Dante Alighieri (39 page)

    
Ecloga
i. Dante in reply sends to Giovanni a Latin eclogue,
⁷¹
in which he says that when the latter's poem reached him he (Tityrus) was in company with a friend, Meliboeus (Dino Perini of Florence),
⁷²
who was eager to know what Mopsus (Giovanni) had to say (ll. 1-6); to which Tityrus replied that Mopsus discoursed of matters too high for his (Meliboeus') comprehension (ll. 7-23); at length, however, yielding to Meliboeus' entreaties Tityrus informs him that Mopsus has invited him to receive the laurel crown at Bologna (ll. 24-33). Meliboeus assumes that Tityrus will accept the invitation, but Tityrus gives reasons why he should decline, suggesting that it would be better for him to await his recall to Florence and receive the crown there (ll. 34-44). Meliboeus reminds him that time flies, but Tityrus assures him that when his poem dealing with the heavens and their inhabitants (the
Paradiso
) shall be finished, he will then be prepared to receive the crown, if Mopsus approve (ll. 45-51). Meliboeus thereupon recalls Mopsus' objections against vernacular poetry, and asks Tityrus how he proposes to win him over (ll. 51-7). Tityrus replies that he will send to Mopsus ten vessels of milk from his favourite ewe (i.e. ten cantos of the
Paradiso
); meanwhile let Meliboeus concern himself with his own duties (ll. 58-66).

    
Ecloga Responsiva
.
⁷³
Giovanni del Virgilio, adopting the pastoral style in imitation of Dante, sends back an
eclogue in which he relates how, while he was in solitude at Bologna, the song of Tityrus (Dante) was borne to him by Eurus from Ravenna (ll. 1-21); and was echoed in Arcady, where the long-unheard strain was welcomed with delight by the inhabitants and by the very beasts. (ll. 22-5). Mopsus (Giovanni) then, asking himself why he too should not sing a pastoral strain instead of, as before, a city lay (his
carmen
), forthwith begins (ll. 26-32). Hailing Tityrus as a second Virgil, he bewails his hard fate as an exile, and expresses the hope that he may be granted his heart's desire to return to his own city and there be crowned (ll. 33-46); meanwhile will he consent to visit Mopsus in his cave (Bologna), where he should receive every welcome from the friends of Mopsus and from all the dwellers in Arcady, and where he need fear no danger (ll. 47-76). But perhaps Tityrus would despise the abode of Mopsus; and, besides, lolas (Guido da Polenta) would hardly permit him to exchange his lordly roof for such humble entertainment as Mopsus could offer (ll. 77-83). Yet the invitation is dictated by admiration and love; and if Tityrus despise Mopsus, why then he will content himself with a draught of his Phrygian Muso (i.e. with the company of Albertino Mussato of Padua) (ll. 83-9)—but he must conclude, milking time is at hand, and his companions are returning with the setting sun (90-7).

    
Ecloga
ii.
⁷⁴
In response to the eclogue of Giovanni del Virgilio, Dante writes a second poem in the same style,
⁷⁵
relating how, while he (Tityrus) and Alphesiboeus (Fiduccio
de' Milotti)
⁷⁶
were conversing together in the shade one spring day at noontide, suddenly Meliboeus (Dino Perini) appeared, hot and out of breath (ll. 1-30). Greeting him with laughter, Tityrus asks him why he comes in such hot haste (ll. 31-5). Meliboeus makes no reply, but blows on his flute, which gives forth the words of the poem sent by Mopsus (“Forte sub irriguos colles,” etc.) (ll. 36-43). When they have gathered its import, Alphesiboeus inquires of Tityrus if he intends to accept the invitation of Mopsus; to which Tityrus replies, “why not ? ” (ll. 44-8). Alphesiboeus then beseeches him not to leave his friends, and warns him of the danger he would incur if he went (ll. 49-62). Tityrus answers that for Mopsus' sake he would willingly for a time exchange their pleasant pastures for the rugged abode of his friend, were it not for his dread of the violence of Polyphemus
⁷⁷
(ll. 63-75). Thereupon Alphesiboeus dilates on the cruelty of Polyphemus, and prays that Tityrus will never place himself in his power (ll. 76-87). Tityrus listens in silence, and smiles assent—and now evening has begun to fall (ll. 88-94). Meanwhile Iolas (Guido da Polenta) had been in hiding close by and had overheard the whole conversation (ll. 95-8).

    
Quaestio de Aqua et Terra
.—The authenticity of the short physical treatise attributed to Dante, known as the
Quaestio de Aqua et Terra
, has been long disputed. Until quite recently it was held by the majority of professed Dantists to be an undoubted forgery. This work, which consists of twenty-four short sections, purports to be a scientific inquiry as to the relative levels of land and water
on the surface of the globe; it claims, in fact, to be a report, written by Dante's own hand, of a public disputation held by him at Verona on Sunday, 20 January, 1320, wherein he determined the question, which had previously been propounded in his presence at Mantua, in favour of the theory that the surface of the earth is everywhere higher than that of the water.

    
The treatise was first published at Venice in 1508, by one Moncetti, who professed to have printed it from a manuscript copy, with corrections of his own.
⁷⁸
Unfortunately he never produced the manuscript, of which nothing more has ever been heard. In spite, however, of the suspicious circumstances attending its publication, and of the fact that no such work is mentioned by any of Dante's biographers or commentators, it is difficult to believe that it could have been written by any one but Dante. The internal evidence in favour of its authenticity is overwhelmingly strong; while there seems no adequate motive for a falsification of this kind at the beginning of of the sixteenth century, when the literary forger found a
more promising field in the imitation of classical works. One of the latest writers on the subject, Dr. E. Moore, who has gone very carefully into the whole matter, unhesitatingly believes it to be a genuine work of Dante, “corrupted possibly in some of its details, but still in all essential points the production of the same mind and pen to which we owe the
Divina Coinmedia
, the
De Monarchia,
and the
Convivio
.”
⁷⁹
A critical text of the
Quaestio
, edited by Dr. C. L. Shadwell, to whom the rehabilitation of the treatise is largely due, is printed in the third edition (1904) of the Oxford Dante. This text was reissued in a revised form, together with an English translation, in 1909.
⁸⁰

    
Analysis of the
Quaestio de Aqua et Terra
;—

    
The treatise opens with the author's statement that while he was at Mantua a debate arose as to whether water “within its own natural circumference” is in any part higher than the land; he then states his reasons for attempting a solution of the question, and his resolve to commit his conclusions to writing (§§ 1-2). Five of the chief arguments of those who upheld the affirmative view are first set out (§§ 3-7); but the author holds this opinion to be contrary both to observation and to reason, and states his intention of proving first, that water cannot in any part of its circumference be higher than the land; and secondly, that the land is everywhere higher than the surface of the sea; he will then deal with the objections to these conclusions, after which he will show what is the
final cause of this elevation of the land, and lastly he will refute the five arguments in favour of the contrary opinion already stated (§§ 8-9). Water in its own circumference can only be higher than the land either by being excentric, or by being concentric, but in some part irregularly elevated or gibbous (§ 10); in proof of his first proposition the author demonstrates that water can neither be excentric nor gibbous (§§ 11-14); proof of the author's second proposition (§ 15); opponent's arguments against these conclusions (§ 16), and author's reply (§ 17); opponent's answer to author's objections and author's fresh arguments (§§ 18-19). Having now established his position that earth is everywhere higher than water, the author proceeds to examine into the cause of this elevation, which he finally refers to the influence of the stars (§§ 20-21); as to further inquiry, let men cease to search into matters that are too high for them (§ 22). The author next refutes the arguments in favour of the contrary view stated at the outset (§ 23), and concludes with the record of his own name and of the place and date of the dissertation (§ 24).

    
Apocryphal Works
.—Besides the spurious letters mentioned above, and sundry apocryphal sonnets and canzoni, Dante has been credited with the authorship of certain religious poems in
terza rima
, namely a translation of the seven Penitential Psalms, and a poem of eighty-three
terzine
, known as his
Professione di Fede
, which consists of a paraphrase of the Apostle's Creed, the ten Commandments, the
Pater Noster
, and the
Ave Maria
, together with reflections on the seven Sacraments, and seven Deadly Sins. The
Professione di Fede
, sometimes spoken of as Dante's
Credo
,
⁸¹
is contained in more than forty
manuscripts, in the majority of which it is attributed to Dante, though in a few it is assigned to Antonio da Ferrara. It was first printed at Rome in the fifteenth century (
circ
. 1476),
⁸²
and was reprinted as an appendix to the edition of the
Divina Commedia
published at Venice by Vendelin da Spira in 1477. It has been many times reprinted since.
⁸³
The
Sette Salmi Penitenziali
, which are contained in numerous manuscripts, were first printed in the fifteenth century (
c
. 1475) at Venice.
⁸⁴
They were reprinted with the Latin originals and annotations, together with the
Professione di Fede
, by Quadrio at Milan in 1752, who published a second edition, with additional matter, at Bologna in 1753, which has frequently been reprinted. An
Ave Maria,
in twenty-four
terzine,
quite distinct from that contained in the
Professione di Fede
, was printed in a limited edition at Bologna, in 1853, from a fourteenth century manuscript
⁸⁵
; and another
Credo
was printed at Mantua in 1871.
⁸⁶

    
Whatever may be said as to the genuineness or otherwise of the
Professione di Fede
, the
proemio
of which, at any rate, can hardly have been written by Dante, it seems at least possible that the
Sette Salmi Penitenziali
may have been his composition, perhaps as an early exercise in the use of
terza rima
, a metre which he was the
first to introduce. It is not to be supposed that Dante acquired the complete mastery of this metre, which he displays from the outset in the
Divina Commedia
, without considerable previous practice. In the
Commedia
itself the increase of skill in the handling of the
terza rima
, and in the avoidance of repetition in the rimes, is easily perceptible to a close observer as the poem advances. Quadrio, who pointed out the many Dantesque phrases which occur in the
Sette Salmi
, and who had no hesitation in accepting them as genuine works of Dante, regarded them as examples of the “elegiac” style,
⁸⁷
as distinguished from the tragic and comic, of which Dante speaks in the
De Vulgari Eloquentia
.
⁸⁸

 

    
¹
The division of the books into chapters was made by Dante himself, as is evident from the passages in which he refers to previous or subsequent chapters (e.g. i. 8, l. 33; ii . 6, l. 10; ii. 8, ll. 106-7; iii. 16, l. 1). The numeration of the chapters is due to modern editors, who unfortunately have not all adopted a uniform system. Witte, for instance, divides Book i. into sixteen chapters, Book ii. into thirteen, and Book iii. into sixteen; whereas Fraticelli and Torri divide Book i. into eighteen, Book ii. into eleven, and Book iii. into fifteen; while Giuliani adopts yet another system. (For a comparative table of the various arrangements, see
Table
xxxiii. in the
Dante Dictionary
.)

    
²
Bk. ix. ch. 136.

    
³
Bertrand du Pouget, created Cardinal by his uncle, Pope John XXII, in 1316.

    
⁴
Vita di Dante
, ed. Macrì-Leone, § 16, pp. 72-3. The whole of Boccaccio's account of the
De Monarchia
is omitted from the edition of the
Vita di Dante
published, together with the
editio princeps
of the
Vita Nuova
, at Florence in 1576 with the
imprimatur
of the Florentine Inquisitor General. This suppression was noticed by Milton, who remarks on the fact in his Commonplace Book (see Paget Toynbee,
Dante in English Literature
, vol. i. p. 122).

    
⁵
The chief upholder of this theory was Karl Witte—see the
Prolegomena
to his edition (Vienna, 1874) of the
De Monarchia
, pp. xxxiii-xlix.

    
⁶
The passage in question, which occurs in the middle of the twelfth chapter of the first book runs as follows:—

    
“Libertas arbitrii . . . est maximum donum humanae naturae a Deo collatum, sicut in Paradiso Comedie jam dixi”.

    
This is an unmistakable reference to
Paradiso
, v. 19-24:—