APPENDIX II

THE Donna Gentile or THE Vita Nuova AND OF THE Convivio.

[See Note to pp. 173-187.]

IN the opening chapter of the Convivio Dante writes (the translation used is that of Mr. P. H. Wicksteed): "The viands of this banquet will be served in fourteen fashions, that is to say fourteen odes, treating as well of love as of virtue, which without the present bread had the shadow of a certain obscurity, so that to many their beauty was more in favour than their excellence. But this bread, to wit the present exposition, will be the light which shall make apparent every line of their significance. And if in the present work (which is entitled, and which I wish to be, the Banquet) the handling be more virile than in the New Life, I do not intend thereby to throw a slight in any respect upon the latter, but rather to strengthen that by this; seeing that it conforms to reason that that should be fervid and impassioned, this temperate and virile. For a different thing is comely to say and to do at one age than another; wherefore certain ways are suitable and laudable at one age which are foul and blameworthy at another. And in that I spoke before entrance on the prime of manhood, and in this when I had already passed the same. And inasmuch as my true purpose was other than the aforesaid odes outwardly display, I intend to set them forth by allegorical exposition after having discussed the literal story. So that the one account and the other will supply a relish to those who are invited to this feast. .." (1. 1)

Now, of the fourteen canzoni which were to be expounded in the Convivio, only three were actually treated-for the work is a fragment; and of these three we are concerned only with the first-Voi che intendendo il terzo ciel movete. This poem deals with the fresh love which, as described towards the end of the Vita Nuova, threatened for a time to oust the love of Beatrice from Dante's breast. The piece was rendered as follows by Lyell:

Ye who by intellect the third heaven move,
Give ear unto the reasoning in my heart,

Which none but you may hear, so strange it seems :
The heaven that obeys your influence,
Creatures who are all gentleness and love,
Hath drawn me to the state in which I am;
Hence the discourse upon the life I prove,
It seems, should meetly be address'd to you ;
Therefore I pray you to attend to me.
I will unfold to you the heart's new cares
How the dejected soul within it weeps;
And how a spirit against her reasoneth,

Which on the beams of your fair heart descends.

The joyless heart was wont to be sustain'd
In life by a sweet thought, which often bent
Its flight unto the footstool of your Sire;
Where it beheld a lady glorified,

Of whom so sweetly it discoursed to me,
That the soul said, would I could follow her!
Now appears one which drives the thought away,

And rules me with such power, that it makes
The heart to tremble so as to be seen.

A lady this one makes me to regard,

And says, he who would see the bliss of heaven,
Let him intently view his lady's eyes,
Unless the painfulness of sighs he dread.

This rival spirit opposes and destroys

The humble thought, accustom'd to discourse
Of a bright angel who in heaven is crown'd.
The soul so mourns her loss that still she weeps,
And says, ah woe is me how flees away
The pitying thought that was my comforter!
Again, the troubled soul says of mine eyes,
What was the hour this lady look'd on them?
And why believed they not my words of her?
I said, full surely in that lady's eyes

Must dwell the power that such as me destroys;
And it avail'd me not that I foresaw

They should not gaze on her, whence I am dead,

Thou art not dead, but in delusion strayest,
Poor soul, who so lamentest thy estate,
Exclaims a little gentle spirit of love;
For this fair lady, who disquiets thee,

Has so transformed thy life, that thou hast fear
Of her, so spiritless thou art become,
Behold how piteous and how meek she is,
How courteous in her greatness and how sage;
And think to call her mistress evermore :
For thou shalt see, if not by self deceived,
The beauty of such lofty miracles,

That thou wilt say, O Love, my sovereign true,
Behold thy handmaid; do as pleaseth thee.

My Song, I do believe that there are few

Who will thy reasoning rightly understand,
To them so hard and dark is thy discourse.

Hence peradventure, if it come to pass

That thou shouldst find thyself with persons who
Appear unskill'd to comprehend thee well,

I pray thee then, my young and well beloved,
Be not discomforted, but say to them,
Take note at least how beautiful I am.

Before proceeding with his commentary, Dante says "it should be known that writings may be taken and should be expounded chiefly in four senses. The first is called the literal, and it is the one that extends no further than the letter as it stands; the second is called the allegorical, and is the one that hides itself under the mantle of these tales, and is a truth hidden under beauteous fashion (11.71) The third and fourth are the "moral” and the "anagogical," respectively, which we shall not require.

And

In the following chapter (n. 2) the literal exposition is begun: "To begin with, then, I say that the star of Venus had twice already revolved in that circle of hers which makes her appear at even or at morn, according to the two divers periods, since the passing away of that blessed Beatrice who liveth in heaven with the angels and on earth with my soul, when that gentle lady, of whom I made mention in the end of the Vita Nuova, first appeared to my eyes accompanied with love, and took some place in my mind. And, as is told by me in the aforesaid book, more of her gentleness than of my choice it came to pass that I consented to be hers; for she showed herself to be impassioned by so great pity for my widowed life that the spirits of my eyes became in supreme degree her friends. when thus affected, they so wrought within me that my pleasure was content to put itself at the disposal of this image. But because love cometh not to birth and growth and perfect state in a moment, but needeth some certain time and nourishment of thoughts, especially where there be counter thoughts that impede it, it was necessary ere this new love became perfect that there should be much strife between the thought which nourished it and that which was counter to it, and which still held the citadel of my mind on behalf of that glorified Beatrice. Wherefore the one was constantly reinforced from behind. And the reinforcement from before increased day by day (which the other might not) a hindering me, in a certain sense, from

turning my face backwards. Wherefore it seemed to me so strange, and also so hard to endure, that I might not sustain it; and with a kind of cry (to excuse myself for the change wherein, methought, I showed lack of firmness) I directed my voice to that quarter whence came the victory of the new thought (and the same, being a celestial virtue, was most victorious), and I began to say,

Ye who by intellect the third heaven move.”

The complete literal commentary fills chapters 2-12, which must be left to the advanced student. It may, however, be noted in passing that Dante is led to speak at length on immortality, "for in such discourse will be a fair ending of my speech concerning that living Beatrice, in bliss, of whom I purpose to speak no further in this book;" and that he winds up the digression with the words: "and so I believe, so aver, and so am assured, of the passage after this life to another better life, where this lady liveth in glory (n. 9.)

The allegorical interpretation, too, occupies a number of chapters; but the main argument is again contained in one of them (I. 13) which alone will be given here:

"Now that the literal meaning has been adequately explained, we are to proceed to the allegorical and true exposition. And therefore, beginning again from the beginning, I say that when I lost the first delight of my soul, whereof mention is made above, I was pierced by so great sorrow that no comfort availed me. Yet after a certain time my mind, which was casting about to heal itself, made proof (since neither my own consolation nor that of others availed) to fall back upon the manner which a certain disconsolate one had erst followed to console himself. And I set myself to read that book of Boethius, not known to many, wherein, a captive and an exile, he had consoled himself. And hearing further that Tully had