Massacre of the Innocents

The Massacre of the Innocents by Giambattista Marino, translated by Erik Butler, 111 pages

Generally regarded as the greatest Italian Baroque poet, Giambattista Marino's reputation has waxed and waned along with that of the Baroque more generally.  Celebrated in his own time by figures as varied as Monteverdi and Milton, he was vilified in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries before being rehabilitated in the twentieth by admirers including Benedetto Croce and Jorge Luis Borges.  

The Massacre of the Innocents was not published during Marino's lifetime.  It is an epic retelling of the slaughter of the infants on the orders of Herod the Great after the birth of Christ, as told in the Gospel according to St Matthew.  The story is, of course, heavily embellished - Marino has Herod construct a special pavilion for the massacre and also inserts a subplot which introduces an element of poetic justice.  This gives the poet freedom to craft elaborate scenes of horror and bloodshed, which he does with skill and energy.  Unfortunately, the excessive brutality does not effectively connect with his broader theme of the triumph of innocence.  Ultimately, despite certain superficial touches, Marino's poem resembles Virgil more than Dante, focused on "arms and the man" rather than the cosmic significance of events.