El Prólogo de la Divina Comedia. 1926.pdf

8/13/2019 El Prlogo de la Divina Comedia. 1926.pdf

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The Prologue of the Divine Comedy

Author(s): Ernest H. WilkinsSource: Annual Reports of the Dante Society, No. 42-44 (1926), pp. 1-7Published by: Dante Society of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40166025.

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THE PROLOGUEOF THE DIVINE COMEDYIn three of the writingsof Dante he gives us formalcommentupon poetic compositionsof his own, and in each case the frame-work of the comment is built up by the critical processwhich

Dante calls"division"- that is, by the analysisof theworkunderconsiderationaccording o its content.In the Vitantcova he poemsare in generalprecededorfollowedby a more or lessdetailedanalysis. The analysisof the firstsonnetshows the processin its simplestformQuesto sonetto si divide in due parti; che ne la prima partesaluto e domando risponsione, ne la seconda significo a che sidee rispondere. La seconda parte comincia quivi: Gi eran.1

The same plan is followed in the Convivioon a much largerscale. Each typical book, openingwith a long canzone,consistschieflyof a lengthy prose commentaryon that canzone;and theframeworkof the commentary s built up by this sameprocessofdivision.The same plan is followedalso in the dedicatoryletter of theParadiso,addressed o Can Grande. This letter contains the be-ginning of a commentaryon the Paradiso. After a generaldis-cussionof the subject,protagonist, orm,purpose, itle, andclassi-fication of the work,Dante proceedsas follows:

Dividitur ergo ista pars, seu tertia cantica que Paradisusdicitur, principaliter in duas partes, scilicet in prologum etpartem executivam. Pars secunda.incipit ibi: 'Surgit mortali-bus per diversas fauces.' 2These last five wordsareDante's own Latin translationof line

37 of the firstcanto of the Paradiso. The secondor "executive"part, beginningwith this line, extends to the end of the poem.1 I quote from Le opere di Dante, testo critico della Societ Dantesca Italiana,Florence, 1921.* Ed. cit.t p. 441. 1

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2 THE PROLOGUE OF THE DIVINE COMEDYIn the next paragraphof the letter to Can Grande,Dantepoints out that a poetic prologue necessarilycontains two ele-ments: a statement of content and an invocation:

Rethores enim concessereprelibaredicenda ut animumcorn-parent auditoris; sed poete non solum hoc faciunt, quin ymopost hec invocationem quandam emittunt. Et hoc est eis con-veniens, quia multa invocationeopus est eis, cum aliquidcontracomunem modum hominum a superioribussubstantiis peten-dum est, quasi divinum quoddam munus.Upon this basis he subdivides his prologue:

Ergo presens prologus dividitur in partes duas, quia inprima premittitur quid dicendum sit, in secunda invocatoApollo; et incipit secunda pars ibi: '0 bone Apollo, ad ultimumlaborem.'He later subdividesthe second of these two subdivisions ntotwo parts, the firstof whichhe further subdivides nto two parts.It is to be noted that throughoutDante's criticalpracticesuchdivision is determinedby content alone, and may be quite inde-pendentof the divisionin metrical form. Thus the secondmajordivision of the Paradisobegins at a formallyinsignificantpointwithin the first canto. The divisionsof the regularsonnetsin theVita nuovashow the same concern for content rather than formetrical form. In the course of the little book Dante dividesseventeen such sonnets. The first is divided into two parts, ofwhich the first contains four lines, and the secondten. It may

thereforebe said to be dividedin theiorm 4 + 10. The othersix-teen sonnets, taken in order,are divided in the followingforms:2+6 + 6; 8 + 2+4; 1 +5 + 2+6; 2 + 1254 + 4 + 3+3;8 + 6; 7 + 1+6; 8 + 6; 4 + 4 + 3 +3; 4 + 2+ 8; 2 +2 +10; 2 + 12; 4 + 4 + 6; 13 + 1; 4 + 4 + 6; 2 + 2+4 + 4 + 2.Dante's division,then, is not a superficiala prioriprocess; t isa searchingobjectiveanalysisof poeticresults. It is, furthermore,soundin principleand often very helpful to the reader.If Dante had written a commentaryon the whole Comedy,ashe presumablydesiredto do, he wouldcertainlyhave followed hesameplan. How wouldhis divisionhave started?



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THE PROLOGUEOF THE DIVINE COMEDY 3Followingthe modelgivenin the letter to Can Grande,we maysay with confidence hat it wouldhave startedin wordsnearlyorquite identical with these:

Dividitur ergo tota Comedia prindpaliter in duas partes,scilicet in prologum et partem executivam. Pars secunda in-cipit ibi ...And then would have followeda Latin translation of all or aportionof the first line of the second or "executive" part of theComedy.Whatwould that linehave been? In otherwords,how much ofthe Comedydid Dante regardas constituting its prologue? Instill otherwords,how muchof the Comedyreally is prologue?Thereare but two possibilities. The firstpossibilityis that theprologueconsists of the first canto of the Inferno, the executivepart commencingwith the second canto. The secondpossibility

is that the prologueconsistsof the first two cantos of the Inferno,the executivepart commencingwith the thirdcanto. That canto,beginning Per mesi va ne la cittdolente,belongsbeyond reasonablequestionin the executive part.The generalview of the matter accepts the first of these twopossibilities,and refinesuponit by sayingthat the firstcantois anintroductionto the poemas a whole,whereasthe secondcanto isan introduction to the Inferno n particular. Thus LordVernonsays: The first Canto of the Inferno is generally considered to beDante's Introduction to the entire Divina Commedia,ratherthan the mere commencement of the Cantica of the Inferno.Dante is always symmetrical in the arrangementof his writ-ings, and this is especially seen in the Divina Commedia. Thewholepoem consists of one hundred Cantos;the three Cantiche,of the Inferno, the Purgatorio,and the Paradiso, each contain-ing thirty-three, leaving this first Canto of the Inferno, as wehave just noticed, as an Introduction to the complete work.1

1W. W.Vernon,Readingson theInfernoof Dante,2ded.,London,1906,Vol. I,pp. 1, 2.



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4 THE PROLOGUEOF THE DIVINE COMEDYThis is indeed a commonplaceof moderncomment. I do notknow of a singlemodernedition or commentarywhichtakes anyother view. Nor have I seen any edition or commentarywhichdistinctly accepts the secondpossibility as correct.Nevertheless,I am convincedthat the secondpossibility s cor-rect,andthat the secondcantoconstitutes,andshouldbe thought

of as constituting,part of the prologueof the whole Comedy.Will my readernow survey in memorythe content of the firsttwo cantos of the Inferno?This done, it may be noted that lines 114-123 of the firstcantoconstitute a statement of the content of the wholepoem:e trarrottidi qui perluogo etterno,ov' udirai e disperate trida,vedrai i antichispiritidolenti,chela secondamorteciascungrida;e vederaicolorchesoncontentinel foco, perch perandi venirequandochesia a le beategenti.A le qua'poi se tu vorraisalire,anima ia a cipi di me degna:conlei ti lascernel miopartire.

And it may be noted that lines 7-9 of the second canto consti-tute a brief invocation:O Muse,o alto ingegno,or m' aiutate;o mente che scrivestici eh' io vidi,quisi parr a tua nobilitate.

Now Dante holds,aswe have seen,that apoetic prologue houldcontaina statement of content and an invocation;and he insistsupon the necessity of the invocation. The first canto containsastatementof content,but it doesnot containan invocation. Theinvocation appearsearly in the second canto. And I can hardlybelieve that Dante would have been content to let the Comedystand without an invocation in the general prologue.Furthermore, he secondcantois relatedin contentmuch moreclosely to the first canto than to the third. The action narratedby Virgil n the secondcantois contemporarywith actionnarrated



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THE PROLOGUE OF THE DIVINE COMEDY 5by the poet himself in the first canto. The first canto tells of acertainaction on earth: the secondcantotellsof the correspondingaction in the otherworld,Heaven and Hell. In the first cantoVirgilsuddenlycomes to the rescue of Dante. Half of the secondcantois devoted to an explanationof howit was that Virgilcameto that rescue.

The main specific function of the second canto is, I believe,apologetic. Just as in the secondchapterof the ConvivioDante,afterstatinghis purpose,had turned at once to meet and obviatecertainobjectionswhichwould,he thought,be raisedagainsthiswork and must be disposed of before the reader could proceedwithouthindrance, o in the second canto of the Comedyhe turnsat once to meet and obviate anobjectionwhichwill, he thinks,beraisedagainsthis work and must be disposedof before the readercan proceedwithout hindrance.The statement of the objection begins immediately after theinvocation. Dante says to Virgil, in substance: "Are you surethat I am qualified o undertakean otherworld ourney? Aeneasdid so, to be sure,but there was goodreasonfor that; Paul did so,to be sure,but therewas good reason for that;

Ma io perch venirvi? o chi '1concede?Io non Enea, io non Paolo sono:me degno a ci n io n altri crede."The altriis evidently, in Dante's thought, the reader. In other

words,Dante anticipatesthat many a reader,after finishingthefirst canto, will say: "What arrogance Here is this Florentine,Dante Alighieri, attributing to himself the same sort of exper-ience that was allowed to Aeneas and to Saint Paul. Who isDante Alighieri that he should make such a claim?" Dantemeets the objectionby takingit upon his own lips and giving toit the poetic answer that the journeyis not on his owninitiative,but is orderedby Heaven- by Mary, Lucy, and Beatrice.Nor is that answerentirelyfictitious. For it is merelya poeticstatementto the effect that Dante was divinelycommissioned or



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6 TEE PROLOGUEOF THE DIVINE COMEDYhis task. And Dante believed with an unwaveringbelief that hewas the holderof a uniquedivine commission.The secondcanto, then, is primarilyapologetic. And the placefor preliminaryapology, as in the Convivio,as in any work,is inthe prologue,rather than in the body, of the work.The idea that the second canto is specificallya prologueto theInferno s quiteuntenable. Indeed,in so far as the cantois intro-ductoryto a specificcantica, t is introductoryratherto the Para-diso than to the Inferno.Dante cites, in the canto, two precedentsfor otherworld our-neys - the experiencesof Aeneas and of Paul. Now the journeyof Aeneaswas indeeda descensus,but it led to the Elysianfields,and the colloquy n the Elysianfields(to be specificallyparalleled,in the Paradiso,by Dante's colloquywith Cacciaguida) s, of allthe events of the journey, the only one to which Dante here re-fers. And the journeyof Paul was to Heaven only.The whole colorand mood of the second canto, moreover,areof Heavenratherthan of Hell; and its climax s in the accountof aswift dramaticscene in Heaven:

Donna gentil nel del che si compiangedi questo impedimento ov' io ti mando,s che duro giudicio l su frange.Questa chiese Lucia in suo dimandoe disse: Or ha bisogno il tuo fedeledi te, ed io a te lo raccomando.Lucia, nimica di ciascun crudele,si mosse, e venne al loco dov' V era,che mi sedea con 1' antica Rachele.Disse: Beatrice, loda di Dio vera,che non soccorriquei che t' am tanto,eh' usc per te de la volgare schiera?non odi tu la piet del suo pianto?non vedi tu la morte che '1 combattesu la fiumana ove '1mar non ha vanto?Al mondo non fur mai persone rattea far lor pro o a fuggir lor danno,com' io, dopo cotai parole fatte,venni qua gi del mio beato scanno.



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THE PROLOGUE OF THE DIVINE COMEDY 7And this passageis definitelylinked with the Paradisoby thereminiscent ines in Paradisoxxxn:

E contro al maggior padre di famigliasiede Lucia, che mosse la tua donna,quando chinavi, a minar, le ciglia.If, then, the second cantois a part of the prologueto the whole

comedy,why, it may be asked, is there no separateprologuetothe Inferno? The answer ies in poetic commonsense. Given thegeneral prologue, an immediately following separate prologuewould have been both unnecessaryand unpoetic.The idea that the secondcanto is to be associatedwith the In-fernois an a prioriidea derived fromthe consideration hat thereare thirty-fourcantos in the Inferno whereasthere are thirty-three in the Purgatorioand thirty-threein the Paradiso. Thatfact proves that Dante was resolved to have one hundred cantosin the poemas a whole- but it provesabsolutely nothingmore.Those who have built an unsoundargumentupon it have beenmisledby a confusionbetween division n form,in whichDante isin generalnumericallysymmetrical,and division in content, inwhichDante is not boundby correspondenceo divisionin form.I believe, therefore,that the second canto formspart of, andterminates,the prologueof the wholeComedy;and that if Dantehad written his commentaryon the whole poem, it would havecontainedwords such as these:

Dividitur ergo tota Comedia principaliter in duas partes,scilicet in prologum et partem executivam. Pars secundaincipit ibi: 'Per me in civitatem itur dolentem.'Ernest H. Wilkins.

The University of Chicago.

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El Prólogo de la Divina Comedia. 1926.pdf