Paradiso, Canto 15
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Paradiso XV opens the Cacciaguida sequence in Mars. True love, opposed to cupidinous love, silences the holy strings of the cross-song so Dante can ask a just prayer. A light runs from the right horn to the foot of the cross like a shooting star, yet remains within the cross like a gem on its ribbon. Dante compares the approaching spirit to Anchises recognizing Aeneas in Elysium, and the spirit greets him in Latin as his own blood and as one to whom Heaven has been opened twice. Dante turns between the light and Beatrice's smile, then hears the spirit speak above mortal reach until its ardor relaxes enough to descend toward human understanding. The first intelligible words bless the triune God for showing such courtesy in the speaker's seed. Cacciaguida says his long hunger has been satisfied in the light, by Beatrice's grace, because Dante has come. He knows Dante's unasked thought in the divine mirror but invites him to speak so sacred love may be fulfilled more fully. Beatrice authorizes Dante with a smile, and Dante confesses the inequality between the blessed, whose love and intellect are equal in the divine Sun, and mortals, whose will and expression have unequal wings. He asks the living topaz for its name. Cacciaguida answers as Dante's root, identifies Alighiero as his son and Dante's great-grandfather, and urges Dante to shorten Alighiero's purgatorial labor with good works. He then recalls old Florence inside the ancient walls: peaceful, sober, chaste, without luxury, excessive dowries, empty family houses, or imported chamber corruption. Its women knew their burial place, nursed and taught children, and told family stories of Troy, Fiesole, and Rome. In such a city Mary gave Cacciaguida at birth, and in the old Baptistery he became Christian and Cacciaguida. He names his brothers, his wife from the Po valley, and the surname that came from her. He followed Emperor Conrad, received knighthood, fought against the enemies of Christian justice, and was released from the false world by martyrdom into heavenly peace.
Narrative arc
- Benign will silences the cross-song so just prayer can be answered, while false love loses eternal love
- A star runs along the cross like a shooting star, and Cacciaguida greets Dante with Anchises-like recognition
- Dante is astonished by Cacciaguida and Beatrice as the ancestor's speech descends from excess to intelligibility
- Cacciaguida knows Dante's thought in the divine mirror but invites speech, and Beatrice authorizes Dante's question
- Cacciaguida names himself as Dante's root and identifies Alighiero's purgatorial labor
- Cacciaguida praises old Florence's measured civic life, domestic simplicity, and family memory
- Cacciaguida recounts birth, baptism, family names, Conrad's knighthood, crusade, martyrdom, and heavenly peace
Central themes
- Florence
Benign will silences the cross-song so just prayer can be answered, while false love loses eternal love XV.1–12
1Benigna volontade in che si liqua
sempre l’amor che drittamente spira,
come cupidità fa ne la iniqua,
silenzio puose a quella dolce lira,
5e fece quïetar le sante corde
che la destra del cielo allenta e tira.
Come saranno a’ giusti preghi sorde
quelle sustanze che, per darmi voglia
ch’io le pregassi, a tacer fur concorde?
10Bene è che sanza termine si doglia
chi, per amor di cosa che non duri
etternalmente, quello amor si spoglia.
1Benign will, in which there always melts
the love that breathes in righteousness,
as greed does in the unjust will,
set silence on that sweet lyre
5and made the holy strings grow still
which Heaven's right hand slackens and draws tight.
How could those substances be deaf to just prayers,
those who, to give me the will
to pray to them, agreed in silence?
10Right it is that without end he grieve
who, for love of a thing that does not last
eternally, strips himself of that love.
Commentary
The opening is a charity-against-cupidity contrast before the cross-song falls silent. The translation keeps right-breathing love, just prayers, and the loss of eternal love for a non-enduring object.
XV.1–3 Liqua keeps the sense of love becoming clear or fluid inside rightly ordered will. Cupidita is rendered as greed here to keep the contrast with rightly breathed love and non-enduring objects.
XV.1–3 Liqua keeps the sense of love becoming clear or fluid inside rightly ordered will. Line 1: Liqua keeps the sense of love becoming clear or fluid inside rightly ordered will. Line 3: Cupidita is rendered as greed here to keep the contrast with rightly breathed love and non-enduring objects.
XV.1 Liqua keeps the sense of love becoming clear or fluid inside rightly ordered will. Liqua keeps the sense of love becoming clear or fluid inside rightly ordered will.
XV.3 Cupidita is rendered as greed here to keep the contrast with rightly breathed love and non-enduring objects. Cupidita is rendered as greed here to keep the contrast with rightly breathed love and non-enduring objects.
A star runs along the cross like a shooting star, and Cacciaguida greets Dante with Anchises-like recognition XV.13–30
13Quale per li seren tranquilli e puri
discorre ad ora ad or sùbito foco,
15movendo li occhi che stavan sicuri,
e pare stella che tramuti loco,
se non che da la parte ond’ e’ s’accende
nulla sen perde, ed esso dura poco:
tale dal corno che ’n destro si stende
20a piè di quella croce corse un astro
de la costellazion che lì resplende;
né si partì la gemma dal suo nastro,
ma per la lista radïal trascorse,
che parve foco dietro ad alabastro.
25Sì pïa l’ombra d’Anchise si porse,
se fede merta nostra maggior musa,
quando in Eliso del figlio s’accorse.
«O sanguis meus, o superinfusa
gratïa Deï, sicut tibi cui
30bis unquam celi ianüa reclusa?».
13As through tranquil and pure clear skies
from time to time a sudden fire runs,
15moving the eyes that had been steady,
and seems a star that changes place,
except that from the part where it catches fire
nothing is lost, and it lasts only briefly:
so, from the horn that stretches on the right
20down to the foot of that cross, a star ran
from the constellation that shines there;
nor did the gem part from its ribbon,
but along the radial band it crossed,
so that it seemed fire behind alabaster.
25So piously the shade of Anchises reached out,
if our greater Muse deserves belief,
when in Elysium he recognized his son.
"O sanguis meus, o superinfusa
gratia Dei, sicut tibi cui
30bis unquam celi ianua reclusa?"
Commentary
The long shooting-star simile runs through the right horn of the cross and the radial band before the Anchises/Aeneas recognition. The Latin greeting is preserved as a code-switch that initially exceeds Dante's ordinary understanding.
XV.22–24 The light moves along the cross without leaving it, preserving the gem/ribbon image.
XV.22–24 The light moves along the cross without leaving it, preserving the gem/ribbon image. Line 22: The light moves along the cross without leaving it, preserving the gem/ribbon image.
XV.22 The light moves along the cross without leaving it, preserving the gem/ribbon image. The light moves along the cross without leaving it, preserving the gem/ribbon image.
XV.25–27 Virgil is the greater Muse here; the Aeneid frame shapes Cacciaguida's recognition of Dante.
XV.25–27 Virgil is the greater Muse here; the Aeneid frame shapes Cacciaguida's recognition of Dante. Line 26: Virgil is the greater Muse here; the Aeneid frame shapes Cacciaguida's recognition of Dante.
XV.26 Virgil is the greater Muse here; the Aeneid frame shapes Cacciaguida's recognition of Dante. Virgil is the greater Muse here; the Aeneid frame shapes Cacciaguida's recognition of Dante.
XV.28–30 The Latin code-switch is preserved to mark the first greeting as exceeding ordinary vernacular speech. Sense: O blood of mine, O grace of God poured beyond measure, to whom as to you was Heaven's gate ever opened twice?
XV.28–30 The Latin code-switch is preserved to mark the first greeting as exceeding ordinary vernacular speech. Line 28: The Latin code-switch is preserved to mark the first greeting as exceeding ordinary vernacular speech. Line 30: Sense: O blood of mine, O grace of God poured beyond measure, to whom as to you was Heaven's gate ever opened twice?
XV.28 The Latin code-switch is preserved to mark the first greeting as exceeding ordinary vernacular speech. The Latin code-switch is preserved to mark the first greeting as exceeding ordinary vernacular speech.
XV.30 Sense: O blood of mine, O grace of God poured beyond measure, to whom as to you was Heaven's gate ever opened twice? Sense: O blood of mine, O grace of God poured beyond measure, to whom as to you was Heaven's gate ever opened twice?
Dante is astonished by Cacciaguida and Beatrice as the ancestor's speech descends from excess to intelligibility XV.31–54
31Così quel lume: ond’ io m’attesi a lui;
poscia rivolsi a la mia donna il viso,
e quinci e quindi stupefatto fui;
ché dentro a li occhi suoi ardeva un riso
35tal, ch’io pensai co’ miei toccar lo fondo
de la mia gloria e del mio paradiso.
Indi, a udire e a veder giocondo,
giunse lo spirto al suo principio cose,
ch’io non lo ’ntesi, sì parlò profondo;
40né per elezïon mi si nascose,
ma per necessità, ché ’l suo concetto
al segno d’i mortal si soprapuose.
E quando l’arco de l’ardente affetto
fu sì sfogato, che ’l parlar discese
45inver’ lo segno del nostro intelletto,
la prima cosa che per me s’intese,
«Benedetto sia tu», fu, «trino e uno,
che nel mio seme se’ tanto cortese!».
E seguì: «Grato e lontano digiuno,
50tratto leggendo del magno volume
du’ non si muta mai bianco né bruno,
solvuto hai, figlio, dentro a questo lume
in ch’io ti parlo, mercè di colei
ch’a l’alto volo ti vestì le piume.
31Thus that light spoke; so I fixed on him;
then I turned my face toward my lady,
and from both sides I was struck dumb;
for inside her eyes a smile was burning,
35such that I thought my own eyes touched the depth
of my glory and of my paradise.
Then, joyous to hear and to behold,
the spirit added things to his beginning
that I did not understand, so deeply he spoke;
40nor did he hide himself from me by choice,
but by necessity, for his conception
set itself above the mark of mortals.
And when the bow of burning affection
had so discharged itself that speech descended
45toward the mark of our intellect,
the first thing I understood from him,
"Blessed be You," was, "three and one,
who in my seed are so courteous!"
And he continued: "A welcome hunger, long endured,
50drawn out by reading the great volume
where white and dark are never changed,
you have satisfied, my son, within this light
in which I speak to you, thanks to her
who clothed you with feathers for the high flight.
Commentary
The translation keeps Dante's double astonishment at Cacciaguida and Beatrice, the spirit's unintelligible excess, the descent of speech toward mortal intellect, the Trinitarian blessing, and the great volume where white and dark do not change.
XV.43–45 The bow image governs the descent from excessive blessed speech toward mortal understanding.
XV.43–45 The bow image governs the descent from excessive blessed speech toward mortal understanding. Line 43: The bow image governs the descent from excessive blessed speech toward mortal understanding.
XV.43 The bow image governs the descent from excessive blessed speech toward mortal understanding. The bow image governs the descent from excessive blessed speech toward mortal understanding.
XV.46–48 Cortese keeps divine courtesy joined to kinship and grace before civic courtesy returns later.
XV.46–48 Cortese keeps divine courtesy joined to kinship and grace before civic courtesy returns later. Line 48: Cortese keeps divine courtesy joined to kinship and grace before civic courtesy returns later.
XV.48 Cortese keeps divine courtesy joined to kinship and grace before civic courtesy returns later. Cortese keeps divine courtesy joined to kinship and grace before civic courtesy returns later.
XV.49–51 Digiuno is hunger or fasting; the line carries long-deferred desire satisfied by Dante's arrival. The great volume is divine knowledge, not a changeable earthly record.
XV.49–51 Digiuno is hunger or fasting; the line carries long-deferred desire satisfied by Dante's arrival. Line 49: Digiuno is hunger or fasting; the line carries long-deferred desire satisfied by Dante's arrival. Line 51: The great volume is divine knowledge, not a changeable earthly record.
XV.49 Digiuno is hunger or fasting; the line carries long-deferred desire satisfied by Dante's arrival. Digiuno is hunger or fasting; the line carries long-deferred desire satisfied by Dante's arrival.
XV.51 The great volume is divine knowledge, not a changeable earthly record. The great volume is divine knowledge, not a changeable earthly record.
XV.52–54 Beatrice's enabling grace is rendered through the flight-feather image rather than abstract permission.
XV.52–54 Beatrice's enabling grace is rendered through the flight-feather image rather than abstract permission. Line 54: Beatrice's enabling grace is rendered through the flight-feather image rather than abstract permission.
XV.54 Beatrice's enabling grace is rendered through the flight-feather image rather than abstract permission. Beatrice's enabling grace is rendered through the flight-feather image rather than abstract permission.
Cacciaguida knows Dante's thought in the divine mirror but invites speech, and Beatrice authorizes Dante's question XV.55–87
55Tu credi che a me tuo pensier mei
da quel ch’è primo, così come raia
da l’un, se si conosce, il cinque e ’l sei;
e però ch’io mi sia e perch’ io paia
più gaudïoso a te, non mi domandi,
60che alcun altro in questa turba gaia.
Tu credi ’l vero; ché i minori e ’ grandi
di questa vita miran ne lo speglio
in che, prima che pensi, il pensier pandi;
ma perché ’l sacro amore in che io veglio
65con perpetüa vista e che m’asseta
di dolce disïar, s’adempia meglio,
la voce tua sicura, balda e lieta
suoni la volontà, suoni ’l disio,
a che la mia risposta è già decreta!».
70Io mi volsi a Beatrice, e quella udio
pria ch’io parlassi, e arrisemi un cenno
che fece crescer l’ali al voler mio.
Poi cominciai così: «L’affetto e ’l senno,
come la prima equalità v’apparse,
75d’un peso per ciascun di voi si fenno,
però che ’l sol che v’allumò e arse,
col caldo e con la luce è sì iguali,
che tutte simiglianze sono scarse.
Ma voglia e argomento ne’ mortali,
80per la cagion ch’a voi è manifesta,
diversamente son pennuti in ali;
ond’ io, che son mortal, mi sento in questa
disagguaglianza, e però non ringrazio
se non col core a la paterna festa.
85Ben supplico io a te, vivo topazio
che questa gioia prezïosa ingemmi,
perché mi facci del tuo nome sazio».
55You believe your thought flows to me
from him who is first, just as
from one, if it is known, come five and six;
and so you do not ask who I am
or why I seem more joyful to you
60than any other in this glad troop.
You believe the truth; for the lesser and the great
of this life gaze into the mirror
in which, before you think, you spread your thought;
but so that the sacred love in which I keep watch
65with perpetual sight, and which makes me thirst
with sweet desiring, may be more fulfilled,
let your voice, assured, bold, and glad,
sound out your will, sound out the desire
to which my answer is already decreed!"
70I turned to Beatrice, and she heard this
before I spoke, and smiled me a sign
that made wings grow for my will.
Then I began thus: "Affection and intellect,
as soon as the first Equality appeared to you,
75became of one weight for each of you,
because the Sun that illumined you and burned
with heat and with light is so equal
that every likeness is scant.
But will and power of speech in mortals,
80for the cause that is manifest to you,
are feathered differently in their wings;
so I, who am mortal, feel myself within this
inequality, and therefore give thanks
only with the heart for the paternal feast.
85Yet I truly beg you, living topaz,
that gems this precious joy,
to make me satisfied with your name."
Commentary
The mirror of divine knowledge, sacred thirst, Beatrice's pre-spoken permission, and Dante's unequal mortal will and speech all remain explicit before he asks the living topaz for its name.
XV.61–63 The divine mirror answers Dante's unspoken question without eliminating the value of spoken desire.
XV.61–63 The divine mirror answers Dante's unspoken question without eliminating the value of spoken desire. Line 63: The divine mirror answers Dante's unspoken question without eliminating the value of spoken desire.
XV.63 The divine mirror answers Dante's unspoken question without eliminating the value of spoken desire. The divine mirror answers Dante's unspoken question without eliminating the value of spoken desire.
XV.70–72 Beatrice's smile authorizes speech and enlarges Dante's will rather than simply giving information.
XV.70–72 Beatrice's smile authorizes speech and enlarges Dante's will rather than simply giving information. Line 72: Beatrice's smile authorizes speech and enlarges Dante's will rather than simply giving information.
XV.72 Beatrice's smile authorizes speech and enlarges Dante's will rather than simply giving information. Beatrice's smile authorizes speech and enlarges Dante's will rather than simply giving information.
XV.73–75 The first Equality is God; the line keeps Dante's theological abstraction rather than normalizing it.
XV.73–75 The first Equality is God; the line keeps Dante's theological abstraction rather than normalizing it. Line 74: The first Equality is God; the line keeps Dante's theological abstraction rather than normalizing it.
XV.74 The first Equality is God; the line keeps Dante's theological abstraction rather than normalizing it. The first Equality is God; the line keeps Dante's theological abstraction rather than normalizing it.
XV.79–81 Argomento is rendered locally as power of speech because Dante is explaining why his thanks cannot match his will.
XV.79–81 Argomento is rendered locally as power of speech because Dante is explaining why his thanks cannot match his will. Line 79: Argomento is rendered locally as power of speech because Dante is explaining why his thanks cannot match his will.
XV.79 Argomento is rendered locally as power of speech because Dante is explaining why his thanks cannot match his will. Argomento is rendered locally as power of speech because Dante is explaining why his thanks cannot match his will.
XV.85–87 The gem language returns to the luminous body within Mars rather than naming the ancestor yet.
XV.85–87 The gem language returns to the luminous body within Mars rather than naming the ancestor yet. Line 86: The gem language returns to the luminous body within Mars rather than naming the ancestor yet.
XV.86 The gem language returns to the luminous body within Mars rather than naming the ancestor yet. The gem language returns to the luminous body within Mars rather than naming the ancestor yet.
Cacciaguida names himself as Dante's root and identifies Alighiero's purgatorial labor XV.88–96
88«O fronda mia in che io compiacemmi
pur aspettando, io fui la tua radice»:
90cotal principio, rispondendo, femmi.
Poscia mi disse: «Quel da cui si dice
tua cognazione e che cent’ anni e piùe
girato ha ’l monte in la prima cornice,
mio figlio fu e tuo bisavol fue:
95ben si convien che la lunga fatica
tu li raccorci con l’opere tue.
88"O my leaf, in whom I took pleasure
even while waiting, I was your root":
90such a beginning he made me in answer.
Then he said to me: "He from whom
your kinship is named, and who a hundred years and more
has circled the mountain on the first cornice,
was my son and was your great-grandfather:
95it well befits you that his long labor
you shorten with your works.
Commentary
This passage covers this sequence: Cacciaguida names himself as Dante's root and identifies Alighiero's purgatorial labor.
XV.88–90 Leaf/root language makes ancestry organic and providential before the genealogical details.
XV.88–90 Leaf/root language makes ancestry organic and providential before the genealogical details. Line 89: Leaf/root language makes ancestry organic and providential before the genealogical details.
XV.89 Leaf/root language makes ancestry organic and providential before the genealogical details. Leaf/root language makes ancestry organic and providential before the genealogical details.
XV.91–93 This identifies Alighiero as a soul on Purgatory's first terrace.
XV.91–93 This identifies Alighiero as a soul on Purgatory's first terrace. Line 93: This identifies Alighiero as a soul on Purgatory's first terrace.
XV.93 This identifies Alighiero as a soul on Purgatory's first terrace. This identifies Alighiero as a soul on Purgatory's first terrace.
XV.94–96 The works are good works and prayers that can shorten purgatorial labor.
XV.94–96 The works are good works and prayers that can shorten purgatorial labor. Line 96: The works are good works and prayers that can shorten purgatorial labor.
XV.96 The works are good works and prayers that can shorten purgatorial labor. The works are good works and prayers that can shorten purgatorial labor.
Cacciaguida praises old Florence's measured civic life, domestic simplicity, and family memory XV.97–132
97Fiorenza dentro da la cerchia antica,
ond’ ella toglie ancora e terza e nona,
si stava in pace, sobria e pudica.
100Non avea catenella, non corona,
non gonne contigiate, non cintura
che fosse a veder più che la persona.
Non faceva, nascendo, ancor paura
la figlia al padre, che ’l tempo e la dote
105non fuggien quinci e quindi la misura.
Non avea case di famiglia vòte;
non v’era giunto ancor Sardanapalo
a mostrar ciò che ’n camera si puote.
Non era vinto ancora Montemalo
110dal vostro Uccellatoio, che, com’ è vinto
nel montar sù, così sarà nel calo.
Bellincion Berti vid’ io andar cinto
di cuoio e d’osso, e venir da lo specchio
la donna sua sanza ’l viso dipinto;
115e vidi quel d’i Nerli e quel del Vecchio
esser contenti a la pelle scoperta,
e le sue donne al fuso e al pennecchio.
Oh fortunate! ciascuna era certa
de la sua sepultura, e ancor nulla
120era per Francia nel letto diserta.
L’una vegghiava a studio de la culla,
e, consolando, usava l’idïoma
che prima i padri e le madri trastulla;
l’altra, traendo a la rocca la chioma,
125favoleggiava con la sua famiglia
d’i Troiani, di Fiesole e di Roma.
Saria tenuta allor tal maraviglia
una Cianghella, un Lapo Salterello,
qual or saria Cincinnato e Corniglia.
130A così riposato, a così bello
viver di cittadini, a così fida
cittadinanza, a così dolce ostello,
97Florence, inside the ancient ring of walls,
from which she still takes terce and none,
stood at peace, sober and chaste.
100She had no necklace, no crown,
no embroidered gowns, no belt
that was more to look at than the person.
A daughter, at her birth, did not yet make
her father afraid, for age and dowry
105did not outrun measure on either side.
She had no family houses empty;
Sardanapalus had not yet arrived there
to show what can be done in a chamber.
Montemalo had not yet been surpassed
110by your Uccellatoio, which, as it is surpassed
in rising, so it will be in the fall.
Bellincion Berti I saw go belted
with leather and bone, and from the mirror
his lady come without her face painted;
115and I saw him of the Nerli and him of the Vecchio
content with plain uncovered leather,
and their women at spindle and distaff.
O fortunate women! Each one was certain
of her burial place, and none yet
120was deserted in bed for France.
One kept watch with care over the cradle,
and, soothing, used the idiom
that first delights fathers and mothers;
another, drawing the flax from the distaff,
125told stories with her family
of the Trojans, of Fiesole, and of Rome.
Then such a marvel would have been held
a Cianghella, a Lapo Salterello,
as now Cincinnatus and Cornelia would be.
130To so restful, to so beautiful
a living of citizens, to so faithful
a citizenry, to so sweet a dwelling,
Commentary
This passage covers this sequence: Cacciaguida praises old Florence's measured civic life, domestic simplicity, and family memory.
XV.97–99 The hours are marked by the old city bells; the medieval civic-religious time signal is retained.
XV.97–99 The hours are marked by the old city bells; the medieval civic-religious time signal is retained. Line 98: The hours are marked by the old city bells; the medieval civic-religious time signal is retained.
XV.98 The hours are marked by the old city bells; the medieval civic-religious time signal is retained. The hours are marked by the old city bells; the medieval civic-religious time signal is retained.
XV.103–105 Measure covers both marriage age and dowry size; the old city is praised as socially proportioned.
XV.103–105 Measure covers both marriage age and dowry size; the old city is praised as socially proportioned. Line 105: Measure covers both marriage age and dowry size; the old city is praised as socially proportioned.
XV.105 Measure covers both marriage age and dowry size; the old city is praised as socially proportioned. Measure covers both marriage age and dowry size; the old city is praised as socially proportioned.
XV.106–108 The allusion keeps Dante's ancient luxury and sexual corruption frame without modern smoothing.
XV.106–108 The allusion keeps Dante's ancient luxury and sexual corruption frame without modern smoothing. Line 108: The allusion keeps Dante's ancient luxury and sexual corruption frame without modern smoothing.
XV.108 The allusion keeps Dante's ancient luxury and sexual corruption frame without modern smoothing. The allusion keeps Dante's ancient luxury and sexual corruption frame without modern smoothing.
XV.109–111 Montemalo is Rome's Monte Mario; Uccellatoio is a hill overlooking Florence.
XV.109–111 Montemalo is Rome's Monte Mario; Uccellatoio is a hill overlooking Florence. Line 110: Montemalo is Rome's Monte Mario; Uccellatoio is a hill overlooking Florence.
XV.110 Montemalo is Rome's Monte Mario; Uccellatoio is a hill overlooking Florence. Montemalo is Rome's Monte Mario; Uccellatoio is a hill overlooking Florence.
XV.115–117 Pelle scoperta is kept concrete as simple visible leather dress.
XV.115–117 Pelle scoperta is kept concrete as simple visible leather dress. Line 116: Pelle scoperta is kept concrete as simple visible leather dress.
XV.116 Pelle scoperta is kept concrete as simple visible leather dress. Pelle scoperta is kept concrete as simple visible leather dress.
XV.118–120 France is left concrete as the destination that separates later Florentine households.
XV.118–120 France is left concrete as the destination that separates later Florentine households. Line 120: France is left concrete as the destination that separates later Florentine households.
XV.120 France is left concrete as the destination that separates later Florentine households. France is left concrete as the destination that separates later Florentine households.
XV.124–126 Domestic storytelling carries civic origin memory: Troy, Fiesole, and Rome.
XV.124–126 Domestic storytelling carries civic origin memory: Troy, Fiesole, and Rome. Line 126: Domestic storytelling carries civic origin memory: Troy, Fiesole, and Rome.
XV.126 Domestic storytelling carries civic origin memory: Troy, Fiesole, and Rome. Domestic storytelling carries civic origin memory: Troy, Fiesole, and Rome.
XV.127–129 The line reverses civic marvel: corrupt Florentines would then be as strange as ancient virtue is now.
XV.127–129 The line reverses civic marvel: corrupt Florentines would then be as strange as ancient virtue is now. Line 129: The line reverses civic marvel: corrupt Florentines would then be as strange as ancient virtue is now.
XV.129 The line reverses civic marvel: corrupt Florentines would then be as strange as ancient virtue is now. The line reverses civic marvel: corrupt Florentines would then be as strange as ancient virtue is now.
Cacciaguida recounts birth, baptism, family names, Conrad's knighthood, crusade, martyrdom, and heavenly peace XV.133–148
133Maria mi diè, chiamata in alte grida;
e ne l’antico vostro Batisteo
135insieme fui cristiano e Cacciaguida.
Moronto fu mio frate ed Eliseo;
mia donna venne a me di val di Pado,
e quindi il sopranome tuo si feo.
Poi seguitai lo ’mperador Currado;
140ed el mi cinse de la sua milizia,
tanto per bene ovrar li venni in grado.
Dietro li andai incontro a la nequizia
di quella legge il cui popolo usurpa,
per colpa d’i pastor, vostra giustizia.
145Quivi fu’ io da quella gente turpa
disviluppato dal mondo fallace,
lo cui amor molt’ anime deturpa;
e venni dal martiro a questa pace».
133Mary gave me, called upon with loud cries;
and in your ancient Baptistery
135I became at once Christian and Cacciaguida.
Moronto was my brother, and Eliseo;
my lady came to me from the valley of the Po,
and from her your surname was made.
Then I followed Emperor Conrad;
140and he girded me with his knighthood,
so much did I please him by good works.
Behind him I went against the wickedness
of that law whose people usurp,
through the fault of the pastors, your justice.
145There I was by that foul people
unwrapped from the fallacious world,
whose love defiles many souls;
and came from martyrdom to this peace."
Commentary
This passage covers this sequence: Cacciaguida recounts birth, baptism, family names, Conrad's knighthood, crusade, martyrdom, and heavenly peace.
XV.133–135 Mary is invoked in childbirth; the line joins birth, prayer, and civic household. Baptism and naming are one act in the old Florentine San Giovanni frame.
XV.133–135 Mary is invoked in childbirth; the line joins birth, prayer, and civic household. Line 133: Mary is invoked in childbirth; the line joins birth, prayer, and civic household. Line 135: Baptism and naming are one act in the old Florentine San Giovanni frame.
XV.133 Mary is invoked in childbirth; the line joins birth, prayer, and civic household. Mary is invoked in childbirth; the line joins birth, prayer, and civic household.
XV.135 Baptism and naming are one act in the old Florentine San Giovanni frame. Baptism and naming are one act in the old Florentine San Giovanni frame.
XV.136–138 The line leaves open whether Eliseo is another brother or a family-name pressure. The surname pressure is preserved for the Alighieri/Aldighieri question.
XV.136–138 The line leaves open whether Eliseo is another brother or a family-name pressure. Line 136: The line leaves open whether Eliseo is another brother or a family-name pressure. Line 138: The surname pressure is preserved for the Alighieri/Aldighieri question.
XV.136 The line leaves open whether Eliseo is another brother or a family-name pressure. The line leaves open whether Eliseo is another brother or a family-name pressure.
XV.138 The surname pressure is preserved for the Alighieri/Aldighieri question. The surname pressure is preserved for the Alighieri/Aldighieri question.
XV.142–144 The phrase keeps Dante's medieval crusading polemic rather than converting it into a modern category. The pastors are Christian leaders whose fault has allowed the usurpation in Dante's frame.
XV.142–144 The phrase keeps Dante's medieval crusading polemic rather than converting it into a modern category. Line 143: The phrase keeps Dante's medieval crusading polemic rather than converting it into a modern category. Line 144: The pastors are Christian leaders whose fault has allowed the usurpation in Dante's frame.
XV.143 The phrase keeps Dante's medieval crusading polemic rather than converting it into a modern category. The phrase keeps Dante's medieval crusading polemic rather than converting it into a modern category.
XV.144 The pastors are Christian leaders whose fault has allowed the usurpation in Dante's frame. The pastors are Christian leaders whose fault has allowed the usurpation in Dante's frame.
XV.145–147 Disviluppato is kept as a release/unwrapping from the world's false folds.
XV.145–147 Disviluppato is kept as a release/unwrapping from the world's false folds. Line 146: Disviluppato is kept as a release/unwrapping from the world's false folds.
XV.146 Disviluppato is kept as a release/unwrapping from the world's false folds. Disviluppato is kept as a release/unwrapping from the world's false folds.
XV.148 The canto closes by turning Mars's holy soldiery into beatific peace through martyrdom. The canto closes by turning Mars's holy soldiery into beatific peace through martyrdom.