Zibaldone

by Leopardi, Giacomo

  After all, what in the structure, etc., of the world and its parts, for example of an animal, seems worthy of admiration to us, and extremely difficult to be devised, was not in fact at all difficult. Things [4143] are as they are because that is how they have to be, since their nature is absolute, or the nature of the powers and principles (whatever they are) that have produced them. If this nature had been different, if things had to be otherwise, they would be otherwise, but they would not be any less good and work less well (or rather worse and run worse) than they do now just as we see them.1 In fact what we call order and what seems to us a wonderful artifice, would be (and if we were capable of conceiving it, would seem to us) disorder and complete and extreme lack of artifice. In short there is no artifice in nature, because nature itself is the reason things go well, since they are ordered in this way rather than another, and this way is not absolutely necessary to their functioning well, but only relatively speaking to this mode of being of nature and no other, which if it were otherwise, things would not go well, nor could they preserve themselves, etc., except with another mode, etc. (Bologna, 8 October 1825.)

  Εὐθὺς for primum [at first]. Epictetus, Encheiridion, ch. 5.2

  “Κτῆσαι οὖν” (para, acquire, compara tibi), “φησὶν, ἵνα καὶ ἡμεῖς ἔχωμεν” [“Get it, they say, in order that we too may have it”]. Epictetus, Encheiridion, ch. 31.3

  “Κᾂν σὺν τούτοις ἐλθεῖν καθήκῃ, φέρε τὰ γινόμενα” “E se con queste cose,” that is con tutto questo, “ti conviene andare, porta in pace quel che ti accadrà, che te ne accade” [“And if despite all of this, you have to go, bear in peace whatever happens to you, because it will happen”]. Likewise Bartoli in Mogol,4 con essere, for con tutto l’essere, non ostante l’essere [despite being]. Italianism of Epictetus, Encheiridion, ch. 52. (Bologna, 9 Oct., Sunday, 1825.) The same phrase with the same meaning is found in ch. 39 too, end.5

  [4144] “Τῷ μὲν σωματίῳ” (for σώματι) “πάντα ἀδιάφορα” [“to the body everything is indifferent”]. Marcus Antoninus, 6, 2.1 Moreover *“the stoics love diminutives in order to show the worthlessness of things”* (Simpson, note on Epictetus, ch. 12): and *“in Arrian and Epictetus diminutives mean the worthlessness and contemptuousness of the thing itself, not the smallness of its size”* (id., in ch. 24).2 See p. 4145.

  Museau–muso [muzzle, snout]. Goupil or golpil, and for the feminine goupille, like vulpilla, with the usual change from v to g; old French word for renard [fox], in Pougens, Archéologie française, art. Goupil, with several derivatives, that is neuter verb goupiller, goupillage, and goupilleur, of which there are examples, loc. cit., tome 1.3 (Bologna, 10 Oct. 1825.)

  We know how poorly women in Greece and Rome were regarded, and how serving them and treating them as superior to men, as one does today, only originated, according to Thomas (Essai sur les femmes),4 in chivalric times from the customs of the northern conquerors of Europe, who according to ancient superstition thought of women as so many goddesses. Nonetheless it seems that at the time of the Roman Emperors the condition of women was already very similar to the present one. I say nothing of the odes of Horace and the books of Ovid, Tibullus, Propertius, etc. Epictetus, Encheiridion, ch. 52. “Αἱ γυναῖκες εὐθὺς ἀπὸ τεσσαρεσκαίδεκα ἐτῶν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνδρῶν κυρίαι καλοῦνται. τοιγαροῦν ὁρῶσαι ὅτι ἄλλο μὲν οὐδὲν αὐταῖς πρόσεστι, μόνον δὲ συγκοιμᾶσθαι τοῖς ἀνδράσιν, ἄρχονται καλλωπίζεσθαι καὶ ἐν τούτῳ πάσας ἔχειν τὰς ἐλπίδας” [“From the age of fourteen, women are called ladies by men. And so, seeing that there is nothing more for them than to sleep with men, they start beautifying themselves and all their hope resides in this”].5 *“See Servius, on Virgil, Aeneid 6, 397, Suetonius in Claudius, ch. 39.”*6 (Bologna, 1825, 10 October.) See p. 4246.

  Similarity between ancient and modern customs, or antiquity of customs believed modern. —The oil lamp of terracotta (clay) [4145] that was used by Epictetus, was sold for 3000 drachmas.1 See p. 4166 end. The rich Athenians as a luxury used to keep black servants. Theophrastus, Characters, ch. 21;2 Terence, Eunuch 1, 2, 85; the author of the Ad Herennium 4, 50; Visconti, Museo Pio Clementino, tome 3, fig. 35,3 representing the statue of a Black serving at the bath. At ancient spectacles da capo (αὖθις [more]) was shouted out as we do. See my Latin jottings on Xenophon’s Symposium.4 Likewise on keeping one or more monkeys at home. Ibid., ch. 4.5 See pp. 4170, 4298.

  For p. 4144, paragraph 1. The passage in Epictetus can be interpreted in this sense, Encheiridion, ch. 24,6 “τούτων ἐμοὶ οὐδὲν ἐπισημαίνεται, ἀλλ' ἢ τῷ σωματίῳ μου ἢ τῷ κτησιδίῳ μου ἢ τῷ δοξαρίῳ ἢ τοῖς τέκνοις ἢ τῇ γυναικί” [“none of these say anything about me but refer only to my poor body or my small property or my low reputation or my children or my wife”].

  “E comandolle che senza altro” (nulla) “dire, per sua propria l’allevasse” [“And he charged that without saying anything, she take her for her own and raise her”]. Caro, Gli Amori pastorali di Dafni e Cloe di Longo Sofista, first discussion, p. 6, Crisopoli (Pisa), 1814, in the 2nd volume of the “Collection of Greek Erotic Writers Translated into the Vernacular.”

  *“Mordiller. To bite lightly and frequently; to take a great number of little bites.”* Pougens, Archéologie française, art. mordiller, Paris 1821–1825, tome 2, p. 29. Old French word, adopted by Scarron and by Sévigné, and included as well in the Dictionary of the French Academy in the edition of 1798.

  It is perhaps little or not at all or not often enough observed that hope is a passion, a way of being, so inherent and inseparable from the feeling of life, that is from life itself, like thought, and like the love of oneself, and the desire for one’s own good. I live, therefore I hope, is an extremely accurate syllogism,7 except when we are not aware of life, as in sleep, etc. Desperation, strictly speaking, does not exist, and is as impossible for every [4146] living being, as true hatred of oneself is. Anyone who kills himself is not really without hope, any more than he really hates himself, or does not love himself.1 We always have hope in each moment of our life. Each moment is a thought, and so each moment is in a way an act of desire, and an act of hope as well, an act which is always logically distinguishable from, but nonetheless in practice usually almost identical with, the act of desire, and hope is almost identical with, or certainly inseparable from, desire. (Bologna, 18 October 1825.)

  Voleter for volitare [to flutter about]. Gilles Durant, ancient French poet, in Pougens, Archéologie française, art. oiselet, tome 2, p. 63, and Étienne Pasquier, in the same work, tome 2, p. 162, art. Pucette. (Bologna, 19 Oct. 1825.)

  Positivized Greek diminutives. Τεῦτλον–τευτλίον, τευτλὶς ίδος; or else σεῦτλον–σευτλίον, σευτλὶς ίδος [beet].

  The genitive for the accusative. Theophrastus, Characters, ch. 16,2 περὶ δεισιδαιμονίας [“On Superstition”]: “δάφνης εἰς τὸ στόμα λαβών” (having put some laurel in his mouth).

  Faux–faucille [Scythe–sickle]. Clientolo [client]. Trogo–truogolo–trogolo [trough]. Grillon [cricket]. See the French Dictionaries.

  *“Pilloter, active and neuter verb. To carry out multiple small looting raids; to pillage small amounts here and there.”* Old French verb, with its derivative pilloterie, in Pougens, Archéologie française, art. pilloter, tome 2, pp. 119–20. (21 October 1825, Bologna.)

  Contemptus, contemptior, etc., for contemptibilis [contemptible], etc. Infamato for infame [infamous]. See Crusca.

  Profusus for che profonde [lavish]. (Sallust, Catiline 5, “alieni appetens, sui profusus” [“greedy for other men’s property and lavish with his own”].) See Forcellini. Italian profuso. Spanish profuso. O
ld French profus, in Pougens, Archéologie française, tome 2, p. 152, art. profus. English profuse. All with the same active sense. (Bologna, 23 Oct., Sunday, 1825.)

  ViVuola–viVola, viola: musical instrument, and a flower. Spanish viHuela. See addition L in the Veronese Crusca, art. “H,”3 and the Crusca. See vivuola and gargagliare [to mumble].

  Κηλὶς ῖδος [stain] probably a positivized diminutive.

  [4147] Réviser, raviser [to review, to revise] in French to be added to what I said above [→Z 2843–45, 3005] about divisare, avvisare [to plan, to inform], etc.

  Rétentive for faculté de retenir, mémoire [faculty of retaining, memory], feminine noun, old French word, in Pougens, Archéologie française, tome 2, p. 203. Appendix to the letter “R,” art. Rétenteur. Spanish retentiva and English retentive with the same sense. To be added to what I said elsewhere [→Z 2757] about retinere, etc.

  ῎Αγνωστος for che non conosce, active, like Latin ignotus [unknowing], mentioned elsewhere [→Z 3686]. Theophrastus, Characters, ch. 23, middle, where Coray and other interpreters mistakenly explain it as a passive, inconnu. La Bruyère: “des gens qu’il ne connoît point et dont il n’est pas mieux connu” [“people he does not know and by whom he is no better known”].1 (Bologna, 26 October 1825.)

  Trafelato for che trafela, trafelante [panting]. Scialacquato [squanderer, dissolute], see Crusca, §§ 1 and 2.

  Moscolo, muschio–muscus, musco [moss]. Lucerta–lucertola, lucertolone [lizard], etc.

  *“Posidippus, a rival of Menander, reproaches the Athenian affectation for its incivility in judging acceptable only the accent and language of Athens, and in reprimanding or making fun of any foreigner who does not have it or speak it. Atticism, as he says on this occasion, in a fragment cited by Dicaearchus, a friend of Theophrastus, of whom I spoke above” (the passage of Dicaearchus can be found in The Minor Greek Geographers, I think. See Creuzer, Meletemata, where the Dicaearchus fragment is),2 “is the language of one of the cities of Greece, Hellenism that of all the others,”* J. G. Schweighaeuser, note 24 to La Bruyère’s Discourse on Theophrastus. Les Caractères de Théophraste, translated by La Bruyère, with addenda and new notes by J. G. Schweighaeuser, Paris, Renouard, 1816, 3rd tome of La Bruyère’s Oeuvres, pp. LIII–IV. (Bologna, 26 Oct. 1825.)

  [4148] Verba [words], plural. Author of the poem “La passione di Cristo nostro Signore” attributed to Boccaccio, in Perticari, Opere, Lugo, 1823, vol. 3, p. 453.1—Calcagna [heels]. Lineamenta [features]. Sacca [sacks].

  Ogli was said in former times for occhi [eyes] (like periglio from periculum [danger]) (and so perhaps oglio as well for occhio), although it is not in the Dictionaries, and Perticari has demonstrated it by three examples in one of his letters, Opere, Lugo 1823, vol. 3, p. 577, note. (Bologna, 1825, 27 Oct.)

  Ronzino, ronzone [nag, May bug], probably positivized diminutives. Likewise sillon, sillonner [furrow, to furrow], etc.

  *“Trottiner, to trot with small steps.”* Old French verb, cited in Richelet’s Dictionary and in the Trévoux Dictionary, and used as well by Piron. Pougens, Archéologie française, art. trottiner, tome 2, p. 249.—Sautiller [to hop, to skip].

  Tance–tançon. Synonyms, Old French, meaning *“the act of scolding, of reprimanding; scolding, argument, quarrel.”* Id. ibid., Appendix to the letter “T,” art. Tanceur, tome 2, p. 251. (Bologna, 1825, 28 Oct.)

  Pouvoir [power]—Old French pooir, noun, as can be seen ibid., art. Triplication, tome 2, p. 248. Gengia–gengiva [gum].

  Rado, rasum—French raser, raschiare [to scrape] frequentative-diminutive as if rasculare, raschiatura [scraping], etc.

  Adulater, Old French verb for to flatter, used by Brantôme, Dames galantes, tome 1, p. 322, in Pougens, Archéologie française, Addenda and corrections to the first volume, page 8, art. Aduler, tome 2, p. 274. (Bologna, 1825, 29 Oct.)

  Tournoyer [to wheel around] frequentative, etc., like flamboyer [to blaze], etc. Numéroter [to number].

  Voglioloso [longing for], vogliolosamente [longingly]. Freddoloso [feeling the cold].

  Nonpareil, or non pareil (see the French Dictionaries.) —Theophrastus, Characters, ch. 28: “῾Η δὲ πονηρία οὐδὲν ὅμοιον” (the Vatican manuscript has οὐ ὅμοιον). “His stinginess, miserliness” (which is how πονηρία should be interpreted here) “is without equal, beyond compare.”

  *“Enfantiller. To act childishly, to play in a childlike way.”* Old French verb in Pougens, Archéologie française, Appendix to the letter “E,” art. [4149] Enfantiller, tome 1, p. 194.—“Fendiller (se). To crack, to open up in small cracks or fissures.” Old French verb in the same author, same work, art. Fendiller, p. 202, tome 1 and in the Appendices and corrections to the second volume, page 202, line 16, tome 2, p. 300. (Bologna, 1825, 30 Oct.)

  Strascinare–strascicare, strascico [to drag, dragging], etc. Biasciare–biascicare [to munch].

  Coray observes (Notes on Theophrastus’s Characters ch. 26, note 9, Paris 1799, p. 314) that *“παχὺς fat has the figurative sense rich”* quoting at the foot of the page *“the Scholiast to Aristophanes, Wasps, 287,”* and so in ch. 26 of Theophrastus’s Characters, translates *“by poor the word λεπτὸς which literally means thin or slender,”* in the passage of Theophrastus on the “oligarch” (περὶ ὀλιγαρχίας), “καὶ ὡς αἰσχύνεται ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ” [“how he feels shame”] (says ὁ ὀλίγαρχος [the oligarch] speaking about himself) “ὅτ' ἄν τις παρακάθηται αὐτῷ λεπτὸς καὶ αὐχμῶν” [“whenever someone sits next to him poor and squalid”] (*“poor, badly dressed and dirty,”* Coray).1 See the Lexicons on παχὺς. Similarly we say fat merchant, fat landowner, fat family and the like, for rich. (Bologna, 31 October 1825.) See the French and Spanish.

  Soletto [all alone] adjectival positivized diminutive, and likewise Old French, seulet. *“‘Timon, cest insigne et beau haysseur d’homme, qui, tant envieusement, mangea son pain seulet’ [‘Timon, that hater of mankind of wondrous fame, who, so enviously used to eat his bread all on his own’]. Noël Dufail, Contes d’Eutrapel (big debate between Lupold, etc.) fol. 154, 5th”* in Pougens, Archéologie française, Addenda and corrections, tome 2, p. 302, on page 243, line 6 of the 1st tome.

  Coccola [berry]. Rastro–rastrello [cultivator–rake], etc. Fraga–fragola [strawberry]. Cocuzzolo or cucuzzolo [top, crown]. Razzare–razzolare [to scratch about]. Curata or corata–coratella or curatella or coradella [offal], etc. See the Crusca.

  Fiasco–flacon [flask]. Pila–pilon [pestle]. See the French Dictionaries. Radium–rayon [ray].

  I am, pardon the metaphor, a walking sepulchre, and inside me I carry a dead man, a once very sensitive heart that feels no more, etc. (Bologna, 3 Nov. 1825.)2

  [4150] Satollo [full, satiated] lexicalized diminutive adjective from satur, as if saturellus, or satullus, the diminutive in ullus being formed from the ending in ur, in the same way as the diminutive in ellus is formed from the ending in er (puer–puellus [boy–little boy]) and perhaps that in illus from that in ir, which I do not remember any examples of for the moment. See if Forcellini and Glossary have anything under satullus. (Bologna, 3 November 1825.)

  ᾿Ορθία ἰσχυρῶς fortemente, that is molto, erta [very steep] Xenophon, ᾿Ανάβασις [Anabasis] 1, 2, 21.

  Arrampicare, rampicare, arpicare (perhaps rather from ἕρπω, like inerpicare, etc.)—rampare, ramper [to climb], etc. Biancicare [to whiten]. Luccicare [to glisten].

  Variato or vaiato, svariato, disvariato, divariato for vario or vaio [varied] (Bologna, 4 Nov. 1825) or svario, adjective.

  Uva–ugola [uvula]. Note, as well as the positivization of the diminutives the change from v to g. Our ancient writers also said uvola.

  Scalprum, scalpro–scarpello [knife, cutting instrument] with its derivatives. See the French and Spanish.

  Rinfocolare [to rekindle]. Razzare–razzolare [to scratch about]. Brancolare [to
fumble about]. Ruzzare–ruzzolare [to romp about–to tumble].

  Desiderative verbs as well (or whatever they call them) are formed from the supines. Edo–esum–esurio [to desire to eat], pario–partum–parturio [to give birth, to produce], mingo–mictum–micturio [to make water].

  Agiato, agiatamente, disagiato [comfortable, comfortably, uncomfortable], etc., aisé, aisément, mal-aisé, etc., for agevole [easy] that is agibilis (which corresponds to facilis [easy], that is fattibile [doable, feasible]), are none other than participles in place of adjectives, that is actus in place of and with the same meaning as agibilis, etc. (Bologna, 6 Nov. 1825.) Inexoratus for inexorabilis [inexorable].

  Burchio–burchiello [barge–wherry]. Marco [mark, as in money], marca–marchio [mark, as in stamp or trademark]; marcare–marchiare [to mark, to brand]. Sarda–sardella [sardine], and our vulgar sardone.

  Tratteggiare [to trace, to outline], frequentative. Atteggiare [to move, to affect]. Tasteggiare [to touch lightly]. Aleggiare [to flutter, waft].

  Adombrato, neuter, for che adombra [giving shade, putting in shadow]. See the Crusca and aombrato as well. Trasognato for che trasogna [daydreaming, lost in thought].

  Ghignare, sghignare—ghignazzare, sghignazzare [to snigger, to laugh scornfully]. Svolazzare [to flutter]. Ammalazzato [sickly]. Strombazzare [to blare].

  [4151] Germer, Latin and Italian germinare–germogliare almost germiculare or germuculare, or germinuculare [to sprout, to germinate]. Similarly germoglio, like germiculus or germuculus, lexicalized diminutive of germen, germe [bud, shoot].—Spiccare–spicciolare, spicciolato [to pick, plucked], etc. Abbrustolare, abbrustolire [to brown, to roast], etc. Aggrumolare. Aggroppare–aggrovigliare [to tangle].