'Some men are endowed at birth with such graces that they seem not to have been born, but rather as if some god had formed them with his very hands and adorned them'

On Gracefulness | from Pages Past!

Manners maketh a person, as the wonderful adage of yore, goes!

In memory of Professor George Thomas Kuzhivelil, who was always known for his virtuous life, his integrity and his graceful manners, this little series intends to focus on a few instances from literatures of the past, - from off sages, pages and ages of the past - literary allusions that throw light on what it takes to be a graceful person endowed with good manners. 

Shall we then, start off from the Renaissance downwards, on this, our brief sojourn, dear ladies and gentlemen!

Well, conduct books pertaining to public decency, propriety, good taste and decorum, [which today goes by the term social etiquette,] were a rage and sensation during the Renaissance in England.

These books on social grooming then, were considered much important for the all-round development of a person, giving them an over-all personality as such!

Tells us how the concept of a gentleman or gentlewoman received such prominence and such great focus in these times of yore, in centuries past!

In this regard, Count Baldassare Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier is an amazing treatise written way back during the Renaissance times, in the year 1528, that sought to prescribe the virtues of an ideal courtier and the graceful qualities that he was required to cultivate on himself.

Qualities of nobility, gentleness and public decency are discussed through means of imagined conversations that happen all through this longyyy book of ages past!

The treatise also has wonderful takes on the responsibilities of a good government and finally, contain some expostulations on the true nature of love, that are, by today’s standards, kinda sexist and scandalous, but nevertheless have such aesthetic merit on them!

The Translator's Preface to the English version of the book, [originally written in Italian] has some memorable lines of merit from the translator himself –

Here goes -

The popularity long enjoyed by this old book, the place that it holds in Italian literature, and the fact that it is almost inaccessible to English readers, seem to furnish sufficient reason for a new translation.

The art of the Italian Renaissance delights us by its delicate and gentle beauty, and yet we know that life during this period was often gross and violent. To understand this, we must remember that art is more the expression of the ideal than of the actual, and that men's ideals are loftier than their practice. Castiglione gives utterance to the finest aspirations of his time.

His pages will lack interest only when mankind ceases to be interesting to man, and will reward study so long as the past shall continue to instruct the present and the future.

This said, let’s now move on to know what’s in store, straight from the horse’s mouth – from Count Baldassare Castiglione himself! And let’s try reading this piece in the context of its social milieu, and not judge it by our present standards, please!

Here we go!

I wish, then, that this Courtier of ours should be nobly born and of gentle race; because it is far less unseemly for one of ignoble birth to fail in worthy deeds, than for one of noble birth, who, if he strays from the path of his predecessors, stains his family name, and not only fails to achieve but loses what has been achieved already; for noble birth is like a bright lamp that manifests and makes visible good and evil deeds, and kindles and stimulates to virtue both by fear of shame and by hope of praise.

And since this splendour of nobility does not illumine the deeds of the humbly born, they lack that stimulus and fear of shame, nor do they feel any obligation to advance beyond what their predecessors have done; while to the nobly born it seems a reproach not to reach at least the goal set them by their ancestors.

And thus it nearly always happens that both in the profession of arms and in other worthy pursuits the most famous men have been of noble birth, because nature has implanted in everything that hidden seed which gives a certain force and quality of its own essence to all things that are derived from it, and makes them like itself: as we see not only in the breeds of horses and of other animals, but also in trees, the shoots of which nearly always resemble the trunk; and if they sometimes degenerate, it arises from poor cultivation.

And so it is with men, who if rightly trained are nearly always like those from whom they spring, and often better; but if there be no one to give them proper care, they become like savages and never reach perfection.

It is true that, by favour of the stars or of nature, some men are endowed at birth with such graces that they seem not to have been born, but rather as if some god had formed them with his very hands and adorned them with every excellence of mind and body.

So too there are many men so foolish and rude that one cannot but think that nature brought them into the world out of contempt or mockery.

Just as these can usually accomplish little even with constant diligence and good training, so with slight pains those others reach the highest summit of excellence.

Therefore he who wishes to be a good pupil, besides performing his tasks well, must put forth every effort to resemble his master, and, if it were possible, to transform himself into his master.

And when he feels that he has made some progress, it will be very profitable to observe different men of the same calling, and governing himself with that good judgment which must ever be his guide, to go about selecting now this thing from one and that thing from another.

And as the bee in the green meadows is ever wont to rob the flowers among the grass, so our Courtier must steal this grace from all who seem to possess it, taking from each that part which shall most be worthy praise; and not act like a friend of ours whom you all know, who thought he greatly resembled King Ferdinand the Younger of Aragon, and made it his care to imitate the latter in nothing but a certain trick of continually raising the head and twisting one side of the mouth, which the king had contracted from some infirmity.

And there are many such, who think they gain a point if only they be like a great man in some thing; and frequently they devote themselves to that which is his only fault.

To be continued…

image: amazondotcom