But tell me ; in the time of your sweet sighs, How him love thrall'd. Alone we were, and no Ecco quei che le carte empion di sogni Lancilotto Tristano e gli a tri erranti: Onde convien che 'l vulgo errante agogni; Vedi Ginevra, Isotta e l'altre amanti; Mr. Leigh Hunt has expanded the present episode into a beautiful poem, in his "Story of Rimini." 1 No greater grief than to remember days Of joy, when misery is at hand.] Imitated by Chaucer: For of Fortunis sharp adversite By Marino: Troilus and Crescide, b. iil Che non ha doglia il misero maggiore, And by Fortiguerra: Adone, c. xiv. st. 100 Ricciardetto, c. xi st. 83 The original, perhaps, was in Boëtius de Consol. Philosoph. "In omni adversitate fortunæ infelicissimum genus est infortunii fuisse felicem et non esse." 1. 2, pr. 4. Boëtius, and Cicero de Amicitiâ, were the two first books that engaged the attention of Dante, as he himself tells us in the Convito, p. 68. 2 Lancelot.] One of the Knights of the Round Table, and the lover of Ginevra, or Guinever, celebrated in romance. The incident alluded to seems to have made a strong impression on the imagination of Dante, who introduces it again, in the Paradise, Canto xvi. • At one point.] Questo quel punto fù, che sol mi vinse. Tasso, Il Torrismondo a. i. s. 3. The wished smile, so rapturously kiss'd All trembling kiss'd. The book and writer both CANTO VI. ARGUMENT. On his recovery, the Poet finds himself in the third circle, where the gluttonous are punished. Their torment is, to lie in the mire, under a continual and heavy storm of hail, snow, and discolored water; Cerberus meanwhile barking over them with his threefold throat, and rending them piecemeal. One of these, who on earth was named Ciacco, foretells the divisions with which Florence is about to be. distracted. Dante proposes a question to his guide, who solves it; and they proceed towards the fourth circle. 3 My sense reviving, that erewhile had droop'd Large hail, discolor'd water, sleety flaw We reaa no more.] Nothing can exceed the delicacy with which Francesca in these words intimates her guilt. 2 And like a corse fell to the ground.] E caddi, come corpo morto cade. "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead." Reve lation, i. 17. My sense reviving.] Al tornar della mente, che si chiuse, Dinanzi alla pietà de' duo cognati. Berni has made a sportive application of these lines, in his Orl. Inn., lib. iii. c. viii st. 1. Through the dun midnight air stream'd down amain Stank all the land whereon that tempest fell. Cerberus, cruel monster, fierce and strange, Through his wide threefold throat, barks as a dog Over the multitude immersed beneath. His eyes glare crimson, black his unctuous beard, His belly large, and claw'd the hands, with which He tears the spirits, flays them, and their limbs Piecemeal disparts. Howling there spread, as curs, Under the rainy deluge, with one side The other screening, oft they roll them round, A wretched, godless crew. When that great worm' His jaws, and the fangs show'd us; not a limb To swallow it; so dropp'd the loathsome cheeks 1 That great worm.] Juxta-infernum vermis erat infinita magnitudinis ligatus maximâ catenâ. Alberici Visio, § 9. In Canto xxxiv., Lucifer is called The abhorred worm, that boreth through the world. This is imitated by Ariosto, Orl. Fur., c. xlvi. st. 76. Shakspeare, Milton, and Cowper, who well understood that the most common words are often the most impressive, have used the synonymous term in our language with the best effect; as Pindar has done in Greek: ̓Απὸ Ταϋγέτου μὲν Λάκαιναν ἐπὶ θηρσὶ κόνα τρέχειν πυκινώτατον ἑρπετόν. Heyne's Pindar. Fragm. Epinic. ii. 2, In Hieron Me who thou art, that in a place so sad No more he said, and I my speech resumed. Just one inhabit there: and tell the cause, He then: "After long striving they will come 1 Ciacco.] So called from his inordinate appetite; Ciacco, in Italian, signifying a pig. The real name of this glutton has not been transmitted to us. He is introduced in Boccac cio's Decameron, Giorn. ix. Nov. 8. The divided city.] The city of Florence, divided into the Bianchi and Neri factions. 3 The wild party from the woods.] So called, because it was headed by Veri de' Cerchi, whose family had lately come into the city from Acone, and the woody country of the Val di Nievole. 4 The other. The opposite party of the Neri, at the head of which was Corso Donati. Charles of Valois, by whose means the Neri were replaced 8 The just are two in number.] Who these two were, the tommentators are not agreed. Some understand them to be Dante himself and his friend Guido Cavalcanti. But this But they neglected. Avarice, envy, pride,1 They who so well deserved; of Giacopo, Their minds on working good. Oh! tell me where If heaven's sweet cup, or poisonous drug of hell, This said, his fixed eyes he turn'd askance, When thus my guide: "No more his bed he leaves, would argue a presumption which our Poet himself elsewhere contradicts; for, in the Purgatory, he owns his consciousness of not being exempted from one at least of "the three fatal sparks, which had set the hearts of all on fire." See Canto xiii. 126. Others refer the encomium to Barduccio and Giovanni Vespignano, adducing the following passage from Villani in support of their opinion: "In the year 1331 died in Florence two just and good men, of holy life and conversation, and bountiful in almsgiving, although laymen. The one was named Barduccio, and was buried in S. Spirito, in the place of the Frati Romitani: the other, named Giovanni da Vespignano, was buried in S. Pietro Maggiore. And by each, God showed open miracles, in healing the sick and lunatic after divers manners; and for each there was ordained a solemn funeral, and many images of wax set up in discharge of vows that had been made." G. Villani, lib. x cap. 179. Avarice, envy, pride.] Invidia, superbia ed avarizia Vedea moltiplicar tra mici figliuoli. Fazio degli Uberti, Dittamondo, lib. i. cap. xxix. 2 Of Farinata and Tegghiaio.] See Canto x. and Notes, and Canto xvi. and Notes. 3 Giacopo.] Giacopo Rusticucci. See Canto xvi. and Notes. Arrigo, Mosca.] Of Arrigo, who is said by the commentators to have been of the noble family of the Fifanti, no mention afterwards occurs. Mosca degli Uberti, or de' Lamberti, is introduced in Canto xxviii. |