The Divine Comedy Of Dante Alighieri Part 31

FOOTNOTES:

[688] _Consenting_: See line 21.

[689] _One that came_: This is the fire-enveloped shade of Guido of Montefeltro, the colloquy with whom occupies the whole of the Canto.

[690] _The Sicilian bull_: Perillus, an Athenian, presented Phalaris, the tyrant of Agrigentum, with a brazen bull so constructed that when it was heated from below the cries of the victim it contained were converted into the bellowing of a bull. The first trial of the invention was made upon the artist.

[691] _Accurst_: Not in the original. 'Rime in English hath such scarcity,' as Chaucer says.

[692] _As moved the tongue, etc._: The shade being enclosed in the hollow fire all his words are changed into a sound like the roaring of a flame. At last, when an opening has been worked through the crested point, the speech becomes articulate.

[693] _Depart, etc._: One at least of the words quoted as having been used by Virgil is Lombard. There is something very quaint in making him use the Lombard dialect of Dante's time.

[694] _'Tween springs, etc._: Montefeltro lies between Urbino and the mountain where the Tiber has its source.

[695] _Already_: Dante knew that Virgil would refer to him for an answer to Guido's question, bearing as it did on modern Italian affairs.

[696] _Romagna_: The district of Italy lying on the Adriatic, south of the Po and east of Tuscany, of which Bologna and the cities named in the text were the princ.i.p.al towns. During the last quarter of the thirteenth century it was the scene of constant wars promoted in the interest of the Church, which claimed Romagna as the gift of the Emperor Rudolf, and in that of the great n.o.bles of the district, who while using the Guelf and Ghibeline war-cries aimed at nothing but the lordship of the various cities. Foremost among these n.o.bles was he with whose shade Dante speaks. Villani calls him 'the most sagacious and accomplished warrior of his time in Italy' (_Cronica_, vii. 80). He was possessed of lands of his own near Forl and Cesena, and was lord in turn of many of the Romagnese cities. On the whole he appears to have remained true to his Ghibeline colours in spite of Papal fulminations, although once and again he was reconciled to the Church; on the last occasion in 1294. In the years immediately before this he had greatly distinguished himself as a wise governor and able general in the service of the Ghibeline Pisa--or rather as the paid lord of it.

[697] _Ravenna_: Ravenna and the neighbouring town of Cervia were in 1300 under the lordship of members of the Polenta family--the father and brothers of the ill-fated Francesca (_Inf._ v.). Their arms were an eagle, half white on an azure and half red on a gold field. It was in the court of the generous Guido, son of one of these brothers, that Dante was to find his last refuge and to die.

[698] _Over the city, etc._: Forl. The reference is to one of the most brilliant feats of war performed by Guido of Montefeltro. Frenchmen formed great part of an army sent in 1282 against Forl by the Pope, Martin IV., himself a Frenchman. Guido, then lord of the city, led them into a trap and overthrew them with great slaughter. Like most men of his time Guido was a believer in astrology, and is said on this occasion to have acted on the counsel of Guido Bonatti, mentioned among the diviners in the Fourth Bolgia (_Inf._ xx. 118).

[699] _The Green Paws_: In 1300 the Ordelaffi were lords of Forl. Their arms were a green lion on a gold ground. During the first years of his exile Dante had to do with Scarpetta degli Ordelaffi, under whose command the exiled Florentines put themselves for a time, and there is even a tradition that he acted as his secretary.

[700] _The Mastiffs of Verrucchio_: Verrucchio was the castle of the Malatestas, lords of Rimini, called the Mastiffs on account of their cruel tenacity. The elder was the father of Francesca's husband and lover; the younger was a brother of these.

[701] _Montagna_: Montagna de' Parcitati, one of a Ghibeline family that contested superiority in Rimini with the Guelf Malatestas, was taken prisoner by guile and committed by the old Mastiff to the keeping of the young one, whose fangs were set in him to such purpose that he soon died in his dungeon.

[702] _Cities, etc._: Imola and Faenza, situated on the rivers named in the text. Mainardo Pagani, lord of these towns, had for arms an azure lion on a white field. During his minority he was a ward of the Commonwealth of Florence. By his cunning and daring he earned the name of the Demon (_Purg._ xiv. 118). He died at Imola in 1302, and was buried in the garb of a monk of Vallombrosa. Like most of his neighbours he changed his party as often as his interest required. He was a Guelf in Florence and a Ghibeline in Romagna, say some.

[703] _Savio_: Cesena, on the Savio, was distinguished among the cities of Romagna by being left more frequently than the others were to manage its own affairs. The Malatestas and Montefeltros were in turn possessed of the tyranny of it.

[704] _But since, etc._: The shades, being enveloped in fire, are unable to see those with whom they speak; and so Guido does not detect in Dante the signs of a living man, but takes him to be like himself a denizen of Inferno. He would not have the truth regarding his fate to be known in the world, where he is supposed to have departed life in the odour of sanct.i.ty. Dante's promise to refresh his fame he either regards as meaningless, or as one made without the power of fulfilling it. Dante leaves him in his error, for he is there to learn all he can, and not to bandy personal confessions with the shades.

[705] _A Cordelier_: In 1296 Guido entered the Franciscan Order. He died in 1298, but where is not known; some authorities say at Venice and others at a.s.sisi. Benvenuto tells: 'He was often seen begging his bread in Ancona, where he was buried. Many good deeds are related of him, and I cherish a sweet hope that he may have been saved.'

[706] _The High Priest_: Boniface VIII.

[707] _The Pharisees new_: The members of the Court of Rome. Saint Jerome calls the dignified Roman clergy of his day 'the Senate of the Pharisees.'

[708] _For Christian, etc._: The foes of Boniface, here spoken of, were the Cardinals Peter and James Colonna. He destroyed their palace in Rome (1297) and carried the war against them to their country seat at Palestrina, the ancient Praeneste, then a great stronghold. Dante here bitterly blames Boniface for inst.i.tuting a crusade against Christians at a time when, by the recent loss of Acre, the gate of the Holy Land had been lost to Christendom. The Colonnas were innocent, too, of the crime of supplying the Infidel with munitions of war--a crime condemned by the Lateran Council of 1215, and by Boniface himself, who excluded those guilty of it from the benefits of the great Jubilee of 1300.

[709] _Which used, etc._: In former times, when the rule of the Order was faithfully observed. Dante charges the Franciscans with degeneracy in the _Paradiso_, xi. 124.

[710] _From Soracte_: Referring to the well-known legend. The fee for the cure was the fabulous Donation. See _Inf._ xix. 115.

[711] _My predecessor_: Celestine v. See _Inf._ iii. 60.

[712] _The scant performance, etc._: That Guido gave such counsel is related by a contemporary chronicler: 'The Pope said: Tell me how to get the better of those mine enemies, thou who art so knowing in these things. Then he answered: Promise much, and perform little; which he did.' But it seems odd that the wily and unscrupulous Boniface should have needed to put himself to school for such a simple lesson.

[713] _Thou didst not think, etc._: Guido had forgot that others could reason besides the Pope. With regard to the inefficacy of the Papal absolution an old commentator says, following Origen: 'The Popes that walk in the footsteps of Peter have this power of binding and loosing; but only such as do so walk.' But on Dante's scheme of what fixes the fate of the soul absolution matters little to save, or priestly curses to d.a.m.nify. See _Purg._ iii. 133. It is unfeigned repentance that can help a sinner even at the last; and it is remarkable that in the case of Buonconte, the gallant son of this same Guido, the infernal angel who comes for him as he expires complains that he has been cheated of his victim by one poor tear. See _Purg._ v. 88, etc. Why then is no indulgence shown in Dante's court to Guido, who might well have been placed in Purgatory and made to have repented effectually of this his last sin? That Dante had any personal grudge against him we can hardly think. In the Fourth Book of the _Convito_ (written, according to Fraticelli, in 1297), he calls him 'our most n.o.ble Guido Montefeltrano;'

and praises him as one of the wise and n.o.ble souls that refuse to run with full sails into the port of death, but furl the sails of their worldly undertakings, and, relinquishing all earthly pleasures and business, give themselves up in their old age to a religious life.

Either, then, he sets Guido here in order that he may have a modern false counsellor worthy to be ranked with Ulysses; or because, on longer experience, he had come to reprobate more keenly the abuse of the Franciscan habit; or, most likely of all, that he might, even at the cost of Guido, load the hated memory of Boniface with another reproach.

[714] _Minos_: Here we have Minos represented in the act of p.r.o.nouncing judgment in words as well as by the figurative rolling of his tail around his body (_Inf._ v. 11).

CANTO XXVIII.

Could any, even in words unclogged by rhyme Recount the wounds that now I saw,[715] and blood, Although he aimed at it time after time?

Here every tongue must fail of what it would, Because our human speech and powers of thought To grasp so much come short in apt.i.tude.

If all the people were together brought Who in Apulia,[716] land distressed by fate, Made lamentation for the bloodshed wrought By Rome;[717] and in that war procrastinate[718] 10 When the large booty of the rings was won, As Livy writes whose every word has weight; With those on whom such direful deeds were done When Robert Guiscard[719] they as foes a.s.sailed; And those of whom still turns up many a bone At Ceperan,[720] where each Apulian failed In faith; and those at Tagliacozzo[721] strewed, Where old Alardo, not by arms, prevailed; And each his wounds and mutilations showed, Yet would they far behind by those be left 20 Who had the vile Ninth Bolgia for abode.

No cask, of middle stave or end bereft, E'er gaped like one I saw the rest among, Slit from the chin all downward to the cleft.

Between his legs his entrails drooping hung; The pluck and that foul bag were evident Which changes what is swallowed into dung.

And while I gazed upon him all intent, Opening his breast his eyes on me he set, Saying: 'Behold, how by myself I'm rent! 30 See how dismembered now is Mahomet![722]

Ali[723] in front of me goes weeping too; With visage from the chin to forelock split.

By all the others whom thou seest there grew Scandal and schism while yet they breathed the day; Because of which they now are cloven through.

There stands behind a devil on the way, Us with his sword thus cruelly to trim: He cleaves again each of our company As soon as we complete the circuit grim; 40 Because the wounds of each are healed outright Or e'er anew he goes in front of him.

But who art thou that peerest from the height, It may be putting off to reach the pain Which shall the crimes confessed by thee requite?'

'Death has not seized him yet, nor is he ta'en To torment for his sins,' my Master said; 'But, that he may a full experience gain, By me, a ghost, 'tis doomed he should be led Down the Infernal circles, round on round; 50 And what I tell thee is the truth indeed.'

A hundred shades and more, to whom the sound Had reached, stood in the moat to mark me well, Their pangs forgot; so did the words astound.

'Let Fra Dolcin[724] provide, thou mayst him tell-- Thou, who perchance ere long shalt sunward go-- Unless he soon would join me in this h.e.l.l, Much food, lest aided by the siege of snow The Novarese should o'er him victory get, Which otherwise to win they would be slow.' 60 While this was said to me by Mahomet One foot he held uplifted; to the ground He let it fall, and so he forward set Next, one whose throat was gaping with a wound, Whose nose up to the brows away was sheared And on whose head a single ear was found, At me, with all the others, wondering peered; And, ere the rest, an open windpipe made, The outside of it all with crimson smeared.

'O thou, not here because of guilt,' he said; 70 'And whom I sure on Latian ground did know Unless by strong similitude betrayed, Upon Pier da Medicin[725] bestow A thought, shouldst thou revisit the sweet plain That from Vercelli[726] slopes to Marcab.

And make thou known to Fano's worthiest twain-- To Messer Guido and to Angiolel-- They, unless foresight here be wholly vain, Thrown overboard in gyve and manacle Shall drown fast by Cattolica, as planned 80 By treachery of a tyrant fierce and fell.

Between Majolica[727] and Cyprus strand A blacker crime did Neptune never spy By pirates wrought, or even by Argives' hand.

The traitor[728] who is blinded of an eye, Lord of the town which of my comrades one Had been far happier ne'er to have come nigh, To parley with him will allure them on, Then so provide, against Focara's[729] blast No need for them of vow or orison.' 90 And I: 'Point out and tell, if wish thou hast To get news of thee to the world conveyed, Who rues that e'er his eyes thereon were cast?'

On a companion's jaw his hand he laid, And shouted, while the mouth he open prised: "Tis this one here by whom no word is said.

He quenched all doubt in Caesar, and advised-- Himself an outlaw--that a man equipped For strife ran danger if he temporised.'

Alas, to look on, how downcast and hipped 100 Curio,[730] once bold in counsel, now appeared; With gorge whence by the roots the tongue was ripped.

Another one, whose hands away were sheared, In the dim air his stumps uplifted high So that his visage was with blood besmeared, And, 'Mosca,[731] too, remember!' loud did cry, 'Who said, ah me! "A thing once done is done!"

An evil seed for all in Tuscany.'

I added: 'Yea, and death to every one Of thine!' whence he, woe piled on woe, his way 110 Went like a man with grief demented grown.

But I to watch the gang made longer stay, And something saw which I should have a fear, Without more proof, so much as even to say, But that my conscience bids me have good cheer-- The comrade leal whose friendship fortifies A man beneath the mail of purpose clear.

I saw in sooth (still seems it 'fore mine eyes), A headless trunk; with that sad company It forward moved, and on the selfsame wise. 120 The severed head, clutched by the hair, swung free Down from the fist, yea, lantern-like hung down; Staring at us it murmured: 'Wretched me!'

A lamp he made of head-piece once his own; And he was two in one and one in two; But how, to Him who thus ordains is known.

Arrived beneath the bridge and full in view, With outstretched arm his head he lifted high To bring his words well to us. These I knew: 'Consider well my grievous penalty, 130 Thou who, though still alive, art visiting The people dead; what pain with this can vie?

In order that to earth thou news mayst bring Of me, that I'm Bertrand de Born[732] know well, Who gave bad counsel to the Younger King.

I son and sire made each 'gainst each rebel: David and Absalom were fooled not more By counsels of the false Ahithophel.

Kinsmen so close since I asunder tore, Severed, alas! I carry now my brain 140 From what[733] it grew from in this trunk of yore: And so I prove the law of pain for pain.'[734]

FOOTNOTES:

[715] _That now I saw_: In the Ninth Bolgia, on which he is looking down, and in which are punished the sowers of discord in church and state.