donna, però ch'io sento lo suo nome spesso nel mio pensero; e nel fine di questa quinta parte dico 'donne mie care', a dare ad intendere che sono donne coloro a cui io parlo. La seconda parte comincia quivi: Intelligenza nova; 30 la terza quivi: Quand'elli è giunto; la quarta quivi: Vedela tal; la quinta quivi: So io che parla. Potrebbesi più sottilmente ancora dividere e più sottilmente fare intendere; ma puotesi passare con questa divisa, e però non m'intrametto di più dividerlo. 35 40 Oltre la spera che più larga gira Passa 'l sospiro ch'esce del mio core; 45 Io no lo intendo, sì parla sottile II So io che parla di quella gentile, Però che spesso ricorda Beatrice, Sì ch'io lo 'ntendo ben, donne mie care. 14 XLII Appresso questo sonetto apparve a me una mirabile visione, ne la quale io vidi cose che mi fecero proporre di non dire più di questa benedetta infino a tanto che io potesse più degnamente trattare di lei. E di venire a ciò io 5 studio quanto posso, sì com'ella sae veracemente. Sì che, se piacere sarà di colui a cui tutte le cose vivono, che la mia vita duri per alquanti anni, io spero di dicer di lei quello che mai non fue detto d'alcuna. E poi piaccia a colui che è sire de la cortesia, che la mia anima se ne possa gire a vedere la gloria de la sua donna, cioè di quella bene- 10 detta Beatrice, la quale gloriosamente mira ne la faccia di colui qui est per omnia secula benedictus. The names Barbi, Casini, D'Ancona, Flamini, Melodia, Scherillo, without further reference, indicate the annotations by these scholars to the passages in question in their editions of the Vita Nuova; similarly, Cochin, Norton, Rossetti, refer to the translations by these authors. "Moore" refers to the Oxford Dante. NOTES I, 1.- – libro. It is natural to speak of the memory or the mind as a book in which the intellect records what one wishes to remember. D. frequently uses mente in the sense of memory. Cf. Inf. II, 8; Par. XVII, 91; XXIII, 54. The Vita Nuova itself, small in proportion to the libro de la memoria, is called libello here, as in XII, XXV, XXVIII (where this proemio is referred to), and in Conv. II, 2; for it contains only the sentenzia, the significant part, of the poet's memories; it is not a complete account of his early life, nor a collection of all his poems, but a selection of such material as concerns his 'new' life; cf. the end of II and V, and Introduction. 3. — Incipit vita nova, The New Life begins. 4. — parole, continuing the metaphor of the 'book,' means here, as frequently, the poems composed at various times and the remembrances connected with them. In Hamlet, act I, sc. 5, Shakespeare says: Remember thee? Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, II, 1. - Nove. With the word nine, whose significance will appear later, D. begins his narrative. In many editions this chapter is numbered as the first, and I is called proemio. 2. - cielo de la luce, the heaven of the sun, which gives light to the world. According to the Ptolemaic astronomy, the Earth, the center of the universe, is surrounded by nine concentric spheres or heavens. In each of the first seven is fixed one of the planets, which revolves with it; the planets, counting outward from the earth, being the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. The eighth heaven is that of the fixed stars, the ninth the crystalline primo mobile, which imparts its motion to the others (la spera che più larga gira, XLI); and outside of all is the motionless tenth heaven, the Empyrean. With this passage cf. D.'s sonnet (Barbi no. CXI; Moore no. 36) beginning: Io sono stato con Amore insieme Da la circulazion del Sol mia nona. D. often indicates a year's time by referring to the annual motion of the sun; cf. Inf. VI, 68; Par. XXVI, 119–23; etc. 3.-girazione. The sun, as D. explains in Conv. II, 3 and 14; III, 5, has two motions: one, imparted to it by the primo mobile, is its daily rotation around the earth; the other, proper to it, is a motion away from and toward the pole. In combination these two motions appear to form a sort of spiral course, which is completed and returns to its starting point in a year's time. For purposes of astronomical calculation, the apparent motion of the sun serves as well as the actual motion of the earth in its daily rotation on its axis and its yearly journey around the sun. For further discussion of the matter see the note by F. Angelitti in Scherillo's edition of the V.N. -- 4. — gloriosa donna, implying that while he writes these words, the prose, she is in glory in the eternal life; cf. XXXI, 60; gloriare, XXVIII; Conv. II, 8: là dove quella gloriosa donna vive. - de la mia mente implies that she rules his mind or his memory; not, as some have thought, that she existed only in his imagination. fu chiamata. . . The general meaning of this puzzling phrase is, she was called Beatrice by many who did not know what to call her; that is, they did not know her name, but nevertheless applied it to her on account of the effect she produced on them. Thus che is an interrogative pronoun and si a reflexive used expletively (cf. Barbi, Flamini, Melodia). In XIII, 14, D. says that 'names are the consequences of things,' the name results from the character or effect of the thing. Others read si, and make non . . che mean 'only': did not know how to call her except so. Bertoni, Prosa della V.N., pp. 18-21, takes chiamare as a relic of Lat. imperfect subjunctive, clamarent, and che in the sense of 'why': did not know why they should call so. 7. - cielo stellato, the eighth heaven, that of the fixed stars (see note above), which, as D. twice states in Conv. (II, 6, 15), |