The evening of Good Friday. Dante, Convito III. 2, says:
"Man is called by philosophers the divine animal." Chaucer's Assemble of Foules: --
The daie gan failen, and the darke night
That reveth bestes from hir businesse
Berafte me by boke for lacke of light."
Mr. Ruskin, Modern Painters, III. 240, speaking of Dante's use of the word "bruno," says: --
"In describing a simple twilight -- not a Hades twilight,
but an ordinarily fair evening `brown' air took the animals
away from their fatigues; -- the waves under Charon's boat
are `brown' (Inf. iii. 117); and Lethe, which is perfectly
clear and yet dark, as with oblivion, is `bruna-bruna',
`brown, exceeding brown.' Now, clearly in all these cases
no warmth is meant to be mingled in the color. Dante had
never seen one of our bog-streams, with its porter-colored
foam; and there can be no doubt that, in calling Lethe
brown, he means tht it was dark slategray, inclining to
black; as, for instance, our clear Cumberland lakes, which,
looked straight down upon where they are deep, seem to be
lakes of ink. I am sure this is the color he means; because
no clear stream or lake on the Continent ever looks brown,
but blue or green, and Dante, by merely taking away the
pleasant color, would get at once to this idea of grave
clear gray. So, when he was talking of twilight, his eye
for color was far too good to let him call it brown in our
sense. Twilight is not brown, but purple, golden, or dark
gray; and this last was what Dante meant. Farther, I find
that this negation color is always the means by which Dante
subdues his tones. Thus the fatal inscription on the Hades
gate is written in `obscure color', and the air which
torments the passionate spirts is `aer nero', black air
(Inf. v. 51), called presently afterwards (line 81)
malignant air, just as the gray cliffs are called malignant cliffs."
Aeneas, founder of the Roman Empire. Virgil, Aeneid, B. VI.
"That is," says Boccaccio, Comento, "St. Peter the Apostle, called the greater on account of his papal dignity, and to distinguish him from many other holy men of the same name."
St. Paul. Acts, ix. 15: "He is a chosen vessel unto me." Also, 2 Corinthians, xii. 3, 4: "And I knew such a man, whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth; how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."
Shakespear, Macbeth, IV. i:
"The flighty purpose never is o'ertook,
Unless the deed go with it."
Suspended in Limbo; neither in pain nor in glory.
Brighter than the star; than "that star which is brightest," comments Boccaccio. Others say the Sun, and refer to Dante's Canzone, beginning:
"The star of beauty which doth measure time,
The lady seems, who has enamored me,
Placed in the heaven of Love."
Shakespeare, King Lear, V. 3: --
"Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle, and low; an excellent thing in woman."
This passage will recall Minerva transmitting the message of Juno to Achilles, Iliad, II.: "Go thou forthwith to the army of the Ach@@aeans, and hesitate not, but restrain each man with thy persuasive words, nor suffer them to drag to the sea their double-oared ships."
Beatrice Portinari, Dante's first love, the inspiration of his song and in his mind the symbol of the Divine. He says of her in the Vita Nuova: --
"This most gentle lady, of whom there has been discourse in what precedes, reached such favour among the people, that when she passed along the way persons ran to see her, which gave me wonderful delight. And when she was near any one, such modesty took possession of his heart, that he did not dare to raise his eyes or to return her salutation; and to this, should any one doubt it, many, as having experienced it, could bear witness for me. She, crowned and clothed with humility, took her way, displaying no pride in that which she saw and heard. Many, when she had passed said, `This is not a woman, rather is she one of the most beautiful angels of heaven.' Others said, `She is a miracle. Blessed be the Lord who can perform such a marvel.' I say, that she showed herself so gentle and so full of all beauties, that those who looked on her felt within themselves a pure and sweet delight, such as they could not tell in words." -- C.E. Norton, The New Life, 51, 52.
The heaven of the moon, which contains or encircles the earth.
The ampler circles of Paradise.
Divine Mercy.
St Lucia, emblem of enlightening Grace.
Rachel, emblem of Divine Contemplation. See Par. XXXII. 9.
Beside that flood, where ocean has no vaunt; "That is," says Boccacio, Comento, "the sea cannot boast of being more impetuous or more dangerous than that."
This simile has been imitated by Chaucer, Spenser, and many more. Jeremy Taylor says: --
"So have I seen the sun kiss the frozen earth, which was bound up with the images of death, and the colder breath of the north; and then the waters break from their enclosures, and melt with joy, and run in useful channels; and the flies do rise again from their little graves in walls, and dance awhile in the air, to tell that there is joy within, and that the great mother of creatures will open the stock of her new refreshment, become useful to mankind, and sing praises to her Redeemer."
Rossetti, Spirito Antipapale del Secolo di Dante, translated by Miss Ward, II. 216, makes this political application of the lines: "The Florentines, called Sons of Flora, are compared to flowers; and Dante calls the two parties who divided the city white and black flowers, and himself white-flower, -- the name by which he was called by many. Now he makes use of a very abstruse comparison, to express how he became, from a Guelph of Black, a Ghibelline or White. He describes himself as a flower, first bent and closed by the night frosts, and then blanched or whitened by the sun (the symbol of reason), which opens its leaves; and what produces the effect of the sun on him is a speech of Virgil's, persuading him to follow his guidance."