My literature class this semester is about Carlo Goldoni, the eighteenth-century playwright who reformed the Italian theater. Today, we learned what he said in a 1753 letter to Francesco de Medici about happiness. According to Goldoni, these are the necessities for being happy:
1. To exist.
You cannot be happy if you do not exist.
2. To be a Christian. Specifically, a Catholic.
Goldoni was not a religious person. He avoided the subject entirely. The recipient of the letter, however, was a devout Catholic.
3. To have a "well-organized body." That is, to be physically healthy.
The soul is equal for everyone, so it's only the health of your body that has any effect on happiness.
4. To have had honest parents.
Presumably, having had honest parents means that you will be, as well?
5. To have been born a man.
Self-explanatory, really.
6. To have been born is a good country: free, cultured, democratic, and with nice weather.
He was talking about Florence.
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