CANTO I.

by his son Peter, (though I know not on what ground) to have been, like his master, Virgil, a great astrologer nunc vult se ostendere in judiciis astrologicis scientem; 'which conjunction', adds Landino, 'I have myself, by a new calculation, verified as undoubtedly to take place at two minutes past eight, on the morning of November the twenty-fifth, 1484; for then Saturn and Jove will so meet in the Scorpion, as to prognosticate, with infallible certainty, some mighty change in religion; and, since Jove will be ascendant over Saturn, we may further predict, that, that change will be an amelioration; and will be brought about by a Prince, to be born at the above moment, or else by some other species of potent influence, then to commence' (8): or, finally,

(8) Certo nell'anno 1484 il dì 25 Novembre, or: 13, minut: 41, tale sarà la conjuctione di Saturno e di Giove nello Scorpione nel ascendente del quinto grado della libra, la quale dimostrerà mutazio. ne di Religione: e, perchè Giove prevale a Saturno, significa, che tale mutazione sarà in meglio. Questo io veggio, e però il narro.

Ed. della Magna. fol. Fir. 1481.

This odd prophecy of Landino, put forth in such a tone of confi. dence, having seemingly attracted no notice in the thickly printed volume wherein it occurs, I had the curiosity to try how it could be applied, and found, to my surprise, that, Luther was born in the November of 1484, on the twenty-second, according to his mother, which differs from the prediction by three days; but Bayle informs us, that she owned she conld not affirm the date with absolute precision. I know Luther's foes are said to have pretended, that they had drawn opprobrious horoscopes of his birth: but such prejudices could not have dictated the present one, for Landino died in 1504, that is, a dozen years before Luther began to attract attention; besides this is a favourable, rather than a diffamatory prediction, and will please

GANTO I.

that Dante might have only intended to poze his readers and start matter for ingenious controversy, as Virgil did in one of his compositions (1). The history of the affair is, that, Dante was at that time busy in seeking for some champion to oppose the usurping spirit of the Papal court; and therefore, if he personified the later as a she wolf, it is likely, that the hound was a personification of the champion he had selected. This agrees very well with what is the common opinion now; that the Veltro -'Greyhound' of the text is put for Cane, 'dog'; and that, therefore, the individual meant is a prince of Verona known by the title of Can grande della Scala. He is said to be born mid the 'Feltri', because (remarks Venturi)

neither his friends or foes. Since then Landino was neither a Magician, nor a reputed Prophet, what can be doue better than repeat Cicero's sentence -'a whimsical coincidence of what is foretold and what really comes to pass sometimes happens, otherwise not even an old woman would be superstitious'. The prophecy was known to Sterne (Slawken : tale) but not its origin or date, nor the prophecy itself correctly, for he attributes to it the error of a year, by calling it 1483, whereas we see it was really and truly 1484. He adds, that, Luther was born in December and not November ; it may be so, but Bayle decides for the latter. For Sterne to have ridiculed the prediction was quite fair; as well as to have thought it made after the event, if he had never seen Landino's book. If he had, he must have admired the fortuitous verification of the horoscope, even while despising both the astrologer and his art: for not only before Luther became known, did Landino die; but he put his calculation to a fair trial, by divulging it long previons to the period it pretended to foretel ; that is, the first edition of his comment, now on my table, was prin ted and pubblished in August 1481, or above three years before Luther was born. This hypothesis then makes Dante's hound Luther. (1) Jam redit et virgo. Ecl. 4.

CANTO I.

there are two towns of the name of Feltro, and Verona lies between them; a mode of interpreting Feltri known as early as the days of Peter Alighieri, although indeed he only mentions it to condemn it: dicunt quidam hoc esse in partibus Lombardiæ et Romandiolæ, inter civitatem Feltri et montem Feltri. This is usually corroborated by stating, that Can was a chief protector of our poet and that he dedicated his Paradise to Can. But, although we may go with the momentary stream, so far as to concede that the 'hound' may mean Can, in the absence of any thing more plausible, we must not permit our condescension for an hypothesis totally modern, and which, I repeat it, is without a shadow of any ancient authority, to lead us so wrong as to imagine (with those who disregard dates) that the present passage was composed in gratitude for hospitality received from Can. It were to err much; for it was in all probability written before Can was five years old, and certainly before Dante had had any opportunity of appreciating his character. Even those, who, boldly contradicting Boccaccio, deny that any part of this poem was begun in Florence previous to its authors exile in 1302, must still allow, that this entire Canticle, Hell, was finished, before 1308; and this latter is the earliest period that can possibly be assigned for Dante's visit to Verona › consistently with the shortest time in which his journeys could be performed; as Pelli clearly de

CANTO I.

monstrates. Even supposing he, on that occasion, remained two years and a half at the Veronese court, without ever quitting it, (and it is in this sense, of his having tarried no where else so long throughout his exile, and in this sense alone, that we are hereafter to receive his expression 'principal inn' (1) when speaking of Verona) yet these verses could allude to no such hospitality; since they were written before his going there. If then they refer to Can at all, they must have preceded his kindness to their author. It is most probable they were addressed to Alberto, whom they complimented by predicting the future glories of his youngest and infant child, Can. Alberto died in 1301; previous to which year, I am of opinion, that this Canto was, at least, sketched out

though this is not the place to prove it. Dante might have been at Verona, for a day or two, before exiled; or Alberto at Florence; or the Sovereign of Verona and a Florentine Chieftain been well acquainted politically, without ever having met; or these verses might have been sent to the elder brothers, Bartolomeo and Alboino, complimenting them through the youngest, Can: or, infine, they might possibly have been so to this last himself; but it could have been only while he was quite a boy and before Dante came to reside in his city and knew him personally. This shows how ground

CANTO T.

lessly Venturi and other annotators represent the passage as a poet's flattery of his patron; and how inapplicable are all the flourishes of the Marchese Maffei and his allies (1); who, it must be confessed, are not the only Italians that betray the narrow, pseudopatriotism of being ready to sacrifice the fame of their country in order to foster the pretensions of some single spot in it. The best excuse an advocate could make for them would be to say, that they had not sufficiently studied the subject on which they write: and it were to arraign them of strange negligence. Since this Can, preposterously entitled the great, and his panegyrists have been mentioned, let me, in justice to Dante's reputation as a man, though sadly against it as an astrologer, mention the truth of the matter and how miserably he mistook, when he foretold either hospitality or political achievements. In truth he was soon undeceived. He, as I have said, came to Verona, an exile, in 1308; where he found the father and eldest son dead, and Alboino and Can joint sovereigns. His treatment by the former of these two was probably feeling and honorable, or he could not have staid there even as long as he did; but quite the reverse that of the younger brother, then in his seventeenth year, at whose ostentatious board buffoons and petty tyrants

(1) Verona Illustr. P. 2. 1. 2. p. 50-6. Risorgimento. Capo quinto. Istoria di Verona. t. 1. p. 582.