CANTO VIII. ARGUMENT. Two angels, with flaming swords broken at the points, descend to keep watch over the valley, into which Virgil and Dante entering by desire of Sordello, our Poet meets with joy the spirit of Nino, the judge of Gallura, one who was well known to him. Meantime three exceedingly bright stars appear near the pole, and a serpent creeps subtly into the valley, but flees at hearing the approach of those angelic guards. Lastly, Conrad Malaspina predicts to our Poet his future banishment. Now was the hour that wakens fond desire In men at sea, and melts their thoughtful heart Began, with wonder, from those spirits to mark Follow'd through all the hymn, with upward gaze Here, reader! for the truth make thine eyes keen: 1 Hear the vesper bell from far.] I hear the far-off curfeu sound. 2 That seems to mourn for the expiring day.] Milton's Penseroso. The curfew tolls the knell of parting day. Gray's Elegy. is from Statius: giorno-che si muore Sylv. 1. iv. 6. 3. 3 Te Lucis Ante.] Te lucis ante terminum,' says Lombardi, is the first verse of the hymn sung by the church in the last part of the sacred office termed compieta, a service which our Chaucer calls "complin." All my sense.] Fece me a me uscir di mente. Me surpuerat mihi. Horat. Carm, lib. iv. od. 13. Here, reader!] Lombardi's explanation of this passage, by which the commentators have been much perplexed, though it may be thought rather too subtle and fine-spun, like the veil itself spoken of in the text, cannot be denied the praise of extraordinary ingenuity, "This admonition of the poet For of so subtle texture is this veil, That thou with ease mayst pass it through unmark’d. I saw that gentle band silently next Look up, as if in expectation held, Pale and in lowly guise; and, from on high, I saw, forth issuing descend beneath, Two angels, with two flame-illumined swords, Green as the tender leaves but newly born, The other lighted on the opposing hill; So that the troop were in the midst contain'd. 1 Was lost, as faculty that by too much Is overpower'd. "From Mary's bosom both Sordello paused not: "To the valley now to his reader," he observes, "seems to relate to what has been before said, that these spirits sung the whole of the hymn 'Te lucis ante terminum' throughout, even that second strophe of it— Hostemque nostrum comprime, Procul recedant somnia, Et noctium phantasmata, and he must imply, that these souls, being incorporeal, did not offer up this petition on their own account, but on ours, who are yet in this world; as he afterwards makes those other spirits, who repeat the Pater Noster, expressly declare, when after that prayer they add, This last petition, dearest Lord! is made Canto xi. As, therefore, if we look through a very fine veil, the sight easily passes on, without perceiving it, to objects that lie on the other side; so here the poet fears that our mind's eye may insensibly pass on to contemplate these spirits, as if they were praying for the relief of their own wants; without discovering the veil of our wants, with which they invest themselves in the act of offering up this prayer." As faculty.] My earthly by his heavenly overpower'd As with an object, that excels the sense, Milton, P. L. b. viii. 457. Converse with those great shadows: haply much And noted one who look'd as with desire To know me. Time was now that air grew dim ; Was left unsaid. He then inquired: "How long, The other to a spirit turn'd, who near 66 66 Conrad 2! up with speed: 1 Nino, thou courteous judge.] Nino di Gallura de' Visconti, nephew to Count Ugolino de' Gherardeschi, and betrayed by him. See notes to Hell, Canto xxxiii. 2 Conrad.] Currado, father to Marcello Malaspina. My Giovanna.] The daughter of Nino, and wife of Riccardo da Camino of Trevigi, concerning whom see Paradise, c. ix. 48. Her mother.] Beatrice, Marchioness of Este, wife of Nino, and after his death married to Galeazzo de' Visconti of Milan. It is remarked by Lombardi, that the time which Dante assigns to this journey, and consequently to this colloquy with Nino Visconti, the beginning, that is, of April, is prior to the time which Bernardino Corio, in his history of Milan, part the second, fixes for the nuptials of Beatrice with Galeazzo; for he records her having been betrothed to that prince after the May of this year (1300), and her having been solemnly espoused at Modena on the 29th of June. Besides, however, the greater credit due to Dante, on account of his having lived at the time when these events happened, another circumstance in his favour is the discrepancy Since she has changed the white and wimpled folds1, How long in woman lasts the flame of love, He spoke, and in his visage took the stamp I answered: "The three torches 4, with which here "The four resplendent stars, thou saw'st this morn, remarked by Giovambatista Giraldi (Commentar. delle cose di Ferrara) in those writers by whom the history of Beatrice's life has been recorded. Nothing can set the general accuracy of our Poet, as to historical facts, in a stronger point of view, than the difficulty there is in convicting him of even so slight a deviation from it as is here suspected. 1 The white and wimpled folds.] The weeds of widowhood. The viper.] The arms of Galeazzo and the ensign of the Milanese. 3 Shrill Gallura's bird.] The cock was the ensign of Gallura, Nino's province in Sardinia. Hell, xxii. 80, and notes. It is not known whether Beatrice had any further cause to regret her nuptials with Galeazzo, than a certain shame which appears, however unreasonably, to have attached to a second marriage. The three torches.] The three evangelical virtues, Faith, Hope, and Charity. These are supposed to rise in the evening, in order to denote their belonging to the contemplative; as the four others, which are made to rise in the morning, were probably intended to signify that the cardinal virtues belong to the active life: or perhaps it may mark the succession, in order of time, of the Gospel to the heathen system of morality. 5 Such haply as gave Eve the bitter food.] Compare Milton's description of that serpent in the ninth book of the Paradise Lost. Came on, reverting oft his lifted head; The spirit, (who to Nino, when he call'd, 66 So may the lamp1, which leads thee up on high, Thou know'st, tell me, who once was mighty there. sprang. I bore my people is now here refined." The love "In your domains," I answer'd, "ne'er was I. The fame, that honours your illustrious house, And has the evil way in scorn." He then : 4 1 May the lamp.] "May the divine grace find so hearty a co-operation on the part of thy own will, as shall enable thee to ascend to the terrestrial paradise, which is on the top of this mountain.” 2 Valdimagra.] See Hell, Canto xxiv. 144, and notes. 3 That old one.] An ancestor of Conrad Malaspina, who was also of that name. 4 Seven times the tired sun.] "The sun shall not enter into the constellation of Aries seven times more, before thou shalt have still better cause for the good opinion thou expressest of Valdimagra, in the kind reception thou shalt there meet with." Dante |