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Title: Dante
Author: Edmund G. Gardner
Release date: October 31, 2023 [eBook #71990]
Language: English
Original publication: New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1923
Credits: Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DANTE ***
DANTE
BY
EDMUND G. GARDNER, M.A.
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
681 FIFTH AVENUE
Copyright, 1923
By E. P. Dutton & Company
_All Rights Reserved_
PRINTED IN THE UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA
TO
PHILIP H. WICKSTEED
A SMALL TRIBUTE
OF
DEEP AFFECTION AND HIGH ESTEEM
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I would ask the reader to take the present volume, not as a new book on
Dante, but merely as a revision of the Primer which was first published
in 1900. It has been as far as possible brought up to date, the chief
modifications being naturally in the sections devoted to the poet’s
life and _Opere minori_, and in the bibliographical appendix; but the
work remains substantially the same. Were I now to write a new Dante
Primer, after the interval of nearly a quarter of a century, I should
be disposed to attach considerably less importance to the allegorical
meaning of the _Divina Commedia_, and to emphasise, more than I have
here done, the aspect of Dante as the symbol and national hero of Italy.
E. G. G.
LONDON, _July, 1923_.
N.B.--The “Sexcentenary Dante” (the _testo critico_ published under
the auspices of the _Società Dantesca Italiana_) adopts a slightly
different numbering of the chapters, or paragraphs, of the _Vita Nuova_
and the second treatise of the _Convivio_ from that presented by the
“Oxford Dante” and the “Temple Classics.” I have kept to the latter
(which is indicated in brackets in the _testo critico_). Similarly, I
have followed the numbering of the _Epistolae_ in Dr. Toynbee’s edition
and the “Oxford Dante” (also given in brackets in the _testo critico_).
In the section on the lyrical poetry, _Rime_ refers to the _testo
critico_ as edited by Professor Barbi, _O_. to the new Oxford edition
revised by Dr. Toynbee. In the closing passage of the Letter to a
Florentine friend, I have followed the reading retained by Dr. Toynbee.
I have frequently availed myself of Dr. Wicksteed’s translation of the
Letters and _Monarchia_, of Mr. A. G. F. Howell’s version of the _De
Vulgari Eloquentia_, and occasionally of Carlyle’s rendering of the
_Inferno_. Every student of Dante must inevitably owe much to others;
but, in this new edition of my Primer, I would express my indebtedness
in particular to the writings of Dr. Paget Toynbee, Dr. Philip H.
Wicksteed, the late Ernesto Giacomo Parodi, and Prof. Michele Barbi.
⁂ To the Bibliographical Appendix should be added: A. Fiammazzo, _Il
commento dantesco di Graziolo de’ Bambaglioli_ (Savona, 1915), and P.
Revelli, _L’Italia nella Divina Commedia_ (Milan, 1923).
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
DANTE IN HIS TIMES--
I. The End of the Middle Ages.--II. Dante’s Childhood and
Adolescence.--III. After the Death of Beatrice.--IV. Dante’s Political
Life.--V. First Period of Exile.--VI. The Invasion of Henry VII.--VII.
Last Period of Exile.--VIII. Dante’s Works and First Interpreters 1
CHAPTER II
DANTE’S MINOR ITALIAN WORKS--
I. _The Vita Nuova._--II. _The Rime._--III. _The Convivio_ 67
CHAPTER III
DANTE’S LATIN WORKS--
I. The _De Vulgari Eloquentia_.--II. _The Monarchia._--III. _The
Epistolae._--IV. _The Eclogae._--V. The _Quaestio de Aqua et Terra_ 102
CHAPTER IV
THE “DIVINA COMMEDIA”--
I. Introductory.--II. The _Inferno_.--III. The _Purgatorio_.--IV.
The _Paradiso_ 136
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX 223
DIAGRAMS AND TABLES 233
INDEX 249
DANTE
CHAPTER I
DANTE IN HIS TIMES
1. _The End of the Middle Ages_
FROM GREGORY VII. TO FREDERICK II.--The twelfth and thirteenth
centuries cover the last and more familiar portion of the Middle Ages.
They are the period of chivalry, of the crusades and of romance, when
the Neo-Latin languages bore fruit in the prose and poetry of France,
the lyrics of the Provençal troubadours, and the earliest vernacular
literature of Italy; the period which saw the development of Gothic
architecture, the rise of scholastic philosophy, the institution of
the Franciscan and Dominican orders, the recovery by western Europe
of the works of Aristotle, the elevation of Catholic theology into a
systematic harmony of reason and revelation under the influence of the
christianised Aristotelianism of Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas.
The vernacular literature of Italy developed comparatively late, and
(until the time of Aquinas and Bonaventura) her part in the scholastic
movement was secondary to that of France, but she had led the way in
the revival of the study of Roman law and jurisprudence, which centred
at Bologna, where the great Irnerius taught at the beginning of the
twelfth century. It was thus that the first European university,
_studium generale_, came into being, and Bologna boasts the proud title
_alma mater studiorum_.
There are two predominant political factors in Italy which appear at
the end of the twelfth century, and hold the field up to the time
of Dante’s birth. Out of the war of investitures between Pope and
Emperor, the struggle which we associate mainly with the name of
Hildebrand (Gregory VII.), emerged the Italian city-states, the free
communes of northern and central Italy, whose development culminated
in the heroic resistance offered by the first Lombard League to the
mightiest of mediaeval German Caesars, Frederick I. (Barbarossa), which
won the battle of Legnano (1176) and obtained the peace of Constance
(1183). In the south, the Normans--conquering Apulia and Calabria,
delivering Sicily from the Saracens--consolidated their rule into a
feudal monarchy, making their capital Palermo one of the most splendid
cities of the mediaeval world. The third and last of these Norman kings
of Sicily, William II. (_Par._ xx. 61-66), died in 1189. The son of
Barbarossa, Henry VI., claimed the kingdom in the right of his wife
Constance (_Par._ iii. 115-120), and established the Suabian dynasty on
the throne. His son, Frederick II., continued the cultured traditions
of the Norman kings; but the union in his person of the kingdom of
Sicily with the Empire led to a continuous struggle with the Italian
communes and the Papacy, which embittered his closing years until his
death in 1250. The reign of Frederick II. is the period of the Guelf
and Ghibelline factions, and the beginning of the rise of tyrants in
the Italian cities, tyrants of whom the most terrible example was
Ezzelino da Romano (_Inf._ xii. 110).
THE BATTLE OF BENEVENTO.--The policy of Frederick II. was continued by
his son Manfred (crowned King of Sicily in 1258), against whom Pope
Clement IV., claiming the right to dispose of the kingdom as a fief
of the Church, summoned Charles of Anjou, the brother of St. Louis
of France. Charles entered Italy (_Purg._ xx. 67), encountered and
defeated Manfred on the plains of Grandella near Benevento, in February
1266, and the papal legate refused the rites of Christian burial to the
fallen king (_Purg._ iii. 124-132). This battle of Benevento marks an
epoch in Italian history. It ended for the time the struggle between
the Roman Pontiffs and the German Caesars; it initiated the new strife
between the Papacy and the royal house of France. Henceforth the old
ideal significance of “Guelf” and “Ghibelline,” as denoting adherents
of Church and Empire respectively, becomes lost in the local conflicts
of each Italian district and city. The imperial power was at an end
in Italy; but the Popes, by calling in this new foreign aid, had
prepared the way for the humiliation of Pope Boniface at Anagni and
the corruption of Avignon. The fall of the silver eagle from Manfred’s
helmet before the golden lilies on Charles’s standard may be taken as
symbolical. The preponderance in Italian politics had passed back from
Germany to France; the influence of the house of Capet was substituted
for the overthrown authority of the Emperor (_Purg._ xx. 43, 44). Three
weeks after the battle Charles entered Naples in triumph, King of
Apulia and Sicily; an Angevin dynasty was established upon the throne
of the most potent state of Italy.
ART AND LETTERS.--This political transformation was profoundly felt
in Italian literature. A new courtly poetry, that of the so-called
“Sicilian School,” had come into being in the south, partly based on
Provençal models, in the first quarter of the thirteenth century. Its
poets--mainly Sicilians and Apulians, but with recruits from other
parts of the peninsula--had almost given to Italy a literary language.
“The Sicilian vernacular,” writes Dante in his _De Vulgari Eloquentia_,
“seems to have gained for itself a renown beyond the others; for
whatever Italians produce in poetry is called Sicilian, and we find
that many native poets have sung weightily.” This he ascribes to the
fostering influence of the imperial rule of the house of Suabia:
“Those illustrious heroes, Frederick Caesar and his well-begotten
son Manfred, showing their nobility and rectitude of soul, as long
as fortune lasted, followed human things, disdaining the bestial;
wherefore the noble in heart and endowed with graces strove to cleave
to the majesty of such great princes; so that, in their time, whatever
the excellent among Italians attempted first appeared at the court of
these great sovereigns. And, because the royal throne was Sicily, it
came about that whatever our predecessors produced in the vernacular is
called Sicilian” (_V. E._ i. 12). The house of Anjou made Naples their
capital, and treated Sicily as a conquered province. After Benevento
the literary centre of Italy shifted from Palermo and the royal court
of the south to Bologna and the republican cities of Tuscany. Guittone
d’Arezzo (_Purg._ xxvi. 124-126) founded a school of Tuscan poets,
extending the field of Italian lyrical poetry to political and ethical
themes as well as love (which had been the sole subject of the Sicilian
School). The beginnings of Italian literary prose had already appeared
at Bologna, with the first vernacular models for composition of the
rhetoricians, the masters of the _ars dictandi_. Here, within the next
eight years, St. Thomas Aquinas published the first and second parts
of the _Summa Theologica_; and the poetry of the first great singer
of modern Italy, Guido Guinizelli (_Purg._ xxvi. 91-114), rose to
spiritual heights undreamed of in the older schools, in his canzone
on Love and true nobility: _Al cor gentil ripara sempre Amore_; “To
the gentle heart doth Love ever repair.” And, in the sphere of the
plastic arts, these were the years that saw the last triumphs of
Niccolò Pisano, “the Father of Sculpture to Italy,” and the earliest
masterpieces of Cimabue, the teacher of Giotto (_Purg._ xi. 94-96), the
shepherd boy who came from the fields to free Italian painting from
Byzantine fetters, and who “developed an artistic language which was
the true expression of the Italian national character.”
2. _Dante’s Childhood and Adolescence_
BIRTH AND FAMILY.--Dante Alighieri, in its Latin form Alagherii, was
born at Florence in 1265, probably in the latter part of May, some
nine months before the battle of Benevento. His father, Alighiero di
Bellincione di Alighiero, came of an ancient and honourable family
of that section of the city named from the Porta San Piero. Although
Guelfs, the Alighieri were probably of the same stock as the Elisei,
decadent nobles of supposed Roman descent, who took the Ghibelline side
in the days of Frederick II., when the city was first involved in these
factions after the murder of young Buondelmonte in her “last peace” in
1215 (_Par._ xvi. 136-147). Among the warriors of the Cross, in the
Heaven of Mars, Dante meets his great-great-grandfather Cacciaguida.
Born probably in 1091, Cacciaguida married a wife from the valley of
the Po, a member of one or other of the families afterwards known
as the Aldighieri or Alighieri at Ferrara, Parma, and Bologna, was
knighted by Conrad III., and died in battle against the infidels in the
disastrous second crusade (_Par._ xv. 137-148). None of Cacciaguida’s
descendants had attained to any distinction in the Republic. Brunetto
di Bellincione, Dante’s uncle, probably fought for the Guelfs at
Montaperti in 1260, where he may have been one of those in charge of
the _carroccio_, the battle-car which accompanied the army. Besides
Cacciaguida and his son Alaghiero, or Alighiero, the first to bear the
name, who is said by his father to be still in the purgatorial terrace
of the proud (_Par._ xv. 91-96), the only other member of the family
introduced into the _Divina Commedia_ is Geri del Bello, a grandson of
the elder Alighiero and cousin of Dante’s father, a sower of discord
and a murderer (_Inf._ xxix. 13-36), whose violent and well-deserved
death had not yet been avenged.
THE FLORENTINE REPUBLIC.--As far as Florence was concerned, the real
strife of Guelfs and Ghibellines was a struggle for supremacy, first
without and then within the city, of a democracy of merchants and
traders, with a military aristocracy of partly Teutonic descent, who
were gradually being deprived of their territorial and feudal sway,
which they had held nominally from the Emperor in the _contado_, the
country districts of Tuscany included in the continually extending
Florentine commune. Although the party names were first introduced into
Florence in 1215, the struggle had virtually begun after the death of
the great Countess Matilda in 1115; and had resulted in a regular and
constitutional advance of the power of the people, interrupted by a few
intervals. It was in one of these intervals that Dante was born. The
popular government (_Primo Popolo_), which had been established shortly
before the death of Frederick II. in 1250, and worked victoriously
for ten years, had been overthrown in 1260 at the disastrous battle
of Montaperti, “the havoc and the great slaughter, which dyed the
Arbia red” (_Inf._ x. 85, 86). The patriotism of Farinata degli Uberti
saved Florence from total destruction, but all the leading Guelf
families were driven out, and the government remained in the power
of a despotic Ghibelline aristocracy, under Manfred’s vicar, Count
Guido Novello, supported by German mercenaries. After the fall of
Manfred, an attempt was made to effect a peace between the Ghibellines
and the people; but a revolution on St. Martin’s Day, November 11th,
1266, led to the expulsion of Guido Novello and his forces, and the
formation of a provisional democratic government. In January 1267 the
banished Guelfs--many of whom had fought under the papal banner at
Benevento--returned; on Easter Day French troops entered Florence,
the Ghibellines fled, the Guelfs made Charles of Anjou suzerain of
the city, and accepted his vicar as podestà. The government was
reorganised, with a new institution, the _Parte Guelfa_, to secure the
Guelf predominance in the Republic.
The defeat of young Conradin, grandson of Frederick II., at Tagliacozzo
in 1268, followed by his judicial murder (_Purg._ xx. 68), confirmed
the triumph of the Guelfs and the power of Charles in Italy. In
Florence the future conflict lay between the new Guelf aristocracy
and the burghers and people, between the _Grandi_ and the _Popolani_;
the magnates in their palaces and towers, associated into societies
and groups of families, surrounding themselves with retainers and
swordsmen, but always divided among themselves; and the people, soon
to become “very fierce and hot in lordship,” as Villani says, artisans
and traders ready to rush out from stalls and workshops to follow
the standards of their Arts or Guilds in defence of liberty. In the
year after the House of Suabia ended with Conradin upon the scaffold,
the Florentines took partial vengeance for Montaperti at the battle
of Colle di Valdelsa (_Purg._ xiii. 115-120), where the Sienese were
routed and Provenzano Salvani (_Purg._ xi. 109-114) killed. It is said
to have been Provenzano Salvani who, in the great Ghibelline council at
Empoli, had proposed that Florence should be destroyed.
DANTE’S BOYHOOD.--It is not clear how Dante came to be born in
Florence, since he gives us to understand (_Inf._ x. 46-50) that his
family were fiercely adverse to the Ghibellines and would naturally
have been in exile until the close of 1266. Probably his father, of
whom scarcely anything is known, took no prominent part in politics
and had been allowed to remain in the city. Besides the houses in
the Piazza San Martino, he possessed two farms and some land in the
country. Dante’s mother, Bella (perhaps an abbreviation of Gabriella),
is believed to have been Alighiero’s first wife, and to have died
soon after the poet’s birth. Her family is not known, though it has
been suggested that she may have been the daughter of Durante di
Scolaio degli Abati, a Guelf noble. Alighiero married again, Lapa di
Chiarissimo Cialuffi, the daughter of a prominent Guelf popolano; by
this second marriage he had a son, Francesco, and a daughter, Tana
(Gaetana), who married Lapo Riccomanni. Another daughter, whose name
is not known, married Leone Poggi; it is not quite certain whether
her mother was Bella or Lapa. Dante never mentions his mother nor his
father, whom he also lost in boyhood, in any of his works (excepting
such indirect references as _Inf._ viii. 45, and _Conv._ i. 13); but,
in the _Vita Nuova_, a “young and gentle lady, who was united to me by
very near kindred,” appears watching by the poet in his illness. In the
loveliest of his early lyrics she is described as
Adorna assai di gentilezze umane,
which Rossetti renders:
Exceeding rich in human sympathies.
This lady was, perhaps, one of these two sisters; and it is tempting
to infer from Dante’s words that a tender affection existed between
him and her. It was from Dante’s nephew, Andrea Poggi, that Boccaccio
obtained some of his information concerning the poet, and it would be
pleasant to think that Andrea’s mother is the heroine of this canzone
(_V. N._ xxiii.); but there are chronological difficulties in the
identification.
SOURCES.--Our sources for Dante’s biography, in addition to his own
works, are primarily a short chapter in the Chronicle of his neighbour
Giovanni Villani, the epoch-making work of Boccaccio, Filippo Villani’s
unimportant sketch at the end of the fourteenth and the brief but
reliable life by Leonardo Bruni at the beginning of the fifteenth
century. In addition we have some scanty hints given by the early
commentators on the _Divina Commedia_, and a few documents, including
the _consulte_ or reports of the deliberations of the various councils
of the Florentine Republic. Boccaccio’s work has come down to us in
two forms: the _Vita di Dante_ (or _Trattatello in laude di Dante_)
and the so-called _Compendio_ (itself in two redactions, the _Primo_
and _Secondo Compendio_); the researches of Michele Barbi have finally
established that both are authentic, the _Compendio_ being the author’s
own later revision. The tendency of recent scholarship has in a
considerable measure rehabilitated the once discredited authority of
Boccaccio, and rejected the excessive scepticism represented in the
nineteenth century by Bartoli and Scartazzini.
BEATRICE.--Although Leonardo Bruni rebukes Boccaccio, “our Boccaccio
that most sweet and pleasant man,” for having lingered so long over
Dante’s love affairs, still the story of the poet’s first love
remains the one salient fact of his youth and early manhood. We may
surmise from the _Vita Nuova_ that at the end of his eighteenth year,
presumably in May 1283, Dante became enamoured of the glorious lady
of his mind, Beatrice, who had first appeared to him as a child in
her ninth year, nine years before. It is not quite certain whether
Beatrice was her real name or one beneath which Dante conceals her
identity; assuredly she was “Beatrice,” the giver of blessing, to him
and through him to all lovers of the noblest and fairest things in
literature. Tradition, following Boccaccio, has identified her with
Bice, the daughter of Folco Portinari, a wealthy Florentine who founded
the hospital of S. Maria Nuova, and died in 1289 (_cf._ _V. N._ xxii.).
Folco’s daughter is shown by her father’s will to have been the wife
of Simone dei Bardi, a rich and noble banker. This has been confirmed
by the discovery that, while the printed commentary of Dante’s son
Pietro upon the _Commedia_ hardly suggests that Beatrice was a real
woman at all, there exists a fuller and later recension by Pietro
of his own work which contains a distinct statement that the lady
raised to fame in his father’s poem was in very fact Bice Portinari.
Nevertheless, there are still found critics who see in Beatrice not a
real woman, but a mystically exalted ideal of womanhood or a merely
allegorical figure; while Scartazzini at one time maintained that the
woman Dante loved was an unknown Florentine maiden, who would have
been his wife but for her untimely death. This can hardly be deduced
from the _Vita Nuova_; in its noblest passages the woman of Dante’s
worship is scarcely regarded as an object that can be possessed; death
has not robbed him of an expected beatitude, but all the world of an
earthly miracle. But, although it was in the fullest correspondence
with mediaeval ideals and fashions that chivalrous love and devotion
should be directed by preference to a married woman, the love of Dante
for Beatrice was something at once more real and more exalted than the
artificial passion of the troubadours; a true romantic love that linked
heaven to earth, and was a revelation for the whole course of life.
POETRY, FRIENDSHIP, STUDY.--Already, at the age of eighteen, Dante
was a poet: “I had already seen for myself the art of saying words
in rhyme” (_V. N._ iii.). It was on the occasion of what we take as
the real beginning of his love that he wrote the opening sonnet of
the _Vita Nuova_, in which he demands an explanation of a dream from
“all the faithful of Love.” The new poet was at once recognised. Among
the many answers came a sonnet from the most famous Italian lyrist
then living, Guido Cavalcanti, henceforth to be the first of Dante’s
friends: “And this was, as it were, the beginning of the friendship
between him and me, when he knew that I was he who had sent that sonnet
to him” (_cf._ _Inf._ x. 60). In the same year, 1283, Dante’s name
first occurs in a document concerning some business transactions as his
late father’s heir.
There are no external events recorded in Dante’s life between 1283
and 1289. Boccaccio represents him as devoted to study. He certainly
owed much to the paternal advice of the old rhetorician and statesman,
Brunetto Latini, who had been secretary of the commune and, until
his death in 1294, was one of the most influential citizens in the
state: “For in my memory is fixed, and now goes to my heart, the dear,
kind, paternal image of you, when in the world, from time to time,
you taught me how man makes himself eternal” (_Inf._ xv. 82). Of his
growing maturity in art, the lyrics of the _Vita Nuova_ bear witness;
the prose narrative shows that he had studied the Latin poets as well
as the new singers of Provence and Italy, had already dipped into
scholastic philosophy, and was not unacquainted with Aristotle. At the
same time, Leonardo Bruni was obviously right in describing Dante as
not severing himself from the world, but excelling in every youthful
exercise; and it would seem from the _Vita Nuova_ that, in spite of
his supreme devotion for Beatrice, there were other Florentine damsels
who moved his heart for a time. Dante speaks of “one who, according to
the degrees of friendship, is my friend immediately after the first,”
and than whom there was no one nearer in kinship to Beatrice (_V.
N._ xxxiii.). Those who identify Dante’s Beatrice with the daughter
of Messer Folco suppose that this second friend was one of her three
brothers, probably Manetto Portinari, to whom a sonnet of Guido’s may
have been addressed. Casella the musician, and Lapo Gianni the poet,
are mentioned with affection in the _Purgatorio_ (Canto ii.), and in
one of Dante’s sonnets respectively; Lippo de’ Bardi, evidently like
Casella a musician, and a certain Meuccio likewise appear as friends in
other of his earliest lyrics. Cino da Pistoia, like Cavalcanti, seems
to have answered Dante’s dream; their friendship was perhaps at present
mainly confined to exchanging poems. Boccaccio and Benvenuto da Imola
speak of an early visit of Dante’s to the universities of Bologna and
Padua, and there is some evidence for thinking that he was at Bologna
some time not later than 1287. He may possibly have served in some
cavalry expedition to check the harrying parties of Aretines in 1288;
for, when the great battle of the following year was fought, it found
Dante “no novice in arms,” as a fragment of one of his lost letters
puts it, _non fanciullo nell’ armi_.
POPULAR GOVERNMENT.--Twenty years had now passed since the victory
of Colle di Valdelsa in 1269. Great changes had taken place in the
meanwhile. The estrangement between Charles of Anjou and the Popes,
Gregory X. and Nicholas III., the attempts of these latter to
weaken the king’s power by reconciling the Florentine Guelfs with
the Ghibelline exiles, and the dissensions among the Guelf magnates
themselves within the city, had led, in 1280, to the peace arranged
by Cardinal Latino Frangipani. A government was set up of fourteen
_buonuomini_, magnates and popolani, eight Guelfs and six Ghibellines.
But the city remained strenuously Guelf. Nicholas III. had deprived
King Charles of the offices of Senator of Rome and Vicar Imperial
and had allowed Rudolph of Hapsburg to establish a vicar in Tuscany
(_Inf._ xix. 99). In 1282 came the Vespers of Palermo (_Par._ viii.
75). The Sicilians rose, massacred Charles’s adherents, and received
as their king Peter of Aragon, the husband of Manfred’s daughter
Constance (_Purg._ iii. 143). The hitherto united kingdom of Sicily,
which had been the heritage of the imperial Suabians from the Norman
heroes of the house of Hauteville, was thus divided between a French
and a Spanish line of kings (_Par._ xx. 63); the former at Naples as
kings of “Sicily and Jerusalem,” the latter in the island as kings
of “Trinacria.” Charles was henceforth too much occupied in war with
the Sicilians and Aragonese to interfere in the internal affairs of
Tuscany. In the June of this year a peaceful revolution took place in
Florence. Instead of the fourteen _buonuomini_, the government was put
into the hands of the Priors of the Arts or Guilds, who, associated
with the Captain, were henceforth recognised as the chief magistrates
of the Republic, composing the Signoria, during the two months for
which they were elected to hold office. Their number, originally three,
was raised to six; both _grandi_ and _popolani_ were at first eligible,
provided the former left their order by enrolling themselves in one
of the Guilds. A thorough organisation of these Guilds, the _Arti
maggiori_ (which were mainly engaged in wholesale commerce, exportation
and importation, and the mercantile relations of Florence with foreign
countries) and _Arti minori_ (which carried on the retail traffic and
internal trade of the city), secured the administration in the hands of
the trading classes.
Thus was established the democratic constitution of the state in
which Dante was afterwards to play his part. There was the central
administration of the six Priors, one for each _sesto_ of the city,
with the council of a hundred “good men of the people without whose
deliberation no great thing or expenditure could be done” (Villani,
vii. 16). The executive was composed of the Captain of the People and
the Podestà, both Italian nobles from other states, holding office
for six months, each with his two councils, a special and a general
council, the general council of the Podestà being the general council
of the Commune. The great Guilds had their own council (_Consiglio
delle Capitudini delle Arti_), and their consuls or rectors, while
specially associated with the two councils of the Captain, were
sometimes admitted to those of the Podestà; the nobles were excluded
from all these councils, excepting the special council of the Podestà
and the general council of the Commune. But, while the central
government of the Republic was thus entirely popular, the magnates
still retained control over the captains of the Guelf Society, with
their two councils, and exerted considerable influence upon the
Podestà, always one of their own order and an alien, in whose councils
they still sat. The Podestà, however, was now little more than a chief
justice; “the Priors, with the Captain of the People, had to determine
the great and weighty matters of the commonwealth, and to summon and
conduct councils and make regulations” (Villani).
BATTLE OF CAMPALDINO.--A period of prosperity and victory followed
for Florence. The crushing defeat inflicted upon Pisa by Genoa at the
great naval battle of Meloria in 1284 was much to her advantage; as
was also, perhaps, the decline of the Angevin power after the victory
of Peter of Aragon’s fleet (_Purg._ xx. 79). Charles II., the “cripple
of Jerusalem,” who succeeded his father as king of Naples, was a less
formidable suzerain. On June 11th, 1289, the Tuscan Ghibellines were
utterly defeated by the Florentines and their allies at the battle of
Campaldino. According to Leonardo Bruni--and there seems no adequate
reason for rejecting his testimony--Dante was present, “fighting
valiantly on horseback in the front rank,” apparently among the 150 who
volunteered or were chosen as _feditori_, amongst whom was Vieri de’
Cerchi, who was later to acquire a more dubious reputation in politics.
Bruni states that in a letter Dante draws a plan of the fight; and
he quotes what seems to be a fragment of another letter, written
later, where Dante speaks of “the battle of Campaldino, in which the
Ghibelline party was almost utterly destroyed and undone; where I found
myself no novice in arms, and where I had much fear, and in the end
very great gladness, by reason of the varying chances of that battle.”
Dante probably took part in the subsequent events of the campaign; the
wasting of the Aretine territory, the unsuccessful attack upon Arezzo,
the surrender of the Pisan fortress of Caprona. “Thus once I saw the
footmen, who marched out under treaty from Caprona, fear at seeing
themselves among so many enemies” (_Inf._ xxi. 94-96). There appears to
be a direct reference to his personal experiences of the campaign in
the opening of _Inferno_ xxii.: “I have seen ere now horsemen moving
camp and beginning the assault, and holding their muster, and at times
retiring to escape; coursers have I seen upon your land, O Aretines!
and seen the march of foragers, the shock of tournaments and race of
jousts, now with trumpets and now with bells, with drums and castle
signals.” He has sung of Campaldino in peculiarly pathetic strains in
Canto V. of the _Purgatorio_. On the lower slopes of the Mountain of
Purgation wanders the soul of Buonconte da Montefeltro, who led the
Aretine cavalry, and whose body was never found; mortally wounded and
forsaken by all, he had died gasping out the name of Mary, and his
Giovanna had forgotten even to pray for his soul.
DEATH OF BEATRICE.--In the following year, 1290, Beatrice died: “The
Lord of justice called this most gentle one to glory under the banner
of that blessed queen Mary virgin, whose name was in very great
reverence in the words of this blessed Beatrice” (_V. N._ xxix.).
Although Dante complicates the date by a reference to “the usage of
Arabia,” she appears to have died on the evening of June 8th;[1] and
the poet lifts up his voice with the prophet: “How doth the city sit
solitary that was full of people! How is she become as a widow, she
that was great among the nations!”
3. _After the Death of Beatrice_
PHILOSOPHIC REFUGE.--It is not easy to get a very definite idea of
Dante’s private life during the next ten years. With the completion
of the _Vita Nuova_, shortly after Beatrice’s death, an epoch
closes in his life, as in his work. From the _Convivio_ it would
appear that in his sorrow Dante took refuge in the study of the _De
Consolatione Philosophiae_ of Boëthius and Cicero’s _De Amicitia_;
that he frequented “the schools of the religious and the disputations
of philosophers,” where he became deeply enamoured of Philosophy.
Cino da Pistoia addressed to him an exceedingly beautiful canzone,
consoling him for the loss of Beatrice, bidding him take comfort in the
contemplation of her glory among the saints and angels of Paradise,
where she is praying to God for her lover’s peace. This poem is quoted
years later by Dante himself in the second book of the _De Vulgari
Eloquentia_ (ii. 6), where he couples it with his own canzone--
Amor che ne la mente mi ragiona,
“Love that in my mind discourses to me,” with which Casella consoles
the penitent spirits upon the shore of Purgatory: “The amorous chant
which was wont to quiet all my desires.”
ABERRATIONS.--It would seem, however, that neither the memory of
Beatrice nor his philosophical devotion kept Dante from falling
into what he afterwards came to regard as a morally unworthy life.
_Tanto giù cadde_, “so low he fell” (_Purg._ xxx. 136). It is almost
impossible to hold, as Witte and Scartazzini would have us do, that
the poignant reproaches which Beatrice addresses to Dante, when he
meets her on Lethe’s banks, are connected mainly with intellectual
errors, with culpable neglect of Theology or speculative wanderings
from revealed truth, for there are but scanty, if any, traces of this
in the poet’s writings at any period of his career. The dark wood in
which he wandered, led by the world and the flesh, was that of sensual
passion and moral aberration for a while from the light of reason and
the virtue which is the “ordering of love.”
FRIENDSHIP WITH FORESE DONATI.--Dante was evidently intimate with the
great Donati family, whose houses were in the same district of the
city. Corso di Simone Donati, a turbulent and ambitious spirit, had
done heroically at Campaldino, and was now intent upon having his
own way in the state. A close and familiar friendship united Dante
with Corso’s brother Forese, a sensual man of pleasure. Six sonnets
interchanged between these two friends, though now only in part
intelligible, do little credit to either. “If thou recall to mind,”
Dante says to Forese in the sixth terrace of Purgatory, “what thou
wast with me and I was with thee, the present memory will still be
grievous” (_Purg._ xxiii, 115). Forese died in July 1296; the author
of the _Ottimo Commento_, who wrote about 1334, and professes to have
known the divine poet, tells us that Dante induced his friend when on
his death-bed to repent and receive the last sacraments. Another sonnet
of Dante’s shows him in friendly correspondence with Brunetto (Betto)
Brunelleschi, a noble who later played a sinister part in the factions
and, like Corso Donati, met a violent death.
LOVES, MARRIAGE, AND DEBTS.--Several very striking canzoni, written
for a lady whom Dante represents under various stony images, and whose
name may possibly have been Pietra, are frequently assigned to this
period of the poet’s life, but may perhaps have been written in the
early days of his exile. From other lyrics and sonnets we dimly discern
that several women may have crossed Dante’s life now and later, of
whom nothing can be known. Dante married Gemma di Manetto Donati, a
distant kinswoman of Corso and Forese. In the _Paradiso_ (xvi. 119)
he refers with complacency to his wife’s ancestor, Ubertino Donati,
Manetto’s great-grandfather, whose family pride scorned any alliance
with the Adimari. According to Boccaccio, the marriage took place some
time after the death of Beatrice, and it was certainly not later than
1297; but there is documentary evidence that Gemma’s dowry was settled
in 1277, which points to an early betrothal. The union has generally
been supposed--on somewhat inadequate grounds--to have been an unhappy
one. Gemma bore Dante two sons, Jacopo and Pietro, and either one or
two daughters. Boccaccio’s statement, that she did not share the poet’s
exile, is usually accepted; she was living in Florence after his death,
and died there after 1332.[2] During the following years, between 1297
and 1300, Dante was contracting debts (Durante di Scolaio degli Abati
and Manetto Donati being among his sureties), which altogether amounted
to a very large sum, but which were cleared off from the poet’s estate
after his death.
4. _Dante’s Political Life_
ELECTION OF BONIFACE VIII.--Upon the abdication of Celestine V.,
Cardinal Benedetto Gaetani was made Pope on Christmas Eve 1294, under
the title of Boniface VIII. (_Inf._ xix. 52-57), an event ominous for
Florence and for Dante. Although canonised by the Church, there is
little doubt that St. Celestine is the first soul met by Dante in the
vestibule of Hell: _Colui che fece per viltà il gran rifiuto_ (_Inf._
iii. 58-60), “He who made from cowardice the great renunciation.”
GIANO DELLA BELLA.--Florence had just confirmed the democratic
character of her constitution by the reforms of Giano della Bella,
a noble who had identified himself with the popular cause (_Par._
xvi. 132). By the Ordinances of Justice in 1293 stringent provisions
were enacted against the nobles, who since Campaldino had grown
increasingly aggressive towards the people and factious against each
other. They were henceforth more rigorously excluded from the Priorate
and Council of the Hundred, as also from the councils of the Captain
and Capitudini; severe penalties were exacted for offences against
_popolani_; and, in order that these ordinances should be carried out,
a new magistrate, the Gonfaloniere di Guistizia or Standard-bearer of
Justice, was added to the Signoria to hold office like the Priors for
two months in rotation from the different districts of the city. Thus
was completed the _secondo popolo_, the second democratic constitution
of Florence. The third of these standard-bearers was Dino Compagni, the
chronicler. Giano della Bella was meditating the continuation of his
work by depriving the captains of the Guelf Society of their power and
resources, when a riot, in which Corso Donati played a prominent part,
caused his overthrow in March 1295. By his fall the government remained
in the hands of the rich burghers, being practically an oligarchy of
merchants and bankers.
FIRST STEPS IN POLITICAL LIFE.--In this same year 1295, the first year
of the pontificate of Boniface VIII., Dante entered political life.
Although of noble descent, the Alighieri do not seem to have ranked as
magnates. By a modification in the Ordinances of Justice in July 1295,
citizens, without actually exercising an “art,” were admitted to office
provided they had matriculated and were not knights, if not more than
two persons in their family had held knighthood within the last twenty
years. Dante now (or perhaps a little later) enrolled his name in the
_matricola_ of the Art of Physicians and Apothecaries, which included
painters and booksellers. For the six months from November 1st, 1295,
to April 30th, 1296, he was a member of the Special Council of the
Captain. On December 14th, as one of the savi or specially summoned
counsellors, he gave his opinion (_consuluit_) in the Council of the
Capitudini of the Arts on the procedure to be adopted for the election
of the new Signoria. On January 23rd, 1296, the Pope inaugurated his
aggressive policy towards the Republic by addressing a bull to the
Podestà, Captain, Ancients, Priors and Rectors of the Arts, to the
Council and the Commune of Florence (purposely ignoring the new office
of Gonfaloniere). After denouncing in unmeasured terms the wickedness
of that “rock of scandal,” Giano della Bella, and extolling the
prudence of the Florentines in expelling him, the Pope, hearing that
certain persons are striving to obtain his recall, utterly forbids
anything of the kind without special licence from the Holy See, under
penalty of excommunication and interdict. The Pope further protests his
great and special affection for Florence, amongst the cities devoted to
God and the Apostolic See. “I love France so well,” says Shakespeare’s
King Henry, “that I will not part with a village of it; I will have it
all mine.”
Although Boccaccio, and others in his steps, have somewhat exaggerated
Dante’s influence in the politics of the Republic, there can be no
doubt that he soon came to take a decided attitude in direct opposition
to all lawlessness, and in resistance to any external interference in
Florentine matters, whether from Rome, Naples, or France. The eldest
son of Charles II., Carlo Martello, whom Dante had “loved much and
with good cause” (_Par._ viii. 55) during his visit to Florence in
the spring of 1294, had died in the following year; and his father
was harassing the Florentines for money to carry on the Sicilian war.
Dante, on leaving the Council of the Captain, had been elected to
the Council of the Hundred, in which, on June 5th, 1296, he spoke in
support of various proposals, including one on the embellishment of
the cathedral and baptistery by the removal of the old hospital, and
another undertaking not to receive men under ban of the Commune of
Pistoia in the city and contado of Florence. In the previous May, in
consequence of internal factions, Pistoia had given Florence control of
the city, with power to send a podestà and a captain every six months.
After this we do not hear of Dante again until May 7th, 1300, when he
acted as ambassador to San Gemignano to announce that a parliament was
to be held for the purpose of electing a captain for the Guelf League
of Tuscany, and to invite the Commune to send representatives. But
already the storm cloud which loomed on the horizon had burst upon the
city on May Day 1300.
BLACKS AND WHITES.--The new division of parties in Florence became
associated with the feud between two noble families, the Donati and the
Cerchi, headed respectively by two of the heroes of Campaldino, Corso
Donati and Vieri de’ Cerchi. The names Neri and Bianchi, Black Guelfs
and White Guelfs, by which the two factions became known, seem to have
been derived from a similar division in Pistoia, the ringleaders of
which, being banished to Florence, embittered the quarrels already
in progress in the ruling city. But the roots of the trouble went
deeper and were political, connected with the discontent of both
magnates and _popolo minuto_ under the hegemony of the Greater Arts.
The Bianchi were opposed to a costly policy of expansion; the Neri,
who had wider international and mercantile connections, looked beyond
the affairs of the Commune, and favoured intimate relations with the
Angevin sovereigns of Naples and the Pope. To the Bianchi adhered those
nobles who had matriculated in the Arts, the more moderate spirits
among the burghers, the remains of the party of Giano della Bella who
supported the Ordinances of Justice in a modified form. While the
Bianchi drew closer to the constitutional government, the strength of
the Neri lay in the councils of the Guelf Society and the influence
of the aristocratic bankers. Guido Cavalcanti (who, even after the
modification of the Ordinances, would have been excluded from office)
was allied with the Cerchi, but probably less influenced by political
considerations than by his personal hostility towards Messer Corso, who
was in high favour with the Pope. Florence was now indeed “disposed
for woeful ruin” (_Purg._ xxiv. 81), but there had been a “long
contention” (_Inf._ vi. 64) before the parties came to bloodshed.
THE JUBILEE.--On February 22nd, 1300, Pope Boniface issued the bull
proclaiming the first papal jubilee. It began with the previous
Christmas Day and lasted through the year 1300. Amongst the throngs
of pilgrims from all parts of the world to Rome were Giovanni Villani
and, probably, Dante (_Inf._ xviii. 29). This visit to Rome inspired
Villani to undertake his great chronicle; and it is the epoch to which
Dante assigns the vision which is the subject of the _Divina Commedia_
(_Purg._ ii. 98). The Pope, however, had his eyes on Florence, and
had apparently resolved to make Tuscany a part of the Papal States.
Possibly he had already opened negotiations with the Neri through
his agents and bankers, the Spini. A plot against the state on the
part of three Florentines in the service of the Pope was discovered
to the Signoria, and sentence passed against the offenders on April
18th.[3] Boniface wrote to the Bishop of Florence, on April 24th, 1300,
demanding from the Commune that the sentences should be annulled and
the accusers sent to him. The Priors having refused compliance and
denied his jurisdiction in the matter, the Pope issued a second bull,
declaring that he had no intention of derogating from the jurisdiction
or liberty of Florence, which he intended to increase; but asserting
the absolute supremacy of the Roman Pontiff both in spiritual and
temporal things over all peoples and kingdoms, and demanding again,
with threats of vengeance spiritual and temporal, that the sentences
against his adherents should be annulled, that the three accusers with
six of the most violent against his authority should appear before him,
and that the officers of the Republic should send representatives to
answer for their conduct. This was on May 15th, but, two days earlier,
the Pope had written to the Duke of Saxony, and sent the Bishop of
Ancona to Germany, to demand from Albert of Austria the renunciation
absolutely to the Holy See of all rights claimed by the Emperors in
Tuscany.
DANTE’S PRIORATE.--But in the meantime bloodshed had taken place in
Florence. On May 1st the two factions came to blows in the Piazza di
Santa Trinita; and on May 4th full powers had been given to the Priors
to defend the liberty of the Commune and People of Florence against
dangers from within and without (which had evidently irritated the
Pope). The whole city was now divided; magnates and burghers alike
became bitter partisans of one or other faction. The Pope, who had
previously made a vain attempt to reconcile Vieri de’ Cerchi with
the Donati, sent the Franciscan Cardinal Matteo d’Acquasparta as
legate and peacemaker to Florence, in the interests of the captains
of the Guelf Society and the Neri, who accused the Signoria of
Ghibelline tendencies. The Cardinal arrived in June. From June 15th
to August 14th Dante was one of the six Priors by election. “All my
misfortunes,” he says in the letter quoted by Leonardo Bruni, “had
their cause and origin in my ill-omened election to the Priorate; of
which Priorate, though by prudence I was not worthy, still by faith and
age I was not unworthy.” We know too little of the facts to be able
to comment upon this cryptic utterance. On the first day of office
(June 15th), the sentence passed in the previous April against the
three Florentines in the papal service was formally consigned to Dante
and his colleagues--Lapo Gianni (probably the same person as his poet
friend of that name) acting as notary. There were disturbances in the
city. On St. John’s Eve an assault was made upon the Consuls of the
Arts by certain magnates of the Neri, and their opponents threatened to
take up arms. The Priors, perhaps on Dante’s motion, exiled (or, more
accurately, put under bounds outside the territory of the Republic)
some prominent members of both factions, including Corso Donati and
Guido Cavalcanti. The Neri attempted to resist, expecting aid from the
Cardinal and from Lucca; the Bianchi obeyed. Negotiations continued
between the Signoria and the Cardinal, Dante and his colleagues
resisting the papal demands without coming to a formal rupture.
THE BIANCHI IN POWER.--The succeeding Signoria was less prudent. The
banished Bianchi were allowed to return just after Dante had left
office (as he himself states in a lost letter seen by Leonardo Bruni),
on the plea of the illness of Guido Cavalcanti, who had contracted
malaria at Sarzana, and died at Florence in the last days of August.
At the end of September a complete rupture ensued with Cardinal Matteo
d’Acquasparta, who broke off negotiations and retired to Bologna,
leaving the city under an interdict. Corso Donati had broken bounds and
gone to the Pope, who, towards the close of 1300, nominated Charles
of Valois, brother of Philip the Fair, captain-general of the papal
states, and summoned him to Italy to aid Charles of Naples against
Frederick of Aragon in Sicily and reduce the “rebels” of Tuscany to
submission.
We meet the name of Dante on several occasions among the _consulte_ of
the Florentine Republic during 1301. It is probable that he was one
of the _savi_ called to council on March 15th, and that he opposed
the granting of a subsidy in money which the King of Naples had
demanded for the Sicilian war and which was made by the Council of
the Hundred.[4] On April 14th he was among the _savi_ in the Council
of the Capitudini for the election of the new Signoria, of which
Palmieri Altoviti was the leading spirit. On April 28th Dante was
appointed _officialis et superestans_, in connection with the works
in the street of San Procolo, possibly with the object of more readily
bringing up troops from the country. During the priorate of Palmieri
Altoviti (April 15th to June 14th), a conspiracy was discovered,
hatched at a meeting of the Neri in the church of S. Trinita, to
overthrow the government and invite the Pope to send Charles of Valois
to Florence. In consequence a number of Neri were banished and their
possessions confiscated, a fresh sentence being passed against Corso
Donati. The Bianchi were all potent in Florence; and, in May 1301, they
procured the expulsion of the Neri from Pistoia (ruthlessly carried out
by the Florentine captain, Andrea Gherardini), which was the beginning
of the end (_Inf._ xxiv. 143): “Pistoia first is thinned of Neri; then
Florence renovates folk and rule.”
THE COMING OF CHARLES OF VALOIS.--The government still shrank from
directly opposing the Pope, who, by letter from Cardinal Matteo
d’Acquasparta, demanded the continuation of the service of a hundred
horsemen. On June 19th, 1301, in a united meeting of the Councils of
the Hundred, of the Captain, and of the Capitudini, and again in the
Council of the Hundred apart, Dante spoke against compliance, urging
“quod de servitio faciendo domini Papae nihil fiat”--with the result
that the matter was postponed. In the united Councils of the Hundred,
the Captain, the Podestà, and the Capitudini, on September 13th, he
pleaded for the preservation of the Ordinances of Justice (a sign
that the State was regarded as in peril). On this occasion all the
twenty-one arts were represented, which we may connect with Leonardo
Bruni’s statement that Dante had advised the Priors to strengthen
themselves with the support of the “moltitudine del popolo.” On
September 20th, in the Council of the Captain, he supported a request
of the ambassadors of the Commune of Bologna (then allied with the
Bianchi) for free passage for their importation of grain. On September
28th, again in the Council of the Captain, he defended a certain Neri
di Gherardino Diedati (whose father was destined to share the poet’s
fate) from an injust charge. This is the last recorded time that
_Dantes Alagherii consuluit_ in Florence. Already Charles of Valois was
on his way, preparing to “joust with the lance of Judas” (_Purg._ xx.
70-78). On November 1st, after giving solemn pledges to the Signoria
(Dino Compagni being one of the Priors), Charles with 1200 horsemen
entered Florence without opposition.
Leonardo Bruni asserts that Dante was absent at Rome on an embassy to
the Pope when the latter’s “peacemaker” entered Florence. It would
appear that the Florentine government had requested the allied Commune
of Bologna to send an embassy to Boniface, simultaneously with an
embassy from Siena with which were associated three ambassadors from
Florence: Maso di Ruggierino Minerbetti, Corazza da Signa, and Dante
Alighieri. Their purpose was to make their own terms with the Pontiff
in order to avert the intervention of Charles. The mission set out
at the beginning of October; but one of the Bolognese ambassadors,
Ubaldino Malavolti, having business of his own with the Florentine
government, delayed the others so long that they did not arrive in
time.[5] Boccaccio asserts that, when the Bianchi proposed to send
Dante on such an embassy, he answered somewhat arrogantly: “If I go,
who stays? and if I stay, who goes?” According to Dino Compagni,
Boniface sent two of the Florentines--Maso Minerbetti and Corazza
da Signa--back to Florence to demand submission to his will, but
detained Dante at his court. The fact of Dante taking part in such
an embassy is confirmed by the author of the _Ottimo Commento_, as
also by an anonymous commentator on the canzone of the _Tre donne_,
and, though seriously questioned by many Dante scholars, it is now
generally accepted as historical. The other two ambassadors returned
almost simultaneously with the arrival of the French prince. Yielding
to necessity and trusting to his solemn oath, the Signoria, in a
parliament held in S. Maria Novella, gave Charles authority to pacify
the city; which he set about doing by restoring the Neri to power.
Corso Donati with his allies entered Florence in arms, to plunder and
massacre at their pleasure, the last Signoria of the Bianchi being
compelled to resign on November 7th (cf. _Purg._ vi. 143, 144). A
second effort by the Cardinal Matteo from the Pope to reconcile the
two factions was resisted by Charles and the Neri; and the work of
proscription began. The new Podestà, Cante de’ Gabrielli da Gubbio,
passed sentence after sentence against the ruined Bianchi. Finally,
at the beginning of April, their chiefs were betrayed into a real
or pretended conspiracy against Charles, and driven out with their
followers and adherents, both nobles and burghers, six hundred in
number; their houses were destroyed, and their goods confiscated,
themselves sentenced as rebels. On April 4th, 1302, Charles left
Florence, covered with disgrace and full of plunder, leaving the
government entirely in the hands of the Neri. “Having cast forth the
greatest part of the flowers from thy bosom, O Florence,” writes Dante
in the _De Vulgari Eloquentia_, “the second Totila went fruitlessly to
Sicily” (_V. E._ ii. 6).
SENTENCES AGAINST DANTE.--The first sentence against Dante is dated
January 27th, 1302, and includes four other names. Gherardino Diedati,
formerly Prior, is accused of taking bribes for the release of a
prisoner, and has not appeared when summoned. Palmieri Altoviti (who
had taken the lead in putting down the conspiracy hatched in Santa
Trinita), Dante Alighieri, Lippo Becchi (one of the denouncers of
Boniface’s agents in 1300), and Orlanduccio Orlandi are accused of
“barratry,” fraud and corrupt practices, unlawful gains and extortions
and the like, in office and out of office; of having corruptly and
fraudulently used the money and resources of the Commune against the
Supreme Pontiff, and to resist the coming of Messer Carlo, or against
the pacific state of Florence and the Guelf Party; of having caused the
expulsion of the Neri from Pistoia, and severed that city from Florence
and the Church. Since they have contumaciously absented themselves,
when summoned to appear before the Podestà’s court, they are held to
have confessed their guilt, and sentenced to pay a heavy fine and
restore what they have extorted. If not paid in three days, all their
goods shall be confiscated; even if they pay, they are exiled for two
years and perpetually excluded as falsifiers and barrators, _tamquam
falsarii et barattarii_, from holding any office or benefice under the
Commune of Florence. On March 10th, a further sentence condemns these
five with ten others to be burned to death, if any of them at any time
shall come into the power of the Commune. In this latter sentence
there is no mention of any political offence, but only of malversation
and contumacy. None of Dante’s six colleagues in the Signoria are
included in either sentence; but in the second appear the names of Lapo
Salterelli, who had headed the opposition to Boniface in the spring
of 1300, but whom the poet judges sternly (cf. _Par._ xv. 128), and
Andrea Gherardini, who had been Florentine captain at Pistoia.
There can be little doubt that, in spite of the wording of these two
sentences, Dante’s real offence was his opposition to the policy of
Pope Boniface. In the _De Volgari Eloquentia_ (i. 6) he declares that
he is suffering exile unjustly because of his love for Florence.
All his early biographers bear testimony to his absolute innocence
of the charge of malversation and barratry; it has been left to
modern commentators to question it. In the letter to a Florentine
friend, Dante speaks of his innocence manifest to all, _innocentia
manifesta quibuslibet_, as though in direct answer to the _fama
publica referente_ of the Podestà’s sentence. His likening himself
to Hippolytus is a no less emphatic protestation of innocence: “As
Hippolytus departed from Athens, by reason of his pitiless and
treacherous stepmother, so from Florence needs must thou depart. This
is willed, this is already being sought, and soon will it be done for
him who thinks it, there where Christ is put to sale each day” (_Par._
xvii. 46-51). “I hold my exile as an honour”:
L’essilio che m’è dato, on or mi tegno,
he says in his canzone of the _Tre donne_. Had Dante completed the
_Convivio_, he would probably have furnished us with a complete
apologia in the fourteenth treatise, where he intended to comment upon
this canzone and discuss Justice. “Justice,” he says in _Conv._ i.
12, “is so lovable that, as the philosopher says in the fifth of the
Ethics, even her enemies love her, such as thieves and robbers; and
therefore we see that her contrary, which is injustice, is especially
hated (as is treachery, ingratitude, falseness, theft, rapine, deceit,
and their like). The which are such inhuman sins that, to defend
himself from the infamy of these, it is conceded by long usance that
a man may speak of himself, and may declare himself to be faithful
and loyal. Of this virtue I shall speak more fully in the fourteenth
treatise.”
5. _First Period of Exile_
“Since it was the pleasure of the citizens of the most beautiful and
most famous daughter of Rome, Florence, to cast me forth from her sweet
bosom (in which I was born and nourished up to the summit of my life,
and in which, with her goodwill, I desire with all my heart to rest
my wearied mind and to end the time given me), I have gone through
almost all the parts to which this language extends, a pilgrim, almost
a beggar, showing against my will the wound of fortune, which is wont
unjustly to be ofttimes reputed to the wounded.”
In these words (_Conv._ i. 3), Dante sums up the earlier portion of
his exile. There are few lines of poetry more noble in pathos, more
dignified in reticence, than those which he has put into the mouth of
Cacciaguida (_Par._ xvii. 55-60): “Thou shalt leave everything beloved
most dearly, and this is that arrow which the bow of exile first
shoots. Thou shalt test how savours of salt another’s bread, and how
hard the ascending and descending by another’s stairs.”
EARLY DAYS OF EXILE.--The terms of the first sentence against Dante
seem to imply that, if he had returned to Florence, he fled from
the city before January 27th, 1302. We do not know where he went.
Boccaccio, apparently from a misunderstanding of _Par._ xvii. 70,
says Verona; if we suppose it to have been Siena, this would explain
Leonardo Bruni’s account of Dante’s first hearing particulars of his
ruin at the latter city. The sentence against Messer Vieri de’ Cerchi,
with the other leaders, is dated April 5th in the terrible _Libro del
Chiodo_, the black book of the Guelf Party. Arezzo, Forlì, Siena,
Bologna, were the chief resorts of the exiled Bianchi; in Bologna they
seem for some time to have been especially welcome. Dante first joined
them in a meeting held at Gargonza, where they are said by Bruni to
have made the poet one of their twelve councillors, and to have fixed
their headquarters at Arezzo. For a short time Dante made common cause
with them, but found their society extremely uncongenial (_Par._
xvii. 61-66). On June 8th, 1302, there is documentary evidence of his
presence with some others in the choir of San Godenzo at the foot of
the Apennines, where the Bianchi allied with the Ghibelline Ubaldini
to make war upon Florence. The fact of this meeting having been held in
Florentine territory and followed by several cavalry raids induced a
fresh sentence in July from the new Podestà, Gherardino da Gambara of
Brescia, in which, however, Dante is not mentioned.
FAILURE OF THE BIANCHI.--A heavy blow was inflicted upon the exiles by
the treachery of Carlino di Pazzi (_Inf._ xxxii. 69), who surrendered
the castle of Piantravigne in Valdarno to the Neri, when many Bianchi
were slain or taken. The cruelty of the Romagnole, Count Fulcieri
da Calboli, the next Podestà of Florence from January to September
1303, towards such of the unfortunate Bianchi as fell into his hands
has received its meed of infamy in _Purg._ xiv. 58-66. It is perhaps
noteworthy (as bearing upon the date of Dante’s separation from his
fellow-exiles) that the poet’s name does not appear among the Bianchi
who, under the leadership of the Ghibelline captain, Scarpetta degli
Ordelaffi of Forlì, signed an agreement with their allies in Bologna on
June 18th in this year; but this may merely imply that he did not go
to Bologna. He was possibly associated with Scarpetta at Forlì about
this time. These renewed attempts to recover the state by force of arms
resulted only in the disastrous defeat of Pulicciano in Mugello.
DEATH OF BONIFACE VIII.--In this same year Sciarra Colonna and William
of Nogaret, in the name of Philip the Fair, seized Boniface VIII. at
Anagni, and treated the old Pontiff with such barbarity that he died in
a few days, October 11th, 1303. The seizure had been arranged by the
infamous Musciatto Franzesi, who had been instrumental in the bringing
of Charles of Valois to Florence. “I see the golden lilies enter
Alagna,” cries Hugh Capet in the _Purgatorio_; “and in His vicar Christ
made captive. I see Him mocked a second time. I see renewed the vinegar
and gall, and Him slain between thieves that live” (_Purg._ xx. 86-90).
BENEDICT XI.--In succession to Boniface, Nicholas of Treviso, the
master-general of the Dominicans, a man of humble birth and of saintly
life, was made Pope on October 22nd, 1303, as Benedict XI. He at
once devoted himself to healing the wounds of Italy, and sent to
Florence as peacemaker the Dominican Cardinal, Niccolò da Prato, who
was of Ghibelline origin. The peacemaker arrived in March 1304, and
was received with great honour. Representatives of the Bianchi and
Ghibellines came to the city at his invitation; and, when May opened,
there was an attempt to revive the traditional festivities which had
ended on that fatal May Day of 1300. But a terrible disaster on the
Ponte alla Carraia cast an ominous gloom over the city, and the Neri
treacherously forced the Cardinal to leave. Hardly had he gone when,
on June 10th, fighting broke out in the streets, and a fire, purposely
started by the Neri, devastated Florence. On July 7th Pope Benedict
died, perhaps poisoned, at Perugia; and, seeing this last hope taken
from them, the irreconcilable portion of the Bianchi, led by Baschiera
della Tosa, aided by the Ghibellines of Tuscany under Tolosato degli
Uberti, with allies from Bologna and Arezzo, made a valiant attempt
to surprise Florence on July 20th from Lastra. Baschiera, with about
a thousand horsemen, captured a part of the suburbs, and drew up his
force near San Marco, “with white standards displayed, and garlands
of olives, with drawn swords, crying peace” (Compagni). Through his
impetuosity and not awaiting the coming of Tolosato, this enterprise
ended in utter disaster, and with its failure the last hopes of the
Bianchi were dashed to the ground.
SEPARATION FROM THE BIANCHI AND WANDERINGS IN EXILE.--After the defeat
of Lastra, Bruni represents Dante as going from Arezzo to Verona,
utterly humbled. We learn from the _Paradiso_ (xvii. 61-69) that,
estranged from his fellow-exiles who had turned violently against
him, he had been compelled to form a party to himself. It is held by
some scholars that he had broken away from them in the previous year,
and that, towards the end of 1303, he had found his first refuge at
Verona in “the courtesy of the great Lombard,” Bartolommeo della
Scala, at whose court he now first saw his young brother, afterwards
famous as Can Grande, and already in boyhood showing sparks of future
greatness (_ibid._ 70-78). Others would identify _il gran Lombardo_
with Bartolommeo’s brother and successor, Albuino della Scala, who
ruled in Verona from March 1304 until October 1311, and associated Can
Grande with him as the commander of his troops. There is no certain
documentary evidence of Dante’s movements between June 1302 and October
1306. It is not improbable that, in 1304 or 1305, he stayed some time
at Bologna. The first book of the _De Vulgari Eloquentia_ seems in many
respects to bear witness to this stay at Bologna, where the exiles
were still welcome; a certain kindliness towards the Bolognese, very
different from his treatment of them later in the _Divina Commedia_,
is apparent, together with a peculiar acquaintance with their dialect.
But on March 1st, 1306, the Bolognese made a pact with the Neri,
after which they expelled the Florentine exiles, ordering that no
Bianchi or Ghibellines should be found in Bolognese territory on pain
of death. Dante perhaps went to Padua from Bologna, and, though the
supposed documentary proof of his residence in Padua on August 27th,
1306, cannot be accepted without reserve, it is tempting to accept the
statement of Benvenuto da Imola that the poet was entertained by Giotto
when the painter was engaged upon the frescoes of the Madonna dell’
Arena. In October, Dante was in Lunigiana, a guest of the Malaspina,
that honoured race adorned with the glory of purse and sword (_Purg._
viii. 121-139). Here, according to Boccaccio, he recovered from
Florence some manuscript which he had left behind him in his flight;
possibly what he afterwards rewrote as the first seven cantos of the
_Inferno_. On October 6th he acted as ambassador and _nuncio_ of the
Marquis Franceschino Malaspina in establishing peace between his house
and the Bishop of Luni. This is the last certain trace of Dante’s feet
in Italy for nearly five years. There is a strangely beautiful canzone
of his which may have been written at this time. Love has seized upon
the poet in the midst of the Alps (_i.e._ Apennines): “In the valley
of the river by whose side thou hast ever power upon me”; “Thou goest,
my mountain song; perchance shalt see Florence, my city, that bars me
out of herself, void of love and nude of pity; if thou dost enter in,
go saying: Now my maker can no more make war upon you; there, whence I
come, such a chain binds him that, even if your cruelty relax, he has
no liberty to return hither.”[6]
Dante had probably, as Bruni tells us, been abstaining from any hostile
action towards Florence, and hoping to be recalled by the government
spontaneously. There are traces of this state of mind in the _Convivio_
(i. 3). It would be about this time that he wrote in vain the letter
mentioned by Bruni, but now lost, _Popule mee quid feci tibi_.
CLEMENT V.--DEATH OF CORSO DONATI.--In the meantime Clement V., a
Gascon, and formerly Archbishop of Bordeaux, had been elected Pope.
“From westward there shall come a lawless shepherd of uglier deeds”
than even Boniface VIII., writes Dante in _Inferno_ xix. He translated
the Papal Court from Rome to Avignon, and thus in 1305 initiated the
Babylonian captivity of the Popes, which lasted for more than seventy
years, “to the great damage of all Christendom, but especially of Rome”
(Platina). Scandalous as was his subservience to the French king,
and utterly unworthy of the Papacy as he showed himself, it must be
admitted that Clement made serious efforts to relieve the persecuted
Bianchi and Ghibellines--efforts which were cut short by the surrender
of Pistoia in 1306 and the incompetence of his legate, the Cardinal
Napoleone Orsini. In October 1308, Corso Donati came to the violent end
mentioned as a prophecy in _Purg._ xxiv.; suspected, with good reason,
of aiming at the lordship of Florence with the aid of the Ghibelline
captain, Uguccione della Faggiuola, whose daughter he had married, he
was denounced as a traitor and killed in his flight from the city.
DANTE POSSIBLY AT PARIS.--Villani tells us that Dante, after exile,
went to the Studio at Bologna, and then to Paris and to many parts
of the world. The visit to Paris is also affirmed by Boccaccio, and
it is not impossible that Dante went thither, between 1307 and 1309,
by way of the Riviera and Provence. A highly improbable legend of
his presence at Oxford is based upon an ambiguous line in a poetical
epistle from Boccaccio to Petrarch and the later testimony of Giovanni
da Serravalle at the beginning of the fifteenth century. Dante’s stay
in Paris has been seriously questioned, and still remains uncertain.
The University of Paris was then the first in the world in theology
and scholastic philosophy. Boccaccio tells us that the disputations
which Dante sustained there were regarded as most marvellous triumphs
of scholastic subtlety. According to Giovanni da Serravalle (who has,
however, placed his Parisian experiences too early), Dante was forced
to return before taking the doctorate of theology, for which he had
already fulfilled the preliminaries. He may have stayed in Paris until
1310, when tremendous events put an end to his studies and imperatively
summoned him back to Italy.
6. _The Invasion of Henry VII._
“Lo, now is the acceptable time wherein arise the signs of consolation
and peace. For a new day is breaking from the east, showing forth the
dawn which already is dispersing the darkness of our long calamity; and
already the eastern breezes begin to blow, the face of heaven glows
red, and confirms the hopes of the nations with a caressing calm. And
we too shall see the looked-for joy, we who have kept vigil through the
long night in the desert” (_Epist._ v. 1).
ELECTION OF HENRY VII.--On May 1st, 1308, Albert of Austria, who,
by his neglect of Italy, had suffered the garden of the Empire to
be desert, was assassinated by his nephew (_Purg._ vi. 97-105). In
November, with the concurrence of the Pope and in opposition to the
royal house of France, Henry of Luxemburg was elected Emperor. In
January 1309 he was crowned at Aix as Henry VII.; in May 1310 he
announced to the Italian cities his intention of coming to Rome for
the imperial crown. Here was a true King of the Romans and successor
of Caesar, such as the Italians had not recognised since the death of
Frederick II. (_Conv._ iv. 3). The saddle was no longer empty; Italy
had once more a king and Rome a spouse. It is in the glory of this
imperial sunrise that Dante appears again, and, in the letter just
quoted to the Princes and Peoples of Italy, his voice is heard, hailing
the advent of this new Moses, this most clement Henry, _divus Augustus
Caesar_, who is hastening to the nuptials, illuminated in the rays of
the Apostolic benediction. The letter seems to have been written after
the beginning of September, when the Pope issued an encyclical on
Henry’s behalf, and before the latter part of October 1310, when the
Emperor arrived in Italy. According to the fifteenth-century historian,
Flavio Biondo, Dante was at this time at Forlì with Scarpetta
degli Ordelaffi. In January 1311 Henry took the iron crown (or its
substitute) at Milan. Dante, sometime before the end of March, paid
his homage to the Emperor (_Epist._ vii. 2): “I saw thee, as beseems
Imperial Majesty, most benignant, and heard thee most clement, when
that my hands handled thy feet and my lips paid their debt. Then did
my spirit exult in thee, and I spoke silently with myself: ‘Behold the
Lamb of God. Behold Him who hath taken away the sins of the world.’”
NATIONAL POLICY OF FLORENCE.--The Emperor himself shared the golden
dream of the Italian idealists, and, believing in the possibility
of the union of Church and Empire in a peaceful Italy healed of her
wounds, addressed himself ardently to his impossible task, forcing
cities to take back their exiles, patching up old quarrels. Opposed
to him arises the less sympathetic figure of King Robert of Naples,
who, having succeeded his father, Charles II., in May 1309, was
preparing--though still for a while negotiating on his own account
with Henry--to head the Guelf opposition. While others temporised,
Florence openly defied the Emperor, insulted his envoys, and refused to
send ambassadors to his coronation. While the Emperor put his imperial
vicars into Italian cities, as though he were another Frederick
Barbarossa, the Florentines drew closer their alliance with Robert,
formed a confederation of Guelf cities, and aided with money and men
all who made head against the German King. In spite of the bitter
language used by Dante in his letters, modern historians have naturally
recognised in this one of the most glorious chapters in the history of
the Republic. “Florence,” writes Pasquale Villari, “called on the Guelf
cities, and all seeking to preserve freedom and escape foreign tyranny,
to join in an Italian confederation, with herself at its head. This
is, indeed, the moment in which the small merchant republic initiates
a truly national policy, and becomes a great Italian power. So, in
the medieval shape of a feudal and universal Empire, on the one hand,
and in that of a municipal confederation on the other, a gleam of the
national idea first began to appear, though still in the far distance
and veiled in clouds.”
LETTERS AND FRESH SENTENCE.--On March 31st, 1311, from “the boundaries
of Tuscany under the source of the Arno,” and on April 17th, from
“Tuscany under the source of the Arno,” Dante addressed two terrible
letters to “the most wicked Florentines within,” and to “the most
sacred triumphant and only lord, Henry by divine providence King of
the Romans, ever Augustus.” In the former he reasserts the rights and
sanctity of the Empire, and, whilst hurling the fiercest invective
upon the Florentine government, foretells their utter destruction and
warns them of their inability to withstand the might of the Emperor.
In the latter he rebukes the “minister of God and son of the Church
and promoter of Roman glory” for his delay in Lombardy, and urges
him on against Florence, “the sick sheep that infects all the flock
of the Lord with her contagion.” Let him lay her low and Israel will
be delivered. “Then shall our heritage, the taking away of which we
weep without ceasing, be restored to us again; and even as we now
groan, remembering the holy Jerusalem, exiles in Babylon, so then,
citizens breathing again in peace, we shall look back in our joy upon
the miseries of confusion.” These letters were evidently written from
the Casentino, where Dante had gone probably on an imperial mission to
one or other of the Conti Guidi. He was perhaps staying at the castle
of Poppi, and there is a tradition that the Florentine government sent
agents to arrest him there. Probably in consequence of these letters,
a new condemnation was pronounced against him; on September 2nd, 1311,
Dante is included in the long list of exiles who, in the “reform”
of Baldo d’Aguglione, are to be excepted from amnesty and for ever
excluded from Florence.
FAILURE OF THE EMPEROR.--But in the meantime Brescia, “the lioness of
Italy,” who had offered as heroic a resistance to Henry VII. as she was
to do five centuries later to the Austrians of Haynau, had been forced
to surrender; and the Emperor had at last moved southwards to Genoa
and thence to Pisa, from which parties of imperialists ravaged the
Florentine territory. From Genoa, on December 24th, 1311, he issued a
decree placing Florence under the ban of the Empire, and declaring the
Florentine exiles under his special protection. Dante (with Palmieri
Altoviti and other exiles) was probably at Pisa in the early spring
of 1312, and it may well have been there that Petrarch--then a little
boy in his eighth year--saw his great predecessor. Rome itself was
partly held by the troops of King Robert and the Florentines; with
difficulty was Henry crowned by the Pope’s legates in the Church of
St. John Lateran on June 29th, 1312. From September 19th to October
31st Henry besieged Florence, himself ill with fever. “Do ye trust in
any defence girt by your contemptible rampart?” Dante had written to
the Florentines: “What shall it avail to have girt you with a rampart
and to have fortified yourselves with outworks and battlements,
when, terrible in gold, that eagle shall swoop down on you which,
soaring now over the Pyrenees, now over Caucasus, now over Atlas,
ever strengthened by the support of the soldiery of heaven, looked
down of old upon vast oceans in its flight?” But the golden eagle
did not venture upon an assault. Wasting the country as it went, the
imperial army retreated. Early in 1313 the Florentines gave the signory
of their city to King Robert for five years, while the Emperor from
Pisa placed the king under the ban of the Empire, and declared him a
public enemy. The Pope himself had deserted the imperial cause, and
was fulminating excommunication if Henry invaded Robert’s kingdom
(cf. _Par._ xvii. 82; xxx. 144), when the Emperor, moving from Pisa
with reinforcements from Germany and Sicily, died on the march towards
Naples at Buonconvento, near Siena, on August 24th, 1313. Dante had not
accompanied the imperialists against Florence; he yet retained so much
reverence for his fatherland, as Bruni writes, apparently from some
lost letter of the poet’s. We do not know where he was when the fatal
news reached him. Cino da Pistoia and Sennuccio del Bene broke out into
elegiac canzoni on the dead hero; Dante was silent, and waited till he
could more worthily write the apotheosis of his _alto Arrigo_ in the
Empyrean (_Par._ xxx. 133-138).
7. _Last Period of Exile_
DANTE’S WANDERINGS--DEATH OF CLEMENT V.--Dante was again a proscribed
fugitive. His movements are hardly known, excepting by more or less
happy conjecture, from the spring of 1311 in the Casentino to the
close of his days at Ravenna. Boccaccio and Bruni agree that he had
now given up all hope of return to Florence. According to the latter,
he wandered about in great poverty, under the protection of various
lords, in different parts of Lombardy, Tuscany, and Romagna. There is
a tradition, perhaps mainly based upon a passage in the _Paradiso_
(_Par._ xxi. 106-120), that Dante retired to the convent of Santa Croce
di Fonte Avellana in the Apennines, from which he gazed forth upon the
perishing world of the Middle Ages, which was finding imperishable
monument in his work. To this epoch might possibly be assigned--for
what it may be worth--the story of his visit to the other convent of
Santa Croce del Corvo in Lunigiana in quest of peace; but the only
authority for this episode is the letter of Frate Ilario to Uguccione
della Faggiuola, now almost universally regarded as a fabrication. But,
if his steps are hidden, his voice is heard, and with no uncertain
sound. On April 20th, 1314, Clement V. died in Provence (_Par._ xxx.
145); and, early in the interregnum that followed, Dante addressed
a famous letter to the Italian cardinals, rebuking them for their
backsliding and corruption, urging them to make amends by striving
manfully for the restoration of the papacy to Rome. It is a noble
production, full of zeal and dignity, impregnated with the sublimest
spirit of mediaeval Catholicity. It had no immediate effect; after a
long interval the Cahorsine, John XXII., was elected in August 1316;
and the disgrace of Avignon continued. The ideal Emperor had failed;
no ideal Pope was forthcoming; conscious at last of his own greatness,
with _luci chiare ed acute_ (_Par._ xxii. 126), eyes clear from passion
and acute with discernment, the divine poet turned to the completion of
his _Commedia_.
REJECTION OF THE AMNESTY.--After the death of the Emperor, the
Ghibelline leader, Uguccione della Faggiuola, had been chosen lord
of Pisa; he captured Lucca in June, 1314, and began a brief career
of conquest in Tuscany which seriously alarmed Florence. In this
crisis the Florentine government on May 19th, 1315, decreed a general
_ribandimento_, or recall of exiles, under condition of a small fine,
a merely formal imprisonment, and the ceremony of “oblation” in the
Baptistery. Dante was probably at Lucca when he received letters to
the effect that he was included.[7] The famous letter to a Florentine
friend contains his rejection of this amnesty. While deeply and
affectionately grateful to the friends who have striven for his return,
the conditions of this “revocatio gratiosa” seem to Dante derogatory to
his fame and honour, and with calm dignity he refuses to avail himself
of it: “This is not the way of return to our native land, my father;
but if another may be found, first by you and then by others, which
does not derogate from Dante’s fame and honour, that will I accept
with no lagging feet. But, if by no such way Florence may be entered,
I will never enter Florence. What then? May I not anywhere gaze upon
the mirror of the sun and stars? Can I not ponder on the sweetest
truths anywhere beneath the heaven, unless first I return to the city,
inglorious, nay dishonoured, in the sight of the Florentine people?
Nor, assuredly, will bread fail me” (Epist. ix 4).[8]
NEW CONDEMNATION.--On August 29th, 1315, Uguccione utterly defeated
the united armies of Florence and Naples at the great battle of
Montecatini; the Pisan ploughman had crushed the flowers and the
lilies, as Giovanni del Virgilio afterwards wrote to Dante. Dante’s two
sons, Jacopo and Pietro, had perhaps joined him in Lucca. The original
death sentence had apparently been commuted (probably because of his
having refrained from joining in the imperialist attack upon Florence
in 1312) to being placed under bounds in some defined locality; and
in October 1315 the poet, with his two sons, and others were cited
to appear before Ranieri di Zaccaria of Orvieto, royal vicar in
the city of Florence and its district (King Robert’s vicars having
replaced the podestàs), to give surety as to going and staying in the
places appointed. On their neglecting to appear, “Dante Alighieri and
his sons,” in Ranieri’s sentence of November 6th, are condemned as
contumacious and rebels, and sentenced to be beheaded if they ever
come into the power of the royal vicar or of the Commune of Florence.
“And, lest they should glory in their contumacy, we put all and each
of them under ban of the city of Florence and district, giving licence
to anyone to offend all and any one of them in goods and in person,
according to the form of the statutes of Florence.” All the Portinari
are included in this decree, with the exception of Manetto and fourteen
others who have given security.
DANTE AT VERONA.--In the following year, 1316, Uguccione lost Pisa and
Lucca, and fled to Verona, where Can Grande della Scala, since the
death of his brother Albuino in 1311, held sovereign sway as imperial
vicar, and had become the champion of Ghibellinism in northern Italy;
in 1318 Cane was elected captain of the Ghibelline League, and in his
service Uguccione died during the siege of Padua in 1319 or 1320. It is
probable that, somewhere about this time, Dante’s wandering feet had
led him back to Verona to renew his friendship with Can Grande (_Par._
xvii. 85-90; _Epist._ x. 1). The old legend of Dante having met with
discourtesy at his hands is to be absolutely rejected, as indeed every
reference to Can Grande in his works demands. That, on his earlier
visit, there may have been some unpleasantness with Albuino (_Conv._
iv. 16) is more credible. But Dante needed a more peaceful refuge than
Verona to complete his life’s work; the city of the imperial vicar
resounded with the clash of warlike preparations:
But at this court, peace still must wrench
Her chaplet from the teeth of war:
By day they held high watch afar,
At night they cried across the trench;
And still, in Dante’s path, the fierce
Gaunt soldiers wrangled o’er their spears.
AT RAVENNA.--It was most likely towards the end of 1316, or early in
1317, that Dante finally settled at Ravenna; probably, as Boccaccio
tells us, on the invitation of Guido Novello da Polenta, who had
succeeded to the lordship of Ravenna in June 1316. This Guido was
the nephew of Francesca da Rimini, the hapless heroine of one of the
most familiar episodes of the _Inferno_. These few remaining years of
Dante’s life are the pleasantest to contemplate. His two sons were
with him, though their mother apparently remained in Florence. Dino
Perini, a younger Florentine, seems to have been to some extent the
friend of Dante’s later days, as Guido Cavalcanti had been of his
youth. And there were other congenial companions round him, including
perhaps Giotto, who was probably working at Ravenna about this time.
It is possible that Dante held some kind of professorship in the
local university. Scholars and disciples came to be instructed in the
poetic art, among them, it would seem, Guido da Polenta himself. His
relations were still cordial with Can Grande, to whom, probably in
1318 or 1319, he addressed the epistle which contains the dedication
of the _Paradiso_. From the _Quaestio de Aqua et Terra_ (which is
now generally accepted as authentic) we gather that, at the end of
1319 or beginning of 1320, Dante paid a visit to Mantua, and that at
Verona, on January 20th, 1320, he delivered a discourse concerning
the relative position of the two elements, earth and water, on the
globe’s surface. A curious document of 1320--the report of a process at
Avignon in which Dante’s name is incidentally mentioned--seems to show
that the poet was regarded as an authority upon sorcery, but as one
whom persons intending to put this power to guilty use should abstain
from consulting. There is also some vague evidence that accusations of
heresy may have been brought against him.
LAST DAYS AND DEATH.--At Ravenna, amidst the monuments of ancient
Caesars and the records in mosaic of primitive Christianity, where the
church walls testified the glory of Justinian and the music of the Pine
Forest sounded in his ears, Dante finished his _Divina Commedia_. His
poetical correspondence with Giovanni del Virgilio, a shining light of
the University of Bologna, reveals the kindliness and affability of the
austere “preacher of Justice.” But he was not to end his days in peace.
A storm cloud of war seemed about to burst over Ravenna. According
to Venetian accounts--and we have no version of the matter from the
other side--the Ravennese had taken Venetian ships and killed Venetian
sailors in time of peace without just cause. In consequence the Doge
entered into an alliance with the lords of Forlì and Rimini, and
prepared to make war upon Ravenna with forces far beyond Guido’s power
to meet. In August 1321 an embassy was sent by Guido to Venice, to
avert the war by diplomatic means. Of this embassy Dante formed part.
According to Filippo Villani, the Venetians refused the poet a hearing,
and forced him, sick with fever, to return by land. It is more probable
that Dante returned with offered terms by the quickest way, which would
bring him back through the Pineta to Ravenna. There he died in the
night between September 13th and 14th, 1321, in the fifty-seventh year
of his age. The poet of a renovated Empire and a purified Church had
passed away on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross--the Cross
which he represents as the mystical bond with which Christ had bound
the chariot of the Church to the tree of the Empire. He left his Church
sinking, though but for a time, still deeper into the scandal and
corruption of Avignon; his Empire preparing new degradation for itself,
now that the Eagle had passed into the greedy and unworthy hands of
Bavarian Louis; his Italy torn and rent by factions and dissensions;
his own Florence still ranking him as a proscribed rebel and criminal.
But the divine work of his life had been completed, and remains an
everlasting proof of the doctrine formulated by another poet, five
hundred years later: “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the
world.”[9]
8. _Dante’s Work and First Interpreters_
FOUR PERIODS IN HUMAN LIFE.--In the _Convivio_ (iv. 23, 24) Dante
represents human life under the image of an arch, ascending and
descending. For the perfectly-natured the summit of this arch is in
the thirty-fifth year. Life is divided into four ages, like the four
seasons of the year. Adolescence, _Adolescenza_, the increase of
life, ascends from birth to the twenty-fifth year; Youth or Manhood,
_Gioventute_, the perfection and culmination of life, lasts from the
twenty-fifth to the forty-fifth year; Age, _Senettute_, descends from
the forty-fifth to the seventieth year; after which remains Old Age,
_Senio_, the winter of life.
THREE PERIODS IN DANTE’S WORK.--Dante’s work falls into three periods,
representing to some extent _Adolescenza_, _Gioventute_, _Senettute_.
The first is that of his “New Life,” the epoch of the romantic worship
of Beatrice in her life and after her death, in which the youthful poet
beheld many things by his intellect, as it were dreaming, _quasi come
sognado_ (_Conv._ ii. 13). This period comprises the _Vita Nuova_, with
the lyrics contemporaneous with it, and closes in the promise “yet
to utter concerning her what hath never been said of any woman.” The
second period corresponds to Dante’s second age, or _Gioventute_; it
is the period in which the image of Beatrice in the citadel of his mind
is somewhat obscured by the tempests of passion and political turmoil,
and for a while had become less paramount when her poet directed his
thoughts to the service of philosophical research. Joined to the first
period by the canzone addressed to the angelic movers of the sphere
of Venus, it includes the greater part of the collection of lyrics
(Canzoni, Bellate, Sonnets) included in the _Rime_ or _Canzoniere_;
the two unfinished prose treatises which expound the mystical meaning
and technical construction of these canzoni, the _Convivio_ and the
_De Vulgari Eloquentia_. The three political letters connected with
the Italian expedition of Henry VII. and, most probably, the special
treatise in Latin prose on the Empire, the _Monarchia_, connect the
second with the third period. This last period is the period of the
_Divina Commedia_; the return to Beatrice, but now the allegorical
Beatrice; the fulfilment of the supreme promise of the _Vita Nuova_;
the result of the labours in art and philosophy which the second period
had witnessed, of political experience, and of the spiritual and moral
revulsion of Dante’s later years, after the bitter disillusion of the
Emperor Henry’s enterprise and failure: “A fruit of sufferings excess.”
To this period, subsidiary to the _Divina Commedia_, belong the letters
to the Italian Cardinals, to the Florentine friend and to Can Grande,
the _Quaestio de Aqua et Terra_ (if authentic), and the two _Eclogues_.
In addition to these works, several Italian scholars of high repute
have attributed to Dante the _Fiore_--a rendering of the _Roman de
la Rose_ in 232 sonnets--the author of which twice calls himself
“Durante.” The editors of the sexcentenary _testo critico_ have wisely
excluded it from their volume, and it has been edited as an “appendice
dantiana” by Parodi. Also we know of several smaller things of Dante’s
now lost: the letters mentioned by Leonardo Bruni and Flavio Biondo;
a _serventese_ containing the names of the sixty most beautiful women
in Florence, referred to in the _Vita Nuova_ (_V. N._ vi.), one of his
earliest poems; and a canzone on love, of peculiar structure, quoted in
the _De Vulgari Eloquentia_ (_V. E._ ii. 11).
EARLY COMMENTATORS.--No sooner had Dante passed away than his
apotheosis began with the epitaph by Giovanni del Virgilio:
Theologus Dantes, nullius dogmatis expers
--“Dante, the theologian, skilled in every branch of knowledge,” and
the canzone on his death by Cino da Pistoia:
Su per la costa, Amor, de l’alto monte
--“Up the side, Love, of the lofty mountain.” Boccaccio tells us that
it was Dante’s custom to send the _Divina Commedia_ by instalments
to Can Grande at Verona, and he adds a striking story of how,
eight months after his death, the poet appeared in a vision, “clad
in whitest garments and his face shining with an unwonted light,”
to his son Jacopo, to reveal to the world where the manuscript of
the last thirteen cantos of the _Paradiso_ was hidden. It is a fact
that in April or May, 1322, Jacopo presented a complete copy of the
sacred poem to Guido da Polenta, who was then Captain of the People
at Bologna. Straightway the work of copyists and commentators began,
above all at Florence and Bologna. The earliest dated MSS. are the
_Codice Landiano_ at Piacenza and the _Codice Trivulziano_ at Milan
(the latter of Florentine origin), dated 1336 and 1337 respectively.
Of commentaries, the first two are those on the _Inferno_, written
in the twenties of the century, by Dante’s son, Jacopo Alighieri, in
Italian, and Ser Graziolo de’ Bambaglioli, chancellor of the Commune
of Bologna, in Latin. The earliest extant commentators on the complete
poem are the Bolognese Jacopo della Lana and the Florentine author of
the _Ottimo Commento_, probably Andrea Lancia; the former wrote shortly
before and the latter shortly after 1330. Both wrote in Italian. Pietro
Alighieri composed a Latin commentary on his father’s work about 1340,
and revised it, with additions, some years later. An important Latin
commentary on the _Inferno_, by the Carmelite Guido da Pisa, dates from
the forties of the century. And, before the fourteenth century closed,
a new epoch in Dante scholarship was inaugurated by the lectures and
commentaries of Giovanni Boccaccio at Florence (1373), Benvenuto da
Imola at Bologna (1375-80), and Francesco da Buti at Pisa (1380-90).
Of all these earlier commentators, Benvenuto da Imola is by far the
greatest; and he unites mediaeval Dantology with England’s cult of the
divine poet in the first complete edition of his commentary which was
given to the world by Lacaita and William Warren Vernon.
In his proem, Ser Graziolo, or his contemporary translator, strikes
the keynote of all reverent criticism of the _Divina Commedia_, and
defines the attitude in which the divine poet and his works should be
approached:
“Although the unsearchable Providence of God hath made many men blessed
with prudence and virtue, yet before all hath it put Dante Alighieri,
a man of noble and profound wisdom, true fosterling of philosophy and
lofty poet, the author of this marvellous, singular, and most sapient
work. It hath made him a shining light of spiritual felicity and of
knowledge to the people and cities of the world, in order that every
science, whether of heavenly or of earthly things, should be amply
gathered up in this public and famous champion of prudence, and through
him be made manifest to the desires of men in witness of the Divine
Wisdom; so that, by the new sweetness and universal matter of his song,
he should draw the souls of his hearers to self-knowledge, and that,
raised above earthly desires, they should come to know not only the
beauties of this great author, but should attain to still higher grades
of knowledge. To him can be applied the text in Ecclesiasticus: ‘The
great Lord will fill him with the spirit of understanding, and he will
pour forth the words of his wisdom as showers.’”
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _V. N._ xxx. _Cf._ Moore, _Studies in Dante_, ii. pp. 123, 124. Del
Lungo and others calculate the date as June 19th.
[2] Two daughters are mentioned: Antonia and Beatrice. It is probable
that they are one and the same person, Antonia being the name in the
world of the daughter who became a nun at Ravenna as “Suora Beatrice.”
A recent discovery has revealed the existence of a Giovanni di Dante
Alighieri, “Johannes filius Dantis Alagherii de Florentia,” at Lucca
in October 1308, who would then have been at least fourteen years old.
But it seems more probable that the “Dante Alighieri” in question is
not the poet. See M. Barbi, _Un altro figlio di Dante?_ in _Studi
danteschi, v._ (Florence, 1922).
[3] It is to this conspiracy, as initiating the papal interference in
Florentine politics which led ultimately to Dante’s own exile, that the
poet alludes in _Par._ xvii. 49-51, where Cacciaguida speaks from the
standpoint of April 1300.
[4] See B. Barbadoro, _La condanna di Dante_, in _Studi danteschi
diretti da_ Michele Barbi, vol. ii.
[5] Cf. Del Lungo’s notes to _La Cronica di Dino Compagni_ in the
new Muratori (tom. ix. pt. ii.), and Luzzatto, _La Cronica di Dino
Compagni_, p. 70, n. 1. It is clear that both Bologna and Siena sent
ambassadors, but that Compagni (misled by the name) erroneously
supposed Malavolti to have been a Sienese.
[6] _Rime_ cxvi.: O. canz. xi. Torraca takes this canzone as written
when Dante was in the Casentino in 1311. Boccaccio speaks of an earlier
stay of the poet in that region. It should be noted that Del Lungo has
argued that Dante, after withdrawing from the active measures of the
Bianchi, remained in Tuscany, or near at hand, until the dissolution of
the party in 1307, when he may have gone to Verona.
[7] We know from the _Purgatorio_ that Dante at some time visited
Lucca, where a lady, said to have been Gentucca Morla, made the city
pleasant to him. Dante’s words seem to imply no more than an agreeable
friendship (_Purg._ xxiv. 43-45). This visit may have been at an
earlier date.
[8] Cf. A. Della Torre, _L’epistola all’ Amico fiorentino_, in
_Bullettino della Società Dantesca Italiana_, n.s. xii.; M. Barbi, _Per
un passo dell’ epistola all’ Amico fiorentino_, in _Studi danteschi_,
ii.
[9] In 1350 Boccaccio was commissioned by the captains of Or San
Michele, a religious confraternity at Florence, to convey a sum of
money to “Suora Beatrice, daughter of the late Dante Alighieri,” a
Dominican nun in the monastery of Santo Stefano degli Ulivi at Ravenna.
This Suora Beatrice is mentioned, as no longer living, in a document of
1371. In a document of 1332, the only children of the poet who appear,
together with his widow Gemma, are Jacopo, Pietro, and Antonia (of whom
we know nothing more). It seems, therefore, probable that Dante had
one daughter, Antonia, who, after 1332 (perhaps after the death of her
mother), entered religion at Ravenna as Suora Beatrice. See O. Bacci,
“Beatrice di Dante,” in _Giornale Dantesco_, viii. pp. 465-471.
CHAPTER II
DANTE’S MINOR ITALIAN WORKS
1. _The “Vita Nuova”_
Guido Guinizelli is acknowledged by Dante himself as his master in
poetic art and the founder of the great new school of Italian poetry:
“The father of me and of the others, my betters, who ever used sweet
and gracious rhymes of love” (_Purg._ xxvi. 97). Guido’s “Canzone of
the Gentle Heart”:
Al cor gentil ripara sempre Amore,
“To the gentle heart doth Love ever repair,” the first great Italian
lyric of this _dolce stil nuovo_, set forth an ideal creed of love
which Dante made his own, and is the most fitting introduction to the
_Vita Nuova_ and the _Rime_. Love has its proper dwelling in the gentle
heart, as light in the sun, for Nature created them simultaneously for
each other, and they cannot exist apart. “The fire of Love is caught
in gentle heart as virtue in the precious stone, to which no power
descends from the star before the sun makes it a gentle thing. After
the sun has drawn forth from it all which there is vile, the star gives
it power. So the heart which is made by Nature true, pure, and noble,
a woman like a star enamours.” But a base nature will extinguish love
as water does fire. Unless a man has true gentlehood in his soul, no
high birth or ancient lineage will ennoble him. Even as God fills the
celestial intelligence with the Beatific Vision of His Essence, so
the _bella donna_ inspires him of gentle heart with the perfection
of faithful love. Nor need the poet fear to take divine things as
similitudes of his love, for such love as this is celestial, and will
be accepted in Paradise:
My lady, God shall ask, “What daredst thou?”
(When my soul stands with all her acts reviewed)
“Thou passedst Heaven, into My sight, as now,
To make Me of vain love similitude.
To Me doth praise belong,
And to the Queen of all the realm of grace
Who slayeth fraud and wrong.”
Then may I plead: “As though from Thee he came,
Love wore an angel’s face:
Lord, if I loved her, count it not my shame.”
ROSSETTI’S _Translation_.
The poetry of the _dolce stil nuovo_ developed the spiritual conception
of love already in germ in the later troubadours, and added an infusion
of the new scholastic philosophy, but the real novelty lay in the
superiority of Guido Guinizelli as a poet over his predecessors. From
Bologna the pre-eminence passed to Florence with Guido Cavalcanti, who
took from the other Guido “la gloria de la lingua” (_Purg._ xi. 98),
and developed a complicated poetical psychology which culminates in
his famous canzone on the nature of love:
Donna me prega, perch’io voglio dire;
“A lady prays me, therefore I would tell of an accident which is often
fierce and is so lofty that it is called Love.” The _Vita Nuova_,
beginning under the influence of Cavalcanti, becomes the supreme
development in prose and verse of the doctrine of Guinizelli.
“This glorious poet,” writes Boccaccio, “first, when still weeping
for the death of his Beatrice, about in his twenty-sixth year put
together in a little volume, which he called the _New Life_, certain
small works, as sonnets and canzoni, made by him in diverse times
before and in rhyme, marvellously beautiful; writing at the head of
each, severally and in order, the occasions which had moved him to make
them, and adding at the end the divisions of each poem. And although,
in maturer years, he was much ashamed of having made this little book,
nevertheless, when his age is considered, it is very beautiful and
pleasing, and especially to the general reader.”
But this spotless lily of books is too delicate a flower in the garden
of art to be plucked by the hands of the writer of the _Decameron_.
A greater poet than Boccaccio has said of it: “Throughout the _Vita
Nuova_ there is a strain like the first falling murmur which reaches
the ear in some remote meadow, and prepares us to look upon the sea.”
It is a preparation for the _Commedia_, inasmuch as it tells us how the
divine singer became a poet, and how she crossed his path who was to
be his spiritual pilot over that mighty ocean. Boccaccio’s statement,
that Dante in maturer years was ashamed of having written this book, is
perhaps due to a misunderstanding or confused recollection of a passage
about certain canzoni in the _Convivio_ (i. 2). In the _Convivio_,
where he discusses the nature of allegory and interprets the whole of
certain later poems in an allegorical sense, Dante suggests no such
significance for Beatrice in the _Vita Nuova_; but, while declaring
that the _Vita Nuova_ was written at the entrance of manhood, he seems
to contrast it with his more mature work, to which alone he would apply
an allegorical interpretation. And he is most emphatic that this is in
no way to derogate from the _Vita Nuova_ (_Conv._ i. 1): “For it is
fitting to speak and act differently in one age than in another.”
The _Vita Nuova_ is the most spiritual and ethereal romance of love
that exists, but its purity is such as comes, not from innocent
simplicity of soul, but from self-repression. In the form of a
collection of lyrics connected together by a prose narrative (itself a
thing of rare and peculiar beauty), with quaint and curious scholastic
divisions and explanations, Dante tells the tale of his love for
Beatrice, from his first sight of her in their ninth year to a vision
which is the anticipation of her final apotheosis. Although conforming
with the poetic conventions of the age, especially in the earlier
portions, it is based upon a real love story, however deeply tinged
with mysticism and embellished with visionary episodes. The heroine in
her loveliness and purity becomes an image upon earth of the Divine
Beauty and Goodness; the poet’s love for her is the stepping-stone
to love of the Supreme Good. Dante has learned his lesson from Guido
Guinizelli, and does not fear to take God Himself as a similitude
of his love; Heaven itself requires his lady for its perfection of
beatitude (_V. N._ xix.); she has her precursor in Monna Giovanna, even
as St. John came before the True Light (xxiv.); nay, she is a very
miracle whose only root is the Blessed Trinity (xxx.).
Here beginneth the “New Life,” _Incipit vita nova!_ We shall probably
do well in taking the New Life not as merely meaning the poet’s youth,
but as referring to the new life that began with the dawn of love,
the regeneration of the soul. Dante’s first meeting with Beatrice at
the beginning of her ninth and at the end of his ninth year, when she
appeared to him robed in crimson, the colour of love and charity--and
her “most sweet salutation” nine years later, when she came dressed all
in pure white, the hue of Faith and Purity, between two gentle ladies
older than herself--these things may have a certain analogy with the
representation of his moral and political conversion, in the vision of
the _Commedia_, as happening in his thirty-fifth year, 1300, the year
of Jubilee. We may perhaps surmise that Dante, looking back from this
second meeting, from which his love really dates, artistically worked
up the recollections of his childhood to correspond with it; just as
many years later, when he turned to the composition of the sacred poem,
he looked back in his memory to some great spiritual experience when
“in the middle of the journey of our life.” And, although Dante’s own
words in the _Convivio_ seem absolutely to preclude any possibility of
allegorising the figure of Beatrice herself, it is clear that many of
the minor episodes in the _Vita Nuova_ must be regarded as symbolical.
After the proem, in which the poet’s intention is set forth, the _Vita
Nuova_ falls into three divisions. Each contains ten poems set as gems
in a golden prose framework, the end of each part being indicated by a
reference to new matter, _nuova matera_ (xvii., xxxi.). The whole book
is closed by an epilogue containing one sonnet, _una cosa nuova_, “a
new thing,” with an introductory episode and a visionary sequel. In the
first part Dante mainly depicts the effects in himself of Beatrice’s
beauty, the loveliness of the _belle membra_, “the fair members in
which I was enclosed” (_Purg._ xxxi. 50); in the second, the miracles
wrought by the splendour of her soul; the third contains his worship
of her memory, when “the delight of her fairness, departing from our
view, became great spiritual beauty that spreads through heaven a light
of love, gives bliss to the Angels, and makes their lofty and subtle
intellect wonder” (xxxiv.).
The first part (ii. to xvii.) contains nine of Dante’s earliest
sonnets and one ballata, with the story of his youthful love up to a
certain point, where, after having passed through a spiritual crisis,
he resolves to write upon a new and nobler matter than the past. We
have the wondrous effects of Beatrice’s salutation; the introductory
sonnet resulting in the friendship with Guido Cavalcanti, to whom the
book is dedicated, and who seems to have induced Dante to write in
Italian instead of Latin (_V. N._ xxxi.); his concealment of his love
by feigning himself enamoured of two other ladies. Throughout the _Vita
Nuova_, while Beatrice on earth or in heaven is, as it were, the one
central figure in the picture, there is a lovely background of girlish
faces behind her; just as, in the paintings of many early Italian
masters, there is shown in the centre the Madonna and her Divine Babe,
while around her all the clouds and sky are full of sweetly smiling
cherubs’ heads. There have been students of the book who supposed that,
while Beatrice represents the ideal of womanhood, these others are the
real Florentine women in whom Dante for a while sought this glorious
ideal of his mind; others have endeavoured in one or other of the
minor characters of the _Vita Nuova_ to recognise the Matelda of the
Earthly Paradise. And there are visions and dreams introduced, in which
Love himself appears in visible form, now as a lord of terrible aspect
within a cloud of fire with Beatrice in his arms, now by a river-side
in the garb of a traveller to bid Dante feign love for another lady,
now as a youth clad in very white raiment to console him when Beatrice
refuses her salutation. It may be that these two latter episodes mean
that Dante was for a time enamoured of some girl whom he afterwards
represented as the second lady who shielded his real love from
discovery, and that he resolved to turn from it to a nobler worship of
Beatrice. The most beautiful sonnet of this group is the fifth:
Cavalcando l’altr’ier per un cammino,
“As I rode the other day along a path, thinking of the journey that was
irksome to me,” the journey in question being probably to Bologna (cf.
p. 12).
This part is not wanting in the “burning tears” which Leonardo Bruni
finds such a stumbling-block in Boccaccio’s narrative. Its lyrics show
the influence of Guido Cavalcanti, particularly in the personification
of the faculties of the soul as _spiriti_, and in the somewhat
extravagant metaphors with which Dante depicts his torment in love.
But a complete change comes. The mysterious episode of Dante’s agony
at a wedding feast, where Beatrice mocks him, marks a crisis in his
new life. _Io tenni li piedi in quella parte de la vita di là da la
quale non si puote ire più per intendimento di ritornare_, “I have set
my feet on that part of life beyond the which one can go no further
with intention of returning.” He crushes the more personal element
out of his love, and will be content to worship her from afar; he has
sufficiently made manifest his own condition, even if he should ever
after abstain from addressing her. “It behoved me to take up a new
matter and one nobler than the past.”
This _matera nuova e più nobile che la passata_ is the subject
of the second part of the _Vita Nuova_ (xviii. to xxviii.). The
poet’s youthful love has become spiritual adoration for a living
personification of all beauty and nobleness. Since Beatrice denies him
her salutation, Love has placed all his beatitude in those words that
praise his lady: so he tells the lady of very sweet speech, _donna di
motto leggiadro parlare_, who questions him concerning this love, and
whose rebuke marks the turning-point of the whole book. And, for the
first time, the supreme poet is revealed in the great canzone:
Donne ch’avete intelletto d’amore,
“Ladies that have understanding of love,” uniting earth and heaven
in glorification of her who was the giver of blessing. Here the
apotheosis of womanhood, sketched by Guido Guinizelli, is developed
with mystical fullness, and there is even perhaps a hint of some future
work in honour of Beatrice that will deal with the world beyond the
grave. The two sonnets that follow are a kind of supplement; the first:
Amore e ’l cor gentil sono una cosa,
“Love and the gentle heart are one same thing,” gives a definition of
love, elaborating the Guinizellian doctrine; the second:
Ne li occhi porta la mia donna Amore,
“Within her eyes my lady carries Love,” pursues the conception further,
to represent Beatrice herself as the creatrix of the divine gift of
_gentilezza_ by which the heart is capable of noble love. Two sonnets
on the death of Beatrice’s father lead up to a veritable lyrical
masterpiece, the canzone:
Donna pietosa e di novella etate,
“A lady pitiful and of tender age,” the anticipatory vision of
Beatrice’s death--the “Dante’s Dream” of Rossetti’s famous picture. The
following sonnet, in which Beatrice and Cavalcanti’s lady, Primavera or
Giovanna, appear together, is the only place in the _Vita Nuova_ where
Dante calls her whom he loved by the name by which she was actually
known--“Bice.” Love now no longer appears weeping, but speaks joyfully
in the poet’s heart. All that was personal in Dante’s worship seems to
have passed away with his earlier lamentations; his love has become a
transcendental rapture, an ecstasy of self-annihilation. This part of
the book culminates in the two sonnets:
Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare,
“So noble and so pure seems my lady,” in which a similar sonnet of
Guinizelli’s is easily surpassed, and
Vede perfettamente onne salute,
“He seeth perfectly all bliss, who beholds my lady among the ladies”;
sonnets which are flawless gems of mediaeval poetry. Then abruptly, in
the composition of a canzone which should have shown how Love by means
of Beatrice regenerated his soul, the pen falls from his hand: Beatrice
has been called by God to Himself, to be glorious under the banner of
Mary, “How doth the city sit solitary that was full of people!”
Some falling off may be detected here and there in the third part of
the _Vita Nuova_ (xxix. to xli.), which includes the prose and poetry
connected with Beatrice’s death, the love for the lady who takes pity
upon the poet’s grief, his repentance and return to Beatrice’s memory.
A stately canzone:
Li occhi dolenti per pietà del core,
“The eyes that grieve for pity of the heart,” is a companion piece
to the opening canzone of the second part; the poet now speaks of
Beatrice’s death in the same form and to the same love-illumined
ladies to whom he had formerly sung her praises. More beautiful are
the closing lines of the shorter canzone, written for Dante’s second
friend, who was apparently Beatrice’s brother. After the charming
episode of the poet drawing an Angel on her anniversary, the “gentle
lady, young and very fair,” inspires him with four sonnets; and his
incipient love for her is dispelled by a “strong imagination,” a
vision of Beatrice as he had first seen her in her crimson raiment of
childhood. The bitterness of Dante’s repentance is a foretaste of the
confession upon Lethe’s bank in the _Purgatorio_. The pilgrims pass
through the city on their way to Rome, “in that season when many folk
go to see that blessed likeness which Jesus Christ left us as exemplar
of His most beauteous face, which my lady sees in glory” (_V. N._
xli.); and this third part closes with the sonnet in which Dante calls
upon the pilgrims to tarry a little, till they have heard how the city
lies desolate for the loss of Beatrice.
In the epilogue (xlii., xliii.), in answer to the request of two of
those noble ladies who throng the ways of Dante’s mystical city of
youth and love as God’s Angels guard the terraces of the Mount of
Purgation, Dante writes the last sonnet of the book; wherein a “new
intelligence,” born of Love, guides the pilgrim spirit beyond the
spheres into the Empyrean to behold the blessedness of Beatrice. It is
an anticipation of the spiritual ascent of the _Divina Commedia_, which
is confirmed in the famous passage which closes the “new life” of Love:
“After this sonnet there appeared unto me a wonderful vision: wherein
I saw things which made me purpose to say no more of this blessed one,
until such time as I could discourse more worthily concerning her.
And to attain to that I labour all I can, even as she knoweth verily.
Wherefore if it shall be His pleasure, through whom is the life of all
things, that my life continue for some years, I hope that I shall yet
utter concerning her what hath never been said of any woman. And then
may it seem good unto Him, who is the Lord of courtesy, that my soul
may go hence to behold the glory of its lady: to wit, of that blessed
Beatrice who gazeth gloriously upon the countenance of Him who is
blessed throughout all ages.”[10]
From the mention of the pilgrimage, and this wonderful vision, it has
been sometimes supposed that the closing chapters of the _Vita Nuova_
were written in 1300. It seems, however, almost certain that there is
no reference whatever to the year of Jubilee in the first case. When
Dante’s positive statement in the _Convivio_, that he wrote the _Vita
Nuova_ at the entrance of manhood (_gioventute_ being the twenty years
from twenty-five to forty-five, _Conv._ iv. 24), is compared with the
internal evidence of the book itself, the most probable date for its
completion would be between 1291 and 1293. It should, however, be
borne in mind that, while there is documentary evidence that some of
the single poems were in circulation before 1300, none of the extant
manuscripts of the whole work can be assigned to a date much earlier
than the middle of the fourteenth century. It is, therefore, not
inconceivable that the reference to the vision may be associated with
the spiritual experience of 1300 and slightly later than the rest of
the book.[11]
The form of the _Vita Nuova_, the setting of the lyrics in a prose
narrative and commentary, is one that Dante may well have invented
for himself. If he had models before his eyes, they were probably,
on the one hand, the _razos_ or prose explanations which accompanied
the poems of the troubadours, and, on the other, the commentaries of
St. Thomas Aquinas on the works of Aristotle, which Dante imitates
in his divisions and analyses of the various poems. His quotations
show that he had already studied astronomy, and made some rudimentary
acquaintance with Aristotle and with the four chief Latin poets; the
section in which he speaks of the latter, touching upon the relations
between classical and vernacular poetry (xxv.), suggests the germ of
the _De Vulgari Eloquentia_. The close of the book implies that he
regarded lack of scientific and literary equipment as keeping him from
the immediate fulfilment of the greater work that he had even then
conceived for the glory of Beatrice.
In the _Convivio_, where all else is allegorical, Beatrice is
still simply his first love, _lo primo amore_ (ii. 16). Even when
allegorically interpreting the canzone which describes how another
lady took her place in his heart, after her death, as referring to
Philosophy, there is no hint of any allegory about _quella viva
Beatrice beata_, “that blessed Beatrice, who lives in heaven with
the Angels and on earth with my soul” (_Conv._ ii. 2). When about to
plunge more deeply into allegorical explanations, he ends what he has
to say concerning her by a digression upon the immortality of the soul
(_Conv._ ii. 9): “I so believe, so affirm, and so am certain that I
shall pass after this to another better life, there where that glorious
lady lives, of whom my soul was enamoured.”
Those critics who question the reality of the story of the _Vita
Nuova_, or find it difficult to accept without an allegorical or
idealistic interpretation, are best answered in Dante’s own words:
_Questo dubbio è impossibile a solvere a chi non fosse in simile grado
fedele d’Amore; e a coloro che vi sono è manifesto ciò che solverebbe
le dubitose parole_; “This difficulty is impossible to solve for anyone
who is not in similar grade faithful unto Love; and to those who are
so, that is manifest which would solve the dubious words” (_V. N._
xiv.).
2. _The “Rime”_
The _Rime_--for which the more modern title, _Canzoniere_, has
sometimes been substituted--comprise all Dante’s lyrical poems,
together with others that are more doubtfully attributed to him. In
the _Vita Nuova_ were inserted three canzoni, two shorter poems in the
canzone mould, one ballata, twenty-five sonnets (including two double
sonnets). The “testo critico” of the _Rime_, edited by Michele Barbi
for the sexcentenary Dante, in addition to these accepts as authentic
sixteen canzoni (the sestina is merely a special form of canzone),
five ballate, thirty-four sonnets, and two stanzas. Dante himself
regards the canzone as the noblest form of poetry (_V. E._ ii. 3), and
he expounded three of his canzoni in the _Convivio_. From the middle
of the fourteenth century onwards, a large number of MSS. give these
three and twelve others (fifteen in all) as a connected whole in a
certain definite order, frequently with a special rubric in Latin
or Italian prefixed to each; this order and these rubrics are due
to Boccaccio.[12] It has been more difficult to distinguish between
the certainly genuine and the doubtful pieces among the ballate and
sonnets, and the authenticity of some of those now included by Barbi in
the canon is still more or less open to question. The _Rime_, on the
whole, are the most unequal of Dante’s works; a few of the sonnets,
particularly some of the earlier ones and those in answer to other
poets, have but slight poetic merit, while several of the later canzoni
rank among the world’s noblest lyrics. In the sexcentenary edition the
arrangement of the lyrics is tentatively chronological, with subsidiary
groupings according to subject-matter. While following the same general
scheme, I slightly modify the arrangement, as certain poems regarded by
Barbi as “rime d’amore” appear to me to be more probably allegorical.
(_a_) A first group belongs to the epoch of the _Vita Nuova_.
Conspicuous among them are two canzoni. One:
La dispietata mente che pur mira,
“Pitiless memory that still gazes back at the time gone by,” is
addressed directly to a woman (in this respect differing from Dante’s
other canzoni), who is probably the second lady represented as the
poet’s screen. The other:
E ’m’ incresce di me si duramente,
“I grieve for myself so bitterly,” seems to give fuller expression to
the first part of the _Vita Nuova_ with an alien note--the image of the
little maiden has yielded to that of the woman whose great beauty is
the object of unattainable desire. At times a lighter note is struck;
Dante is apparently simply supplying words for composers to set to
music, or revealing a spirit of playfulness of which there is no trace
in the _Vita Nuova_.[13] Besides sonnets in honour of Beatrice, we have
a few relating to other women, and in two ballate even their names are
given: Fioretta and Violetta. One delightful sonnet:
Sonar bracchetti e cacciatori aizzare,
“Beagles questing and huntsmen urging on,” reveals the poet taking
part in sport and appreciating a jape at his own expense. A number of
correspondence sonnets belong to this epoch, a small series addressed
to Dante da Maiano (of which no MS. has been preserved) being probably
earlier than the first sonnet of the _Vita Nuova_. A note of pure
romance is struck in the charming sonnet to Guido Cavalcanti, in which
the younger poet wishes that they two, with Lapo Gianni and their three
ladies (Dante’s being the first lady who screened his love), might
take a voyage over enchanted seas in Merlin’s magic barque. Several
admirable sonnets, now included in this group, were formerly attributed
to Cino da Pistoia.[14]
(_b_) The tenzone with Forese Donati forms a little group apart. Its
date is uncertain, but may be plausibly taken as between 1290 and
1296. These sonnets, though not free from bitterness which is perhaps
serious, may be regarded as exercises in that style of burlesque and
satirical poetry to which even Guido Guinizelli had once paid tribute,
and which Rustico di Filippo had made characteristically Florentine.
(_c_) Next comes a group of poems, connected with the allegory of the
_Convivio_, in which an intellectual ideal is pursued with the passion
and wooed in the language of the lover who adores an earthly mistress.
“I say and affirm that the lady, of whom I was enamoured after my first
love, was the most beautiful and most pure daughter of the Emperor of
the Universe, to whom Pythagoras gave the name Philosophy” (_Conv._ ii.
16). By some, not entirely reconcilable, process the _donna gentile_,
who appears at the end of the _Vita Nuova_, has become a symbol of
Philosophy, and the poet’s love for her a most noble devotion. The
canzone:
Voi che ’ntendendo il terzo ciel movete,
“Ye who by understanding move the third heaven” describing the conflict
in Dante’s mind between this new love and the memory of Beatrice, deals
again with the matter of one of the sonnets of the _Vita Nuova_; but
the allegory is perhaps an after-thought. It is commented upon in the
second treatise of the _Convivio_ and quoted in Canto viii. of the
_Paradiso_. The other poems of this group seem purely allegorical:
“By love, in this allegory, is always intended that study which is
the application of the enamoured mind to that thing of which it is
enamoured” (_Conv._ ii. 16). At first this service is painful and
laborious; and the mystical lady seems a cruel and proud mistress, as
she is represented in the “pitiful ballata”:
Voi che savete ragionar d’Amore,
“Ye who know how to discourse of love,” which is referred to in the
third treatise of the _Convivio_ (iii. 9). But the defect is on the
lover’s own part, and in her light the difficulties which sundered him
and her are dispersed like morning clouds before the face of the sun.
This mystical worship culminates in the supreme hymn to his spiritual
mistress, whose body is Wisdom and whose soul is Love:
Amor che ne la mente mi ragiona,
“Love that in my mind discourses to me of my lady desirously,” which
is the second canzone of the _Convivio_ (quoted in _V. E._ ii. 6),
the amorous song that Casella was to sing “met in the milder shades
of Purgatory.” It is one of Dante’s lyrical masterpieces. Hardly less
beautiful is the canzone, likewise cited in the _De Vulgari Eloquentia_
(_V. E._ ii. 5, II):
Amor, che movi tua vertù dal cielo,
“Love that movest thy power from heaven”; with a mystical comparison
of the workings of love to those of the sun and striking lines on the
supernatural power of the illumined imagination. This allegorical group
may be regarded as closed by the canzone:
Io sento si d’Amor la gran possanza,
“I feel so the great power of love,” in which Dante represents himself
as too young to obtain his lady’s grace, but is content to serve on,
finding the quest of philosophic truth its own reward. This poem has
two _commiati_ (the _commiato_, or _tornata_, being the stanza or
part of a stanza, or a few independent lines, added as an address or
farewell at the end of a canzone); both seem to imply that philosophic
verse may be the instrument of political or social reform.[15]
(_d_) Dante originally held that Italian poetry should only be used for
writing upon love, and therefore, in his younger days, a philosophical
poem would naturally take the form of a love ode. In the _Vita Nuova_,
he argues “against those who rhyme upon any matter other than amorous;
seeing that such mode of speech was originally found for speaking of
love” (_V. N._ xxv). His views naturally widened before he wrote his
later canzoni (_cf. V. E._ ii. 2); but when, lacking inspiration for a
higher lyrical flight or baffled by some metaphysical problem, he turns
to set erring men right in didactic canzoni on some humbler ethical
subject, he represents himself as so doing because out of favour with
his lady or deserted by love. Thus, “The sweet rhymes of love, which I
was wont to seek in my thoughts, needs must I leave”--
Le dolci rime d’amor, ch’i’ solia
--opens the canzone on the spiritual nature of true _gentilezza_
(inspired in part by Guinizelli), which is expounded in the fourth
treatise of the _Convivio_, and, although somewhat unequal, contains
one ineffable stanza upon the noble soul in life’s four stages. A
companion poem:
Poscia ch’Amor del tutto m’ ha lasciato,
“Since love has left me utterly,” deals with _leggiadria_, the
outward expression of a chivalrous soul, and shows the influence of
the _Tesoretto_ of Brunetto Latini. These two canzoni, which contain
transcripts from the Aristotelian _Ethics_, only here and there
become poetry. In the larger proportion of short lines in the stanza,
Dante seems feeling his way to a more popular metrical form and a
freer treatment, as well as a wider range of subject. The second has
satirical sketches of vicious or offensive types of men, with whom he
will deal more severely in the _Commedia_.
(_e_) There are certain lyrics of Dante’s which can hardly admit of an
allegorical interpretation, but are almost certainly the expression of
passionate love for real women. Most notable among these are a group
of four canzoni, known as the _rime per la donna pietra_, which are
characterised by a peculiar incessant playing upon the word _pietra_,
or “stone,” which has led to the hypothesis that they were inspired by
a lady named Pietra, or at least by one who had been as cold and rigid
as Beatrice had been the giver of blessing. The canzone of the _aspro
parlare_:
Così nel mio parlar voglio esser aspro,
“So in my speech would I be harsh, as this fair stone is in her acts,”
shows that Dante could be as terrible in his love as in his hate, and
has a suggestion of sensuality which we hardly find elsewhere in his
poetry. It is indirectly referred to in the _Convivio_, and quoted
by Petrarch. The other three canzoni of this “stony” group show very
strongly the influence of the Provençal Arnaut Daniel in their form,
and all their imagery is drawn from nature in winter. The sestina:
Al poco giorno e al gran cerchio d’ombra,
“To the short day and the large circle of shade have I come,” is the
first Italian example of that peculiar variety of the canzone which was
invented by Arnaut (_V. E._, ii. 10, 13). It gives a most wonderful
picture of this strange green-robed girl, her golden hair crowned with
grass like Botticelli’s Libyan Sibyl, in the meadow “girdled about with
very lofty hills.” Less beautiful and more artificial, the canzone:
Amor, tu vedi ben che questa donna,
“Love, thou seest well that this lady cares not for thy power,”
is likewise quoted with complacency, for its novelty and metrical
peculiarity, in the _De Vulgari Eloquentia_ (ii. 13). And the passion
of the whole group is summed up in the poem on Love and Winter:
Io son venuto al punto de la rota,
“I am come to the point of the wheel,” where, stanza by stanza, the
external phenomena of the world in winter are contrasted with the state
of the poet’s soul, ever burning in the “sweet martyrdom” of love’s
fire. It is the ultimate perfection of a species of poem employed by
Arnaut and other troubadours; another lyrical masterpiece, anticipating
in its degree the treatment of nature which we find in the _Commedia_.
These four poems were probably composed shortly before Dante’s
banishment, but another canzone of somewhat similar tone was certainly
written in exile--the famous and much discussed “mountain song”:
Amor, da che convien pur ch’io mi doglia,
“Love, since I needs must make complaint,” apparently describing an
overwhelming passion for the fair lady of the Casentino; its pathetic
close, with its reference to Florence, has been already quoted. The
striking sonnet to Cino da Pistoia about the same time:
Io sono stato con Amore insieme.
“I have been in company with love since the circling of my ninth sun,”
affords further testimony that, at certain epochs of his life, earthly
love took captive Dante’s freewill.
(_f_) To the earlier years of Dante’s exile belongs the noblest and
most sublime of his lyrics, the canzone:
Tre donne intorno al cor mi son venute,
“Three ladies are come around my heart and are seated without, for
within sits Love who is in lordship of my life.” They are Justice
and her spiritual children; Love prophesies the ultimate triumph of
righteousness, and the poet, with such high companionship in outward
misfortune, declares that he counts his exile as an honour. While
recalling the legend of the apparition of Lady Poverty and her two
companions to St. Francis of Assisi, and a poem of Giraut de Borneil
on the decay of chivalry, the canzone echoes Isaiah (ch. li.). Its key
may be found in the prophet’s words: “Hearken unto me, ye that know
Justice, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach
of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.” It was probably
written between 1303 and 1306; its opening lines have been found
transcribed in a document of 1310.[16] To about the same epoch must be
assigned the powerful canzone against vice in general and avarice in
particular:
Doglia mi reca ne lo core ardire,
“Grief brings daring into my heart,” which is cited in the _De Vulgari
Eloquentia_ (associated with another poem of Giraut de Borneil) as
a typical poem on _rectitudo_, “righteousness,” “the direction of
the will” (_V. E._ ii. 2). These two canzoni are the connecting link
between the _Rime_ and the _Commedia_; the first contains the germ of
Dante’s prophecy of the _Veltro_, his Messianic hope of the Deliverer
to come, who shall make Love’s darts shine with new lustre and renovate
the world; in the second, we already catch the first notes of the
_saeva indignatio_ of the sacred poem. With the exception of the
“montanina canzone” and some sonnets to Cino da Pistoia, Dante wrote
few other lyrics at this period[17]; indeed, one of the sonnets seems
to imply that he had finally turned away from such poetry (_da queste
nostre rime_) in contemplation of his greater task:
Io mi credea del tutto esser partito,
“I deemed myself to have utterly departed from these our rhymes, Messer
Cino, for henceforth another path befits my ship and further from the
shore.”
3. _The “Convivio”_
The _Convivio_, or “Banquet,” bears a somewhat similar relation to
the work of Dante’s second period as the _Vita Nuova_ did to that of
his adolescence. Just as after the death of Beatrice he collected his
earlier lyrics, furnishing them with prose narrative and commentary, so
now in exile he intended to put together fourteen of his later canzoni
and write a prose commentary upon them, to the honour and glory of his
mystical lady, Philosophy. Dante was certainly not acquainted with
Plato’s _Symposium_. It was from the _De Consolatione Philosophiae_
of Boëthius that the idea came to him of representing Philosophy as a
woman; but the “woman of ful greet reverence by semblaunt,” who “was
ful of so greet age, that men ne wolde nat trowen, in no manere, that
she were of oure elde” (so Chaucer renders Boëthius), is transformed to
the likeness of a _donna gentile_, the idealised human personality of
the poetry of the “dolce stil nuovo”:
“And I imagined her fashioned as a gentle lady; and I could not
imagine her in any bearing save that of compassion; wherefore so
willingly did the sense of truth look upon her, that scarcely could
I turn it from her. And from this imagining I began to go there
where she revealed herself in very sooth, to wit, in the schools of
religious and at the disputations of philosophers; so that in a short
time, perchance of thirty months, I began to feel so much of her
sweetness, that her love drove out and destroyed every other thought”
(_Conv._ ii. 13).
The _Convivio_ is an attempt to bring philosophy out of the schools of
religious and away from the disputations of philosophers, to render
her beauty accessible even, to the unlearned. “The _Convivio_”, says
Dr. Wicksteed, “might very well be described as an attempt to throw
into popular form the matter of the Aristotelian treatises of Albertus
Magnus and Thomas Aquinas.” Dante’s text is the opening sentence of
Aristotle’s _Metaphysics_: “All men by nature desire to know”; which
he elaborates from the commentary of Aquinas and the latter’s _Summa
contra gentiles_. He would gather up the crumbs which fall from the
table where the bread of Angels is eaten, and give a banquet to all who
are deprived of this spiritual food. It is the first important work
on philosophy written in Italian--an innovation which Dante thinks
necessary to defend in the chapters of the introductory treatise,
where he explains his reasons for commenting upon these canzoni in the
vernacular instead of Latin, and incidentally utters an impassioned
defence of his mother-tongue, with noteworthy passages on the vanity
of translating poetry into another language and the potentialities of
Italian prose (_Conv._ i. 7, 10).
In addition to this principal motive for writing the work, the desire
of giving instruction, Dante himself alleges another--the fear of
infamy, _timore d’infamia_ (_Conv._ i. 2): “I fear the infamy of
having followed such great passion as whoso reads the above-mentioned
canzoni will conceive to have held sway over me; the which infamy
ceases entirely by the present speaking of myself, which shows that
not passion, but virtue, has been the moving cause.” It would seem
that Dante intended to comment upon certain of the canzoni connected
with real women, and to represent them as allegorical; it may be that,
consumed with a more than Shelleyan passion for reforming the world, he
chose this method of getting rid of certain episodes in the past which
he, with too much self-severity, regarded as rendering him unworthy of
the sublime office he had undertaken. And, by a work of lofty style and
authority, he would rehabilitate the man who, in his exiled wanderings,
had “perchance cheapened himself more than truth wills” (i. 4).
Only the introductory treatise and three of the commentaries were
actually written: those on the canzoni _Voi cite ’ntendendo_, _Amor
che ne la mente mi ragiona_, _Le dolci rime d’amor_. If the whole
work had been completed on the same scale as these four treatises, a
great part of the field of knowledge open to the fourteenth century
would have been traversed in the ardent service of this mystical
lady, whom the poet in the second treatise--not without considerable
inconsistency--represents as the same as the _donna gentile_ who
appeared towards the end of the _Vita Nuova_ (_Conv._ ii. 2). As it
is, the movements of the celestial bodies, the ministry of the angelic
orders, the nature of the human soul and the grades of psychic life,
the mystical significance and universality of love, are among the
subjects discussed in the second and third treatises. The fourth
treatise is primarily ethical: nobility as inseparable from love and
virtue, wealth, the Aristotelian definition of moral virtue and human
felicity, the goal of human life, the virtues suitable to each age,
are among the themes considered. Under one aspect the _Convivio_ is a
vernacular encyclopaedia (like the _Trésor_ of Brunetto Latini), but
distinguished from previous mediaeval works of the kind by its peculiar
form, its artistic beauty, and its personal note. From the first
treatise it is evident that the whole work had been fully planned;
but it is not possible to reconstruct it with any plausibility, or
to decide upon the question of which of the extant canzoni were to
be included, and in what order. From iv. 26, it may be conjectured
that the passionate canzone, _Così nel mio parlar voglio esser
aspro_ (_Rime_ ciii., O. canz. xii.), was to be allegorised in the
seventh treatise; while, from i. 12, ii. 1, iv. 27, it appears fairly
certain that the canzone of the three ladies, _Tre donne intorno al
cor_ (_Rime_ civ., O. canz. xx.), would have been expounded in the
fourteenth, where Justice and Allegory were to have been discussed;
and, from i. 8 and iii. 15, that the canzone against the vices, _Doglia
mi reca_ (_Rime_ cvi., O. canz. x.), was destined for the poetical
basis of the last treatise of all. It is thus clear that the _Convivio_
would have ended with the two canzoni which form the connecting link
between the lyrical poems and the _Divina Commedia_. For the rest, it
is certain that there would have been no mention of Beatrice in any of
the unwritten treatises. In touching upon the immortality of the soul
(_Conv._ ii. 9), Dante had seen fit to end what he wished to say of
“that living blessed Beatrice, of whom I do not intend to speak more in
this book.” There seems also good reason for supposing that the canzone
for the beautiful lady of the Casentino (_Rime_ cxvi., O. canz. xi.),
which may be of a slightly later date than the others, would not have
formed part of the completed work.
Witte and others after him have supposed that the _Convivio_ represents
an alienation from Beatrice; that the Philosophy, which Dante defines
as the amorous use of wisdom, is a presumptuous human science leading
man astray from truth and felicity along the dangerous and deceptive
paths of free speculation. There is, however, nothing in the book
itself to support this interpretation,[18] and, indeed, a comparison
between the second canzone, _Amor che ne la mente mi ragiona_, and
the first canzone of the _Vita Nuova_ points to the conclusion that
the personification of philosophy is but a phase in the apotheosis of
Beatrice herself. The _Convivio_ is the first fruit of Dante’s labours
to fulfil the promise made at the end of the book of his youth; his
knowledge of literature and philosophy has immeasurably widened, his
speculations on human life and nature have matured, and his prose
style, in its comparative freedom and variety, its articulation and
passages of spontaneous eloquence, shows a vast progress from that of
the _Vita Nuova_.
There are passages in the _Convivio_ which appear to be contradicted
in the _Divina Commedia_. One of the most curious is the treatment
of Guido da Montefeltro, who, in _Conv._ iv. 28, is “our most noble
Italian,” and a type of the noble soul returning to God in the last
stage of life, whereas, in the _Inferno_ (Canto xxvii.), he is found
in the torturing flames of the evil counsellors. Several opinions are
directly or indirectly withdrawn in the _Paradiso_; but these are
to be rather regarded as mistakes which, in the light of subsequent
knowledge, Dante desired to rectify or repudiate; such as the theory
of the shadow on the moon being caused by rarity and density, based
upon Averroës, and a peculiar arrangement of the celestial hierarchies,
derived from the _Moralia_ of St. Gregory the Great. And, in the
_Purgatorio_, the poet discards his “dread of infamy,” when he dares
not meet Beatrice’s gaze in the Garden of Eden; he casts aside the
allegorical veil he had tried to draw over a portion of the past, and
makes the full confession which we find in Cantos xxx. and xxxi. In
the fourth treatise, an erroneous sentence attributed to Frederick
II. (in reality a mutilated version of the definition of nobility
given by Aristotle in the _Politics_) leads Dante to examine the
limits and foundation of the imperial authority, the divine origin of
Rome and the universal dominion of the Roman people, the relation of
philosophy to government; a theme which he will work out more fully
and scientifically in the _Monarchia_. The result is two singularly
beautiful chapters (iv.-v.); a prose hymn to Rome, an idealised history
of the city and her empire. It is the first indication of the poet’s
conversion from the narrower political creed of the Florentine citizen
to the ideal imperialism which inspires his later works.
It has sometimes been held that portions of the _Convivio_ were written
before exile. Nevertheless, while two of the canzoni were composed
before 1300, it seems most probable that the prose commentaries took
their present shape between Dante’s breaking with his fellow-exiles
and the advent of Henry VII. A passage concerning Frederick II., “the
last emperor of the Romans with respect to the present time, although
Rudolph and Adolph and Albert were elected after his death and that of
his descendants” (_Conv._ iv. 3), shows that the fourth treatise was
written before the election of Henry VII., in November 1308; while a
reference to Gherardo da Cammino, lord of Treviso (iv. 14), seems to
have been written after his death in March 1306. From the mention of
Dante’s wanderings in exile through so many regions of Italy (i. 3), it
has sometimes been argued that the first is later than the subsequent
treatises. It is tempting to associate the breaking off the work with
Boccaccio’s story of the recovery of the beginning of the _Inferno_.
Be that as it may, the advent of the new Caesar, Dante’s own return
for a while to political activity, probably interrupted his life of
study; and, when the storm passed away and left the poet disillusioned,
his ideals had changed, another world lay open to his gaze, and the
_Convivio_ was finally abandoned.
FOOTNOTES:
[10] _Io spero di dicer di lei quello che mai non fue detto d’alcuna_:
_dicer_ (_dire_) and _detta_, have here (as elsewhere in Dante) the
sense of artistic utterance, and more particularly composition in
poetry, whether in Latin or the vernacular. _Cf._ _V. N._ xxv.
[11] Livi has shown that the first documentary evidence of the
existence of the _Vita Nuova_ as a book is found at Bologna in June
1306.
[12] The Sexcentenary Dante admits as authentic one canzone not
included in this series: _Lo doloroso amor che mi conduce_ (_Rime_
lxviii., O. canz. xvi.*); which is evidently an early composition.
[13] _Cf._ _Rime_ xlviii., lvi., lxiii. and the later xcix.; O. son.
xlviii.*, ball. viii., son. I.*, son. xxxvii.*
[14] Note especially Rime lix., lxvi.; O. sonnets lv., xxxviii*.
[15] To this group I would assign the sonnet, _Chi guarderà già
mai sanza paura_, and the ballata, _I’ mi son pargoletta bella e
nova_, without attaching any special significance to the fact that
“pargoletta” (“maiden” or “young girl”) occurs also in the canzone,
_Io son venuto al punto de la rota_, and in Beatrice’s rebuke, _Purg._
xxxi. 59.
[16] _Cf._ G. Livi, _Dante suoi primi cultori sua gente in Bologna_, p.
24.
[17] Barbi adds to the _Rime_ written in exile the impressive political
sonnet, yearning for justice and peace, _Se vedi li docchi miei di
pianger vaghi_ (of which the attribution to Dante has sometimes been
questioned), and the sonnet on Lisetta, _Per quella via che la bellezza
corre_, a beautiful piece of unquestionable authenticity, but which
may, perhaps, belong to an earlier epoch in the poet’s life.
[18] But _cf._ Wicksteed, _From Vita Nuova to Paradiso_, pp. 93-121.
CHAPTER III
DANTE’S LATIN WORKS
1. _The “De Vulgari Eloquentia”_
In the first treatise of the _Convivio_ (i. 5), Dante announces his
intention of making a book upon _Volgare Eloquenza_, artistic utterance
in the vernacular. Like the _Convivio_, the _De Vulgari Eloquentia_
remains incomplete; only two books, instead of four, were written,
and of these the second is not finished. In the first book the poet
seeks the highest form of the vernacular, a perfect and imperial
Italian language, to rule in unity and concord over all the dialects,
as the Roman Empire over all the nations; in the second book he was
proceeding to show how this illustrious vulgar tongue should be used
for the art of poetry. Villani’s description of the work applies only
to the first book: “Here, in strong and ornate Latin, and with fair
reasons, he reproves all the dialects of Italy”; Boccaccio’s mainly
to the second: “A little book in Latin prose, in which he intended to
give instruction, to whoso would receive it, concerning composition in
rhyme.”[19]
BOOK I.--At the outset Dante strikes a slightly different note from
that of the _Convivio_, by boldly asserting that vernacular in general
(as the natural speech of man) is nobler than “grammar,” literary
languages like Latin or Greek, which he regards as artificially formed
(_V. E._ i. 1). To discover the noblest form of the Italian vernacular,
the poet starts from the very origin of language itself. To man
alone of creatures has the intercourse of speech been given: speech,
the rational and sensible sign needed for the intercommunication of
ideas. Adam and his descendants spoke Hebrew until the confusion of
Babel (_cf._ the totally different theory in _Par._ xxvi. 124), after
which this sacred speech remained only with the children of Heber
(i. 2-7). From this point onwards the work becomes amazingly modern.
Of the threefold language brought to Europe after the dispersion,
the southernmost idiom has varied into three forms of vernacular
speech--the language of those who in affirmation say _oc_ (Spanish
and Provençal), the language of _oil_ (French), the language of _sì_
(Italian).[20] And this Italian vulgar tongue has itself varied into
a number of dialects, of which Dante distinguishes fourteen groups,
none of which represent the illustrious Italian language which he is
seeking. “He attacks,” wrote Mazzini, “all the Italian dialects, but
it is because he intends to found a language common to all Italy, to
create a form worthy of representing the national idea.” The Roman is
worst of all (i. 11). A certain ideal language was indeed employed
by the poets at the Sicilian court of Frederick and Manfred, but it
was not the Sicilian dialect (i. 12). The Tuscans speak a degraded
vernacular, although Guido Cavalcanti, Lapo Gianni and another
Florentine (Dante himself), and Cino da Pistoia have recognised the
excellence of the ideal vulgar tongue (i. 13). Bologna alone has a
“locution tempered to a laudable suavity”; but which, nevertheless,
cannot be the ideal language, or Guido Guinizelli and other Bolognese
poets would not have written their poems in a form of speech quite
different from the special dialect of their city (i. 15). “The
illustrious, cardinal, courtly, and curial vulgar tongue in Italy is
that which belongs to every Italian city, and yet seems to belong to
none, and by which all the local dialects of the Italians are measured,
weighed, and compared” (i. 16). This is that ideal Italian which has
been artistically developed by Cino and his friend (Dante himself) in
their canzoni, and which makes its familiars so glorious that “in the
sweetness of this glory we cast our exile behind our back” (_V. E._
i. 17). Such should be the language of the imperial Italian court
of justice, and, although as far as Italy is concerned there is no
prince, and that court is scattered in body, its members are united by
the gracious light of reason (i. 18). This standard language belongs
to the whole of Italy, and is called the Italian vernacular (_latinum
vulgare_); “for this has been used by the illustrious writers who
have written poetry in the vernacular throughout Italy, as Sicilians,
Apulians, Tuscans, natives of Romagna, and men of both the Marches” (i.
19).
The examination of the dialects is perhaps the most original feature
in the book; that Dante did not recognise that what was destined to be
the literary language of Italy was, in reality, the Tuscan dialect, but
adopted instead the theory of a conventional or artificial Italian, was
largely due to his theories being based upon the lyrical poetry of his
predecessors, in which he seemed to find this abstraction realised;
for, though natives of different regions of Italy, they used--or, in
the form in which their poems came to him, appeared to have used--a
common literary language. Nevertheless in the _Divina Commedia_, which
was to codify the national language, Dante recognised that he himself
was speaking Tuscan (_Inf._ xxiii. 76, _Purg._ xvi. 137).
BOOK II.--The unfinished second book is of the utmost value to the
student of Italian poetic form. It makes us realise, too, how zealously
Dante sought out technical perfection, studying subtle musical and
rhythmical effects, curiously weighing the divisions of his stanzas,
balancing lines, selecting words, harmonising syllables. No less
noteworthy are his modest references to his own work and his generous
appreciation of that of others, his predecessors and contemporaries,
with reference to whose poems, as well as to his own, he illustrates
his maxims. There is a certain limitation in that Dante conceives
of poetry as only lyrical and written to be set to music (ii. 4),
recognising only the most elaborate and least spontaneous forms of
lyrical poetry--the Canzone (of which the Sestina is a variety), the
Ballata, the Sonnet (ii. 3). There is no hint of that splendid rhythm,
at once epical and lyrical, in which the _Divina Commedia_ was to be
written; though it is possible that Dante would have dealt with it in
the fourth book, in which he intended to treat the discernment to be
exercised with a subject fit to be sung in the “comic” style, in which
sometimes the “middle” and sometimes the “lowly” vernacular may be used
(ii. 4), and also, dealing with poems in the “middle” vulgar tongue, to
treat specially of rhyme (ii. 13). The third book would perhaps have
been concerned with the use of the illustrious vernacular in Italian
prose (ii. 1.)
The illustrious vulgar tongue having been found, Dante proceeds thus to
show the noblest use to which it can be put by the poet. Only three
subjects are sufficiently exalted to be sung in this stateliest form of
Italian speech, this highest vernacular: _Salus_, _Venus_, _Virtus_; or
those things which specially relate to them: the rightful use of arms,
the fire of love, the direction of the will; and the first of these
themes had not been handled, according to Dante, by any Italian poet.
He cites Bertran de Born as having written on arms, Arnaut Daniel and
Cino da Pistoia on love, Giraut de Borneil and “the friend of Cino”
(himself) on _rectitudo_ (ii. 2). Of the three legitimate lyrical
forms the canzone is noblest, and contains what Rossetti called the
“fundamental brainwork” of the most illustrious poets (ii. 3). And the
ballata is nobler than the sonnet. It is in the canzone alone, in the
“tragic” or highest style, that these sublime themes are to be sung;
the style in which the stateliness of the lines, the loftiness of the
construction, and the excellence of the words agree with the dignity of
the subject. In this superexcellent sense, a canzone is a composition
in the loftiest style of equal stanzas, without a refrain, referring to
one subject.[21] And the rest of the book is occupied with rules for
its proper construction; the different lines to be used, the choice of
words, the structure of the various types of stanza, in which the whole
art of the canzone is contained, the arrangement of rhymes; the work
breaking off at the point where Dante was about to treat of the number
of lines and syllables in the stanza. It is noteworthy that, though
he illustrates his practical rules by examples from the Provençal
troubadours, his Italian predecessors and contemporaries, and his own
canzoni, the great Latin poets are set up as models: “The more closely
we imitate these, the more correctly we write poetry” (ii. 4). There
is some indication that the _De Vulgari Eloquentia_ would have been
dedicated to Cino da Pistoia as the _Vita Nuova_ had been to Guido
Cavalcanti.
DATE OF COMPOSITION.--The _De Vulgari Eloquentia_ was probably written
about the same time as the _Convivio_ or slightly earlier. From a
mention of the Marquis Giovanni of Monferrato apparently as living (_V.
E._ i. 12), who died in January (?) 1305, it has been supposed that
Book i. cannot be much later than the beginning of that year. Dante’s
evident friendly feeling for Bologna (which altered before he wrote the
_Commedia_) may be connected with the time when the Florentine exiles
were welcomed in that city, before the decree of expulsion in 1306. It
has sometimes been thought that Book ii. may be a much later piece of
work, produced as a poetical textbook at Ravenna in Dante’s last years,
and broken off, as Boccaccio suggests, by his death. Nevertheless, when
the tone of the work and the probable dates of the lyrics quoted be
taken into account, it seems more probable that what we have of the _De
Vulgari Eloquentia_ was written between 1304 and 1306; it represents
part of the labours which were interrupted by the advent of Henry VII.,
or abandoned when the poet turned to the _Divina Commedia_.
2. _The “Monarchia”_
THE EMPIRE.--Upon all the political life of mediaeval Italy lay the
gigantic shadow of a stupendous edifice, the Holy Roman Empire.
Although the barbarians had struck down the body of the Empire of
Rome, the spirit of Julius Caesar was mighty yet, as in Shakespeare’s
tragedy. The monarchy of Augustus, of Trajan, of Constantine and
Justinian, still lived; not in the persons of the impotent Caesars
of Byzantium, but in those of the successors of Charlemagne. From
the coronation of Otto the Saxon (962) to the death of the Suabian
Frederick II. (1250), the mediaeval western world saw in the man whom
the Germans recognised as their sovereign the “King of the Romans
ever Augustus,” the Emperor-elect, who when crowned at Rome would be
“Romanorum Imperator,” the supreme head of the universal Monarchy and
the Vicar of God in things temporal, even as the Pope was the supreme
head of the universal Church and the Vicar of God in things spiritual.
In the eyes of Dante, the Papacy and the Empire alike proceeded from
God, and were inseparably wedded to Rome, the eternal city; from which
as two suns they should shed light upon man’s spiritual and temporal
paths, as divinely ordained by the infinite goodness of Him from whom
the power of Peter and of Caesar bifurcates as from a point (_Purg.
xvi._ 106-108, _Epist._ v. 5).
PAPAL CLAIMS.--With the increase of their temporal power, the
successors of Hildebrand, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, had
extended their authority from spiritual into purely secular regions.
For them the imperial dignity was not of divine origin, but the gift
of the Church to Charlemagne and his German successors. “What is the
Teutonic King till consecrated at Rome?” wrote Adrian to Frederick
Barbarossa: “The chair of Peter has given and can withdraw its gifts.”
In the interregnum that followed the fall of the house of Suabia, the
Popes had claimed to exercise imperial rights in Italy, with disastrous
results. They had joined the sword with the pastoral staff; and the
Church, by confounding in herself the two governments, had fallen into
the mire (_Purg._ xvi. 109-112, 127-129). And this tendency in the
Papacy culminated in the extravagant pretensions of Boniface VIII.,
in his relations with both the Empire and France, and his famous Bull
_Unam Sanctam_ (November 1302), declaring that the temporal power of
kings is subject to the spiritual power of the priesthood, and directed
by it as the body by the soul.
DATE OF THE “MONARCHIA.”--The _Monarchia_ is Dante’s attempt to solve
this burning mediaeval question of the proper relations of Church and
State, of spiritual and temporal authority. Although it is undoubtedly
the most famous of his prose works, the most widely divergent views
have been held as to its date of composition. If the _Vita Nuova_
is the most ideal book of love, the _Monarchia_ is one of the most
purely idealistic works ever written on politics. Even as Beatrice is
the most glorious lady of the poet’s mind, _la gloriosa donna de la
mia mente_, so the temporal monarchy or Empire is to be considered by
the poet in its ideal aspect according to the divine intention, _typo
et secundum intentionem_ (_Mon._ i. 2). Like the _Vita Nuova_, and
unlike any other of Dante’s longer works, the _Monarchia_ contains no
mention of the poet’s exile, and no explicit references or allusions to
contemporary events or persons. From this, and other considerations,
it has sometimes been held that the _Monarchia_ was written during
his political life in Florence. Boccaccio, on the other hand, declares
that Dante made this book on the coming of Henry VII., and the trend of
criticism to-day is to accept 1313 as the approximate date. There are,
however, scholars who consider it more probable that the _Monarchia_
was written towards the close of the poet’s life.
BOOK I.--The _Monarchia_ is divided into three books, corresponding
to the three questions to be answered touching this most useful and
least explored amongst occult and useful truths, the knowledge of the
temporal monarchy (i. 1). In its ideal sense, the temporal Monarchy, or
Empire, is defined as “a unique princedom extending over all persons
in time, or in and over those things which are measured by time” (i.
2). And the first question arising concerning this temporal Monarchy
is--whether it is necessary for the well-being of the world.
The proper function of the human race taken as a whole, the ultimate
end or goal, for which the eternal God by His art, which is nature,
brings into being the human race in its universality, is constantly
to actualise or bring into play the whole capacity of the possible
intellect, for contemplation and for action, for speculation and for
operation (i. 3). And, for this almost divine function and goal, the
most direct means is universal peace (i. 4). Since it is ordained for
this goal, the human race must be guided by one ruling power, the
Emperor, with reference to whom all its parts have their order; in
subjection to whom, the human race becomes in its unity most like to
God (i. 5-9). There must be some one supreme judge to decide by his
judgment, mediately or immediately, all contentions; and such a judge
can only be the Monarch (i. 10).
Again, the world is best disposed when justice is paramount therein;
but this can only be under the Monarch or Emperor, who alone, free from
covetousness and supreme in authority, will have the purest will and
the greatest power to practise justice upon the earth (i. 11). Under
him the human race will be most free, since it will have the fullest
use of freewill, the greatest gift of God to man (i. 12). He alone,
adorned with judgment and justice in the highest degree, will be best
disposed for ruling, and able to dispose others best (i. 13). From him
the particular princes receive the common rule by which the human race
is guided to peace; his is the dominating will that rules the wills of
mortals, disposing them to unity and concord (i. 14, 15). All these
and other reasons show that, for the well-being of the world, it is
necessary that there should be the Monarchy. And they are confirmed
by the sacred fact that Christ willed to become man in the “fullness
of time,” when the world was blessed with universal peace under the
perfect monarchy of Augustus, the seamless garment that has since been
rent by the nail of cupidity (i. 16).
To the modern mind the first book of the _Monarchia_ is the most
important. The conception that the goal of civilisation is the
realising of all human potentialities is one of abiding significance.
Divested of its mediaeval garb, the Empire itself becomes a permanent
court of international justice, a supreme and impartial tribunal
of international arbitration. Within such a restored unity of
civilisation, nations and kingdoms and cities will develop freely and
peacefully, in accordance with their own conditions and laws (_cf._ i.
10, 12, 14, and _Conv._ iv. 4). Here Dante anticipates what Mazzini
called the “United States of Europe,” or, more broadly, “Humanity.”
BOOK II.--The second book answers the question whether the Roman people
took to itself this dignity of Monarchy, or Empire, by right. But right
in things is nothing else than the similitude of the Divine Will,
and what God wills in human society is to be held as true and pure
right. God’s will is invisible; but it is manifested in this matter
by the whole history of Rome (ii. 1, 2). The surpassing nobleness of
Aeneas, and therefore of his descendants (ii. 3); the traditional
miracles wrought for the Romans (ii. 4); the devotion of the great
Roman citizens from Cincinnatus to Cato, showing that the Roman people,
in subjecting the world to itself, contemplated the good of the
Commonwealth, and therefore the end of right (ii. 5, 6); the manifest
adaptation of the Roman people by nature for ruling the nations with
imperial sway (ii. 7);--all these prove that it was by right that the
Romans acquired the Empire. The hidden judgment of God is sometimes
revealed by contest, whether in the clash of champions in an ordeal or
in the contention of rivals striving together for some prize (ii. 8).
Such a prize was the empire of the world, which by divine judgment fell
to the Roman people, when all were wrestling for it, and the kings of
the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Persians, and even Alexander himself had
failed (ii. 9). Their wars, too, from the earliest times were under
the form of an ordeal; and Divine Providence declared in their favour.
Thus arguments resting on principles of reason prove that the Roman
people acquired the supreme and universal jurisdiction by right (ii.
10, 11). And arguments based upon principles of Christian faith support
it. Christ, by His birth under the edict of Augustus, confirmed the
imperial jurisdiction from which that edict proceeded; and, by His
death under the vicar of Tiberius, He confirmed the universal penal
jurisdiction of the Emperor over all the human race which was to be
punished in His flesh (ii. 12, 13). “Let them cease to reproach the
Roman Empire, who feign themselves to be sons of the Church; when they
see that the Bridegroom, Christ, thus confirmed it at either limit of
His warfare” (_i.e._ at the beginning and at the end of His life upon
earth).
BOOK III.--And this rebuke to the clergy, from whom the main opposition
to the Empire proceeded, naturally leads to the great question of the
third book, the pith of the whole treatise.[22] Does the authority of
the Roman Monarch or Emperor, who is thus by right the monarch of the
world, depend immediately upon God, or upon some vicar of God, the
successor of Peter? (iii. 1, 2, 3). The stock arguments of those who
assert from passages of Scripture, such as the creation of the sun
and moon, or the two swords mentioned in St. Luke’s Gospel, that the
authority of the Empire depends upon that of the Church, are readily
brushed away (iii. 4-9). And, as for their historical evidence, the
donation of Constantine, if genuine, was invalid; the coronation of
Charlemagne was an act of usurpation (iii. 10, 11). The authority of
the Church cannot be the cause of the imperial authority, since the
latter was efficient, and was confirmed by Christ, before the Church
existed (iii. 13). Neither has the Church this power of authorising the
Emperor from God, nor from herself, nor from any Emperor, nor from the
consent of the majority of mankind; indeed, such power is absolutely
contrary to her very nature and the words of her Divine Founder (iii.
14, 15).
But it may be directly shown that the authority of the Emperor
depends immediately upon God. For man, since he alone partakes of
corruptibility and incorruptibility, is ordained for two ultimate
ends--blessedness of this life, which is figured in the Earthly
Paradise, and blessedness of life eternal, which consists in the
fruition of the Divine Aspect in the Celestial Paradise.[23] To these
two beatitudes, as to diverse ends, man must come by diverse means. For
to the first we come by philosophic teachings, provided that we follow
them by acting in accordance with the moral and intellectual virtues;
to the second by spiritual teachings, transcending human reason, as
we follow them by acting in accordance with the theological virtues,
Faith, Hope, Charity. But in spite of reason and revelation, which
make these ends and means known to us, human cupidity would reject
them, “were not men, like horses going astray in their brutishness,
held in the way by bit and rein.” “Wherefore man had need of a twofold
directive power according to his twofold end, to wit, the supreme
Pontiff, to lead the human race, in accordance with things revealed,
to eternal life; and the Emperor, to direct the human race to temporal
felicity in accordance with the teachings of philosophy.” It is
the special function of the Emperor to establish liberty and peace
upon earth, to make the world correspond to the divinely ordained
disposition of the heavens. Therefore he is chosen and confirmed
by God alone; the so-called Electors are only the proclaimers
(_denuntiatores_) of Divine Providence. “Thus, then, it is plain that
the authority of the temporal monarch descends upon him without any
mean from the fountain of universal authority.” Yet it must not be
taken that the Roman Prince is not subordinate in anything to the Roman
Pontiff, since this mortal felicity is in some sort ordained with
reference to immortal felicity. “Let Caesar, therefore, observe that
reverence to Peter which a firstborn son should observe to a father, so
that, illuminated by the light of paternal grace, he may with greater
power irradiate the world, over which he is set by Him alone who is
ruler of all things spiritual and temporal” (_Mon._ iii. 16).
RECEPTION OF THE WORK.--The _Monarchia_ remained almost unknown until
the great conflict between Louis of Bavaria and Pope John XXII., after
Dante’s death. Boccaccio tells us that the Imperialists used arguments
from the book in support of their claims, and it became in consequence
very famous. A tempest of clerical indignation roared round it. A
Dominican friar, Guido Vernani, wrote a virulent but occasionally acute
treatise, “on the power of the Supreme Pontiff and in confutation of
the _Monarchy_ composed by Dante Alighieri,” which he dedicated as
a warning to Ser Graziolo de’ Bambaglioli, chancellor of Bologna,
Dante’s commentator and apologist. The notorious Cardinal Bertrando del
Poggetto, who had been sent as papal legate to Italy by John XXII., had
the _Monarchia_ burnt as heretical, and followed this up--apparently
in 1329--by an infamous attempt to desecrate Dante’s tomb. In the
sixteenth century it was placed upon the Index of Prohibited Books.
Dante had anticipated this, and the splendid passage which opens the
third book of the _Monarchia_ strikes the keynote, not only of this
treatise, but of all his life-work for what he conceived the service of
God and the welfare of man:
“Since the truth about it cannot be laid bare without putting certain
to the blush, perchance it will be the cause of some indignation
against me. But since Truth from her immutable throne demands it, and
Solomon, too, as he enters the forest of the Proverbs, teaches us by
his own example to meditate upon the truth and abjure the impious
man, and the Philosopher, teacher of morals, urges us to sacrifice
friendship for truth, therefore I take courage from the words of
Daniel, wherein the divine power, the shield of such as defend the
truth, is proffered; and, putting on the breastplate of faith,
according to the admonition of Paul, in the warmth of that coal which
one of the Seraphim took from the celestial altar and touched the lips
of Isaiah withal, I will enter upon the present wrestling-ground, and,
by the arm of Him who delivered us from the power of darkness by His
blood, will I hurl the impious and the liar out of the ring in the
sight of all the world. What should I fear, since the Spirit, coeternal
with the Father and with the Son, says by the mouth of David: ‘The just
shall be had in everlasting remembrance; he shall not be afraid of an
evil report’?”
3. _The “Epistolae”_
Dante tells us in the _Vita Nuova_ that, on the death of Beatrice, he
wrote a Latin letter to the chief persons of the city, concerning its
desolate and widowed condition, beginning with the text of Jeremiah:
“How doth the city sit solitary.” Neither this nor the letter mentioned
by Leonardo Bruni, in which Dante described the fight at Campaldino,
has survived. Many epistles ascribed to Dante were extant in the
days of Boccaccio and Bruni. Bruni tells us that, after the affair
at Lastra, Dante wrote for permission to return to Florence both to
individual citizens in the government and to the people, especially
a long letter beginning: “O my people, what have I done unto thee?”
This may perhaps have been the letter which Bruni records, in which
the poet defends his impartiality when the leaders of the two factions
were banished; but there appears to have been another, denying that
he had accompanied the Emperor against Florence. From one of these
the perplexing fragment may have come, about his want of prudence in
the priorate and his service at Campaldino. Giovanni Villani mentions
three noble epistles, the style of which he praises highly: one to
the government of Florence, “complaining of his unjust exile,” which
is probably the lost letter mentioned by Bruni; the second, to the
Emperor Henry, and the third, to the Italian cardinals, have both
been preserved. Flavio Biondo, in the fifteenth century, professes to
have seen letters at Forlì dictated by Dante, notably one addressed
by the poet, in his own name and on behalf of the exiled Bianchi, to
Can Grande della Scala concerning the reply of the Florentines to the
ambassadors of the Emperor.
There are now thirteen extant Latin letters ascribed to Dante. They
have come down to us mainly in two fourteenth-century manuscripts;
three have been preserved in Boccaccio’s handwriting in the Laurentian
MS., known as the _Zibaldone Boccaccesco_; nine others in a Vatican
MS., of which Boccaccio was perhaps the original compiler. Two of
these latter have also been found in another MS. of the fourteenth
century--the San Pantaleo MS. at Rome. No MS. of the letter to Can
Grande is known earlier than the fifteenth century.[24]
EPISTLES I. AND II.--Epistles i. and ii. are connected with Count
Alessandro da Romena, who, Bruni states, was appointed captain of the
Bianchi in their meeting at Gargonza, and whom Dante brands with infamy
in _Inferno_ xxx. The former is addressed in the name of Alessandro,
the council and whole body of the White party, to the Cardinal Niccolò
da Prato, legate of Benedict XI., assuring him of their gratitude and
confidence, promising to refrain from hostilities in expectation of his
good offices in the pacification of Florence. It may be accepted as an
authentic document of 1304; but whether it was written by Dante, who
had perhaps already left his fellow-exiles, is still open to question.
The second is a letter of condolence to Alessandro’s nephews, Oberto
and Guido, on the occasion of their uncle’s death, which probably
occurred in the same year. Its authenticity is highly doubtful. Both
letters are found only in the Vatican manuscript.
EPISTLES III. AND IV.--Epistles iii. and iv. are directly connected
with the _Rime_. The third, which occurs in the Boccaccian autograph,
seems to be to Cino da Pistoia, affectionate greetings from the
Florentine exile to the Pistoian, explaining how one passion may be
replaced by another in the soul. It was accompanied by a poem, which
is identified with the sonnet, “Io sono stato con Amore insieme.” If
authentic, its date would be not later than 1306, when Cino’s exile
ended. The fourth letter, found in the Vatican MS., is addressed to
the Marquis Moroello Malaspina, apparently from the Casentino, and
describes in forcible language how the writer was suddenly enamoured
of a woman’s beauty. It, too, was accompanied by a poem, evidently the
canzone, “Amor, da che convien pur ch’io mi doglia.” The more probable
date is 1307 or thereabouts.[25] The authenticity of these two letters
is doubtful, but on the whole probable.
EPISTLES V., VI. AND VII.--Next come the three great political letters,
glorified pamphlets on the enterprise of Henry of Luxemburg. Letter
v., the manifesto to the Princes and Peoples of Italy, seems to have
been written in September or October, 1310, before Henry crossed the
Alps. It announces the advent of Henry, the bridegroom and glory of
Italy, as bringing a new era of peace, declares the rightful authority
and historical sanctity of the Empire, exhorting the peoples to free
and joyous submission, and those who, like the writer himself, have
suffered injustice to be merciful in their anticipated triumph. The
letter, one of the noblest of Dante’s utterances, is a landmark in the
growth of the national idea in Italy; rulers and peoples are admonished
as members of one body; the good tidings are announced to the nation
as a whole; the writer’s Italian citizenship is placed before his
Florentine origin, when he subscribes himself: “The humble Italian,
Dante Alighieri, a Florentine unjustly exiled.” It was in the bitter
indignation caused by the Guelf opposition, the alliance between
Florence and King Robert, and the doubt occasioned by the Emperor’s own
delay in Lombardy, that Dante from the Casentino wrote the terrible
Letters vi. and vii., on March 31st, 1311, to the Florentines, “the
most wicked Florentines within,” and on April 17th to Henry himself,
“the most sacred triumphant and only lord.” The former denounces
the Florentines for their rebellion, their “shrinking from the yoke
of liberty,” their attempt to make their civic life independent of
that of Rome, and, in prophetic fashion, warns them of their coming
destruction at the hands of “the prince who is the giver of the law.”
In the latter, adopting the part of Curio towards Caesar (which he
himself condemns in the _Inferno_), Dante urges the Emperor without
further delay to turn his forces upon Florence, who “sharpens the horns
of rebellion against Rome which made her in her own image and after
her likeness.” The poet’s attitude is that of the Hebrew prophets;
his motive, the conviction that his native city had adopted a line of
policy opposed to the true interests of Italy. These three letters are
contained in the Vatican MS.; Letters v. and vii. (of both of which
early Italian translations are extant) also in the S. Pantaleo MS., and
there is a third (fifteenth century) MS. of the letter to the Emperor.
EPISTLES VII.*, VII.** AND VII.***.--These three letters are a humble
pendant to the three just considered. They are addressed to Margaret of
Brabant, the wife of the Emperor Henry, in the name of the Countess of
Battifolle (Gherardesca, daughter of Count Ugolino, married to Guido
di Simone of the Conti Guidi). They are in answer to letters from the
Empress, and, while containing mere expressions of loyal devotion and
aspirations for the triumph of the imperial cause, their place in
the Vatican MS. among the letters of Dante, together with the close
resemblance in style and phraseology with the latter, has led to a
general acceptance of the view that they were written by the poet. They
were written in the spring of 1311, the third being dated from Poppi on
May 18th.
EPISTLE VIII.--The letter to the Italian Cardinals, which is mentioned
by Villani, and echoed by Petrarch in his canzone on Rome (“Spirto
gentil che quelle membra reggi”), is found only in Boccaccio’s
autograph manuscript. It was written shortly after the death of Clement
V. (April 20, 1314), when the cardinals were assembled in conclave at
Carpentras; lamenting the desolation of the sacred city, it exhorts
them, “for the bride of Christ, for the seat of the bride, which is
Rome, for our Italy, and, to speak more fully, for the whole estate
of those on pilgrimage on earth,” to restore the Apostolic See to
its consecrated place. It is a noble protest of a devout and learned
layman against a corrupt and ignorant clergy, of a Catholic and an
Italian patriot against the papal desertion of Rome, in which Dante
stands forth as the new Jeremiah, renewing for the sacred city of
Christendom the lamentation of his Hebrew predecessor for Jerusalem.
The letter presents striking analogies with the canto of the simonist
popes (_Inf._ xix.), but is more moderate in tone, as the poet is here
less denouncing than attempting to convert the cardinals to his point
of view. There is extant a letter to the French King from Cardinal
Napoleone Orsini (whom Dante admonishes by name in the epistle) with
passages of a somewhat similar kind; it is tempting to suppose that the
cardinal had actually received the exhortation and caught fire from the
burning words of his fellow Italian.
EPISTLE IX.--The occasion of the letter refusing the amnesty has been
already considered (chap. i.). It was probably written in the latter
part of May 1315. In the Boccaccian autograph (in which alone it is
found) it has no title; the traditional _Amico florentino_, “to a
Florentine friend,” is a later addition. It is practically the only
example of the poet’s personal correspondence that has been preserved.
Barbi has thrown grave doubts upon the identification of the person
to whom the letter is addressed with Teruccio di Manetto Donati, the
brother of Dante’s wife; the nephew mentioned may perhaps be Andrea
Poggi (_cf._ chap. i.) or, more probably, Niccolò Donati, the son of
Gemma’s brother Foresino. It is here that Dante calls himself the
preacher of justice, _vir praedicans iustitiam_, a claim which is the
key of the _Commedia_ and may be traced from the canzone of the “Tre
donne.” Nor is it without significance that the closing words of the
letter, _nec panis deficiet_, “nor will bread fail me,” echo the same
chapter of Isaiah (li. 14) which inspired the canzone in which Dante
holds his exile as an honour.
EPISTLE X.--The Epistle to Can Grande stands apart from the others.
Although eight MSS. are now known, none are earlier than the fifteenth
century, and the two earliest contain no more than the opening
sections. Some of the early commentators--Pietro Alighieri, Fra Guido
da Pisa, and Boccaccio--were evidently acquainted with it; it was first
expressly quoted by Filippo Villani in 1391, and published first in
1700, before any of Dante’s letters had seen the light, excepting the
unsatisfactory Italian version of the Epistle to Henry of Luxemburg.
If genuine, and its authenticity though much disputed seems now almost
certain, it was probably written in 1318 or early in 1319, apparently
before the first Eclogue.
Beginning with language of enthusiastic praise and grateful friendship,
which recalls analogous passages in Canto xvii., the poet prepares
to pay back the benefits he has received with the dedication of the
_Paradiso_. So far (1-4), the epistolary form has been maintained, and
this is the only portion of the letter found in the earlier MSS.; but
now the writer assumes the office of a lecturer, and, with a quotation
from the _Metaphysics_ of Aristotle, proceeds to give an introduction
to the _Commedia_ and a commentary upon the first canto of the third
cantica. He distinguishes the literal and allegorical meanings, defines
the title of the whole (“The Comedy of Dante Alighieri, Florentine by
birth, not by character”) and of the part, and explains the difference
between comedy and tragedy from a somewhat different point of view
from that of the _De Vulgari Eloquentia_ (ii. 4). The subject of the
_Paradiso_, in the literal sense, is the state of the blessed after
death; in the allegorical sense, man according as by meriting he is
subject to Justice rewarding. “The end of the whole and of the part is
to remove those living in this life from the state of misery, and to
lead them to the state of felicity” (_Epist._ x. 15). Dante emphasises
the ethical aspect of the poem: “The whole as well as the part was
conceived, not for speculation, but with a practical object” (x. 16).
Then follows a minute scholastic and mystical interpretation of the
opening lines of the first canto of the _Paradiso_ in the literal
sense, closing in an eloquent and very beautiful summary of the ascent
through the spheres of Paradise to find true beatitude in the vision
of the Divine Essence. Throughout this part of the letter Dante, when
touching upon the details of his vision, always speaks of himself in
the third person, evidently following the example of St. Paul in the
Second Epistle to the Corinthians. He unmistakably implies that he has
actually been the recipient of some personal spiritual experience,
which he is unable adequately to relate. That passionate self-reproach,
which sounds in so many passages of the _Divina Commedia_, makes itself
heard here too. If the invidious do not believe in the power of the
human intellect so to transcend the measure of humanity, let them read
the examples cited from Scripture and the mystical treatises of Richard
of St. Victor, Bernard, Augustine. But, if the unworthiness of the
speaker makes them question such an elevation, let them see in Daniel
how Nebuchodonosor by divine inspiration had a vision against sinners:
“For He who ‘maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and
sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust,’ sometimes in mercy for
their conversion, sometimes in wrath for their punishment, reveals His
glory, in greater or less measure, as He wills, to those who live never
so evily” (_Epist._ x. 28). This section of the letter, for the student
of mystical experience, is of the highest significance.
4. _The “Eclogae”_
Belonging, like the tenth Epistle, to that closing period of Dante’s
life when he was engaged on the _Paradiso_, are two delightful pastoral
poems in Latin hexameters. Here, too, we owe much to the piety of
Boccaccio. The earliest and most authoritative of the five manuscripts
is again in his handwriting, in the _Zibaldone Boccaccesco_ (where the
poems are accompanied by explanatory notes), in the Laurentian Library.
Giovanni del Virgilio, a young lecturer and a poet, had written
to Dante from Bologna a letter in Latin verse, expressing his
profound admiration for the singer of the Commedia, but respectfully
remonstrating with him for writing in Italian, and suggesting some
stirring contemporary subjects as worthy matters for his muse: the
death of Henry VII., the battle of Montecatini, a victory of Can Grande
over the Paduans, the struggle by sea and land between King Robert of
Naples and the Visconti for the possession of Genoa. The reference
to this last event shows that the letter cannot have been written
before July 1318, while a passage towards the close clearly indicates
the early part of the following year. It further contains a pressing
invitation to come and take the laurel crown at Bologna, or, at least,
to answer the letter, “if it vex thee not, to have read first the
feeble numbers which the rash goose cackles to the clear-voiced swan.”
Dante’s first Eclogue is the answer. Adopting the pastoral style, he
himself and his companion Dino Perini (whom Boccaccio afterwards knew)
appear as shepherds, Tityrus and Meliboeus, discussing the invitation
from Mopsus. It was probably written in the spring or early summer of
1319. In a medley of generous praise and kindly banter, Dante declines
to visit Bologna, “that knows not the gods,” and still hopes to receive
the poet’s crown at Florence. When the _Paradiso_ is finished, then
will it be time to think of ivy and laurel; and in the meanwhile, to
convert Mopsus from his errors with respect to vernacular poetry, he
will send him ten measures of milk fresh from the best-loved ewe of all
his flock--ten cantos from the _Paradiso_, which evidently are not yet
published, since the sheep is yet unmilked.
Mopsus in his answer expresses the intense admiration with which he and
his fellow Arcadians have heard this song, and adopts the same style.
Condoling with Dante on his unjust exile, he foresees his return home
and reunion with Phyllis, who may perhaps be Gemma or (as Carducci
suggested) an impersonification of Florence. But, in the meanwhile,
pastoral pleasures and an enthusiastic welcome await him at Bologna,
if Iolas (Guido da Polenta) will let him go. A reference to “Phrygian
Muso” enables us to fix approximately the date; towards the beginning
of September, 1319, Albertino Mussato, the Paduan poet and patriot,
was at Bologna, endeavouring to get aid from the Guelf communes for
his native city against Can Grande. Dante could hardly have with
consistency accepted the invitation.
The writer of the notes on the Laurentian manuscript, whether
Boccaccio himself or another, commenting upon a poem sent by Giovanni
del Virgilio to Albertino Mussato, states that Dante delayed a year
before answering this Eclogue, and that his reply was forwarded after
his death by his son. His second Eclogue is in narrative form, and
professes to be no more than the report by the writer of a conversation
between Dante and his friends which is overheard by Guido da Polenta. A
new associate of the poet’s last days is introduced to us: the shepherd
Alphesiboeus, who is identified with Fiducio de’ Milotti of Certaldo,
a distinguished physician resident at Ravenna. The tone is the same as
that of the other Eclogue. Ravenna becomes the pastures of Pelorus,
while Bologna is the Cyclops’ cave, to which Dante still refuses to go,
for fear of Polyphemus, whose atrocities in the past are recorded.[26]
And the crown expected now is, perhaps, no longer one which any earthly
city can give: “For this illustrious head already the Pruner is
hastening to award an everlasting garland.”
These two Eclogues are of priceless value. Nowhere else is such a
comparatively bright picture of Dante’s closing days given us. The
genuine and hearty laughter which greets Giovanni’s two letters, the
generous tone of the supreme singer towards the young scholar poet,
the kindly joking at the expense of Dino, make delightful reading and
show us quite another side of Dante’s character. Giovanni’s first
letter implies that the earlier parts of the _Commedia_ had not only
been published, but had acquired a certain popularity. From Dante’s
first Eclogue it follows that, by 1319, both _Inferno_ and _Purgatorio_
were completed, and that the _Paradiso_ was in preparation: “When the
bodies that flow round the world, and they that dwell among the stars,
shall be shown forth in my song, even as the lower realms, then shall
I delight to crown my head with ivy and with laurel.” And after this
the passage in the second Eclogue, written apparently in 1321, however
we interpret it, has the same pathos and sanctity as Petrarch’s note
on the last line of his _Triumph of Eternity_, or the abrupt ending of
Shelley’s _Triumph of Life_:
Hoc illustre caput, cui iam frondator in alta
virgine perpetuas festinat cernere frondes.[27]
5. _The “Quaestio de Aqua et Terra”_
The _Quaestio de Aqua et Terra_--which purports to be a discourse or
lecture delivered by Dante in the church of Sant’ Elena at Verona on
January 20th, 1320--was first published in 1508 by an Augustinian
friar, Giovan Benedetto Moncetti. No manuscript of it is known to
exist, and there is no reference to the work or to the event in
any earlier writer, though Antonio Pucci (after the middle of the
fourteenth century) implies that Dante sought disputations of this
kind. In this work the poet--in accordance with the physical science
of his age--discusses the question of the relative position of the
element earth and the element water upon the surface of the globe. The
_Quaestio_ was until recently regarded as a fabrication of the early
sixteenth century, but Moore in England and Vincenzo Biagi in Italy,
mainly on the internal evidence of the work itself, have convinced
many Dante scholars that it may be regarded with some probability as
authentic.
FOOTNOTES:
[19] In the recently discovered codex at Berlin--the earliest of
the four extant MSS.--the work is entitled _Rectorica Dantis_ (“The
Rhetoric of Dante”), which would associate it with the similarly named
treatises of the masters of the _ars dictandi_, such as Boncompagno da
Signa, who wrote a _Rhetorica novissima_.
[20] This southern idiom (_nostrum ydioma_, i. 10)--from which Dante
apparently regards both classical Latin and the modern romance
languages derived--would be what we now call Vulgar Latin; but he
restricts the phrase _vulgare latinum_ (or _latium_) to Italian,
which--when discussing the rival claims of the three vernaculars to
pre-eminence--he rightly recognises to be closest to classical Latin.
[21] _Equalium stantiarum sine responsorio ad unam sententiam tragica
coniugatio_ (ii. 8). The _sine responsorio_ distinguishes the true
canzone, _canzone distesa_, from the ballata, _canzone a ballo_, in
which the _ripresa_ of from two to four lines was repeated after each
stanza as well as sung as a prelude to the whole. Dante’s example is
his own _Donne ch’avete intelletto d’amore_, the poem which began
“le nove rime” (_Purg._ xxiv. 49-51). The _tragica coniugatio_ is
most nearly realised in English poetry by the ode, while the closest
counterpart to the canzone with stanzas divisible into metrical periods
is offered by Spenser’s _Epithalamion_. The sestina has been employed
by English poets from the Elizabethans to Swinburne and Rudyard Kipling.
[22] Cipolla showed that the matter of the first two books more
directly controverts the anti-imperialist and anti-Roman arguments
of the French political writers of the beginning of the fourteenth
century--writers like the Dominican, John of Paris. But these or
similar views were now being adduced by Robert of Naples and supported
by Clement V.
[23] These two ends are the two cities--the earthly and the
heavenly--of St. Augustine’s _De Civitate Dei_; but the earthly city,
blessedness of this life, is more significant for Dante than it was for
Augustine. Felicity in peace and freedom is in some sort man’s right:
_Che è quello per che esso è nato_ (_Conv._ iv. 4).
[24] For the whole history of the Letters, the reader is referred to
Dr. Paget Toynbee’s introduction, _Dantis Alagherii Epistolae_, Oxford,
1920.
[25] Torraca would assign it to 1311.
[26] Polyphemus, as Biscaro has shown, is most probably Fulcieri da
Calboli, the ferocious podestà of Florence in 1303, who had been
elected Captain of the People at Bologna for the first six months of
1321 (his predecessor having died in office). _Cf. Ecl._ ii. (iv.)
76-83 with _Purg._ xiv. 58-66. See _Giornale storico della letteratura
italiana_, lxxxi. p. 128. Others have taken the person meant as Robert
of Naples, or, with Ricci, a kinsman of Venedico Caccianemico whom
Dante had covered with infamy in _Inf._ xviii.
[27] “This illustrious head, for which the Pruner is already hastening
to select unwithering leaves from the noble laurel,” or “to decree an
everlasting garland in the divine justice,” according to whether the
Virgin is taken as Daphne or Astraea.
CHAPTER IV
THE “DIVINA COMMEDIA”
1. _Introductory_
LETTER AND ALLEGORY.--The _Divina Commedia_ is a vision and an
allegory. It is a vision of the world beyond the grave; it is an
allegory, based upon that vision, of the life and destiny of man, his
need of light and guidance, his duties to the temporal and spiritual
powers, to the Empire and the Church. In the literal sense, the
subject is the state of souls after death. In the allegorical sense,
according to the Epistle to Can Grande, the subject is “man as by
freedom of will, meriting and demeriting, he is subject to Justice
rewarding or punishing” (_Epist._ x. 11). There is, therefore, the
distinction between the essential Hell, Purgatory, Paradise of
separated spirits--the lost and the redeemed--after death; and the
moral or spiritual Hell, Purgatory, Paradise, of men still united to
their bodies in this life, using their free will for good or for evil;
sinning, doing penance, living virtuously. The _Inferno_ represents the
state of ignorance and vice; the _Purgatorio_ is the life of converted
sinners, obeying Caesar and reconciled to Peter, doing penance and
striving God-wards; after the state of felicity has been regained in
the Earthly Paradise, the _Paradiso_ represents the ideal life of
action and contemplation, closing in an anticipation, here and now, of
the Beatific Vision. The whole poem is the mystical epic of the freedom
of man’s will in time and in eternity, the soul after conversion
passing through the stages of purification and illumination to the
attainment of union and fruition.
It must be admitted that the allegorical interpretation of the
_Commedia_ has frequently been carried to excess. This has led to a
reaction, represented now by Benedetto Croce, who would separate the
allegorical and didactic elements from the poetry, in which alone
the true value of the work consists. Such a tendency in its turn, if
pressed too far, derogates from Dante’s greatness and mars the unity of
the poem. In Dante the poet and the practical man--teacher, prophet,
politician, philosopher, reformer--are inseparable; more often purely
doctrinal themes become so fused in his imagination, so identified with
his personality, that the result is lyrical and great poetry.
TITLE.--Dante unquestionably called his work simply _Commedia_, which
he wrote _Comedia_ and pronounced _Comedìa_ (_Inf._ xvi. 128, xxi. 2).
The epithet _divina_ first appears in the sixteenth-century editions;
but it would be almost as pedantic to discard it now as it would be,
except when reading the word where it occurs in the poem, to return to
the original pronunciation, _comedìa_.[28]
METRICAL STRUCTURE.--Each of the three parts, or cantiche, is divided
into cantos: the _Inferno_ into thirty-four, the _Purgatorio_ into
thirty-three, the _Paradiso_ into thirty-three--thus making up a
hundred cantos, the square of the perfect number. Each canto is
composed of from one hundred and fifteen to one hundred and sixty
lines, forming thirty-eight to fifty-three terzine, a continuous
measure of three hendecasyllabic lines, woven together by the rhymes of
the middle lines, with an extra line rhyming with the second line of
the last terzina to close the canto:
ABA, BCB, CDC, DED ... XYX, YZY, Z.
The normal hendecasyllabic line is the _endecasillabo piano_, in which
the rhyme has the accent upon the penultimate syllable (_rima piana_,
trochaic ending). Occasionally, but rarely, we find the _endecasillabo
sdrucciolo_, with the rhyme accentuated on the antepenultimate syllable
(_rima sdrucciola_, dactylic ending), or the _endecasillabo tronco_,
with the accent on the final syllable (_rima tronca_). Italian prosody
regards both these latter forms (which appear to have twelve and ten
syllables respectively) as lines of eleven syllables.[29]
The _terza rima_ seems to be derived from the _serventese incatenato_
(“linked serventese”), one of the rather numerous forms of the Italian
_serventese_ or _sermontese_, a species of poem introduced from
Provence in the first half of the thirteenth century. The Provençal
_sirventes_ was a serviceable composition employed mainly for
satirical, political, and ethical purposes, in contrast with the more
stately and “tragical” canzone of love. Although the Italians extended
its range of subject and developed its metres, no one before Dante had
used it for a great poem or had transfigured it into this superb new
measure, at once lyrical and epical. In his hand, indeed, “the thing
became a trumpet,” sounding from earth to heaven, to call the dead to
judgment.
SOURCES.--The earlier mediaeval visions of the spirit world, of which
the most famous are Irish in origin, bear the same relation, in a
much slighter degree, to the spiritual content of the _Commedia_ as
the Provençal _sirventes_ does to its metrical form. Even if Dante
was acquainted with them (and there are episodes occasionally in the
poem which recall the vision of Tundal or Tnuthgal), he was absolutely
justified in asserting, in _Purgatorio_ xvi., that God willed that he
should see His court “by method wholly out of modern use”:
Per modo tutto fuor del moderno uso.
Such ideas, even in special details, were common property. Dante
transformed the mediaeval vision of the world beyond the grave into a
supreme work of art, making it the receptacle for all that was noblest
in the thought and aspiration of the centuries down to his own day. If
a hint or two came from _Ibernia fabulosa_, as Ariosto calls Ireland,
the main suggestion was Roman; and Virgil was his imperial master in
very fact, as he was his guide by poetical fiction (_Inf._ i. 82-87):
“O honour and light of the other poets, may the long study avail me,
and the great love, that has made me search thy volume. Thou art my
master and my author; thou alone art he from whom I took the fair style
that hath gained me honour.”
The influence of Virgil pervades the whole poem, and next to his
comes that of Lucan. Ovid was mainly a source of classical mythology
(frequently spiritualised in Dante’s hands); the contribution of
Horace, Statius, and Juvenal is slighter. And Dante was as familiar
with the Bible as with the _Aeneid_ and the _Pharsalia_; indeed, one
of the most salient characteristics of the _Commedia_ is the writer’s
adaptation of the message of the Hebrew prophets to his own times
in the language and with the consummate art of the Latin poets. In
its degree, the influence of Boëthius is as penetrating as that of
Virgil; Orosius has contributed as much history as has Livy. The
philosophy of the poem is naturally coloured by Aristotle, studied in
the Latin translations as interpreted by Albertus Magnus and Aquinas.
Augustine and Aquinas (more generally the latter) are the poet’s
chief theological sources; his mysticism has derived something from
Richard of St. Victor and Bonaventura as well as from Dionysius. But
he deals with his matter with independence, as a poet, in the light of
his own spiritual experience, his own imaginative interpretation of
life and history, his own observation of nature. Though versed in a
super-eminent degree with most of the knowledge, sacred and profane,
possible to a man of his epoch, and well-read to an almost incredible
extent when the circumstances of his life are considered, Dante’s
main and direct source of inspiration lay, not in books, but in that
wonderful world of the closing Middle Ages that lay open to his gaze,
as from a celestial watch-tower of contemplation: “The little space of
earth that maketh us so fierce, as I turned me with the eternal Twins,
all appeared to me from the hills to the sea” (_Par._ xxii. 151-153).
VIRGIL AND BEATRICE.--The end of the poem, as the Epistle to Can
Grande shows, is to remove those living in this life from the state of
misery, and lead them to the state of felicity. In the individual,
this will be accomplished by opening his eyes to the nature of vice; by
inducing him to contrition, confession, satisfaction; by leading him
to contemplation of eternal Truth. In the universality, it can only be
effected by the restoration of the Empire and the purification of the
Church. The dual scheme of the _Monarchia_ reappears in the _Commedia_,
but transferred from the sphere of Church and State to the field of
the individual soul. In the allegorical sense, Virgil may be taken
to represent Human Philosophy based on Reason; Beatrice to symbolize
Divine Philosophy, which includes the sacred science of Theology, and
is in possession of Revelation. But, primarily, Virgil and Beatrice
(like the other souls in the poem) are living personalities, not
allegorical types. Allegory may be forgotten in the tender relation
between Dante and Virgil, and, when that “sweetest father” leaves his
disciple in the Earthly Paradise to return to his own sad place in
Limbo, there is little of it left in Beatrice’s rebuke of her lover’s
past disloyalty; none when she is last seen enshrined in glory beneath
the Blessed Virgin’s throne.
There is then a universal and a personal meaning to be distinguished,
as well as the literal and allegorical significations. The _Divina
Commedia_ is the tribute of devotion from one poet to another; it
is the sequel to a real love, the glorification of the image of a
woman loved in youth; the story of one man’s conversion and spiritual
experience. Nor can we doubt that the study of the imperial poet of
_alma Roma_ helped Dante to his great political conception of the
destiny of the Empire, even as Philosophy first lifted him from the
moral aberrations that severed him from the ideal life (_Purg._ xxiii.
118). But, at the same time, Dante represents all mankind; as Witte
remarks, “the poet stands as the type of the whole race of fallen man,
called to salvation.”
DATES AND EPOCH.--Although the vision is poetically placed in the
spring of 1300, during the Pope’s jubilee and shortly before Dante’s
election to the priorate, the actual date of composition of the
poem--as far as concerns the first two parts--is still uncertain and
disputed. There are at present two principal theories. According to the
one (very strongly held by Parodi), the _Inferno_ was composed shortly
before the advent of Henry of Luxemburg, the _Purgatorio_ during his
Italian enterprise. According to the other, not only the _Paradiso_,
but the whole poem was written after the death of the Emperor, and must
therefore be regarded as the work of the closing years of the poet’s
life. On the former hypothesis, the allusion to the death of Clement
V., in _Inf._ xix., must be taken as an indefinite prediction or a
later insertion. It is possible to adopt a compromise between the two
views. The poem may have been begun some time between 1306 and 1308,
and portions of the _Inferno_ and _Purgatorio_ composed before the
catastrophe of 1313. After the death of the Emperor, Dante may well
have revised and completed these two canticles. Boccaccio tells us--and
the statement is confirmed (for the _Paradiso_) by a sonnet of Giovanni
Quirino--that the poet was wont to send his work in instalments to Can
Grande before any copies were made for others. There is no evidence of
any circulation before 1317, when some lines from _Inf._ iii. appear
among the papers of a notary at Bologna.[30] The first Eclogue shows
that, by 1319, the _Inferno_ and _Purgatorio_ had been, so to speak,
published, and the _Paradiso_ was in preparation; Boccaccio’s story
of the finding of the last thirteen cantos confirms the belief that
this final canticle, which crowns the poet’s whole life-work, was only
completed shortly before Dante’s death. Dante is in the position of a
man who is now relating to the world the vision vouchsafed to him many
years before. Hence everything that happened after April 1300 is spoken
of as future and by way of prophecy, beginning with Ciacco’s account in
_Inf._ vi. of the famous faction fight of May Day in that year. With
two exceptions--Frate Alberigo and Branca d’Oria (_Inf._ xxxiii.),
whose souls went down to Hell before their bodies died--every spirit
met with in the ecstatic pilgrimage is represented as having died
before April 1300. But Dante anticipates the certain damnation of some
who, though living in 1300, were dead when he wrote the poem; Corso
Donati, Popes Boniface and Clement, and a few less notorious sinners
as Carlino de’ Pazzi. In one instance, that of Venedico Caccianemico
(_Inf._ xviii.), he seems to have supposed a man dead in 1300 who in
reality lived a few years later.
TIME.--Dante’s conferences with the dead open at sunrise on Good
Friday, in his thirty-fifth year. He would impress upon us that his
visionary world is no mere dreamland, but a terrible reality, and
therefore his indications of time are frequent and precise. For
poetical purposes, he seems to represent this Good Friday as an
ideal Good Friday, March 25th, which was believed to have been the
actual date of the Crucifixion on the thirty-fourth anniversary of
the Annunciation (_cf. Inf._ xxi. 112, and the “three months” from
Christmas Day in _Purg._ ii. 98). In reality, it fell upon April 8th
in 1300; and, when Dante in his pilgrimage through Hell would mark
the time by reference to moon and stars, he perhaps has recourse to
the ecclesiastical calendar, in which the Paschal full moon was on
Thursday, April 7th (see Dr. Moore’s _Time-References in the Divine
Comedy_):
E già iernotte fu la luna tonda,
“And already yesternight the moon was round” (_Inf._ xx. 127); the
night of Maundy Thursday, that he has passed “so piteously” when the
poem opens.
2. _The “Inferno”_
CANTOS I. AND II.--At break of day on Good Friday, Dante, in his
thirty-fifth year, after a night of agonised wanderings, would fain
issue from the dark wood into which he has, as it were in slumber,
strayed. This tangled forest represents at once his own unworthy life
and the corruption of human society; both the “sin of the speaker” (§
28) and the “state of misery of those living in this life” (§ 15) of
the Epistle to Can Grande. He would climb the “mountain of delight”
which, for the individual, represents the state of felicity, and, for
mankind in general, the goal of civilisation; mystically, it is the
mountain of the Lord, to which only the innocent in hands and the clean
of heart shall ascend. But he is impeded by a swift and beautiful
leopard; terrified by a lion; driven back by a hideous she-wolf.
The three beasts are derived from Jeremiah (v. 6), where they stand
for the judgments to fall upon the people for their sins; here they
symbolise the chief vices that keep man from the felicity for which he
is born (_Conv._ iv. 4): Luxury in its mediaeval sense of Lust, Pride,
Avarice or Cupidity in its widest meaning. The comparatively modern
interpretation which would see in the beasts the three great Guelf
powers that opposed the Empire--the republic of Florence, the royal
house of France, the secular power of the Papacy--is now generally
discarded.
From this peril Dante is delivered by the spirit of Virgil, who bids
him take another way. The power of the wolf will extend until the
_Veltro_ or greyhound comes, who will deliver Italy and hunt the wolf
back to Hell. The advent of this Deliverer is mysteriously announced
(_Inf._ i. 100-111), and seems to be repeated in other forms at
intervals throughout the poem (_Purg._ xx. 10-15, xxxiii. 37-45;
_Par._ xxvii. 61-63). There can be little doubt that Virgil refers to
a future Emperor, who shall re-establish the imperial power and make
Roman law obeyed throughout the world, extirpate greed, bring about
and preserve universal peace in a restored unity of civilisation. His
mission will be the realisation of the ideals of the _Monarchia_, and
will work the salvation of Italy who will be restored to her former
leadership among the nations. At the same time, there may possibly be a
remoter reference to the second coming of Christ. This double prophecy
would have a certain fitness upon the lips of Virgil, who was believed
to have sung mystically of the first coming of Christ in the fourth
Eclogue (_cf. Purg._ xxii. 64-73), as well as of the foundation of Rome
and her Empire in the _Aeneid_. It has frequently been supposed that
Dante identified the _Veltro_ with some definite person; of the various
claimants to this honour Can Grande della Scala is, perhaps, the least
improbable. In any case, whatever the nationality of the deliverer,
the Empire of Dante’s dream was, in fact as well as name, Roman (_cf.
Epist. v._).
Human Philosophy can lead man from moral unworthiness and guide him to
temporal felicity; there are judgments of God to which human reason can
attain. Therefore Virgil will guide Dante through Hell and Purgatory,
that he may understand the nature of sin and the need of penance to
fill up the void in the moral order; after which a worthier soul will
lead him to Paradise and the contemplation of celestial things. Dante’s
sense of unworthiness keeps him back, until he learns that Virgil is
but the emissary of Beatrice, to whom in turn Lucia (St. Lucy) has
been sent to Dante’s aid by a noble Lady in Heaven--evidently the
Blessed Virgin Mary, who may not be named in Hell, and who symbolises
Divine Mercy, as Lucia does illuminating Grace. Thus encouraged, Dante
follows his guide and master upon “the arduous and rugged way.” Aeneas
had been vouchsafed his descent to the shades to learn things that
were the cause of the foundation of the Empire and the establishment
of the Papacy (_Inf._ ii. 20-27); Dante shall learn things which may
prepare men’s hearts for the restoration of the imperial throne, and
the cleansing of the papal mantle from the mire of temporal things. St.
Paul was caught up into paradise “to bring confirmation to that faith
which is the beginning of the way of salvation” (_ibid._ 29-30); Dante
shall follow him to lead men back to the purity of that faith, from
which they have wandered.
ANTE-HELL.--It is nightfall on Good Friday when Dante reads the
terrible inscription on the infernal portal (_Inf._ iii. 1-9): “Leave
all hope, ye that enter.” The sense of the whole inscription is hard to
him, but Virgil gently leads him in. In the dark plain of Ante-Hell,
disdained alike by Mercy and by Justice, are those “who lived without
blame and without praise,” mingled with the Angels who kept neutral
between God and Lucifer. Here the pusillanimous, who, taking no side
in the struggle between good and evil, would follow no standard on
earth, now rush for all eternity after a banner, “which whirling ran
so quickly that it seemed to scorn all pause.” Further on towards the
centre, flowing round the mouth of Hell itself, is Acheron; where the
souls of the lost assemble, and are conveyed across by Charon in his
boat. Unconsciously borne across, Dante with Virgil now stands on the
verge of the abyss, hearkening to the gathering thunder of endless
wailings.
STRUCTURE AND MORAL TOPOGRAPHY OF HELL.--Hell is a vast pit or funnel
piercing down to the centre of the earth, formed when Lucifer and his
Angels were hurled down from Heaven. It lies beneath the inhabited
world, whose centre is Jerusalem and Mount Calvary; its base towards
the surface, and its apex at the centre. It is divided into nine
concentric circles, the lower of which are separated by immense
precipices--circles which grow more narrow in circumference, more
intense and horrible in suffering, until the last is reached where
Lucifer is fixed in the ice at the earth’s centre, at the furthest
point from God, buried below Jerusalem, where his power was overthrown
on the Cross (_cf. Inf._ xxxiv. 106-126).
“There are two elements in sin,” writes St. Thomas Aquinas: “the
conversion to a perishable good, which is the material element in
sin; and the aversion from the imperishable good, which is the formal
and completing element of sin.” In Dante’s Purgatory the material
element is purged away. In his Hell sin is considered mainly on the
side of this formal element, its aversion from the Supreme Good;
and its enormity is revealed in the hideousness of its effects. The
ethical system of the _Inferno_, as set forth in Canto xi., combines
Aristotle’s threefold division of “dispositions” opposed to mortality
into Incontinence, Bestiality, Malice (_Ethics_ vii. 1), with Cicero’s
distinction of the two ways by which injury is done as Violence and
Fraud (_De Officiis_ i. 13). Dante equates the Aristotelian Bestiality
and Malice with the Ciceronian Violence and Fraud respectively. Thus
there is the upper Hell of sins proceeding from the irrational part of
the soul, divided into five circles. The lower Hell of Bestiality and
Malice is the terrible city of Dis, the true kingdom of Lucifer, in
which, after the intermediate sixth circle, come three great circles,
each divided into a number of sub-divisions, and each separated
by a chasm from the one above; the seventh circle of Violence and
Bestiality; followed by two circles of Malice--the eighth of simple
fraud, and the ninth of treachery. There is some doubt as to how
far Dante further equates this division with the seven capital sins
recognized by the Church. Although actual deeds are considered in
Hell, rather than the sinful propensities which lead to them, it seems
plausible to recognise in Incontinence the five lesser capital sins:
Luxury, Gluttony, Avarice, Sloth (though the treatment of this vice in
the _Inferno_ is questionable), and Anger; and to regard the whole of
the three circles of the city of Dis as proceeding from and being the
visible effects of Envy and Pride, the sins proper to devils according
to St. Thomas--seen in their supreme degree in him whose pride made him
rebel against his Maker, and whose envy brought death into the world.
As an alternative, it may be held that Dante began the _Inferno_ with
the intention of basing its ethical system upon the seven capital sins,
but abandoned it in favour of a more ample treatment, and that the
earlier design has been preserved only in the passage through the upper
circles.[31]
LIMBO.--In “the first circle that girds the abyss,” Dante sees in
Limbo the unbaptised children and the virtuous heathen; without hope,
they live in desire; free from physical torment, they suffer the
pain of loss. Here Dante differs from Aquinas, who distinguishes the
Limbo of the Fathers from the Limbo of the Infants, and who represents
unbaptised children as not grieving at all for the loss of the Beatific
Vision, but rather rejoicing in natural perfection and a certain
participation of the Divine Goodness. The example of Rhipeus in the
_Paradiso_ shows that Dante could have saved any of the ancients whom
he chose, without any violence to his creed. “Any one,” says Aquinas,
“can prepare himself for having faith through what is in natural
reason; whence it is said that, if any one who is born in barbarous
nations doth what lieth in him, God will reveal to him what is
necessary for salvation, either by internal inspiration or by sending a
teacher.” The reception of Dante by the five great classical poets as
sixth in their company is his own affirmation of poetical succession;
for the first time a poet in modern vernacular has attained equality
with the masters of antiquity who “wrote poetry with regulated speech
and art” (_V. E._ ii. 4). With them he enters the noble castle of Fame,
from which the light of wisdom shone upon the pagan world; within
are all the wise and virtuous spirits of antiquity, even Aristotle,
“the master of those who know,” whose philosophical authority is for
Dante supreme (_Inf._ iv. 131). Here, too, are certain moderns that
“worshipped not God aright”; the Saladin, and Averroës “who made the
great comment.”
UPPER HELL.--Out of Limbo Dante and Virgil descend into the darkness
of the second circle, where the carnal sinners are whirled round and
round, “through the nether storm-eddying winds.” At its entrance snarls
Minos, a type of the sinner’s disordered and terrified conception of
Divine Justice. The Virgilian “Mourning Fields” of the martyrs of
love are transformed into a region of active torment, and when, in a
lull in the storm, Francesca da Rimini pours forth her piteous story
in lines of ineffable pathos, the colouring becomes that of Arthurian
romance (_Inf._ v.). Down again through the third circle of putrid rain
and snow, where Cerberus (like the other hellish torturers, merely
the effect of the sin, and the sinner’s own creation) tortures the
gluttonous (_Inf._ vi.), and the fourth, where Plutus, demon god of
wealth, guards the avaricious and prodigal butting at each other for
all eternity, Dante is led to the dark waters of Styx, shortly after
midnight, as Friday is passing into the early hours of Saturday (_Inf._
vii. 97-99). The marsh of Styx represents the fifth circle. Fixed in
the slime below are souls, made visible only by the bubbles from their
sighs: “Sullen were we in the sweet air, that is gladdened by the Sun,
carrying heavy fumes within our hearts: now lie we sullen here in the
black mire” (_Inf._ vii. 121-124). These souls are usually identified
as the _accidiosi_, or slothful. The material element in Sloth is lack
of charity; the formal element is sadness, the sadness which takes
away the spiritual life and withdraws the mind from the Divine Good.
Some commentators think that the slothful are placed in the Ante-Hell,
and that these sad souls are those guilty of sullen or sulky anger, in
contrast to the violent anger of those fiercer spirits who, naked and
miry, are rending each other on the surface of the marsh, over which
the poets are ferried by Phlegyas, the boatman of Dis, as Charon of
Upper Hell. The Florentine, Filippo Argenti, who bandies bitter words
with Dante during the passage, connects Anger with Pride (_Inf._ viii.
46) and with Bestiality (_ibid._ 62-63). As Anger leads to violence
and fraud for the sake of vengeance, so Phlegyas conveys them to the
entrance of the city of Dis, glowing red with eternal fire.
THE CITY OF DIS.--The gate of the city is defended by fiends, while
the Furies appear upon the turrets, girt with greenest hydras and with
serpents for hair, calling upon Medusa to come and turn Dante to stone.
The Furies are symbols of hopeless remorse, and Medusa of the despair
which renders repentance impossible. “A guilty deed is the death of
the soul; but to despair is to go down into Hell” (St. Isidore, _cf._
Virgil’s words to Dante, _Inf._ ix. 55-57). Virgil can guard Dante from
her, but he cannot open the gates; for the city of Dis is the mediaeval
counterpart of the Virgilian Tartarus, through which the Sibyl could
not lead Aeneas. With the sound of mighty tempest a messenger of Heaven
passes the Styx with dry feet, and opens the portal with a little
rod; he is a figure drawn from Mercury in the _Aeneid_ (iv.), but here
transformed to an Angel, akin to those two terrible beings who summon
the dead to rise in Luca Signorelli’s Last Judgment.[32] Within the
gate, round the circuit of the walls and at the same level as the
last circle, the sixth circle confines the Heretics and Epicureans
in burning tombs. They seem to hold this intermediate position in
accordance with the teaching of St. Thomas that Infidelity, if reduced
to one of the capital sins, must be regarded as arising from Pride,
but may come also from cupidity or some fleshly illusion; and, in a
passage in the _Convivio_ (ii. 9), Dante appears to reduce one form
of Heresy to _bestialitade_. Farinata degli Uberti, the Ghibelline
hero of Montaperti, heroic even in Hell, rises to address his fellow
countryman; and, from the same blazing sepulchre, Cavalcante de’
Cavalcanti, fondly believing that it is height of genius alone that
leads Dante thus scathless through this blind prison, seeks vainly
to see his own Guido with him. Emperor and Pope should lead man to
blessedness; but Frederick II. and Pope Anastasius are buried here with
the rest (_Inf._ x. 119, xi. 8). The horrible stench that rises from
the abyss forces Dante to delay his descent; and, in the pause, Virgil
explains the moral structure of Hell, equating the Ciceronian with the
Aristotelian division of vice (_Inf._ xi.), as already indicated, and
adding a special explanation of how Usury, the breeding of money from
money, is a sin against nature, and violence against the Diety.
SEVENTH CIRCLE.--They descend the precipice into the seventh circle, at
the entrance to which the Minotaur, emblem of Violence and Bestiality,
gnaws himself in bestial rage, on the top of the ruin formed by the
earthquake when the Redeemer entered Hell. Since we are now within
the Devil’s city, fiends begin to appear as torturers, but in this
seventh circle they take bestial forms, or forms which are half-bestial
and half-human. There are three rounds in this circle. In the first,
Phlegethon, the river of boiling blood, the violent against others
are immersed to varying depths, and tormented by the Centaurs (_Inf._
xii.). Murderers and tyrants are here; and Benvenuto supposes that the
Centaurs are types of their own hireling soldiers, the instruments of
their cruelty upon earth. In the second round, the violent against
themselves (_Inf._ xiii.) are punished in the pathless wood of the
Harpies; the suicides, imprisoned in trees and preyed upon by these
monsters, are regarded as bestial sinners, because, properly speaking,
a man cannot hate himself; the destroyers of their own substance,
similarly considered, are hunted by black hell-dogs. Yet in this round
is one of the noblest souls in the _Inferno_, Piero della Vigna, still
defending the memory of the imperial master who caused his death.
Enclosed by the wood is a third round, the burning plain (_Inf._
xiv.), where the violent against God are subjected to a slow rain of
dilated flakes of fire. Capaneus, the typical blasphemer, is tortured
even more by his own fury than by the flaming shower. It is in this
round that Dante learns what Virgil tells him is the most notable thing
he has yet seen in his pilgrimage (_Inf._ xiv. 88): the infernal rivers
are produced by the tears and sins of all human generations since the
golden age, and flow from rock to rock down the circles of Hell, back
to Lucifer at the earth’s core (_ibid._ 103, etc.). “The tears extorted
from the sinners, the blood shed by tyrants and murderers, all the
filth of the sinful world, flow down below by secret conduits, and are
then transformed into instruments of torment” (Witte). There are few
things in literature more poignant than Dante’s cry of recognition:
_Siete voi qui, ser Brunetto_ (_Inf._ xv. 30), “Are you here, Ser
Brunetto?” Nor is there, perhaps, anything that gives us a more
terrible conception of Dante’s claim to be the “preacher of justice,”
than the fearful doom he has inflicted upon “the dear and kind paternal
image” of the sage who had taught him how man makes himself eternal,
and upon the great Florentine citizens of the past, whose deeds and
honoured names he had ever “rehearsed and heard with affection” (_Inf._
xvi. 58-60). In the last group of this round are the Usurers, “on
the utmost limit of that seventh circle,” where violence passes into
fraud (_Inf._ xvii. 43); and it is worthy of note that the poet finds
examples of this sin, not among the persecuted Jews, but in the noble
houses of Padua and Florence.
MALEBOLGE.--A yawning abyss, down which the blood-stained Phlegethon
dashes with deafening noise, reaches from the seventh to the eighth
circle, Malebolge, the realm of Malice. Lured up by the cord which
Dante has girt round him and abandons, Geryon, “unclean image of
fraud,” a combination of the mythological monster with the apocalyptic
Angel of the bottomless pit, bears Dante and Virgil to the place below.
Malebolge is divided into ten valleys, with a gulf in the centre.
Since they punish Fraud, _de l’uom proprio male_, “the vice peculiar
to man,” the demon tormentors have usually something of the human form
(the serpent torturers of the thieves are an exception)--degraded
Angels partaking of humanity’s lowest features. Disgusting though
many details of this circle may seem to modern taste, they are only
terribly realised images of the sins themselves. Panders and seducers
(_Inf._ xviii.), flatterers, simoniacs (xix., Pope Nicholas III.),
diviners and sorcerers (xx.), barrators or sellers of justice in public
offices (xxi. and xxii.), hypocrites (xxiii.), thieves (xxiv. and
xxv.), fraudulent counsellors (xxvi. and xxvii.), sowers of scandal
and schism (xxviii.), falsifiers of every kind (xxix. and xxx.)--each
class occupies one of the ten valleys of Malebolge, and to each is
awarded a special form of punishment representing the crime, observing
the _contrapasso_ (_Inf._ xxviii. 142), the law of retribution. In
the meanwhile the sun has risen in the world above, though this makes
no difference in Hell where the sun is silent (_Inf._ xx. 124); it is
the morning of Holy Saturday for the Church; the bells have been rung
again after the silence of Good Friday, and the _Gloria in excelsis_
sung in anticipation of the morrow’s feast--while Dante is rebuking
Pope Nicholas for simony, and hearkening to Guido da Montefeltro’s
bitter tale of Pope Boniface’s treachery (_Inf._ xxvii.). There are
few nobler utterances of mediaeval Catholicity than that famous
outburst of Dantesque indignation in Canto xix., against the unworthy
and simoniacal holders of the papal chair, though restrained by the
“reverence for the Great Keys.” In one instance only does Dante seem
in personal danger, and, curiously enough, it is in the region of
the Barrators (_Inf._ xxi. and xxii.), with whose sin his ungrateful
countrymen had tried to render him infamous; Virgil himself is almost
deceived, that is, Dante’s reason is bewildered and his philosophy at
fault; but, although hunted as a criminal, not a drop of the boiling
pitch lights upon him, nor do the rakes and hooks of the “Evil-claws”
as much as graze his skin. Here and there images from external nature
relieve the horror: the country shining white with the hoar-frost
before the spring (xxiv. 1-15); the fire-flies gleaming below the hill
after the long summer day (xxvi. 25-30). The two cantos depicting
the fate of the fraudulent counsellors (xxvi. and xxvii.) seem on a
different plane from the rest; the sense of increasing degradation in
the passage downwards through Malebolge is checked; the story of the
last voyage of Ulysses with its spiritual nobility and imaginative
splendour, the whole episode of Guido da Montefeltro with its dramatic
intensity, are among the greatest creations of poetry. But so repulsive
is much of the matter of Malebolge that Dante represents his own moral
sense as becoming clouded; in the last valley he listens without
disgust, almost with pleasure, to an unsavoury quarrel between the
Greek Sinon and the coiner Adam of Brescia (_Inf._ xxx.), until a sharp
rebuke from Virgil restores him to himself: _Chè voler ciò udire è
bassa voglia_, “for to wish to hear that is a base desire.”
NINTH CIRCLE.--In the centre of Malebolge yawns a huge chasm, like an
immense well, where the precipice falls to the ninth and last circle.
Like towers round the margin of this pit appear the upper parts of
captive Giants, both of Scripture and mythology; Nimrod, Ephialtes,
Briareus--the Paladins of the Emperor of Hell defending the last and
most secret chamber of his palace. The Giants connect this last circle
with Pride (_Purg._ xii. 28-36), as the mention of Cain does with
Envy (_Purg._ xiv. 133), and Lucifer himself with both Pride and Envy
(_Inf._ vii. 12; _Purg._ xii. 25; _Par._ ix. 129, xix. 46, etc.).
Treachery is a gigantic version of fraud, by which “is forgotten that
love which nature makes, and also that which afterwards is added,
giving birth to special trust” (_Inf._ xi. 61-63); hence the guardians
of this circle are monstrosities in magnified human shape. Antaeus
(_Inf._ xxxi.), less guilty, and therefore less fettered than the
others, hands Virgil and Dante down into this last circle, where the
traitors are eternally consumed in the river Cocytus, which is frozen
to a vast dark lake of ice, sloping down to Lucifer. Nowhere else is
Dante so utterly pitiless. Hardly can we recognise the man who had
fainted with pity at the story of Francesca (_Inf._ v. 141) in the
ruthless inquisitor, who is ready to add to the torture of Bocca degli
Abati (_inf._ xxxii. 97), but will not stretch out his hand to afford
a moment’s alleviation to Frate Alberigo de’ Manfredi (_Inf._ xxxiii.
149).
There are four concentric rings in this ninth circle, increasing in
pain as they diminish in circumference. In Caina (_Inf._ xxxii. 58),
the treacherous murderers of their kindred are chattering with their
teeth like storks. In Antenora (88), traitors to country or party are
still more deeply frozen into the ice. Bocca degli Abati, who betrayed
the Guelfs to the Ghibellines at Montaperti, is side by side with
Buoso da Duera, who, five years later, betrayed the Ghibellines to the
lieutenant of Charles of Anjou. Frozen into one hole, Count Ugolino
della Gherardesca is gnawing the head of Archbishop Ruggieri of Pisa;
and the terror and pity of Dante’s lines have made the tale of the
dying agonies of the old noble and his children perhaps the most famous
episode in the _Commedia_. The terrible imprecation against Pisa adapts
Lucan’s curse upon Egypt after the murder of Pompey to the different
geographical conditions of the Tuscan city.[33] In Tolomea (_Inf._
xxxiii. 124), those who slew treacherously, under mask of hospitality,
have only their faces showing above the ice, their tears frozen into a
crystalline mask; on earth their bodies ofttimes still seem to live,
tenanted by a demon until their time is full, while the soul has
already gone down into the ice. In Giudecca (xxxiv. 117) are souls of
traitors to their lords and benefactors: “Already I was there (and with
fear I put it into verse) where the souls were all covered, and shone
through like straw in glass. Some are lying; some stand upright, this
on its head, and that upon its soles; another, like a bow, bends face
to feet” (_Inf._ xxxiv. 10-15); silent and immovable, in agonised and
everlasting adoration in the court of the Emperor of the dolorious
kingdom, who, gigantic and hideous, “from mid-breast stood forth out
of the ice.” The most radiant of God’s Angels has become the source
of evil, the symbol of sin’s hideousness. His three faces, red,
yellow-white, black, are an infernal parody of the Power, Wisdom, Love
of the Blessed Trinity. Under each face are two huge bat-like wings,
whose helpless flappings freeze all the lake of Cocytus. Tormented
by his teeth and claws are the three arch-traitors: Judas Iscariot,
who betrayed the Divine Founder of the Church; Brutus and Cassius,
who murdered the imperial founder of the Empire. The condemnation of
the two latter is an instance of how, while accepting the testimony
of his sources as to facts, Dante preserves independence of judgment
concerning their moral value; in Lucan’s _Pharsalia_, Brutus and
Cassius are the destined avengers of right, the champions of Roman
liberty, Brutus bearing the character with which we are familiar in
Shakespeare.
OUT OF THE DEPTHS.--It is the night of Easter Eve in our world (_Inf._
xxxiv. 68) when the poets leave the accursed place. Virgil carries
Dante like a child, for man will readily submit himself to the
guidance of reason and philosophy when once the nature of sin has been
thoroughly comprehended. Down by Lucifer’s shaggy sides, they pass the
centre of the universe (lines 76-81, 106-117). Virgil turns with Dante
completely round (conversion from sin), so that they find themselves in
a chasm left at Lucifer’s fall, below the opposite hemisphere to that
which man inhabits. But here it is morning (lines 96, 105, 118), the
morning of Easter Eve of the southern hemisphere, which is twelve hours
behind the time of its antipodes.[34] Through this space, opposite to
“the tomb of Beelzebub,” a rivulet descends, bringing the memory of sin
that has been purged in Purgatory back to Lucifer. By a strange and
arduous way, typical of the persevering struggle out of vice, Dante
with his guide mounts upwards to the clear air; and, on the shores of
Purgatory in the southern hemisphere, they “issued forth to rebehold
the stars.”
Like the Redeemer of mankind, Dante has been dead and buried part of
three days, and it is not yet daybreak on Easter Sunday, “in the end of
the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week.”
3. _The “Purgatorio”_
STRUCTURE AND ALLEGORICAL MEANING.--Purgatory is a steep mountain
of surpassing height, on the only land rising out of the sea in the
southern hemisphere. Like Hell, it was formed when Lucifer and his
followers were cast out of Heaven. To escape him the earth rushed up
to form this mountain, and left void the cavern through which Dante
ascended (_Inf._ xxxiv. 125). It is the exact antipodes of Jerusalem
and Mount Calvary, rises beyond atmospheric changes, and is crowned by
the Earthly Paradise, scene of man’s fall and symbol of blessedness of
this life.
In the literal sense the Purgatorio is the essential Purgatory of
separated spirits, expiating and exercising, paying the debt of
temporal punishment that remains after the guilt has been forgiven;
purging away the material element of sin, after the formal element
has been remitted. In the allegorical sense it represents the moral
purgatory of repentant sinners in this world; and has for subject
man, by penance and good works, becoming free from the tyranny of
vice, attaining to moral and intellectual freedom. Thus it becomes
a symbol of the whole life of man from conversion to death; man, no
longer sunk in ignorance and sin, as in the _Inferno_; not yet soaring
aloft on heights of impassioned contemplation, as in the _Paradiso_;
but struggling against difficulties and temptations, making amends for
misuse of Free Will, conforming with the practices of the Church, and
obeying the imperial authority, until the time comes to pass to the
blessedness of another world.
Dante’s open-air treatment of Purgatory seems peculiar to him. Very
wonderful is the transition from the dark night of Hell to the “sweet
colour of oriental sapphire,” where the star of Love comforts the
pilgrim soul, and the four stars of the Southern Cross, which symbolise
the cardinal virtues, make all the sky rejoice in their flame--until
Easter Day dawns, and from afar the poet “knew the quivering of the
sea” (_Purg._ i. 117). Throughout this second Cantica the sun is our
guide by day, and at night the stars are over our head; we behold the
glory of sunrise and of sunset as upon earth, but with added beauty,
for it is attended by celestial songs and the softly beating wings of
angelic presences. Dante spends part of four days, with three nights,
in this portion of his pilgrimage; for Purgatory is the symbol of the
life of man, and the life of man has four periods. At the end of each
day Dante rests and sleeps; before dawn on each day, except the first,
a vision prepares him for the work of the day--the work which cannot
begin or proceed save in the light of the sun, for man can advance no
step in this spiritual expiation without the light of God’s grace. But
the fourth day does not close, like the other three, in night; for it
corresponds to that fourth and last stage of man’s life, in which the
soul “returns to God, as to that port whence she set out, when she came
to enter upon the sea of this life” (_Conv._ iv. 28).
There are three main divisions of the mountain. From the shore to the
gate of St. Peter is Ante-Purgatory, still subject to atmospheric
changes. Within the gate is Purgatory proper, with its seven terraces
bounded above by a ring of purifying flames. Thence the way leads up to
the Earthly Paradise; for by these purgatorial pains the fall of Adam
is repaired, and the soul of man regains the state of innocence.
ANTE-PURGATORY.--In Ante-Purgatory Dante passes Easter Day and the
following night. Here the souls of those who died in contumacy of the
Church are detained at the foot of the mountain, and may not yet begin
the ascent; and the negligent, who deferred their conversion, and who
now have to defer their purification, are waiting humbly around the
lower slopes. For here purgation has not yet begun; this is the place
where time makes amends for time (_Purg._ xxiii. 84).
Upon the face of Cato, the guardian of the shore and mountain, so
shines the light of the four mystical stars, that he seems illumined
with the very light of the sun of Divine Grace (_Purg._ i. 37-39).
Cato, “the severest champion of true liberty,” “to kindle the love of
liberty in the world, gave proof of how dear he held her by preferring
to depart from life a free man, rather than remain alive bereft of
liberty” (_Mon._ ii. 5). He was one of those who “saw and believed that
this goal of human life is solely rigid virtue” (_Conv._ iv. 6). Thus
from Lucan’s _Pharsalia_, Dante has recreated this austere and glorious
figure to be the warden of the spiritual kingdom where virtue is made
perfect by love and true liberty attained.
At sunrise the white-robed and white-winged Angel of Faith brings the
ransomed souls over the ocean from the banks of the Tiber, where the
redeemed gather, as the lost do upon the shores of Acheron (_Purg._
ii.). The _In exitu Israel_ of their psalm signifies mystically, in
Dante’s allegory, the passing of the holy soul from the bondage of
this corruption to the liberty of eternal glory (_Epist._ x. 7). His
own song of love on the lips of Casella has peculiar fitness at the
entrance of the realm of hope and purgation; for, in the eyes of
that mystical lady, of whom Love discourses, is the anticipation of
Paradise, and yet she is the example of humility--the humility in sign
of which Dante has girded himself with a rush. As they turn towards
the ascent, the excommunicated draw near, led by Manfred; cut off from
the body of the Church by the Pontiff’s curse, they were reunited to
its soul by tardy repentance. The episode of Manfred is a counterpart
to that of Celestine in the corresponding canto of the _Inferno_. Dante
would clearly show the difference of God’s judgment from that of man.
The figure of the canonised pope-hermit, whom the world extolled as
a perfect type of Christian renunciation, and who died in the odour
of sanctity, is contrasted with that of the worldly king who died
excommunicate, and whose name was tainted with suspicion of incest and
parricide: “Horrible were my sins, but Infinite Goodness has such wide
arms that it takes whatever turns to it” (_Purg._ iii. 121-123).
Through a narrow gap they begin the ascent, which is so hard at the
outset, but grows ever lighter as man ascends. Among the negligent
through indolence, Belacqua seems as lazy as upon earth (_Purg._
iv.); but his laziness is now its own punishment. At midday Virgil’s
swift rebuke (_Purg._ v. 10-15) cures his pupil of one fatal obstacle
to following philosophy in the search of moral and intellectual
liberty--human respect. Among those cut off by violent deaths is
Buonconte da Montefeltro, the story of whose fate, Canto v., is in
designed contrast with the soul’s tragedy that came from his father’s
lips out of the torturing flames of Malebolge (_Inf._ xxvii.). The
_lacrimetta_ of the dying knight--the “little tear” that saved his
eternal part from the fiend (_Purg._ v. 107)--has become one of the
priceless pearls in the treasury of the world’s poetry. All these souls
ask for remembrance in prayer, that their delay may be shortened,
and Virgil’s explanation centers upon the power of love to reach for
expiation from beyond the grave (vi. 37-39). In these earlier cantos of
the _Purgatorio_, there are constant traces of the deep impression made
upon Dante by the story of Palinurus, the pilot of Aeneas, in Books v.
and vi. of the _Aeneid_.
THE VALLEY OF THE PRINCES.--They come to the solitary and lion-like
soul of Sordello, whose loving greeting to his Mantuan countryman gives
occasion to Dante’s superb and famous outburst of Italian patriotism:
_Ahi serva Italia, di dolore ostello_ (_Purg._ vi. 76 _et seq._); which
shows a striking correspondence with the great passage where Lucan
laments the overthrow of Roman liberty at Pharsalia (_Phars._ vii. 440
_et seq._). The part of Sordello is very similar to that of Musaeus in
the _Aeneid_, Book vi.; he leads Virgil and Dante to the Valley of the
Princes, which corresponds to Elysium, the verdant vale where Aeneas
met Anchises. Dante probably reconstructed the troubadour’s personality
from his own famous poem on the death of Blacatz, a Provençal hero of
the thirteenth century, in which he upbraids and derides the kings
and princes of Christendom, beginning with Frederick II., and ends
with a proud assertion that he will speak the whole truth in spite
of the powerful barons whom he may offend. So here, in the Valley of
the Princes, where those are detained who neglected some peculiarly
lofty mission, or postponed their spiritual welfare to worldly and
political care, Sordello, beginning with the Emperor-elect, Rudolph of
Hapsburg (_Purg._ vii. 94), points out the descendants or successors
of those whom he had rebuked in the other life. Here, singing together
to the Queen of Mercy, the deadliest foes sit side by side, consoling
each other; Rudolph of Hapsburg with Ottocar of Bohemia, Charles of
Anjou with Peter of Aragon; a motive found previously in the vision
of Tundal, where, however, the kings are naturally Irish. On Henry of
England Sordello had been more severe when he lived. After sunset, in
the light of three brighter stars, that symbolise the three theological
virtues, Dante has pleasant talk with Nino Visconti and Currado
Malaspina (_Purg._ viii.). And, as evening closes in, two golden-haired
Angels, green-clad and green-winged, the Angels of Hope with the
flaming but blunted swords of justice tempered with mercy, defend the
noble souls from the assault of an evil serpent. In the literal sense,
this episode (which seems a relic from earlier mediaeval visions) may
imply that souls in Purgatory have not the intrinsic impossibility
of sinning that is possessed by the blessed of Paradise, but are
kept absolutely free from any sin by the Divine Providence. In the
allegorical sense, the meaning clearly is that the way to moral and
intellectual freedom is a hard one, and temptations to fall back in
despair are many. The tempter would draw man back from regaining the
Earthly Paradise, from which he has once caused his expulsion.
THE MYSTIC EAGLE AND THE GATE OF PURGATORY.--Just before the dawn Dante
dreams of a golden eagle snatching him up to the sphere of fire, and,
waking when the sun is more than two hours high, finds that Lucia has
brought him to the Gate of Purgatory. Mystically, the eagle seems to
represent the poet’s own spirit, dreaming that he can soar unaided to
the very outskirts of Paradise; but he wakes to realise that Divine
grace indicates the preliminary stage of purification. The gate of
St. Peter with its three steps, of white marble, exactly mirroring
the whole man, of darkest purple cracked in the figure of the Cross,
of flaming red porphyry, represents the Sacrament of Penance with its
three parts: Contrition, Confession, Satisfaction based upon the love
of God. The mournfully robed Angel of Obedience seated on the rock of
diamond, with dazzling face and flashing sword, is the confessor. His
silver and gold keys, of judgment and absolution, open the gate to
Dante; the seven P’s traced by his sword on the poet’s forehead are to
be effaced one by one in his ascent (_Purg._ ix.).
MORAL TOPOGRAPHY.--Within the gate is Purgatory proper with its seven
terraces, each devoted to the purgation of one of the seven capital
sins, “out of which other vices spring, especially in the way of final
causation” (Aquinas). Whereas in the _Inferno_ sin was considered in
its manifold and multiform effects, in the _Purgatorio_ it is regarded
in its causes, and all referred to disordered love. The formal element,
the aversion from the imperishable good, which is the essence of Hell,
has been forgiven; the material element, the conversion to the good
that perishes, the disordered love, is now to be purged from the soul.
In the allegorical or moral sense, since love, as Aquinas says, is “the
ultimate cause of the true activities of every agent,” it is clear
that man’s first duty in life is to set love in order; and, indeed,
the whole moral basis of Dante’s Purgatory rests upon the definition
of St. Augustine that virtue is _ordo amoris_, “the ordering of love.”
In the first three terraces, sins of the spirit are expiated; in the
fourth terrace, sloth, which is both spiritual and carnal; in the
fifth, sixth, seventh terraces, sins of the flesh. This purgation,
which involves both pain of loss for a time and punishment of sense, is
effected by turning with fervent love to God and detesting what hinders
union with Him. Therefore, at the beginning of each terrace, examples
are seen or heard of virtue contrary to the sin, in order to excite the
suffering souls to extirpate its very roots; and, at the end, examples
of its result or punishment (the “bit and bridle”). These examples are
chosen with characteristic Dantesque impartiality alike from Scripture
and legend or mythology; but, in each case, an example from the life
of the Blessed Virgin is opposed to each capital sin. At the end of
each terrace stands an Angel--personification of one of the virtues
opposed to the sins or vices. These seven Angels in their successive
apparitions are among the divinest things of beauty in the sacred poem.
It is only when sin is completely purged away that man can contemplate
the exceeding beauty, the “awful loveliness” of the contrary virtue.
FIRST TERRACE.--Steep and narrow is the path up to the first terrace,
where Pride is purged away (_Purg._ x). Carved upon the mountain
side are fair white marble images of wondrous beauty, setting forth
great examples of Humility, alike in “them of low degree” (Mary at
the Annunciation) and in “the mighty” (David and Trajan, rulers
respectively of the chosen people of the two dispensations, the Jews
and the Romans). Wearily and painfully the souls of the proud pass
round, pressed down by terrible weights, reciting a paraphrase of the
Lord’s Prayer, for themselves and those they have left on earth. And
seldom has the Catholic doctrine of prayer for the dead been more
winningly set forth than in Dante’s comment (xi. 31-36). A partaker in
some degree of their punishment, Dante, all bowed down, goes with these
souls; he speaks with Omberto Aldobrandesco, who is expiating pride
of birth, and Oderisi of Gubbio, the miniaturist, who is purifying
his soul from pride of intellect. The latter points out the great
Ghibelline burgher statesman of Siena, Provenzano Salvani, expiating
pride of dominion--the sin which turned so many an Italian patriot of
the Middle Ages into a tyrant. Figured upon the pavement below their
feet are examples of Pride’s punishment, like the designs on the
pavement of the Duomo of Siena (_Purg._ xii.). Noon has passed when the
Angel of Humility shows the way up to the next terrace, and with the
waving of his wing removes the first P from Dante’s forehead. “Blessed
are the poor in spirit,” celestial voices sing, as, with almost all
weariness gone since Pride is expiated, Dante ascends the steep way.
SECOND TERRACE.--In the second and narrower circle Envy is purged.
Examples of charity, “courteous invitations to the table of Love,”
are cited by invisible spirits flying past. The envious, clothed in
haircloth, lean helplessly shoulder to shoulder against the rock,
their eyelids sewn up with iron stitching. Sapia of Siena, the
kinswoman of Provenzano Salvani, at whose fall and the defeat of her
countrymen she rejoiced, tells her history in lines of singular beauty
(_Purg._ xiii.). Guido del Duca denounces the evil dispositions of the
inhabitants of Tuscany, and bewails the degeneracy of the noble houses
with the consequent decay of chivalry in his own province of Romagna;
envious on earth of prosperity of others, these souls mourn now for
its decline (xiv.). Like peals of thunder the cries of spirits follow
each other in citing Envy’s punishment. As they go towards the sunset,
the dazzling Angel of Fraternal Love removes the mark of Envy. “Blessed
are the merciful,” “Rejoice thou that conquerest.” As they mount Virgil
expounds the difference between material goods, which are diminished by
sharing and beget envy, and the infinite good of Paradise, where love
increases with every soul that enters into the joy of the Lord, and its
communication is measured only by the charity of each soul that is made
its mirror (_Purg._ xv.).
THIRD TERRACE.--On reaching the third terrace where Anger is purged,
Dante sees examples of meekness and forgiveness in vision. From the
black, pungent, and tormenting smoke which envelopes the souls of the
once wrathful, who now call upon the Lamb of God for peace and mercy,
the Lombard Marco reconciles Free Will with stellar influence, and
ascribes the evil condition of Italy and the world to the neglect of
law, the confusion of the spiritual and temporal power, and the papal
usurpation of imperial rights (_Purg._ xvi.). In this terrace Dante
again partakes of the pains of the penitent souls. As the sun is
setting, he issues from the dark mist. A most significant passage on
the power of the imagination to form images not derived from the senses
(xvii. 13-18) introduces the visions of Anger’s punishment, from which
the poet is roused by the dazzling splendour of the Angel of Peace or
Meekness, who fans away the third P and shows the way up: “Blessed are
the peacemakers who are without evil wrath.”
FOURTH TERRACE.--The stars are appearing as they reach the fourth
terrace, where souls are purged from Sloth. We saw that, in the
_Inferno_, the Aristotelian division of things to be morally shunned
was discussed, and the ethical structure of the first canticle
expounded, in the circle intermediate between Incontinence and Malice
(_Inf._ xi.); so, in the _Purgatorio_, a compulsory pause in the
terrace intermediate between sins of spirit and sins of flesh is
selected by Virgil for his great discourse upon Love, on which is based
the moral system of the second realm (_Purg._ xvii. 91-139, xviii.
13-75). It is practically a sermon on the text of Jacopone da Todi,
_Ordena questo amore_, _tu che m’ami_, “Set this love in order, thou
that lovest me”; since in rational beings disordered love produces the
seven capital vices. Pride, Envy, Anger are regarded as distorted love;
Sloth as defective love; Avarice, Gluttony, Luxury as excessive love.
Love is the golden net whereby God draws back to Himself all creatures
that He has made, whether inanimate, sensitive, or rational--by the
tendencies or inclinations He has given them to make them seek the end
for which they are ordered and disposed, according to the Eternal Law.
Rational beings alone have Free Will, by which man merits or demerits
from the Divine Justice, according as he inclines to good or evil
loves. Love’s tendency to good is the precious material upon which Free
Will acts like the craftsman’s hand, to fashion a satyr’s mask or a
crucifix.
At the end of this discourse, the slothful rush by at full speed in
the moonlight, so full of longing to lose no time through too little
love, that the Abbot of San Zeno cannot stop while he answers Virgil’s
question; those in front cry out examples of alacrity in Mary and
Caesar; those behind chant Sloth’s punishment in the chosen people of
the Old Testament and the Trojan ancestors of the Romans.
THE SIREN AND THE ANGEL OF ZEAL.--Before the dawn of the third day
in Purgatory, Dante has in his sleep a marvellous dream of the Siren
(sensual seduction, concupiscence of the flesh), from which he is
delivered by a holy and alert lady who calls upon Virgil (prevenient
grace, or the wisdom and prudence of Proverbs vii.). The Siren is the
dream-prelude to the purgation of sins of the flesh, as the Eagle had
been to that of sins of the spirit. The sun has risen; and the Angel
of Zeal (or of Spiritual Joy) cancels the fourth P and shows the way
up to the next terrace. “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall
have their souls wed to consolation.” Sloth is a heaviness and sadness
which weighs down the soul, a sadness at spiritual good, to be fought
by thinking on spiritual things. Most fitly then do the wings of the
Angel of Zeal point upwards, and his words tell of a nobler sorrow, a
mourning which shall be followed by Divine consolation (_Purg._ xix.).
FIFTH TERRACE.--In the fifth terrace, the avaricious and prodigal,
whose souls on earth cleaved to the dust, lie face downwards to earth;
unable to move hand or foot until the sin of Covetousness is purged
away, the sin which, according to Aquinas, “although not absolutely
the greatest of sins, yet has in some sense a greater deformity than
the rest, since by it the human heart is subjected even to external
things.” Pope Adrian V. tells the story of his tardy conversion, and
has tender words for his niece Alagia, the wife of Moroello Malaspina
(_Purg._ xix.). It is a companion episode to that of Nicholas III.
in the corresponding canto of the _Inferno_. In this circle the
souls themselves cry out the examples and warnings, by day and night
respectively. The soul of Hugh Capet, “the root of the evil plant which
overshadows all the Christian earth,” pours forth bitter sarcasm and
scathing invective upon all the royal house of France, the great Guelf
power that opposed the Empire, oppressed Italy, and wrought scandal
in the Church. A monument of poetic infamy is especially raised to
Philip the Fair and the three Carlos; and there are few more glorious
examples of Christian magnanimity than the burning words in which
Dante, distinguishing the man from the office, brands the sacrilege
of Anagni, the outrage committed upon him whom the poet held as his
own deadliest foe, and yet the unworthy Vicar of Christ. Nowhere else,
save in the reference to the Jubilee (_Purg._ ii. 98, 99), does Dante
treat Boniface as lawful pope (_cf. Inf._ xix. 52-57; _Par._ ix. 142,
xxvii. 22-24). It has been thought that Canto xx. was composed while
the Church was ostensibly supporting the policy of Henry VII.; before
attacking the Templars, the French king had endeavoured to renew the
outrage of Anagni by inducing Pope Clement to condemn the memory of
Boniface. With a mighty earthquake, a universal chorus of _Gloria in
excelsis_ from the suffering souls, the poet Statius is liberated, and
joins Dante and Virgil (_Purg._ xxi.). He explains how the pains of
Purgatory are voluntarily endured, since, against the hypothetic or
absolute will with which they desire the bliss of Paradise, the souls
suffer these purifying pains with the conditional or actual will, the
same inclination or impulse or desire (_talento_) which they formerly
had to sin. Thus it is free will itself that imposes the purgatorial
process, and that alone shows the soul when purification is complete.
The delicious scene of the recognition of Virgil by Statius is full
of that peculiarly tender Dantesque playfulness that informs the two
Eclogues; Dante’s affectionate humour in dealing with those he loved is
one of the most attractive aspects of his character, and one perhaps
too often missed.
SIXTH TERRACE.--The Angel of Justice has removed the fifth P from
Dante’s forehead, opposing in his song the thirst of justice to that
of gain. As they mount, Statius explains to Virgil how he was converted
from prodigality by a line in the _Aeneid_, and led to Christianity
by the fourth Eclogue (_Purg._ xxii.). The conversion of a pagan to
Christianity through reading Virgil occurs in a story told by Vincent
of Beauvais; Dante was probably influenced in applying this to Statius,
representing him as a secret convert to the true faith, by his study
of the _Thebaid_; for there, in the last book, Statius describes the
Altar of Mercy at Athens in language which harmonises with the words
of Christ in the Gospels and the address of his own contemporary, St.
Paul, to the Athenians in the Acts. The poets pursue their way with
greater confidence now that Statius is with them, and reach the sixth
terrace, where unseen spirits cry out examples of temperance from the
tree beneath which drunkenness and gluttony are purged. The spirits,
terribly wasted, suffer intense torments of hunger and thirst in the
presence of most tempting food and drink; but the sanctifying pain is
a solace, desired even as Christ willed to die for man. With the soul
of Forese Donati, Dante holds loving converse; the memory of their
dissolute lives together is still grievous; the poet makes amends for
his old slander of Forese’s wife Nella, by the tender lines now placed
upon her husband’s lips (_Purg._ xxiii. 85-93). Forese darkly foretells
the death of Corso Donati, which appears to be the latest event in
Florentine history mentioned in the poem (xxiv. 82-90). Whatever the
friendship of these two had been on earth, it was fair and lovely
indeed on the Mount of Purgation.
Amongst many others are Pope Martin IV. and the poet Bonagiunta of
Lucca, whose talk with Dante upon the _dolce stil nuovo_, the “sweet
new style,” is one of the landmarks for the student of poetry (_Purg._
xxiv. 49-60). Dante’s famous definition of his own position expresses,
in another form, the truth that all great poetry is the “transfigured
life” of its author:[35] “I am one who, when Love inspires me, note,
and give utterance in that fashion which he dictates within.” It is
already anticipated in the prose passage prefixed to the _Donne che
avete_ in the _Vita Nuova_ (xix.), and completes the conception of
poetry set forth in the _De Vulgari Eloquentia_.
THE SEVENTH TERRACE.--Passing another tree, a shoot from the tree of
knowledge, beneath which the purging pangs are renewed, and from whose
branches spirit voices proclaim examples of gluttony’s punishment, they
are summoned upwards by the glowing and dazzling Angel of Abstinence,
fragrant with grass and flowers as the air of May. As they ascend the
narrow stairs towards the last terrace, Statius explains the generation
of the body and the infusion of the rational soul, which exists, after
the body’s death, invested with an aerial body as a shade (_Purg._ xxv.
31 _et seq._). Apparently it is because revelation has some voice
in these high matters that the Christian Statius gives Dante this
exposition, instead of Virgil, and at the latter’s request; until the
seventh terrace is reached, where sensual passion is expiated in the
bosom of the great burning. Singing to the God of Supreme Clemency,
crying aloud examples of chastity or of lust’s punishment, two bands
of souls, divided according to the nature of their sin, pass through
the fire in opposite ways (_Purg._ xxvi.). Here is Guido Guinizelli
of Bologna, father of the poets of the _dolce stil nuovo_, whom
Dante gazes upon in rapt admiration, and addresses with impassioned
love and worship. But Guinizelli--with that humility which is so
characteristically Dante’s own--indicates as _miglior fabbro del parlar
materno_, a “better craftsman of his mother-tongue,” Arnaut Daniel,
the cunning Provençal song-smith, who invented the sestina, and whose
metrical skill and originality won for him a higher place in the
estimation of the poet of the _rime pietrose_ than modern students of
the troubadours are usually disposed to concede.
THE PURGING FIRE.--At sunset the Angel of Purity, singing “Blessed
are the clean of heart,” bids the poets pass through the flames that
lie between them and the last stairway--the purging fire that is the
wall between Dante and Beatrice. Dante endures the “burning without
measure”; and they reach the ascent, greeted by dazzling light and
celestial strains of _Venite benedicti Patris mei_. The Cherubims with
the flaming sword, “turning every way to keep the way of the tree
of life” (Gen. iii. 24), are thus welcoming man’s restoration to the
Garden of Eden, as the serpent had endeavoured to impede it in the
Valley of the Princes. Now it is a delight to mount; but night comes
on, and Dante, watched over by Statius and Virgil, falls asleep on the
stairs (_Purg._ xxvii.).
LEAH AND LIBERTY.--Just before dawn, prelude to the new day, he dreams
of Leah, a young and lovely lady gathering flowers in a meadow. The
theologians took Leah as type of the active life, and Rachel, her
sister, of the contemplative; a symbolism to which Richard of St.
Victor gave a more mystical colour, by interpreting Leah as “affection
inflamed by divine inspiration, composing itself to the norm of
justice.” Leah may then represent the affection, thus inflamed and
ordered, which is the perfection of the active life. At sunrise the
topmost stair of Purgatory is reached, and Virgil, who can himself
discern no further, resigns his guidance at the entrance to the Garden
of Eden. Dante’s judgment has been made free, right, and whole; _per
ch’ io te sovra te corono e mitrio_, “wherefore I crown and mitre
thee over thyself” (xxvii. 142). It has been supposed that Virgil is
here resigning to Dante the crown and mitre of the Emperor; _mitratus
et coronatus_ was the expression used for the coronation of an
Emperor when the Pope placed upon his head a mitre and a crown, which
afterwards were united in the mitred crown, as seen in the great fresco
at Santa Maria Novella. Others refer the crown to temporal or imperial
authority, and the mitre to spiritual or ecclesiastical; for (_Mon._
iii. 4) “if man had remained in the state of innocence in which he was
made by God, he would have had no need of such directive regimens,”
which are “remedial against the infirmity of sin.” Dante, purified
from sin, has regained this state of innocence, and has attained
that liberty through which “we have our felicity here as men and our
felicity elsewhere as Gods” (_Mon._ i. 12). In any case, Virgil is
confirming the freedom which Dante has sought and gained by the passage
through Purgatory.
THE EARTHLY PARADISE AND MATELDA.--The Earthly Paradise represents
“blessedness of this life, which consists in the exercise of man’s
natural powers” (_Mon._ iii. 16). This blessedness is found in the
twofold exercise of the mind: the practical, which “consists in
ourselves working virtuously, that is, in integrity, with prudence,
with temperance, with fortitude, and with justice”; and the
speculative, which consists “in considering the works of God and of
nature” (_Conv._ iv. 22). In this Earthly Paradise, the music of whose
birds and trees has surely passed into the wonderful six cantos that
close the _Purgatorio_, Dante meets, amidst the flowers on Lethe’s
banks, the glorified realisation of the Leah of his dream (_Purg._
xxviii.). She has been taken as symbolising the glorified active life
in the state of recovered Eden, realising in the Church of Christ what
Leah had dimly prefigured in the Old Testament; the active Christian
life; _innocentia bonorum operum_, the virtuous use of earthly things,
directly ordered to the love of our neighbour; the temporal felicity of
the Earthly Paradise. Since the purgatorial process is the freeing of
the soul from disordered love, we may follow Richard’s interpretation
of Leah, and take her as representing love rightly ordered and inflamed
by divine inspiration. Presently she is called Matelda (xxxiii. 119),
and it is probable that she is the idealised presentment of a real
person. All the earliest commentators, excepting the _Ottimo_, identify
her with the great Countess of Tuscany, in support of which view might
be urged the historical work of the Countess in the revival of the
study of Roman Law at Bologna--Roman Law being, for Dante, the secular
counterpart of the “perfect law of liberty.” Some modern commentators
prefer to seek her prototype in one or other of the ladies of _Vita
Nuova_; for instance, in that lady of very sweet speech who had rebuked
Dante at the crisis of his “new life.” Others have attempted to
identify her with Mechthild of Magdeburg or Mechthild of Hackeborn, two
German mystical writers of the latter part of the thirteenth century
whose works show occasional analogies with the _Commedia_. It may be
observed that her counterpart, as Rachel to Leah, is not Beatrice,
as sometimes supposed, but St. Bernard, in the closing cantos of the
_Paradiso_. Matelda explains her joyous aspect by referring Dante to
the Psalm _Delectasti_ (Ps. 92, 91 Vulgate), and her discourse of Eden
and its rivers (realising the Golden Age sung by the classical poets)
communicates to Virgil and Statius her own celestial joy: “Thou has
given me, O Lord, a delight in what Thou hast made: in the works of Thy
hands I shall rejoice.” She points out to Dante’s gaze the wondrous
pageant, which astonishes Virgil as much as his pupil, the mystical
procession that represents the triumphal march of the Church (_Purg._
xxix.).
THE PAGEANT OF THE CHURCH.--With brilliant light and ineffable melody,
the triumph advances: “I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband” (Rev. xxi. 2). Headed by seven candlesticks of gold as
standards, followed by the twenty-four elders, white-robed and crowned
with lilies, singing Mary’s praises; between the four living creatures
of Ezekiel and St. John, crowned with green, comes a triumphal chariot,
more glorious than the sun, upon two wheels; drawn by a Griffin, half
lion and half eagle, whose golden wings stretch up far out of sight,
through the seven luminous bands that form the processional canopy.
By the right wheel dance three maidens, symbolic of the theological
virtues; by the left wheel dance four, who represent the cardinal
virtues, following the measure of Prudence, as the others take their
step from the song of Charity. The seven candlesticks are the gifts
of the Holy Spirit; the twenty-four elders, either the patriarchs and
prophets, or the books of the Old Testament; the four living creatures,
the four Evangelists, or their four Gospels; the Griffin, Christ
Himself in His Human and Divine Natures. Lastly, follow seven more
elders, white-robed but crowned with flaming red flowers; a physician,
and one with shining sword; four of humble appearance; an old man
“sleeping with face alert.” According to Benvenuto da Imola, these
represent St. Peter (who had intrusted to him the power of healing
souls) and St. Paul, the four great Latin doctors, and St. Bernard.
More usually they are regarded as personifying the books of the New
Testament--the Acts, St. Paul’s Epistles, the Epistles of St. Peter,
James, John, and Jude, the Apocalypse or Revelation of St. John. Upon
the chariot, amidst a hundred Angels singing and scattering flowers,
Beatrice appears, clad in the mystical colours, red, white, green,
crowned with the olive of wisdom and of peace over her snow-white
veil. And, at the advent of the Wisdom divinely revealed to man,
Virgil silently vanishes; he has tasted of the delights of the Earthly
Paradise, has witnessed the triumph of the Church from which he is
for ever cut off, the Faith he never knew, and has gone back to his
mournful dwelling-place (_Purg._ xxx.).
BEATRICE AND DANTE.--The precise significance of the reproaches which
Beatrice pours upon Dante for his mode of life after her death, with
the poet’s own bitter shame and intense repentance (xxx., xxxi.),
depends upon the view taken of his character and the nature of the
wanderings represented in the dark wood. That these aberrations were
mainly philosophical and intellectual, as sometimes supposed, appears
highly improbable. We would regard Dante’s confession here as one of
his most personal utterances, and hold that the cherubically inspired
singer of righteousness is deliberately casting aside the allegorical
veil which, in the _Convivio_, he had attempted to throw over the
things in the past which still severed him from the ideal life when
he wrote: “I fear the infamy of having followed such great passion.”
It is a personal episode, in which Beatrice is the woman loved and to
whose memory the poet has been unfaithful, standing out clearly from
the allegorical mystery by which it is surrounded and in which it is
set. After Matelda has drawn Dante through Lethe, the four cardinal
virtues, which “perfect the intellect and appetite of man according
to the capacity of human nature,” lead him to the breast of the
mystic Griffin; and, in response to the song of the three theological
virtues, which perfect man supernaturally, Beatrice at last unveils her
countenance to his gaze: “O splendour of living light eternal.”
CONCLUDING ALLEGORIES OF THE “PURGATORIO.”--The allegory is resumed.
In the light of this revelation, now that he is purified and free from
sin, Dante beholds a vision of the Church and Empire (_Purg._ xxxii.).
That glorious procession had first presented an ideal of the Church as
Divine Providence intended it to be, before it became the vessel that
the serpent of simony broke; the Bride that the Divine Spouse ordained
for the guidance of the world. Such being the ideal, Dante beholds
in a series of allegorical visions its history, in conjunction with
the Empire, from the first coming to Rome down to the transference of
the papal chair to Avignon. The great procession moves on through the
divine forest, the Griffin still drawing the chariot with Beatrice
seated upon it; Matelda with Dante and Statius following after the
right wheel. Even as the divine origin of the Church has been seen in
the triumphal car, so now the divine origin of the Empire is indicated
in the desolate and despoiled tree which they reach. The tree of
knowledge of good and evil, since the prohibition to eat of that tree
was the beginning of law and the duty of obedience, represents Natural
Law or Natural Justice, what Dante calls _ius_; which “in things is
nought else than the similitude of the divine will” (_Mon._ ii. 2). The
expression of this natural justice and the means for its effectuation
in human society is Law, which Dante identifies with the Empire, and
thus the tree becomes the symbol of the Empire and of the obedience due
to it. The tree is destitute of flowers and foliage till the Griffin
comes to it, who plucks nothing from it: “Thus is preserved the seed of
all justice” (_Purg._ xxxii. 48; _cf._ our Lord’s words to St. John,
Matt. iii. 15). Justice can alone be fulfilled when the Church follows
this example of her Divine Founder, and usurps none of the temporal
rights of the Empire. After the chariot has been bound to the tree,
the previously bare plant breaks out into purple leaves and flowers.
The Griffin and his train return to Heaven, leaving Beatrice to guard
the chariot of the Church, seated beneath the shadow of the Imperial
Tree, upon its root, which is Rome. In a new series of visions Dante
beholds the sequel; he sees the conflict of the past, contemplates
the corruption of the present, hearkens to the hope of the future.
The persecution of the Church by the early Roman Emperors is followed
by the inroad of the first heresies; and the donation of Constantine
by the rising of the dragon of schism or simony. By more assumption
of secular power and dignities, the chariot becomes monstrously
transformed, and shamelessly usurped by the harlot, who represents the
corrupt ecclesiastical authority enthroned in the place of Revelation,
a false and degraded theology based upon the Decretals instead of the
true divine science of the Scripture and the Fathers. By her side a
giant appears who, after alternate caressing and scourging of the
usurper, unbinds the transfigured chariot from the tree, and drags it
away through the forest--symbolical of the interference of the royal
house of France, ending in the transference of the Papacy from Rome to
Avignon.
A DELIVERER ANNOUNCED.--But to the mournful psalm that the maidens
around her raise, _Deus venerunt gentes_, Beatrice answers in words of
hope; “a little while,” and the spiritual guide shall rise again from
the black tomb of Avignon. And, as they move on, she utters to Dante
a further prophecy (_Purg._ xxxiii.). “The vessel that the serpent
broke was and is not,” so completely has corruption and simony degraded
the chariot of the Bride of Christ. But vengeance shall fall upon the
guilty parties, and the eagle shall not for ever be without an heir;
for already a favourable disposition of the stars is at hand, under
which a messenger of God shall come, who shall slay the harlot and the
giant. It is probably the same event as the coming of the _Veltro_.
Dante is to repeat her words “to those that live the life which is a
running to death,” and not to conceal what he has seen of the tree.
Apparently (_Purg._ xxxiii. 58-72) he is to make manifest that the
Empire is of divine origin, and to recognise that the precept given by
God to our first parents corresponds now with the duty and obedience
man owes to the Empire. The law under which Adam lived was the
prohibition to eat of the tree; the law under which his descendants,
the commonwealth of the human race, live is the Empire. As Parodi puts
it, it is not a new sense superimposed upon the first; “it is simply
the same single meaning, the historical circumstances alone appearing
changed.” The sin of Adam is repeated when the Empire is usurped of
its rights or its authority attacked, for God created it holy for the
purpose of leading man to temporal felicity--the goal, here and now, of
the human race.[36]
LETHE AND EUNOË.--At noon they come to where the rivers of Lethe and
Eunoë issue from one mystical fountain, the fountain of the grace of
God. Here Beatrice refers Dante to Matelda, who leads him and Statius
to drink of Eunoë, which quickens dead virtue and restores memory of
every good deed in those who have first been bathed in Lethe, which
takes away the memory of sin. According to St. Thomas Aquinas (_Summa_,
iii. 89, 5), works done in charity, although in a sense dead through
sin, are brought to life through penance. Through repentance they
regain their efficacy of leading him who did them into eternal life.
Therefore Dante writes: “I returned from the most holy stream, remade
even as young trees renewed with new foliage, pure and disposed to
ascend to the stars.”
4. _The “Paradiso”_
STRUCTURE.--Dante’s Paradise consists of the nine moving heavens,
according to Ptolemaic astronomy, crowned by the tenth motionless and
divinest Empyrean heaven, “according to what Holy Church teacheth,
who cannot lie” (_Conv._ ii. 3, 4). The nine moving spheres revolve
round our globe, the fixed centre of the Universe, each of the lower
eight being enclosed in the sphere above itself. The seven lowest are
the heavens of the planets: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn. The eighth or stellar heaven, the sphere of the Fixed
Stars or Firmament, is the highest visible region of the celestial
world, and to some extent corresponds to the Earthly Paradise in the
lower realms. Above this visible firmament, the ninth or Crystalline
heaven, the _Primum Mobile_, directs with its movements the daily
revolution of all the others. In it nature starts; from it proceed
time and motion, with all celestial influence for the government of
the world (_Par._ xxvii. 106-120). It is “the royal mantle of all the
volumes of the world, which is most fervent and most living in God’s
breath, and in His ways” (_Par._ xxiii. 112-114); and it communicates
in different degrees some participation in this quickening breath of
God to the other sphere which it encloses, and to all the Universe. It
moves swiftest of all, from the fervent desire of all its parts to be
united to the Empyrean, the spaceless and motionless ocean of Divine
love, where God beatifies the saints and Angels in the vision of His
Essence. This Empyrean is the true intellectual Paradise, for which the
lower heavens are merely sensible preparations. “This is the sovereign
edifice of the world, in which all the world is included, and outside
of which is nothing; and it is not in space, but was formed only in
the First Mind” (_Conv._ ii. 4); “The heaven that is pure light; light
intellectual full of love, love of true good full of joy, joy that
transcendeth every sweetness” (_Par._ xxx. 39-42).
GRADATIONS.--Each of the nine lower spheres represents a step higher
in knowledge, in love, in blessedness, until in the true Paradise
the soul attains to perfect knowledge, supreme love, and infinite
blessedness in union with the First Cause, in the Beatific Vision of
the Divine Essence. The ascent is marked by the increased loveliness
of Beatrice, as she guides Dante upwards from heaven to heaven; it is
marked, too, by gradations in the brilliancy of the blessed spirits
themselves, by their ever increasing ardour of charity towards the
poet, and by the growing spirituality of the matters discussed in each
sphere--veil after veil being drawn aside from the mysteries of the
Divine treasure-house.
THE SAINTS.--“To show forth the glory of beatitude in those souls,”
says the letter to Can Grande, “from them, as from those who see all
truth, many things will be sought which have great utility and delight”
(_Epist._ x. 33). All the saints without exception have their home and
glorious seats with Mary and the Angels in that Empyrean heaven, where
they are finally seen as glorified spirit likenesses of what they were
on earth. But into each preparatory sphere, excepting the ninth, these
citizens of eternal life descend to meet Dante as, with Beatrice,
he approaches the gates of the celestial city--like the noble soul
returning home to God in the fourth and last part of life:
“And even as its citizens come forth to meet him who returns from a
long journey, before he enters the gate of the city, so to the noble
soul come forth, as is fitting, those citizens of eternal life. And
thus they do because of her good works and contemplations; for, being
now rendered to God and abstracted from worldly things and thoughts,
she seems to see those whom she believes to be with God” (_Conv._ iv.
28).
In all these spheres, excepting the first, and to some extent the
second, the spirits of the blessed appear clothed in dazzling light,
which hides their proper semblances from Dante’s gaze, making them
appear as brilliant stars or flaming splendours. In the tenth Heaven
of Heavens he is supernaturally illumined, and enabled thereby to
behold them in their glorified spirit forms “with countenance unveiled”
(_Par._ xxii. 60, xxx. 96, xxxi. 49).
In the three lower heavens, to which earth’s shadow was supposed to
extend (_Par._ ix. 118, 119), appear the souls whose lives were marred
by inconstancy in their vows, who were moved by vain glory, or yielded
to sensual love. They descend into these lower spheres to give Dante a
sensible sign of the lesser degree of the perfection of their beatitude
in the Empyrean. _Domus est una, sed diversitas est ibi mansionum_;
“The house is one, but there is a diversity of mansions there.”
There are different mansions of beatitude in God’s house, proceeding
from inequality in the soul’s capacity of the Divine Charity; but in
that house all are fulfilled with the Vision of the Divine Essence,
and each perfectly beatified according to his own capacity of love
and knowledge. In the spheres of the four higher planets appear the
souls of great teachers and doctors, of Jewish warriors and Christian
knights, of just rulers, of ascetic monks and hermits; they appear as
types of lives perfected in action or in contemplation, as a sign of
the different ways in which perfection may be reached on earth and
beatitude attained in Paradise. These successive manifestations in
the seven spheres of the planets obviate what might otherwise have
proved the monotony of a single heaven, and suggest that, although
each soul partakes supremely according to its individual capacity of
the Beatific Vision, which is essentially one and the same in all, yet
there are not only grades but subtle differences in the possession of
it, in which the life on earth was a factor. In the eighth, the Stellar
Heaven, still under sensible figures and allegorical veils, Dante sees
“the host of the triumph of Christ, and all the fruit gathered by the
circling of these spheres” (_Par._ xxiii. 19-21), representing the
Church in which these various modes and degrees of life are brought
into unison. In the ninth, the Crystalline, the angelic hierarchies are
manifested with imagery symbolical of their office towards God and
man, representing the principle of Divine Order, the overruling and
disposition of Divine Providence in which the celestial intelligences
are the agents and instruments. The Empyrean Heaven depicts the soul
_in patria_, with all the capacities of love and knowledge actualised
in the fruition of the Ultimate Reality, the supreme and universal
truth which is the object of the understanding, the supreme and
universal good which is the object of the will.
THE ANGELS.--Each of the nine moving spheres is assigned to the care
of one of the nine angelic orders: Angels, Archangels, Principalities;
Powers, Virtues, Dominations; Thrones, Cherubim, Seraphim. And the
character of the blessed spirits that appear to Dante in each heaven,
and the subjects discussed, seem in almost every case to correspond
more or less closely with the functions assigned by mystical
theologians, especially Dionysius, St. Gregory and St. Bernard, to
the special angelic order which presides over the sphere in question.
There are two fundamental principles in the life of the soul: nature
and grace. The one is represented in the _Paradiso_ by the astronomical
order of the heavens and their influence upon individual disposition,
furnishing man with a natural aptitude for the moral and intellectual
virtues; the other by the bounty of Divine Grace, which reveals itself
in the perfecting of the natural and the infusion of the supernatural
virtues, whereby souls become assimilated to the angelic orders.[37]
It is through these Angels (the name is applied generally to all, as
well as to the lowest order) that God disposes the visible world; in
the hands of the celestial intelligences the heavens are as hammers, to
stamp the Divine ideas upon material creation and carry out the Divine
plan in the government of the Universe (_cf._ _Par._ ii. 127-129). And,
by means of the influence of the stars, these Angels have impressed
certain men with their own characteristics; perhaps to fill up the
vacant places in their ranks left by the fall of Lucifer’s followers,
certainly to co-operate on earth in their work. Dante himself was born
beneath the constellation of the Gemini, the glorious stars impregnated
with the virtue of the Cherubim who rule the eighth sphere (_Par._
xxii. 112-123). The Cherubim represent the Divine Wisdom; their name
signifies plenitude of knowledge. According to St. Bernard, they “draw
from the very fountain of wisdom, the mouth of the Most High, and pour
out the streams of knowledge upon all His citizens.” Their special
prerogatives are fullness of Divine light, and contemplation of the
beauty of the Divine order of things; they see most into the profound
mysteries of the hidden things of God, and spread the knowledge of
Him upon all beneath them. By their inspiration Dante co-operated in
this cherubical work by writing the _Divina Commedia_. The Seraphim
especially represent the Divine Love. No soul appears in the ninth
heaven which they guide and in which the angelic hierarchies are
manifested; Beatrice is the sole interpreter between the poet and
the Angels, as she had been the revealer to him on earth of Love’s
“possible divinities and celestial prophecies.”
TIME IN PARADISE.--The action of the _Paradiso_ begins at noon,
immediately after Dante’s return from Eunoë; that is, noon on Wednesday
in Easter week in the Earthly Paradise and (the following) midnight at
Jerusalem (_Par._ i. 37-45). The time-references in this third Cantica
are rather doubtful (_Par._ xxii. 151-153, xxvii. 77-87), but it seems
probable that Dante takes twenty-four hours to ascend through the nine
material heavens to the Empyrean, which is beyond time and space, where
“the natural law in nought is relevant” (_Par._ xxx. 123). When Dante
woke from his “mighty trance” to the “sound of the importunate earth,”
it was perhaps about dawn on the morning of Friday in Easter week in
our world, thus completing the seven days of his ecstatic pilgrimage,
which had begun at about the same hour on Good Friday.
CANTO I.--In a lyrical prologue of stately music (_Par._ i. 1-36),
the poet sings of the glory of the First Mover, and prays for light
and inspiration to complete this third most arduous portion of his
divine poem. Then, in the noblest season of the year and noblest hour
of the day, as Beatrice gazes upon the sun and Dante upon her, his
mind becomes godlike, and he ascends to Heaven swifter than lightning.
To explain his ascent, Beatrice discourses upon the form and order
of God’s visible image, the Universe; and on His Eternal Law, the
sovereign plan of government existing in the Divine Mind, to which all
movements and actions of nature are subject (_ibid._ 103-141). To all
created things God has given an instinct, or principle of inclination,
by which, in different ways according to their nature, He draws them
all back to Himself over the great sea of being. Rational beings alone
can resist the order of the Universe and defeat the Eternal Law by sin,
which is expiated by temporary or eternal suffering, as Dante has seen
in the lower realms; but the purified soul, in accordance with this
order and law, inevitably mounts up to find its rest in union with the
First Cause. It is the doctrine of spiritual gravitation (derived from
St. Augustine), according to which the soul is moved by love as bodies
are by their weight, and all things find their rest in order.
THE HEAVEN OF THE MOON.--They are received into the eternal pearl of
the Moon (_Par._ ii.); where Beatrice first confutes Dante’s former
theory concerning the luminous substance of the celestial bodies,
and, by explaining how everything in the visible world depends upon
the angelic movers of the sphere, gives a mystical interpretation
of a natural phenomenon, on this first step of his ascent to the
suprasensible. Within this eternal pearl appear faint but divinely
beautiful forms of women; the souls of those who had yielded to
violence and broken their solemn vow (_Par._ iii.). Piccarda Donati,
sister of Corso and Forese, sets forth the perfection of celestial
charity, where all wills are made absolutely one with the will of God,
who has awarded different degrees or mansions of beatitude to all His
chosen ones:
E la sua volontade è nostra pace,
“And His will is our peace.”[38] Transfigured now with ineffable joy,
Piccarda tells the pathetic story of her frustrated life on earth;
and points out to Dante the Empress Constance, mother of Frederick
II., torn, like her, from the convent’s shelter. Beatrice explains to
the poet the place of all the saints in the Empyrean--the “heaven of
humility where Mary is,” as Dante had sung long before of Beatrice
herself in the _Vita Nuova_--and the reason of this temporary
apparition in the moon (_Par._ iv.). The other questions solved in
this sphere are all connected with Free Will. Rectitude of will is
necessary for the gaining of Paradise, and nothing whatever can take
away that freedom of the will. “As regards the proper act of the will,
no violence can be done to the will”; and, since Piccarda and Constance
yielded through fear of greater evil, they fell voluntarily from the
state of perfection to which they were called. Freedom of the will
is God’s greatest gift to man (_Par._ v. 19-24); hence the sanctity
of an accepted vow, wherein this supreme gift is offered to God as
victim, although Holy Church has power to commute, save, apparently,
in the case of solemn vows of perpetual chastity. It will be observed
that this heaven is moved by the Angels, who are severally assigned to
individuals as guardians, and who are the bearers of tidings of God’s
bounty to men; and, corresponding to this, the questions solved relate
to the salvation and guidance of individual souls, and to the great
gift of liberty, whereby God’s bounty is specially shown.
THE HEAVEN OF MERCURY.--In the second sphere, the heaven of Mercury,
appear the souls of those who did great things for humanity or for
special nations, but who were actuated by mixed motives; personal
ambition, desire of fame and honour, made “the rays of true love
mount upwards less vividly” (_Par._ vi. 117); and they have thus the
next lowest mansion of beatitude to the spirits that appeared in the
inconstant Moon. The Emperor Justinian recites the proud history of
the Roman Eagle, and shows how Divine Providence established the sway
of the Roman people over all the earth, made the Eagle the instrument
of the Atonement offered by Christ for all mankind, the avenger of His
death, the protector of His Church. As the monarch who reformed and
codified Roman Law, of which he is for Dante the personification, and
who restored Italy to the Empire (the work which the _Veltro_ is to
renew under altered conditions of Christendom), Justinian lifts the
imperial ideal far above the factious politics of the Middle Ages,
condemning Guelfs and Ghibellines alike as traitors and sowers of
discord. Here, too, is Romeo of Villanova, who did in a lesser degree
for Provence what Justinian did for the Empire, thus appearing with
him in the sphere that is moved by the Archangels, whose function is
to guide and protect particular nations. The figure of Romeo--unjustly
accused of corrupt practices in office, supporting with magnanimous
heart the poverty and humiliations of voluntary exile--is perhaps an
unconscious portrait of Dante himself. Even as the Archangels announce
messages of special import and sacredness, as Gabriel did to Mary,
so Beatrice explains to Dante the mystery of man’s redemption by the
Incarnation and Crucifixion, the supremest work at once of Divine
Justice and Divine Mercy (_Par._ vii.), and touches somewhat upon the
immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body.
THE HEAVEN OF VENUS.--The third heaven, the sphere of Venus, is
moved by the celestial Principalities, whose office is to influence
earthly rulers to imitate the principality of God, by uniting love
with their lordship. They are those, according to St. Bernard, “by
whose management and wisdom all principality on earth is set up,
ruled, limited, transferred, diminished, and changed.” Into this
sphere descend the souls of purified lovers, brilliant lights moving
circle-wise and hidden in the rays of their own joy. Carlo Martello,
son of Charles II. of Naples, and son-in-law of Rudolph of Hapsburg,
who, by reason of his marriage with Clemenza, might have healed the
feuds of Guelfs and Ghibellines, pictures the realms over which he
should have ruled, denounces the misgovernment of his own house, and
explains the influence of the celestial bodies for the constitution of
society and the government of states (_Par._ viii.). Cunizza da Romano,
the famous sister of Ezzelino, rebukes the anarchy of the March of
Treviso; a “modern child of Venus,” she here appears as the type of
a perfect penitent (_Par._ ix.). Like her, Folco of Marseilles, poet
then prelate, but here recorded only as troubadour, remembers the love
sins of his youth, not with sorrow, but with gratitude to the Divine
Mercy and wonder at the mysteries of Providence. Rahab of Jericho,
the highest spirit of this sphere, is a type of the Church, saved by
Christ’s blood from the ruin of the world; and, with a fine thrust at
the loveless avarice of the Pope and his cardinals, Dante passes with
Beatrice beyond the shadow of the earth.
THE HEAVEN OF THE SUN.--To mark this higher grade of bliss and
knowledge, Dante pauses on his entrance into the fourth sphere, the
heaven of the Sun, to sing again of the Creation, the work of the
Blessed Trinity, and the order of the Universe, the visible expression
of the perfection of Divine art (_Par._ x. 1-21). The Sun is ruled
by the celestial Powers, the angelic order that represents the
Divine majesty and power, combats the powers of darkness, and stays
diseases. Here, in two garlands of celestial lights surrounding Dante
and Beatrice, appear the glorious souls of twenty-four teachers and
doctors, who illuminated the world by example and doctrine; the twofold
work of co-operation with the celestial Powers, which is seen in its
supereminent degree in the lives of St. Francis and St. Dominic, the
champions who led the armies of Christ against the powers of darkness
and healed the spiritual diseases of the Christian world. St. Thomas
Aquinas, the great light of the Dominicans, after naming the other
eleven spirits of his circle (Albertus Magnus, Gratian, Peter Lombard,
Solomon, Dionysius, Orosius, Boëthius, Isidore, Bede, Richard of St.
Victor, and Siger), sings the glorious panegyric of St. Francis,
the seraphic bridegroom of Poverty, laments the backsliding of the
Dominicans (_Par._ xi.). St. Bonaventura, once minister-general of the
Franciscans, extols the marvellous life of St. Dominic, the cherubical
lover of Faith, the great paladin in Holy Church’s victorious battle
where St. Francis bore the standard of the Crucified (_Par._ xii.).
Lamenting the degenerate state of the Franciscans, he names the eleven
spirits that accompany him; two of the followers of St. Francis,
Illuminato and Agostino; Hugh of St. Victor; Peter Comestor, Peter
of Spain (the logician whose elevation to the papacy as John XXI.
may be ignored in Paradise), Nathan, Chrysostom, St. Anselm, Aelius
Donatus (the Latin grammarian), Rabanus Maurus, and the Calabrian
abbot Joachim. Lovers of poverty, rebukers of corruption, historians,
mystics, theologians, writers of humble text-books are here associated
in the same glory, as servants of truth in the same warfare against
the powers of darkness. They illustrate what St. Bonaventura calls the
broadness of the illuminative way. Each group closes with a spirit
whose orthodoxy had been at least questioned. Siger of Brabant, the
champion of Averroism at the university of Paris, had “syllogised
invidious truths,” and met with a violent death at the Papal Court at
Orvieto about 1284. Joachim of Flora, “endowed with prophetic spirit,”
had foretold the advent of the epoch of the Holy Ghost, in which the
Everlasting Gospel, the spiritual interpretation of the Gospel of
Christ, would leave no place for disciplinary institutions; his later
followers among the Franciscans had been condemned at the Council of
Anagni in 1256.
St. Thomas further explains to Dante the grades of perfection in God’s
creatures, from the Angels downwards; whereby His Divine light is more
or less imperfectly reflected, and the likeness of the Divine ideas
more or less imperfectly expressed--perfectly only when the Trinity
creates immediately, as in the case of Adam and the humanity of
Christ (_Par._ xiii.). Solomon, whose peerless wisdom St. Thomas had
explained as “royal prudence,” instructs Dante concerning the splendour
of the body after the resurrection, when human personality will be
completed and the perfection of beatitude fulfilled (_Par._ xiv.). In a
mysteriously beautiful apparition of what seems to be another garland
of spirits in the Sun, this vision of the fourth heaven closes; and
Beatrice and her lover are “translated to more lofty salvation” in the
glowing red of Mars.
THE HEAVEN OF MARS.--The fifth heaven, the sphere of Mars, is ruled
by the angelic Virtues. This is the order which images the Divine
strength and fortitude; their name, according to Dionysius, signifies
“a certain valiant and unconquerable virility.” According to St.
Bernard, they are those “by whose command or work signs and prodigies
are wrought among the elements, for the admonition of mortals,” and it
is through them that the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in heaven
as foretold in the Gospel.[39] Therefore, in Mars, Dante beholds a
great image of the Crucified, blood-red, formed by stars which are the
souls of the warrior saints, whom the Virtues impressed at their birth
with the influence of the planet (_Par._ xvii. 76-78), to be strongly
and manfully valiant, and to do notable things on earth (_ibid._ 92,
93), even as the Virtues, according to St. Bernard, work signs and
prodigies among the elements.
Cacciaguida passes from the right arm of the Cross to greet his
descendant, like Anchises to Aeneas in Elysium. In his long discourse
with the poet (_Par._ xv. and xvi.) we dimly discern a splendidly ideal
picture of a free Italian commune of the twelfth century, before what
Dante regards as the corrupting influence of wealth and illegitimate
extension of its boundaries had fallen upon it, and before the
hostility of the Church to the Empire, with the resulting confusion
of persons in the city, had involved the Florentines in the feuds of
Guelfs and Ghibellines. Then, having bitterly lamented the decay of
the old Florentine families and the corruption of their successors,
Cacciaguida co-operates with the Virtues by inspiring Dante with
endurance and fortitude to suffer unjust exile and perform his life’s
work (_Par._ xvii.). In the famous and most noble lines, to which
reference has already been made in touching upon this epoch of Dante’s
life, Cacciaguida foretells the poet’s banishment, the calumnies of
his enemies, his sufferings in exile, his forming a party to himself,
the future greatness of Can Grande, Dante’s own certainty of eternal
fame. And let him be no timid friend to truth, but make manifest his
whole vision, and especially assail corruption in highest places (_cf.
Mon._ iii. 1). It is Dante’s apologia for his own life, first as
citizen, then as poet. The keynote of the closing years of his life is
struck at the opening of Canto xviii.: “And that Lady who was leading
me to God said: ‘Change thy thought; think that I am near to Him who
unburdens every wrong.’” Gazing upon her, his affection “was free from
every other desire.” Then, with a charge of celestial chivalry across
the sky, this vision of warriors closes; Joshua and Judas Maccabaeus,
Charlemagne and Orlando, William of Orange still with Renoardo, Godfrey
de Bouillon and Robert Guiscard, flash through the Cross, and are
rejoined by Cacciaguida in their motion and their song.
THE HEAVEN OF JUPITER.--The silvery white sphere of Jupiter, the sixth
heaven, is ruled by the Dominations, the angelic order which images
the archetypal dominion in God as the source of true dominion. “We
must consider in the Dominations,” writes St. Bernard, “how great
is the majesty of the Lord, at whose bidding empire is established,
and of whose empire universality and eternity are the bounds.” This,
then, is the sphere of ideal government, the heaven of the planet that
effectuates justice upon earth (_Par._ xviii. 115-117). The souls of
faithful and just rulers appear as golden lights, singing and flying
like celestial birds. They first form the text, _Diligite iustitiam que
iudicatis terram_, “Love justice, you that are the judges of the earth”
(_Wisdom_, i. 1, Vulgate), tracing successively the letters until they
rest in the final golden M, the initial letter of Monarchy or Empire,
under which alone can justice be paramount on earth, and then, with
further transformations, become the celestial Eagle (_Par._ xviii.
100-114). This is the “sign which made the Romans reverend in the
world” (xix. 101); no emblem of material conquest, but the image of the
sempiternal justice of the Primal Will, the type of dominion on earth
ordained by God. It is the allegorical representation of the doctrines
of the _Monarchia_. And, since justice is obscured and good government
rendered abortive by the simony of the pastors of the Church, which
leads them to oppose the Empire, Dante has a bitter word in season for
the reigning pontiff, John XXII (_Par._ xviii. 130-136).
In the perfect concord of its component spirits the Eagle, speaking
with one voice, discourses upon the immutability and absolute justice
of the Divine Will, which is inscrutable and incomprehensible to
mortals (_Par._ xix.). Having rebuked the wickedness of all the kings
and princes then reigning, from the Emperor-elect (Albert of Austria
in 1300) to the King of Cyprus, it sets forth in contrast to them
the example of just and righteous monarchs and rulers of olden time,
the six noblest of whom now form its eye--David, Trajan, Hezekiah,
Constantine, the Norman William II. of Sicily, and Rhipeus the Trojan
(_Par._ xx.). Three exquisite lines (73-75)--introduced as a mere
image--render the flight and song of the skylark with a beauty and
fidelity to nature which even Shelley was not to surpass. The salvation
of Trajan, through the prayers of St. Gregory, and Rhipeus, by
internal inspiration concerning the Redeemer to come, unveils yet more
wondrous mysteries in the treasury of Divine Justice, which suffers
itself to be overcome by hope and love. Rhipeus, the justest among the
Trojans and the strictest observer of right (Virgil, _Aen._ ii. 426,
427; _cf._ Acts x. 35), by his presence solves Dante’s doubt concerning
the fate of the just heathen who die without baptism, and indicates
that the race which gave the ancestors to the Roman people was not
without Divine light.
HEAVEN OF SATURN.--The last of the seven heavens of the planets is
the sphere of Saturn, over which the Thrones preside. According to
Dionysius, the Thrones are associated with steadfastness, supermundane
tendency towards and reception of the Divine. They represent, according
to St. Bernard, supreme tranquillity, most calm serenity, peace which
surpasses all understanding; and upon them God sits as judge (_cf.
Par._ ix. 61, 62). In Saturn appear the contemplative saints, and the
monks who kept firm and steadfast in the cloister. They pass up and
down the celestial Ladder of Contemplation (_Par._ xxi. and xxii.), the
stairway by which the soul mystically ascends to the consideration of
the impenetrable mysteries of God which transcend all reason. In this
high stage of progress towards the suprasensible Beatrice does not
smile, for Dante’s human intellect could not yet sustain it, and the
sweet symphonies of Paradise are silent. St. Peter Damian discourses
upon the impenetrable mysteries of Divine predestination, and rebukes
the vicious and luxurious lives of the great prelate and cardinals.
St. Benedict describes the foundation of his own great order, and
laments the shameless corruption of contemporary Benedictines. Thus in
this, and, above all, in the cry like thunder which bursts from the
contemplatives at the conclusion of Peter Damian’s words, threatening
the Divine vengeance which is to fall upon the corrupt pastors of
the Church, the saints of the seventh sphere unite themselves with
the celestial Thrones, whose office is purification, and who are the
mirrors of the terrible judgments of God.
THE GEMINI.--At Beatrice’s bidding, Dante follows the contemplatives
up the celestial ladder, entering the Firmament at the sign of the
Gemini or Twins, beneath which he was born (_Par._ xxii. 112-123). To
his natal stars, and thus to the Cherubim with whose virtue they are
animated, he appeals for power to complete the work for which they have
inspired him. In a momentary vision, with the capacity of his inward
soul enlarged, he looks down upon the whole Universe, and estimates
aright the relative value of all things in heaven and earth, now that
he is prepared to witness the true glories of Paradise.
THE STELLAR HEAVEN.--The Firmament or stellar heaven, the eighth
sphere, is ruled by the Cherubim, who represent the Divine Wisdom; it
is the celestial counterpart of the Garden of Eden. Here the fruit
of man’s redemption is mystically shown in a vision of the triumph of
Christ, the new Adam, surrounded by myriads of shining lights which
draw their light from Him and represent the souls of the blessed whom
He has sanctified (_Par._ xxiii.). After Christ has ascended from this
celestial garden, where Mary is the rose and the Apostles the lilies,
the Archangel Gabriel descends with ineffable melody and attends upon
the new Eve, “the living garden of delight, wherein the condemnation
was annulled and the tree of life planted,”[40] in her Assumption.
The four spheres of the higher planets had set forth a celestial
realisation of the four cardinal virtues, Prudence, Fortitude,
Justice, and Temperance, with perfect man according to the capacity
of human nature; now, in this sphere of the Cherubim whose name
indicates plenitude of the knowledge of God, Dante is examined upon
the three theological virtues, which have God for their object as He
transcends the knowledge of our reason, and which put man on the way to
supernatural happiness. “If we would enter Paradise and the fruition of
Truth,” writes St. Bonaventura, “the image of our mind must be clothed
with the three theological virtues, whereby the mind is purified,
illumined, and rendered perfect, and thus the image is reformed and
made fit for the Jerusalem which is above.” Dante’s answers to St.
Peter upon Faith (_Par._ xxiv.), to St. James upon Hope (_Par._ xxv.),
to St. John upon Charity (_Par._ xxvi.), contain the essence of the
devout wisdom of the schoolmen upon those three divine gifts, whereby
man participates in the Deity, and “we ascend to philosophise in that
celestial Athens, where Stoics and Peripatetics and Epicureans, by the
art of the eternal Truth, harmoniously concur in one will” (_Conv._
iii. 14). For the object of Faith and Love alike Dante, even in
Paradise, can appeal to the _Metaphysics_ of Aristotle (_Par._ xxiv.
130-132, xxvi. 37-39); and all the celestial music cannot quite drown
the poet’s sigh for that fair Florentine sheepfold, from which he is
still barred out, though Hell and Heaven have opened for him their
eternal gates (_Par._ xxv. 1-12). Within a fourth light the soul of
Adam appears, to instruct Dante upon the proper cause of his fall and
upon his life in the Earthly Paradise, now that the poet has seen the
triumph and ascent of the new Adam. Adam, in whom was directly infused
all the light lawful to human nature to have (_Par._ xiii. 43), is the
last soul that appears to Dante until the consummation of the vision
in the Empyrean. On the close of his discourse, a hymn of glory to the
Blessed Trinity resounds through Paradise, a laugh of the Universe in
joy of the mystery of Redemption (_Par._ xxvii. 1-9). Then, while all
Heaven blushes and there is a celestial eclipse as at the Crucifixion,
St. Peter utters a terrible denunciation of the scandals and corruption
in the Papacy and the Church, wherein Dante, as in the Epistle to the
Italian Cardinals, takes his stand as the Jeremiah of Roman Catholicity.
THE NINTH HEAVEN.--When the saints have returned to their places in
the Empyrean, Dante, after a last look to earth, passes up with his
lady into the ninth sphere, the Crystalline heaven. Beatrice discourses
upon the order of the heavens and the want of government upon earth,
prophesying that, before very long, deliverance and reformation will
come, even as St. Peter had announced in the sphere below. Here,
where nature begins, Dante has a preparatory manifestation of the
nine angelic orders, the ministers of Divine Providence, who ordain
and dispose all things by moving the spheres. They appear as nine
circles of flame, revolving round an atomic Point of surpassing
brilliancy, which symbolises the supreme unity of God, the poet again
having recourse to the _Metaphysics_ of Aristotle: “From that Point
depends heaven and all nature” (_Par._ xxviii. 41, 42). Each angelic
circle is swifter and more brilliant as it is nearer to the centre,
each hierarchy striving after the utmost possible assimilation to God
and union with Him. Swiftest and brightest of all are the Seraphim,
who move this ninth sphere; the angelic order that, representing the
Divine Love, loves most and knows most. “In the Angels,” says Colet
on Dionysius, “an intensity of knowledge is love; a less intense love
is knowledge.” The relation of the Seraphim to the Cherubim is that
of fire to light; their special office is perfecting, as that of the
Cherubim is illumination. All the orders contemplate God, and manifest
Him to creatures to draw them to Him. Receiving from God the Divine
light and love that makes them like to Him, the higher orders reflect
this to the lower, like mirrors reflecting the Divine rays; and these
lower orders reflect it to men, so rendering all things, as far as
possible to each nature, like to God and in union with Him. After
distinguishing between the different orders according to Dionysius,
Beatrice speaks of their creation as especially illustrating the Divine
Love, which the Seraphim represent (_Par._ xxix.), and their place in
the order of the Universe, the fall of the rebellious, the reward of
the faithful, and their immeasurable number. Each Angel belongs to a
different species, and each differs from every other in its reception
of Divine light and love.
THE EMPYREAN.--Dante and Beatrice now issue forth of the last material
sphere into the Empyrean, the true Paradise of vision, comprehension,
and fruition, where man’s will is set at rest in union with universal
Good, and his intellect in the possession of universal Truth. In
preparation for this Divine union, Dante is momentarily blinded by
the Divine light which overpowers him with its radiance--a blindness
followed by a new celestial sight and new faculties for comprehending
the essence of spiritual things. The first empyreal vision is still
a foreshadowing preface: a river of light, the stream which makes
the city of God joyful, the wondrous flowers of celestial spring,
the living sparks of angelic fire. This river of Divine grace is the
fountain of wisdom from which, according to Bernard, the Cherubim
drink, to pour out the streams of knowledge upon all God’s citizens;
and of this fountain Dante, too, drinks with his eyes, that he may
more fully see the vision of God which he has to relate, to diffuse
His knowledge upon earth as the Cherubim do from Heaven. By the light
of glory his mind is rendered capable of seeing those spiritual things
which the blessed behold with immediate intuition, and of ultimate
union with the Divine Essence (_Par._ xxx. 100-102). The river seems
to change to a circular ocean of light; the saints and Angels appear
in their true forms, all united in the sempiternal Rose of Paradise.
Even at this height of ecstatic alienation from terrestrial things,
Dante can turn in thought to Pope and Emperor who should be leading men
to beatitude; a throne is prepared for Henry in this convent of white
stoles, while the hell of the simoniacs is gaping for Boniface and
Clement.
Eternity, as defined by Boëthius, is “the complete and perfect
simultaneous possession of unlimited life”; and Dante is one who has
come from time to the eternal: _a l’etterno dal tempo era venuto_
(_Par._ xxxi. 38).[41] Beatrice has returned to her throne, her
allegorical mission ended; and for this supreme revelation of the
Divine beauty in the mystical Rose, where there is no medium to
impede the poet’s sight of the Divine light (for his is now that of a
separated spirit), but blessed souls and flying Angels are absorbed
in love and vision, St. Bernard completes her work, even as that of
Virgil had been completed by Matelda in the Earthly Paradise. St.
Bernard may represent the glorified contemplative life in our heavenly
country, as Matelda may symbolise the glorified active life in the
state of restored Eden; or, perhaps better, if Matelda is taken as
the love rightly ordered to which the _Purgatorio_ leads, Bernard
represents the loving contemplation or contemplative love, attained
by the mystic in brief moments here and now, in which the eternal and
unchanging life of the soul in the hereafter consists. In an exquisite
lyrical inter-breathing Dante addresses Beatrice for the last time,
thanking her for having led him from servitude to liberty, praying to
her for final perseverance (_Par._ xxxi. 79-90). Under the guidance of
Bernard, he prepares himself for the vision of the Divine Essence, by
disciplining his spiritual sight in contemplation of the glory of the
saints and of the ineffable beauty of Mary, surrounded by her Angels,
and clothed, as Bernard himself puts it elsewhere, in the Sun by whose
fire the prophet’s lips were cleansed and the Cherubim kindled with
love.
Throughout the Rose two descending lines divide the redeemed of the
old law from the redeemed under the new. The one line passes down
from Mary’s throne, composed of holy women, ancestresses of Christ
or types of His Church: Eve, Rachel, Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, Ruth
(_Par._ xxxii.). With Rachel, in the third row, Beatrice is seated.
The opposite line passes down from the seat of the Baptist, Christ’s
precursor; and begins with St. Francis, His closest and most perfect
imitator, St. Benedict (in the third row opposite to Rachel and
Beatrice), St. Augustine. The lower sections of each half of the Rose
are occupied by the little children who died before attaining use of
reason; and who yet have different degrees of bliss, according to the
inscrutable mysteries of predestination and Divine Justice, which
willed to give grace differently to each. Another vision of Mary, the
supreme of created things, “the face that is most like to Christ, whose
beauty alone can dispose thee to see Christ” (_Par._ xxxii. 85-87), is
the prelude to the vision of the Deity. Before her hovers her chosen
knight, Gabriel, the “strength of God,” the pattern of celestial
chivalry, _leggiadria_. Round her are Adam and St. Peter, Moses and St.
John the Divine; opposite the two latter are St. Anne and St. Lucy.
Thus the three Ladies who took pity upon Dante in the dark wood, when
the mystical journey opened, have been seen in their glory at its
close.
MARY AND THE DIVINE ESSENCE.--And the poet turns finally to the Primal
Love, by Mary’s grace and Bernard’s intercession, in the lyrical prayer
that opens the wonderful closing canto of the _Commedia_:
Vergine madre, figlia del tuo figlio,
“Virgin Mother, daughter of thy Son.” Setting forth her predestination
from eternity to bring the Redeemer into the world, her office of love
and hope to Heaven and earth, her infinite excellence and dignity, her
power and never-failing love, St. Bernard implores of her grace for
Dante to rise to the vision of the Divine Essence now, in ecstatic
contemplation, and then for his final perseverance that, on his return
to earth, her loving protection may strengthen him against the assaults
of passion, until he rejoice once more in the Beatific Vision for all
eternity. Human love becomes one with the divine where Beatrice--joined
with him now in the union of fruition--is named for the last time in
the poem as he draws near to his mystical goal.
In answer to Mary’s intercession, an anticipation is granted to Dante
of the vision wherein the last and perfect beatitude of man consists.
The supreme experience of the soul, recognised by the great mystics
from Plotinus and Augustine to Richard of St. Victor and Bonaventura,
is rendered into unsurpassable poetry with the impassioned conviction
that it has been the writer’s own. All ardour of desire dies away.
Entering into the Divine light, uniting his intellectual gaze with
the Divine Essence, he actualises all potentialities of spiritual
vision therein. In the Divine light, he beholds all nature, all Being
scattered in leaves throughout the Universe here united by love
into one volume; the vision of the First Cause which satisfies the
understanding becomes that of the Supreme Goodness which fulfils the
will; and this First Cause, this Supreme Goodness, itself remaining
unchanged, becomes revealed to the poet’s ever strengthening intuition
as the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, in which the Person of the Word
took Human Nature.
A l’alta fantasia qui mancò possa;
“Here power failed the lofty phantasy”--the inspired imagination of
the prophet; but it left the desire and will assimilated in perfect
harmony with the will of God--the Divine will revealed as universal,
all-pervading, and all-moving love, “the love that moves the sun and
the other stars”:
L’AMOR CHE MOVE IL SOLE E L’ALTRE STELLE.
FOOTNOTES:
[28] “Della insufficienza del titolo è prova ed effetto il pronto e
universale accoglimento, che, messo una volta sul frontespizio, trovò
l’epiteto _divina_, che al generico _Commedia_ diede determinatezza e
colore” (P. Rajna, _Il titolo del poema dantesco_, in _Studi danteschi
diretti da_ M. Barbi, vol. iv.).
[29] For details of structure and scansion, the reader should consult
P. E. Guarnerio, _Manuale di versificazione italiana_; G. Federzoni,
_Dei versi e dei metri italiani_; F. D’Ovidio, _Versificaizone italiana
e arte poetica medioevale_.
[30] _Cf._ G. Livi, _op. cit._, pp. 26, 27.
[31] Traces of an earlier design have been tentatively found in various
places of the first seven cantos, and associated with Boccaccio’s story
of Dante having begun the poem before his exile and resumed it after
the recovery of his manuscript when the guest of Moroello Malaspina. In
Boccaccio’s commentary upon the opening of _Inf._ viii., Andrea Poggi
and Dino Perini are represented as rival claimants for the honor of
having recovered the manuscript for Dante.
[32] _Cf. Conv._ ii. 5.
[33] _Cf. Inf._ xxxiii. 79-84 with _Phars._ viii. 827-830.
[34] See Moore’s _Time-References_.
[35] _Cf._ Sonnets lx. and lxi. of _The House of Life_.
[36] See in particular Parodi, “L’Albero dell’Impero,” in his _Poesia e
storia nella Divina Commedia_.
[37] In _Purg._ xxx. 109-117, Dante thus distinguishes between the
_ovra de le rote magne_ and the _larghezza di grazie divine_ in his
own case. St. Gregory the Great, speaking of the correspondence of men
with the angelic orders, uses the phrase: _divinae largitatis munere
refecti_ (_Hom. in Evangelia_, ii. 34).
[38] I venture to retain this reading, although the _testo critico_ now
gives: _E’n la sua volontade_.
[39] The Vulgate has _virtutes caelorum_, in Matt. xxiv. and Luke xxi.,
where the English Bible reads “the powers of the heavens.”
[40] St. John of Damascus.
[41] Note the scansion of the previous line (37): _Io che al divino
da l’umano_. There is no syneresis in _ïo_, no elision of the _e_ in
_che_; thus emphasising Dante’s personal experience, his wonder that
it should be vouchsafed to him, and producing the slow movement, the
solemn intonation of the line.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX
The following notes do not attempt to give a full bibliography, but
merely a selection of works that will be found useful by the readers of
this Primer.
A. TEXT OF COMPLETE WORKS OF DANTE, DICTIONARIES AND CONCORDANCES
_Le Opere di Dante, testo critico della Società Dantesca Italiana_, a
cura di M. Barbi, E. G. Parodi, F. Pellegrini, E. Pistelli, P. Rajna,
E. Rostagno, G. Vandelli. Con indice analitico dei nomi e delle cose di
Mario Casella. Florence, 1921. The “Sexcentenary Dante.”
_Le Opere di Dante Alighieri_, a cura del Dr. E. Moore, nuovamente
rivedute nel testo dal Dr. Paget Toynbee. Fourth edition. Oxford, 1923.
_A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of
Dante_, by Paget Toynbee. Oxford, 1898.
_A Concise Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works
of Dante_, by Paget Toynbee, Oxford, 1914.
_Concordance of the “Divina Commedia.”_ By E. A. Fay. Boston, 1888.
_Concordanza delle opere italiane in prosa e del Canzoniere di Dante
Alighieri._ By E. S. Sheldon and A. C. White. Oxford, 1905.
_Dantis Alagherii Operum Latinorum Concordantiae._ By E. K. Rand and E.
H. Wilkins, Oxford, 1912.
B. HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF DANTE’S TIMES
Caggese, R., _Firenze dalla decadenza di Roma al Risorgimento
d’Italia_. Vols. i. and ii. Florence, 1912-1913.
Casini, T., _Letteratura italiana: storia ed esempi_. Vols. i. and ii.
Rome, 1909.
Dino Compagni, _La Cronica_ con introduzione e commento di G. Luzzatto.
Milan, 1906. (English translation of the _Chronicle_ by E. Benecke and
A. G. F. Howell in the “Temple Classics,” London.)
D’Ancona, A., and Bacci, O., _Manuale della letteratura italiana_, vol.
i. Florence.
Gaspary, A., _History of Early Italian Literature to the Death of
Dante_, translated by H. Oelsner. London, 1901.
Del Lungo, I., _Dino Compagni e la sua Cronica_ (Florence, 1879-1887);
_I Bianchi e i Neri_ (second edition. Milan, 1921).
Piccioni, L., _Da Prudenzio a Dante_. Turin, 1916.
Rossi, V., _Storia della Letteratura Italiana per uso dei Licei_. Voi.
i. (Il Medio Evo). Milan, sixth edition, 1914.
Salvemini, G., _Magnati e Popolani in Firenze dal 1280 al 1295_.
Florence, 1899.
Villani, Giovanni, _Croniche (Istorie) fiorentine_. (Best edition at
present, Florence, 1823.)
Villani, Giovanni, _Selections from the first Nine Books_, translated
by Rose Selfe and edited by P. H. Wicksteed. London. 1906.
Villari, P., _I primi due secoli della storia di Firenze_, new edition,
Florence, 1905. (English translation by Linda Villari from the first
edition.)
For the expedition of Henry of Luxemburg, the reader should study
Caggese, _Roberto d’Angiò e i suoi tempi_, vol. i. chap. ii. (Florence,
1922).
C. BIOGRAPHY, ETC.
_Codice Diplomatico Dantesco: i documenti della vita e della famiglia
di Dante_, ed. G. Biagi and G. L. Passerini. Florence (in course of
publication).
Barbadoro, B., _La condanna di Dante e le fazioni politiche del suo
tempo_. In _Studi danteschi_, ed. M. Barbi, vol. ii. Florence, 1920.
Boccaccio, _Il comento alla Divina Commedia e gli altri scritti intorno
a Dante_, a cura di D. Guerri. Three vols. Bari, 1918. Vol. i. contains
the _Vita di Dante_ and the _Compendio_.
Bruni, Leonardo, _Vita di Dante_ (in _Le vite di Dante, Petrarca e
Boccaccio scritte fino al secolo decimosesto_, ed. A. Solerti. Milan,
1904).
Foligno, C., _Dante_. Bergamo, 1921.
Howell, A. G. F., _Dante_ (in “The People’s Books,” London).
Del Lungo, I., _Dell’esilio di Dante_. Florence, 1881.
Ricci, C., _L’ultimo rifugio di Dante_. Second edition. Milan, 1921.
Scherillo, M., _Alcuni capitoli della biografia di Dante_. Turin, 1896.
Toynbee, P., _Dante Alighieri, his Life and Works_. Fourth edition.
London, 1910.
Wicksteed, P. H., _The Early Lives of Dante_ (translated). London, 1904.
Zingarelli, N., _Dante_ (Milan, 1903); _Vita di Dante in compendio_
(Milan, 1905).
D. THE MINOR WORKS
The _Convivio_ or _Convito_ was first printed at Florence in 1490.
Eighteen _canzoni_ (erroneously numbered as fourteen) were published
at the end of a Venetian edition of the _Commedia_ in November, 1491.
Fifteen genuine Dantesque _canzoni_, with others wrongly ascribed to
him, are contained in a collection printed at Milan and at Venice in
1518. The first partially complete edition of Dante’s lyrical poetry
is contained in the first four books of _Sonetti e canzoni di diversi
antichi autori toscani in dieci libri raccolte_, edited by Bernardo
di Giunta at Florence in 1527. The _Vita Nuova_ was first printed at
Florence in 1576; but its lyrics had been given in the first book
of the 1527 _Sonetti e canzoni_. The _De Vulgari Eloquentia_ was
published in Trissino’s Italian translation at Vicenza in 1529, and in
the original Latin at Paris in 1577; the _Monarchia_ in 1559 at Basle.
The latter work had been translated into Italian by Marsilio Ficino
in the latter half of the fifteenth century. The Letter to Henry VII.
was first published in an old Italian version in 1547; in its original
Latin by Witte in 1827.
The Epistle to Can Grande was first published in 1700, the Eclogues in
1719. The Letters as a whole were edited by Witte in 1827 and by Torri
in 1842.
Special editions and studies. (_a_) VITA NUOVA. Critical edition by
M. Barbi (Florence, 1907); with notes and commentary by M. Scherillo
(Milan, 1911, reprinted with the _Canzoniere_); G. Salvadori, _Sulla
vita giovanile di Dante_ (Rome, 1906); _Vita Nuova_ and _Canzoniere_,
text, translation, and notes by P. H. Wicksteed and T. Okey (“Temple
Classics”). For the “dolce stil nuovo,” V. Rossi, in _Lectura Dantis,
Le Opere Minori_ (Florence, 1906), and Parodi, _Poesia e storia
nella D.C._ A new edition of the _Vita Nuova_ is published by K.
McKenzie (London, 1923). (_b_) RIME OR CANZONIERE. M. Barbi, _Studi
sul Canzoniere di Dante_ (Florence, 1915); G. Zonta, _La lirica di
Dante_ (in _Miscellanea dantesca_, supplement 18-21 of _Giornale
storico della letteratura italiana_, Turin, 1922); E. G. Gardner,
_The Lyrical Poetry of Dante_ (in preparation). For the tenzone with
Forese F. Torraca, _Nuovi studi danteschi_ (Naples, 1921), and A. F.
Massèra, _Sonetti burleschi e realistici dei primi due secoli_ (Bari,
1920); for the tenzone with Dante da Maiano, S. Santangelo, _Dante
Alighieri e Dante da Maiano_ (in _Bullettino della Società Dantesca
Italiana_, N. S., XXVII., 1920); for the canzone of the _Tre donne_,
Torraca, _op. cit._, and Carducci, _Opere_ xvi (“Poesia e Storia”).
The majority of the _Rime_ are translated by Wicksteed in the “Temple
Classics” volume cited above. (_c_) CONVIVIO. Translation by W. W.
Jackson (Oxford, 1909); translation and commentary by Wicksteed
in the “Temple Classics”; Wicksteed, _From Vita Nuova to Paradiso_
(Manchester University Press, 1922). (_d_) DE VULGARI ELOQUENTIA.
Critical edition by P. Rajna (Florence, 1896); facsimile reproduction
of Berlin MS., L. Bertalot, _Il Codice B del “De Vulgari Eloquentia”_
(Florence, 1923); studies by F. D’Ovidio, _Versificazione italiana e
arte poetica medioevale_ (Milan, 1910); translation and commentary
by A. G. F. Howell in “Temple Classics Latin Works of Dante”; C.
Foligno, _Dante, the Poet_ (Brit. Acad. Annual Italian Lecture, 1921).
(_e_) MONARCHIA. C. Cipolla, _Il trattato “De Monarchia” di D. A.
e l’opuscolo “De potestate regia et papali” di Giovanni da Parigi_
(reprinted in _Gli studi danteschi di Carlo Cipolla_, Verona, 1921);
F. Ercole, _L’unità politica della nazione italiana e l’Impero nel
pensiero di Dante_ (in _Archivio storico italiano_, LXXV., Florence,
1917), and _Per la genesi del pensiero politico di Dante_ (in _Giornale
storico della letteratura italiana_, LXXII., _Turin_, 1918); E. G.
Parodi, _Del concetto dell’Impero in Dante e del suo averroismo_ (in
_Bull. d. Soc. Dantesca Italiana_, N.S., XXVI., Florence, 1919); A.
Solmi, _Il pensiero politico di Dante_ (Florence, 1922); C. Foligno,
_The Date of the Monarchia_ (in Dante, _Essays in Commemoration_,
University of London Press, 1921); translation and commentary by P. H.
Wicksteed in “Temple Classics Latin Works of Dante.” (_f_) EPISTOLAE.
P. Toynbee, _Dantis Alagherii Epistolae_ (The Letters of Dante, emended
text, with introduction, translation, notes, etc., Oxford, 1920);
F. Torraca, _Le lettere di Dante_ (in _Nuovi studi danteschi_); E.
Moore, _The Genuineness of the Dedicatory Epistle to Can Grande_ (in
_Studies in Dante_, Series III.). (_g_) ECLOGAE. P. H. Wicksteed,
_Dante and Giovanni del Virgilio_ (London, 1902); G. Albini, _Dantis
Eclogae_, etc. (Florence, 1903). (_h_) QUAESTO DE AQUA ET TERRA. Edited
and translated by C. L. Shadwell (Oxford, 1909); ed. V. Biagi, with
critical dissertation (Modena, 1907); E. Moore, _Studies in Dante_,
Series II. (Oxford, 1899); Wicksteed, translation and commentary in
“Temple Classics Latin Works of Dante.”
E. THE “DIVINA COMMEDIA”
_Editions with Notes and Commentaries_
[The first three editions of the _Divina Commedia_ were printed in
1472, at Foligno, Mantua, and Jesi. They were reprinted, together
with the Neapolitan edition of 1477, by Lord Vernon and Panizzi: _Le
Prime Quattro Edizioni della Divina Commedia letteralmente ristampate_
(London, 1858). The first Venetian edition is dated 1477, the first
Florentine 1481. There were about fifteen editions of the _Divina
Commedia_ published before the end of the fifteenth century. The first
Aldine was printed in 1502. The two earliest dated manuscripts, the
Landiano (1336) and the Trivulziano (1337), have been published in
facsimile: _Il Codice Trivulziano 1080 della D.C._, with introduction
by L. Rocca (Milan, 1921); _Il Codice Landiano_ with preface by A.
Balsamo and introduction by G. Bertoni (Florence, 1921).]
_La Divina Commedia nuovamente commentata da_ F. Torraca. Milan and
Rome, third edition 1915.
_La Divina Commedia commentata da_ G. A. Scartazzini. Seventh edition
revised by G. Vandelli, Milan, 1914.
_La Divina Commedia con il commento di Tommaso Casini._ Sixth edition
renovated and augmented by S. A. Barbi. Florence, 1923.
_Inferno_, _Purgatorio_, and _Paradiso_, Italian text with English
prose translation on opposite pages, maps and notes, three vols.,
“Temple Classics” (London). _Inferno_, Carlyle’s translation with
notes by H. Oelsner; _Purgatorio_, translation and notes by T. Okey;
_Paradiso_, translation and notes by P. H. Wicksteed.
Vernon, W. W., _Readings on the Inferno_, _Purgatorio_, and _Paradiso_,
chiefly based upon the Commentary of Benvenuto da Imola. Six vols. (two
on each part). London, new edition, 1906-1909.
_La Divina Commedia_, edited and annotated by C. H. Grandgent. London,
1914.
_La Divina Commedia nella figurazione artistica e nel secolare
commento_, a cura di Guido Biagi. Turin, 1921, et seq.
F. SUBSIDIARY TO THE “COMMEDIA” AND GENERAL.
Benvenuto da Imola, _Comentum super Dantis Aldigherii Comoediam_, ed.
W. W. Vernon and J. P. Lacaita. Five vols. Florence, 1887.
Croce, B., _La poesia di Dante_. Bari, 1921. (English translation by
Douglas Ainslie, London, 1922.)
D’Ancona, A., _Scritti danteschi_. Florence, 1913.
D’Ovidio, F., _Studi sulla Divina Commedia_ (Milan, 1901); _Nuovi studi
danteschi_ (two vols., Milan, 1906-7).
Farinelli, A., _Dante in Spagna--Francia--Inghilterra--Germania_.
Turin, 1922.
Gardner, E. G., _Dante and the Mystics_. London, 1913.
Hauvette, H., _Études sur la Divine Comédie_. Paris, 1922.
Holbrook, R. T., _Portraits of Dante from Giotto to Raffael_. London,
1911.
Livi, G., _Dante suoi primi cultori sua gente in Bologna_ (Bologna,
1918); _Dante e Bologna_ (Bologna, 1921).
Moore, E., _Textual Criticism of the Divina Commedia_ (Cambridge,
1889); _Studies in Dante_, four series (Oxford, 1896-1917);
_Time-References in the Divina Commedia_ (Oxford, 1887).
Parodi, E. G., _Poesia e storia nella Divina Commedia_ (Naples, 1921);
_Il Fiore e il Detto d’Amore_ (edited in appendix to the _Opere di
Dante_, Florence, 1922).
Reade, W. H. V., _The Moral System of Dante’s Inferno_. Oxford, 1909.
Ricci, C., _La Divina Commedia illustrata nei luoghi e nelle persone_
(Edizione del secentenario della morte di Dante). Milan, 1921.
Rocca, L., _Di alcuni commenti della D.C. composti nei primi vent’ anni
dopo la morte di Dante_. Florence, 1891.
Santangelo, S., _Dante e i trovatori provenzali_. Catania, 1922.
Torraca, F., _Studi danteschi_ (Naples, 1912); _Nuovi studi danteschi_
(Naples, 1921).
Toynbee, P., _Dante Studies and Researches_ (London, 1902); _Dante in
English Literature from Chaucer to Cary_ (two vols., London, 1909);
_Dante Studies_ (London, 1921).
Wicksteed, P. H., _Dante and Aquinas_ (London, 1913); _From Vita
Nuova to Paradiso_, two essays on the vital relations between Dante’s
successive works (Manchester University Press, 1922).
Witte, K., _Essays on Dante_: selected, translated and edited, with
introduction, notes, and appendices, by C. M. Lawrence and P. H.
Wicksteed. London, 1898.
Besides Boccaccio and Benvenuto da Imola, the modern editions of the
other early commentators, Graziolo de’ Bambaglioli (Udine, 1892),
Jacopo della Lana (Bologna, 1866, etc.), the Ottimo (Pisa, 1827-29),
Pietro Alighieri (Florence, 1845), Francesco da Buti (Pisa, 1858-62),
are worth consulting. Extracts, with notably better texts, are given by
Biagi in _La D.C. nella figurazione artistica e nel secolare commento_.
For the question of the Letter of Frate Ilario, see P. Rajna, _Testo
della lettera di frate Ilario e osservazioni sul suo valore storico_,
in _Dante e la Lunigiana_ (Milan, 1909). On the date of composition
of the _Divina Commedia_, _cf._ Parodi, _Poesia e storia nella
D.C._; Ercole, _Le tre fasi del pensiero politico di Dante_, in the
_Miscellanea dantesca_ of the _Gior. stor. della lett. ital._, and
D’Ovidio in the _Nuova Antologia_, March, 1923. In addition to the
works already cited, published for the sexcentenary of 1921, may be
particularly mentioned the sumptuous volume _Dante e Siena_ (Siena,
1921), and _Dante, la Vita, le Opere, le grandi città dantesche, Dante
e l’Europa_ (Milan, 1921).
The _Giornale Dantesco_, the _Bullettino della Società Dantesca
Italiana_, and _Studi danteschi diretti da_ Michele Barbi (Florence)
are invaluable periodical publications.
Of the numerous English translations of the _Divina Commedia_, besides
those of Cary and Longfellow, may be mentioned that of C. E. Norton in
prose; Haselfoot and M. B. Anderson in _terza rima_; G. Musgrave of
the _Inferno_ in Spenserian stanzas, and H. J. Hooper in amphiambics;
C. L. Shadwell of the _Purgatorio_ and _Paradiso_ in the metre used by
Andrew Marvell in his Horatian “Ode to Cromwell.” The _terza rima_ is
a measure not easily adapted to English speech. First introduced into
English by Chaucer, with the modifications which the difference of our
prosody from the Italian requires, in two fragments of _A Compleint to
his Lady_ (Minor Poems vi. in Skeat’s _Student’s Chaucer_), it was used
by Wyatt and Surrey, by Sir Philip Sidney and other Elizabethans, and
even once by Milton (in his paraphrase of Psalm ii.). Among the few
notable English poems in _terza rima_ written during the nineteenth
century, Shelley’s unfinished _Triumph of Life_ stands supreme, and in
it we may in very truth:
Behold a wonder worthy of the rhyme
Of him who from the lowest depths of hell,
Through every paradise and through all glory,
Love led serene, and who returned to tell
The words of hate and awe; the wondrous story
How all things are transfigured except Love.
APPENDIX
I. DIAGRAM OF THE UNIVERSE
II. CLOCK OF THE DIVINE COMEDY
III. TABLE OF HELL
IV. TABLE OF PURGATORY
V. TABLE OF PARADISE
VI. THE MYSTIC ROSE OF PARADISE
VII. PRINCIPAL SOVEREIGNS CONTEMPORARY WITH DANTE
I. DIAGRAM OF THE UNIVERSE IN THE DIVINE COMEDY
[Illustration:
A = Jerusalem, crowned by Calvary; B = Italy, and, presumably, the
Dark Wood; C = Centre of Earth; D = Spain, the Western limit of the
inhabited world; E = The Ganges, the Eastern limit; F = Hell; G =
Purgatory, crowned by Eden, H.]
II. CLOCK MARKING SIMULTANEOUS HOURS AT DIFFERENT REGIONS OF THE EARTH
[After Dr. E. Moore’s _Time-References in the Divina Commedia_.]
[Illustration:
To indicate changes of hour, the reader may imagine the rim of the
clock to revolve _counterclockwise_, while the five hands remain
stationary, or the hands to revolve _clockwise_, while the rim remains
stationary.
Thus, for example, _Purg._ xxvii. 1-5, the sun was rising at
Jerusalem, ‘there where his Maker shed His blood,’ when it was
midnight in Spain (on the Ebro) and noon in India, ‘the waves in
Ganges burnt by noon’; and therefore sunset in Purgatory: ‘wherefore
the day was departing, when the Angel of God joyfully appeared to us.’]
III. HELL
CANTOS
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
|Dark Wood. |Leopard, Lion, and Wolf. Guidance of Virgil. | |i.-ii. |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
|Gate of | | | |
| Hell. | | |iii. |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
|Ante-Hell. |Pusillanimous and neutrals, souls and Angels. St. | |iii. |
| |Celestine v. (Some place Slothful, _Accidiosi_, here.) | | |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
|Acheron. |Charon’s boat. | |iii. |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
|Brink of the| | | |
| Abyss. | | |iv. |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
| |Unbaptized Children and Virtuous Heathen. The Noble | Outside ethical | |
| |Castle. Homer, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Lucan. Electra, | scheme of Hell, | |
| |Hector, Aeneas, Caesar; Camilla, Penthesilea, Latinus, | because unknown | |
|Circle I. |Lavinia; the elder Brutus, Lucretia, Julia, Martia, | to Aristotle as sin.| |
| (Limbo.) |Cornelia, The Saladin. Aristotle; Socrates, Plato; | Some regard this |iv. |
| |Democritus, Diogenes, Anaxagoras, Thales, Empedocles, | circle, with | |
| |Heraclitus, Zeno, Dioscorides; Orpheus, Cicero, Linus, | Ante-Hell, as | |
| |Seneca; Euclid and Ptolemy; Hippocrates, Avicenna, | representing | |
| |Galen; Averroës. | _Negative | |
| | | Incontinence_. | |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
| |Minos. The Lustful: Semiramis, Dido, Cleopatra, Helen, |} | |
|Circle II. |Achilles, Paris, Tristram; Paolo Malatesta and Francesca |} |v. |
| |da Polenta. |} | |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+} +------------+
|Circle III. |Cerberus. The Gluttonous: Ciacco of Florence. |} _Incontinence._ |vi. |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+} +------------+
|Circle IV. |Plutus. Avaricious and Prodigal (none recognisable). |} |vii. |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+} +------------+
|Circle V. |The Slothful? Angry and Sullen. Phlegyas and his boat. |} |vii.-viii. |
| (Styx.) |Filippo Argenti. |} | |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
|Walls of | | | |
|City of Dis.|Fiends and Furies. The Messenger of Heaven. | |viii.-ix. |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
|Circle VI. |Heretics. Epicurus and his followers. Farinata |Outside ethical | |
| |degli Uberti, Cavalcante de’ Cavalcanti; |scheme. Intermediate | |
| |Frederick ii, Cardinal Ottaviano degli Ubaldini; |between _Incontinence|ix.-xi. |
| |Pope Anastasius. |and Violence_. | |
| | | Some regard this | |
| | |Circle as included in| |
| | |_Bestiality_, or as | |
| | |_Negative Violence_. | |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
|Precipice. |The Minotaur. | |xii. |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
| |(1) In the river Phlegethon, the violent against others, |} | |
| |tyrants and murderers; Alexander the Great, Dionysius |} | |
| |of Sicily; Ezzelino, Obizzo da Esti; Guy de |} |xii. |
| |Montfort; Attila, Pyrrhus, Sextus Pompeius; |} | |
| |Rinier da Corneto, Rinier Pazzo. Chiron, Nessus, |} | |
| |Pholus and other centaurs. |} | |
| +---------------------------------------------------------+} +------------+
|Circle VII. |(2) In the wood of harpies and hell-hounds, the violent |} | |
| |against themselves, suicides and squanderers; Pier |} |xiii. |
| |della Vigna; Lano of Siena, Giacomo da Santo |} | |
| |Andrea; a Florentine suicide. |}_Violence_ or +------------+
| +---------------------------------------------------------+} _Bestiality_. | |
| |(3) On the burning sand:-- |} | |
| | |} | |
| |(_a_) The violent against God; Capaneus. |} | |
| | |} | |
| |(_b_) The violent against Nature; Brunetto Latini; |} | |
| |Priscian, Francesco d’Accorso, Andrea de’ |} | |
| |Mozzi; Guido Guerra, Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, |} |xiv.-xvii. |
| |Jacopo Rusticucci, Guglielmo Borsiere. |} | |
| | |} | |
| |(_c_) The violent against Art (Usurers); unrecognisable |} | |
| |individuals of Gianfigliazzi and Ubbriachi, |} | |
| |and Rinaldo degli Scrovigni, expecting Vitaliano |} | |
| |del Dente and Giovanni Buiamonte. |} | |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
|Great Abyss.|Geryon. | |xvii. |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
| |(1) Panders and Seducers; Venedico Caccianemico, Jason. |} |xviii. |
| |Horned Devils. |} | |
| +---------------------------------------------------------+} +------------+
| |(2) Flatterers; Alessio Interminei, Thais. |} |xviii. |
| +---------------------------------------------------------+} +------------+
| |(3) Simoniacs; Nicholas iii, awaiting Boniface viii and |} |xix. |
| |Clement v. |} | |
| +---------------------------------------------------------+} +------------+
| |(4) Soothsayers and Sorcerers; Amphiaraus, Tiresias, |} | |
| |Aruns, Manto, Eurypylus, Michael Scot, Guido |} |xx. |
| |Bonatti, Asdente of Parma. |} | |
|Circle VIII.+---------------------------------------------------------+}_Fraud_, _Malice_. +------------+
|(Malebolge.)|(5) Barrators; the Elder of Lucca, Ciampolo, Frate |} |xxi.-xxiii. |
| |Gomita, Michel Zanche. Malacoda and the Malebranche. |} | |
| +---------------------------------------------------------+} +------------+
| |(6) Hypocrites; two Frati Godenti of Bologna (Catalano |} |xxiii. |
| |and Loderingo); Caiaphas and Annas. |} | |
| +---------------------------------------------------------+} +------------+
| |(7) Thieves; Vanni Fucci; Cacus; Cianfa Donati, |} | |
| |Francesco de’ Cavalcanti, Agnello Brunelleschi, |} |xxiv.-xxv. |
| |Buoso (Donati or degli Abati), Puccio de’ Galigai. |} | |
| +---------------------------------------------------------+} +------------+
| |(8) Evil Counsellors; Ulysses and Diomed; Guido da |} |xxvi.-xxvii.|
| |Montefeltro. |} | |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
| |(9) Sowers of Scandal and Schism; Mahomet, Ali, Pier |} | xxviii. |
| |da Medicina, Curio, Mosca de’ Lamberti, Bertran |} | -xxix. |
|Circle VIII.|de Born; Geri del Bello. |} | |
| --_contd._ +---------------------------------------------------------+}_Fraud_, _Malice_. +------------+
|(Malebolge.)|(10) Falsifiers; Griffolino, Capocchio; Gianni Schicchi, |} | |
| |Myrrha; Adam of Brescia, one of the Counts of |} |xxix-xxx. |
| |Romena; Potiphar’s wife; Sinon. |} | |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
| Well of | | | |
| Giants. |Nimrod, Ephialtes, Briareus, Antaeus, Tityus, Typhon. | |xxxi. |
+------------+--------------+------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
| |(1) In Caina; traitors to their kindred; Alessandro and |} | |
| |Napoleone degli Alberti, Mordred, Focaccia, Sassolo |} | |
| |Mascheroni, Camicione dei Pazzi. |} | |
| +---------------------------------------------------------+} | |
| |(2) In Antenora; traitors to country or party; Bocca |} | |
| |degli Abati, Buoso da Duera, Tesauro Beccheria, |} | |
|Circle IX. |Gianni de’ Soldanieri, Tebaldello, Ganelon, Count |} _Treachery_, | xxxii. |
|(Cocytus.) |Ugolino and Archbishop Ruggieri. |} _Malice_. | -xxxiv. |
| +---------------------------------------------------------+} | |
| |(3) In Tolomea; traitors to their guests; Alberigo de’ |} | |
| |Manfredi, Branca d’Oria. |} | |
| +---------------------------------------------------------+} | |
| |(4) In Giudecca; traitors to their benefactors and their |} | |
| |lords; Judas, Brutus, Cassius. |} | |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
|Centre of | | | |
| the Earth. |Lucifer. | |xxxiv. |
+------------+---------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+------------+
IV. PURGATORY
CANTOS
+------------------+---------------------------------+----------------+----------+
|Shore of Island. |Cato. Angel of Faith. Casella. | |i.-ii. |
+------------------+---------------------------------+ |----------+
|Foot of Mountain. |Contumacious, but repentant; |} |iii. |
| |Manfred. |} | |
+------------------+---------------------------------+} |----------+
|Gap where Ascent | |} |iv. |
|begins. | |} | |
+------------------+---------------------------------+} |----------+
| |Penitence deferred through |} |iv. |
| |Indolence; Belacqua. |} | |
| +---------------------------------+} |----------+
| |Violently slain unabsolved; |} | |
| |Jacopo del Cassero, Buonconte, |} | |
| |Pia, Guccio de’ Tarlati, |} | |
| |Benincasa, Federigo |}Negligence |v.-vi. |
| |Novello, Gano degli Scornigiani, |}through | |
| |Orso degli Alberti, |}lack of | |
| |Pierre de la Brosse. |}Love. | |
| +---------------------------------+} |----------+
|Ante-Purgatory. |Sordello. In Valley of Princes: |} | |
| |Rudolph of Hapsburg, |} | |
| |Ottocar of Bohemia; Philip |} | |
| |III of France, Henry I of |} | |
| |Navarre; Peter III of Aragon, |} | |
| |Charles I of Anjou; |} |vi.-viii. |
| |Alfonso III of Aragon; |} | |
| |Henry III of England; William |} | |
| |of Montferrat; Nino |} | |
| |Visconti, Currado Malaspina. |} | |
| |Serpent, and two |} | |
| |Angels of Hope. |} | |
+------------------+---------------------------------+----------------+----------+
|Gate of St. Peter.|(Dream of Eagle; St. Lucy). | |ix. |
| |Angel Confessor of Obedience. | | |
+------------------+---------------------------------+----------------+----------+
| |Purgation of Pride. Omberto |} | |
|First Terrace. |Aldobrandesco, Oderisi of |} |x.-xii. |
| |Gubbio, Provenzano Salvani. |} | |
| |[Alighiero I.] |} | |
+------------------+---------------------------------+} |----------+
|Steps. |Angel of Humility. |}Sins of the |xii. |
+------------------+---------------------------------+}Spirit, or |----------+
| |Purgation of Envy. Sapia of |}Love distorted.| |
|Second Terrace. |Siena, Guido del Duca, |} |xiii.-xiv.|
| |Rinier da Calboli. |} | |
+------------------+---------------------------------+} |----------+
|Steps. |Angel of Fraternal Love. |} |xv. |
+------------------+---------------------------------+} |----------+
|Third Terrace. |Purgation of Anger. Marco |} |xv.-xvii. |
| |Lombardo. |} | |
+------------------+---------------------------------+----------------+----------+
|Steps. |Angel of Peace or Meekness. | |xvii. |
+------------------+---------------------------------+----------------+----------+
| |(Virgil’s discourse of Love.) |} | |
|Fourth Terrace. |Purgation of Sloth. Abbot |}Love |xvii.-xix.|
| |of San Zeno. (Dream of |}defective. | |
| |Siren.) |} | |
+------------------+---------------------------------+----------------+----------+
|Steps. |Angel of Zeal (Spiritual Joy). | |xix. |
+------------------+---------------------------------+----------------+----------+
| |Purgation of Avarice and |} | |
|Fifth Terrace. |Prodigality. Adrian V; Hugh |} |xix.-xxii.|
| |Capet; Statius (who joins |} | |
| |Virgil and Dante). |} | |
+------------------+---------------------------------+} |----------+
|Steps. |Angel of Justice (cupidity |} |xxii. |
| |being its chief opponent). |} | |
+------------------+---------------------------------+} |----------+
| |Purgation of Gluttony. Forese |} | |
| |Donati; Bonagiunta of |}Sins of the | xxii.- |
|Sixth Terrace. |Lucca; Martin IV; Ubaldo |}Flesh, or | xxiv. |
| |della Pila; Archbishop |}Love excessive.| |
| |Boniface of Ravenna; |} | |
| |Messer Marchese of Forlì. |} | |
+------------------+---------------------------------+} |----------+
|Steps. |Angel of Abstinence. (Statius |} |xxiv.-xxv.|
| |on Generation.) |} | |
+------------------+---------------------------------+} |----------+
|Seventh Terrace. |Purgation of Lust. Guido |} |xxv.-xxvi.|
| |Guinizelli, Arnaut Daniel. |} | |
+------------------+---------------------------------+----------------+----------+
|Purging Fire. |Angel of Purity. | |xxvii. |
+------------------+---------------------------------+----------------+----------+
|Last Steps. |Cherubim with flaming | |xxvii. |
| |sword? (Dream of Leah.) | | |
+------------------+---------------------------------+----------------+----------+
| |Matelda. |} | |
| | |}Eden State | |
| |Triumph of the Church. BEATRICE. |}of Innocence |xxviii.- |
|EARTHLY PARADISE. | |}Regained. | xxxiii. |
| |Mystical Tree of the Empire. |} | |
| | |} | |
| |Lethe and Eunoë. |} | |
+------------------+---------------------------------+----------------+----------+
V. PARADISE
_The Spheres._ _Angelic Orders._ _Sciences._ _Virtues._ CANTOS
+------------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
| |The Order of the Universe and the Eternal| | | | i. |
| | Law. | | | | |
+------------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
| |(Physical phenomena the work of Celestial| Angels | | | |
|First Heaven, | Intelligences.) Inconstant in vows; |(guardians of individuals|Grammar. |Deficient | ii.-v. |
| of the Moon. | Piccarda Donati and Empress Constance. | and bearers of tidings | |Fortitude. | |
| | (Freedom of the Will.) | of God’s bounty). | | | |
+------------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
| |Ambitious spirits of the Active Life; | Archangels | | | |
|Second Heaven, | Justinian and Romeo. |(announce messages of |Logic. | Imperfect | v.-vii. |
| of Mercury. | (The Roman Empire and the Mystery of | great import and | | Justice. | |
| | Redemption.) | protect nations). | | | |
+------------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
| |Purified Lovers; Carlo Martello, Cunizza,| Principalities | |Defective | viii.-ix. |
|Third Heaven, | Folco, Rahab. |(regulate earthly |Rhetoric. |Temperance.| |
| of Venus. | (Constitution of Society and bad | principalities and draw| | | |
| | government.) | princes to rule with | | | |
| | | love). | | | |
+------------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
| Termination of | | | | | ix. |
| Earth’s Shadow. | | | | | |
+------------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
| |Doctors and Teachers. Aquinas, Albertus, | | | | |
| | Gratian, Peter Lombard, Solomon, | | | | |
| | Dionysius, Orosius, Boëthius, Isidore, | Powers | | | |
| | Bede, Richard, Siger. Bonaventura, |(represent Divine Power | | | |
|Fourth Heaven, | Agostino and Illuminato, Hugh, Peter | and Majesty; combat |Arithmetic.| Prudence. | x.-xiv. |
| of the Sun. | Comestor, Peter of Spain, Nathan, | powers of darkness; | | | |
| | Chrysostom, Anselm, Aelius Donatus, | stay diseases). | | | |
| | Rabanus, Joachim. | | | | |
| | (Work of SS. Francis and Dominic; | | | | |
| | wisdom of Solomon; glory of risen body.)| | | | |
+------------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
| |Warriors forming Crucifix. Cacciaguida; | Virtues | | | |
|Fifth Heaven, | Joshua, Judas Maccabaeus, Charlemagne, |(imitate Divine Strength | | | |
| of Mars. | Orlando, William of Orange, Renoardo, | and Fortitude; work |Music. | Fortitude.| xiv.-xviii. |
| | Godfrey de Bouillon, Guiscard. | signs; inspire | | | |
| | (Florence; Dante’s exile and life-work.)| endurance). | | | |
+------------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
| |Rulers form Imperial Eagle. David; | Dominations | | | |
|Sixth Heaven, | Trajan, Hezekiah, Constantine, William | (image of Divine |Geometry. | Justice. | xviii.-xx. |
| of Jupiter. | II. of Sicily, Rhipeus. | Dominion). | | | |
| | (Justice, divine and human.) | | | | |
+------------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
| |Contemplative spirits; Peter Damian, | Thrones | | | |
|Seventh Heaven, | Benedict, Macarius, Romualdus. |(imitate Divine |Astrology. |Temperance.| xxi.-xxii. |
| of Saturn. | (Predestination; the ascetic life; God’s| Steadfastness; execute | | | |
| | vengeance on corruption.) | God’s judgments; | | | |
| | | purify). | | | |
+------------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
|Celestial Ladder. | | | | | xxii. |
+------------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
| |Triumph of Christ; Assumption of Mary; | Cherubim | | | |
|Eighth Heaven, | Peter, James, and John; Adam. |(image of Divine Wisdom; |Natural | Faith | |
| of the Fixed |(Theological Virtues; St. Peter’s rebuke | spread knowledge |Philosophy.| Hope, and |xxiii.-xxvii.|
| Stars. | of corruption in Church.) | of God; illuminate). | | Charity. | |
+------------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
|Ninth Heaven, |The Angelic Hierarchies. | Seraphim | | | |
| the Crystalline.| (Creation as illustrating the Divine |(image of Divine Love; |Moral | | xxvii.-xxix.|
| | Love.) | render perfect). |Philosophy.| | |
+------------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
| |The Essential Paradise of Angels and | |Divine | | |
|Tenth Heaven, | Saints. (Throne of Henry VII.) Bernard.| | Science | | xxx.-xxxiii.|
| the Empyrean. | Blessed of the Mystic Rose. Gabriel. | | of | | |
| | Blessed Virgin Mary. | | Theology. | | |
+------------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
| |Beatific Vision of the Divine Essence. | | | | xxxiii. |
+------------------+-----------------------------------------+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------------+
VI. THE MYSTIC ROSE OF PARADISE
[Illustration]
VII. PRINCIPAL SOVEREIGNS CONTEMPORARY WITH DANTE
(1265-1321)
POPES
CLEMENT IV, 1265-1268.
[_Purg._ iii. 125.]
B. GREGORY X, 1271-1276.
B. INNOCENT V, 1276.
ADRIAN V, 1276.
[_Purg._ xix. 88-145.]
JOHN XXI, 1276-1277.
[_Par._ xii. 134.]
NICHOLAS III, 1277-1280.
[_Inf._ xix. 31 _et seq._]
MARTIN IV, 1281-1285.
[_Purg._ xxiv. 20-24.]
HONORIUS IV, 1285-1287.
NICHOLAS IV, 1288-1292.
ST. CELESTINE V, 1294.
[_Inf._ iii. 59-60; _Inf._ xxvii. 105.]
BONIFACE VIII, 1294-1303.
[_Inf._ xix. 52-57, 76-78; xxvii. 70-111; _Purg._ viii. 131; xx.
85-90; xxxii. 153-156; _Par._ ix. 126; xii. 90; xvii. 50; xxvii. 22;
xxx. 148.]
B. BENEDICT XI, 1303-1304.
[_Epist._ i. 1. Nowhere else mentioned in Dante’s works, though some
identify him, rather than Boniface, with the ‘defunct high-priest’ of
_Epist._ viii. 10.]
CLEMENT V, 1305-1314.
[_Inf._ xix. 82-87; _Purg._ xxxii. 157-160; _Par._ xvii. 82; xxvii.
58; xxx. 142-148; _Epist._ v. 10; vii. 7; viii. 4.]
JOHN XXII, 1316-1334.
[_Par._ xviii. 130-136; xxvii. 58.]
EMPERORS
RUDOLPH OF HAPSBURG, 1273-1291.
[_Purg._ vi. 103; vii. 94-96; _Par._ viii. 72; _Conv._ iv. 3.]
ADOLPH OF NASSAU, 1292-1298.
[_Conv._ iv. 3.]
ALBERT OF HAPSBURG, 1298-1308.
[_Purg._ vi. 97 _et seq._; _Par._ xix. 115; _Conv._ iv. 3.]
HENRY OF LUXEMBURG, HENRY VII, 1308-1313.
[_Purg._ vii. 96; _Par._ xvii. 82; xxx. 133-138; _Epist._ v., vi.,
vii., vii.*, vii.**, vii.***]
LOUIS OF BAVARIA, 1314-1347.
KINGS OF FRANCE
ST. LOUIS IX, 1226-1270.
[Not mentioned by Dante; unless, perhaps, indirectly in _Purg._ vii.
127-129, and xx. 50.]
PHILIP III, 1270-1285.
[_Purg._ vii. 103-105.]
PHILIP IV, 1285-1314.
[_Inf._ xix. 87; _Purg._ vii. 109-111; xx. 91-93; xxxii. 152; _Par._
xix. 120; _Epist._ viii. 4.]
LOUIS X, 1314-1316.
PHILIP V, 1316-1322.
KINGS OF ENGLAND
HENRY III, 1216-1272.
[_Purg._ vii. 131.]
EDWARD I, 1272-1307.
[_Purg._ vii. 132; _Par._ xix. 122.]
EDWARD II, 1307-1327.
KINGS OF NAPLES AND SICILY
MANFRED OF SUABIA, 1258-1266.
[_Purg._ iii. 103-145; _V. E._ i. 12.]
CHARLES I OF ANJOU, 1266-1282.
[_Inf._ xix. 99; _Purg._ vii. 113, 124; xi. 137; xx. 67-69.]
(After the Vespers of Palermo, Sicily under House of Aragon separated
from Angevin Naples.)
KINGS OF NAPLES[A]
CHARLES I OF ANJOU, 1282-1285.
CHARLES II OF ANJOU, 1285-1309.
[_Purg._ v. 69. vii. 126; xx. 79; _Par._ vi. 106; viii. 72; xix.
127-129; xx. 63; _Conv._ iv. 6; V. E. i. 12.]
ROBERT OF ANJOU, 1309-1343.
[_Par._ viii. 76-84, 147; _Epist._ vii. 7; perhaps the ‘Golias’ of
_Epist._ vii. 8.]
KINGS OF SICILY[42]
PETER III OF ARAGON, 1282-1285.
JAMES II OF ARAGON, 1285-1296.
FREDERICK II OF ARAGON, 1296-1337.
[_Purg._ iii. 116; vii. 119; _Par._ xix. 130; xx. 63; _Conv._ iv. 6;
_V. E._ i. 12.]
KINGS OF ARAGON
JAMES I, 1213-1276.
PETER III, 1276-1285. (Also King of Sicily after 1282.)
[_Purg._ vii. 112-129.]
ALFONSO III, 1285-1291.
[_Purg._ vii. 116.]
JAMES II, 1291-1327. (King of Sicily from 1285 to 1296.)
[_Purg._ iii. 116; vii. 119; _Par._ xix. 137.]
FOOTNOTES:
[42] The Angevin sovereigns of Naples retained the title “King of
Sicily and Jerusalem,” the Aragonese ruler of Sicily being “King of
Trinacria.”
INDEX OF NAMES
(_See also Tables of Hell, Purgatory, Paradise, and Bibliographical
Appendix_)
Alighieri, Dante, on the “Sicilian” poetry, 4, 5;
birth and family, 6, 7;
boyhood, 9, 10;
biographers, 11;
first love, 12, 13;
youth and friends, 14, 15;
probable visit to Bologna and military service, 15, 18, 19;
loss of Beatrice, 20;
philosophic devotion, 20;
moral aberrations, 21;
friendship with Forese Donati, 22, and with Betto Brunelleschi, 22;
supposed loves, 22, 23;
marriage, children, and debts, 23, 24;
first steps in political life, 25-27;
embassy to San Gemignano, 27;
possible visit to Rome, 29;
Priorate, 31;
subsequent political acts, 32-34;
embassy to the Pope, 34-35;
accusations and sentences against him, 36-38;
his undoubted innocence, 38;
first period of exile, 39-40;
at Gargonza and San Godenzo, 40;
breaks with the Bianchi, 41;
goes to Verona, 43;
probably at Bologna, 43;
possibly at Padua, 44;
in Lunigiana and the Casentino, 44, 45;
writes to the Florentine people, 45, 46;
possibly at Paris, 46, 47;
in the advent of Henry of Luxemburg, 48, 49;
letters and fresh sentence, 50, 51;
probably at Pisa, 52;
does not accompany the Emperor against Florence, 53;
renewed wanderings, 53;
admonishes the Italian cardinals, 54;
at Lucca, 55;
rejection of amnesty, 55;
new condemnation to death, 56;
at Verona, 57;
at Ravenna, 58, 59;
probable visit to Mantua and Verona, 58;
last days at Ravenna, 59;
his embassy to Venice, 59;
his death, 60;
his works, 61-63;
publication and diffusion of the _Commedia_, 64;
his commentators, 64, 65;
influence of Guido Guinizelli, 67, 68;
the _Vita Nuova_, 10-14, 20, 61, 67-81, 82-86, 88, 96, 98, 99, 111,
120, 181, 201;
the _Rime_ or _Canzoniere_, 15, 21, 22, 35, 38, 45, 62, 82-93,
96-98, 104, 107, 108, 122, 127;
the _Convivio_, 10, 20, 38, 39, 45, 48, 61, 62, 70, 72, 80, 81, 82,
85-88, 94-101, 102, 108, 114, 117_n._, 146, 155, 166, 167, 184,
192, 194, 195, 214;
_De Vulgari Eloquentia_, 4, 5, 21, 36, 38, 44, 62, 63, 81, 87, 88,
90-92, 102-109, 128, 152, 181;
the _Monarchia_, 62, 109-120, 142, 147, 167, 184, 189, 208, 210;
the _Letters_, 15, 19, 32, 46, 47-52, 53-55, 62, 110, 120-127, 147;
the Epistle to Can Grande, 58, 62, 127, 129, 136, 146, 167, 194;
the _Eclogues_, 59, 63, 128, 130-134, 144;
the _Quaestio de Aqua et Terra_, 58, 63, 134-135;
the _Divina Commedia_, its completion, 59, 60, 62-64;
publication and diffusion, 64, 65;
earliest commentators, 64;
language, 106;
ethical and mystical, 128, 129;
letter and allegory, 136-138;
title, 137;
metrical structure, 106, 138-139;
sources, 139-141;
symbolism of Virgil and Beatrice, 141-143;
date of composition, 143-145;
time, 145;
_Inferno_, 146-164;
_Purgatorio_, 164-192;
_Paradiso_, 192-221
Abati, Bocca degli, 161
---- Durante degli, 10, 24
Acquasparta, Cardinal Matteo da, 32-33, 36
Adam, 103, 191, 214, 219
Adam of Brescia, 160
Adimari (Florentine family), 23
Adolph of Nassau, 100
Adrian IV., Pope, 110
---- V., Pope, 178
Aeneas, 114, 147, 155, 169, 208
Agostino, 205
Aguglione, Baldo da, 51
Alberigo, Frate 144, 161
Albert of Austria, 30, 48, 100
Albertus Magnus, 1, 95, 141, 205
Aldobrandesco, Omberto, 173
Alexander the Great, 115
Alighieri, family, 6, 25
---- Alighiero di Bellincione (Dante’s father), 6, 9, 14
---- Antonia, 23_n._, 60_n._
---- Beatrice, 23_n._, 60_n._
---- Bella, 10
---- Brunetto di Bellincione, 7
---- Francesco, 10
---- Geri del Bello, 7
---- Giovanni, 23_n._
---- Gemma Donati, 23, 58, 60_n._, 127, 132
---- Jacopo di Dante, 23, 56, 58, 60_n._, 64
---- Lapa Cialuffi, 10
---- Pietro di Dante, 12, 23, 56, 58, 60_n._, 64, 127.
---- Tana, 10
Alighiero (son of Cacciaguida), 7
Altoviti, Palmieri, 32, 36, 37, 52
Anastasius, Pope, 155
Anchises, 169, 208
Anne, St., 219
Anselm, St., 206
Antaeus, 161
Aquinas, St. Thomas, 1, 5, 80, 141, 150, 151, 152, 155, 172, 192,
205, 206
Argenti, Filippo, 154
Ariosto, 140
Aristotle, 1, 14, 39, 80, 89, 95, 97, 100, 141, 150, 152, 176, 214,
215
Arnaut, Daniel, 90, 107, 182
Augustine, St., 117, 129, 141, 172, 200, 219, 220
Augustus, 109, 113, 115
Averroës, 99, 152
Beatrice, traditionally identified with Bice Portinari, 12, 13, 14;
her brother, 15, 78;
her death, 20;
Cino’s canzone on, 21;
Dante’s wanderings from her, 21;
in Dante’s work, 61, 62;
in the _Vita Nuova_, 69-79;
reference to her in the _Convivio_, 81, 84, 86, 89, 93, 98, 99, 111;
her symbolism in the _Divina Commedia_, 141, 142;
sends Virgil, 148;
her part in the Earthly Paradise, 187-191;
guides Dante through the spheres of Paradise, 194, 199-216;
her glory in the Empyrean, 218-220
Bambaglioli, Graziolo dei, 65, 119
Bacci, O., 60_n._
Barbadoro, B., 32_n._
Barbi, M., 11, 23_n._, 56_n._, 82, 83, 93_n._, 127
Bardi, Simone dei, 12
Bartoli, A., 11
Battifolle, Countess of, 125
Bede, St., 205
Becchi, Lippo, 36
Belacqua, 168
Bella, Giano della, 24, 25, 28
Benedict, St., 212, 219
---- IX., Pope, 43, 122
Benvenuto da Imola, 15, 44, 65, 156, 187
Bernard, St., 129, 185, 187, 197, 198, 203, 207, 209, 217-221
Bertran de Born, 107
Biagi, V., 135
Biondo, Flavio, 48, 63, 121
Biscaro, G., 133_n._
Blacatz, 169
Boccaccio, 11, 12, 14, 15, 23, 26, 35, 40, 44, 46, 47, 58, 60_n._,
63, 65, 69, 74, 83, 101, 102, 109, 112, 118, 121, 122, 127,
130, 132, 144, 151_n._
Boëthius, 20, 94, 141, 205, 217
Bonagiunta, 181
Bonaventura, St., 1, 141, 206, 213, 220
Boncompagno, 102_n._
Boniface VIII., Pope, 4, 24-26, 28, 29, 32-35, 36-38, 41-42, 46, 111,
159, 179, 217
Branca d’Oria, 144
Briareus, 160
Brunelleschi, Betto, 22
Brunetto di Bellincione. _See_ Alighieri
---- Latini, 14, 89, 97, 157
Bruni, Leonardo, 12, 14, 18, 31, 34, 40, 43, 46, 53, 63, 74, 120, 121
Brutus, 163
Buondelmonte, 6
Buoso da Duera, 161
Buti, Francesco da, 65
Cacciaguida, 6, 7, 29_n._, 40, 208, 209
Caccianemico, Venedico, 133_n._, 145
Caesar, 109
Cain, 160
Calboli, Fulcieri da, 41, 133_n._
Cammino, Gherardo da, 100
Cante de’ Gabrielli, 36
Capaneus, 157
Carducci, 132
Carlo Martello, 27, 204
Casella, 15, 21, 87, 167
Cassius, 163
Cato, 114, 167
Cavalcanti, Cavalcante, 155
---- Guido, 13, 15, 28, 31, 32, 58, 68, 73, 74, 76, 85, 104, 108, 155
Celestine V., St., Pope, 24, 168
Cerberus, 153
Cerchi, Vieri dei, 19, 27, 30, 40
Charlemagne, 110, 116, 209
Charles I. of Anjou, 3, 4, 8, 15, 16, 170, 178
---- II. of Naples, 18, 27, 32, 49, 178, 204
---- of Valois, 33-36, 178
Charon, 149, 154
Chaucer, 94
CHRIST, 115, 116, 147, 186, 213
Ciacco, 144
Cicero, 20, 150, 155
Cimabue, 6
Cincinnatus, 114
Cino da Pistoia, 15, 21, 53, 63, 85, 91, 93, 104, 107, 108, 123
Cipolla, C., 116_n._
Clement IV., Pope, 3
---- V., Pope, 46, 48, 52, 54, 116_n._, 126, 143, 145, 179, 217
Clemenza, 204
Colet, J. (on Dionysius), 215
Colonna, Sciarra, 41
Compagni, Dino, 25, 34, 35, 43
Conrad III., Emperor, 7
Conradin of Suabia, 9
Constance, Empress, 2, 201
Constance of Aragon, 16
Constantine, 109, 116, 210
Corazza da Signa, 34
Croce, B., 137
Curio, 124
Cyprus, King of, 210
Daniel, 120, 129
Dante. _See_ Alighieri
Dante da Maiano, 84
David, 120, 173, 210
Della Torre, A., 56_n._
Del Lungo, I, 20_n._, 35_n._, 45_n._
Diedati, Gherardino, 34, 36
---- Neri, 34
Dionysius, 141, 197, 205, 207, 211, 215, 216
Dominic, St., 205
Donati, Corso, 22, 25, 27, 28, 31, 33, 46, 145, 180, 201
---- Forese, 23, 85, 180, 201
---- Foresino, 127
---- Gemma, _See_ Alighieri
---- Manetto, 23, 24
---- Nella, 180
---- Niccolò, 127
---- Piccarda, 201
---- Teruccio, 127
---- Ubertino, 23
Donatus, Aelius, 206
D’Ovidio, F., 139_n._
Durante, author of the _Fiore_, 63
Elisei (family), 6
Ephialtes, 160
Eve, 219
Federzoni, G., 139_n._
“Fioretta,” 84
Folco, 204
Francesca da Rimini, 58, 153, 161
Francis, St., 92, 205
Frangipani, Cardinal Latino, 16
Frederick I., Emperor, 2, 49, 110
---- II., Emperor, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 48, 100, 104, 109, 155, 170, 201
---- of Aragon, 32
Gabriel, St., 203, 213, 219
Gambara, Gherardino da, 41
Gentucca, 55_n._
Geryon, 158
Gherardini, Andrea, 33, 38
Gianni, Lapo, 15, 31, 85, 104
Giants, the, 160
Giotto, 6, 44, 58
Giovanna (“Primavera”), 71, 76
Giovanni del Virgilio, 56, 59, 63, 130-133
Giraut de Borneil, 92, 107
Godfrey de Bouillon, 209
Gratian, 205
Gregory I. (the Great), 99, 197
---- VII. (Hildebrand), Pope, 2, 110
---- X., Pope, 15
Griffin, the mystical, 187, 188, 190
Guarnerio, P. E., 139_n._
Guidi, the Conti, 51, 125
Guido, Fra, of Pisa, 64, 127
---- Novello da Polenta, 58, 59, 64, 132
---- Novello (dei Conti Guidi), 8
---- del Duca, 174
Guinizelli, Guido, 5, 67, 68, 71, 76, 77, 85, 88, 104, 182
Guiscard, Robert, 209
Guittone d’Arezzo, 5
Hauteville, House of, 2, 16
Henry III., King of England, 170
---- VI., Emperor, 2
---- VII., Emperor, 47-53, 62, 100, 109, 112, 121, 123-125, 130,
143, 179, 217
Hezekiah, 210
Horace, 140
Hugh Capet, 42, 178
Hugh of St. Victor, 205
Ilario, Frate, 54
Illuminato, 205
Irnerius, 2
Isaiah, 92, 120, 127
Isidore, St., of Seville, 154, 205
Jacopone da Todi, 176
James, St., 214
Jeremiah, 20, 120, 127, 146, 215
Joachim of Flora, 206
John the Baptist, St., 219
---- Chrysostom, St., 206
---- of Damascus, St., 213
John the Evangelist, St., 186, 214, 219
---- XXI. (Peter of Spain), Pope, 206
---- XXII., Pope, 54, 118, 210
---- of Paris, 117_n._
Joshua, 209
Judas Iscariot, 163
---- Maccabaeus, 209
Judith, 219
Justinian, Emperor, 59, 109, 202, 203
Juvenal, 140
Kipling, Rudyard, 107_n._
Lacaita, J. P., 65
Lana, Jacopo della, 51
Leah, 183-186
Lippo de’ Bardi, 15
“Lisetta,” 93_n._
Livi, G., 80_n._, 92_n._, 144_n._
Livy, 141
Louis of Bavaria, 60, 118
---- St., of France, 3
Lucan, 140, 162, 163, 167, 169
Lucia (St. Lucy), 148, 171, 219
Lucifer, 149, 150, 160-164
Luzzatto, G., 35_n._
Malaspina (family), 44
---- Alagia de’ Fieschi, 178
---- Currado, 170
---- Franceschino, 45
----Moroello, 123, 151_n._, 178
Malavolti, Ubaldino, 35
Manfred, 3, 4, 8, 16, 104, 168
Marco the Lombard, 175
Margaret, Empress, 125
Martin IV., Pope, 181
Mary the Blessed Virgin, 20;
Beatrice under her banner, 77;
symbolises Divine Mercy, 148;
the Queen of Mercy, 170;
examples of her life, 173, 177, 186, 201, 203;
her Assumption in the Stellar Heaven, 213;
her glory in the Empyrean, 219;
her intercession for Dante, 220
Matelda, 74, 184-188, 192, 218
Matilda, Countess of Tuscany, 8, 185
Mazzini, 104, 114
Medusa, 154
Mechthild of Hackeborn, 185
---- of Magdeburg, 185
Merlin, 85
Meuccio, 15
Milotti, Fiducio dei, 132
Minerbetti, Maso, 35
Moncetti, G. B., 134
Monferrato, Marquis Giovanni of, 108
Montefeltro, Buonconte da, 20, 168
---- Guido da, 99, 159, 168
Moore, E., 20_n._, 134, 145, 163_n._
Moses, 219
Musaeus, 169
Musciatto Franzesi, 42
Mussato, Albertino, 132
Nathan, 206
Niccolò da Prato, Cardinal, 42, 122
---- Pisano, 6
Nicholas III., Pope, 15, 158
Nogaret, William of, 41
Oderisi, 174
Ordelaffi, Scarpetta degli, 41, 49
Orlandi, Orlanduccio, 37
Orlando, 209
Orosius, 141, 205
Orsini, Cardinal Napoleone, 46, 126
_Ottimo Commento_, the, 22, 35, 64, 185
Otto, Emperor, 109
Ottocar, 170
Ovid, 141
Palinurus, 169
Parodi, E. G., 63, 143, 191
Paul, St., 120, 129, 148, 180, 187
Pazzi, Carlino dei, 41, 145
Perini, Dino, 58, 131, 151_n._
Peter, St., Apostle, 187, 213, 215
---- of Aragon, 16, 18, 170
---- Comestor, 206
---- Damian, 212
---- of Spain. _See_ John XXI.
----the Lombard, 205
Petrarch, 47, 52, 125, 134
Philip the Fair, 32, 42, 178
Phlegyas, 154
“Pietra,” 22, 89
Plato, 94
Plotinus, 220
Poggetto, Bertrando del, 119
Poggi, Andrea, 11, 127, 151_n._
---- Leone, 10
Portinari, Bice. _See_ Beatrice
---- Folco, 12, 15
---- Manetto, 15, 57, 78
Pucci, Antonio, 134
Pythagoras, 85
Quirino, Giovanni, 144
Rabanus Maurus, 206
Rachel, 183, 185, 219
Rahab, 204
Rajna, P., 138_n._
Ranieri di Zaccaria, 56
Rebecca, 219
Renoardo, 209
Rhipeus, 152, 210, 211
Ricci, C., 133_n._
Riccomanni, Lapo, 10
Richard of St. Victor, 129, 141, 183, 205, 220
Robert the Wise, King of Naples, 49, 52, 56, 117_n._, 124, 130,
133_n._
Romano, Cunizza da, 204
---- Ezzelino da, 3, 204
Romena, Alessandro da, 122
---- Oberto and Guido da, 122
Romeo, 203
Rossetti, 10, 57, 68, 76, 107, 181
Rudolph of Hapsburg, 16, 100, 170, 204
Ruggieri, Abp., 161
Rustico di Filippo, 85
Ruth, 219
Saladin, 152
Salterelli, Lapo, 37
Salvani, Provenzano, 9, 174
Sapia, 174
Sarah, 219
Scala, Albuino della, 44, 57
---- Bartolommeo della, 43
---- Can Grande della, 43, 57, 58, 62, 63, 121, 127, 130, 132, 144,
147, 208
Scartazzini, G. A., 11, 13, 21
Sennuccio del Bene, 53
Serravalle, Giovanni da, 47
Shakespeare, 26, 163
Shelley, 60, 96, 134, 210, 231
Siger, 205, 206
Signorelli, Luca, 155
Sinon, 160
Solomon, 119, 205, 207
Sordello, 169, 170
Spenser, 107_n._
Spini (family), 29
Statius, 140, 179-183, 186, 189, 192
Swinburne, 107_n._
Tiberius, 115
Torraca, F., 45_n._, 123_n._
Tosa, Baschiera della, 43
Toynbee, P., 122_n._
_See_ Bibliographical Appendix
Trajan, 109, 173, 210
Tundal, 139, 170
Ubaldini, the, 41
Uberti, Farinata degli, 8, 155
---- Tolosato degli, 43
Ugolino, Count, 125, 161
Uguccione della Faggiuola, 46, 54-57
Ulysses, 160
Veltro, the, 93, 147, 191, 203
Vernani, Fra Guido, 119
Vernon, W. W., 65
Vigna, Piero della, 156
Villani, F., 11, 60, 127
---- G., 9, 11, 17, 29, 46, 102, 121, 125
Villari, P., 50
Vincent of Beauvais, 180
“Violetta,” 84
Virgil, 140-143, 147-149, 153-164, 169, 175-188, 211, 218
Visconti, Nino, 170
Wicksteed, P. H., 95, 98_n._
William of Orange, 209
---- II., King of Sicily, 3, 210
Witte, K., 21, 98, 143, 157
Zeno, San, Abbot of, 177
Transcriber’s Notes
Page 206: “St. Anslem” changed to “St. Anselm”
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