The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri [all ebook reader txt] 📗

turn hath made amends.

v. 39. Forth.] From the ninth sphere to the empyrean, which is more light.

v. 44. Either mighty host.] Of angels, that remained faithful, and of beatified souls, the latter in that form which they will have at the last day. v. 61. Light flowing.] "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." Rev. cxxii. I.

—underneath a bright sea flow'd Of jasper, or of liquid pearl. Milton, P. L. b. iii. 518.

v. 80. Shadowy of the truth.]
Son di lor vero ombriferi prefazii.
So Mr. Coleridge, in his Religious Musings, v. 406.
Life is a vision shadowy of truth.

v. 88. —the eves Of mine eyelids.] Thus Shakespeare calls the eyelids "penthouse lids." Macbeth, a, 1. s, 3.

v. 108. As some cliff.]
A lake
That to the fringed bank with myrtle crown'd
Her crystal mirror holds.
Milton, P. L. b. iv. 263.

v. 118. My view with ease.]
Far and wide his eye commands
For sight no obstacle found here, nor shade, But all sunshine.
Milton, P. l. b. iii. 616.

v. 135. Of the great Harry.] The Emperor Henry VII, who died in 1313.

v. 141. He.] Pope Clement V. See Canto XXVII. 53.

v. 145. Alagna's priest.] Pope Boniface VIII. Hell, Canto XIX.

79.

CANTO XXXI

v. 6. Bees.] Compare Homer, Iliad, ii. 87. Virg. Aen. I. 430, and Milton, P. L. b. 1. 768.

v. 29. Helice.] Callisto, and her son Arcas, changed into the constellations of the Greater Bear and Arctophylax, or Bootes. See Ovid, Met. l. ii. fab. v. vi.

v. 93. Bernard.] St. Bernard, the venerable abbot of Clairvaux, and the great promoter of the second crusade, who died A.D. 1153, in his sixty-third year. His sermons are called by Henault, "chefs~d'oeuvres de sentiment et de force." Abrege Chron. de l'Hist. de Fr. 1145. They have even been preferred to al1 the productions of the ancients, and the author has been termed the last of the fathers of the church. It is uncertain whether they were not delivered originally in the French tongue.

That the part he acts in the present Poem should be assigned to him. appears somewhat remarkable, when we consider that he severely censured the new festival established in honour of the Immaculate Conception of the virgin, and opposed the doctrine itself with the greatest vigour, as it supposed her being honoured with a privilegewhich belonged to Christ Alone Dr. Maclaine's Mosheim, v. iii. cent. xii. p. ii. c. 3 - 19.

v. 95. Our Veronica ] The holy handkerchief, then preserved at Rome, on which the countenance of our Saviour was supposed to have been imprest.

v. 101. Him.] St. Bernard.

v. 108. The queen.] The Virgin Mary.

v. 119. Oriflamb.] Menage on this word quotes the Roman des
Royau
-Iignages of Guillaume Ghyart.
Oriflamme est une banniere
De cendal roujoyant et simple
Sans portraiture d'autre affaire,

CANTO XXXII

v. 3. She.] Eve.

v. 8. Ancestress.] Ruth, the ancestress of David.

v. 60. In holy scripture.] Gen. c. xxv. 22. v. 123. Lucia.] See Hell, Canto II. 97.

CANTO XXXIII

v. 63. The Sybil's sentence.] Virg. Aen. iii. 445.

v. 89. One moment.] "A moment seems to me more tedious, than five-and-twenty ages would have appeared to the Argonauts, when they had resolved on their expedition.

v. 92. Argo's shadow]
Quae simul ac rostro ventosnm proscidit aequor,
Tortaque remigio spumis incanduit unda,
Emersere feri candenti e gurgite vultus
Aequoreae monstrum Nereides admirantes.
Catullus, De Nupt. Pel. et Thet. 15.

v. 109. Three orbs of triple hue, clipt in one bound.] The Trinity.

v. 118. That circling.] The second of the circles, "Light of Light," in which he dimly beheld the mystery of the incarnation.

End Paradise.

PREFACE

In the years 1805 and 1806, I published the first part of the following translation, with the text of the original. Since that period, two impressions of the whole of the Divina Commedia, in Italian, have made their appearance in this country. It is not necessary that I should add a third: and I am induced to hope that the Poem, even in the present version of it, may not be without interest for the mere English reader.

The translation of the second and third parts, "The Purgatory" and "The Paradise," was begun long before the first, and as early as the year 1797; but, owing to many interruptions, not concluded till the summer before last. On a retrospect of the time and exertions that have been thus employed, I do not regard those hours as the least happy of my life, during which (to use the eloquent language of Mr. Coleridge) "my individual recollections have been suspended, and lulled to sleep amid the music of nobler thoughts;" nor that study as misapplied, which has familiarized me with one of the sublimest efforts of the human invention.

To those, who shall be at the trouble of examining into the degree of accuracy with which the task has been executed, I may be allowed to suggest, that their judgment should not be formed on a comparison with any single text of my Author; since, in more instances than I have noticed, I have had to make my choice out of a variety of readings and interpretations, presented by different editions and commentators.

In one or two of those editions is to be found the title of "The Vision," which I have adopted, as more conformable to the genius of our language than that of "The Divine Comedy." Dante himself, I believe, termed it simply "The Comedy;" in the first place, because the style was of the middle kind: and in the next, because the story (if story it may be called) ends happily.

Instead of a Life of my Author, I have subjoined, in chronological order, a view not only of the principal events which befell him, but of the chief public occurrences that happened in his time: concerning both of which the reader may obtain further information, by turning to the passages referred to in the Poem and Notes.

January, 1814

A CHRONOLOGICAL VIEW

OF

THE AGE OF DANTE

A. D.

1265. Dante, son of Alighieri degli Alighieri and Bella, is born at Florence. Of his own ancestry he speaks in the Paradise, Canto XV. and XVI.

In the same year, Manfredi, king of Naples and Sicily, is defeated and slain by Charles of Anjou. Hell, C. XXVIII. 13. And Purgatory, C. III. 110.

Guido Novello of Polenta obtains the sovereignty of Ravenna.
H. C. XXVII. 38.

1266. Two of the Frati Godenti chosen arbitrators of the differences at Florence. H. C. XXIII. 104. Gianni de' Soldanieri heads the populace in that city. H. C. XXXII. 118.

1268. Charles of Anjou puts Conradine to death, and becomes King of Naples. H. C. XXVIII. 16 and Purg C. XX. 66.

1272. Henry III. of England is succeeded by Edward I. Purg. C. VII. 129.

1274. Our Poet first sees Beatrice, daughter of Folco Portinari.

Fra.
Guittone d'Arezzo, the poet, dies. Purg. C. XXIV. 56.
Thomas Aquinas dies. Purg. C. XX. 67. and Par. C. X. 96.
Buonaventura dies. Par. C. XII. 25.

1275. Pierre de la Brosse, secretary to Philip III. of France, executed. Purg. C. VI. 23.

1276. Giotto, the painter, is born. Purg. C. XI. 95. Pope Adrian V. dies. Purg. C. XIX. 97. Guido Guinicelli, the poet, dies. Purg. C. XI. 96. and C. XXVI. 83.

1277. Pope John XXI. dies. Par. C. XII. 126.

1278. Ottocar, king of Bohemia, dies. Purg. C. VII. 97.

1279. Dionysius succeeds to the throne of Portugal. Par. C. XIX. 135.

1280. Albertus Magnus dies. Par. C. X. 95.

1281. Pope Nicholas III. dies. H. C. XIX 71. Dante studies at the universities of Bologna and Padua.

1282. The Sicilian vespers. Par. C. VIII. 80.
The French defeated by the people of Forli. H. C. XXVII. 41.
Tribaldello de' Manfredi betrays the city of Faenza. H. C.
XXXII. 119.

1284. Prince Charles of Anjou is defeated and made prisoner by Rugiez de Lauria, admiral to Peter III. of Arragon. Purg. C. XX. 78. Charles I. king of Naples, dies. Purg. C. VII. 111.

1285. Pope Martin IV. dies. Purg. C. XXIV. 23.
Philip III. of France, and Peter III. of Arragon, die. Purg. C.
VII. 101 and
110.
Henry II. king of Cyprus, comes to the throne. Par. C. XIX. 144.

1287. Guido dalle Colonne (mentioned by Dante in his De Vulgari Eloquio) writes "The War of Troy."

1288. Haquin, king of Norway, makes war on Denmark. Par. C. XIX. 135. Count Ugolino de' Gherardeschi dies of famine. H. C. XXXIII. 14.

1289. Dante is in the battle of Campaldino, where the Florentines defeat the people of Arezzo, June 11. Purg. C. V. 90.

1290. Beatrice dies. Purg. C. XXXII. 2. He serves in the war waged by the Florentines upon the Pisans, and is present at the surrender of Caprona in the autumn. H. C. XXI. 92.

1291. He marries Gemma de' Donati, with whom he lives unhappily.

By this marriage he had five sons and a daughter.
Can Grande della Scala is born, March 9. H. C. I. 98. Purg. C.
XX. 16. Par. C. XVII. 75. and XXVII. 135.
The renegade Christians assist the Saracens to recover St. John
D'Acre. H. C. XXVII. 84.
The Emperor Rodolph dies. Purg. C. VI. 104. and VII. 91.
Alonzo III. of Arragon dies, and is succeeded by James II.
Purg. C. VII. 113. and Par. C. XIX. 133.

1294. Clement V. abdicates the papal chair. H. C. III. 56. Dante writes his Vita Nuova.

1295. His preceptor, Brunetto Latini, dies. H. C. XV. 28. Charles Martel, king of Hungary, visits Florence, Par. C. VIII. 57. and dies in the same year. Frederick, son of Peter III. of Arragon, becomes king of Sicily. Purg. C. VII. 117. and Par. C. XIX. 127.

1296. Forese, the companion of Dante, dies. Purg. C. XXXIII. 44.

1300. The Bianca and Nera parties take their rise in Pistoia.
H. C. XXXII. 60.
This is the year in which he supposes himself to see his Vision.
H. C. I. 1. and XXI. 109.
He is chosen chief magistrate, or first of the Priors of
Florence; and continues in office from June 15 to August 15.
Cimabue, the painter, dies. Purg. C. XI. 93.
Guido Cavalcanti, the most beloved of our Poet's friends, dies.
H. C. X. 59. and Purg C. XI. 96.

1301. The Bianca party expels the Nera from Pistoia. H. C. XXIV. 142.

1302. January 27. During his absence at Rome, Dante is mulcted
by his fellow-citizens in the sum of 8000 lire, and condemned to
two years' banishment.
March 10. He is sentenced, if taken, to be burned.
Fulcieri de' Calboli commits great atrocities on certain of the
Ghibelline party. Purg. C. XIV. 61.
Carlino de' Pazzi betrays the castle di Piano Travigne, in
Valdarno, to the Florentines. H. C. XXXII. 67.
The French vanquished in the battle of Courtrai. Purg. C. XX. 47.
James, king of Majorca and Minorca, dies. Par. C. XIX. 133.

1303. Pope Boniface VIII. dies. H. C. XIX. 55. Purg. C. XX. 86. XXXII. 146. and Par. C. XXVII. 20. The other exiles appoint Dante one of a council of twelve, under Alessandro da Romena. He appears to have been much dissatisfied with his colleagues. Par. C. XVII. 61.

1304. He joins with the exiles in an unsuccessful attack on the city of Florence. May. The bridge over the Arno breaks down during a representation of the infernal torments exhibited on that river. H. C. XXVI. 9. July 20. Petrarch, whose father had been banished two years before from Florence, is born at Arezzo.

1305. Winceslaus II. king of Bohemia, dies. Purg. C. VII. 99. and Par. C. XIX 123. A conflagration happens at Florence. H. C. XXVI. 9.

1306. Dante visits Padua.

1307. He is in Lunigiana with the Marchese Marcello Malaspina. Purg. C. VIII. 133. and C. XIX. 140. Dolcino, the fanatic, is burned. H. C. XXVIII.