The Divine Comedy with Commentary by Cristoforo Landino

If it were shown that a poet appeared to the Romans and wrote fables for the theater, nonetheless Cato demonstrates in his Origins Cato the Elder's lost work, Origines, a history of Rome and Italian cities. that it was a most ancient custom for guests at banquets to sing verses composed in praise of excellent men. And Livy, a most truthful historian, affirms that Numa Pompilius, the second king of the Romans, instituted the singing of verses during sacrifices. We have seen what poetry is, and how it takes its origin in human breasts not from mortal genius but from divine fury original: "divino furore"; the Platonic concept of poetic inspiration as a kind of sacred madness.. Nor has it remained hidden why he is called a "poet." And finally, that no other generation of writers in antiquity is more noble. It remains then for us to demonstrate how much utility and delight it provides us in both public and private life.

And because our beginning concerns the "queen" of our mental faculties, the art of oratory—which is deservedly called flexiania A term derived from the Latin flectere (to bend) and animus (soul/mind), referring to eloquence that "bends the soul" or persuades the listener. because it persuades, turns, and bends us toward whatever it wishes—who does not know how much spirit, how much splendor, and how much dignity the poet brings to the orator? Who does not understand how magnificent and elevated they are in the greatest matters, how weighed and tempered in mediocre ones, and how elegant and refined in humble and low matters? Note the introductions (exordia); read the narrations. Enumerate the divisions; consider the confirmations and refutations; and finally, do not overlook the epilogues or the conclusions. You will certainly understand that nothing is better suited to capture goodwill, nothing is more brief and apt in narration, nothing is more ornate and perfect in division, nothing is more probable and effective in confirmation, nor more vehement and sharp in refutation than the passages written by poets.

And this is as far as oratorical ornaments go. But who does not understand how splendidly they have treated philosophy? And they do so not only with brevity, subtly tightening this or that philosophical point—as we see especially in Homer, Virgil, and Dante—but also by describing entire subjects extensively and in order, as among the Greeks did Pythagoras of Mitylene, Xenophanes, Empedocles, Parmenides, and many others. Among the Latins, Titus Lucretius and Marcus Varro; and even that outstanding doctor Saint Jerome does not hesitate to affirm that the latter was the most learned of all the Greeks original: "doctissimo di tutti egreci.". I could add an ineffable and inenarrable pleasure and joy with which the human ear and mind feed, as if upon the sweetest ambrosia. But who is so alienated from all humanity, so entirely deprived of judgment, and such an enemy of the Muses that he does not understand that no concert or well-proportioned harmony can equal the poetic sound?

From this, our most illustrious Lords, it was born that among every nation poets have always received the greatest honor. From this it was born that Orpheus and Linus were held in such reverence that they were honored not as mortal men, but as immortal gods. Seven cities in Greece contended for Homer, each affirming that he was their citizen; and the Smyrnaeans built a temple to him as if to a god. Nor will I be long in recounting the supreme honors that Archelaus, the Macedonian king, conferred upon Euripides. Alexander the Great, in the destruction of Thebes, commanded that all descendants of Pindar be saved. Simonides was most welcome to Hiero of Syracuse. Fulvius Nobilior held Ennius in such high opinion that he always honored him greatly; and to gratify him, he consecrated to the Muses the money recovered from
1 the spoils...

the spoils—which the Latins call manubiae Latin term for the general's share of war booty.. And Scipio Africanus wished that Ennius be buried among the most noble tombs of the Cornelii.

But I cannot find words suitable to refer the due thanks to the most illustrious Maecenas, true father and supporter of the Muses: You, the supreme ornament of your centuries. What shall I say—you did not allow even a mediocre poet to be defrauded of his due reward. Ovid Naso proclaims you his benefactor. Propertius confesses he owes his life to you. Horace, through your liberality, became rich from being poor. I could recount Varius, Tucca, and many others both raised up and honored by you. To the prince of poets, Virgil, you made Octavian The Emperor Augustus. so great a friend that he not only recovered his own possessions but was able to have those of all the Mantuans, already distributed to soldiers as a reward, restored to his citizens.

If, therefore, poets are not human but divine; if they alone among writers contain within themselves almost all disciplines; if they are the most ancient of all other writers; if both utility and delight are expected from them; if infinite rules and examples of both speaking well and living well are found in them, we must give ourselves to the knowledge of them with the boldest study and supreme industry.

But especially we shall strive to investigate the mind of our citizen Dante, whose poem is most ingenious in both invention and arrangement. And in its elocution, it surpassed all in many colors and oratorical lights. And what is wonderful is how he joins these colors in a way that one takes ornament from the other, which multiplies the pleasure for the listener. Like these verses:

"No green leaves, but of a murky color; / No smooth branches, but knotty and twisted; / No fruit there, but thorns with poison." A translation of Inferno XIII, 1-6, describing the Wood of the Suicides.

There is much power in that repetition, much in the "dissolution" Asyndeton; omitting conjunctions., much in the "correction," and much in the "disjunction." These colors, although each individually applauds the ear, nonetheless, because they are placed together, create such a harmony as we often hear in well-proportioned but separate strings on a lyre. He has his similes so new that I cannot give any similarity to them, nor can his comparisons be expressed by any comparison; they are unique and more frequent than in any other poet, and even more lifelike. Not only are they most effective in expressing the mind of the writer, but they are most suited to the place. For he does not draw the same comparisons in the Inferno as those in the Paradiso, but places them in each with natural fitness.

Furthermore, he often uses a comparison in which he either opens some natural cause to us or gives the listener knowledge and doctrine of some natural thing, as when he says:

"And as a sharp light breaks one's sleep / because the visual spirit runs to meet / the splendor that goes from layer to layer." Paraphrase of Paradiso XXVI, 70-72.

Sometimes he imagines things that are not, but if they were, the comparison he seeks would arise from them, as in this terzetto original: "ternario"; a three-line stanza in terza rima.:

"And such he became in his appearance / as Jove would become if he and Mars / were birds and exchanged their plumage." Paraphrase of Paradiso XXVII, 13-15; a color change in the heaven of the fixed stars.

Sometimes he makes a comparison of something that never was, which, if it were, would be an incomparable comparison, such as the splendor of a star frozen in Cancer when the sun is in Capricorn.

Nor does it seem to me that I should omit one of the most artistic passages in which various ornaments are enclosed. But let us hear the verses:

"As the peasant who rests upon the hill / in the season when he who lights the world / keeps his face least hidden from us, / when the fly gives way to the mosquito, / sees fireflies down throughout the valley, / perhaps there where he vintages and plows— / with as many flames all the [eighth ditch] shone." A famous simile from Inferno XXVI, 25-31, describing the flames of the Fraudulent Counselors.

A wonderful comparison indeed, which, besides its proper office of opening the place he describes, brings supreme joy to the listener, who seeks a relaxation of the soul after the long narration of mournful things. Furthermore, it adorns the place with a double description of time, which the Greeks call chronographia, because it describes summer in the year and night in the revolution of the heavens. And to the chronographia he adds another rhetorical color called periphrasis by the Greeks and "circumlocution" by the Latins. This is when one says in many words what could be expressed in one. Thus, he could have said "in summer," but instead he said in many words: "when the sun keeps his face least hidden from us." Nor did he even say "sun," but in place of "sun" he said: "He who lights the world." Likewise, by circumscription, he denoted the night by saying: "When the fly gives way to the mosquito." And he even joined this color with denomination Metonymy., because he puts the mosquito, which flies at night, for the night itself.

His descriptions are such that they leave nothing obscure or confused in the mind, but like pictures to the eyes, they represent the form so that the internal sense sees what it never saw. The exterior is more known; no journey is more often trodden by us than the descent into Hell, the laborious ascent of Purgatory, and the flight to the heavens. And he is a chosen guide through frightening places, not without fear for the lovers, nor without delight. And he is wonderful in moving the affections and passions of the mind. He suits particular descriptions well to places and times; sometimes he proceeds lazily and abundantly, as when he describes the times of the hoarfrost. Other times he is brief and concise, as in this terzetto:

"Wings they have broad, and necks and human faces, / Feet with claws, and feathered the great belly; / They make lamentations upon the strange trees." Description of the Harpies in Inferno XIII, 13-15.

He is very prompt in metaphors original: "traslatione.", as when he says:

"But let the grass be far from the beak," Inferno XV, 72.
and a little below:
"And let them not touch the plant, / If any still rises on their dung-heap." Inferno XV, 74-75.

Likewise: "Like the little sheep that know not how to return from the pasture, fed on wind." Likewise: "In this eternal springtime." Likewise: "Well does the will flower in men, but the continuous rain
8

turns the true plums into shriveled fruit." original: "bozacchioi"; shriveled, blighted fruit.

I omit all the other rhetorical colors with which—both with supreme gravity when the subject requires it, and with supreme festivity and wit—he distinguishes, adorns, and illustrates his poem. He uses words that are proper and common in usage. Sometimes he uses ancient ones, like fovente Latinism for "favoring" or "cherishing." and the like. He fabricates new ones, such as inmiare To enter into "me.", ituare To enter into "thee.", and inoltrare To go further/beyond.. But with such eloquence... he did not write of the errors of Ulysses, nor the Trojan battles, nor the coming of Aeneas into Italy, nor the empire of the Latins, nor the tears of Venus, nor the immortal...