Where unto ocean is restor'd what heaven

Drains from th' exhaustless store for all earth's

streams,

Throughout the space is virtue worried down,
As 'twere a snake, by all, for mortal foe;

Or through disastrous influence on the place, 40
Or else distortion of misguided wills

That custom goads to evil: whence in those,

The dwellers in that miserable vale,

Nature is so transform'd, it seems as they

Had shar'd of Circe's feeding. 'Midst brute swine* Worthier of acorns than of other food

Created for man's use, he shapeth first

His obscure way; then, sloping onward, finds
Curs, snarlers more in spite than pow'r, from

whom

[50 He turns with scorn aside: still journeying down, By how much more the curst and luckless foss Swells out to largeness, e'en so much it finds Dogs turning into wolves.§ Descending still Through yet more hollow eddies, next he meets A race of foxes, so replete with craft, They do not fear that skill can master it. Nor will I cease because my words are heard¶ By other ears than thine. It shall be well For this man, ** if he keep in memory What from no erring spirit I reveal.

* 'Midst brute swine.] The people of Casentino.

60

+ Curs.] The Arno leaves Arezzo about four miles to the left. Foss.] So in his anger he terms the Arno.

Wolves.] The Florentines.

Foxes.] The Pisans.

My words are heard.] It should be recollected that Guido still addresses himself to Rinieri.

Lo! I behold thy grandson," that becomes
A hunter of those wolves, upon the shore

Of the fierce stream; and cows them all with dread.
Their flesh, yet living, sets he up to sale,
Then, like an aged beast, to slaughter dooms.
Many of life he reaves, himself of worth
And goodly estimation. Smear'd with gore,
Mark how he issues from the rueful wood;
Leaving such havoc, that in thousand years
It spreads not to prime lustihood again."

As one, who tidings hears of woe to come,
Changes his looks perturb'd, from whate'er part
The peril grasp him; so beheld I change
That spirit, who had turn'd to listen; struck
With sadness, soon as he had caught the word.
His visage, and the other's speech, did raise
Desire in me to know the names of both;
Whereof, with meek entreaty, I inquir'd.

70

80

The shade, who late addrest me, thus resum'd: "Thy wish imports, that 1 vouchsafe to do For thy sake what thou wilt not dot for mine. But, since God's will is that so largely shine His grace in thee, I will be liberal too. Guido of Duca know then that I am. Envy so-parch'd my blood, that had I seen A fellow man made joyous, thou hadst mark'd A livid paleness overspread my cheek. Such harvest reap I of the seed I sow'd.

[need

O man! why place thy heart where there doth

*Thy grandson.] Fulcieri da Calboli, grandson of Rinieri da Calboli, who is here spoken of. The atrocities predicted came to pass in '302. See G. Villani, lib. viii, c, 59,

+ What thou wilt not do.] Dante having declined telling him his name. See v. 22.

Why place.] This will be explained in the ensuing Canto.

Exclusion of participants in good?

90

This is Rinieri's spirit; this, the boast
And honour of the house of Calboli;
Where of his worth no heritage remains. '
Nor his the only blood, that hath been stript,
('Twixt Po, the mount, the Reno, and the shore,)*
Of all that truth or fancy† asks for bliss:
But, in those limits, such a growth has sprung
Of rank and venom'd roots, as long would mock
Slow culture's toil. Where is good Lizio ? where
Manardi, Traversaro, and Carpigna ?§

O bastard slips of old Romagna's line!
When in Bologna the low artisan,||

100

'Twixt Po, the mount, the Reno, and the shore.] The bounda ries of Romagna.

+Fancy.] "Trastullo." Quadrio, in the notes on the second of the Salmi Penitenziali of our author, understands this in a higher sense, as meaning that joy which results from an easy and constant practice of virtue. See Opere di Dante, Zatta ediz. tom. iv. part ii. p. 193. And he is followed by Lombardi.

Lizio.] Lizio da Valbona introduced into Boccaccio's Deca. meron, G. V. N. 4.

Manardi, Traversaro, and Carpigna.] Arrigo Manardi of Fa. enza, or, as some say, of Brettinoro; Pier Traversaro, lord of Ravenna; and Guido di Carpigna of Montefeltro.

In Bologna the law artisan.] One who had been a mechanic, named Lambertaccio, arrived at almost supreme power in Bologna.

Monte Casino MS.
There is a mark of

Quando in Bologna un Fabro si ralligna. Quando in Faenza un Bernardin di Fosco. The pointing and the marginal note of the entirely change the sense of these two lines. interrogation added to each; and by way of answer to both there is written, "Quasi dicat numquam." Fabro is made a proper name, and it is said of him; "Iste fuit Dom. Faber de Lambertaciis de Bononia;" and Benvenuto da Imola calls him "Nobilis Miles." I have not ventured to alter the translation so as to make

And in Faenza yon Bernardin* sprouts,

A gentle cyon from ignoble stem.

Wonder not, Tuscan, if thou see me weep,
When I recal to mind those once lov'd names,
Guido of Prata,† and of Azzo him+

That dwelt with us; § Tignoso|| and his troop,
With Traversaro's house and Anastagio's,¶
(Each race disherited ;) and beside these,
The ladies and the knights, the toils and ease,
That witch'd us into love and courtesy ;**

110

it accord with this interpretation, as it must have been done in the face, I believe, of nearly all the editions, and, as far as may be gathered from the silence of Lombardi, of the MSS. also which that commentator had consulted.

*Yon Bernardin..] Bernardin di Fosco, a man of low origin, but great talents, who governed at Faenza.

+ Prata.] A place between Faenza and Ravenna,

‡ Of Azzo him.] Ugolino, of the Ubaldini family in Tuscany. § With us.] Lombardi claims the reading, "nosco,” instead of vosco," "with us," instead of "with you," for his favourite edition; but it is also in Landine's of 1488.

&

Tignoso.] Federigo Tognoso of Rimini.

¶ Traversaro's house and Anastagio's.] Two noble families of Ravenna. See v. 100. She, to whom Dryden has given the name of Honoria, in the fable so admirably paraphrased from Boccaccio, was of the former; her lover and the spectre were of the Anastagi family. See Canto xxviii. 20.

** Courtesy.] "Cortesia e onestade, &c." Convito, p. 65. “Courtesy and honour are all one; and because anciently virtue and good manners were usual in courts, as the contrary now is, this term was derived from thence: courtesy was as much as to say, custom of courts; which word, if it were now taken from courts, especially those of Italy, would be no other than turpi tude, "turpezza."

Courtesy,

Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds
With smoky rafters, than in tapstry halls

And courts of princes, where it first was nam'd,
And yet is most pretended.

Milton, Comus.

Where now such malice reigns in recreant hearts.
O Brettinoro! wherefore tarriest still,
Since forth of thee thy family hath gone,
And many, hating evil, join'd their steps?
Well doeth he, that bids his lineage cease,
Bagnacavallo Castracaro ill,

And Conio worse, who care to propagate

A race of Counties§ from such blood as theirs. 120 Well shall ye also do, Pagani, then

When from amongst you hies your demon child; Not so howe'er,¶ that henceforth there remain True proof of what ye were. O Hugolin,**

* O Brettinoro.] A beautifully situated castle in Romagna, the hospitable residence of Guido del Duca, who is here speaking. Landino relates, that there were several of this family, who, when a stranger arrived amongst them, contended with one another by whom he should be entertained; and that in order to end this dispute, they set up a pillar with as many rings as there were fathers of families among them, a ring being assigned to each, and that accordingly as a stranger on his arrival hung his horse's bridle on one or other of these, he became his guest to whom the ring belonged

+ Bagnacavallo.] A castle between Imola and Ravenna.

Castracaro ill

And Conto worse.] Both in Romagna.

Counties.] I have used this word here for "Counts," as it is in Shakspeare.

Pagani.] The Pagani were lords of Faenza and Imola. One of them, Machinardo, was named the Demon, from his treachery. See Hell, canto xxvii. 47, and note.

Not so howe'er.] "Yet your offspring will be stained with some vice, and will not afford true proof of the worth of your ancestors."

** Hugolin.] Ugolino Ubaldini, a noble and virtuous person in Faenza, who, on account of his age probably, was not likely to leave any offspring behind him. He is enumerated among the poets by Crescimbeni, and by Tiraboschi, Mr. Mathias's edit. vol. i. p. 143.