Dante Alighieri (34 page)

    
From these figures it appears that during the last century and a quarter the
Commedia
has been translated into English on an average once in about every five years. If the independent translations of the several divisions of the poem be included in the reckoning, it will be found that an English translation of one or other of the three
cantiche
has been produced on an average once in about every sixteen months of the same period.

    
Next after the Ugolino episode, from the thirty-third canto of the
Inferno
, of which there are altogether more than seventy English versions, the two most popular passages of the
Commedia
with English translators have been the episode of Francesca da Rimini, from the fifth canto of the
Inferno
, and the first two
terzine
of the eighth canto of the
Purgatorio
. Of the Francesca da Rimini episode there are twenty-three separate versions independent of translations of the
Inferno
, of which only one belongs to the eighteenth century, as against seven of the Ugolino. The most famous version is that by Lord Byron, in “third rhyme,” to use his own term, which was composed in 1820, but not published until ten years later. Of the first six lines of the eighth canto of the
Purgatorio
, the last line of
which is famous in English literature as having inspired the first line of Gray's
Elegy
, there are sixteen independent translations. Among these are versions by Peacock in
Headlong Hall
(1816); by Byron in the third canto of
Don Juan
(1821); and by Samuel Rogers in his
Italy
(1830).

    
This record
³¹
constitutes a remarkable tribute on the part of the English-speaking
³²
races to the transcendent genius of Dante. Not as yet, it seems, need Dante fear

as he expressed it to the spirit of his ancestor Cacciaguida six hundred years ago.

    
Commentaries on the
Commedia
began to make their appearance in Italy at a very early date. Four at least, on the
Inferno
, were written within three or four years of Dante's death; viz. one, in Latin, by Graziolo de' Bam-baglioli (d. before 1343), Chancellor of Bologna, composed in 1324 (published in 1892 by Antonio Fiammazzo),
³⁴
of which an Italian translation (published in 1848 by Lord Vernon)
³⁴
was made in the fourteenth century
³⁵
; one, in Italian, by Dante's son, Jacopo (d. before 1349), written
before 1325 (published by Lord Vernon in 1848),
³⁶
which is considered by some to be earlier than that of Graziolo
³⁷
; one, in Latin, by Guido da Pisa, written probably about 1324 (as yet unpublished)
³⁸
, of which a fourteenth century Italian translation exists (also unpublished)
³⁹
; and one, in Italian, by an anonymous author, probably a native of Siena, written between 1321 and 1337 (published in 1865 by Francesco Selmi).
⁴⁰
The first commentary on the whole of the
Commedia
was written in Italian between 1323 and 1328 by Jacopo della Lana (d. after 1358), of Bologna; this was first printed in the edition of the
Commedia
published at Venice by Vendelin da Spira in 1477, in which, however, it was erroneously attributed to Benvenuto da Imola; it was printed a second time in the following year in the edition of the
Commedia
published by Nidobeato at Milan; and was reprinted at Milan in 1865, and at Bologna in 1866-7, by Luciano Scarabelli.
⁴¹
Lana's commentary, of which more than sixty MSS. are known, was twice translated into Latin in the fourteenth
century, the author of one of these versions being Alberico da Rosciate (d. 1354), a celebrated lawyer of Bergamo.
⁴²
Eight more commentaries belong to the fourteenth century ; viz. that known as the
Ottimo Comento
, written in Italian by Andrea Lancia (
c
. 1290–
c
. 1360), a Florentine notary, about 1334
⁴³
(published in 1827-9 by Alessandro Torri)
⁴⁴
; the Latin commentary of Dante's son, Pietro (d. 1364), written in 1340-1, which exists in two different forms,
⁴⁵
only one of which has been published (by Lord Vernon in 1845)
⁴⁴
; that written in Latin by an unknown monk of Monte Cassino not earlier than 1350 (published in 1865)
⁴⁴
; the unfinished commentary in Italian on the
Inferno
, comprising the first sixteen cantos and part of the seventeenth, written by Boccaccio (1313-1375) for the purpose of his public lectures on Dante in Florence between 1373 and 1375
⁴⁶
(first published in 1724 by Lorenzo Ciccarelli)
⁴⁴
; the Latin commentary (of which a fourteenth century Italian version exists in MS.)
⁴⁷
composed between 1373 and 1380 by Benvenuto da Imola (
c
. 1338-1390), part of which he delivered as public lecturer on Dante at Bologna in 1375
⁴⁸
(published in 1887 by William Warren Vernon, under the editorship of G. F. Lacaita)
⁴⁴
; the Italian commentary, formerly attributed to Boccaccio, composed in 1375 (published in 1846 by Lord Vernon)
⁴⁴
; that in Italian by Francesco da Buti (1324-1406), of which
the first draft appears to have been completed in 1385, and which was finally completed in 1395,
⁴⁹
composed for delivery as public lectures at Pisa (published in 1858-62 by Crescentino Giannini)
⁵⁰
; and the commentary in Italian, written at the end of the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth century
⁵¹
by an unknown Florentine (commonly referred to as “Anonimo Fiorentino”) (published in 1866-74 by Pietro Fanfani).
⁵⁰

    
To the beginning of the fifteenth century belongs the Latin commentary written by Giovanni dei Bertoldi (
c
. 1350-1445), commonly known as Giovanni da Serravalle, Bishop of Fermo, which was composed between February 1416 and January 1417. This commentary
⁵²
(published
at Prato in 1891)
⁵³
has a special interest for Englishmen as having been written (during the Council of Constance, 1414-1418) at the instigation of two English Bishops, Nicholas Bubwith, of Bath and Wells, and Robert Hallam, of Salisbury, by one who had himself been in England,
⁵⁴
and who made, for the first time, the explicit statement that Dante visited this country and studied at Oxford—
⁵⁵
a statement (unhappily not otherwise authenticated) prompted probably by a desire to please his English colleagues, one of whom, Hallam, had been Chancellor of the University of Oxford.
⁵⁶
Three other commentaries belong to this century, one, on the
Inferno
only, by Guiniforto delli Bargigi (1406-
c
. 1460), of Pavia, written about 1440 (published in 1838 by G. Zacheroni)
⁵⁷
; another, in Latin, by Stefano Talice da Ricaldone (d.
c
. 1520), written in 1474, and supposed at one time to have been delivered as lectures at Saluzzo,
⁵⁸
but now regarded as a more or less faithful transcription of Benvenuto da Imola's lectures at Bologna
⁵⁹
(privately printed, by order of the King of Italy, at Turin in 1886; published in 1888 at Milan under the editorship of V. Promis and C. Negroni)
⁵³
; and the third, in Italian, written in 1480 by Cristoforo Landino (1434-1504), of Florence, which first saw the light in the celebrated first Florentine edition of the
Commedia
(published in 1481),
⁶⁰
and has many times been reprinted.
⁶¹

    
In the sixteenth century the only commentaries of importance were those (in Italian), of Alessandro Vellutello (
c
. 1519–
c
. 1590), of Lucca, first published at Venice in 1544,
⁶²
and three times reprinted
⁶³
; of Giovan Battista Gelli (1498-1563), of Florence, whose lectures on the
Commedia
before the Florentine Academy (delivered at various times between 1541 and 1563) were successively printed at Florence in a series of issues between 1547 and I561,
⁶⁴
and have recently (1887) been collected and published by C. Negroni
⁶⁵
; and of Bernardino Daniello (d.
c
. 1560), of Lucca, whose commentary was printed at Venice in 1568,
⁶²
and has not been reprinted.

    
In the seventeenth century, during which only three editions of the
Commedia
were printed in Italy,
⁶⁶
as against some forty in the previous century, the interest in Dante was at its lowest ebb. It is not surprising, consequently, that during this period no commentaries on
the poem were produced. In the eighteenth century, however, when a marked reaction took place, two notable commentaries made their appearance which retained their popularity down to the middle of the next century. The earlier of these, by Pompeo Venturi (1693-1752), a Jesuit of Siena, was first published at Lucca in 1732, and was reprinted more than twenty times in the next hundred years (between 1739 and 1850).
⁶⁷
The other was the celebrated commentary of Lombardi, first published at Rome in 1791, with the title
La Divina Commedia di Dante Alighieri novamente correta spiegata e difesa da F.B. L. M. C
. (i.e. Francesco Baldassare Lombardi, Minor Conventuale), a voluminous work, which has been seven times reprinted in full,
⁶⁸
and four times in an abbreviated form.
⁶⁹
To the eighteenth century also belong the valuable indices to the
Commedia
, the first of their kind, compiled by Giovanni Antonio Volpi (1686-1766), of Padua, which were first published in the third volume of the edition of the poem issued at Padua in 1726-27,
⁷⁰
and have been many times reprinted.

    
In the nineteenth century commentaries on the
Commedia
began to abound. The best known of the earlier ones are, that of Niccolò Giosafatte Biagioli (1772-1830),
first published in Paris in 1818-19, and reprinted more than a dozen times between 1819 and 1868
⁷¹
; and the still more popular commentary of Paolo Costa, first published at Bologna in 1819-21, which has been reprinted more than thirty times.
⁷²
Others worthy of mention belonging to the first half of the century are the once famous “Comento analitico” of Gabriele Rossetti (1783-1854), projected in six volumes, but of which only the first two volumes (on the
Inferno
) were published (London, 1826-27) ;
⁷³
the commentary projected by Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827) in five volumes, of which only one, containing the
Discorso sul testo
, appeared in his lifetime (London, 1825), the remaining portion of the work so far as completed being published twenty years later (London, 1842-43) under the editorship of Mazzini; and that of Niccolò Tommaseo, first published at Venice in 1837, and several times reprinted.
⁷⁴
Of more recent Italian commentaries the following may be mentioned, all of which more or less hold their own at the present day; viz. those of Brunone Bianchi (Florence, 1854, 1857, 1863, etc.; tenth edition, 1890) (based on that of Costa, of which Bianchi had previously published several editions, with additions of his
own); Pietro Fraticelli (Florence, 1852, 1860, 1864, etc.; reprinted eight or nine times before 1900) (based on Venturi, Lombardi, Costa, and Bianchi); G. A. Scartazzini (Leipzig, 1874-90; minor editions, Milan, 1893, 1896, 1903); and Tommaso Casini (Florence, 1887, 1889, 1892, etc.; fifth edition, 1903); to which may be added those of Antonio Lubin (Padua, 1881) ; Giuseppe Campi (Turin, 1888-93); Giacomo Poletto (Rome, 1894); and Francesco Torraca (Rome-Milan, 1905-7).

    
English commentaries, like English translations, came late into the field. The earliest made their appearance in the form of notes to the translations of Henry Boyd (1785, 1802), H. F. Cary (1805-6, 1814, 1819, 1831, 1844), Nathaniel Howard (1807), Joseph Hume (1812); I. C. Wright (1833-40, 1845, 1854), and John Dayman (1843, 1865).
⁷⁵
The first English commentary properly so called was that published anonymously in London in 1822 by John Taaffe, an Irishman domiciled in Italy, under the title of
A Comment on the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri
, in the publication of which Byron and Shelley interested themselves, but of which only the first portion (on
Inferno
, i.-viii.) ever saw the light.
⁷⁶
Among recent commentaries in the form of notes to translations of the
Commedia
, the most important are those of C. B. Cayley (1855),
⁷⁷
J. W. Thomas (1859-66), H. W. Longfellow (1865-7),
⁷⁸
A. J. Butler (1880-92),
⁷⁹
E. H. Plumptre (1886-87), F. K. H. Haselfoot (1887),
⁸⁰
and C. E. Norton (1891-92)
⁸¹
; and of commentaries proper, W. W. Vernon's
“Readings” on the
Inferno
(1894),
Purgatorio
(1889), and
Paradiso
(1900)
⁸²
; and H. F. Tozer's “English Commentary on the
Divina Commedia
” (1901).
⁸³

    
Other works on the
Commedia
(or including the
Commedia
) which should be mentioned here are, the
Vocabolario Dantesco
of L. Blanc (Leipzig, 1852), translated into Italian by G. Carbone (Florence, 1859)
⁸⁴
; the
Dizionario della Divina Commedia
of Donato Bocci (Turin, 1873); the
Dizionario Dantesco
of Giacomo Poletto (Siena, 1885-7) ; the
Concordance of the Divina Commedia
of E. A. Fay (Boston, Mass. 1888) ; the
Enciclopedia Dantesca
of G. A. Scartazzini (Milan, 1896-8); the
Dante Dictionary
of Paget Toynbee (Oxford, 1898); and the
Indice dei Nomi Propri e delle Cose Notabili
of the same author, appended to the Oxford Dante (Oxford, 1894).
⁸⁵