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

314 and the anvil. My good will to help the house when I am able to must not cause me irrational and bothersome agitation, and from an excellent antecedent for the house there derives a terrible consequent for myself and my mood. I am a man tired by the continuous efforts of the mind and body; and if I am given a small extra push, I clearly know that I shall be able to resist no longer. However, given that I have been aware of my illness and my need for some time, I wrote to Signor Domenico, and also to you, so that you may spare me the afflictions, for me most grave and tangible, of letting me know and taste the ever greater misfortunes of the house, the imminent ruin (the exact words written to me yesterday by my nephew Pietro who is in Venice) and things of this nature. What do you think shall come from this conduct, if not the only terrible effect of giving me continuous suffering? I, for my part, dearest brother, have done what I believed it was my duty to do, for the sake of justice. A capital of roughly eighty thousand ducats is at this time ensured for you all and for the nephews and nieces, after the death of my wife, who is a mere usufructuary and strictly bound in many ways. May this serve you as a very sure rule for taking action there by yourselves without asking me for advice and help, as I know nothing precise about the interests of the house. Furthermore, I am a man totally unfit and useless for management, and actually totally foreign to it by nature, so that even if His Excellency Corner were able to buy, I would not take on this role in any way. But I tell you that the Corner household has stopped buying, and all the capital that was deposited for this purpose at the Mendicanti is in fact all invested. This shall also provide a sure indication to hope for nothing from this part. Moreover, you may all rest assured of my soul being inclined voluntarily to doing you any good that I can. But, dear brother, I cannot do this good in your way, I am forced by reason, by justice and by all motives to do it for you in my way, that is to say, as I have already done. If God gives me the way to be able, in the future, to behave in another manner, I shall do so without any prompting, because I am more willing to do it than you are to receive it. Many truths shall be seen one day that now are not believed; but I know better than anything what is within my soul. Together with my wife I cordially embrace you and everyone in the house, and I am your most affectionate brother Giuseppe Tartini