ocritical priests.

XXXVII., XXXVIII., XXXIX. A commentary on the first clauses of the
Lord's Prayer. Campanella tells the Italians they have no right to call
themselves men, the children of God in heaven, while they bow to
tyrants worse than beasts, and believe the lying priests who call that
adulation loyalty. If they free their souls from this vile servitude,
they may then pray with hopeful heart for the coming upon earth of
God's kingdom, which shall satisfy poets, philosophers, and prophets
with more than they had dreamed. It will be noticed that the rhymes are
carried from sonnet to sonnet; so that the three form one poem,
described by Adami as _sonetto trigemino_. In XXXVII., 13, I have
corrected _cenno_ into _senno_. In XXXIX., 1, I have ventured to render
_con ogni istanza_ by _with every hour that flies_, though _istanza_ is
not _istante_.

XL., XLL, XLII. These three sonnets, though not linked by rhymes, form
a series, predicting the speedy overthrow of tyrants, sophists,
hypocrites--Campanella's natural enemies--and the coming of a better
age for human society. They were probably written early, when his heart
was still hot with the hopes of a new reign of right and reason, which
even he might help to inaugurate. The eagle, bear, lion, crow, fox,
wolf, etc., are the evil principalities and powers of earth. No. XL.,
line 9: the giants are, I think, those lawless, selfish, anti-social
forces idealised by Machiavelli in his _Principe_, as Campanella read
that treatise--the strong men and mighty ones of an impious and godless
world. No. XLL, line 4: concerning _Taida, Sinon, Giuda, ed Omero_,
Adami says: 'These are the four evangelists of the dark age of
Abaddon.' Thais is a symbol of lechery; Sinon of fraud; Judas of
treason; Homer of lying fiction. So at least I read the allegory. No.
XLII., lines 9-14 are noticeable, since they set forth Campanella's
philosophical or evangelical communism, for a detailed exposition of
which see the _Civitas Solis_.

XLIII. Invited to write a comedy--and it will be here remembered that
Giordano Bruno had composed _Il Candelaio_--Campanella replied with
this impassioned outburst of belief in the approaching end of the
world. It belongs probably to his early manhood.

XLIV., XLV. Adami heads these two sonnets with this title: _Sopra i
colori delle vesti_. It is a fact that under the Spanish tyranny black
clothes were almost universally adopted by the Italians, as may be seen