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PREFACE.
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IT is a somewhat remarkable circumstance that outside of his own country
Dante has nowhere been so much read as in England. Next to Italy,
England possesses by far the largest number of Manuscripts of his great
poem, many of which have, no doubt, been in the country from early times.
Our own poet, Chaucer, born seven years after Dante's death, quotes him
several times by name, and borrows from him frequently. Many instances of
this will be found duly recorded in the notes to the present work. One
of the most interesting of the early commentaries on the Di:/ine Comedy
was written at the request of the English Bishops of Salisbury and Bath
and Wells, by the Italian Bishop of Rimini, whom they met at the Council
of Constance?‘ Spenser knew Dante, undoubtedly, and Milton was evidently
very familiar with his works. N0 actual translation into English, however,
appears to have existed till the end of the last century, when the Rev. Henry
Boyd produced a version which cannot be regarded as satisfactory. In
1805 the Rev. H. F. Cary, librarian at the British Museum, published a
translation in blank verse of the first seventeen Cantos of the Inferno,
following it up by other fragmentary issues until the whole appeared com
plete in three small volumes in 1814. Since then translations innumerable
of the whole poem, or portions, have appeared in every sort of metre and
in prose; but it is safe to say that Cary's holds its own. Its verse, if it
seldom rises much above mediocrity, never falls below it; as a translation
vi PREFACE.
it is exceedingly accurate, while its notes, it is not too much to say, are
the most helpful to the student that have ever been appended to any
English edition. Since its first appearance it has been repeatedly reprinted
in almost every imaginable form, and must have found its way into almost
every English household, taking with it at least the opportunity of
acquaintance with one of the half-dozen greatest works in the world's
literature. Messrs. Casse1l's large folio editions, accompanied by the popular
illustrations from the hand of Gustave Doré, are widely known. Doré's
work, though unequal, has, notably when he deals with the Inferno, merits
of its own; while in nearly all cases he has succeeded, at any rate, in so
representing the scenes described in the poem as to arouse curiosity, and
thereby encourage the study of the text. It is hoped that this issue in
a more handy form will increase the acquaintance of English readers with
the excellent work of an Englishman, and lead them on to a closer study
of the great original.
THE VISION OF HELL.
CANTO I.
The writer, having lost his way in a gloomy forest, and being hindered by certain wild beasts from ascending a
mountain, is met by Virgil, who promises to show him the punishments of Hell, and afterwards of Purgatory ;
and that he shall then be conducted by Beatrice into Paradise. He follows the Roman poet . . . . 3
CANTO II.
After the invocation, which poets are used to prefix to their works, he shows that, on a consideration of his own
strength, he doubted whether it sufficed for the journey proposed to him, but that, being comforted by Virgil,
he at last took courage, and followed him as his guide and master . . . . . . . . . 19
CANTO III.
Dante, following Virgil, comes to the gate of Hell; where, after having read the dreadful words that are written
thereon, they both enter. Here, as he understands from Virgil, those were punished who had passed their
time (for living it could not be called) in a state of apathy and indifference both to good and evil. Then
pursuing their way, they arrive at the river Acheron ; and there find the old ferryman Charon, who takes the
spirits over to the opposite shore; which as soon as Dante reaches, he is seized with terror, and falls into a
trance . . . . . . . . . . ,. . . . . . . . . . . 26
CANTO IV.
The poet, being roused by a clap of thunder, and following his guide onwards, descends into Limbo, which is the
first circle of Hell, where he finds the souls of those who, although they have lived virtuously, and have not to
suffer for great sins, nevertheless, through lack of baptism, merit not the bliss of Paradise. Hence he is led on
by Virgil to descend into the second circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
CANTO V.
Coming into the second circle of Hell, Dante at the entrance beholds Minos the Infernal Judge, by whom he is
admonished to beware how he enters those regions. Here he witnesses the punishment of carnal sinners, who
are tost about ceaselessly in the dark air by the most furious winds. Amongst these, he meets with Francesca
of Rimini, through pity at whose sad tale he falls fainting to the ground . . . . . . . . 49
CANTO VI.
On his recovery, the poet finds himself in the third circle, where the gluttonous are punished. Their torment is, to
lie in the mire, under a continual and heavy storm of hail, snow, and discoloured water ; Cerberus meanwhile
barking over them with his threefold throat, and rending them piecemeal. One of these, who on earth was
named Ciacco, foretells the divisions with which Florence is about to be distracted. Dante proposes a question
to his guide, who solves it ; and they proceed towards the fourth circle . . . . . . . . 65
CANTO VII.
In the present canto Dante describes his descent into the fourth circle, at the beginning of which he sees Plntus
stationed. Here one like doom awaits the prodigal and the avaricious; which is to mett in direful conflict,
rolling great weights against each other with mutual upbraidings. From hence Virgil takes occasion to s-how
how vain the goods that are committed into the charge of Fortune ; and this moves our author to inquire what
being that Fortune is, of whom he speaks: which question be'ng resolved, they go down into the fifth circle,
where they find the wrathful and gloomy tormented in the Stygian lake. Having made a compass round great
part of this lake, they come at last to the base of a lofty tower . . . . . . . . . .
CANTO VIII.
A signal having been made from the tower, Phlegy|m, the ferryman of the lake, speedily crosses it, and conveys
Virgil and Dante to the other side. On their passage they meet with Filippo Argenti, whose fury and torment
are described. They then arrive at the city of Dis, the entrance whereto is denied, and the portals closed
against them by many demons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CANTO IX. _
After some hindrances, and having seen the hellish furies and other monsters, the poet, by the help of an angel, enters
the city of Dis, wherein he discovers that the hereties are punished in tombs burning with intense fire ; and he,
together with Virgil, passes onwards between the sepulchres and the walls of the city . . . , .
CANTO X
Dante, having obtained permission from his guide, holds discourse with Farinata degli Uberti and Cavalcante Caval
canti, who lie in their fiery tombs that are yet open, and not to be closed up till after the last judgment.
Farinata predicts the poet's exile from Florence ; and shows him that the condemned have knowledge of future
things, but are ignorant of what is at present passing, unless it be revealed by some new comer from earth .
CANTO XI.
Dante arrives at the verge of a rocky precipice which encloses the seventh circle, where he sees the sepulchre of
Anastasius the heretic ; behind the lid of which pausing a little, to make himself capable by degrees of enduring
the fetid smell that steamed upward from the abyss, he is instructed by Virgil concerning the manner in which
the three following circles are disposed, and what description of sinners is punished in each. He then inquires
the reason why the carnal, the gluttonous, the avaricious and prodigal, the wrathful and gloomy, suffer not
their punishments within the city of Dis. He next asks how the crime of usury is an offence against God; and
at length the two poets go towards the place from whence a passage leads down to the seventh circle . .
CANTO XII.
Descending by a very rugged way into the seventh circle, where the violent are punished, Dante and his leader find
it guarded by the Minotattr ; whose fury being pacified by Virgil, they step downwards from crag to crag ; till,
drawing near the bottom, they descry a river of blood, wherein are tormented such as have committed violence
against their neighbour. At these, when they strive to emerge from the blood, a troop of Centaurs, running
along the side of the river, aim their arrows; and three of their band opposing our travellers at the foot of the
steep, Virgil prevails so far, that one consents to carry them both across the stream ; and on their passage Dante
is informed by him of the course of the river, and of those that are punished therein . , ,
CANTO XIII.
Still in the seventh circle, Dante enters its second compartment, which contains both those who have done violence on
their own persons and those who have violently consumed their goods ; the first changed into rough and knotted
trees whereon the harpies build their nests, the latter chased and torn by black female mastiffs. Among the
former, Pietro delle Vigne is one, who tells him the cause of his having committed suicide, and moreover in
what manner the souls are transformed into those trunks. Of the latter crew he recognises Lano, a Siennese,
and Giacomo, a Paduan ; and lastly, a Florentine, who had hung himself from his own roof. speaks to him of
the calamities of his countrymen . . . . . . . . . . . . .
CANTO XIV.
arrive at the beginning of the third of those compartments into which this seventh circle is divided. It is
plain of dry and hot sand, where three kinds of violence are punished ; namely, against God, against Nature.
and against Art ; and those who have thus sinned are tormented by flakes of fire, which are eternally showering
down upon them. Among the violent against God is found Capaneus, whose blasphemies they hear. Next,
turning to the left along the forest of self-slayers, and having journeyed a little onwards, they meet with a
streamlet of blood that issues from the forest and traverses the sandy plain. Here Virgil speaks to our poet of
a huge ancient statue that stands within Mount Ida in Crete, front a fissure in which statue there is a dripping
of tears, from which the said streamlet, together with the three other infernal rivers, are formed
They
CA NTO X V.
Taking their way upon one of the mounds by which the streamlct, spoken of in the last canto, was embanked, and
having gone so far that they could no longer have discemed the fcrest if they had turned round to look for it,
they meet a troop of spirits that come along the sand by the side of the pier. These are they who have done
violence to Nature; and amongst them Dante distinguishes Bruztetto Latini, who had been formerly his master;
with whom, turning a little backward, he holds a discourse which occupies the remainder of this canto .
CANTO XVI.
Journeying along the pier, which crosses the sand, they are now so near the end of it as to hear the noise of the
stream falling into the eighth circle, when they meet the spirits of three military men; who judging Dante,
from his dress, to be a countryman of theirs, entreat him to stop. He complies, and speaks with them. The
CONTENTS. ix
two poets then reach the place where the water descends, being the termination of this third compartment in
the seventh circle ; and here Virgil having thrown down into the hollow a cord, wherewith Dante was girt, they
behold at that signal a monstrous and horrible figure come swimming up to them
CANTO XVII.
The monster Geryon is described ; to whom while Virgil is speaking in order that he may carry them both down to
the next circle, Dante, by permission, goes a little further along the edge of the void, to descry the third species
of sinners contained in this compartment, namely, those who have done violence to Art; and then returning to
his master, they both descend, seated on the back of Geryon
CANTO XVIII.
The poet describes the situation and form of the eighth circle, divided into ten gulfs, which contain as many
different descriptions of fraudulent sinners ; but in the present canto he treats only of two sorts : the first is of
those who, either for their own pleasure or for that of another, have seduced any woman from her duty ; and
these are scourged of demons in the first gulf; the other sort is of fiatterers, who in the second gulf are con
demned to remain immersed in filth
CANTO XIX.
They come to the third gulf, wherein are punished those who have been guilty of simony. These are fixed with the
head downwards in certain apertures, so that no more of them than the legs appears without, and on the soles
of their feet are seen burning flames. Dante is taken down by his guide into the bottom ofthe gulf; and
there finds Pope Nicholas V., whose evil deeds, together with those of other pontiffs, are bitterly reprchended.
Virgil then carries him up again to the arch, which affords them a passage over the following gulf
CANTO XX.
The poet relates the punishment of such as presumed. while living, to predict future events. It is to have their faces
reversed and set the contrary way on their limbs, so that, being deprived of the power to see before them, they
are constrained ever to walk backwards. Among these Virgil points out to him Amphiaratis, Tiresias, Aruns,
and Manto (from the mention of whom he takes occasion to speak of the origin of Mantua), together with
several others, who had practised the arts of divination and astrology.
C.,.'TO XX I.
Still in the eighth circle, which bears the name of Malebolge, they look down from the bridge that passes over its
fifth gulf. upon the barterers or public peculators. These are plunged in a lake of boiling piteh, and guarded
by demons, to whom Virgil, leaving Dante apart, presents himself; and licence being obtained to pass
onward, both pursue their way
CANTO XXII.
Virgil and Dante proceed, accompanied by the demons, and see other sinners of the same ‘description in the same
gulf. The device of Ciampolo, one of these, to escape from the demons, who had laid hold on him
C.,NTO XXIII.
The enraged demons pursue Dante, but he is preserved from them by Virgil. On reaching the sixth gulf, he beholds
the punishment of the hypocrites ; which is, to pace continually round the gulf under the pressure of caps and
hoods that are gilt on the outside, but leaden within. I-Ie is addressed by two of these, Catalano and
Loderingo. knights of Saint Mary, otherwise called Joyous Friars of Bologna. Caiaphas is seen fixed toa
cross on the ground, and lies so stretehed along the way, that all tread on him in passing
CANTO XXIV.
Under the escort of his faithful master, Dante, not without difficulty, makes his way out of the sixth gulf, and in the
seventh sees the robbers tormented by venomous and pestilent serpents. The soul of Vanni Fucci, who had
pillaged the sacristy of Saint James in Pistoia, predicts some calamities that impended over that city, and over
the Florentines .
CANTO XXV.
The sacrilegious Fucci vents his fury in blasphemy, is seized by serpents, and flying is pursued.by Cacus in the form
of a centaur, who is described with a swarm of serpents on his haunch, and a dragon on his shoulders
breathing forth fire. Our poet then meets with the spirits of three of his countrymen, two of whom undergo a
marvellous transformation in his presence
CANTO XXVI.
Remounting by the steps, down which they had descended to the seventh gulf, they go forward to the arch that
stretehes over the eighth, and from thence behold numberless flames wherein are punished the evil
counsellors, each flame containing a sinner, save one, in which were Diomede and Ulysses, the latter of whom
relates the manner of his death
X CONTENTS.
CANTO XXVII.
The poet, treating of the same punishment as in the last canto, relates that he turned towards a flame in which was
the Count Guido da Montefeltro, whose inquiries respecting the state of Romagna he answers; and Guido is
thereby induced to declare who he is, and why condemned to that torment . _ . _ _
CANTO XXVIII.
They arrive in the ninth gulf, where the sowers of scandal, schismaties, and hereties are seen with their limbs
miserably maimed or divided in different ways. Among these the poet finds Mahomet, Piero da Medicina,
Curio, Mosca, and Bertrand de Born . . . . . . . . , . _ , _ _ _
CANTO XXIX.
Dante, at the desire of Virgil, proceeds onward to the bridge that crosses the tenth gulf, from whence he hears the
cries of the alchemists and forgers, who are tormented therein; but not being able to discern anything
on account of the darkness, they descend the rock, that bounds this the last of the Compartments in
which the eighth circle is divided, and then behold the spirits who are afflicted with divers plagues and diseases.
Two of them, namely, Grifolino of Arezzo, and Capocchio of Sienna, are introduced speaking
CANTO XXX.
In the same gulf, other kinds of impostors, as those who have counterfeited the persons of others, or debased the
current coin, or deceived by speech under false pretences, are described as suffering various diseases. Simon
of Troy, and Adamo of Brescia, mutually reproach each other with their several impostures . . ,
CA NTO X X X I.
The poets, following the sound ofa loud horn, are led by it to the ninth circle, in which there are four rounds, one
enclosed within the other, and containing as many sorts of traitors; but the present canto shows only that
the circle is encompassed with giants, one of whom, Antzeus, takes them both in his arms and places them at
the bottom of the circle . . . . . . . . . .
CANTO XXXII.
This canto treats of the first, and, in part, of the second of those rounds, into which the ninth and last, or frozen
circle. is divided. In the former, called Caina, Dante finds Camiccione de' Pazzi, who gives him an account
ofother sinners who are there punished; and in the next, named Antenora, he hears in like manner from
Bocca degli Abbati who his fellow-sufferers are . . . . . . . .
CANTO XXXIII
The poet is told by Count Ugolino de‘ Gherardeschi of the cruel manner in which he and his children were famished
in the tower at Pisa, by command of the Archbishop Ruggieri. He next discourses of the third round, called
Ptolomea, wherein those are punished who have betrayed others under the semblance of kindness ; and among
these he finds the Friar Alberigo de‘ Manfredi, who tells him of one whose soul was already tormented in that
place, though his body appeared still to be alive upon the earth, being yielded up to the governance of a
fiend .
C.-;'TO XXXIV.
In the fourth and last round of the ninth circle, those who have betrayed their benefactors are wholly covered with
ice. And in the midst is Lucifer, at whose back Dante and Virgil ascend, till by a secret path they reach the
surface of the other hemisphere of the earth, and once more obtain sight of _the stars .
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Portrait of Dante Alighieri
In the midway of this our mortal life
Scarce the ascent began .
A lion came, 'gainst me as it appear'd .
He, soon as he saw that I was weeping
Onward he moved
Now was the day departing
I, who now bid thee on this errand forth
All hope abandon
And, lo! toward us in a bark comes on an old man .
E'en in like manner Adam's evil brood cast themselves
Only so far afflicted . . .
So I beheld united the bright schoo
There Minos stands . . . . . .
The stormy blast of hell with restless fury drives the spirits on
Bard! willingly I would address those two together coming
Love brought us to one death
In its leaves that day we read no more
I, through compassion fainting
Then my guide . . . .
Thy city, heap'd with envy to the brim
Curst wolf! thy fury inward on thyself prey
Not all the gold that is beneath the moon
Now seest thou, son ! the souls of those
Soon as both embark'd
My teacher sage aware . . . . . . . .
I could not hear what terms he offer'd them . . . .
Mark how each dire Erynnis . . . . . . . .
To the gate he came . . . . . . . . .
He answer thus return'd . . . . . . . . .
He, soon as there I stood at the tomb's foot . . . .
From the profound abyss . . . . . .
And there at point of the disparted ridge lay streteh'd
One cried from far .
Vc to those beasts .
I-Iere the brute harpies make their nest .
And straight the trunk exclaim'd
" Haste now," the foremost cried
Unceasing was the play of wretehed hands .
Ser Brunette! and are ye here? .
Forthwith that image vile of fraud appear'd .
xfi IJST OF 1LLUsTRA11oxs
New terror I conceived at the steep plunge .
Ah! how they made them bound at the first stripe!
Vhy greedily thus bendest more on me
Thais is this, the harlot .
There stood I like the friar . . . . . .
This said, they grappled him with more than hundred hooks
Be none of you Outrageous . . .
In pursuit he therefore sped . . . . . . .
But the other proved a goshawk able to rend well his foe . .
Scarcely had his feet reach'd to the lowest of the bed beneath .
Tuscan, who visitest the college of the mourning hypocrites
That pierced spirit . . . .
Amid this dread exuberance of woe
The other two lo0k'd on . . . . .
The guide, who mark'd how I did gaze attentive
Now mark how I do rip me .
Call thou to mind Piero of Medicina
By the hair it bore the sever'd member.
But Virgil roused me . . . . . .
Then my sight was livelier to explore the depth .
The crust came drawn from underneath in flakes .
That sprite of air is Schicchi . . . .
That is the ancient soul of wretehed Myrrha
Oh, senseless spirit! . . . . . . . . . .
This proud one would of his strength against almighty _]ove make trial
Yet in the abyss
Look how thou walkest . . . . -
Then seizing on his hinder scalp I cried . . . .
Not more furiously on Menalippus' temples Tydeus gnawed
Then, not to make them sadder -
Hast no help for me, my father?
Then, fasting got the mastery of grief
"Lo ! " he exclaimed, “ lo! Dis" . . .
By that hidden way my guide and I did enter
Thence issuing we again beheld the stars
LIFE OF DANTE.
ANTE,1 a name abbreviated, as was the custom in those days, from Durante or Durando, was of
a very ancient Florentine family. The first of his ancestors,’ concerning whom anything certain
is known, was Cacciaguidaf‘ a Florentine knight, who died fighting in the holy war, under the Emperor
Conrad III. Cacciaguida had two brothers, Moronto and Eliseo, the former of whom is not recorded
to have left any posterity ; the latter is the head of the family of the Elisei, or perhaps (for it is doubt
ful which is the case) only transmitted to his descendants a name which he had himself inherited.
From Cacciaguida himself were sprung the Alighieri, so called from one of his sons, who bore the
appellation from his mother's family,‘ as is aflirmed by the poet himself, under the person of Caccia
guida, in the fifteenth canto of the “ Paradise.” This name, Alighieri, is derived from the coat-of-arms,‘
a wing or, on a field azure, still borne by the descendants of our poet at Verona, in the days of
Leonardo Aretino.
Dante was born at Florence in May, 1265. His mother's name was Bella, but of what family is
no longer known. His father“ he had the misfortune to lose in his childhood ; but by the advice of his
surviving relations, and with the assistance of an able preceptor, Brunetto Latini, he applied himself
closely to polite literature and other liberal studies, at the same time that he omitted no pursuit
necessary for the accomplishment of a manly character, and mixed with the youth of his age in all
honourable and noble exercises.
In the twenty-fourth year of his age he was present at the memorable battle of Campaldinofi
where he served in the foremost troop of cavalry, and was exposed to imminent danger. Leonardo
Aretino refers to a. letter of Dante, in which he described the order of that battle, and mentioned his
having been engaged in it. The cavalry of the Aretini at the first onset gained so great an advantage
over the Florentine horse, as to compel them to retreat to their body of infantry. This circumstance
in the event proved highly fortunate to the Florentines ; for their own cavalry being thus joined to their
foot, while that of their enemies was led by the pursuit to a considerable distance from theirs, they were
by these means enabled to defeat with ease their separate forces. In this battle the Uberti, Lamberti,
and Abati, with all the other ex-citizens of Florence who adhered to the Ghibelline interest, were with
the Aretini ; while those inhabitants of Arezzo who, owing to their attachment to the Guelph party,
had been banished from their own éity, were ranged on the side of the Florentines. In the following
year Dante took part in another engagement between his countrymen and the citizens of Pisa, from
whom they took the castle of Caprona,” situated not far from that city.
From what the poet has told us in his treatise entitled the “Vita Nuova," we learn that he was a
lover long before he was a soldier, and that his passion for the Beatrice whom he has immortalised
>>23006487
LOW iQ POST
XIV LIFE OF DANTE.
commenced‘ when she was at the beginning and he near the end of his ninth year. Their first meeting
was at a banquet in the house of Folco Portinarif‘ her father; and the impression then made on the
susceptible and constant heart of Dante was not obliterated by her death, which happened after an
interval of sixteen years.
But neither war nor love prevented Dante from gratifying the earnest desire which he had of know
ledge and mental improvement. By Benvenuto da Imola, one of the earliest of his commentators, it is
stated that he studied in his youth at the universities of Bologna and Padua, as well as in that of his
native city, and devoted himself to the pursuit of natural and moral philosophy. There is reason to
believe that his eagerness for the acquisition of learning, at some time of his life, led him as far as
Paris, and even Oxford ;3 in the former of which universities he is said to have taken the degree of
a Bachelor, and distinguished himself in the theological disputations, but to have been hindered from
commencing Master by a failure in his pecuniary resources. Francesco da Buti, another of his com
mentators in the fourteenth century, asserts that he entered the order of Frati Minori, but laid aside the
habit before he was professed.
In his own city, domestic troubles, and yet more severe public calamities, awaited him. In 1291
he was induced, by the solicitation of his friends, to console himself for the loss of Beatrice by a
matrimonial connection with Gemma, a. lady of the noble family of the Donati, by whom he had a
numerous offspring. But the violence of her temper proved a source of the bitterest suffering to him ;
and in that passage of the “Inferno,” where one of the characters says
" La fiera moglie piu ch‘ altro, mi nuoce,"
Canto xvi. ;
“ Me, my wife
Of savage temper, more than aught beside,
Hath to this evil brought "—
his own conjugal unhappiness must have recurred forcibly and painfully to his mind.‘ It is not im
probable that political animosity might have had some share in these dissensions; for his wife was a
kinswoman of Corso Donati, one of the most formidable as he was one of the most inveterate of
his opponents.
LIFE OF DANTE. XV
In I300 he was chosen chief of the Priors, who at that time possessed the supreme authority in the
state; his colleagues being Palmieri degli Altoviti and Neri di ]acopo degli Alberti. From this
exaltation our poet dated the cause of all his subsequent misfortunes in life.1
In order to show the occasion of Dante's exile, it may be necessary to enter more particularly into
the state of parties at Florence. The city, which had been disturbed by many divisions between the
Guelphs and Ghibellines, at length remained in the power of the former; but after some time these
were again split into two factions. This perverse occurrence originated with the inhabitants of Pistoia,
who, from an unhappy quarrel between two powerful families in that city, were all separated into
parties known by those denominations. With the intention of composing their differences, the
principals on each side were summoned to the city of Florence ; but this measure, instead of remedy
ing the evil, only contributed to increase its virulence, by communicating it to the citizens of Florence
themselves. For the contending parties were so far from being brought to a reconciliation, that each
‘contrived to gain fresh partisans among the Florentines, with whom many of them were closely
connected by the ties of blood and friendship; and who entered into the dispute with such acrimony
and eagerness, that the whole city was soon engaged either on one part or the other, and even brothers
of the same family were divided. It was not long before they passed, by the usual gradations, from
contumely to violence. The factions were now known by the names of the Neri and the Bianchi, the
former generally siding with the Guelphs or adherents of the Papal power, the latter with the Ghibel
lines or those who supported the authority of the emperor. The Neri assembled secretly in the church
of the Holy Trinity, and determined on interceding with Pope Boniface VIII. to send Charles of
Valois to pacify and reform the city. No sooner did this resolution come to the knowledge of the
Bianchi, than, struck with apprehension at the consequences of such a measure, they took arms, and
repaired to the Priors, demanding of them the punishment of their adversaries, for having thus entered
into private deliberations concerning the state, which they represented to have been dune with the view
of expelling them from the city. Those who had met, being alarmed in their turn, had also recourse
to arms, and made their complaints to the Priors. Accusing their opponents of having armed them
selves without any previous public discussion, and affirming that, under various pretexts, they had
sought to drive them out of their country, they demanded that they might be punished as disturbcrs of
the public tranquillity. The dread and danger became general, when, by the advice of Dante, the
Priors called in the multitude to their protection and assistance, and then proceeded to banish the
principals of the two factions, who were these: Corso Donati,’ Geri Spini, Giachonotto dc' Pazzi,
Rosso della Tosa, and others of the Neri party, who were exiled to the Castello della Pieve, in Perugia ;
and of the Bianchi party, who were banished to Serrazana, Gentile and Torrigiano de' Cerchi, Guido
Cavalcanti,3 Baschiera della Tosa, Baldinaccio Adimari, Naldo, son of Lottino Gherardini, and others.
On this occasion Dante was accused of favouring the Bianchi, though he appears to have conducted
himself with impartiality; and the deliberation held by the Neri for introducing Charles of Valois‘
might, perhaps, have justified him in treating that party with yet greater rigour. The suspicion against
him was increased,_when those whom he was accused of favouring were soon after allowed to return
from their banishment, while the sentence passed upon the other faction still remained in full force. To
this Dante replied that when those who had been sent to Serrazana were recalled, he was no longer in
oflice; and that their retum hadbeen permitted on account of the death of Guido Cavalcanti, which
was attributed to the unwholesome air of that place. The partiality which had been shown, however,
afforded a pretext to the Pope-" for dispatching Charles of Valois to Florence, by whose influence a
great reverse was soon produced in the public affairs ; the ex-citizens being restored to their place, and
the whole of the Bianchi party driven into exile. At this juncture Dante was not in Florence, but at
Rome, whither he had a short time before been sent ambassador to the Pope, with the offer of a
voluntary return to peace and amity among the citizens. His enemies had now an opportunity of
revenge, and, during his absence on this pacific mission, proceeded to pass an iniquitous decree of
xvi LIFE OF DANTE.
banishment against him and Pnlmieri Altoviti ; and at the same time confiscated his possessions, which,
indeed, had been previously given up to pillage.‘
On hearing the tidings of his ruin, Dante instantly quitted Rome, and passed with all possible
expedition to Sienna. Here, being more fully apprised of the extent of the calamity, for which he
could see no remedy, he came to the desperate resolution of joining himself to the other exiles. His
first meeting with them was at a consultation which they had at Gorgonza, a small castle subject to the
jurisdiction of Arezzo, in which city it was finally, after a long deliberation, resolved that they should
take up their station.” Hither they accordingly repaired in a numerous body, made the Count Ales
sandro da Romena their leader, and appointed a council of twelve, of which number Dante was one
In the year 1304, having been joined by a very strong force, which was not only furnished them
by Arezzo, but sent from Bologna and Pistoia, they made :1 sudden attack on the city of Florence,
gained possession of one of the gates, and conquered part of the territory, but were finally compelled to
retreat without retaining any of the advantages they had acquired.
Disappointed in this attempt to reinstate himself in his country, Dante quitted Arezzo; and his
course is,3 for the most part, afterwards to be traced only by notices casually dropped in his own
writings, or discovered in documents, which either chance or the zeal of antiquaries may have brought
to light. From an instrument‘ in the possession of the Marchesi Papafavi, of Padua, it has been
ascertained that, in 1306, he was at that city and with that family. Similar proof 5 exists of his having
been present in the following year at a congress of the Ghibellines and the Bianchi, held in the sacristy
of the church belonging to the abbey of S. Gaudenzio in Mugello ; and from a passage in the “ Purga
tory”“ we collect, that before the expiration of I307 he had found a refuge in Lunigiana, with the
Marchesc Morcllo or Marcello Malaspina, who, though formerly a supporter" of the opposite party, was
now mrtgnanimous enough to welcome a noble enemy in his misfortune.