Page 86. (Line 42.) Farinata was very proud of his birth, -Dante, whom he took for some plebeian, equally so: hence his eagerness to return an answer. (48.) Having learnt that Dante's ancestors were Guelfs, Farinata shows his indignation by his manner, and exults in having twice defeated them-the first time in 1248, towards the end of the reign of Frederick II. -the second in 1260, at the battle of Arbia, or Mont' Aperti, in which the Florentines were routed by the Siennese. See note, line 86. (49.) Dante supports the character of the party, and retorts upon Farinata that the Guelfs had returned after both these defeats, which was more than the Ghibellins had done in the first instance, when they were recalled by the people of Florence on the death of Frederick II.; in the se. cond, after the death of Manfred, King of Sicily, in 1251. (52.) Near to Farinata, and interrupting his discourse, rises the shade of Cavalcante Cavalcanti; who, overhearing the conversation, and aware of Dante's presence, was desirous to make inquiry concerning his son Guido Cavalcanti, Dante's most intimate friend. Page 87. (Line 63.) Guido was a great poet-see Purgatorio xi. 97-but seems to have had no taste for Virgil. The partiality of the father ascribes to him a genius equal to that of Dante. (68.) "This young gentleman had a father:-O that 'had-how sad a passage 'tis.”—Shakspeare. All's well, &c. Act. i. sc. i. (70.) At the time Dante actually wrote, it is probable Guido had been dead several years. Though he was still alive according to the supposed date of the poem, 1300, his death was about to take place. "Dante's ignorance of the inability of the spirits to foresee events immediately about to take place, see lines 96, 103, is the poetical reason of his silence, though excited to break it, out of compassion for Gui do's father; wherefore at first he stands in doubt."-Ugo Foscolo, Discorso, p. 286. Meanwhile " changing not his countenance, and bending not to sympathize with the distressed parent, Farinata exhibits," Ugo Foscolo observes, "the most exact description of human nature, as it exists in the brave; and hence arises one of the most striking beauties of poetry. The soul is pictured to us of one who, feeling afflictions as a man, conceals them as a citizen; and does not permit domestic grievances to distract his thoughts from the calamities of his country. Wherefore he is silent as to his son-in-law (Guido), and, continuing his discourse, says that the banishment of the Ghibellins gave him more torment than the fiery bed whereon he lay with the followers of Epicurus."-Discorso, page 288. He was puuished for being a heretic, but his heresy is justly palliated by Sismondi on the grounds "that he was disgusted with the vices and hypocrisy of the Popes," to whose intrigues Italy owed, and still owes, her misery and degradation. (76.) "His noble rejoinder, on Dante's reference to the carnage at Mont' Aperti, as to the cause of his people's implacability, is above all praise. Indeed, it would be difficult to point out, in ancient or modern tragedy, a passage of more sublimity or pathos :-in which so few words express so much, yet leave so much more to be imagined by any one who has a heart, than the whole of this scene exhibits."-James Montgomery. Life of Dante. Lardner's Cab. Cyc. No. 63.-(79.) The Moon in heathen mythology is called Proserpine, or Queen of Hell. Hence Chaucer styles her, "Queen of the reign of Pluto."-Knighte's Tale. L. 2300. (81.) Farinata here foretels to Dante his exile, and the battles which took place in 1304, on occasion of the premature and unsuccessful attempts of the Bianchi to enter Floren vindict Page was fo exiled Sienna to Mon sand n the Sie by Mar sand, h hoped with th tion. ensued rence, me in the ba propos alone contra "I was other." in Flore city. victorio was he influend the amb rence, W Tuscany Florence. See note vi. 60. (84.) The "cruel laws" mean the vindictive sentence still in force against the Ghibellins. Page 88. (Line 86.) The battle of Arbia, or Mont' Aperti, was fought in 1260, between the Florentine Guelfs and the exiled Ghibellins, who had taken refuge with their friends at Sienna. The Guelfs, having collected their allies, advanced to Mont' Aperti, near that city, with an army of thirty thousand men. The Ghibelline forces, including the emigrants, the Siennese, and a body of Germans, sent to their assistance by Manfred, king of Sicily, amounted only to eighteen thousand, headed by Farinata. On the arrival of the Guelfs, who hoped to enter the city by treachery, out rushed their enemies with the greatest impetuosity, and spread universal consternation. The victory was complete, and a dreadful slaughter ensued. (91.) Farinata being accused of fighting against Florence, defends himself thus: " It is unfair to make laws against me individually for that in which thousands participated, (viz. the battle of Arbia;-while it is forgotten that when it was proposed by great numbers of people to destroy Florence, I alone stood up in her defence." The epigramatic force of the contrast in this famous passage should not be overlooked. "I was not single in the one case, but I was single in the other." After the battle of Mont' Aperti, such alarm prevailed in Florence, that the Guelfs determined in a body to quit the city. No resistance was therefore made on the arrival of the victorious army. A general assembly of the Ghibelline states was held at Empoli, to adopt measures for upholding their influence. As the only means of giving security to their party, the ambassadors of Pisa and Sienna proposed to destroy Florence, which had long been the chief support of the Guelfs in Tuscany. The demolition of the walls, and the dispersion of the people, could. alone, they said, prevent the re-union and future vengeance of their enemies. This demand was universally approved by the smaller states, which, having been long depressed by the superior power of Florence, would have viewed its destruction with delight. Nor was the proposal displeasing to many of the Florentine nobles themselves, who would gladly have shaken off all connection with the city, and regained that independence which their castles in the country formerly afforded. Such was the general feeling, when Farinata degli Uberti addressed the assembly, and rescued Florence from destruction. A most eloquent version of this speech is put into the mouth of Farinata by Machiavelli, in his history of Florence. (96.) See note line 70. Dante's perplexity was founded upon the circumstance of Farinata being able to predict future events, although Cavalcanti could not foresee the impending death of his own son. Page 89. (119.) Frederick II, born in 1196, was son of the Emperor Henry VI. and Costanza, sister of William King of Sicily, and was only nine months old when his father died. Pope Innocent III. was his Tutor. Honorius III. crowned him in 1220. Gregory IX. excommunicated him for not making an expedition to the Holy Land. The Lombard cities made a league against the Emperor, and were defeated in 1237 at Cortenuova. (120.) By the Cardinal is intended Ottaviano Ubaldini, who obtained this title by the influence he possessed; and was more of a Politician than a Priest. On the the HIGH W W And b The Tha Whose Insch Who "Now That To be CANTO XI. ARGUMENT. On the verge of the seventh circle are punished the heretics, the violent, the fraudulent, and the usurious. HIGH on a bank's extremest verge we stood, 1 Where stones enormous form'd a precipice, The horrid fume which rose from the abyss, Whose lid gave shelter, and whereon I read Inscribed:-"Pope Anastasius I contain, Whom from the path direct Photinus led." "Now it behoves us slowly to descend, That by degrees our sense we may constrain 7 |