By one so deep in love, then he, who ne'er All trembling kiss'd. The book and writer both Were love's purveyors. In its leaves that day The other wail'd so sorely, that heart-struck 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 discoloured water; Cerberus meanwhile barking over them with his threefold throat, and rending them piecemeal. One of these, who on earth was named Ciacco, foretels 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. 1 My sense reviving 3, that erewhile had droop'd Large hail, discolour'd water, sleety flaw Through the dun midnight air stream'd down amain: Stank all the land whereon that tempest fell. In its leaves that day We read no more.] Nothing can exceed the delicacy with which Francesca in these words intimates her guilt. And like a corse fell to the ground.] E caddi, come corpo morto cade. So Pulci: E cadde come morto in terra cade. Morgante Maggiore, c. xxii. And Ariosto: E cada, come corpo morto cade. Orl. Fur. c. ii. st. 55. "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead." Revelation, 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. Cerberus, cruel monster, fierce and strange, His eyes glare crimson, black his unctuous beard, The other screening, oft they roll them round, His jaws, and the fangs show'd us; not a limb To swallow it; so dropp'd the loathsome cheeks 66 They all along the earth extended lay, That great worm.] Juxta-infernum vermis erat infinitæ magnitudinis ligatus maximâ catenà. 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 inost 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 κύνα τρέχειν πυκινώτατον ἑρπετόν. Heyne's Pindar. Fragm Epinic. i. 2. In Hieron. As if I saw thee never. But inform No more he said, and I my speech resumed : Just one in habit there: and tell the cause, He then: "After long striving they will come And grieving sore. The just are two in number 8, 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 Boccaccio's Decameron, Giorn. ix. Nov. 8. The divided city.] The city of Florence, divided into the Bianchi and Neri factions. 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. The other.] The opposite party of the Neri, at the head of which was Corso Donati. This must fall.] The Bianchi. • Three solar circles.] Three years. 7 Of one, who under shore Now rests.] Charles of Valois, by whose means the Neri were replaced. The just are two in number.] Who these two were, the commentators are not agreed. Some understand them to be Dante himself and his friend But they neglected. Avarice, envy, pride', They who so well deserved; of Giacopo3, 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, Guido Cavalcanti. But this 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. clxxix. 1 Avarice, envy, pride.] Invidia, superbia ed avarizia Vedea moltiplicar tra miei figliuoli. Fazio degli Uberti, Dittamondo, lib. i. cap. xxix. 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. Adverse to these shall then in glory come, He then: "Consult thy knowledge3; that decides, CANTO VII. ARGUMENT. In the present Canto, Dante describes his descent into the fourth circle, at the beginning of which he sees Plutus stationed. Here one like doom awaits the prodigal and the avaricious; which is, to meet in direful conflict, rolling great weights against each other with mutual upbraidings. From hence Virgil takes occasion to show how vain the goods that are committed into the charge of Fortune; and this moves our author to inquire what being that Fortune is, of whom he speaks: which question being resolved, they go down into the fifth circle, where they find the 1 Resume.] Imitated by Frezzi : Allor ripiglieran la carne e l'ossa; Li reí oscuri, e i buon con splendori Per la virtù della divina possa. Il Quadr. lib. iv. cap. xv. * Touching.] Conversing, though in a slight and superficial manner, on the life to come. 3 Consult thy knowledge.] We are referred to the following passage in St. Augustiu:-"Cum fiet resurrectio carnis, et bonorum gaudia et malorum tormenta majora erunt."-"At the resurrection of the Hesh, both the happiness of the good and the torments of the wicked will be increased." D |