Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy

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safety, but (as the commentators inform us) obtained so high a reputation by the liberality with which he was
accustomed to dispense the fruits of his plunder, and treated those who fell into his hands with so much
courtesy, that he was afterwards invited to Rome, and knighted by Boniface VIII. A story is told of him by
Boccaccio, G. x. N. 2.
v. 15. Him beside.] Ciacco de' Tariatti of Arezzo. He is said to have been carried by his horse into the Arno,
and there
drowned, while he was in pursuit of certain of his enemies.
v. 17. Frederic Novello.] Son of the Conte Guido da Battifolle, and slain by one of the family of Bostoli.
v. 18. Of Pisa he.] Farinata de' Scornigiani of Pisa. His father Marzuco, who had entered the order of the Frati
Minori, so entirely overcame the feelings of resentment, that he even kissed the hands of the slayer of his son,
and, as he was following the funeral, exhorted his kinsmen to reconciliation.
v. 20. Count 0rso.] Son of Napoleone da Cerbaia, slain by Alberto da Mangona, his uncle.
v. 23. Peter de la Brosse.] Secretary of Philip III of France. The courtiers, envying the high place which he
held in the king's favour, prevailed on Mary of Brabant to charge him falsely with an attempt upon her person
for which supposed crime he suffered death. So say the Italian commentators. Henault represents the matter
very differently: "Pierre de la Brosse, formerly barber to St. Louis, afterwards the favorite of Philip, fearing
the too great attachment of the king for his wife Mary, accuses this princess of having poisoned Louis, eldest
son of Philip, by his first marriage. This calumny is discovered by a nun of Nivelle in Flanders. La Brosse is
hung." Abrege Chron. t. 275, &c.
v. 30. In thy text.] He refers to Virgil, Aen. 1, vi. 376. Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando, 37. The
sacred height Of judgment. Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, a. ii. s. 2. If he, which is the top of judgment
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v. 66. Eyeing us as a lion on his watch.]
A guisa di Leon quando si posa.
A line taken by Tasso, G. L. c. x. st. 56.
v. 76. Sordello.] The history of Sordello's life is wrapt in the obscurity of romance. That he distinguished
himself by his skill in Provencal poetry is certain. It is probable that he was born towards the end of the
twelfth, and died about the middle of the succeeding century. Tiraboschi has taken much pains to sift all the
notices he could collect relating to him. Honourable mention of his name is made by our Poet in the Treatise
de Vulg. Eloq. 1. i. c. 15.
v. 76. Thou inn of grief.]
Thou most beauteous inn
Why should hard-favour'd grief be lodg'd in thee?
Shakespeare, Richard II a. 5. s. 1.
v. 89. Justinian's hand.] "What avails it that Justinian
delivered thee from the Goths, and reformed thy laws, if thou art no longer under the control of his successors
in the empire?"
v. 94. That which God commands.] He alludes to the precept- "Render unto Caesar the things which are
Caesar's."
v. 98. O German Albert!] The Emperor Albert I. succeeded
Adolphus in 1298, and was murdered in 1308. See Par Canto XIX 114 v. 103. Thy successor.] The successor
of Albert was Henry of Luxembourg, by whose interposition in the affairs of Italy our Poet hoped to have
been reinstated in his native city.
v. 101. Thy sire.] The Emperor Rodolph, too intent on
increasing his power in Germany to give much of his thoughts to Italy, "the garden of the empire."
v. 107. Capulets and Montagues.] Our ears are so familiarized to the names of these rival families in the
language of
Shakespeare, that I have used them instead of the "Montecchi" and "Cappelletti."
v. 108. Philippeschi and Monaldi.] Two other rival families in Orvieto.
v. 113. What safety, Santafiore can supply.] A place between Pisa and Sienna. What he alludes to is so
doubtful, that it is not certain whether we should not read "come si cura"--" How Santafiore is governed."
Perhaps the event related in the note to v. 58, Canto XI. may be pointed at.
v. 127. Marcellus.]
Un Marcel diventa
Ogni villan che parteggiando viene.
Repeated by Alamanni in his Coltivazione, 1. i.
v. 51. I sick wretch.] Imitated by the Cardinal de Polignac in his Anti-Lucretius, 1. i. 1052.
Ceu lectum peragrat membris languentibus aeger
In latus alterne faevum dextrumque recumbens
Nec javat: inde oculos tollit resupinus in altum:
Nusquam inventa quies; semper quaesita: quod illi
Primum in deliciis fuerat, mox torquet et angit:
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Nec morburm sanat, nec fallit taedia morbi.
CANTO VII
v. 14. Where one of mean estate might clasp his lord.]
Ariosto Orl. F. c. xxiv. st. 19
E l'abbracciaro, ove il maggior s'abbraccia
Col capo nudo e col ginocchio chino.
v. 31. The three holy virtues.] Faith, Hope and Charity.
v. 32. The red.] Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance.
v. 72. Fresh emeralds.]
Under foot the violet,
Crocus, and hyacinth with rich inlay
Broider'd the ground, more colour'd than with stone
Of costliest emblem.
Milton, P. L. b. iv. 793
Compare Ariosto, Orl. F. c. xxxiv. st. 49.
v. 79. Salve Regina.] The beginning of a prayer to the Virgin. It is sufficient here to observe, that in similar
instances I shall either preserve the original Latin words or translate them, as it may seem best to suit the
purpose of the verse.
v. 91. The Emperor Rodolph.] See the last Canto, v. 104. He died in 1291.
v. 95. That country.] Bohemia.
v. 97. Ottocar.] King of Bohemia, was killed in the battle of Marchfield, fought with Rodolph, August 26,
1278. Winceslaus II. His son,who succeeded him in the kingdom of Bohemia. died in 1305. He is again taxed
with luxury in the Paradise Canto XIX. 123.
v. 101. That one with the nose deprest. ] Philip III of France, who died in 1285, at Perpignan, in his retreat
from Arragon.
v. 102. Him of gentle look.] Henry of Naverre, father of Jane married to Philip IV of France, whom Dante
calls "mal di Francia" -" Gallia's bane."
v. 110. He so robust of limb.] Peter III called the Great, King of Arragon, who died in 1285, leaving four sons,
Alonzo, James, Frederick and Peter. The two former succeeded him in the kingdom of Arragon, and Frederick
in that of Sicily.
See G. Villani, 1. vii. c. 102. and Mariana, I. xiv. c. 9.
He is enumerated among the Provencal poets by Millot, Hist. Litt. Des Troubadours, t. iii. p. 150.
v. 111. Him of feature prominent.] "Dal maschio naso"-with the masculine nose." Charles I. King of Naples,
Count of Anjou, and brother of St. Lonis. He died in 1284. The annalist of Florence remarks, that "there had
been no sovereign of the house of
France, since the time of Charlemagne, by whom Charles
was surpassed either in military renown, and prowess, or in the loftiness of his understanding." G. Villani, 1.
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vii. c. 94. We shall, however, find many of his actions severely reprobated in the twentieth Canto.
v. 113. That stripling.] Either (as the old commentators
suppose) Alonzo III King of Arragon, the eldest son of Peter III who died in 1291, at the age of 27, or,
according to Venturi, Peter the youngest son. The former was a young prince of virtue sufficient to have
justified the eulogium and the hopes of Dante.
See Mariana, 1. xiv. c. 14.
v. 119. Rarely.]
Full well can the wise poet of Florence
That hight Dante, speaken in this sentence
Lo! in such manner rime is Dantes tale.
Full selde upriseth by his branches smale
Prowesse of man for God of his goodnesse
Woll that we claim of him our gentlenesse:
For of our elders may we nothing claime
But temporal thing, that men may hurt and maime.
Chaucer, Wife of Bathe's Tale.
Compare Homer, Od. b. ii. v. 276; Pindar, Nem. xi. 48 and Euripides, Electra, 369.
v. 122. To Charles.] "Al Nasuto." -"Charles II King of Naples, is no less inferior to his father Charles I. than
James and Frederick to theirs, Peter III."
v. 127. Costanza.] Widow of Peter III She has been already mentioned in the third Canto, v. 112. By Beatrice [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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