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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. x. OCT. 17, im

as a beast which requires to be checked by a halter Dante in any case may be referring to it here as symbolizing asceticism. But when Virgil uses this cord as a signal to summon Geryon, who is the per Bonification of fraud, a different form of symbolisn is introduced. Here it seems to be the emblem o: truth or righteousness, in accordance with such Scriptural expressions as 'having your loins gir* About with truth,' Eph. vi. 14 ; righteousness shal be the girdle of his ' loins,' Is. xi. 5 ; and it is usec here, because it is by truth that fraud is forced to come to the light and show itself."

D. Scartazzini's impression is :

" Gli antichi, Bamb., Land., Ott., An., Fior., An. Sal., Petr., D., Post, Cass., Benv., Dan., &c., Accusano a questo luogo Dante di frode usata verso le donne, di cui vogliono che la frode sia simbolo. Per il piu dei moderni la corda simboleggia una

.qualche virtu che Dante but to via ! Se la lonza

ngura la lussuria, il senso sara : Vestendo 1' abito di .S. Francesco mi lusingai di poter vincere le tenta- ziorii dolla carne. Se ppi la lonza e, come nella Bibbia.* il simbolo dell' incredulita, il poeta vorra dire : Credetti di farmi credente, facendomi Fran- cescario."

E. Lombard! rejects the hypocrisy and fraud theories, and interprets the allusion thus :

" Questo pare a me, ch' esser debba 1' interidi- mento del poeta : ch' egli cioe per cingersi del Francescario cordone, pensasse alcuna volta (ch' e mianto a dire una volta] di prendere, cioe di frenare di sensuale appetite, gia di sopra per la lonza indi- cato ; e che il cordone medesimo portando egli tuttavia, come terziario dell' Ordine stesso, facessolo quiyi servire ad ingannare e far venir sopra Gerione."

Thus and thus do the commentators use the hapless lonza as a shuttlecock which they battledore one to the other, some, as Scartaz- "zini reminds us, making it the symbol of its unfortunate creator's various misdemeanours, whilst others regard it as that of certain virtues which he had once possessed ! Yet, after all, where the key to a mystery is itself mysterious, it is inevitable that there should be differences of opinion. Lonza is the key to corda, as it in turn is to lonza. But who is sufficient to use the keys aright ? All attempts to do so must necessarily remain .attempts, and nothing more. Says Scartaz- zini at ' Inf.' i. 31-60 :

" Queste tre fiere sorio evidentemente tolte da Gerem. v. 6. Indubbio e pure che esse hannp qui un senso allegorico. Ma 1' allegoria delle tre fieri e uno dei punti piu difficili'e controversi del poema."

Precisely. The allegory here, at the very outset of the * Commedia,' is about as difficult of penetration as is any other part where so much is allegorical. But let a sweet reason- ableness, and not dogmatism, guide investiga-

.stands for the stealth of divine judgments.
 * Not assuredly in Jer. v. 6, where the leopard

tion. It is surely possible to view the lonza (panther or leopard ?) through variously coloured lenses, and yet restrain self-assert- iveness. Where so much is doubtful, there should be more liberty of view. For the question may extend to political as well as to ethical symbolism. Thus, as Dean Plumptre observes,

''possibly, as a whole school of commentators (Foscolo, Rossetti, and others) have suggested, there may be an underlying political symbolism as well, and the three hearts may stand for Florence, France, arid the Papal Curia respectively, as typical representatives of those vices. What Dante calls ('Ep. to Can Grande') the nature of his poems, as ' manifold in meaning,' makes a double interpreta- tion probable, and it is perhaps in favour of this view that Jerome ('Comm. in Jer.,' v. 6), while accepting the moral allegory, suggests also that the lion is the symbol of the Babylonian monarchy, the wolf of the Medo-Persian, and the leopard or that of Alexander the Great ; the spots of the leopard's skin representing the mingled population of the Macedonian monarchy, as to the interpreters above- named they represent the factions that destroyed the peace of Florence."

The Conte Giovanni Marchetti, in his ' Discorso della prima e principale Allegoria del Poema di Dante,' also sees a similar political symbolism in the three beasts, with the exception that to him the wolf typifies rather " la podesta secolare di Roma " than the Roman Court or Curia. Gary thinks it " far from improbable that our author might have had a second allegory of this sort in his view " ; whilst Mr. Tozer is certain that " the primary allegorical meaning of these is three forms of temptation lust, pride, and avarice which present themselves to the converted soul on its upward course," and that " the lonza is thus interpreted in ' Inf.' xvi. 108." Unfortunately, I discover no such interpretation there, for Geryon repre- sents, or is, the " image vile of fraud," not of sensuality, and the cord then becomes, according to some, the symbol of hypocrisy, or, according to others, of truth. But in reality the lonza may primarily stand for any vice, from hypocrisy to unbelief, with the cord for their opposite virtues ; and second- arily may symbolize, politically and ethically, ungrateful and sensuous Florence, as the ion of Jeremiah is held to body forth Babylon and uncleanness. Would the cord hen signify yearning and purity combined ? 3n this supposition Florence and lust would 3e synonymous, and the lonza be emblematic of both. Where so much is uncertain it is ^orse than waste of time to dogmatize ; r et critics will continue to theorize until the nigma be solved for them by Dante himself.

J. B. McGovEBN. St. Stephen's Rectory, C.-on-M., Manchester.