CANTO I.

cation of this, but the worldly uproar which never left any one perfectly virtuous, that is, in the eas tern style, perfectly alive; guilt and folly being the death, as virtue and reason the life of the soul? Many are the passages in Scripture that inculcate this for even « the just man falleth seven times a day « and » it is written there is no righteous`, not one ». Here then we have a mere orientalism, of which we shall discover others frequently: and, to corroborate my statement, that 'the pass leaving no one alive' means simply 'scenes that deprive the soul of her purity', which is to kill her, I refer to Dante's own expressions in the Convito:- 'when a man is said to live, that means, that he acts in conformity with reason, which is his true life' (1).

F. - xxx.

'So that the firm foot was always the lowest' is the original: which was manifestly employed to denote the vacillation of purpose, with which Dante made his first fruitless attempts at extricating himself from the guilt and bustle of public life, or, in the language of allegory, from the dark vale or wilderness, and at ascending the sun-clad mountain of wisdom and virtue. This unsteadiness of mind being the principal thing, I took care in the first place to mark it; after which I introduced

(1) Quando si dice l' uomo vivere si dee intendere l'uomo usarla ragione, ch'è sua special vita. p. 88.

CANTO 1.

as much of the metaphor of my original, as I well could. And if any of it has escaped me, I regret it the less from the persuasion, that it can only be some blameable quaintness, which causes the disputes between interpreters about the precise metaphorical solution of the verse; - quaintness that I am authorized to avoid. It used to be lauded as happily expressive of the act of climbing: but this has been controverted lately by the remark, that the firm foot, that is to say the foot on which the weight of the body reposes, is so far from being always the lowest in ascending, that it is in descending that it is so;—a criticism esteemed so cogent, that the defenders of Dante think it neccssary for his honor to change the entire face of the allegory, and deny that there is a question about climbing. He was still on the level plain, say they, and the line describes the walking on a plain perfectly well; for there the lower foot is always the firm foot, being on the ground, while its companion is in the air, whether moving back or forward. This is indeed self-evident; but not so its application for the context unequivocally implies, that the Wanderer was not on the dead level, but be. ginning to make the height. But may I not arraign the commentators for error? The weight is not always upon the lower foot, either in ascending, or descending; but, in both cases, is sometimes upon the lower and sometimes upon the higher one: when in ascending I put forward one foot,

CANTO I.

then is my weight upon the hinder or lower one, making it the firm one for a moment; and while I am in the act of drawing up this latter, then is the upper foot for a moment the firm one in its turn: vice-versa in my descending. So neither of the one or the other are the words of the text strictly descriptive. Then if the context argues, that Dante was no longer on the plain, and his mode of stepping, that he was neither ascending nor descending, must he not have meant an unnatural, unavailing gait, something akin to the 'I would and would not' vorrei e non vorrei — of the

Italians? Or, making lower synonimous with less worthy, (a common mode of speech) have intended lower foot as symbolical of earthly cares and appetites, whence, by saying this foot was always the lower one, he avowed, that the cares of life continued to have more influence over his affections, than philosophy and virtue, even while he was forming some ineffectual resolutions to fly those and elevate his mind to these? This unsteady product of disappointments and fears, which might well have sprung up in a patriot's bosom at that time, as will be acknowledged by the readers of Tuscan history, was beyond doubt what was intended to be inculcated (whatever be held to be the precise metaphorical interpretation); and this abortive infirmity of heart is, I hope, conveyed by my version, 'with steps that backward hung'.

In considering the Panther as a personification of Florence, I am, in at least a slight degree, at variance with the Commentators; for these say it per. sonifies either the vice of voluptuousness in the abstract, or the voluptuousness of Dante. Still am I not without some authority for my interpretation (1); and, even were I, it renders so intelligible this Allegory (which otherwise has an air of perplexity, particularly when we come to the lion and wolf) and it tallies so exactly with history, that, I think, it ought to be adopted. There are three wild-beasts in the Canto, in imitation, as shall ap. pear, of a passage in Jeremiah, where they are universally interpreted as three several nations. Now, whatever ideas of vice Dante intended to con. vey, he could never have so misled his readers and so rambled from his sacred original, as to have dropt all reference to nations, a grand conception adapted to the opening of a grand poem: but rather he would have connected both objects, and, faithful to the Biblical example with which he had set out, would have designated by each beast some particular State with its ruling passion. This would be the obvious contrivance of even an inferior poet, and would be the only way to avoid falling into the Bathos after having alluded to the sublime

(1) Gio. Marchetti Discor. Bologna 1819.

CANTO 1.

imagery of the old Testament. Of the two opinions of the Commentators, one indeed is not only not incompatible with this my interpretation, but, well considered, implies it: for if Dante meant Voluptuousness in the abstract, yet, to injure and plague him, it must have been such as immediately was round him; but he was then in Florence; he must then have meant the voluptuousness of Florence. As to the making of Dante accuse him, self of that vice, it is in contradiction with every thing that has come down to us of his life and manners; which his enemies decried as stoically severe, while his friends contended they were only of a very laudable gravity (1). Florentines may object to have their City represented by such an unchaste creature as the Panther (2): but they have so continually to complain of Dante, that to wince here were superfluous; and they would do better to avail themselves of the defence made for them by their contryman Mini (3). Strangers, at least, will have no difficulty in believing that Florence was remarkable for its voluptuousness, when they read it, not only in other parts of this

(1) Furono i suoi costumi gravi e laudevoli tutti. Bocc. Com. Vol. 1. p. 8.

(2) Molto accesa nella libidine. Land Com.

(3) Dante non biasima giammai assolutamente la sua patria e i Fiorentini, ma bensì alcuni Fiorentini di quei tempi, e il cattivo e tirannico governo di essa: come biasimarono già gli Scrittori deʼloro tempi le proscrizioni di Mario e di Silla, i vizi di Catilina, l'avarizia di Crasso, la crudeltà del Triumvirato, e la sfrenata libidine di M. Antonio. Difesa p. 26.