MASTER I V 7 NC 91-80 1 ( if I 2 MICROFILMED 1991 COLUMBIA UNIV I i < N ' LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as "Foundations of Western -t ' ' 5 t- \ t I ■ fthe • • I i i ". ; Preservation Project" Funded by the NATIONAL ENDriWMENT FOR -^ HUMANT % Reproduction: rrr- noi be made without permission from Library r^^lunibia ! 'rii\-r-i^ COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code ~ concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted ni^icrial... Columbia University I ibrarv reserves the right to refuse to accept a copy order if, in ii judgement, fulfillment of the or would involve violation ■ lii ^pvriffht law. .im. ssr AUTHOR: GASPARY. ADOLF TJ Tl. F : HISTORY OF ITALIAN LITERATURE PL A CE : LONDON DA TE . 1901 COLUMBIA UNIVEKSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARGET Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record 850.9 G21 Restrictions on Use: Gaspary, Adolf, 1849-1892. The history of early Italian literature to tlie death of Dante, traiishited from the German of Adolf Gaspary, to- gether with the authors additions to the Italian translation (1887) and with supplementary bibliographical notes (1887- 1899) by Ilennan Oelsner ... London, G. Bell and sons, 1901. 5 p. 1., 414 p. (Half-title: Bohn's standard library) **Api)oiKlix of l)ll)lloj;raphical and critical notes": p. i333j-407. 1_ Italian literature— Early to 1400— Hist. & crit. Hermann, 1871- tr. I. Oelsner, PQ4010.G35 Library of Congress (Continued on next iDaroj" i57hi, • ! Master Negative # TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA REDUCTION RATIO: FILM SIZE: 3£j:!:_'r IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA (JiA) IB IIB DATE FILMED: i^2._3_-_Ji INITIALS___/VL_A>_i- FILMEDBY: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS. INC WOODBRIDGE. CT ii;< COLUMBIA UNIVEI^ITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT Master Negative # BIBLIOGRAPHIC MICROFORM TARG ET Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record Restrictions on Use: Gaspary, Adolf, 1849-189E. The history of early Italian literature ... 1901. (Card 2) D850.9 Copy in Barnard. 1901, G212 D850.9 Copy in Paterno. 1901 G212 TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA REDUCTION RATIO: FILM SIZE: ^I'l^^^ IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA (^ IB IIB DATE FILMED: llIAlAL INITIALS__J^jJ^-_C nLMEDBY: RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS. INC WOODBRIDGE. cf n X BIBLIOGIIAPHIC IRREGULARITIES MAIN ENTRY; Cr^F^Nt)^ Moti B.ibl!0|>rap1t"- IrrpguLiulk-s in the OtI&lual Di>w ument 5- i"^'- -.'iuiiu--. H.!j r.i^--- alif. tyd, mchidt^ ivcmn- !?f Institution if filming borrowed text. Page(8) missing/not available: .Volumes(s) missing/ not available:. Jilegiblf aiiJ/ui daiitaged page(s):. _ Pf'f^eCs) or volumesCs) I : nn h-rnci: Bound out of sequence:. Page(s) or illustralion(s) filmed from copy borrowed from: G?\ovAbi c\ U'fii wgNf^iiu Other: OR PART FROM ANOTHER COPY ilJiiJLJJ Jd 1 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY c Association for information and image IManagement 1 1 00 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1 1 00 Silver Spring. Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter 1 2 3 4 5 6 iiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiili mmmmj Inches 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 iliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiii 14 15 mm iiliiiiliiiil 1 ^n I I I I I I I I 3 1.0 LI 1.25 MM|M 4 k^ \\ 2.8 III ^-^ ■ 50 1^ ,„., 2.2 18 2.0 1.8 1.4 1.6 MfiNUFflCTURED TO fillM STflNDFIRDS BY fiPPLIED IMRGE, INC. / d^ /;>:.', I "r- /f ^, ^^.4^ pi^ ^ DSSo^<\ oov?^ Columbia (MnitJer^ttp mttifCttporimJtork THE LIBRARIES CASA ITALIANA PATERNO COLLECTION Frcm The Library of John L« Gerig m ^>«-'^ BOHN'S STANDARD LIBRARY GASPARY'S HISTORY OF ITALIAN LITERATURE TO THE DEATH OF DANTE K .■ THE HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE TO THE DEATH OF DANTE TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF GEORGE BELL & SONS LONDON : YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN NEW YORK : 66, FIFTH AVENUE, AND BOMBAY: 53, ESPLANADE ROAD CAMBRIDGE : DEIGHTON, BRT.T. AND CO. ADOLF GASPARY TOGETHER WITH THE AUTHOR'S ADDITIONS TO THE ITALIAN TRANSLATION (1887) AND WITH SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES (1887-1899) BY HERMAN OELSNER, M.A., Ph.D. LONDON GEORGE BELL AND SONS 1901 t:i If CHISWICK PRESS :— CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. From the Librarj of JAN 2 3 1958 ^ c9 rn TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE u^ T is curious that England, whilst venerating Dante, J^ should neglect every other Italian writer. The fasci- nating volumes of John Addington Symonds have been widely read without arousing any marked interest in the works with which they deal. Perhaps Dr. Garnett's " Short History of Italian Literature " is destined to bear more lasting fruit. But in the meantime the fact remains that Italian studies — Dante always excepted — are at a very low ebb in this country. It is difficult to assign an adequate reason for this state of things. Our educational and examining bodies, who have always treated Italian in a stepmotherly fashion, and who have within the last decade outdone themselves by withdrawing a measure of the scant encouragement formerly extended to it, are perhaps partly to blame. But this is not sufficient to account for the general apathy, which is probably due rather to the circumstance that the great importance of Italian literature, quite apart from its intrinsic beauty, is not recognised as it should be. As soon as students of Italian art and of English literature — to name only two branches of general interest — realise that some knowledge of Italian literature is wellnigh indispens- able to them, we may expect to see Italian studies occupy the honourable position to which they are entitled. The following pages, which represent only a portion of the first volume in the original, have been separated from the rest as being complete in themselves. It is hoped to issue a translation of the remainder of the work in due course. In conclusion, I have to thank my friend and former colleague, Mr. A. W. Baker Welford, M.A., of Lincoln's Inn, for kindly assisting me in the revision of the proofs. H, O. December^ 1900, DEDICATED TO THE CHERISHED MEMORY OF FRANCESCO DE SANCTIS b 1*1 li^ nnlllill^liJ' CONTENTS CHAPTER ' ,.^t^E I. Medieval Latin Literature in Italy from the Fifth to the Thirteenth Century ... i IL The Sicilian School of Poetry .... 50 in. Lyrical Poetry continued in Central Italy . 75 IV. GuiDo Guinicelli of Bologna .... 99 V. The French Chivalrous Poetry in Northern Italy 108 VI. Religious and Moral Poetry in Northern Italy 124 VII. Religious Lyrical Poetry in Umbria . . .138 [Vin. Prose Literature in the Thirteenth Century . 159 IX. The Allegorico - Didactic Poetry and the Philosophical Lyrics of the new Florentine School 1^2 X. Dante's Life and Minor Works . . . .220 XL The "Commedia" 289 Appendix of Bibliographical and Critical Notes 333 Additions and Corrections 408 List of Names 409 f HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE IN ITALY FROM THE FIFTH TO THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY VXTHEN the Germanic tribes put an end to the Roman ^ \u ^""P^rf ' '\ ^^s "merely a shadow that they destroyed. But the recollection of the mighty past imparted even to this shadow an imposmg grandeur ; the Roman name and the mere idea of the Roman state were so powerful that the bar- barians bowed before them, even whilst demolishing the reality. That power lasted on, and unceasingly influenced the destinies of Europe in the Middle Ages-those of Italy indeed, till the most recent times. Traces of the ancient civilisation still remained, however much that civilisation itself was declining. In the Middle Ages a meagre classical tradition never ceased to exist, supplying in later centuries the connecting link for that revival of studies from which modern literary life takes its start. When Odoacer in 476 had dethroned the last Roman Emperor of the West, he did not put himself in his place, but contented himself with the title of Patricius, making no essential change in the constitution. Similarly, when Italy was seized by the Ostrogoths, the Roman state continued to exist in name and Theodoric regarded it as the true state, the Goths, indeed, forming the army and possessing the Empire : it was to be, however, not a Gothic, but the Roman ^mpire. In this very subordination of the real state of things to an idea that had become devoid of meaning lay the contradiction which involved the new state in speedy ruin B 2 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE Theodoric was filled with the same reverence for the Roman civilisation as for the Roman state. Though he himselt could not even write, he fully recognised literary merit, made Cassiodorus his minister, and loaded him with honours. During his reign literature again flourished for a short time. Cassiodorus gave the state documents an artistic form, and did his utmost, by means of his compendiums, to dittuse scientific knowledge and, above all, to make it the property of the monasteries^a step that was fraught with importance for later ages. Boethius summed up once again, in a high degree, the culture of antiquity : he wrote the last original work of classical philosophy, the " De Consolatione Philo- sophic," so popular in the Middle Ages, and transmitted to succeeding generations the knowledge of a portion ot Hel- lenic thought by means of his translations and commentaries of the Greek philosophical writings, especially of the logical works of Aristotle. Together with these two authors, who, living at the close of the classical period, were to exercise a very considerable influence on the knowledge of the Middle Ages, others of less importance appear, such as Ennodius, who at least preserved fairly intact the purity of the classical The short period of Greek domination which followed was, in c:68, put an end to by the Lombards in the greater part of Italy. These acted diff"erently to the other German tribes that had hitherto appeared. Coming as conquerors, they raged in the subjected lands with cruelty and covetousness, levelled towns to the ground, turned fruitful districts into deserts, sold Roman captives into slavery, and, as Anans, spared neither churches nor priests. And as the subjugation of the land was eff'ected gradually and never completely, this wild and warlike state of affairs lasted for centuries. In the conquered districts the Roman nationality ceased to exist, the conquered being degraded to the condition of half-freed- men and of slaves. As these came to mingle more and more with the conquerors, a new Italian nationality arose. Once more Roman civilisation proved its power: even the Lom- bards came under its influence, especially after they had been converted to the Catholic faith. They adopted the habits of the Romans, their costumes and their manners ; the con- querors learnt the language of the conquered, drew up in it MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 3 their laws, niade use of it for public documents and religious services and at a later period, even showed interest in and ability for the pursuit of learned studies. They, for their part, bestowed on those they had vanquished even more ITthT S^^^r""^-^??^^' ^^^^"^' ^"d ^ ^^"^^ «f liberty, and! with these, the possibility of a fresh national development Frequently the conquered were restored to liberty^ thus coming to possess the same rights as the Lombards; the many struggles at home gave them the opportunity of attain- ing, by dint of courage, to honours and riches, while their common religious faith and frequent intermarriages bound together more and more closely the elements that had at first been so hostile to each other. Hence the Lombards, when their empire came to an end, had nothing foreign about them save their name, as Villani (ii. 9) and, after him Machiavelli have remarked. They have becomf Italia"' and remained an integral element of the nation, and the descendants of the Lombard stock played in late ages an important part in the political and intellectual Kf the country. Itl^Lfh^.f'^''^^^.^'''''^^ ^'"'^^^'^ '^°'^ portions of Italy that had remained Roman and those that were occupied by the Germans, were more and more equahsed. In this period of anarchy when everything depended on the sword t^lT''" f"^' ^''^ degenerated in the time of the Emperore again began to carry arms. A national militia took the place of the mercenanes, and the military element, which contri- tZdedZ 'r"^"^ '° '^' preservation of 'the state was eZr for InH %TT' P'^""- ^^" ^"-"^"^ ^g^i" became cons ant V f-" T''- ^"™"nded by barbarians, and constantly engaged in keeping them at bay, thev became Sett"' ''r;t'" ^''^^ '•^^ °ld constitutions'and d'ss distinctions had been suppressed, the upper and lower nobihty „ere formed from the ranks of the soldierjand thdr leaders, as was done among the Germans. And with the dis- appearance of the national distinctions in manners and cul Zfi^ ""^ ^''™^'^ ^"^ ^ P°'"''^al "ni°n of the country, come to n,r' ^^ t- V°^^ P°^^' ^^'""^ "ould not let this thTl i^ ' "*^ r^"''' ^'"^y* took fresh steps to oppose thattof^r'p' °^ ^ %T"S'y organised state-the power! that IS, of the Papacy. The Bishop of Rome owed his privi- 4 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE leged position to the importance of the city as the former centre of the Empire ; his political influence was mcreased by the fact that the sovereign, the Greek Emperor, lived far from Rome, and was possessed of no power. From the time of Gregory the Great (590-604) the Pope became the true ruler of Rome. The prohibition of the worship of images, and the troubles that consequently arose in Italy (7 26), com- pletely severed the connection with Constantinople, and made the Pope independent. The spread of Christianity among all the Germanic tribes caused him to be universally regarded in the West as the Supreme Head of the Christian Church ; and Italy, which had lost her supremacy in politics, regained it in matters of religion. However much Rome may have been declining outwardly, she maintained her lofty, ideal importance for mankind— she was the Holy City. But the price Italy had to pay for this spiritual supremacy was the fluctuation of her political destinies. The Popes, seeing their independence threatened by the Lombard Kings, called in the Frankish Kings, whose supremacy appeared to them less oppressive because it was far removed. Charles the Great destroyed the empire of the Lombards (774), and subjected the country to his own sway. When Leo III. crowned him Emperor in the year 800, he thought that, by doing so, he was merely renewing the Roman Empire, which, in the eyes of the Popes, continued to exist in the abstract, as the Power that ruled the world, dispensing justice and protecting the Church— an Empire, the existence of which had only been interrupted, not ended, by the invasions, and the idea of which was now realised anew in the shape of the Frankish Kings. This conception of the Empire as a con- tinuation or restoration of the Roman universal monarchy reigned supreme till the end of the Middle Ages. The long-enduring and terrible struggles which followed the downfall of the Lombards soon destroyed the literary life that had begun to flourish again under the Ostrogoth dynasty, and a period of general confusion set in. Weightier cares drove from men's minds all thoughts of poetry and philosophy. Added to this, there came religious fanaticism. Though the Fathers of the Church had, in the early ages of persecu- tion, violently opposed Pagan art and literature as works of the devil, they became reconciled to them when Christianity MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 5 won the day, and the Church herself made use of classical culture as an instrument with which to rule the world The Chnstian ideas were expressed in the ancient artistic forms and in many writers a veritable mingling of Christian and Pagan elements may be remarked. Ennodius, who was Bishop of Pavia, and author of hymns, did not scruple to speak of Venus and Cupid in epithalamia, panegyrics and epigrams, seeing that classical mythology had becorne merelv a rhetoncal ornament, and that people had grown accus- ^med to putting an allegorical interpretation on its figures. This state of things was changed under Gregory the Great who was hostile, or, at any rate, not favourably disposed to Pagan learning. Some sayings of his that have often been quoted even testify to the greatest contempt for the rules of grammar. This however, was mere momentary exaggera- tion on his part, for he was not without culture, nor, cer^inly was he filled with such a blind passion for destroying the relics of antiquity as was, later on, imputed to him. Still the fact remains that, at that time and for long after, it was just On r' T' u' r'' ^^^''' ^S"^^^"^^ ' ^ig-^d supreme On the other hand, in the eighth century, scientific studies found a home among the Lombards. Their last Kings bestowed honours and gifts on grammarians and artists. Paulus Diaconus, the son of Warnefrid, of a noble family of Friuli, was a Lombard, who occupied an important position at the court of Desiderius at Pavia, and subsequently under the protection of Arichis, Duke of Benevento, and of his wife, Adelperga Desidenus's daughter. He wrote his Roman History at the instigation of the latter, who is extolled by him for her acquaintance with poets, philosophers and historians. Later he entered the monastery of Monte Cassino, which he rt ?' "o 7 ^^^'l ^^^'^ ^"^y ^^ ^^^ ^i^h of Charles the Great. Paulus and another Italian, the grammarian Peter of Pisa who taught at Pavia, belonged to those scholars whom the Emperor attracted to his court, so that they might serve as instruments in the revival of studies on which he was bent. Here, at the Emperor's court, Paulus Diaconus aroused great admiration by the extent of his knowledge, which embraced the Greek tongue, and by the elegance of his verses. Thus some of his poems (such as the im- passioned petition for his captive brother, the distichs on the 'S-ftS^^sHt-V .«^9P%,, 6 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE Lake of Como, the religious mood of which is mingled with a feeling for the beauty of nature, or the three fables), are not lacking in poetic charm. His most important work, the " History of the Lombards," Paulus wrote after he had returned to the peaceful life of the monastery of Monte Cassino. The revival of scientific studies through Charles the Great, in which Italy also took part, suffered by reason of its purely religious tendency. The so-called liberal arts of the Trivium and Quadrivium were regarded only as aids to the study of theology, and the classics were read chiefly with a view to arriving at a better understanding of the Holy Scripture by reason of a closer acquaintance with the language. Besides, these tendencies of the great Emperor were personal and not supported by a general current of popular feeling, nor were they continued by his successors. His work was consequently not permanent in its results. The schools, concerning the erection of which in Florence and other towns of Northern Italy Lothair I. passed a decree in the " Constitutiones Olonnenses" (825), were intended only for the education of priests. In the following year Pope Eugene II. made a similar order for the Roman province, in which he required, as Charles the Great had done, that the instruction in the liberal arts should be carried on hand in hand with theology; but in the ratification of the edict by Leo IV. (853) it is con- firmed only for sacred instruction, on the ground that no teachers could be found for the liberal arts, which, however, does not imply the cessation of grammatical instruction generally. The growing disorder in the state in the second half of the ninth and the first half of the tenth centuries could not fail to increase the intellectual stagnation. The Saracens invaded the country from x\frica, conquered Sicily (from 828), ravaged the coasts of the mainland, and, advanc- ing as far as Rome, plundered the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul. The importance of the emperors had decreased already under Lothair, and still more under Lewis II., with whom the line of Carolingians ruling in Italy terminated (875). Thereupon the most pernicious political influences began to make themselves felt. The Popes and the nobles of the land could not brook the growth of a mighty power MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 7 in the state. In order to be able to maintain their independ- ence or to pursue ambitious projects, they called in a distant ruler agamst the one that was present in their midst, and on his gammg the upper hand, they saw themselves threatened by a new one, and called in yet another, so that there was no end to turmoil and faction : semper Italienses geminis uti domtnis volunt, quatinus alterum alterius terrore coerceant wrote the penetrating historian Liutprand (*' Antapod." i. ^6)' This is followed by the struggles of the German and French Carolingians for the Italian crown ; by the unsuccessful efforts to found a native kingdom, made by Guido and Lambert of Spoleto, and by Berengar of Friuli, who had to hght against Lewis of Provence and Rudolph of Upper Burgundy ; and by the somewhat longer rule of Count Hugo of Provence, who was in his turn supplanted by the Margrave Berengar of Ivrea. At length, in 962, Otto the Great united the empire and the Italian kingdom with the empire of Germany. During these struggles for the crown me baraceris of Spain became masters of the district of l^rassineto in Liguria, while those of Sicily settled on the banks of the Garigliano and again infested the neighbour- hood of Rome. Meanwhile, Lombardy was ravaged by the Hunganans, who, in 994, burnt Pavia. It was only tempor- arily that the Papal power increased through the decline of that of the Emperor ; it had thereby deprived itself of its protection, and degenerated in its own city into a degrading state of deperidence, becoming the tool of parties, threatened by the infidels and by the powerful nobles of Italv The person of the Chief Pontiff lost its sanctity, and the history of that age is full of cases of deposition and captivity, of terrible ill-treatment and murder to which the popes were exposed. The period of the deepest humiliation was the hrst third of the tenth century, when courtesans of high rank, the senator's wife Theodora, and her daughters Marozia and the younger Theodora, disposed of the Papal chair at their pleasure, and filled it with their tools, their lovers and their natural sons. At the same time, the angry feeling against the priestly rule began to make itself felt among the Roman people, as well as the patriotic pride which was kindled by misty conceptions of antiquity and by vague recollections of former greatness. Alberic, the son ►(iisjmimT*-!^^*": 8 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE of Marozia, already made use of these feelings of the Romans, when he stirred them up against King Hugo, and set up in the city a completely secular and aristocratic republic, at the head of which he placed himself with the title of Princeps et Senator omnium Roma?iorum^ leaving to the Popes nothing but the spiritual power (932-954). And so there was, till the appearance of Otto the Great, no power in Italy which would have been able to check the prevailing anarchy. However, even in this wretched period of Italian history, it is still possible to follow the traces of a scientific and literary tradition. The study to which the Italians were always especially addicted, and which they never entirely neglected, was that of grammar, which was regarded as the basis and starting-point of all intellectual culture : ratio et origo et fundamentum omnium artiutn liberalium it was called by Hilderic of Monte Cassino, a pupil of Paulus Diaconus, in the first half of the ninth century.' Names of grammarians are also preserved from the ninth and tenth centuries, and the existence of schools intended for this study cannot be doubted. As people wrote, and on all public occasions spoke, a tongue, namely, Latin, that was becoming more and more a dead language, some grammatical instruction was indispensable. This was, it is true, restricted to what was absolutely essential, to imparting a scanty, life- less, and pedantic knowledge ; but it had, at least, the merit of preserving by a slender thread the classical tradition ; and of transmitting the names of the authors and a super- ficial acquaintance with their works, which people read in the schools without grasping their spirit." The Italians of that time were so much taken up with the language and perusal of the ancient poets, that they neglected all other studies, especially that of theology, which was the real science of the time, and in which they were behind the other nations. The theological scholars who taught and wrote in Italy, such as Ratherius of Verona or Hatto of Vercelli, were foreigners. Soon pious men begin to com- ^ Tosti, "Storia della Badia di Monte-Cassino," i. 280. Napoli, 1S42. '^ Cf. Comparetti, "Virgilio ncl Medio Evo," i. ic», 104. Livorno, 1872. MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 9 plain of those that devote themselves entirely to secular and pagan science, discard divinity, and prefer the fables of antiquity to sacred history. The French chronicler, Radulphus Glaber, tells, under the year 1000 ("Histori- arum," lib. ii., cap. 12), of a certain Vilgardus at Ravenna, who had devoted himself entirely to the study of grammar, "as, indeed, it was always customary among the Italians to neglect the other arts, and cultivate only that one " : demons had then appeared to him one night in the shapes of Virgil, Horace, and Juvenal, thanked him for devoting such loving care to their works, and for spreading their fame, and pro- mised him that he would share in the latter. This had made him proud, so that he had taught many doctrines against Christianity, and had maintained that absolute cred- ence must be given to the words of the poets. Finally, he had been condemned by the Bishop Peter as a heretic. "Then," closes the chronicler, "others appeared in Italy who shared in this fearful error, and likewise met their death by fire or sword." From this it appears that some were already filled with a passionate idolatry for antiquity, which was persecuted by the Church as dangerous. But the best testimony to the continuance of these studies in Italy is sup- plied by two literary productions, a poem and a history, which are entirely imbued with their spirit. The Panegyric on the Emperor Berengar by a poet who remains anonymous, but was undoubtedly a Lombard, and who describes himself in the prologue as being but one of many who then devoted themselves to the art of poetry, was written during the life- time of its hero, that is, between the years 914 and 924. In hexameters that are not unskilful and mostly correct, though the style is frequently laboured and obscure, the author celebrates the emperor as a hero of antiquity ; he quotes Homer and Virgil, everywhere imitates the classical epics in invocations, similes, descriptions and speeches, and even inserts into his poem verses and longer passages, which are literally borrowed from Virgil, Statius, and Juvenal. We also find here already that ostentatious show of Greek words so frequent among the Latin poets of the Middle Ages j the whole poem bears a Greek superscription.' An equally ^ E. DUmmler, "Gesta Berengarii Imperatoris. " Halle, 1871. gM&ji^SSy«yHi£S^!ianiB *%«'^fi*sr*» '•*■■«'«*«#>£ - 10 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE surprising knowledge of the classical authors is displayed by the somewhat later historian Liutprand (d. in 972 as Bishop of Cremona), who described the storms and crimes of those wild times with the sharp eye of a man of the world, and with a keen sense of actuality. In his principal work, which narrates the events from 888 till 950, he now and again, and sometimes at the most unsuitable passages, changes over from prose to verse in various metres, following in this the example of Boethius's "Consolatio." He, too, likes to quote pieces of the old poets, mingled with sayings from the Bible, knows classical history and mythology, gives things their classical names (always, for example, calling the Saracens of Africa Poeni), everywhere parades his knowledge of Greek, which he had acquired at Constantinople on the occasion of his frequent embassies, and likewise gives his book a Greek title, " Antapodosis " ("Repayment"), as his history was to be a judgment of his enemies, Berengar of Ivrea and his wife Willa/ While the panegyric on Berengar and the writings of Liutprand represent the efforts of the schools, we have a remarkable remnant of the popular poetry of this period in the rough poem which relates and laments the capture of the Emperor Lewis 11. by Adalgisus, the ruler of Benevento (871). The verse is the trochaic catalectic tetrameter of the Roman soldier-songs, but treated almost throughout as a rythmical (accentuated) verse, and even as such not regularly : Audite omnes fines terroe errore (1. horrore?) cum tristitia, Quale scelus fuit factum Benevento civitas. Ludhuicum comprenderunt sancto, pio, augusto, Beneventani se adunarunt ad unum consilium . . . . *^ In the endings of the words, in the use of the cases with- out flexional distinctions, in the employment of the pronouns * Migne, '* Patrologia," Ser. Lat., t. 136. The Sapphic Carmen on the Bishop Adalhard of Verona (cf. Diimmler, 1. c, p. 134 ff.) shows how skilfully writers could still handle the classical metres. ^ Du Meril, '* Poesies populaires anterieures au XII® siecle," Paris, 1843, p. 264 ff. It is a carmen alphabet i aim ^ that is to say, each section of three verses begins with a letter according to the order of the alphabet. This proves that the poem has come down incomplete, and that the last two verses, which begin with a J, are out of their place, and should come at the close of the emperor's speech. MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE II and numerals as articles and the like, the language is already Italian in many respects, though Italian used but cautiously as yet. At any rate it is clear that Latin, though no longer the speech of everyday life, was still understood without difficulty by the people in this deteriorated and vulgarised form. Still, it is doubtful whether we are therefore justified in assuming the existence in these early times of a rich litera- ture of Latin popular poetry now lost, as some literary historians have done. The other poem which is generally quoted as a relic of this literature, the Summons to the defenders of Modena to maintain vigilance when the town was besieged by the Hungarians (924) ' has already a very different character, and testifies to no slight culture on the part of the author, in thought and form. In other writings people have thought they recognised the traces of old epic songs. In the first half of the eleventh century, a monk of Novalese, at the foot of Mont Cenis, wrote in barbarous Latin the history of the monastery, and introduced into his childishly simple account all kinds of legendary traits.^ Here we find the history of Walter of Aquitaine, which is for the greater part borrowed from the Latin poem written in Ger- many, but contains additions concerning the later years of the hero, his entry into the monastery of Novalese, where he fills the humble office of gardener, the re-awakening of his old love of war, when the monastery is pillaged by the soldiers of King Desiderius, and the terrible injuries he mflicts on his enemies with a stirrup and the bone of a calf, for want of other arms. We are told of Charles the Great and the end of the Lombard rule, of Charles's victory over the robber Eberardus, of the Lombard minstrel who, dancing and singing before the King of the Franks, offers to point out to him the safe approach into the country, of the treachery and death of the daughter of Desiderius, of the gigantic Algisus (Adelchi), who on horseback lays low his enemies with an iron club, the rings on whose arms touch Charles's shoulders, and who, at table, crushes the bones and swallows the marrow like a lion. These tales of the monk are without doubt based on living tradition and testify to the existence of popular legends in Northern Italy ; * Du Meril, *' Poesies populaires anterieures au XII® siecle," p. 268 ff. '• Chronicon Novaliciense, Monumenta Germaniae," Script, vii. 73. aaBiia^-ia-^--«Jafa-^a--'g-°fe^^j^iafl^^ .^.^.^.„~ - J^'''%v»*t»" "^' " 12 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE but whether these were ever clothed in poetic form, and, if so, in what language, we do not know. With the eleventh century begins a revolution in the intellectual life of Italy. The political relations enter again into a more settled state. It is true that the union of the nation is not effected, but in its stead the power of the com- munes develops together with the fertilising action of liberty, and with the want of a more able administration of the state — a want that rouses the intellectual faculties of the citizens. The conflict for great interests, the struggle be- tween Emperor and Pope, violently moves men's minds, and calls for intellectual weapons. The conquest of Sicily by the Normans, the sea-fights of the Pisans and Genoese, and the expeditions to the East bring Christendom into closer contact with the Mussulmans and make them ac- quainted with their civilisation. Through the efforts of Otto the Great Italy was again united under one sceptre, but without enjoying political in- dependence ; the imperial crown and the kingdom of Italy belonged to Germany, and Italy, which was nominally the ruling country, was in reality a subject province. This con- tinued to be the lasting contradiction between the old idea of the Roman Empire and the actual state of affairs. The young Emperor Otto III. wished to put an end to this. Filled with the notions of classical literature into which he had been initiated by his master Gerbert, and at the same time burning with religious ardour, he determined to make the Roman Empire really what its name implied, and to take up his residence in Rome ; but he soon died, and none of his successors was inclined to take up again his fantastic plan. In the meantime the distant empire was not able to check for any length of time the aspirations of the nobles. The Emperor was perhaps respected when close at hand ; but as soon as he returned to Germany, the princes, bishops and towns pursued their own interests. In opposi- tion to Henry II., a native King, Hardouin of Ivrea, was set up. Finally, all the elements hostile to the Empire became centred in the Pope. In Rome the old causes of discontent went on with few interruptions — the power over the Papal See exercised by the Counts of Tusculum, the descendants of the family of Alberic, the immorality of the Popes and MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 13 the deposition of and opposition to several that had been elected. At last Henry III. dealt firmly with this net-work of impure passions, set up four German Popes one after an- other, freed the Papal See from party influences, and re- served for the Emperor the right of taking part in the elections of the Popes and of confirming them. It was, however, just by these means that the foundations of the momentous struggle between the spiritual and secular powers were laid. With the recovery of her dignity, the Church gained more and more authority, and began to strive for coniplete independence, and then for the rule of the world. This movement was led by Hildebrand, as counsellor of Leo IX. (from 1059) and of his successors, and was con- tinued by him as Pope Gregory VII. (1073— 1085). The bonds which linked the clergy to the world and made them serve its interests, were loosened by the prohibition of simony, of the marriage of priests and of lay investitures, and by conferring on the cardinals alone the right of choosing the Pope, without any interference on the part of Emperor or people. By thus freeing and secluding herself, the Church raised herself above all worldly power, which could not be anything without her consecration] and could lawfully exist only through her instrumentality. Innovations of such harshness, an undertaking of such gigantic boldness, at first met with the most violent oppo- sition even in Italy itself; and yet the ideal of Gregory and his successors was deeply rooted in the thoughts and feelings of the Italian people. Through it the Papacy in- herited the Roman idea of a world monarchy which men's minds could not get rid of; first this monarchy appeared to be renewed in the shape of the Empire, and now the Papacy and Empire fought for its possession the fiercest battle of the Middle Ages. However, the Pope's was a spiritual power. He would not suffer the growth of a power- ful foreign rule in Italy, but at the same time he himself could not become the sovereign of the country, nor could he do anything beyond keeping up the incessant factions and struggles. In his most immediate neighbourhood his authority was least respected : at Rome he was not able to combat the intrigues of the nobles and the rebeUions of the people. The mighty Gregory himself, whose word shook 14 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE the world, was forced to fly from the city owing to the state of revolt, and to die in exile. With the help of their secular allies, the Popes succeeded in breaking the power of the Emperors in Italy ; but they did not supplant them, did not attain the desired supremacy for any length of time, nor in- deed ever entirely, but were themselves finally overcome by other temporal rulers. Out of the decline of the imperial power arose a new political organism, that of the free communes, which dis- played an abundance of strength and vigour, and in which were laid the foundations of the first great period of Italian literature and art, but which contained, at the same time, in their isolation and their municipal egoism, the germs of cor- ruption. The free commune, as opposed to the feudal system, the prevailing form of constitution in the Middle Ages, appeared in Italy earlier than in any other European country. In the period of anarchy in the ninth and tenth centuries, during the endless struggles for the throne and the invasions of the Saracens and Hungarians, the towns began to acquire greater importance; their walls offered secure shelter, and they became a refuge for the remnants of civili- sation, for industry and commerce. Slowly and secretly was formed the independent constitution of the community ; its representatives, probably derived from the institution of the sheriffs (Judices) of the old German law, kept on extending their authority, and gradually transferred to themselves the magisterial rights from the counts and bishops who had exercised them. At the beginning of the twelfth century most of the towns of Lombardy were in full possession of their liberty. At their head were magistrates, who bore the title of consuls ; and, in addition to these, a council of distinguished men and the assembly of the citizens {FarlaTnentum)^ summoned only in exceptional cases, took part in the government. The office of the consuls was not everywhere the same, their number varying (between five and twenty), as also their term of oflSce (generally a year) ; but everywhere the use of this classical name testifies to the completion of the new constitution, and to the consciousness of its independence. The Italian com- mune did not spring from the municipality of ancient Rome, and so the name of its magistrate did not rest on an old MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 15 tradition. However the communes, in the form they had now assumed, recalled the old Roman republic, which was present to men's minds as the ideal of liberty and power, and which It was hoped to revive also in that name. In this way the classical ideas everywhere influenced the political developments of Italy, the empire, the papacy, and the municipalities ; everywhere, in spite of the great differ- ences, there was felt to be a link with the ancient state of things, and as every progressive step was made men looked back to that time of incomparable power and greatness, as if they had now, after the dark period of bondage under the barbarian yoke, again found their true national institutions And having won their liberty, the towns defended it in a heroic struggle. When Frederick I., without regard for the existing conditions, enforced the old imperial rights again to their full extent, when he put down all opposition with an iron hand and destroyed the revolted Milan, and when his procurators ^ndpodestd then exercised an oppressive and un- bearable sway, the great Lombard League was formed In his struggle with the Emperor, the Pope recognised the com- munes as his mightiest allies, and became from that time the protector of municipal liberty. The conflict ended with Frederick s defeat at Legnano (11 76). The Peace of Con- stance (1183) confirmed the independence of the cities- the emperor retained some prerogatives, but only in theory. ^ This liberty, however, which the Italian cities had ob- tained, was municipal, not national ; the supremacy of the Empire was not disputed, and no one in those days thought of the independence of Italy. The patriotism which thSse struggles called forth was intended by each individual only for his own city, not for the country : a national feeling did not as yet exist in Italy. People imitated Rome, strove for tame and power, but each of the small republics worked for Itself. And so the result was not the strengthening and union of the nation, but, on the contrary, a splitting-up into isolated divisions, which could not fail to be attended by the most pernicious consequences sooner or later. The Lombard League, that had held together for fifty years, was broken up as soon as the common danger was at an end. The com- munes soon fought against one another. The stronger en- N l6 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE deavoured to crush the weaker, in order to extend their own territory; some stood by the Emperor, the others by the Pope, and a medley of cruel and pitiless feuds rent Italy asunder. Added to this came the divisions in the cities themselves, the struggles of the parties, which finally led to the most oppressive, tyrannical rule, bringing to a speedy termination this brilliant, though still barbarous period of the Italian republics. In Northern Italy this took place as early as in the thirteenth century. In Tuscany the development was slower; the powerful Margraves maintained their rights longer, and the communes were surrounded by great feudal families, who made it more difficult for them to extend their territory. Though the cities of Tuscany, and especially Florence, did not attain the importance of the Lombard cities till later, they were able on that account to maintain their independ- ence for a much longer period. While the old Roman liberty seemed to be reviving under new forms in the communes of Northern and Central Italy, a remarkable attempt was made in Rome itself to set up a real Roman republic in its former state. Here not only did there remain nothing of the ancient institutions, but under the Papal rule not even analogous systems could gain ground, as was the case in the dominions of the bishops and counts. To a greater extent than elsewhere the classical titles continued to be used, but they had entirely lost their former signification. The wild and warHke nobles called themselves as a body senatus \ this designation was also applied to women, and the title of senatrices was hereditary in the family of Alberic. Later on the great barons called themselves consules, also without holding any special office. In the year 1 143 the people rose against the nobles and the pope, in one of those transitory fits of patriotic and classical enthusiasm for the ancient fame of the all-powerful city, which frequently recurred from time to time. The agitation differed in character from the earlier one under Alberic. In the two centuries that had passed since then, the knowledge of antiquity had progressed; formerly men were satisfied with an independent government of the nobles, now the people were to rule, and a senate of twenty-five members was constituted on the Capitol. The monk Arnaldo of Brescia, a pupil of Abelard, full of noble zeal, preaching the reform MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 17 of the Church, the purity of morals, and the poverty of the Clergy, took the lead of the movement. For the new free constitution they sought the protection of the Emperor whose rights they thought they were defending; the Republic wrote to Conrad III. (1149), and called on him to take pos- session of Rome, the capital of the world, and from there to rule over Italy and Germany. In the year 1152 there was a fresh rising. Two thousand of Arnaldo's followers leagued together, and modelled the constitution still more closely on the type of that of ancient Rome, with a hun- dred senators and two consuls; and as the Emperor did not heed their invitations, they also thought of placing at the head of the state an Imperator chosen by themselves. When Frederick I. then appeared, the ambassadors of the senatus populusque romanus came before him with grandilo- quent and presumptuous language ; but he scoffed at their hollow phrases, and delivered Arnaldo into the power of Pope Hadrian IV., who had him burnt. Thus ended this noble dream of a free Roman state ; it was based on anti- quarian and fantastic aspirations, seeking satisfaction in ex- ternal display, in names and phrases, without heeding the pettiness of the things as they really were, which contrasted strangely with the forms in which they were clothed. But this unsuccessful effort to introduce the ideas of antiquity into contemporary politics serves to characterise the spirit of those times. The great maritime cities shared largely in the glory of Italy in the Middle Ages, on account of their bold voyages and their expeditions against the Saracens of bpam and Africa. Foremost among them were those cities ot the South that had remained Greek but were almost in- dependent— Gaeta, Naples and Amalfi ; allied with the Pope they defeated the Mussulmans at Ostia in 849 and at the Garigliano in 916. As early as in the second half of the tenth century the Pisans did not confine themselves to defensive tactics, and attacked the enemy in Sicily. The liberation of Sardinia by the Pisans and Genoese (1015) the first example in the West of a large expedition against the baracens, made the Italians masters of the Mediterranean I he landing in Africa and the capture of Bona (1034), caused much excitement in the whole of the West as a ■te*feAaa!fc..?.i^^.da^ l8 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE triumph of Christendom over Islam.' These were followed SXr glorious feats of arms of the P.sans partly m alli- ance with the people of Genoa and Amalfi ; especially not^bk are the occupation of Mehdia, the capital cty of Northern Africa (1087), which forced the Arabian ruler to make a humiliating peace, and the conquest of the Balearic Isles after an obstinate struggle ";3-'"4)_ Venice, which was to become the most important of these maritime republics, and such a factor in the polifcal hfe of Italy, came on the scene ater, and gave for the first time proof of her great power in the crusades In a 1 hese struggles against the Saracens, the interests of religion and^hose of commerce were from the beginning mixed together in a peculiar manner, and the former yielded more and more to the latter; the subjugation of tracts of land and the setting up of factories became the main object Tnd so the Italians took part in the crusades in a different fp"rit to the other nations. Already more enlightened a^d occupied with the development of their mumcipal liberty and with the increase of their weal h, they were orompted to go to the East, not so much by religious feeling, TyT&af longing to see the Ho'y Land or the quest for wonders and adventures, as by the desire to attain poli- tical and commercial advantages. . , Here again, it was no national spirit that animated the enterprises of the maritime cities. Just as the conimunes in general, so, too, each of them individually, thought only of ?he extension of their own power ; the great successes were the cause of jealousy among the republics, and the rivalry of their interests brought about dissension. 1 hus immediately after the first great victory, the capture of Sardinia, the allies disputed as to the possession of the island. The enmity continued, and led to the long and fierce war between Genoa and Pisa, in which the latter city eventually suffered defeat. This was followed by the endless struggle between Genoa and Venice, which broke out again and again, and occupied the thirteenth and fourteenth cen- turies Thus it was the destiny of luly, that for want of a united government, each political force should become the > Michele Amari, " Storia dei Musulmani in Sicilia," vol. iii., parte i., p. 13- Firenze, 1868. MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 19 sTruSe"afte°LVh:r°" ^"^ '^''"' P"^^""' ^"* ^^ °- nJtel *!fiff "'"'. °^ ""' ^°"* ^'^ '" 'he meantime taken quite a different course to those of Northern and Central lonsi:^: the latter territory was governed by a municip" constitution a strong feudal monarchy arose ii^ the former Bands of Normans, that had appeared since loi, Zot advantage of the state of confusion arising fomAe ^ruggles between Greeks, Lombards and Saracens Thus from being bold adventurers, by dint of force and cun ning they gradually came to be rulers of the southern continent, under the guidance of the princes of the house of Hauteville. Quickly they became nationalised and were no onger regarded as foreigners. They had brought witT hem tC stlte""n theT'!i'f "" °' "^^'^ countryf and fouS tneir state on the feudal system, which had never reallv taken root ,n the rest of Italy. Political cons^deraHom induced them to acknowledge the supremacy of thTchurch laterLt BuT tt' ^°""^°' g^ dangel^ to Z sJ^Sn' later ages. But the support and consecration of the Pone gave their wars of conquest the stamp of crusades Th^ long struggle also in Sicily was in the nVure of a c^usaS Count Roger, in the course of thirty years of indeSble 3^1f°^'Y°9'>'^"^'^hedtheentireLandfomtS^^^^^^ of the Mussulnians. Strong faith, together with valou? and cunning, gamed the Normans their victory. Count Roger however, became very tolerant through being in consTn; contact with Greeks and Arabs, and, with hi keen intellect divining the real aims of the Court of Rome he dfd noJ interfere with the worship of the Mohammedan population soon received numerous Mussulmans into his armv and t ^1 Snrthe'^rSn^f'r ^°'7t °T "" 'he cSn'fa^ h^ the sfand an??h. M ^^"" "•' "^^^ ""'"^'^ ""^^^^ his sway took thP liH I, Norman portion of the mainland, and engineers were a ,t'"^ ^"^°^' ^"^''''' ^"''l'^'^' ^«'°r« ^nd engineers were a strong support in the struggles against thp ':Z2'S;/cri ^' Palermo the Couffi^^eSmed sp«/h^ /k P •^°2®'"' * S'^at king and statesman, pos- sessed at the same time an intellect that was eager for evej ^ Amari, 1. c, p. 396 ff. •t 20 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE kind of knowledge. Favoured by him, the arts and sciences of the Mohammedans flourished again, after the storms ot the wars of conquest. Magnificent palaces and gardens sprang up according to the taste of the East ; Arabian poets cele- brated the King, and the splendour of his Court ; the learned Edrisi composed his geographical work, the most important of the Middle Ages, in the execution of which the King took the keenest interest; and the Admiral Eugene translated the Optics of Ptolemy from Arabic into Latin. In the reigns of William the Bad and William the Good, the Mohammedan population diminished more and more ; Frederick IL put down the last of the rebels among their number, and transferred them to the military colony at Lucera in Apulia, where they could adhere to their faith without hindrance. But for more than a century the Italians on the island had been in contact with a civilisation that was richly developed, and at that time superior to their own : hence it did not fail to exercise effectual and fruitful influence. . Roger IL called himself at his coronation SicihcB atque Italim rex ; but, though one of the most powerful princes of his time, he did not attempt to change the kingdom of Sicily into a kingdom of Italy. He could not hope to be equal to the triple opposition of the Pope, the Communes, and the Emperor, and directed his designs against the South and East instead. Henry VI. united the Empire with the throne of Sicily, and the combination of these two procured for his son Frederick IL a position such as no ruler in Italy had enjoyed since Otto the Great. Added to this, he was no foreigner, but an Italian born, and had his resid- ence in Italy itself. The opportunity of forming the whole country into one State seemed at last to have come, and Frederick wanted to take advantage of it. But it was too late. As usual the Papacy opposed him, hurled the ban of excommunication and the decree of deposition against the Emperor, and found allies in the Guelph communes and the small dynasties of Lombardy, in rebellious vassals in the kingdom of Sicily, and in the German princes. Fredenck for his part meant in all earnest to destroy the secular power of the Pope, and to make Rome subject to himself in reality. The fresh and terrible struggle between Church and Empire MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 21 that followed brought about the fall of the House of Hohen- stoufen. And with that dynasty disappeared the last prospect of the revival of political unity, and Italy remained at the close of the Middle Ages in its old state of division The causes which, after the eleventh century, brought about a fresh intellectual movement, were for the most part at work in the other countries of Europe as well as in Italy and led, m the twelfth century, to a period of considerable culture, though differing from ours, to a Pre-Renaissance that already studied antiquity, but reproduced it in a form that was false and distorted, and transformed by contempor- ary ideas. But the Italians were in advance of the other nations m taking up scientific studies again with more vigour • the beginnings of these we already find among them towards the middle of the eleventh century. One reason for this is without doubt, as Giesebrecht pointed out, the continuance of a stronger classical tradition, the predilection with which men had cultivated grammatical studies, and had thus kept up at any rate a superficial knowledge of the authors. But besides this, classical culture could not fail to be revived more easily and quickly, and to influence the ideas of the time, m the land in which it had sprung up, and in which the ruins of its mighty monuments appealed to the imagina- tion of new generations more powerfully than anywhere else Another point m which the Italy of that day differed from the other Western countries, was the greater diffusion of culture, the benefits of which were shared not only by the clergy, but also to a certain extent by the laity. Ratherius ot Verona mentions private schools as well as the schools at- tached to cathedrals and convents, and documents contain the names of teachers without any clerical title. The German Wippo, in his panegyric on Henry III., exhorts the Emperor to urge, in Germany also, the nobles to send their sons to school, and to have them imbued with literary culture and with a knowledge of the laws, as had formerly been the case in Rome, and as was still customary among the Italians : Hoc servant Itali post prima crepundia cuncti, Lt sudare scholis mandatur tota iuventus. It is true that the results of this important difference do not show themselves till later; at the beginning, literary activity iifeJffliftiJlBtai»ilifiMa8 '-■"-'■'— '■—^'^' 22 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE is in Italy, too, to be found only among the clergy, and it is chiefly the monasteries that are the true seats of learning. The venerable old abbey of Monte Cassino, founded in 529 by S. Benedict, as one of the chief centres for the monastic life of the West, destroyed in 589 by the Lombards, rebuilt in 718, again destroyed by the Saracens in 884, and restored about 950, developed a great artistic and literary activity under the rule of the excellent abbot, Desiderius (from 1057), who afterwards became Pope Victor III. The monastery and church were splendidly renovated with old Roman marble pillars, Greek mosaics, and valuable bronze doors. Manuscripts were carefully copied and adorned with miniatures. The monks, Alphanus, who became later Archbishop of Salerno (1057-1085), and Gaiferius, treated religious subjects in the metres of ancient lyrical poetry, and with a perfection of form and purity of language that deserve the greatest admiration for those times ; in Alphanus there are imitations of Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and Jjuvenal. Another monk, Amatus of Salerno, wrote (about the year 1080) the history of the Norman conquest, which has been lost in the Latin original, and is preserved only in an Old French translation. Con- stantinus Afer of Carthage, who, having in the course of long travels in the East, become master of the learning of the Arabians, fled about the year 1077 from persecutions in his country and entered the monastery of Monte Cassino. He translated medical works from Arabic and Greek into Latin, and in this way, considerably furthered, as it seems, the beginnings of the medical school at Salerno. Pandulphus of Padua composed a large number of works on astronomical subjects. Finally the favourite studies of the Italians, grammar and rhetoric, are represented by Alberic, a man of unusual versatility, who also wrote theological works, verses in classical form, and popular rhythms, treatises on music and astronomy. In his " Rationes Dictandi," and in the *' Brevi- arium de Dictamine," he evolved for the first time the new theory for handling artistically the epistolary style, with its five divisions of the Salutatio, Captatio be?ievolenti(B, Nar- ration Petitio^ and Conclusio, which remained for centuries the basis of the precepts in the epistolary guides. His familiarity with the writers of antiquity is seen especially in MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE ^l another little book, the " Flores Rhetorici;" or, "Dictaminum Radii," which contains the rules for composition and style, and takes examples from Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Terence, Persius, Lucan, Cicero, and Sallust. A similar period of scientific activity began in Lombardy simultaneously with that in Southern Italy. Parma was renowned as a seat for the study of the liberal arts, and the schools of Milan were also in high repute. To these parts belongs Anselm the " Perapetician," as he called himself in the *' Rhetorimachia," the only one of his works that has been preserved. This treatise gives us several details concerning his life. Born near Pavia, of noble family, he was a pupil of the "philosopher" Drogo, who taught in Parma, became member of the clergy of Milan, went later to the court of the Emperor Henry III. in Germany, and entered his chapel. He shows acquaintance with philosophy and theology, with jurisprudence and grammar ; but his chief study was rhetoric. He had written a compendium of this science, entitled "De materia artis," which has been lost, and it was as an exem- plification of the rules laid down in this work that the "Rhetorimachia" was intended to serve. This book was dedicated to the Emperor Henry, and composed between 1046 and 1056.^ It is an imaginary rhetorical confutation in three books ; the author pretends that he is attacked in a pamphlet by his cousin Rotilandus, and shows all the rhetorical errors that occur in this imaginary treatise, defends himself and the clergy of Milan, and hurls back at his accuser the charges of immorality. Thus he finds an opportunity of showing his dialectical skill ; he makes use of subtle argu- mentations and sophisms, and adopts a style of diction which is heavy, twisted, and frequently obscure, but correct, and which often passes over into rhythm and rhyme. His learning is drawn principally from the Rhetoric "ad Heren- nium," and from Cicero's " De Inventione." The book is filled with a strong consciousness of the author's own worth, with deep confidence in the power and dignity of the art with which he feels himself imbued, and with a proud enthusiasm for learning. Characteristic is the very idea of making himself the object of the apologetic work, and of thus ^ E. Dummler, "Anselm der Peripatetiker nebst anderen Beitragen zur Literaturgeschischte Italiens im 11. Jahrhundert." Halle, 1872. 24 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE gaining an opportunity for immoderate self-praise. At the very outset of this scientific movement its representatives are filled with a high opinion of their own worth, together with a keen desire for fame and applause. This is nothing but the easily conceivable pride of men who have been the hrst, after a long period of intellectual darkness, to amass labo- riously a treasure of knowledge, and who, in the general ignorance, look on the rest as far beneath themselves ; and so it became the natural feeling at the time of the Renais- sance, as it appeared later on in such pronounced form among the humanists. How grandiloquent are the words with which the monk Alberic bids us pay attention to his treatise on rhetoric, which now appears to us such a slight thing, and which in those days was such a great performance : *' May the new nectar flow nowhere in vain ; touched by Phoebus's ray, may the spirit let flowers blossom forth. Here Alberic soars aloft, here he hopes for the palm ; here may his adversary be silent and dumb, wonder, and be con- founded." Anselm the Peripatician boasts that the whole of Italy is resounding with his name ; that France and Ger- many rejoice at his approach.' On his journey to the Emperor's court he presented his work in the towns with a commendatory letter of his master Drogo, amidst triumphs and applause. In a vision which he describes at the begin- ning of the second book, he lets the saints of Paradise and the three muses of Dialectic, Rhetoric, and Grammar struggle for the possession of him. He is in the Elysian fields, in the company of the blessed, but the muses endeavour to induce him to return to earth : for he is their only shield, their only support among men, and when he shall be no more, none will rise again to equal him in these arts. Having wakened from his dream, he considers which he would have preferred, had he had the choice— the company of the muses or that of the blessed : he decides that he would have liked best to enjoy them both simultaneously : but, in the meantime, as eternal bliss on earth is impossible, he selects the muses. So we have here also a trait which puts us in mind of the later Renaissance : the knowledge of the Pagans is already brought 1 It is true that Anselm himself tries to make out in the letter to Drogo (p. 21) that these boasts are merely a joke; but nobody wUl believe this. MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 25 into comparison with the Paradise of the Christians, and no decision is come to. Yet another characteristic peculiarity that recurs among the later humanists, is found already in the literary life of those days, namely the pleasure taken in polemic, the jealousy among the writers, who wrangle round the little knowledge they have just acquired, and struggle for pre- cedence. In a letter to Drogo, Anselm replies in detail to his detractors and to those who are jealous of him, of whom some said that he was not capable of composing such a work, and that he had been helped in it, while others declared it to be superfluous, and others again suspected him of heresy and of having intercourse with demons, because he sought solitude during his studies. We find similar complaints concerning jealousy and emnity in Alberic also, and later on in Petrus Diaconus, and they are constantly repeated by the compilers of epistolary guides. And these latter then attack Alberic, too, although he is the real founder of their art, re- proaching him with superfluous accessories, or maintaining that they adhere more closely to the classical models than he does. Medieval Latin poetry was also for the greater part an exercise in grammar and rhetoric, an imitation of the authors that had been read, a repetition of formulas that had been learnt by heart ; and it is only rarely that any original inspiration can be found. Of this the religious lyrical poetry shows most traces, as in the poets of Monte Cassino that have been mentioned, or in the hymns of Damian. To Northern Italy belongs a love poem in one hundred and fifty leonine distichs, doubtless composed by a priest, since it is entered on some empty pages of a Latin Psalter, and probably written about the year 1075, as Henry IV.'s defeat at the hands of the Saxons is alluded to : Cum secus ora vadi placeat mihi ludere Padi, Fors et velle dedit, flumine Nimpha redit. ^ The poet converses with a girl on the banks of the Po : he extols her beauty, and promises her, in an endless enumera- tion, all the comforts, valuables and enjoyments she can wish for, as also the immortality that the old poets conferred ^ Diimmler, ** Anselm," p. 94 ff. ! 26 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE on heroes and women, if she will only love him. Here everything is full of exaggerations ; the author's imagmation conjures up visions of untold wealth, which he lays at the feet of the loved one, and raises him above poets and gods, while he has still to struggle laboriously with the form. To the end of the eleventh and beginnmg of the twelfth centuries belong a number of more lengthy Latin poems on historical themes, dealing with contemporary subjects, poems in praise of princes and communes, and narratives of their military achievements. The most perfect work of this kind, distinguished by the simplicity and clearness of the narrative and by the excellence of the hexameters, is the "Gesta Roberti Wiscardi " ' of Guilelmus Appulus ; but it is probable that just this man was not an Italian but a Frenchman, and that the surname of Appulus referred only to the place at which he subsequently lived.' Far less polished is the "Vita Mathildis " of the monk Donizo of Canossa, a panegyric on the Countess of Tuscany, written during her lifetime, at the end of 1 1 14,' a vapid chronicle, lacking all art and ornament, written in rough verses and a careless style, with a special predilection for the affected use of Greek words. Equally de- fective is the form of an anonymous poem on the subjugation of Como by the Milanese (i 1 18-1 127), written by an inhabitant of the former city. ' The barbarisms, the bad grammatical mistakes and the great lack of clearness, which renders con- stant explanation necessary, testify to the low state of the writer's culture : still, there are touches of patriotic warmth here and there, especially towards the end of the poem, where the author bewails the misfortunes of his native town. The song in praise of Bergamo, composed between 11 12 and 1 129 in dull rhymed hexameters, by a certain Magister Moses ' (a grammarian, therefore), is of some interest owing to the fabulous account, that occurs at the end, of the origin of the city— one of those legends that all the more important of the Italian cities invented concerning their foundation. 1 *«Mon. Germ. Script.", ix. 241. ^^ * Cf. Amari, " Storia dei Musulmam, m. 22. 3 **Mon. Germ. Script.," xii. 348. „ x/r . • «Por * "DeBello MediolanensiumadversusComenses Muratori, Ker. It. Script.," V. 413. * "De Laudibus Bergomi," Muratori, ?/'., 529. MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 2; According to this narrative, Brennus the Gaul was said to have fortified Bergamo as the the chief citadel of his power. But when the Romans had driven out this " Gallic pest," the senate, in order to insure security for the future, set up a presidency in the town, at the head of which was one of the Fabii, one of that glorious race which fell for their country at the Cremera, to the number of three hundred ; and then the grammarian goes on to sing the praises of this noble Fabius, the first protector of his city, and extols him above ^neas, Cato and Cicero. These new communes, not satisfied with the protection of their patron saints, desired to derive their nobility from the name of some famous Roman, Greek, or Trojan. Two poems dealing with events of Pisan history contain more numerous classical elements than the works hitherto mentioned. In these the powerful and flourishing condition of the republic invited comparison, to a special degree, with ancient times. One of the two poems celebrates the victorious expedition of the Pisans to Africa in the year 1087, in the popular measure of rhythmical and rhymed long verses with a sharp caesura, which were derived from the catalectic trochaic tetrameter, and which we already found in the song on the Emperor Louis 11.^ Several exaggera- tions which garnish the narrative, in the main historically correct, tend to show that the author wrote some time after the events described. The expedition is represented as a crusade against the infidels, and brings about the liberation of a hundred thousand Christian prisoners ; Christ protects and leads ithe pious warriors, performs miracles for them, sends an angel to their aid, and causes the lions that have been let loose on them to turn against the Saracens them- selves. But at the same time the poet thinks of the war of Rome against Carthage, a war which Pisa had now taken up again with no less glory to herself. He begins his work with the words : Inclytorum Pisanorum scripturus historiam, Antiquorum Romanorum renovo memoriam ; Nam extendit modo Pisa laudem admirabilem, Quam olim recepit Roma vincendo Carthaginem. * Du Meril, " Poes. pop. du moyen-age." Paris, 1847, p. 239. Cf. also Amari, 1. c, p. 171. I? m »> 28 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE Immediately afterwards God's miracle on behalf of Gideon is cited by way of comparison, and, farther on, those Romans who took part in the expedition as allies of Pisa are said to revive the memory of Scipio. Ugo Visconti, the noble youth who falls in battle, is compared first with Codrus, and imme- diately afterwards with Christ, because he sacrificed himself for the good of the people, as they had done. This ingenu- ous and artless mingling of things classical and Christian, of Biblical images with those taken from the history and fable of Pagan antiquity, which we already had occasion to remark in the poets of the Gothic period, such as Ennodius, is characteristic of the Latin poetry of the Middle Ages in general.^ We find the same thing again in the long poem, in seven books, on the conquest of the Balearic Isles, written by a certain Laurentius Vernensis, that is, probably, of Vern in Tuscany, who was deacon of the Archbishop Peter II. of Pisa, and himself present at the battles in company with the archbishop, as appears from several passages of the narrative. He begins his work in the style of the ancient epic poems, by announcing the argument : Arma, rates, populum, vindictam ccelitus actam Scribimus, ac duros terrx pelagique labores, Geryonea viros sese per riira terentes, Maurorum stragem, spoliata subactaque regna. In describing the sea-voyage to the Balearic Isles, compari- sons with the Trojan war continually suggest themselves to him. The relatives that remain behind lament the departure of the ships, as did formerly the Achaean women when the heroes left for Pergamum. In Sardinia the Pisans are received by King Constantine in the same way as the Danai at Aulis, and when the fearful tempest is depicted, against which the vessels have to struggle, the poet says that even the son of Laertes would have been terrified at it. In other passages we find comparisons with Caesar, with the Sabines robbed of their wives and lamenting, and the like. Every- where in this narrative, which, though monotonous and ^ Cf. Pannenborg, in ''Forschungen zur dtschen. Gesch.," xi. 225; and Kuno Francke, •* Zur Geschichte der lat. Schulpoesie des 12. und 13. Jahrh.", p. 37. Munchen, 1879. MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 29 clumsy, is animated by religious enthusiasm in its descriptions of battles, we detect the poet's effort to employ the machinery of the ancient epic poems. He gives lists of troops in the manner of Homer's and Virgil's catalogues, and makes his personages deliver long, artificial speeches. He uses the names of the Roman deities, Phoebus and Titan, for the sun, and calls God Tonatis or Astripotens rector. Objects are designated by the same names as in classical poetry : the wounded standard-bearer of the Pisans is healed with P^onian herbs, and the shield is called septemplex tergum or septena terga. And scattered among these, we find again the names of Christ and of the saints, the captivity of the Christians among the Mussulmans is compared with that of the Jews in Egypt, and so on. The simple fact is that the author did not put a heathen construction on the classical images and designations; they were empty forms, mere poetical ornaments, which could be employed for every object, and which appeared indispensable in poetry, because the models for all poetry, the works of the ancients, con- tained them. Especially remarkable in this respect is the close of the sixth book. Here is related how the souls of the slain Saracens descend to hell, and this (the Christian) hell is peopled with the personages of the classical lower world. In it Cerberus converses with Pluto, ^acus and Rhadamanthus call on the king of the shades to receive the new arrivals worthily with his punishments, and the tortures conceived by the Christian imagination, such as heat and cold, food of vipers and toads, and poisonous potions, are joined to those invented by the classics, such as the un- quenched thirst of Tantalus. This transference of figures of the Pagan Tartarus to demons of the Christian hell became general ; we find it adopted also in later visions of the other world, and finally, in the most splendid manner and with a deeper meaning, in Dante's " Commedia." In the eleventh century theological and philosophical studies, till then neglected, came into great favour among the Italians, who, for a short period, even surpassed the other nations that had hitherto been in advance of them in these branches. The great movement in the Church which was due to Hildebrand, the fierce struggles for and against his innovations that raged round the investitures and the MiiaftftL^JttiiM*'-J^£^;**^^'^f*g^*^^ 30 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE supremacy of the spiritual power, finally the freshly kindled disputes with the Greek Church concerning the dogma of the Procession of the Holy Ghost, impelled men to study closely the questions of faith and the institutions of the Church and its history, thus producing learned theological writings, such as those of Alberic, of Monte Cassino, of S. Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, of S. Bruno, Bishop of Segni, of the Archbishop Grossolanus of Milan, and of the Arch- bishop Peter of Amalfi. The man who by his sermons and writings gave the most effectual support to Hildebrand in his work of reform was S. Peter Damian, born at Ravenna in the year 1006 or 1007. First teacher of the liberal arts and of jurisprudence at Parma, then recluse in the hermitage of Fonte Avellana, near Gubbio, he was, in 1057, raised to the dignity of cardinal by Pope Stephen IX., against his will and after strenuous opposition, and was employed by him and his successors in the most difficult missions for putting an end to the disorders and for settling the disputes of the Church, till his death, which occurred at Faenza in 1072. Peter Damian is the most zealous representative of the new ascetic tendency which had emanated from the Abbey of Cluny, after a period of secularisation, and had been introduced into Italy especially by S. Romualdus. The goal it strove to attain was the conversion of erring humanity, but chiefly the purifi- cation of the profaned Church. S. Damian is a preacher of penance, a pitiless accuser and judge of vice, which he depicted in terrible colours. The ideas of medieval ascetic- ism find in him their gloomiest expression. He believes the appearance of the Antichrist and the Day of the Last Judgment to be not far distant, and recognises this through the growing depravity of mankind. " As in a tempest," he says with powerful imagery, " the high sea is more calm and less dangerous, but along the coast the breakers dash up, so human corruption, now that the end of this world is draw- ing up near, is boiling up more wildly against its banks and making the waves of lust and pride tower on high (" Epist." i. 15). In his sermons enjoining penance, in his letters and treatises he struggles unceasingly against the same enemies that Pope Gregory wished to root out, namely simony and the marriage and illicit intercourse of the priesthood. The MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 31 negligent he endeavours to terrify through tales of sinners who died suddenly and terribly, without having time for re- pentance, or by accounts of visions of the other world and of apparitions of the dead, which he repeats withxievout faith. The remedy against moral corruption is, in his eyes, the mortification of the flesh ; he defends and praises physical penance, such as fasting, keeping silence, genuflexions, and above all, flagellation, in praise of which he composed a special treatise, and the practice of which he endeavoured to spread among the monasteries. The hermit's life, which is entirely made up of these exercises, prayer and pious con- templation, he takes to be the highest state of perfection for mankind, the state in which the soul, freed from all earthly impurity, becomes again more like its original image — God. Damian is familiar with the secular learning of his time, quotes the classical poets, historians and philosophers, and employs the dialectics of the schools in his polemical writ- ings. However, this is, in his eyes, strictly subservient to a higher knowledge, and he wrote the famous words that philosophy should be the handmaiden of theology : " Human science," he says, " when it is employed in treating sacred subjects, must not presume to play the part of the teacher, but must serve its mistress readily like a handmaiden, so as not to go astray by wishing to be in advance " (" De Divina Omnipotentia," cap. 5). Worldly knowledge is, in his eyes, only a means to the end, a preparation for the better under- standing of things eternal, and, when comparing divine and secular wisdom, he sets small value on the latter, at times even despises it, and inveighs against those who cultivate it for its own sake, blaming those monks who " slighting the precepts of Benedict, rather occupy themselves with those of Donatus " (*' De Perfectione Monachorum," cap. 1 1). In this respect, therefore, Damian is opposed to the classical studies of the time, which he allows to be only limited in value, though he takes part in them in no small degree. His true learning is in the dogmas, the Fathers of the Church, and the Holy Scripture. Here he has few equals. He shows great skill in that allegorical and mystical interpretation of passages of the Bible, practised since Ambrosius, which con- nects them with moral doctrines or with the destiny of the fe'Jar-*4Ma8j» >-->,a^.,..>.=^ 32 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE human soul ; of this his sermons and letters are full. Damian adopted this tropological or spiritual interpretation not alone for the Bible, but also for the fabulous medieval natural history of animals, devoting to this subject a special treatise, dedicated to the monks of Monte Cassino (" De bono religiosi status ex variorum animantium tropologia "), which is accordingly nothing more or less than one of the older allegorised bestiaries. For the theologian, nature transforms herself into a teacher of morals ; in Damian's eyes, God gave each animal its powers and properties merely with a view to enabling mankind, by dint of contemplating and interpret- ing them, to derive precepts for the salvation of their own souls. What Damian has to say on the relations between the spiritual and temporal power is important ; he is the first to formulate more precisely the idea that they are mutually in- dependent of each other, and that the two spheres of authority are to be kept apart. " One cannot do without the other ; the priesthood is protected by the power of the State, and the State is supported by the sanctity of the sacerdotal office. The King is girded with the sword, so that he may oppose in arms the enemies of the Church ; the priest devotes him- self to prayer, so as to make God propitious to the King and to the people. The former must weigh earthly matters in the scales of justice, the latter offer the water of God's word to those that thirst." These words he wrote to the young Emperor, Henry IV., at the same time exhorting him to put aside the anti-Pope Honorius ("Epist," vii. 3). Here Damian does not hold quite the same views as Hildebrand ; he was not endowed with that rigid consistency and inflexi- bility, which he admired in his great friend, when he com- pared him with the north wind, and called him a "holy Satan." He himself is more inclined to invoke the aid of the Empire in the settlement of ecclesiastical disputes, and the precedence which he certainly wishes to secure for the Pope, is only that of respect. But it must be remembered that he did not live to see the most violent phase of the struggle, and considered possible the close union of the two powers, which were together to guide the human race, each in its own way. Just as the offices of priest and king were united in Christ, so, too, it is to happen, through the bond MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 33 of mutual love, with the exalted persons of the spiritual and temporal ruler, " that the King is to be contained in the Pope, as the Pope in the King, but without prejudice to the prerogatives of the Pope. ... He, as the father, is always to maintain the precedence, according to paternal right, and the King, as the only son, is to rest in the embraces of his love" (" Disceptatio Synodalis," conclusion). This inde- pendence and union of Church and Empire remained the ever unattainable ideal of the Middle Ages. Damian's ecstatic religiousness sought to express itself also in poetic form ; in his hymns he adopts with ease and skill the ancient metres, but more frequently he employs rhythmical measures, and in those cases approaches the popular tone also by the simple way in which he expresses his feelings. Some of these songs are of real poetical beauty, especially the hymn " De Gloria Paradisi," which depicts the joys of the blessed in sonorous verses, and with rich and warm colours, such as the popular imagination derives from the choicest things on earth. Two other Italians of this period, whose names belong to the most celebrated in medieval science, Lanfranc and S. Anselm of Canterbury, spent all the later part of their lives in a foreign country, and it was not till they resided away from Italy that they began to occupy themselves with and to write on theology and philosophy. Lanfranc was born in Pavia about the year 1005, of noble family, studied the liberal arts and law in Bologna, acquired an unusually wide knowledge in these branches, and then crossed the Alps, in order to show his skill as lawyer and dialectician among other nations. He came to Avranches in Normandy, where a misfortune occurred to him that induced him to change his career. One day, on the road from Avranches to Rouen, he was robbed by highwaymen, and bound to a tree ; in this desperate position, with death before his eyes, he vowed to devote his life to God. Having been liberated on the following morning by travellers, he entered the monastery of Le Bee, where he underwent the severest privations and castigations (1042). But he was recognised as the great scholar; he opened a school (1046), which soon became famous, and to which those eager for know- ledge repaired in large numbers from all parts, so that the I. D ( I J 34 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE abbey, which had hitherto been poor, acquired wealth and importance. He then became its prior. His great fame as a theologian he won through his polemic against Berengar of Tours, in the dispute concerning transubstantiation. William of Normandy made him Abbot of St. Etienne, in Caen, and then, after the Conquest of England, Archbishop of Canter- bury. Thus he became, next to the king, the most powerful and influential person in the country. He died in the year 1089. The importance of Lanfranc lies less in his writings, than in his teaching in the school of Bee, which produced the greatest scholars of the age. To these pupils of his belonged Anselm, whose life took almost exactly the same course as that of his teacher and friend. A native of Aosta, he also came to Avranches, became a monk at Le Bee at the age of twenty-seven, succeeded Lanfranc as prior, became abbot of the monastery (1079), and in 1093 was appointed to the Archiepiscopal See of Canterbury. In the dispute that arose around the investitures, Anselm fought obstinately for the independence of the Church, first against William II., then against Henry I. ; twice he was forced to abandon his see, and lived for several years in France, also visiting his native country, Italy. In 1106 his reconciliation with King Henry took place, and three years after his return Anselm died (April 21, 1 109). The great purity of his morals, his ardent zeal for the good of the Church, his disinterestedness and the paternal kindness and severity with which he presided first over the monastery and then over the diocese, brought him in his lifetime the fame of sanctity, which increased after his death. Tales were spread of miracles which he was said to have performed. His canonisation, however, did not take place till centuries later. S. Anselm left numerous theological and philosophical works ; with him, as was generally the case among medieval thinkers, philosophy is closely bound up with faith, nay, even springs from it. From Anselm came the famous credo ut intelligam : *' I do not endeavour to understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand ; for I believe also this, that when I shall not believe, I shall also not understand" (" Proslogion," end of cap. i.). But if we possess faith the saint thinks, then we should also, sup- MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 35 ported by it, endeavour to attain knowledge : " Just as the true order of things requires that we should believe the mysteries of the Christian religion, before we can examine them with our reason, so it appears to me to be negligence on our part, if we do not, after being strengthened in our faith, endeavour to understand that which we believe." All the argumentations of this philosophy, therefore, tend towards demonstrating the truth of the dogmas. Reason imagines it is free, and is bound all the while. It imagines that it will find in its own paths the same truths that faith teaches, and sees a wonderful confirmation in this agreement; but from the very beginning it has its goal in sight, and laboriously endeavours to reach it by winding paths, by leaps and violent methods, and the proof becomes subtle sophistry. In the contradictions which spring from the articles of faith, unity, and trinity, creation from nothing- ness, predestination and the freedom of the will, and the like, reason twists about in all directions, and finally escapes through a play upon words, through a paralogism, or con- fesses that this is the limit of knowledge, and that what appears to be inconsistent is really true, and this in spite of the fact that truth was always sought by eliminating the inconsistencies. In his " Monologium " Anselm apparently reconstructs the most difficult portions of the dogma, ac- cording to purely critical reasons and a strictly philosophical method ; but in reality he bases his arguments on the double meaning of words, such as verbum, filius, spiritus^ and the like. But in his enthusiasm for knowledge and understand- ing, he deceives himself, and his firm faith hides from him the defects of his logic. Also the ontological proof for the existence of God, based on the idea of Him as the most perfect Being, which Anselm evolved and published in his " Proslogion," and which was found again by Descartes five and a half centuries later, is only a paralogism, by means of which faith obtains what it desires, and with which it is therefore satisfied. Still, we have here an advance, in comparison, for example, with Damian, the recognition of certain claims of reason, a wider use of it in scientific re- search, though, after all, only as a secondary support of faith. This was the philosophy of the Middle Ages, the beginning of the tendency which was called Scholasticism, 1 36 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE save that this latter introduced a more regular and pedantic method, adopting the Aristotelian doctrines that had m the meantime become better known. Anselm's theological meta- physics contain rather Platonic elements, which had been transmitted to him by Augustine, Dionysius, Areopagita, and Boethius. The philosophico-theological movement which had been begun by scholars hailing from Italy, had its continuation in France, and not in Italy, where these sciences lost ground again for a time. Several Italians of the succeeding period who devoted themselves to them, taught away from their own country, as Lanfranc and Anselm had already done. Gerard of Cremona (d. 1187), who rendered service to the progress of studies by his translations from the Arabic of Avicenna, and of Ptolemy's "Astronomy," acquired his learning in Toledo, and lived and wrote in that city. The famous Peter Lombard, the author of the theological " Summa," which was generally used in the Middle Ages, and which he called " Liber Sententiarum," probably came from the neighbourhood of Novara, but soon went to France to finish his studies, became professor in Paris, then Bishop of the same city (1159), where he also died in 1160. In France, and chiefly in Paris, theology and scholastic and mystical philosophy flourished in the twelfth century, while in Italy it was not till the thirteenth century that a brilliant revival awaited them through the labours of S. Thomas and S. Bonaventura. In the twelfth century, however, the sense for what is real and positive, peculiar to the Italians, again predominated among them ; men eagerly devoted thein- selves to the studies of medicine and law, which stand m direct relation to practical life, and it was at this period that the schools of Salerno and Bologna, where these sciences were taught, obtained their great renown throughout the whole of Europe.. And at the same time the influence of the laity also began, and the transition of learning from the clergy to this body, which introduces the new period of intellectual life. But with jurisprudence the study of rhetoric and grammar was again combined. This was, however, carried on in a one-sided manner, for the practical needs of the senate and of the lawyer's office. And so it appeared to men of other MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 37 countries that the Italians lacked all real interest in science. In the " Bataille des Sept Arts " of the Norman poet Henri d'Andeli, the Lombart (as the Italians were generally called in France) appear as such representatives of rhetoric, who practise it only for gain, without any real love for it. Grammar and rhetoric were at that time essentially intended to afford instruction in epistolary and documentary style, and a large number of letter writers and books of formulas appeared, called "Artes Dictandi" or "Summae Dictami- num," containing rules for composition and form, and collec- tions of examples. The works of Alberic, of Monte Cassino, who had given this art its new basis with his theory of the five divisions of the letter, were followed by those of men like Albert of Samaria, who wrote between the years 1 1 1 1 and 1 1 19, Aginulf, Albert of Asti, and by several anonymous " Artes dictandi " in Lombardy. The Canon Hugo of Bologna, whose *' Rationes Dictandi Prosaice " were finished after 1 1 24, was a pupil of Alberic. Guido Faba, chaplain of S. Michael's in Bologna, wrote (c. 1229) his "Doctrina ad Inveniendas, Incipiendas et Formandas Materias," which is specially interesting from the fact that it contains for the first time examples in the vulgar tongue. The greatest fame as grammarian at the beginning of the thirteenth century was enjoyed by Magister Boncompagno, from the neighbourhood of Florence, who taught at the University of Bologna. He entitled his principal work " Boncompagnus " after himself; it was, as he informs us, read before the professors of this university on March 25th, 12 15, and crowned, as also later by the university of Padua, and was published in the year 1226 (on March 31st). In 1235 Boncompagno was still in Bologna ; later he went to the court of Rome, there to make his fortune, but was disappointed in his hopes, and became so poor that he died in a hospital at Florence. Boncom- pagno was an original character, a great scoffer, after the manner of the Florentines generally, as the chronicler Salim- bene says, who tells several anecdotes and jests about him. He, too, was to a high degree filled with that exaggerated opinion of his merits which we found in Anselm the Peripatetic. In the dialogue between the author and his book at the begin- ning of the " Boncompagnus," he speaks of himself and of the importance of the science taught by him, and enumerates y ^A^imT ■>*3£W<*«d>^«*iJ a 1 ^S HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE the rest of his works, one of which he designates as the "Empress of the liberal arts." In his boastings he extols himself above Cicero, who is not by any means a perfect model in his eyes ; he wishes to be original in his rhetoric, and, in the work called '* Palma," he even maintains that he cannot remember ever to have read Tully, which is a distinct untruth, as he controverts him in another place, and blames him for unpractical rules and unclear expressions. He has also many complaints to make against malevolent enemies and envious persons ; but he treats them with great haughti- ness. At the close of the " Boncompagnus," he begs the reader to wish the author peace, " whom numerous scorpions tried to wound with their poisonous tails, and behind whose back very many dogs barked ; but, in front of his face, the lips of all the envious were dumb." To several of his books he gave high-sounding names: *'Cedrus," "Mirra," "Palma," ** Oliva," " Rota Veneris," " Notute Aurese," " Liber Decem Tabularum." Reading these titles, we expect quite different matter to rules and examples for epistolary style. Still, it cannot be denied that the author had a vivacious intellect, and that he understood and took an interest in actual events, and in this way his mode of treatment compares favourably with the usual dryness of works of this kind. At times, by way of illustration, he narrates experiences, anecdotical traits of himself and others, and gives valuable information con- cerning the customs of his time, as in the paragraph in the " Boncompagnus," longer than usual, concerning the use of funeral laments in Italy and elsewhere, or in the account of the coarse jokes which Guido Guerra, Count Palatine of Tuscany, permitted himself to perpetrate on some jongleurs that came to him. Another result of the great historical events, and especially of the development of the free municipal constitutions, was the long series of chronicles, beginning with the close ef the eleventh century. In the South the history of the Norman dynasty was told by Gaufredus Malaterra, by Alexander, Abbot of Telese, and by Romualdus, Archbishop of Salerno; while in the North, the older and younger Landulf described the events that had taken place in their native city of Milan, and Sire Raoul and Otto Morena of Lodi the wars with Barbarossa. Soon every town of some importance, as its M MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 39 power increased, desired the record of its deeds and fortunes to be preserved for the remembrance of posterity. The most splendid work of this kind is the "Annales Genuenses,"^ begun in the year iioo by Cafaro, a man who himself played an important part in the public life of his town, and who was several times one of the governing body. After he had had his work read to the consuls, it was at their command deposited among the archives of the Republic. After his death (1166) the consuls, one after the other, had the chronicle continued, so that it comes down to the year 1293, and thus comprises the history of almost two centuries written by eye-witnesses, this being the first in- stance of an historical work commissioned by the state, and composed under its direction. An attempt to pass over from the simple, unpretentious style of the chronicle, which only gives a list of facts, to the real art of writing history, we note for the first time, in two shorter works by Florentines, belonging to the first half of the thirteenth century, in the "Gesta Florentinorum"^ of Sanzanome, and in the " De Obsidione Anconae Liber " ' of the master Boncompagno, whom we already know. The model they try to imitate is, of course, again classical art. The knowledge of grammar and of rhetoric, which they had acquired in the schools, is made use of in the writing of his- tory. Sanzanome lets his personages make well-constructed and pompous speeches ; thus, for example, in the war against Fiesole, a noble Florentine speaks before the assembled council and the consuls, reminding them of their great ancestors, of the duties their Roman descent imposed on them, and among the people of Fiesole, a lawyer rises, and recalls to them the glorious descent of Italus, to whom the whole of Italy is indebted for her name, the great antiquity of the city, the brave Catiline, and the like. In these ficti- tious speeches, the historical facts supply the material for practice in style, in the same way that it was usual in the schools to compose letters and speeches on political themes, and to put them in the mouths of Emperors and Popes. ^ "Mon. Germ. Script.," xviii. ^ O. Hartwig, "Quellen und Forschungen zur altesten Gesch. der Stadt Florenz," i. (Marburg, 1875.) ^ Muratori, "Script.," vi. 925 ff. I ■ 40 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE However, this effort to adopt a literary form which does not grow out of the matter treated, but is only applied to it out- wardly, is detrimental to the subject proper of the history, which cannot always be made to fit in with these forms, and thus the narrative becomes a meagre, incomplete, and abstract summary. To begin with, Boncompagno selected a theme which was closely circumscribed, and which fur- nished an exceptional opportunity for the introduction of rhetorical ornament, namely, the heroic defence of the people of Ancona, when they were besieged in 1 1 74 by Archbishop Christian of Mayence, the chancellor of Frederick I. An old man of Ancona, the Greek legate, Guglielmo Marcheselli of Ferrara, and the Countess of Brettinoro, make long speeches, garnished with images and maxims, in order to fire the courage of the citizens. The old man begins with the words : " I call on you, ye men of Ancona, who have your origin in the noble stock of the Romans;" and farther on he quotes a passage from Terence. But, together with the classical quotations, Biblical subject-matter is also introduced, accord- ing to the taste of the time. Remarkable in this work of Boncompagno is a passage in which the name of Italy is, perhaps, for the first time in a medieval historian, connected with some idea of national patriotism. After the author has related how the Venetians supported the chancellor, and how so many other Italians in the imperial army fought against the oppressed city, he laments this pernicious division, on account of the impression it would make on foreigners, and adds : " Nam opinio in banc me trahit sententiam ut non credam Italiam posse fieri tributariam alicui nisi Italicorum mahtia procederet ac livore ; in Legibus enim habetur : * Non est Provincia, sed Domina Provinciarum.' " In Italy the national idea was roused through the study of antiquity, and was at first merely an abstract conception, without reality, since a municipal constitution alone was reigning supreme. And so, as Dante said, referring to the same phrase that was quoted by Boncompagno, the country re- mained for so many centuries— Non donna die provincie, ma bordello. Latin poetry, which had, at the beginning of the twelfth century, produced those historical works of which the form . MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 41 was unpolished, but the contents not uninteresting, was but scantily cultivated in Italy in later ages. The verse chronicle was contmued by Geoffrey of Viterbo, who, in his Universal History, written about the year 11 90, entitled ** Pantheon," introduced among the prose sections numerous passages composed in a metre invented by himself (strophes of three hexameters, of which only the second and third rhyme).^ In this same form is composed also the longer poem, " Gesta Frederici," a dry enumeration of events in a prosaic style. Geoffrey, by the way, was almost more of a German than an Italian, lived constantly at the court of the Emperor, and appears not to have returned to his native city of Viterbo till he had grown old. A certain Master Peter of Eboli celebrated in distichs the subjugation of the kingdom of Sicily by Henry VI. It is a bombastic panegyric, which calls the Emperor not only Caesar and Augustus, but also Jupiter, and Tonans, or Sol, nay, even compares him with Christ, and extols his cruelties as acts of justice. At the close the author, in a servile manner, petitions for a gift, at the same time presenting his book to the Emperor; this reward he appears to have obtained in the shape of a mill at Eboli. He wrote between 11 94 and 1 1 96, shows no slight acquaintance with the classics, and mastery of language and metre, but often becomes clumsy and obscure in his efforts to be sublime and distinguished."^ More worthy of attention is a didactic poem which enjoyed great popularity in the Middle Ages, was read in the grammar schools, and later translated into Italian, the "Elegia de Diversitate Fortunae et Philosophiae Consolatione" of Henricus Pauper, or Henricus Septimellensis, as he is called, after his birthplace, Settimello, near Florence. The author fell from a state of happiness into poverty and misery, and seeks consolation in the wisdom which he had formerly imbibed in Bologna. In the poem he bewails his unhappy fate and the inconstancy of the Goddess of Fortune; she appears to him, and he disputes with her without coming to a reconciliation. Thereupon Philosophy appears, accompanied by the seven Liberal Arts, and reproaches him for his faint- i (( Mon. Germ. Script.," xxii. ^ **Des Magisters Petrus de Ebulo Liber ad honorem Augusti," herausgegeben von Ed. Winkelmann. Leipzig, 1874. I i 42 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE heartedness. The situation is the same as in the famous book of Boethius ; from him the author took the idea of his poem, but he proceeds independently in the working out of the details. Remarkable is the lightness of the Christian colouring with which Henricus's ethics are tinged. There is only a cursory exhortation to trust in the goodness of God (iv. 55); for the rest, the consolation of philosophy consists, not in the hope of reward after death, but in pointing to the necessary inconstancy of fortune, to the fame and honour that follow in the wake of steadfastness, and to the dangers to which men in exalted positions are exposed. The real remedies against pain and despair are given in the last book, and take the form of a long series of trivial maxims, rules for the conduct of life, and directions for virtuous behaviour. And so philosophy, which in Boethius, as the true teacher of wisdom, treats the highest metaphysical questions, has here become a somewhat vulgar moral preacher. The poet draws the examples for his teachings for the most part from antiquity, now and again from the Bible and the tales of chivalry ; but some of them are taken from his own time, and, since mention is here made of Henry VL's first un- successful expedition to Sicily, to the murder of Conrad of Montferrat, and to the capture of Richard Coeur de Lion, as of events that had recently occurred, we see that the poem was composed about the year 1192. Especially when the author speaks of the increasing wickedness of the world, he effectively touches the affairs of his own time in words that come from his heart, complains of the corruption of the Papal See, the venality of the law, the general oblivion of God, and regards as the punishment for all this the universal misery, the famine, the victory of the Saracens in the Holy Land, and the struggle between the spiritual and temporal power, which strive in turn to usurp each other's rights (iii. 244 seq.). These invectives do not lack poetical power. In several other passages, as in the laments at the beginning of the book, it becomes apparent that the author is, much to the advantage of the narrative, relating his own experiences. In other countries the twelfth century was a flourishing period for Latin poetry, and especially in France, where this was altogether an age that has rarely been equalled for the 1 MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 43 deep interest taken in science and literature. There it was that a man like Hildebert of Tours wrote his poetry, who in some of his pieces, as in the two beautiful elegies on the ruins of Rome, gives proof of an inspiration and a purity of form that are almost classical. There, too, wrote such men as Guilelmus Armoricus, the author of the *' PhiHppeis," and GautierofChatillon, whose "Alexandreis" almost supplanted Virgil in the schools. England possessed men like Joseph of Exeter, Germany the " Ligurinus " of Gunther. Poems so perfect in their way were not produced in Italy at that period. But classical studies had altogether made such brilliant progress in France, that the Italians could scarcely compete with them. Just as medicine was studied in Salerno, law in Bologna, and theology in Paris, so Orleans was famous as the true seat for the study of the classical authors, and attracted students from all parts. The Ars dictandi was also cultivated there, and it is worthy of note that the bitter Master Boncompagno, in the passage where he inveighs against the instruction given in Bologna, and calls it superstitiosam Aurelianensium doctrinam^ boastingly says of himself that he intended to take his pupils back " to the style of the Holy Fathers, of the Roman see, and of the imperial court," and does not mention the classics as models. Also the most distinguished grammatical theorists of that time were not Italians, but an Englishman, Gaufridus de Vinosalvo, a Belgian, Eberard of Bethune, and a French- man, Alexander of Villedieu. The reason why the Italians had again been surpassed by the others in the study of these sciences must apparently be sought for in their tastes, which were practical before all things, and which had caused them to direct their attention to a limited field. But if the classical culture of the Middle Ages attained a higher stage of development in France, it was, on the other hand, more widely diffused among the people of Italy, where it had penetrated more deeply than in other countries into the life and thought of the nation. The German chronicler, Otto of Freisingen, who accompanied Barbarossa on his first expedition, found this diffusion of education and culture in Northern Italy, this approach to the Roman civiUsation, worthy of remark ("De Reb. Gest. Frid.," ii. 12). The patriotic feelings that the thoughts of antiquity could not 44 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE fail to arouse among the Italians, caused this people to be in closer contact with classical times than other nations. These were national recollections with which they occupied themselves, recollections of the power and greatness of their own country, which came to them from the monuments and literary works ; the Italian national idea itself arose in the first place from the study of antiquity. The revived culture, the forms of the political constitution which resembled those of antiquity, were regarded as direct Unks with the brilliant periods of Rome, and whatever had occurred in the mean- time was considered merely as a transitory diversion and degeneration, as an eclipse of the old condition of things, which they should strive to restore in its perfection. And in this way there gradually sprang up among the Italians the opinion, which has not yet entirely died out, that the invasion of the German tribes, from which, after all, the new state of affairs took its origin, had done nothing but interrupt a regular course of development, and that this new condition of things was a reaction against the invasion. Men wished to become Romans again, and hated the barbarians, now in their turn overcome, for having put an end to the noble Roman sway, as though they had cut short a flourishing epoch of culture ; whereas they had in reality given the coup de grace to a diseased civilisation, and, by this very means, made possible a new period of development. In this way the spirit of classical antiquity, though it might for a time stand out more conspicuously elsewhere, was always most deeply rooted among the Italians, to whom it expressed their own past. In France and in the other countries, this medieval Renaissance was not of long dura- tion : it was exhausted in the first decades of the thirteenth century, and the interest in grammar and poetry gave way to the zeal for scholastic dialectics and metaphysics, which filled men's minds. In Italy, on the other hand, the classical influence is continually on the increase, and at last, in the fourteenth century, brings about the Renaissance of modern times. Of a really living Latin literature medieval Italy possessed very little. The works which were produced in those ages are monuments of the spirit of the times and of the degree of culture then prevailing ; literary value they do not, as a MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 45 rule, possess. The Latin poetry of the Middle Ages is essentially a poetry of the schools, a repetition of formulas and commonplaces, a product of erudition, not an in- dependent creation. And Italy, as we have seen, did not even produce works so perfect in point of form as other countries. It is true that there existed a branch of Latin poetry which possessed more vitality, and which approached the popular manner in language and rhythmical form. On the one hand we have the religious lyrical poetry, those hymns that were inspired by deep feeling, harmonious in sound and effective in their simple expression, such as some among those of Damian -, and, on the other hand, in direct contrast, the songs of the wandering students, with their boisterous love of life, their fresh feeling for Nature and their keen satire against the Church. But in the production of just this poetry of the Vagantes or Goliards, the Italians had no share at all, or, at any rate, a most insignificant one. The reason for this probably is that, as Giesebrecht well remarked, the poetry of the Vagantes is related to the poetry composed in the vulgar tongue. In France, Germany, and England it is contemporaneous with the latter, influenced by it, and perhaps even entirely due to it. In Italy, therefore, where the vulgar poetry began later, it is not till the thirteenth century that we find a fair number of rhythmical poems which at least recall those of the Goliards. Such are Master Boncampagno's poem in derision of Frate Giovanni of Vicenza, a portion of which is quoted by Salimbene (p. 38) ; the song in praise of wine (" Vinum dulce gloriosum ") by the grammarian Morandus of Padua ; the satire, attributed to Pier della Vigna, directed against the Dominicans and Franciscans, who wish to have a share in politics, and thus sow discord between Pope and Emperor ("Vehementi nimium commotus dolore ") ; and others of the same kind. A living literature needs a spoken tongue for its proper expression. Now, Latin was, it is true, frequently used, in the churches, in pubHc documents, and in legal transactions : here it was corrupted and impregnated with the vulgar tongue, and it was just in this transformed and defiled state that it may be said to have had a certain amount of life, as is shown in the rhythmical compositions or in the prose of a writer like Fra Salimbene, though also in this case not before I* :f n 46 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE the vulgar tongue began to be set down in writing. And an irregular, individual treatment of the Latin could not result in a permanent literary idiom. On the other hand, a tem- porary revival, at least, was possible at a period of the greatest enthusiasm for the classical age, when this age began to live again in men's minds, and when its language was spoken almost as the natural tongue. But these times of the Re- naissance were still far distant, and they would probably never have come at all, if they had not been preceded by a long period of literature in the vulgar tongue. This new Romance language, which had developed from the Latin in the mouths of the people, had already existed for a long time. From the seventh century onwards, words, and especially names of persons and places, become in the Latin documents more and more frequent in the vulgar form. In the ninth century the poem on the Emperor Lewis's capture, among other pieces, proves clearly enough, with its corrupt Latin, the existence of Italian. In the year 960 a short sentence in the vulgar tongue is found for the first time in a document of Monte Cassino. Almost entirely in the vernacular are a Sardinian document and a formula of confession from Central Italy, both of the eleventh century^ while we have further Sardinian documents as well as some Italian inscriptions belonging to the twelfth century. But the Uterary use of this new idiom, in other words, Italian literature, does not begin till later, while the Provencal and Old French literatures go back to the tenth and eleventh centuries and had already attained their highest perfection in the twelfth. On the other hand, all efforts to discover Italian literary monuments going back beyond the beginning of the thirteenth century have hitherto been futile, and all the supposed discoveries of this kind have proved to be illusions. For either it was merely a question of forgery, or the assumed date turned out to be erroneous. The former was the case with the so-called ** Carte d'Arborea," which made such a sensation and which gave rise to a fierce contro- versy : their apocryphal character is, however, now univers- ally admitted, save for the few cases in which their champions' eyes are closed by false patriotism or personal vanity. These manuscripts, which are called after the supposed place of their origin, Oristano, the ancient seat of the regoli of I i MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 47 Arborea in Sardinia, were first made known in 1845 ^^^ the following years by the Minorite Cosimo Monca and were, for the greater part, sold to the library of Cagliari. There were altogether forty-four codices and pages, containing poetry and prose in vulgar Latin, classical I^atin, Sardinian and Tuscan. The very quantity of this material could not fail to arouse suspicion. The forgers had not considered that such an extensive literary activity, which was supposed, according to them, to have fallen in the twelfth century, must have left some traces on succeeding ages, and that it was difficult to understand how Dante, who has written about the beginnings of Italian poetry, should have been entirely unaware of its existence. Besides, the poems them- selves are either completely modern in character, or testify to an antiquity which betrays itself as artificial owing to the fact that the imitated models are often misunderstood, while the historical portion of the manuscripts is full of anachron- isms and absurd statements. Genuine, but not so old as was long thought, is a poem in the Apulian dialect, contained in an eleventh century manu- script in the monastery of Monte Cassino, and accordingly known as the " Ritmo Cassinese." In the portion preserved it is difficult to understand ; in many passages, indeed, it is still entirely enigmatical, and apparently written intentionally in a mysterious style by the author, who was evidently a monk. For the benefit of the listeners a conversation is reported between a man from the East and another from the West, which is probably intended as a panegyric on the dis- cipline of S. Benedict. All this, however, is of smaller interest to us now, seeing that the poem has lost its vener- able claim as the earliest monument of the language. A conjecture, put forward by D'Ancona in 1870, to the effect that the leaf in question of the codex was not written on in the eleventh century like the rest, but at a later date, has been proved, through the researches of Giorgi and Navone, to be perfectly correct, and there is nothing to prevent our assign- ing the poem to the thirteenth century. In the collections of the oldest lyrical poets, there is a canzone by a certain Messer Folcacchieri of Siena, in which Father De Angelis, and others after him, thought they had discovered an allusion to the period following the Peace of 48 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE Venice ( 1 1 7 7). But these utterances concerning the peaceful state of the whole world are of a very general nature, and might just as well refer to a different time ; as a matter of fact, Curzio Mazzi recently proved that the poet lived about the year 1250. Of other poems to which formerly too early a date was assigned, the ** Rosa fresca aulentissima " and the " Intelligenzia," it is needless to speak in this place, as they will have to be treated more fully later on. To prove that poetry was composed in Italy as early as the twelfth century a passage of the Dante commentator Jacopo della Lana (referring to "Par." xx. 61) has often been quoted; it has, together with so many others, passed over from his com- mentary into others. In a laudatory description of the court of King William the Good at Palermo, Jacopo also mentions the excellent poets and singers who had assembled there. However, he does not say that the singers at this Norman court were Italians, and not Frenchmen perchance or Provencals, and even if he had said so, it would surely be a strange proceeding to set the authority of a Dante com- mentator over that of Dante himself, who knows nothing of these poets in his book " De Eloquentia Vulgari." It is, indeed, quite correct to say that the poetry of a nation does not begin suddenly, or with the date at which the first monuments appear. The people are sure to have sung earlier than this, and in Italy, too, popular songs may have already existed. But a distinction must be drawn between these and a continuous literary development, and, after all, the history of literature can only occupy itself with real documents, and not with vague conjectures concerning things which may have existed previously, and of which no account has come down to us. If, therefore, the Romance language that had long been spoken was not put to literary uses till so late a period, this must be accounted for by the powerful spirit of classicism which had, in this country, begun to dominate every walk of life, and whose influence determined the course of Italian literature from the very outset. Here Latin was more powerful, as set against the idiom that had sprung from it, than elsewhere, and it took longer for the latter to venture into publicity. Just as people felt themselves to be the descendants of the old Romans, so, too, the language of MEDIEVAL LATIN LITERATURE 49 Rome was regarded as the true Italian language, and the other, which was spoken, as a mere corruption of it, was held to be suitable for intercourse and for every-day use, but not for the expression of the higher intellectual ideas. This was a prejudice which lasted for a long time, which Dante attacked energetically, though he was not entirely free from it himself, which was revived in an aggravated form after him, and which did not altogether disappear till the sixteenth century. Italian, just because it approached nearest to Latin, and had grown up on the same soil on which this tongue had flourished, was later than the other Romance idioms in awakening to consciousness as an in- dependent language and as a medium for literary expression. 1 I. II THE SICILIAN SCHOOL OF POETRY T N this way, Italy was still without a literature at a time -■- when its western neighbour had already produced two, the Provencal and Old French, each of them well de- veloped. These literatures, which were held in high esteem throughout Europe, could not fail to exercise an exceptionally wide influence in a country which was itself comparatively unproductive. The poems of the troubadours inspired the first attempts at lyrical poetry, while the French chansons de gesfe and romances supplied the subject-matter for narrative poetry, no suitable themes having sprung up on Italian soil. The influence of the troubadours made itself felt earher than that of the French poems. The political and commercial relations that had, for ages, existed between Northern Italy and the South of France, paved the way for an intellectual intercourse between the two countries. The Provencal troubadours, who loved a roving life, and who went from court to court, appearing wherever they could gain fame for their songs, gifts from the princes and the favour of their mistresses, came to Italy from the end of the twelfth century, perhaps even earlier. Peire Vidal was one of the most restless among them, living now in Provence, now in Spain, now in Hungary, and now in the East. In 1189 he appears to have been for a short time in Genoa, after which he lived with the Margrave Boniface II. in Monferrato and in other parts of Northern Italy, where he sang the praises of a fair Lombard lady (1194); in 1205 he was on the island of Malta with Count Henry, perhaps after taking part in the crusade to Con- stantinople. Raimbaut de Vaqueiras came, in the last de- cade of the twelfth century, to the court of the Margrave Boniface who was delighted with his art, dubbed him V I i THE SICILIAN SCHOOL OF POETRY SI knight, and made him his brother-in-arms. Raimbaut paid homage to the prince's sister, Beatrix (the wife of Henry of Carret), whom he celebrated in his poems under the pseudonym of Bels Cavaliers, and if we may believe an anecdote recorded in the old Provengal biography of the poet, this love aflair ripened into an intimacy of the closest nature. In 11 94 Raimbaut accompanied the Margrave, together with Henry VL, on his expedition to Sicily, rescuing him from great peril at Messina. In 1202 he followed him in the Crusade, and appears to have fallen at his side ; the old biography at least testifies to his having died in Greece. Later on, especially when the terrible wars of the Albigenses devastated the South of France and put a sudden end to the flourishing culture of those parts, the troubadours sought refuge in Italy with increasing fre- quency ; the best known among those who went in the first half of the thirteenth century were Aimeric de Pegul- han, Gaucelm Faidit, and Uc de S. Circ. Italian princes and Italian ladies were in those times often extolled in Provencal songs, among the latter especially Beatrix d'Este, the daughter of Azzo VL, and Emilia di Ravenna, the wife of Pietro Traversari. The courts which the troubadours frequented most were those of Northern Italy, especially those of the Margraves of Monferrato and of the Estes in Ferrara. But they also went farther south. Thus, for example, Uc de S. Circ was in Pisa, and Guillem de la Tor in Florence ; Peire Vidal stayed in Malta, and Raimbaut de Vaqueiras fought in Sicily, as we have seen. At the court of the Emperor Frederick II. these poets are sure not to have been strangers. This was, as Dante says, the meeting-place of all the most distinguished men from far and near. The " Cento Novelle Antiche " tell of Frederick's liberality and courtesy, and the panegyrics showered on him by the Proven9al poets prove that he must have been very gracious to them. Aimeric de Pegul- han sang his praises,* when still young, in the canzone "En aquel temps," under the image of the good physician of Salerno, who heals the ills of the time, and restores the courtly virtues, after they had been lost sight of on the death of the former noble patrons. It is true that we have no definite testimony concerning individual poets who lived 52 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE with him ; but the old Provencal biographies are altogether very meagre, and from their silence it is impossible to draw any conclusions. As Fauriel rightly remarked, Frederick IL also had political reasons for favouring several of these troubadours, who were indignant at the wars of the Albi- genses, and made violent attacks on the Holy See. The passionate invectives of poets like Guillem Figueira could not fail to stir up the people more effectually than the most skilful Latin pamphlet, and might be used by the Emperor as a weapon in his struggle against the Popes. The troubadours who came to Italy were wont to take an active part in the political affairs of the country, which were, after all, intimately connected with those of their native land. They took sides in the struggles between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, or between the jealous communes, and not a few of their poems have reference to Italian affairs. Peire Vidal extols the people of Pisa and inveighs against the Genoese who had been humbled by them. He exhorts the citizens of Milan and Pavia to be good friends, and warns the Lombards in general to be on their guard against the German robbers, so that their lot may not be that of the conquered Apulians (1194: "Bon' aventura don deus als Pizas "). Peire de la Cavarana encouraged the Lombards to resist the Emperor Henry in his spirited serventese^ "D'un serventes faire" (1195), which was much influenced by the song of the poet of Toulouse. Peire Guillem de Luzerna urged the Emperor Frederick to proceed with greater energy against the haughty city of Milan (" En aquest gai sonet leugier "). Uc de S. Circ, in a poem addressed to Count Guido Guerra and other Italian Guelphs, gives vent to his hatred of the heretical Frederick, warns those that side with him of the ruin that threatens them, and calls on France and the Church to form an alliance, and to direct the crusade towards Italy, with a view to conquering the kingdom : " For he who does not believe in God, shall not rule " {circa 1148 : *' Un sirventes vuelh far "). The poem of an unknown author, which has been wrongly ascribed to Peire Vidal, who had been long dead at that time, is a song of victory over the Florentines conquered at Monte Aperti (1260), and celebrates King Manfred, whose horsemen had carried the day (" Quor qu'om trobes Florentis orgulhos "). THE SICILIAN SCHOOL OF POETRY 53 l|f" It will be seen that these roving minstrels did not remain strangers in the country of their wanderings. Raimbaut de Vaqueiras even employed the Italian language in two of his poems. He wrote a so-called Descorf, a poem in which each stanza is composed in a different idiom, and the second of these, as well as a portion of the refrain, are in Italian. He is also the author of a jocose dialogue, in which his declarations of love are treated with contempt by a Genoese lady ; she is made to speak in the dialect of her native town, which is well suited to the nature of her replies. These verses by a Provencal are the oldest, or nearly the oldest, in the Italian language that have as yet come to light, for they must have been written before the year 1202, in which Raimbaut left Italy never to return. The troubadours remained in Italy till the end of the thirteenth century, at which time Provencal lyrical poetry, generally, lost all importance. The great impression these poems made, and the general applause with which they were received, induced native poets to imitate them, and in Northern Italy those who attempted to reproduce the art of the Provengals, also employed for this purpose the Provencal tongue. This language was well known owing to the manifold relations existing with the South of France, and it was easily learnt, because the dialects spoken in those parts resembled it fairly closely. Besides, it was more natural to adopt the language of the models together with the poetical tradition, than to raise the native dialects, which were still in an uncultivated state, to the dignity of a literary idiom. The oldest of these Italians composing Provencal poetry that are known to us are the Margraves Manfred IL, Lancia and Albert Malaspina, of whom the former was engaged in a te?tzone with Peire Vidal, the latter with Raimbaut de Vaqueiras. Of Manfred nothing has come down to us except the two stanzas of this tenzone that be- long to him, of Albert nothing but the tenzone and a love dialogue, "Dona, a vos me comen." The first writer of whom a larger number of poems is extant, is the Bolognese Rambertino Buvallello, who was in 1201 Podest^ of Brescia, and afterwards occupied the same office in other towns of Northern Italy (1208 in Milan, 12 13 in Parma, 1218-20 in Genoa) ; he probably composed his poetry between the years 54 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE 1209 and 121 2. All the others are much more recent. Among them there is an especially large number of Genoese, namely, Lanfranco Cigala, who, among other pieces, com- posed a serventese against Bonifacio III. of Monferrato, Simone Doria, Perceval Doria, Jacopo Grillo, Luchetto Gattilufio, who wrote a serventese belonging to the year 1262 and who was still alive in 1300, and Bonifacio Calvi. A certain Nicoletto of Turin was, in 1238, engaged in a tenzone with Joan d'Albusso. In Ferrara, where the troubadours were welcome guests at the court of the Este, Master Ferrari, in the second half of the century, compiled a collection of stanzas selected from their poems ; of his own works, only one cobla has been preserved. The Ve- netian Bartolommeo Zorzi, who was prisoner of the Genoese from 1266 till 1273, in a canzone defended his native town, with fervent patriotism, against the attacks that had been made on it by Bonifacio Calvi in one of his poems ; he also bewailed the deaths of Corradino and of Saint Louis in two beautiful songs of lamentation. The most famous of the Italian troubadours is Sordello of Mantua, who was praised by Dante in his book " De Eloq. Vulg.," and idealised in the " Purgatorio " as the type of noble, patriotic pride. His restless life, which brought him into close contact now with persons of the most exalted rank, and now with the vulgarity, the quarrels, and the petty jealousies of mercenary minstrels, appears to have little in common with the imposing figure created by Dante, and the same remark applies to the majority of his poems. An exception is, however, formed by x\i^ serventese on the death of his patron Blacatz, com- posed in the year 1237 : this is filled with the same spirit as the famous invective against the negligent princes which he is made made to utter in the seventh canto of the " Purga- torio," and possibly accounts for Dante's sympathy with the poet. After the death of the noble Blacatz, he can see no way to make good the loss unless the princes eat of the dead man's heart, so as to acquire the courage and nobility they lack ; and his enumeration of those in need of this food, de- velops into a bold and keen satire against the most powerful rulers of his time. In his later years, Sordello was in the service of Charies of Anjou, and probably accompanied him on his expedition to Naples. In 1266 he was prisoner in THE SICILIAN SCHOOL OF POETRY 55 I Naples, but according to the old biography he died in Provence. The works of all these poets are contained in the old collections of the troubadour poetry, where they form a por- tion of Provencal rather than of Italian literature; the Proven^l in which they are composed can scarcely be distinguished from that of the other troubadours. In Southern Italy, on the other hand, at the court of Frederick II., such skill in the use of the foreign tongue could only be acquired with difificulty, and poetry written in it could not have been expected to be generally understood : and so the native volgare was adopted. That is probably the reason, why Italian artificial poetry began in Sicily. In Northern Italy, the poets wrote in Provencal ; in Central Italy there were no brilliant courts, and the lyrics that were being imitated were court poetry. But the Provencal poetry of the Italians in the North must not be regarded as a transition to that of the South composed in Italian, as has been done ; if we except the few verses of the Margraves Lancia and Malaspina, they are both contemporary, and the poems of Zorzi partly be- long to a period in which the court poetry of the South had already died out. In Sicily the good results of the former Arabian rule were still apparent in the prosperous and civilised condition of the island, and Frederick II. did his utmost to preserve this state of things in his kingdom. His new code of laws (the Constitutions of Melfi), while increasing the absolute power of the sovereign, restricted the rights of the restless feudal nobility, and insured order and justice, which was strictly administered. He took the liveliest interest in scientific studies, and, by his brilliant example, gave such an impetus to the general desire for culture as was scarcely equalled by any person during the Middle Ages. He founded the University of Naples (1224), collected in his library many Arabian and Greek manuscripts, and had them trans- lated into Latin. He sent translations of writings of Aris- totle that were as yet unknown in the West, and of other philosophers, to the professors at Bologna, so that they might interpret them in their lectures and make them generally known, together with the philosophical works of antiquity that had previously been in use ; and it is beautiful to see, in k S6 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE the letter accompanying these manuscripts, how Frederick regarded the promotion of scientific studies as one of the duties of a ruler, by the side of his other tasks (" Epistolae Petri de Vineis," iii. 67). Rhetoric flourished at the court of the Emperor. His ministers and officials, especially Pier della Vigna, the most eminent among them, were masters in the art of the epistolary and diplomatic style which was at that time cultivated with so much zeal. This is shown by a collection of documents, especially those of Frederick II., which goes by the name of the " Letters of Pier della Vigna," while it is in other manu- scripts more suitably entitled "Summa Magistri Petri de Vineis," or " Summa Dictaminum," since it is one of the collections of letters then in vogue which were intended as models of style. Here we note, in contrast to the simplicity to be found in Boncompagno and others, a manifest desire to imitate the fulness and the majesty of the Latin period ; but the necessary skill had not been attained, and a diction resulted, that was ponderous, twisted, obscure, and frequently barbarous, with long, involved sentences. They thought they had attained the highest standard of perfection, and were proud of it. In the correspondence of Pier della Vigna with the Archbishop of Capua and the notary Nicolaus de Rocca we have veritable rhetorical contests, the sole pur- pose of which was to demonstrate the skill of the writer in his use of the pen, each one outvying the other in the em- ployment of exaggerated compliments. During the struggle with the Pope, the style of Frederick's diplomatic documents, which were mostly drawn up by Pier della Vigna, and of the reports of his subordinates relating to public affairs, assumes a special character by reason of the constant note of ex- aggeration, and of the frequent use of Biblical phrases and images. These notaries always adopted the sanctimonious phraseology common to sermons, and, indeed, the Emperor always desired to have the Word of God on his side, and, as the true defender of the faith in its purity and sanctity, he opposed the corruption of the Church. Among the followers of the imperial party this style might, in that age of a newly-awakened religious enthusiasm, have been the result of sincere conviction. But this was not the case with Frederick himself. His attitude towards the THE SICILIAN SCHOOL OF POETRY 57 I reUgious movement of his time was always regulated by poUtical considerations; he favoured the desire for reform because it threatened the power of the Pope, and had the heretics burnt, because he saw that their alliances were a danger to the order of the State. The Papal party accused him himself of being a heretic and atheist, attributed to him the declaration concerning the three deceivers, and reproached him with denying the immortaHty of the soul ; Dante, in spite of the admiration and respect he felt for Frederick, shared this latter belief concerning him, and placed him in Hell. His enemies may have exaggerated, but everything points to the fact that he was endowed with great freedom of opinions. Though he was himself a sceptic, he pretended to be strictly orthodox, persecuted heresy, that is to say, all sincere doubt, and required his subjects to observe the out- ward forms of religion; so that he may be said to have initiated in Italy that religious hypocrisy and indolent ob- servance of forms and ceremonials which became general among the cultured at the time of the Renaissance. Towards the Mussulmans the feelings of the emperor were tolerant, even friendly. A division of the Saracen mercenaries of Lucera accompanied the crusading army to the Holy Land. Frederick stood in friendly relations with the Sultan of Egypt; he sent him mathematical problems, in order to procure from him their solution. To Eastern and Western scholars he directed certain metaphysical and theological questions, clearly proving to us that he was a sceptic. These questions were answered by Ibn-Sab'in at the request of the Caliph Rashid at Ceuta.^ It may, therefore, be doubted whether his subsequent wish to undertake a great crusade, and his laments at the loss of the Holy Sepulchre, were quite genuine, and whether he was not rather, in this way, playing a trump card against the Pope, who prevented the execution of his pious plans. In this powerful personality, which made so great an im- pression on the age, we see at all points a great similarity to Eastern potentates, in his love of science, in his absolute rule, in his unscrupulousness when pursuing his political aims, in the blend of magnanimity and cruelty, in the heart- ^ Amari, 1. c, p. 702. / ^ 58 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE lessness, with which he caused the ruin of his most faithful servants, such as Pier della Vigna, as soon as he became sus- picious, and, finally, in his sensuality. Amari justly called him and King Roger "i due sultani battezzati di Sicilia" (iii. 365). To the Christians of the West his court appeared to be a court of Mussulmans, at which the luxury and loose morals of the East prevailed. Frederick delighted in Saracen pantomimists and female dancers, kept a harem at Lucera, and employed eunuchs by whom he had his last two wiVes jealously guarded. Under his predecessors, Arabian poetry was still composed at this court ; but in the earliest Italian poetry it is impossible to find any traces of Arabian influence, which could no longer maintain itself against the popularity of the Proven(^al love poetry. To the poets of the Italian school belong the Emperor Frederick II. himself, his son Enzo, King of Sardinia, and Pier della Vigna, of Capua. The latter was, after the year 1232, very prominent in public affairs, filling the highest offices of the State in 1247— as Pronotary of the Imperial Court and Logotheta of the Kingdom of Sicily. He died a tragic death in 1249, after falling into sudden disgrace. Of the majority of the others who, according to the old collections, were authors of poems, we know nothing beyond the name, or, at most, also the place of their birth. This is the case with Mazzeo Ricco of Messina, Rugieri Apugliese, Ranieri of Palermo, Rugerone of Palermo, Rinaldo d'Aquino and others. Jacopo of Lentini is always called Notary, and he was himself always fond of giving himself in his poems the title of Notary of Lentini, thus indicating their authorship. Istefano of Messina, is called now "Proto- notaro," now " Istefano di Pronto Notaro." Rugieri d'Amici is, perhaps, identical with the Rogerius de Amicis, who was, between the years 1240 and 1242, employed by Frederick II. in important offices of State, and as ambassador to Saracen princes. Guido delle Colonne, of Messina, is called "giudice," and a certain "judex " Guido de Columna is the author of an " Historia Trojana " that was much read in the Middle Ages, being a redaction in Latin prose of Benoit de Ste. More's "Roman deTroie," in the style of historical narrative. Accord- ing to a note at the end of this work, the first book was written in 1272, and the whole concluded in 1287. If its author be THE SICILIAN SCHOOL OF POETRY 59 *t 4 really identical with the poet, the latter must have attained a great age, and composed his poems in his earlier years. The poetical output of this Sicilian school, primarily an imitation of foreign models that narrowed its scope, could not fail to lack all the freshness and originality which mostly form the principal elements of the beginnings of a national literature. The subject-matter of the Provencal poetry is transferred to another language, without undergoing any change in the process beyond sacrificing much of its rich- ness. The new tongue exercised no invigorating influence. It was in reality nothing but a new dress in which the old subject was clothed, and this innovation could not possibly increase the aesthetic value of the poetry ; on the contrary, the still more unwieldy idiom caused it to lo§e much of the grace and elegance it had originally possessed^ The theme of the troubadour poetry, chivalrous love, nt5W reappears in the same forms that had previously served for its expression. Love is a humble and suppliant veneration for the lady ; it always presents itself under the images of feudalism, serving and obeying— the relation of the vassal to the liege lord. The lady stands high above the lover, who bows before her, beseeching her for grace ; he is unworthy to ^erve her, but noble love levels all inequalities. The lady is cruel and lets him languish in vain, so that his sufferings bring him near to death. But he may not cease to love her, for from love comes all worth and all excellence; he must endure, for faithful service will bring him his reward, and should he suffer and die, this will be to his fame and honour, as it is for the sake of the noblest of ladies. This circle of ideas in which the ProvenQal love poetry moved, had in Provencal literature itself given rise already to much that was con- ventional and monotonous. But in Provence it was at home ; here this conception of love had developed, having its origin in an actual though artificial condition of things exist- ing among the upper classes. On that account the earlier poetic efforts, at any rate, do not lack warmth of sentiment, and the absence of variety in the subject-matter is often atoned for by the tenderness and delicacy of the treatment. But when Provencal poetry was to bear new fruit in Italy, it had already passed the period of its full splendour, and was rapidly approaching decline. And the ideas and sentiments 6o HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE THE SICILIAN SCHOOL OF POETRY 6i imported from a foreign country only remotely resembled those current in Italy. There chivalry, in its ideal significa- tion, had never properly taken root. Splendid feasts were given and tournaments were held ; people pretended to be in love, after the fashion of the troubadours, and composed songs in their manner; but all that was merely superficial imitation of foreign usages. In the kingdom of Sicily there was a powerful and warlike feudal nobility -, but these nobles were kept down by Frederick II., who endeavoured to put an end to feudalism, lawyers of civilian descent, like Pier della Vigna and Taddeo of Sessa taking precedence of them at court. As for the homage paid to ladies, this could not fail to become a mere fiction at a court where oriental customs still prevailed, where the emperor kept a harem and had his wives guarded by eunuchs, while he celebrated the fair ones in languishing tones. Thus it is that the oldest Italian lyrical poetry gives us nothing but pale conventionality, both as regards subject- matter and expression. Madonna, the loved one, is always the same image of abstract perfection, without life or move- ment. Her charms and virtues are depicted only in the most general terms. She is the flower of women, the mirror of beauty, like the sweet-smelling rose and the morning star; her splendour surpasses that of pearls and jewels, every excellent quality is hers, and from her emanates every virtue that the poet may venture to attribute to himself. Love is also an abstraction, a personification which the poet addresses, and to which he complains of his sufferings. The relations between the lovers are colourless and without warmth, nearly always the same but for slight modifications : Madonna is cold and inexorable, the lover stoops and bends down, sighs and hopes, declares his eternal fidelity or prays for some mitigation of his tortures. Thus, for example, the Emperor Frederick sang : Valimento mi date, donna fina Che lo mio core adesso a voi s' inchina. S* eo' nchino, ragion n' aggio Di si amoroso bene Che spero e vo sperando, Che ancora credo avere Allegro mio coraggio E tutta la mia spene ; Ch' 6 data in voi amando Ed in vostro piacere ; E veggio li sembianti Di voi, chiarita spera, Ch' aspetto gioia intera, Ed 6 fidanza che lo meo servere Aggia a piacere a voi che siete fiore Sor 1' altre donne e avete piii valore.^ Where, in this eulogy, is there anything of Frederick's in- dividuality ? The personality of the poet disappears, and it becomes almost a matter of indifference what name stands at the head of the songs. The fife of the authors was often chequered and stormy, and full of poetry ; but nothing of this passed over into their verses, because they wrote after a type common to them all, which had no connection with their individual sentiments. In the poems of the South that have come down to us, direct plagiarism of Provengal poetry is very rare, and even the imitation, general as it was, did not take place without strong modifications. Far more frequently we come across ideas that are well known to us from Provencal lyrics, but which do not necessarily go back to a definite original. They are commonplaces which everyone had in mind and employed at need ; as, for example, when both the trouba- dours and Sicilians so often declare that they prefer serving their mistress without any reward to receiving the greatest favours from another ; or that they would not be princes or rulers of the world if that entailed the loss of their lady. The oldest Italian lyrical poetry is full of these common- places; it is possible that they may not all come from Provence, and that the Italians may have added to the stock of conventional ideas. But on the whole, as might be ex- pected from imitators, their range of thought has become smaller, as they did not, by any means, adopt all the elements ^ Excellence thou givest me, noble mistress, so that my heart ever bows down to thee. If I bow down, I am right in doing it, owing to the possession so rich in love for which I hope and go on hoping ; for I still think to have my heart joyful, and all my hope, that I, loving, have set on thee and on thy charms ; and I behold thy features, shining sun, and expect my fill of joy, and I have confidence that my service may be pleasing to thee, that art the flower of all other women, and more excellent than they. 62 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE of the vast repertory. Thus their monotony is more pro- nounced than that of the troubadours. And just as there was a common supply of ideas, so, too, they had the same stock of images and comparisons, which can no longer serve their real purpose of making the things represented more vivid, but have become mere external ornaments, convenient instruments for filling up the stanzas that were so lacking in feeling. Love is, of course, compared a hundred times with fire, and the lover is purified in love like gold in the furnace. The ship on the stormy sea, or the restlessness of the waves themselves, are employed as images to express the excitement of passion. Serving and obeying, the poet will be as faithful as the assassin who goes blindly to his death at the command of the Old Man of the Mountain. The kiss which the lover has received from his mistress resembles the lance of Peleus, the wounds caused by which did not heal till it had again touched the injured part ; Bernart de Ventadorn had said this, and the Italians repeated it. To these are added other comparisons, which are derived from the classical tradition of the Middle Ages or from the narratives of the French romances of chivalry, such as the comparisons with Narcissus, with Paris and Helen, with Pyramus and Thisbe, and, most frequently, with Tristan and Isolde. But the most popular and the most characteristic of the taste of age, are the images of animals drawn from the fabulous histories dealing with the habits and properties of animals that were contained in the bestiaries, so widely read owing to the miraculous nature of their accounts. These childish zoologies of the Middle Ages used to give allegorical, moral, and religious interpreta- tions of the descriptions, as we saw in the case of S. Damian, and lyrical poetry transferred these to the domain of love. The lover lives in the fire without being burnt, like the salamander. The lady slays the lover with her look, like the basilisk, or, even as the basilisk dies on beholding itself in a mirror, so, too, the lover at the sight of his lady. The poet, brought to the point of death by his love torments, sings like the swan before expiring. As the tigress, who has been robbed of her young, forgets her grief on seeing herself in the mirror that the huntsman has placed in her way, so, too, the lover in the presence of his mistress. As the sweet- THE SICILIAN SCHOOL OF POETRY 63 smelling breath of the panther entices the other animals, in the same way he is enticed by her charm. As the phoenix who dies in the flames and then rises up again, so he, too, would wish to pass away and then to reappear in a fresh form, as he might then perhaps be more pleasing to his mistress. This predilection for conventional ornamentation is not found to the same degree in all the poems, some of them being altogether free from it, while in others, again, it is very marked. Among the Provencal troubadours, Richart de Barbezien especially delighted in employing such similes in large numbers, and as he was well known in Italy, it is possible that his poems caused this manner to be generally adopted. At times, it is true, the lyrical poets of the Sicilian school show the desire to employ fresh and newly invented images, a striking example being a canzone of Guido delle Colonne, " Ancor che I'aigua per lo foco lasse." This attempt was, however, a complete failure. The poet aims at artistic effects by forcing very prosaic and far-fetched objects into his comparison. Just as water, he says, is only warmed by fire without being, at the sarne time, consumed by it, because the sides of the vessel intervene, in the same way he himself, who had previously resembled cold water and iron, was warmed by Amore, and would have been consumed but for the intervention of Madonna — where, after all, the pot is the image for the lady celebrated. In another stanza the poet says that, just as the magnet can attract iron only by dint of employing air, so, too, Amore has observed that he has need of Madonna, in order to attract the lover to himself. ^ The principal metrical form of the earliest Italian lyrical poetry, and also of that of later times was the canzone, that is to say, a poem consisting of several stanzas constructed in the same way, and frequently of a shorter final stanza — the refrain (called comiato, congedo, licenza, chiusa^ or ritor?ieU6). The canzone was the form of lyrical love poetry in Provence and in Northern France, but this does not necessarily imply that the Italians adopted it from those parts, since this form always resulted as a matter of course, where a text was to be sung to a melody that had to be repeated several times. In points of detail they differ in various ways from the outset. ii ,1 64 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE The Italian verse was always the same as it is now : it was based on the principle of the numbering of the syllables, like all Romance verses, and differed from the Provencal and French system by the collision of the vowels in hiatus, by the unimportance of the caesura, the almost unbroken rule of a feminine ending, that accorded with the character of the language, and by the mingling of open and closed vowels in the rhyme. The earliest lyrical poets employed a large variety of verses. From lines of three to lines of eleven syllables there were none that were not used at least in some isolated cases; but even at that time the verse of eleven syllables {endecasillabo) and that of seven syllables (settenario) prevailed over the rest, after which the one of five syllables occurs n.ost frequently. Later on, Petrarca employed only the two former, and his example was followed by all succeed- ing generations of poets. The stanza of the Italian canzone is generally very much more extensive and complicated than was the case in Provence, and on that account it was nearly always divided up into partitions. The most popular was the division into three; namely, into two equal portions, which Dante called pedes, and one that differed from them, to which he gave the name of syrma. The division into four parts, with pedes and versus, is also very frequent. With the troubadours the rule that was by far the most generally followed was the one according to which the same rhymes were carried through all the stanzas (coblas unissonans). Italian is not so rich in words with a similar ending as Provengal, and therefore generally adopts the method of introducing fresh rhymes into each stanza {coblas singulars), although there is also a fair number of examples in which the rhymes are carried through the entire poem. The sonnet goes back to the three-part stanza of the canzone, and was, indeed, originally, nothing but a single stanza of this kind, of the class which the Provengals em- ployed, under the name of coblas esparsas, chiefly for the purpose of expressing moral lessons ; only in Italy the type of the canzone died out, and thus the separate stanzas came to form an independent metrical class. The Tuscans were the first to give the sonnet its great importance. Among the Sicilians it was rare. Pier della Vigna, King Enzo and Mazzeo Ricco, have been credited with one sonnet each, and ,^€1 THE SICILIAN SCHOOL OF POETRY ^S Jacopo da Lentini with a larger number, but it is doubtful whether these pieces have all been correctly assigned to their real authors. But the Sicilians possessed another form of lyrical poetry which disappeared later on from Italian literature, namely the discordo, that corresponded to the Provencal descort, or, perhaps rather to the class called lais : for the Italian poems of this kind, in common with the lais, not alone consisted of unequal stanzas, but were really not portioned out according to any system at all, it being possible to distinguish only very long and irregular divisions. The verses, often very short and ending in several consecutive rhymes, are arranged in an arbitrary fashion. It is possible that, in these poems, as in the Breton lais, the music was the principal feature, the words playing an entirely subsidiary part ; this would also account for the obscurity of, or entire absence of meaning in many passages, such as the following in a discordo of Jacopo da Lentini : SI mi sdura Scura Figura Di quant 'eo ne veio Gli occhi avere E vedere E volere E loro non disio. As the poetry began in Sicily, it might have been expected that the earliest attempts were made in the Sicilian or, at any rate, in a South Italian dialect. But these poems, in the shape in which they have come down to us, are written in the same idiom as the oldest Tuscan poems, that is to say, in an idiom which, although it contains unmistakable elements of Southern dialects, cannot, in the main, be dis- tinguished from that which later became the general language of Italy. As the latter was based on the Tuscan, or, to be more exact, on the Florentine dialect, it is curious to find it employed at a time when Central Italy had not produced any poetry in the vulgar tongue. Consequently Italian scholars of eminence have lately set up the theory, that the poems of the Sicilians have not been handed down in their original form, that the poets composed them in their own dialect, and that their present form is due to Tuscan copyists. I. F 66 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE But there are several objections to this assumption. To begin with, non-Sicihan forms are found in these poems not only in the body of the verse, but also in the rhyme, so that it is impossible to attempt to translate them back into the original dialect. Further, Dante in his book '' De Vulgari Eloquentia, " praised a certain Guido delle Colonne and others, for having departed from the language of the people, and attained a purer and loftier diction. It is true, it has been said that Dante, too, may have been deceived, and that he did not know the poems either, save in their transcribed form. But it should be remembered that, when Dante wrote, the Sicilian poetry had not been extinct for more than forty years, that he must have known natives of the Southern provinces and been able to learn from them the true state of the case. It appears, then, that at the court of the Emperor I'recl- erick, there existed, distinct from the popular idiom, a literary language which was perhaps not so very different from that in use at the present day. It is certainly difficult to say how this tongue was formed. But the origins of literary languages, in general, have not yet been fully explained, and it is too early in the day to maintain that they were, at the beginning, always identical with a popular dialect, seeing that special, additional influences have always to be reckoned with. As soon as a dialect is employed for Uterary purposes it assumes a different character, and aims at an ideal of regularity that was foreign to the carelessly spoken dialect. This can be plainly observed in the case of the dialect writers of the present day, who always, though they may not know it, in- troduce elements of the general language into the idiom written by them. The earliest poets had no such general language to work with, it is true ; but, instead of this, the ideal they strove to attain was supplied by Latin and by the idiom of their models— Provencal, whose influence was so strong that not unfrequently entire words were taken over. And finally, the poets at Frederick's court were not Sicilians only, but came from other parts as well, especially from Apulia, among the latter being Pier della Vigna of Capua, Rinaldo d' Aquino, and Giacomo Pugliese ; nor did the Emperor reside exclusively in Palermo, but also in Naples and elsewhere in the peninsula. The necessary result of THE SICILIAN SCHOOL OF POETRY 67 ;tK5^ this triple influence of Latin, of Provencal, and of the Apu- lian dialect was, that the literary language departed from the phonetic conditions of Sicilian and approached more closely those prevailing in Tuscany. It is impossible at the present day to define more exactly the composition of the language of the court poets ; for something, we do not know how much, of the form of the poems as it has come down to us, must certainly be put down to the Tuscan scribes. The real importance of the Sicilian court poets, whose productions have so little intrinsic value, lies in the fact that they laid the foundations of metrical form for lyrical poetry, and that they were the first to employ the vulgar tongue. These achievements, which were acknowledged even by Dante, proud as he was of the higher standard of perfection to which he himself and his school had attained, are by no means insignificant. They represent, at all events, the be- ginnings of art and of a literary tradition. From this time, Italian began to be the recognised organ of the art poetry ; the form was already national, and nothing remained but that the themes clothed by it should be national too. It is true, that the Provencal style of poetry could only be a passing fashion, and that the further development of the literature required a fresh spirit, so that those forms might be infused with new life and vigour. The elements of an inspiration of this kind, that was independent and not of foreign origin, had obviously always existed, having perhaps previously found expression in popular songs. But in view of the wide-spread reputation of the conventional court poetry, a new spirit such as this could only make itself felt gradually, and required a longer period in which to develop freely. But some traces of it can be remarked even in the poems of the Sicilians. This introduction of a healthier and more natural style of poetry into the traditional manner, these first notes of true poetry are undoubtedly worthy of our special attention, although we must beware of over-estimating their importance, as has been done of late. Almost all the poems which, in the great Vatican collec- tion of the early lyric poets, bear the name of Giacomo Pugliese, are distinguished by a certain popular tone and by a more realistic colouring. In the midst of a love complaint, I 6S HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE he turns suddenly to his mistress, with a bold expression of impatience, and asks her to give him back his heart : Donna, se me non vuoi intendere, Ver me non far s\ gran faglia, Lo mio cor mi degie rendere. . . . ^ Elsewhere we have a dialogue, a tenzone or contrasto, as it was called by the Provencal and Italians respectively, in which the lady complains of her bad husband, who holds her captive and disturbs her happy love : Meo Sir, a forza m' avviene Ch' io m' appiatti od asconda ; C^ si distretto mi tiene Quelli cui Cristo confonda ; Non m' auso fare alia porta. . . . ^ Here we find ourselves removed from the empty abstrac- tion of the love intrigue, as usually treated, into a sphere of reality, whereby the action gains in life and colour. The same remark applies to two poems by Giacomino, which belong to a class of pieces that were very popular among the Italians, namely, those in which the absence or parting from the loved one is sung, and which may thus be shortly termed songs of longing or farewell. Among the Provencals, already, these poems often show special warmth and tenderness of feeUng ; the expression of longing in them generally leads to recollec- tions of the last great joy that preceded the parting, of the last meeting with the lady, her emotion, and the words she spoke on that occasion, which never cease to echo in the poet's memory. The Italians delight in working out this final scene minutely, in the same way that one takes pleasure in recalling a joy that is past, in all its details, and in this process numerous realistic traits appear, which are otherwise absent from this poetry. There is mention of kisses and embraces, and Giacomino Pugliese tells how his mistress descended into his arms from the window of her palace. In a song of longing by Jacopo of Lentini (" S'io doglio non e ^ Lady, if thou dost not wish to hear me, thou must not do me so great a wrong, but must give me back my heart. ... * My beloved, I am forced to hide and to conceal myself; for so closely he holds me, whom may Christ confound ; I do not venture to go to the door. . . . THE SICILIAN SCHOOL OF POETRY 69 5 S meraviglia "), an oft repeated thought is expressed in a simple and heartfelt manner : the poet complains that, on his departure, his heart remained with " Madonna," and he envies it the place it has chosen, while he himself mourns far away. And what sincerity of feeling is shown in the ex- clamation at the end : " Occhi ahi vaghi e bionde trezze," which completes the picture of his beloved one's charms. In another poem beginning : *' Dolze meo drudo, e vattene," which is attributed to the Emperor Frederick, the parting scene is presented in the animated form of the dialogue. In all these descriptions, in the words which are placed in the mouth of the loved one, in the account of her tenderness and of her lament, the change that has taken place from the ordinary situation of the lyrical poetry of chivalry is worthy of remark. The poet no longer bends, in unceasing and languishing worship, before an eternally cold and cruel mistress; "Madonna" now descends from her position of lofty abstraction and herself gives signs of life and move- ment, speaking, lamenting, entreating, and affording us a glimpse into her inner soul. It is just this living expression of the workings of a woman's soul that gives to two other poems their special character, and these possess a higher poetical value than the ones that have already been discussed. These are the lament of a girl who thinks she has been betrayed by her lover, "Oi lassa innamorata" by Odo delle Colonne, and the lament of another girl for the departing crusader, " Giamai non mi conforto," by Rinaldo d' Aquino. Although the phraseology of these poems is still conventional, they express, in warm and natural bursts of passion, feelings simple and without artifice, the grief of the deserted girl, the painful recollection of her former bliss, her glowing hatred of the rival in whose arms she believes her faithless lover to be lying : Lassa ! che mi dicia, Quando m' avea in celato : Di te, oi vita mia, Mi tegno piti pagato, Ca s' io avesse in ballia Lo mondo a segnorato. Ed or m'a a disdegnanza E fammi scanoscenza ; Par ch' aggia d' altr' amanza. \ 70 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE O Dio, chi lo m'intenza, Mora di mala lanza, E senza penitenza ! ^ and then in the other poem we see the grief of the girl who is left behind, when she prays God for the protection of her lover, and suddenly, in heartfelt and touching words, accuses the cross, which saves the human race, but to her brmgs rum by depriving her of her loved one : La croce salva la gente E me fa disviare ; La croce mi fa dolente, Non mi val Dio prepare. Dime, croce pellegrina, Perche m' hai si distrutta ? Oime, lassa tapina ! Ch' i' ardo e' ncendo tutta.^ In both the poems, as also in those of Jacopo da Lentini and of the Emperor Frederick which have been quoted, the very form— the short and rapid verse, the extremely simple construction of the stanza— in itself suggests a kinship with popular poetry. A third song of a girl, attributed to the same Rinaldo d' Aquino ("Oramai quando flore"), is related to these two, though it does not reach the same high standard, containing more conventional elements. The fair season fills the girl's heart with love, and she will no longer let her worshipper languish in vain : Vedendo quell' ombria del fresco bosco Bene conosco— che accertatamente Sara gaudente— 1' amor che m' inchina. Long has he suffered in vain ; but now he can hope that his prayer will be heard : ' Alas ' what did he say to me, when he was with me in secret : "In thee, oh my life, I possess greater fortune, than if I were ruler over the whole world." And now he disdains me and shows himself ungrateful ; it appears that he loves another. O God, may she who has turned him from me, die, wounded by an evil lance, and without repentance. . , , . ^u ^ The cross saves the human race, but me it leads astray ; the cross fills me with grief, it avails me nought to pray to God. Alas ! cross of the pilgrims, why hast thou brought me such ruin ? Alas ! unhappy wretch that I am ! I am all aglow and on fire ! ^ Seeing that shadow of the fresh wood, I well perceive that he will certainly have joy, who lovingly bends before me. THE SICILIAN SCHOOL OF POETRY 7 1 Ma' 1 tempo m' innamora E fammi star pensata D' aver merce ormai D' un fante, che m' adora. E saccio, che costui per me sostene Di grandi pene, — 1' un core mi dice, Che si disdice, — e 1' altro me n' incora.^ All these poems, while imitating the school, show us the beginnings of an original art. Another more extended poem, however, breaks altogether with the school of court poetry, and takes up the opposite position. This is a Contrasto^ beginning with the verse, " Rosa fresca aulent- issima c'apari' nver la state," a conversation between a man and a girl, arranged in such a manner that the stanzas are assigned alternately to the one and to the other. He en- treats her to give a hearing to his wishes ; she refuses. He becomes more and more pressing; she defends herself as best she can, but as if she were, in reality, disposed to yield eventually. The lover knows full well with whom he has to deal, and does not allow himself to be deterred by her words ; he finally attains his object, and the dialogue closes with a very open assent on the part of the girl. Here ev -ry- thing is unpolished and plebeian, but, at the same time, un- deniably fresh and natural. There is no sign of affectation ; the dialogue is rapid, energetic and expressive, and, after the products of the conventional manner, this rough origin- ality comes quite as a relief, and strongly recalls the popular poetry. The construction of the stanzas also is such as occurs again in somewhat later popular monuments of Southern Italy ; they consist of five verses, three long lines of fourteen syllables with a strong caesura in the middle, rhyming with one another, and two endecasillabi at the end, which again rhyme with each other, thus : Poi tanto trabagliastiti, faccioti meo pregheri, Che tu vadi, adomannimi a mia mare e a mon peri ; Se dare mi ti degnano, menami alo mosteri, ^ But the season fills me with love, and inspires me with the thought to take pity on the youth, who worships me. And I know that he endures for me great sufferings ; one heart within me says it is not right, and the other bids me do it. I 72 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE E sposami davanti dala jente, E poi farb le tvio comannamente. * Finally, this poem occupies a special position on account of its language, which is more strongly dialectical in character. Dante, in his book " De Eloquentia Vulgari," quoted a verse of the " Rosa fresca," as an example of the popular speech of Sicily. Neither the great Vatican collection, which alone con- tains the piece, standing among the products of the court poetry, nor Dante gives the name of the author. But a scholar of the sixteenth century, Angelo Colocci, who pos- sessed the manuscript at the time, called the poet Cielo in an index to this volume, and elsewhere in his papers Cielo dal Camo. It is impossible to accept this name, which he himself wished to twist into the form Celio, without further ado, as we do not know from what source he derived it. To make matters worse, Federigo Ubaldini, who was the first to mention the poem in print (1640), took Cielo in Colocci's bad handwriting to be Ciulo. AUacci called him Cielo, Ciulo, and also Ciullo dal Camo. At the beginning of last century this was turned into Ciullo (i.e., Vincenzo) d'Alcamo, and this was the name given to the poet of the ** Rosa fresca " till quite recently. The inhabitants of the town of Alcamo were proud of this poet of theirs ; a square was named after him, a monument erected in his honour, and a literary myth came to be attached to this invented personality. Sicilian scholars assumed a very early date for the dialogue, the end of the twelfth century, during the period of the Norman rule, merely because the girl, when protesting that all the treasure in the world would not induce her to yield, mentions the wealth possessed by Saladin, and from some other passages they concluded that the writer must have been a great feudal lord, a possessor of towns and castles, forgetting how unsuited the subject- matter and general character of the poem would be to such an author. These views were very properly opposed by ^ As you have distressed yourself so much, I beg of you that you go and ask my mother and father that they should give me to you ; if they are willing to do so, take me to church and marry me before the people there, and then I shall obey your command. THE SICILIAN SCHOOL OF POETRY 73 t other scholars, and a long and lasting dispute began, which appeared at length to have been settled by the thorough study of Alessandro d'Ancona (1875). He came to the conclusion that the "Rosa fresca" could not have been composed before the year 1231 ; for the defensa, with which the lover, as he says (in stanza v.), means to protect himself against the threats of the girl's relatives, was a legal decree of the constitutions of Melfi, which were not pro- mulgated till the above-mentioned year, and the money in which he calculates the penalty of the defensa — the agostari — was not coined prior to this date. On the other hand, the Saladin, to whose treasure the girl refers, was not neces- sarily the famous prince of this name who died in 1193, seeing that the title Saladin was adopted by the entire dynasty, and probably became the general designation of a Mussulman ruler. Further, the fact that large sums of money are mentioned twice, and the allusion, in another passage, to long journeys which the lover maintains he has made, do not in any way prove the power and wealth of the poet, who need not have been identical with the person who is intro- duced as speaker. These are nothing but fictions boastful in character, of the kind that may still be heard from the lips of the people or found in popular songs. And it was as a popular song that D'Ancona regarded this poem — the sole remnant of an old popular literature that had flourished in Sicily. This theory of D'Ancona as to the character of the poem was disputed later on. Napoleone Caix thought it was not really a popular effusion, but a product of the school of court poetry, and that the piece was merely an imitation of the French pastourelles, in which the cultured poet adopts the popular tone with artistic intentions. Caix did not, however, succeed in proving the identity of the situation with that of the supposed models. In the pastourelle the knight meets a country girl with her herd, enters into con- versation with her and endeavours to make her do his will. In the Italian confrasto, we have nothing of the usual machinery, both the characters are of the same station, and belong to the lower classes. The individual similarities that have been noticed are too superficial and insignificant to prove a connection with the French. There was more 74 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE foundation in Caix' observation -f-f ^f/^J^^Jedwufex' fi,^ "TJoQP. fresca" to the effect that it is stuaaea wiui ca nressions of the ' chWalrous love poetry, which, however, H^ X S^tatX^rn-i:: ^l^^ Ci:X but, on the contrary, -'h-f ^^^^-J^iH^g^T £: poet, a roving minstrel, who was to a certain degree, m flnenced bv the artificial poetry, as happened at all times. We must then regard the coriM not as a genuine popular poem, but"'asf product of the popular ^-f^lsy, to which ^las^belong so many other old monuments of Northern Italy, written in dialect, with which we shall have to aeai later on. 'v I III LYRICAL POETRY CONTINUED IN CENTRAL ITALY IN Italy chivalrous love poetry probably did not long survive the close of the rule of the Hohenstaufen. But the cultivation of lyrical poetry in the vulgar tongue had already been begun in other places, and Tuscany was the principal new centre in which it now continued to flourish. Here it was that Guittone of Arezzo, as early as the year 1260, composed his song on the battle of Monteaperti, and his love poetry is doubtless still older. But here, too, there is a lack of reliable data. Most of the Tuscan poets that wrote in the same manner appear to be more recent than Guittone ; he is considered the head of a school, and looked up to as a master. All the important Tuscan communes take part in the literary activity. In Arezzo, besides Guittone, Master Bandino and Giovanni dell' Orto compose in the Pro- vencal court manner. To Siena belong Messer Folcacchiero and men like Meo or Mino Macconi, while Florence is represented by Dante da Majano, so called after his native place, a little town near the hill of Fiesole. Specially numerous is the band of Pisan poets : Jacopo Mostacci, Gallo Pisano, Pucciandone Martelli, Betto Mettefuoco, Pannuccio dal Bagno, Bacciarone di Messer Baccone, Lotto di Ser Dato. It was probably only from Tuscany that the poetical tradition reached the neighbouring city of Bologna, where especially Paolo da Castello, or, as he is also called, Paolo Zoppo, belongs to the old conventional school, and, at the beginning of his career, also the same Guido Guinicelli, from whom the first important reform of this poetry was to take Its start. Finally, we find among the old lyrical poets two others from Romagna, according to Dante the only ones in this part of Italy that devoted themselves to artificial poetry, and in fact the only ones whose names we meet with in the ^6 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE collections of lyrics. They are Tommaso of Faenza and Ugolino Buzzuola, likewise of Faenza. The latter, as we learn from the chronicler Salimbene, belonged to the Guelph family of the Alberghetti that ruled in Faenza, who also called themselves Manfredi, and was the father of that ill- famed Frate Alberigo, who treacherously murdered his rela- tions, and whose shameful memory was perpetuated by Dante in the " Commedia " ('* Inf." xxxiii. 1 18). Among the poets just named we have a direct continuation of the poetic manner begun in the South of Italy. The connection is unbroken and we are surely justified in assum- ing that some of the oldest Tuscans wrote poetry at the very court of Frederick II., where the most distinguished men from all parts of the country came together, and that it was probably just from there that they brought back the poetic manner to their home. Perhaps it was thus with Jacopo Mostacci of Pisa and Paganino of Sarzana, whose songs are contained in the Vatican collection quite near the beginning among those by Southern poets. The predominant and dis- tinguishing characteristic of the school, the servile imitation of Provencal models, continues among the lyrical poets of Central Italy that have been mentioned, and consequently also the same ideas and modes of expression, the same con- ventional images repeat themselves. The language, too, though it is influenced by local peculiarities, shows in many forms the tradition that came from the South. Where the manuscripts, as is often the case, fluctuate in assigning the authorship of one and the same poem between a Southern and a Tuscan or Bolognese poet, we are not able to distin- guish to which of them it belongs, so similar was their poetical manner. That people were conscious of this close connection with the Southern school was clear from the fact that, as Dante tells us, the whole of the oldest Italian poetry, that is to say, all belonging to the whole period that pre- ceded his own times, was called Sicilian, and Dante himself believed that this name would have to be adhered to in the future. In point of fact, this name is thoroughly appropriate, and the designation of Sicilian school is used again at the present day, not only for the poets of the court of Frederick II., but for the whole movement in the Italian lyrical poetry of the thirteenth century which underwent Proven9al influence. i I LYRICAL POETRY IN CENTRAL ITALY J-J ^ This Provengal influence was even renewed and strength- ened in Tuscany. The style and language of Guittone of Arezzo show more clearly than in the case of any other poet the traces of a diligent study of the troubadours ; he fre- quently quotes them in his letters, and once translates a passage of Peire Vidal very correctly. Of Messer Migliore degli Abati the " Cento Novelle " relate that he spoke Pro- vencal excellently. Guittone, bewailing the death of the poet Giacomo da Leona, sings of him that he had spoken and written poetry in French and Provencal better than in Aretine. We have a sonnet in the Provencal tongue by Paolo Lanfranchi of Pistoja, and two such by Dante da Majano. More important still is the fact that one of the two old Provencal grammars, the " Donatz Provensals," was composed about this time in Italy and for the special use of the Italians. Moreover, the other old Provengal grammar, the " Razos del Trobar " of Raimon Vidal, did not remain unknown ; the poet Girolamo Terramagnino of Pisa turned the prose into bad Provencal verse. Among the Tuscan poets of this school instances of direct ^ borrowing from the troubadours are more frequent. Thus Jacopo Mostacci, imitating a poem of Jordan de I'lsla " Longa sazon ai estat vas amor," in the canzone " Umile core e fino e amoroso," followed his original more closely than had probably ever been done in the South. Further- more, one of the Provencal classes of poems, one that is specially characteristic, was not cultivated in Italy till this time. It is true that the Sicilians knew the Contrasti, the dialogues between Madonna and the lover, but not yet that other kind of tenzone which reproduces conversations and discussions of different poets among themselves. In Provence the tenzone was likewise bound together in the form of a canzone ; but later it was also customary for the one poet to send a single stanza, to which the other then replied with the same rhymes. But the sonnet was originally nothing but a single stanza, and so it is natural that those corresponding tenzone stanzas were in Italy reproduced in the shape of the sonnets with reply, which are in the Vatican collection actually called tenzonL Frequently question and answer came and went several times in succession, so that a regular series arose, which again in its turn corresponded to 78 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE the ordinary extended Provencal tenzone; and, just as in the Provencal tenzone, more than two poets took part in the conversation, the first questioner sending his sonnet simul- taneously to several people. Sometimes personal insults, but more frequently general questions of various kinds, formed the subject of these discussions. Often, as in most of the similar poems of the troubadours, it is a question of certain subtle distinctions in the matter of love affairs. Thus a certain Bartolommeo Notajo asks one Bonodico of Lucca, which of two knights a lady should prefer— the one who boldly declares his passion, or the one who is afraid and silent. Buonagiunta Urbiciani asks an unknown poet which is the first grief caused by love, and Dante da Majano desires to learn from from Tommaso of Faenza what he con- siders to be love's greatest sorrow. But other, and still less poetical problems, also appear in these dialogues. One asks another to resolve his doubts in scientific questions, and the Florentines, as we shall see, make tefizofii on political sub- jects, too. Dino Compagni, in a sonnet, lays before the lawyer, Lapo Saltarelli, a complicated legal case, and Guit- tone and his imitators occupy themselves with abstruse moral and theological themes. That variety of the tenzone, also, which was called joe parti t, ox par time n, and in which each of the two poets defended one of two possible replies, was imitated by the Tuscans, though more rarely. Federigo dell' Ambra had such a dispute in nine sonnets with the notary, Ser Pace, on the subject, whether it be more advis- able to take the joys and sorrows of love as they come, or to abstain from them altogether ; and a thoroughly Provencal partimen question is the one Ricco put to Ser Pace, as to whether it be better to love a young girl or a married woman. The transplanting of this class of poetry to Italy was by no means unimportant: the correspondences in series of sonnets which resulted from it remained a favourite form of com- position among succeeding generations and in later ages. Inasmuch as they adopted fresh themes for treatment, they often served to express in a graphic manner the intellectual movement of the times. The affected and artificial forms, too, were adopted m Tuscany from the Provencal poetry much more readily than had been the case in Sicily. Very popular was the juggling LYRICAL POETRY IN CENTRAL ITALY 79 i\ with words having a similar sound, the so-called bisticci, as with amore and amaro, or the like; also the continual repeti- tion throughout a whole stanza or a whole poem, of the same word, or of the same stem, which was called "replication" by the Provencals. Thus, for example, Guittone wrote in his fifty-fourth sonnet : Tuttor ch' io dirb gioi, gioiva cosa, Intenderete che di voi favello, Che gioia sete di belta gioiosa E gioia di piacer gioivo e bello. . . . ^ And the Italians added another kind of trick, namely, an accumulation of intermediate rhymes, which were not used so extensively by the Provencals themselves. They were not satisfied with reproducing the sound of the close of each verse only once in the body of the next verse, but re- peated the rhyme several times in the course of the verse, as, for example, in the lines of the Pisan Pucciandone Martelli : Similemente — gente — criatura, La portatura — pura — ed avvenente Faite plagente — mente — per natura, SI che'n altura — cura — vo' la gente. From this affectation sprang the obscure or difficult manner of the troubadours, arising out of the straining after some- thing new and extraordinary, something of weight, which was to be represented outwardly by a mode of expression difficult to understand, but which, often enough, was not to be found in the subject-matter itself. A refined art here, as has often been the case, mistook the pleasure afforded by the solution of the difficulties for the delight taken in the depth of the thought itself. Arnaut Daniel, the chief representative of this tendency, the one who exaggerated it most, was held in high repute in Italy, as is proved by Dante's praise of him in the " Purgatorio" and in the book, " De Eloq. Vulg." Hence even the "obscure" poetry found imitators. But, again, only one such poem ("Del meo voler dir I'ombra") is attributed to a Southern .poet, the Sicilian Inghilfredi. ' As often as I say "joy," joyous Being, thou wilt understand that I speak of thee, who art a joy of joyous beauty, and a joy of joyous and beauteous delight. f 8o HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE The Others are by Tuscans. This obscurity of diction went hand in hand with all kinds of artificialities of form, allitera- tion, repetition, and intermediate rhymes, but, especially, un- natural and difficult rhymes, rims cars, as the Proven9als called them. The Italian poems of the obscure manner are neady all characterised by the rhymes of homonyms, in Pro- vencal, rims equivocs, or, still more frequently, by the repetition in their stead of the same word in the rhyme; this was merely an attempt to imitate the rims cars of the troubadours. For this reason such poems were called canzoni equivoche. To this class belong, among others, two poems of Pannuccio dal Bagno, " Poiche mia voglia varca " and " Di dir gik piu non celo," an anonymous piece, "Amor tegnomi matto," which has been wrongly attributed to Meo Abbracciavacca, and Guittone's thirty-sixth canzone. He and his school were especially noted for their obscurity, and, when this was intentional on the part of the poet, it is often quite impossible for us to penetrate into the hidden meaning ; it is true that when, now and again, it is really revealed to us, it is so m- significant that we can scarcely regret very much the fact that our efforts have mostly been futile. In these vain and insipid triflings, in the exaggerations of the manner, we may note the ever increasing decline of the Provencal style of poetry in Tuscany. At the same time this assumes a certain commonplace aspect, that stands in contrast to the spirit originally contained in it. For this love-poetry is nothing but a superficial, rhetorical exercise, composed in the traditional manner. This accounts for the \ increase in artificiality, since emptiness of subject-matter | causes all the attention to be devoted to the form. Men wrote poetry without feeUng what they wrote; how were they to be made to feel a chivalrous love, which, in truth, they no longer knew ? This kind of poetry, moreover, had its foundation no longer in the existing state of society. For at the court of Frederick there had been more of the feudal spirit of chivalry than elsewhere ; besides judges and doctors, courtiers and princes, too, wrote poetry there. In Tuscany, on the other hand, this style of poetry coincides with the life of the communes, the exact opposite of the chivalry by which it had originally been created. Hence it was necessary for the poetry to adapt itself to these new LYRICAL POETRY IN CENTRAL ITALY 8l customs and to this new spirit, before a development could take place that possessed the elements of vitality. In Northern Italy the free constitution of the cities was not of long duration. As early as the thirteenth century, dynasties had become possessed of sovereignty. Tuscany, however, the development of whose independence had been slower, retained its free communes, with their stormy political life. The cities oppose such remnants of the feudal system as were still existing, they destroy the castles of the nobles living in the country, force many of the great families to submit to them and to reside within the city walls. The communes make war upon each other, endeavour to sup- press one another, and to add each to its own power. Florence, which at the beginning is not so important as the other great municipalities, rises rapidly till it supersedes them all and becomes the centre of Tuscany. The govern- ment comes more and more into the hands of the citizens, the families of the nobles rend the cities with their factions, and wear out each other's strength. The names of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, first used in Florence (though it is not known exactly how this came about), from which city they spread through the whole of Italy, only serve as a kind of signboard and means of union. Behind the partisanship for Pope and Emperor are hidden, as the true igniting sparks, personal interests, jealousy for the possession of public power, and private family feuds. The same animosity and heartless cruelty that mark the struggles of the cities against each other, mark also those of the factions within them. Neither peace nor a lasting condition of affairs exists ; victory is now on one side, now on the other, and is followed by fire and pillage, by the exile of the enemy and the ruin of families. It was a wild, anarchical state of things ; but at the same time there was not wanting a strong, though limited, patriotism, a warm love for the commune. Thus the cities, in spite of the thousand evils and dangers that threatened them, flourished and grew in population and wealth. And it was this very ferment of passion, with which public life was filled, that became a fertile soil for future poetry. The troubadours, who took an active part in the affairs of the world, possessed, besides their love poetry, the serventesi, that is, political and satirical songs, and these formed, at any I. G 82 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE LYRICAL POETRY IN CENTRAL ITALY 83 rate in the period of decline, the most interesting portion of their literature. The Italian poets of the North, who wrote in Provencal, cultivated this class successfully ; the Sicilians, however, held aloof from it, and, as far as can be judged from the poems that have been preserved, only sang of love, much to the detriment of their art. The only exceptions are two dry moralisations that have come down under the name of Inghilfredi Siciliano, and the two moralising sonnets of King Enzo and Mazzeo Ricco. This point marks an important difference between the Tuscan poets and those of the South. The former, from the outset, did not limit their poetical subject-matter to such an extent, and they possess far more poetry of the kind corresponding to the Provencal serventes. Guittone's best poem is a genuine political song of reproach, written in the year 1260, when the Florentines were utterly routed by the Sienese and King Manfred's cavalry in the bloody battle of Monteaperti. In consequence of this battle the Ghibellines, who had been driven out two years previously, returned to Florence, while the Guelphs were forced to retreat. The poet is on the side of the conquered : he bewails the city which had been thrust from the height of her power through the shameful action of her own sons, the Ghibellines, at whom he scoffs, because in order to gain the mastery, they had subjected themselves to the swords of the Germans and to the enemies of their commune. Though the form is heavy and prosaic, yet it expresses a sincere and energetic feeling, especially in the case of its bitter irony at the close : Baron Lombardi e Romani e Pugliesi E Toschi e Romagnuoli e Marchigiani, Fiorenza, fior che senipre rinovella, A sua corte v'appella ; Che fare viiol di se Re dei Toscani, Da poi che li Alamani Have conquisi per forza e i Senesi. ^ The victory of Charles of Anjou in the year 1266 decided in the whole of Italy the supremacy of the Papal party ; the ^ Lombard, Roman, Apulian and Tuscan, barons, and ye of Romagna and the Mark, Florence, the flower that ever blossoms afresh, calls ye to its court ; for it wishes to make itself King of the Tuscans, since it has conquered by force the Germans and people of Siena. Ghibellines were again expelled from Florence, this time for ever, and the city remained the most intensely Guelph com- mune in Tuscany. Therefore the attempt of the youthful Conradin to reconquer his heritage, and the events of the year 1268 connected with it, naturally produced a great sen- sation. These form the subject of a series of sonnets in the manner of ienzoni by Florentine poets, who, according to the party to which they belonged, cast for the combatants a different horoscope as to the issue. Monte Andrea scoffs at the vain hopes of the Ghibellines, and trusts in Charles's strength, as he is protector of the right, and Pope and Church are on his side ; he recalls the saying of Clement IV. concerning Conradin, that he would be led by the bad counsellors, like a lamb to the slaughtering-bench. Schiatta di Messer Albizzo Pallavillani defends the cause of the Ghibellines; he prophesies that fortune would turn, and people would see how the lamb could bite. Orlanduccio Orafo expects that there would be a hot contest with doubtful issue, seeing that both parties were very strong. Palamidesse Belindore is of opinion that the young Conradin should rather read his Psalter ; if he were sensible, he would have nothing to do with the champions of St. Peter. Beroardo Notajo doubts Charles's courage and ability, and Ser Clone Notajo even thinks he would take to flight before the arrival of the Germans. In another place there is a dispute concern- ing the prospects of the pretenders to the German imperial crown. King Alfonso of Castile and Richard of Cornwall, and concerning the chances of Frederick of Misnia (" Fede- rigo di Stuffo ") to the throne of Sicily. Thus we learn the different views of the Florentine citizens, notaries and artisans on the affairs of the great world without, followed by them with keen interest. It is to be regretted that this political colloquy has not yet been published completely and in its proper sequence. To the expedition of Conradin refers also a canzone, attri- buted in the Vatican collection to Don Arrigo, that is to say to the Infante Don Enrique, brother of Alfonso the Wise of Castile, and cousin of Charles of Anjou. This prince came to Italy in 1 266,and being closelyallied to Charles, was appointed at first a senator of Rome through his aid, but afterwards, on quarrelling with him, became one of the chief followers 84 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE of Conradin. The poem does indeed contain allusions to the private concerns of the prince, so that it cannot even be understood by one unacquainted with them. At the same time it would appear strange that a Spaniard, who had only been in Italy for so short a time, should have composed a poem in the language of the country. It is more likely that some other person wrote the piece in his name. It was evi- dently composed shortly after the battle of Ponte a Valle (June 25, 1268), which greatly roused the courage of the Ghibellines ; and so it is filled with triumphant joy, incites Conradin to advance rapidly along the opened path of victory, and sings the good fortune of the garden of Sicily, seeing that such a gardener approaches, who will bring back its happiness and prosperity after times of darkness. Of slight poetical value, but still interesting on account of their subject-matter, are three pohtical poems by Pisans, the canzone of Pannuccio dal Bagno, " La dolorosa noja," that of Lotto di Ser Dato, " Delia fera inferta e angosciosa," and finally that of Bacciarone, " Se doloroso a voler movo dire." They kre laments on the affliction and misery existing under the bad rulers that have made themselves masters of the city of Pisa. All the three of them allude without doubt to the same event, namely, the suppression of the Ghibelline party by Count Ugolino (1285). In Pannuccio's poem there is also mention of the loss of the castles with which the count was reproached on all sides, and of which his enemies after- wards made use in order to bring about, under an accusation of treachery, his well-known and terrible death, described by Dante. From the canzone of Lotto it is evident that the poet himself was in prison, and the same thing had happened to Pannuccio, who in another lament turns to his cousin for help. These citizens of the Tuscan Communes were them- selves entangled so deeply in the political events, that these were bound to be re-echoed in their verses. A certain Fredi of Lucca bewails his own fall from a position of power on the occasion of a revolution in the commune (*' Dogliosamente e con gran malananza "), applying to his political misfortune, in a curious manner, the similes of animals that were usual in the love-poetry, to his political enemies. An opponent of his, Arrigo Baldonasco, replied with great bitterness in the same rhymes, representing his misfortune as the just punishment LYRICAL POETRY IN CENTRAL ITALY 85 for the acts of violence of which he had been guilty, and scoffingly repeating some of his similes of animals. But this kind of poetry, occupying itself with real events, with political affairs instead of with the pains of an imaginary love, passes beyond the narrow limits of the oldest lyrics ; here the liberation from foreign influence begins, and we have an independent subject-matter for poetry, which, it is true, is still expressed in an awkward and prosaic form. The same applies, at least in part, to the moralising poetry also ; for it stands in relation to the actual interests of life, to which the formulas of the old school no longer applied, and contains within itself the germ of a fresh development, however small the absolute value these productions possess, and however dry and uninviting these dull and long-winded didactic poems may appear to us to-day. MoraUsing can- zones and sonnets were composed by the Tuscans in great numbers, by Buonagiunta, Monte Andrea and the Pisans, but especially by Guittone of Arezzo, who, here as always, is the most characteristic representative of the oldest kind of Tuscan poetry, and as such has still a claim to our special attention. Guittone's literary activity is divided into two sharply distinguished periods. To the first belonged the love-poetry. Without love, he then thought, like the troubadours, there is no excellence, no poetry ; and so he endeavours to fall in love, entreating Amore to enter his breast, and begging the poet Bandino to teach him what he must do in order to fall in love (Sonnet 52). But then came a turning-point in his life, " in the middle of the way," as with Dante : From my beginning until middle age, I was in a place shameful, foul, and hideous, To which I turned me quite . . . he says, in the poem on his conversion to the Virgin Mary (Canzone III.). He was, therefore, probably thirty-five years old at the time when he entered the order of the Cavalieri di Sta, Maria which had been in existence since 1261, and which was called the order of the /rati gaudenti, as its mem- bers often did not trouble themselves much about the fulfil- ment of their vows. Guittone, however, was prompted to take this step by an earnest religious desire ; he abandoned 86 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE the comfortable life he had been leading, and left wife and children, although the rules of the order did not absolutely insist on this. His standpoint was now totally changed ; the love he had formerly extolled he now reviled in the most abusive manner, extolling the true love of God only in its place. He now denies that worldly love is the source of excellence, nor does he hold it true that a man must be in love in order to be able to make poetry; on the contrary, love is, according to him, illness and folly. Just and ex- cellent things are done only by the wise man, and not by the fool. He condemns his own former life, and his own poetry, warning people against reading his love-songs. To the same Master Bandino, whom he had first begged for instruction in the art of love, he now directs a sonnet in quite a different tone (No. 164), in which he says that it would be a wise thing on his part if he were to leave earthly love as he himself has done, and in a canzone (No. xxiv.) he shows by what means one may be cured of this malady, namely, by thoughts of God, by fasting, castigation, and scourging of the stubborn flesh. Such cases of penitence and conversion were in the Middle Ages of very usual occurrence ; the knight who had passed his life amidst the crash of arms, the troubadour who had sung the praises of the ladies, entered the cloister in later life, and prayed God to forgive him for his sins. Among the Provencals the poems of penitence are numerous, and there are also several by Italians of that age. But in this case Guittone had only returned to his own self. It had been a matter of difficulty for him to follow the manner of the love-poetry ; now he gives himself up entirely to his fancy for dry argumentation, and no longer writes poems, but treatises and sermons in verse. Thus, for example, the seventh canzone, on the existence of God and the immortality of the soul, is a collection of syllogisms in the language of the schools, with quotations from Tully, Aristotle, Boethius, and Seneca. He possesses neither the warmth of feeling nor the simplicity that makes popular religious poetry attractive to us. His is a cold and subtle intellect ; we respect the character of the man, but miss the poet. He expresses his thoughts just as chance laid them on his lips. His aim was to instruct and to preach, not to make poetry, and in his LYRICAL POETRY IN CENTRAL ITALY 87 letters he often quoted his verses as didactic maxims. Now and again he hits on a vigorous expression, an effective image, such as will occur to a man who is filled with a sin- cere and strong conviction ; but these happy touches are rare, and as a general rule a prosaic aridity predominates in these moralisations, while insipid passages are by no means absent. . ,•■, . -v At the same time, Guittone, even m these pieces, did not r abandon the poetical expedients that were borrowed from the Provencals ; he adopts the old artificial forms, overloads a religious sonnet (No. i) with intermediate rhymes, employs the repetition of the same word in an admonition addressed apparently to some one about to enter the cloister (No. 20). But the altered subject-matter at times gives the form quite a different character; as in the single instance where he imitates the Provencal class of poem called plazer (canzone X.). This was with the troubadours a piece in which the author enumerated the things that gave him pleasure, and thus expressed the tendencies that were to him a source of joy : Bertran de Born the wild delight he took in battle, the Monk of Montaudon the pleasure afforded him by flowers and springs, by the song of birds and beautiful girls. Quite different is the Hne of thought of the frate gaudente of Arezzo; the things that please him are a faithful, loving spouse, one who makes youth and beauty subordinate to chastity, a widow who takes good care of her family, a prelate who fulfils his sacred duties, a monk who, after having aban- doned the world, no longer goes about and has dealings with the world, the latter a course that was followed with special partiality by the Monk of Montaudon. And so in the hands of Guittone this class of poetry, full of vivacity and gay humour, became an earnest didactic poem. At the side of Provencal influence, we note in Guittone, and especially during the period of the moral poetry, another influence, that of Latin. Guittone was acquainted with the authors of antiquity that were at that time generally read, and also quoted them ; it was natural that this study also should gradually leave traces on the productions of the Italians in the vulgar tongue. But here classicism really asserts itself only in the mode of expression, and, as a matter of fact, much to its detriment. Guittone employs numerous Si#W*l?S**:?*EF?l 88 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE Latinisms ; he also imitates the Latin order of words, and from this, twisted and confused constructions result, often the very cause of the obscurity of his verses. The side of Guittone's poetical activity which displays his individuality to the best advantage has already been touched on. It is represented by some of his political poems. The song of reproach addressed to the Florentines after the Battle of Monteaperti is probably the best thing he wrote, as well as a historical monument of importance. Almost as good is the invective and admonition composed for his fellow-citizens, the Aretines (canzone ix.) ; they are earnest words, full of vigour, the expression of a manly character. In them we already notice something of the spirit of Dante's powerful invectives, if it were not that their abstract prolixity detracts from their effect. Several of Guittone's pieces are epistles addressed to individuals ; but in addition to them we have a number of letters in prose, admonitions, sermons to brothers of the order, to friends or political personages, filled with a strong zeal for what is right and good, like the moral poems, and like these, too, long-winded and often lacking in taste. The most interesting of these is the fourteenth letter, addressed to the Florentines, and corresponding very closely, in part word for word, with the canzone referring to the Battle of Monteaperti. It was, therefore, probably composed about the same time. If this is so, the author acquires a special importance as one of the oldest writers of prose ; for, as we shall see, only very few specimens of Italian prose are in ex- istence that go back farther than 1260, and even these are not of a literary character. It is true, however, that there is only a slight difference between Guittone's poetry and his prose. His language and his style remain the same as in the rhymed letters ; we find the same obscurity, heaviness, and affectation, the same weary contortions of the phrases forming the period, the same love of repetition, the same remmiscences of Latin and Provencal. Count Galvani, therefore, thought that this mode of expression was no real prose at all, and in his '* Lezioni accademiche " he tried to show, that even the non-rhymed letters were composed in verses of varying length, or, to put it differently, in a kmd of rhythmical prose, with verses intermingling. Be LYRICAL POETRY IN CENTRAL ITALY 89 this as it may, it is natural that the first attempt in prose should bear a close resemblance to the use of poetry Literary prose, as opposed to that of popular documents IS derived from the language of poetry, as Dante re- marks in his book, "De Eloquentia Vulgari" (ii i) with a discernment we often meet with in him-a discernment which characterises the essence of things so sharply and so Guittone of Arezzo died in 1294, after having given, a year previously, a portion of his fortune for the foundation of the monastery degli Angeli in Florence. He exercised a considerable influence on the literature of his time The numerous sonnets addressed to him show the esteem in which he was held. He was considered for a time in 1 uscany to be the master of the art, and the imitation of his manner is unmistakable in several poems of Meo Abbracciavacca, Dotto Reali, Monte Andrea and others. Ihe three Pisans, Pannuccio, Bacciarone and Lotto, appear also to be closely related to his school. Common character- istics of these three are a mode of expression so twisted a way of transposing words so unnatural and so opposed 'to the genius of the language, that they are very difficult to understand, even when they do not purposely employ the dark manner. In these cases also we have nothing but the desire to imitate the style of the Latin poets, such as we already saw m Guittone, except that the Pisans exaggerated still more this mistaken classicism in outward form Among the poets of the South we have already noted traces of popular sentiment in the manner of the school and seen some blossoms of real poetry springing from it.' In Tuscany, with its fresh and vigorous popular life, this phenomenon was bound to repeat itself to an even wider extent. This popular influence shows itself in different poets in a varying degree. Some, such as Monte Andrea and Guido Orlandi, appear at one time as servile imitators of the Sicilians and ProvenQals, and then again they strike a Oitterent and a freer note, returning to themselves and to he real sphere that surrounds them. Here we remark a ^ct that repeats itself in the cases of Guido Guinicelli and Unesto of Bologna, that such a renovation of the poetical subject-matter occurs more frequently in the sonnet and 90 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE ballad than in the canzone. The canzone was the exalted, solemn form of lyrical poetry, which accordingly always ad- hered longest to the traditional style, while the sonnet and ballad, which were regarded as inferior forms, have often a wider scope, and assume a more modern character. The sonnet, which was but rarely to be met with in the south, was very popular in Tuscany, and was remodelled in various ways. Verses of seven syllables were inserted between the fourteen verses of eleven syllables, and this gave the so- called sonetto doppio and the sonetto rinterzato^ forms which Guittone was also fond of using. The fourteen lines were even made up of verses of eleven and seven syllables, or the whole sonnet was formed of lines of seven syllables. More- over, Guittone at times replaced the two quatrains by ten verses, and this same form was employed by Monte Andrea, who also wrote real double sonnets of twenty-eight verses (four quatrains and four triplets). Far more usual than such an addition to the quatrains, was the method of adding to the triplets, at the end of the poem, the so-called coda, con- sisting of two or three verses of eleven syllables, or of a verse of seven syllables rhyming with the preceding line, and two verses of eleven syllables rhyming together. All this testifies to a desire to infuse a greater variety into the forms, which, however, became still more artificial by these efforts, and more difficult to handle. And so these varieties of the sonnet were, none of them, long-lived; they disappeared in the fourteenth century, with the exception of the sonetto colla coda, which became and remained the favourite form of facetious poetry. A truly popular form of metrical composition was the ballad, the dance-poem ; in Provence and in France it was just as popular in character. The Sicilians do not appear to have known it, though it is true that a poem of the kind, which, to judge from its dialect, belongs to the South, is con- tained in the Vatican collection of songs — " Et donali con- forto, se te chiace." At any rate it may be said of the ballad also, that it did not become really important before its cultivation in Central Italy. The poem is constructed in accordance with its destination to be sung in accompani- ment to the dance ; it begins with the refrain, the ripresaX so called because it is taken up afresh by the chorus after LYRICAL POETRY IN CENTRAL ITALY 91 each stanza, while the latter is itself given out by the solo voice. The stanza is again portioned out into three parts, consistmg of two divisions which are constructed alike and which were designated by the old prosodists as mutations or feet (J>edes\ and a third, the volta, which corresponds exactly to the ripresa. At the endof the whole song the older poets often added a new ripresa, which was sung in this place instead of the old refrain, a custom we find also among the Provencals. A fresher and more natural tone in the poetry is especially noticeable in a number of love-dialogues, the address and reply of which are lively in movement, while showing at the same time a scoffing spirit. Of this kind is a chain of five sonnets by the Florentine Chiaro Davanzati. In these the lady accompanies her lover's dismissal with words of good counsel, and will not listen to his protestations of honourable intentions ; on the other hand, she zealously defends pure morals and fidelity to the husband, who had hitherto only appeared in this class of poetry as the jealous brute and dis- turber of the lovers. The same rebuke is administered to the lover m Guido Orlandi's tenzone in ballad form- Pax tire, amor, non oso"— though this set is far more re- stricted in manner to the old style. A dialogue which has come down under the name of a certain Ciacco delP ^nguillaia of Florence, resembles in its movement the . ixusa fiesca aulentissima ; " the subject, however, is treated rnot with the plebeian coarseness to be found in this poem, but with delicacy and grace, and at the same time the courtly phraseology has not entirely disappeared. The lover prays for compassion, calls his girl a sweet jewel, a gemma leztosa exto s her perfection and protests that he is her slave i3ut she replies with a malicious refusal. She does not wish to be the miracle-working jewel, from which he had hoped to denve aid : ^ Assai son gemme in terra Ed in fiume ed in mare, C hanno virtude in guerra E fanno altru' allegrare. Amico, io non son dessa Di quelle tre nessuna ; Al trove va per essa E cerca altra persona. 92 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE And he again : Madonna, troppo ^ grave La vostra risponsione, Che io non aggio nave Ne non son marangone, Ch'io sappia andar cercando Cola ove mi dite. Per voi perisco amando, Se non mi sovvenite. But the gemma leziosa consoles him in a mocking tone, pro- mising him to have masses said for him if he should die : Se perir tu dovessi Per questo cercamento, Non crederia che avessi In te innamoramento, Ma s' tu credi morire Innanzi ch' esca 1' anno. Per te fo messe dire, Come altre donne fanno.^ and thus the sighs and railing words go on, till she finally yields after all. In another dialogue in sonnet form by Chiaro Davanzati, the simile of the bird that has flown away, with which he compares his heart that has flown away to his beloved, is pleasing in its simplicity : ^ Cosi diviene a me similmente Come air augel che va e non riviene, Per la pastura, che trova piacente, Dimora in loco e ad esso si contiene. Cosi il mio cuor . . . ^ 1 (( Many jewels are on land and in river and in sea, which have power in war and make people rejoice. Friend, I am not any one of those three ; go thou elsewhere for them and seek another girl." — ' * Madonna, too severe is thy reply ; for I have no ship and am no diver, so as to be able to go seeking these where thou tellest me. For thee I die loving, if thou dost not aid me." — ** If thou shouldst have to die through this quest, I would not believe that I should have love for thee ; but if thou thinkest to die before the year ends, I (shall) have masses said for thee, as other women do." * Thus it happens to me similarly as to the bird that goes and does not return ; because of the agreeable food that it finds, it remains in a place, and keeps to it. Thus my heart . . . LYRICAL POETRY IN CENTRAL ITALY 93 And the lady replies : lo mi disdico che non ho tao core, E s' io r avessi, lo ti renderia ; Ma poi non 1' ho, richiedilo ad Amore, A cui lo desti per la tua foUia.^ A sonnet by Chiaro contains an idea that occurs frequently later on, and especially in Dante's lyrics. He celebrates his lady by comparing her with the splendour of the sun that bathes everything in its light, and as one dispensing salva- tion and blessings, the mere sight of whom confers joy and happiness : La risplendente luce, quande appare. In ogni scura parte da chiarore, \^otanto ha di virtute il suo guardare. Che sovra tutti gli altri e il suo splendore. Cosi madonna mia face allegrare, Muando lei, chi avesse alcun dolore. ... * Altogether, Chiaro Davanzati, a Florentine of whom we know that he fought in the battle of Monteaperti (1260) and that he was no longer living in the year 1280, is the poet in whose works this change in the poetic manner may best be studied. It is true that we find him in the greater part of his numerous poems in beaten tracks, as a disciple of the Sicilians and later of Guittone, while in some passages there are manifest traces of the influence of Guido Guinicelli, which is, however, not yet of any great importance. But elsewhere his originality and spontaneousness surprise us, sometimes just in those very cases where he is imitating. One of his canzoni — " Non gik per gioja ch*aggia mi con- forto " — takes its subject from a poem of Sordello — " Bel cavalier me plai que per amor." But here Chiaro has dealt exceedingly freely with his model. What he found was a poem consisting of two short stanzas with refrain. The idea contained therein, that a knight had died of love, and that * I deny having thy heart, and if I had it, I would give it back to thee ; but since I have it not, demand it of Amore, to whom thou gavest it through thy folly. ^ The resplendent light, when it appears, distributes radiance in every obscure place ; so much power has its look, that its brilliance is over all others. So my lady, when one looks at her, makes him joyful who might have any pain. . . . 94 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE this would assuredly convert the ladies and make them more compassionate, this idea, which was at any rate more original than others, took his fancy, and he made use of it, with many additions of his own, for a far more extended poem, which has certainly gained in the expansion. The same independ- • ence is shown in the case where he has used a poem of Guittone, namely, the aforementioned canzone of the Aretine which was itself a reproduction of the Provengal form of the plazer. He selected some of the rules of life contained in this moralising poem, and, freeing them from their mono- tonous dryness, transformed them into charming Httle sketches, each of which is comprised within a sonnet. In many other poems by Tuscans, as in those of Maestro Francesco, Maestro Rinuccino, of Compiuta Donzella, of Padno Angiolieri and of Maestro Migliore, a considerable innovation may at least be remarked in the matter of form. V The language has lost its archaic character, and has become more rapid and fluent. The Provengal and dialectical elements, the heavy and involved periods, disappear more and more, giving way to a natural and elegant form of speech. This may be observed even in those poems which, in all other respects, fall within the old range of ideas, as in the canzone of Bondie Dietaiuti : " Madonna, m'e awenuto simigliante." After a comparison (taken from Bemart de Ventadom) with the lark, which soars up to the light, and then sinks down dazzled, the poet continues : £ cosl sormontai, donna, veggendo, Ch^ mi doni amore T ardimento Di voi amar, sovrana di beltate, Ma sospirando, lasso, e piangendo Son dichinato, poi va in perdimento Per me merc^, e frango in pietate. Ma piii m' aggrada X amoroso foco, Ove il mio core ardente Per voi si sta, piacente, Che per un* altra aver sollazzo e gioco.* Here there is not a single original turn. The boldness given ' A°t ^^ ^ '^^^^ myself on high, lady, seeing thee, for love gave me the boldness to love thee, supreme in beauty. But sighing, alas, and wccpmg, I have fallen low, and am dashed down into wretched- ness, since for me mercy is lost. But the fire of love is dearer to me in which, oh gracious lady, my glowing heart lies for your sake, than through another to have joy and solace. LYRICAL POETRY IN CENTRAL ITALY 95 by Amore, the heart burning in the fire of love, the readiness rather to suffer for Madonna's sake than to be rewarded by another, all these traits are commonplaces from the repertory of the Sicilian school, and the same remark applies to the image of the basilisk, to the appellation of the lady as chiaro miraglio and to the explanation of the origin of love that follows. But these things are expressed in so simple, tender, and skilful a manner, that they may almost be said to be imbued with a fresh charm. Here, too, we remark the pre- sence of a new inspiration, a gradual transformation from the old manner, before the actual disappearance of the latter. We have here a school of transition, which stands midway between the Tuscan followers of the Sicilians, such as Guittone, Buonagiunta, and Dante da Majano, and the new school of the dolce siil nuovo, beginning with Guido Guinicelli. These poets of the transition are almost all Florentines, a fact which shows that this city was destined to become the centre of literary development. Their opposition to the stubborn followers of the old school was by no means un- conscious ; on the contrary, we have contemporary evidence of a regular literary polemic. A sonnet, written either by Chiaro Davanzati or by Maestro Rinuccini, is directed against Buonagiunta Urbiciani, and reproaches him with having adorned himself with the property of the Notary of Lentini, as the crow in the fable did with the feathers of the other birds ; in other words, he reproaches him with servile imitation. Dante da Majano, who coarsely scoffed at the youthful Dante Alighieri when he sent his first sonnet to the famous poets, was, in his turn, on a similar occasion (when he had sung of a vision, and invited poets to interpret it for him) derided by Guido Orlandi, a poet who, at any rate in part, favoured the new hostile literary movement. Before leaving these first attempts at a more original style of poetry, we have still to consider a group of poems which are distinguished from those that have hitherto been treated by a powerful realism. In a song by Compagnetto da Prato : " Per lo marito c' 6 rio," a wife complains of her bad husband, and rejoices at the revenge she is about to take on him. Here we have the reverse of that world of chivalry which was usually presented in the poems, and find ourselves in the lower regions of every-day life, from which the subjects I 96 HISTORY OK EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE f »!,» nnvpU and fabliaux of the Middle Ages are drawn, diitutte the lover., «,b«ve h« '«?"» '"f "? ,„„j j, severance, but the w,fe grants ^!:^^°^f''Xhed her with she is angry with her husband He has reproached ^^^ infidelity without cause : now he washes t"?""^^" to make his suspicions come true. 1 he «=°"^=""" ^, jhe oftencomplains of the spy who °verhX';^.»°;;f^f^^,^^ S' lusingatore. This figure here assumes '^«,^"'S^;'°™ °^^ old neighbour, who watches the domgs of the young coupie with looks full of venom : Drudo mio, a te mi richiamo D'una vecchia c' 6 a vicina,_ Ch' ella s' e accorta ch' lo t amo, Del suo mal dir no rifina.' ^„^ci- A dialocue ensues — a tavounte lorni ui yyj j Cy are alone in the chamber. Her desires are o a very definite nature, and she suffers - d;gres-- He - to act. ::n'trhrNZt\"rt^:strttabir^^^^^ of thrchi^airous poetry is formed by this frank expression of ^Twr:qmouspoen.h.e.^^^^^^^ LlStTar.!' ShTuSS. f d - ^edeHckJ^^^ It is difficult to determine with certainty whether they were It IS o'"'^"''^ c^„thprn m bv Tuscan poets ; the latter sup- composed by Southern or oy ^"='^' J^, , ,' T the first Cnd S^":! . he, 10,, Im he, Che, l""i«J» ""« h" » i,o,he,. She beg. him to protect he, (,om Ih,. fete, evil words. LYRICAL POETRY IN CENTRAL ITALY 97 but he consoles her and exhorts her calmly to marry the man she hates, as so many others did, seeing that this would not prevent them from continuing to love each other and to be happy : Assai donne mariti anno Che da lor son forte odiati ; De' be' sembianti lor danno, Per6 non son di piii amati. Cosi voglio che tu faccia, Ed averai molta gioia. . . . ^ In the second poem, " Di dolor mi convien cantare," the situation is not clear, because three verses have been omitted from the second stanza, owing to a mistake of the scribe. The main portion, however, is again devoted to a wife's com- plaint concerning her husband, very similar to the one in Compagnetto's first poem. She desires his death ; she will then lament his loss before the world ; but in her heart she will rejoice, and praise God for having set her free. In Provencal, and especially in Old French lyrical poetry, we meet with similar realistic examples by the side of the conventional abstract poems. The court poetry moved in an unreal, artificial world ; and what was hidden behind this world is shown by the satires and tenzoni of the troubadours that are often so severe. This veil of con- ventionalism was at times rent asunder by the poets them- selves, who disclosed the lower sphere of reaUty — that of the husbands who quarrel with their wives, beat them, and scold them ; that of the wives who are dissatisfied with their husbands, and yield to their lovers. Of this class there are many among the old French romances, the one beginning, " Un petit devant le jour," especially, showing many points of resemblance with the fourth of the above- mentioned Italian songs : here the poet reproduces a dia logue between a knight and his mistress, who had been im- prisoned in a tower by her jealous husband. In a Provencal poem, beginning, " S' anc fui belha ni prezada," a lady in- veighs against her bad husband, who was given her on Many women have husbands, who are very much hated by them ; they show them a fair mien, but they are none the more loved for that. Thus do I wish that thou shouldst do, and thou wilt have much joy- • . . I- H 98 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE account of his wealth, and consoles herself with the thought that she has her friend, and the faithful watchman who shields their love from dangers. Similar sentiments are expressed in the charming ballad, " Coindeta sui, si cum n'ai greu mar- tire." Considering how closely the Italians were acquainted with the literature of their western neighbours, it may be admitted that they were indebted to them also for the idea of treating poetically such ordinary subjects of every-day life. There is, however, no proof of this imitation in individual cases; such proof is, indeed, out of the question, for, as Tobler has pertinently remarked,^ "the only lesson that could be learned from these (models) was the art of opening one's eyes to those things that were before one's eyes ; but the things themselves differed in the two countries." Since the conditions differed in reality, the poetry that was engaged in representing them assumed a character totally different from that of its models. A very similar state of things existed with regard to a cer- tain resemblance with the Provencal and French pastoral poetry. In the case of the " Rosa fresca " we decided against such an influence ; but it can certainly be traced in two Tuscan poems, in the dialogue of the gemma leziosa, which has already been mentioned (here the appellation villanella proves that the lover is addressing a peasant girl), and in an anonymous poem, "Part' io mi calcava," which has often, without reason, been ascribed to the same Ciacco dell' Anguillaia. In the former the situation is very similar, but the spirit in which the persons speak is different. In the latter the poet, as so often in the pastorals, tells of a ride during which he has overheard a conversation. But there the similarity ends, in this case also ; it is limited to the out- ward form. The subject-matter of the dialogue and of the entire poem is different to anything that may be found in the French pastorals ; on the other hand, it is frequently met with in Italian popular songs. A country girl complains that no one gives her a husband, and her mother scolds her for her boldness. A popular ballad, probably of Bolognese origin, which treats of this subject, and which will be dealt with farther on, has come down to us from the thirteenth century. Jenaer Literaturzeitung," 1878, p. 669. I (( IV GUIDO GUINICELLI OF BOLOGNA IN Tuscany the poetry had undergone a gradual change through contact with popular poetry, or, at any rate, with popular sentiment. But the further development of Italian literature cannot be primarily traced back to the people, the new school which Dante set against the old is not the direct continuation of the popular realistic tendency. The artificial poets sought their inspiration not in the simplicity and freshness of nature, but in the profundity and deep signific- ance of their ideas. Learning is the distinctive feature of the new school. There now arose in Italy a period of growing zeal for scientific studies ; the writings of Aristotle had become more generally known through the translation made at the command of Frederick 11. ; and philosophical studies, hitherto less favoured than the practical sciences, were now cultivated with enthusiasm, and were, indeed, recognised at the famous old University of Bologna on an equal footing with jurisprudence and grammar. In Bologna, too, the dolce stil nuovo took its rise, founded by Guido Guinicelli, whom Dante called his father, and the father of the best love-poets : II padre Mio e degli altri miei miglior, che mai Rime d' amore usar dolci e leggiadre. Guido Guinicelli, of the noble family of the Principi, is mentioned in documents from the year 1266, later on, with the title oi judex, that is, skilled in jurisprudence. Like so many others, he suffered severely from the internal struggles of his native city ; in 1247, when the Ghibelline party of the Lambertazzi, to which his family belonged, were driven out, he, too, was banished. It is not known whether he went to Faenza, in common with the majority of the exiles, or where lOO HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE he settled; he died young in 1276. That is all that is known of the poet's life, but it is sufficient to enable us to determine the period of his literary activity. He himself had at first followed the manner of the Sicilians, and the majority of his poems show no marked difference from those of the Southern court poets ; we find in his works the same commonplaces, the same emptiness and monotony, the same images and similes. He also attempted the essentially Pro- venc^al artifice of obscure speech together with the empty triflings of the rime equivoche in the canzone, " Lo fin pregio avanzato." During that period he even acknowledged him- self to be a disciple of the famous Master Guittone of Arezzo, sent him one of his poems for criticism and improve- ment, addressed him in the accompanying sonnet, " O caro padre meo," and assured him that he regarded him alone as master in that art. Hence, if Dante, when he eulogised Guido so much, was considering all his poems without dis- tinction, his judgment would be incomprehensible; however, in speaking thus, he was probably thinking of the famous canzone, "Al cor gentil ripara sempre amore," of several sonnets such as " lo vo' del ver la mia donna laudare," per- haps also of the song quoted by him (" De El. Vulg." ii. 6), " Tegno di foUe impresa alio ver dire," with the beautiful words in praise of the lady's beneficent influence, and pos- sibly, too, of other poems now lost. The canzoni in the conventional manner, and the panegyric of Guittone, obviously belong to an earlier period of Guido's life, after which he went his own way. This change in his poetry took place under the influence of science. Philosophy, which in that age, when Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventura were teaching, had again come to be regarded with favour, pene- trated even into poetry, which drew from it its subject-matter, and even the manner of its exposition. The canzone of " Amore e cor gentile" begins, as it were, with a philosophical thesis, to the effect that Amore takes its place only in a noble heart, in a heart filled with virtue and exalted feelings, and this proposition is then illustrated by a series of com- parisons. The question as to the nature, origin and influence of Amore was an old one; it had already occupied the Provencals, and, later on, the Italians had treated it very frequently and GUIDO GUINICELLI OF BOLOGNA lOI I with special predilection. But the solution had always been the same, one of those trivialities which one invariably imitated from the other. Love, it was said, springs from seeing and pleasing, the image of beauty penetrates through the eyes into the soul, takes root in the heart and occupies the thoughts — which is nothing but a superficial statement, describing the subject without fathoming it. In Guido's can- zone, an entirely new conception takes the place of this well-worn succession of phrases. Love seeks its place in the noble heart, as the bird in the foliage ; nobiUty of heart and love are one and inseparable as the sun and its splendour ; as the star imparts its magic power to the jewel when the sun has purified it from all gross matter, in the same way the image of the beloved lady enflames the heart, which nature has created noble and pure ; and, as fire by water, so, too, every impure feeling is extinguished by the contact of love ; the sentiment inspired by the loved lady shall fill him who is her devoted slave, even as the power of the Deity is transmitted into the heavenly intelligences. — To such a degree has the conception of love changed; the earthly passion has become transfigured, and has been brought into contact with the sublimest ideas known to man ; it is a philosophical conception of love, and the similes that serve to illustrate and to explain it in so elaborate and diversified a manner, show no traces of the old repertory : Ferre lo Sole il fango tutto '1 giorno, Vile riman, ne il Sol perde calore ; Dice uomo altier : gentil per schiatta torno ; Lui sembro al fango, al Sol gentil valore. ^ Here we plainly see the thinker who desires his image to be significant and expressive, though sometimes losing sight of the beautiful. To the old school this departure from the ordinary manner appeared to be affectation, and this ' The sun strikes the mire the whole clay, it remains vile, and the sun loses no warmth ; a haughty man says : '* I am noble through my race ; " him I compare with the mire, and noble worth with the sun. — A fourteenth century collection of maxims, the "Fiore di Virtii," chap, xxxvii. , quotes the sentence : II sole sta in su lo fango, e non se gliene appicca, e della gentilezza che presta non se n' ha se non lo nome — as a saying of Aristotle, without doubt wrongly. I02 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE energetic brevity intentional obscurity, to which, it is true, it led soon enough. These accusations, together with that of artistic incapacity, were made by Buonagiunta of Lucca in a sonnet against Guido, who, however, replied to the pretentious criticism in cold and haughty words of remon- strance — "Uomo ch' e saggio non corre leggiero." And so this school is distinguished from the old by its endeavour to attain a greater depth of thought, by an in- increase of vigour and a fresh earnestness. Amore and Madonna remain abstractions, but they are imbued with a new significance. Madonna is still the sum of all perfection ; but, at the same time, she becomes a symbol, the incarna- tion of something more exalted. The love inspired by her passes beyond her towards virtue, to the highest good ; the chivalrous love of the Provencals has become spiritual love. A symbolical and allegorical character is imparted to poetry, whose real aim gradually comes to be the expression of philosophic truth, shrouded in the beautiful veil of the image, as Dante has defined it. This introduction of science is not in itself a poetic element, but the new subject-matter stands in inner relation to the personality of the poet, and is not merely adopted from without ; the scientific symbolism does away with the old well-worn phrases, and in this way free rein is again given from time to time to passion. This constitutes the main point of difference from the poetry of Guittone. Guittone moralised and syllogised, and remained dry and prosaic all the time. Love and learning, thought and imagination, were not yet united as in the works of the new school. He gave nothing but the bald truth, without the beautiful veil. The poetical imagery and warmth of feeling were wanting, as we find them in Guido Guinicelli ; for example, at the close of his famous canzone, the most perfect piece of his that we possess, God reproaches the soul with having likened its earthly love to heavenly things, and it excuses itself in the following terms : Donna, Dio mi dira, che presumisti ? Siando 1' alma mia a lui davanti : Lo ciel passasti e fino a me venisti, E desti in vano amor me per sembianti ; Ch' a me convien la laude E alia Reina del regname degno, Per cui cessa ogni fraude. GUIDO GUINICELLI OF BOLOGNA IO3 Dir li potro : Tenea d'angel sembianza Che fosse del tuo regno ; Non mi fue fallo, s' io le puosi amanza. ^ This is the kind of passage in which Dante recognised a kindred spirit and the " sweet new style " which he adopted. The loftiness of thought and the genuine enthusiasm in Guido's poems could not fail to attract him. The well- known canzone inspired him in one of his own on nobility, and in a sonnet (" Amore e cor gentil ") in which he calls his predecessor the " Wise." Reminiscences from the same piece occur also in the "Commedia." In a sonnet that treats a favourite theme, the salutary effect of the sight of the beloved lady, Guido approaches very closely the style of his great admirer : Passa per via si adorna e si gentile, Ch' abbassa orgoglio a cui dona salute, E fa' 1 di nostra fe', se non la crede. E non la pub appressar uom che sia vile ; Ancor ve ne dirb maggior virtute : Null' uom pub mal pensar, finche la vede."^ These verses Dante undoubtedly had in mind when he said in the canzone '* Donne ch' avete intelleto d'amore " : Ancor le ha Dio per maggior grazia dato, Che non pub mal finir chi le ha parlato. ^ ' " Woman," God will say to me, " what hast thou presumed to do? " (when my soul is before him). " Thou hast passed through the heavens, and art come unto me, and, in thy vain love, didst take me for likeness. To me is due the praise, and to the Queen of the worthy realm through whom all fraud has an end." I shall be able to say to him : *' She resembled an angel, that might be a member of thy king- dom ; and so I did no wrong, in setting my love on her." — The fourth verse has often been misunderstood. In his enthusiasm the poet took God himself as an image for the object of his love. This boldness he feels himself bound to justify, and his justification consists in the loftiness and purity of his love. This is no earthly passion ; it is the reflection of heavenly beauty in his beloved that enthrals him. "^ She goes her way so fair and noble, that she lowers the pride of him whom she greets, and makes him of our faith, if he did not believe in it (before). And a man who is vile cannot approach her. A greater virtue still I shall tell you of her : no man can think evil, while he beholds her. •^ A still greater grace has God conferred on her : he who has spoken to her cannot come to a bad end. I04 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE In Bologna itself there are very few traces of a continua- tion of Guido Guinicelli's artistic aspirations. On that account Casini altogether refused to admit that there had been a Bolognese school ; but it must not be forgotten that among the three Bolognese poets, whom Dante eulogises in addition to Guinicelli, there is one of whom we know nothing at all, while of another scarcely anything has come down to us. The former is Guido Ghisilieri, probably identical with a Guido di Upizzino Ghisilieri, who is mentioned in documents, and was born about the year 1244. Fabrizio or Fabruzzo de' Lambertazzi, who was banished with his family in 1 274, like Guinicelli, and is named among the heads of the banished party as late as the year 1294, is the author of an extant moralising sonnet, which contains a reflection to the effect that the judgment of the world is based only on results and not on the wisdom or fooHshness of actions. Better known to us is Onesto of Bologna, of whom we have two canzoni, twenty-three sonnets and a ballad. He is a later poet ; for whilst he has a polemic with Guittone in a sonnet, yet he directs others to Cino da Pistoja. Guido's influence is manifest in his poems, though it is somewhat superficial. In the one canzone, which is, as far as it has come down to us, quite unintelligible, we find again the thought of Guinicelli : Quand' egli appar, Amor prende suo loco Sendo deliberato, non dimora In cor che sia di gentilezza fora. ^ This idea afterwards became the dogma, as it were, of the school, by which its disciples may be recognised. A sonnet, "L'anima e criatura virtuata," gives a definition of the soul, developed according to the regular scholastic method. It was in Florence that Guido's learned poetry found its greatest adherents, those that did not merely adopt the new style {Vuso moderno\ but also perfected it. Among these were Guido Cavalcanti and Dante Alighieri. It is a very interesting phenomenon, and one that we shall find again among the Florentine followers of Guido Guinicelli, that the originator of so severe and lofty a style * When it appears, Love takes its place with deliberation, it remains not in a heart that is without nobility. GUIDO GUINICELLI OF BOLOGNA 105 did not disdain, at times, in a jocose and scoflftng vein, to descend to a completely realistic manner. We have two sonnets of this kind by him, the one, concerning the Lucia with the many-coloured cowl, at sight of whom his heart quivers more violently than a serpent's head that has been hacked off, so that he longs to kiss her mouth and both her eyes of flame — a delightful expression of natural feeling; the other, a very drastic invective against a malignant old woman, on whose head he heaps every possible curse : Diavol te levi, vecchia rabbiosa, E sturbigion te fera in su la testa. ^ Here, then, the learned poet, too, approaches the style of popular poetry. A poetry of the people existed in Bologna as well as in other places, together with artificial poetry ; just in this city, indeed, it had a better fate than in Tuscany, and several remnants of some importance have come down to us. The Bolognese notaries of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries often diverted and amused themselves by writing down, in the collections of public records, Italian songs, which introduce into the midst of Latin legal documents, with their heavy formal jargon, an echo of the loves and pleasures of the gay and joyous world. In Italy the law was always glad to ally itself with poetry, as may be seen from the many poets of those days who were lawyers, judges and notaries. The majority of the poems in question belong to the artificial category, and many of them are known to us from other sources ; but others are popular in their general character, and also in the strongly idiomatic colouring of the language. From the record we learn at the same time the period in which they were current. A document of this kind, dated 1286, contains the fragment of a ballad begin- ning with the words "Partite, amore, a deo." It is the fare- well of two lovers in the early morning, as we find it depicted in the Proven9al Albas and in the German Tagelieder. The words of the girl, who warns her lover that it is time to depart, are tender in the intensity of their passion : *' Kiss me once again, and then go " : ^ May the devil take you, wrathful old woman, and may confusion strike thee on the head. I06 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE Or me l)assa, oclo meo. E tosto sia r andata. In a record of the year ,305, we have the little f "f f *^ nightingale, so simple in its contents. The boy's little bird hLffloln away out of its cage ; he weeps and goes .nto the wood ; he hears it sing and begs it to come back. I he form of the piece is entirely in keeping— short verses of six syllables, tripping childishly along. This, too, is probably only a fragnient It is an innocent cry of nature, pleasing and touching by its very simplicity, and by the impression it conveys. But just on that very account it is impossible to Quite different in character are three poems from a record of the year 1282, all of them ballads, like the pieces already mentioned. Here we have a coarse and vulgar humour, intended to excite the laughter of a less refined public In them are described in the crudest way the adventures of two female gossips, their obscene actions and discourse In the second poem two sisters-in-law abuse each other before their neighbours. They manage to give each other the worst possible character, but when one of them comes to touch dangerous ground, the other becomes meek and makes promises on condition that the secret should be kept, where- upon they make it up again, in order to be able to deceive their husbands conjointly. The third ballad gives us a dia- logue between a daughter who wishes to marry a young fellow, and her mother who refuses to give her consent. But the scene is here sketched far more coarsely than in the Tuscan song, " Per Arno mi cavalcava." The mother arid daughter hurl curses at each other ; the girl does not yield in spite of the old woman's words of warning, and shows no trace of modesty in the expression of her desires. A lengthy political poem, the ''Serventese dei Geremei e Lambertazzi," narrates the same events as were of such moment in the lives of Guido Guinicelli and of Fatazio Lambertazzi, the struggles of the Guelphs and ^l^ibellines in Bologna, the exile of the latter in 1274 and 1280, and the betrayal of the town of Faenza, where they had taken refuge to the Guelphs of Bologna, through the instrumentality ot Tibaldello (1281). The number of details and of names shows that the poem must have been composed soon atter GUIDO GUINICELLI OF BOLOGNA 107 q /.i the occurrence of the events. It may have been intended to be publicly recited before the people ; for its tone is that of the roving minstrels, the exposition is irregular and lacking all art, there are many idioms in the language, and we fre- quently find assonance in the place of rhyme. The metrical form is the same as came to be regularly used later on for productions of this kind, the serventese. The characteristic trait of this form was the continuous concatenation of the rhymes, as opposed to division into stanzas ; at the end or in the middle of each section (copula), the rhyme was started, which was then taken up and continued by the succeeding copula. In the earlier periods, the poem was always con- structed in such a way, that a copula of three or four long verses (consisting of eleven or of seven syllables), which rhymed together, was followed by a shorter one (the coda, consisting of five or four syllables), which gave the rhyme to the next division ; and this is also the form of the Bolognese poem (AAAbBBBcC . . .). The name of Serventese, therefore, did not mean the same thing in Italy, where it referred to metrical peculiarities, as in Provencal literature, though it was probably derived from the latter. The subject-matter could be of various kinds : thus, one of the Bolognese records contains a love serventese. However, the form was employed, by preference, for narrative, moralising and political pieces, for which purpose the uninterrupted suc- cession of verses, without any strongly marked divisions into stanzas, was especially convenient. And so, because it so often resembled a moralising sermon, the other name, Sermintese, which was usual in the fourteenth century, may have been formed by popular etymology, as also the form Ser?nontese, employed by the old writer on metre, Antonio da Tempo. Antonio declared it to be a popular class of poetry, and Francesco da Barberino, in the beginning of the fourteenth century, treated it contemptuously as minstrels' poetry, which was unknown to the art poets. THE FRENCH CHIVALROUS POETRY IN NORTHERN ITALY LITERATURE does not show a uniform development from the outset : it begins in different places and m different ways. Before the literature of a single provmce can attain the supremacy, subject the others to itself, and thus become the general literature of the whole country, it is local in character. The first attempts at poetical composi- tion in the Italian language we found in the South and, soon after, poetry was written in the Centre of the peninsula, where it underwent a considerable transformation. In the North, the influence of the adjoining country was stronger, as we saw quite at the beginning, and not merely the manner, but also the language of Provencal poetry was adopted. In this tongue poetry continued to be written throughout the whole of the thirteenth century, so that it is plain that lyrical court poetry composed in Italian could not spread in these parts. Dante names only Ildebrandino of Padua and Gotto of Mantua as poets who employed the vulgare illustre in Upper Italy, and he says that nobody composed poetry in Ferrara, Modena, and Reggio. This may be correct : for the Matulino of Ferrara, whom Salim- bene mentions as the author of canzoni and serventesi, was probably a writer of popular poetry. The titles of the pieces in the old collections of songs are not accompanied by any names which would point with certainty to Upper Italy. In a legal document, however, dated December 23, 1277, is preserved a poem in the Venetian dialect, the so-called " Lament of the Paduan lady, whose husband is away on a Crusade." This title, which was invented by the editor, does not correspond, at any rate, exactly to the subject- matter, which has been variously interpreted ; it is perhaps best to admit that the real context of this curious piece of FRENCH POETRY IN NORTHERN ITALY I09 poetry is not clear. It is true that it begins with a lament of the lady for the absence of her husband on a crusade and with the assurance of her fidelity to him, by way of protest against a dona Frixa^ who has exhorted her to be cheerful and not to grieve. Then we are told how the other women gave her right, how the husband returned, and how they lived together in perfect love and accord. Thereupon the pilgrim manifests his approval, and continues with the praise of his lady and with the expression of the hope that he will finally win her love, though bewailing, at the same time, his present grief. How does this close fit in with what has gone before ? Is it really necessary to assume that all this is spoken by the pilgrim, as has been thought ? In other words, does he himself desire to disturb that conjugal fidelity to which he gives such high praise ? The trouba- dours love married women ; but they do not sing in praise of their marriage. Or is the lady whom the pilgrim loves in no way identical with the one whose fidelity he eulogises, and does he introduce her conjugal happiness only as an example of what he hopes for himself? In the present condition of the poem, it is impossible to decide this question ; perhaps a beginning is missing, which explained these points. The love lament of the pilgrim at the close perhaps stands alone among the poetical efforts of Northern Italy known to us in its closer similarity to the lyrical court poetry. In its earlier portion, however, the poem is popular and original, and the love of a husband and wife who are fondly attached to each other — a theme which it would be difficult to find again in the poetry of those times — is treated m a simple, natural, and engaging manner. But there was another literature, whose influence checked the free development of the national literature in Northern Italy — namely, that of France. This was scarcely less thought of and scarcely less widely spread in the Middle Ages than in modern times. The French epics and ro- mances were read and admired throughout the whole of Europe ; the events they narrated, the legendary heroes they celebrated, were often proverbial on all men's tongues. In Italy we find not only that the French originals were translated and imitated, but also that not a few of the authors in composing their works preferred the foreign idiom to ,,0 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE -So, Mr F,° neb? toe French, a. he »,., -.■ » diffused, than tne ouieib. exactly the same it in his Venetian Chronicle, and gives ^^^^^'^ ",,...;. L doing so even using the identical word de/M/e, reason for doing ^?;^y^" ^^ when he, in weighing ^„:S; at^SctSar %f o^nion. which we SSuently expressed "-/^-'^if:^^^^^^^^^^^^^ therefore have ^--^y f --J -^ o^^^^^^^^^^^ . ™LrFrenchCs\ons,dered the proper lar,guage, and ds Xscnbed by the old f ^^thtee'r^r'n "n" Paimon Vidal In the seventies of the thirteenth centur>. ScTan^of Pisa composed in Frerich prose a ong^w.njg -t rUTl^^ ?ar Slrf :^n the year ..,8 4" ^ r tTJn '"th^n^ktr VZcL" /rr'CSs fnd Sve^Tu^he FTeXoetry of chivalry, especially that oflheCafolingian cycle, brought forth on Itahan so, a UrL nroeenv of which the manuscripts of the Library oi M7 Venice -e^HnirtranTcH ^^^^^^^ 'TP^s tht '' GiTde Nanteuil," the introduction o^jhich .^^out one .hnnsa^d verses in length, was composed by the Italian scribe But several othirs of these poems are new produc- !• K^Jna mprelv related to French models, or even entirely Uons, b<5>"g'"^^'2^^f ^f both combined we have in the com- FRENCH POETRY IN NORTHERN ITALY III example of the latter in the " Entree de Spagne " (MS. XXI.) and in the so-called " Prise de Pampelune " (MS. V.). This is, therefore, a regular Franco-Italian literature— French epics composed by Italians. The subject-matter of the " Entree de Spagne " and of the " Prise de Pampelune," namely the conquest of Spain before the treachery of Roncesvalles, is not treated by any other of the Old French poems that have come down to us ; they would therefore fill up a gap in the poetical versions of the legend of Charlemagne, if they really went back to French chanso/is de geste. But this is very doubtful. The author of the " Entree " narrates, that Archbishop Turpin appeared to him in a dream, and asked him to make a rhymed version of his chronicle, and in the beginning of his poem, he really follows the narrative of the Pseudo- Turpin. Further on, he declares that he has drawn also from Jean of Navarra and from Gautier of Aragon, who are quite unknown, and whom he must have invented, in order to inspire his public with respect for his learning. Finally, he himself admits that one portion of his work, and that the most important, is his own invention. He makes use of it in order to form a connecting link with the long siege of Pampelona and with Roland's quarrel with the Emperor. Roland has, without the knowledge of his uncle, undertaken an expedition against Nobles and conquered the town ; in spite of this successful result, Charles is so incensed, that he boxes his ears on his return. Roland leaves the camp in a rage, and the adventures he now meets with in distant parts supply the author with a subject which enables him to dis- play his own gifts of imagination or to repeat trite common- places that were already in use. That is to say, they are practically occurrences narrated in later French chansons of the different Carolingian heroes, as described especially in the " Huon de Bordeaux " — strange voyages and adventures, showing the influence of the romances of the Round Table, and of the epics of the crusades. Roland goes to the East, and, under an assumed name, defends a Saracen princess, Diones, the daughter of the King of Persia, against an odious wooer. King Malquidant, who threatens her ; he then converts the whole of the Persian Sultan's house to Christianity, takes his son Samson as a companion, visits the a'ai>^3t!ui>jMAerf!i* 112 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE holy places of Palestine, and starts on his homeward journey. On the way he is thrown on a desert coast, and learns from the hermit Samson, with whom he is dwelling, the tidings which had been revealed to the holy man by an angel, that he has still seven years to live, that he will conquer and then be slain by treachery. Finally he returns to Charles's army, just as all the nobles are on the point of leaving the service of the Emperor. The reconciliation follows and the struggle against the Saracens continues. — The influence of the entire poem on the subsequent shaping of the literature of chivalry in Italy was very great ; above all, it was this romantic episode that could not fail to give the greatest pleasure, and it became the model for many of the later poems and romances, in which the hero is glorified in a similar way. One trait in the " Entree," which reveals the nationality of the author, is the prominence given to Roland's relations with Italy : at the beginning of the war he went with Oliver to Rome, and there received from the Pope an army of twenty thousand champions of the Church, whom he then, as senator of Rome, leads to battle. The ''Prise de Pampelune" was so called by Michelant, but its title is not particularly appropriate ; the capture of Pampelona forms the subject only of the beginning of the work, and that is no longer extant. At the place where the poem now commences the town is already taken, and expeditions against Estella, Cordova {Cordes), and other cities follow ; the work would, therefore, be more fitly called "The Conquest of Spain," and it is, as we shall see, in reaUty nothing but the fragment of a continuation of the " Entree." The narrative differs from the majority of the chansons de geste as also from the fairly vivacious " Entree," by its lack of imagination and by a certain dryness that recalls the style of the chronicles ; the numerous descrip- tions of battles, which are developed with a kind of strategical precision, and with frequent and exact notifica- tion of the number of the troops (in place of the general exaggerations of the old chansons de geste, the uninterrupted course of the action, without any break in and resump- tion of the thread, as was usual in the popular poetry, all show a tendency towards the style of historical narrative, so striking later on in the " Reali di Francia " and in similar FRENCH POETRY IN NORTHERN ITALY II 3 books; in the "Prise," as in these, one battle regularly succeeds the other, and in between come the marches, the surrenders of the towns, then massacres or the wholesale baptism of the conquered Saracens. Here agam the patriotism of the Lombard author shows itself m the im- portant role assigned to Desirier (Desiderius), whereas the poems that originated in France make no mention of any part taken by him in the war in Spain. Here he is one of Charles's truest and bravest vassals ; Pampelona was con- quered owing to his skill, and on many other occasions he contributes largely towards the successful result of the most important events. When he is told to ask the Emperor for a favour, he demands, in the place of land and people, only privileges for his Lombards, that none of them should ever become slaves, and that everyone might, without being noble, be able to become a knight (v. 341, sqq,) : Le don que je vous quier, oiant la baronie, Est que frans soient sempre tous ceus de Lombardie : Chi en comprast aucun, tantost perde la vie ; E che cescun Lombard, bien qu'il n'ait gentilie Che remise li soil de sa ancesorie, Puise estre civaler, s'il a pur monantie Qu'il puise mantenir a honour civalerie. E si veul che chescun Lombard sens vilenie Puise sempre portier gainte la spee forbie Devant les empereres ; qui veut en ait envie. Autre don ne vous quier ne autre segnorie. This is granted to him. Charles the Great says to Naime that it is foolishness to ask so little. But his wise counsellor replies, that Desiderius is right and that he has made the noblest demand ; at the same time he celebrates Lombardy, the King's land, as the fairest of all, so that he had no need of any other. As the second poem continues the action of the first, after an interruption, so, too, the same persons appear in both, with the same character and in the same circum- stances ; some of them do not occur elsewhere in the literature of the chansons de geste, especially Isori^, the son of Malceris of Navarre, and Samson, the son of the King of Persia, who is received among the twelve peers and who maintains his place in the later Italian poetry of I. I 114 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE chivalry. Of great interest, especially, is the figure of Estout, who is of but small importance in the French epics, but who now plays a more prominent part and is more dis- tinctly characterised. Estout is a wag ; his clumsy wit does not spare even the Emperor, who, together with the barons, and especially his truly loved friend, Roland, are fond of laughing at his jokes. He takes the town of Toletele by a stratagem (" Prise," 4842, sqq.) deceiving the inhabitants by having the flag of the enemy carried before him, after their standard-bearer had been killed. Then he permits himself a practical joke, orders all the draw-bridges to be closed, and refuses admission to the Christian army. Charlemagne says (5078, S(/q.): . . . ' *Biens sire II estous, pour amour yous prion Che vous nous hostalies dedens vetre maison." " Ne ferai," dist le due, '* parle aves en perdon. Ales vous aoberzier par delez cil boison ; Car ci dens ne entreries, bien le vous afion." Iluec estoit Roland qui rioit a fuson Des paroles Ilestous. . . . By dint of friendly words and by invoking the love he had inspired, Roland succeeds in persuading the irreverent practical joker to admit the Emperor after all. In the case of dangerous exploits Estout is always distrustful, and warns his companions, without, however, himself lacking pluck and courage. Thus we have in this mingling of chivalry, foolish- ness and levity, an original semi-comical character, who re- appears in almost exactly the same shape in the Tuscan popular poems, and supplied Bojardo, and finally Ariosto, with the fundamental traits for their immortal type of Astolfo. And another point here again proves the great importance of these two Franco-Italian poems for the later Italian chivalrous literature. In the latter Astolfo is always an Englishman, whereas he was Duke of Langres in the French legend. This change of nationality arose from a misunderstanding on the part of the author of the " Entree." At the beginning he calls his Estout, quite correctly, de Lengresds\A Lengrois ; but then also de Lengles and Lenglois, which he finally changed into rEnglois, Englois, without noticing the great difference. Even in the " Prise " Estout never occurs other- wise than as an Englishman. FRENCH POETRY IN NORTHERN ITALY II 5 The author of the " Entree " describes himself in one passage as a Paduan, but says that he does not wish to give his name. It was, however, thought, that he had been m- ron^s^nt since a certain Nicholas alludes to himself by namfinle last lines of the MS. XXI. ; and so the^^EnU e de Spagne" was considered to be the work of one Nicholas of Padua, and then L. Gautier assumed that the " Prise was also by him. This view was adopted by G. 1 aris. ^ut subseauently Gautier withdrew his former conjecture, and it was p^vek' especially by P. Meyer, that both the poerns could not be from the same pen, owing to considerable dif- ferences in exposition, metre, and language. An investigation of A. Thomas finally cleared up the matter. The author of the " Entree " really did not name himself, and we, therefore, know nothing about him except that he was a Paduan On the other hand, the Nicholas who appears in the last lines is not identical with this Paduan, but another poet, who composed a sequel, as the words thenriselves clearly show. To this sequel, and not to the " Entree," belong the last one hundred and thirty-one verses in the manuscript, and, after a long interruption, the " Prise de Pampelune also ; what was contained in the gap is lost, or, at any rate, at present unknown. The great similarity, in spite of the numerous differences, is due to the fact that the writer of the sequel had the work of the Paduan before him, and endeavoured to continue it in the same manner. Thomas further makes it appear probable, that this author of the " Prise is identical with the Nicholas of Verona of whom we have a still un- published Franco-Italian poem on the Passion of Christ, and who himself says at the beginning of this poem, that he has narrated many stories in verse, and in the Irench language. . . , j u- u A third Franco-Italian poem, which is shorter, and which treats a subject that is otherwise unknown in Old French literature, belongs to quite a different legendary cycle, that of Troy ; this is the " Roman d'Hector," or, as it is called in other MSS., the '' Roman d'Hercules." It contains the story of a fight of Hector with Hercules, here depicted as a terrible giant, whom he kills, thus avenging the fate of Laomedon and Hesione. A different form is employed, in accordance with this new subject-matter. While the pro- Il6 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE ductions corresponding to the chansons de geste are com- posed in the usual series of verses of ten and twelve syllables joined together by one rhyme, the " Hector" has verses of eight syllables rhyming in pairs like Benoit's " Roman de Troie," with which this narrative is connected ; it was, as Joly remarked, a history of the youthful exploits of the hero— " Enfances d'Hector," such as were, in later times, often added, by way of introduction, to the famous chansons de geste. The language of these three poems, as also of the work of Rusticiano of Pisa, is not pure French, but shows clear traces of the dialects of Northern Italy, for the most part of such a nature as to exclude the possibility of their havmg been in- troduced only by the copyists. Frequently words and terms of speech are employed, which are quite correct in Italian, but were never used in French; others have an Italian colouring in their phonetics. Words often undergo great changes, too, for the sake of the rhyme. And finally, the pro- sody is half Italian and half French in principle, inasmuch as all the vowels are subject to elision and syn?eresis, but not necessarily. As, moreover, this mingling of the Italian is due to the individual authors, it is natural that, in spite of so many affinities, there should also be linguistic differences in these works; it should be noted specially, that the " Prise" contains more Italian elements than the others. The much discussed compilation of Franco-Italian poems in MS. XIII. of St. Mark's, which is defective at the be- ginning, comprises, in its present state, the " Bueve de Han- stone," which is divided into two parts through the inter- calation of the story of Bertha of the large foot, or, as she is here called, with the large feet (" Berta de li gran pie "), then the youthful adventures of Charles the Great, here named " Karleto " (the *' Mainet " of the French), " Milo "and " Bertha," two poems on Ogier the Dane, and finally, the ** Macaire " : it is therefore a cycUcal compilation, such as we often find in the later chap-books, and probably written entirely by one man, to judge from the uniform character that runs through the whole. These, again, must not be regarded as poems that were merely taken over from the French; they are either transformed versions, that go back only to the oral traditions of the originals, or real additions and new inven- tions. To the latter category belongs especially, as has been FRENCH POETRY IN NORTHERN ITALY II7 remarked, the story of Milo and Bertha. The French ources not only do not contain it, but are actually in con- radTct on with it ; besides, the scene of the action is laid m italv and Roland, whose youth is here depicted, was in Italy ; IVspecially popular aLng the heroes of t^e Car^^^^^^^^^^^ legend. In addition to this, an original trait of the whole coSation has been pointed out, which had a decisive inTuence on the subsequent formation of the legend of SJin Italy, namely, the union of all the traitors into one glte of the Maganzesi, which was eventually oppo^^^^ bv the loyal heroes, who were also amalgamated as it were hno one family, that of Chiaramonte. The traitor was a tvpical figure of the chansons de geste ; he appears every- where, now under this, now under that name, as Ganelon, Hardre, Griffon, and so on. In France, too, this tendency to make all these felons descend from one family was already apparent, but it was in Italy that this unification of the evi principle first acquired its great importance and its general predominance, and in Italy also the name, which dung to them ever after, of those of Maganza (Mayence) first struck root As G. Paris showed, this was caused by a confusion between Doon de Maience, the ancestor of Ganelon, but also of Renaut, and the entirely different traitor Doon de Maience in the '* Bueve de Hanstone." The Venetian compiler's mode of exposition is the clumsiest and baldest imaginable. He was obviously a minstrel of the lowest order, who, by his dullness and dit- fuseness, spoilt even fascinating themes, and such as were adapted to successful development. The formal structure ot the works, based on the type of the verse of ten syllables, shows an extreme want of care, and is disfigured by an enormous number of errors. We see, therefore, how even writers of the people employed the foreign idiom for their productions ; but this was, of course, mutilated by them in a curious manner. If the language of the " Entree is, in spite of this, still a kind of modified French, it is, at the same time, a completely barbarous jargon, in which continu- ally the dialect penetrates into the strange language, the French words take Italian endings, and in which, finally, the necessities of the rhyme are the cause of quite extraordinary and impossible formations. In the " Berta," for example, riilliifllrffiiiifntniiirnnf?-^'>rtfi''ii«., select examples) of words, of fair acts of courtesy and of fair replies, and of fair deeds of valour, of fair gifts and of fair loves, such as were formerly achieved by many." The collection contains a hundred tales, as appears THIRTEENTH CENTURY PROSE LITERATURE 161 from the title. Some of them treat chivalrous themes, and tell of Tristan and Isolde, of King Melidaus, and of the Lady of Shalott, who died of love for Lancelot ; in others we have stories of heroes and sages of antiquity, such as Alexander the Great, the sons of Priam, Thales of Miletus, Aristotle, Seneca, Cato, and Trajan— all these curiously transformed and travestied according to the popular medieval tradition. There is Narcissus (No. 46), who has become a "good and fair knight," while Pythagoras is a philosopher in Spain, who has compiled an astrological table (33). Socrates is a wise Roman, and replies to the embassy sent by the Sultan from Greece (61); Hercules traverses forests and slays lions and bears, but is not able to tame his wicked wife (70) ; Nero condemns his master Seneca to death, as revenge for the beating he received from him when he was • his pupil (71). Then we have stories of biblical history, of Balaam, David, Solomon, and Christ himself; also some legends, such as that of Saint Paulinus, who gave himself up as prisoner for the son of the poor woman, when he could not help her in any other way, and of Peter the publican, who gave all he had to the poor, and had himself sold, so that they might have the proceeds. Other tales, again, narrate true or invented occurrences relating to historical personages of quite recent times— to Saladin, Charles of Anjou, and King Conrad IV. in his youth, to Italian magnates and princes, such as Jacopino Rangone, Paolo Traversari, and Ezzelino, and especially to the Emperor Frederick II., whose powerful figure had made a great impression on the time, and in whom the author shows an exceptionally keen interest. Then we have persons who are well known to us from Provencal literature. Thus, Messer Imberal del Balzo, i.e., En Barral of Baux, Viscount of Marseilles, the patron of the troubadours, who looks for traces of birds, receives a humorous reply from an old woman. The poet Guillem de Berguedan, who has offended all the noble ladies of Provence, saves himself from their vengeance through an ingenious idea. Of the young King of England, the son of Henry II., acts of chivalry and generosity are narrated, and of Bertran de Born, his behaviour during captivity after the death of the young King ; of Richart de Barbezieu — in this case, it is true, under the I. M u , '^»^i^/ff«'^mmmaKXMes:m:pvi^smim» ^mii^,i^^- r- 162 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE name of a certain Alamanno (64)— we are told how he lost his lady's favour, and how he won it again. There is one in- stance of a fable of animals, that of the mule, the fox, and the wolf, where the latter wished to read the letters on the hoofs of the former (94). For us, however, the most interesting are the tales which reflect contemporary manners, the stories con- cerning the author's immediate surroundings, such as that of Bito of Florence, who manages to get a farthing out of the miserly Ser Frulli without his noticing it (96) ; of the man who told the endless tale (89) ; of the peasant who came into the town in order to buy clothes, and was beaten for having no money (95); of the clever woman, whose tart was eaten by the cat, while the mouse got away (92). They are poor jokes, but they serve to show how easily the public was satisfied in those days, and we note in them a tendency towards a more vivid conception of reality. Here, too, we already find the scandalous little stories of women and priests, which subsequently became the favourite theme of the short tales, llius, we have Piovano Porcellino, who caught the Bishop Mangiadore in the act of which the latter wanted to accuse him (54) ; the doctor of Toulouse, who married the niece of the Archbishop, but sent her home again after two months, owing to an unexpected event, and justified his action to the furious uncle in a witty reply (49). Further, there are the two exemplary father confessors (91 and 93), and the grieving widow, who consoles herself with the man set to watch the bodyof a hanged criminal, and eventually fixes the corpse of her own husband on the gallows (59) — that is, the widely-diffused story of the matron of Ephesus. This collection of tales is, therefore, a union of all possible elements, of the most varied kind. The author probably did not invent a single one of the stories himself. They are either such as were in everyone's mouth at the time, or such as he could take from books, from the Latin collections of tales that were the common property of nations in the Middle Ages, such as the *' Disciplina Clericalis" of Petrus Alfonsus, and the " Gesta Romanorum " (that is, if these are earlier than the "Novellino" itself), and from the biographies of the troubadours. Finally, the Bible and the chronicles prob- ably supplied several contributions. Alessandro D'Ancona made a study of these sources of the book in a very valuable THIRTEENTH CENTURY PROSE LITERATURE 163 treatise; for more than a third of the tales, he noted the passages in which the same or a similar theme is treated in other ancient monuments. This study was instructive, as clearly showing that the author so often merely re- told stories that were spread far and wide throughout the entire literature of Europe. Of course, D'Ancona was not able to discover the direct sources for each individual tale, and thus to obtain an idea of the way in which it had been used, owing to the poverty of the mode of exposition employed in the book, and of the lack of details that might serve as guiding links for the discovery of the more immediate origin of the stories. For these narratives of the "Novellino" are short and rapid sketches, drawn in a few rough strokes, which merely give the actual facts, without working them out in any way. Of course, the single tales vary greatly in point of detail. Although meagreness and dryness are the rule, still these qualities are not so exaggerated in the story of Bito and Frulli, in the " Novella d'Amore " (99), and in others, as, for example, in those of Pietro Tavoliere (17), of the lady of Gascony and the king of Cyprus (51), of the Emperor Frederick, who desires to put his wife's fidelity to the test (100), of the merchant and the coins (98), and others that occupy only a few lines, and the brevity of which is carried to an almost unnatural degree. This is, however, due to the anecdotic character of the stories, the interest of which is mostly concentrated on one point. They frequently end with a witty saying, a clever repartee, or an ingenious idea. At times, they also serve to point a moral or at least a general maxim — a quality which the tales may have derived from their sources ; for the Latin collections of this kind, such as the " Disciplina Clericalis " and the " Gesta Romanorum,'' were also moral and didactic in aim. The mode of ex- pression corresponds to the manner of exposition : the sen- tences are short and clumsy, each of them standing alone by itself, after the manner of the first beginnings of prose, whose elements place themselves one beside the other, without blending into one harmonious whole, such as we find in the structure of the sentence when it has reached a more advanced stage of artistic development. Whenever the tales allude to historical events that are known to us and to which a date can be assigned, they do i i^MIH IthMBihi afciwJITT-'fJr' tfes-TiitBagmfci^.i.-^Sffia^ ■ .._*. -. 164 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE not go beyond the close of the thirteenth century, so that the collection was probably made in the closing years of the thirteenth century or at the beginning of the fourteenth. It has been assumed that it was compiled by degrees, and in different sections, but as yet no convincing proof has been brought against the theory that the whole is due to one author. This was, without doubt, a Florentine, as is shown by the language, which, it is true, contains some Gallicisms or Provenc^alisms, but no dialectical elements; the subjects of several of the tales also point to Florence. The authorship has been assigned to certain definite writers, to Francesco da Barberino, Brunetto Latini and Andrea Lancia ; however, all these suggestions are very improbable, and need no longer be seriously considered. The little book had, and still has, a great reputation as a model of style, because it manages to say so many things in such few words. It is true that this brevity and rapidity at times adds to the point of the anecdote and brings out more strongly the flavour of the fundamental motive. But, on the other hand, there is a lack of warmth and colouring, and we have skeletons rather than vital works of art. The tale does not, as yet, possess an individual form; the bare subject, without artistic form, is intended to produce all the effect, and even that is not the creation of the author. Soon after the composition of the work, this dryness and meagreness no longer gave general satisfaction, and an attempt was made to enlarge the tale in point of fullness and detail. A MS. of the National Library at Florence, the so-called Codex Pan- ciatichi, contains a collection of one hundred and fifty-six pieces, which is, however, made up of two parts that were originally independent of each other. The majority of the stories of the first part are the same as those in the " Novel- lino," with slight variations in form and in the order followed. The author of the second part worked with a text which agreed more exactly with the " Novellino " than that of the first part ; he began by faithfully reproducing twenty-seven of its tales, and then he added longer ones, and also made considerable additions to some which he subsequently took from the *' Novellino." But this version is scarcely a success. The text has not been enriched with vivid and interesting details, but merely diluted. A comparison between the THIRTEENTH CENTURY PROSE LITERATURE 165 third tale of the " Novellino " and the one hundred and forty-third of the MS. Panciatichi will suffice to make this clear. The subject and action of the former are as follows. King Philip orders a wise Greek to be held in captivity. A noble steed is sent him from Spain, and, on questioning the wise man concerning its value, he receives the answer that it is a splendid animal, but that it had been nourished on asses' milk. The King sends to Spain and learns that this had really been the case, the mare having died in giving birth to the colt. He is amazed, and orders half a loaf to be given daily to the sage at the expense of the court. On another occasion the King has the prisoner fetched, in order to show him his jewels and to ask him which is the most valuable of the stones. The sage holds the one that the Emperor had declared to be his favourite against his ear, and says that it contains a worm ; the stone is broken and the worm is found. The King is again astounded and orders a whole loaf to be given to the Greek in the future. A few days later the thought occurs to the King that he might be of illegitimate birth. He once again questions his prisoner, who, after some hesitation, reveals to him that he is the son of a baker, whereupon the King's mother, on being taxed with this, confesses it to be true. Finally, the sage at the King's desire explains how he came to know all these things. He recognised that the horse had been nourished on asses' milk, because it allowed its ears to hang, contrary to the nature of horses. The worm in the stone he recognised from the fact that the latter was warm, against the nature of stones. Finally, he recognised the illegitimate descent of the King from the fact that he, contrary to royal nature, rewarded his wisdom not with a city, but with loaves, like a baker. It is one of the best tales in the " Novellino," and a theme which was well adapted for concise treatment : Boccaccio would also not have told it in much greater detail. But the author of the long story in the Codex Panciatichi did not recognise this and retailed the anecdote with a pro- fusion of idle talk : all kinds of useless and superfluous things are introduced, so that it is clear that the author worked with a short story and endeavoured forcibly to ex- tend it wherever this was possible. Who, for example, takes an interest in hearing exactly described how the legates »• "-■M,r. -^'tuf^^i ».«_■. -i,-s*tii»i)t;v^>. .,,!«»■ l66 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE journey to Spain, how they are well received by the King of Spain, how they return and so on ? When it is proved that there was a worm in the stone, is it necessary to say, *' Per la volenta di Dio v'era entro e Dio il nodria"? The com- piler, in making his version, did not see that the entire value of the story lay in its point, and he let himself go as though it had been a romance or tale of chivalry. But in addition to this he entirely missed the point. In the narrative of the ^' Novellino " as also in the other versions of a similar theme, namely, in the two stories of the "Thousand and One Nights " (No. 458 e/ seq.\ and in that of the Spanish " Libro de Enjemplos" (No. 247) the essential point is always the fact that the acute observer is unacquainted with the signs by which he recognises something that is concealed, and which are not divulged till later. In this way the amaze- ment and curiosity are kept alive till the end. In the long story of the Codex Panciatichi, however, the signs on which the sage bases his replies in the cases of the horse and of the stone are clumsily revealed at the beginning, so that amaze- ment at his incredible omniscience is no longer possible. And in the same way, he begins by revealing to the King the whole history of his birth, so that he does not ascertain this merely by deductive reasoning ; thu.s, the halo of his wisdom disappears together with the telling reference to the stinginess of the King, who gave him loaves because he was the son of a baker. Also the other tales have only lost in this version, especially the one concerning Narcissus (No. 144), and this suffices to prove the erroneousness of Bartoli's view, who assumed that these longer versions were the original of the shorter ones. The transformation of the short tale into a rich and brilliant picture was the work of Boccaccio. It has been noticed that the " Novellino " contains several French and Provenc^al elements, and even in cases where the author might have taken his themes from other sources, it is not improbable, in view of the literary conditions pre- vailing at the time, that he obtained many of them by the circuitous route of French versions. Still more extensive, probably, was the process of borrowing in the case of the " Conti di Antichi Cavalieri," consisting of twenty anecdotic tales ; they are taken mostly from antiquity (such as those concerning Caesar, Pompey, Scipio, Fabricius, Regulus and I THIRTEENTH CENTURY PROSE LITERATURE 167 Brutus, Hector and Agamemnon), and to a lesser extent from medieval history (*' Re Giovane," Saladin), and from the legends of chivalry (King Tebaldo, Brunor and Galeotto, i.e., the Galeotto of the Round Table). The longest and fullest of the stories is that of Caesar. Their general char- acter is similar to that of the "Cento Novelle," and not more archaic : the many scholars who held this latter view were led astray by the Old Aretine dialect in which the tales are written. On the contrary, we have here no narratives that are so monosyllabic as some in the " Novellino." The author is filled with admiration for his heroes ; sometimes the memorable utterances of these are set down in the same way as was done at the end of the biographies. The words and deeds are examples of the greatest perfection, models that are intended to spur on to emulation. Bartoli proved that the story of King Tebaldo is taken from the romance of " Fouque de Candie " : many passages are absolutely unin- telligible till compared with the French original. This leads us to suspect a similar origin for the other tales. Among the collections of stories that were the common property of nations in the Middle Ages, the most popular and the most widely read was that of the "Seven AVise Masters." Originating in India, it had spread in the West in quite an extraordinary manner, first in Latin and then in vulgar versions, the French one being as usual the earliest, and finally in the translations and adaptations of all the European languages. The special feature of the book is that the tales in it are enclosed as it were in a frame and welded together into a whole by means of a main narrative, as is the case in the other Oriental collection of the " Thousand and One Nights," which is now better known. According to the Western version that is most widely dif- fused, the beloved wife of the Emperor of Rome dies, leaving him an only son, whom he has educated by seven Wise Men in a tower outside the city, so that he may be out of the way of evil influences. When his education is finished, he is to return to the court ; but he and his teachers read in the stars that he is threatened by a great misfortune, which he can avoid only by maintaining silence for seven days. The Emperor, who had been informed of his son's marvellous knowledge, is astonished, on seeing him again, not to hear .# H l68 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE a word from his lips, and thinks this is due to timidity, which would disappear in time ; accordingly he sends him to the women's apartments. But the second wife of the Emperor, whom he had married in the meantime, and who had already become enamoured of the youth on hearing the reports of his admirable qualities, endeavours to seduce him, and, when he remains cold and dumb, she accuses him, before his father, of the fault of which she had herself been guilty. The Emperor wishes to have him beheaded, but each morning, while the prince is to be taken to the place of execution, one of the seven wise men appears and induces the father to postpone the event by the recital of a story ; on the other hand, the Empress strengthens him in his resolution anew every evening, by dint of another tale. This goes on for seven days, till, on the eighth, the prince himself can open his mouth, and tells a story of his own, whereupon his step-mother is forced to confess her guilt and is burnt. The tales of the seven wise men deal chiefly, in accordance with their object, with the falseness and the in- trigues of women ; the Empress, for her part, raises a warn- ing voice with examples of wicked and ungrateful sons and of hypocrites who deceive with fair speeches. The stories themselves vary in part in the numerous transformations that the collection has undergone ; the individual details also of the principal narrative are more or less changed. What pleased so generally in the work was, as Comparetti justly observed, together with the satire directed against women that was so popular in the Middle Ages, the convenience of the frame-work, which always permitted new stories to be in- cluded in the place of the old ones without disturbing the unity of the plan. An Italian version which was published by D'Ancona, *'I1 libro dei Sette Savii di Roma," be- longs to the thirteenth century, according to the opinion of the editor, and is only a translation or a very servile adaptation of a French original, being closely related to certain versions which have come down to us ; in point of language, too, there are many traces of this. From a very similar original is translated another Italian adaptation which is preserved in a MS. of the fourteenth century which had long disappeared ; not long ago it was discovered in England by Varnhagen and published by him. A different type is !■ THIRTEENTH CENTURY PROSE LITERATURE 169 found in Northern Italy, the earliest known representative of which was shown by Mussafia to be a Latin version that was probably composed by an Italian. Of this latter text, or of one differing but slightly from it, there are two Italian renderings, belonging to a somewhat later period, and to the same or a closely related source goes back a very clumsy poem in stanzas of eight verses, with strong Venetian colour- ing and written in the fifteenth century, as also the still later " Compassionevoli Avvenimenti di Erasto," a transformation, in the classical manner, of the old book, according to the taste of the Renaissance. But in the case of the Northern Italian version also, on which all these works are based, Pio Rajna showed that it was related to the French adaptations, though it had altered these more freely ; and he assumes that the Latin text discovered by Mussafia is a translation, or rather an abbreviated version, of a Venetian original or of a French one which was written in Italy and which is now lost. The legend of chivalry of the Breton cycle, which was so frequently introduced into the short tales, was more fully treated in a prose monument the date of which is not easy to determine, and which might even belong to the begin- ning of the fourteenth century, but nevertheless deserves mention in this period of literary beginnings as being the earliest Italian version of these legends which were destined to play so important a part : this is the " Tavola Rotonda " contained in a MS. of the " Biblioteca Ricciardana " in Florence. Nannucci, who first made the work known by printing several specimens of it, considered it to be a trans- lation from the French, and it must, at all events, be very closely related to the French Arthurian romances. — The legend of Troy was, as has already been casually remarked, treated by Guido delle Colonne of Messina in his Latin " Historia Trojana," which was begun before the year 1272 and finished, after a long interruption, in 1287. The author, who is probably identical with the lyric poet already known to us, pretends that it is a historical narrative based on ancient accounts, whereas his actual source was the " Roman de Troie " of Benoit de Ste. More. By his pedantic serious- ness he robbed his original of its entire poetic charm, but for that very reason his work, which thus bore a strong stamp of authenticity, became one of the most popular I/O HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE medieval versions of the legend : partly from it, partly directly from its French source, are derived the various Italian versions of the Trojan war that belong to the fourteenth century. — Of a French history of Ccxsar, which clothed the narrative of Sallust's "Catiline" and of Csesar's "Com- mentaries," as also the accounts of Lucan and of Suetonius, in the garb of the medieval romance of chivalry, there are two Italian versions. The one, which used to be known under the ill-fitting title of " Volgarizzamento di Lucano," and which does not commence till Caesar's passage over the Rubicon, though, doubtless, it originally contained also the beginning of the romance, is a reproduction, often a literal translation of the original, whereas the " Fatti di Cesare," as the other was called by its editor, mostly represents the French text in a strongly abbreviated form. The longer version is contained in a MS. of the " Ricciardana," which is dated 131 3 and appears to be the autograph; and so these two monuments probably also belong to the beginning of the fourteenth century. From France, too, come some religious narratives, the " Dodici Conti Morali," ascetic stories of miracles and con- versions, which always close with a moral, in the nianner of sermons. The language shows some peculiarities of the Sienese dialect, which may, however, be due to the scribe. Soon after the publication of the little book, Mus- safia showed that one of these tales is a translation of an old French conte devot, while Bartoli proved the same of another, and Reinhold Kohler finally found the originals of eight more in the legends of the " Vie des Anciens Peres." The French is frequently reproduced word for word, but in other cases the Italian author allowed himself a freer hand. And so here, too, in the oldest prose literature, wherever it is a question of subjects for narrative we note the extreme sterility of Italy in the early periods, and, in consequence, her dependence on the rich literature of her French neigh- bour. But though there was a lack of legends and invented tales, the national history, on the other hand, supplied plentiful material for prose narrative ; but the chronicles did not lay aside their Latin dress till later, and it is now ex- ceedingly doubtful whether the vulgar tongue was used for the purposes of history within the thirteenth century, at all THIRTEENTH CENTURY PROSE LITERATURE 171 events for any considerable efiort. Of writings that may with certainty be ascribed to this period, we have now nothing save a short chronicle in the dialect of Pisa, loose annahstic notes for the years 1006- 12 76, put together with- out any regard for order, which were discovered by Enea Piccolomini in the libro di ricordi of a Pisan merchant, and published by him under the title " Cronichetta Pisana, scritta in volgare nel 1279." Some other more extensive works, which used formerly to be ascribed to this period, have been proved to be later forgeries. The " Diurnali " of Matteo Spinello of Giovenazzo were supposed to be the notes of a contemporary concerning the events that occurred in his country between the years 1249 and 1268, written down in his native Apulian dialect. But the researches of Wilhelm Bernhardi proved that the monu- ment was aprocryphal. Events are recorded in it which either did not take place at all, or which, at any rate, oc- curred altogether differently from the manner here described, and this betokens an ignorance of the true state of things which is incredible in the case of a contemporary, especially as the author frequently maintains that he had seen the affairs with his own eyes. Besides, the chronology is in such a state of confusion, that in order to put it right, it is neces- sary to make continual and exceedingly violent changes and transpositions in the text. Not much^stronger is the case for the chronicle, which was supposed to be the earliest treating of Florence in the vulgar tongue— that of the Malespini, which was first printed by the Giunti at Florence in the year 1568. A certain Ricor- dano Malespini relates the history of the town, from the time of its foundation till the year 1282, the period from that date till 1286 being treated by one Giacotto, who was sup- posed to be the nephew of the other. Certain allusions by the authors themselves showed that the events were at any rate chronicled some time after their occurrence. Ricordano boasts that he worked with very ancient documents, dating from the time when the Romans destroyed Fiesole, and on these he bases his account of the foundation of Florence, with all the fables that had become attached to it through the popular tradition following in the paths of the classics, with the fables of Catiline, who overcame King Fiorino and t 172 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE married his wife Belisea, of Teverina, Fiorinos's daughter, who was carried off by a centurion, and others of the same kind. For the periods that were closer to his own, he shows himself more sober and more faithful to historical truth. But it was always considered remarkable that his reports tallied closely, not alone in points of fact, but even in the words, with Giovanni Villani, the admirable Florentine chro- nicler, who wrote some decades later ; and so it was said that Villani, following a custom which, indeed, we frequently find in the Middle Ages, had stolen from his predecessor without naming him. However, Scheffer-Boichorst's study, " Die Geschichte der Malespini, eine Falschung," published in 1870, proved the exact contrary to be the case. Going back to the sources of the chronicles, Scheffer-Boichorst found that Villani follows them far more closely than the supposed Malespini, in all cases where there can be a doubt as to which was the plagiarist, and that his work contains many data of the most diverse origin that are wanting in Malespini, whereas the latter gives no real historical fact which is not also contained in Villani. Villani's narrative is clear and consistent ; not so that of Malespini, in which occur also actual contra- dictions. Scheffer-Boichorst therefore rightly declared the work of Malespini to be apocryphal : he thinks that it may have been composed in the second half of the fourteenth century, for the purpose of flattering some of the great Florentine families, especially that of the Buonaguisi, whose names the author often introduced into Villani's text. It is a curious fact that the penetrating scholar, Giuseppe Tode- schini, came to precisely the same result in a work which was written as early as the year 1853, though it was not published till after the appearance of Scheffer-Boichorst's book. The true historian of the period, the one who gives us the most complete picture, of its spirit and culture, wrote in Latin, but in a Latin that resembles Italian in the vocabulary and constructions, so that the author's native tongue pierces through and imparts vivacity to his mode of expression. This historian is Fra Salimbene of Parma. He composed several chronicles and treatises, but of these nothing is pre- served beyond one of the former, and even there the be- ginning is lacking. As far as we possess it, it treats the history of the author's native city, that of Italy and, in part, THIRTEENTH CENTURY PROSE LITERATURE 173 that of the world, from 1167 to 1287. The commencement is less minute and largely borrowed from the chronicles- of others, notably that of Sicard of Cremona ; the great im- portance of the work begins with the narrative of the events that occurred during the author's lifetime. Salimbene was born in the year 1 22 1, of the distinguished and wealthy family of the Adami. He was irresistibly carried away by the powerful movement of religious exaltation then at its height, and entered the cloister of the Minorites at the age of seventeen. His father, Guido di Adamo, who thus saw his hopes for the continuation of the family frustrated, was deeply grieved. He addressed himself to the Emperor Frederick, in order to get his son back, and Frate Elia, the General of the Order, consented to his return to a secular hfe. In a conversation, Guido begs his son to avail himself of this permission, entreats him, puts before him, with moving words, the grief of his mother and himself, and finally utters a terrible curse over him. But all is futile. The son remains firm and replies to his father's representations with BibHcal sayings. In the following night the Holy Virgin rewards him with a vision : she extends to him and lets him kiss her little babe, because he has professed his faith in her before man- kind. After the fashion of the Franciscan monks, he saw much of the world, travelled in France and Italy, became ac- quainted with many things and knew many people of im- portance. He was still living in 1 288, as is shown by allusions in his chronicle. He says that he wrote this work for his niece, the nun Agnes, at an advanced age, for the greater part in the years 1283 and 1284, with additions made in the following years. And he narrates like an old man, at times one would rather say like an old woman, with a garrulous verbosity and innumerable digressions. At every moment one thing or another occurs to him, that turns him away from the thread of his narrative. From one person he comes to another, because the two were in some way connected. He repeats the same facts over and over again, and is fond of dilating on things that he happened to see, and on people with whom he came into contact. And that is the very reason why he gives as such a quantity of interesting data : his historical figures are endowed with life and movement, because we learn certain personal traits of theirs, or qualities 174 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE that are less obvious, certain actions and sayings, on which the other chroniclers of the time lay no stress. Salimbene is religious and superstitious, being convinced of the truth of miracles, visions, and appearances of the saints and the devil. Believing in prophecies, he continually quotes sayings from the Bible as being suitable to certain events and as foretelling them. He was also a zealous believer in the prophecies and doctrines of the Abbot Joachim, till the year i 260, which proved them to be false, in that there were no signs of the expected universal peace. In spite of all this, however, he is keenly interested in secular events, is fond of narrating little stories, buffooneries, and merry pranks; quotes pro- verbs and popular songs, Latin, Italian, and French ; and corroborates his statements by citing the verses of the Goliard Primas, or of his older contemporary, Patechio of Cremona, no less than the words of Holy Writ. He speaks of sermons and of edifying matters, and of holy men, and admires the great piety of King Lewis, but, at the same time, he does not forget to report what he gave the monks for dinner, and enu- merates the various dishes. Under the year 1284, he notes that he for the first time ate raviolos sine crusta de pasta, in festo Sanctce Clarce. He mentions the number of fleas there were in March of the year 1 285, and quotes verses concerning fleas, bugs, and gnats. And his anecdotic reports are often more effectively humorous than the contemporary novelle. Thus, to give only one example, that of the false saint, Albertus of Cremona, qui fit e rat unus vini portator simiil et potator, nee non et peccator, and who was supposed, after his death, to have worked many miracles (1279), so that the people of Parma carried in procession a relic of his that has been consigned to their care, and had it solemnly laid on the altar of the cathedral, where, however, the celebrating priest discovered it to be a piece of garlic. Salimbene's chronicle is filled with a strong subjective- ness, the expression of a personality with its likes and dislikes. "Salimbene," said Dove, "is the most personal among the historians of the real Middle Ages; what has come down to us from him actually bears the stamp of * Memoirs.'" And his likes and dislikes are very pro- nounced. He loves and hates with his soul, and when he is a man's enemy he does not spare him even after death. THIRTEENTH CENTURY PROSE LITERATURE 175 See, for example, his obituary notice of the Bishop of Reggio, Guillielmus de Foliano : " Melius fuisset ei si fuisset porcarius vel leprosus, quam quia fuisset episcopus" — and the worse things that follow. His hatred is principally directed against the secular clergy, to whom the mendicant orders were always opposed ; at the corruption of the priests he hurls bitter invectives, and does not scruple to tell of them the most scandalous stories. But in this he did no- thing but lend his voice to the general indignation of the time, in the same way as Jacopone and, later, Dante, Pe- trarca, and so many others. And, even though he cannot of course write without party feeling, yet he has a clear eye for political conditions, and often judges them sharply and correctly. We may instance the sensible remarks concern- ing the war between Genoa and Pisa (p. 305), or concerning the policy of the Popes, who, on the accession of a new Emperor, always endeavour to force from him an extension of their temporal power (p. 282), or those concerning the parties of the Lombard cities that can never come to terms, and struggle against one another with constant change of fortune, like children, when in play they lay one hand on the other's and draw it away in turns, so that the lower becomes the upper (p. 348). While, then, the Italian historians in the thirteenth cen- tury, as a rule, still used the Latin language, and while a work that is so full of life and so closely related to actual events as the chronicle of Salimbene is composed in this tongue, the vulgar idiom, on the other hand, had already found its way into the domains of didactic, scientific, and moral prose literature, where it served as a means of popu- larisation. In proportion as the communes, in which the citizens gradually obtained the mastery over public affairs, gained in strength, and as the legal and medical studies developed, knowledge, instead of belonging exclusively to the priests, passed more and more into the possession of the laity, and began to exercise a greater influence on society. In the thirteenth century a general endeavour begins to make itself felt to diffuse knowledge, and to make it accessible to all alike, and not merely to scholars. This was the direction taken, above all, by Ser Brunetto Latini in his literary work, who was greatly esteemed by his A iy6 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE contemporaries on account of his many-sided scholarship. Giovanni Villani (viii. lo) says of him: "He was a great philosopher and a perfect master of rhetoric," and further on he assigns to him the honourable distinction of having been "the beginner and master in refining the Florentines and in teaching them how to speak well, and how to guide and rule our republic according to policy." He may have been born about the year 1 210, as a daughter of his was married as early as 1248; in the years 1254 and 1255 he figures as notary in public documents. In 1260 the Guelph party, which saw its supremacy threatened by the power of King Manfred, sent him for help to the court of Alfonso X. of Castile. During his absence the Florentines were de- feated at Monteaperti ; the heads of the Guelphs had to leave the city, Brunetto also was not able to return. He sought refuge in France, and there he wrote his great encyclopaedia, the " Tresor," in the language of the country in which he was staying, that is to say, in French, for the reason, among others, as he expressly says, that his work might thereby become more widely known. It was intended not only for Italian readers, but also for those of other nations. Brunetto probably remained in France till after the battle of Benevento, which restored the supremacy in Italy to the Guelphs. In 1296 he was chief notary of the Vicar-General of Tuscany, who had been appointed by Charles of Anjou, and in 1270 he came to Pisa in the same capacity. In a document of the year 1273 he bears the title, scriba Consiliorum Communis Florentice^ that is to say, he was Chancellor, or, as it was then called, dittatore of the republic, charged with drawing up the public records ; Villani also mentions his having held this office. In 1280 he is named among the sureties for the peace that had been concluded between the parties of the city by the Cardinal Latino, and on October 13th, 1284, he was one of the two syndics for his city in the conclusion of the league between Florence, Lucca, and Genoa against Pisa. In 1287 (from August 15th till October 15th) he sat in the Assembly of the Priors. He also often took an active part in the counsels of the commune. He died at an advanced age in 1294 or at the beginning of 1295. Brunetto is of special importance also on account of the relations in which he THIRTEENTH CENTURY PROSE LITERATURE I77 stood to Dante. To judge from the dutiful and loving words which the latter addresses to him in the fifteenth canto of the "Inferno," he was scarcely, as was formerly believed, his teacher in the literal meaning of the word, but still his paternal friend and adviser, and one who exercised a great influence on his intellectual development. From the " Tresor " of Brunetto, Dante, in common with all his contemporaries, derived no small portion of his know- ledge. The encyclopaedias of the Middle Ages served to spread knowledge, in that from the books that were at that time so difficult of access they extracted what appeared to be the most essential features of every branch of science, and gave it to the reader collected together in a more convenient form. The oldest work of this kind known is the " Imago Mundi" of Honorius of Autun (circa 11 20). Far more splendid in scope is the " Speculum Universale " of Vincent of Beauvais, whose industry as a compiler is simply astound- ing; this was written about the middle of the thirteenth century. Both these works were composed in Latin ; but the character of these scientific compilations, that were in- tended for a large public, obviously pointed to the employ- ment of the vulgar tongue. To the year 1245 belongs a French " Image du Monde " in octosyllabic verses, the greater part of which goes back to the work of Honorius of Autun. Brunetto's book, too, is one of the earliest attempts at an encyclopaedia in the vulgar tongue, and its success is vouched for by the large number of manuscripts in which it it has been preserved ; Chabaille was acquainted with twenty-eight of them in the libraries of Paris alone. The early additions and interpolations to be found in the work are another important proof of its popularity ; every- one endeavoured, according to his taste and lights, to add to the sum of knowledge that had been collected. Brunetto Latini called his book the " Treasure ; " for, he says, as a prince collects a treasure of the most valuable things, so as to have it ready for future needs, in the same way this work was drawn together into a Summa, from all the branches of philosophy. According to this conception, philosophy comprises all that is known, and he divides the whole into three main sections. The first book treats of I. N 1 t. 178 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE theoretical philosophy, that is, of all things in so far as they are merely objects of knowledge, as they are known. The second, dealing with the virtues and vices, belongs to prac- tical philosophy, inasmuch as it gives instructions as to acting rightly; but, at the same time, it also contains, as the author declares, elements from the third part of philo- sophy, namely, logic, because the causes of the moral de- terminations are also examined. The third book comprises rhetoric and politics, that is to say, another portion of practical philosophy. The theoretical exposition of know- ledge in the first book starts with the definition and division of philosophy itself, then discusses the creation of the world, the essence of God and of nature, of the angels and of men, treats of body and soul, of reason, of law, divine and human, of those that protect and administer it, and in this way comes to the origin of kings and of kingdoms, thus affording an opportunity of introducing a sketch of the world's history, sacred and profane, from Adam down to the author's own days. The data of this narrative are short and scrappy, largely mingled with fables and very badly arranged, as is to be expected from a compendious Uni- versal History in those times. The work originally ended with the expulsion of the Guelphs from Florence (1260), but Brunetto subsequently brought it down to the death of Conradin, and at the same time considerably enlarged it, mak- ing use of the world-chronicle of Martinus Polonus, which appeared at that time. The chapters on Frederick IL and Manfred are inspired by the bitter hatred to be expected from Brunetto as a follower of the Guelph party. This mainly historical section is followed by the one deal- ing with physics. First, we have discourses on the general constitution of the universe, the form of earth and heaven and the motion of the stars — that is to say, astronomy. This is followed by geography, for which the author relies almost entirely on Solinus, and by a short treatise on agriculture, based on Palladius ; and, finally, we get the natural history of animals, drawn again from Solinus, and also from Isidorus, the *' Hexaemeron " of S. Ambrose and the medieval bestiaries. In the geography section the author takes over from his source the accounts of strange and monstrous Indian tribes, of men with dog's heads, of such as have only one leg, of ! I THIRTEENTH CENTURY PROSE LITERATURE 1 79 Others that have no head and whose eyes are in the shoulder ; while the portion dealing with natural history is filled with all those curious fables concerning the habits and properties of animals which were so popular in the Middle Ages, of the basilisk that kills with a look, of the salamander that lives in the fire, of the swan that sings before dying, of the dragon and the phoenix, of the stag that, run down and weary, seeks death by turning round to the hunters, of the sweet breath of the panther that attracts animals, of the unicorn that can be captured only by a pure virgin. It would be unjust to require of Brunetto critical judgment, when he adopts his sources ; he merely took over from them what he found, as was then the custom. His work is nothing but a compila- tion : " II est," as he says, " autressi come une bresche de miel cueiUie de diverses flors; car cist livres est compiles seulement de mervilleus diz des autres qui devant nostre tens ont traitie de philosophie." The second book, on the virtues and vices, begins with a compendium of Aristotle's "Nicomachean Ethics," taken from the Latin translation, for Brunetto was of course ignorant of Greek. This is augmented by supplementary moral re- flections drawn from various medieval treatises, such as Isidorus's " Liber sententiarum," the " De IV. virtutibus " of Martinus Dumensis (which was attributed to Seneca), the " Ars loquendi et tacendi " of Albertanus de Brixia, and others. The third and last book is an exposition of rhetoric, mainly according to the first book of Cicero's " De Inven- tione." With Brunetto, as with the ancients, rhetoric is closely connected with poUtics, seeing that eloquence is the chief and most indispensable instrument of government and public life. In politics, however, the author limits his observations to quite a special theme, to the institution of the Fodestd in the Italian cities. This is really opposed to the funda- mental idea of his work, which was to compile all that is worth knowing, briefly, but in as complete a form as possible ; to this inconsistency, however, we are indebted for the only portion of the encyclopaedia that is really original and there- fore the most interesting of all. It is true that even here he made use of an older work on the office of the Fodestd, the "Oculus Pastoralis" (as was pointed out by Mussafia), but still l8o HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE he showed great independence and added much that was new. Brunetto, who was himself a state official, knew all about these matters from personal observation, and his in- structions for the choice of the Fodeshl, for his conduct on assuming the office, for the transaction of state business and the administration of justice, for the course he is to follow in times of peace and of war, for the speeches he has to deliver, and the like, do not, it is true, testify to any very deep political thought : still, they show a sane and practical judg- ment, experience and discernment, besides giving interest- ing details concerning the nature of the remarkable institution in those days. Brunetto's encyclopaedia strove to embrace the entire field of what was then known. One section of this, namely, astronomy, was treated in far greater detail in the book of Ristoro of Arezzo, entitled, ** Delia Composizione del Mondo," and completed in the year 1282. This deals not only with the form and motions of heaven and the con- stellations, but also with the natural phenomena on earth, in so far as they were held to be determined by heavenly influences. Ristoro was a monk, as is shown by his own words; his knowledge is derived partly from the ancients, such as Ptolemy, Aristotle, and Isidorus, partly from the Latin translations of Arabian writers, such as Averrhoes, Avicenna, Algazel, and Alfergan, whom he quotes himself. It is scarcely probable that the Aretine monk made any original contributions to the science of astronomy. He stands abso- lutely on the level of his time, as when he proves with the greatest naivete (Dist. viii., cap 12), that the southern hemi- sphere must be entirely covered with water and uninhabited, because no ships had ever come from there, because the southern firmament had less constellations, and was, accord- ingly, less noble, and. for other equally valid reasons ; or where he shows, in another passage (Dist. viii., cap. 3), that the whole world must be full of spirits without a body, and how these are able to influence things on earth. Ristoro's work is of special interest, too, as a monument of the old Aretine dialect, in its pure form, without any traces of the literary tongue. Science was not yet creative, but consisted in appro- priating whatever a former age of high culture had dis- THIRTEENTH CENTURY PROSE LITERATURE 181 covered. Hence these popular compilations, hence, too, the translations of the writings of classical authors, which made the latter accessible to the general public un- acquainted with the learned tongue, and thus aided the same cause— that of the popularisation of science. Brunetto I^tini, in his " Rettorica," translated into Italian the first book of Cicero's " De Inventione " and added an ample commentary at the request of a fellow-countryman who had shown him great friendship during his sojourn in France. Bono Giamboni translated the " History " of Paulus Orosius and Flavius Vegetius's "Art of War." A slight Italian compendium of the Rhetoric "Ad Herennium," that was so long attributed to Cicero, is entitled " Fiore di Rettorica," or " Rettorica Nuova." It is dedicated to King Manfred, and must therefore have been written before 1266. In most of the manuscripts the author calls himself Fra Guidotto da Bologna. If this be correct, the language must have been strongly modernised, as a Bolognese could not have written with such purity at so early a date. However, a manuscript of the Riccardiana in Florence, which is, it is true, not so old as the others, states that Bono Giamboni is the author, and adds that Fra Guidotto had wrongfully appropriated the work. Finally, it has been suggested that Fra Guidotto wrote the book in Latin, and that Giamboni rendered it into Italian. This question can scarcely be solved, and, in view of the insignificance of the little work, it need not detain us any longer. To Brunetto Latini is also attributed, with a fair amount of certainty, the version of three of Cicero's speeches. It is less safe to assume the same authorship for certain fragments of Sallust's " Catihne," which Nannucci published in his " Manuale." For the first two of these speeches are not translated from the Latin at all, but from the French of the " Tresor " (lib. iii., pars i.), where they are cited as models for the rhetorical precepts. It is scarcely to be assumed that the author of the " Tresor " himself took them from this passage ; more probably someone else did so, retaining the name and adding the rest independently. The so-called *'Etica di Aristotile, compendiata da Ser Brunetto Latini " is nothing but the sixth book of Giam- boni's translation of the "Trdsor," which will be mentioned further on; this portion was extracted from the complete 1 82 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE work and made to do duty as an independent book. It is the same with another work attributed to Bono Giamboni — the " Delia Forma di Onesta Vita di Martino Dumense " : this is an extract of those passages of Giamboni's version of the ** Tresor," in which Brunetto had incorporated the pre- cepts of Bishop Martin under Seneca's name. But at any rate there was much activity in this branch of learning, and to account for this there must have been a cor- responding desire of learning and knowledge on the part of the people. However, the translators were by no means scholarly, and it would be vain to expect faithful reproduc- tion from these versions : the Middle Ages were never able to proceed altogether objectively, and when these authors of antiquity appear in the vulgar tongue they are, in a measure, travestied. What must have given most pleasure in this work, accord- ing to the spirit of the age, is their moral aspect, the possibility of adapting the precepts and doctrines to practical life. This accounts for the popularity of the little book of moral sayings (each of which is contained in a Latin distich), which was composed in the third or fourth century after Christ, and called after Cato, as the type of the severe sage. It was in general use as a school book, which served the double purpose of instructing the young student in the rudiments of Latin and of showing him the paths of virtue. The former object is clear from the old translation into the Venetian dialect, belonging to the second half of the thirteenth century, which slavishly follows word for word, and with some bad mistakes also, not the original text, but a Latin prose paraphrase of the sayings, into which a number of errors had already crept ; from which it follows that the teacher himself did not possess an adequate knowledge of the language which he desired to impart to his pupils by means of this version. Three other Tuscan translations which were edited by Michele Vannucci, probably belong to a later period. Practical and didactic in aim were also the collections of the sayings and deeds of famous men, such as the one that is entitled " Fiore di Filosofi et di molti Savi antichi," which was, in common with so many other works, wrongly attributed to Brunetto Latini. This little book gives accounts, in short, rapid traits, after i THIRTEENTH CENTURY PROSE LITERATURE 183 the manner of the " Novellino " (three of the stories of which are here reproduced), of divers famous men of antiquity, Greeks and Romans. First a few words serve to indicate who the man was who is to be discussed, and then follows the remarkable and instructive deed or saying, or, in some cases, several of these deeds and sayings. At times they are entirely fabulous, especially those belonging to Greek antiquity, as this period was far less known in the Middle Ages than the Roman. For the same reason the sayings of Cicero and Seneca are most numerous, these being the writers who were then most read. Such collec- tions were called Fiori, because they aimed at gathering the flower of all that was worth knowing, and at presenting it to the reader. Every selection compiled in this manner was called Fiore or Fiorita, hence Fra Guidotto's Fiore di Rettorica "—a compilation from the mass of rhetorical pre- cepts : hence, too, the expression fion di parlare, which occurs at the beginning of the -Novellino" in the sense of re- markable sayings." The narrative of the " Fiore di Filosofi is somewhat childish, as in the following account of Socrates : "Socrates was a very great philosopher at that time, and he was very ugly to look at ; for he was immoderately smaU and had a hairy face, a broad flat nose, a bald sunken skull, neck and shoulders covered with hair, and legs thin and bent. And he had two wives at that time, who scolded and upbraided each other a great deal, for the husband showed more love on one day to the one, on another to the other. When Socrates found them quarrelling, he urged them on so that they seized each other by the hair, and mocked them when he saw them fighting for the sake of so hideous a man. And so it happened one day that they were pulling each other by the hair and he was mocking them, and they noticed this and let go of each other and both fell over him and got him under and pulled his hair so, that of the few he had not a single one remained. And he gets up and begms to run away, and they after him with sticks, and so they beat him that they left him for dead. In consequence of this, he departed with some pupils, and went to a country place, far from men, so as to be able to study better, and there he wrote many books, from which many sayings are drawn. The book has come down in several versions that ditter I .»! 184 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE from one another, now in form and now in the number of the philosophers treated, to which one of them adds Christian saints. BartoH assumes that the work is derived from medieval Latin texts, and this is certain for the one section dealing with Secundus and his original and pro- found definitions : it is a translation of the corresponding chapters in the "Mirror" ("Speculum Hist," 1. x., cap. 70, 71) of Vincentius Bellovacensis, or perhaps of the unknown source of this work. Not only were the works of Frenchmen and those of antiquity translated, but also such as had been written in Latin or f>ench by Italians themselves, at that time or a little earlier. Albertano, giudice of Brescia, composed three moral treatises— the first, " De Amore et Dilectione Dei" in 1238, when he was the prisoner of the Emperor Frederick II. at Cremona, after the capture of the castle Gavardo, which was under his command ; the second, " De Arte Loquendi et Tacendi " in 1245; and the third, the "Liber Consolationis et Consilii " in 1246, or, according to a different estimate, in 1248. These three works were trans- lated into Italian by Andrea da Grosseto in the year 1268, and soon after a second version was executed by Soffredi del Grazia, a notary of Pistoja, which is contained in a manuscript of the year 1278. The latter is the more in- teresting of the two, both as a monument of the language, and by reason of the certain age of the manuscript. It forms an authentic document of the dialect of Pistoja in the thirteenth century. As a reproduction of the original, how- ever, Andrea's version is far superior, and Soffredi must even have known and used it, for in Tract. IL, cap. 37-45, there is a striking similarity between his translation and that of Andrea, such as cannot be accounted for merely by the identity of the Latin text. Albertano's treatises are likewise a kind of Fiore or Fiorita. He begins by setting up the moral precept and then con- tinues with a very long series of quotations from sacred and secular texts, jumbling together Solomon with Seneca and Ovid, S. Paul and S. Augustine with Cicero and Cato. He has a veritable mania for piling quotation on quotation with- out selection and without moderation. Albertano is ex- tremely erudite, and one cannot help admiring him for THIRTEENTH CENTURY PROSE LITERATURE f^S knowing so many authors and for being able to quote them. But it was the erudition of his time— a time in which, as Nannucci remarked, the written word was still identical with the mfallibly true word, in which authority counted for everything, the authority of the Church and of Holy Writ on the one hand, and, on the other, that of the classical writers. And all these were revered in equal measure : there was no distinction made between them. A saying of one of these great men was tantamount to a proof. But these sayings themselves were often, with a great lack of intelligence, taken out of their proper context, so that, for example, Seneca and Cicero are made to testify to the value of the Christian faith, whereas they, when they said/^^^, of course meant fidelity and honesty (" De Dilect.," cap iv.). No one saw anything inappropriate in supporting the Christian doctrines by the authority of Pagan writers. Add to this the inadequate acquaintance with the language and customs of so remote an age, and the final result of these learned studies was a singularly distorted image of that antiquity which people thought they knew so well, which was so greatly admired, and which served at the same time as a brilliant monument of past glory, and as an ideal model for the present. The whole of the third treatise, the " Liber Consolationis," is clothed in the form of a narrative concerning Melibeus and his wife Prudentia. The house of Melibeus has, in his absence, been attacked by his enemies, his wife beaten and his daughter wounded. He is full of wrath and desires to avenge himself. The wise Prudentia opposes such a course, and now follow her precepts as to the manner in which one has to consider one's actions and deal with prudence and moderation. She succeeds in convincing her husband, so that he forgives his enemies and becomes reconciled to them. This appears to us an insipid story, and the long sermons of the moralist, that are pedantically divided and over- loaded with quotations, seem to us unendurable in the mouth of a woman. But it is just for these very qualities that the treatise was more popular than the others ; it was translated, by itself, into other European languages, and a portion of it was introduced by Chaucer into his " Canter- bury Tales". For people were fond of every kind of I 1 86 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE moralising narrative : the practical exemplification appeared to give life to the precepts and thus made them more at- tractive to the public. Of a moral treatise that was formerly very highly esteemed, the '*De Regimine Principum " of the famous Egidio Romano (which he had written for his pupil, PhiUp the Fair of France) there is a translation belonging to the year 1288, which, however, was not made from the original Latin, but from an earlier French version of this work. And froni the French too. Bono Giamboni, the most industrious of all the translators of that time, rendered into Italian Bru- netto Latini's great *' Trdsor." Bono is named in a document of the year 1264 as the son of Messer Giambono del Vechio, and as giudice del popolo di S. Broco/o ; in 1282 he was judge of a different quarter of Florence, the Sesfo dt Porta S. Pietro, and as late as the year 1296 his name occurs in notarial documents. These dates were given by tr. Tassi in the introduction to his edition of three treatises attributed to Giamboni—" Delia Miseria dell' Uomo, \ Giar- dino di Consolazione,"and"Introduzione alle Virtu "(Firenze, 1836). If these works are really his. Bono must be con- sidered a master of style for his time : his prose is already more rounded and fuller, it is clear, simple, and fluent, so that it may still be read with pleasure. It is true that this very fact increases one's suspicion that these treatises might be by a writer of the following century : but until the doubts that have been expressed are changed to certainty, the three works, which deserve closer examination, must be discussed in this place. Two of them are certainly again translations or new versions of older works. In the case of the " Giar- dino della Consolazione," the editor Tassi discovered the original in an unprinted Latin treatise—" Viridarium Con- solationis." It is a- collection of didactic precepts in the manner of the Fiori, and is called " Garden of Consolation " because, as one solaces oneself in the garden and finds many flowers and fruits, so in this work there are many and beautiful sayings that will soothe and solace the soul of the pious reader, and he will find there many flowers and fruits. Here we see the same excessive quantity of quotations that we remarked in Albertano ; but the classical authorities are not so often jumbled together with those of the Bible and THIRTEENTH CENTURY PROSE LITERATURE 1 87 of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. The second ascetic treatise, " Delia Miseria dell' Uomo," describes the wretched condition of mankind in this earthly vale of misery, and shows how one may save oneself from it and attain the better fatherland. The model of this work was, as was also proved by Tassi, the book of Pope Innocent III., " De Contemptu Mundi seu de Miseria Humanae Conditionis ; " but the author here allowed himself freer scope, frequently changed the arrangement of the observations, and added something of his own. It was the aim of such compilations and translations to popularise what was then called philosophy. The spirit and intention were the same as with the religious poetry : the goal was the attainment of the highest good, liberation from sin and salvation of the soul. The narratives of the monks, the sacred songs, and the primitive theatrical representations, were intended rather for the lower classes of the people, while the moral treatises, and the teachings of philosophy were for the more cultivated. A book belonging to the end of the classical period had exercised a great influence on the philosophical literature of the Middle Ages — namely, the " Consolatio Philosophise " of Boethius. The author wrote it in prison, shortly before his execution, and in it he related how he, when on the verge of despair at his miser- able condition, beheld a majestic apparition, Philosophy, who came to console him, by reminding him of the vanity of all earthly things, and by pointing out to his soul a higher good. This direct connection with the author's fate, in which so many unhappy people saw their own condition mirrored, coupled with the nobility and warmth of the exposition, and the clearness of the fundamental ideas, could not fail to render the book specially effective. It was widely read, and was a solace to many. Henricus Septimellensis had imitated it, as we have seen, and thus it also served as a model for the most interesting of the three treatises attributed to Giamboni, the " Introduzione alle Virtu." " When I once considered my condition," so the work begins, " and weighed my fate within myself, when I suddenly saw myself fallen from a happy state to one of misery, I began imitating the lamentations of Job, in his wretchedness, to curse the hour and the day when I was 1 88 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE THIRTEENTH CENTURY PROSE LITERATURE 1 89 born and entered this unhappy life, and the food that had nourished and preserved me in this world." He despairs, and knows not how he is to save himself from so much anguish ; thereupon he hears a voice that reproves him, and beholds a splendid figure, Madonna Filosofia. She cleanses his eyes of the crust that has formed in them from the un- cleanness of earthly things. She deals with him just as Philosophy does with Boethius, speaks to him at times in the very words of Boethius, as though he were her disciple, " whom she had from the beginning weaned with her milk, and then nourished and brought up with her bread," and she admonishes him to raise his look and his soul. How- ever, this figure of. Philosophy, which, at the outset, re- sembles so closely that of the Roman author, is soon found to differ essentially from it. Although Boethius was himself a Christian, yet his philosophical ideas are still those of classical antiquity. His arguments deal only with the reasons of the intellect, from which are also deduced the existence and the essence of God. Reward and punish- ment in the next world need not be considered; virtue brings with it its own reward, vice its own punishment, accord- ing to the doctrine of the Pagan philosophy, and though Boethius mentions Hell and Purgatory, he only does so in order to show that they may be left out of account. Such a decided separation of faith and philosophy was impossible for Giamboni; with him they remain closely bound to- gether. Faith alone was the key to Heaven, and thought was subordinated to it. The dogmas of Christianity stood firm and unchangeable; they were, by anticipation, the result that must necessarily follow from every argument. And so nothing remained for philosophy but this method of argumentation. It was the sole business of this science to give these arguments their form, and to find for them logical supports — or what then appeared to be logical sup- ports—nothing, in short, beyond labouring in the lower regions among the foundations, while above these the edifice was completely finished, and did not require these fresh supports for itself. The people merely accepted the dogmas, and believed them without further ado. The more cultured were not satisfied with this, they required proofs, or, at any rate, the appearance of proofs ; but with these, too, the building would soon have tumbled down without faith, so that this distinction between the two classes was formal rather than substantial. If we follow the exposition in the " Introduzione alle Virtu," we find a confirmation and illustration of what has been said. Philosophy begins by asking the author for the reason of his great sadness, and he replies at first that it is the loss of the blessings of fortune, of worldly splendour and fame. But she proves to him the vanity of such things. What, she says, is the goal of the human race, and why did God set it on the earth ? He created men so as to fill with them the empty seats of those angels who were hurled with Lucifer from Heaven to perdition. However, the wealth and honour of the world are diametrically opposed to this aim, and instead of lamenting, he should rejoice at their loss. And when he goes on complaining that he has lost also the blessings of nature, that he is ill and miserable, she tells him that he may console himself : for this world is a valley of tears, a kind of purgatory, given to man, " so that he may here be able to weep and cleanse himself of his sins," and he who suffers with patience and humility shall come to possess Paradise. "The tribulation and anguish of the world are the punishments of God," which He inflicts out of love, as a father on his children. The Kingdom of Heaven is the " natural and permanent goal " of men, their " native land," and the whole of life is nothing but a struggle for the attainment of this true fatherland. The way to Heaven is narrow and wearisome ; but there are friends who lovingly guide us over it. The author begs Philosophy to make him acquainted with these good friends. They appoint a day, and when he has come they mount their horses and start on the journey. They reach a meadow, where they behold a beautiful spring in the shade of a pine tree, and near at hand they find the palace of Christian faith, whose walls are of gold and precious stones. Fede is seated on a wonderful stool, teaching many people that surround her. When she sees Filosofia enter, she wishes to humble herself. But the former does not permit this, takes her by the hand, embraces her with tears of joy, and asks her : "My daughter Fede^ how art thou faring in the service and grace of God ? " And she said : " Very well, when I V \ w IQO HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE THIRTEENTH CENTURY PROSE LITERATURE I9I I am accompanied by thee : for without thy company, one cannot recognise God, nor do aught that is good." And the other said : " And Httle would my knowledge avail me, if it were not for thy faith " (cap. 15). In this way did the author in this scene express the relations between philosophy and religion, as they were in an age when men wished to philo- sophise while believing, and to believe while philosophising. In the palace of Fede they take their evening meal ; thereupon the author has to undergo an examination in the articles of faith, and finally they go to bed. The next morning they again set out and reach a mountain, from which they see a large plain, and many people armed for battle. It is the virtues on the one side, and the vices on the other. They order their armies in lines of battle — here, the seven principal vices under the chief command of Pride ; there, the four cardinal virtues, as captains, with the sub- ordinate vices and virtues as leaders of the single battalions ; and, in the meantime. Philosophy tells her pupil the names, and explains the personifications he sees before him. Fede Cristiana appears in order to support the virtues, and, in a series of combats, she overcomes first. Idolatry, then the Fede di Giudea^ then the Heresies, and, finally, Mohammedanism, after the latter had long been victorious. Again Philosophy explains to the author-spectator the allegorical meaning of all that is taking place. It is a kind of symbolical history of the Church. Fede triumphs. The virtues now begin the battle against their enemies. Superbia is overthrown, falling into the pit that has been dug by Frode ; the rest flee to Hell. Fazienza moralises over the corpse of Superbia^ and Carita distributes the booty among the poor. The idea of this battle of the vices and virtues, both in general and in many particulars, is borrowed from a poem of Prudentius, the " Psychomachia," which, under the image of such a combat, allegorically depicts the struggle between good and evil in the soul of man. However, the author treated his original as freely as when he was making use of the work of Boethius. After the victory. Philosophy descends with the author into the plain, in order to present to him the virtues, the promised friends. These begin by admonishing him, each with its particular precepts ; and, finally, he is received and inscribed as their faithful follower. We have, therefore, in this book, the fundamental idea of religious and moral literature — the liberation of the soul from earthly captivity — in the form of an allegorical journey, with the personifications of the psychological phenomena, and of Philosophy, who plays the part of guide and in- terpreter. The Middle Ages had, in general, a strong pre- dilection for allegory and symbolism, and this arose from the nature of the literary themes themselves : the spiritual and abstract subject-matter could not be plastically treated with palpable images. The same cause that had introduced the allegorical and symbolical form into religion, operated in the case of literature : allegory makes its appearance when the subject cannot be expressed by the expedients of art, so that one is compelled to say one thing and to under- stand by it something different. But then one does not limit oneself to employing this form only where it is com- pulsory. One comes to take pleasure in it for its own sake — in its mysterious and enigmatical qualities, that cannot be grasped by the mind save with difficulty; and so allegory becomes the means of concealing in poetry intellectual ideas, or, vice versa^ of clothing the dry propositions of science and morals superficially, at least, in a poetic garb. ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC POETRY, ETC. 193 IX THE Al^ EGORIC O-DI DACTIC POETRY AND THE PHILOSOPHICAL LYRICS OF THE NEW FLORENTINE SCHOOL nPHE real home of the allegorical and didactic poetry at -■- that time was France, where its development was prob- ably largely due to the Latin allegorical treatises of Alanus de Insulis. The most important product of this poetical manner was the " Roman de la Rose," the first part of which had been written by Guillaume de Lorris not long before, and which was being continued by Jehan de Meung just at this time (after 1268). This "Romance of the Rose" is, in the form of a vision, an allegorical representation of love, with its changing joys and sorrows. In it abstractions appear personified — the faculties and passions of the soul, quaHties, virtues, the conditions that are opposed and favourable to love, pleasures, happi- ness, liberality, courtesy, reason, wealth, fair mien, friendly welcome, shame, fear, calumny, prudery, jealousy, and the like; and these represent a varied and vivacious drama, speaking and acting. With Guillaume de Lorris there are few traces of a didactic aim ; but in Jehan de Meung there is a preponderance of didactic and satirical matter, touching, as he does, every possible aspect of life, with his endless and superficial digressions. The poem met with extraordinary success, also in other countries, and was much imitated. A Tuscan poet, Ser Durante, reproduced it with great freedom and notable skill in a corona of two hundred and thirty-two sonnets, retaining only the main narrative of the allegorical love-quest, omitting the digressions and removing much of the prolixity. This poem, which the editor called **I1 Fiore," because it speaks only of a flower in the place of the rose, belongs probably to the beginning of the four- teenth century. However, a considerable influence of the " Romance of the Rose " and kindred productions is to be noted much earlier. The longer Italian allegorical poems, which were composed in the second half of the thirteenth, and the first half of the fourteenth century, plainly stand in close relation to them. Brunetto Latini's " Tesoretto " shows the French influence in the manner of its p ersonifica - tions^ in its language, which contains a number of specifically French expressions, as also in its metrical form. The poem is written in lines of seven syllables, rhyming in pairs, that is to say, in a metre that approaches as nearly as possible the couplets of eight syllables, which were employed in ProvenQal and French narrative and didactic poetry. It is even probable that the " Tesoretto ' was composed in France, and the work is dedicated to some very exalted personage, who is supposed by Zannoni to be Saint Lewis. Brunetto Latini was not endowed with the poetical gifts of a man like Guillaume de Lorris, and his allegories lack all grace and vitality; he is a scholar even in his verses, which are made to express the dry learning of the schools, in a bald and sometimes clumsy manner. The author, who, as we have seen, was sent to Spain as Florentine legate, relates how, on his return from that country, he met a student of Bologna, who told him the sad news of the defeat at Monteaperti and the expulsion of the Guelphs, and how his grief at the misfortunes of his native city, rent in twain by party strife, was so great, that he lost his way and took a path through the midst of a wild forest. When the sorrow, that held his soul captive, allowed him to turn his mind again to outward things, he sees, round about the mountain, all kinds of creatures, men, animals, and plants, following the beck of a noble lady. This is Nature, that is described, with touches which at first recall Boethius' philosophy, but afterwards in a petty and tasteless manner, with all the details of feminine beauty —the hair, brow, eyes, lips, teeth, and so on. She instructs the poet in various points concerning the essence of herself, that is, of Nature, and her relation to God, concerning the creation of objects, the angels, and the fall of the proud among them, concern- ing man, the soul and its powers, the body and the five senses, the four elements and the four temperaments, the seven planets and the twelve constellations of the sun's course. From astronomical subjects a very clumsy transition is made I. o N 194 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE to geography. Nature leaves the author. She must depart in order to act and operate throughout the world, and these operations of hers he now sees with his own eyes. At her command he beholds the chief rivers, of which there are four, that is, the four rivers that spring from Paradise ; they are named, and, at the same time, also the countries through which they flow. The mention of the East gives occasion for the enumeration of a number of spices and animals. What follows is again introduced in a remarkably awkward manner (xi. loi): Poi vidi inimantenente La reina potente Che spendea la mano Ver lo mare oceano. This enables him to speak of the ocean, of the pillars of Hercules, of the Mediterranean Sea and of several countries and cities that lay round its shores. Finally, he sees the habits of all animals. But Nature now bids him continue his journey. He again rides through a wild and pathless wood, and reaches a lovely plain, where an empress rules over many princes and wise men; this is Virtue, whose four daughters are queens, the four cardinal virtues, the various abodes of which he visits one after the other. This separa- tion from Nature and her teaching, and the visit to Virtue, therefore signifies the transition from the theoretical first, the psychical part, to the practical second part, dealing with t^ ethics. The entire poem, so far, is, as will be seen, nothing V^V^ but an extract from the first and second books of the jAr^ "Tresor." At the beginning, the identity with individual \ ir^A^ passages of the French work is so exact, that these may be used to correct the Italian text. Also the order of the sub- jects treated is the same as in the "Tr^sor," save that, in the poem, several sections of the encyclopaedia are dealt with very rapidly or entirely omitted, for the reason that the author found the exposition in rhyme too difficult; how- ever, he had the intention of making good the parts that were here left out, in a prose treatise at the end of the work, as he himself repeatedly stated. On the other hand, the ethical portion of the *' Tesoretto " is augmented by a section not contained in the "Tresor"— the precepts of Larghezza, Cortesia, Leanza and Frodezza. The poet meets these four ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC POETRY, ETC. I9S virtues in the house of Giusthia, and listens to the admoni- tions they address to a knight. The last of these, which fill four considerable chapters (xv.-xviii.), thus form a long didactic poem on decorum and on prudent and decent conduct in the world. At the close of the sermons the poet departs with the knight. The latter returns to his native land, while Master Brunetto continues on his way, in order to seek Ventura and Amore, as Nature had ordered him to do. He comes to a meadow filled with flowers, where he finds many people, some gay, some sad. These are ruled by a naked youth, who is armed with a bow and arrows, but is blind — il Piacere. Together with him are four ladies, Faura, Desianza^ Amore and Speranza^ that is, the four passions that are united in love, while the latter itself, according to the shallow old theory of the Provengal and Sicilian lyrical poets, is assumed to derive from Fiacere. Brunetto, too, falls under the power of Amore^ and feels him- self rooted to the spot ; however, Ovid, the author of the '* Remedia Amoris ", instructs him in the means of escape. He crosses the mountain and reaches the plain. But what he has seen and experienced causes him to turn from his worldly Ufe to God and to the saints. He therefore in- terrupts the narrative with an ascetic sermon on the vanity of the world, bewails his many sins, tells how he has con- fessed to the good monks at Montpellier, and admonishes a friend to do likewise and to look to his soul. He returns into the wood and rides so long, till he one morning finds himself on the summit of Mount Olympus. There he be- holds an aged man, with a white face and a white beard. This is Ptolemy, who now begins his teaching. That is to say, the promised prose treatise on the seven liberal arts was to follow, one of which, namely, that on Astronomy, is Ptolemy's province. However, this prose section is missing, and was in all probability never written. As may be gathered from a passage (xiv. 83, sqq.), the "Tesoretto" was to be a compendium of the great encyclopaedia, written in Italian, more concisely and intelligibly, for readers of less culture ; and, for the same reason, it was to be clothed in verse and allegory, so as to make science more attractive to the general public. The same passage shows that it was written while the author was occupied with the "Tr^sor." After 196 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE finishing the latter he may have lost the inclination to continue a second treatment of the same themes in the " Tesoretto," which accordingly remained unfinished. Another poet of the didactic and allegorical school, Fran- cesco da Barberino, was influenced not only by French, but also by Provencal models. He, too, lived for a time in I'Yance. He was, if we may trust the data given by Filippo Villani, the son of a certain Neri di Rinuccio, born in 1 264, at Barberino, a small town in Val d'Elsa. He devoted himself to the study of law, and appears in a Bolognese document of the year 1294 with the title of notary. From 1297 to 1304 he was in Florence, as episcopal notary. Between 1309 and 1313 he travelled in the South of France, on important business, the nature of which is not known, and frequently stayed at the courts of Clement V. and of Philip the Fair. ()n his return he acquired the title of a doctor utriusque juris (there it no testimony of this till the year 13 18), and settled in Florence. He did not die till 1348, at the beginning of the plague which was then raging, and which carried off so many distinguished men. Francesco da Barberino availed himself to the full of the opportunity given him in France of studying more closely the literature of the Provencals. He shows an acquaintance with the poetry of the troubadours such as is possessed by scarcely any other of his countrymen and contemporaries, and very frequently quotes them in his works, though, it is true, he did this in such a manner as accorded with his disposition, and always with a one-sided regard for practical utility, without in any way understanding their aesthetic value. One of the two great didactic poems of Francesco da Barberino, the " Documenti d'Amore," was sketched and, for the most part, composed in Provence itself, and therefore between the years 1309 and 131 3, as was recently demon- strated by A. Thomas. He then completed the work shortly after his return to Italy. He begins with the verses : Somma virtu del nostro sire Amore Lo mio intelletto novamente accese, Che di ciascun paese Chiamassi i servi alia sua maggior rocca.* * The high power of our sire, Love, recently kindled my mind, that from each country I should call the servants to his greatest castle. ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC POETRY, ETC. 1 9/ The author invites the servants of Amore to assemble in the latter's castle. Amore then himself addresses Elo- quenza. The latter dictates the documents (doctrines) to the servants, and the author writes them down and sends them to those that love, as all were not present at the assembly. Here we have, in accordance with the Provencal doctrine, Amore as the source of virtue and dispenser of instruction ; and so nothing is concealed behind the alluring title " The Documents of Love," that seems to promise so much, but extremely monotonous precepts on morality and prudence, as in the *' Breviari d'Amor," the great didactic poem of Matfre Ermengau, which was composed about twenty years before Francesco's work. His precepts are scarcely based on this poem, but frequently on other Provencal works that were known to him and are now lost. The documents or doctrines are arranged under twelve more general titles, such as Docility, Industria, Gloria, Eternity, and the like. Each division is preceded by a miniature (executed under the author's direction) of the allegorical figure whose name it bears, and this is explained in the opening verses of the section. Francesco's original manuscript has been preserved in the Barberini Library at Rome, with the drawings, a Latin version of the Italian text and a full Latin commentary, which contains important remarks on Old Italian and Pro- vencal literary history, and in which the author, according to his own statement, has deposited the accumulated learning of sixteen years. The other work of Francesco da Barberino, entitled " Del Reggimento e Costumi di Donna," was begun before the " Documenti," but completed after them ; not infrequently it refers to them, and in one passage describes the complete manuscript that contains them. The " Documenti " taught virtue and morals in general. The second work is specially addressed to women : this is a subject which the author had omitted in the other book, and which, as he says, had never been treated before. And, in point of fact, although instruc- tions for the female sex ^/^ exist, such as the French "Chastoie- ment des Dames " of Robert of Blois, still, these were very general, and cannot be compared with Francesco's more thorough and detailed treatment. The book consists of verses that are for the most part rhymeless and of varying length, « I 198 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE mixed with prose ; frequently the former can scarcely be distin- guished from the latter. At the beginning, Madonna requests the poet to compose his treatise, and for this purpose takes him before Ones hi, who appoints Eloquenza and Indus tria to guide his pen, and to make use of him as the organ of their doctrines to mankind. Francesco gives various precepts, on the one hand according to the various ages, or as to whether the woman is married or single, widow or nun ; on the other hand according to the different conditions, from empress and queen down to servant and peasant. In the last of the twenty sections (which are again introduced by allegorical drawings of the virtue or quality appropriate to each case, and by dialogues between the virtue in question and the woman to be instructed), we get a series of rules of life and morals for the entire sex, somewhat badly arranged : here the author descends even to observations on ornament and to recipes for the preservation and increase of beauty. In the prose pieces he usually tells moral tales in support of his doctrines, insipid little stories, showing no great depth of thought, some of which he had collected himself on his journeys in France. Nevertheless, this second work is more interesting than the first, because it affords us a wider view of the manners, ideas, and prejudices of the time. It was a severe and pedantic discipline to which honourable women and girls of the higher classes had to submit, and, in addition to the genuine innocent goodness and purity, a good deal of hypocrisy and dissimulation was required of them. From time to time this treatise is interrupted by allegorical journeys of the author to Madonna, and by conversations with her, in which he desires to refresh himself after his labour and to gather new inspiration. Madonfta is an alle- gorical being, a noble queen come down from heaven, the firstborn daughter of the Highest (p. 433), that was in the Divine mind before all other creatures (p. 222). She diffuses light throughout the world, is the enemy of ignorance, the sister and guide of the virtues. Through her we see on earth truth and whatever we can apprehend of the Divine spirit. Luce Eterna says she belongs to her court ; Carita^ Amore, and Speranza show the way that leads to her ; In- telletto is her door-keeper. " I am," she says (p. 224), '' of such a kind, that many round about take away from me, and ALLEGORICO-DID ACTIO POETRY, ETC. 199 I yet remain whole,— I am in heaven and on earth every- where." She gives to drink from a source that never runs dry, and rewards the author at the close, when he hands her his book, with a stone from her crown that shall divulge every- thing to him, save the things that God reserves for himself. Who is this noble lady, whom the author does not name, but whom, as he thinks, we shall recognise from his description ? It was generally thought that it was Wisdom. But Borgog- noni showed that this interpretation cannot be correct. For in the conversation between Madonna and Onesta at the be- ginning, the latter says to her that she hopes Sapienza with many other virtues would support the desired book with their aid ; so that Sapienza is a third person, and not Madonna herself, to whom Onesta is addressing these words. Bor- gognoni saw that Francesco's allegorical lady is the universal Intelligence, which, emanating directly from God, penetrates into the universe by its force, and illuminates the human intellect \ ' this was a philosophical conception that had gone over from the Arabian commentators of Aristotle (Avicenna and Averrhoes) into the didactic philosophy, and that formed the subject of another poem, which was composed about the same time and which was called "La Intelligenzia " after it. This " Intelligenzia " is a poem of three hundred and nine stanzas in nona rima, that is, in stanzas of eight verses to which is added a ninth rhyming with the sixth— a form which possesses a certain harmonious effect by reason of its cunous movement, returning within itself, and which is well adapted for the expression of lyrical sentiment, as may be seen from the fifth stanza : E non si pu6 d'amor proprio parlare A chi non prova i suoi dolzi savori, E sanza prova non sen p6 stimare Pill che lo cieco nato de' colon. E non pote nessuno mai amare, Se non li fa di grazia servidori ; Che lo primo penser che nel cor sona Non vi saria, s'Amor prima nol dona ; Prima fa i cor gentil che vi dimori.^ ^ Inttlletto is her door-keeper, that is to say, the Intellecius pssibilis absorbs within itself this Intelligentia as Intellectus agens. 2 And of love one cannot properly speak to him who does not experience its sweet charms, and without expenence one cannot esti- I 200 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE I |i|»l However, in so long a poem, and one that is largely narrative, this form of stanza becomes wearisome after a while. The work commences with a description of spring, like so many songs of the troubadours, and adopting exactly the same images and expressions : indeed, the first two verses are, as Nannucci pointed out, translated straight from the Proven(,:al. Then the beginning of the poet's love is nar- rated, followed by a description of his lady. In the account of her attire, the author's imagination displays an Oriental luxuriousness, and the crown that adorns her head furnishes occasion for the enumeration, in forty-three stanzas, of sixty various jewels, with all their fabulous wonders, as he found them in the lapidaries of his time. Farther on, he comes to speak of the palace inhabited by the lady, and describes this, too, from chamber to chamber, mostly according to the plans and specifications of the various apartments, as we know them from several medieval accounts of palaces. As he intends dishing up for our benefit certain stories that have nothing to do with his theme, he makes use of an artifice which was frequently employed later on by poets, but which is introduced very clumsily in the present case : he feigns that there are paintings and sculptures on the ceiling and walls of the great hall — Amore in the centre surrounded by the famous lovers, Paris and Helena, Achilles and Polyxena, ^neas and Dido, and many others. In another place is seen the whole history of Caesar, with the uninteresting recital of which he fills one hundred -and thirty-nine stanzas, seeking in a measure to justify the introduction of this un- essential feature by remarking now and again that it was painted or sculptured. He quotes Lucan ; in reality, how- ever, he did not draw from this source, but from the trans- lation of the French History of Caesar which has come down in the Ricciardi manuscript of the year 131 3, and which he often followed very closely, even in the wording. In the same way as the history of Caesar, but in less detail, are in- troduced the deeds of Alexander and the Trojan war, and, mate them any more than he who is born blind can estimate colours. And no one can ever love, if love does not make him the servant of grace ; for the first thought that sounds in the heart would not be there if Amore does not first give it ; it makes the hearts noble before taking up its abode in them. ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC POETRY, ETC. 201 finally, two stanzas are devoted to the Round Table, these passages being likewise based on French works or on Italian versions of them. After this enormous digression, which fills two-thirds of the poem, the author returns to his lady, describes the festal joy that reigns in her mansion, the con- fession of his love after he had been encouraged by Madonna and Amore, and finally, more generous in this than Fran- cesco da Barberino, himself discloses to us the secrets that are concealed under his allegory. His lady is, as we have already said, the Intelligenza, who, standing before God's throne, by means of the angels that move the heavens, spreads her vivifying influence throughout the world, and takes up her abode in the human intellect. Her palace is the soul with the body; the great hall, the heart; the winter and summer rooms, the liver and spleen; the kitchen, the stomach ; the sculptures and paintings are the beautiful memories that fill the human mind; the chapel signifies the faith in God ; the senses are the main entrance ; the bones are the outer, and the nerves the inner walls. It is an allegory that offends against every instinct of good taste. The author w^as well acquainted with the doctrine of Guido Guinicelli, and alluded several times to the precept concerning Amore and the cor gentile^ as, for instance, in the stanza that we have quoted (and again in 57, 71, and 297). His own idea of the love of the Intelligence might possibly be an exaggeration of the conception of the Bolognese poet and of his Florentine followers, that made the loved one the symbol of all that was highest and noblest, and on the strength of which Guido had compared the influence of the lady on the lover to that of the Deity on the heavenly in- telligences. But the episodes, first the description of the numerous precious stones, and then the narrative of the romantic tales, attract the reader's attention far more than the fundamental idea for the embellishment of which they were to serve ; and if they were taken away, but little would remain of the whole. The direct or indirect influence of French sources is noticeable also in the language, which again shows several French words and forms. The first scholar who made any portion of this poem known, Francesco Trucchi, had endeavoured to see in it special beauties and a great antiquity, with that exaggerated : ij ii \ wl s^l 202 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE enthusiasm which discoverers are always inclined to display, when they have just unearthed a monument. He found in it a warmth and splendour of colouring that were quite oriental, and thought that it must have been composed in Sicily, under the Norman dynasty, when the Arabian in- fluences were still sufficiently strong. This judgment, for which there was absolutely no foundation, was subsequently shared by many who had not read beyond the first twenty or thirty stanzas. That the poem belongs, at the earliest, to the second half of the thirteenth century is proved, as D'Ancona showed, by the above-mentioned connection with the canzone of Guido Guinicelli ; and, for the rest, there are everywhere traces of the Proven9al and Old French literatures, or of the philosophical theories current at the time. It is true that the latter were derived from the Arabian commentators of Aristotle. But these were universally read in the Latin translation, and the author need not even have adopted them at first hand, seeing that the ideas he made use of had been admitted into the Christian philosophy of the Middle Ages, and that they had been popularised especially by the men who opposed them, such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas; we found them also in Francesco da Barberino. There can be no question here of an exceptional acquaintance with Arabian science, or of a direct connection with Oriental poetry. If the Riccardi manuscript containing the history of Caesar which is used in the " Intelligenzia " is an autograph, as may be assumed with some certainty, the poem would even be later than 131 3. One of the two old manuscripts, that of the Magliabechiana, actually gave at the end the name of the author. There one could read the words: " Questo si chiama la'ntelligienzia, lo quale fecie Dino Chompag . . ." These words are now partly illegible, but they were recently seen by creditable witnesses : they were written by a later hand, at the end of the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth century. According to this, the work would be by Dino Compagni, the gon/a/om'ere of the year 1293, whose authorship of a Florentine chronicle now forms the subject of a keen controversy and will occupy us in another place. As no valid argument has been brought to bear against this attribution of the poem, it may be regarded at any rate as probably correct. n ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC POETRY, ETC. 203 Brunetto Latini's " Tesoretto," the two works of Francesco da Barberino and a portion of the "Intelligenzia" are treatises in verse. In this propensity for employing poetry for didactic themes, these Florentine poets are in agreement with the tendency inaugurated by Guido Guinicelli in lyrical poetry. In the latter, the actual love passion becomes of smaller import, and approaches more closely to allegory, to the symbolical expression of enthusiasm for philosophical and moral ideas; while Francesco and the poet of the " Intelligenzia " represent the zeal for virtue and knowledge under the allegory of an amorous passion for Madonna, who is the personification of an abstract idea. There is, how- ever, this important difference between the lyrical and didactic poets : the former began with the concrete being and then came with the idea, while the latter adopted pre- cisely the opposite course. And so it is intelligible that the philosophical lyrical poetry, which had first blossomed in Bologna, should meet with special success and find its principal imitators in Florence, where, mainly through Bru- netto Latini's example, an ardent zeal for scientific studies was being displayed, and where didactic poetry was being cultivated with such ardour. It was Guido Cavalcanti, who, according to Dante's judgment ("Purg.,"xi. 97), wrested the palm for lyrical art poetry from the older Guido. He was the most intimate friend of Dante, but older than he, and already a famous poet when Dante began his literary career. Still, in view of the intimate relations between the two, there cannot have been a very great difference in their ages. It is true that, as Giovanni Villani reports (vii. 15), Guido was, in the year 1267, among those sons of the nobility, who, when peace was being made between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, were selected for binding together the hostile families by means of intermarriage. His father, Cavalcante Cavalcanti, who belonged to the Guelph party, gave him to wife Bice or Beatrice, the daughter of Farinata degli Uberti (who had been dead since 1264)— the magnanimous head of the Ghibellines celebrated by Dante. It was therefore thought that he must at that time have been of a marriageable age of at least twenty; but Del Lungo proved that Villani's words do not justify such a conclusion, and that it was merely a question of an arrangement of marriage, made by li 11 / 204 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE the relatives for political reasons, while Guido was yet a child, and that the wife who was then selected for him did not actually marry him till many years after. In the year 1280 Guido Cavalcanti is mentioned as one of the sureties in the peace articles drawn up by Cardinal Latino, among whom, as we saw, was also Brunetto Latini. In 1284 he was member of the great council of the commune, ox podesta^ and as it was prescribed that no one could attain this position before the completion of his twenty-fifth year, it follows that Guido could not have been born after 1259. When the Guelph party was itself divided into two hostile camps, by the adherents of the Cerchi and Donati respectively, the Cavalcanti joined the former and Guido took an active part in the hostilities that agitated the city. Dino Compagni relates that, on a pilgrimage to Santiago, he was in danger of his life through the snares laid by Corso Donati ; and the fact of the pilgrimage at least is vouched for by a sonnet of Niccola Muscia dei Salimbeni of Siena, from which we also gather that Guido did not actually reach Compostella, but halted at Nimes owing to illness, and sold his horses. From his own poems (" Era in penser d'amor," and " Una giovane donna di Tolosa,") it appears that he stayed also in Toulouse, where he fell in love with a lady called Mandetta. When the struggle in Florence between the Cercheschi and Dona- teschi became more and more serious, the Signoria, on June 24, 1300, decided to temporarily remove the heads of the two hostile parties from the city. Among those banished was Guido Cavalcanti, and Dante, who was then one of the Priors, was thus compelled to assent to such a measure against his best friend. Guido became ill in Sarzana, the place of his exile, and his ballad, " Perch'io non spero di tornar," which appears to have been composed there, in words of pain expresses the conviction, that he will never again behold Tuscany and his beloved. On account of the unhealthy air of that town, the Signoria soon after recalled the exiled Cercheschi to Florence. But for Guido it was too late: he died shortly after his return, at the end of August, 1300. Guido Cavalcanti is described to us as a deep thmker. Giovanni Villani bewails his death in the following words (viii. 42) : *' His loss was much to be lamented : for he was, ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC POETRY, ETC. 20$ as a philosopher, in many ways a distinguished man, save that he was too sensitive and violent." Dino Compagni addressed to him a sonnet, in which he censures his aristo- cratically retired and brooding mode of life, and exhorts him to take an active part in the public Ufe of the city. In this poem he characterises him as follows : " How prudent you are, I tell among the people, vigorous, excellent, and capable, and how you understand attack and skirmishing, and how you know many works by heart, in an intelligent way, and how you run and leap and move yourself." Guido united in himself the chivalrous qualities of the warlike Florentine nobility, and the love of study, and thus he is represented in a tale of Boccaccio (" Dec." vi. 9), in which it is related how he freed himself from a company that was irksome to him by means of a deep and sarcastic reply. Boccaccio goes on to say of him : " When he philosophised, he often with- drew himself very much from men, and as he held some of the opinions of the Epicureans, it was said among the common people that the sole end of these speculations of his was to endeavour to prove the non-existence of God." By " Epicureans," those were meant who who did not believe in the immortality of the soul ; but it is doubtful whether this was really Guido's philosophical conviction. Among the so-called Epicureans in the sixth circle of Hell, Dante finds Guido's father-in-law, Farinata, and his father, Cavalcante, and the latter, on seeing his son's friend traversing the realm of gloom, looks around him and then, weeping, utters the words (x. 58) : If through this blind Prison thou goest by loftiness of genius, Where is my son? and why is he not with thee? And Dante replies : I come not of myself; He who is waiting yonder leads me here, Whom in disdain perhaps your Guido had.^ These mysterious words have not yet been interpreted in an entirely satisfactory manner. Why should Guido have 1 For this, as for all the other passages from the " Commedia " quoted in this volume, the translation used is that of Longfellow. I ■If . 'k 1 I 206 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE disdained the leadership of Virgil ? It has been said that this means that he preferred philosophy to poetry ; but surely it is precisely philosophy that Virgil symbolises in the "Corn- media." Others thought it meant that he had cultivated deep poetry and neglected frivolous themes ; but in the Middle Ages Virgil was regarded as the profoundest of all poets. Then again, it was held to express Guido's predilection for the vulgar tongue, to the detriment of Latin ; but how could that deprive him of the leadership of Virgil, when Dante himself wrote in Italian, and narrated in Italian the very journey on which Virgil was guiding him ? A new explana- tion was attempted by Francesco D'Ovidio, which is based on the old report of Guido's Epicureanism. Dante's Virgil, he says, signifies Reason and Philosophy, not, however, reason in the broad sense, but reason in so far as it is illu- minated and guided by Divine grace; Virgil is sent by Beatrice, the symbol of Faith, and obeys her behests. Now, if Guido did not believe in the immortality of the soul, it is natural that this Virgil could not guide him, and that he could not journey through a world the existence of which he denied. At the same time, as D'Ovidio himself subsequently owned, it is risky to base the interpretation of an obscure passage, which could have quite a different meaning, on a notice given us by a novelist fifty years later, and, even then, not with absolute certainty. Cicciaporci had already thought that the whole reproach of Epicureanism might have been transferred to Guido from his father, Cavalcante. It is clear enough from the accounts, that Guido was addicted to brooding specula- tion, but what his metaphysical views were we do not know. At the outside, one might deduce a certain freedom of thought in religious matters from one of his own poems. In the year 1292, an image of the Virgin Mary, painted on one of the pillars of the Loggia di Orto San Michele, began to work miracles, to cure the sick, and to free those possessed by the devil, so that people made pilgrimages thither from all parts ; but the Franciscans and Dominicans did not believe in the whole affair, out of jealousy, as the people said, be- cause they had not had a hand in it. On this occasion, Guido Cavalcanti sent to Guido Orlandi one of those favourite correspondence sonnets, in which he speaks in a mocking tone of these events, so that Guido Orlandi considered it ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC POETRY, ETC. necessary to admonish him, in his reply, to penitence and to reverence for the holy men. But it is a long way from such mockery of miraculous images and jealous monks, which even pious people at times permitted themselves, to in- credulity and atheism. The poem of Guido to which he was most indebted for his fame as poet and philosopher, is the canzone, " Donna mi prega; perch'io voglio dire." It was regarded at that time as a marvellous work — as the greatest perfection of poetry — for it was science itself with all its subtilities ex- pressed in verse : in it the erudite dialectician displayed his art. As we learn from the opening, the poem was composed at the request of a lady, who had asked him what love was, and whose question w^as clothed by Guido Orlandi in a sonnet, " Onde si muove e donde nasce Amore ? " The essence of love was, as we know, an old and favourite problem of the Provengals and Sicilians, the solution of which had then been attempted by Guido Guinicelli in an original manner, in that he illustrated his ideas by means of expressive images and similes. A different method is adopted by Guido Cavalcanti, who employs merely sober propositions and demonstrations, and the lady who had questioned him must have been very learned, if she was satisfied with his reply. The canzone was, in the course of time, commented no less than eight times, among others by so distinguished a person as Egidio Romano, and by the famous doctor, Dino del Garbo, both of these employing the Latin tongue. In spite of the fullness of these inter- pretations, however, the meaning of many passages still remained obscure — at times, indeed, became more so; it is true that one of the chief reasons for this may be the faulty condition of the text, for even the earliest com- mentators had to work with variant readings, as was, later on, the case with Dante's "Commedia," too. The first stanza may be reproduced somewhat in this form : " A lady begs me ; therefore I shall tell of an accident, that is often cruel and so proud, and that is called Amore : let the man, who does not believe in it, hear the truth con- cerning it. And for the present exposition I require a learned reader, for I do not think that a man of slight intelligence has sufficient understanding for such a subject ; 1 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC POETRY, ETC. 209 for without scientific procedure (senza natural dimostramento^ that is, senza il dimostramento della filosofia naturale) I do not intend to demonstrate where Amore dwells, and what brings about its origin, and what is its property, its power, its being and each one of its manifestations, the pleasure that gives it the name Amore, and whether one can see it in the body." These eight points into which Guido divides up his theme, and the second, seventh, and eighth of which had so often occupied the older lyrical poets, though in a different manner, are worked off quite systematically in the tour following stanzas. Here we have the apparatus of the scholastic philosophy, the logical divisions and distinctions, the definitions, syllogisms and terminology of the schools. Image and sentiment, the foundations of all poetry, as we find them in Guinicelli's canzone, are here entirely lacking. Add to this the wearisome artificiality of the form, with its numerous difficult intermediate rhymes. The author him- self was very satisfied with his work. He says in the refrain : " Thou canst, oh canzone, go without fear, wherever thou wilt ; for I have so adorned thee, that, whatever thou sayest will be very much praised by the persons that have under- standing; to stay with the others thou hast no wish." From these words we see the aesthetic views of the cultured public of those days : here we have poetry entirely in the service of science, and overburdened with erudition, con- sidered worthy of long commentaries, and requiring these, if it was to be understood at all ; so that Guido's canzone concerning love appears as a forerunner of Dante's " Con- vivio," and, in a measure, of the " Commedia " too. However, the exaggeration of the didactic manner, as ex- emplified in this product, was, fortunately, never repeated either by Guido himself or by the other poets of the new Florentine school, the chief of which was Guido Cavalcanti, and to which Dante belonged. Besides these two, the following deserve special mention as disciples of the school : Lapo Gianni, the friend of Guido and of Dante, Lapo (or Lupo) degli Uberti, the son of the noble Farinata, Gianni Alfani, Dino Frescobaldi, and Loffo (or Noffo) Bonaguidi. These poets perfected as a type, and transformed into a regular system, the set of ideas that Guido Guinicelli had first introduced into poetry. Already with the Provencals, love consisted of the apotheosis of the lady, who was the possessor and dispenser of every perfection; but her gift was the perfection of the knight and courtier — fame, honour, noble manners and courtesy. With this new school, how- ever, the perfection is that of the philosopher— virtue and perception. The lady is something that has descended from heaven, she is an angel, an image of the spiritual on earth ; what she inspires is Platonic love. Thus Lapo Gianni says at the beginning of a ballad to his beloved : Angelica figura nuovamente Dal ciel venuta a spander tua salute, Tutta la sua virtute Ha in te locata I'alto dio d'amore. (*' Angelic form, newly come from heaven to spread thy blessing, all his power has the high God of love placed in thee.") And again, in the finest sonnet of Guido Cavalcanti, *' Chi ^ questa che vien ch' ogn' uom la mira," the loved one appears as something transcendental, for the perception of which the human intellect is not adequate. Everyone regards her, when she approaches ; the air trembles at her radiance, and with her she leads Love, so that no one can speak, and all sigh. Here one feels the truth and sincerity of the passion that has given rise to exaggerated expressions of praise, and communicated its fervour to them. But with the poets of the Florentine school, the ideas and sentiments again became fossilised into conventional forms. Here, too, we have Amore personified, the ruler of all lovers, of all those that have a noble heart, the formula concerning Amore and the cor gentile being often repeated. Now Amore is a cruel ruler, and now a gentle one, who goes to the lady in order to entreat her to have pity for the lover, and long dia- logues between them follow. In other cases we have long speeches addressed to the canzone or to the ballad, or dia- logues between the personified faculties of the soul : the heart or the soul or a thought speaks, and the spirits of love, the spiritelli d'amore, act and hold discourse. The pyscho- logical processes are materialised and represented by means of these very personifications ; it is, above all, that most im- portant event, the actual faUing in love, the origin of the feeling that is to be the source of pain and of perfection, that I. P 210 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE becomes a favourite theme of this school. A spirit of love — thus the process is described in the very characteristic ballad of Lapo Gianni, that has already been quoted — com- ing from the heart of the lady by way of the eyes, enters through the eyes of the poet and makes his heart and soul take flight, in that they are in fear of death. "Then, when the soul had regained its power, it called to the heart : ' Art thou dead now, since I do not feel thee in thy place ? ' And the heart replied, which had but little life left, and which, solitary, astray, without aid, and expiring, could scarcely speak, and said : ' Oh soul, help me to raise myself.' " This is a new conventionalism, a new repertory of ideas and expres- sions, less vapid and sickly than those of the Sicilians, but all the more abstract. Still, in spite of all this, there remains in this new Florentine school a considerable amount of individual feeling, and it is further distinguished by increas- ing vigour and maturity of form. The language is already a flexible instrument, adequate to express the most difficult themes. As such it appears, leaving Guido out of count, especially in the canzoni of Dino Frescobaldi. Moreover, this striving after depth of thought was com- bined with the tendency, peculiar to the Tuscans, towards a more natural and popular manner, which often animated the poetry by imparting to it a fresher breath. Guido Cavalcanti himself composed two ballads in the Old French and FToyen^a\ genre of the J>astore//a, and he fully succeeded in preserving the ingenuous simplicity of the rural poetry. In the one poem (" Era in pensier d'amor ") he meets, while lost in thought of his Toulousan Mandetta, two pretty young country girls, who look at him, see how much he is in love and raihngly ask him whether he can remember the eyes that have wounded him so deeply. In the other (" In un boschetto trovai pastorella ") he finds a shepherdess alone in the wood, and begs for her love, in the manner of the knights of the French and Provencal pastoral poems ; but the figure of the girl and her dialogue with him are, in spite of its naturalness, imbued with a certain ideal colouring that imparts to them a peculiar charm. The foreign genre of the pastoral is treated with skill and originality, so that it is not the imitation so much as nature itself which is felt, appear- ing purified by the delicacy and grace of art. ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC POETRY, ETC. 211 In the same way as Guido Guinicelli, so, too, Guido Cavalcanti wrote poems in which he leaves this abstraction for the nonce, in order to turn in a scoffing spirit to the life that surrounded him. This may be remarked m the sonnet addressed to Guido Orlandi, concerning the mira- culous image of Orsanmichele. He is more bitter in the sonnet, '' Guata, Manetto, quella scrignotuzza," in which he describes an over-dressed hunch-backed woman and the end- less laughter she arouses when she struts along beside a beautiful woman. Here we have the transition to the hu- morous poetry that was beginning to spring up in the Tuscan cities by the side of the philosophical lyrics, and strongly contrasting with these. In the free communes a cheerful, material life was developing, together with the wealth that had been accumulated by dint of industry and commerce. This age of rehgious enthusiasm was at the same time full of a fresh delight in life. It was not every- body that mortified himself. Men loved brilliant feasts, and just as the flagellants, filled with their ascetic zeal, formed brotherhoods for their pious aims, so, too, young people met together in societies, for the purpose of enjoying the pleasures of life. The grammarian Buoncompagno, as early as the year 1 2 15, gives an account, in his " Cedrus," of such societies, of which there were, according to him, more in Tuscany than anywhere else : " Certain societies of young people," he says, " are being formed in many parts of Italy, that adopt names such as the Society of the Falcons, the Lions, the Round Table, and the like. And although this custom is spread over the whole of Italy, yet it is specially prevalent in Tuscany, seeing that here it would be hard to find young people in any town who are not bound together by oath." Giovanni Villani, in his chronicle (vii. 89), describes to us the year 1283 as the time at which Florence was at the height of its prosperity. In June of that year, during the feast of St. John and at the instigation of the family de' Rossi, a society of more than a thousand persons was formed, all dressed in white garb, under a leader who called himself " Lord of Love," '' and this society devoted itself to nothing but games and pleasures, dances of ladies and knights and burghers, who joyfully and merrily marched through the town with trumpets and other instruments, or came together 212 HISTORY 6¥ EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE at banquets." This "court," as Villani calls the festival, lasted almost two months, and it was swelled from other parts by courtiers and jongleurs. At that time there were about three hundred knights in Florence and many com- panies of knights and young nobles, who banqueted in the morning and at night with numerous minstrels, making them presents of valuable clothes, and whenever a distinguished stranger passed through Florence they vied with one another in inviting him and in accompanying him on horseback both in the city and beyond its walls. In another passage (vii. 132) Villani describes the May festivals, with their proces- sions of beautifully attired youths and women, wearing lovely wreaths, and with their public dances, games, and banquets. This gay enjoyment of Hfe, this pleasure in feasts and en- tertainments, is expressed in the verses of Folgore da San Gemignano. In sonnet cycles he celebrates the pleasures of the various months and of the various days of the week, the former for the amusement of a merry society in Siena, the latter for a friend in Florence, Carlo di Messer Guerra Cavicciuoli ; and one Cene dalla Chitarra of Arezzo, angry at Folgore's boastings, composed burlesque parodies of his facetious poems. The attempt has been made to identify the company to which Folgore's first series of sonnets is addressed with the famous brigata godereccia or spe?idereccia, whose mad extravagance was condemned by Dante in the "Inferno" (xxix. 130). According to the commentators this consisted of twelve young men, who out of their fortunes put together 216,000 florins, an enormous sum in those days, purchased a magnificent palace in Siena, and with their gluttony squandered the money in ten months. If this is the correct interpretation, Folgore's Niccolo would be iden- tical with the man mentioned by Dante as the inventor of the dish of the costuma ricca del garofano^ and who, accord- ing to some annotators, was of the family of the Salimbeni, according to others, of that of the Bonsignori. Benvenuto da Imola tells us that two canzoni were written on the brigata spendereccia, quarum altera continet delicias eortitn et delectationes eonim, altera vera calamitates et mtserias, quas habituri erant.dSiA D'Ancona does not doubt that these poems are the sonnet cycles of Folgore and Cene that have come down to us, the former celebrating the time of splendour and * i^ ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC POETRY, ETC. 213 enjoyment, while the other prophesied the misery of the im- poverished company. However, GiuHo Navone has brought some very weighty arguments to bear against this theory. The final sonnet of Folgore's corona on the months gives not merely the name Niccolo, but, according to an improved read- ing, that of Niccolo di Nisi ; and Navone found a Nicolaus Bindini Nigii, of the house of the Tolomei, mentioned about the year 1337. Moreover, a Nicolaus Bandini of Siena acted, in 1309, as commissary at the conclusion of peace between Volterra and S. Gemignano ; and in the very war that was ended by this treaty, Carlo Cavicciuoli of Florence had fought on the side of the people of Gemignano as condottiere. Of course it is not certain whether Nicolaus Bandini is iden- tical with Nicolaus Bindini Nigii, and whether he is the person to whom Folgore dedicated his sonnets. But it becomes highly probable from the coincidence that this man was, at exactly the same time, acting together with the other one, to whom the second corona is certainly addressed, in the interest of the poet's native city, where he could have made his acquaintance and become his friend. It has therefore also been held that the sonnets should not be assigned a date earlier than 1 309, especially in view of the fact that, as we shall see, Folgore was certainly still writing poetry in 13 1 5. It must be remembered that there was a number of societies that aimed at making life gay, though they may not have gone to such extremes as the brigata spendereccia. Besides, Folgore's corona contains no distinct allusions to an extravagant company. We find in it nothing but all the splendid things, all the representations of constant happiness and welfare, such as a man would wish for himself and his good friends if he were once to allow his imagination free play : and, indeed, we have nothing but wishes. The good Folgore enumerates everything that he would like to give and procure for his dear friends, if he could ; if it had been a question of such madness actually taking place, there was no occasion for him to wish, he need only have described. And finally, living merrily, delighting in what is offered by the various seasons, now in hunting, fishing, and jousting, now in love, dances and games, now in wandering through fresh gardens and along clear springs, now, too, in good cheer, all this is surely different from the dissolute gluttony of those 214 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE young men, who squandered hundreds of thousands in ten months. As regards Cene dalla Chitarra, his parody is directed not so much against the company as against its poet. He scoffs at his boastful gifts in words, and always gives or wishes the members the contrary — accordingly, not only hunger and cold such as may be prognosticated for spend- thrifts, but many other things, that have nothing to do with the poverty that might be foreseen, such as an old woman as companion, a disgusting priest as superintendent, leeches and frogs as the result of fishing, gadflies and jumping don- keys instead of the beautiful girls, and curious owls in the place of falcons and sparrow-hawks. Folgore's poetry, carelessly facetious in these sonnet cycles, was at times more serious. He is the author of three political sonnets of great power and boldness of satire, relating to the battle of Montecatini, in which the Florentine Guelphs and King Robert of Naples were defeated by the Ghibellines, under Uguccione della Faggiola. The party hatred that devastated the Tuscan communes, that caused so much bloodshed and drove so many noble families into exile and misery, re-echoes in these fierce and passionate poems. Folgore is a Guelph, and while reviling his victorious op- ponents, he lashes the cowardice of his own party, that has given the others their supremacy : Oh, Guelphs, through making shields out of your backs, The rabbits you have changed to lions' form, And through making such great use of your spurs When you your horses' reins held homeward turned. He renounces his service of God himself, for having humbled the Guelphs : Eo non ti lodo, Dio, e non ti adoro, E non ti prego e non ti rengrazio, E non ti servo, ch'eo ne son piii sazio, Che I'aneme di star en purgatoro. . . . Still more skilful than Folgore and Cene in the handling of humorous poetry was Cecco Angiolieri of Siena, a poet of no ordinary talent and originality, who found his themes by preference in the lower conditions of every-day life. Cecco is mentioned several times in the registers of his native town, 6 / ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC POETRY, ETC. 21 5 under the year 1281, as having been fined for avoiding military service. His father, Messer Angiolieri, held offices of the commune, and subsequently entered the order of the Frati Gaudenti ; in spite of his good position, he kept his son on a small allowance, so that he was unable to partici- pate in those frivolous pleasures to which his disposition tended. He had been married to an ugly wife, and en- deavoured to make up for this by the love of his Becchina, the daughter of a shoemaker, whom he has celebrated in his songs, after his own style. One of these sonnets on Becchina ("I'ho tutte le cose ch' io non voglio") contains the exact date, June 20th, 1291. He hated his house and his family, and loved the life of the tavern, drinking and gambling with merry comrades. Three things, he says, please him : Cioe la donna, la taverna e' 1 dado, " women, the tavern, and dice," and these three things, to- gether with his wrath against those who prevent him from enjoying them, are the inspiration of his poetry. His thoughts and feelings are expressed with an unparalleled callousness, and the sonnets on his father are probably the most flagrant utterances of filial disrespect to be found in literature. He bewails the fact that the mean old man is in such good health and will not leave him the inheritance that he so ardently desires : " I have a father, who is very old and rich, and am always waiting for him to die ; and he will die when the sea shall be without water, so healthy has God made him in order to torture me " : Che ho un padre vecchissimo e ricco, Ch' aspetto ched e' muoia a mano a mano, Ed e morra, quando '1 mar sara sicco, Si r ha Dio fatto, per mio strazio, sano. When he at last died, there is no limit to the son's rejoicing : " Let the inhabitants of hell not despair, since someone has come out of it, who was nailed fast in it, and who thought that he would always have to remain there, and that is Cecco, as he is called. But now the page has turned so that I shall always live in glory, for Messer Angiolieri has gone off, who made me sorrowful both in summer and in winter." Cecco's love is entirely sensual, far removed from the 2l6 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE Platonism of the Bolognese-Florentine lyrical poetry. Eventually his Becchina was married to another, and the relation between them became something like that of the lady and her lover in the one canzone of Compagnetto da Prato. But this passion, in spite of its vulgarity, has never- theless the merit of sincerity and naturalness. We have here, as in everything that Cecco wrote, the direct expression of the inner man, and at times we hear fresh and simple tones, that recall popular poetry : lo ho in tal donna lo mio core assise, Che chi dicesse : Ti fo imperadore E sta che non la veggi per due ore, SI li dire! : Va, che tu sii ucciso. " My heart have I set on such a lady, that if anyone were to say : ' I make you an emperor, but be two hours without seeing her,' I would reply to him : * The devil take you.' " Specially vivacious, too, are the numerous sonnets in dialogue form, in which the words fly quickly backwards and forwards between the poet and his mistress, and reproduce for us the actual tone of these conversations, now tender, now quarrel- some. But one poem has always been quoted with special predilection, and rightly so, for it shows off better than all the others Cecco's poetical characteristics, and is in itself one of the most perfect productions of humorous poetry in existence. The sonnet form, which is specially adapted to epigrammatic effects, is here handled in a masterly manner. Beginning with expressions of the fiercest animosity, with the wish to destroy mankind and to ruin the world, he ends the poem with a frivolous jest that springs from the play of the con- trasts in an unexpected and highly effective manner : If I were fire, I'd burn the world away ; If I were wind, I'd turn my storms thereon ; If I were water, I'd soon let it drown ; If I were God, I'd sink it from the day ; If I were Pope, I'd never feel quite gay Until there was no peace beneath the sun ; If I were Emperor, what would I have done?— I'd lop men's heads all round in my own way. If I were death, I'd look my father up ; If I were Life, I'd run away from him ; And treat my mother to like calls and runs. ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC POETRY, ETC. 21/ If I were Cecco (and that's all my hope), I'd pick the nicest girls to suit my whim, And other folk should get the ugly ones.^ Cecco stood for a time in relations with Dante, and to him are addressed three of his sonnets. From these we see that Dante, fully recognising Cecco's talent, had endeavoured, though vainly, to induce him to give up his mode of life, and to devote himself to worthier objects. Later on, he must have reproached him for being a parasite : Cecco was at the time, so it is reported, staying in Rome with the Sienese cardinal, Ricciardo Petroni. But Dante was, by this time, himself in exile, and compelled to avail himself of the support of others ; the enraged Cecco accordingly threw back in his teeth his reproach against himself, in a sonnet which must have put an end to the friendsuip for all time. This poem, therefore, belongs to the beginning of the four- teenth century. Cecco Angiolieri must have died about 13 1 2, since his sons in this year gave up all claims to their encumbered patrimony, as was discovered by D'Ancona. In the Florentine Rustico di Filippo, the friend of Brunetto Latini, we find the various manners of the time combined in a remarkable way. In some of his sonnets, he has not advanced in the smallest degree beyond the stage of the Sicilian school: thus, in the sickly dialogue with the lady : " Poiche vi place ch'io mostri allegranza," or in the love entreaty : " Merce, madonna, non mi abbandonate." But by him, too, is a sonnet, " lo aggio inteso che senza lo core," that astonished the critics with its clever points ; while another one, " Tutto lo giorno intorno vo fuggendo," displays not only the cleverness and delicacy, but also the weaknesses of the Petrarchist school of poetry, with its antitheses con- cerning ice and fire. Finally, Rustico wrote a number of humorous pieces. Eighteen sonnets of this kind are printed — political satires, personal mockery, jests concerning petty domestic affairs and events, the undiluted representation of everyday life, sturdy and natural, and vigorously expressed, but unfortunately often obscure, by reason of the allusion to ephemeral matters. With these poets of the realistic tendency, at the end of * D. G. Rossetti's translation. 21 8 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE •the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth century, we have reached the close of the first period of Itahan hterature. If we look back, we remark a variety of phenomena, which were not yet capable of producing a great literary work of absolute merit, but each of which contains the germs of future developments of importance, the beginnings of that which the succeeding centuries gradually completed. And thus the first period supplies the most significant explanation ot the productions of those that follow : for a literary develop- ment cannot be grasped save by examining its origins. For this reason these earliest epochs of literature, that were formerly neglected, are now being rightly studied with special diligence— these epochs in which everything even the smallest point, is of interest, as a mark of the intellectual life which develops with ever-increasing richness. We saw lyrical poetry first among the Sicilians, in a condition ot absolute dependence on foreign models, that had given the impulse to its origin. Then, among the transition poets of the Bolognese and Florentines, it emancipates itself more and more, and even conventionalism assumes a peculiar and independent character, in face of the influences of foreign literature— a gradual progress, which finally produced, as mature fruit, the lyrics of Dante and Petrarca. Narrative poetry so far as it treated chivalrous themes, remained under the ban of foreign literatures, and even of foreign languages. No themes for epic treatment were at hand. However, the gay and brilliant world of the legends of chivalry was loved by the people and attracted the curiosity of the masses. For a long while it lived on in the lower regions of literature, in the poetry of the roving minstrels. Still, it was destined, after nearly two hundred years, rendered more fertile by the introduction of the comic element, to attain a fresh artistic life, and to develop into the great romantic poems of Pulci, Boiardo, and Ariosto. The novel appears in the " Novellino as bare, dry, and possessed of litde interest ; but still this book is the predecessor of the " Decamerone," in the same way as Folgore, Cene, Cecco and Rustico are the predeces- sors of men Hke Sacchetti and Pucci in the fourteenth, Bur- chiello in the fifteenth, and Berni in the sixteenth century, in these cases, indeed, without really being surpassed. How- ever the real popular poetry of this first period was religious ALLEGORICO-DIDACTIC POETRY, ETC. 219 poetry, appearing in the form of narrative and didactic works among the Lombards and Venetians, and as lyrical poetry and the primitive drama in Central Italy. It was in harmony with the spirit of the age, and intimately connected with its thought and feeling, as these found their most splendid ex- pression in the Church Jubilee of the year 1300, ordained by Pope Boniface. This religious poetry had hitherto re- mained in the hands of the people, and the germs of poetry still lay concealed in it : but it had, before and above all the rest, the claim and capacity of further development. This took place through Dante Alighieri, and the literary develop- ment of Italy reached its acme when, in his great poem, the mature art of the school was combined with the favourite subject of popular tradition. — ■ *^'iy'^"" ►*— fc— . .Q-^^ ', / it-v n DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS DANTE ALIGHIERI was not descended from one of the great Florentine families, but still from a stock whose past he himself regarded with a certain pride. One of his ancestors he immortalised in the "Commedia," namely, Cacciaguida, whose spirit he encounters in the planet of Mars (" Par." xv.). He had gone to the Holy Land with the crusading army of Conrad HI. in 1147, been knighted by the Emperor and fallen there. His wife, he says, came to him from the valley of the Po. She was an Alighieri, or Aldighieri, probably from Ferrara; he called his son Alaghiero, after her family name, and this name of Alaghieri, later Alighieri, subsequently passed over to the family. The son of this Alaghiero was a certain Bel- lincione, and his son a second Alaghiero, who was the father of Dante. His mother Bella, of unknown descent, was probably the first of Alaghiero's two wives, as Dante is in documents always named before his brother Francesco, the son of Alaghiero's other wife Lapa Cialuffi, and was accordingly the older of the two ; he must therefore have lost his mother at an early age. Dante's ancestors belonged to the Guelph party, and were, in the course of the thirteenth century, twice compelled to flee from the town — in 1249, when Frederick of Antioch, the son of the Emperor Frederick H., came to the aid of the Ghibellines, and in 1260, after the batde of Montaperti. On the second occa- sion, the Guelphs did not return to Florence till the begin- ning of the year 1267. But whether it be that Dante's father Alaghiero was not banished with the rest in 1260 (perhaps because he was too young and therefore not dangerous), or that he was permitted to return sooner, or that Donna Bella came back earlier by herself, the fact DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 221 remains, being attested both by the poet himself and by the oldest biographers, that Dante was born at Florence in 1265, and baptised in the church of S. Giovanni. We have no account of the education he enjoyed in his youth. Ever since Boccaccio it has been the custom to call Brunetto Latini Dante s master, and this opinion had its origin in the beautiful verses full of love and gratitude, in which he has spoken of Brunetto (- Inf." xv. 82). It is true that they show beyond a doubt that the author of the " Tr^sor " had a considerable influence on Dante's intellectual develop- ment ; he was probably a paternal friend, who supported the younger man with counsels and doctrines, and directed and encouraged him in his studies, without being his teacher in the ordinary sense. A man like Brunetto Latini who was then taking part in public life and was secretary of the republic, could not well have kept a school or given regular private lessons in Florence. We do not know when this intercourse with Dante took place: it is possible that Brunetto was one of the Filosofanti, whose disputations the poet attended after the year 1291 ("Convivio," ii 13) Towards the end of the eighties Dante had' joined in several military expeditions of his native town. In 1288 he appears to have taken part in the inroads made by the l^lorentines into the district of the Ghibelline city of Arezzo • and, according to the statement of Leonardo Aretino, based on a letter of Dante's, now lost, he fought against the Aretmes m the battle of Campaldino (June nth; 1289), in the front rank of the Florentine cavalry. In the same year he was also present when the fortress of Caprona was taken trom the Pisans, as we learn from a passage in the " Com- media" ("Inf." xxi. 95). The great event of Dante's youth is his love, and the figure that dominates everything and fills his entire life is Beatrice. He saw her for the first time when they both were children he nine and she eight years of age. She appeared to him clothed in a most noble colour, a humble and sub- dued red, girded and adorned as became her very youthful age." And his life-spirit began to tremble violently; for he has found one who will dominate him. From that time he feels himself urged on to seek the place where he may see this " youthful angel." One day, after the lapse of another 222 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE space of nine years, from the day of the first meeting, she appears to him again, robed in the purest white, between two other ladies, and " passing along the way, she turned her eyes ... and by her ineffable courtesy ... she saluted him in such virtuous wise, that he appeared to behold the highest degree of bliss." It was the first time that her voice reached his ear, and it fills him with such joy, that he is as it were intoxicated, and takes refuge from the intercourse of man in the solitude of his chamber. He falls asleep and has a dream. On waking he puts it down m verse, and this was the origin of Dante's first sonnet : A ciascun' alma presa e gentil core, Nel cui cospetto viene il dir presente, A cio che mi riscrivan suo parvente, Salute in lor signor, cioe Amore. Gia eran quasi ch' atterzate Tore Del tempo che ogni Stella e piii lucente, Quando m'apparve Amor subitamente, Cui essenza membrar mi d^ orrore. Allegro mi sembrava Amor, tenendo Mio cor in mano, e nelle braccia avea Madonna involta in un drappo, dormendo. Poi la svegliava, e d'esto core ardendo Lei paventosa umilmente pascea ; Appresso gir ne lo vedea piangendo.^ The poem is addressed to the lovers, that is, to the poets, and demands an explanation of the dream. In these verses, written by Dante at the age of eighteen, we have an allegory in the form of a vision, a psychological process symbolically represented— Amore giving the loved one to eat of the poet's heart ; images these, which appear to us grotesque, but which are full of significance and rich in ideas. Here we have again the poetic manner of the new Florentine school, and so we can understand how Dante da Majano, the repre- » To every captive soul and noble heart, that comes to see the present sonff so that they may write me back their opinion, greetmg m the name of Love their lord. Already had a third almost of the time passed, m which ekch star shines brightest, when suddenly Amore appeared to me, to recall whose l^eing fills me with horror Joyous femed Amore to me holding my heart in his hand, and m his arms he held Madonna sleeping, wound in a cloth. Then he woke her, and of this glowing heart he gently gave her to eat, she showing signs of fear. Then I saw him go his way weeping. i» V DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 223 fnf i!i''!,-i°'^ *^ old Provensal manner, received the sonnet ma hostile spint and answered it in an indecent and scoffing ZiT' ut ^"'J*^ Cavalcanti congratulated the new poet S ftiends "^* *™^ remained the dearest of Of his love Dante has told us himself in a little book caUed " I^ Vita Nuova " (" The New Life •'), a prose naS dve mterspereed with the poems that owe their origin to the feetags which are treated in them, and which are ii^terpreted ^ m the prose sections. The " new life " is that life which ^ teS'/^Pr'?*'*'"fi«'^y°fl°^«- This love of/ ^ !n^J7h- J^ •°'^^^ °"^ '' ^^^ ^^^ *a' ^ come to life, ™S1 .K^ Tf' ^^^^^^ froni heaven, in order to im- part to the world a ray of the splendour of Paradise. She fn^Z" K ^2^ \?^ ?. *^ ""°''1«'' <=o'o"^" she appears to him robed m "the whitest colour "-it is truly an appari- n?,'?;.TfK^^ •'°'? ^'^^^ **' '^ '^"'^e down to Urn. t2uite at the banning she is " that very youthful angel " and then always "that most noble one." He scarry nf"^'!^ ?k""! *?.*'"^ '° «=^' ^^' by her own name of Beatnce, though this name, too, has its lofty meaning • sheis one who spreads around her bUss Ibeatitudine). ' The stoty of Dante's love is a veiy simple one. The events are all so insignificant. She passes him in the street and greets him ; he sees her with other ladies at a wedding banquet, and she scoffs at him ; he learns from the ladi J how she laments over her father's death. Such are the events narrated : but they aU become significant in the heart ,W 1 r? PP^^- I' « an imier history of emotions, touch- ing m Its tenderness and sincere religious feeling. A breath ot this pure worship communicates itself to us, so that it does not appear to us exaggerated. itsdf fml^?hil ''' TT^ "^^"^ '^ ^'^ •• '* <=on<=eals itself from the eyes of others and remains for a long time a ^cret. So great, indeed, is Dante's fear lest his^ S feehn^ be exposed to profane looks, that, when he cannot hide the passion that bums within him, he makes peonle beheve that another woman is the caus^ of them tSc he finds a beautiful woman, who thus serves him as it were as a screen. On her he turns his eyes when he meetsle? 224 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIaJj LITERATURE ^ to her apparently his verses are 'addressed 4he splendour ^ine"ns\s'7However on th^ ifrtfke^Ti Tru h TyX j::;rrd EVBet^rXlor^^^^^^^^ withhold^ her ^' Tlie^on^ o^the whole narrative is s< lemn-almost reSu^The poet is fond of aPP^V-g.^'Sin^s " O hi^^ Thus he begins one sonnet with the hnes . U voi^- peT la via d'a'mor passate, Atter^dete e guardat^ S'eeli fe dolore alcun quanto il mio grave , ana tnese a tt^ words of Jeremiah: "O vos omnes qui transit s per the same prophet, after Beatrice s aedui, auu .^ -uip^ n the prophetic Vision (cap. 23). acco-npamed by ternble natural'disUances, like the ^eath "g/ 'K ea^n of light {i.e., of the already since my birth had the heaven 01 "B V ; sun^ returned to almost the same point, in /expect 10 ii» S revolution, when before my eyes appearedJ^or^he/'^J timp the elorious mistress of my mind, who "as cauea oy mTnV BefSe, without their knowing what they ^11 ^ thus" (meaning, without their knowing that she actually w^s BiTrk t^; dispenser of blissV ^^^^^^^^ ^^,^' , " One day it happened that this most noble laay sat in * pi?ce where oneTard words of the Queen of glory (Mary), and I was in a spot, from which I saw my happ mess. . . . He avdds the mere name of the thing, and employs instead some circumlocution, because the other appeared to him torvulEar The city of Florence is never named ; it is called "the city in which my mistress was set by the Hghest 'i^rdMcap- 6). -"^ city in which w^born liv^ and died the most noble lady" (cap. 41); Beatrices Khert not designated by this^erm ^as fo^w^ : '' ^^^^ this one was so closely connected with this glorious one Dy blood relationship, that no one was nearer to her Such a method of exposition cannot condescend to a descnptwn o the objects: these are touched "" y^^"/,^\'!'°'* ^f w way. Beatrice is always being celebrated, her eyes, her DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 225 smile, and her mouth are extolled : but it is their influence and power that are insisted on, not their external appear- ance. Of the surroundings of the loved one, of the localities and people, we are given only a few cursory hints. We have here an existence that lies entirely apart from actual events ; these are shown now and again from a distance, but only in order to give an impulse to the rich inner life. Events are here assigned a different standard for their relative importance from that prevailing in ordinary life. Beatrice is the ideal of Platonic love ; the passion for her is th ^wd y leading lu virtue and lu God. " When she ap- peared anywhere," Dante says (cap. ii), "there remained to me no enemy in the world, through hoping for her wondrous greeting; rather was I imbued with the flame of charity, that made me forgive all who had offended me, and if any- one had then asked me for anything, my reply would have been only * Lx)ve,' with a countenance clothed with humility.** She spreads about her as it were an atmosphere of purity. Wherever she appears, all eyes are turned on her, and when she greets anyone, his heart trembles, he lowers his coun- tenance and sighs over his faults. Hate and anger flee from before her, nothing ignoble persists in her presence, and the ladies that accompany her appear more amiable and more virtuous when they are illumined by her radiance. Bea- trice's nature is more that of an angel than of a woman. In her there is nothing earthly, and she takes no part in earthly things; as on angels* wings she is lightly wafted through this life, till she flies back to that other life whence she came. A presentiment of her death pervades the entire narrative from the beginning, from the very first sonnet. The angels demand her, and it is only Gcd's mercy that can refuse her for a time, to console the world and the lover. What is the goal of the lover's desire ? Not possession ; for how can a man wish to possess that which he does not consider earthly ? Those who can ask why Dante did not marry Beatrice have not rightly understood the nature of this passion. Her look, her greeting, these are all that he ardently longs for, and in these he sees the fulfilment of his wishes. And when she denies him her greeting, he is happy in considering and extolling her perfection. "With what I. Q /226I HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE Object dost thou love thy mistre^, seeing that thou canst not endure her presence ? " the ladies ask him (cap. 18), and he replies : " The aim of this my love was formerly the ^eet- ing of this lady ... and in it dwelt the luippmess and the wfd of all my desires. But since it pleased her to withhold it from me, my lord Amore has, m his mercy, set all my happiness in that which cannot be taken from me. And being asked what that might be, he says : "In those words that extol my lady." There is nothing said as to whether she returned his love ; and we are scarcely told whether she knew anything about it. The divmity feels no passion enough if he «n worship it It is true that his imagination once carries him away, and he dreams of a fabulous happi- ness, of being together with the loved one, m a boat on the solitkry sea, ^thout being disturbed by the cold world, and acSan^d only by his dearest friends. This mood gave rise to the sonnet: "Guido, vorrei che tu e L^po ed 10; but this beautiful poem, in which the mysbc veil is for once rent asunder, was excluded from the collection of die "Vita Nuova"; it would not have harmonised with the general note of that book. I Beatrice represents in its highest perfection that ideal of ' spiritual love, which had been celebrated previously in Ae verses of Guido Guinicelli and of Gmdo Cayalcanti. With his first sonnet, Dante had joined the new Florentine school of poetry, that of the dolce stil nuovo ; with his first poem oipZter importance, the sonnet " Donne che avete intelletto d'Miore," he took the place in it that was due to hun. This shows no great innovation as yet, and Dante can scarcely Cye intended to claim such for himself, when he makes Buonagiunto Urbiciani say in the " Purgatono (xxiv. 49) = But say ifhim I here behold, who forth Evoked the new-invented rhymes, beginning: Ladies, that havt mtelligemt of Unit. I The conventionalism of the school reappears with Dante. Here we have again Amore, the ruler of the soul, and the ' soul itself in abstractions and personifications, while gnel ; and death are personified too. The jisychological processes are depicted in the traditional manner, that is to say, not as such, not as inner occunences, but in a matenahsed and •««>flMM DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 227 symbolical form. The spirits of life and love and the thoughts come, go, fly, speak and struggle with each other in an entirely substantial manner. The soul speaks with death, and complains of it as of a person, that is accordingly endowed with all personal attributes. The parting soul em- braces the spirits who weep because they lose its company (in the canzone, " E' m' mcresce di me si duramente ") If we desire to obtain a clear idea of the relation between Dante s lyrical poetry and that hailing from Bologna, we have only to read the sonnet concerning the origin of love ( Vita Nuova,' cap. 20). Dante, too, was asked by a friend to solve the famous problem, and he replied as follows : Amore e 'I cor gentil sono una cosa, \ / SI come '1 Saggio in suo dittato pone ; ^ E cosl esser Tun sanza Taltro osa, Com' alma razional sanza ragione. Fagli Natura, quando e amorosa, Amor per sire e '1 cor per sua magione, Dentro alio qual dormendo si riposa Tal volta brieve e tal lunga stagione. Beltate appare in saggia donna pui, Che piace agli occhi si che dentro al core Nasce un disio della cosa piacente. E tanto dura talora in costui, Che fa svegliar lo spirito d 'amore, E simil face in donna uomo valente.^ We may note here the grace of the expression, and a certain vivacity in the image that reveals the poet and, as it were transforms the abstract theme into a little drama. But the idea is m harmony with the spirit of the school ; the sage introduced in the sonnet is no other than Guido Guini- ceUi, and his poem, the canzone concerning Amore and the \J cor gentile. From this piece Dante borrowed the idea that a noble heart could not exist without love, nor love without a ^ Amore and the noble heart are one, as the sage says in his poem ; and one can be without the other as little as a rational soul without '^^i°.u u ^^"'^ "?^^^^ ^^^"^ ^'h^" she is full of love, Amore as lord, and the heart as his dwelling, in which sleeping he rests, now for a short and now for a long while. Beauty appears thereupon in a virtuous ady, who pleases the eyes, so that within the heart is born a desire for the pleasing object. And at times this lasts so long in him, that it awakes the spirit of love ; and the same is caused in a woman by a virtuous man. ^ t:~-'-'-^"<..*w.pi.— > i.rti>-if ■ J — ■ «ij,*a: -»>. ■>■ .*jr " j>i.r«fcjfc 228 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE noble heart ; the rest is nothing but the old theory of seeing and pleasing, so that Dante did not even display more genius in treating the question than so many others. Dante shared with his predecessors their mode of thought, their theoretical convictions as to the essence and character of poetry, their conception of love and their entire poetical apparatus. What distinguished him from and raised him above them was his superior poetic gift. He did not create the language, but he had mastered it more thoroughly than all the others. He treats the same themes in the same manner ; but they are consecrated afresh and endowed with originality by reason of the depth of his feeling. He employs the traditional forms, but the subjects treated have been experienced by himself : they come from the heart and are often expressed with delightful tenderness and sincenty. Immediate inspiration by the feelings he himself designated, in the verses of the "Purgatorio" mentioned above, as the distinctive mark of his poetry. Filled with this deep sincerity and warmed by true feeling, in spite of all its idealism, is the tender, ethereal image of the loved one as it appears to us in the ballad, " lo mi son pargoletta bella e nuova," a poem that does not belong to the collection of the " Vita Nuova," but which undoubtedly refers to Beatrice. This image of the loved one is pure and sacred as that of a Madonna, and yet graceful, almost child- like, in its ingenuousness. She is an angel come from heaven, and wishes soon to return thither; but first she desires to show us a ray of her light, a ray of the heavenly place whence she came. Her eyes are bright with all the virtues of the stars, and no charms were denied her by the Creator, when he set her in the world. And she rejoices in her beauty and purity, and communicates some of it to the others. She smiles, and her smile tells of her home, of Paradise. The qualities attributed by the poet to his beloved in extolling her, are the same as were regularly celebrated ever since Guinicelli wrote. However, we have no mere repetition of commonplaces, but a deeply felt enthusiasm pervades this glorification and gave birth to some of the most fragrant blossoms of Italian lyrical poetry, such as the sonnets, " Negli occhi porta la mia donna amore," " Vede perfettamente ogni salute," and especially the following one : . DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 229 Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare La donna mia, quand' ella altrui saluta, Ch'ogni lingua divien tremando muta, E gli occhi non I'ardiscon di guardare. Ella sen va sentendosi laudare, Benignamente d'umilta vestuta, E par che sia una cosa venuta Di cielo in terra a miracol mostrare. Mostrasi si piacente a chi la mira, Che da per gli occhi una dolcezza al core, Che 'ntender non la puo chi non la prova. E par che della sua labbia si muova Un spirit© soave pien d'amore, Che va dicendo all' anima : sospira.^ In this sigh of the soul spiritualised passion has found its ^/ true expression. The beloved is transfigured, but she has not become an abstraction : the ideal does not tear itself away from the concrete image of the beauty in which it is incorporated. We see the lady, full of grace and virtue, go her way adorned with all her charms. The first poem of Dante was a vision ; so, too, was his last, his great work. And in the "Vita Nuova," in general, visions play no small part. The dream was regarded by the age as significant and prophetic ; it is the form correspond- ing to a feeling of presentiment that passes over into the other world. A vision is depicted in the canzone that is rightly considered to be the most perfect poem of this first period of Dante's lyrical work. It begins with the words — " Donna pietosa e di novella etade." Here it is pain that unfetters the poetry and frees it from all conventional elements. Once, while the poet himself is ill, the thought comes to him that Beatrice, too, will die, and that he will lose her. Thereupon he falls asleep and dreams that she is really dead. And he sees women going about weeping and ^ So noble and so honourable appears my lady, when she greets anyone, that every tongue trembling becomes dumb, and the eyes do not dare to look at her. She goes her way when she hears herself praised, gently clothed with humility, and she appears as a being come from heaven to earth.in order to show us a miracle. So pleasing she shows herself to him who beholds her, that through the eyes she sends a joy into the heart, that only he can understand who experiences it himself. And from her lip appears to move a gentle spirit full of love, that says to the soul : ** Sigh." — There may be a connection between this sonnet and Guide Cavalcanti's **Chi e quella che vien." ■I 230 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE with unbound tresses. He sees the sun darkened and the moon appear, and the birds faUing from the air and the earth trembling, and one of his friends appears to him with dis- coloured face and cries to him : " What art thou doing ? Dost thou not know the tidings ? Dead is thy mistress that was so beautiful." Che fai ? non sai novella ? Morta h la donna tua, ch'era si bella. And he raises his eyes streaming with blood, and sees the angels returning to heaven " even as a rain of manna," and before themselves they have a little cloud, and all sing " Hosanna " : E vedea (che parean poggia di manna) Gli angeli che tornavan suso in cielo, Ed una nuvoletta avean davanti, Dope la qual cantavan tutti Osanna. And thereupon he goes to behold the mortal remains of his beloved, and sees women covering her with a veil, and over her was spread such true gentleness, that she seemed to say, " I am in peace." When he has seen that, he, too, begins to call on Death, to beseech and extol him ; for henceforth he must be full of charm, and must show compassion, not wrath, since he has been in that most beautiful lady : Morte, assai dolce ti tegno ; Tu dei omai esser cosa gentile, Poiche tu se' nella mia donna stata, E dei aver pietate e non disdegno. The poem is moving in its simplicity. A whole world of feeling, of painful recollections, is compressed in those few words, " Morta h la donna tua ch' era si bella," and we can already recognise the poet of the " Commedia " and his capacity to bring before our soul, in a few traits, a complete image, instinct with feeling : Ed avea seco nmilt^ si verace Che parla che dicesse : io son in pace. The figure of the departed one lies at rest, in such calm repose, that we long for her peace. It was thus that painters depicted the death of the saints. It is curious, considering this piece, that Beatrice's death DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 231 itself should not have inspired any poem of distinction. The canzone, "Gli occhi dolenti per piet^ del core," which refers to it, contains, perhaps, only two of these expressive and touching verses : Chiamo Beatrice, e dico : Or se' tu morta ! E mentre ch'io la chiamo, mi conforta. Beatrice died on June 9th, 1290, in her twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth year. The "Vita Nuova," that is to say, the collection of the poems and the addition of the prose text, was not begun till after her death. It is everywhere plain that the commentary is much later than the poems, as, for instance, in the case of the very first sonnet. The true meaning of the dream, says Dante, with reference to the presentiment of his beloved's death contained in the last verse, was not seen by anyone at the time ; but now it is plain to the dullest, that is to say, the prophecy is now ful- filled and Beatrice is no more. The close of the narrative goes more than a year beyond Beatrice's death. That brings us to the year 1292 as the date of the composition of the book, and this agrees with what Dante says in the " Convivio" (i. i) that it was written at the beginning of his youth, that is to say, after the twenty-fifth year, and almost exactly with the words of Boccaccio in his " Vita di Dante," to the effect that the author wrote it when he was "about twenty-six years old " — more correct would have been, " at the age of twenty-six." Another opinion, according to which the "Vita Nuova" belongs to the year 1300, I regard as refuted, after Fornaciari's examination of the facts. Love in so transfigured and exalted a form as it is repre- sented in the "Vita Nuova," that intimate fusion of a symbol and a concrete being, became difficult to understand in later ages. Many doubted whether this love had ever been actually felt, while others could not conceive that the object of it was a mortal person, and consequently endea- voured to regard Dante's Beatrice as a mere symbol and allegory, as the personification of the poet's own thoughts, not having any basis on an actual personaUty. Boccaccio relates in his " Vita di Dante," that the lady celebrated by the poet was the daughter of Folco Portinari, and this state- 232 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE ment is repeated in his Dante commentary (lez. viii., p. 224), with the addition, that the authority for it rests with a trustworthy person, who had known Beatrice, and been connected with her in very close blood relationship. Of this Bice Portinari we know from the will of her father, that on January 15th, 1288, the date at which the document was drawn up, she was the wife of Messer Simone de' Bardi. That Dante should have loved and celebrated a married woman can cause but little surprise, in view of the man- ners of the age ; the troubadours always extolled married women, and the Italian poets probably did likewise, though in their case we have no positive testimony. It was just from these relations that chivalrous love took its origin, as Gaston Paris has demonstrated in such a brilliant manner, and the mystical and spiritual love had nothing to alter in this respect. Dante's passion was for the angel, not for the earthly woman ; her marriage belonged to her earthly existence, with which the poet was not concerned. We must beware of confounding our age with that of Dante. What a terrible event for the poets of our day is the marriage of the loved one to another ! What tempests in the heart, what complaints, what despair ! Dante does not allude to the event by a single word. But it would be wrong to deduce from this fact that it never took place ; it was merely something of which that poetry took no heed, and which could find no place in it. Accordingly we have no valid reasons for doubting Boccaccio's statement. The houses of the Portinari were close to those of the Alaghieri, and Folco Portinari died on December 31st, 1289, which date tallies very well with the passage in the "Vita Nuova" which treats of the death of Beatrice's father. It is true that Boccaccio was the first to identify Beatrice with the one of the Portinari family, but there is nothing strange in that. Love affairs are not set out in official documents, and the report may well have been handed down by tradition till some one wrote the biography of the poet. In the last century Biscioni endeavoured to prove that Beatrice was a personification of philosophy ; the idea was absurd, if only for the reason that Dante had quite a dif- ferent personification for philosophy, apart from Beatrice, both in the " Convivio " and in the " Commedia." Rossetti DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 233 tA >. who, in his political fantasies concerning the old Ghibelline poets, regarded all their mistresses, and especially Beatrice, as symbols of the Imperial power, never had a large follow- ing. Francesco Perez, in his book, " La Beatrice Svelata " (Palermo, 1865), surrounded his interpretation with an elaborate display of scholastic learning, which, however, on closer examination, proves to be a somewhat superficial col- lection of ideas taken from medieval philosophy, that are frequently misunderstood, and perhaps intentionally dis- torted. The Beatrice, both of the " Vita Nuova " and of the " Convivio " was, according to him, the active in- telligence of the Averrhoistic AristoteUan doctrine. Dante's mistress would therefore be identical with the lady of Francesco da Barberino, and of the poet of the '*In- telligenzia." However, Perez smuggled this whole idea of an active intelligence as a separate substance into Dante's philosophy, as into that of Thomas Aquinas. More recently the allegorical interpretation of Beatrice was expounded with great energy by Vittorio Imbriani, who, however, did not disclose what was hidden behind the veil ; while Bartoli does not, it is true, regard Beatrice as a regular allegory, but still as an abstraction, as a mere creation of Dante's fancy, that is to say, as a general ideal of beauty and womankind, such as he imagined to have proved, on the strength of a very faulty line of reasoning, also for the other poets of the Florentine school. One of the main arguments of Imbriani and Bartoli for refusing to recognise the " Vita Nuova" as a historical narrative is, that, by publishing it, Dante would have been guilty of a criminal indiscretion, and sullied the good name of his beloved after her death. But they do not consider that, even though Dante may have called a mere creature of his imagination Beatrice or Bice, every uninitiated person must have regarded her as a real being, as, indeed, was done by the whole world for centuries, till the more modern commentators, with their deep and sharp scrutiny, gave us the unexpected information ; and that, since, in Dante's time, there was in Florence and in his immediate neighbourhood, a Bice to whom the allusions to the abstraction happened to apply, her reputation was in danger of suffering, whether he meant her or not. All this being based on the assumption, the truth of which I do not .■^- -i 1 *~-* # ^ 234 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE by any means admit, that what Dante had said of Beatrice was, in that age, capable of endangering a woman's reputation. Besides, when was the book pubHshed, and did it, when it first appeared, pass beyond a narrow circle of friends ? And, when it became more widely known, was the husband of the dead woman still living, who alone could have objected to such a passion ? Moreover, if it was a mere error on the part of the people to regard Beatrice as a real being, it seems strange that Dante nowhere protested against it. And he had an opportunity which would even have impelled him to correct the general misunderstanding, if any such existed. When he, in his later work, the '* Convivio," con*, tinually set Beatrice against his other mistress, designated as Donna pietosa or Donna gentile^ and when, at such length, he showed the latter to be a mere allegory, why did he not do the same for the former ? He is so solicitous, lest the lady celebrated in his allegorical canzoni should be con- sidered a woman of flesh and blood; and yet the danger was as great for Beatrice, nay, greater, seeing that he had treated of her in prose, giving some more precise details concerning her life. Why, then, did he not endeavour to provide against this danger ? There can be no other expla- nation, than that she was generally considered to be the real person that she actually was. It is an easy matter to detect in such a narrative apparent contradictions, improbabilities, and incongruities, if one compares them with our present manners and mode of thought ; but it is far more difficult to take the allegorical interpretation seriously and to explain by its aid all the allusions to actual circumstances. When this is attempted, absurdities and lapses of taste appear, and in order to save the poet from the reproach of apparent improprieties, foolish and fantastic thoughts are attributed to him that are really unworthy of him, and ideas that are absolutely impossible for his time. These consequences that result from the system of over-subtle interpretation, really suffice in them- selves to condemn it. Beatrice became for Dante a symbol, and in the " Commedia " she signifies heavenly light, revela- tion, and theology. But the symbol is, according to Dante's allegorical method, attached to the concrete person, and springs from it. The actual personality remains from begin- DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 235 ning to end, and the symbolical meaning is subjected to it in a secondary sense. Beatrice died when the poet was twenty-five years old, and with her death ended the first period of his lyrical poetry that had been inspired by her. In his great sorrow he sought solace by reading the book that had comforted so many in the Middle Ages, the "Consolatio Philosophise" of Boethius, and then also Cicero's " De Amicitia." At first he succeeded only with difficulty in penetrating the thoughts of these authors ; but finally he mastered them, being aided by his knowledge of Latin and by his natural talents. This is the beginning of Dante's philosophical studies which were, therefore, due to an inner craving on his part, and always intimately connected with his emotional life. He seeks in the books consolation for the misfortune that has befallen him, and he finds more than he sought : the view of that treasure of wisdom is opened to him that was with him throughout the remainder of his life, and aided him in maintaining his loftiness of character in the midst of necessity and sorrow. He begins to attend the schools of the priests and the disputations of the philosophers, and in the comparatively short space of about thirty months, he has acquired so much knowledge, that for love of it all other thoughts disappear (" Conv." ii. 13). In the "Convivio" he says that before he had seen many things "as in a dream," that is to say not clearly, which might be remarked in the " Vita Nuova ; " and, indeed, erudition is not entirely absent from this book. It is seen, though not displayed to advantage, in the pedantic divisions of the poems, which were generally adopted by commentators of that period and later, and which at times, after a poem warm with emotion, have on the reader the effect of a cold plunge-bath. This erudition appears in the passage where he, on the occasion of Beatrice's death, occupies himself with the symbolism of the number nine, that recurs so frequently in the dates of her life, recalling the fact that there are nine heavens, referring to Ptolemy and astronomy, and finally discovering that Beatrice herself was a nine, that is to say, a miracle, whose sole root is in the Holy Trinity, a point, the subtlety of which, especially in this context, is offensive to our feeling, but not to that of the medieval reader, who believed in such i Ui 236 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE symbolical meanings, and saw the hand of God in the marvellous disposition. Twice in the little book Aristotle is quoted. But all this is due rather to recollections of lessons received in early youth, than to the earnest studies that came later. Dante's philosophy is that of the schoolmen : it is closely related to theology and bounded by this science. Theology is the loftiest of sciences, to which all the others are sub- [e cted, and towards which all of them, not excluding philo- \ sophy, take up a servile position. Damian's famous saying \ still had its full force. Human reason has its limit, beyond 1 which it cannot pass, and which it may not even attempt to \ overstep : beyond this point divine grace alone can give \ light. The highest principles, God, the angels and original V matter (the materia prima) cannot be grasped by us : of \ them we know through faith alone. The most perfect proof \ of the immortality of the soul is supplied by the Christian doctrine : " We see it perfectly through faith ; and through reason we see it with a shadow of obscurity, which arises from a mingling of the mortal and immortal elements within . us" ("Conv."' ii. 9). The teaching of the Church supplies ^he philosopher with a given subject matter, which he may elaborate and explain, and from which he may make his deductions, but which he is not permitted to ignore or to / invalidate. He seeks truth by a different way, but theology has the last word. In his discourse concerning the grafting of the divine principle on to the soul (" Conv." iv. 21), Dante closes the natural, that is to say, the philosophical \ exposition with the words : " And this is almost all that can be said on the basis of natural recognition." And then follows the devout and enthusiastic exposition based on theological doctrines {per via teologica). But philosophy is not useless ; as with Thomas Aquinas, so, too, with Dante, the illumination of grace is made to pre-suppose reason and its uses, and the natural light. Philosophy becomes a sup- port of religion, and in the canzone "Amor che nella mente mi ragiona," philosophy is said to " aid our faith ; therefore it was created from all eternity." It makes many things manifest to us, and thus makes us desire that which is concealed, and, as it lets us see the reason of much that appears wonderful, " so one believes through it, that every DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 237 miracle may have its foundation in a higher intelligence, and that it may therefore exist" (" Conv." iii. 14). This is the greatest glory, the highest aim of earthly wisdom— to show us the way to divine wisdom, not to solve the problems of the world by itself. And so Dante philosophised in a strictly Christian spirit. It is open to doubt whether he ever forsook this path. We have a trace of such a secession, on which stress was laid by Witte, in a passage of the " Convivio" (iv. i), where the author says that, at the period at which he composed the canzone " Le dolci rime d'amor ch'io solia," he occupied himself, among other things, with the question as to whether the materia prima of the elements was created by God, and that he had encountered such difficulties over this point, that he had temporarily given up philosophy, that is to say, strictly speaking, metaphysics. Now, this question was settled by the Church. We have, therefore, some ground for supposing that Dante, at a certain period of his life, had, with his critical reason, intruded into realms from which reason was excluded by faith. Then again, Beatrice's re- proaches in the "Purgatorio" (xxxiii. 85, sqq.) point, among other delinquencies, also to presumption in the matter of thinking. In any case, however, if Dante passed through a period of metaphysical doubt, we must not look for any traces of it in the " Convivio " or in the philosophical canzoni, as they contain nothing beyond the casual remark we have quoted. In addition to the authority of the church, that brooks no contradiction, there are others, less inviolable, but still difficult to controvert. Such are the philosophers of antiquity -—Aristotle and his Arabian commentators (who were read in Latin translations), Plato, known to Dante only from the quotations of others, Cicero, and Boethius ; the classical poets — Virgil, Ovid, Statius, and Lucan, whose narrative poems were allegorically interpreted or used as exemplifica- tions of moral doctrines; finally the great schoolmen, Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. The science of the time is shackled by authority. The sayings of these great men are regarded with the greatest reverence, exercise a tyrannical influence on research, and at times, openly or covertly, take the place of proof. The doctrines of Aristotle, 2^S HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE especially, form the basis of philosophy ; authors are loth to reject them, and do their utmost to interpret them and to avoid coming into conflict with them. It is true that there are cases where his views do not conform to the teaching of the Christian faith, as in the conception of the heavenly intelligences, where Dante owns ("Con v." ii. 6) that the truth was concealed from Aristotle and from every pagan. But such cases are rare, and, as a general rule, Aristotle is, in the scholastic philosophy, the best defender of the Christian dogmas. Dante held that in him profane wisdom had attained its most perfect expression. He, in common with Thomas Aquinas and the other schoolmen, calls him simply the philosopher,^ or the "glorious philosopher to whom nature revealed her secrets more than to any other" ("Conv." iii. 5), the "teacher and leader of human reason " (id. iv. 6), and, in the " Commedia," " the master of those that know." His authority sufficies to set aside, without further ado, that of the other philosophers, such as Pytha- goras or Plato ; when he expressed his " divine opinion," all the others must be abandoned (" Conv." iv. 17). He is the guide to that which constitutes the real goal of this earthly existence, to happiness by the road of virtue (t'lf, iv. 6). " The Peripatetics," Dante says, " now rule the entire world in science, and so their teaching may almost be called Catholic." Dante's philosophy is that of his age. We must not endeavour to find in it any originality or special importance. Taken as a whole, it merely reproduces the doctrines of Thomas Aquinas, at times also those of Bonaventura, with certain modifications and developments in particular points. Most of these doctrines are laid down in a work that was composed considerably later, the " Convivio," and they fill the " Commedia," for the comprehension of which poem it is necessary to be acquainted with them. The " Convivio " (Banquet) is a very full commentary to several of the poet's canzoni — a commentary which, seeing that it dilates at length on every subject that is only casually touched in the poems, would have become an encyclopaedia, though not a systematic one, of the entire knowledge of the time, if the * **Nametautomatice, id est excellenter * philosophus * appelatur," said John of Salisbury, " Metalogicus, " ii. i6. DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 239 author had not broken off on completing about a fourth part of the work, which, however, contains what was prob- ably of most importance. Moralising predominates in these treatises. But more interesting for us than this, which in its general abstraction is similar in all philosophical systems, is the metaphysical portion of Dante's work, above all, the doctrine of the soul, its origin and destiny, and the general treatment of this philosophical problem, at all times, and especially in the Middle Ages, considered one of paramount importance, and which subsequently became the subject of the " Commedia." As with Aristotle, the soul is the entelecheia (form) of the body. After it has been formed in its lower functions, and thus become living, the soul, as is likewise taught by Aristotle, receives from above its divine portion, the intel- lectus possibilis, so called, because it " contains potentially within itself the universal forms," the pure form of reason, which is existent before the reception of the individual con- ceptions, while the intellectus agens designates the intellect in the state of activity, filling itself with conceptions (iv. 21). Divine goodness gives the soul as much of itself as it deserves, that is, after the created being has been prepared for this by natural disposition. Divine goodness descends into every object that is created, but the objects receive it in various manners, just as bodies receive the sun's rays in various manners. Into the pure intelligences or separate substances, the angels, God radiates without interruption, but into the other creatures with a broken light, which is reflected by these very intelligences while they lovingly move the heavens (iii. 14). Thus arises a gradation in created things, from the angels to inorganic matter, and similarly a gradation in humanity, reaching from the angelic to the bestial. The divine spark in the soul impels it to love itself, but in true fashion, that is, the better part of itself, the spirit and what belongs to it, namely, virtuous life, and the contemplative even more than the active (iv. 22). The practice of virtue is, according to Aristotle's doctrine, human happiness, and this, Dante, in the " Convivio," con- siders to be also true human nobihty. The highest form of happiness is the contemplation of the -highest that is in- telligible, namely, God. The soul longs for God as the ::-XLJ.lf ■..':^-i.&^ 240 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE highest good, and is therefore impelled towards all that dis- plays excellence, as this derives from God. However, it goes astray by taking every object at first to be the true, entire and Sn! ^PnH h' ir r ^'°°\ ?"^ '° ^^^ <''^«^' ''" it attains ts goal, God Himself (iv. 12).' This is the way of life ; but there are many roads, both straight and crooked. The highest happiness is not possible on earth ; for that the other life is necessary, to which the theological virtues lead and in which mercy grants us peace and satisfaction in God' From this train of thought we obtain also a philosophical derivation of love. It is defined as " spiritual union of the for rT,H '^' fi^r^K °^'' " ('"• ^>- The soul that longs for God and finds the divine spark in another soul, longs tor this soul, and desires to become united with it all the more strongly in proportion as it is more perfect, and as the divine element is more apparent in it Connected with this theological philosophy is astronomy, which describes the outward form of the world that is oer- meated with God the abodes of the world beyond, and their relation to the earth. In addition to this, astronomy went hand in hand with astrology, that was so jealously cultivated in the Middle Ages and at the time of the Renaissance. This science Dante did not recognise un- conditionally ; still, in common with all the intelligent people of his time, he attributed to the constellations a decisive influence on the disposition of souls at their birth, with the provision that free will was not to be re garded as set aside, and that the capacity for resisting this influence was to be held to exist. Accordingly a large space of the "Convivio" is devoted to astronomical matters Among other doctnnes that are of special importance also for the comprehension of the " Commedia," is that of the nine heavens, which surround one another in the form of spheres, and the immovable centre of each of which is the earth (u. 3-6). The seven lower ones are the planets, ' Bonaventura, " Itinerar. Mentis in Deum " ran -. . at.-* v ,Uud,ve quod habetahquam effi^cm illius. Tanta «/ vis siZmit^ utnM msi fiir tlhus disiderium a crealura fossil amari oZt"!^ falUtur et crrat, cum ,ffi^,„ et simulachrum pro ZeriaU^ceiZ Almost the same thought occurs also in BoethiiS, <• Phil Cotl^ fi'; DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 241 among which were reckoned the sun and the moon. Then fol- lows that of the fixed stars, and then the first movable heaven, the Primo Mobile^ also called the crystal heaven, because it is not visible — entirely transparent, and recognisable only by its motion. Finally, above all the rest, extends the motion- less tenth heaven, the Empyrean, the heaven of pure light, in which the Deity and the blessed spirits have their seat. And from the circumstance that every portion of the Primo Mobile desires to be united with every portion of the blessed and peaceful Empireo, arises its inconceivably rapid motion, by means of which it makes the revolution from east to west in less than twenty-four hours, and transfers its own motion to the other spheres. The nine heavens are turned by the hierarchy of intelligences or angels, which are, accord- ing to the Christian doctrine, divided into nine orders, and which acquire their power by regarding the highest good with looks full of love. This, too, is the power that descends to the earth with the rays of each star, and influences the minds and destinies of mankind. In the same way as the philosophical doctrines are mostly taken by the schoolmen and by Dante from Aristotle and his commentators, so they derived their astronomy from Ptolemy and Avicenna ; how- ever, they corrected and supplemented both their philosophy and their astronomy by means of the dogmas of the Church. If we examine the " Convivio " solely with a view to find- ing Dante's opinions on scientific questions, we fail to grasp the characteristic element of the book and of his knowledge in general. It was his temperament to feel everything keenly and ardently, so that everything became with him a longing and a passion ; it is just this that made him the great poet. Knowledge did not remain for him, as with Brunetto Latini, a dead possession, a mere collection of learned details, but it became a living emotion. Everything was pervaded by his powerful personality. Pure science, which should exclude all individuality as far as possible, may have suffered from this, and we should not value Dante's science too highly. What interests us most in his scientific studies is, after all, his own personality. Love is defined by him philo- sophically, but philosophy itself becomes love in his eyes : it is a " loving commerce with wisdom " (iii. 12). I. R i ^ 242 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE The " Convivio " is a product of scholasticism, with its heavy and syllogistic mode of exposition, its subtleties, its prolixity that endeavours to fathom and to prove everything, the smallest and clearest points as well as the greatest and most obscure. Nowadays this would be pedantry ; in the Middle Ages it was the universal and necessary method of scientific research. This system is carried to its extreme in the elaborate comparison of the sciences with the ten heavens (ii. 14,^^.), grammar with the Moon, dialectic with Mercury, rhetoric with Venus, and so on till we get to the Empyrean, which is supposed to correspond to theology ; the strange proofs for each comparison are also worthy of note. But this cloak of heavy pedantry cannot conceal the poet and the man from us. Dante's very conception of the universe gives play to the imagination. Full of poetry is the astro- nomical theory, the idea of the origin of the heavenly re- volution, of love as the principle of the motion ; love and light that permeate the entire .universe and awaken every living thing and every instinct, the contrast between the in- conceivable rapidity of the crystalline heaven and the blessed place of the divine Empyrean, from which never- theless the movement is derived. We recognise the poet in certain images of great beauty, as in the passage (iv. 12) where Dante compares the soul in quest of God with the pil- grim, who, traversing an unknown road, regards every house that he sees as the inn, and when he is disillusioned, ** fixes his faith on another, and so from house to house," till he reaches the true inn ; or in that other passage (iv. 27) where he says of the aged man, who spreads the utility of the wisdom he has gathered in the course of a long life, by giving others the benefit of it, that he resembles the rose that can no longer remain closed, and exhales the fragrance that has accumulated in it. Then again we find many ex- pressions full of vivacity and pictorial power, as when he calls laughter (iii. 8) " a flashing forth of the joy of the soul, that is, a light that appears without even as it is within." And while he gives his instructions for the attainment of virtue, the reality presents itself to his mind's eye and im- bues his discourse with a breath of life. He looks around him, and utters words of warning and reproach, when he sees the world leaving the true road. " Oh my unhappy, / DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 243 \ my unhappy country," he exclaims, when speaking of justice and government, " what pity seizes me for thee, as often as I read, as often as I write concerning the government of the state " (iv. 27) ; and after praising the country that is ruled by wisdom, he turns to the princes of the time, and especially to Charles and Frederick, the kings of Naples and Sicily, who would do better " to fly low like the swallow, than, like the hawk, to make lofty circles over the vilest things " (iv. 6). When he wishes to give an example for the fact that we do not become noble because our name is on the lips of the people, he mentions the shoemaker Asdente of Parma, and, by the side of him, Alboino della Scala, the Lord of Verona (iv. 16). We have here the bold and haughty language of the "Commedia," which strikes by preference the loftiest summits with its bolts. In the tempestuous fervour of his conviction, his zeal rises to passion, when he, inveighing against a foolish opinion concerning human nobility, says that " one should reply to such bestiality not with words, but with the knife" (iv. 14). And so it becomes conceivable how this epoch of scientific studies could impel Dante to the composition of a fresh style of lyrical poetry. The nature of the inspiration is, it is true, very diff"erent from the early style of the "Vita Nuova." We have here the transition to a specifically learned poetry, that requires long commentaries for its comprehension, like the canzone of Guido Cavalcanti, and the more so when this scientific subject-matter appears in allegorical form. It was in an allegorical cloak of this nature that Dante celebrated philosophy. The vulgar tongue did not appear to him to be worthy of treating so lofty a theme in its true shape. But, in addition to this, he desired by these fictions to adapt himself to the taste of the public, who were not accustomed to see aught but love treated in poems (ii. 13). Two of his allegorical canzoni, "Voi che intendendo al terzo ciel movete " and " Amor che nella mente mi ragiona," belong to the ones he interpreted in the " Convivio," and he took this opportunity of expounding the doctrine of poetical allegory and of the fourfold meaning of poetry ("Conv." ii. i). " One must know," he says, "that writings may be under- stood and must be explained mainly in four senses." The first is the literal meaning (senso litterale\ that is, the one i y 244 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE contained in the fable or narrative itself ; the second is the allegorical, - that conceals itself under the cloak of fable a truth hidden beneath a beautiful falsehood ; the third, the moral— a rule of moral conduct, deduced from the event narrated; and finally the fourth, the anagogic, that is, a reference to the eternal life (" referred upwards, tntellectus tendens ad superzora, as Anselm said), the narrative being held to refer to the soul's condition in the other world. \ Allegorical interpretation in a manifold sense had long been applied to the Holy Scriptures ; it began in the early times of Christianity, and became more widely spread, especially through the efforts of Hilarius and Ambrosius We found it, for example, in S. Damian in the eleventh century. In the twelfth century several Latin Poems occu- pied themselves with it, the " De Creatione Mundi of Hilbebert of Tours, and the enormous " Aurora of Petrus de Riga. The most usual course in the earlier period is the division into a triple sense, the literal, tropological and allegorical. But later the fourfold sense occurs frequently, too! Cassianus, at the beginning of the fifth century, has an historical, tropological, allegorical, and anagogic interpreta- tion, which terms are again used by Bonaventura. Ihe quadruple sense with the same names and the same con- ception as in the "Convivio" we find, among others, in a parable of Anselm, and in the - Summa " of Thomas Aquinas, who was probably, as usual, Dante's direct source 1 he allegorical interpretation of poetry and of classical mythology, on the other hand, was no less old, nay, even older It began with the Greek philosophers, especially with the Stoics, who made the national faith acceptable to themselves by thus seeking for moral and physical truths in the fables : in this way they interpreted Homer's and Hesiod's poems. In the later Roman period this mode of interpretation was applied to Virgil by Macrobius, and still more by Fulgentms : the "/Eneid" was held to contain the representation ot the phases of man's development in the various periods of his life That Virgil and the poetry of the ancients, as a whole, concealed philosophical truths beneath the cloak of fable was the general conviction of the Middle Ages and was very frequently expressed. This conception of ancient myth and poetry, which of course destroyed their real spirit, made DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 245 it possible for the devout Christian to occupy himself with heathen literature, and contributed in no small degree towards keeping alive the study of it throughout the Middle Ages. The allegorical explanation of the Bible, to which people were accustomed, made that other conception appear all the more natural. It is doubtful, however, whether any- one before Dante had transferred this entire biblical system of interpretation, with its manifold sense, to poetry, and it is certain that Dante was the first to apply it so consistently and with such distinction to Romance poetry. This was connected with the higher dignity to which the latter now attained. The vulgar poetry, in striving to rival that com- posed in Latin, was compelled to develop from the simple, unconscious pieces which had been sung by the people and courtly love poets, into that more serious class of piece which was represented by the Latin poetry. It became a science (as the Middle Ages always designated things poeti- cal ^), supplied the truth beneath the veil of an image, like the Bible and Latin poetry, and accordingly required the same method of interpretation. The first and the second sense, says Dante, must always be defined, while the third and fourth are only touched on from time to time. The first, the literal, sense must be fully expounded, before the revelation of the second, the allegorical, sense can be proceeded with. And this is the course he adopts in interpreting his canzoni. The new mistress of whom the poems speak and for whom Beatrice had to make way, is no other than Philosophy, " the most fair and honourable daughter of the Emperor of the uni- verse, to whom Pythagoras gave this name" ("Conv."ii. i6). A personification of philosophy appeared in Boethius and in his medieval imitators, Henricus Septimellensis and Bono Giamboni ; they represented her as an august and venerable matron. But with Dante she is not merely the guide and teacher : she has been introduced into the love-poetry and has therefore become his mistress. The lady who, ever since Guinicelli, was the representative, the symbol of an idea, has now herself to yield to a personified idea, as in the '* Intelli- genzia " and with Francesco da Barberino. The beautiful eyes ^ "And he says that he was a poet, that is, one skilled in the science of poetry." "Ottimo Commento," Inf. i. 67, 246 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE of the poet's mistressare now "the demonstrations that, directed to the eyes of the intellect, fill the soul with love " (" Conv." ii. 16); her smile stands for "the persuasions, in which the light of wisdom shows itself under a veil" (iii. 15); the ** anguish of sighs " means " the toil of study and the struggle of doubt " (ii. 16) ; "a spirit of love " {uno spiritel d* amore) is a thought that springs from study ; the hour in which one falls in love is that of the first demonstration ; love in general is study. However, as has been noted already, science, too, pos- sesses for Dante poetical elements. Love is to signify study, but study itself is for him in reality love, a sacred fervour. Study, as he says (ii. 1 6), is " the occupation of the mind enamoured of the object with that object." In his scientific researches his feelings are mingled : study and love always appear united, and this may still be found in the famous verse of the " Commedia," Vaigami U iungo studio e'l grande amore. This enthusiasm for the subject penetrates and in- spires the allegorical canzoni, too. To this must be added another peculiarity, which makes these poems, in a measure, the real precursors of the '* Commedia," namely, the inde- pendent development of the image, which, as an allegory, is, properly speaking, intended only to point to something else, whereas it here acquires an independent importance of its own, so that we may content ourselves with the shell, with- out paying any heed to the kernel. For this reason Dante makes his canzone " Voi che intendendo " say to those who are unable to penetrate more deeply into its hidden meaning, that they should at least note how beautiful it is : Ponete mente almen com' io son bella. In the great writers of antiquity he was accustomed to the palpable form of that which he regarded only as the shell, and this satisfied his instinct as an artist, who is not satisfied with mere phantoms. He went so far in this direc- tion, that when these canzoni became known, many thought that they were addressed to a real mistress, and one of his objects in writing the " Convivio " was to free himself from this suspicion. By the side of the canzone on the vision of Beatrice's death, the most perfect of Dante's first period of lyrical DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 247 poetry, may be set another scarcely less beautiful one belonging to this second manner— the one beginning "Tre donne intorno al cor mi son venute." These three allegorical women represent justice in its various manifestations, as natural disposition {Dirittura), as universal human law, and as pohtical law. Despised and misused by mankind, they have fled for refuge to the heart of the poet ; for in this heart dwells Amore. He speaks to the three women, ex- horting them not to weep and mourn. That may be left to mankind, that suffer by the treatment accorded to justice, while they themselves remain untouched in their eternal heights; and the poet, whowas then already an exiled wanderer, rises proudly on learning with whom he shares his fate : L' esilio che m' e dato onor mi tegno, E se giudizio, o forza di destine Vuol pur che il mondo versi I bianchi fiori in persi, Cader tra' buoni e pur di lode degno.* But the feelings are mingled, according as they were struggling in the exile's heart. In spite of the loftiness and dignity, with which he sets himself against his persecutors, in the consciousness of having right and virtue on his side, yet the close is sorrowful. The longing for his country con- sumes him with pain. If he has done wrong, his fault is expiated by his sufferings and his penance : Onde s' io ebbi colpa, Piu lune ha volto il sol, poi che fu spenta, Se colpa muore, pur che 1' uom si penta.^ It is this strong personal colouring that makes the poem so effective. In the description of the first of the three personifications we find this wonderful picture of the lament- ing woman : ^ The exile that is inflicted on me I consider an honour; and if judgment or force of destiny wishes, indeed, that the world should change white flowers into dark ones, still, to fall together with good folk is worthy of praise. (The word buoni of course refers to the three women, which fact, curiously enough, escaped Witte and Giuliani.) '^ And if I was guilty of a fault, many months have passed since it was cleansed, if a fault dies as soon as the man repents. \ '***— ^■■-*-^— ^^ '-'^■'' ■L^^^.iigj'.-Ajij-.J.Mai.VKJlfc. 248 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE Dolesi V una con parole molto, E 'n sulla man si posa Come succisa rosa ; II nudo braccio, di dolor colonna, Sente lo raggio, che cade dal volto ; L' altra man tien ascosa La faccia lagrimosa Discinta e scalza e sol di se par donna.* "The bare arm, the column of grief," the bent head like the " broken rose," such living plastic images, that blossom forth from the midst of the allegorical moralisation, reveal to us the poet of the " Commedia," as we know him in his loftiest mood. The canzone " lo sento si d' amor la gran possanza " must also, in all probability, be taken allegorically, as, indeed, is generally done. This theory is supported by its double ending — the one of a general moral import, the other addressed to a definite person, — by the stress laid on the excellence of the canzone, and by the solemn and exalted tone of this beautiful poem. Specially effective is the first verse, which occurs again, in a similar form, in the " Purgatorio " ; this beauty of the opening verses, in which the mood of the entire poem is, as it were, condensed, is a peculiarity of many of Dante's poems, which was noted by Leonardo Aretino already. Undoubtedly others of Dante's canzoni are likewise allegorical, but we are unable to detect them, any more than we would have recognised the " Amor che nella mente mi ragiona " as such a poem, if the author had not writtten a commentary on it. All the theories that have been set up are uncertain. On the other hand, we know from a statement of the poet himself ("Conv." iii. 9) that the ballad "Voi che sapete ragionar d* amore" is to be taken allegorically. It is a lament on the cruelty of the beloved, of no distinction in itself, but interest- ing in so far as it expresses its philosophical theme in the popular form of the dance-poem, which was originally in- tended only for the lightest subjects. This alienation of ' The one laments much with words, and rests herself on her hand like a broken rose ; the bare arm, the column of grief, feels the ray (of tears) that falls from her countenance ; the other hand holds concealed the tear-stained face ; ungirt and unshod she appears entirely lost in herself. DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 249 the genre from its original character had as a matter of fact been accomplished by Guido Cavalcanti already. Dante's allegorical lyric poetry aims at extolling philo- sophy ; but m the cases where it is a question of a moralisa- tion with a specific practical object, and where the reader is intended to derive benefit from the piece, the canzone lays aside Its beautiful form and again becomes a dry didactic poem. The truth that was to have a direct influence on the corrupted morals of mankind could not be concealed beneath an image, under which it would be recognised only with difficulty. -It was not good to speak under any tigure ; but it was fitting to dispense this medicine in a direct manner, so that the health might be restored in the most direct and rapid manner, which being ruined caused people to hurry to so hideous a death." These are the words employed by Dante in the "Convivio" (iv. i) with reference to one of these canzoni, the one concerning nobility (/^ M?di'Ud)—''Le dolci rime d' amor ch' io solia," which he is interpreting in that place. In addition to this we have two other poems of the kind, the canzone ^'Poscia ch' amor del tuttb m' ha lasciato," concerning Leggiadria, that is to say, courteous manners, and "Doglia mi reca nella core ardire," concern- ing avarice and generosity. In these poems, then, the method employed is strictly scientific, without poetical ornament. We find in them the elaborate confutation of the opposite opinion, the syllogisms in regular form iUdite come conchiudendo vado in Doglia mi reca, stanza 7), the ex- pressions of the language of the schools. In order to define virtue, Aristotle's " Ethics " are quoted in the verses (Le dolct rtme). Carducci rightly noted that this dryness and pedantry recall the manner of Guittone of Arezzo, from whom Dante distinguishes himself only by dint of the greater energy and conciseness of his language. This is decidedly a retrograde step compared with the manner of instructing by means of images employed by Guinicelli, from whom Dante had borrowed the idea of the canzone concerning nobihty, and whom he mentions with admiration in the commentary. But here again Guido Guinicelli had been in advance of his friend, with his canzone on love. And in one respect Dante's moralisations are even inferior to those of Guittone, inasmuch as their abstract development KMillMlfitHiIlt 250 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE prevents their moral purport being readily grasped by the reader. Who would be able to live according to these canons ? The scholastic philosophy is subtle : in order to express ordinary things, it adopts fine distinctions and far- fetched comparisons, whereby the doctrines lose in practical value and cannot be grasped by the ordinary intellect. However, Dante sets great store on these canzoni, in which he had made poetry teach virtue. Perhaps he valued them more highly even than all the others; at any rate, he regarded them as the most characteristic products of his muse, and quoted the canzone '* Doglia mi reca" in the book " De Eloquentia Vulgari " (ii. 2), in the passage where he called himself the singer of virtue (rectitudo). And this delight in subtly demonstrating abstract truths in verse is displayed again in a number of passages in the " Commedia," which the poet assuredly regarded as being among the most perfect in the work. The philosophical lyrical poetry of Dante was produced at considerable intervals of time. The canzone " Voi che intendendo" is probably one of the earliest, perhaps the very earliest of this period, for it still celebrates the beginnings of his new love, and its struggle with the memory of Beatrice. It was composed at the latest in 1295, as the young King Charies Martel of Hungary, who died in that year, shows that he is acquainted with it, in the passage of the **Paradiso" (viii. 32), where Dante introduces him. The second canzone of the " Convivio," "Amor che nella mente mi ragiona," was at any rate composed some time before 1 300 ; for the celebrated composer Casella sings it in the *' Purgatorio." On the other hand, the poem " Tre Donne " refers to the exile of the poet. The three canzoni on rectitudo appear to be closely connected with one another and to have been composed one after the other ; the two dealing with Nobiltci and Leggiadria^ especially, show the greatest similarity. The one was, as we have seen, written at the period of metaphysical doubt ; accordingly, one is in- dined to place it somewhere prior to 1300, which is the date, even though it be only the fictitious date, of the vision and the great conversion. Like the commentary of the "Vita Nuova," so, too, that of the "Convivio" was worked out subsequently to the composition of the poems, in this DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 251 case, indeed, considerably later. The author speaks, at the begmnmg of the book, of his wanderings far and wide, m want and misery; consequently several' years of his exile must have elapsed. The noble Gherardo da Cammino, captam of Treviso, is mentioned (iv. 14) as being dead, and he died on March 26, 1306. On the other hand, King Charles II. of Naples, who died on May 5, 1309, is alluded to (iv. 6) as living. And so the " Convivio " falls somewhere between the years 1306 and 1309, according to Witte's assumption, in the winter of 1308-9, this theory being sup- ported by the gentler and more conciliatory nature of his feelings towards his native city, and by the general tone of resignation apparent in the book, which would be due to the fact that these months were for the exiles a period of utter hopelessness. The "Convivio" was to explain fourteen canzoni, but only four treatises, that is, the introduction and the com- mentaries to three of the poems, were actually written In all probability the expedition of Henry VII. interrupted the work, while the author's occupation with the "Commedia" prevented him from taking it up again. People have asked themselves which might be the canzoni that Dante intended to treat later, and whether we still possess them among those of his that have come down to us. As a matter of fact, two of the latter may be assigned their place in the unwritten part of the book with a considerable degree of certainty. The fourteenth treatise was (according to i. 12, line 87,' and iv. 27, line loi) to treat of Giustizia, and there'the reason was to be given why the form of the allegory was invented by the wise (u. I, line 34) ; this evidently refers to the canzone " Tre Donne," in which Justice is personified by the three women, and which, with its mysterious images, afforded special oppor- tunities for discoursing on the purpose of allegory. The last or fifteenth treatise was to show that generosity had no worth if unwillingly lavished (i. end of chap. 8), and that the virtues appear to us at times less admirable, owing to vanity and pride (ill. 15, line 142). This fits the canzone " Doglia mi reca," the sixth stanza of which, especially, corresponds exactly to the former of these specifications. The seventh treatise would ^ The lines are quoted according to the Oxford Dante. f| g2^id^jjgM!|hdaUiftfeBa 252 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE (according to iv. 26) have treated of Temperanza, and dis- cussed Dido and yEneas ; we do not, however, possess a poem corresponding to these particulars. When Dante, at the beginning of his philosophical work, is expounding its purpose, he says that, in the canzoni which he had composed for the benefit of his fellow-men, many had, owing to their obscurity, admired their beauty rather than their goodness, that is to say, their importance from the philosophical and ethical point of view. This point of view he now wished to make clear to all : for the man who possesses knowledge is in duty bound to com- municate it to others. It is true, he modestly adds, that he is not one of the " privileged few who sit at that table, where the bread of the angels is eaten, . . . but, having fled from the pasture-ground of the great mass, I cull, at the feet of those who sit there, of that which falls from them." And, continuing the same image, he calls his work the Banquet, at which the canzoni are dished up as food, and the com- mentary as the bread which makes the rest palatable and digestible. The object was the same, then, as we find with Brunetto Latini and others, namely, a popular one— the diffusion of knowledge, save that in Dante's case the subject treated was a far loftier one.' He writes, so he says, not for the so-called men of letters : for they profane literature, and change her from a noble lady into a common harlot, by making profit out of her. He writes for those that possess ''goodness of mind," namely, princes, barons, knights, and many other nobles of the kind, not alone men, but also women (i. 9). This explanation is of importance, and he himself is fully aware of its significance, when he exclaims at the end of the first treatise : " This will be the barley-bread, with which thousands will satiate themselves, and yet my baskets will continue to overflow with it. This will be a new light, a new sun, that will rise where the old one sets, and will give light to those who are in shadow and in dark- ness, because of the old sun that gives them no light." And this popular intention was the main reason for a further innovation. He wrote his scientific treatises in the * Popular, as opposed to the schools, but nevertheless aristocratic ; for Dante always maintained an unfriendly demeanour towards the great mass of the people. DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 253 knfih?:f H Tl' '""/^^ f-^'^^ tongue, (because those noble knights and ladies for whom they were destined would not have understood the Latin. It is true that before Dante^s D^seH ?n T? '^^^'"""'1^ ^^"^"^y^ Je^^^ed works had been com- hTm i //^V'' ^''' '"'^^"*^^' Ristoro's "Composizione tLf^^^f' ^^"/ ^"' "^"^y ^^ '^^'^ ^"^i"g^ had been is ^he ' r """^ '•^'„^"'/"\ ^^^^^^^' f^^ ^^ i^^Po" tant a work as he Convivio," which treated of metaphysics, practical philosophy, and natural science, according \o the^reS scholastic method of the great schoolmen, no one hadTen- appeared to Dante as an innovation he shows most clearly by feeling himself called upon, in nine chapters, that is, almost the entire first treatise, to justify himself for offering so noble a dish with barley-bread (that is, with an Italian commentary) and not with bread made of wheat (Latin) And this IS the beginning of an enthusiastic and, after his manner, passionate defence of the Italian language He owes It the duties of love and gratitude, as being MsVriend and benefactor, as being his natural tongue, that of his parents, the one in which he has composed his poetry the one that opened to him the road to knowledge. Hence he will make manifest its excellence, concealed hitherto- for now that It goes its way without borrowed ornaments of rhyme and rhythm, and expresses lofty and new ideas almost as well as the Latin, it will display in its entirety the strength and beauty it possesses. And those that despise the mother tongue, who prefer to it foreign idioms, and especially the Provengal, he calls "the abominable wretches of Italy, who regard this precious volgare as vile, whereas, if it is vile at miu^^^ftesS^^^^^^^^ ^^ '' ^^""'^ ^" "^^ P---^^^ What Dante did in order to acquire for the Italian tongue a position superior to the Latin, with which it was struRoling for literary priority, is one of his finest and most brilliant achievements. How true his instinct was in this may be seen from the example of Petrarca, who, coming later, gave the preference again to the Latin, and of whom nothing has survived save what was written in Italian. For the matter of that, Dante himself only gradually shook off the prejudice of his age m favour of Latin, nor did he ever free himself from 254 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE it entirely. The " Vita Nuova " was apparently, according to the statement in cap. 31, written in Italian at the instiga- tion of Guido Cavalcanti, to whom the book is dedicated ; but in cap. 25 we still find the opinion expressed, that only love-matters should be treated in the volgare^ that being done solely in order that women might understand them. In the " Convivio " more nobility is granted to the Latin, because it is "permanent and incorruptible" (while the volgare is " not stable and corruptible "), because it is more beautiful, because it follows art (and the volgare only custom), and be- cause it is always able to express things for which the volgare does not suffice. One of the reasons given for the employ- ment of allegory in the first canzone is that no poem in the volgare appeared worthy to extol philosophy, unless some veil were used. Nevertheless, Dante already at that time com- posed his canzoni on virtue in Italian ; he writes on the high- est questions of philosophy in the volgare^ which he defends and extols in words that come from the heart. The de- velopment of his ideas was, therefore, notable. The little book " De Eloquentia Vulgari " adopts practically the same standpoint ; in addition to love, arms and virtue are de- signated as proper subjects for treatment in the Italian lan- guage. The volgare is here called more noble even than Latin, in direct contradiction to the " Convivio." At the same time, as D'Ovidio rightly remarked, so vague an ex- pression as nobile must not be interpreted in too pedantic a spirit : according to the author's particular object or point of view, his opinion might lean one way or the other. The Latin poets, called magni et regulares, are, in this treatise, still invariably distinguished from those that write in the volgare^ because the former proceed according to art, the latter according to chance. That Dante composed this very book on the Italian language in Latin may be due to the fact that in it he addressed those that despised the volgare, who only read Latin works, and to whom he had, therefore, to speak in this language, so as to be able to : refute their opinions. This book, too, belongs to the period of exile, to which it contains an allusion (i. 6). The " Convivio " mentions it only as a projected work (i. 5) : " This will be treated more fully in another place, in a book which, with God's help, I mean to write concerning the vulgar speech." DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 25$ The treatise, however, contains an historical allusion (i. 12) which assigns it a date prior to the year 1305, namely, the mention of John of Montferrat (who died in January, 1305) as a living man. And so the words in the " Convivio " prob- ably mean that the book, as such, did not exist, that is to say, it was not yet completed and published, which does not exclude the possibility of its having being partially finished. That is the explanation of D'Ovidio and FraticellL But this work of Dante's also remained unfinished, the reason being unknown. It was intended to comprise at least four books, as the fourth is several times referred to in advance (ii. 4, 8), but it breaks off in the middle of the fourteenth chapter of the second book. The original title is " De Eloquentia Vulgari,;* this being Dante's own designa- tion in the text of the treatise itself (at the beginning and end of i. i) and in the "Convivio." Later it was called " De Vulgari Eloquio," by Giovanni Villani, for example. But this did not show any misunderstanding of the author's plan ; for Dante really intended to treat of the vulgar tongue, and not merely of the poetic style, as has often been assumed. Only the fact of the non-completion of the work might pro- duce the impression that it was meant to be nothing more than a Poetica ; but the author says expressly at the begin- ning that the eloquentia vulgaris was necessary for all, and that not only men, but women and children also strove to attain it, and at the end of the first book he says that he proposes treating the other vulgaria after the vu/garet7/usfre, descend- ing down to the speech that is proper to one family only. Accordingly, the precepts concerning poetic style and form constituted only a subdivision of the entire work, and Dante's eloquentia stands for language, or at the outside for eloquence in general.* Following the custom of his time, Dante begins with the origin of language itself, and answers the questions why it was given to man and to man alone, and not to the angels and animals ; he also discusses which was the language of Adam, and decides in favour of Hebrew. Then he comes to speak ' In the same way Pietro Allighieri, in the " Commentarium," edited by Nannucci, p. 84, employs eloquentia in the sense of " speech " : ** Rhadamanthus vero iudicat de eloquentia^ utram sit vera, ficta vel otiosa ; unde * Rhadamanthus,' id est * iudicans verba.' " liiiiiiiiiiMiiMiiiiiwaii 256 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE of the confusion of Babel and of the origin of the various languages and families of languages, of which he distinguishes three in Europe. One of them is that of the Romance idioms, the common basis and original unity of which he therefore recognises, though he does not explain it correctly. According to Dante there are three Romance languages, too, which he distinguishes in the manner that has become so usual, according to their affirmative particle, into the lan- guages of ocj oil, and st. Are we to assume that Spanish and Portuguese were really unknown to him, or was it again his predilection for the symbolical number three asserting itself ? He puts the Hispani down as representatives of the lingua d^oCy whereas, of course, only their two north-eastern provinces belong to this domain. The separate languages are again subdivided ; people speak differently in the various districts, in the various towns, at times even in the various quarters of the same town. The cause of this is, as Dante thought, the change to which all human thmgs are subjected, and which is, in the case of language, effected variously in the various localities. And so men no longer understand one another, and no longer understand what their ancestors spoke, and the need arises for a universal language, un- influenced by remoteness of time or place. As such a language the Grammatica, that is, Latin, was invented, which is unchangeable because it "was regulated by the agreement of many nations " (i. 9). And so, according to Dante's opinion, the Romance languages do not derive from the Latin ; on the contrary, the Latin is a later invention, an artificial product, as opposed to those products of nature. The vulgar tongue is very old ; it is the natural speech of man, which he learns without rules from those around him, when he first begins to form words; grammar, the Latin language, is acquired by dint of study, and only by a few. Further on, Dante asks himself which of the three Ro- mance languages should be awarded the precedence. He does not come to a decision, as each of them can boast of its special Hterary productions ; two points, however, appear to decide him in favour of the Italian, namely, its closer re- semblance to the language of grammar (Latin) common to them all, and its employment as the organ of the most perfect lyrical poetry, that of the dolce stil nuovo. But Italy I , V m DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 257 possesses several different vu/gan'a, many dialects, of which the author distinguishes fourteen principal ones, divided into two great classes, east and west of the chain of the Apennines Now, which of these is the noble Italian vu/gare, which he compared with the other Romance languages, to which he even awarded a certain precedence? Dante goes through the dialects one by one, quotes from each some words by way of specimen, and comparing them with the literary type that he has m mmd, he rejects them all, with his im- patient and passionate temperament, and inveighs against nearly all of them with bitter words, even against the Tuscan ; the Tuscans, indeed, come in for special abuse, since they maintain that they possess the noble language, whereas thev write and speak more faultily than the rest. But, neverthe- less in the course of his researches, he found traces of that higher vu/^are in the most various districts, in Sicily, Apulia Tuscany Bologna, in isolated instances also in Romagna' Lombardy and Venetia, namely, in the court poets who rejected the particular idiom of their province, and every- where employed the same expressions. This is Dante's famous doctrine of a national language, that was to be common to every district of the country, not identical with any one of the dialects, and superior to them all. Nowadays we also say that no dialects correspond exactly to the literary anguage ; but at the same time, we recognise that the rela- tion in which the latter stands to the single dialects is very yanous that this literary language is based on one of these dialects, from which it arose by merely eliminating certam elements, whereas it is distinguished from the others by Its phonetics and forms. As D'Ovidio noted, Dante was not yet able to draw this distinction, the distinction between language and style ; he denominated both of them as /in^ua and did not recognise that the literary language he employed Tf 'l^Tu^!''''^ t^ '^^'"^"' ^^ ^P^^^ «^ the divergencies detected by him. Nor could he realise this fact, seeing that according to his convictions, the literary language, as the higher and the more excellent, must also be the earliest in point of time, and the dialects a corruption of this pure type whose existence he demonstrates d prion by means of a scholastic deduction. In all classes of things, he says there is a simple fundamental standard by which they are measured I. c ' I' f 258 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE i as, for numbers— one, for colours— white, for human actions virtue, and so on. In the same way, the fundamental standard for the vulgaria is this language common to all of them. Just as there is a vulgare of Cremona, so there is one of the whole of Lombardy, further, one of the entire left portion of Italy, and, finally, one of the whole of Italy ; and, just as the first is the Cremonese, the second the Lombard, and the third a Semilatium (1. Semilatinum ?), so we call the fourth the Latinum vulgare, the Italian. For us this uni- versal fundamental type is merely an abstraction, which has no existence save in the particular case. But for Dante the universals possess reality, and accordingly there is no need for him to ask how this type is obtained, and whence the universal language derives, in which the best poets of every province wrote. After obtaining his universal language in this manner, Dante extols it with enthusiastic epithets. It is the vulgare illustre, cardinale, aulicum, curiale, that is to say, the noble and perfect language of poetry, the source of fame and honour, and the court language, that of cultured society. It is true that there is no court in Italy at which it is employed, but there are the members of an ideal court, that is to say, the most distinguished men of the nation, and especially the leading poets, who thus feel themselves united by the bond of an intellectual companionship in the same way as else- where courts are bound together through the efforts of the prince. But this vulgare illustre must not be employed in- discriminately for every kind of literary production. Dante distinguishes three species of style— the tragic, comic, and elegiac — which terms must be taken not in the classical, but in the widely different medieval sense, as a distinction based on the greater or lesser degree of sublimity and solemnity contained in the poem. The vulgare illustre is adapted only to tragic subjects and to the highest styles, to which belongs the canzone, that loftiest and most solemn form of poetry, while the ballad and sonnet stand lower and adopt the vulgare mediocre. And so Dante's vulgare illustre, from a literary point of view, consists of nothing but the canzone, and we can understand how it is that, in certain sonnets of the correspondence type, and especially in the " Commedia," he could be more free in the use of idiomatic forms, nay, DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 259 even employ words which he had specially blamed in the treatise, but only with reference to the noblest type of the vulgare illustre. In the remaining chapters of the second book (ii. c, soo ) the author deals with the stylistic and metrical peculiarities of the canzone. The severe and, in reality, somewhat ex- clusive nature of his selection, in the matter of word con- struction, reveals to us the inflexible taste of an aristocratic torm of art. But the instructions are here inadequate, and those who had not mastered the subject before, could have learnt but little from them. More interesting, and very im- portant for our knowledge of the old metrical laws, are the data concerning the structure of the poem, the verse, the stanza and its divisions, and the terminology of the time The unwritten portion of the book was to treat the sonnet and the ballad. Dante's work contains a number of errors. Although his fundamental idea rises above the general prejudice, yet he cannot free himself from it in all its details, and although he sets himself the solution of an important problem, yet he does not really succeed in solving it ; for his method could not fail to be shackled by the errors that belonged to the teaching of his time. But it is just this fundamental idea that reveals to us the boldness of his mind. He was the first among his countrymen to put a conscious theory in the place of the irregular use of the volgare ; his little book con- tains the first scientific treatment of the Italian language and It IS at the same time the first example of a regular Ars poettca for any vulgar tongue, after the manner of those that had previously been compiled for Latin only. And thus owing to Dante's original intellect, Italian poetry, that began latest among the Romance languages, first and almost at its commencement came to be combined with reflection and with the theory of art. For some time after Beatrice's death the restless zeal for learning and research obscured in Dante's mind that which had hitherto been his only ideal, the dominating thought of his soul. And there were other influences that helped to deaden the memory of his departed mistress Towards the end of the "Vita Nuova," Dante narrates how once, when deeply immersed in mournful thoughts, he 1 . fl i 260 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE noticed a beautiful lady at a window, who regarded him with looks full of compassion, and how, seeing her again and again, he gradually took such pleasure in the sight of her, that he was in danger of forgetting his pain at the loss of his loved one, and how this brought about a violent struggle in his soul, which, however, after a vision, ended with the victory of Beatrice. Dante himself subsequently identified this con- soling lady, this donna pietosa^ or donna gentile^ as he usually calls her, with Madonna la Fiiosojia, the mistress of the allegorical canzoni and of the " Convivio." There can be no doubt as to her having originally existed in the flesh. But we must not blame the poet for this little deception he permitted himself; seeing that his feelings for the donna gentile, which, in his exalted mood, appeared to him at first so culpable, were in reality very innocent and transitory, and that he could not fail to recognise them as such later on. Essentially different is another love of Dante's, which has found expression in several of his poems. These are four canzoni, the connection between which has been recognised from the fact that they all play with the word Pietra, or at any rate allude to it in a significant manner. The character the four poems have in common, and which distinguishes them from the allegorical pieces and those on the death of Beatrice, is their rough and realistic tone. The canzone, "Cosi nel mio parlar voglio esser aspro," is full of glowing sensuality, while the language is rough, unconventional, and energetic, and therefore imbued with original strength and poetry. Rejected by the woman he loves, the poet feigns the possibility of her being, at some future time, filled with the same anguish as himself, and he revels in this thought, imagining how he would then seize her fair tresses, that are now his scourge, and look straight into her eyes, and take revenge, slaking his amorous thirst. The description of his agony, the image of the terrible Amore, who has thrown him to the ground and lets his blows rain on him, are moving in their passionate strength. One of the most beautiful pro- ductions of Dante's entire muse is the canzone, " lo son venuto al punto della rota." In powerful, plastic images and expressions is depicted winter-time, its numbing and de- structive influence on the outer world, and then, by way of contrast, the poet's soul all aflame with love. The theme DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 261 was a favourite one with the troubadours, but never had this contrast between nature and inner feeling been developed with such consummate art. Each stanza opens with a description of the landscape, and closes with the melancholy thoughts of the poet's unhappy passion. Specially effective IS the fifth stanza : Versan le vene le fumifere aque Per li vapor, che la terra ha nel ventre, Che d' abisso gli tira suso in alto ; Onde r cammino al bel giorno mi piacque, Che ora e fatto rivo, e sara, mentre Che durera del verno il grande assalto. La terra fa un suol che par di smalto, E I'acqua morta si converte in vetro Per la freddura, che di fuor la serra. Ed io della mia guerra Non son pero tomato un passo arretro, Ne vo' tornar ; che se '1 martiro e dolce. La morte de' passare ogni altro dolce. ^ ^ The poem, " Al poco giorno ed al gran cerchio d'ombra," IS closely connected with the preceding one, the thoughts of which it recapitulates in the first stanza. Towards the close the poet expresses the wish, that has been so often mis- understood by the commentators, to meet his beloved in a solitary place, on a meadow clad with verdure, surrounded by high hills, and she herself as full of love as ever a woman was ; but before that takes place, the rivers will rise to the top of the hills. This poem is a sestina, that is to say, it is written in the artificial form invented by Arnaut Daniel, which was rarely imitated in Provencal, and first introduced into Italian poetry by Dante. It was not a fortunate acqui- sition, as was proved more fully still by subsequent efforts. The return of the six identical closing words throughout six stanzas and a refrain of three verses, and each time in a The veins pour forth smoky waters, by reason of the vapours that the earth has in its belly, that draws them forth from the depth of the abyss ; there where the way pleased me, in the lovely daylight, that has now become a river, and will be one as long as the violent assault of wmter shall last. The ground forms a soil that appears to be of stone, and the dead water turns to glass, through the cold that locks it in from without. And I from my war have not turned one step back- wards, and do not wish to turn j for if the torture is sweet, death must surpass all other sweetness. ^ % 262 HISTORY OF EARLY ITALIAN LITERATURE different order which was strictly prescribed (changing in pairs, from verse 6 to i, 5 to 2, 4 to 3 : l.abcdef. \\. f a e b d c. III. cfd a b e, etc.) hampers the train of thought in an unendurable fashion, without supplying the ear with an adequate recompense. And it is strange to remark how Dante assigns a more pro- minent part to artificiality of form and to playing with words just in the cases where his poetry is realistic in character. In the canzone " lo son venuto," we find this only in a small degree, nor does it produce an unpleasant effect in this poem; the repetition of the rhyme-word in the two final verses of each stanza {rima equivocd) makes us feel as it were the repeated pulsation of the same thought that torments the poet. However, in the canzone, " Amor tu vedi che questa donna," the subject-matter is entirely lost in the artificiality of the form. What Dante invented here was something entirely new, as he himself proudly points out in the refrain, and the allusion to this discovery in the " De Vulg. EL," ii. 13, where he calls it novum aliquod atque in- tentatum artis, shows how highly he valued it. Here the same final words are not merely repeated in the body of the stanza (the usual rime equivoche), but they return in each stanza in such a way that the last final word of the one stanza occupies in the following stanza the position of the first, and each of the others the position of that word which followed it in the first stanza : I. abaacaaddaee, II. eaeebeeccedd, III. deddaddbbdcc. And so on for five stanzas, so that finally b stands at the beginning and a at the end, followed by a refrain : aeddcb. This is called a double sestina, though not quite correctly, if only for the reason that there are no more than five closing words, and that the order observed is quite different to that of the sestina ; however, this complicated arrangement is probably a development of the latter form. We may con- demn this trifling in itself, but cannot but admire Dante's consummate mastery of expression, which enables him to overcome these difficulties, and to express his thoughts with DANTE'S LIFE AND MINOR WORKS 263 sufficient clearness, whereas the far simpler rime equivoche of his predecessors were for the most part quite unintelligible. Who was this Pietra^ whose real or imaginary name is juggled with in these four poems ? An assertion made in the sixteenth century by Anton Maria Amadi to the effect that she was identical with one Pietra degli Scrovegni of Padua, has been rejected by Carducci and proved by Vitt. Imbriani to be a frivolous invention. The more modern theories con- cerning this personality are no more convincing, and we must make up our minds to say of this, as of so many other in- cidents in Dante's life, that we know nothing about it. Carducci and Imbriani are undoubtedly correct in placing the poems before the period of exile, that is to say, in the nineties ; such passionate words can come only from a young man. Equally certain is it that this was a sensual love : if we read the canzone, " Cosi nel mio parlar," especially, it is impossible to think of philosophy, still less of Beatrice or of some other spiritual passion. Sensuality asserted itself against the mystic exaltation and the religious cult of the feminine ideal. Just in the poet, with the warmth of his imagination and temperament, the earthly qualities, too, are wont to play an important part. And this is a general trait with the poets of the dolce stil nuovo. They had spiritualised their feelings, and connected them with all that is highest; but this pure worship of woman could not fail to be accompanied by grosser passions. Guido Guinicelli, the originator of this love cult, is met by Dante in the seventh circle of Purgatory, where atonement is made for the lust of the flesh (Jiixuria). Dante himself participates in the penitential torments of the souls in this circle alone, among all those of the mountain ; before he can attain to the Earthly Paradise, he must pass through the purifying fire, and feels its heat so keenly, that he had fain thrown himself into molten glass, in order to cool himself. In the " Inferno," he feels, as has been noted, the deepest compassion for those who have been condemned owing to sins of love, such as Francesca and Paolo. That Guido Cavalcanti was not free from earthly passions is proved by several of his songs. This was the folk amore, which was set against virtuous love already by the ProvenQal and Old French poets. It might temporarily disturb the pure, spiritual y <