Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/587

 10* s. in. JUNE 24, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

48$

2. Ibid., 29:

Chinando la mano alia sua faccia. The heat generated by this unfortunate line circles round the second and third words. Did the autograph or original MS. bear "la mano " or ''la raia " meaning "la mia faccia : ' ? As we had neither the privilege of overlooking the poet when writing, nor that of inspecting the said MS., a dogmatic yea or nay on this score would be an arro- gant assumption. Failing these (would-be) authoritative verifications, we turn for light, on the one hand, to the earliest available transcriptions of the line and received printed texts, and, on the other, to the internal evidence of the context itself.

The three earliest MSS. favouring " la mia" are those known as D, I, M, the first and third of which are ascribed by Dr. Moore to the early fifteenth century (and by Mor- tara to the fourteenth), and the second to the late fifteenth. All three are in the Bodleian, and constitute a respectable, if not an indis- putable authority. This manuscript support may be, and is, very slender, but it provides one at least with an almost certainly true reading. So eminent an authority as Dr. Moore goes so far with me as to admit, while curiously adopting Witte's text with " la mano," that, in spite of the ill-mannered savagery of Scartazzini's note, there is very much to be said for the reading "chinando la mia alia sua faccia," and for the following reasons :

"(1) Is not chinare la mano a very strange ex- pression, whereas we have quite naturally chinare with faccia, just as we have it again in 'Purg.,' xi. 73, and as \ve also have it with fronte in ' Purg.,' iii. 44: with mo in 'Inf.,' v. 110; and with te-fta in 'Inf.,' vi. 92? We might add also with occhio and ciglia in ' Purg.,' ii. 40 and vii. 13. (2) What would be the meaning here of such an action as 'chinare la niatio alia sua faccia'? The same action as applied to faccia is exactly what is described in 1. 44 just below, and is consistent with lines 17, c., and 26, immediately before. Among the old com- mentators only Buti and Barg. adopt the reading here advocated. Lan., Bocc., Veil., and Dan. have la mano, the first two without explanation. Lan. says ' fece schermo all' anima per meglio vederla colla mano,' which can hardly be the meaning of 'chinando la mano alia sua faccia.' It would rather have implied sua faccia, and would be an action due to excessive light, of which, there is no evidence. Dan. says it was an act of extreme intimacy and familiarity. Ott., Anon., Fior., and Land, pass by the passage in silence. Castelvetro, following the corrupt Aldine text, has 'alia mia faccia,' but corrects it in his Commentary to yua, and explains that Dante 'si china ver lui con le

mani [but the text has la mano] per careggiarlo

e quasi abbracciarlo,' &c."

I turn no\v to the readings of the printed texts, in addition to Dr. Moore's list. Scartaz-

zini's and Witte's have " la mano," those of Bianchi and Lombardi " la raia." Both these- latter leave the line unannotated, but the- latter's "Nuovo Editore" has the followin^ note :

" Ci riputiamo fortunati di aver rinvenuto nel Cod. Caet. la be la vanente di mla in vece di mano- che lesse il I Lombardi insiem cogli altri. L' atto di chinar la faccia puo sembrar pin giusto dell' altro dl chinar la mano, a chi reflette che attesa 1' osctt- nta, Uante dall alto del margine dove abbassarsi alquanto per meglio ficcar gli occhi per fo cottc. aspetto del Maestro Ser Brunette in atto di nconoscerlo. E chinando la mano alia mia faccia, Cod. \ at. con variante che puo questionarsi."

But of more interest than any of the above are the readings of the " prime quattro- edizioni," thus :

Et chinando lamano ala sua faccia (Foligno). e chinando la mano alia sua faccia (Mantua). & chinando la mano ala sua facia (Jesi). & chinando lamano ala sua faccia (Napoli).

The antiquity of these readings is as vener- able as the spelling is curious and varied, and) the odd conjunction of "lamano" in the first and fourth will be noted. The above read- ings I obtained from the John Rylands Library in this city, in which I also, through the kindness of Mr. H. Guppy, inspected an. early fifteenth-century MS. of the 'D. C.' in- which the line is transcribed as

Et chinando la mano ala sua faccia. The "ala" links it with the Foligni, Jesi, and .Napoli orthography.

A passing collation of some of our ver- nacular versions will show the bias of their authors.

Gary renders the line :

And towards his face My hand inclining.

Plumptre :

And bending down my hand toward his face.. Tomlinson :

And lowering my hand upon his face. Ford :

Bending my face to his. Longfellow :

And bowing down my face unto his own. E. Lee- Hamilton :

And bending down my face to his. Longfellow's preference is stated thus :

"The reading la mia seems preferable to la manot. and is justified by line 45."

Lee-Hamilton also :

"Of the two readings faccia and mano. I follow the first.

Finally, as to presumptive evidence from, the context itself, "there is," to repeat Dr. Moore's words, " very much to be said for the-