SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES. P. 124 (to add to No. 33). This distinction between aer and aether is repeated by St. Augustine, e.g. De Civ. Dei, VIII. xxi. : . . . quod scilicet deos aetherios humana curantes quid terrestres homines agerent utique lateret, nisi daemones aerii nuntiarent; quoniam aether longe a terra est alteque suspensus, aer vero aetheri terraeque contiguus.' And again, ib. IV. x., 'Quia Iovem, inquiunt, in aethere accipimus, in acre Iunonem.' Another passage, more closely resembling that quoted I. c. from the Quaestio, occurs in the Imperf. Lib. de Genesi, § 14, 'Aer quidem mobilior est quam aqua; aether autem mobilior ipso aere non absurde creditur.' Also in the curious Book of the Secrets of Enoch' (lately published by Messrs. Morfill and Charles), p. 4, we read that Enoch in his ascent was first placed on the clouds, then going higher he saw the air, and going still higher he saw the aether, and so arrived at the first heaven. P. 134, Insert (45 a). Purg. v. 115-118. Indi la valle, come il dì fu spento, 6 Da Pratomagno al gran giogo coperse The passages quoted under Aristotle, Nos. 39, 40, 43, 44, 45, from the Meteorologica (besides others that might be added), throw light upon a question of interpretation in the above passage, and, as I think, determine the right meaning to be assigned to intento. Some old commentators paraphrase it by 'disposto.' Others, who are followed by most modern commentators and translators, consider it as equiva ww lent to overcast.' (Compare 'obtenta densantur nocte tenebrae,' Virg. Geor. i. 248.) The true meaning, as suggested by the Aristotelian theory (for which see references, supra), is that the demon produced such tension in the clouds of the cold upper regions of the air that they burst into torrents of rain. (Note the expression 'pregno aere' in 1. 118.) It will be remembered that Aristotle regarded wind, meteors, lightning and rain as all due to the same cause, viz. the extrusion of the contents of clouds when the tension or density produced by cold became too great for them to be held by the clouds, or in the form of vapour. Compare here Purg. xxxii. 109-111; and Par. xxiii. 40-42. One passage in particular from Aristotle, Meteorologica, may be added to those above mentioned, viz. II. iv. (360 b. 32 to 361 a. 3). After stating that the escape of heat into the upper region of the air, and the consequent increase of cold in the clouds, condenses their vapour into water, Aristotle proceeds—κal ὅταν εἰς ταὐτὸν συνωσθῶσι τὰ νέφη καὶ ἀντιπεριστῆ εἰς αὐτὰ ἡ ψύξις, ὕδωρ γίγνεται. The two graphic verbs here employed illustrate the 'tension' or 'constraint' implied by Dante's word intento. It was, moreover, a common and familiar notion that fine weather occurred when the atmosphere was, so to speak, 'at ease,' without any irregular pressure or constraint anywhere; e. g. St. Augustine, de Gen. ad literam, III. § 14, aer contractus nubila, conspissatus pluviam . . . distentus serenum.' [Note that he is speaking of the aer as occupied and indeed 'administered' by the fallen angels.] Compare also, Hor. Epod. xiii. 1: 'Horrida tempestas caelumn contraxit1;' and contrast with this Lucr. i. 9: 'Placatumque nitet diffuso lumine caelum.' Again, Virgil describing the alternations of bad and good weather says:— Juppiter uvidus Austris Densat, erant quae rara modo, et quae densa relaxat. (Georg. i. 418, 9.) I think then that this is a case in which the classical authorities of Dante help us in the matter of interpretation; 1 I believe other explanations of this word are given. and I should have introduced it among the passages of Aristotle cited above, had I noticed it in time. P. 217, Insert (12 a). The Spear of Achilles. Inf. xxxi. 4-6. Così od' io che soleva la lancia D' Achille e del suo padre esser cagione A question has been raised as to the source of Dante's statement that the spear possessing the power to heal as well as to wound belonged to the father of Achilles in the first instance. This appears, it is true, in Homer', but not, as far as I can ascertain, in any Latin authority, such as Dante can have had access to, e. g. Virgil, Ovid, the notes of Servius, or the Trojan history of Dictys and Dares, &c. There may have been, doubtless, other channels through which the Homeric tradition may have flowed. But as Dante seems to have had in his mind here a passage in Ovid, Rem. Amor. ll. 47, 48 : Vulnus in Herculeo quae quondam fecerat hoste, I think it is at least possible that he may have misunderstood, or perhaps imperfectly recollected, the expression 'Pelias hasta' which occurs here, and also elsewhere in Ovid. The following points may be noted: (1) This passage of the Rem. Amor. is not unlikely to have been known to Dante, since he quotes 1. 2 of the same book in Vita Nuova, § 25. (2) These lines are in fact quoted in illustration of this passage of Dante in the commentary of Pietro. (3) The allusion in Metam. xiii. 171, 2 to this same legend is much less direct, and could hardly have suggested such language as― Così od' io che soleva la lancia, &c., as the lines quoted from Rem. Amor. might well have done. 1 Πηλιάδα μελίην, τὴν πατρὶ φίλῳ πόρε Χείρων Πηλίου ἐκ κορυφῆς, φόνον ἔμμεναι ἡρώεσσιν. Il. xvi. 1434. 2 It is indeed curiously indirect. to discover that in the lines One has to read a large amount of context Ego Telephon hasta Pugnantem domui: victum orantemque refeci (4) Dante expressly mentions that Peleus was the father of Achilles in Conv. IV. xxvii. fin. I have suggested a possible misunderstanding by Dante of the authorities quoted in some other cases, e. g. supra, pp. 186, 7. Mr. W. P. Ker has kindly sent me the following interesting extract from Bernard de Ventadour (twelfth century), which shows that somehow the association of Peleus with the spear of Achilles was known in the Middle Ages: Ja sa bella boca rizens No cugei baizan me trays, Mas ab un dous baizar m'aucis ; Que de son colp non podi' hom guerir Si per eys loc no s'en fezes ferir1. I did not think her smiling mouth would betray me in a kiss, but with a sweet kiss she slew me; and if with another (kiss) she be not my surety, it is with me after the likeness of the spear of Peleus; for of its stroke might no man recover, unless he caused himself to be struck by it in the same place. P. 228 (to add to note 1). I am indebted to Mr. Paget Toynbee for the following illustrations in addition to those given supra, p. 228, on the mediaeval conception of Lucan as a historian rather than a poet. Chaucer couples Lucan with Suetonius and Valerius Maximus, Monke's Tale, 729, 30; and in the House of Fame (iii. 407 seqq.) places him among Alle these clerkes That writen of Romes mighty werkes 2. the speaker is Ulysses, who, in order to obtain the arms of Achilles, claims the credit of this and other achievements of Achilles, on the ground that it was he who discovered Achilles when disguised, and was the means of his coming to Troy at all. See the preceding words: 'Ergo opera illius mea sunt!' There is one more allusion in Ovid, but also a very indirect one, 'opusque meae bis sensit Telephus hastae,' in Met. xii. 112. 1 Raynouard. Poésies des Troubadours, iii. p. 43. 2 Chaucer's list here (ll. 339 seqq.) is a curious one, and may be compared with that given supra, p. 6 n. It is -1. Josephus; 2. Statius ('The Tholosan There is also a long French metrical poem, the Roman de Jules César, by Jacot de Forest (latter half of thirteenth century), which is largely based upon the Pharsalia: one of the rubrics is-Ci commence l'istoire après Lucain.' Also a MS. of a Roman History in the Bibl. Nat. at Paris is entitled 'Li fés (=faits) des Romains compilés ensemble de Saluste, de Suétone, et de Lucan.' The following illustrations (also communicated by Mr. Toynbee) will speak for themselves without further comment in connexion with the references given. PP. 173-175 (The fable of Manto). 'Manto Tiresiae filia post interitum Thebanorum dicitur delata in Italiam Mantuam condidisse.' (Isidore, Origines, xv. i. 59.) P. 232. Compare with Conv. IV. xxviii. ll. 121 seqq. (quoted supra, p. 232 med.) the following from Seneca, Controv., Lib. I (sub init.): Et quem tandem antistitem sanctiorem invenire sibi divinitas potuit, quam Catonem, per quem humano generi non praeciperet sed convicium faceret1?' P. 256. The line from Juvenal, Nobilitas [animi] sola est et unica virtus, is quoted in this form in the Moralium Dogma attributed to Gautier de Lille, a work of which Brunetto Latini made use. that highte Stace.' Comp. with this, Purg. xxi. 89); 3. Homer, and other writers about Troy; 4. Virgil; 5. Ovid (Venus' clerk'; 6. Lucan, &c. (as supra); 7. Claudian. iii. p. 66, Ed. Elzevir, 1672. |