Volume I Part 24 (1/2)

(Cary. [2])

III. Consider the wonderful profoundness of the whole third canto of the 'Inferno'; and especially of the inscription over h.e.l.l gate:

Per me si va, &c.--

which can only be explained by a meditation on the true nature of religion; that is,--reason 'plus' the understanding. I say profoundness rather than sublimity; for Dante does not so much elevate your thoughts as send them down deeper. In this canto all the images are distinct, and even vividly distinct; but there is a total impression of infinity; the wholeness is not in vision or conception, but in an inner feeling of totality, and absolute being.

IV. In picturesqueness, Dante is beyond all other poets, modern or ancient, and more in the stern style of Pindar, than of any other.

Michel Angelo is said to have made a design for every page of the 'Divina Commedia'. As superexcellent in this respect, I would note the conclusion of the third canto of the 'Inferno':

Ed ecco verso noi venir per nave Un vecchio bianco per antico pelo Gridando: guai a voi anime prave: &c. ...

(Ver. 82. &c.)

And lo! toward us in a bark Comes on an old man, h.o.a.ry white with eld, Crying, ”Woe to you wicked spirits!” ...

(CARY.)

Caron dimonio con occhi di bragia Loro accennando, tutte le raccoglie: Batte col remo qualunque s' adagia.

Come d' autunno si levan le foglie L' una appresso dell altra, infin che 'l ramo Rende alia terra tutte le sue spoglie; Similemente il mal seme d' Adamo, Gittansi di quel lito ad una ad una Per cenni, com' augel per suo richiamo.

(Ver. 100, &c.)

--Charon, demoniac form, With eyes of burning coal, collects them all, Beck'ning, and each that lingers, with his oar Strikes. As fall off the light autumnal leaves, One still another following, till the bough Strews all its honours on the earth beneath;-- E'en in like manner Adam's evil brood Cast themselves one by one down from the sh.o.r.e Each at a beck, as falcon at his call.

(CARY.)

And this pa.s.sage, which I think admirably picturesque:

Ma poco valse, che l' ale al sospetto Non potero avanzar: quegli and sotto, E quei drizz, volando, suso il petto.

Non altrimenti l' anitra di botto, Quando 'l falcon s' appressa, giu s' attuffa, Ed ei ritorna su crucciato e rotto.

Irato Calcabrina della buffa, Volando dietro gli tenne, invaghito, Che quei campa.s.se, per aver la zuffa: E come 'l barattier fu disparito, Cosi volse gli artigli al suo compagno, E fu con lui sovra 'l fosso ghermito.

Ma l' altro fu bene sparvier grif.a.gno Ad artigliar ben lui, e amedue Cadder nel mezzo del bollente stagno.

Lo caldo sghermidor subito fue: Ma per di levarsi era niente, Si aveano inviscate l' ale sue.

('Infer.' c. xxii. ver. 127, &c.)

But little it avail'd: terror outstripp'd His following flight: the other plung'd beneath, And he with upward pinion rais'd his breast: E'en thus the water-fowl, when she perceives The falcon near, dives instant down, while he Enrag'd and spent retires. That mockery In Calcabrina fury stirr'd, who flew After him, with desire of strife inflam'd; And, for the barterer had 'scap'd, so turn'd His talons on his comrade. O'er the d.y.k.e In grapple close they join'd; but th' other prov'd A goshawk, able to rend well his foe; And in the boiling lake both fell. The heat Was umpire soon between them, but in vain To lift themselves they strove, so fast were glued Their pennons.

(CARY.)

V. Very closely connected with this picturesqueness, is the topographic reality of Dante's journey through h.e.l.l. You should note and dwell on this as one of his great charms, and which gives a striking peculiarity to his poetic power. He thus takes the thousand delusive forms of a nature worse than chaos, having no reality but from the pa.s.sions which they excite, and compels them into the service of the permanent. Observe the exceeding truth of these lines: