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V.S. Lectures, No. 73 the AENEID in DANTE's EYES a Lecture Delivered

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V.S. Lectures, No. 73 the AENEID in DANTE's EYES a Lecture Delivered V.S. Lectures, No. 73 THE AENEID IN DANTE’S EYES A lecture delivered to the Virgil Society 23rd October 1965 by Barbara Reynolds, M.A., Ph.D. It has been said that if Virgil had been told about Dante he would not have understood him in the least. This is very likely; but I think that if Dante were to hear what we now make of the Aeneid, or rather, what we no longer make of it, he would be equally perplexed. What Dante made of the Aeneid can be judged from The Divina Commedia. Artistically, the Aeneid is distributed over Dante's entire work. It is not simply that he based the journey down into Hell on the sixth book of Virgil's epic, but throughout the three cantiche, Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso there are innumerable echoes and reminiscences, some deliberately and significantly placed, others less obtrusive and almost involuntary, suggesting that Dante's mind was permeated with Virgil's poetry. The importance of the Aeneid for Dante's Commedia cannot be separated from the importance of Virgil. At the risk of repeating what may already be well known to you, I will recall the role which Virgil plays in Dante's poem and the manner in which he is introduced into the action. Emerging from the dark wood in which he has been lost Dante tries to climb a sunlit mountain, but his way is impeded by three wild animals, a leopard, a lion and a wolf, which frighten him back down the slope. And there, at once, he sees a figure, who seems at first unable to speak through long silence..... chi per lungo silenzio parea fioco. Dante is not certain whether it is a living man or a phantom but he calls to him for help. Miserere di me, gridai a lui, qual che tu sii, od ombra od uomo certo. It is Virgil, who reveals himself not directly by name, but as the son of Mantuan parents, and a poet who lived in Rome in the time of Augustus, who sang of ..... quel giusto figliuol d 'Anchise che venne da Troia poi che il superbo Ilion fu combusto. Dante's response to this astounding announcement is, I am sure, well known to you: "Are you that Virgil, that source from which there flows so great a stream of speech? 0 light and honour of the other poets, letplead for me t.'ie great love and zeal that have long kept me studying your work. You are my master, you are my author; you alone are he from whom I derived the beautiful style for which I am honoured.' "Or sei tu quel Virgilio e quella fonte che spandi di parlar si largo fiume?" risposi io lui con vergognosa fronte. "O de gli altri poeti onore e lume, vagiiami il lungo studio e il grande amore che m'ha fatto cercar lo tuo volume. Tu sei lo mio maestro e '1 mio autore; - 2 - tu sei solo colui da cu' io tolsi lo bello stile che m'ha fatto onore." I will return later to these words of Dante's, but let us note in passing that the difficulty of the 'bello stile" is still unresolved. We are at the beginning of the Commedia, in Canto I; what use has Dante made so far of the style he has borrowed from Virgil? If these words came at the end of the Commedia, instead of at the beginning, there would be no difficulty. But this is by way of parenthesis. As you know, Dante accepts Virgil as his guide through Hell and up to the Mountain of Purgatory, to the Garden of Eden, where, at the appearance of Beatrice, Virgil unobtrusively departs, returning to Limbo, to rejoin the company of other poets of antiquity. Virgil is more than guide; apart from his allegorical significance, which is undergoing new interpretations nowadays, he is also Virgil the poet. As such, within the narrative of the poem, Dante does him great honour. First, in the action preceding the first canto - in the ante-fatto, Beatrice, we learn, has visited Virgil in Limbo, and has persuaded him to go forth to help Dante. She appeals to him as a master of language - "fidandomi nel tuo parlare ones to che onora te e quei che udito l'hanno;" she bids him with his 'parola ornata' help Dante in his predicament. Then when they reach Limbo, Dante relates how Virgil is greeted in stately honour by four fellow poets, Homer, Ovid, Horace and Lucan, a solemn and unforgettable reception-committee who welcome Virgil back after his visit to the world above. Of the character Virgil, the protagonist created and developed by Dante, I will say little, not because I think this aspect unimportant, but because if I once entered on it there would be too much to say. Indeed the human interest of the characterisation of Virgil is one of the most endearing features of the Commedia as a narrative and a work of art. Although the theme of Virgil develops throughout Inferno, Purgatorio is really the cantica in which Virgil the poet comes into his own. After the initial false start in his encounter with Cato, in which his excess of eloquence and courtesy involves his embari'assment and even in some degree of humiliation, Virgil is the personality, and at moments, especially at two moments, of greater interest to the souls on the mountain than Dante. The first occurs in Canto VI of Purgatorio when they meet Sordello. Like Virgil, Sordello was a Mantuan, and the one word "Mantova", uttered by Virgil, who has not yet revealed his identity, is sufficient to bring Sordello towards him with arms outstretched, saying: "o Mantovano, io son Sordello della tua terra!’ and they embrace each other. Then after three or four such demonstrations of affection Sordello draws back and asks, "who are you?" And Virgil replies "io son Virgilio . Now the amazement of Sordello is great indeed, and when he can bring himself to believe that Virgil really stands before hiu, he stoops and embraces him round the knees and says: "o glory of the Latins, through whom our tongue showed forth its power, 0 eternal honour of the place from which I come, what deserving or what favour shows thee to me?" - 3 - "0 gloriande’ Latin' disse, 'per cui mostro cio che potea la lingua nostra, o pregio etterno del loco ond'io fui, qual merito o qual grazia mi ti mostra?" Tie fact that Dante is a living man, visiting the world of the dead before his time, is here kept in the background. Virgil now is the centre of attention and of the action. This is a preparation, a proto-type, of the great scene where Virgil and DR.nte meet Statius. Here the theme of Virgil the poet, to which so many tributaries have converged, swells to a broad stream, and all that Dante under­ stood and felt concerning Virgil is brought into focus. The poet Statius completes his penance on the fourth cornice of Purgatory just as Dante and Virgil pass by. Having spent twelve hundred years on the mountain his soul is now liberated and he follows the travellers in their upward climb, remaining with them until they reach the Garden of Eden and partaking with Dante in the ablutions in the two rivers, Lethe and Eunoe. Questioned by Virgil as to who he is, Statius replies that he lived in the time of Titus and was a poet, though not at first a Christian. His major work he wrote on the history of Thebes, the Thebaid, and then began a second on the story of Achilles, but never finished it. Tie inspiration for both these epics was that divine flame from which more than a thousand poets have drawn light, namely the Aeneid: "A1 mio ardor fuor seme le faville, che mi scaldar, della divina fiamma onde sono allumati piu di mille; dell'Eneida dico, la qual mamma fummi e fummi nutrice poetando." He says this without realizing that it is Virgil to whom he is speaking. And he continues: if only I could have lived in the world when Virgil did.' Indeed I'd gladly have spent another year on Purgatory, if that could have been m3' fate: E per esser vivuto di la quando visse Virgilio, assentierei un sole piu che non deggio al mio uscir di bando." The comedy of the situation is too much for Dante. Virgil turns to him at once with an expression which commends silence, but Dante's merriment and joy cannot be suppressed; laughter shines in his eyes, which Statius at once perceives and he asks: "Why did your face gleam with mirth just now?" And there stands Dante, caught between Virgil who has signalled to him not to reveal the truth and Statius who requires an explanation. Virgil relents and Dante makes what must be, within the narrative, hismost momentous utterance so far: "This man, who guides me upwards, is Virgil, that very Virgil from whom you drew power to sing of men and gods. Statius was already stooping, before Dante had ceased speaking, to embrace Virgil's feet. It is not only the Aeneid from which Statius has learnt. Since he is in Purgatory and destined for Paradise, it follows that Statius died repentant and a Christian. Virgil now asks him how he came to be converted and Statius makes his momentous reply. Here Virgil's relationship to Christianity, as Dante and his contemporaries saw it, is made plain.
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