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

251 LETTERS retire certainly not in Venice nor Padua, but near you who are blood of my blood, to end my life and leave my bones in Piran. Now, if after having given you all the money I had earned and coming to Piran, something similar happened to me, as I said above, put yourself in my shoes and imagine if that is something worth dying from a passion for. It is not something that is far from happening, because I myself ask you so that you can answer me if, should my wife come to Piran, you can promise, both for yourself and for your wife, not to come to these tribulations sometime or other and cause me to be left at the same time without garments, without a home, motherland and roof, because most certainly not once or more than once would I put up with these words and feelings, and I would give way immediately. Forgive me dear brother, I have many clues which lead me to believe that this might to happen to me, and if not on your part, who deep down have a good heart, but by your wife, who surely is not like that, and then these are women, but the great evil is those women who have total command over their husbands, because I am certain that if we should unluckily come to such a situation, it is certain that you would abandon your brother for your wife. Given that I have told you all of this and, I add, that if I gave this money each year, I should completely have to give up the convenience of going to England, I conclude that you should think carefully about our situations and that you should write and tell me what I should do between these two courses: either stay here or go to England. If I stay here, I can produce four hundred ducats each year; if I go to England, in three years I can acquire a good sum of money. I shall do everything that you wish, though I beg you, for me there are strong doubts and many dangers; God alone sees into my heart. For our brother Pietro all that I can presently do until we decide whether I will make this journey or stay here, is contribute one hundred ducats; seventy five are in Padua to cash in at the Arca del Santo , with regard to which I have given orders to my friend Saratelli 3 to cash in and give them to him when he goes to Padua, and twenty-five I shall have paid out by my correspondent in Venice who is Antonelli himself, who informs me that he has neither answered you nor sent my letter. When our brother goes to Padua, he must remember never to mention that I am employed here in Prague nor that I wish to go to England, but to just say that I have written a letter home, saying that I wish to return to Italy next summer. As for the priest then God shall provide, because for the moment here there is no means, nor any occasion. In the meantime answer me immediately, send my kind regards to everybody at home and our sisters and all the relatives and true friends, and while I beg you to send special regards to our esteemed mother and my sister-in-law, all that remains is to give you a very cordial embrace. Your most affectionate brother Giuseppe Tartini 3 Giuseppe Saratelli (1714-1762), Venetian musician. For the biography and an exhaustive bibliography on Saratelli see Valder-Knecht, 1984: pp. 111-114.