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Cato and Elijah: A Study in Dante

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

C. H. Grandgent
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Extract

The appropriate and frequently quoted words of Orazio

Bacci, “E speriamo che anche del Catone non si ritorni a parlare troppo presto,”1 have taken their place among those maxims

Le qua' fuggendo tutto 'l mondo onora.

The copious stream of Cato literature has flowed on undiminished, and the end is apparently no nearer than before. If, then, a new recruit is to join the procession of those who seem to honor Bacci's precept more in the breach than in the observance, it behooves him to declare at the outset that he does so only because he has material to offer which he believes to be new and of a nature to expedite the ultimate solution of the problem.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , 1902 , pp. 71 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1902

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References

Note 1 in page 71 Bullettino della Società dantesca italiana, Nuova Serie ii, p. 75.

Note 2 in page 71 Purg. i, 19–111. It will be remembered that Dante and Virgil have just emerged from hell, and find themselves, at early morn, on the shore of the island of purgatory. Venus and Pisces are in the eastern sky.

Note 3 in page 71 Whether or not these four stars are the Southern Cross, they certainly represent allegorically the four cardinal virtues: justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. Compare Purg. viii, 89–93, where three stars symbolize the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity.

Note 1 in page 72 Cf. Daniel xii, 3, and Matthew xvii, 2.

Note 2 in page 72 This line shows clearly that Cato has charge of purgatory proper, as well as the shore that lies outside.

Note 3 in page 72 The epithet chiara, applied to Cato's body resurrected on the day of Judgment, is, according to A. Bartoli (Storia della lett. ital. vi, i, p. 203) and P. Cipolla (Quattro lettere intorno al Catone di Dante, in Atti del R. Istituto Veneto, Serie vii, Tomo ix, p. 1111), a reminiscence of the claritas which St. Thomas (Summa Theologia, Suppl. ii, Qu. lxxxv, Art. 1) attributes to the glorified bodies of the just.

Note 1 in page 73 Marcia, Cato's wife, is still in Limbo, the outermost circle of hell, the abode of virtuous pagans. This little episode of Marcia was perhaps introduced here to satisfy a desire lurking in Dante's mind to develop an allegory which he had outlined in Conv. iv, xxviii: according to this allegory, the return of Marcia to Cato (Lucan, Pharsalia ii, 326–348) symbolizes the return of the human soul to God. In the above lines Dante may have intended to convey the doctrine that God, since the departure of Christ from earth, has been and always will be indifferent to the fate of the damned. Cf. Luke xvi, 26. It is possible that Dante had in mind also the words of Jesus in John ii, 4.

Note 2 in page 73 Cf. Conv. iv, v, “O sacratissimo petto di Catone,” a translation of “tua pectora sancta,” Phars. ix, 561.

Note 3 in page 73 This verse proves that Cato rules over the whole of purgatory. Cf. the directions given by him in his next speech.

Note 4 in page 73 These lines, if naturally and rationally interpreted, can mean only that Cato was formerly confined in Limbo and has been subsequently rescued from it. Cipolla (Quattro lettere, etc., p. 1112) thinks that the use of the word legge was suggested by Virgil's Georgics iv, 486–487, where legem indicates Proserpine's decree given when Eurydice returned to earth.

Note 1 in page 74 It is very unusual for Dante's spirits to vanish in this fashion. The phrase should be noted.

Note 2 in page 74 Purg. ii, 118–123.

Note 3 in page 74 Purg. iii, 7–11.

Note 4 in page 74 Storia della lett. ital. vi, i, Ch. v (published in 1887).

Note 5 in page 74 Cf. A. Bartolini, Studi danteschi ii (1891); G. Crescimanno, Figure dantesche (1893); B. Bartoli, Figure dantesche (1896). In the Giornale dantesco ix, vii, 121, is to be found an interesting and ingenious (but, to me, unconvincing) article by L. Filomusi Guelfi, Il simbolo di Catone nel poema di Dante, in which a different allegorical interpretation is attempted. Cf. also G. B. Zoppi, Sul Catone dantesco (1900), discussed by M. Pelaez in the Bullettino della Società dantesca italiana viii, 75.

Note 1 in page 75 Phars. ii, 373–375.

Note 2 in page 75 Le fonti classiche e medievali del Catone dantesco, in Raccolta di studii critici dedicata ad Alessandro D'Ancona (1901), p. 97.

Note 3 in page 75 Especially De Officiis, De Senectute, De Finibus: see p. 111 of Chistoni's article.

Note 1 in page 76 Par. xx, 106 -117.

Note 2 in page 76 Par. xx, 118–129.

Note 3 in page 76 Cited by F. Cipolla, Quattro lettre, etc., pp. 1117–1120. Cipolla does not agree with Cian.

Note 4 in page 76 Exodus xx, 13.

Note 5 in page 76 De Civitate Dei i, xxiii, and ix, iv, 4.

Note 6 in page 76 De Civitate Dei i, xix.

Note 7 in page 76 Divinæ Institutiones iii (De falsa sapientia philosophorum), xviii.

Note 8 in page 76 2 Macc. xiv, 37–46.

Note 9 in page 76 Epistolæ, Classis iii, Epistola cciv, 6–8.

Note 1 in page 77 Commentaria in Libros Machabaorum ii, xiv.

Note 2 in page 77 Summa Theologia, Secunda Secundæ, Qu. lxiv, Art. 5.

Note 3 in page 77 Commentaria in Amos Prophetam ii, v, Vers. 18–20.

Note 4 in page 77 In an article in the Bullettino della Soeietà dantesca italiana viii, 1, M. Scherillo notes that Dido, Lucretia, Empedocles, Cleopatra, Lucan, and Seneca are not treated by Dante as suicides, and concludes that the poet regarded self-slaughter as less culpable for a pagan than for a Christian. This opinion is contrary to the views expressed by St. Augustine and Lactantius. Moreover, Dido and Cleopatra are punished in the place befitting their most conspicuous and characteristic fault; Lucretia can be accounted for, as will presently be shown; as to the other three, Dante may have forgotten the manner of their death.

Note 5 in page 77 In an excellent Brace trattato del paradiso di Dante (Giorn. dant. ix, viii, 149) G. Federzoni maintains that the vestibule of heaven consists of the spheres of the moon, Mercury, and Venus. But as these spheres form an integral part of paradise, and are not separated from the rest as the Antinferno and Antipurgatorio are divided from hell and purgatory, the terrestrial paradise would seem to correspond more closely to the other vestibules. Just as the desire to reform is the necessary prelude to purgation, so the life of innocent activity is the natural predecessor of religious contemplation.

Note 1 in page 78 See A. Graf, La leggenda del Paradiso terrestre (1878); Il mito del Paradiso terrestre in Miti, leggende e superstizioni del media evo (1892), i. Also E. Coli, Il Paradiso terrestre dantesco (1897).

Note 2 in page 78 Coli, Par. terr. dant., p. 46.

Note 3 in page 78 C. Schröder, Sanct Brandan (1871), p. 35.

Note 4 in page 78 Graf, Mito, pp. 21–22.

Note 5 in page 78 Coli, Par. terr. dant., pp. 144–145.

Note 6 in page 78 Graf, Mito, pp. 18–19.

Note 1 in page 79 H. Brandes, Visio S. Pavli (1885), p. 18.

Note 2 in page 79 D'Ancona e Bacci, Manuale della lett. ital. i, p. 562.

Note 3 in page 79 F. Novati, La ‘Navigatio S. Brendani’ in antico veneziano (1892), Ch. xxxviii.

Note 4 in page 79 Gen. v, 24: “Ambulavitqne cum Deo, et non apparuit: quia tulit eum Deus.”

Note 5 in page 79 2 Kings ii, 11: “Ecce currus igneus, et equi ignei diviserunt utrumque: et ascendit Elias per turbinem in cælum.”

Note 6 in page 79 Rev. xi, 3–12.

Note 7 in page 79 Mat. xvii, 3; Luke ix, 30.

Note 8 in page 79 Epistolæ, Cl. iii, Ep. cxciii, Cap. iii, 5.

Note 1 in page 80 In Joannis Evangelium Tractatus iv, Cap. i, 5.

Note 2 in page 80 De Civitate Dei xx, xxix.

Note 3 in page 80 Contra Julianum vi, xxxix.

Note 4 in page 80 Inf. xxvi, 34–39.

Note 5 in page 80 Par. xxv, 127–128.

Note 1 in page 81 De Genesi ad Litteram ix, vi, 11.

Note 2 in page 81 The author goes on to say that if man had not sinned, he never would have suffered death, but would have been regularly transferred, like Enoch and Elijah, after life to a better state.

Note 1 in page 82 See C. Schröder, Sanct Brandan (1871) for the Latin text; F. Novati, La ‘Navigatio S. Brendani’ in antico veneziano (1892) for a 13th century Italian version. This Venetian work contains considerable amplifications.

Note 2 in page 82 Schroder, p. 12: “Penas non sustinemus. Hic presentiam Dei non possumus videre.”

Note 3 in page 82 Schröder, p. 7.

Note 4 in page 82 Schröder, p. 4.

Note 5 in page 82 Novati, Ch. xxxiv. Cf. Purg. xii, 67–69.

Note 6 in page 82 Schröder, p. 35.

Note 7 in page 82 Novati, Ch. xxxi and xxxvii.

Note 1 in page 83 Schröder, p. 35.

Note 2 in page 83 Novati, Ch. xlii.

Note 3 in page 83 Cf. Purg. i, 37–39.

Note 4 in page 83 Schröder, p. 4.

Note 5 in page 83 Purg. i, 109.

Note 6 in page 83 Schröder, p. 34.

Note 7 in page 83 Aen. viii, 670.

Note 1 in page 84 Cato da Jüngere bei Dante, in Jahrbuch der deutschen Dante-Gesellchaft ii, pp. 227–229.

Note 2 in page 84 Wolff, pp. 230–231.

Note 3 in page 84 Wolff, p. 230. See Trésor viii, 34, and viii, 45, 54, 66.

Note 4 in page 84 Conv. iv, v, lines (Oxford Dante) 140 ff.; vi, 95–96; xxvii, 31–33; xxviii, 97 ff. De Mon. ii, v.

Note 5 in page 84 Conv. iv, xxviii.

Note 6 in page 84 Conv. iv, vi.

Note 7 in page 84 Psalm cxiii, 1 (Vulgate).

Note 1 in page 85 Letter to Can Grande vii.

Note 2 in page 85 De Man. ii, v.

Note 3 in page 85 Conv. iv, xxvii.

Note 4 in page 85 See Appendix at the end of this article.

Note 5 in page 85 Cf. Vita Nuova, Ch. xiii, lines 13–14 (Witte); Ch. xxiv, lines 19–30.

Note 6 in page 85 Acts v, 35.

Note 1 in page 86 Quoted by A. F. Ozanam, le Purgatoire de Dante (1862), p. 42. Cf. A. Bartoli, Storia della lett. ital. vi, i, 205.

Note 2 in page 86 Apologeticus adversus gentes xxxix.

Note 3 in page 86 De Fide et Operibus vii, 10.

Note 4 in page 86 Epistolæ, Cl. ii, Ep. xci, 4.

Note 5 in page 86 De Civitate Dei v, xii.

Note 6 in page 86 Apologeticus adversus gentes xi. Cf. Conv. iv, xxviii: “E quale uomo terreno più degno fu di significare Iddio, che Catone ?”

Note 7 in page 86 De Mon. ii, v, end.

Note 8 in page 86 De Officiis i, xxxi.

Note 1 in page 87 De Civitate Dei i, xxi.

Note 2 in page 87 De Civitate, Dei i, xxvi.

Note 3 in page 87 Inf. iv, 128.

Note 4 in page 87 Commentaria in Libros Machabæorum ii, xix.

Note 5 in page 87 Sic et Non clv.

Note 6 in page 87 Sum. Theol., Secunda Secundæ, Qu. lxiv, Art. 5.

Note 7 in page 87 See, for instance, St. Augustine: Quæstiones in Heptateuchum iii, lvi; De Civitate Dei i, xxi; Contra Gaudentium i, xxxi, 39.

Note 8 in page 87 Conv. iv, v, lines 118–122 (Oxford Dante).

Note 9 in page 87 Judges xvi, 29–30.

Note 1 in page 88 Judges xiii, 3.

Note 2 in page 88 Sum. Theol., Sec. Sec., Qu. lxiv, Art. 5.

Note 3 in page 88 Hebrews xi, 32–33.

Note 4 in page 88 Commentaria in Librum Judicum i, xx.

Note 5 in page 88 De Civitate Dei i, xxi.

Note 6 in page 88 Sic et Non clv.

Note 7 in page 88 Cf. Cicero, De Senectute xx, 73: “Vetatque Pythagoras injussu imperatoris, id est dei, de præsidio et statione vitæ decedere.”

Note 8 in page 88 Sum. Theol., Sec. Sec., Qu. lxiv.

Note 9 in page 88 Conv. iv, v, lines 140 ff. (Oxford Dante).

Note 10 in page 88 Aen. vi, 434 ff.

Note 1 in page 89 Phars. ix, 554–558.

Note 2 in page 89 Phars. ix, 564.

Note 3 in page 89 Paragraph 4.

Note 1 in page 90 John ii, 19–21.

Note 2 in page 90 In Joannis Evangelium, Tractatus ix, xiv; x, xii.

Note 3 in page 90 Enarratio in Psalmum XCV, 15.

Note 4 in page 90 Gen. ix, 19.

Note 5 in page 90 Mark xiii, 27.

Note 6 in page 90 In S. Joannis Evangelium Expositio ii, Vers. 20.

Note 7 in page 90 Commentaria in Joannem ii, iv, Vers. 20.