Virgil The Magician, Or The Four Venuses

“Maint autres grand clercs ont estè
Au monde de grand poesié
Qui aprisrent tote lor vie,
Des sept ars et le astronomie,
Dont aucuns i ot qui a leur tens,
Firent merveille par lor sens;
Mais cil qui plus s’en entremist,
Fu Virgile qui mainte enfist.
Pour ce si vous en conterons
Aucune dont oi avons.”

_L’Image du Monde_ .

Virgilio was as great a magician as he was a distinguished post. And of
the great works which he did when alive many are yet remembered here in
Florence, and among other things his skill was such that by means of it
he made statues sing and dance.

_Ecco come avenne_—behold how it came to pass! It chanced one day that
when walking alone in the environs of Florence, he found himself in a
place where there were four very beautiful Venuses. And looking at
them with great admiration, and observing their forms, he said:

“Truly they all please me well; and if they could converse I hardly know
which I would choose for a companion. _Ebbene_! I will make them all
talk and walk, live and move, and can then see if anyone of them will
show any gratitude for the gift of life.”

Then he took human fat, and anointed with it all the statues, and then of
the blood of a wild boar, and rubbed it very thoroughly over them, and
when this was done he waved his magic wand, and said:

“In the name of my magic art and power I order you to speak and move and
live!”

And with this they all awoke, as it were, from a long dream, and stepping
down from their pedestals, they walked about, seeming far more beautiful
than before. And they gathered round Virgil, for truly they were
enchanted with him as well as by him, in more ways than one, and embraced
and kissed him with a thousand caresses and endearments, and each and all
wished him to select her as his mate.

Then Virgilio, laughing, said:

“I know not which to choose among the four;
I cannot make all four into a wife;
But to determine who shall be the first,
Do ye go forth and seek each one a gift,
And come to-morrow evening to my house,
And she who brings the gift which I prefer
Shall be the fair one first preferred by me.”

And on the following eve the first who came was the Venus Agamene; thus
was she called who brought the first gift, and this was a splendid
diamond. Virgilio received it with admiration, but said that he must
wait to see what the others would bring before he could decide.

Then the second was announced, whose name was Enrichetta, and she
presented a marvellous garment, richly embroidered and adorned. And this
too was admired; but to her also Virgilio said he would await what was to
come.

The third, whose name was Veronica, brought such a wonderful bouquet of
flowers that the magician was more pleased with it than he had been by
the diamond or the robe.

Then there came the fourth, called Diomira, and she brought a splendid
crown of —. And Virgil preferred this to all, and gave the prize to
Diomira. So he bade them all come the next evening to a grand festival.
And when they came, it was indeed a wonderful assembly, for there were
present, and in life, all the statues from all the palaces. They came
down from their pedestals and danced in the house of Virgilio—nor did
they return until the early dawn; and so it came to pass that on that
night all the statues spoke and danced.

“They danced so merrily all the night,
Till the sun came in with a rosy light,
And touched the statues fair,
When in an instant every one
Was changed again to marble stone.
Per Bacco! I was there!”