SOME GOSSIP ABOUT DANTE. sembling hers, and several writers even go so far as to assert that Giotto did not disdain to paint from designs supplied to him by Dante. Dante associated with the best musi cians in Florence. Hence his acquaintance with Belacqua, who was skilful in the construction of stringed instruments, and is mentioned in the fourth canto of the “Purgatorio." Some writers affirm that he was a pupil of Casella, whom he met at the foot of the mount of Purgatory, and whose sweet voice so charmed his ears, that he tells us it had power to soothe all the restless longings of his soul. There seems to be no foundation for the report that, when a young man, Dante tried his vocation in the Franciscan novitiate, but left before the time came to make his profession. It is impossible to say how the story originated. Beatrice he pictured to himself philosophy, in the guise of a beautiful woman; and he goes on to tell us how he followed her footsteps everywhere, and was thus led to enter the schools presided over by religious, and be present at the disputations of philosophers. Some authors have fancied that Dante meant to imply the fact of his having joined the Franciscan order when he own. 117 by the wayside, might be seen representations of devils tormenting the reprobate, of souls patiently submitting to the action of the purifying fire, or of angelic beings, and the glories awaiting the just in eternal blessedness. Notwithstanding its individ uality and originality, the poem of Dante is not so much an isolated production as a link with the preceding age, and a phase of human thought, fossilized, if we may so speak, and rendered permanent, in order to show the state of men's hearts and minds in the days when the poet lived, as well as in the period immediately preceding his With the masterly touch of true genius, he arranged all these materials so as to form a vast whole, which all succeeding generations should agree to pronounce the most sublime and stupendous work which the human intellect has ever achieved. He tells us that in the year of Jubilee, A.D. 1300, having reached the age of thirty-five, he lost his way in the dark wood of vice, and there was attacked by pride under the form of a lion, avarice under that of a wolf, and luxury under that of a panther. He despaired of being able to extricate himself, but through the prayers of Beatrice, Virgil was sent to lead him away from error, and guide him, first through the depths of Hell, and then over the mount of Purgatory, until Beatrice should herself raise him from one sphere to another, and he should finally find himself standing before the very throne of God. Dante changed Virgil and Beatrice into symbolic personages, making the former represent human learning, that is to say, philosophy, and the other divine science, that is to say, the ology. Virgil showed Dante the dread abodes of eternal punishment, and also the various circles of Purgatory; at each onward step the poet met characters belonging either to ancient or modern The idea of his sublime work was not tory, and proposed to them, or else to his suggested to Dante either by the visions guide, the various questions suggested to of Frate Alberico, the "Tesoretto" of his his mind by the problems of human life. master Latini, or, indeed, by any other Some are solved by Virgil, some by the book. He only wove together the ideas phantoms, the most important, theology, which were familiar to the minds of all, in being reserved for Beatrice. The three an age when the every-day talk of ordinary elements of poetry, narration, impersonapeople was about stories of the infernal tion, and inspiration, are all brought to regions, apparitions of souls undergoing gether in this poem, and we cannot do their purgatory, and visions of the celes- otherwise than admire its marvellous tial country. The state of plastic art affords a striking proof of this, for on every stone in the city, and on every rock wrote the lines where he says: I had a cord girt about me, And with this I sometimes thought To catch the panther with the spotted skin.* But in what connection does Dante mention the cord? He wanted to tame the monster Geryone, a symbol of fraud, so that it might carry Virgil and himself upon its back into the eighth circle; and what can this possibly have to do with the cord of St. Francis? Some have affirmed that he was buried in the dress of a Franciscan tertiary; but this does not seem to be true. Io aveva una corda intorno cinta, (Inferno, canto 16.) power. his The "Divina Commedia," more than any other poem, unites force with conciseness; nowhere else are so vast a number of ideas conveyed in so few words; in a single verse is embodied a whole chapter of ethics, in the short space of a 116 SOME GOSSIP ABOUT DANTE. maintain herself and her children, of which whole world, receive this book, written by a five were boys and two girls. One of the fellow-citizen of thine own, praise it, honor it, former, named Pietro, became a very read it over and over again, that thus thou clever lawyer, and rose to be judge in the mayest give greater glory to thyself and him. supreme court of Vienna. At the time Petrarch was much annoyed at being that he went to take up his abode there, considered jealous of a poet whose lan his father was living in the city as an guage he characterized as unpolished, exile; he was himself a man of great even though he could not but allow that learning, and to him has been attributed his ideas were sublime. "How could 1," the Latin commentary on the "Divina he exclaimed, “ever be jealous of a man Commedia," published in 1845, at the ex- whose verses are on the lips of all the pense of Lord Vernon. Jacopo, the sec- common people, who is applauded by ond son, was the author of two commen- hoarse voices of inn-keepers, wool-sta such like, persons Latin, butchers, and taries on the "Inferno," written in plers, and published in 1848, also at the expense whose praise is in reality nothing but of the same generous nobleman. To Ja- blame? I am thankful to be without it, copo is likewise ascribed a poem entitled as were Homer and Virgil." Language "Il Dottrinale," in which he frequently like this on the lips of such a man is a speaks of himself as Dante's son. Of the fresh proof of the weakness of human napoet's daughters one was named Beatrice; ture. she appears to have followed her father to Ravenna, and after his death, being unwilling to quit the spot where his ashes rested, she became a nun in the Convent of St. Stephen, in that city. In 1350 we find Boccaccio sending her ten flowers wrought in gold, a present from the Florentine republic, or, according to others, from the Goldworkers' Company of St. Michael, as an entry in the archives of the city records. In the course of his life Dante was brought into contact with Francesco Stabili, better known under the name of Cecco d'Ascoli, a man of acute intelligence, but wanting in honesty of mind. He wrote a poem in six books which he entitled "Di Acerbe," and in which he attacks the fame of Dante, and in a style destitute alike of depth of learning and elegance of diction, treats many points of physics, philosophy, and theology, show. ing how far the author had allowed himself to be deluded by the false pretensions of astrology. He was finally condemned to be burnt alive as a necromancer, and died thus in Florence, a victim to the illadvised severity of the age in which his lot was cast. At a period when the two were still friends, Cecco on one occasion asked Dante whether nature could be con quered by art. Dante affirmed that it was possible, but Cecco asserted the con Í have already mentioned Boccaccio, and alluded to the great reverence and affection he entertained for Dante, although he had scarcely seen him, and this only when he himself was a child. It is curious to notice, on the other hand, how jealous Petrarch, who created the lyric poetry of Italy, was of the fame of Dante, although he made every possible effort to conceal the feeling, and carefully abstained from mentioning his name in the whole of the letter to Boccaccio in which he ex- trary, and he gained the day; for, having pressed himself as follows: "You are a trained a cat to go through certain perChristian and a philosopher, yet you do formances, as for instance that of carrying not indulge in self-complacency like a cer- a lighted taper, he let loose a rat in the tain illustrious poet. There is another room, whereupon the cat instantly dropped who occupies the first place, you fill the the candle to spring eagerly upon her nat second, and I am content with the third." ural prey. Boccaccio in reply sent a copy of the It has been mentioned that Dante was "Divina Commedia," accompanied by an an intimate friend of the great painter epistle in Latin verse, of which the follow- Giotto, and they seem to have learnt ing is an extract:drawing together under Cimabue, who was then unrivalled in Florence as an artist. Accept, O glory of Italy, this delightful work At any rate it is certain that Dante studied of Dante, than which I know no finer in any music in order to complete his education, age. Grieve not to see that, owing to evil and Bruni considers him to have attained fortune, this great work of the exiled poet has as yet received no due appreciation at his great proficiency as a draughtsman. He country's hands. His exile gave him leisure tells us himself in the "Vita Nuova," how, and opportunity to show to future ages what when his thoughts were engrossed with modern poetry can be like. Thou who art an Beatrice on the anniversary of her death, ornament of thy native country and of the he sketched an angel, with features re SOME GOSSIP ABOUT DANTE. 115 siduous in his application to study, so author. Without uttering a word, he much so indeed that, happening whilst at stepped into the smithy, and taking up the Siena to enter an apothecary's shop, where hammers, pincers, scales, and other tools was given to him a celebrated book, the he saw lying about, he dashed them to the loan of which had been promised him ground, saying to the smith: "If you do some time previously, he forthwith sat not want me to injure your work, for gooddown on the bench in front of the shop ness' sake let mine alone." and began eagerly to peruse the volume. Another time he encountered a mule Nor did he raise his eyes from its pages, teer who, while following his beasts, was in spite of the noise that went on around reciting after his own fashion some parts he a he "Purgatorio," in the him, occasioned by a crowd collected to of the and pauses of witness some public sports. In fact, he his declamation, whipped up the mules, continued immovable until the book was exclaiming, "Get on, get on!" Dante, finished, sitting there from an early hour on hearing this, dealt him a sound blow on in the morning until after vespers; and the back, saying angrily, "I never wrote, when he was asked how he could have 'Get on, get on!"" The peasant, not remained so long without once looking knowing who Dante was, nor why he up, or heeding the festivities around him, acted in so strange a manner, thrust out answered that he had heard nothing of his tongue with a gesture of contempt, exit at all. This answer, instead of remov- claiming, "Take that!" "A hundred ing, only served to increase the wonder of tongues such as yours," replied the poet, bis interlocutors. "would not be worth one like mine." It is a popular tradition in Florence Several writers relate that when, in Septhat Dante, during the period of his resi- tember, 1301, the principal men in Flor dence there, was accustomed to spend the ence conferred together in order to find summer evenings in the square in front some means of preventing the coming of of the church of Santa Maria del Fiore, Charles of Anjou, they resolved to send then known as Santa Reparata. Seated an embassy to Pope Boniface, and asked upon a low wall, he used to enjoy the Dante to undertake the mission. "If I fresh air, and within the last few years go," he replied, "who will be left? And memorial tablet, inscribed "Dante's if I stay behind, who is there to go?" as Stone," has been placed on the spot where if he were the only person worth anything generally sat. One evening a stran- in the whole city. It is possible that illger stepped up to him and said: “Sir, I natured persons may have invented this am pledged to reply to a question to which reply in order to fix upon Dante the charge I cannot find the answer; perhaps you, of conceit, and this is all the more likely who are so famed for your great learning, to be the case, since the embassy was will have the kindness to extricate me composed of three other ambassadors befrom my difficulty. The question is this: side himself. 'What contains the greatest nourishment smallest compass?'" "An egg, the poet promptly replied. Exactly a year from that period he was seated on the self-same spot, when the identical stranger, whom he had never seen in the interim, they considered a suitable match, and "How should Dante consented to marry the person proit be eaten?" he asked. "With_salt," posed, whose name was Gemma Donati, he being at that time about twenty-six years of age. According to some authors, the mutual affection of husband and wife was not of long duration, for the latter proved so ill-tempered and indiscreet, that Dante was compelled to insist on a complete séparation. But this can scarcely be regarded as matter of history. The poet himself nowhere makes the slightest In the course of one of his leisurely mention of his wife, and does not allude rambles, Dante chanced to come upon a to the fact of her having borne him seven smith, who, whilst beating the iron upon children in the short space of ten years. the anvil, was singing some stanzas of the Boccaccio tells us that when Dante's pos "Divina Commedia," and murdering them sessions were confiscated, his wife conto an extent which greatly irritated their | trived to save out of the wreck enough to in the accosted him once more. was the instantaneous answer. Dante, though taken at unawares, at once recalled to his mind the previous question of the year before, and gave the appropriate answer. We do not give implicit faith to the story, but if it is true, the readiness of the answer, and the faithful memory which recurred at once to the previous question, are very remarkable. The loss of his beloved Beatrice plunged Dante into such deep affliction, that his relatives and friends, seeing that all their efforts were unavailing to console him, advised him to marry. They found what SOME GOSSIP ABOUT DANTE. 114 sake of these studies, but took an active | ceded him, he happened to pass a doorpart in Florentine affairs. The Guelphs way beneath which several women were having prevailed over the Ghibellines, seated, when one of them said, in a voice were themselves afterwards divided into loud enough to be heard by the poet: the two factions of Bianchi and Neri, or "There goes the man who can go down the moderate and extreme parties; and to hell and come back again whenever he the latter, gaining the upper hand, ban- chooses, bringing with him accounts of ished the former. Amongst the banished the people who are there." One of her was Dante. In consequence of this quar- companions replied in all simplicity: rel, the Bianchi went over to the Ghibel- "What you say is quite true, do you not lines, or partisans of the emperor, hoping see that the heat and smoke have frizzled that he would quell the factions which his beard and blackened his hair? Dante, divided Italy, turning it into a perpetual knowing the simple manner in which this battlefield and a scene of internecine war. was said, was rather amused to hear what Dante being thus exiled, wandered over people thought of him, and went on his Italy, seeking an asylum, and meeting way with a smile. everywhere the disappointed hopes, the His features were, however, rarely lightmortifications, and the terrible disenchant- ed up by laughter, the habitual expression ments which form the daily bread of the of his face being one of pensive melanexile. In vain did he indulge the hope choly. The tenor of his life, both at home that his works, which have since acquired and abroad, was remarkably even and for him such lasting renown, would plead well ordered, and his manners were unihis cause with his fellow-citizens; poster- formly courteous and polite. He was ity alone knows how to distribute rewards very abstemious at table, nor did he ever with justice, and it was only when Dante eat or drink between his meals without was no more, that the Florentines founded absolute necessity. Neither was he para lectureship in order that the "Divina ticular about the quality of his food, parCommedia" might be more fully understood, and thus, by means of the noble sentiments it contains, patriotism might be fostered, vice discouraged, and learning diffused. taking by preference of the simplest kinds of nourishment, and being always ready to express disapproval of those who regard the pleasures of the table as worthy of pursuit for their own sake. Giovanni Boccaccio, who may be termed He seldom spoke unless first addressed, the father of Italian prose, was chosen as and then expressed himself in a manner the first expounder of this divine poem, suitable to the subject under consideraand it is to him that we owe an account of tion, his language being animated and Dante's character and appearance corre- eloquent, and his gestures well chosen. sponding to that which the celebrated During his stay at Verona, Dante was a painter, Giotto, himself a contemporary frequent guest at the house of the govand also an intimate friend of Alighieri, ernor of that city, who greatly befriended has left us on the walls of the Chapel of him, and to whom, in return for his kindthe Podestà at Florence. The poet was ness, the poet dedicated "Il Paradiso." of medium height, and when he had at. It happened one day that the governor, tained mature age, was wont to stoop a whilst at table, related some unseemly little in walking. His bearing was grave jest, and made very merry over it, his and dignified, his dress was always simple and neat. His face was long, his nose aquiline, his eyes were rather large and his cheeks full, his lower lip being some what prominent. All other writers agree with Boccaccio in saying that his complex ion was dark, his hair and beard being some hauteur, "Your thick, black, and curly; it is a singular thing, therefore, that Dante, speaking of himself in one of his poems, asserted his hair to be of a light color. It is evident It was doubtless in reference to such that the women of Verona did not share occurrences, which not unseldom haphis opinion, for as he was one day stroll- pened, that he wrote the touching lines in ing through the streets of that city, where the "Paradiso in which he says how guests joining in the indecorous mirth. Dante, who held such jokes in abhorrence, did not conceal the annoyance he felt, and his host perceiving it, asked him wherefore he abstained from joining in the general merriment. The poet replied with surprise will cease if you remember that it requires similarity of tastes to enable one to enter into other people's jokes." he was known by sight to many, and bitter it is to eat the bread of strangers, whither the fame of his writing, especially and how wearisome to wait in the ante"L'Inferno," had already pre- chambers of the great. He was most as his poem of a language yet in its infancy, in order mere words can represent. following sonnet might know what, after all, no With : the My lady looks so gentle and so pure, salutation by the way, tongue trembles and has nought to say, fain would to create a poem wherein he expounded this view I wrote subjects the most abstruse and recondite, the proper topics of the theologian and philosopher. He collected in it the treasures of learning then scattered throughout the world, choosing moreover, like Homer and Virgil, a subject of national interest, one which should attract all Italy, at the same time one which would delight all who hold the Catholic faith. And I hope I may therefore be pardoned if the love and reverence I have felt from my earliest years for Dante, have induced me to write down some incidents, some of which are not mentioned by his biographers, relating to his life and actions. Dante, who was born at Florence in 1265, when scarcely nine years old conceived a great affection for Beatrice dei Portinari, herself at that time a child of eight; and he never ceased to love her, until, at the early age of twenty-four, God And still with humbleness for her array; Seeming a creature sent from Heaven to stay On earth, and show a miracle made sure. She is so pleasant in the eyes of men That through the sight the inmost heart doth gain A sweetness which needs proof to know it by; This is unquestionably one of the finest sonnets Dante ever penned; nor are the following lines inferior to it in merit. They are taken from the ode which the poet wrote on the death of Beatrice. We quote once more the English translation: Beatrice is gone up into high Heaven, The kingdom where the angels are at peace; She lives with them; and to her friends is dead. was pleased to take her to himself. Then Not by the frost of winter was she driven Dante resolved to speak no more of his departed friend, until he could say worthily of her what could never be true of any one else. In the "Vita Nuova" he has given utterance to the pure affection wherewith she inspired him; and in this Away, like others; nor by summer heats; But through a perfect gentleness, instead. For from the lamp of her meek lowlihood, Such an exceeding glory went up hence, That it woke wonder in the Eternal Sire, Until a sweet desire Entered Him for that lovely excellence, Counting this weary and most evil place Unworthy of a thing so full of youthful production he lays bare with the So that He bade her to Himself aspire: utmost candor, and that gentle melancholy which was habitual to him, his inmost feel. ings, and tells how his first poems were inspired: grace. Whatever while the thought comes over me That I may not again Behold that lady, whom I mourn for now, Gives me full oft a fear that trembleth Even as on sleep one calleth after strife, return her greeting. She went on her way crowned and clothed with humility, never betraying the least elation on account of all the homage paid her. Not unfrequently did the bystanders remark, after she was out of hearing, "She is not a woman, but one of the Yet the love which Dante cherished for wondrous being indeed, praised be the Lord Beatrice in no wise made a dreamer of blessed angels from Heaven;" or, "She is a him, but inspired him with high thoughts and induced him to serious study. Nor did he withdraw from public life for the for all His marvellous works!" I can only say that she made herself so charming and attractive, that all who beheld her felt a pleasure |