And after added: " Mary took more thought1 CANTO XXIII. ARGUMENT. They are overtaken by the spirit of Forese, who had been a friend of our Poet's on earth, and who now inveighs bitterly against the immodest dress of their countrywomen at Florence. On the green leaf mine eyes were fix'd, like his Of the diminutive birds, when thus I heard Thereat my face and steps at once I turn'd 1 Mary took more thought.] "The blessed virgin, who answers for you now in heaven, when she said to Jesus, at the marriage in Cana of Galilee,' they have no wine,' regarded not the gratification of her own taste, but the honour of the nuptial banquet." 2 The women of old Rome.] See Valerius Maximus, 1. ii. c. 1. 3 Daniel.] "Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Michael, and Azariah, Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink." Daniel, i. 11, 12. : As "Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink and gave them pulse. for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams." Ibid. 16, 17. 4 My lips.] "O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise." Psalm li. 15. O Lord!" and these so mingled, it gave birth Spirits," said he, "who, as they go, perchance, The eyes of each were dark and hollow; pale 1 The eyes.] Compare Ovid, Metam. lib. viii. 801. Dura cutis, per quam spectari viscera possent: [scent 2 When Mary.] Josephus, de Bello Jud. lib. vii. c. xxi. p. 954. Ed. Genev. fol. 1611. The shocking story is well told. 3 Rings.] Senza fior prato o senza gemma anello. Petrarca, Son. Lasciata hai, morte. O ring of which the rubie is outfall. Chaucer, Troilus and Creseide, b. v. Met I my father with his bleeding rings, Shakspeare, Lear, act v. scene 3. 4 Who reads the name.] "He who pretends to distinguish the letters which form OMO in the features of the human face, might easily have traced out the M on their emaciated countenances." The temples, nose, and forehead are supposed to represent this letter; and the eyes the two O's placed within each side of it. On me, then cried with vehemence aloud: [looks "What grace is this vouchsafed me ?" By his I ne'er had recognized him: but the voice Brought to my knowledge what his cheer conceal'd. Remembrance of his alter'd lineaments Was kindled from that spark; and I agnized The visage of Forese 1. "Ah! respect This wan and leprous-wither'd skin," thus he Suppliant implored, "this macerated flesh. Speak to me truly of thyself. And who Are those twain spirits, that escort thee there? Be it not said thou scorn'st to talk with me." "That face of thine," I answer'd him, "which dead I once bewail'd, disposes me not less For weeping, when I see it thus transform'd. He thus: "The water and the plant, we pass'd, Our ransom from his vein." I answering thus: "Forese! from that day, in which the world For better life thou changedst, not five years Have circled. If the power2 of sinning more Were first concluded in thee, ere thou knew'st That kindly grief which re-espouses us To God, how hither art thou come so soon? 1 Forese.] One of the brothers of Piccarda; he who is again spoken of in the next Canto, and introduced in the Paradise, Canto iii. Cionacci, in his Storia della Beata Umiliana, Parte iv. cap. i. is referred to by Lombardi, in order to show that Forese was also the brother of Corso Donati, our author's political enemy. See next Canto, v. 81. Tiraboschi, after Crescimbeni, enumerates him among the Tuscan poets. Stor. della Poes. It. v. i. p. 139. 2 If the power.] "If thou didst delay thy repentance to the last, when thou hadst lost the power of sinning, how happens it thou art arrived here so early?" I thought to find thee lower1, there, where time Her sighs have drawn me from the coast, where oft When from the pulpit shall be loudly warn'd To force them walk with covering on their limbs ? 1 Lower.] In the Ante-Purgatory. See Canto ii, My Nella.] The wife of Forese. The tract, most barbarous of Sardinia's isle.] The Barbagia is a part of Sardinia, to which that name was given, on account of the uncivilized state of its inhabitants, who are said to have gone nearly naked. What wouldst thou have me say?] The interrogative, which Lombardi would dismiss from this place, as unmeaning and superfluous, appears to me to be the natural result of a deep feeling, and to prepare us for the invective that follows. 5.The unblushing dames of Florence.] Landino's note exhibits a curious instance of the changeableness of his countrywomen. He even goes beyond the acrimony of the original. "In those days," says the commentator, "no less than in ours, the Florentine ladies exposed the neck and bosom, a dress, no doubt, more suitable to a harlot than a matron. But, as they changed soon after, insomuch that they wore collars up to the chin, covering the whole of the neck and throat, so have I hopes they will change again; not indeed so much from motives of decency, as through that fickleness, which pervades every action of their lives." Saracens.] "This word, during the middle ages, was indiscriminately applied to Pagans and Mahometans; in short, to all nations (except the Jews) who did not profess Christianity." Mr. Ellis's Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances, vol. i. p. 196. (a note) Lond. 8vo. 1805. Ꮓ But did they see, the shameless ones, what Heaven Ah! now, my brother, hide thyself no more: Gaze, where thou veil'st the intercepted sun." Who there precedes me, some few evenings past, The sun. As till I come where Beatrice dwells: But there must leave me. Virgil is that spirit, CANTO XXIV. ARGUMENT. Forese points out several others by name who are here, like himself, purifying themselves from the vice of gluttony; and, amongst the rest, Buonaggiunta of Lucca, with whom our Poet converses. Forese then predicts the violent end of Dante's political enemy, Corso Donati; and, when he has quitted them, the Poet, in company with Statius and Virgil, arrives at another tree, from whence 1 With lullaby.] Colui che mo si consola con nanna. "Nanna" is said to have been the sound with which the Florentine women hushed their children to sleep. 2 Thou seest.] Thou seest how we wonder that thou art here in a living body. |