Part 34 (1/2)

[766] _Myrrha_: This is a striking example of Dante's detestation of what may be called heartless sins. It is covered by the cla.s.sification of Canto xi. Yet it is almost with a shock that we find Myrrha here for personation, and not rather condemned to some other circle for another sin.

[767] _Buoso Donati_: Introduced as a thief in the Seventh Bolgia (_Inf._ xxv. 140). Buoso was possessed of a peerless mare, known as the Lady of the herd. To make some amends for his unscrupulous acquisition of wealth, he made a will bequeathing legacies to various religious communities. When he died his nephew Simon kept the fact concealed long enough to procure a personation of him as if on his death-bed by Gianni Schicchi, who had great powers of mimicry. Acting in the character of Buoso, the rogue professed his wish to make a new disposition of his means, and after specifying some trifling charitable bequests the better to maintain his a.s.sumed character, named Simon as general legatee, and bequeathed Buoso's mare to himself.

[768] _O ye, etc._: The speaker has heard and noted Virgil's words of explanation given in the previous Canto, line 94.

[769] _Master Adam_: Adam of Brescia, an accomplished worker in metals, was induced by the Counts Guidi of Romena in the Casentino, the upland district of the upper Arno, to counterfeit the gold coin of Florence.

This false coin is mentioned in a Chronicle as having been in circulation in 1281. It must therefore have been somewhat later that Master Adam was burned, as he was by sentence of the Republic, upon the road which led from Romena to Florence. A cairn still existing near the ruined castle bears the name of the 'dead man's cairn.'

[770] _The money coined, etc._: The gold florin, afterwards adopted in so many countries, was first struck in 1252; 'which florins weighed eight to the ounce, and bore the lily on the one side, and on the other Saint John.'--(Villani, vi. 54.) The piece was thus of about the weight of our half-sovereign. The gold was of twenty-four carats; that is, it had no alloy. The coin soon pa.s.sed into wide circulation, and to maintain its purity became for the Florentines a matter of the first importance. Villani, in the chapter above cited, tells how the King of Tunis finding the florin to be of pure gold sent for some of the Pisans, then the chief traders in his ports, and asked who were the Florentines that they coined such money. 'Only our Arabs,' was the answer; meaning that they were rough country folk, dependent on Pisa. 'Then what is your coin like?' he asked. A Florentine of Oltrarno named Pera Balducci, who was present, took the opportunity of informing him how great Florence was compared with Pisa, as was shown by that city having no gold coinage of its own; whereupon the King made the Florentines free of Tunis, and allowed them to have a factory there. 'And this,' adds Villani, who had himself been agent abroad for a great Florentine house of business, 'we had at first hand from the aforesaid Pera, a man worthy of credit, and with whom we were a.s.sociated in the Priorate.'

[771] _Guido, etc._: The Guidi of Romena were a branch of the great family of the Counts Guidi. The father of the three brothers in the text was grandson of the old Guido that married the Good Gualdrada, and cousin of the Guidoguerra met by Dante in the Seventh Circle (_Inf._ xvi. 38). How the third brother was called is not settled, nor which of the three was already dead in the beginning of 1300. The Alexander of Romena, who for some time was captain of the banished Florentine Whites, was, most probably, he of the text. A letter is extant professing to be written by Dante to two of Alexander's nephews on the occasion of his death, in which the poet excuses himself for absence from the funeral on the plea of poverty. By the time he wrote the _Inferno_ he may, owing to their s.h.i.+fty politics, have lost all liking for the family, yet it seems harsh measure that is here dealt to former friends and patrons.

[772] _Fonte Branda_: A celebrated fountain in the city of Siena. Near Romena is a spring which is also named Fonte Branda; and this, according to the view now most in favour, was meant by Master Adam. But was it so named in Dante's time? Or was it not so called only when the _Comedy_ had begun to awaken a natural interest in the old coiner, which local ingenuity did its best to meet? The early commentators know nothing of the Casentino Fonte Branda, and, though it is found mentioned under the date of 1539, that does not take us far enough back. In favour of the Sienese fountain is the consideration that it was the richest of any in the Tuscan cities; that it was a great architectural as well as engineering work; and that, although now more than half a century old, it was still the subject of curiosity with people far and near. Besides, Adam has already recalled the brooks of Casentino, and so the mention of the paltry spring at Romena would introduce no fresh idea like that of the abundant waters of the great fountain which daily quenched the thirst of thousands.

[773] _Eleven miles_: It will be remembered that the previous Bolgia was twenty-two miles in circ.u.mference.

[774] _Three carats_: Three carats in twenty-four being of some foreign substance.

[775] _Who smoke, etc._: This description of sufferers from high fever, like that of Master Adam with his tympanitis, has the merit, such as it is, of being true to the life.

[776] _One, etc._: Potiphar's wife.

[777] _Sinon_: Called of Troy, as being known through his conduct at the siege. He pretended to have deserted from the Greeks, and by a false story persuaded the Trojans to admit the fatal wooden horse.

[778] _When Trojans, etc._: When King Priam sought to know for what purpose the wooden horse was really constructed.

[779] _Narcissus' mirror_: The pool in which Narcissus saw his form reflected.

[780] _'Tis shame_: Dante knows that Virgil would have scorned to portray such a scene of low life as this, but he must allow himself a wider licence and here as elsewhere refuses nothing, even in the way of mean detail, calculated to convey to his readers 'a full experience of the Inferno' as he conceived of it--the place 'where all the vileness of the world is cast.'

CANTO x.x.xI.

The very tongue that first had caused me pain, Biting till both my cheeks were crimsoned o'er, With healing medicine me restored again.

So have I heard, the lance Achilles[781] bore, Which earlier was his father's, first would wound And then to health the wounded part restore.

From that sad valley[782] we our backs turned round, Up the encircling rampart making way Nor uttering, as we crossed it, any sound.

Here was it less than night and less than day, 10 And scarce I saw at all what lay ahead; But of a trumpet the sonorous bray-- No thunder-peal were heard beside it--led Mine eyes along the line by which it pa.s.sed, Till on one spot their gaze concentrated.

When by the dolorous rout was overcast The sacred enterprise of Charlemagne Roland[783] blew not so terrible a blast.

Short time my head was that way turned, when plain I many lofty towers appeared to see. 20 'Master, what town is this?' I asked. 'Since fain Thou art,' he said, 'to pierce the obscurity While yet through distance 'tis inscrutable, Thou must of error needs the victim be.

Arriving there thou shalt distinguish well How much by distance was thy sense betrayed; Therefore to swifter course thyself compel.'

Then tenderly[784] he took my hand, and said: 'Ere we pa.s.s further I would have thee know, That at the fact thou mayst be less dismayed, 30 These are not towers but giants; in a row Set round the brink each in the pit abides, His navel hidden and the parts below.'

And even as when the veil of mist divides Little by little dawns upon the sight What the obscuring vapour earlier hides; So, piercing the gross air uncheered by light, As I step after step drew near the bound My error fled, but I was filled with fright.

As Montereggion[785] with towers is crowned 40 Which from the walls encircling it arise; So, rising from the pit's encircling mound, Half of their bodies towered before mine eyes-- Dread giants, still by Jupiter defied From Heaven whene'er it thunders in the skies.

The face of one already I descried, His shoulders, breast, and down his belly far, And both his arms dependent by his side.

When Nature ceased such creatures as these are To form, she of a surety wisely wrought 50 Wresting from Mars such ministers of war.

And though she rue not that to life she brought The whale and elephant, who deep shall read Will justify her wisdom in his thought; For when the powers of intellect are wed To strength and evil will, with them made one, The race of man is helpless left indeed.

As large and long as is St. Peter's cone[786]

At Rome, the face appeared; of every limb On scale like this was fas.h.i.+oned every bone. 60 So that the bank, which covered half of him As might a tunic, left uncovered yet So much that if to his hair they sought to climb Three Frisians[787] end on end their match had met; For thirty great palms I of him could see, Counting from where a man's cloak-clasp is set.

_Rafel[788] mai amech zabi almi!_ Out of the b.e.s.t.i.a.l mouth began to roll, Which scarce would suit more dulcet psalmody.

And then my Leader charged him: 'Stupid soul, 70 Stick to thy horn. With it relieve thy mind When rage or other pa.s.sions pa.s.s control.

Feel at thy neck, round which the thong is twined O puzzle-headed wretch! from which 'tis slung; Clipping thy monstrous breast thou shalt it find.'