CANTO II. a fine handsome man with rapture, was also enraptured at beholding any fair object whatever, horse or dog, a luxuriant tree or field, the calm ocean, or a glorious evening or sun-rise (1).' Q. XCVII. Lucia receives divers expositions as well as the preceding lady. Boccaccio denominates one a personification of Prayer and the other of Mercy; Peter Alighieri says Lucia represents Mathematics; Jacob, the Grace of God; Biagioli, Truth; but the most general opinion is in favour of Illuminating Grace an interpretation that is partly founded on the derivation of the word Lucia from lux, light (2). It follows that the precise allegorical sense intended by Dante is not discoverable from the text: so that here, as in the former Article, he may or may not have personified some individual virtue. Here again then I stoop to the literal sense, and find it in the Riccardi M. S. comment, but in no other. According to it, this mildly-beaming saint was in her earthly career a real lady the third and last of whom Dante ever seemed to be enamoured. Besides the present passage, he wrote other verses in her praise, which are to be found among his minor poems or Rime; but in none of those verses is she addressed by name, so that her true Christian (1) Vita di M. A Buonarroti. (2) Lucià, ita dicta propter lucem de qua tractat. Bib. Laurenziana. Plut. XL. Cod. 38, 146 COMMENT GANTO II. name might very well have been Lucia; and the reason for calling her so here, might be simply this, and none of the fantastic etymologies of the commentators. 'She was a native of Prato vecchio' (continues the M. S. )' and he composed for her, among other songs, that which begins O love, since then it must be so And since the world must hear my woe And all my weakness, etc. She was the last of whom he ever sung; and he made her acquaintance some time after his exile (1).' But this song, (which is now printed as the ninth of his Canzoni) still more than the composition cited in the preceding Article, exhibits a complete dearth of passion; although it be not without the ideal luxuriance often discernible in the Platonic musings of Petrarch, but which surely discloses rather the brilliancy of the imagination than the weakness of the heart. It is only in the closing strophes that there is any thing touching; and then is revealed, not the love of the lady of whom he is writing, but of his country coupled with an observation on the neighbouring stream the Arno, which tacitly recalls her who had been born on its banks, (1) L'altra e l'ultima fu una giovane di Prato-vecchio poich'egli fu caeciato da Firenze per cui fece quella Canzona morale Amor, dacchè convien pur ch'io mi doglia, Perchè la gente m'oda, E mostri me ec. Bib. Ricc. M. S. Cod. 1016. CANTO 11. his adored Beatrice, to whom his heart was not less constant because she had become a shade · L'amor, ch'io porto pure alla sua ombra (1). 'O love', he says, 'it is here then thou attackest me here amid these Alpine regions' (the Appennines) 'and in this valley, through which descends that stream, beside whose waters it is fated thou should'st always have full power over me!...... Now go thou forth, my , my little mountain song, and perhaps thou mayest see my native place, my Florence, whose gates, barred against me, make a cruel return to my fond and loyal affection (2)'. Here again we have an apparent difficulty in the Chronology; because this M. S. which says that Dante did not know Lucia until after his exile, asserts in another place (as we shall see, Boccaccio also does) that these Canti were composed long before his exile. But what should be deduced thence, except that the present passage was in some way or other modified, or lent an additional signification by the author at some subsequent period? This is readily understood; and it probably seemed an obvious observation to the ancient 148 COMMENT CANTO I commentator (who, I repeat, was apparently Dante's contemporary) or he would have explained the seeming incongruity. It was so easy to do, that his not doing it implies he thought it superfluous. But, instead of thus naturally interpreting his si lence, it may be represented as overturning his authority by some, who appear to think, that a writer of the best reputation merits no confidence unless he anticipates each objection: which is surely the very reverse of what should be. For when any loophole is discoverable to reconcile such a person's assertions with each other, an ingenuous reader ought at once to catch at it; rather than question the veracity of one, who., from his situation, had better opportunities of information than others; and no visible inducement to invent falsehoods, and advance them as simple matters of fact. The precise dates of a man's amours, and still more of those of a Platonic lover like Dante, may be forgot easily; even supposing them once known, which is problematical: and the marvel is, that it is possible to come as near their verification as we do. It were indeed a waste of patience to attempt it, did it not afford assistance towards estimating his character. In this light it is interesting: for it proves the purity of his connexion with all three ladies. It is an error then to believe that he meant, that the disdainful expressions of Beatrice in Purgatory (1) should be considered as direct(1) Canto XXXI. sent Canto ought to have prevented such mis-conjectures. Beatrice had left the earth 'about ten years' before he became acquainted with Gentucca; and it was long afterwards that he knew Lucia when Gentucca probably was dead; for he had known the one (whether in Florence, or her native town, Lucca) before his exile, and the other during it. They were not then contemporaries in this world; and in heaven (whether considered as blessed spirits simply, or as personifications of different exalted virtues) could not be made to feel or cause any but benign sentiments. But now it suffices to remark, that, even had they been contemporaneous and still here below subjected to earthly feelings, they would not have been rivals; for Dante's heart belonged exclusively to Beatrice, however his lighter sentiments of admiration might be occasionally directed; and, that in heaven itself they are conscious of its being still her undivided property, is evident from their application to procure him succour from her as from the person whom he had ever adored, and who therefore was bound in gratitude to intend his salvation. Less again (descending from romance to the dull survey of mortal existence) could his devotion to any of them be a slur on his connubial loyalty. Until after Beatrice's loss he did not marry, as we have seen; and to the wife he then espoused how sin |