of discord in the cities of Florence and Pistoia, and of the other states of Tuscany; and no less to the same source was to be attributed the death of Pope Boniface VIII." 69. Charles de Valois, called Senzaterra, or Lackland, brother of Philip the Fair, king of France. 73. The names of these two remain unknown. Probably one of them was Dante's friend Guido Cavalcanti. 80. Of this Arrigo nothing whatever seems to be known, hardly even his name; for some commentators call him Arrigo dei Fisanti, and others Arrigo dei Fifanti. Of these other men of mark "who set their hearts on doing good," Farinata is among the Heretics, Canto X.; Tegghiaio and Rusticucci among the Sodomites, Canto XVI. ; and Mosca among the Schismatics, Canto XXVIII. | 106. The philosophy of Aristotle. The same doctrine is taught by St. Augustine : "Cum fiet resurrectio carnis, et bonorum gaudia et tormenta malorum majora erunt." 115, Plutus, the God of Riches, of which Lord Bacon says in his Essays:"I cannot call riches better than the baggage of virtue; the Roman word is better, 'impedimenta'; for as the baggage is to an army, so is riches to virtue; it cannot be spared nor left behind, but it hindereth the march; yea, and the care of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the victory; of great riches there is no real use, except it be in the distribution; the rest is but conceit. The personal fruition in any man cannot reach to feel great riches: there is a custody of them; or a power of dole and donative | of them; or a fame of them; but no solid use to the owner." CANTO VII. "Of deepe ymaginations And straunge interpretations, But nearly all agree, I believe, in construing the strange words into a cry of alarm or warning to Lucifer, that his realm is invaded by some unusual apparition. Of all the interpretations given, the most amusing is that of Benvenuto Cellini, in his description of the Court of Justice in Paris, Roscoe's Memoirs of Benvenuto Cellini, Chap. xxii. :— "I stooped down several times to ob serve what passed: the words which 1 heard the judge utter, upon seeing two gentlemen who wanted to hear the trial, and whom the porter was endeavouring to keep out, were these: Be quiet, be quiet, Satan, get hence, and leave off disturbing us. The terms were, Paix, paix, Satan, allez, paix. As I had by this time thoroughly learnt the French language, upon hearing these words, I recollected what Dante said, when he with his master, Virgil, entered the gates of hell; for Dante and Giotto the painter were together in France, and visited Paris with particular attention, where the court of justice may be considered as hell. Hence it is that Dante, who was likewise perfect master of the French, made use of that expression; and I have often been surprised, that it was never under stood in that sense; so that I cannot help thinking, that the commentators on this author have often made him say things which he never so much as dreamed of." Dante himself hardly seems to have understood the meaning of the words. though he suggests that Virgil did. noxia superstitio fornicatio est." 1. In this Canto is described the pun- II. The overthrow of the Rebel Angels. ishment of the Avaricious and the Pro-St. Augustine says, "Idolatria et quælibe: digal, with Plutus as their jailer. His outcry of alarm is differently interpreted by different commentators, and by none very satisfactorily. The curious student, groping among them for a meaning, is like Gower's young king, of whom he says, in his Confessio Amantis ;— 24. Must dance the Ridda, a round dance of the olden time. It was a Roundelay, or singing and dancing together. Boccaccio's Monna Belcolore knew better than any one how to play the tambourine and lead the Ridla.' 27. As the word honour resounds in Canto IV., and the word love in Canto V., so here the words rolling and turning are the burden of the song, as if to suggest the motion of Fortune's wheel, so beautifully described a little later. 39. Clerks, clerics, or clergy. Boccaccio, Comento, remarks upon this passage: "Some maintain, that the clergy wear the tonsure in remembrance and reverence of St. Peter, on whom, they say, it was made by certain evil-minded men as a mark of madness; because not comprehending and not wishing to comprehend his holy doctrine, and seeing him fervently preaching before princes and people, who held that doctrine in detestation, they thought he acted as one out of his senses. Others maintain that the tonsure is worn as a mark of dignity, as a sign that those who wear it are more worthy than those who do not; and they call it corona, because, all the rest of the head being shaven, a single circle of hair should be left, which in form of a crown surrounds the whole head." 58. In like manner Chaucer, Persones Tale, pp. 227, 337, reproves ill-keeping and ill-giving. "Avarice, after the description of Seint Augustine, is a likerousnesse in herte to have erthly thinges. Som other folk sayn, that avarice is for to purchase many erthly thinges, and nothing to yeve to hem that han nede. And understond wel, that avarice standeth not only in land ne catel, but som time in science and in glorie, and in every maner outrageous ing is avarice. "But for as moche as som folk ben unmesurable, men oughten for to avoid and eschue fool-largesse, the whiche men clepen waste. Certes, he that is foollarge, he yeveth not his catel, but he leseth his catel. Sothly, what thing that he yeveth for vaine-glory, as to minstrals, and to folk that bere his renome ir the world, he hath do sinne thereof, and non almesse: certes, he leseth foule his good, that ne seketh with the yefte of his good nothing but sinne. He is like to an hors that seketh rather to drink drovy or troubled water, than for to drink water of the clere well. And for as moche as they yeven ther as they shuld nat yeven, to hem apperteineth thilke malison, that Crist shal yeve at the day of dome to hem that shul be dampned.' 68. The Wheel of Fortune was one of the favourite subjects of art and song in the Middle Ages. On a large square of white marble set in the pavement of the nave of the Cathedral at Siena, is the representation of a revolving wheel. Three boys are climbing and clinging at the sides and below; above is a dignified figure with a stern countenance, holding the sceptre and ball. At the four corners are inscriptions from Seneca, Euripides, Aristotle, and Epictetus. The same symbol may be seen also in the wheel-offortune windows of many churches; as, for example, that of San Zeno at Verona. See Knight, Ecclesiastical Architecture, II. plates v., vi. In the following poem Guido Cavalcanti treats this subject in very much the same way that Dante does; and it is curious to observe how at particular times certain ideas seem to float in the air, and to become the property of every one who chooses to make use of them. From the similarity between this poem and the lines of Dante, one might infe that the two friends had discussed the matter in conversation, and afterwards that each had written out their common thought. Cavalcanti's Song of Fortune, as translated by Rossetti, Early Italian Poets p. 366, runs as follows: "Lo! I am she who makes the wheel to turn, Lo! I am she who gives and takes away; Blamed idly, day by day, In all mine acts by you, ye humankind. No state which mine own arrows may not find. Who clomb must fall-this bear ye well in mind, Nor say, because he fell, I did him wrong. For truly ye may find out wisdom when "Ye make great marvel and astonishment And ye complain on God and on my sway. Lets me not take or give By mine own act, but as he wills I may. Alas! ye wretchedest, And chide ye at God also? Shall not He On them that in this earth hold high estate, Such is the sore disease Of anguish that on all their days doth wait. When oft the father dares not trust the son! A worm to gnaw forever on his soul If also ye take note what piteous death Who cities had and gold And multitudes of men beneath their hand; 66 "As a perfect example of grand says: and poetical feeling I may cite the angels 'Regents of the Planets' in the Capella Chigiana. The Cupola repre as sents in a circle the creation of the solar system, according to the theological (or rather astrological) notions which then prevailed, a hundred years before 'the mani-starry Galileo and his woes.' In the centre is the Creator; around, in eight compartments, we have, first, the angel of the celestial sphere, who seems to be listening to the divine mandate, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven'; then follow, in their order, the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The name of each planet is expressed by its mythological a representative; the Sun by Apollo, the Moon by Diana; and over each presides quit,reclining on a portion of the zodiac as on a grand, colossal winged spirit, seated or a throne." Whose death is thus accurst throughout the land.' But now your living souls are held in band Are this world's treasured riches and array That still change hands a hundred times "For me, could envy enter in my sphere, When I behold the peasant at his toil. From thorns and tares and weeds that vex the soil: Thereto he labours, and without turmoil That in that year his family shall live : But now ye may no more have speech of me, Upon those things which ye have heard the Yea, and even yet remember heedfully Him whom it raised it maketh low and vile. But still those men that are my questioners To Master Thomas let thy course be bent. To them that are more apt in lofty speech: The old tradition may be found in Stehelin, Rabbinical Literature, I. 157. See Purgatorio, XVI. 69. 98. Past midnight. 103. Perse, purple-black. See Canto V., Note 89. 115. "Is not this a cursed vice?" says Chaucer in The Persones Tale, p. 202, speaking of wrath. "Yes, certes. Alas! it benimmeth fro man his witte and his reson, and all his debonaire lif spirituel, that shulde keepe his soule. Certes it benimmeth also Goddes due lordship (and that is mannes soule) and the love of his neighbours; it reveth him the quiet of his herte, and subverteth his soule." And farther on he continues: "After the sinne of wrath, now wolle I speke of the sinne of accidie, or slouth; for envie blindeth the herte of a man, and ire troubleth a man, and accidie maketh him hevy, thoughtful, and wrawe. Envie and ire maken bitternesse in herte, which bitternesse is mother of accidie, and benimmeth him the love of alle goodnesse; than is accidie the anguish of a trouble herte." 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, blockish, 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, neavy, 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, and nothing to his credit. Dante seems 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 qualities than these two, each in itself very blame. worthy." 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 expenditure, 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 bizzaro," forgotten pitha, 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, Eneid, 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.' 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: "Æneas on a sudden looks back, and under a rock on the left sees vast pris ons inclosed with a triple wall, which Tartarean Phlegethon's rapid flood environs with torrents of flame, and whirls 1oaring rocks along. Fronting is a huge gate, with columns of solid adamant, 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; tracotanza, 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. I. 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." magne and their ten thousand men at arms. Archbishop Turpin, in his famous History of Charles the Great, XXX., Rodd's Translation, I. 52, says :— "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, bringing 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, Berard, Berengaire, and Naaman, Duke of Bourbon, and of ten thousand of their soldiers." 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, perad venture 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." "Near 113. Pola is a city in Istria. 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. :- |