Letter Marco to Cesar 12 May 1860 Archive Number 830A
Paris 12-5-1860
My dear boy
I really must scold you, but, before doing so, I must excuse myself to you for a joke which I made solely because I had been informed that Madame S. had left for Hungary, that your liaison with her was broken, and that you were courting the daughter of a millionaire ship owner. Consequently I am going to scold you for sending my letter to Madame S: for, since you admire this lady, she must be worthy of admiration; and, although I am very unconcerned with the opinion of mankind in general and of certain men in particular, I am most anxious that admirable people should have no annoyed (it seems that a word may have been left out here) on my account. I could leave it at that: none the less I think it wise to prove to you briefly that what I said in my last was only a joke. Please take care of this.
I know intimately a man who at the age of 21, could have married, in Petersburg, Baroness Louise de Reutz, who was worth a mere 3 million; he could have at the same time been the lover and perhaps husband, of Princess Kourakine, who had an income of 2 million, but who ….that was not where his heart lay! This same man could have married in Hamburg the daughter of one of the richest bankers in Europe: this young lady was 16 years old and as pretty as a picture – when a picture is pretty – in addition she had a dowry of four hundred thousand, a tidy sum without counting the rest, but… this naughty man loved elsewhere without a shred of interest¹. I rather seem to remember he spent vast sums of money on (here is an illegible word) gloves, polished shoes and scent. Later this villainous person could have married in Brussels the only daughter of a Count from Ghent who had a hundred thousand in funds; but … he preferred to marry a charming young lady, who indeed, had absolutely nothing; but…she had a gift of a high order and a heart of a higher order still. What else can I say? This man sometimes feels destined to die in a hospital or on a street corner of misery or hunger, but I swear to you in his name, knowing him as I do so intimately, that it is without a shadow of fear or complaint that he thinks the same of death which is so much dreaded by the generality of martyrs. Ah well, my boy, after that you can be convince that the man above mentioned has a greater regard for the least fibril of a good and loving heart (in English) “than all the riches of the earth” as your dear Lady says. And since you have sent her my first letter (in English) “prejudices and worldly ideas may not erect a barrier between you and her” she will see that (in English) without being superior to the ordinary run of men I agree with you. And finally she will see that, if she is so concerned that “that nice sentence in my letter could have been written in the plural”, I am only too happy to give up the singular and will be even more so to receive and embrace (in English) “our dearest English friends”. If after that, she is convinced that I prefer (in English) the riches of the heart and indeed much prefer them (in English ) to all the riches of the earth it will not perhaps be Her whom I shall accuse, but the poverty of my epistolary eloquence.
Indeed, I write straight from the pen and I really must lay it down, for my latest Italian lecture calls me insistently, and it even tells me in general terms that I have hardly commenced its preparation. Adieu or rather au revoir
Much love and many blessings
Your affectionate father
Marc-Aurele
PS I take up my pen again to tell you that the work which you mention to me in your letter was Essay on different readings to replace those which have hitherto subsisted in Dante’s Inferno, which I published in Bologna in 1855 and which has stirred up a wasps nest of literary men, young and old. The old wrote in the newspapers, but with the cunning of old foxes, that is to say in terms of praise but with strong qualifications, since my work must necessarily trouble their digestions. As for the young, they also wrote in the newspapers and extolled me to the heavens; among others Count Prosper Gherardi for the simple reason that only the young have hearts. However, I make an exception in favour of the old and celebrated Count Troya of Naples, who wrote some wonderful things about my book and believed me a young and vigorous athlete; which proves, after all, that my book did not reflect my 53 years. With regard to my grand Commentary, I still have it with me, not having been able to publish it in Italy, without mutilating and curtailing it in a manner which my paternal affection absolutely refused to do. It will be my dear children’s heritage
(Note ¹ It seems that financial interest must be meant by MA here)
My dear boy
I really must scold you, but, before doing so, I must excuse myself to you for a joke which I made solely because I had been informed that Madame S. had left for Hungary, that your liaison with her was broken, and that you were courting the daughter of a millionaire ship owner. Consequently I am going to scold you for sending my letter to Madame S: for, since you admire this lady, she must be worthy of admiration; and, although I am very unconcerned with the opinion of mankind in general and of certain men in particular, I am most anxious that admirable people should have no annoyed (it seems that a word may have been left out here) on my account. I could leave it at that: none the less I think it wise to prove to you briefly that what I said in my last was only a joke. Please take care of this.
I know intimately a man who at the age of 21, could have married, in Petersburg, Baroness Louise de Reutz, who was worth a mere 3 million; he could have at the same time been the lover and perhaps husband, of Princess Kourakine, who had an income of 2 million, but who ….that was not where his heart lay! This same man could have married in Hamburg the daughter of one of the richest bankers in Europe: this young lady was 16 years old and as pretty as a picture – when a picture is pretty – in addition she had a dowry of four hundred thousand, a tidy sum without counting the rest, but… this naughty man loved elsewhere without a shred of interest¹. I rather seem to remember he spent vast sums of money on (here is an illegible word) gloves, polished shoes and scent. Later this villainous person could have married in Brussels the only daughter of a Count from Ghent who had a hundred thousand in funds; but … he preferred to marry a charming young lady, who indeed, had absolutely nothing; but…she had a gift of a high order and a heart of a higher order still. What else can I say? This man sometimes feels destined to die in a hospital or on a street corner of misery or hunger, but I swear to you in his name, knowing him as I do so intimately, that it is without a shadow of fear or complaint that he thinks the same of death which is so much dreaded by the generality of martyrs. Ah well, my boy, after that you can be convince that the man above mentioned has a greater regard for the least fibril of a good and loving heart (in English) “than all the riches of the earth” as your dear Lady says. And since you have sent her my first letter (in English) “prejudices and worldly ideas may not erect a barrier between you and her” she will see that (in English) without being superior to the ordinary run of men I agree with you. And finally she will see that, if she is so concerned that “that nice sentence in my letter could have been written in the plural”, I am only too happy to give up the singular and will be even more so to receive and embrace (in English) “our dearest English friends”. If after that, she is convinced that I prefer (in English) the riches of the heart and indeed much prefer them (in English ) to all the riches of the earth it will not perhaps be Her whom I shall accuse, but the poverty of my epistolary eloquence.
Indeed, I write straight from the pen and I really must lay it down, for my latest Italian lecture calls me insistently, and it even tells me in general terms that I have hardly commenced its preparation. Adieu or rather au revoir
Much love and many blessings
Your affectionate father
Marc-Aurele
PS I take up my pen again to tell you that the work which you mention to me in your letter was Essay on different readings to replace those which have hitherto subsisted in Dante’s Inferno, which I published in Bologna in 1855 and which has stirred up a wasps nest of literary men, young and old. The old wrote in the newspapers, but with the cunning of old foxes, that is to say in terms of praise but with strong qualifications, since my work must necessarily trouble their digestions. As for the young, they also wrote in the newspapers and extolled me to the heavens; among others Count Prosper Gherardi for the simple reason that only the young have hearts. However, I make an exception in favour of the old and celebrated Count Troya of Naples, who wrote some wonderful things about my book and believed me a young and vigorous athlete; which proves, after all, that my book did not reflect my 53 years. With regard to my grand Commentary, I still have it with me, not having been able to publish it in Italy, without mutilating and curtailing it in a manner which my paternal affection absolutely refused to do. It will be my dear children’s heritage
(Note ¹ It seems that financial interest must be meant by MA here)