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proximate correctness of the plan of Hell they have designed by means of the calculation of time, too, by showing that Dante describes the position of the sun each time from the point at which he happens to be standing within the earth. But may we credit Dante with all this knowledge, with all these delicate calculations, which no one has understood for six hundred years, and which can scarcely be followed even now? Besides, would Dante, who instructs so frequently and who is so fond of doing it, have left all this to be solved by his readers? Would he not have given clearer explanations? When Virgil tells Dante, at the close of the "Inferno," that they have now reached the other hemisphere, would he not have expressed himself differently, if he meant to say that they were returning to it, after having left it for a short while? And he instructs Dante with the words: "Qui è da man, quando di là è sera " (" Inf." xxxiv. 118); he could not have said this as something new, if they were coming from this hemisphere. Again, he says that the mass of earth forming the Mount of Purgatory had left the place empty qua, fleeing from Lucifer. What is it that has been left empty? According to V. and B.—Hell; but it can also be the passage through which the poets ascend upwards:

Luogo è laggiù da Belzebù remoto
Tanto, quanto la tomba si distende.

remoto is equivalent to-" si distende a tanta lontananza da lui." But Dante could not have used this expression, if this passage had been parallel with the abyss of Hell; he would have said: the cavity leads back again as far as the abyss of Hell leads down. Besides, according to V. and B., the length of the passage and of the cavity would not be in any way equal, as the former begins at the centre, while the latter passes beyond it, and returns to it with the pozzo.-When Dante speaks of the fondo della trista conca ("Inf.," ix. 16), he probably wishes to indicate the lower Hell in general, not the bottom of a blunted funnel, ending with the 5th circle, as V. and B. think; for he has already left the 5th circle-in other words, that funnel.— The identification of the dilettoso monte with the Mount of Purgatory must be decidedly rejected: for, apart from the fact that the word colle does not fit in with such colossal height (cf. “Giorn. stor. d. lett. ital.,” ii. 431), the dilettoso colle is the happiness he would attain, not the purification indicated by Purgatory-the former being, as it were, the symbol of happiness, as imagined and striven after by man, and distinguished from the true happiness of the Earthly Paradise. Besides, when Dante reaches the Mount of Purification, he does not show himself to be in any way acquainted with it, as he would be if he had seen it once before. Again, what meaning would there be

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in the beasts frightening him away from Purgatory? He does not see the wood again, either, and this represents the sinful life of men on earth, and must therefore be among men, in our hemisphere. If the funnel of Hell is impossible according to natural laws, did Dante realise that it is impossible? Had he calculated how long this funnel would have to be? Note, too, that Boccaccio ("Comento," vol. i., p. 99) imagined the ferno" to be a corno (funnel), with a spiral path, and, by the side of this descending road, partly cavernoso-that is to say, the circles extending far into the hollow rocky wall, thus allowing room for lake and marsh and wood, and for the vasta campagna of the arch heretics; where, too, it was possible for the stench not to ascend upwards, owing to the rocky wall that closed over it. The deeper meaning of the poem often escaped the early commentators. But in the case of these external details Dante must have reckoned on the intelligence of his contemporaries; for whom else did he write? And that Hell is beneath the surface of our hemisphere is the opinion of the oldest interpreters. Dante's son, Jacopo, too, says in the "Dottrinale" (cap. 57):

Figurati l'inferno

Con atto sempiterno
Sotto la terra stabile
Della quarta abitabile
Uno scendere addentro

Cerchiato infino al centro. . .

Digradando l'ampiezza

Dal sommo alla bassezza.

And of Purgatory he says (cap. 58) that it is:

Opposito alle spalle

Della contatta valle.

Page 305. Dante's Purgatory rises on the Western Hemisphere, south of the equator, being antipodal to Jerusalem. On the motives that induced the poet to place the Mountain, with the Earthly Paradise, in this unknown region of the earth, which gave free play to the imagination, see the brilliant remarks of Ozanam, "Dante et la phil. cath.," p. 142, and Fornaciari, "Studi su Dante," p. 106. The legends mostly place the Purgatory inside the earth, like Hell; but in the vision of Wettin it is in the open air, and, though not a mountain itself, it comprises mountains, that reach the sky.

Page 304. For the fact that the first canto does not really belong to the "Inferno," and is the prologue to the whole, see Casella, l.c., p. 24. On the numeric symbolism in the "Commedia see Carducci, in D'Ancona's "Vita Nuova," p. 209. The same (p. 56) discusses the derivation of the terzina from

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the serventese. Its derivation from the stornello of popular poetry, which H. Schuchardt endeavoured to demonstrate ("Ritornell u. Terzine," Halle, 1875), is improbable (cf. G. Paris, "Romania," iv. 491).

Page 310. Why does only Francesca speak? The explanation I have adopted is Foscolo's ("Discorso," § 154).

Page 312. There has been considerable dispute as to who this mysterious Divine messenger really is (see, in the last instance, Michelangeli, in the "Propugn.," xvi. 1o, p. 469 sqq.). I still continue to regard him as an angel, this being the view likewise of the early commentators. The reasons against this, advanced by the Duca di Sermoneta, appear to me to have been very well refuted by Br. Bianchi.

Page 331. The writings of Francesco de Sanctis on Dante are (in addition to the section devoted to him in the "Storia della lett. ital.," i. 148-261): "Dell' argomento della Divina Commedia" (in the "Saggi critici," 3rd ed., Napoli, 1874, p. 363); "Carattere di Dante e la sua utopia" (ib., p. 378); "Pier della Vigna" (ib., p. 393); "La Divina Commedia," versione di F. Lamennais (ib., p. 410); "Francesca da Rimini" (in the "Nuovi saggi critici," Napoli, 1872, p. 1); "Il Farinata " (ib., p. 21); "L'Ugolino” (¿b., p. 51).

Page 332. The commentary of Graziolo de' Bambagioli, which is said to have been written three years after Dante's death, deals only with the "Inferno." It is not yet edited, and is contained in a MS. at Seville, which P. Ewald had copied, and which Witte intended publishing when he died. There is a fragment of it at Siena, too (cf. "Giorn. d. lett. ital.," ii. 454). * This commentary has now been published: "Il commento all' Inferno di Graziolo de' Bambaglioli,” ed. by Antonio Fiammazzo, Udine, 1892. * The "Comento alla cantica dell' Inferno d'autore anonimo," published by Lord Vernon, Firenze, 1848, is not merely a literal translation of Graziolo's commentary, according to L. Rocca, in the "Propugn.,” xix., 1o, p. 8. See on this point likewise K. Hegel, "Ueber den historischen Wert der ältesten Dante-Commentare," Leipzig, 1878, p. 20. In this treatise will be found general particulars concerning the commentaries on the "Commedia." Since the appearance of Hegel's treatise the following early commentaries have been published (in addition to that of Graziolo, quoted above): "La Commedia di Dante Alighieri col comento inedito di S. Talice da Ricaldone. Pubblicato per cura di V. Promis e di C. Negroni,” Torino, 1886; ed. 2, 1888.-" Benvenuti de Rambaldis de Imola Comentum super Dantis Aldigherii Comoediam, nunc primum integre in lucem editum, sumptibus G. W. Vernon, curante J. Ph. Lacaita," 5 vols., Florence, 1887.-"Fratris Johannis de Serravalle translatio et comentum totius libri Dantis Aldigherii

cum textu Italico Fratris Bartholomaei a Colle. Nunc primum edita," Prati, 1891. *—The series of Dante interpreters in Florence down to Landino is given by A. Wesselofsky, “Il Paradiso degli Alberti," Bologna, 1867, vol. i., parte ii., p. 215. * Luigi Rocca, "Di alcuni commenti della Divina Commedia composti nei primi venti anni dopo la morte di Dante," Firenze, 1891.Ludwig Volkmann, "Iconografia Dantesca," Leipzig, 1897; English translation, London, 1899. *-Finally, some of the more recent of the numerous editions of the "Commedia” may be noted: Witte's édition de luxe, "La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri, ricorretta sopra quattro dei più autorevoli testi a penna," Berlino, 1862, with an admirable introduction on the history of the text. After the large edition, Witte in the same year published a small one, *carelessly reprinted in 1892.* That of Brunone Bianchi, “ La Commedia di Dante Alighieri,” with an intelligent commentary; ed. 6, Firenze, 1863, since which time others have appeared. That of Fraticelli: "La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri," Firenze, 1871. That of Scartazzini, Leipzig, vol. i., 1874, ii., 1875, iii., 1882; with a very copious commentary (especially for the last two vols.; * in the second edition, 1900, the "Inferno" volume has been levelled up to the others *); very useful because it brings together scattered material, but by no means so perfect as the editor thinks. * An edizione minore appeared at Milan in 1893; ed. 3, 1899. * Giuliani's edition: "La Commedia di Dante Allighieri, raffermata nel testo giusta la ragione e l'arte dell'autore" (text only), Firenze, 1880. Lubin's edition, which has been quoted several times, with an enormous introduction that overpowers the reader with its abstruse and diffuse learning, before he reaches the text. The commentary is very defective in the historical parts. * "La Divina Commedia, con commento secondo la scolastica," ed. by G. Berthier, Friburgo, Svizzera, 1892, etc.“ La Divina Commedia," con commento del Prof. G. Poletto, 3 vols., Roma, 1894. "La Divina Commedia," con il commento di Tommaso Casini; 4a ed., riveduta e corretta, Firenze, 1895. "La Divina Commedia," illustrata nei luoghi e nelle persone; a cura di Corrado Ricci, Milano, 1896-1898.-" Dizionario Dantesco compilato dal Prof. D. G. Poletto, 7 vols., Siena, 1885-1887. Scartazzini, "Enciclopedia Dantesca," Milano, 1896-1899. Paget Toynbee, "A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante," Oxford, 1898. *

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ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS

Page 23, line 9, for "Perapetician" read "Peripatetic".
Page 25, line 15, for "emnity" read " enmity"

Page 43, line 19, for "Bologna" read "Orleans

Page 53, line 12 from end, strike out the comma at end of line.
Page 54, line 6, for "Gattilufio" read "Gattilusio".

Page 54, line 11, for "Ferrari" read" Ferrarino".

Page 58, line 15, for " Italian " read "Sicilian".

Page 75, line 16, between "Macconi" and "while" insert the following: "to Lucca Buonagiunta Urbiciani and Dotto Reali, and to Pistoia Meo Abbracciavacca; ".

Page 80, line 15, replace this line by the following: "Guittone's thirtyfifth canzone, two more pieces of his, and others by Finfo del Buono, Monte Andrea, Chiaro Davanzati and Ser Alberto da Massa, all of whom are imitators of Guittone in this respect. He and his school".

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Page 108, line 3 from end, for at any rate, exactly "read" at any rate exactly,".

Page 116, line 10 from end, for “Milo” and “ Bertha” read “ Milon et Berthe".

Page 123, line 3, for "Pulei" read "Pulci ".

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Page 151, line 13, strike out the comma after "In this ".

Page 200, line 9 from end, for "Ricciardi " read "Riccardi ".

Page 250, line 12 from end, after "Purgatorio" insert “(ii. 112)”.

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