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And Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, I. 3. i. 3, speaking of that kind of melancholy which proceeds from "humors adust," says: "For example, if it proceeds from flegm (which is seldom, and not so frequent as the rest) it stirs up dull symptomes, and a kind of stupidity, or impassionate hurt; they are sleepy, saith Savanarola, dull, slow, cold, blocksh, ass-like, asininam melancholiam Melancthon calls it, they are much given to weeping, and delight in waters, ponds, pools, rivers, fishing, fowling, &c. They are pale of colour, slothful, apt to sleep, heavy, much troubled with the headache, continual meditation and muttering to themselves, they dream of waters, that they are in danger of drowning, and fear such things."

See also Purg. XVII. 85.

CANTO VIII.

1. Boccaccio and some other commentators think the words "I say, continuing," are a confirmation of the theory that the first seven cantos of the Inferno were written before Dante's banishment from Florence. Others maintain that the words suggest only the continuation of the subject of the last canto in this.

4. These two signal fires announce the arrival of two persons to be ferried over the wash, and the other in the distance is on the watch-tower of the City of Dis, answering these.

"How many great ones may remembered be, Who in their days most famously did flourish, Of whom no word we have, nor sign now see, But as things wiped out with a sponge do perish."

51. Chaucer's "sclandre of his dif fame."

61. Of Philippo Argenti little is known, Dante seems and nothing to his credit. to have an especial personal hatred of him, as if in memory of some disagreeable passage between them in the streets of Florence. Boccaccio says of him in his Comento: "This Philippo Argenti, as Coppo di Borghese Domenichi de' Cavicciuli was wont to say, was a very rich gentleman, so rich that he had the horse he used to ride shod with silver, and from this he had his surname; he was in person large, swarthy, muscular, of marvellous strength, and at the slightest provocation the most irascible of men; nor are any more known of his qualitier than these two, each in itself very blameworthy." He was of the Adimari family, and of the Neri faction; while Dante was of the Bianchi party, and in banishment. Perhaps this fact may explain the bitterness of his invective.

This is the same Philippo Argenti who figures in Boccaccio's tale. See Inf. VI., note 52. The Ottimo Comento says of him: "He was a man of great pomp, and great ostentation, and much expen diture, and little virtue and worth; and therefore the author says, 'Goodness is none that decks his memory.'

19. Phlegyas was the father of Ixion And this is all that is known of the and Coronis. He was-king of the La-"Fiorentino spirito bizzare," forgotten pithæ, and burned the temple of Apollo at Delphi to avenge the wrong done by the god to Coronis. His punishment in the infernal regions was to stand beneath a huge impending rock, always about to fall upon him. Virgil, Æneid, VI., says of him: "Phlegyas, most wretched, is a monitor to all, and with loud voice proclaims through the shades, 'Being warned, learn righteousness, and not to contemn the gods.'

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27. Virgil, Eneid, VI.: "The boat of sewn hide groaned under the weight, and, being leaky, took in much water from the lake."

49. Mr. Wright here quotes Spenser, Ruins of Time;—

by history, and immortalized in song. "What a barbarous strength and confusion of ideas," exclaims Leigh Hunt, Italian Poets, p. 60, "is there in this whole passage about him! Arrogance punished by arrogance, a Christian mother blessed for the unchristian disdainfulness of her son, revenge boasted of and enjoyed, passion arguing in a circle."

70. The word "mosques" paints at once to the imagination the City of Unbelief.

78. Virgil, Eneid, VI., Davidson's Translation:

Eneas on a sudden looks back, and under a rock on the left secs vast pris.

arms.

ons inclosed with a triple wall, which magne and their ten thousand men at Tartarean Phlegethon's rapid flood en- Archbishop Turpin, in his favirons with torrents of flame, and whirls mous History of Charles the Great, 1oaring rocks along. Fronting is a huge XXX., Rodd's Translation, I. 52, gate, with columns of solid adamant, says:that no strength of men, nor the gods themselves, can with steel demolish. An iron tower rises aloft; and there wakeful Tisiphone, with her bloody robe tucked up around her, sits to watch the vestible both night and day.'

124. This arrogance of theirs; tratotanza, oltracotanza; Brantome's outrecuidance; and Spenser's surquedrie. 125. The gate of the Inferno.

130. The coming of the Angel, whose approach is described in the next canto, beginning at line 64.

CANTO IX.

1. The flush of anger passes from Virgil's cheek on seeing the pallor of Dante's, and he tries to encourage him with assurances of success; but betrays his own apprehensions in the broken phrase, "If not," which he immediately covers with words of cheer.

8. Such, or so great a one, is Beatrice, the "fair and saintly Lady" of Canto II. 53.

9. The Angel who will open the gates of the City of Dis.

16. Dante seems to think that he has already reached the bottom of the infernal conch, with its many convolutions.

52. Gower, Confessio Amantis, I.:"Cast not thin eye upon Meduse

That thou be turned into stone."

Hawthorne has beautifully told the story of "The Gorgon's Head,' "" as well as many more of the classic fables, in his Wonder-Book.

54. The attempt which Theseus and Pirithous made to rescue Proserpine from the infernal regions.

62. The hidden doctrine seems to be, that Negation or Unbelief is the Gorgon's head which changes the heart to stone; after which there is "no more returning upward.' The Furies display it from the walls of the City of Heretics. 112. At Arles lie buried, according to old tradition, the Peers of Charle

"After this the King and his army proceeded by the way of Gascony and Thoulouse, and came to Arles, where we found the army of Burgundy, which had left us in the hostile valley, bring. ing their dead by the way of Morbihan and Thoulouse, to bury them in the plain of Arles. Here we performed the rites of Estolfo, Count of Champagne; of Solomon; Sampson, Duke of Burgundy; Arnold of Berlanda; Alberic of Burgundy; Gumard, Esturinite, Hato, Juonius, Ber ard, Berengaire, and Naaman, Duke of Bourbon, and of ten thousand of their soldiers.

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Boccaccio comments upon these tombs as follows:

"At Arles, somewhat out of the city, are many tombs of stone, made of old for sepulchres, and some are large, and some are small, and some are better sculptured, and some not so well, peradventure according to the means of those who had them made; and upon some of them appear inscriptions after the ancient custom, I suppose in indication of those who are buried within. The inhabitants of the country repeat a tradition of them, affirming that in that place there was once a great battle between William of Orange, or some other Christian prince, with his forces on one side, and infidel barbarians from Africa [on the other]; and that many Christians were slain in it; and that on the following night, by divine miracle, those tombs were brought there for the burial of the Christians, and so on the following morning all the dead Christians were buried in them."

113. Pola is a city in Istria. "Near Pola," says Benvenuto da Imola, "are seen many tombs, about seven hundred, and of various forms."

Quarnaro is a gulf of the northern extremity of the Adriatic.

CANTO X.

I. In this Canto is described the punishment of Heretics.

Brunetto Latini, Tesoretto, XIII. :-

"Or va mastro Brunetto

not become a Ghibelline till after his banishment. Boccaccio in his Life of Dante makes the following remarks upon his party spirit. I take the passage as given in Mrs. Bunbury's translation of Balbo's Life and Times of Dante, II. 227.

"He was," says Boccaccio, "a most excellent man, and most resolute in ad

Per lo cammino stretto." 14. Sir Thomas Browne, Urn Burial, Chap. IV., says: "They may sit in the orchestra and noblest seats of heaven who have held up shaking hands in the fire, and humanly contended for glory. Meanwhile Epicurus lies deep in Dante's hell, wherein we meet with tombs enclosing souls, which denied their im-versity. mortalities. But whether the virtuous heathen, who lived better than he spake, or, erring in the principles of himself, yet lived above philosophers of more specious maxims, lie so deep as he is placed, at least so low as not to rise against Christians, who, believing or knowing that truth, have lastingly denied it in their practice and conversation, were a query too sad to insist on.

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Also Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, Part II. Sec. 2. Mem. 6. Subs. 1, thus vindicates the memory of Epicurus: "A quiet mind is that voluptas, or summum bonum of Epicurus; non dolere, curis vacareanimo tranquillo esse, not to grieve, but to want cares, and have a quiet soul, is the only pleasure of the world, as Seneca truly recites his opinion, not that of eating and drinking, which injurious Aristotle maliciously puts upon him, and from which he is still mistaken, mala audit et vapulat, slandered without a cause, and lashed by all posterity."

32. Farinata degli Uberti was the most valiant and renowned leader of the Ghibellines in Florence. Boccaccio, Comento, says: "He was of the opinion of Epicurus, that the soul dies with the body, and consequently maintained that human happiness consisted in temporal pleasures; but he did not follow these in the way that Epicurus did, that is by making long fasts to have afterwards pleasure in eating dry bread: but was fond of good and delicate viands, and ate them without waiting to be hungry; and for this sin he is damned as a Heretic in this place."

Farinata led the Ghibellines at the famous battle of Monte Aperto in 1260, where the Guelfs were routed, and driven out of Florence. He died in 1264.

46. The ancestors of Dante, and Daate himself, were Guelfs. He did

It was only on one subject that he showed himself, I do not know whether I ought to call it impatient, or spirited,—it was regarding anything relating to Party; since in his exile he was more violent in this respect than suited his circumstances, and more than he was willing that others should believe. And in order that it may be seen for what party he was thus violent and pertinacious, it appears to me I must go further back in my story. I believe that it was the just anger of God that permitted, it is a long time ago, almost all Tuscany and Lombardy to be divided into two parties; I do not know how they acquired those names, but one party was called Guelf and the other party Ghibelline. And these two names were so revered, and had such an effect on the folly of many minds, that, for the sake of defending the side any one had chosen for his own against the opposite party, it was not considered hard to lose property, and even life, if it were necessary. And under these names the Italian cities many times suffered serious grievances and changes; and among the rest our city, which was sometimes at the head of one party, and sometimes of the other, according to the citizens in power; so much so that Dante's ancestors, being Guelfs, were twice expelled by the Ghibellines from their home, and he likewise under the title of Guelf held the reins of the Florentine Republic, from which he was expelled, as we have shown, not by the Ghibellines, but by the Guelfs; and seeing that he could not return, he so much altered his mind that there never was a fiercer Ghibelline, or a bitterer enemy to the Guelfs, than he was. And that which I feel most ashamed at for the sake of his memory is, that it was a well-known thing in Romagna, that if any boy or girl, talking to him on party matters, condemned

51. The following account of the Guelfs and Ghibellines is from the Pecorone of Giovanni Fiorentino, a writer of the fourteenth century. It forms the first Novella of the Eighth Day, and will be found in Roscoe's Italian Novelists, I. 322.

the Ghibelline side, he would become Guelfs, the Emperor having already em frantic, so that if they did not be silent braced that of the Ghibellines. It is he would have been induced to throw thus that the apostolic see became constones at them; and with this violence nected with the former, and the empire of party feeling he lived until his death. with the latter faction; and it was thus I am certainly ashamed to tarnish with that a vile hound became the origin of a any fault the fame of such a man; but deadly hatred between the two noble the order of my subject in some degree families. Now it happened that in the demands it, because if I were silent in year of our dear Lord and Redeemer those things in which he was to blame, 1215, the same pestiferous spirit spread I should not be believed in those things itself into parts of Italy, in the following I have already related in his praise. manner. Messer Guido Orlando being Therefore I excuse myself to himself, at that time chief magistrate of Florence who perhaps looks down from heaven there likewise resided in that city a noble with a disdainful eye on me writing." and valiant cavalier of the family of Buondelmonti, one of the most distinguished houses in the state. Our young Buondelmonte having already plighted his troth to a lady of the Amidei family, the lovers were considered as betrothed, with all the solemnity usually observed on such occasions. But this unfortu"There formerly resided in Germany nate young man, chancing one day to two wealthy and well-born individuals, pass by the house of the Donati, was whose names were Guelfo and Ghibel- stopped and accosted by a lady of the lino, very near neighbours, and greatly name of Lapaccia, who moved to him attached to each other. But returning from her door as he went along, saytogether one day from the chase, there ing: 'I am surprised that a gentleman unfortunately arose some difference of of your appearance, Signor, should think opinion as to the merits of one of their of taking for his wife a woman scarcely hounds, which was maintained on both worthy of handing him his boots. There sides so very warmly, that, from being is a child of my own, whom, to speak almost inseparable friends and com- sincerely, I have long intended for you, panions, they became each other's dead- and whom I wish you would just venture liest enemics. This unlucky division to see.' And on this she called out for between them still increasing, they on her daughter, whose name was Ciulla, either side collected parties of their one of the prettiest and most enchanting followers, in order more effectually to girls in all Florence. Introducing her to annoy each other. Soon extending its Messer Buondelmonte, she whispered, malignant influence among the neigh-This is she whom I have reserved for bouring lords and barons of Germany, who divided, according to their motives, either with the Guelf or the Ghibelline, it not only produced many serious affrays, but several persons fell victims to its rage. Ghibellino, finding himself hard pressed by his enemy, and unable longer to keep the field against him, resolved to apply for assistance to Frederick the First, the reigning Emperor. Upon this, Guelfo, perceiving that his adversary sought the alliance of this monarch, applied on his side to Pope Honorius II., who being at variance with the former, and hearing how the affair stood, immediately joined the cause of the

you'; and the young Florentine, suddenly becoming enamoured of her, thus replied to her mother, 'I am quite ready, Madonna, to meet your wishes'; and before stirring from the spot he placed a ring upon her finger, and, wedding her, received her there as his wife.

"The Amidei, hearing that young Buondelmonte had thus espoused another, immediately met together, and took counsel with other friends and relations, how they might best avengo themselves for such an insult offered to their house. There were present among the rest Lambertuccio Amidei, Schiatta

of

60. This question recalls the scene in the Odyssey, where the shade of Agamemnon appears to Ulysses and asks for Orestes. Book XI. in Chap man's translation, line 603:

"Doth my son yet survive

In Orchomen or Pylos? Or doth live
In Sparta with his uncle? Yet I see
Divine Orestes is not here with me."

63. Guido Cavalcanti, whom Benvenuto da Imola calls "the other eye of Florence,"-alter oculus Florentie tempore Dantis. It is to this Guido that Dante addresses the sonnet, which is like the breath of Spring, begin

Ruberti, and Mosca Lamberti, one
whom proposed to give him a box on
the ear, another to strike him in the
face; yet they were none of them able to
agree about it among themselves. On
observing this, Mosca hastily rose, in a
great passion, saying, Cosa fatta capo
ha,' wishing it to be understood that a
dead man will never strike again. It
was therefore decided that he should be
put to death, a sentence which they pro-
ceeded to execute in the following manner.
"M. Buondelmonte returning one
Easter morning from a visit to the Casa
Bardi, beyond the Arno, mounted upon
a snow-white steed, and dressed in aning:-
mantle of the same colour, had just
reached the foot of the Ponte Vecchio,
or old bridge, where formerly stood a
statue of Mars, whom the Florentines
in their Pagan state were accustomed
to worship, when the whole party issued
out upon him, and, dragging him in the
scuffle from his horse, in spite of the
gallant resistance he made, despatched
him with a thousand wounds. The

tidings of this affair seemed to throw all
Florence into confusion; the chief per-
sonages and noblest families in the place
everywhere meeting, and dividing them-
selves into parties in consequence; the
one party embracing the cause of the
Buondelmonti, who placed themselves at
the head of the Guelfs; and the other
taking part with the Amidei, who sup-
ported the Ghibellines.

"In the same fatal manner, nearly all the seigniories and cities of Italy were involved in the original quarrel between these two German families: the Guelfs still supporting the interest of the Holy Church, and the Ghibellines those of the Emperor. And thus I have made you acquainted with the origin of the Germanic faction, between two noble houses, for the sake of a vile cur, and have shown how it afterwards disturbed the peace of Italy for the sake of a beautiful woman.'

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For an account of the Bianchi and Neri factions see Canto XXIV. note 143. 53. Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, father of Dante's friend, Guido Cavalcanti. He was of the Guelf party; so that here are Guelf and Ghibelline buried in the same tomb,

"Guido, I wish that Lapo, thou, and I

Could be by spells conveyed, as it were now,
Upon a barque, with all the winds that blow,
Across all seas at our good will to hie."

He was a poet of decided mark, as may be seen by his "Song of Fortune," quoted in Note 68, Canto VII., and the Sonnet to Dante, Note 136, Purgatorio, XXX. But he seems not to have and to have been more given to the study shared Dante's admiration for Virgil, of philosophy than of poetry. Lucentio in "The Taming of the Shrew"

he is

Like

"So devote to Aristotle's ethics As Ovid be an outcast quite abjured." Boccaccio, Decameron, VI. 9, praises him for his learning and other good qualities; "for over and beside his being one of the best Logitians, as those times not yielded a better," so rurs the old translation, "he was also a most absolute Natural Philosopher, a friendly Gentleman, singularly well spoken, and whatsoever else was commendable in any man was no way want ing in him." In the same Novella he tells this anecdote of him:

very

"It chanced upon a day that Signior Guido, departing from the Church of Saint Michael d'Horta, and passing along by the Adamari, so far as to Saint Joln's Church, which evermore was his customary walk: many goodly Marlle Tombs were then about the said Church, as now adays are at Saint Reparata, and divers more beside. He entring among the Columns of Porphiry, and the other Sepulchers being there, because the door

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