Gli occhi mi sciolse, e disse: 'Or drizza il nerbo Mine eyes he loosed, and said: 'Direct the nerve Of vision now along that ancient foam, There yonder where that smoke is most intense.' -LONGFELLOW. Tales of fabulous serpents came into Europe from the East. Ovid's serpents and those of Virgil are exotic. Lucan's monstrosities dwelt in Libya,2 a land which medieval writers supposed to swarm with devils. Dante's notions are, with a single exception, of bookish origin, and only a credulity unlikely in any modern reader of Dante could make such conceptions really horrible. Dante himself was conscious of his own literary craft in the handling of his infernal serpents. They were almost the playthings of his imagination. 1 Inf. IX, 73-81. 2 And in his second Eclogue, vs. 23, Dante says: 'Et Libyus coluber quod squama verrat arenas, Non miror.' CHAPTER LIX THE EYE-LIZARD (?)- IL RAMARRO To denote the speed of a demoniacal adder, darting upon two thieves in Hell, Dante says: 2 Come il ramarro, sotto la gran fersa As the swift lizard, 'neath the scourging ray Straight at the bowels of the other two, A livid snake, and black as pepper's grain. - PARSONS. Writing of this fiery adder (serpentello acceso), Gelli says: 'It was coming with such velocity that Dante likens it to a ramarro, a very well-known animal like 1 Cf. VIRGIL Ecl. II, 9, 'Nunc virides etiam occultant spineta lacertos.' 2 Cf. HORACE, Od. lib. III, xxvii, 5:— 'Rumpat et serpens iter institutum, Si per obliquum similis sagittæ Terruit mannos.' 8 Inf. XXV, 80-84. the lizard, but much larger and much greener in colour and far more beautiful, and with its skin dotted over with certain spots that shine so that they seem like little stars (stelloline); for which reason the Latins call it stellio; and it is exceedingly swift in its movements, and more especially so in seasons of heat, so that the hotter is the season, the stronger it gets and the more swiftly it runs.' 1 Jacopo della Lana,2 seeming to mean the same creature, gives it the same fabulous trait of attacking a man as is described by the author of the Libro del Gandolfo Persiano, who recommends that the moulting of a falcon be helped along by feeding her on Carne del rospo grande, che trovi de marzo, e de la luserta verde che si chiama ligoro e marro calopio, zoe che prende lo homo e non lasa.' That this writer fails to mention the dotting stars is of small weight. Not only do he, Jacopo della Lana, Benvenuto da Imola, and Gelli substantially agree, but, curiously enough, some friends of Mr. W. W. Vernon saw at Florence, in August, 1891, 'two large-sized lizards, answering to the description given above, that had been caught in the Cascine, exhibited close by the Piazza della Signoria, and they heard them called both ramarro and lucertolone, 1 Quoted by VERNON, Readings, Inf. II, p. 328. 6 - - more 2 Ramarro è una spezie di ferucole velenose, e sono appellate magrassi ovvero liguro [in Lombard dialect] li quali al tempo del gran caldo appariscono nelle strade, e sono molto paurosi animali, che come vegiono l' uomo, e gittam seli addosso e quello che in bocca è mai non lassano, o elli fuggano come folgore, cioe velocissimamente.' 8 In Scelta di Curios. Lett., vol. 144, chap. 105. frequently the latter.' Mr. Vernon speaks of having run across this rare species at Cannes and Mentone.1 In a word, then, the ramarro of Dante is probably not the ordinary little green lizard of Italy, but a larger and rarer kind, beautifully dotted with stars. Yet nearly all lizards may be seen flashing across roads from hedge to hedge, and the heat of dog-days only heightens their activity. 1 Cf. Readings on Inf., vol. II, pp. 327–329. N CHAPTER LXI THE WORM. THE CATERPILLAR. THE BUTTERFLY DANTE berates Satan as the 'guilty worm that pierceth the world,'1 and the demon Cerbero is the great worm.'2 The drops of blood and tears that fall from the sluggards stung by wasps and gadflies are gathered up by 'loathsome worms.'3 These maggots seen by the poet in Hell suggest the words of Job, 'I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my 1 Inf. XXXIV, 108. Dante's Lucifer is of flesh and blood, but symbolises the evil conscience of the world, and in this sense recalls the words of Isaiah lxvi, 24, ‘And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die [Vulg., vermis eorum non morietur], neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorrence unto all flesh.' Cf. RABANUS MAURUS, De Univ. lib. VIII, cap. 4. 2 Inf. VI, 22-23:— 'Quando ci scorse Cerbero, il gran vermo, Le bocche aperse, e mostrocci le sanne: I hope to discuss elsewhere than in this book the relation of these verses to those in the Penitential Psalm attributed to Dante by a very few persons. See Oxford Dante, p. 193, vss. 10-12: 'Difendimi, O Signor, dallo gran vermo, E sanami, imperò ch' io non ho osso, 8 Inf. III, 67-69. See citation from Isaiah above, note 1. Cf. also Conv. IV, vii, 106–107, 'Veramente morto il malvagio uomo dire si può.' |