difficulty asks for solution; and, now and then, a little visionary in his interpretation. The commentary of his successor, Vellutello,' is more evenly diffused over the text; and although without pretensions to the higher qualities, by which Landino is distinguished, he is generally under the influence of a sober good sense, which renders him a steady and useful guide. Venturi," who followed after a long interval of time, was too much swayed by his principles, or his prejudices, as a Jesuit, to suffer him to judge fairly of a Ghibelline poet; and either this bias, or a real want of tact for the higher excellence of his author, or, perhaps, both these imperfections together, betray him into such impertinent and injudicious sallies, as dispose us to quarrel with our companion, though, in the main, a very attentive one, generally acute and lively, and at times even not devoid of a better understanding for the merits of his master. To him, and in our own times, has succeeded the Padre Lombardi. This good Franciscan, no doubt, must have given himself much pains to pick out and separate those ears of grain, which had escaped the flail of those who had gone before him in that labor. But his zeal to do something new often leads him to do something that is not over wise; and if on certain occasions we applaud his sagaciousness, on others we do not less wonder that his ingenuity should have been so strangely perverted. His manner of writing is awkward and tedious; his attention, more than is necessary, directed to grammatical niceties; and his attachment to one of the old editions, so excessive, as to render him disingenuous or partial in his representation of the rest. But to compensate this, he is a good Ghibelline; and his opposition to Venturi seldom fails to awaken him into a perception of those beauties which had only exercised the spleen of the Jesuit. He who shall undertake another commentary on Dante,* yet completer than any of those which have 1 Alessandro Vellutello was born in 1519. 2 Pompeo Venturi was born in 1693, and died in 1752. 3 Baldassare Lombardi died January 2, 1802. See Cancellieri. Osservazioni, &c. Roma, 1814, p. 112. 4 Francesco Cionacci, a noble Florentine, projected an edition of the Divina Commedia in one hundred volumes, each containing a single canto, followed by all the commentaries, hitherto appeared, must make use of these four, but depend on none. To them he must add several others of minor note, whose diligence will nevertheless be found of some advantage, and among whom I can particularly distinguish Volpi. Besides this, many commentaries and marginal annotations, that are yet inedited, remain to be examined; many editions and manuscripts' to be more carefully collated; and many separate dissertations and works of criticism to be considered. But this is not all. That line of reading which the Poet himself appears to have pursued (and there are many vestiges in his works by which we shall be enabled to discover it) must be diligently tracked; and the search, have little doubt, would lead to sources of information, equally profitable and unexpected. As If there is any thing of novelty in the notes which accompany the following translation, it will be found to consist chiefly in a comparison of the Poet with himself, that is, of the Divina Commedia with his other writings; a mode of illustration so obvious, that it is only to be wondered how others should happen to have made so little use of it. to the imitations of my author by later poets, Italian and English, which I have collected in addition to those few that had been already remarked, they contribute little or nothing to the purposes of illustration, but must be considered merely as matter of curiosity, and as instances of the manner in which the great practitioners in art do not scruple to profit by their predecessors. according to the order of time in which they were written, and accompanied by a Latin translation for the use of foreigners. Cancellieri, ibid. p. 64. I The Count Mortara has lately shown me many various readings he has remarked on collating the numerous MSS. of Dante in the Canonici collection at the Bodleian. It is to be hoped he will make them public. [Jan. 1843.] 2 The edition which is referred to in the following notes, is that printed at Venice in 2 vols. 8vo. 1793. A. D. CHRONOLOGICAL VIEW OF THE AGE OF DANTE. 1265 May.-DANTE, son of Alighieri degli Alighieri and Bella, is born at Florence. Of his own ancestry he speaks in the Paradise, Canto xv. and xvi. In the same year, Manfredi, king of Naples and Sicily, defeated and slain by Charles of Anjou. H. xxviii. 13, and Purg. iii. 110. Guido Novello of Polenta obtains the sovereignty of Ravenna. H. xxvii. 38. Battle of Evesham. Simon de Montfort, leader of the barons, defeated and slain. 1266 Two of the Frati Godenti chosen arbitrators of the differences of Florence. H. xxiii. 104. Gianni de' Soldanieri heads the populace in that city. H. xxxii. 118. Roger Bacon sends a copy of his Opus Majus to Pope Clement IV. 1268 Charles of Anjou puts Conradine to death, and becomes king of Naples. H. xxviii. 16, and Purg. xx. 66. 1270 Louis IX. of France dies before Tunis. His widow Beatrice, daughter of Raymond Be renger, lived till 1295. Purg. vii. 126. Par. vi. 135. 1272 Henry III. of England is succeeded by Edward I. Purg. vii. 129. Guy de Montfort murders Prince Henry, son of Richard, king of the Romans, and nephew of Henry III. of England, at Viterbo. H. xii. 119. Richard dies, as is supposed, of grief for this event. Abulfeda, the Arabic writer, is born. 1274 Our Poet first sees Beatrice, daughter of Folco Portinari. Rodolph acknowledged emperor. Philip III. of France marries Mary of Brabant, who lived till 1321. Purg. vi. 24. A. D. 1274 Thomas Aquinas dies. Purg. xx. 67, and Par. x. 96. Buonaventura dies. Par. xii. 25. 1275 Pierre de la Brosse, secretary to Philip III. of France, executed. Purg. vi. 23. 1276 Giotto, the painter, is born. Purg. xi. 95. Pope Adrian V. dies. Purg. xix. 97. Guido Guinicelli, the poet, dies. Purg. xi. 96, and xxvi. 83. 1277 Pope John XXI. dies. Par. xii. 126. 1278 Ottocar, king of Bohemia, dies. Purg. vii. 97. Robert of Gloucester is living at this time. 1279 Dionysius succeeds to the throne of Portugal. Par. xix. 135. 1280 Albertus Magnus dies. Par. x. 95. Our Poet's friend, Busone da Gubbio, is born about this time. See the Life of Dante prefixed. William of Ockham is born about this time. 1281 Pope Nicholas III. dies. H. xix. 71. Dante studies at the universities of Bologna and Padua. About this time Ricordano Malaspina, the Florentine annalist, dies. 1282 The Sicilian vespers. Par. viii. 80. The French defeated by the people of Forli. Tribaldello de' Manfredi betrays the city of 1284 Prince Charles of Anjou is defeated, and made prisoner by Rugier de Lauria, admiral to Peter III. of Aragon. Purg. xx. 78. Charles I. king of Naples, dies. Purg. vii. 111. 102. 1285 Pope Martin IV. dies. Purg. xxiv. 23. Henry II. king of Cyprus, comes to the throne. A. D. 1285 Simon Memmi, the painter, celebrated by Petrarch, is born. 1287 Guido dalle Colonne (mentioned by Dante in his De Vulgari Eloquio) writes "The War of Troy." Pope Honorius IV. dies. 1288 Haquin, king of Norway, makes war on Denmark. Par. xix. 135. Count Ugolino de' Gherardeschi dies of famine. The Scottish poet, Thomas Learmouth, com- 1289 Dante is in the battle of Campaldino, where the Florentines defeat the people of Arezzo, June 11. Purg. v. 90. 1290 Beatrice dies. Purg. xxxii. 2. He serves in the war waged by the Florentines upon the Pisans, and is present at the surrender of Caprona in the autumn. H. xxi. 92. Guido dalle Colonne dies. William, marquis of Montferrat, is made prisoner by his traitorous subjects, at Alessandria in Lombardy. Purg. vii. 133. Michael Scot dies. H. xx. 115. 1291 Dante marries Gemma de' Donati, with whom he lives unhappily. By this marriage he had five sons and a daughter. Can Grande della Scala is born, March 9. The renegade Christians assist the Saracens to Alonzo III. of Aragon dies, and is succeeded Eleanor, widow of Henry III. dies. Par. vi. 135. 1292 Pope Nicholas IV. dies. Roger Bacon dies. John Baliol, king of Scotland, crowned. 1294 Clement V. abdicates the papal chair. H. iii. 56. Dante writes his Vita Nuova. |