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On the Source of the Italian and English Idioms Meaning ‘To Take Time By The Forelock,‘ with Special Reference to Bojardo's Orlando Innamorato, Book II, Cantos VII-IX

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2021

John E. Matzke
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Extract

The central narrative in Bojardo's epic, the Orlando Innamorato, relates how the appearance of the beautiful Angelica at the court of Charlemagne completely turned the heads of all the noble paladins present, notably Orlando and Rinaldo. These two cousins and brothers-in-arms now become hated rivals, and set out in pursuit of the fair maiden when she returns to her native country. Much time passes before the two knights meet, and when this finally does occur, it is before Albracca, Angelica's castle, where she is besieged by another lover, Agricane, King of Tartary. The meeting is stormy, as was to be foreseen, and a duel is begun which lasts for two days, and which would have ended badly for Rinaldo had not Angelica, who just then is in love with him, held back the blow that would have wounded him mortally. She knows that Rinaldo is safe only if Orlando can be gotten out of the way, and to do this successfully she sends the latter on a perilous and distant expedition. Among the many adventures which he encounters on this journey is the destruction of an enchanted garden which had been fabricated by an enchantress named Falerina. Orlando's impulse is to slay her as well, but his mind is changed when he learns that her death would have as consequence the death of many knights and ladies who are kept prisoners in a tower. In exchange for her life she promises to lead him to that prison (ii–v, 1–24). When they arrive there Orlando sees hanging on a tree beyond the moat the armor of his cousin Rinaldo, and, believing him dead, remorse for his former quarrels with him seizes him, and he rushes over the bridge to engage battle with Aridano, the guardian of the tower. The two antagoniste clutch, and soon roll down the shore into the enchanted lake which surrounds the prison (ii–vii, 32–63). They descend through the water until they arrive on dry ground, a meadow, lighted up by the rays of the sun, that break through the water above them. Here the battle continues, until Orlando succeeds in slaying his enemy. Then he looks about him for a way of escape. He is surrounded on every side by mountainshore and rocks; but on one side he notices a door cut into the rock, and near that entrance he sees chiselled a picture of the labyrinth and its history with the minotaur, and not far from this another picture, showing a maiden wounded in the breast by a dart of love thrown by a youth. This should have taught him the manner of escape, but he passes on without heeding its meaning. Soon he arrives at a river and a narrow bridge, on either side of which stand two iron figures, armed. Beyond it in the plain is placed the treasure of the Fata Morgana. He attempts to cross this bridge, but at every trial the two iron figures demolish it, and a new bridge at once rises in the place of the old one. Finally, with a tremendous leap he clears the river, and now he finds himself near the coveted treasure. After many wonderful incidents, which it is not to the purpose to relate he arrives near the prison where Rinaldo is held with other knights. This latter, it should be stated, had also left Angelica after his duel with Orlando, and arrived here by a shorter way. As Orlando approaches this prison, he comes to a fissure in the rock, into which he enters, and which leads him to a door.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , 1893 , pp. 303 - 334
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1893

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References

Note 1 page 312 For the sake of completeness and convenience of reference I print here quite fully the descriptions in point from classical antiquity. A convenient summing up of the whole question may be found in Baumeister, Denkmäler des klassischen Alterthums, vol. ii, s. v. Kairos.

Note 1 page 313 “I wish to bring before you also in a description the work of Lysippus, which as the finest of images this artist placed on exhibition before the inhabitants of Sicyon. It was fashioned into a statue of bronze, rivalling nature in art. was a boy, blooming in the very flower of youth from head to foot; handsome in mien, his hair fluttering at the caprice of the wind, leaving his locks dishevelled; with rosy complexion, showing by the splendor of body its perfection. He was very similar to Bacchus; his forehead shone with grace, and his cheeks, like a flower, glowed in youthful splendor, showing to the eyes a tender blush. He stood on a sphere, resting on the tips of his toes, with winged feet. His hair was not, however, fashioned after the usual manner, but the thick curls fell towards his brow over his cheek, while the occiput of was destitute of hairs, showing only the beginning of hairy growth.”

“ And this it was which seemed admirable to us. But some one of those who are wise and skilled in art, and in the possession of a trained æsthetic sense, and capable of tracing out the hidden meaning of the artist, attributed design to the work, pointing out that the idea underlying was brought out in this statue. The winged feet indicate swiftness, because time swiftly elapses with the flight of hours; its shows the bloom of youth, because the youthful is ever attractive, and alone is the creator of beauty. On the other hand, what is withered, is foreign to the nature of; again (it has) the lock on the forehead, because it is easy to seize hold of the favorable moment as it approches, but having passed by, the opportunity for decisive action is gone, and once neglected it is no longer possible to recover it.”

Note 1 page 315 “Who, whence is thy maker? Sicyon. His name is what? Lysippus. What art thou? Kairos, the all-subduer. Why doest thou stand on the tips of thy toe? I turn forever. Why hast thou double wings on either foot? I fly carried by the wind. In thy right hand why earnest thou a razor? To men a sign that quicker than any edge I am. But thy hair, why is it over the eye? In order to be grasped, forsooth, by him that meets me. The back of thy head, why is it bald? Because he, whom I have once rushed by with winged feet, will never grasp me afterwards, though he desire it. Why did the artist fashion thee? For thy sake, o stranger, he placed this warning lesson into the doorway.”

Note 1 page 316 An illustration, reproduced by Baumeiater, 1. c. p. 771, shows a reproduction of a relief in Torino. It is said to belong to late Roman times, but is apparently a true illustration of this ancient Greek idiom. The figure it bald, with long hair in front, wings on the shoulders and feet, and holding a scale which rests on the edge of a razor.

Note 1 page 318 The other plate in Baumeister's article, quoted above, is almost exactly as illustration of the epigram of Ausonius. It shows the figure of, no longer nude, with a winged wheel on each foot, holding a scale in the left and a razor in the right hand. A youth before him has seized his forelock, while an old man behind him, who has let the favorable moment pass by, stretches his left hand out in vain. With the right he angrily pulls his beard. Behind the latter stands a draped figure, representing Poenitentia. The illustration is a reproduction of a relief in Venice, but unfortunately no clue as to its age is given.

It should be added, also, that the fact of Ausonius retaining the Greek term Mctanoea in a curious manner counterbalances his translation of by occassio.

Note 1 page 319 For the sake of completeness I add here another Greek description of the statue of Lysippus, contained in an eclogue of Himerius, a contemporary of Ausonius. The account agrees in the main with those of Callistratus and Posidippus, with this difference, that the figure is said to hold a scale in the left hand. The eclogue is published in the same volume with the description by Callistratus.

“ For Lysippus had not only a skilled hand, but alto skilled judgment. Wonderful things did he by reason of this genius venture upon; he added to the list of gods, and by changing images has brought out his nature in a statue. The statue was wrought in this manner as I relate. He fashions a boy, delicate in appearance, in the bloom of youth, with locks of hair from the top to the forehead, but bald behind. In his right hand he was armed with a razor, holding in his left a scale, winged upon a sphere poising lightly, so that he did not rise too far above the earth, seemingly touching it, and yet gliding over it without contact.”

Still more information on this question may he found in Curtius, Archœ-logische Zeitung, 1875, pp. 1–8, and Benndorf, ibid., 1863, p. 81 ff.

Note 1 page 320 Cp. Löseth, Le Roman en prose de Tristan, p. 223. The painstaking author of this laborious work adds as a foot-note to this passage, “ nous n'avons trouvé aucune trace de cette quête.”

Note 1 page 321 Cp. Graf, l. c.

Note 1 page 322 I am undecided how much importance is to be attached to the fact that ciuffo, a word of Germanic origin, and not the Latin words, has been incorporated into the idiom.

Note 1 page 323 It would be interesting if it were possible to answer this question of Erasmus.

Note 1 page 327 Cp. Boacher, Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie, s. v.

Note 2 page 327 Fortunae rotam pertimescebat. Pison, 10, 22.

Note 3 page 327 Fortunae volucris rota, adversa prosperis semper alternans. Ammian. Marc., 31—1—1.

Note 1 page 328 Baumeister, 1. c., says the idea of goes back to the palaestra, and sprang from the Hermes, beside whom he had an altar in Olympia. Presence of mind and the necessity of grasping the favorable moment in the martial game are eminently necessary, and this god is therefore often mentioned in Pindar's Odes. Baumeister's hypothesis is in a manner confirmed by the phrase of Himerius quoted above.

Note 1 page 329 Mory. Mag., ii-49, xvii-2, xxii-38, xxv-275, xxvi-38, and x-70, xxiii-54.

Note 1 page 330 The inscription of the emblem is “Fedeltà è coea rare,” and below stands the explanation “Fortuna in pila volabili stans et velum vibrans . . . .”

Note 1 page 331 This can be seen in the following instances: Humphreys, Masterpieces of early printers and engravers, London, 1870; plate 20 of a dance of death, printed in Lyons, 1499, and also in several of the illustrations of Savonarola's “Arte del bene morire,” reproduced in the same volume; also Langlois and Pottier, Danses des Morte, Rouen, 1852, p. 159 and plates xvi and xvii of Holbein's Dance of Death, in the same volume.

Note 1 page 332 Ed. Arber, London, 1880, p. 68.

Note 1 page 333 Could this be a reference to Erasmus“ hexameter, quoted above ?