issue voices that record ancient examples of gluttony; and proceeding forwards, they are directed by an angel which way to ascend to the next cornice of the mountain. OUR journey was not slacken'd by our talk, Nor yet our talk by journeying. Still we spake, And urged our travel stoutly, like a ship When the wind sits astern. The shadowy forms, Who eye me thus."-" My sister (she for whom, "Twixt beautiful and good3, I cannot say Which name was fitter) wears e'en now her crown, 1 He journeys.] The soul of Statius perhaps proceeds more slowly, in order that he may enjoy as long as possible the company of Virgil. 2 Piccarda.] See Paradise, Canto iii, 3 'Twixt beautiful and good.] Tra bella e onesta Qual fu più, lasciò in dubbio. 4 Diet.] Dieta. Petrarca, Son. Ripensando a quel. And dieted with fasting every day. Spenser, F. Q. b. i. c. i. st. 26. Spare fast that oft with gods doth diet. Milton, Il Penseroso. 5 Buonaggiunta.] Buonaggiunta Urbiciani, of Lucca. "There is a canzone by this poet, printed in the collection made by the Giunti, (p. 209.) and a sonnet to Guido Guinicelli in that made by Corbinelli, (p. 169.) from which we collect that he lived not about 1230, as Quadrio supposes, (t. ii. p. 159.) but towards the end of the thirteenth century. Concerning other poems by Buonaggiunta, that are preserved in MS. in some libraries, Crescimbeni may be consulted." Tiraboschi, Mr. Mathias's ed. v. i. p. 115. Three of these, a canzone, a sonnet, and a ballata, have been published in the Anecdota Literaria ex MSS. Codicibus eruta, 8vo. Roma. (no year,) v. iii. p. 453. He is thus mentioned by our author in his Treatise de Vulg. Eloq. lib. i. cap. xiii. "Next let us come to the Tuscans, who, made senseless by their folly, arrogantly assume to themselves the title of a vernacular Of Lucca and that face beyond him, pierced Had keeping of the church; he was of Tours', diction, more excellent than the rest; nor are the vulgar alone misled by this wild opinion, but many famous men have maintained it, as Guittone d'Arezzo, who never addicted himself to the polished style of the court, Buonaggiunta of Lucca, Gallo of Pisa, Mino Mocato of Sienna, and Brunetto of Florence, whose compositions, if there shall be leisure for examining them, will be found not to be in the diction of the court, but in that of their respective cities." As a specimen of Buonaggiunta's manner, the reader will take the following Sonnet from Corbinelli's Collection added to the Bella Mano: Qual uomo è in su la rota per Ventura, Non si rallegri, perchè sia innalzato; E nullo prato ha sì fresca verdura, E questo saccio, che avvien per natura; Non si dee uomo troppo rallegrare Di gran grandezza, nè tenere spene; Anzi si debbe molto umiliare; Non far soperchio, perchè aggia gran bene; La Bella Mano e Rime Antiche, ediz. Firenze, 1715, p. 170. Yet soon the wither'd flowerets met their fate; Fall from on high to earth with ruin great. In greatness, nor too fast his hope to hold: And he must down, that is too proud and bold: He was of Tours.] Simon of Tours became Pope with the title of Martin IV. in 1281, and died in 1285. 2 Bolsena's eels and cups of muscadel.] The Nidobeatina edition and the Monte Casino MS. agree in reading L'anguille di Bolsena in la vernaccia; from which it would seem, that Martin the Fourth refined so much on epicurism as to have his eels killed by being put into the wine called vernaccia, in order to heighten their flavour. The Latin annotator on the MS. relates, that the following epitaph was inscribed on the sepulchre of the pope : Gaudent anguillæ, quod mortuus hic jacet ille, Qui quasi morte reas excoriabat eas. He show'd me many others, one by one : And all, as they were named, seem'd well content; For no dark gesture I discern'd in any. I saw, through hunger, Ubaldino1 grind His teeth on emptiness; and Boniface2, That waved the crozier3 o'er a numerous flock: I saw the Marquis, who had time erewhile To swill at Forli with less drought; yet so, Was one ne'er sated. I howe'er, like him That, gazing 'midst a crowd, singles out one, So singled him of Lucca; for methought Was none amongst them took such note of me. Somewhat I heard him whisper of Gentucca5: The sound was indistinct, and murmur'd there", Where justice, that so strips them, fix'd her sting. "Spirit!" said I, "it seems as thou wouldst fain Speak with me. Let me hear thee. Mutual wish To converse prompts, which let us both indulge." He, answering, straight began: "Woman is born, Whose brow no wimple shades yet, that shall make 1 Ubaldino.] Ubaldino degli Ubaldini, of Pila, in the Florentine territory. 2 Boniface.] Archbishop of Ravenna. By Venturi he is called Bonifazio de' Fieschi, a Genoese; by Vellutello, the son of the above-mentioned Ubaldini; and by Landino, Francioso, a Frenchman. 3 Crozier.] It is uncertain whether the word "rocco," in the original, means a "crozier" or a "bishop's rochet," that is, his episcopal gown. In support of the latter interpretation Lombardi cites Du Fresne's Glossary, article Roccus. "Rochettum hodie vocant vestem linteam episcoporum .. quasi parvum roccum ;" and explains the verse, Che pasturò col rocco molte genti: ... "who, from the revenues of his bishoprick, supported in luxury a large train of dependants." If the reader wishes to learn more on the subject, he is referred to Monti's Proposta, under the word "Rocco." 4 The Marquis.] The Marchese de' Rigogliosi, of Forlì. When his butler told him it was commonly reported in the city that he did nothing but drink, he is said to have answered: "And do you tell them that I am always thirsty." 5 Gentucca.] Of this lady it is thought that our Poet became enamoured during his exile. See note to Canto xxxi. 56. There.] In the throat, the part in which they felt the torment inflicted by the divine justice. 7 Whose brow no wimple shades yet.] "Who has not yet assumed the dress of a woman." My city please thee, blame it as they may1. Of that new lay the inventor, which begins To whom I thus: "Count of me but as one, 1 Blame it as they may.] See Hell, Canto xxi. 39. 2 Ladies, ye that con the lore of love.] Donne ch' avete intelletto d'amore. [held The first verse of a canzone in our author's Vita Nuova. 3 The notary.] Jacopo da Lentino, called the Notary, a poet of these times. He was probably an Apulian: for Dante (De Vulg. Eloq. lib. i. cap. 12.) quoting a verse which belongs to a canzone of his, published by the Giunti, without mentioning the writer's name, terms him one of "the illustrious Apulians," præfulgentes Apuli. See Tiraboschi. Mr. Mathias's edit. vol. i. p. 137. Crescimbeni (lib. i. Della Volg. Poes. p. 72, 4to ed. 1698) gives an extract from one of his poems, printed in Allacci's Collection, to show that the whimsical compositions called "Ariette," are not of modern invention. His poems have been collected among the Poeti del primo secolo della Lingua Italiana, 2 vol. 8vo. Firenze, 1816. They extend from p. 249 to p. 319 of the first volume. 4 Guittone.] Fra Guittone, of Arezzo, holds a distinguished place in Italian literature, as, besides his poems printed in the Collection of the Giunti, he has left a collection of letters, forty in number, which afford the earliest specimen of that kind of writing in the language. They were published at Rome in 1743, with learned illustrations by Giovanni Bottari. He was also the first who gave to the sonnet its regular and legitimate form, a species of composition in which not only his own countrymen, but many of the best poets in all the cultivated languages of modern Europe, have since so much delighted. Guittone, a native of Arezzo, was the son of Viva di Michele. He was of the order of the "Frati Godenti," of which an account may be seen in the notes to Hell, Canto xxiii. In the year 1293 he founded a monastery of the order of Camaldoli, in Florence, and died in the following year. Tiraboschi, ibid. p. 119. Dante, in the Treatise de Vulg. Éloq. lib. i. cap. 13, (see note to v. 20, above) and lib. ii. cap. 6, blames him for preferring the plebeian to the more courtly style; and Petrarch twice places him in the company of our Poet. Triumph of Love, cap. iv. and Son. Par. Sec. "Sennuccio mio." The eighth book in the collection of the old poets published by the Giunti in 1527 consists of sonnets and canzoni by Guittone. They are marked by a peculiar solemnity of manner, of which the ensuing sonnet will afford a proof and an example. Short of that new and sweeter style1 I hear, Like as the birds 2, that winter near the Nile, In squared regiment direct their course, Then stretch themselves in file for speedier flight; Gran piacer Signor mio, e gran desire Harei d'essere avanti al divin trono, E gran piacer harei hor di sentire Quella sonante tromba e quel gran suono, A chi dar pace, a chi crudel martire. Perchè fia scritto a ciaschedun nel volto Un brieve, che dirà; che 'l crudo amore Great joy it were to me to join the throng, That thy celestial throne, O Lord, surround, For on his brow then every one shall bear "Love's bondman I from him might never part." Bottari doubts whether some of the sonnets attributed to Guittone in the Rime Antiche are by that writer. See his notes to Lettere di Fra Guittone, p. 135. 1 That new and sweeter style.] He means the style introduced in our Poet's time. 2 The birds.] Hell, Canto v. 46. Euripides. Helena, 1495, and Statius. Theb. lib. v. 12. 3 Tired with the motion of a trotting steed.] I have followed Venturi's explanation of this passsge. Others understand di trottare è lasso, of the fatigue produced by running. |