“Mercurium omnium Deorum antiquorum vigilantissimum ac maxime negotiis implicatum, scribit Hesiodus in TheogoniÀ.”—Natalis Comitis: Mythologia, lib. v., 1616.

In the old times in Florence the Tuscans worshipped the idols of Jupiter, and Bacchus, and Venus, and Mercury in their temples. And sometimes those gods when conjured [155a] came down to earth.

In those times there was in Florence [155b] a sculptor of Bologna named Giovanni, the same who made the Diavolino in the Mercato Vecchio. He was tormented by the desire to make a statue of such beauty that there should not be its like in all the world; and he, moreover, desired that this statue should be as if living, one not stiff and fixed, but one like Mercury, all activity, and he was so full of this thought that he had no rest even by night, for a certain gentleman had said to him:

“All in vain dost thou intoxicate thyself by studying statues, saying, ‘This one is beautiful, that still more so; this sculptor—É bravo—has talent, that even cleverer;’ but, after all, the best of their work is motionless, and produces on me the effect of a corpse. I should call him a clever sculptor who could make a statue inspired with motion like a living man—che caminasse o magari saltasse—who runs and hops, but not a piece of marble merely carved.”

And this moved Giovanni to make a statue which should not have its equal in the world. And thinking of Mercury, the liveliest and quickest of all the gods, who is ever flying like a falcon, he said:

“If I could behold him,
Though ’twere but for once,
I should have the model
Of a wondrous statue
Inspired unto life!”

One evening Giovanni found himself in the Temple of Mercury, that which is to-day called the Baptistery of Saint John [and there he found Virgilio], to whom he said that he so greatly longed to see Mercury living and in flight.

Virgilio replied:

“Go at midnight to the hill of Vallombrosa when the moon is full, and call the fairy Bellaria, who will aid thee.”

Giovanni went to the hill and called to Bellaria, but she made no reply. So he returned to Virgilio, who said:

“It is not enough to simply call to her, she must be scongiurata—called by an incantation.”

Then Giovanni, having learned this, thus conjured her:

“Stella lucente,
Ed aria splendente,
Col tuo splendor,
Bell’ Aria infiamma
Mercurio, e fa lo scendere
In terra che io posso
Levarne il modello!
Tu che siei bella,
Bella quanto buona,
Fa mi questa grazia;
Perche io sono molto,
Molto infelice,
Se non faro una statua
Come il desiderio mio,
Vedi Bellaria.
FinquaseÙ in questo monte,
Son venuto per potermi
A te raccomandare;
TÙ prego non indugiare
A far mi questa grazia,
Perche sono infelice.”

“Shining star!
Resplendent glowing air, [156]
With thy burning splendour,
Bell’ Aria, inflame,
Inspire great Mercury,
Make him descend to earth
That he may copied be.
Thou who art beautiful,
As beautiful as good,
Grant me, I pray, this grace,
For I am lost in grief
Because I cannot make
A statue as I wish.
Behold, Bellaria!
I’ve come unto this hill
To beg this thing of thee!
I pray thee grant my prayer,
For I am suffering.”

Then Bellaria thus evoked Mercury:

“Mercurio mio, bel Mercurio,
Per quell’ acqua corrente,
E cel (cielo) splendente,
E tu risplendi, risplendi amor
Di bellezza, e come il vento,
Come il fulmine lesto siei,
Io sono stata
Scongiurata,
Scongiurata pel mio splendor,
Per infiammarti
Del mio calor
Che tu scenda in terra
Che viÉ Giovanni
Gian di Bologna,
Primo scultore, vuol prendere da te
Il modello,
Ti prego di scendere
Come un baleno
Perche fino che non sarai sesato,
Ne pure a me tornerebbe
La mia pace perche
Mi hanno scongiurata per te;
Se questa grazia mi farai
Non per me, ma per Giovanni,
Tre segni mi darai—
Lampo, tuono e fulmine
Se questa grazi mi farai,
I tre seguali mi darai!”

“Mercury, beauteous God!
By the rushing water!
By the glowing heaven!
As thou shinest, reflecting again
Their beauty, and as the wind
Or the lightning thou art fleet.
Even so am I
Conjured and compelled
Even by mine own splendour
To inspire, inflame
Thee by mine own heat!
That thou descend to earth,
That Giovanni, born
In Bologna, may
As sculptor copy thee!
I pray thee to descend,
Even like lightning’s flash,
Since till thou art measured,
I shall not be in peace,
Being myself invoked.
If thou wilt grant this grace,
Yet not for me but Gian,
Accord to me three signs:
The flash, the crash and bolt;
Even as lightning comes,
I pray thee grant me this!”

And in an instant there came all together in one the flash and roar and thunderbolt, and Giovanni di Bologna beheld Mercury flying in the heaven, and said:

“E troppo leggiadro, troppo bello!
Non posso dipingere una Stella
Ne il vento, ne un balÉn,
E finito la mia speranza. Amen!”

“Thou art too little and light, by far!
I cannot paint a shining star,
Nor the wild wind or lightning—then
All hope is lost, ah me! Amen!”

Then the beautiful Bellaria said:

“If thou canst not depict Mercury flying through the air, it may be that thou canst make him passing over the waves, for then his speed is not so great.” [So she invoked Mercury again, and he was seen flitting over the ocean.] [158]

But when Giovanni di Bologna beheld Mercury leaping from wave to wave like a dolphin, he cried:

“Bel Mercurio, sempre vale!
Io non sono che un mortale,
Io non posso tanto fare,
Ne le tue grazzie combinare.”

“Farewell, fair Mercury, all is o’er,
I’m but a mortal and no more,
I cannot give again thy face,
And least of all thy wondrous grace.”

Bellaria said to him:

“Thou hast asked too much; it is not possible for thee to make fire and water to the life. Yet be at ease, for what may not be done in water or in air may come to pass with ease upon the earth.”

Bellaria again invoked Mercury, who descended like the wind in a leap, even as a man leaps down and alights on earth.Then Giovanni cried:

“Grazia À Dio!
Io ho l’ ideÀ!”

“Thanks to God divine!
The idea is mine!”

And so Giovanni made the beautiful statue of Mercury in bronze; and so long as the Tuscans worshipped their idols it was wont to dance, but after they ceased this worship, it danced no more. [At present, the beautiful statue of Mercury in bronze is in the Bargello.]

It is said that Bellaria is the sister of Mercury, and that both fly in the air. When the Fate or fairies, or good witches die, Bellaria descends, and then bears their souls to heaven.

Mercury is the god of all people who are in haste, who have occasion to go rapidly—as, for instance, those who wish to send a letter quickly and receive a speedy reply. To do this, you must have an image of Mercury cast in bronze, and it must be made to shine like silver, with a bright colour like a looking-glass; [159] and this should be worshipped before going to bed, and on rising in the morning adore it again. And to invoke Mercury, this is the manner: You must have a basin full of water, taken from a stream when agitated (i.e., running water), and in the evening, as in the morning, take that basin and make a cross on the earth where you kneel down, and then say:

“Acqua corrente
E vento furente,
Avanti la statua di Mercurio
Mi inghinnocchio, perche Mercurio,
E il mio idole, Mercurio!
E il mio dio;
Acqua corrente
E vento furente,
Infuriate Mercurio
A farmi questa grazia!”

“Running water, raging wind!
Before the form of Mercury I kneel,
For Mercury is my idol and my god!
Running water, raging wind,
Inspire great Mercury
To do what I desire!”

Then you shall pause and sing again:

“Mercurio, Mercurio!
Tu che siei il mio Dio!
Fammi questa grazia
Che io ti chiedo,
Se questa grazia a me concedi
Tre cose fammi vedere;
Tuono, lampo e vento infuriato!”

“Mercury, Mercury divine!
Who ever art a god of mine!
Grant me that which I do need,
And if’t be given me indeed,
Cause me then three things to see—
The lightning’s flash,
The thunder crash,
And the wind roaring furiously!”

And where the water from the running stream has been poured it must be carefully covered over, so that no one can tread thereon, or else from that time the favour of Mercury will cease.

It would seem as if this story were originally intended to imply that the sculptor, unable to give a higher conception of vivacity or motion, represented the mobile god as in the moment of descending on earth, still preserving the attitude of flight. This conception was probably too subtle for the narrator, who describes the image as having been a kind of marionette, or dancing Jack. “Whate’er it be, it is a curious tale.”

The connection of Mercury with moving water is also remarkable. He bears serpents on his caduceus or wand; and among other ancient myth-fancies, a rushing river, from its shape or windings and its apparent life, was a symbol of a serpent.

It is hardly worth while to note that Giovanni di Bologna was really a Frenchman—Jean de Boulogne. The bronze Mercury by him described in this story, and now in the Bargello Museum, is supposed to have suggested the allusion to the god as

“just alighted
On a heaven-kissing hill,”

and the probability is indeed of the strongest. Many judges good and true are of the opinion that, as regards motive or conception, this is the best statue ever made by any save a Greek, as there is assuredly none in which the lightness of motion is so perfectly expressed in matter. I believe, however, that Giovanni di Bologna was indebted for this figure to some earlier type or motive. There is something not unlike it among the old Etruscan small bronze figurini.