The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Volume 10: under the Leads — Inside the Classic

The Oracle of Ariosto

Under the Leads, Casanova devises a method to predict his release using Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. He writes a question to a supposed Intelligence, converts the words into numbers, and through a reversed pyramid and subtraction of nine arrives at canto nine, stanza seven, verse one. Opening the poem, he reads: “Fra il fin d'ottobre, a il capo di novembre.” The line’s precision—pointing to the instant between the end of October and beginning of November—strikes him as “so wonderful” that he admits placing faith in it. He later escapes at midnight on October 31st, aligning with the oracle. This episode reveals Casanova’s blend of skepticism and superstition, treating a literary work as a divinatory tool while acknowledging his own willingness to “make the prediction a correct one.”

Psychological Warfare in the Cell

Casanova’s handling of the traitor Soradaci demonstrates calculated manipulation. After Soradaci confesses his betrayal and claims to suffer divine punishment—ulcers in his mouth and pains in his bowels—Casanova feigns forgiveness. He tells Soradaci that the Virgin of the Rosary appeared to him at daybreak, commanding pardon. Casanova’s narrative emphasizes his own performance: “My cue was to pretend to believe him, and to make him hope for mercy.” He plans an attack “against which it was improbable that he could defend himself.” This passage showcases Casanova’s psychological acuity and his willingness to deceive even a desperate man, framing his actions as both strategic and theatrical.

The Material Culture of Imprisonment

The excerpts detail the physical objects that define Casanova’s captivity. His cell contains a desk, papers, and a bed; his possessions include not only occult manuscripts but also Petrarch, Ariosto, Horace, and a manuscript titled The Military Philosopher. The confiscation of The Aretin by name indicates that Manuzzi’s denunciation was precise. Casanova’s dressing in a laced shirt and holiday suit for his arrest suggests a deliberate assertion of identity. Later, he uses the Orlando Furioso as both a physical book and a tool for divination. These details ground the narrative in tangible items—books, clothing, writing implements—that carry symbolic weight, linking intellectual life to the material conditions of confinement.

Readers should attend to how Casanova constructs his own agency within a system designed to strip it away. His use of Ariosto as an oracle, his manipulation of Soradaci, and his careful self-presentation all reflect a mind that treats imprisonment as a stage. The catalog subjects—European history and biography—frame this volume as a historical document, but the excerpts reveal a narrative driven by psychological games and literary play rather than political events.

Reading Casanova’s frantic hope, casting Ariosto’s lines for a sign, I recalled my own anxious hours with a tattered encyclopedia. I wasn’t fleeing the Leads, but the feeling—clinging to printed words for a promise of escape—was the same. That old companion sits here now, its quiet certainty a comfort. Memoirs of the Distinguished Men of Science of Great Britain Living in the Years 1807-8 — A Reader’s Guide holds that same steadying weight.