Giuseppe Tartini - Lettere e documenti / Pisma in dokumenti / Letters and Documents - Volume / Knjiga / Volume II

439 LETTERS public. What I can swear to you in such a circumstance is that in my life I have never had a displeasure greater than this and that this wound will remain open and spurt blood for as long as I live. I therefore wish Your Reverence to be informed of the fact; and since it is known for certain that some of these coppers have been sent outside Padua to many countries (indeed I have been assured that some have even been sent to Bologna), may Your Reverence imagine on the one hand the mortification of a poor Christian in such an annoying and delicate situation, and on the other be forewarned not only that you know things as they are, but also to defend me against those who do not know me and put off carrying out your intentions on this point until I find here someone else who does the sketch for me with quite a different approach. In this way the difference will be clearly perceived. God has wished to test me, and I must receive from his hands, even graciously, the greatest of the mortifications which I can endure, since it is most certain that I would rather have chosen for myself a lifelong disease than something of this sort. I take the opportunity of giving you in advance the information that in the archive of the canons no record whatsoever of the subject indicated to me by Your Reverence can be found. Here the noble Cicogna family still exists, and it is easy to believe that De Cyconijs was from this family. But the above-mentioned archive is in a remarkable state of disorder, and only since 1517 has there been an ordered register. Before that time there was no register whatsoever, but half a storeroom of scrolls all mixed up and with no order of any sort. Our famous antiquary, who is Signor Abate Brunazzi, and is a most distinguished patron of mine, worked in that archive for six years and more. He has all the important records and has seen all those scrolls. He assures me that, with regard to this canon De Ciconijs neither does he remember having seen him in any of the aforementioned scrolls, nor is he presently in any condition to plough through the system again: not for the toil, because for the particular fondness he has for me he would certainly do it; but due to the disagreements which presently exist between him and the chapter of the canons, none of whom are up to the task. I ask Your Reverence tell me what I therefore have to do: I’m ready to do anything to serve you. I shall add rather that Signor Abate Brunazzi himself has commanded me to let you know that he has in his hands an extremely ancient musical monument (it is an antiphonary) and it dates back to the beginning of the 1100s. If this can be of benefit and pleasure to Your Reverence, he will put it at your disposal. Please answer me also on this. I shall return to my wound, and I thank God that Your Reverence knows me well enough to believe that I am incapable of such blatant madness. But meanwhile, the cruel world may think that I was in agreement with the man who had the copper portrait made to publicly sing my praises with my consent. I challenge the whole world to find itself in a nastier and more damned circumstance than this one in which I am, for I am not only innocent, but furthermore urged solely by your solicitations to make myself available for the sketch, which means to sacrifice myself for a good patron who has asked me for his purpose to do something against my character, therefore by force.