And for this thou hast warr'd with me.-'Tis done: I may not overleap the eternal bar Built up between us, and will die alone, Beholding with the dark eye of a seer The evil days to gifted souls foreshown, Foretelling them to those who will not hear, As in the old time, till the hour be come When Truth shall strike their eyes through many a tear, And make them own the Prophet in his tomb. NOTES. Note 1, page 267, line 11. Midst whom my own bright Beatrice bless'd. THE reader is requested to adopt the Italian pronunciation of Beatrice, sounding all the syllables. Note 2, page 268, line 9. My paradise had still been incomplete. "Che sol per le belle opre "Che fanno in Cielo il sole e l' altre stelle "Dentro di lui' si crede il Paradiso, "Così se guardi fiso "Pensar ben dèi ch' ogni terren' piacere." Canzone, in which Dante describes the person of Beatrice, Strophe third. Note 3, page 269, line 10. I would have had my Florence great and free. * * "Cader tra' buoni è pur di lode degno." Sonnet of Dante, in which he represents Right, Generosity, and Temperance as banished from among men, and seeking refuge from Love, who inhabits his bosom. Note 4, page 269, line 26. The dust she dooms to scatter. "Ut si quis predictorum ullo tempore in fortiam dicti communis pervenerit, talis perveniens igne comburatur, sic quod moriatur." Second sentence of Florence against Dante, and the fourteen accused with him.-The Latin is worthy of the sentence. Note 5, page 272, last line. Where yet my boys are, and that fatal she. This lady, whose name was Gemma, sprung from one of the most powerful Guelf families, named Donati. Corso Donati was the principal adversary of the Ghibellines. She is described as being "Admodum morosa, ut de Xantippe Socratis philosophi conjuge scriptum esse legimus," according to Giannozzo Manetti. But Lionardo Aretino is scandalized with Boccace, in his life of Dante, for saying that literary men should not marry. "Qui il Boccaccio non ha pazienza, e dice, le mogli esser contrarie agli studj; e non si ricorda che Socrate il più nobile filosofo che mai fosse, ebbe moglie e figliuoli e uffici della Repubblica nella sua Città; e Aristotele che, &c. &c. ebbe due mogli in varj tempi, ed ebbe figliuoli, e ricchezze assai.-E Marco Tullio-e Catone-e Varrone-e Seneca-ebbero moglie," &c. &c. It is odd that honest Lionardo's examples, with the exception of Seneca, and, for any thing I know, of Aristotle, are not the most felicitous. Tully's Terentia, and Socrates' Xantippe, by no means contributed to their husbands' happiness, whatever they might do to their philosophy-Cato gave away his wife of Varro's we know nothing-and of Seneca's, only that she was disposed to die with him, but recovered, and lived several years afterwards. But, says Lionardo, "L'uomo è animale civile, secondo piace a tutti i filosofi." And thence concludes that the greatest proof of the animal's civism is "la prima congiunzione, dalla quale multiplicata nasce la Città." Note 6, page 278, line 11. Nine moons shall rise o'er scenes like this and set. See "Sacco di Roma," generally attributed to Guicciardini. There is another written by a Jacopo Buonaparte, Gentiluomo Samminiatese che vi si trovò presente. Note 7, page 282, line 30. Conquerors on foreign shores, and the far wave. Alexander of Parma, Spinola, Pescara, Eugene of Savoy, Montecucco. Note 8, page 282, last line. Discoverers of new worlds, which take their name. Columbus, Americus Vespusius, Sebastian Cabot. Note 9, page 284, line 1. He who once enters in a tyrant's hall, &c. A verse from the Greek tragedians, with which Pompey took leave of Cornelia on entering the boat in which he was slain. Note 10, page 284, lines 3 and 4. And the first day which sees the chain enthral, &c. The verse and sentiment are taken from Homer. Note 11, page 284, line 21. And he, their prince, shall rank among my peers. Petrarch. Note 12, page 291, line 1. A dome, its image. The cupola of St. Peter's. Note 13, page 291, line 11. His chisel bid the Hebrew. The statue of Moses on the monument of Julius II. SONETTO Di Giovanni Battista Zappi. Chi è costui, che in dura pietra scolto, Quest' è Mosè; ben me 'I diceva il folto Onor del mento, e 'l doppio raggio in fronte, Tal era allor, che le sonanti, e vaste E voi sue turbe un rio vitello alzate? Note 14, page 291, line 14. Over the damn'd before the Judgment throne. The Last Judgment in the Sistine chapel. Note 15, page 291, line 17. The stream of his great thoughts shall spring from me. I have read somewhere (if I do not err, for I cannot recollect where) that Dante was so great a favourite of Michel Angiolo's, that he had designed the whole of the Divina Commedia; but that the volume containing these studies was lost by sea. Note 16, page 292, line 6. Her charms to pontiffs proud, who but employ, &c. See the treatment of Michel Angiolo by Julius II., and his neglect by Leo X. Note 17, page 293, line 28. "What have I done to thee, my people?" "E scrisse più volte non solamente a particolari cittadini del reggimento, ma ancora al popolo, e intra l' altre una Epistola assai lunga che comincia:- Popule mi, quid feci Vita di Dante scritta da Lionardo Aretino. tibi ?"" |