Past doubt her wisdom, taking from mad War The bank, which girdled him below, such height Downward from whence a man his garment loops. 2 So shouted his fierce lips, which sweeter hymns Then to the leftward turning sped we forth, From the neck down; and five times round his form 1 The pine.] "The large pine of bronze, which once ornamented the top of the mole of Adrian, was afterwards employed to decorate the top of the belfry of St. Peter; and having (according to Buti) been thrown down by lightning, it was, after lying some time on the steps of this palace, transferred to the place where it now is, in the Pope's garden, by the side of the great corridore of Belvedere. In the time of our Poet, the pine was then either on the belfry or on the steps of St. Peter." Lombardi. 2 Raphel, etc.] These unmeaning sounds, it is supposed, are meant to express the confusion of languages at the building of the tower of Babel. 3 Spirit confused.] I had before translated "Wild spirit!" and have altered it at the suggestion of Mr. Darley, who well observes that "anima confusa" is peculiarly appropriate to Nimrod, the author of the confusion at Babel, K Would of his strength against almighty Jove Great was his prowess, when the giants brought Experience next." He answer'd: "Thou shalt see More fell he seems." By violent earthquake rock'd As Ephialtes. More than ever then I dreaded death; nor than the terror more That held him fast. We, straightway journeying on, "O thou, who in the fortunate vale,1 that made Grace call him not unto herself." Thus spake 1 The fortunate vale.] The country near Carthage. See Liv. Hist. lib. 30., and Lucan, Phars. lib. 4. 590, etc. Dante has kept the latter of these writers in his eye throughout all this passage. 2 Alcides.] The combat between Hercules and Antæus is adduced by the poet in his treatise De Monarchia, lib. 2., as a proof of the judgment of God displayed in the duel, according to the singular superstition of those times. "Certamine vero dupliciter Dei judicium aperitur vel ex collisione virium, sicut fit per duellum pugilum, qui duelliones etiam vocantur; vel ex That grapple, straiten'd sore. Soon as my guide Lightly he placed us; nor, there leaning, stay'd; CANTO XXXII. Argument. This Canto treats of the first, and, in part, of the second of those rounds, into which the ninth and last, or frozen circle, is divided. In the former, called Caïna, Dante finds Camiccione de' Pazzi, who gives him an account of other sinners who are there punished; and in the next, named Antenora, he hears in like manner from Bocca degli Abbati who his fellowsufferers are. COULD I command rough rhymes and hoarse, to suit To jest with, and demands a tongue not used contentione plurium ad aliquod signum prævalere conantium, sicut fit per pugnam athletarum currentium ad bravium. Primus istorum modorum apud gentiles figuratus fuit in illo duello Herculis et Antæi, cujus Lucanus meminit in quarto Pharsaliæ, et Ovidius in nono de rerum transmutatione." 1 The tower of Carisenda.] The leaning tower at Bologna. 2 A tongue not used To infant babbling.] Nè da lingua, che chiami mamma, o babbo. Dante in his treatise De Vulg. Eloq., speaking of words not admissible in the loftier, or, as he calls it, tragic style of poetry, says "In quorum numero nec puerilia propter suam simplicitatem ut Mamma et Babbo," lib. 2. cap. vii. T My speech shall best accord. Oh ill-starr'd folk, In such a mansion, as scarce thought finds words Been flocks, or mountain goats. As down we stood Bespake me thus: "Look how thou walkest. Take "Who are ye?" At that sound their necks they bent; 1 A lake.] The same torment is introduced into the Edda, compiled in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. See the "Song of the Sun," translated by the Rev. James Beresford, London, 1805; and compare Warton's Hist. of Eng. Poetry, vol. i. dissert. 1., and Gray's Posthumous Works, edited by Mr. Mathias, vol. ii. p. 106. Indeed, as an escape from "the penalty of Adam, the season's difference," forms one of the most natural topics of consolation for the loss of life, so does a renewal of that suffering in its fiercest extremes of heat and cold bring before the imagination of men in general (except indeed the terrors of a self-accusing conscience) the liveliest idea of future punishment. Refer to Shakspeare and Milton in the Notes to Canto iii. 82; and see Douce's Illustrations of Shakspeare, 8vo, 1807, vol. i. p. 182. 2 Tabernich or Pietrapana.] The one a mountain in Sclavonia, the other in that tract of country called the Garfagnana, not far from Lucca. 3 To where modest shame appears.]"As high as to the face." 4 Moving their teeth in shrill note like the stork.] Mettendo i denti in nota di cicogna. So Boccaccio, G. viii. N. 7: "Lo scolar cattivello quasi cicogna divenuto si forte batteva i denti." Straightway their eyes, before all moist within, And one, from whom the cold both ears had reft, Not him, whose breast and shadow Arthur's hand Of those frore shallows. While we journey'd on 1 Who are these two.] Alessandro and Napoleone, sons of Alberto Alberti, who murdered each other. They were proprietors of the valley of Falterona, where the Bisenzio has its source, a river that falls into the Arno about six miles from Florence. 2 Not him.] Mordrec, son of King Arthur. In the romance of Lancelot of the Lake, Arthur, having discovered the traitorous intentions of his son, pierces him through with the stroke of his lance, so that the sunbeam passes through the body of Mordrec; and this disruption of the shadow is no doubt what our Poet alludes to in the text. 3 Focaccia.] Focaccia of Cancellieri (the Pistoian family), whose atrocious act of revenge against his uncle is said to have given rise to the parties of the Bianchi and Neri, in the year 1300. See G. Villani, Hist. lib. 8. cap. xxxvii. and Macchiavelli, Hist. lib. 2. The account of the latter writer differs much from that given by Landino in his Commentary. 4 Mascheroni.] Sassol Mascheroni, a Florentine, who also murdered his uncle. 5 Camiccione.] Camiccione de' Pazzi of Valdarno, by whom his kinsman Ubertino was treacherously put to death. Carlino.] One of the same family. He betrayed the Castel di Piano Travigne, in Valdarno, to the Florentines, after the refugees of the Bianca and Ghibelline party had defended it against a siege for twenty-nine days, in the summer of 1302. See G. Villani, lib. 8. cap. lii. and Dino Compagni, lib. 2. |