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CANTO VI.

wise; but morally and accurately, it is only in the former case that we can call it true perfection, for the latter is spurious perfection, or rather the superlative degree of imperfection. Philosophers affirm that the creature man, being compounded of body and soul, is naturally nearer his perfection when both are united properly (that is when the body is the servant of the soul), than when the soul is not incarnate; or rather it is asserted, that logically speaking the union of body and soul is necessary to human existence, and that the latter while deprived of the former is no longer in a state of man, but of widowhood: and therefore it is that Dante (who never fails to preserve a mar. vellous consistency in the minutest details of this long poem) took care to make Virgil say on his first appearance, that he is not now a man, though he once was such (1). S. Austin had thought proper to treat the question systematically, whether the word Man meant the soul, or the body, or both united: Homer and Plato were represented as at variance on the matter; Averroes plunged deep into the dispute; and at last the orthodox opinion both in logic and Divinity was decided to be, that by Man was to be understood a human body and human soul united together: anima rationalis et caro unus est homo. No doubt Dante wrote with this precision to record his sentiments on a point

(1) Inferno, Canto 1. v. 67.

CANTO VI.

about which the literary people of his time condescended to dispute (1).

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This answer to Dante's question follows as a consequence from the ethics of his master, Aristotle, as we have observed. If it were necessary to quote Christian authority also, it is to be had in S. Austin; of whose words this verse is nearly a literal translation (2).

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Plutus, the mythological demon of riches, is to be the allegorical president over the next circle: and he may well be termed the 'mighty foe, 'since money is the great cause of strife amongst men. 'The descent into each infernal circle' (it is Boccaccio that speaks) 'is introduced by some object or circumstance of accumulating terror, as an earthquake or demon, which serves the double purpose of inflicting horror on the new comer, and of informing those that inhabit that circle of the arrival of another victim; whose presence is to augment their sufferings by augmenting the ge. neral mass of iniquity: and this is the reverse of Purgatory; for there we shall meet a comforting

(1) Ascensius, Com. in Aeneid. Lib. vr. v. 366. - De Civ. Dei, XIX. (2) Cum fiet resurrectio carnis, et bonorum gaudia et malorum tormenta majora erunt. Id. Id.

CANTO VI.

angel at the entrance of each ascent (1).' Much confusion has arisen by the commentators not distinguishing between this golden devil, and the king of hell, and calling both Pluto. No such confusion is introduced by Dante himself; for he terms the king of Hell, Satano, Dite, Lucifero : and no better proof needs be of his considering the king of hell and this fiend of gold two different beings, than that we shall find the latter calling for assistance from the former in the first line of next Canto. In Italian it is easy to confuse them, because the distinction between the words Pluto and Plutone is small; and many writers have not chosen to observe it. But to translate this money-God's name into Latin Pluto, or into French Pluton, is surely an error; yet is it done lately by two Professors in France and Italy (2). In French and Latin, as well as in English, the name is Plutus, and in Greek Maros (3); the king of hell is termed in English and Latin Pluto, and (at least generally) in Greek "As or Птwv (4). Pluto was the son of Ops in Mythology and was

(1) Comento Vol. 1. p. 157.

(2) Pluton le grand ennemi préside au quatrieme. M. Ginguené, Hist. Litt. d'Italie, vol. 2. p. 54. — Hic Plutonem invenimus. Inf. trad. dal Dott. A. Catellacci, P. P. etc. etc.

(3) Пλšтoç, Plutus, Deus divitiarum. Lexicon Ernest.

(4) "Aiç, Orcas, Bluto — Пλτwv, Dis, Pluto. Id. Id.

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CANTO VI.

full brother to Ceres; Plutus was son of Ceres (1): the father of the one was Janus; of the other, Saturn (2).

(1) Η Δημήτηρ εγένησε Πλάτον. Schol. Odyss. Lib. v. v. 125. — Janus ex Cerere Plutum genuit. Diodor. Sicul. Lib. vì.

Δημήτηρ μεν εγείνατο διὰ θεάων

Alma Ceres Plutum peperit conjuncta in amore
Hesiod. Nat. Com. Lib. 2. p. 178,

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(2) Plutonem ac Cererem Saturnus genuit. Genealogia Deor. Lib. vm. cap. 4 - Even Aquino is inaccurate here, for he translates Re Erebi; and this is a title not appertaining to Plutus . — Pluto, quem infernorum Deum putarint antiqui, natus est ex Opi et Saturno Nat. Comitis, Myth. Lib. 2. p. 173.

NOTE. I should have observed, Dante's vehemence against intemperance was, perhaps, heightened by his own habits; for these have more or less influence over our opinions. ‘He was a man of singular sobriety both in eating and drinking: and, though he used to praise good cookery, he always chose for himself the plainest dish; and even of it eat most sparingly.' Jann. Manetti, Vita Dantis. p. 37.

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We now enter the fourth Circle or the domain of the wolfish demon, Plutus; where the slaves of money, both misers and prodigals, are seen rolling about and tilting at each other frightfully breast to breast (1). They are moreover so disfigured by filth, that Dante finds it impossible to recognise any one among them. From their shaven crowns however, he perceives the majority to be Churchmen. This inability to know individuals engages the travellers to descend into a lower circle; and they do so through a hole, or conduit, which receiving a cataract that falls from above (to wit the Acheron before seen by us in the Vestibule, and which appears to have taken an invisible course ever since) leads down to the lake of Styx. This lake is the fifth Circle; and walking round it they behold a ferocious crew floundering

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Frontibus adversis .
. non ego avarum
Cum veto te fieri, vappam jubeo aut nebulonem.

Hor. Sat. 1. Lib. 1.

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