Exile and the "canzone" in Dante's Earthly Paradise

Exile and the Canzone in Dante’s EarthlyParadise (Purgatorio 28-33)

(Salvador Dalí, “Dante and Beatrice,” 1951-54)

1. Nel ciel che più de la sua luce prendefu' io, e vidi cose che ridirené sa né può chi di là sù discende;perché appressando sé al suo disire,nostro intelletto si profonda tanto,che dietro la memoria non può ire.Veramente quant' io del regno santone la mia mente potei far tesoro,sarà ora materia del mio canto.

I was in that heaven which receives more of His light. He who comes down from there can neither know nor tell what he has seen, for, drawing near to its desire, so deeply is our intellect immersed that memory cannot follow after it. Nevertheless, as much of the holy

“Exile and the Canzone in Dante’s Earthly Paradise” Lumen Christi Institute, Univ. of Chicago, May 30, 2013.

Laurence Hooper ([email protected])

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kingdom as I could store as treasure in my mind shall now become the subject of my song.(Par. 1.4-12)

2. Se mai continga che l’ poema sacro al quale ha posto mano e cielo e terra,sì che m’ha fatto per più anni macro,vinca la crudeltà che fuor mi serradel bello ovile ov’io dormi’ agnello […];ritornerò poeta, ed in sul fonte del mio battesmo prenderò ’l cappello

If it should ever happen that the sacred poem, shaped by both heaven and earth, so that it has made me thin for many years, should overcome the cruelty which has shut me out of the beautiful sheep-pen where as a lamb I slept […]; I will return a poet, and at the fount where I was baptized will take the wreath.(Par. 25.1-5, 8-9)



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(Gustav Doré, Purg. 33.127, 1868)

3. Mai non t’appresentò natura o artepiacer, quanto le belle membra in ch’iorinchiusa fui, e so’ ’n terra sparte;e se ’l sommo piacer sì ti fallioper la mia morte, qual cosa mortaledovea poi trarre te nel suo disio? [. . .] Non ti dovea gravar le penne in giùad aspettar più colpo, o pargolettao altra novità con sì breve uso.

Never did art or nature set before you beauty as great as in the lovely members that enclosed me, now scattered and reduced to dust. And if the highest beauty failed you in my death, what mortal thing shouldthen have drawn you to desire it? [. . .] You should not have allowed your wings to droop, leaving you to other darts from some young girl or other novelty of such brief use.



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(Purg. 31.49-54, 58-60)

4. Golden was the first age, a generation / that cultivatedtrust and righteousness / All on its own, without any laws, without fear / or punishment. There were no threatening rules / Stamped on bronze tablets, no crowds of plaintiffs / cowering before judges: no one needed protection. (Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.90-95).

5. Di nova pena mi conven far versie dar matera al ventesimo cantode la prima canzon, ch’è d’i sommersi.

Of strange new pain I now must make my verse, giving matter to the canto numbered twenty of this first canzone, which tells of those submerged(Inf. 20.1-3).

6. “Volgi, Beatrice, volgi li occhi santi,”era la sua canzone, “al tuo fedeleche, per vederti, ha mossi passi tanti!”

‘Turn, Beatrice, turn your holy eyes upon your faithfulone’ – thus ran their song [canzone] – ‘who, to see you, now has come so far.’(Purg. 31.133-35)

7. Ma perché piene son tutte le carteordite a questa cantica secondanon mi lascia più ir lo fren de l’arte.

But, since all the sheets readied for this second canticle [cantica] are full, the curb of art lets me



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proceed no further.(Purg. 33.136-41)

8. Nel suo profondo vidi che s’internalegato come amore in un volumeciò che per l’universo si squaderna.

In its depth I saw contained, by love into a single volume bound, the pages [lit. quires] scattered throughthe universe.(Par. 33.85-87)

9. Sanza de li occhi aver più conoscenzaper occulta virtù che da lei mosse,d’antico amor sentì la gran potenza.

Even though I could not see her with my eyes – through the hidden force that came from her I felt the overwhelming power of that ancient love.(Purg. 30.34-39).



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(Sandro Botticelli, Purg. 29, 1481)

10.Tre donne in giro da la destra rotavenian danzando.

Then came three ladies dancing in a round near the right wheel(Purg. 29.121-22).

11.Ma poi ch’i’ mi ristringo a veritateconvien che tal disio servigio conti;però che s’io procaccio di valerenon penso tanto a mia propietatequanto a colei che m’ha in sua potestateché ·l fo perché sua cosa in pregio monti;ed io son tutto suo e così mi tegno,ch’Amor di tanto onor m’ha fatto degno.

Yet since I am holding to the truth, I must reckon thisdesire as service, because even though I strive to be worthy I think less of myself than of her who has me inher power – my striving being for the greater glory of all that is hers. And hers I am entirely: so I regard myself for Love has made me worthy of such honour.(“Io sento sì d’amor la gran possanza” ll. 59-64)

12.Ché nullo amore è di cotanto pesoquanto quel che la morteface piacer per ben servire altrui.

For no love is so great as that which makes death desirable in loyal service of another.(“Io sento sì” ll. 36-38)



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(Bodleian, MS Holkham misc. 48, p.111, c. 1350-75)

13.But [Christ] emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man. Emptied himself, made himself as of no account. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death. (Phil. 2.7-8)

14.Ed io ch’ascolto nel parlar divinoconsolarsi e dolersicosì alti dispersil’essilio che m’è dato onor mi tegnoche se giudicio o forza di destinovuol pur che ‘l mondo versili bianchi fiori in persi,cader co’ buoni è pur di lode degno.

And I who listen to such noble exiles taking comfort and telling their grief in divine speech, I count as anhonour the exile imposed on me; for if judgement or force of destiny does indeed desire that the world turnthe white flowers into dark, it is still praiseworthy



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to fall with the good.(“Tre donne intorno al cor mi son venute” ll. 73-80)

15.Chi dirà di Cammillo, bandeggiato e cacciato in essilio,essere venuto a liberare Roma contra li suoi nimici, e dopo la sua liberazione spontaneamente essere ritornatoin essilio per non offendere la senatoria autoritade, sanza divina instigazione?

Who will say of Camillus that, after being banished andcast into exile, he returned to free Rome from her enemies, and that after freeing her he went back into exile of his own accord in order not to offend the authority of the Senate, without divine influence?(Convivio 4.5.15)

16.Lo corpo ond’ella fu cacciata giacegiuso in Cieldauro: ed essa da martiroe da essilio venne a questa pace.

The body from which it [the soul of Boethius] was driven out lies down there in Cieldauro, and he has risen from martyrdom and exile to this peace.(Par. 10.126-29)

17.Quel dolce pome che per tanti ramicercando va la cura de’ mortali,oggi porrà in pace le tue fami.

That sweet fruit which mortals, with great effort, seekon so many different boughs shall today give peace to all your cravings.(Purg. 27.115-17)



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18.Canzone, a’ panni tuoi non ponga uom manoper veder quel che bella donna chiude:bastin la parti nude;el dolce pome a tutta gente niega,per cui ciascun man piega.Ma s’egli avien che tu mai alcun troviamico di vertù, ed e’ ti priega,fatti di color’ novi;poi gli ti mostra.

Song, let no man touch your dress to see what a fair woman hides; let the uncovered part suffice; deny to all the sweet fruit for which all stretch out their hands. But should it ever happen that you find someone who’s a friend to virtue, and he should ask you, put onfresh colours and then show yourself to him. (“Tre donne” ll. 91-95)

19.And so they ate, and the eyes of them both were opened (Gen. 3.7) – for what, if not for lusting after each other, as a punishment for the sin, a punishment conceived by the death of the flesh itself?. . . All the same, just because one word is employed metaphorically, it does not mean that the whole passage is to be taken in a figurative sense. She [Eve] will have seen, after all, in what sense the serpent said, Your eyes shall be opened. This I mean is what the writer of the book tells us it said: but what precisely it meant to signify he allowedthe readers to decide for themselves. (Augustine, Literal Meaning of Genesis 11.31.40)

20.Perché ardire e franchezza non haiposcia che tai tre donne benedettecuran di te ne la corte del cielo,

Why are you not more spirited and sure, when three such“Exile and the Canzone in Dante’s Earthly Paradise”

Lumen Christi Institute, Univ. of Chicago, May 30, 2013.


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blessèd ladies care for you in Heaven’s court?(Inf. 2.123-25)



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Exile and the "canzone" in Dante's Earthly Paradise

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