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Quaderni D'italianistica : Revue Officielle De La Société Canadienne

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Quaderni D'italianistica : Revue Officielle De La Société Canadienne Elio Costa From locus amoris to Infernal Pentecost: the Sin of Brunetto Latini The fame of Brunetto Latini was until recently tied to his role in Inferno 15 rather than to the intrinsic literary or philosophical merit of his own works.' Leaving aside, for the moment, the complex question of Latini's influence on the author of the Commedia, the encounter, and particularly the words "che 'n la mente m' è fìtta, e or m'accora, / la cara e buona imagine paterna / di voi quando nel mondo ad ora ad ora / m'insegnavate come l'uom s'ettema" (82-85) do seem to acknowledge a profound debt by the pilgrim towards the old notary. Only one other figure in the Inferno is addressed with a similar expression of gratitude, and that is, of course, Virgil: Tu se' lo mio maestro e'I mio autore; tu se' solo colui da cu' io tolsi lo bello stilo che m'ha fatto onore. {Inf. 1.85-87) If Virgil is antonomastically the teacher, what facet of Dante's cre- ative personality was affected by Latini? The encounter between the notary and the pilgrim in Inferno 15 is made all the more intriguing by the use of the same phrase "lo mio maestro" (97) to refer to Virgil, silent throughout the episode except for his single utterance "Bene ascolta chi la nota" (99). That it is the poet and not the pilgrim who thus refers to Virgil at this point, when the two magisterial figures, one leading forward to Beatrice and the other backward to the city of strife, conflict and exile, provides a clear hint of tension between "present" and "past" teachers. The words "m'insegnavate come I'uom s'etterna" indicate a con- tinuous magisterium on the part of the old teacher, Brunetto, whose specific nature, however, does not seem to be conclusively connected to any particular aspect of Dante's literary or intellectual activity.' The period in question was probably 1285 (Dante's twentieth year) to 1294 (the year of Brunetto's death). This coincided with Dante's QUADERNI dilalianislica Volume X. No. 1-2. 1989 110 Elio Costa own emergence in the literary and eventually the political life of the city. The notary's literary activity had taken place during his exile in France (1260-1266), and in the last years of his life he had become an eminent intellectual-political-civic personality.^ This eminence in the Florence of his time was perhaps best illustrated by Giovanni Villani who, after quoting the titles of his major works (Rettorica, Tesoro and Tesoretto), wrote that he had been "cominciatore e maestro in di- grossare i Fiorentini, e farli scorti in bene parlare, e in sapere guidare e reggere la nostra repubblica secondo la politica" {Cronica 3:22). This striking statement is echoed in Dante's words "m'insegnavate come I'uom s'etterna." Both Villani and Dante attribute to Latini a didactic function. For Villani, Brunetto 's teaching raised the general level of Florentine culture, and seems to have had a particular impact on political thought. It must be emphasized that the intense outburst by the notary in Inferno 15 is centered on questions of a political nature, although in a context which is clearly more personal and sub- jective than Villani 's. The choice of Latini as the central figure in the canto, the spokesman of a past formerly shared by Dante, and his magisterial posture, therefore, seem to match his role as guide and educator for a whole generation of Florentines."* This explains in part the traditionally accepted, but ultimately misleading interpretation of the encounter as a moving interlude, a nostalgic "return" to the past, and as a scene of deep pathos and reverence.^ There is, however, ample evidence in the canto that justifies a dif- ferent approach which, while it does not reject the literal meaning, including the notion of Latini's sin as sodomy, also exposes a more complex poetic strategy of much deeper moral and spiritual signif- icance. Special mention must be made here to a remarkable book by André Pézard who produced a truly impressive array of evidence to support his theory that Latini's sin is "spiritual sodomy," Dante's way of eternally damning his old teacher for contravening the law of nature in writing the Trésor in French. Dante sous la pluie de feu, notwithstanding its great philological ingenuity and its erudition, has received only marginal acceptance. To it, however, we owe a debt of gratitude for opening the door to the need of examining alternative possibilities of interpretation in Inferno 15. The assumption by Latini of a paternal authority is clearly equated to his didactic and guiding role in the life of the young Dante: Front locus amoris lo Infernal Pentecost 111 che 'n la mente m'è fitta, e or m'accora, la cara e buona imagine paterna di voi quando nel mondo ad ora ad ora m'insegnavate come l'uom s'etterna. (82-85) If Brunette's paternal guiding and didactic role had been his in the past, it becomes patently incongruous in view of the presence of Vir- gil at the side of the pilgrim. It is made even more ironic when seen from the perspective of the sin for which he is punished. The very first words spoken by Latini after the initial mutual surprise (which in itself should serve as a clue on how to approach the episode), are two short sentences, each of which is prefaced by a captaiio bene- volentiae: "O figliuol mio, non ti dispiaccia / se Brunetto Latino un poco teco / ritorna 'n dietro e lascia andar la traccia" (31-33), and ." "O figliuol. (37). The prayer to turn back couched in this way is the first step in the seduction of the young poet by the authoritative figure of the old civic sage. A further clue in the subtle process by which the poet exposes the true image of the old teacher is found in Brunetto's enquiry about his pupil's voyage, and in the answer given by the pilgrim: El cominciò: "Quai fortuna o destino anzi l'ultimo dì qua giù ti mena? e chi è questi che mostra '1 cammino?" "Là su di sopra, in la vita serena," rispuos'io lui, "mi smarri' in una valle, avanti che l'età mia fosse piena. Pur ier mattina le volsi le spalle: questi m'apparve, tornand'ì'o in quella, e reducemi a ca per questo calle." (46-54) In thus synthetically informing his teacher of the high points and goal of his mission, the pilgrim is being both exhaustive and evasive. The answer complies with the notary's question by summing up the beginning of the journey, the circumstances of the smarrimento, the role of Virgil, but in doing so it evades the central issue of the real significance of the mission. In the reference to Virgil as "questi," which echoes the "costui" of verse 36, the role of the "new" teacher is bound to remain hidden to Brunetto. In this sense it has the same function as the "colui" in Dante's answer to Cavalcante in Inferno 112 Elio Costa 10.62, which gives rise to the famous equivocation on the part of Guido's father. Indeed, Brunetto remains in the dark, as befits all the souls of the damned, but sodomites in particular, blind to the salvational dimension in Dante's journey (Mazzotta 138-39). This inability by Brunetto to seize the implications of Dante's mission is made even more obvious in the notary's next words: Ed elli a me: "Se tu segui tua stella, non puoi fallire a glorioso porto, se ben m'accorsi ne la vita bella; e s'io non fossi sì per tempo morto, veggendo il cielo a te così benigno dato t'avrei a l'opera conforto." (55-60) The astrological allusion, the prediction of literary glory awaiting Dante, seemingly extend Brunetto's claim to paternal, guiding au- thority beyond death itself, were it npi for the ambiguous nature of these words in which the use of three hypothetical clauses clearly undercuts the old notary's tutorship in a task whose goal he believes he knows. The reason for this ironic equivocation is to be found in the pil- grim's recapitulation of the journey from the smarrimento in the "selva oscura" to this point in time. But while Dante's words ex- press a forward-driving impetus and point to Virgil as a guide to a "home" beyond, Latini is drawn backward to a consideration of a goal which has finite, worldly connotations. The nostalgic reference to the "vita bella," the regret for an "untimely" death, the prediction of glory for the talented pupil, all betray the essence of Latini's false vision. What triggers Brunetto's regression is the echo in the pil- grim's words of a similar experience by the notary as described in the TesorettoJ This literary "palimpsest" (Delia Terza 23) allows the notary to assume his magisterial position and thus to replace Virgil at the side of the pilgrim. Besides this ambiguous super-imposition of the Tesoretto on the Commedia, and vice-versa, other parallel lexical and stylistical elements emerge, revealing a more complex relationship between teacher and pupil than appears on the surface. The expression "a capo chino" (44), for example, which seemingly manifests the pilgrim's reverence for the notary, has quite a different function in the Tesoretto. There, in the passage quoted in the notes 3 From locus amoris lo Infernal Pentecost 1 1 (197), the expression is used as a prelude to the smarrimento, and is suggestive of the despair and anguish at the news of defeat and of exile.
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