|
|
 |
|
Dante's
"Letter to Can Grande della Scala"
Excerpts from a translation by Nancy Howe |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dedication:
To the magnificent and victorious lord, Lord Can
Grande della Scala . . . in the city of Verona .
. . , his most devoted servant Dante Alighieri,
a Florentine by birth but nor mores, wishes a
happy life for many years and the perpetual
increase of his glorious name.
On Allegory:
For the clarity of what will be said, it is to
be understood that the meaning of this work is
not simple, but rather it is polysemous, that
is, having many meanings. For the first meaning
is that which derives from the letter, another
is that which one derives from the things
signified by the letter. The first is called
"literal" and the second "allegorical" or
"mystical." So that this method of exposition
may be clearer, one may consider it in these
lines: "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house
of Jacob from people of strange language, Judah
was his sanctuary and Israel his dominion." If
we look only at the letter, this signifies that
the children of Israel went out of Egypt in the
time of Moses; if we look at the allegory, it
signifies our redemption through Christ; if we
look at the moral sense, it signifies the
turning of the soul from the sorrow and misery
of sin to a state of grace; if we look at the
anagogical sense, it signifies the passage of
the blessed soul from the slavery of this
corruption to the freedom of eternal glory. And
although these mystical meanings are called by
various names, in general they can be called
allegorical, in as much as they are different [diversi]
from the literal or historical. For "allegoria"
comes from alleon in Greek, which in Latin is
alienum (strange) or diversum (different).
Having seen this, it is evident that the subject
around which these alternate meanings revolve
must be double. And therefore the subject of
this work must be considered first according to
the letter, then considered allegorically. And
therefore the subject of the whole work,
understood only literally, is simply the state
of souls after death. For the course of the
whole work turns around this. If however the
work is considered allegorically, the subject is
man as, according to his merits or demerits in
the exercise of free will, he is subject to
reward or punishment by justice.
The Structure of the Commedia (as a whole):
The form of the treatise is triple, following
the threefold division. The first division is
that the work is divided into three cantiche
[canticles]. The second is that each cantica is
divided into cantos. The third is that each
canto is divided in rhymed lines.
The Structure of the Paradiso (in
particular):
With regard to the main part, . . . it proceeds
ascending from heaven to heaven and speaks of
the blessed souls found in each sphere, and that
their true blessedness consists in perceiving
the source of truth, as is shown by John: "this
is life eternal, that they know Thee, the true
God," etc. [John 17.3]; and by Boethius in the
third book of De Consolatione [The Consolation
of Philosophy]: "To see thee is our end." Whence
it is that many things which have great utility
and pleasure will be asked of those souls, as
from those seeing all truth, in order to reveal
the glory of blessedness. And because, having
perceived the source or First, which is God,
there is nothing further to be sought, since He
is Alpha and Omega, that is, the Beginning and
the End, as the vision of John shows [Revelation
22.13], the treatise closes in God Himself, Who
is blessed evermore, world without end.
On the Reason Dante calls his work a
"comedy":
For the understanding of which it must be known
that comoedia comes from the comos, village, and
oda means "song," whence comoedia means a
"country song." And a comedy is a certain kind
of poetic narration different from all others.
It differs from a tragedy in subject matter, for
a tragedy at the beginning is admirable and
quiet and at the end or outcome it is foul and
horrible . . . as is seen through Seneca and his
tragedies. A comedy begins with some adversity
but its subject ends prosperously, as is seen
through Terence and his comedies. . . . Likewise
they differ in the manner of speech: tragedy is
elevated and sublime, comedy is careless and
humble, as Horace says in his Art of Poetry,
where he allows that sometimes comedians speak
like tragedians and vice versa. . . .
And therefore it is evident why the present work
is called a comedy, for if we look at the
subject at the beginning it is horrible an foul,
because it is Hell; at the end it is happy,
desirable, and pleasing, because it is Paradise.
If we look at the manner of speech, it is lowly
and humble because it is vulgar speech [i.e. in
the vernacular: Italian, not Latin] which even
simple women use. And thus it is evident why it
is called a comedy.
The Purpose of the Commedia:
[T]he end of the whole [Commedia] and the part [Paradiso]
is to remove the living from the state of misery
in this life and to guide them to a state of
happiness.
The kind of philosophy under which this work
proceeds in the whole and in the part is morals
or ethics; because both whole and part are
intended not for speculation but for
implementation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
