CANTO IV.

a helmet on his head and a sword by his side (1); and, if there were no other mode to obviate the supposing of offensive weapons in Cæsar's hand, I should follow that interpretation : but by translating armato, not armed, but mailed, every difficulty is removed; for a picture representing a Roman General mailed, that is, in his military robe, and with the insignia of his high rank (though in other respects unarmed and bare-headed) and with an aspect of terrible majesty, would certainly be not liable to an accusation of incongruity. Mr. Carey, by making occhi grifagni "hawk's eye," puts the species for the variety: for grifagno (in English a soarage) means a young falcon taken from the eyrie when able to fly and after its first mewing, that is, in winter; and it is in contradistinction with nidiaco (a bowet), or one caught in the nest still unfledged; and with ramingo (a brancher), or one strong enough to hop about the tree, though not yet quite winged (2). The two latter kinds are very tractable: but the first, when once reclaimed, is far preferable for its strength and prodigious boldness, which are well revealed by the fire of its eyes. Dante is continually showing his familiarity with hawking; of which recreation

(1) Chi intese che dipinse il Poeta quell' eroe con indosso la corazza e l'elmo in testa, e la spada al fianco, fece un bello scappuccio. Comento. Vol. 1. p. 83.

(2) Treatise on Faulconry etc.

CANTO IV.

Boccaccio was, I presume, no partaker; for he misinterprets occhj grifagni' eyes of a grifon (1).'

Bellatrix.... pharetrata Camilla (2).

The female names that follow are glories of womanthe pure,

kind: Lavinia, mother of Rome: — devoted Marcia, whose prayer to her revered lord is so feelingly dwelt on in the Pharsalia, and the Convito (3). While I had the form and spirit of youth, I performed the duties of a wife and mother in all things obedient to thy will; but now that I am bent with years, widowed, and worn out, permit me, o Cato, in recompense of my dutiful af fection, to re-ascend thy immaculate couch and to glory once more in the title (it can be only a title) of being thy spouse a second time, and of having thy name inscribed on my sepulchre (4). Cornelia, daughter of Scipio and mother of the Gracchi, as remarkable for her soundness of understanding and her eloquence, as for the domestic virtues:Julia, daughter of Cæsar and wife of Pompey, she whose prudence was for a while the only remaining

(1) Comento. Vol. 1. p. 219.

(2) Aeneid. Lib. VII. v. 803.- Lib. xi. v. 649. (3) Pag. 206.

(4).

Da fædera prisci

Illibata thori; da tantum nomen inane

Connubii; liceat tumulo scripsisse CATONIS

MARCIA Pharsalia, Lib. 2. v. 344.

CANTO IV.

link that held the republic together, and whose death (caused by sudden dismay at the sight of some crimson gouts on her husband's cloak, whose fate involved that of her country) was followed by the sorrow of all good men, and by the breaking out of those civil wars that overturned Roman liberty: →→→

and

"Collatine's fair love, Lucrece the chaste (1), whose virtue and disaster gave immediate birth to the most celebrated of commonwealths; when Brutus, throwing off his disguise, swore by the adored Capitol to revenge the effusion of her blood.

pure

The introduction of Saladin, with an article expressive of 'lordly' eminence, is just; and the describing of him as lonely (2)', that is, as the only one of the same tribe in Elysium, is perhaps equally just: it must have been very peculiar merit in a Soldan that could compensate for his despotic sway. But Saladin is represented by even his adversaries as a noble character; and his courtesy to our

(1) Rape of Lucrece.

(2) Mr. Cary's fierce ("the Soldan fierce ") is an interpolation; and one quite out of the spirit of the original. For, solo, alone is the only epithet in it

Solo in parte vidi 'l Saladino;,

and it is accompanied by the definite article, which in Italian is like a title of nobility, well agreeing with that Saracen's rank and virtues : The lonely, lordly Saladin.

CANTO IV.

Coeur-de-lion endears him to Englishmen: at least to every Englishman that disapproves of Mr. Hume's epithet barbarous, in speaking of a Prince whose name was long synonimous both in Asia and in Europe with generosity and romantic valour. At the siege of Jaffa, Saladin perceiving our Monarch (who had just disembarked) directing the operations on foot, sent him by an equerry a horse, saying that it ill became so illustrious a personage to be seen without one: a compliment which the gallant Richard answered politely, and, without hesitation, accepted his enemy's gift (1). In one respect the Czar Peter 1. was not singular; for Saladin also is said to have consulted the benefit of his realm by travelling, disguised as a merchant with two companions, through Armenia to Greece, Sicily, Naples, Rome, Tuscany, Lombardy, Spain, France, and Germany, in order to study the laws and customs of those countries (2).' It is observable that there is one great political question on which Dante does not touch the Crusades: yet, if a passion for these was really" in that age a passion for glory (3), " it is no small encomium on the steadiness of his reason, that, though so ardent after glory, he could abstain from commending

(1) Jussit statim per armigerum illi equum transmitti, dicens non decere tam sublimem virum tali loco inter suos sine equo consistere; quem Rex gratanter accipiens, curialitatem ejus collaudens gratias illi egit. Chron. Pip. ap. Mur. Rer. Ital. Scrip. T. rx. p. 604.

(2) Lan. Comento. p. 29.

(3) Hume. Hist. Vol. 3. p. 119.

CANTO IV.

them; - a temptation too strong for his immediate successor Petrarch, who was heard to call for the expulsion of the dogs from Jerusalem with almost as much warmth as that of foreigners from Italy (1). But if Dante indulged in no panegyric of the holy wars, neither did he undertake to reprobate them. It is reasonable to conclude, that his silence was the result of indecision. It was horri ble to make religion a pretext for war: but to this accusation the Turks were liable as well as the Christians; and if these had not assailed part of Asia, those might have overrun the whole of Europe; there was an extreme necessity of giving some outlet to the rapine and immorality of the age, and it was no slender justification — justum bellum quibus necessarium; to a scrutinizing mind some of the remoter benefits might have been discernible, the increase of commerce and of the arts of civilization from a communication with the "east where those had then their chief seat (2),” and even the diminution of the very ignorance and bigotry that first produced the expeditions. These considerations might have well made any wise and virtuous man doubt, and, doubting, remain silent.

(1) Il sepolcro di Cristo è in man di Cani. Trionfo della Fama, Cap. 2.

(2) Hume. Hist. vol. 1. p. 391.