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

462 177. Tartini to his nephew Pietro May this letter of mine be always stored in your house with particular care with regard to the interest of Florence, which is aimed, as you know, at the common security of our affairs. It is written by me with the intention that, if necessary, it can have legal authority, as is proper. Padua, 6 August 1769 May we thank God, who through his mercy wants to give me, before my death, the consolation of hearing that there is among you a foundation of peace and Christian harmony. This is and has always been my only aim, and since the fact of my arrangements is irrefutable proof of this truth, so from this may the two brothers correct their error of interpreting my feelings in such a sinister way, for they were intended for anything but to offend them. We are all men, and if we claim to be infallible, we are worse than the devil; and if we claim to be devoid of passions, we are liars. If there is an obligation to inform one another of our faults, it is certainly greater among those of our own kin; and if there is, among you all, somebody who can correct those faults of mine that I truly have, but which I am not aware of, I shall thank him with humbled tongue. This is and shall be my constant feeling until my death, and from this you should all take your bearings to judge well with regard to what has hitherto happened, so that not the slightest bitterness should remain towards me in any of you, as I love you all equally; and I am incapable of cutting off my nose to spite my face. I repeat, may the facts convince you, and may this be over forever. Here then is the sincere confession of a mistake of mine, albeit unintentional. Dottor Pietro has reminded me in his letter of a debt I have with him, of fifty zecchini , which were spent in the case of Signor Domenico and taken with my consent and the promise to reimburse them. Let him know then that if he hadn’t reminded me, I would have died innocently without knowing and remembering it; whatever the reason of such forgetfulness on my part might have been, this is a debt of justice, and I thank him because he has reminded me. I wish everyone would do the same with me. So the money I owe him, with that surplus which amounts entirely to eighty ongari , you can either pay to him from the sum you have in your hands, if he needs it now; or, if he does not, during your visit to Padua, which in the present case is no longer necessary for you at the conditions given you, but let it be in September because I am old, and sufficiently worn out; I shall deliver it to you in the right amount of ongari , and I am pleased to have to take it from the money I reserved for my needs, so that he understands that I place justice and brotherly love before any needs in my own life. So be it, and I take no merit for this. Next, so that all of you know why I wish that, if there should be no male heir in our family, the Tartini family of Florence should be next in line in the inheritance, I shall let