Dante Alighieri (40 page)

    
⁷
There is a passage at the beginning of the second book, which, according to the reading of the most important MS., as well as of all the early printed editions, contains an undoubted reference to the Emperor Henry VII. In his rebuke to the opposition offered to the Emperor Dante speaks of “Reges et principes in hoc unico concordantes, ut adversentur Domino suo et uncto suo Romano Principi” (ii. 1, ll. 25-7). This reference to the Emperor as “the Lord's anointed” can only be to Henry VII. To no other of the successors of Frederick II, contemporary with himself, would Dante have dreamed of applying this term. In a passage of the
Convivio
, where he describes Frederick as “the last Emperor of the Romans,” he emphatically declines to recognize Rudolf and Adolf and Albert (the immediate predecessors of Henry VII) as Emperors at all: “Federigo di Soave, ultimo Imperador de' Romani, ultimo dico per rispetto al tempo presente, non ostante che Ridolfo e Adolfo e Alberto poi eletti sieno appresso la sua morte e de' suoi discendenti” (iv. 3, ll. 39-43). Now Henry VII was crowned at Aix on 6 January, 1309; consequently, if the above be the true reading, as there can be hardly a doubt that it is, the book must have been written later than that date (see Paget Toynbee,
Dante Studies and Researches
, pp. 302-3).

    
⁸
Reproduced (with references added) by kind permission of the author.

    
⁹
Aeneid
, vi. 848-54.

    
¹⁰
Typifying the spiritual and temporal powers. Dante meets this by distinguishing the homage paid to Christ from that which His Vicar can rightfully demand.

    
¹¹
[Dante actually, by an error, says Hadrian crowned Charles the Great.]

    
¹²
Ed. 1904, pp. 276-80.

    
¹³
See Torri's edition, pp. xli-ii, 118-21. Ficino's translation accompanies the Latin text in the editions of Fraticelli, by whom it was first printed in 1839. There are three English translations of the
De Monarchia, viz
by F. J. Church, in
Dante
:
an Essay
, by R. W. Church, 1879 (pp. 177-308); by P. H. Wicksteed, in
Translation of the Latin Works of Dante
, 1904 (pp. 127-279); and by Aurelia Henry, 1904.

    
¹⁴
Andrea Alciati Jureconsulti clariss. De Formula Romani Imperii Libellus. Accesserunt non dissimilis argumenti Dantis Florentini De Monarchia libri tres. Radulphi Carnotensis De translatione Imperii libellus. Chronica M. Jordanis, Qualiter Romanum Imperium translatum sit ad Germanos. Omnia nunc primum in lucem edita
.

    
¹⁵
See Paget Toynbee,
John Foxe and the Editio Princeps of Dante
'
s De Monarchia
, in
Athenaum
, 14 April, 1906.

    
¹⁶
In his
Epistola Dedicatoria
he says: “Sunt autem quos adjunximus, primùm Dantis Aligherii, non vetustioris illius Florentini poetae celeberrimi, sed philosophi acutissimi atque doctiss. viri, et Angeli Politiani familiaris quondam, de Monarchia libri tres” (p. 51).

    
¹⁷
See the
Codicum Elenchus
in Witte's edition, pp. lvii-viii.

    
¹⁸
Bk. ix. ch. 136.

    
¹⁹
Vita di Dante
, ed. cit. § 16, p. 74.

    
²⁰
“In quarto hujus operas” (ii. 4, l. 13; 8, l. 83).

    
²¹
“In tertio hujus libri capitulo” (ii. 8, ll. 61-2).

    
²²
“Nos autem cui mundus est patria, velut piscibus aequor, quamquam Sarnum biberimus ante dentes, et Florentiam adeo diligamus ut, quia dileximus, exilium patiamur injuste . . .” (i. 6, 11. 17-21; cf. i. 17, 11. 35-8; ii. 6, 11. 36-9).

    
²³
“Un libro ch' io intendo di fare, Dio concedente, di Volgare Eloquenza” (i 5, 11. 67-9).

    
²⁴
V
.
E
. i. 12, 11. 36-9.

    
²⁵
It is, of course, possible that Dante may have had the two works on hand concurrently.

    
²⁶
The arguments at the head of the chapters in A. G. Ferrers Howell's translation have occasionally been utilised in this analysis.

    
²⁷
See the introduction (pp. lxxxv ff.) to Rajna's critical edition,
Il Trattato De Vulgari Eloquentia
(Florence, 1896). Rajna, who prints specimens of Cittadini's version (pp. ccxii-xv), shows that this translation was made from Corbinelli's edition of the Latin text, with the help of Trissino's version (p. xcvi). An English translation, by A. G. Ferrers Howell, was published in 1890, and reissued in a revised form in 1904, in
Translation of the Latin Works of Dante
(pp. 3-115).

    
²⁸
See above, pp. 93-9, 195-6. Such as we possess were mostly discovered in the last century through the exertions of Karl Witte, who in 1827 printed at Padua (in
Dantis Alligherii Epistolae quae exstant
) the letters which had up to that date been brought to light.

    
²⁹
According to the numeration of the
Epistolae
in the Oxford Dante (pp. 403-20).

    
³⁰
Epistole di Dante Alighieri edite e inedite
, Livorno, 1842 (pp. 2-4).

    
³¹
Op. cit
. p. 8.

    
³²
In Dante Alighieri's Lyrische Gedichte
,
übersetzt und erklärt von K
.
L
.
Kannegiesser und K
.
Witte
, Leipzig, 1842 (Zweiter Theil, pp. 235-36). A critical text was printed by O. Zenatti, in
Dante e Firenze
(pp. 431-2); but see
L
'
Epistola di Dante a Moroello Malaspina
, by F. Novati, in
Dante e la Lunigiana
(pp. 507-42).

    
³³
Dantis Alligherii Epistolae quae exstant
, Patavii, 1827 (pp. 14-16),

    
³⁴
See above, p. 92 note.

    
³⁵
See above, p. 93.

    
³⁶
Op. cit
. pp. 28-32.

    
³⁷
See above, pp. 93-6,

    
³⁸
Op. cit
. pp. 36-42.

    
³⁹
See below.

    
⁴⁰
See above, p. 94.

    
⁴¹
Dantis Alligherii Epistolae quae exstant
, Patavii, 1827 (pp. 30-46).

    
⁴²
In
Prose Antiche di Dante
,
Petrarcha
,
et Boccaccio
, etc., pp. 9-12.

    
⁴³
See below.

    
⁴⁴
See above, p. 97.

    
⁴⁵
Op. cit
. pp. 53-61.

    
⁴⁶
Actually, Cremona.

    
⁴⁷
Bk. ix. ch. 136.

    
⁴⁸
See above, pp. 98-9.

    
⁴⁹
In the fifth volume of his
Aneddoti
(p. 176).

    
⁵⁰
See above, pp. 195-6.

    
⁵¹
See N. Zingarelli,
Dante
, pp. 723-4.

    
⁵²
See Scartazzini's
Companion to Dante
(translated by A.J. Butler), pp. 359-60.

    
⁵³
In
Galleria di Minerva
, vol. iii. pp. 220-8 (see Torri's
Epistole di Dante Alighieri
(p. 158).

    
⁵⁴
There are two English translations of these letters, viz. by C. S. Latham, in
A Translation of Dante's Eleven Letters
, 1891; and by P. H. Wicksteed, in
Translation of the Latin Works of Dante
, 1904 (pp. 295-368).

    
⁵⁵
These letters, which are preserved in the Vatican (MS.
Palat
. 1729), were first printed by Torri,
op
.
cil
. pp. 64-8; their authenticity as compositions of Dante is upheld by F. Novati and others (see Novati's article
L
'
Epistola di Dante a Moroello Malaspina
, in
Dante e la Lunigiana
(pp. 509, 537).

    
⁵⁶
By Doni, in
Prose Antiche di Dante, Petrarcha, et Boccaccio
, etc., Fiorenza, 1547 (pp. 75-6).

    
⁵⁷
Vita di Dante
, ed. Macrì-Leone, § 16, p. 74.

    
⁵⁸
See above, p. 54 note.

    
⁵⁹
See above, pp. 54, 57 note.

    
⁶⁰
See above, p. 74.

    
⁶¹
See above, p. 91.

    
⁶²
Vita di Dante
, ed. Brunone Bianchi, 1883, pp. xv, xvii, xxi.

    
⁶³
Vita Dantis
, ed. 1828, pp. 111-14.

    
⁶⁴
See C. Ricci,
L
'
Ultimo Rifugio di Dante
, pp. 68 ff.

    
⁶⁵
Vita di Dante
, ed. Macrì-Leone, § 16, p. 74. They are also twice mentioned by Bruni,
Vita di Dante
, ed. cit. pp. xxv, xxvii.

    
⁶⁶
Edited by F. Pasqualigo, Lonigo, 1887. For the MSS., see Wicksteed and Gardner,
Dante and Giovanni del Virgilio
, pp. 268 ff.

    
⁶⁷
See G. Albini,
Dantis Eclogae
(Firenze, 1903), p. xvi.

    
⁶⁸
In
Dante and
G,
del Virgilio
, pp. 146 ff.

    
⁶⁹
There are three English translations of the Eclogues, viz. one (in blank verse) by Dean Plumptre, in
The Commedia and Canzoniere of Dante
(1887), vol. ii. pp. 326-41; and two by P. H. Wicksteed, one (in prose) in
Dante and G
.
del Virgilio
, pp. 147 ff.; the other (in blank verse) in
Translation of the Latin Works of Dante
(1904), pp. 373 ff.

    
⁷⁰
Beginning, “Pieridum vox alma, novis qui cantibus orbem”; the
Carmen
and Dante's two
Eclogae
, with Giovanni's
Ecloga Responsiva
, are printed in the Oxford Dante (pp. 185-90). The
Carmen
appears from internal evidence to have been written in the spring of 1319. (See Ricci,
op, cit.
p. 71).

    
⁷¹
Beginning, “Vidimus in nigris albo patiente lituris”.

    
⁷²
Apparently the same individual who related to Boccaccio the story of the finding of the lost cantos of the
Commedia
(see above, p. 209 note).

    
⁷³
Beginning, “Forte sub irriguos colles, ubi Sarpina Rheno.”

    
⁷⁴
It appears from a note of the anonymous commentator that this second eclogue (which some critics hesitate to accept as entirely from the hand of Dante) was not composed until a year after the receipt of Giovanni's eclogue, and did not reach the latter until after Dante's death (see Pasqualigo,
op. cit
. p. 13).

    
⁷⁵
Beginning, “Velleribus Colchis praepes detectus Eous”.

    
⁷⁶
So identified by the anonymous commentator, who describes him as a physician of Certaldo resident at Ravenna.

    
⁷⁷
Polyphemus is thought by some to indicate King Robert of Naples, the protector of the Guelfs; others hold the reference to be to a member of some Bolognese family whom Dante had offended, e.g. the Caccianimici (cf.
Inf
. xviii. 48-66) (see Ricci,
op. cit
. pp. 105 ff.).

    
⁷⁸
Quaestio florulenta ac perutilis de duobus elementis aquae et terrac tractans, nuper reperta que olim Mantuae auspicata, Veronae vero disputata et decisa ac manu propria scripta, a Dante Florentine poeta clarissimo, quam diligenter et accurate correcta fuit per reverendum Magistrum Joannem Benedictum Moncettum de Castilione Arretino Regentem Patavinum ordinis Eremitarum divi Augustini Sacraeque Theologiae doctor em excellentissimum
. At the beginning of the treatise proper, after the preliminary matter, is the following short title:
Quaestio aurea ac perutilis edita per Dantem Alagherium poetam Florentinum clarissimum de natura duorum elementorum aquae et terrae diserentem
. Only seven copies are known of the
editio princeps
, of which one is in the British Museum, one in the Cornell University Library (Fiske Collection) in America, and the remaining five in various public libraries in Italy. The work was reprinted at Naples in 1576, but this edition is also exceedingly rare (see
Athenaeum
, 16 October, and 13 November, 1897; and 8 July, 1905). A facsimile of the
editio princeps
, with translations in Italian, French, Spanish, English, and German, was published (by L. Olschki) at Florence in 1905.