Paradiso: Canto IX

Longfellow, 1867 · <a href="https://archive.org/details/divinecomedydante03dantrich">source</a>

1. Stanza 1, line 1 The Heaven of Venus is continued in this canto. The beautiful Clemence here addressed is the daughter of the Emperor Rudolph, and wife of Charles Martel. Some commentators say it is his daughter, but for what reason is not apparent, as the form of address would rather indicate the wife than the daughter; and moreover, at the date of the poem, 1300, the daughter was only six or seven years old. So great was the affection of this "beautiful Clemence"
   
   for her husband, that she is said to have fallen dead on hearing the news of his death.
2. Stanza 1, line 3 Charles the Lame, dying in 1309, gave the kingdom of Naples and Sicily to his third son, Robert, Duke of Calabria, thus dispossessing Carlo Roberto (or Caroberto), son of Charles Martel and Clemence, and rightful heir to the throne.
3. Stanza 8, line 22 Unknown to me by name.
4. Stanza 9, line 25 The region here described is the Marca Trivigiana, lying between
   
   Paradiso ix.
   
   Venice (here indicated by one of its principal wards, the Rialto) and the Alps, dividing Italy from Germany.
5. Stanza 10, line 28 The hill on which stands the Castello di Romano, the birthplace of the tyrant Ezzelino, or Azzolino, whom, for his cruelties, Dante punished in the river of boiling blood, Inf. XII. no. Before his birth his mother is said to have dreamed of alighted torch, as Hecuba did before the birth of Paris, Althaea before the birth of Meleager, and the mother of St. Dominic before the birth of
   
   " The amorous paramour Of Christian Faith, the athlete consecrate, Kind to his own and cruel to his foes."
6. Stanza 11, line 32 Cunizza was the sister of Azzo lino di Romano. Her story is told by Rolandino, Liber Cbronicorum, in Muratori, Rer. Ital. Script., VIII. 173. He says that she was first married to Richard of St. Boniface; and soon after had an intrigue with Sordello, as already mentioned, Purg. VI. Note 74. Afterwards she wandered about the world with a soldier of Treviso, named Bonius, ''taking much solace," says the old chronicler, " and spending much money," — multa babendo solatia, et maximas faciendo expensas. After the death of Bonius, she was married to a nobleman of Braganzo; and finally and for a third time to a gentleman of Verona.
   
   The Ottimo alone among the com mentators takes up the defence of Cunizza, and says: " This lady lived lovingly in dress, song, and sport; but consented not to any impropriety or un-
   
   VOL. in. 33
   
   lawful act; and she passed her life in enjoyment, as Solomon says in Ecclesiastes,"- — alluding probably to the first verse of the second chapter, "I said in my heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure; and, behold, this is also vanity."
7. Stanza 11, line 33 Of the influences of the planet Venus, quoting Albumasar, as before, Buti says: " Venus is cold and moist, and of phlegmatic temperament, and signifies beauty, liberality, patience, sweetness, dignity of manners, love of dress and ornaments of gold and silver, humility towards friends, pride and adjunction, delectation and delight in singing and use of ornaments, joy and gladness, dancing, song with pipe and lute, bridals, ornaments and precious ointments, cunning in the composition of songs, skill in the game of chess, indolence, drunkenness, lust, adultery, gesticulations, and lasciviousness of courtesans, abundance of perjuries, of lies and all kinds of wantonness, love of children, delight in men, strength of body, weakness of mind, abundance of food and corporal delights, observance of faith and justice, traffic in odoriferous merchandise; and as was said of the Moon, all are not found inone man, but a part in one, and a part in another, according to Divine Providence; and the wise man adheres to the good, and overcomes the others."
8. Stanza 12, line 34 Since God has pardoned me, I am no longer troubled for my past errors, on account of which I attain no higher glory in Paradise. She had tasted of the waters of Lethe, and all
   
   the ills and errors of the past were forgotten. Purg. XXXIII. 94: —
   
   " < And if thou art not able to remember,'
   
   Smiling she answered, 'recollect thee now How thou this very day hast drunk of Lethe."
   
   Hugo of St. Victor, in a passage quoted by Philalethes in the notes to his translation of the Divina Commedia> says: " In that city .... there will be Free Will, emancipated from all evil, and filled with all good, enjoying without interruption the delight of eternal joys, oblivious of sins, oblivious of punishments; yet not so oblivious of its liberation as to be ungrateful to its liberator. So far, therefore, as regards intellectual knowledge, it will be mindful of its past evils; but wholly unmindful, as regards any feeling of what it has passed through."
9. Stanza 13, line 37 The spirit of Folco, or Folchetto, of Marseilles, as mentioned later in this canto; the famous Troubadour whose renown was not to perish for five centuries, but is small enough now, save in the literary histories of Millot and the Benedictines of St. Maur.
10. Stanza 15, line 44 The Marca Trivigiana is again alluded to, lying between the Adige, that empties into the Adriatic south of Venice, and the Tagliamento to the northeast, towards Trieste. This region embraces the cities of Padua and Vicenza in the south, Treviso in the centre, and Feltro in the north.
11. Stanza 16, line 46 The rout of the Paduans near Vicenza, in those endless quarrels that run through Italian history like the roll of a drum. Three times the Pa-
    
    duan Guelphs were defeated by the Ghibellines, — in 1311, in 1314, and in 1318, when Can Grande della Scala was chief of the Ghibelline league. The river stained with blood is the Bacchiglione, on which Vicenza stands.
12. Stanza 17, line 49 In Treviso, where the Sile and Cagnano unite.
13. Stanza 17, line 50 Riccardo da Camino, who was assassinated while playing at chess. He was a son of the "good Gherardo," and brother of the beautiful Gaja, mentioned Purg. XVI. 40. He succeeded his father as lord of Treviso; but carried on his love adventures so openly and with so high a hand, that he was finally assassinated by an outraged husband. The story of his assassination is told in the Hist. Cartusiorum in Muratori, XII. 784.
14. Stanza 18, line 53 A certain bishop of the town of Feltro in the Marca Trivigiana, whose name is doubtful, but who was both lord spiritual and temporal of the town, broke faith with certain gentlemen of Ferrara, guilty of political crimes, who sought refuge and protection in his diocese. They were delivered up, and executed in Ferrara. Afterward the Bishop himself came toa violent end, being beaten to death with bags of sand.
15. Stanza 18, line 54 Malta was a prison on the shores of Lake Bolsena, where priests were incarcerated for their crimes. There Pope Boniface VIII. imprisoned the Abbot of Monte Cassino for letting the fugitive Celestine V. escape from his convent.
16. Stanza 20, line 58 This " courteous priest " was a
    
    Paradiso ix.
    
    Guelph, and showed his zeal for his party in the persecution of the Ghibellines.
17. Stanza 20, line 60 The treachery and cruelty of this man will be in conformity to the customs of the country.
18. Stanza 21, line 61 Above in the Crystalline Heaven, or Primum Mobile, is the Order of Angels called Thrones. These are mirrors reflecting the justice and judgments of God.
19. Stanza 23, line 69 The Balascio (in French rubi balais) is supposed to take its name from the place in the East where it was found.
    
    Chaucer, Court of Love, 78: —
    
    " No saphire of Inde, no rube riche of price, There lacked then, nor emeraude so grene, Balais Turkis, ne thing to my devise That may the castel maken for to shene."
    
    The mystic virtues of this stone are thus enumerated by Mr. King, Antique Gems, p. 419: " The Balais Ruby re presses vain and lascivious thoughts, appeases quarrels between friends, and gives health of body. Its powder taken in water cures diseases of the eyes, and pains in the liver. If you touch with this gem the four corners of a house, orchard, or vineyard, they will be safe from lightning, storms, and blight. "
20. Stanza 24, line 70 Joy is shown in heaven by greater light, 'as here on earth by smiles, and as in the infernal regions the grief of souls in torment is by greater darkness.
21. Stanza 25, line 73 In Him thy sight is; in the original tuo veder /' inluia, thy sight in- Hims-itself.
22. Stanza 26, line 76 There is a similar passage in
    
    one of the Troubadours, who, in an Elegy, commends his departed friend to the Virgin as a good singer. " He sang so well, that the nightingales grew silent with admiration, and listened to him. Therefore God took him for his
    
    own service If the Virgin Mary
    
    is fond of genteel young men, I advise her to take him."
23. Stanza 26, line 77 The Seraphim, clothed with six wings, as seen in the vision of the Prophet Isaiah vi. 2: " Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly."
    
    8 1. In the original, 6" to m9 intuassi come tu f immii ,- if I in-theed myself as thou in-meest thyself. Dantesque words, like inluia, Note 73.
24. Stanza 28, line 82 The Mediterranean, the greatest of seas, except the ocean, surrounding the earth.
    
    Bryant, Tbanatopsis: —
    
    " And poured round all Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste."
25. Stanza 29, line 85 Extending eastward between Europe and Africa. Dante gives the length of the Mediterranean as ninety degrees. Modern geographers make it less than fifty.
26. Stanza 30, line 89 Marseilles, about equidistant from the Ebro, in Spain, and the Ma-gra, which divides the Genoese and Tuscan territories. Being a small river, it has but a short journey to make.
27. Stanza 31, line 92 Buggia is a city in Africa, on nearly the same parallel of longitude as Marseilles.
28. Stanza 31, line 93 The allusion here is to the siege
    
    of Marseilles by a portion of Caesar's army under Tribonius, and the fleet under Brutus. Purg. XVIII. 101: —
    
    " And Caesar, that he might subdue Ilerda, Thrust at Marseilles, and then ran into Spain."
    
    Lucan, who describes the siege and sea-fight in the third book of his Pbarsalia, says: —
    
    <c Meanwhile, impatient of the lingering war, The chieftain to Iberia bends afar, And gives the leaguer to Tribonius' care."
29. Stanza 32, line 94 Folco, or Folchetto, of Marseilles (Folquet de Marseilles) was a noted Troubadour, who flourished at the end of the twelfth century. He was the son of a rich merchant of Marseilles, and after his father's death, giving up business for pleasure and poetry, became a frequenter of courts and favorite of lords and princes. Among his patrons are mentioned King Richard of England, King Alfonso of Aragon, Count Raymond of Toulouse, and the Sire Barral of Marseilles. The old Provencal chronicler in Raynouard, V. 150, says: " He was a good Troubadour, and very attractive in person. He paid court to the wife of his lord, Sire Barral, and besought her love, and made songs about her. But neither for prayers nor songs could he find favor with her so as to procure any mark of love, of which he was always complaining in his songs."
    
    Nevertheless this Lady Alazais listened with pleasure to his songs and praises; and was finally moved to jealousy, if not to love. The Troubadour was at the same time paying his hom
    
    age to the two sisters of the Sire Bar ral, Lady Laura and Lady Mabel, both beautiful and de gran valor, and being accused thereof, fell into disfavor and banishment, the Lady Alazais wishing to hear no more his prayers nor his songs. In his despair he took refuge at the court of William, lord of Montpellier, whose wife, daughter of the Emperor Manuel, " comforted him a little, and besought him not to be downcast and despairing, but for love of her to sing and make songs."
    
    And now a great change came over him. The old chronicler goes on to say: " And it came to pass that the Lady Alazais died; and the Sire Bar ral, her husband and his lord, died; and died the good King Richard, and the good Count Raymond of Toulouse, and King Alfonso of Aragon: whereat, in grief for his lady and for the princes who were dead, he abandoned the world, and retired to a Cistercian convent, with his wife and two sons. And he became Abbot of a rich abbey in Provence, called Torondet, and afterwards Bishop of Toulouse, and there he died."
    
    It was in 1200 that he became a Cistercian, and he died in 1233. It would be pleasant to know that he atoned for his youthful follies by an old age of virtues. But unfortunately for his fame, the old nightingale became a bird of prey. He was deeply impli cated in the persecutions of the Albigenses, and the blood of those "slaugh- i / tered saints " makes a ghastly rubric in * his breviary.
    
    Paradise ix.
30. Stanza 33, line 97 Dido, queen of Carthage. The Ottimo says: " He seems to mean, that Folco loved indifferently married women, virgins, and widows, gentle and simple."
31. Stanza 34, line 100 Phillis of Thrace, called Rodopeia from Mount Rodope near which she lived, was deserted by her Athenian lover Demophoon, of whom Chaucer, Legende of Good Women, 2442, gives this portrait: —
    
    " Men knewe him well and didden hym honour, For at Athenis duke and lorde was he, As Theseus his father hath ibe, That in his tyme was of grete renown, No man so grete in all his regioun, And like his father efface and of stature; And false of love, it came hym of nature; As doeth the foxe, Renarde the foxes sonne, Of kinde, he coulde his olde father wonne Withouten lore j as can a drake swimme, When it is caught and caried to the brimme."
32. Stanza 34, line 101 Hercules was so subdued by v. love for lole, that he sat among her
    
    maidens spinning with a distaff. 103. See Note 34 of this canto. 1 06. The ways of Providence,
    
    " From seeming evil still educing good."
33. Stanza 39, line 116 Rahab, who concealed the spies of Joshua among the flax-stalks on the roof of her house. Joshua, ii. 6.
    
    1 1 8. Milton, Par. Lost, IV. 776: —
    
    " Now had night measured with her shadowy
    
    cone Half-way up hill this vast sublunar vault."
    
    1 20. The first soul redeemed when
    
    Christ descended into Limbo. t( The first shall be last, and the last first."
34. Stanza 41, line 123 The Crucifixion. If any one is disposed to criticise the play upon words in this beautiful passage, let him remember the Tu es Petrus et super bane petram edifcabo ecclesiam meam.
    
    1 24. Hebrews xi. 31: " By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace."
35. Stanza 42, line 125 Forgetful that it was in the hands of the Saracens.
36. Stanza 43, line 127 The heathen Gods were looked upon by the Christians as demons. Hence Florence was the city of Satan to Dante in his dark hours, when he thought of Mars; but in his better moments, when he remembered John the Baptist, it was " the fairest and most renowned daughter of Rome."
37. Stanza 44, line 130 The Lily on the golden florin of Florence.
38. Stanza 45, line 133 To gain the golden florin the study of the Gospels and the Fathers was abandoned, and the Decretals, or books of Ecclesiastical Law, so diligently conned, that their margins were worn and soiled with thumb-marks. The first five books of the Decretals were compiled by Gregory IX., and the sixth by Boniface VIII.
39. Stanza 46, line 138 A prophecy of the death of Boniface VIII. in 1303, and the removal of the Holy See to Avignon in