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

458 lot more with them than with the people that actually do business with you. I would have reason to believe them, given what you tried out with me on your return from Villach to Piran. Nonetheless I do not wish to believe them, for I find it impossible that in the Tartini family, in which a good heart naturally dominates, one should become an exception and turn away from this nature. Nonetheless, knowing that we are men, I suspend judgement until our present circumstances allow me, with good evidence, to touch the truth first-hand. I therefore give you the news myself, that I bestow in my lifetime all that is mine on your male family, demanding firstly that all the debts of the house be immediately paid; secondly, that the remainder (if there is any) be employed in new purchases for the common benefit of the said male family. Of this good you are still a part, but directly contrasting with this good is your drafting of a family pact, made with your father, uncles and brothers on your return to the motherland, on the strength of which (so it is reported) you demand to be the absolute master of all the possessions and you behave in accordance with this claimed ownership. If that is so, and I do not know, it is impossible for my feelings to correspond to yours; indeed, on the contrary, being sure that mine are excellent and saintly, with the same certainty I say that yours (if they are such) are terrible and abominated by God and by men. It is therefore necessary that you openly declare yourself to me on this point which I propose to you, and that is: if you wish to take part in this good or not. If so, it is necessary to tear up the said document forever. If not, it is necessary that I totally exclude you from this good as a member cut off from our family, and that you use your money to repay the family’s debts and the loan I took out to buy back the paternal house for 1,500 ducats. Think carefully about what I say and then do what is advantageous to you, as in this suspension of my judgement I cannot tell you anything else, if not to follow my advice, if ever the consideration that you have for your wife might cause you to tip the scales towards the very condemnation of the whole family. My will, written in the supposition of making a provision for my wife, left her not the owner, but the usufructuary for the duration of her life, and after her death it declared the male family of Piran the universal heir, for the common benefit. Having God wished otherwise, I will execute my will in my lifetime, but will not give the final touches if I do not first know of your intention and resolution. I shall then wait for it with an impatience that is easy to imagine, and in giving you a most cordial embrace, praying God wholeheartedly for Him to give you every good and enlighten you for the present need, I am, ever more your most affectionate uncle Giuseppe Tartini