quarians, although in all probability the dance derives its curious
appellation from the Greek city of Taranto, whence the Tarentines
introduced its steps and action into other parts of Italy. But vulgar
belief is very strong, so that this graceful dance is still closely
associated in the popular mind with the _tarantula_, a kind of poisonous
spider found in the neighbourhood of Taranto, the effects of whose bite
are said to yield to violent exercise followed by profuse perspiration. In
order to excite the proper amount of exertion necessary for the cure, the
person afflicted, _il tarantolato_, is induced to leap and caper by the
sound of music, with the result that there exist a number of tunes
specially connected with this wild species of dancing. The real
explanation of this fable seems to lie in the extremely excitable nature
of the Tarentines themselves, assisted by the exhilarating music and by
frequent pulls at the wine barrel. The two lines sung to the air of one of
the tunes employed:

"Non fu Taranta, ne fu Tarantella,
Ma fu la vino della carratella:"

("It was neither the taranta, nor the tarantella, but it was the
wine from the cask.")

sums up pretty accurately the real cause of these strange Tarentine
orgies, which have really nothing whatever in common with the rhythmical
dance that is still so popular in the environs of Naples. Nevertheless the
theory of _tarantella_ and _tarantismo_ has been gravely discussed by old
Italian writers, and a certain learned prelate of the fifteenth century,
Niccolo Perotto, Archbishop of Siponto, alludes to the malignant cause of
this dance-cure as "a species of speckled spider, dwelling in rents of the
ground caused by excessive heat. It was not known in the time of our
fore-fathers, but now it is very common in Apulia ... and is generally
called _Tarantula_. Its bite seldom kills a man, yet it makes him half
stupid, and affects him in a variety of ways. Some, when a song or tune is
heard, are so excited that they dance, full of joy and always laughing,
and do not stop till they are entirely exhausted; others spend a miserable
life in tears, as if bewailing the loss of friends. Some die laughing, and
others in tears."

Such is the curious legend concerning the origin of the Tarantella, which
is still danced with something of the old spirit by the holiday-making
crowds of Naples, though it is at the _festa_ of San Michele, the patron
of Procida,