"In reference to the meaning of the name, 'she who confers blessing,' we learn from Boccaccio that this first meeting took place at a May Feast, given in the year 1274, by Folco Portinari, father of Beatrice ... to which feast Dante accompanied his father, Alighiero Alighieri."—Note by D. G. Rossetti, ibid., p. 30.]

[290] {249}

"L'Esilio che m' e dato onor mi tegno * * * * * Cader tra' buoni e pur di lode degno."

Sonnet of Dante [Canzone xx. lines 76-80, Opere di Dante 1897, p. 171]

in which he represents Right, Generosity, and Temperance as banished from among men, and seeking refuge from Love, who inhabits his bosom.

[291] [Compare—

"On the stone Called Dante's,—a plain flat stone scarce discerned From others in the pavement,—whereupon He used to bring his quiet chair out, turned To Brunelleschi's Church, and pour alone The lava of his spirit when it burned: It is not cold to-day. O passionate Poor Dante, who, a banished Florentine, Didst sit austere at banquets of the great And muse upon this far-off stone of thine, And think how oft some passer used to wait A moment, in the golden day's decline, With 'Good night, dearest Dante!' Well, good night!"

Casa Guidi Windows, by E. B. Browning, Poetical Works, 1866, iii. 259.]

[292] {250} "Ut si quis predictorum ullo tempore in fortiam dicti communis pervenerit, talis perveniens igne comburatur, sic quod moriatur." Second sentence of Florence against Dante, and the fourteen accused with him. The Latin is worthy of the sentence. [The decree (March 11, 1302) that he and his associates in exile should be burned, if they fell into the hands of their enemies, was first discovered in 1772 by the Conte Ludovico Savioli. Dante had been previously, January 27, fined eight thousand lire, and condemned to two years' banishment.]

[bx] The ashes she would scatter——.—[MS. Alternative reading.]

[293] {251}[At the end of the Social War (B.C. 88), when Sulla marched to Rome at the head of his army, and Marius was compelled to take flight, he "stripped himself, plunged into the bog (Paludes Minturnenses, near the mouth of the Liris), amidst thick water and mud.... They hauled him out naked and covered with dirt, and carried him to Minturnae." Afterwards, when he sailed for Carthage, he had no sooner landed than he was ordered by the governor (Sextilius) to quit Africa. On his once more gaining the ascendancy and re-entering Rome (B.C. 87), he justified the massacre of Sulla's adherents in a blood-thirsty oration. Past ignominy and present triumph seem to have turned his head ("ut erat inter iram toleratae fortunae, et laetitiam emendatae, parum compos animi").—Plut., "Marius," apud Langhorne, 1838, p. 304; Livii Epit., lxxx. 28.]

[by] {252}——their civic rage.—[MS. Alternative reading.]

[294] {253} This lady, whose name was Gemma, sprung from one of the most powerful Guelph families, named Donati. Corso Donati was the principal adversary of the Ghibellines. She is—described as being "Admodum morosa, ut de Xantippe Socratis philosophi conjuge scriptum esse legimus," according to Giannozzo Manetti. But Lionardo Aretino is scandalised with Boccace, in his life of Dante, for saying that literary men should not marry. "Qui il Boccaccio non ha pazienza, e dice, le mogli esser contrarie agli studj; e non si ricorda che Socrate, il piu nobile filosofo che mai fusse, ebbe moglie e figliuoli e ufici nella Repubblica nella sua Citta; e Aristotile che, etc., etc., ebbe due moglie in varj tempi, ed ebbe figliuoli, e ricchezze assai.—E Marco Tullio—e Catone—e Varrone—e Seneca—ebbero moglie," etc., etc. [Le Vite di Dante, etc., Firenze, 1677, pp. 22, 23]. It is odd that honest Lionardo's examples, with the exception of Seneca, and, for anything I know, of Aristotle, are not the most felicitous. Tully's Terentia, and Socrates' Xantippe, by no means contributed to their husbands' happiness, whatever they might do to their philosophy—Cato gave away his wife—of Varro's we know nothing—and of Seneca's, only that she was disposed to die with him, but recovered and lived several years afterwards. But says Leonardo, "L'uomo e animale civile, secondo piace a tutti i filosofi." And thence concludes that the greatest proof of the animal's civism is "la prima congiunzione, dalla quale multiplicata nasce la Citta."

[There is nothing in the Divina Commedia, or elsewhere in his writings, to justify the common belief that Dante was unhappily married, unless silence may be taken to imply dislike and alienation. It has been supposed that he alludes to his wife, Gemma Donati, in the Vita Nuova, Sec. 36, "as a young and very beautiful lady, who was gazing upon me from a window, with a gaze full of pity," "who remembered me many times of my own most noble lady," whom he consented to serve "more because of her gentle goodness than from any choice" of his own (Convito, ii. 2. 7), but there are difficulties in the way of accepting this theory. There is, however, not the slightest reason for believing that the words which he put into the mouth of Jacopo Rusticucci, "La fiera moglie piu ch'altro, mi nuoce" ["and truly, my savage wife, more than aught else, doth harm me"] (Inferno, xvi. 45), were winged with any personal reminiscence or animosity. But with Byron (see his letter to Lady Byron, dated April 3, 1820, in which he quotes these lines "with intention" [Letters, 1901, v. 2]), as with Boccaccio, "the wish was father to the thought," and both were glad to quote Dante as a victim to matrimony.

Seven children were born to Dante and Gemma. Of these "his son Pietro, who wrote a commentary on the Divina Commedia, settled as judge in Verona. His daughter Beatrice lived as a nun in Ravenna" (Dante, by Oscar Browning, 1891, p. 47).]

[295] {256}[In his defence of the "mother-tongue" as a fitting vehicle for a commentary on his poetry, Dante argues "that natural love moves the lover principally to three things: the one is to exalt the loved object, the second is to be jealous thereof, the third is to defend it ... and these three things made me adopt it, that is, our mother-tongue, which naturally and accidentally I love and have loved." Again, having laid down the premiss that "the magnanimous man always praises himself in his heart; and so the pusillanimous man always deems himself less than he is," he concludes, "Wherefore many on account of this vileness of mind, depreciate their native tongue, and applaud that of others; and all such as these are the abominable wicked men of Italy, who hold this precious mother-tongue in vile contempt, which, if it be vile in any case, is so only inasmuch as it sounds in the evil mouth of these adulterers."—Il Convito, caps. x., xi., translated by Elizabeth Price Sayer, 1887, pp. 34-40.]

[bz] ——when matched with thine.—[MS. Alternative reading.]

[296] [With the whole of this apostrophe to Italy, compare Purgatorio, vi. 76-127.]

[ca] From the world's harvest——.—[MS. Alternative reading.]

[cb] {257}

Where earthly Glory first then Heavenly made.— [MS. Alternative reading.] Where Glory first, and then Religion made.—[MS. erased.]

[297] [Compare—

"The Goth, the Christian—Time—War—Flood, and Fire, Have dealt upon the seven-hilled City's pride."

Childe Harold, Canto IV. stanza lxxx. lines 1, 2, Poetical Works, 1899, ii. 390, note 2.]

[298] {258}See "Sacco di Roma," generally attributed to Guicciardini [Francesco (1482-1540)]. There is another written by a Jacopo Buonaparte.

[The original MS. of the latter work is preserved in the Royal Library at Paris. It is entitled, "Ragguaglio Storico di tutto I'occorso, giorno per giorno, nel Sacco di Roma dell' anno mdxxvii., scritto da Jacopo Buonaparte, Gentiluomo Samminiatese, che vi si trovo' presente." An edition of it was printed at Cologne, in 1756, to which is prefixed a genealogy of the Buonaparte family.

The "traitor Prince" was Charles IV., Connetable de Bourbon, Comte de Montpensier, born 1490, who was killed at the capture of Rome, May 6, 1527. "His death, far from restraining the ardour of the assailants [the Imperial troops, consisting of Germans and Spanish foot], increased it; and with the loss of about 1000 men, they entered and sacked the city.... The disorders committed by the soldiers were dreadful, and the booty they made incredible. They added insults to cruelty, and scoffs to rapaciousness. Upon the news of Bourbon's death, His Holiness, imagining that his troops, no longer animated by his implacable spirit, might listen to an accommodation, demanded a parley; but ... neglected all means for defence.... Cardinals and bishops were ignominiously exposed upon asses with their legs and hands bound; and wealthy citizens ... suspected of having secreted their effects ... were tortured ... to oblige them to make discoveries, ... the booty ... is said to have amounted to about two millions and a half of ducats."—Mod. Univ. History, xxxvi. 512.]

[299] {259}[Cambyses, the second King of Persia, who reigned B.C. 529-532, sent an army against the Ammonians, which perished in the sands.]

[cc] ——and his phalanx—why.—[MS. Alternative reading.]

[300] [The Prophecy of Dante was begun and finished before Byron took up the cause of Italian independence, or definitely threw in his lot with the Carbonari, but his intimacy with the Gambas, which dates from his migration to Ravenna in 1819, must from the first have brought him within the area of political upheaval and disturbance. A year after (April 16, 1820) he writes to Murray, "I have, besides, another reason for desiring you to be speedy, which is, that there is that brewing in Italy which will speedily cut off all security of communication.... I shall, if permitted by the natives, remain to see what will come of it, ... for I shall think it by far the most interesting spectacle and moment in existence, to see the Italians send the Barbarians of all nations back to their own dens. I have lived long enough among them to feel more for them as a nation than for any other people in existence: but they want Union [see line 145], and they want principle; and I doubt their success."—Letters, 1901, v. 8, note 1.]

[cd] {261} ——of long-enduring ill.—[MS. erased.]

[ce]

——the martyred country's gore Will not in vain arise to whom belongs.—[MS. erased.]

[301] {262}Alexander of Parma, Spinola, Pescara, Eugene of Savoy, Montecuccoli.

[Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma (1546-1592), recovered the Southern Netherlands for Spain, 1578-79, made Henry IV. raise the siege of Paris, 1590, etc.

Ambrogio, Marchese di Spinola (1569-1630), a Maltese by birth, entered the Spanish service 1602, took Ostend 1604, invested Bergen-op-Zoom, etc.

Ferdinando Francesco dagli Avalos, Marquis of Pescara (1496-1525), took Milan November 19, 1521, fought at Lodi, etc., was wounded at the battle of Padua, February 24, 1525. He was the husband of Vittoria Colonna, and when he was in captivity at Ravenna wrote some verses in her honour.

Francois Eugene (1663-1736), Prince of Savoy-Carignan, defeated the French at Turin, 1706, and (with Marlborough) at Malplaquet, 1709; the Turks at Peterwardein, 1716, etc.

Raimondo Montecuccoli, a Modenese (1608-1680), defeated the Turks at St. Gothard in 1664, and in 1675-6 commanded on the Rhine, and out-generalled Turenne and the Prince de Conde]

[302] Columbus, Americus Vespusius, Sebastian Cabot.

[Christopher Columbus (circ. 1430-1506), a Genoese, discovered mainland of America, 1498; Amerigo Vespucci (1451-1512), a Florentine, explored coasts of America, 1497-1504; Sebastian Cabot (1477-1557), son of Giovanni Cabotto or Gavotto, a Venetian, discovered coasts of Labrador, etc., June, 1497.]

[303] {263}[Compare—

"Ah! servile Italy, griefs hostelry! A ship without a pilot in great tempest!"

Purgatorio, vi. 76, 77.]

[cf]

Yet through this many-yeared eclipse of Woe. —[MS. Alternative reading.] Yet through this murky interreign of Woe.—[MS. erased.]

[cg] Which choirs the birds to song—-.—[MS. Alternative reading.]

[ch] And Pearls flung down to regal Swine evince.—[MS. Alternative reading.]

[ci] The whoredom of high Genius——.—[MS. Alternative reading.]

[304] {264}[Alfieri, in his Autobiography ... (1845, Period III. chap. viii. p. 92) notes and deprecates the servile manner in which Metastasio went on his knees before Maria Theresa in the Imperial gardens of Schoenbrunnen.]

[cj] And prides itself in prostituted duty.—[MS. Alternative reading.]

[305] A verse from the Greek tragedians, with which Pompey took leave of Cornelia [daughter of Metellus Scipio, and widow of P. Crassus] on entering the boat in which he was slain. [The verse, or verses, are said to be by Sophocles, and are quoted by Plutarch, in his Life of Pompey, c. 78, Vitae, 1814, vii. 159. They run thus—

[Greek: O(/stis ga o(s ty/rannon e)mporeu/etai,] [Greek: Kei/nou e)sti dou~los, ka)
e)leu/theros me .]

("Seek'st thou a tyrant's door? then farewell, freedom! Though free as air before.")

Vide Incert. Fab. Fragm., No. 789, Trag. Grec. Fragm., A. Nauck, 1889, p. 316.]

[306] The verse and sentiment are taken from Homer.

[Greek: [E(/misy ga/r t' a)rete~s a)poai/nytai eu)ry/opa Zeu/s] [Greek: 'Ane/ros, eu~(t' a(/n min kata dou/lion e~)mare(/le sin.]

Odyssey, xvii. 322, 323.]

[307] {265}Petrarch. [Dante died September 14, 1321, when Petrarch, born July 20, 1304, had entered his eighteenth year.]

[308] [Historical events may be thrown into the form of prophecy with some security, but not so the critical opinions of the soi-disani prophet. If Byron had lived half a century later, he might have placed Ariosto and Tasso after and not before Petrarch.]

[ck]

Was crimsoned with his veins who died to save, Shall be his glorious argument,——.—[MS, Alternative reading.]

[309] {266}[See the Introduction to the Lament of Tasso, ante, p. 139, and Childe Harold, Canto IV. stanza xxxvi. line 2, Poetical Works, 1899, ii. 355, note 1.]

[310] [Alfonso d'Este (II.), Duke of Ferrara, died 1597.]

[311] [Compare the opening lines of the Orlando Furioso—

"Le Donne, i Cavalier'! l'arme, gli amori, Le Cortesie, l'audaci imprese io canto."

See Childe Harold, Canto IV. stanzas xl., xli., Poetical Works, 1899, ii. 359, 360, note 1.]

[312] [The sense is, "Ariosto may be matched with, perhaps excelled by, Homer; but where is the Greek poet to set on the same pedestal with Tasso?"]

[313] [Compare Churchill's Grave, lines 15-19—

"And is this all? I thought,—and do we rip The veil of Immortality, and crave I know not what of honour and of light Through unborn ages, to endure this blight? So soon, and so successless?"

Vide ante, p. 47.]

[cl] {267}

/ winged The blood——.—[MS. Alternative reading.] lightning /

[314] [Compare—

"For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise."

Kubla Khan, lines 52, 53, Poetical Works. of S. T. Coleridge, 1893, p. 94.]

[315] [Compare—

"By our own spirits are we deified: We Poets in our youth begin in gladness; But thereof come in the end despondency and madness."

Resolution and Independence, vii. lines 5-7, Wordsworth's Poetical Works, 1889, p. 175.

Compare, too, Moore's fine apology for Byron's failure to submit to the yoke of matrimony, "and to live happily ever afterwards"—

"But it is the cultivation and exercise of the imaginative faculty that, more than anything, tend to wean the man of genius from actual life, and, by substituting the sensibilities of the imagination for those of the heart, to render, at last, the medium through which he feels no less unreal than that through which he thinks. Those images of ideal good and beauty that surround him in his musings soon accustom him to consider all that is beneath this high standard unworthy of his care; till, at length, the heart becoming chilled as the fancy warms, it too often happens that, in proportion as he has refined and elevated his theory of all the social affections, he has unfitted himself for the practice of them."—Life, p. 268.]

[316] {269}[So too Wordsworth, in his Preface to the Lyrical Ballads (1800); "Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings."]

[317] [Compare—

"Thy Godlike crime was to be kind, To render with thy precepts less The sum of human wretchedness ... But baffled as thou wert from high ... Thou art a symbol and a sign To Mortals."

Prometheus, iii. lines 35, seq.; vide ante, p. 50.

Compare, too, the Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, stanza xvi. var ii.—

"He suffered for kind acts to men."

Poetical Works, 1900, iii. 312.]

[318] {270}["Transfigurate," whence "transfiguration," is derived from the Latin transfiguro, found in Suetonius and Quintilian. Byron may have thought to anglicize the Italian trasfigurarsi.]

[319] The Cupola of St. Peter's. [Michel Angelo, then in his seventy-second year, received the appointment of architect of St. Peter's from Pope Paul III. He began the dome on a different plan from that of the first architect, Bramante, "declaring that he would raise the Pantheon in the air." The drum of the dome was constructed in his life-time, but for more than twenty-four years after his death (1563), the cupola remained untouched, and it was not till 1590, in the pontificate of Sixtus V., that the dome itself was completed. The ball and cross were placed on the summit in November, 1593.—Handbook of Rome, p. 239.

Compare Childe Harold, Canto IV. stanza cliii. line i, Poetical Works, 1892, ii. 440, 441, note 2.]

[320] {271}["Yet, however unequal I feel myself to that attempt, were I now to begin the world again, I would tread in the steps of that great master [Michel Angelo]. To kiss the hem of his garment, to catch the slightest of his perfections, would be glory and distinction enough for an ambitious man."—Discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1884, p. 289.]

[321] The statue of Moses on the monument of Julius II. [Michel Angelo's Moses is near the end of the right aisle of the Church of S. Pietro-in-Vincoli.]

"SONETTO

"Di Giovanni Battista Zappi.

"Chi e costui, che in si gran pietra scolto, Siede gigante, e le piu illustri, e conte Opre dell' arte avanza, e ha vive, e pronte Le labbra si, che le parole ascolto? Quest' e Mose; ben me 'l diceva il folto Onor del mento, e 'l doppio raggio in fronte; Quest' e Mose, quando scendea dal monte, E gran parte del Nume avea nel volto. Tal' era allor, che le sonanti, e vaste Acque ei sospese, a se d' intorno; e tale Quando il Mar chiuse, e ne fe tomba altrui. E voi, sue turbe, un rio vitello alzaste? Alzata aveste immago a questa eguale! Ch' era men fallo i' adorar costui."

[Scelta di Sonetti ... del Gobbi, 1709, iii. 216.]

["And who is he that, shaped in sculptured stone Sits giant-like? stern monument of art Unparalleled, while language seems to start From his prompt lips, and we his precepts own? —'Tis Moses; by his beard's thick honours known, And the twin beams that from his temples dart; 'Tis Moses; seated on the mount apart, Whilst yet the Godhead o'er his features shone. Such once he looked, when Ocean's sounding wave Suspended hung, and such amidst the storm, When o'er his foes the refluent waters roared. An idol calf his followers did engrave: But had they raised this awe-commanding form, Then had they with less guilt their work adored."

Rogers.]

[cm] {272}

——from whose word {Israel took God, pronounce the law in stone. {Israel left Egypt, cleave the sea in stone.—

[MS. Alternative readings.]

[322] The Last Judgment, in the Sistine Chapel.

["It is obvious, throughout his [Michel Angelo's] works, that the poetical mind of the latter [Dante] influenced his feelings. The Demons in the Last Judgment ... may find a prototype in La Divina Comedia. The figures rising from the grave mark his study of L'Inferno, e Il Purgatorio; and the subject of the Brazen Serpent, in the Sistine Chapel, must remind every reader of Canto XXV. dell' Inferno."—Life of Michael Angelo by R. Duppa, 1856, p. 120.]

[323] I have read somewhere (if I do not err, for I cannot recollect where,) that Dante was so great a favourite of Michael Angelo's, that he had designed the whole of the Divina Commedia: but that the volume containing these studies was lost by sea.

[Michel Angelo's copy of Dante, says Duppa (ibid., and note 1), "was a large folio, with Landino's commentary; and upon the broad margin of the leaves he designed with a pen and ink, all the interesting subjects. This book was possessed by Antonio Montanti, a sculptor and architect in Florence, who, being appointed architect to St. Peter's, removed to Rome, and shipped his ... effects at Leghorn for Civita Vecchia, among which was this edition of Dante. In the voyage the vessel foundered at sea, and it was unfortunately lost in the wreck."]

[324] {273} See the treatment of Michel Angelo by Julius II., and his neglect by Leo X. [Julius II. encouraged his attendance at the Vatican, but one morning he was stopped by the chamberlain in waiting, who said, "I have an order not to let you enter." Michel Angelo, indignant at the insult, left Rome that very evening. Though Julius despatched five couriers to bring him back, it was some months before he returned. Even a letter (July 8, 1506), in which the Pope promised his "dearly beloved Michel Angelo" that he should not be touched nor offended, but be "reinstated in the apostolic grace," met with no response. It was this quarrel with Julius II. which prevented the completion of the sepulchral monument. The "Moses" and the figures supposed to represent the Active and the Contemplative Life, and three Caryatides (since removed) represent the whole of the original design, "a parallelogram surmounted with forty statues, and covered with reliefs and other ornaments."—See Duppa's Life, etc., 1856, pp. 33, 34, and Handbook of Rome, p. 133.]

[325] [Compare Merchant of Venice, act iv. sc. 1, lines 191, 192.]

[326] {274}[Compare—

"I fled, and cried out Death ... I fled, but he pursued, (though more, it seems, Inflamed with lust than rage), and swifter far, Me overtook, his mother, all dismayed, And in embraces forcible and foul, Ingendering with me, of that rape begot These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry Surround me."

Paradise Lost, book ii. lines 787-796.]

[327] [In his Convito, Dante speaks of his banishment, and the poverty and distress which attended it, in very affecting terms. "Ah! would it had pleased the Dispenser of all things that this excuse had never been needed; that neither others had done me wrong, nor myself undergone penalty undeservedly,—the penalty, I say, of exile and of poverty. For it pleased the citizens of the fairest and most renowned daughter of Rome—Florence—to cast me out of her most sweet bosom, where I was born and bred, and passed half of the life of man, and in which, with her good leave, I still desire with all my heart to repose my weary spirit, and finish the days allotted me; and so I have wandered in almost every place to which our language extends, a stranger, almost a beggar, exposing against my will the wounds given me by fortune, too often unjustly imputed to the sufferer's fault. Truly I have been a vessel without sail and without rudder, driven about upon different ports and shores by the dry wind that springs out of dolorous poverty; and hence have I appeared vile in the eyes of many, who, perhaps, by some better report, had conceived of me a different impression, and in whose sight not only has my person become thus debased, but an unworthy opinion created of everything which I did, or which I had to do."—Il Convito, book i. chap. iii., translated by Leigh Hunt, Stories from the Italian Poets, 1846, i. 22, 23.]

[328] {275} What is Horizon's quantity? Horīzon, or Horĭzon? adopt accordingly.—Ḅ

[cn]—and the Horizon for bars.—[MS. Alternative reading.]

[329] [Compare—

"Ungrateful Florence! Dante sleeps afar."

Childe Harold, Canto IV. stanza lvii., Poetical Works, 1899, ii. 371, note 1.

"Between the second and third chapels [in the nave of Santa Croce at Florence] is the colossal monument to Dante, by Ricci ... raised by subscription in 1829. The inscription, 'A majoribus ter frustra decretum,' refers to the successive efforts of the Florentines to recover his remains, and raise a monument to their great countryman."—Handbook, Central Italy, p. 32.]

[330] "E scrisse piu volte non solamente a' particolari Cittadini del Reggimento, ma ancora al Popolo; e intra l' altre un' Epistola assai lunga che incomincia: 'Popule mee (sic), quid feci tibi?"—Le vite di Dante, etc., scritte da Lionardo Aretino, 1672, p. 47.

[331] {276}[About the year 1316 his friends obtained his restoration to his country and his possessions, on condition that he should pay a certain sum of money, and, entering a church, avow himself guilty, and ask pardon of the republic.

The following was his answer to a religious, who appears to have been one of his kinsmen: "From your letter, which I received with due respect and affection, I observe how much you have at heart my restoration to my country. I am bound to you the more gratefully inasmuch as an exile rarely finds a friend. But, after mature consideration, I must, by my answer, disappoint the writers of some little minds ... Your nephew and mine has written to me ... that ... I am allowed to return to Florence, provided I pay a certain sum of money, and submit to the humiliation of asking and receiving absolution.... Is such an invitation then to return to his country glorious to d. all. after suffering in exile almost fifteen years? Is it thus, then, they would recompense innocence which all the world knows, and the labour and fatigue of unremitting study? Far from the man who is familiar with philosophy, be the senseless baseness of a heart of earth, that could imitate the infamy of some others, by offering himself up as it were in chains. Far from the man who cries aloud for justice, this compromise, by his money, with his persecutors! No, my Father, this is not the way that shall lead me back to my country. I will return with hasty steps, if you or any other can open to me a way that shall not derogate from the fame and honour of d.; but if by no such way Florence can be entered, then Florence I shall never enter. What! shall I not every where enjoy the light of the sun and the stars? and may I not seek and contemplate, in every corner of the earth, under the canopy of heaven, consoling and delightful truth, without first rendering myself inglorious, nay infamous, to the people and republic of Florence? Bread, I hope, will not fail me."—Epistola, IX. Amico Florentino: Opere di Dante, 1897, p. 413.]



THE MORGANTE MAGGIORE

OF PULCI.



INTRODUCTION TO THE MORGANTE MAGGIORE.

It is possible that Byron began his translation of the First Canto of Pulci's Morgante Maggiore (so called to distinguish the entire poem of twenty-eight cantos from the lesser Morgante [or, to coin a title, "Morganid"] which was published separately) in the late autumn of 1819, before he had left Venice (see his letter to Bankes, February 19, 1820, Letters, 1900, iv. 403). It is certain that it was finished at Ravenna during the first week of his "domestication" in the Palazzo Guiccioli (Letters to Murray, February 7, February 21, 1820). He took a deal of pains with his self-imposed task, "servilely translating stanza from stanza, and line from line, two octaves every night;" and when the first canto was finished he was naturally and reasonably proud of his achievement. More than two years had elapsed since Frere's Whistlecraft had begotten Beppo, and in the interval he had written four cantos of Don Juan, outstripping his "immediate model," and equalling if not surpassing his model's parents and precursors, the masters of "narrative romantic poetry among the Italians."

In attempting this translation—something, as he once said of his Armenian studies, "craggy for his mind to break upon" (Letter to Moore, December 5, 1816, Letters, 1900, iv. 10)—Byron believed that he was working upon virgin soil. He had read, as he admits in his "Advertisement," John Herman Merivale's poem, Orlando in Roncesvalles, which is founded upon the Morgante Maggiore; but he does not seem to have been aware that many years before (1806, 1807) the same writer (one of the "associate bards") had published in the Monthly Magazine (May, July, 1806, etc., vide ante Introduction to Beppo, p. 156) a series of translations of selected passages of the poem. There is no resemblance whatever between Byron's laboured and faithful rendering of the text, and Merivale's far more readable paraphrase, and it is evident that if these selections ever passed before his eyes, they had left no impression on his memory. He was drawn to the task partly on account of its difficulty, but chiefly because in Pulci he recognized a kindred spirit who suggested and compelled a fresh and final dedication of his genius to the humorous epopee. The translation was an act of devotion, the offering of a disciple to a master.

"The apparent contradictions of the Morgante Maggiore ... the brusque transition from piety to ribaldry, from pathos to satire," the paradoxical union of persiflage with gravity, a confession of faith alternating with a profession of mockery and profanity, have puzzled and confounded more than one student and interpreter. An intimate knowledge of the history, the literature, the art, the manners and passions of the times has enabled one of his latest critics and translators, John Addington Symonds, to come as near as may be to explaining the contradictions; but the essential quality of Pulci's humour eludes analysis.

We know that the poem itself, as Pio Rajna has shown, "the rifacimento of two earlier popular poems," was written to amuse Lucrezia Tornabuoni, the mother of Lorenzo de' Medici, and that it was recited, canto by canto, in the presence of such guests as Poliziano, Ficino, and Michelangelo Buonarotti; but how "it struck these contemporaries," and whether a subtler instinct permitted them to untwist the strands and to appraise the component parts at their precise ethical and spiritual value, are questions for the exercise of the critical imagination. That which attracted Byron to Pulci's writings was, no doubt, the co-presence of faith, a certain simplicity of faith, with an audacious and even outrageous handling of the objects of faith, combined with a facile and wanton alternation of romantic passion with a cynical mockery of whatsoever things are sober and venerable. Don Juan and the Vision of Judgment owe their existence to the Morgante Maggiore.

The MS. of the translation of Canto I. was despatched to England, February 28, 1820. It is evident (see Letters, March 29, April 23, May 18, 1820, Letters, 1900, iv. 425, 1901, v. 17, 21) that Murray looked coldly on Byron's "masterpiece" from the first. It was certain that any new work by the author of Don Juan would be subjected to the severest and most hostile scrutiny, and it was doubtful if a translation of part of an obscure and difficult poem, vaguely supposed to be coarse and irreligious, would meet with even a tolerable measure of success. At any rate, in spite of many inquiries and much vaunting of its excellence (see Letters, June 29, September 12, 1821, Letters, 1901, v. 314, 362), the MS. remained for more than two years in Murray's hands, and it was not until other arrangements came into force that the translation of the First Canto of the Morgante Maggiore appeared in the fourth and last number of The Liberal, which was issued (by John Hunt) July 30, 1823.

For critical estimates of Luigi Pulci and the Morgante Maggiore, see an article (Quarterly Review, April, 1819, vol. xxi. pp. 486-556), by Ugo Foscolo, entitled "Narrative and Romantic Poems of the Italians;" Preface to the Orlando Innamorato of Boiardo, by A. Panizzi, 1830, i. 190-302; Poems Original and Translated, by J. H. Merivale, 1838, ii. 1-43; Stories of the Italian Poets, by J. H. Leigh Hunt, 1846, i. 283-314; Renaissance in Italy, by J. A. Symonds, 1881, iv. 431, 456, and for translations of the Morgante Maggiore, vide ibid., Appendix V. pp. 543-560; and Italian Literature, by R. Garnett, C.B., LL.D., 1898, pp. 128-131.



ADVERTISEMENT.

The Morgante Maggiore, of the first canto of which this translation is offered, divides with the Orlando Innamorato the honour of having formed and suggested the style and story of Ariosto.[332] The great defects of Boiardo were his treating too seriously the narratives of chivalry, and his harsh style. Ariosto, in his continuation, by a judicious mixture of the gaiety of Pulci, has avoided the one; and Berni, in his reformation of Boiardo's poem, has corrected the other. Pulci may be considered as the precursor and model of Berni altogether, as he has partly been to Ariosto, however inferior to both his copyists. He is no less the founder of a new style of poetry very lately sprung up in England. I allude to that of the ingenious Whistlecraft. The serious poems on Roncesvalles in the same language, and more particularly the excellent one of Mr. Merivale, are to be traced to the same source.[333] It has never yet been decided entirely whether Pulci's intention was or was not to deride the religion which is one of his favourite topics. It appears to me, that such an intention would have been no less hazardous to the poet than to the priest, particularly in that age and country; and the permission to publish the poem, and its reception among the classics of Italy, prove that it neither was nor is so interpreted. That he intended to ridicule the monastic life, and suffered his imagination to play with the simple dulness of his converted giant, seems evident enough; but surely it were as unjust to accuse him of irreligion on this account, as to denounce Fielding for his Parson Adams, Barnabas,[334] Thwackum, Supple, and the Ordinary in Jonathan Wild,—or Scott, for the exquisite use of his Covenanters in the "Tales of my Landlord."

In the following translation I have used the liberty of the original with the proper names, as Pulci uses Gan, Ganellon, or Ganellone; Carlo, Carlomagno, or Carlornano; Rondel, or Rondello, etc., as it suits his convenience; so has the translator. In other respects the version is faithful to the best of the translator's ability in combining his interpretation of the one language with the not very easy task of reducing it to the same versification in the other. The reader, on comparing it with the original, is requested to remember that the antiquated language of Pulci, however pure, is not easy to the generality of Italians themselves, from its great mixture of Tuscan proverbs; and he may therefore be more indulgent to the present attempt. How far the translator has succeeded, and whether or no he shall continue the work, are questions which the public will decide. He was induced to make the experiment partly by his love for, and partial intercourse with, the Italian language, of which it is so easy to acquire a slight knowledge, and with which it is so nearly impossible for a foreigner to become accurately conversant. The Italian language is like a capricious beauty, who accords her smiles to all, her favours to few, and sometimes least to those who have courted her longest. The translator wished also to present in an English dress a part at least of a poem never yet rendered into a northern language; at the same time that it has been the original of some of the most celebrated productions on this side of the Alps, as well of those recent experiments in poetry in England which have been already mentioned.



THE MORGANTE MAGGIORE.[335]



CANTO THE FIRST.

I.

In the beginning was the Word next God; God was the Word, the Word no less was He: This was in the beginning, to my mode Of thinking, and without Him nought could be: Therefore, just Lord! from out thy high abode, Benign and pious, bid an angel flee, One only, to be my companion, who Shall help my famous, worthy, old song through.

II.

And thou, oh Virgin! daughter, mother, bride, Of the same Lord, who gave to you each key Of Heaven, and Hell, and every thing beside, The day thy Gabriel said "All hail!" to thee, Since to thy servants Pity's ne'er denied, With flowing rhymes, a pleasant style and free, Be to my verses then benignly kind, And to the end illuminate my mind.

III.

'Twas in the season when sad Philomel[336] Weeps with her sister, who remembers and Deplores the ancient woes which both befel, And makes the nymphs enamoured, to the hand Of Phaeton, by Phoebus loved so well, His car (but tempered by his sire's command) Was given, and on the horizon's verge just now Appeared, so that Tithonus scratched his brow:

IV.

When I prepared my bark first to obey, As it should still obey, the helm, my mind, And carry prose or rhyme, and this my lay Of Charles the Emperor, whom you will find By several pens already praised; but they Who to diffuse his glory were inclined, For all that I can see in prose or verse, Have understood Charles badly, and wrote worse.

V.

Leonardo Aretino said already,[337] That if, like Pepin, Charles had had a writer Of genius quick, and diligently steady, No hero would in history look brighter; He in the cabinet being always ready, And in the field a most victorious fighter, Who for the church and Christian faith had wrought, Certes, far more than yet is said or thought.

VI.

You still may see at Saint Liberatore,[338] The abbey, no great way from Manopell, Erected in the Abruzzi to his glory, Because of the great battle in which fell A pagan king, according to the story, And felon people whom Charles sent to Hell: And there are bones so many, and so many, Near them Giusaffa's[339] would seem few, if any.

VII.

But the world, blind and ignorant, don't prize His virtues as I wish to see them: thou, Florence, by his great bounty don't arise,[340] And hast, and may have, if thou wilt allow, All proper customs and true courtesies: Whate'er thou hast acquired from then till now, With knightly courage, treasure, or the lance, Is sprung from out the noble blood of France.

VIII.

Twelve Paladins had Charles in court, of whom The wisest and most famous was Orlando; Him traitor Gan[341] conducted to the tomb In Roncesvalles, as the villain planned too, While the horn rang so loud, and knelled the doom Of their sad rout, though he did all knight can do: And Dante in his comedy has given To him a happy seat with Charles in Heaven.[342]

IX.

'Twas Christmas-day; in Paris all his court Charles held; the Chief, I say, Orlando was, The Dane; Astolfo there too did resort, Also Ansuigi, the gay time to pass In festival and in triumphal sport, The much-renowned St. Dennis being the cause; Angiolin of Bayonne, and Oliver, And gentle Belinghieri too came there:

X.

Avolio, and Arino, and Othone Of Normandy, and Richard Paladin, Wise Hamo, and the ancient Salamone, Walter of Lion's Mount, and Baldovin, Who was the son of the sad Ganellone, Were there, exciting too much gladness in The son of Pepin:—when his knights came hither, He groaned with joy to see them altogether.

XI.

But watchful Fortune, lurking, takes good heed Ever some bar 'gainst our intents to bring. While Charles reposed him thus, in word and deed, Orlando ruled court, Charles, and every thing; Curst Gan, with envy bursting, had such need To vent his spite, that thus with Charles the king One day he openly began to say, "Orlando must we always then obey?

XII.

"A thousand times I've been about to say, Orlando too presumptuously goes on; Here are we, counts, kings, dukes, to own thy sway, Hamo, and Otho, Ogier, Solomon, Each have to honour thee and to obey; But he has too much credit near the throne, Which we won't suffer, but are quite decided By such a boy to be no longer guided.

XIII.

"And even at Aspramont thou didst begin To let him know he was a gallant knight, And by the fount did much the day to win; But I know who that day had won the fight If it had not for good Gherardo been; The victory was Almonte's else; his sight He kept upon the standard—and the laurels, In fact and fairness, are his earning, Charles!

XIV.

"If thou rememberest being in Gascony, When there advanced the nations out of Spain The Christian cause had suffered shamefully, Had not his valour driven them back again. Best speak the truth when there's a reason why: Know then, oh Emperor! that all complain: As for myself, I shall repass the mounts O'er which I crossed with two and sixty counts.

XV.

"'Tis fit thy grandeur should dispense relief, So that each here may have his proper part, For the whole court is more or less in grief: Perhaps thou deem'st this lad a Mars in heart?" Orlando one day heard this speech in brief, As by himself it chanced he sate apart: Displeased he was with Gan because he said it, But much more still that Charles should give him credit.

XVI.

And with the sword he would have murdered Gan, But Oliver thrust in between the pair, And from his hand extracted Durlindan, And thus at length they separated were. Orlando angry too with Carloman, Wanted but little to have slain him there; Then forth alone from Paris went the Chief, And burst and maddened with disdain and grief.

XVII.

From Ermellina, consort of the Dane, He took Cortana, and then took Rondell, And on towards Brara pricked him o'er the plain; And when she saw him coming, Aldabelle Stretched forth her arms to clasp her lord again: Orlando, in whose brain all was not well, As "Welcome, my Orlando, home," she said, Raised up his sword to smite her on the head.

XVIII.

Like him a Fury counsels, his revenge On Gan in that rash act he seemed to take, Which Aldabella thought extremely strange; But soon Orlando found himself awake; And his spouse took his bridle on this change, And he dismounted from his horse, and spake Of every thing which passed without demur, And then reposed himself some days with her.

XIX.

Then full of wrath departed from the place, As far as pagan countries roamed astray, And while he rode, yet still at every pace The traitor Gan remembered by the way; And wandering on in error a long space, An abbey which in a lone desert lay, 'Midst glens obscure, and distant lands, he found, Which formed the Christian's and the Pagan's bound.

XX.

The Abbot was called Clermont, and by blood Descended from Angrante: under cover Of a great mountain's brow the abbey stood, But certain savage giants looked him over; One Passamont was foremost of the brood, And Alabaster and Morgante hover Second and third, with certain slings, and throw In daily jeopardy the place below.

XXI.

The monks could pass the convent gate no more, Nor leave their cells for water or for wood; Orlando knocked, but none would ope, before Unto the Prior it at length seemed good; Entered, he said that he was taught to adore Him who was born of Mary's holiest blood, And was baptized a Christian; and then showed How to the abbey he had found his road.

XXII.

Said the Abbot, "You are welcome; what is mine We give you freely, since that you believe With us in Mary Mother's Son divine; And that you may not, Cavalier, conceive The cause of our delay to let you in To be rusticity, you shall receive The reason why our gate was barred to you: Thus those who in suspicion live must do.

XXIII.

"When hither to inhabit first we came These mountains, albeit that they are obscure, As you perceive, yet without fear or blame They seemed to promise an asylum sure: From savage brutes alone, too fierce to tame, 'Twas fit our quiet dwelling to secure; But now, if here we'd stay, we needs must guard Against domestic beasts with watch and ward.

XXIV.

"These make us stand, in fact, upon the watch; For late there have appeared three giants rough, What nation or what kingdom bore the batch I know not, but they are all of savage stuff; When Force and Malice with some genius match, You know, they can do all—we are not enough: And these so much our orisons derange, I know not what to do, till matters change.

XXV.

"Our ancient fathers, living the desert in, For just and holy works were duly fed; Think not they lived on locusts sole, 'tis certain That manna was rained down from heaven instead; But here 'tis fit we keep on the alert in Our bounds, or taste the stones showered down for bread, From off yon mountain daily raining faster, And flung by Passamont and Alabaster.

XXVI.

"The third, Morgante, 's savagest by far; he Plucks up pines, beeches, poplar-trees, and oaks, And flings them, our community to bury; And all that I can do but more provokes." While thus they parley in the cemetery, A stone from one of their gigantic strokes, Which nearly crushed Rondell, came tumbling over, So that he took a long leap under cover.

XXVII.

"For God-sake, Cavalier, come in with speed; The manna's falling now," the Abbot cried. "This fellow does not wish my horse should feed, Dear Abbot," Roland unto him replied, "Of restiveness he'd cure him had he need; That stone seems with good will and aim applied." The holy father said, "I don't deceive; They'll one day fling the mountain, I believe."

XXVIII.

Orlando bade them take care of Rondello, And also made a breakfast of his own; "Abbot," he said, "I want to find that fellow Who flung at my good horse yon corner-stone." Said the abbot, "Let not my advice seem shallow; As to a brother dear I speak alone; I would dissuade you, Baron, from this strife, As knowing sure that you will lose your life.

XXIX.

"That Passamont has in his hand three darts— Such slings, clubs, ballast-stones, that yield you must: You know that giants have much stouter hearts Than us, with reason, in proportion just: If go you will, guard well against their arts, For these are very barbarous and robust." Orlando answered," This I'll see, be sure, And walk the wild on foot to be secure."

XXX.

The Abbot signed the great cross on his front, "Then go you with God's benison and mine." Orlando, after he had scaled the mount, As the Abbot had directed, kept the line Right to the usual haunt of Passamont; Who, seeing him alone in this design, Surveyed him fore and aft with eyes observant, Then asked him, "If he wished to stay as servant?"

XXXI.

And promised him an office of great ease. But, said Orlando, "Saracen insane! I come to kill you, if it shall so please God, not to serve as footboy in your train; You with his monks so oft have broke the peace— Vile dog! 'tis past his patience to sustain." The Giant ran to fetch his arms, quite furious, When he received an answer so injurious.

XXXII.

And being returned to where Orlando stood, Who had not moved him from the spot, and swinging The cord, he hurled a stone with strength so rude, As showed a sample of his skill in slinging; It rolled on Count Orlando's helmet good And head, and set both head and helmet ringing, So that he swooned with pain as if he died, But more than dead, he seemed so stupified.

XXXIII.

Then Passamont, who thought him slain outright, Said, "I will go, and while he lies along, Disarm me: why such craven did I fight?" But Christ his servants ne'er abandons long, Especially Orlando, such a knight, As to desert would almost be a wrong. While the giant goes to put off his defences, Orlando has recalled his force and senses:

XXXIV.

And loud he shouted, "Giant, where dost go? Thou thought'st me doubtless for the bier outlaid; To the right about—without wings thou'rt too slow To fly my vengeance—currish renegade! 'Twas but by treachery thou laid'st me low." The giant his astonishment betrayed, And turned about, and stopped his journey on, And then he stooped to pick up a great stone.

XXXV.

Orlando had Cortana bare in hand; To split the head in twain was what he schemed: Cortana clave the skull like a true brand, And pagan Passamont died unredeemed; Yet harsh and haughty, as he lay he banned, And most devoutly Macon still blasphemed[343]; But while his crude, rude blasphemies he heard, Orlando thanked the Father and the Word,—

XXXVI.

Saying, "What grace to me thou'st this day given! And I to thee, O Lord! am ever bound; I know my life was saved by thee from Heaven, Since by the Giant I was fairly downed. All things by thee are measured just and even; Our power without thine aid would nought be found: I pray thee take heed of me, till I can At least return once more to Carloman."

XXXVII.

And having said thus much, he went his way; And Alabaster he found out below, Doing the very best that in him lay To root from out a bank a rock or two. Orlando, when he reached him, loud 'gan say, "How think'st thou, glutton, such a stone to throw?" When Alabaster heard his deep voice ring, He suddenly betook him to his sling,

XXXVIII.

And hurled a fragment of a size so large That if it had in fact fulfilled its mission, And Roland not availed him of his targe, There would have been no need of a physician[344]. Orlando set himself in turn to charge, And in his bulky bosom made incision With all his sword. The lout fell; but o'erthrown, he However by no means forgot Macone.

XXXIX.

Morgante had a palace in his mode, Composed of branches, logs of wood, and earth, And stretched himself at ease in this abode, And shut himself at night within his berth. Orlando knocked, and knocked again, to goad The giant from his sleep; and he came forth, The door to open, like a crazy thing, For a rough dream had shook him slumbering.

XL.

He thought that a fierce serpent had attacked him, And Mahomet he called; but Mahomet Is nothing worth, and, not an instant backed him; But praying blessed Jesu, he was set At liberty from all the fears which racked him; And to the gate he came with great regret— "Who knocks here?" grumbling all the while, said he. "That," said Orlando, "you will quickly see:

XLI.

"I come to preach to you, as to your brothers,— Sent by the miserable monks—repentance; For Providence divine, in you and others, Condemns the evil done, my new acquaintance! 'Tis writ on high—your wrong must pay another's: From Heaven itself is issued out this sentence. Know then, that colder now than a pilaster I left your Passamont and Alabaster."

XLII.

Morgante said, "Oh gentle Cavalier! Now by thy God say me no villany; The favour of your name I fain would hear, And if a Christian, speak for courtesy." Replied Orlando, "So much to your ear I by my faith disclose contentedly; Christ I adore, who is the genuine Lord, And, if you please, by you may be adored."

XLIII.

The Saracen rejoined in humble tone, "I have had an extraordinary vision; A savage serpent fell on me alone, And Macon would not pity my condition; Hence to thy God, who for ye did atone Upon the cross, preferred I my petition; His timely succour set me safe and free, And I a Christian am disposed to be."

XLIV.

Orlando answered, "Baron just and pious, If this good wish your heart can really move To the true God, who will not then deny us Eternal honour, you will go above, And, if you please, as friends we will ally us, And I will love you with a perfect love. Your idols are vain liars, full of fraud: The only true God is the Christian's God.

XLV.

"The Lord descended to the virgin breast Of Mary Mother, sinless and divine; If you acknowledge the Redeemer blest, Without whom neither sun nor star can shine, Abjure bad Macon's false and felon test, Your renegado god, and worship mine, Baptize yourself with zeal, since you repent." To which Morgante answered, "I'm content."

XLVI.

And then Orlando to embrace him flew, And made much of his convert, as he cried, "To the abbey I will gladly marshal you." To whom Morgante, "Let us go," replied: "I to the friars have for peace to sue." Which thing Orlando heard with inward pride, Saying, "My brother, so devout and good, Ask the Abbot pardon, as I wish you would:

XLVII.

"Since God has granted your illumination, Accepting you in mercy for his own, Humility should be your first oblation." Morgante said, "For goodness' sake, make known,— Since that your God is to be mine—your station, And let your name in verity be shown; Then will I everything at your command do." On which the other said, he was Orlando.

XLVIII.

"Then," quoth the Giant, "blessed be Jesu A thousand times with gratitude and praise! Oft, perfect Baron! have I heard of you Through all the different periods of my days: And, as I said, to be your vassal too I wish, for your great gallantry always." Thus reasoning, they continued much to say, And onwards to the abbey went their way.

XLIX.

And by the way about the giants dead Orlando with Morgante reasoned: "Be, For their decease, I pray you, comforted, And, since it is God's pleasure, pardon me; A thousand wrongs unto the monks they bred; And our true Scripture soundeth openly, Good is rewarded, and chastised the ill, Which the Lord never faileth to fulfil:

L.

"Because His love of justice unto all Is such, He wills His judgment should devour All who have sin, however great or small; But good He well remembers to restore. Nor without justice holy could we call Him, whom I now require you to adore. All men must make His will their wishes sway, And quickly and spontaneously obey.

LI.

"And here our doctors are of one accord, Coming on this point to the same conclusion,— That in their thoughts, who praise in Heaven the Lord, If Pity e'er was guilty of intrusion For their unfortunate relations stored In Hell below, and damned in great confusion, Their happiness would be reduced to nought,— And thus unjust the Almighty's self be thought.

LII.

"But they in Christ have firmest hope, and all Which seems to Him, to them too must appear Well done; nor could it otherwise befall; He never can in any purpose err. If sire or mother suffer endless thrall, They don't disturb themselves for him or her: What pleases God to them must joy inspire;— Such is the observance of the eternal choir."

LIII.

"A word unto the wise," Morgante said, "Is wont to be enough, and you shall see How much I grieve about my brethren dead; And if the will of God seem good to me, Just, as you tell me, 'tis in Heaven obeyed— Ashes to ashes,—merry let us be! I will cut off the hands from both their trunks, And carry them unto the holy monks.

LIV.

"So that all persons may be sure and certain That they are dead, and have no further fear To wander solitary this desert in, And that they may perceive my spirit clear By the Lord's grace, who hath withdrawn the curtain Of darkness, making His bright realm appear." He cut his brethren's hands off at these words, And left them to the savage beasts and birds.

LV.

Then to the abbey they went on together, Where waited them the Abbot in great doubt. The monks, who knew not yet the fact, ran thither To their superior, all in breathless rout, Saying with tremor, "Please to tell us whether You wish to have this person in or out?" The Abbot, looking through upon the Giant, Too greatly feared, at first, to be compliant.

LVI.

Orlando seeing him thus agitated, Said quickly, "Abbot, be thou of good cheer; He Christ believes, as Christian must be rated, And hath renounced his Macon false;" which here Morgante with the hands corroborated, A proof of both the giants' fate quite clear: Thence, with due thanks, the Abbot God adored, Saying, "Thou hast contented me, O Lord!"

LVII.

He gazed; Morgante's height he calculated, And more than once contemplated his size; And then he said, "O Giant celebrated! Know, that no more my wonder will arise, How you could tear and fling the trees you late did, When I behold your form with my own eyes. You now a true and perfect friend will show Yourself to Christ, as once you were a foe.

LVIII.

"And one of our apostles, Saul once named, Long persecuted sore the faith of Christ, Till, one day, by the Spirit being inflamed, 'Why dost thou persecute me thus?' said Christ; And then from his offence he was reclaimed, And went for ever after preaching Christ, And of the faith became a trump, whose sounding O'er the whole earth is echoing and rebounding.

LIX.

"So, my Morgante, you may do likewise: He who repents—thus writes the Evangelist— Occasions more rejoicing in the skies Than ninety-nine of the celestial list. You may be sure, should each desire arise With just zeal for the Lord, that you'll exist Among the happy saints for evermore; But you were lost and damned to Hell before!"

LX.

And thus great honour to Morgante paid The Abbot: many days they did repose. One day, as with Orlando they both strayed, And sauntered here and there, where'er they chose, The Abbot showed a chamber, where arrayed Much armour was, and hung up certain bows; And one of these Morgante for a whim Girt on, though useless, he believed, to him.

LXI.

There being a want of water in the place, Orlando, like a worthy brother, said, "Morgante, I could wish you in this case To go for water." "You shall be obeyed In all commands," was the reply, "straight ways." Upon his shoulder a great tub he laid, And went out on his way unto a fountain, Where he was wont to drink, below the mountain.

LXII.

Arrived there, a prodigious noise he hears, Which suddenly along the forest spread; Whereat from out his quiver he prepares An arrow for his bow, and lifts his head; And lo! a monstrous herd of swine appears, And onward rushes with tempestuous tread, And to the fountain's brink precisely pours; So that the Giant's joined by all the boars.

LXIII.

Morgante at a venture shot an arrow, Which pierced a pig precisely in the ear, And passed unto the other side quite through; So that the boar, defunct, lay tripped up near. Another, to revenge his fellow farrow, Against the Giant rushed in fierce career, And reached the passage with so swift a foot, Morgante was not now in time to shoot.

LXIV.

Perceiving that the pig was on him close, He gave him such a punch upon the head[345], As floored him so that he no more arose, Smashing the very bone; and he fell dead Next to the other. Having seen such blows, The other pigs along the valley fled; Morgante on his neck the bucket took, Full from the spring, which neither swerved nor shook.

LXV.

The tub was on one shoulder, and there were The hogs on t'other, and he brushed apace On to the abbey, though by no means near, Nor spilt one drop of water in his race. Orlando, seeing him so soon appear With the dead boars, and with that brimful vase, Marvelled to see his strength so very great; So did the Abbot, and set wide the gate.

LXVI.

The monks, who saw the water fresh and good[346], Rejoiced, but much more to perceive the pork; All animals are glad at sight of food: They lay their breviaries to sleep, and work With greedy pleasure, and in such a mood, That the flesh needs no salt beneath their fork. Of rankness and of rot there is no fear, For all the fasts are now left in arrear.

LXVII.

As though they wished to burst at once, they ate; And gorged so that, as if the bones had been In water, sorely grieved the dog and cat, Perceiving that they all were picked too clean. The Abbot, who to all did honour great, A few days after this convivial scene, Gave to Morgante a fine horse, well trained, Which he long time had for himself maintained.

LXVIII.

The horse Morgante to a meadow led, To gallop, and to put him to the proof, Thinking that he a back of iron had, Or to skim eggs unbroke was light enough; But the horse, sinking with the pain, fell dead, And burst, while cold on earth lay head and hoof. Morgante said, "Get up, thou sulky cur!" And still continued pricking with the spur.

LXIX.

But finally he thought fit to dismount, And said, "I am as light as any feather, And he has burst;—to this what say you, Count?" Orlando answered, "Like a ship's mast rather You seem to me, and with the truck for front: Let him go! Fortune wills that we together Should march, but you on foot Morgante still." To which the Giant answered," So I will.

LXX.

"When there shall be occasion, you will see How I approve my courage in the fight." Orlando said, "I really think you'll be, If it should prove God's will, a goodly knight; Nor will you napping there discover me. But never mind your horse, though out of sight 'Twere best to carry him into some wood, If but the means or way I understood."

LXXI.

The Giant said, "Then carry him I will, Since that to carry me he was so slack— To render, as the gods do, good for ill; But lend a hand to place him on my back." Orlando answered, "If my counsel still May weigh, Morgante, do not undertake To lift or carry this dead courser, who, As you have done to him, will do to you.

LXXII.

"Take care he don't revenge himself, though dead, As Nessus did of old beyond all cure. I don't know if the fact you've heard or read; But he will make you burst, you may be sure." "But help him on my back," Morgante said, "And you shall see what weight I can endure. In place, my gentle Roland, of this palfrey, With all the bells, I'd carry yonder belfry."

LXXIII.

The Abbot said, "The steeple may do well, But for the bells, you've broken them, I wot." Morgante answered, "Let them pay in Hell The penalty who lie dead in yon grot;" And hoisting up the horse from where he fell, He said, "Now look if I the gout have got, Orlando, in the legs,—or if I have force;"— And then he made two gambols with the horse.

LXXIV.

Morgante was like any mountain framed; So if he did this 'tis no prodigy; But secretly himself Orlando blamed, Because he was one of his family; And fearing that he might be hurt or maimed, Once more he bade him lay his burden by: "Put down, nor bear him further the desert in." Morgante said, "I'll carry him for certain."

LXXV.

He did; and stowed him in some nook away, And to the abbey then returned with speed. Orlando said, "Why longer do we stay? Morgante, here is nought to do indeed." The Abbot by the hand he took one day, And said, with great respect, he had agreed To leave his reverence; but for this decision He wished to have his pardon and permission.

LXXVI.

The honours they continued to receive Perhaps exceeded what his merits claimed: He said, "I mean, and quickly, to retrieve The lost days of time past, which may be blamed; Some days ago I should have asked your leave, Kind father, but I really was ashamed, And know not how to show my sentiment, So much I see you with our stay content.

LXXVII.

"But in my heart I bear through every clime The Abbot, abbey, and this solitude— So much I love you in so short a time; For me, from Heaven reward you with all good The God so true, the eternal Lord sublime! Whose kingdom at the last hath open stood. Meantime we stand expectant of your blessing. And recommend us to your prayers with pressing."

LXXVIII.

Now when the Abbot Count Orlando heard, His heart grew soft with inner tenderness, Such fervour in his bosom bred each word; And, "Cavalier," he said, "if I have less Courteous and kind to your great worth appeared, Than fits me for such gentle blood to express, I know I have done too little in this case; But blame our ignorance, and this poor place.

LXXIX.

"We can indeed but honour you with masses, And sermons, thanksgivings, and pater-nosters, Hot suppers, dinners (fitting other places In verity much rather than the cloisters); But such a love for you my heart embraces, For thousand virtues which your bosom fosters, That wheresoe'er you go I too shall be, And, on the other part, you rest with me.

LXXX.

"This may involve a seeming contradiction; But you I know are sage, and feel, and taste, And understand my speech with full conviction. For your just pious deeds may you be graced With the Lord's great reward and benediction, By whom you were directed to this waste: To His high mercy is our freedom due, For which we render thanks to Him and you.

LXXXI.

"You saved at once our life and soul: such fear The Giants caused us, that the way was lost By which we could pursue a fit career In search of Jesus and the saintly Host; And your departure breeds such sorrow here, That comfortless we all are to our cost; But months and years you would not stay in sloth, Nor are you formed to wear our sober cloth,

LXXXII.

"But to bear arms, and wield the lance; indeed, With these as much is done as with this cowl; In proof of which the Scripture you may read, This Giant up to Heaven may bear his soul By your compassion: now in peace proceed. Your state and name I seek not to unroll; But, if I'm asked, this answer shall be given, That here an angel was sent down from Heaven.

LXXXIII.

"If you want armour or aught else, go in, Look o'er the wardrobe, and take what you choose, And cover with it o'er this Giant's skin." Orlando answered, "If there should lie loose Some armour, ere our journey we begin, Which might be turned to my companion's use, The gift would be acceptable to me." The Abbot said to him, "Come in and see."

LXXXIV.

And in a certain closet, where the wall Was covered with old armour like a crust, The Abbot said to them, "I give you all." Morgante rummaged piecemeal from the dust The whole, which, save one cuirass[347], was too small, And that too had the mail inlaid with rust. They wondered how it fitted him exactly, Which ne'er had suited others so compactly.

LXXXV.

'Twas an immeasurable Giant's, who By the great Milo of Agrante fell Before the abbey many years ago. The story on the wall was figured well; In the last moment of the abbey's foe, Who long had waged a war implacable: Precisely as the war occurred they drew him, And there was Milo as he overthrew him.

LXXXVI.

Seeing this history, Count Orlando said In his own heart, "O God who in the sky Know'st all things! how was Milo hither led? Who caused the Giant in this place to die?" And certain letters, weeping, then he read, So that he could not keep his visage dry,— As I will tell in the ensuing story: From evil keep you the high King of Glory!

[Note to Stanza v. Lines 1, 2.—In an Edition of the Morgante Maggiore issued at Florence by G. Pulci, in 1900, line 2 of stanza v. runs thus—

"Com' egli ebbe un Ormanno e 'l suo Turpino."

The allusion to "Ormanno," who has been identified with a mythical chronicler, "Urmano from Paris" (see Rajna's Ricerche sui Reali di Francia, 1872, p. 51), and the appeal to the authority of Leonardo Aretino, must not be taken au pied de la lettre. At the same time, the opinion attributed to Leonardo is in accordance with contemporary sentiment and phraseology. Compare "Horum res gestas si qui auctores digni celebrassent, quam magnae, quam admirabiles, quam veteribus illis similes viderentur."—B. Accolti Aretini (ob. 1466) Dialogus de Praestantia Virorum sui AEvi. P. Villani, Liber de Florentiae Famosis Civibus, 1847, p. 112. From information kindly supplied by Professor V. Rossi, of the University of Pavia.]

FOOTNOTES:

[332] {283}[Matteo Maria Bojardo (1434-1494) published his Orlando Innamorato in 1486; Lodovico Ariosto (1474-1533) published the Orlando Furioso in 1516. A first edition of Cantos I.-XXV. of Luigi Pulci's (1431-1487) Il Morgante Maggiore was printed surreptitiously by Luca Veneziano in 1481. Francesco Berni, who recast the Orlando Innamorato, was born circ. 1490, and died in 1536.]

[333] [John Hermann Merivale (1779-1844), the father of Charles Merivale, the historian (Dean of Ely, 1869), and of Herman, Under-Secretary for India, published his Orlando in Roncesvalles in 1814.]

[334] {284}[Parson Adams and Barnabas are characters in Joseph Andrews; Thwackum and Supple, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling.]

[335] {285}[Byron insisted, in the first place with Murray (February 7, 1820, Letters, 1900, iv. 402), and afterwards, no doubt, with the Hunts, that his translation of the Morgante Maggiore should be "put by the original, stanza for stanza, and verse for verse." In the present issue a few stanzas are inserted for purposes of comparison, but it has not been thought necessary to reprint the whole of the Canto.

"IL MORGANTE MAGGIORE.

ARGOMENTO.

"Vivendo Carlo Magno Imperadore Co' Paladini in festa e in allegria, Orlando contra Gano traditore S'adira, e parte verso Pagania: Giunge a un deserto, e del bestial furore Di tre giganti salva una badia, Che due n'uccide, e con Morgante elegge, Di buon sozio e d'amico usar la legge."

CANTO PRIMO.

I.

"In principio era il Verbo appresso a Dio; Ed era Iddio il Verbo, e 'l Verbo lui: Quest' era nel principio, al parer mio; E nulla si puo far sanza costui: Pero, giusto Signor benigno e pio, Mandami solo un de gli angeli tui, Che m'accompagni, e rechimi a memoria Una famosa antica e degna storia.

II.

"E tu, Vergine, figlia, e madre, e sposa, Di quel Signor, che ti dette le chiave Del cielo e dell' abisso, e d' ogni cosa, Quel di che Gabriel tuo ti disse Ave! Perche tu se' de' tuo' servi pietosa, Con dolce rime, e stil grato e soave, Ajuta i versi miei benignamente, E'nsino al fine allumina la mente.

III.

"Era nel tempo, quando Filomena Colla sorella si lamenta e plora, Che si ricorda di sua antica pena, E pe' boschetti le ninfe innamora, E Febo il carro temperato mena, Che 'l suo Fetonte l'ammaestra ancora; Ed appariva appunto all' orizzonte, Tal che Titon si graffiava la fronte:

IV.

"Quand'io varai la mia barchetta, prima Per ubbidir chi sempre ubbidir debbe La mente, e faticarsi in prosa e in rima, E del mio Carlo Imperador m'increbbe; Che so quanti la penna ha posto in cima, Che tutti la sua gloria prevarrebbe: E stata quella istoria, a quel ch'i' veggio, Di Carlo male intesa, e scritta peggio."]

[336] {287}[Philomela and Procne were daughters of Pandion, King of Attica. Tereus, son of Ares, wedded Procne, and, after the birth of her son Itys, concealed his wife in the country, with a view to dishonouring Philomela, on the plea of her sister's death. Procne discovered the plot, killed her babe, and served up his flesh in a dish for her husband's dinner. The sisters fled, and when Tereus pursued them with an axe they besought the gods to change them into birds. Thereupon Procne became a swallow, and Philomela a nightingale. So Hyginus, Fabulae, xlv.; but there are other versions of Philomela's woes.]

[337] [In the first edition of the Morgante Maggiore (Firenze, 1482 [B. M. G. 10834]), which is said (vide the colophon) to have been issued "under the correction of the author, line 2 of this stanza runs thus: "comegliebbe u armano el suo turpino;" and, apparently, it was not till 1518 (Milano, by Zarotti) that Pipino was substituted for Turpino. Leonardo Bruni, surnamed Aretino (1369-1444), in his Istoria Fiorentina (1861, pp. 43, 47), commemorates the imperial magnificence of Carlo Magno, and speaks of his benefactions to the Church, but does not—in that work, at any rate—mention his biographers. It is possible that if Pulci or Bruni had read Eginhard, they thought that his chronicle was derogatory to Charlemagne. (See Gibbon's Decline and Fall, 1825, iii. 376, note 1, and Hallam's Europe during the Middle Ages, 1868, p. 16, note 3; et vide post, p. 309.)]

[338] {288}[For an account of the Benedictine Monastery of San Liberatore alla Majella, which lies to the south of Manoppello (eight miles southwest of Chieto, in the Abruzzi), see Monumenti Storici ed. Artistici degli Abruzzi, by V. Bindi, Naples, 1889, Part I. (Testo), pp. 655, sq. The abbey is in a ruinous condition, but on the walls of "un ampio porticato," there is still to be seen a fresco of Charlemagne, holding in his hands the deed of gift of the Abbey lands.]

[339] [That is, the valley of Jehoshaphat, the "valley where Jehovah judges" (see Joel iii. 2-12); and, hence, a favourite burial-ground of Jews and Moslems.]

[340] [The text as it stands is meaningless. Probably Byron wrote "dost arise." The reference is no doubt to the supposed restoration of Florence by Charlemagne.]

[341] {289}["The Morgante is in truth the epic of treason, and the character of Gano, as an accomplished but not utterly abandoned Judas, is admirably sustained throughout."—Renaissance in Italy, 1881, iv. 444.]

[342]

["Cosi per Carlo Magno e per Orlando, Due ne segui lo mio attento sguardo, Com' occhio segue suo falcon volando."

Del Paradiso, Canto XVIII. lines 43-45.]

[343] {296}["Macon" is another form of "Mahomet." Compare—

"O Macon! break in twain the steeled lance."

Fairfax's Tasso, Gerusalemme Liberata, book ix. stanza xxx. line i.]

[344] [Pulci seems to have been the originator of the humorous understatement. Compare—

"And the subsequent proceedings interested him no more."

Bret Harte's Poems, The Society upon the Stanislaus, line 26.]

[345] {303} "Gli dette in su la testa un gran punzone." It is strange that Pulci should have literally anticipated the technical terms of my old friend and master, Jackson, and the art which he has carried to its highest pitch. "A punch on the head" or "a punch in the head"—"un punzone in su la testa,"—is the exact and frequent phrase of our best pugilists, who little dream that they are talking the purest Tuscan.

[346] {304}["Half a dozen invectives against tyranny confiscate C^d.^ H^d.^ in a month; and eight and twenty cantos of quizzing Monks, Knights, and Church Government, are let loose for centuries."—Letter to Murray, May 8, 1820, Letters, 1901, v. 21.]

[347] {308}[Byron could not make up his mind with regard to the translation of the Italian sbergo, which he had, correctly, rendered "cuirass." He was under the impression that the word "meant helmet also" (see his letters to Murray, March 1, 5, 1820, Letters, 1900, iv. 413-417). Sbergo or usbergo, as Moore points out (Life, p. 438, note 2), "is obviously the same as hauberk, habergeon, etc., all from the German halsberg, or covering for the neck." An old dictionary which Byron might have consulted, Vocabolario Italiano-Latino, Venice, 1794, gives thorax, lorica, as the Latin equivalent of "Usbergo = armadura del busto, corazza." (See, too, for an authority quoted in the Dizzionario Universale (1797-1805) of Alberti di Villanuova, Letters, 1900, iv. 417, note 2.)]



FRANCESCA OF RIMINI.



INTRODUCTION TO FRANCESCA OF RIMINI.

The MS. of "a literal translation, word for word (versed like the original), of the episode of Francesca of Rimini" (Letter March 23, 1820, Letters, 1900, iv. 421), was sent to Murray from Ravenna, March 20, 1820 (ibid., p. 419), a week after Byron had forwarded the MS. of the Prophecy of Dante. Presumably the translation had been made in the interval by way of illustrating and justifying the unfamiliar metre of the "Dante Imitation." In the letter which accompanied the translation he writes, "Enclosed you will find, line for line, in third rhyme (terza rima,) of which your British Blackguard reader as yet understands nothing, Fanny of Rimini. You know that she was born here, and married, and slain, from Cary, Boyd, and such people already. I have done it into cramp English, line for line, and rhyme for rhyme, to try the possibility. You had best append it to the poems already sent by last three posts."

In the matter of the "British Blackguard," that is, the general reader, Byron spoke by the card. Hayley's excellent translation of the three first cantos of the Inferno (vide ante, "Introduction to the Prophecy of Dante," p. 237), which must have been known to a previous generation, was forgotten, and with earlier experiments in terza rima, by Chaucer and the sixteenth and seventeenth century poets, neither Byron nor the British public had any familiar or definite acquaintance. But of late some interest had been awakened or revived in Dante and the Divina Commedia.

Cary's translation—begun in 1796, but not published as a whole till 1814—had met with a sudden and remarkable success. "The work, which had been published four years, but had remained in utter obscurity, was at once eagerly sought after. About a thousand copies of the first edition, that remained on hand, were immediately disposed of; in less than three months a new edition was called for." Moreover, the Quarterly and Edinburgh Reviews were loud in its praises (Memoir of H. F. Cary, 1847, ii. 28). Byron seems to have thought that a fragment of the Inferno, "versed like the original," would challenge comparison with Cary's rendering in blank verse, and would lend an additional interest to the "Pulci Translations, and the Dante Imitation." Dis aliter visum, and Byron's translation of the episode of Francesca of Rimini, remained unpublished till it appeared in the pages of The Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, 1830, ii. 309-311. (For separate translations of the episode, see Stories of the Italian Poets, by Leigh Hunt, 1846, i. 393-395, and for a rendering in blank verse by Lord [John] Russell, see Literary Souvenir, 1830, pp. 285-287.)

FRANCESCA DA RIMINI.



FRANCESCA OF RIMINI[348]

FROM THE INFERNO OF DANTE.

CANTO THE FIFTH.

"The Land where I was born[349] sits by the Seas Upon that shore to which the Po descends, With all his followers, in search of peace. Love, which the gentle heart soon apprehends, Seized him for the fair person which was ta'en From me[350], and me even yet the mode offends. Love, who to none beloved to love again Remits, seized me with wish to please, so strong[351], That, as thou see'st, yet, yet it doth remain. Love to one death conducted us along, 10 But Caina[352] waits for him our life who ended:" These were the accents uttered by her tongue.— Since I first listened to these Souls offended, I bowed my visage, and so kept it till— 'What think'st thou?' said the bard[353]; when I unbended, And recommenced: 'Alas! unto such ill How many sweet thoughts, what strong ecstacies, Led these their evil fortune to fulfill!' And then I turned unto their side my eyes, And said, 'Francesca, thy sad destinies 20 Have made me sorrow till the tears arise. But tell me, in the Season of sweet sighs, By what and how thy Love to Passion rose, So as his dim desires to recognize?' Then she to me: 'The greatest of all woes Is to remind us of our happy days[co][354] In misery, and that thy teacher knows. But if to learn our Passion's first root preys Upon thy spirit with such Sympathy, I will do even as he who weeps and says.[cp][355] 30 We read one day for pastime, seated nigh, Of Lancilot, how Love enchained him too. We were alone, quite unsuspiciously. But oft our eyes met, and our Cheeks in hue All o'er discoloured by that reading were; But one point only wholly us o'erthrew;[cq] When we read the long-sighed-for smile of her,[cr] To be thus kissed by such devoted lover,[cs] He, who from me can be divided ne'er, Kissed my mouth, trembling in the act all over: 40 Accursed was the book and he who wrote![356] That day no further leaf we did uncover.' While thus one Spirit told us of their lot, The other wept, so that with Pity's thralls I swooned, as if by Death I had been smote,[357] And fell down even as a dead body falls."[358]

March 20, 1820.



FRANCESCA DA RIMINI.

DANTE, L'INFERNO.

CANTO QUINTO.

'Siede la terra dove nata fui Sulla marina, dove il Po discende Per aver pace co' seguaci sui. Amor, che al cor gentil ratto s'apprende, Prese costui della bella persona Che mi fu tolta, e il modo ancor m' offende. Amor, che a nullo amato amar perdona, Mi prese del costui piacer si forte, Che, come vedi, ancor non mi abbandona. Amor condusse noi ad una morte: 10 Caino attende chi vita ci spense.' Queste parole da lor ci fur porte. Da che io intesi quelle anime offense Chinai 'l viso, e tanto il tenni basso, Finche il Poeta mi disse: 'Che pense?' Quando risposi, cominciai: 'O lasso! Quanti dolci pensier, quanto disio Meno costoro al doloroso passo!' Poi mi rivolsi a loro, e parla' io, E cominciai: 'Francesca, i tuoi martiri 20 A lagrimar mi fanno tristo e pio. Ma dimmi: al tempo de' dolci sospiri A che e come concedette Amore, Che conoscesti i dubbiosi desiri?' Ed ella a me: 'Nessun maggior dolore Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Nella miseria; e cio sa il tuo dottore. Ma se a conoscer la prima radice Del nostro amor tu hai cotanto affetto Faro come colui che piange e dice. 30 Noi leggevamo un giorno per diletto Di Lancelotto, come Amor lo strinse: Soli eravamo, e senza alcun sospetto. Per piu fiate gli occhi ci sospinse Quella lettura, e scolorocci il viso: Ma solo un punto fu quel che ci vinse. Quando leggemmo il disiato riso Esser baciato da cotanto amante, Questi, che mai da me non fia diviso, La bocca mi bacio tutto tremante: 40 Galeotto fu il libro, e chi lo scrisse— Quel giorno piu non vi leggemmo avante Mentre che l'uno spirto questo disse, L'altro piangeva si che di pietade Io venni meno cos com' io morisse; E caddi, come corpo morto cade.

FOOTNOTES:

[348] {317}[Dante, in his Inferno (Canto V. lines 97-142), places Francesca and her lover Paolo among the lustful in the second circle of Hell. Francesca, daughter of Guido Vecchio da Polenta, Lord of Ravenna, married (circ. 1275) Gianciotto, second son of Malatesta da Verrucchio, Lord of Rimini. According to Boccaccio (Il Comento sopra la Commedia, 1863, i. 476, sq.), Gianciotto was "hideously deformed in countenance and figure," and determined to woo and marry Francesca by proxy. He accordingly "sent, as his representative, his younger brother Paolo, the handsomest and most accomplished man in all Italy. Francesca saw Paolo arrive, and imagined she beheld her future husband. That mistake was the commencement of her passion." A day came when the lovers were surprised together, and Gianciotto slew both his brother and his wife.]

[349] ["On arrive a Ravenne en longeant une foret de pins qui a sept lieues de long, et qui me semblait un immense bois funebre servant d'avenue au sepulcre commun de ces deux grandes puissances. A peine y a-t-il place pour d'autres souvenirs a cote de leur memoire. Cependant d'autres noms poetiques sont attaches a la Pineta de Ravenne. Naguere lord Byron y evoquait les fantastiques recits empruntes par Dryden a Boccace, et lui-meme est maintenant une figure du passe, errante dans ce lieu melancolique. Je songeais, en le traversant, que le chantre du desespoir avait chevauche sur cette plage lugubre, foulee avant lui par le pas grave et lent du poete de l'Enfer....

"Il suffit de jeter les yeux sur une carte pour reconnaitre l'exactitude topographique de cette derniere expression. En effet, dans toute la partie superieure de son cours, le Po recoit une foule d'affluents qui convergent vers son lit; ce sont le Tesin, l'Adda, l'Olio, le Mincio, la Trebbia, la Bormida, le Taro...."—La Grece, Rome, et Dante ("Voyage Dantesque"), par M. J. J. Ampere, 1850, pp. 311-313.]

[350] [The meaning is that she was despoiled of her beauty by death, and that the manner of her death excites her indignation still. "Among Lord Byron's unpublished letters we find the following varied readings of the translation from Dante:—

Seized him for the fair person, which in its Bloom was ta'en from me, yet the mode offends. or, Seized him for the fair form, of which in its Bloom I was reft, and yet the mode offends.

Love, which to none beloved to love remits, / with mutual wish to please Seized me < with wish of pleasing him > so strong, with the desire to please / That, as thou see'st, not yet that passion quits, etc.

You will find these readings vary from the MS. I sent you. They are closer, but rougher: take which is liked best; or, if you like, print them as variations. They are all close to the text."—Works of Lord Byron, 1832, xii. 5, note 2.]

[351] {319}["The man's desire is for the woman; but the woman's desire is rarely other than for the desire of the man."—S. T. Coleridge, Table Talk, July 23, 1827.]

[352] [Caina is the first belt of Cocytus, that is, circle ix. of the Inferno, in which fratricides and betrayers of their kindred are immersed up to the neck.]

[353] [Virgil.]

[co] {319}

Is to recall to mind our happy days. In misery, and this thy teacher knows.—[MS.]

[354] [The sentiment is derived from Boethius: "In omni adversitate fortunae infelicissimum genus est infortunii, fuisse felicem."—De Consolat. Philos. Lib. II. Prosa 4. The earlier commentators (e.g. Venturi and Biagioli), relying on a passage in the Convito (ii. 16), assume that the "teacher" (line 27) is the author of the sentence, but later authorities point out that "mio dottore" can only apply to Virgil (v. 70), who then and there in the world of shades was suffering the bitter experience of having "known better days." Compare—

"For of fortunes sharp adversitee The worst kinde of infortune is this, A man to have ben in prosperitee, And it remembren whan it passed is."

Troilus and Criseyde, Bk. III. stanza ccxxxiii. lines 1-4.

"E perche rimembrare il ben perduto Fa piu meschino lo stato presente."

Fortiguerra's Ricciardetto, Canto XI. stanza lxxxiii.

Compare, too—

"A sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things."

Tennyson's Locksley Hall.]

[cp] I will relate as he who weeps and says.—[MS.] (The sense is, I will do even as one who relates while weeping.)

[355] [Byron affixed the following note to line 126 of the Italian: "In some of the editions it is 'diro,' in others 'faro;'—an essential difference between 'saying' and 'doing' which I know not how to decide—Ask Foscolo—the damned editions drive me mad." In La Divina Commedia, Firenze, 1892, and the Opere de Dante, Oxford, 1897, the reading is faro.]

[cq] {321}——wholly overthrew.—[MS.]

[cr] When we read the desired-for smile of her. [MS, Alternative reading.]

[cs]—by such a fervent lover.—[MS.]

[356] ["A Gallehault was the book and he who wrote it" (A. J. Butler). "Writer and book were Gallehault to our will" (E. J. Plumptre). The book which the lovers were reading is entitled L'Illustre et Famosa Historia di Lancilotto del Lago. The "one point" of the original runs thus: "Et la reina ... lo piglia per il mento, et lo bacia davanti a Gallehault, assai lungamente."—Venice, 1558, Lib. Prim. cap. lxvi. vol. i. p. 229. The Gallehault of the Lancilotto, the shameless "purveyor," must not be confounded with the stainless Galahad of the Morte d'Arthur.']