Dante and Giovanni Del Virgilio Author:Dante Alighieri Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: I. Giovanni del Virgilio Argument.—Honour to Dante's attempt to sweeten the bitter waters of Italian life by his sacred song of the Three Realms (1-5), but wh... more »y persist in turning away from students and addressing the common herd, incapable of understanding such themes but capable of vulgarising them? (6-13). To plead that his poem is in truth addressed to students is to stand self-condemned for writing it in the vernacular, in which there are no fixed literary forms, and which none of the great poets has ever employed (14-20). Instead of addressing a thankless public and insulting the Muses to boot, let him enshrine in cUoH,i.?. Pieridum vox alma, no vis qui cantibus orbem mulces letifluum, vitali tollere ramo dum cupis evolvens triplicis confinia sortie indita pro meritis animarum, sontibus Orcum, astripetis Lethen, epiphoebia regna beatis; [5] tanta quid beu semper jactabis seria vulgo, et nos pallentes nihil ex te vate legemus ? Ante quidem cythara pandum delphina movebis, Davus et ambiguse Sphingos problemata solvet, Tartareum praeceps quam gens idiota figuret [i0] et secreta poli vix exspherata Platoni: quae tamen in triviis nunquam digesta coaxat comicomus nebulo qui Flaccum pelleret orbe. Non loquor his, immo studio callentibus,' inquis. Carmine sed laico! clerus vulgaria temnit [15] etsi non varient, quum sint idiomata mille; N.B.—The critical notes only mention readings that depart from the text adopted. MSS. not mentioned present the reading of the text. Thus, for example, in i. 4, M,rr. read indita, and in iii. 89, B read portabor. to Dante Alighieri verse some one or all of the great events that are even now occurring, in a tongue that will spread his fame over all the world (21-34) ; in earnest of which he, Giovanni, prays to be privil...« less