Part 20 (2/2)

[465] _Fiesole_: The mother city of Florence, to which also most of the Fiesolans were believed to have migrated at the beginning of the eleventh century. But all the Florentines did their best to establish a Roman descent for themselves; and Dante among them. His fellow-citizens he held to be for the most part of the boorish Fiesolan breed, rude and stony-hearted as the mountain in whose cleft the cradle of their race was seen from Florence.

[466] _Both sides_: This pa.s.sage was most likely written not long after Dante had ceased to entertain any hope of winning his way back to Florence in the company of the Whites, whose exile he shared, and when he was already standing in proud isolation from Black and White, from Guelf and Ghibeline. There is nothing to show that his expectation of being courted by both sides ever came true. Never a strong partisan, he had, to use his own words, at last to make a party by himself, and stood out an Imperialist with his heart set on the triumph of an Empire far n.o.bler than that the Ghibeline desired. Dante may have hoped to hold a place of honour some day in the council of a righteous Emperor; and this may be the glorious haven with the dream of which he was consoled in the wanderings of his exile.

[467] _Another text_: Ciacco and Farinata have already hinted at the troubles that lie ahead of him (_Inf._ vi. 65, and x. 79).

[468] _The clown, etc._: The honest performance of duty is the best defence against adverse fortune.

[469] _Right about_: In traversing the sands they keep upon the right-hand margin of the embanked stream, Virgil leading the way, with Dante behind him on the right so that Brunetto may see and hear him well.

[470] _He hears, etc._: Of all the interpretations of this somewhat obscure sentence that seems the best which applies it to Virgil's _Quicquid erit, superanda omnis fortuna ferendo est_--'Whatever shall happen, every fate is to be vanquished by endurance' (_aen._ v. 710).

Taking this way of it, we have in the form of Dante's profession of indifference to all the adverse fortune that may be in store for him a refined compliment to his Guide; and in Virgil's gesture and words an equally delicate revelation of himself to Brunetto, in which is conveyed an answer to the question at line 48, 'Who is this that shows the way?'--Otherwise, the words convey Virgil's approbation of Dante's having so well attended to his advice to store Farinata's prophecy in his memory (_Inf._ x.127).

[471] _His band_: That is, the company to which Brunetto specially belongs, and from which for the time he has separated himself.

[472] _Stained with one sin_: Dante will not make Brunetto individually confess his sin.

[473] _Priscian_: The great grammarian of the sixth century; placed here without any reason, except that he is a representative teacher of youth.

[474] _Francis d'Accorso_: Died about 1294. The son of a great civil lawyer, he was himself professor of the civil law at Bologna, where his services were so highly prized that the Bolognese forbade him, on pain of the confiscation of his goods, to accept an invitation from Edward I.

to go to Oxford.

[475] _Of him the Slave, etc._: One of the Pope's t.i.tles is _Servus Servorum Domini_. The application of it to Boniface, so hated by Dante, may be ironical: 'Fit servant of such a slave to vice!' The priest referred to so contemptuously is Andrea, of the great Florentine family of the Mozzi, who was much engaged in the political affairs of his time, and became Bishop of Florence in 1286. About ten years later he was translated to Vicenza, which stands on the Bacchiglione; and he died shortly afterwards. According to Benvenuto he was a ridiculous preacher and a man of dissolute manners. What is now most interesting about him is that he was Dante's chief pastor during his early manhood, and is consigned by him to the same disgraceful circle of Inferno as his beloved master Brunetto Latini--a terrible evidence of the corruption of life among the churchmen as well as the scholars of the thirteenth century.

[476] _New dust-clouds_: Raised by a band by whom they are about to be met.

[477] _My Treasure_: The _Tresor_, or _Tesoro_, Brunetto's princ.i.p.al work, was written by him in French as being 'the pleasantest language, and the most widely spread.' In it he treats of things in general in the encyclopedic fas.h.i.+on set him by Alphonso of Castile. The first half consists of a summary of civil and natural history. The second is devoted to ethics, rhetoric, and politics. To a great extent it is a compilation, containing, for instance, a translation, nearly complete, of the Ethics of Aristotle--not, of course, direct from the Greek. It is written in a plodding style, and speaks to more industry than genius. To it Dante is indebted for some facts and fables.

[478] _The Green Cloth_: To commemorate a victory won by the Veronese there was inst.i.tuted a race to be run on the first Sunday of Lent. The prize was a piece of green cloth. The compet.i.tors ran naked.--Brunetto does not disappear into the gloom without a parting word of applause from his old pupil. Dante's rigorous sentence on his beloved master is p.r.o.nounced as softly as it can be. We must still wonder that he has the heart to bring him to such an awful judgment.

CANTO XVI.

Now could I hear the water as it fell To the next circle[479] with a murmuring sound Like what is heard from swarming hives to swell; When three shades all together with a bound Burst from a troop met by us pressing on 'Neath rain of that sharp torment. O'er the ground Toward us approaching, they exclaimed each one: 'Halt thou, whom from thy garb[480] we judge to be A citizen of our corrupted town.'

Alas, what scars I on their limbs did see, 10 Both old and recent, which the flames had made: Even now my ruth is fed by memory.

My Teacher halted at their cry, and said: 'Await a while:' and looked me in the face; 'Some courtesy to these were well displayed.

And but that fire--the manner of the place-- Descends for ever, fitting 'twere to find Rather than them, thee quickening thy pace.'

When we had halted, they again combined In their old song; and, reaching where we stood, 20 Into a wheel all three were intertwined.

And as the athletes used, well oiled and nude, To feel their grip and, wary, watch their chance, Ere they to purpose strike and wrestle could; So each of them kept fixed on me his glance As he wheeled round,[481] and in opposing ways His neck and feet seemed ever to advance.

'Ah, if the misery of this sand-strewn place Bring us and our pet.i.tions in despite,'

One then began, 'and flayed and grimy face; 30 Let at the least our fame goodwill incite To tell us who thou art, whose living feet Thus through Inferno wander without fright.

For he whose footprints, as thou see'st, I beat, Though now he goes with body peeled and nude, More than thou thinkest, in the world was great.

The grandson was he of Gualdrada good; He, Guidoguerra,[482] with his armed hand Did mighty things, and by his counsel shrewd.

The other who behind me treads the sand 40 Is one whose name should on the earth be dear; For he is Tegghiaio[483] Aldobrand.

And I, who am tormented with them here, James Rusticucci[484] was; my fierce and proud Wife of my ruin was chief minister.'

If from the fire there had been any shroud I should have leaped down 'mong them, nor have earned Blame, for my Teacher sure had this allowed.

But since I should have been all baked and burned, Terror prevailed the goodwill to restrain 50 With which to clasp them in my arms I yearned.

Then I began: ”Twas not contempt but pain Which your condition in my breast awoke, Where deeply rooted it will long remain, When this my Master words unto me spoke, By which expectancy was in me stirred That ye who came were honourable folk.

I of your city[485] am, and with my word Your deeds and honoured names oft to recall Delighted, and with joy of them I heard. 60 To the sweet fruits I go, and leave the gall, As promised to me by my Escort true; But first I to the centre down must fall.'

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