Studies in the Poetry of Italy, Part II. Italian — John Shaqi
Studies in the Poetry of Italy, Part II. ItalianKuhns, Oscar
History
Studies in the Poetry of Italy, Part II. Italian
Kuhns, Oscar
Italian poetry -- History and criticism
Among the proud, Dante sees the miniature painter, Oderisi of Adubbio,
who pronounces those words on the vanity of earthly fame, which have
been proverbial:
"The noise
Of worldly fame is but a blast of wind,
That blows from diverse points, and shifts its name,
Shifting the point it blows from.
* * * * *
"Your renown
Is as the herb, whose hue doth come and go;
And his[14] might withers it, by whom it sprang
Crude from the lap of earth."
Passing through Terrace II., where the envious sit sadly against the
rocky wall, with their eye-lids sewn together, and Terrace III., where
the wrathful are shrouded in a black, stifling mist, the poets reach
Terrace IV., where the slothful are punished. Here Vergil explains the
apparent paradox that love is the root of all evil as well as good.
Love, he says, is the desire for something; desire for those things
which harm others--_i. e._, love for evil, produces pride, envy, and
wrath. These are punished in the first three terraces. Insufficient
desire or love for that which is good--_i. e._, God--is punished in
Terrace IV., that of the "slothful in well-doing"; excessive desire for
merely earthly things, which are not evil in themselves, but only in
their excess, produces avarice, gluttony, and licentiousness; these are
punished in the last three terraces.
Ascending now to Terrace V., Dante sees the souls of Pope Adrian, and
Hugh Capet, founder of the long dynasty of the kings of France, who
gives a brief but admirable summary of the development of the monarchy
in France. As they are walking along this terrace, suddenly a mighty
earthquake shakes the whole mountain, and while Dante is still filled
with amazement and dread at this strange phenomenon, they are overtaken
by the spirit of Statius, who explains the cause of the earthquake,
telling how, when a soul has been completely purged of its sins, and the
time of its redemption has arrived, it rises spontaneously from its
place, and joyfully makes its way toward the heavens above, while the
whole mountain rejoices with him, and the souls along the slope above
and below cry out: "Glory to God in the highest!"
Statius now accompanies Dante and Vergil and all three mount to Terrace
VI., where the gluttons are punished, being worn to skin and bone by
hunger and thirst, which are only increased by the sight of waterfalls
and trees laden with fruit. The last terrace is swathed in flames of
fire, within which move about the licentious. Here Dante sees many
famous poets and greets with especial joy Guido Guinicelli of Bologna,
who he says:
"Was a father to me, and to those
My betters, who have ever used the sweet
And pleasant rhymes of love."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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