Of all to speak at full were vain attempt; My sage guide leads me, from that air serene, And to a part I come, where no light shines CANTO V. ARGUMENT. Coming into the second circle of Hell, Dante at the entrance beholds Minos the Infernal Judge, by whom he is admonished to beware how he enters those regions. Here he witnesses the punishment of carnal sinners, who are tossed about ceaselessly in the dark air by the most furious winds. Among these he meets with Francesca of Rimini, through pity at whose sad tale he falls fainting to the ground. FROM the first circle' I descended thus Down to the second, which, a lesser space source of modern philosophical impiety The critic quotes some passages from Petrarch (Senil, I. v. ep. iii. et Oper., v. ii. p. 1143) to show how strongly such sentiments prevailed in the time of that poet, by whom they were held in horror and detestation. He adds, that this fanatic admirer of Aristotle translated his writings with that felicity which might be expected from one who did not know a syllable of Greek, and who was therefore compelled to avail himself of the unfaithful Arabic versions. D'Herbelot, on the other hand, informs us, that "Averroes was the first who translated Aristotle from Greek into Arabic, before the Jews had made their translation; and that we had for a long time no other text of Aristotle, except that of the Latin translation, which was made from this Arabic version of this great philosopher, (Averroes,) who afterwards added to it a very ample commentary, of which Thomas Aquinas, and the other scholastic writers, availed themselves, before the Greek originals of Aristotle and his commentators were known to us in Europe." According to D'Herbelot, he died in 1198; but Tiraboschi places that event about 1206. "Averroes," says Warton, "as the Asiatic schools decayed by the indolence of the Caliphs, was one of those philosophers who adorned the Moorish schools erected in Africa and Spain He was a professor in the University of Morocco He wrote a commentary on all Aristotle's works. He was styled the most Peripatetic of all the Arabian writers. He was born at Cordova, of an ancient Arabic family." Hist. Eng. Poetry, vol. i. sect. xvii. p. 441. 1 From the first circle.] Chiabrera's twenty-first sonnet is on a painting, by Cesare Corte, from this Canto. Mr. Fuseli, a much greater name, has lately employed his wonder-work ing pencil on the same subject. Embracing, so much more of grief contains, For when before him comes the ill-fated soul, He dooms it to descend. Before him stand "Look how thou enter here; beware in whom Where will and power are one. Ask thou no more. Where light was silent all. Bellowing there groan'd By warring winds. The stormy blast of hell Whirl'd round and dash'd amain with sore annoy. When they arrive before the ruinous sweep, There shrieks are heard, there lamentations, moans, Grinning with ghastly feature.] Hence Milton: Death Grinn'd horrible a ghastly smile. P. L., b. ii. 845. It drives them: hope of rest to solace them By their dire doom. Then I: "Instructor! who Are these, by the black air so scourged?"—" The first 'Mong those, of whom thou question'st," he replied, "O'er many tongues was empress. She in vice Of luxury was so shameless, that she made And held the land, which now the Soldan rules. There mark'd I Helen, for whose sake so long As cranes.] This simile is imitated by Lorenzo de Me dici, in his Ambra, a poem, first published by Mr. Roscoe, in the Appendix to his Life of Lorenzo: Marking the tracts of air, the clamorous cranes In marshall'd order through th' ethereal void. Roscoe, v. i. c. v. p. 257, 4to. edit. Compare Homer, Il., iii. 3. Virgil, Æn., 1. x. 264. Oppian Halieut., lib. i. 620. Ruccellai, Le Api, 942, and Dante's Purgatory, xxiv. 63. 2 Liking. His lustes were as law in his degree. Chaucer, Monke's Tale. Nero. That she succeeded Ninus her espoused.] Che succedette a Nino e fu sua sposa. M Artaud, in his Histoire de Dante, p. 589, mentions a manuscript work called Attacanti's Quadragesimale de reditu peccatoris ad Deum, in which the line is thus cited: Che sugger dette a Nino e fu sua sposa. "Who suckled Ninus, and was his wife." This remarkable reading had been before noticed by Federici Intorno ad alcune varianti nel testo della Divina Commedia Ed. Milan. 1836. See the Biblioteca Italiana, tom. 82, p. 282. It appears from the treatise De Monarchiâ, (1. ii.) that Dante derived his knowledge of Assyrian history from his favorite author Orosius, (l. i. c. iv.) who relates that Semiramis both succeeded Ninus through the artifice of personating her son, and that she committed incest with her son; but as the name of her husband Ninus only is there recorded, and as other historians call the son Ninias, it is probable that the common reading is right. Paris I saw, and Tristan; and beside, A thousand more he show'd me, and by name When I had heard my sage instructor name Those dames and knights of antique days, o'erpower'd By pity, well-nigh in amaze my mind Was lost; and I began: "Bard! willingly I would address those two together coming, Which seem so light before the wind." He thus: "Note thou, when nearer they to us approach. Then by that love which carries them along, Entreat; and they will come." Soon as the wind Sway'd them towards us, I thus framed my speech "O wearied spirits! come, and hold discourse With us, if by none else restrain'd." By fond desire invited, on wide wings As doves And firm, to their sweet nest returning home, "O gracious creature and benign! who go'st Visiting, through this element obscure,1 • Us, who the world with bloody stain imbrued; "Love, that in gentle heart is quickly learn'd,' 1 Element obscure] "L'aer perso." Much is said by the commentators concerning the exact sense of the word "perso." It cannot be explained in clearer terms than those used by Dante himself in his Convito: "Il perso è un colore misto di purpureo e nero, ma vince il nero." p. 185. "It is a color mixed of purple and black, but the black prevails." The word recurs several times in this poem. Chaucer also uses it in the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, Doctour of Phis ike: In sanguin and in perse he clad was alle. Love, that in gentle heart is quickly learn'd.] A line taken by Marino, Adone, c. cxli. st. 251. Entangled him by that fair form, from me That the reader of the original may not be misled as to the exact sense of the word "s'apprende," which I have rendered "is learn'd," it may be right to apprize him that it signifies "is caught," and that it is a metaphor from a thing taking fire. Thus it is used by Guido Guinicelli, whom indeed our poet seems here to have had in view: Fuoco d' Amore in gentil cor s'apprende, Sonetti, &c., di diversi Antichi Toscani. The fire of love in gentle heart is caught, 1 Love, that denial takes from none beloved.] Amor, ch' a null' amato amar perdona. So Boccaccio, in his Filocopo, 1. 1. Amore mai non perdonò l'amore a nullo amato And Pulci, in the Morgante Maggiore, c. iv. E perchè amor mal volontier perdona, Che non sia al fin sempre amato chi ama. Ediz. Indeed, n.any of the Italian poets have repeated this verse. 2 Caïna.] The place to which murderers are doomed. 3 Francesca.] Francesca, daughter of Guido da Polenta, lord of Ravenna, was given by her father in marriage to Lanciotto, son of Malatesta, lord of Rimini, a man of extraordinary courage, but deformed in his person. His brother Paolo, who unhappily possessed those graces which the husband of Francesca wanted, engaged her affections; and being taken in adultery, they were both put to death by the enraged Lanciotto. See notes to Canto xxvii. v. 38 and 43. Troya relates, that they were buried together; and that three centuries after, the bodies were found at Rimini, whither they had been removed from Pesaro, with the silken garments yet fresh. Veltro Allegorico di Dante. Ediz. 1826 p. 33. The whole of this passage is alluded to by Petrarch, in his Triumph of Love, c. iii.: |