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When Pallas, pitying her wretched state,
At once prevented and pronounced her fate:
Live; but depend, vile wretch!' the goddess
cried,

'Doomed in suspense for ever to be tied;
That all your race, to utmost date of time,
May feel the vengeance and detest the crime.'
Then, going off, she sprinkled her with juice
Which leaves of baneful aconite produce.
Touched with the poisonous drug, her flowing

hair

Fell to the ground and left her temples bare;
Her usual features vanished from their place,
Her body lessened all, but most her face.
Her slender fingers, hanging on each side
With many joints, the use of legs supplied;
A spider's bag the rest, from which she gives
A thread, and still by constant weaving lives."

46. In the revolt of the Ten Tribes. 1 Kings xii. 18: "Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute; and all Israel stoned him with stones, that he died; therefore King Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem."

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50. Amphiaraus, the soothsayer, foreseeing his own death if he went to the Theban war, concealed himself, to avoid going. His wife Eriphyle, bribed by a golden necklace set with diamonds," betrayed to her brother Adrastus his hiding-place, and Ampliaraus, departing, charged his son Alcmeon to kill Eriphyle as soon as he heard of his death.

Ovid, Metamorph., IX. :—

"The son shall bathe his hands in parent's

blood,

And in one act be both unjust and good."

Statius, Theb., II. 355, Lewis's Tr.

"Fair Eriphyle the rich gift beheld,

advice, collected all the forces of her
Of all
the combats in which the barbarians have
kingdom, and gave him battle.
engaged among themselves, I reckon this
to have been the fiercest. . . . . The
greater part of the army of the Persians
was destroyed, and Cyrus himself fell,
after reigning nine and twenty years.
Search was made among the slain, by
order of the queen, for the body of
Cyrus, and when it was found, she took
a skin, and filling it full of human blood,
she dipped the head of Cyrus in the
gore, saying, as she thus insulted the
corse, I live and have conquered thee
in fight, and yet by thee am I ruined;
for thou tookest my son with guile; but
thus I make good my threat, and give
thee thy fill of blood.'
Of the many
different accounts which are given of the
death of Cyrus, this which I have
followed appears to be the most worthy
of credit."

59. After Judith had slain Holofernes. Judith xv. 1: "And when they that were in the tents heard, they were astonished at the thing that was done. And fear and trembling fell upon them, so that there was no man that durst abide in the sight of his neighbour, but, rushing out altogether, they fled into every way of the plain and of the hill country.

Now when the children

of Israel heard it, they all fell upon them with one consent, and slew them unto Chobai."

61. This tercet unites the "I saw," :-"O," and "Displayed," of the preceding passage, and binds the whole as with a selvage.

And her sick breast with secret envy swelled.
Not the late omens and,the well-known tale
To cure her vain ambition aught avail.
O had the wretch by self-experience known
The future woes and sorrows not her own!

But fate decrees her wretched spouse must
bleed,
And the son's frenzy clear the mother's deed."

53. Isaiah xxxvii. 38: "And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia, and Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead."

56. Herodotus, Book I. Ch. 214, Rawlinson's Tr.: "Tomyris, when she found that Cyrus paid no heed to her

67. Ruskin, Mod. Painters, III. 19: "There was probably never a period in which the influence of art over the minds of men seemed to depend less on its merely imitative power, than the close of the thirteenth century. No painting or sculpture at that time reached more than a rude resemblance of reality. Its despised perspective, imperfect chiaroscuro, and unrestrained flights of fantastic imagination, separated the artist's work from nature by an interval which there was no attempt to disguise, and little to diminish. And yet, at this very period, the greatest poet of that, or perhaps of any other age, and the attached friei d of

its greatest painter, who must over and over again have held full and free conversation with him respecting the objects of his art, speaks in the following terms of painting, supposed to be carried to its highest perfection :

'Qual di pennel fu maestro, e di stile

Che ritraesse l'ombre, e i tratti, ch' ivi
Mirar farieno uno ingegno sottile.
Mori li morti, e i vivi parean vivi:
Non vide me' di me, chi vide il vero,
Quant' io calcai, fin che chinato giví.'

Dante has here clearly no other idea of the highest art than that it should bring back, as in a mirror or vision, the aspect of things passed or absent. The scenes of which he speaks are, on the pavement, for ever represented by angelic power, so that the souls which traverse this circle of the rock may see them, as if the years of the world had been rolled back, and they again stood beside the actors in the moment of action. Nor do I think that Dante's authority is absolutely necessary to compel us to admit that such art as this might indeed be the highest possible. Whatever delight we may have been in the habit of taking in pictures, if it were but truly offered to us to remove at our will the canvas from the frame, and in lieu of it to behold, fixed for ever, the image of some of those mighty scenes which it has been our way to make mere themes for the artist's fancy,-if, for instance, we could again behold the Magdalene receiving her pardon at Christ's feet, or the disciples sitting with him at the table of Emmaus,-and this not feebly nor fancifully, but as if some silver mirror, that had leaned against the wall of the chamber, had been miraculously commanded to retain for ever the colours that had flashed upon it for an instant,would we not part with our picture, Titian's or Veronese's though it might be?"

81. The sixth hour of the day, or noon of the second day.

102. Florence is here called ironically "the well guided" or well governed. Rubaconte is the name of the most easterly of the bridges over the Arno, and takes its name from Messer Rubaconte, who was Podestà of Florence in 1236, when this bridge was built.

Above it on the hill stands the church of San Miniato. This is the hill which Michael Angelo fortified in the siege of Florence. In early times it was climbed by stairways.

105. In the good old days, before any one had falsified the ledger of the public accounts, or the standard of measure. In Dante's time a certain Messer Niccola tore out a leaf from the public records, to conceal some villany of his; and a certain Messer Durante, a custom-house officer, 'diminished the salt-measure by one stave. This is again alluded to, Par. XVI. 105.

110. Matthew v. 3: "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

It must be observed that all the Latin lines in Dante should be chanted with an equal stress on each syllable, in order to make them rhythmical.

CANTO XIII.

1. The Second Circle, or Cornice, where is punished the sin of Envy; of which St. Augustine says: "Envy is the hatred of another's felicity; in respect of superiors, because they are not equal to them; in respect of inferiors, lest they should be equal to them; in respect of equals, because they are equal to them. Through envy proceeded the fall of the world, and the death of Christ."

9. The livid colour of Envy.

14. The military precision with which Virgil faces to the right is Homeric. Biagioli says that Dante expresses it "after his own fashion, that is, entirely

new and different from mundane custom. 16. Boëthius, Cons. Phil., V. Met. 2: "Him the Sun, then, rightly call,God who sees and lightens all.”

29. John ii. 3: "And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine."

Examples are first given of the virtue opposite the vice here punished. These are but "airy tongues that syllable men's names;" and it must not be supposed that the persons alluded to are actually passing in the air.

33. The name of Orestes is here

shouted on account of the proverbial it proceeds in the image of this arch, friendship between him and Pylades. ascending and descending." When Orestes was condemned to death, Pylades tried to take his place, exclaiming, "I am Orestes."

36. Matthew v. 44: "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you."

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39. See Canto XIV. 147.

122. The warm days near the end of January are still called in Lombardy I giorni della merla, the days of the blackbird; from an old legend, that once in the sunny weather a blackbird sang, "I fear thee no more, O Lord, for the winter is over."

128. Peter Pettignano, or Pettinajo, was a holy hermit, who saw visions and

42. The next stairway leading from wrought miracles at Siena. Forsyth, the second to the third circle.

51. The Litany of All Saints.
92. Latian for Italian.

109. A Sienese lady living in banishment at Colle, where from a tower she witnessed the battle between her townsmen and the Florentines. "Sapia hated the Sienese," says Benvenuto, "and placed herself at a window not far from the field of battle, waiting the issue with anxiety, and desiring the rout and ruin of her own people. Her desires being verified by the entire discomfiture of the Sienese, and the death of their captain," (Provenzan Salvani, see Canto XI. Note 121,) "exultant and almost beside herself, she lifted her bold face to heaven, and cried,Now, O God, do with me what thou wilt, do me all the harm thou canst; now my prayers are answered, and I die content.'

110. Gower, Confes. Amant., II. :—

"Whan I have sene another blithe

Of love and hadde a goodly chere,
Ethna, which brenneth yere by yere,
Was thanne nought so hote as I
Of thilke sore which prively

Mine hertes thought withinne brenneth."

114. Convito, IV. 23: "Every effect, in so far as it is effect, receiveth the likeness of its cause, as far as it can retain it. Therefore, inasmuch as our life, as has been said, and likewise that of every living creature here below, is caused by the heavens, and the heavens reveal themselves to all these effects, not in complete circle, but in part thereof, so must its movement needs be above; and as an arch retains all lives nearly, (and, I say, retains those of men as well as of other living creatures,) ascending and curving, they must be in the similitude of an arch. Returning then to our life, of which it is now question, I say that

Italy, 149, describing the festival of the Assumption in that city in 1802, says :--

"The Pope had reserved for this great festival the Beatification of Peter, a Sienese comb-maker, whom the Church had neglected to canonize till now. Poor Peter was honoured with all the solemnity of music, high-mass, and officiating cardinal, a florid panegyric, pictured angels bearing his tools to heaven, and combing their own hair as they soared; but he received five hundred years ago a greater honour than all, a verse of praise from Dante."

138. Dante's besetting sin was not envy, but pride.

144. On the other side of the world. 153. The vanity of the Sienese is also spoken of Inf. XXIX. 123.

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152. Talamone is a seaport in the Maremma, "many times abandoned by its inhabitants," says the Ottimo, on account of the malaria. The town is utterly in ruins; but as the harbour is deep, and would be of great utility if the place were inhabited, the Sienese have spent much money in repairing it many times, and bringing in inhabitants; it is of little use, for the malaria prevents the increase of population."

Talamone is the ancient Telamon, where Marius landed on his return from Africa.

153. The Diana is a subterranean river, which the Sienese were in search of for many years to supply the city with water. "They never have been able to find it," says the Ottimo, "and yet they still hope." In Dante's time it was evidently looked upon as an idle dream. To the credit of the Sienese be it said, they persevered, and finally succeeded in obtain ing the water so patiently sought for. The Pozzo Diana, or Diana's Well, is

stul to be seen at the Convent of the Carmen.

154. The admirals who go to Talamone to superintend the works will lose there more than their hope, namely, their lives.

CANTO XIV.

1. The subject of the preceding canto is here continued. Compare the introductory lines with those of Canto V.

7. These two spirits prove to be Guido del Duca and Rinieri da Calboli.

17. A mountain in the Apennines, north-east of Florence, from which the Arno takes its rise. Ampère, Voyage Dantesque, p. 246, thus describes this region of the Val d' Arno. "Farther on is another tower, the tower of Porciano, which is said to have been inhabited by Dante. From there I had still to climb the summits of the Falterona. I started towards midnight in order to arrive before sunrise. I said to myself, How many times the poet, whose footprints I am following, has wandered in these mountains! It was by these little alpine paths that he came and went, on his way to friends in Romagna or friends in Urbino, his heart agitated with a hope that was never to be fulfilled. I figured to myself Dante walking with a guide under the light of the stars, receiving all the impressions produced by wild and weather-beaten regions, steep roads, deep valleys, and the accidents of a long and difficult route, impressions which he would transfer to his poem. It is enough to have read this poem to be certain that its author has travelled much, has wandered much. Dante really walks with Virgil. He fatigues himself with climbing, he stops to take breath, he uses his hands when feet are insufficient. He gets lost, and asks the way. He observes the height of the sun and stars. In a word, one finds the habits and souvenirs of the traveller in every verse, or rather at every step of his poetic pilgrimage.

"Dante has certainly climbed the top of the Falterona. It is upon this summit, from which all the Valley of the Arno is embraced, that one should read the singular imprecation which the poet

has uttered against this whole valley. He follows the course of the river, and as he advances marks every place he comes to with fierce invective. The farther he goes, the more his hate redoubles in violence and bitterness. It is a piece of topographical satire, of which I know no other example.'

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32. The Apennines, whose long chain ends in Calabria, opposite Cape Peloro in Sicily. Æneid, III. 410, Davidson's Tr.:

"But when, after setting out, the wind shall waft you to the Sicilian coast, and the straits of narrow Pelorus shall open wider to the eye, veer to the land on the left, and to the sea on the left, by a long circuit; fly the right both sea and shore. These lands, they say, once with violence and vast desolation convulsed, (such revolutions a long course of time is able to produce,) slipped asunder; when in continuity both lands were one, the sea rushed impetuously between, and by its waves tore the Italian side from that of Sicily; and with a narrow frith runs between the fields and cities separated by the shores. Scylla guards the right side, implacable Charybdis the left, and thrice with the deepest eddies of its gulf swallows up the vast billows, headlong in, and again spouts them out by turns high into the air, and lashes the stars with the waves.'

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40. When Dante wrote this invective against the inhabitants of the Val d'Arno, he probably had in mind the following passage of Boëthius, Cons. Phil., IV. Pros. 3, Ridpath's Tr. :

"Hence it again follows, that every thing which strays from what is good ceases to be; the wicked therefore must cease to be what they were; but that they were formerly men, their human shape, which still remains, testifies. By degenerating into wickedness, then, they must cease to be men. But as virtue alone can exalt a man above what is

human, so it is on the contrary evident, that vice, as it divests him of his nature, must sink him below humanity; you ought therefore by no means to consider him as a man whom vice has rendered vicious. Tell me, What difference is there betwixt a wolf who lives by rapine, and a robber whom the desire of another's wealth stimulates to commit all manner of violence? Is there anything that bears a stronger resemblance to a wrathful dog who barks at passengers, than a man whose dangerous tongue attacks all the world? What is liker to a fox than a cheat, who spreads his snares in secret to undermine and ruin you? to a lion, than a furious man who is always ready to devour you? to a deer, than a coward who is afraid of his own shadow? to an ass, than a mortal who is slow, dull, and indolent? to the birds of the air, than a man volatile and inconstant? and what, in fine, is a debauchee who is immersed in the lowest sensual gratifications, but a hog who wallows in the mire? Upon the whole, it is an unquestionable truth that a man who forsakes virtue ceases to be a man; and, as it is impossible that he can ascend in the scale of beings, he must of necessity degenerate and sink into a beast."

43. The people of Casentino. Forsyth, Italy, p. 126:

"On returning down to the Casentine, we could trace along the Arno the mischief which followed a late attempt to clear some Apennines of their woods. Most of the soil, which was then loosened from the roots and washed down by the torrents, lodged in this plain; and left immense beds of sand and large rolling stones on the very spot where Dante de

scribes

Li ruscelletti che de' verdi colli

Del Casentin discendon giuso in Arno, Facendo i lor canali e freddi e molli.' "I was surprised to find so large a town as Bibbiena in a country devoid of manufactures, remote from public roads, and even deserted by its landholders; for the Niccolini and Vecchietti, who possess most of this district, prefer the obscurer pleasures of Florence to their palaces and pre-eminence here. The only commodity which the Casentines trade in is pork. Signore Baglione, a

gentleman at whose house I slept here. ascribed the superior flavour of their hams, which are esteemed the best in Italy and require no cooking, to the dryness of the air, the absence of stagnant water, and the quantity of chestnuts given to their hogs. Bibbiena has been long renowned for its chestnuts, which the peasants dry in a kiln, grind into a sweet flour, and then convert into bread, cakes, and polenta."

46. The people of Arezzo. Forsyth, Italy, p. 128:

"The Casentines were no favourites with Dante, who confounds the men with their hogs. Yet, following the divine poet down the Arno, we came to a race still more forbidding. The Aretine peasants seem to inherit the coarse, surly visages of their ancestors, whom he styles Bottoli. Meeting one girl, who appeared more cheerful than her neighbours, we asked her how far it was from Arezzo, and received for answer, 'Quanto c'è.'

'The valley widened as we advanced, and when Arezzo appeared, the river left us abruptly, wheeling off from its environs at a sharp angle, which Dante converts into a snout, and points disdainfully against the currish race.

"On entering the Val di Chiana, we passed through a peasantry more civil and industrious than their Aretine neighbours. One poor girl, unlike the last whom we accosted, was driving a laden ass, bearing a billet of wood on her head, spinning with the rocca, and singing as she went on. Others were returning with their sickles from the fields which they had reaped in the Maremma, to their own harvest on the hills. That contrast which struck me in the manners of two cantons so near as Cortona to Arezzo, can only be a vestige of their ancient rivality while separate republics. Men naturally dislike the very virtues of their enemies, and affect qualities as remote from theirs as they can well defend."

50. The Florentines.
53. The Pisans.

57. At the close of these vituperations, perhaps to soften the sarcasm by making it more general, Benvenuto appends this note: "What Dante says of

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