Today we read L’orologio da rote, by Ciro di Pers. Complaining about technology is not something modern. So while today we blame social media for decline in mental health and ai for stealing jobs and possibly killing everybody (and I’m not saying I disagree…), back in the 1600s one would complain about… clocks. Channeling something of a pre-Marxist sensibility, Ciro da Pers sees in mechanical clocks, and in particular in their relentless regularity, a tool that violently cuts up the days, and a stark reminder of the passage of time. When he hears its tolling he is urged to act, before his allotted time expires. The concluding terzina is particularly striking. Ciro states that, in a sense, the clock is the cause of time running on; and that when it strikes its bell, it’s actually knocking on our tomb, so that it opens to receive us. The original: Mobile ordigno di dentate rote
lacera il giorno e lo divide in ore,
ed ha scritto di fuor con fosche note
a chi legger le sa: Sempre si more.
Mentre il metallo concavo percuote,
voce funesta mi risuona al core;
né del fato spiegar meglio si puote
che con voce di bronzo il rio tenore.
Perch’io non speri mai riposo o pace,
questo, che sembra in un timpano e tromba,
mi sfida ognor contro all’età vorace.
E con que’ colpi onde ’l metal rimbomba,
affretta il corso al secolo fugace,
e perché s’apra, ognor picchia alla tomba.\ The music in this episode is Vivaldi’s Concerto for 2 Oboes in A minor, RV 536 — I. Allegro, by The Modena Chamber Orchestra (under creative commons from musopen).
