He makes his own son share her, and entice Out of the town walls to a private walk, Wherein he slays her with commodity. „Q They find her body half-devoured by dogss^ Leonard is tried, convicted, punished, sent To labour in the galleys seven years longs Why? For the murder? Nay, but for the mode! • •• + ••#•••••••••••••• My lords, we rather need defend ourselves Inasmuch as for a twinkling of an eye 71 We hesitatingly appealed to law. . . . (VIII. 812-38)

There is here a subtle allusion to the fate of the wicked wife of King Ahab, who persecuted the prophets of Jehovah.

Thrown from the city wall, Jezebel*s body spattered on the

^Matt. 7sl3-l^» “Enter ye in at the strait gates for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction. ..."

1 Kings 21$23. "And of Jezebel the Lord also said, *The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the bounds of Jezreel.*" (R.S.V.) 2 Kings 9$30ff. Death of Jezebel.

1 Cor. 15*52. "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump." (Cf. XI. 588.) 290

pavement below, and was eaten by dogs. The use of the same

grisly detail by Archangelis suggests a parallel between

Pompilia and Jezebel, a parallel which, we may be sure, is

wholly int ent ional.

Even more damaging to Pompilia than Archangelis’

Biblical allusions are those of Bottinius, for the words of

the latter are heavily laden with irony. In the following

passage, for example, Pompilia is described in terms of

_ * precious stones, each denoting one of the Five Ages of

Woman:

First, infancy, pellucid as a pearl; Then, childhood-stone which, dewdrop at the first, (An old conjecture) sucks, by dint of gaze, Blue from the sky and turns to sapphire so: Yet both these gems eclipsed by, last and best, Womanliness and wifehood opaline. Its milk-white pallor,— chastity,— suffused With here and there a tint and hint of flame,— Desire,— the lapidary loves to find. Such jewels bind conspicuously thy brow, Pompilia, infant, child, maid, woman, wife. . . . (IX. 199-209)72

The selection of the opal as the stone of Pompilia*s woman­

hood suggests that in her there exists the same ambiguity

as in the stone: although it appears white at first, it Is

really iridescent, giving off many colors. So it is with

Pompilia, insinuates Bottinius: her wifely "milk-white

72 ' A faint but perhaps intended parallel is found in Rev. 17:4-5. "And the woman was . . • decked with gold and precious stones and pearls . . . : And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 291 pallor” (chastity) Is shot through with desire. Like the harlot's name In Revelation 17* Pompilia wears these st ones— pearl, sapphire and opal— Hconspicuously" on her forehead; Indeed, after Bottinius finishes his arguments, the brand of HARLOT Is unmistakably burned Into the calum­ niated Pompilia.

Pompilia Is momentarily darkened as Bottinius metamor­ phoses her Into two sacramental objects, the Chalice and the myrrh used to anoint Christ. First Bottinius argues that Guido should sanction his wife's generosity, and that

since Pompilia held no one in preference to Guido, "such

bounty In a wife" ought to be praised, not punished:

. . . *tis clear The cup, he quaffs at, lay with olent breast Open to gnat, midge, bee and moth as well. One chalice entertained the company. . . . (IX. 312-15)73 Inferentially, Guido is Christ, who at the Last Supper

passed the cup to his disciples; certainly, Bottinius would

argue, Guido would do well to emulate Our Lord, since He

Instituted the sacrament of Holy Communion. The irony,

of course, Is that Bottinius emphasizes the very unholy

nature of this "communion." Later In the same passage,

Pompilia Is a "morsel of myrrh, which scents the nelghbor-

73Matt. 26:27* "And he took the cup, and gave thanks and gave It to them, saying. Drink ye all of It. . . ." 292 hood/ Yet greets Its lord no lighter by a grain" (IX. 325-

26).7** The Implication here Is that Guido should have been

motivated by noblesse obilge. rather than make reprisal for

the liberty of so generous a wife. If she Is a "light"

woman, she Is, Indeed, no "lighter by a grain." Thus,

Guido will derive full value from his wife, even though she

may be a trifle "used."

Furthermore, not even "midnight meetings In a screened

alcove/ Must argue folly In a matron ..." (IX. 556-66).

After all, not all such clandestine meetings are trysts—

only Mollnlsts would so maintain:

So would he bring a slur on Judith's self, Commended beyond women, that she lured The lustful to destruction through his lust. Pompilia took not Judith's liberty, No faulchion find you In her hand to smite,— No damsel to convey In dish the head Of Hoi of ernes,— style the Canon so— nc Or is It the Count? (IX. 567-7^)

7^Prov. 11:1? Matt. 23:23; Matt. 26:7-12. Anointing of Jesus with myrrh.

75jUd.ith 12-13. "Now when Judith came In and sat down, Hoi of ernes his heart was ravished with her, and he desired greatly her company. • . • And Judith was left alone In the tent, and Holofernes lying alone upon his bed: for he was filled with wine. . . . Then she came to the pillar of the bed, which was at Hoiofernes' head, and took down his fauchlon from thence, and approached to his bed, and took hold of the hair of his head. • . • And she smote twice upon his neck with all her might, and she took away his head from him. • • ; and she put it In her bag of meat. . . . So she took the head out of the bag, and showed It. • . ." (No "dish" is mentioned in Judith; perhaps Browning is confusing Judith with Salome, who exhibits the head of John the Baptist on a charger. Cf. Matt. 1^:8. Judith, in many Renaissance paintings Is depicted with Holofernes' head on a plate rather than In a bag, for obvious representational reasons.) 293

Presumably, the Plso is attempting to show that, since

Judith is considered a paragon of virtue, Pompilia ought to be even more celebrated, since she went unarmed to meet her

"foe" the Canon. Yet the Ironist Bottinius undermines his own argument; the "liberties" which he ascribes to Judith are precisely the marks of her virtue; her sword (falchion) and her triumphant display of the head of Holofemes are part of her very iconography. One must conclude, therefore, that Pompilia*s being "unarmed" implies that she will not do battle, and thus will not conquer, but be conquered in love.

By the time Pompilia and the Canon reach Rome there

is no longer any doubt as to her purity. Says the Pise,

"But thither she picked the way by devious path-- c "Stands dirtied, no dubiety at all!" (IX. 952-53K6

Here Bottinius deliberately constructs a double entendre;

on the one hand, the "devious path" is simply the muddy

road to Rome; but on the other, the path becomes the way of

sinners, and Pompilia "stands dirtied," I.e., convicted of

sin. Thus, the lawyer’s innuendo is based on a tension

between the more innocuous "surface" meaning and the ironic

"sub-stratum," in which the physical "path" becomes a moral

quagmire.

?6prov. 13*15- "... but the way of transgressors is hard." Isa. 59*8. "They have made them crooked paths." Lam. 3:9. "... he hath made my paths crooked." 29^

This method of creating irony— the playing off of the literal text against an ironic Inversion of it— is Bottlnius* chief stock-in-trade. The passage following, for example,

is taken from the Song of Solomon, purportedly an allegory

of God*s wooing of His church; yet the lustful Bottlnius uses these words from the Bible to reconstruct an imaginary

love-dialogue between Pompllia and the priest, the latter

speaking first:

"And there you paid my lips a compliment!11 "There you admired the tower could be so tall!" "And there you likened that of Lebanon To the nose o* the beloved!" (IX. 1293-96)77

The architectural metaphors of the .original Canticles

passage suit Bottlnius* purposes admirably: he is trying

to show that Caponsacchl and Pompllia have been trysting in

Home, ostensibly to relive "old times"; yet the lawyer*s

tone clearly implies that the two have now become more than

mere travelling-companions.

After such sullying of Pompllia*s skirts, Bottlnius

ironically reverses his stand, maintaining that, in spite

of these peccadillos, Pompllia is really a saint. To sup­

port his contention, he recalls our attention to a modern

miracle— Pompllia*s Christlike cheating of the grave. The

whole tenor of the passage following is similar to that of

77Cant. 5*16. "His mouth is most sweet, this is my beloved." Cant. 7**K "Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; . . • thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon, which looketh toward Damascus." 295

John 20ff., and Acts 1, In which Christ, breaking the sepul­ chre, showed Himself to His disoiples for forty days (cf.

Pompllia* s rlf our days* grace")*

. . . one crowning grace Pre-eminent *mld agony and death.

She, while he stabbed her, simulated death, Delayed, for his sake, the catastrophe, Obtained herself a respite, four days* grace, Whereby she told her story to the world, Enabled me to make the present speech. And, by a full confession, saved her soul. _Q (IX. 14-13-24-)

Such false reverence In Bottlnius, coupled with his con­

sciously Biblical diction, causes him to sound like an

ironic "echo" of St. John, "the disciple which testifieth

of these things." And when we consider how merciless

Bottlnius has been to his dying client, we see just how

deep is this new ironic twist.

As If the Ironic parallel of Pompllia to Christ were

not enough, Bottlnius comes to his climax In a Pauline

paradox* since Pompllia is no longer of "Adamic flesh"

(IX. 14-4-1), Guido "slew a saint/ Who sinned not In the

little she did sin" (XX. 14-86-87). In other words, for

Pompllia, sin In the ordinary sense Is Impossible, for she

Is sanctified: "the sacrament obliterates the sin" (IX.

14-95)• Having made confession and having received

78john 21*24-. "This Is the disciple which testifieth of these things* and we know that his testimony is true." 296 absolution, Pompllia can no longer be regarded a sinful woman. "What is not" (IX. 14-96) is nothing,

And nothingness has neither head nor tail End nor beginning. (IX. i500-1501)'“

This sophistioal "proof" of Pompllia*s sinlessness amounts to nothing less than calumny, for its basic premise is that

Pompllia "may have sinned." With unctuous reverence for the miraculous, Bottlnius styles Pompilia a "lost lamb" now re­ deemed, even transformed by the grace of Christ, so that her former wickedness is as nothing. Only Guido*s guilt, by implication, remains.

The irony of Bottlnius* "canonization" of Pompilia

becomes poignantly evident in Book XII, where we find the

Insensate lawyer already hard at work on a new case, one

which also, oddly enough, involves Pompilia: Bottlnius is

about to prosecute Pompilia*s estate on behalf of the

Convertite nuns;

Methinks I am already at my speech, Startle the world with "Thou, Pompilia, thus? "How Is the fine gold of the Temple dim!"

"How* is the fine’gold diml " ...... (XII. 729-46)80

Hearing this, one might conjecture that Bottlnius, to save

time, will adapt many of his defense arguments to prosecute

?9aev. 1:8. "I am Alpha and Omega; the beginning and the end."

8®Lam. 4-*l. "How is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed!" 297 her estate. After all, Bottlnius1 entire ambiguous mono­ logue, with the possible exception of the peroration, is devoted to the delineation of Pompilia as sinner, not as

saint. Indeed Bottlnius1 advance billing of himself as

•'limner of saints” proves to be a hollow promise? his

artistic talent lies only in one direction— the sketching

of country maidens with their lovers. It is no wonder,

then, that the "fine gold" of the temple becomes "dim," for

it is Bottlnius who has tarnished itI One feels, indeed,

that Bottlnius will have little trouble shifting to his new

role of "limner of sinners."

Like Bottlnius, Guido ironically alludes to Scripture

to delineate his wife as "suffering servant of mankind."

With heavy sarcasm, he compares his wife to Christ in the

Garden of Gesthemane; she prays that

. • . this cup leave her lips unblistered, bear Any cross anywhither anyhow, So but alone, so but apart from me! (XI. 981-83)

Guido, of course, is the "cup" which Pompilia prays will be

taken from her lips. The irony of this imagery is apparent

when we recall that it is Guido who in Book V is forced to

drink from the cup which his wife and Caponsacchi offer him

as he hangs on the "Cross" of dishonor. We ought also to

®*Matt. 26:39. "0 my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." Mark 8:3^. "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." 298 recall that in Book IX, Bottlnius styles Pompilia a

"ohalice" which "entertained, the company," Thus, Guido

reverses his former "allegories" to suit Scripture to his

purposes now it is Pompilia who rejects the "cup" offered

her by her well-meaning husband. Further, she is lnferen-

tlally one of the faithless ones who turn from Christ;

since Guido styles himself a latter-day Messiah, and

Pompilia wills to "bear any cross • . . apart from me," she

is rejecting Christ.

Full of self-pity at thus being rejected by Pompilia,

Guido feels he has by now earned the sympathy of his audi­

tors the Cardinal and the Abate. To pursue his advantage,

he reminds them that he is no longer young, no longer a

regal-looking man who can strike fear into

A chit whose terror shall be changed apace To bliss unbearable when, grace and glow. Prowess and pride descend the throne and touch Esther in all that pretty tremble, cured By the dove of the sceptre! (XI. 993-97)

®2Esther 5*2-3. "And it was so, when the King saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight: and the King held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre." (Cf. Esther 15 in the Apocrypha, in which Esther appeals to Ahasuerus on behalf of her countrymen in "the perfection of her beauty," but "in anguish for fear." The King first menaces, then em­ braces her.) Note that in the first line of Book X, the Pope compares himself with Ahasuerus. No reference to the age of "That shrewd prince" is given; although Guido casts him as a young man, the Pope implies that, like him, Ahasuerus is old. 299

Guido implies that at his age of fifty, he is no longer possessed of "prowess and pride," and therefore lacks the

"curative" powers of an Ahasuerus— or a Caponsacchi.

Ironically, Guido picks up Bottlnius* metaphor of

Pompilia-as-painting in his final repudiation of his saintly wife. Here again, Pompllia is limned as the Madonna (indeed,

she is Caponsacchi*s RaphaelI) which has been destroyed as a "daub," a bad painting; Guido*s critics rebuke him thus:

"This a daub indeed? Why, *tis a Rafael that you kicked to rags!" (XI. 211^-15) Guido counters with words which clearly mark him as no

connoisseur of good art— else he would not have defaced a

"Raphael"; his defense is that he wants no "shapes" but

only color:

• • . some prefer the pure design: Give me my gorge of color, glut of gold In a glory round the Virgin made for me! (XI. 2116-18) ^

The words gorge and glut suggest that Guido is a slave of

the lower senses: what he wants is not strict form

(Pompilia), but simply raw "colors," l » e ,, pure sensation.

Among the Literalists, on the other hand, Pompilia is

seriously characterized as a saintly being. Although the

Ironists refer to Pompilia in terms of Christian typology,

®-^Perhaps a covert allusion to adverse criticism of J. M. W. Turner*s later impressionistic art. 300

their allusions are always intended, by their sardonic tone and ambiguity of meaning, to suggest that she is anything

but pure. We are now to find a decidedly reverent attitude

among the Llterallsts who speak of Pompllia.

The Other Half-Rome, in contrast to Half-Rome, finds

nothing less than an imitation of Christ in the death of

Pompilia, whose soul

succumbs, Bloodies its last thorn with unflinching foot, The angels love to do their work betimes. Staunch some wounds here nor leave so much for God. OJl (III. 22-25)

This theme of torture seems especially prevalent in the

Other Half-Rome, whose whole exordium, we might recall, is

interlarded with such morbid details. And in such scenes

as Pompilia*s abject appeal for aid to the Governor and the

Archbishop, whom she begs to "take the claws from out her

flesh11 (III. 9 7 1 her persecutor Guido is a bird of prey,

who has sunk his claws into the tender flesh of his wife.

Inferentially, Pompilia is the type of Christ on the Cross:

she is suffering from "impalement" of her body on a ’’cross"

®^Hosea 2:6. "Behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns." Matt. 27:29. "When they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head." 2 Cor. 12:7. "There was given me a thorn in the flesh." Cf. Guido’s own references to his "wounds."

®^Gen. ^0:19. "... the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee." 301 of Guido*s manufacture. To her anguished pleas, however, the Archbishop turns a deaf ear:

Thrice bade the foolish woman stop her tongue, Unloosed her hands from harassing his gout,

— His old friend should be master In his house, Rule his wife and correct her faults at need! , (III. 1009-13)86 In Books VI and VII, we are Impressed by the Increase

in Intensity of the Christian typology, especially that paralleling Pompllia to Christ. We have already seen

Pompilia cast as the Madonna In the mystical "conversion"

of Caponsacchi; yet she is also by Implication typed as

Christ. In her desperation to find someone she can trust,

she turns to Caponsacchi, who, for all she knows, Is a

"thief";

"A thief might save me from a murderer. •Twas a thief said the last kind word to Christ: Christ took the kindness and forgave the theft. _ (VI. 868-70)87

By Implication, Pompllia Is already in the extreme pain of

crucifixion; turning to Caponsacchi is analogous, then, to

Christ*s hearing from the thief the final affirmation of

His divinity. If a reprobate, Caponsacchi would be no

®^John 2:10. "Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. ..." Gen. Jil6. "... and thy hus­ band shall rule over thee." 87Luke 23:42-^3. 302 worse than the thief whom Jesus blessed. Indeed, Capon­ sacchi earns the benediction of the dying Pompllia*

0 lover of my life, 0 soldler-salnt, No work begun shall ever pause for deatht (VII. 1786-87)

Like Christ, Pompllia tenders her loved "disciple” the promise of eternal life.

In Pompllia*s monologue, the chief Irony Is that the speaker makes no conscious rhetorical use of Biblical allusion or language; her use of Scripture Is wholly In­ genuous. Her attitude thus sets her In opposition to her

own counsel Bottlnius, whose every word Is a calculated

effect. As might be expected, therefore, there are compar­

atively few Biblical allusions or quotations; In fact, most

of the Scriptural passages In "Pompilia" are uttered by

those who In some way are attempting to Influence Pompllia*s

mind. Such is demonstrated In the following passage, In

which Violante, trying to convince Pompilia of the divine

necessity for marriage, uses Scripture as a weapon*

For wife and husband are one flesh, God says, And I, whose parents seemed such and were none. Should in a husband have a husband now. . . . QO (VII. 333-35)

Again, after the wedding ceremony the priest defines

Pompilia*s role as wife In Scriptural terms*

• . . the priest had opened book, Head here and there, made me say that and this,

88Matt. 19*5. (Cf. III. 153)? Gen. 2*2^. 303

And after, told me I was now a wife, Honoured Indeed, since Christ thus weds the Church, And therefore turned he water Into wine, To show I should obey my spouse like Christ, Q_ (VII. 445-50)89

Here, the priest deliberately Jumbles Scriptural passages

together In a calculated assault upon Pompilia, Being

illiterate, Pompilia is dependent upon such as this priest

to teach her the truths revealed In Scripture. It Is thus

ironic that the priest (and later the Archbishop and friar)

should twist Scripture in order to use It as a persuasive

tool on the impressionable Pompilia. In the passage Just

quoted, for example, Christ performed His first miracle, not

to demonstrate the sanctity of marriage— as the priest here

insists— but to please His importunate mother. Thus it is

apparent that the churchmen, like the lawyers, far from

transmitting the Word of God whole and unblemished, adapt

it to their own purposes; and since their purposes are

themselves twisted, so in like measure are their Soriptural

"texts" distorted. It would thus appear that one of

Browning^ intentions in Book VII ("Pompilia") is to show

that knowledge of Scripture does not necessarily bring a

concomitant spiritual "enlightenment"; Pompilia, Innocent of

learning. Is far stronger spiritually than those who trap

her into marrying Guido. The Church, then, becomes a

potential instrument of evil which operates upon its own

89Eph. 5*23, 24; John 2:1, 9- 30^ member Pompilia, influencing her by an appeal to the very

faith which in the priests lies moribund or corrupted. It

follows, too, that the roles of priest and parishioner are

reversed in Book VII: Pompilia, the innocent, intuitively

grasping the truth of God, becomes a "priest," since she

imitates Christ far better than the clerics whose spiritual

lives are presumably based on adherence to Scriptural man­

dates.

Although Pompllia, being illiterate, makes few con­

sciously "rhetorical" uses of Biblical allusions, her lan­

guage and her actions are deeply dyed in religious hues.

Her entire monologue takes the form of a confessional

prayer, a kind of catharsis or final purgation of sin and

evil. We note, moreover, that in her there is no trace of

a desire for retribution from Pompilia, who has been t o m

by Guido, the Church, and the Law. In her last hours, she

assumes the same serenity as the dying Christ, who forgave

His tormentors. Far'from cursing her fate, she thanks God

for saving Gaetano:

Oh how good God is that my babe was born, — Better than bom, baptized and hid away Before this happened, safe from being hurtt (7X1. 41-43)90

One senses here a recrudescence of the mlraole of Christ* s

birth and escape from Herod. Yet Pompilia herself seems not

9°Matt. 2:7-19. 305 to be fully conscious of the parallel between herself and the Madonna. It remains for Bottlnius, the least reverent of the characters of The Ring and the Book, to delineate

Pompllia as the Madonna-with-Child. Here, In Book VII, the whole movement toward re-creating the life of Christ Is held below the level of awareness, so that every action seems to take on the oharacter of divine necessity.

Pompilia1s very situation aligns her with Christ; she is a sheep among wolves:

These strange woes stole on tiptoe, as it were, Into my neighborhood and privacy. Sat down where I sat, laid them where I lay; And I was found familiarized with fear. . • • (VII. 119-22)91

Unconsciously, Pompilia utters words of Biblical majesty and cadence, imitating the device of synonymous parallelism found in Hebrew poetry. The abundance of simple natural imagery, particularly that of crouching beasts and coiled serpents, again is reminiscent of the poetry of the Bible, particularly the Psalms.

Too, Pompilia seems unconsciously to mirror in her speech isolated fragments of the Gospels, or from the liturgy of the Church:

— Even to my babe! I thought, when he was born,

^ N o t e the structural parallel to Psalm 139* "0 Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and my uprising • . • Thou compasseth my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.M Cf. also Isa. 53*3. "A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” 306

Something began for onoe that would not e n d , 92 Nor change into a laugh at me, but stay For evermore, eternally quite mine. Well, so he is,— but yet they bore him off, The third day, lest my husband should lay traps And catch him. • • • (VII. 202-208)93

Throughout her monologue, which seems resonant with echoes of Christ*s life. In the passage above, the hiding of

Gaetano parallels closely the Flight into Egypt; moreover, the diction is similar to that of the "Gloria" and of the

Apostles* Creed, containing a reference to the mystical

"third day" so common in Hebrew literature.

Even in passages in which Pompilia quotes others,

there is a sense of the foreordained patterning of Pompilia*s

life after that of Christ. Here, for example, Vlolante

foreshadows the deaths of the Comparini*

"In good or 111, we share and share alike, And cast our lots into a common lap, And all three die together as we livedl" (Italics mine.) (VII. 562-6*09^

These words anticipate the later "crucifixion" of Pompilia

with her two parents; yet this dramatic "flash-forward" is

Gloria in excelsls; "As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end."

9^Matt. 2s13. Flight into Egypt to escape Herod. Apostles* Creed; "And the third day He rose again from the dead, and ascended into Heaven. ..."

^^rov. l6;33. "The lot is cast into the lap, . . . " (Cf. II. 393; H I . 503; XI. 799.) Cf. John 19*2*1-. Lots are cast for Christ*s coat. John 19*18. "... they crucified him, the two other with him. ..." 307

wholly unconscious. Indeed, Violante tosses off this remark

rather in a vein of good humor, in an attempt to conciliate

her daughter.

Another tinconscious movement toward the Imitation of

Christ comes in the following passage, in which Pompilia

recalls, quite impressionistically, the "betrayal" scene,

in which Vlolante, now inferentially Judas, turns her

daughter over to Guidos

And so an end! Because a blank begins Prom when, at the word, she kissed me hard and hot, And took me back to where my father leaned Opposite Guido. . . . (VII. 574-77)95

Thus betrayed like Christ, Pompilia is condemned to “four

bad years'* with Guido. Yet out of this period in hell

comes, as it were, a new birth of goodness:

That thrill of dawn's suffusion through my dark, Which I perceive was promise of my child. The light his unborn face sent long before,— God» s way of breaking the good news to flesh. (VII. 622-25)96

Pompilia thus arrives at a kind of "ephlphany," in which

- - she Intuitively understands the whole concept of Christi­

anity: out of the very-heart of darkness, from a world

sunk into the mire of corruption, comes a renascence of

^Matt. 26*4-8-49. "Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hall, master; and kissed him."

9^John 1:4-, 5» "In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." 308

God*s beneficence and power. The four years of hell with

Guido pale Into inslgnlflcance next to this latter-day

Gospel. Pompllia dismisses her evil experience with Guido as "death or dream" (VII. 601); for her, the only reality is goodness.

After seeking the counsel of earthly "men of God" and being rejected, Pompllia turns increasingly toward Heaven for guidance. No longer are men such as the Archbishop capable of guiding Pompllia; they are interested only In bending her spirit to the will of her evil husband. Thus, the Archbishop*s parable of the restif "fig," which the prelate unashamedly palms off as Scriptural, serves not spiritual but secular ends. Recognizing this spiritual poverty In those from whom she seeks counsel, Pompllia re­ solves to reject the world altogether:

. . . henceforth I looked to God Only, nor cared my desecrated soul Should have fair walls, gay windows for the world.

Henceforth I asked God counsel, not mankind. (VII. 85^-59)97 Her contempt of the world takes on the aspect of Christ*s, as she declares,

All human plans and projects come to nought,

97It is interesting to note that Bottlnius uses the same imagery of the ruined temple as he prepares to "desecrate her soul": "Thou, Pompllia, thus? How is the fine gold of the Temple dim!" (XII. 73^-35) 309

My life, and what I know of other lives, Prove that* no plan nor projectI God shall care! Qo (VII. 902-904-) ^

As she becomes steadily more spiritualized, she cares less for physical existence; rejecting at first any thoughts of

Caponsacchi, Pompilia resolves to wait out the storms

"Leave help to God as I am forced to do! Q There is no other course, or we should craze, ^ Seeing such evil with no human cure. Reflect that God, who makes the storm desist, Can make an angry violent heart subside. Why should we venture teach Him governance?" 1 nn (VII. 1098-1103)

Pompilia, then, has intuitively learned the concept of

Christian resignation and forbearance. For her the only

defence is deaths "How good to sleep and so get nearer

death!" (VII. 1221)^°^ It is only when Pompllia is thus

resigned to death that she can experience a "rebirth"; in

the Christian sense, she is now "dead" to her former life,

and is now spiritually free to be reborn:

Up I sprang alive, Light in me, light without me, everywhere

98Acts 5*38-39. "For if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to noughts But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it." 1 Pet. 5*7* "... casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

99ps. 60sll.

l°0ps. 89*9; Matt. 8*26. Christ stills the raging storm.

101 i Cor. 15*55. "0 death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 310

Change! A broad yellow sun-beam was let fall Prom heaven to earth,— a sudden drawbridge lay. . . . (VII. 1223-26)1°2

This "Ephiphany" signals an awakening to a new existence, a cause for rejoicing, much as the Virgin Mary rejoices after the Annunciation. From this point onward, everything takes on the significance of miraculous birth; not only Is

Pompilia •'reborn,” but so is Caponsacchi. Their Journey to

Home becomes a kind of reenactment of the Advent. Capon­ sacchi is the Christmas star, leading to Bethlehem:

So did the star rise, soon to lead my step, Lead on, nor pause before it should stand still Above the House o* the Babe,— my babe to be. .. (VII. 1^8-50)103

Similarly, Guido*s confrontation of Pompllia and

Caponsacchi at Castelnuovo has overtures of Christ*s trial before Pontius Pilate. Pompilia envisions herself again at

Arezzo,

The husband there,— the friends my enemies, . n«, All ranged against me. . . . (VII. 1551-52)

Pompllia unconsciously aligns herself with Christ, whose

l®^Matt. 17:12. "Jesus . • . was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun." (Cf. Matt. 17*5; Luke 9*29.) Gen. 28:12. Jacob*s vision of heaven and earth Joined by a ladder.

l03Matt. 2:11

10**Ps. 59*1. "Deliver me from mine enemies, 0 my God: defend me from them that rise up against me." 311 own people bear witness against Him. Guido, in turn, be­ comes the priest who apprehends Christ*

. . . I saw him, master, by hell's right, And saw my angel helplessly held back By guards that helped the malice— the lamb prone, ftl? The serpent towering and triumphant. (VII. 1586-89) ^

Hearing these words, one visualizes Caponsacchi as St.

Peter, who is restrained by the guards as Pompilia, the be­ trayed Christ, is seized. For the moment, the powers of darkness seem to have extinguished the light borne by

Pompilia and Caponsacchi. Guido, chief agent of the "dark­ ness, " hales Pompllia, like Christ, before a Homan tribunal.

Recalling her treatment, Pompilia unconsciously speaks of herself as a Christ-figures

. . . only I was left to plague. If only I was threatened and belied, What matter? I could bear it and did bear; It was a comfort, still one lot for all* They were not persecuted for my sake. (VII. 1608-1612)106

Pompilia takes even the sins of her parents upon herself; this gesture again mirrors Christ's final act, that of assuming the whole burden of man's sin at the Crucifixion.

After the agony of this inquisition, Pompilia becomes

^Luke 22*52-53* Christ is apprehended by the chief priests* "Then said Jesus. . • , Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves? . . . but this is your hour, and the power of darkness."

■^^Matt. 5*10. "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness* sake* for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 312 the Madonna, relinquishing her role as Christ to her new­ born son Gaetanoi

Christmas before me,— was not that a chance? I never realised God1s birth before— How he grew llkest God In being born. This time I felt like Mary, had my babe Lying a little on my breast like hers. (VII. 1689-93)

This statement is the first conclusive evidence that

Pompilia is conscious of the miraculous character of the

'•Advent1' to Home and the birth of Gaetano during the Christ­ mas season. Pompilia achieves finally a fuller vision of the divine significance of her life.

Having achieved the stature of a saint, Pompllia is now able to forgive as well as to bless. For her erring parents, she gasps out words of benediction:

Say no word: all is over, they see God Who will not be extreme to mark their fault Or He had granted respite: they are safe. (vii. 170A-1706)1 '

Even for Guido there is forgiveness:

We shall not meet in this world nor the next, But where will God be absent? In His face Is light, but in His shadow healing too: Let Guido touch the shadow and be healed! Q (VII. 1719-22 )10ti

Finally, Pompilia has a vision of eternal life, in which she

l°7Ps. 130*3» "If thou, 0 Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with thee. ..." (R. S. V.)

I®®John 1:9. "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." Ps. 139*7. "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" 313 will at last attain a spiritual reunion with the ’'day-star,1'

Caponsacchi:

"My great heart, my strong hand are hack again!" I would have sprung to these, beckoning across Murder and hell, gigantic and distinct 0* the threshold, posted to exclude me heaven: He is ordained to call and I to come! (VII, 1810-1*4-)

Guido has falsely and treacherously played the part of

Caponsacchi, luring Pompilia to her death. Yet Pompllia,

now on the threshold of heaven, awaits the true call of

Caponsacchi, to which she will respond with alacrity.

This reunion will not come "until God wills it: "So, let

him wait God's instant men call years ..." (VII, 18*4-0)109

Pompllia now hears the stronger call of God, and, like the

Virgin, is assumed into heaven, where she will await Capon­

sacchi:

Through such souls alone God stooping shows sufficient of His light For us i* the dark to rise by. And I rise. (VII. 18*4-3-45)

The final pronouncement upon the character of Pompilia

is made by the Pope, who clearly sees the whole tendency of

her life, the reenactment of Christ's birth and death for

man:

First of the first, Such I pronounce Pompilia, then as now Perfect in whiteness . • .

1°9 2 Pet. 3:8. "... one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." 314

Armed and crowned, Would Miohael, yonder, be, nor crowned nor armed, The less pre-eminent angel? . . .

• . . they make not up, I think, The marvel of a soul like thine, earth's flower She holds up to the softened gaze of God! It was not given Pompllia to know much, Speak much, to write a book, to move mankind. Be memorised by who records my time.

If there be any virtue, any praise,~ Then will this woman-child have proved— who knows?— Just the one prize vouchsafed unworthy me, Ten years a gardener of the untoward ground. • . . . (x. 1003-30)110

Pompilia has not the armor of Michael, nor the knowledge of the scholar, nor the eloquence of the statesman; yet to the

Pope, she becomes the last and best fruit of his labor in

God. She is the Rachel for whom Jacob tills the hard ground, the one blossom in this winter season of the Pope's life.

Finally, the Pope sees in Pompilia's death the same sacrifice as evinced in the life of Christs

This I praise most in thee, where all I praise, That having been obedient to the end

** Matt. 14:17. "So the last shall be first, and first last." Dan. 12:1. "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people." Matt. 13*11. "... it is given unto you to know the mysteries of heaven, but to them it is not given." Phil. 4*8. " . . . If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." Gen. 29*3°. "... Jacob . . . loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years." 315

According to the light allotted, . . .

Thou, patient thus, couldst rise from law to law . (X. 10^7-55) The adjectives "dutiful . . . submissive . . , patient"

(X. 1052-56) are commonly attributed to Christ, Moreover,

Pompllia, like Christ is capable of waging war against evil,

• . , henceforth fight, be found Sublime In new impatience with the foe! Endure man and obey God: plant firm foot On neck of man, tread man into the hell Meet for him, and obey God all the more! (X. 1058-62)X1

Thus, the Pope, clearly Justifying Pompilia*s actions and vindicating her honor, unequivocally parallels her to

Christ, acknowledging that she has Indeed patterned her every action after her Savior. She has Intuitively grasped the truths revealed by Christ In the Gospels, In spite of being misled by the so-called men of God who marshal

Scripture for their purpose. Almost unconsciously, she follows the example of Christ, becoming the sacrificial

Lamb, taking the burden of man*s sin upon herself. That she dies, innocent, at the hands of an evil man further

m p h i l . 2:8. "And being found In fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the fLeath of the cross."

II2 1 Cor. 15:27-28. "For he that put all things under his feet . . . And when all things shall be subdued unto him, Then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things unto him, That God may be all in all." The parallel to St* Michael/St. George is also evident; man-as-serpent is trodden into the ground. 316 emphasizes her similarity to Christ? she is a saving

Victim, done to death in an insensate and inimical world.

The Pope? Intuition versus Intellect. It is not merely by chance that the Pope is delineated as an old man whose intellect is failing; to Browning, the intellect inhibits man in his progress toward righteousness. The truth cannot be apprehended by the intellect, since it is prone to be led astray by sophistries. Only the intuition—

since it is an inner light--is free from error. Thus it is

that the Pope, stripped of his intellectual powers by old

age and physical infirmity, still has clear spiritual vision,

. . . the true instinct of an old good man Who happens to hate darkness and love light,— In whom too was the eye that saw, not dim, The natural force to do the thing he saw, 11« Nowise abated. . . . (XII. 5 9 3 - 9 7 ) J

Like Moses, the Pope has a spiritual force, a vision of the

Promised Land which tempers his earthly judgments. Both

are spiritual leaders who are given their gift of speech by

God. Neither Moses nor the Pope pretends to have intel­

lectual genius; they simply remain in spiritual contact

with God, the source of all wisdom.

^^Deut. 32**7 . “And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died? his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." 317

Unlike other churchmen, the Pope takes the word of

Christ literally. The priestly vow of poverty to him Is a serious mandate; the Pope

. . . so observed the poor That men would merrily say, ’’Halt, deaf and blind, Who feed on fat things, leave the master*s self To gather up the fragments of his feast,

His own meal costs but five carllnes a day, Poor-priest*s allowance, for he claims no more.” (I. 319-25) Indeed, the Pope Is an unrelenting critic of himself, con­ stantly assessing his performance In the roles assigned him by Christ. "Am I not Pope," he asks, "and presently to die,/ And busied how to render my account . . . ?" (I. 337-

3 8 He is the steward of God, entrusted with spiritual

"money" for safekeeping. A wrong decision at this juncture would be to unbalance his "account book," an error which he would have to justify to God.

The Pope is aware of the moral Imperatives which the

symbols of his office imply. There is the word

. . . ICHTHYS which means Fish And very aptly symbolises Christ,

13-^Luke l^;2l. "Then the master of the house being angry said to his servants, Go out quickly into the streets . . . and bring in hither the poor and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind." (cf. VI. 311) The Pope is later to "feed" the Comparinl by adjudicating the question of divorce in their favor. "The Pope puts mean i* the mouth of, ravens they,— /And providence he." (cf. Ps. 1*17:9. "He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.")

^^Rom. 1^:12. "So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." 318

Or else because the Pope Is Fisherman, 11

Innocent concerns himself deeply with the moral degeneration of his day, watches with dismay the mortal combat between the world and the Church, As fisherman, he must catch men for Christ; yet he knows, too, that the world lures more

“fish” than he. It is no wonder, then, that there Is win­ ter In his soul as he prepares, like a tired actor, for his last appearance on the stage of the world:

Still, I stand here, not off the stage though close On the exit: and my last act, as my first, I owe the scene, and Him who armed me thus With Paulfs sword as with Peter’s key. I smite With my whole strength once more. . . . (X. 1954— 58) '

The Pope has the authority to condemn malefactors to death with Paul's sword, as well as to admit the elect to heaven with Peter’s keys. Thus, the churchman has a dual imperative: to stamp out evil and to vindicate goodness.

To this end, he must be soldier as well as priest.

Yet the Papal office, with its rich tradition, yields no precedent for judging such a crime as Guido's; the Pope

is therefore forced to rely on intuition. Vainly he

^^Matt. 4«:19. "I will make you fishers of men."

l^Cook (Commentary, p. 2 3 0 ) notes that the sword had become an iconographical appurtenance of St. Paul by the end of the eleventh century; there is no Biblical authority for "Paul’s sword." Matt. 16:19. "And I will give unto thee [Peter] the keys of the kingdom of heaven." 319 searches history for evidence of a !1 signal judgment" which will guide him to his own decisions

Like to Ahasuerus, that shrewd prince, I will begin, . • .

. . . and read a History

Of all my predecessors, Popes of Home:

Since of the making of books there Is no end.

Being about to judge, as now, I seek How judged once, well or 111, some other Pope; Study some signal Judgment that subsists To blaze on, or else blot, the page which seals The sum up of what gain or loss to God Came of His one more Vicar In the world. ..o So, do I find example, rule of life. (X. 1-20)

In seeing himself as Ahasuerus, the Pope establishes a

striking parallels both the Pope and the King are anxiously

vigilant; both find comfort In books; and both learn some­

thing vital from them: Ahasuerus discovers In the chron­

icles of the bravery of one Mordecai, a Jew who has saved

his life. The King later discovers that the wicked Hainan,

jealous of Mordecai, has falsely accused the Jew and con­

demned him to be hanged. Ahasuerus, knowing nothing of the

plot, orders Haman to prepare Mordecai for a feast In his

honor. Thus an innocent man is saved.Like Ahasuerus, the

11 Esther 6 si. "On that night could not the King sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the King." Cook (p. 120) points out that the parallel is not exacts Ahasuerus here reads of present events, not of the past. Eccl. 12:12. "Of making many books there is no end." Ezek. 28:12. "Thou sealest up the sum. ..." 320

Pope hopes to find precedent for Judgments here, too, the

life of a man hangs In the balance. Yet the annals of the

papacy reveal nothing but vindictiveness and cruelty:

Formosus, a former Pope, is dismembered by his successor

and flung to the fish In the Tiber. Pope Innocent, there­

fore, cannot take comfort in the goodness of his office; he

must turn inward, to his own spirit, for the truth.

Having rejected the intellectual means of adjudicating

the question of Guido*s guilt, the Pope sets aside his tome

and muses on his own development from worldly to ecclesi­

astical man. He questions his "ancient self" (X. 383)»

Antonio Pignatelli,

Thou, not Pope but the mere old man o» the world, Supposed inquisitive and dispassionate, Wilt thou, the one whose speech I somewhat trust. Question the after-me, this self now Pope, Hear his procedure, criticise his work? Wise in its generation is the world. (X. 392-97

The Pope, recognizing the dichotomy of the Old Adam and the

new man, challenges his old worldly self to find fault with

the "self now Pope," and ends by rejecting all worldly

counsel. Since he cannot serve two masters, he repudiates

mammon to serve God.

l^Luke 16:8 . "For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." (cf. IV. 1275) The text is from the parable of the Unjust Steward, who, having wasted his master*s money, extorted payment from the master*s debtors to cover his losses. The moral is that "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Luke 16:13) 321

The Pope is now ready to judge, not In worldly terms, but according to God's will: Guido has lived a lie by serving mammon, while ostensibly serving God. Thus the latter represents the forces of evil in this world, con­ sciously choosing evil paths and forsaking the claims of

God. Therefore, since he has "the wit to seek,/ Wisdom to choose” (X. *K>3-*K)4), he is ’’found reprobate” (X. 398).

Guido, like other men, has been placed on earth

To try man's foot, if it will creep or climb 'Mid obstacles in seeming, points that prove Advantage for who vaults from low to high And makes the stumbling-block a stepping stone. (X. ^09-12)

For Guido, the serpent's creep proves easier than a natural walk; he slides doward on the Chain of Being, succumbing to his lust for evil. To him, both Christ and his wife be­

come stumbling-blocks, since they force him to expose his

true face to the world. First, Guido embraces the Church, using it as ’’that aforesaid armor, probity” (X. 513) •

"Honor and faith” are to Guido ”a lie and a disguise"

(X. 515)• Second, he enters into marriage "to get gold,— /

Why, lie, rob, if it must be, murder!" (X, 5^2-43) Pompilia

becomes "His slave, his chattel, to first use, then destroy"

(X. 56*0.

1 Cor. 1:23. "But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block." (Cf. Rom. 1^:13.) Guido later refers to his wife as ”a true stumbling-block/ I' the way of me her husband." (XI. 1523-2*0 (Cf. II. l423-2*f, XI. 17*K)-**1.) 322

These pronouncements of guilt by the Pope are made after a conscious rejection of external aids, those

"dismallest of documents" presented by Bottinius and Arch­ angel is. The Pope, in so doing, recognizes the basic opposition between the world and the Church, between words and the Word. Only by dispelling the confusing clouds of words sent up by the lawyers can the Pope see clearly:

dark, difficult enough The human sphere, yet eyes grow sharp by use, I find the truth, dispart the shine from shade. (X. 1240-42)

Yet the Pope is aware that the world has begun to question his power of vision:

Nay, if the popular notion class me right, One of well nigh decayed intelligence,— What of that? Through hard labor and good will, And habitude that gives a blind man sight At the practised finger-ends of him, I do Discern, and dare decree. (X. 1245-50)

The Pope is clearly at odds with the world, which feels that he has lost his intellect. But the Pope, far from faltering, derives confidence from his distinct separation from the uses of the world; his source of wisdom is heavenly:

Yet my poor spark had for its source, the sun;

. . . all that I do and am Comes from the truth, or seen or else surmised, Remembered or divined, as mere man may: I know Just so, nor otherwise. As I know, 0 I speak. . . . (X. l285-90)l4il

121John 3s11* "We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen." 323

That is to say, the Pope knows he speaks truth, since he knows the source of divine truth, Christ.

The Pope, having the "mind of Christ," need know nothing more. Therefore, he is by implication in direct con­ flict with the shallow pedantry of Archangelis and the artful casuistry of Bottinlus. To the Pope, these sophists have

the little mind of man, reduced To littleness that suit his faculty. (X. 1320-21)

The only knowledge needful for man, the Pope pronounces, is contained in the central fact of human history— the Incar­ nation of Christ, God's "transcendant act/ Beside which even the creation fades/ Into a puny exercise of power"

(X. 1339-^1). The Pope next discredits the Ironists in their use of

Scripture by declaring that the Word, directly communicated, is man's sole source of perfection. He makes an eloquent case for unquestioning, wholehearted acceptance of Scripture:

What lacks, then, of perfection fit for God But just the instance which this tale supplies Of love without a limit? . . .

Then is the tale true and God shows complete. Beyond the tale, I reach into the dark, Peel what I cannot see, and still faith stands, (x. 1366-73) He, therefore, who gains such truth learns of God's love and becomes "eventually God-like, (ay 'I have said ye are

Gods,'— shall it be said for nought?)" (X. 1383-84)12^

•^^Ps. 82:6. "I have said, Ye are gods." 324

But the ironists, who use Scripture only as a persuasive instrument, are denied access to the truth; since they per­ sistently distort the Word of God, they rob it of Its healing power.

Moreover, the sophistication of the Ironis prevents them from accepting the truth of revelation. Here again, the Pope stands in direct opposition to the lawyers and to sophists such as Tertlum Quid:

. . . So our heart be struck, What care I,— by God's gloved hand or the bare? Nor do I much perplex me with aught hard, Dubious in the transmitting of the tale,— No, nor with certain riddles set to solve. (X. 1405-1409) Thus does the Pope enter a plea for simplicity in man's reading of Scripture: the confusion breeds in the mind of man, not in God's works. Perplexity can be stilled only by acceptance of Scripture, and not by "tailoring11 it to man's purposes. CONCLUSION

In the foregoing drama of Biblical allusion, which stretches over the whole of The Hlng and the Book*s sprawling length, one salient irony is obvious: that, in the world as constituted by Browning— and it is a world which is by no means grossly exaggerated— the Bible has come to the service of man as a persuasive means to limited and selfish ends, and not as a means to salvation. Its use in matters of the spirit and in eschatology is distressingly absent; the disputes it raises are endless. "Of the making of books there is no end,11 says the Pope, quoting Koholeth, the world-weary "preacher” of Ecclesiastes. He might as well have added, "Of the uses of the Book there is no end."

Those most adept at the persuasive employment of the Bible are, in fact, those most in need of its saving message, whereas those least inclined to quote it are, as we have seen, innocents (like Pompilia and Caponsacchi) who have al­ ready seen God’s numinous light and have responded to it.

In the poem's dramatic structure, the manipulators of

Scripture, those who I have called Ironists, would seem to have secured at least a rhetorical victory. Yet the signal

fact is that the master Ironist, Guido, loses both life and

soul, and is condemned to a hell of his own making. His 325 326 defeat— and the defeat of his " system1' of values— at the hands of the Pope Is, however, the sole hopeful note In an

otherwise gloomy augury. Much of the Pope’s analysis of

the state of the world (which is dramatized toy the cynical and torutal speech of Guido in Book XI) reflects Browning*s

pessimism regarding the Victorian age— and, toy extension,

our own. While it is true that the Literalists of the poem

win the moral victory and (by Guido*s demise) achieve

poetic justice, the overwhelmingly dark atmosphere of the

poem’s close,-with the taint of the wormwood Star corrupting

all, forbids our reading the poem optimistically. The wide­

spread misuse of Scripture is, in fact, only one evidence

of the deep decline which the Pope sadly envisions as the

world’s fate for centuries after the close of his own age,

the late seventeenth century. The poem’s Ironists, pre­

sided over toy Guido, are seen as the New Men of the suc­

ceeding age:

But what a multitude will fall, perchance, Quite through the crumbling truth subjacent late, Sink to the next discoverable base, Rest upon human nature, take their stand On what is fact, the lust and pride of life! The mass of men, whose very souls even now Seem to need re-creating,--so they slink Worm-like into the mud light now lays bare,— Whose future we dispose of with shut eyes. . . .

Those who with all the aid of Christ lie thus, How, without Christ, whither unaided, sink? What but to this rehearsed before my eyes? Do we not end, the century and I? The impatient antimasque treads close on kibe 0’ the very masque’s self it will mock. . . . (X. 1887-1904) 327

The implications of the Guidonian drama, then, are momen­ tous: Guido anticipates the cynical self-interest which one associates (whether rightly or wrongly) with the age of

Hobbes and Bacon and with the succeeding age of empiricism and naturalism. The '’stand on what is fact" and on human nature, the Pope rightly sees, may extend downward into the

baser "mud" of the Galiban-nature, of the hedonistic cal­

culus. When this happens, as the dialectic of history

would seem to imply in the Pope's monologue, Christianity

will be in near-total eclipse, overshadowed by the "rough

beast" of a new and brutal world-outlook, such as that which

Yeats figures forth in "The Second Coming."

Browning is not entirely without hope, however. He

sees, among the members of the "antimasque" depicted by the

Pope, those who will maintain faith's integrity despite its

passage "through hell's prism" (XII. 572). That they are,

like Pompilia and Caponsacchi and Don Celestine, in the

minority invests their role with ultimate importance: at

crucial points in history their drama will be revived in new

avatars to vindicate anew the grace of God and its avail­

ability to those whose "true instinct" is that of one "who

happens to hate darkness and love light" (XII. 593-9^). BIBLIOGRAPHY

Broughton, L. N. and B. F. Stelter. A Concordance to the Poems of Robert Browning. 2 vols. New York, 1924-

Browning, Robert. The Works of Robert Browning (Cente­ nary Edition). 10 vols., ed. F. G. Kenyon. London, 1912.

Carlyle, Thomas. Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdrffckh. ed. C. F. Harrold. New York, 1937^ Cook, A. K. A Commentary on Brownlng»s 11 The Ring and the Book.” New York, 1920.

Machen, (Mrs.) Minnie Gresham. The Bible In Browning. New York, 1903.

328