CANTO IL

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, other songs, that which begins

among other

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 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

(1) Rime. p. 217. Sestina.

(2). . . . Amore in mezzo l' Alpi,

Nella valle del fiume

Lungo il qual sempre sopra me sei forte!

CANTO 11.

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 silence, 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.

CANTO II.

ed against either of the other two; and indeed their touching concert for his advantage in this present 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

CANTO II/

cerely he became attached seems proved by the many children he had by her in the course of ten years; of whom six certainly, and perhaps seven, grew up to man's estate. The imperious cruelty of his fate separated him from her for ever on his exile; but that forced separation is unfairly adduced as a proof of their domestic unhappiness (1). Boccaccio is improperly represented as blaming her; but he does no such thing, his words being aimed against matrimony in itself, because of its peculiar unfitness for the followers of polite litera. ture, and not against her in particular. She, on the contrary, seems to have performed all the duties of a faithful partner; remaining in Florence to save some of their fortune for their common chil dren, and acting in a character still more interesting to the world, in that of careful preserver of her husband's writings, as we shall have occasion to unfold. Of those who, like Dante, passed their lives in public, and consequently afforded more matter for correct biography than literary men in general, there are few who have been persecuted with so many fables not invented in his own

age, but by the ingenuity of times comparatively recent. Amongst these fables is to be enumerated that of his having been married thrice; for which I do not discover a shadow of authority. I presume it originated in the ladies we have noticed, who

(1) Manetti . ec. ec.