The Divine Comedy Of Dante Alighieri Part 12

[283] _The boorish party_: _la parte selvaggia_. The Whites; but what is exactly meant by _selvaggia_ is not clear. Literally it is 'woodland,'

and some say it refers to the Cerchi having originally come from a well-wooded district; which is absurd. Nor, taking the word in its secondary meaning of savage, does it apply better to one party than another--not so well, perhaps, to the Whites as to the Blacks. Villani also terms the Cerchi _salvatichi_ (viii. 39), and in a connection where it may mean rude, ill-mannered. I take it that Dante here indulges in a gibe at the party to which he once belonged, but which, ere he began the _Comedy_, he had quite broken with. In _Parad._ xvii. 62 he terms the members of it 'wicked and stupid.' The sneer in the text would come well enough from the witty and soft-living Ciacco.

[284] _Holpen, etc._: Pope Boniface, already intriguing to gain the preponderance in Florence, which for a time he enjoyed, with the greedy and faithless Charles of Valois for his agent.

[285] _Two just_: Dante and another, unknown. He thus distinctly puts from himself any blame for the evil turn things had taken in Florence.

How thoroughly he had broken with his party ere he wrote this is proved by his exclusion of the irresolute but respectable Vieri dei Cerchi from the number of the just men. He, in Dante's judgment, was only too much listened to.--It will be borne in mind that, at the time a.s.signed to the action of the _Comedy_, Dante was still resident in Florence.

[286] _Tegghiaio_: See _Inf._ xvi. 42. _Farinata_: _Inf._ x. 32.

[287] _Rusticucci_: _Inf._ xvi. 44. _Mosca_: _Inf._ xxviii. 106.

_Arrigo_: Cannot be identified. All these distinguished Florentines we may a.s.sume to have been hospitable patrons of Ciacco's.

[288] _But when, etc._: In the Inferno many such prayers are addressed to Dante. The shades in Purgatory ask to have their friends on earth stirred to offer up pet.i.tions for their speedy purification and deliverance; but the only alleviation possible for the doomed spirits is to know that they are not yet forgotten up in the 'sweet world.' A double artistic purpose is served by representing them as feeling thus.

It relieves the mind to think that in such misery there is any source of comfort at all. And by making them be still interested on their own account in the thoughts of men, the eager colloquies in which they engage with Dante on such unequal terms gain in verisimilitude.

[289] _And list, etc._: The final sentence against them is to echo, in its results, through all eternity.

[290] _The world to come_: The life after doomsday.

[291] _Thy Science_: To Aristotle. In the _Convito_, iv. 16, he quotes 'the Philosopher' as teaching that 'everything is then at its full perfection when it thoroughly fulfils its special functions.'

[292] _Than now_: Augustine says that 'after the resurrection of the flesh the joys of the blessed and the sufferings of the wicked will be enhanced.' And, according to Thomas Aquinas, 'the soul, without the body, is wanting in the perfection designed for it by Nature.'

CANTO VII.

Pape[293] Satan! Pape Satan! Aleppe!

Plutus[294] began in accents rough and hard: And that mild Sage, all-knowing, said to me, For my encouragement: 'Pay no regard Unto thy fear; whatever power he sways Thy pa.s.sage down this cliff shall not be barred.'

Then turning round to that inflamed face He bade: 'Accursed wolf,[295] at peace remain; And, pent within thee, let thy fury blaze.

Down to the pit we journey not in vain: 10 So rule they where by Michael in Heaven's height On the adulterous pride[296] was vengeance ta'en.'

Then as the bellied sails, by wind swelled tight, Suddenly drag whenever snaps the mast; Such, falling to the ground, the monster's plight.

To the Fourth Cavern so we downward pa.s.sed, Winning new reaches of the doleful sh.o.r.e Where all the vileness of the world is cast.

Justice of G.o.d! which pilest more and more Pain as I saw, and travail manifold! 20 Why will we sin, to be thus wasted sore?

As at Charybdis waves are forward rolled To break on other billows midway met, The people here a counterdance must hold.

A greater crowd than I had seen as yet, With piercing yells advanced on either track, Rolling great stones to which their chests were set.

They crashed together, and then each turned back Upon the way he came, while shouts arise, 'Why clutch it so?' and 'Why to hold it slack?' 30 In the dark circle wheeled they on this wise From either hand to the opposing part, Where evermore they raised insulting cries.

Thither arrived, each, turning, made fresh start Through the half circle[297] a new joust to run; And I, stung almost to the very heart, Said, 'O my Master, wilt thou make it known Who the folk are? Were these all clerks[298] who go Before us on the left, with shaven crown?'

And he replied: 'All of them squinted so 40 In mental vision while in life they were, They nothing spent by rule. And this they show, And with their yelping voices make appear When half-way round the circle they have sped, And sins opposing them asunder tear.

Each wanting thatch of hair upon his head Was once a clerk, or pope, or cardinal, In whom abound the ripest growths of greed.'

And I: 'O Master, surely among all Of these I ought[299] some few to recognise, 50 Who by such filthy sins were held in thrall.'

And he to me: 'Vain thoughts within thee rise; Their witless life, which made them vile, now mocks-- Dimming[300] their faces still--all searching eyes.

Eternally they meet with hostile shocks; These rising from the tomb at last shall stand With tight clenched fists, and those with ruined locks.[301]

Squandering or h.o.a.rding, they the happy land[302]

Have lost, and now are marshalled for this fray; Which to describe doth no fine words demand. 60 Know hence, my Son, how fleeting is the play Of goods at the dispose of Fortune thrown, And which mankind to such fierce strife betray.

Not all the gold which is beneath the moon Could purchase peace, nor all that ever was, To but one soul of these by toil undone.'

'Master,' I said, 'tell thou, ere making pause, Who Fortune is of whom thou speak'st askance, Who holds all worldly riches in her claws.'[303]

'O foolish creatures, lost in ignorance!' 70 He answer made. 'Now see that the reply Thou store, which I concerning her advance.

He who in knowledge is exalted high, Framing[304] all Heavens gave such as should them guide, That so each part might s.h.i.+ne to all; whereby Is equal light diffused on every side: And likewise to one guide and governor, Of worldly splendours did control confide, That she in turns should different peoples dower 79 With this vain good; from blood should make it pa.s.s To blood, in spite of human wit. Hence, power, Some races failing,[305] other some ama.s.s, According to her absolute decree Which hidden lurks, like serpent in the gra.s.s.

Vain 'gainst her foresight yours must ever be.

She makes provision, judges, holds her reign, As doth his power supreme each deity.

Her permutations can no truce sustain; Necessity[306] compels her to be swift, So swift they follow who their turn must gain. 90 And this is she whom they so often[307] lift Upon the cross, who ought to yield her praise; And blame on her and scorn unjustly s.h.i.+ft.

But she is blest nor hears what any says, With other primal creatures turns her sphere, Jocund and glad, rejoicing in her ways.

To greater woe now let us downward steer.

The stars[308] which rose when I began to guide Are falling now, nor may we linger here.'

We crossed the circle to the other side, 100 Arriving where a boiling fountain fell Into a brooklet by its streams supplied.

In depth of hue the flood did perse[309] excel, And we, with this dim stream to lead us on, Descended by a pathway terrible.

A marsh which by the name of Styx is known, Fed by this gloomy brook, lies at the base Of threatening cliffs hewn out of cold grey stone.

And I, intent on study of the place,[310]

Saw people in that ditch, mud-smeared. In it 110 All naked stood with anger-clouded face.

Nor with their fists alone each fiercely hit The other, but with feet and chest and head, And with their teeth to shreds each other bit.

'Son, now behold,' the worthy Master said, 'The souls of those whom anger made a prize; And, further, I would have thee certified That 'neath the water people utter sighs, And make the bubbles to the surface come; As thou mayst see by casting round thine eyes. 120 Fixed in the mud they say: "We lived in gloom[311]

In the sweet air made jocund by the day, Nursing within us melancholy fume.

In this black mud we now our gloom display."

This hymn with gurgling throats they strive to sound, Which they in speech unbroken fail to say.'

And thus about the loathsome pool we wound For a wide arc, between the dry and soft, With eyes on those who gulp the filth, turned round.

At last we reached a tower that soared aloft. 130

FOOTNOTES:

[293] _Pape, etc._: These words have exercised the ingenuity of many scholars, who on the whole lean to the opinion that they contain an appeal to Satan against the invasion of his domain. Virgil seems to have understood them, but the text leaves it doubtful whether Dante himself did. Later on, but there with an obvious purpose, we find a line of pure gibberish (_Inf._ x.x.xi. 67).

[294] _Plutus_: The G.o.d of riches; degraded here into a demon. He guards the Fourth Circle, which is that of the misers and spendthrifts.

[295] _Wolf_: Frequently used by Dante as symbolical of greed.

[296] _Pride_: Which in its way was a kind of greed--that of dominion.

Similarly, the avarice represented by the wolf of Canto i. was seen to be the l.u.s.t of aggrandis.e.m.e.nt. Virgil here answers Plutus's (supposed) appeal to Satan by referring to the higher Power, under whose protection he and his companion come.

[297] _The half circle_: This Fourth Circle is divided half-way round between the misers and spendthrifts, and the two bands at set periods clash against one another in their vain effort to pa.s.s into the section belonging to the opposite party. Their condition is emblematical of their sins while in life. They were one-sided in their use of wealth; so here they can never complete the circle. The monotony of their employment and of their cries represents their subjection to one idea, and, as in life, so now, their displeasure is excited by nothing so much as by coming into contact with the failing opposite to their own. Yet they are set in the same circle because the sin of both arose from inordinate desire of wealth, the miser craving it to h.o.a.rd, and the spendthrift to spend. In Purgatory also they are placed together (see _Purg._ xxii. 40). So, on Dante's scheme, liberality is allied to and dependent on a wise and reasonable frugality.--There is no hint of the enormous length of the course run by these shades. Far lower down, when the circles of the Inferno have greatly narrowed, the circuit is twenty-two miles (_Inf._ xxix. 9).

[298] _Clerks_: Churchmen. The tonsure is the sign that a man is of ecclesiastical condition. Many took the tonsure who never became priests.

[299] _I ought, etc._: Dante is astonished that he can pick out no greedy priest or friar of his acquaintance, when he had known so many.

[300] _Dimming, etc._: Their original disposition is by this time smothered by the predominance of greed. Dante treats these sinners with a special contemptuous bitterness. Scores of times since he became dependent on the generosity of others he must have watched how at a bare hint the faces of miser and spendthrift fell, while their eyes travelled vaguely beyond him, and their voices grew cold.

[301] _Ruined locks_: 'A spendthrift will spend his very hair,' says an Italian proverb.

[302] _The happy land_: Heaven.

[303] _Her claws_: Dante speaks of Fortune as if she were a brutal and somewhat malicious power. In Virgil's answer there is a refutation of the opinion of Fortune given by Dante himself, in the _Convito_ (iv.

11). After describing three ways in which the goods of Fortune come to men he says: 'In each of these three ways her injustice is manifest.'

This part of the _Convito_ Fraticelli seems almost to prove was written in 1297.