Paradiso, Canto 16
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Paradiso XVI continues the Cacciaguida sequence in Mars by turning ancestral joy into a test of nobility, language, and civic memory. Dante admits that even in Heaven, where appetite cannot twist aside, he gloried in noble blood, though it is only a cloak that time quickly shortens unless renewed by daily virtue. He resumes speech with the reverential voi, and Beatrice, slightly apart, smiles like the woman who coughed at Guinevere's first recorded fault. Dante addresses Cacciaguida as father, says the ancestor raises him beyond himself, and asks about his ancestors, his childhood years, the old sheepfold of Saint John, its size, and its worthy citizens. Cacciaguida brightens like a coal in wind and answers in a sweeter old speech. He dates his birth by the years from the Annunciation to the birth that relieved his mother of him, counted through Mars returning to Leo; he locates his family near the ward reached by the annual race and keeps his deeper genealogy in honorable silence. He remembers a smaller old Florence between Mars and the Baptist, one fifth the present armed population and pure even in its lowest artisan before countryside people from Campi, Certaldo, and Fegghine mixed into it. The speech then becomes a civic diagnosis: corrupt newcomers, papal hostility to Caesar, money-changing, forced urban migration, and confusion of persons become the city's illness, like food piled on food in a body. Cacciaguida broadens the point through vanished cities and lineages, lunar shoreline change, Fortune, and the mortality of all earthly things. He catalogs old Florentine families, some already declining and some still great, through names, offices, heraldic signs, old capacities for rule, later pride, ecclesial profit, and the rise of arrogant houses. The final movement centers the little city circuit, the gate named for the Pera, Hugh of Tuscany's privileges, Borgo families, and the honored Amidei house whose just disdain after Buondelmonte fled its wedding pledge brought Florence's weeping. The canto closes on the old city in repose, glorious and just, before the lily was ever reversed on the staff or made vermilion by division.
Narrative arc
- Dante tests noble blood, briefly glories in it even in Heaven, shifts into voi, and Beatrice smiles at the fault
- Dante addresses Cacciaguida as father and asks about ancestry, age, old Florence, and its highest citizens
- Cacciaguida brightens and answers in older speech, dating his birth by Mars and Leo and limiting family genealogy
- Cacciaguida measures the smaller old Florence and condemns civic mixing through countryside, barratry, and medical analogy
- The decline of cities and families is placed under mortality, lunar change, Fortune, and time-hidden fame
- Cacciaguida catalogs old Florentine houses, offices, heraldry, pride, ecclesial profit, and new arrogant lineages
- The little circuit, Hugh of Tuscany, Borgo families, Amidei, and Buondelmonte expose the origin of Florence's factional grief
- Cacciaguida closes with Florence at rest, glorious and just before the lily was reversed or reddened by division
Central themes
- lineage
- Florence
Dante tests noble blood, briefly glories in it even in Heaven, shifts into `voi`, and Beatrice smiles at the fault XVI.1–15
1O poca nostra nobiltà di sangue,
se glorïar di te la gente fai
qua giù dove l’affetto nostro langue,
mirabil cosa non mi sarà mai:
5ché là dove appetito non si torce,
dico nel cielo, io me ne gloriai.
Ben se’ tu manto che tosto raccorce:
sì che, se non s’appon di dì in die,
lo tempo va dintorno con le force.
10Dal ‘voi’ che prima a Roma s’offerie,
in che la sua famiglia men persevra,
ricominciaron le parole mie;
onde Beatrice, ch’era un poco scevra,
ridendo, parve quella che tossio
15al primo fallo scritto di Ginevra.
1O our little nobility of blood,
if you make people glory in you
down here where our affection languishes,
it will never be a wondrous thing to me:
5for where appetite does not twist aside,
I mean in Heaven, I gloried in you.
Truly you are a cloak that quickly shortens:
so that, unless one patches day by day,
time goes around you with its shears.
10With the voi that first offered itself at Rome,
in which her family least perseveres,
my words began again;
at which Beatrice, who was a little apart,
smiling, seemed like the one who coughed
15at the first fault written of Guinevere.
Commentary
The opening is a self-implicating correction of blood nobility: even in Heaven Dante briefly glories in ancestry, while the cloak and shears image makes inherited nobility mortal unless renewed by virtue.
XVI.1–3 The apostrophe keeps poca as little rather than empty; the canto immediately tests inherited nobility against lived virtue. Affetto is kept as affection to preserve the desire-language frame without modernizing it i.
XVI.1–3 The apostrophe keeps poca as little rather than empty; the canto immediately tests inherited nobility against lived virtue. Line 1: The apostrophe keeps poca as little rather than empty; the canto immediately tests inherited nobility against lived virtue. Line 3: Affetto is kept as affection to preserve the desire-language frame without modernizing it into sentiment alone.
XVI.1 The apostrophe keeps poca as little rather than empty; the canto immediately tests inherited nobility against lived virtue. The apostrophe keeps poca as little rather than empty; the canto immediately tests inherited nobility against lived virtue.
XVI.3 Affetto is kept as affection to preserve the desire-language frame without modernizing it into sentiment alone. Affetto is kept as affection to preserve the desire-language frame without modernizing it into sentiment alone.
XVI.4–6 Appetito non si torce keeps the language of appetite as ordered desire in Heaven.
XVI.4–6 Appetito non si torce keeps the language of appetite as ordered desire in Heaven. Line 5: Appetito non si torce keeps the language of appetite as ordered desire in Heaven.
XVI.5 Appetito non si torce keeps the language of appetite as ordered desire in Heaven. Appetito non si torce keeps the language of appetite as ordered desire in Heaven.
XVI.7–9 The cloak image keeps nobility as something that must be renewed rather than passively inherited.
XVI.7–9 The cloak image keeps nobility as something that must be renewed rather than passively inherited. Line 7: The cloak image keeps nobility as something that must be renewed rather than passively inherited.
XVI.7 The cloak image keeps nobility as something that must be renewed rather than passively inherited. The cloak image keeps nobility as something that must be renewed rather than passively inherited.
XVI.10–12 The Italian honorific voi is retained because the register shift is the local event.
XVI.10–12 The Italian honorific voi is retained because the register shift is the local event. Line 10: The Italian honorific voi is retained because the register shift is the local event.
XVI.10 The Italian honorific voi is retained because the register shift is the local event. The Italian honorific voi is retained because the register shift is the local event.
XVI.13–15 Beatrice remains slightly separate from Dante's noble-blood pride while still smiling. The Guinevere allusion is left compressed; it marks Beatrice's gentle notice of Dante's social pride.
XVI.13–15 Beatrice remains slightly separate from Dante's noble-blood pride while still smiling. Line 13: Beatrice remains slightly separate from Dante's noble-blood pride while still smiling. Line 15: The Guinevere allusion is left compressed; it marks Beatrice's gentle notice of Dante's social pride.
XVI.13 Beatrice remains slightly separate from Dante's noble-blood pride while still smiling. Beatrice remains slightly separate from Dante's noble-blood pride while still smiling.
XVI.15 The Guinevere allusion is left compressed; it marks Beatrice's gentle notice of Dante's social pride. The Guinevere allusion is left compressed; it marks Beatrice's gentle notice of Dante's social pride.
Dante addresses Cacciaguida as father and asks about ancestry, age, old Florence, and its highest citizens XVI.16–27
16Io cominciai: «Voi siete il padre mio;
voi mi date a parlar tutta baldezza;
voi mi levate sì, ch’i’ son più ch’io.
Per tanti rivi s’empie d’allegrezza
20la mente mia, che di sé fa letizia
perché può sostener che non si spezza.
Ditemi dunque, cara mia primizia,
quai fuor li vostri antichi e quai fuor li anni
che si segnaro in vostra püerizia;
25ditemi de l’ovil di San Giovanni
quanto era allora, e chi eran le genti
tra esso degne di più alti scanni».
16I began: "You are my father;
you give me every boldness to speak;
you lift me so that I am more than I.
Through so many streams my mind fills with gladness
20that it makes a joy of itself
because it can bear this and not break.
Tell me then, dear first-fruit of mine,
who your ancestors were, and what were the years
that marked themselves in your boyhood;
25tell me of Saint John's sheepfold,
how large it was then, and who were the people
within it worthy of the highest seats."
Commentary
This passage covers this sequence: Dante addresses Cacciaguida as father and asks about ancestry, age, old Florence, and its highest citizens.
XVI.22–24 Primizia is rendered first-fruit to keep the biblical and familial harvest pressure.
XVI.22–24 Primizia is rendered first-fruit to keep the biblical and familial harvest pressure. Line 22: Primizia is rendered first-fruit to keep the biblical and familial harvest pressure.
XVI.22 Primizia is rendered first-fruit to keep the biblical and familial harvest pressure. Primizia is rendered first-fruit to keep the biblical and familial harvest pressure.
XVI.25–27 Saint John's sheepfold names Florence by its patron and keeps civic memory under pastoral language.
XVI.25–27 Saint John's sheepfold names Florence by its patron and keeps civic memory under pastoral language. Line 25: Saint John's sheepfold names Florence by its patron and keeps civic memory under pastoral language.
XVI.25 Saint John's sheepfold names Florence by its patron and keeps civic memory under pastoral language. Saint John's sheepfold names Florence by its patron and keeps civic memory under pastoral language.
Cacciaguida brightens and answers in older speech, dating his birth by Mars and Leo and limiting family genealogy XVI.28–45
28Come s’avviva a lo spirar d’i venti
carbone in fiamma, così vid’ io quella
30luce risplendere a’ miei blandimenti;
e come a li occhi miei si fé più bella,
così con voce più dolce e soave,
ma non con questa moderna favella,
dissemi: «Da quel dì che fu detto ‘Ave’
35al parto in che mia madre, ch’è or santa,
s’allevïò di me ond’ era grave,
al suo Leon cinquecento cinquanta
e trenta fiate venne questo foco
a rinfiammarsi sotto la sua pianta.
40Li antichi miei e io nacqui nel loco
dove si truova pria l’ultimo sesto
da quei che corre il vostro annüal gioco.
Basti d’i miei maggiori udirne questo:
chi ei si fosser e onde venner quivi,
45più è tacer che ragionare onesto.
28As, at the breathing of the winds,
a coal is quickened into flame, so I saw that
30light grow radiant at my blandishments;
and as to my eyes it became more beautiful,
so with a voice sweeter and gentler,
though not in this modern speech,
it said to me: "From that day when 'Ave' was said
35to the birth in which my mother, who is now sainted,
relieved herself of me, with whom she was heavy,
to its Lion five hundred fifty
and thirty times had this fire come
to rekindle itself beneath its paw.
40My ancestors and I were born in the place
where the last ward is first found
by the one who runs your annual race.
Let this be enough to hear of my forebears:
who they were and whence they came there,
45silence is more honorable than speech.
Commentary
The passage gives the birth reckoning through the Annunciation, Mars, and Leo, the older Florentine speech, the annual race locator, and Cacciaguida's honorable refusal to overstate genealogy.
XVI.28–30 Blandimenti is kept as blandishments to preserve the courtly, affectionate address that brightens Cacciaguida.
XVI.28–30 Blandimenti is kept as blandishments to preserve the courtly, affectionate address that brightens Cacciaguida. Line 30: Blandimenti is kept as blandishments to preserve the courtly, affectionate address that brightens Cacciaguida.
XVI.30 Blandimenti is kept as blandishments to preserve the courtly, affectionate address that brightens Cacciaguida. Blandimenti is kept as blandishments to preserve the courtly, affectionate address that brightens Cacciaguida.
XVI.31–33 The line preserves Dante's sense that Cacciaguida speaks in an older Florentine register.
XVI.31–33 The line preserves Dante's sense that Cacciaguida speaks in an older Florentine register. Line 33: The line preserves Dante's sense that Cacciaguida speaks in an older Florentine register.
XVI.33 The line preserves Dante's sense that Cacciaguida speaks in an older Florentine register. The line preserves Dante's sense that Cacciaguida speaks in an older Florentine register.
XVI.34–36 Ave links the Annunciation, Florentine calendar memory, and Cacciaguida's birth reckoning.
XVI.34–36 Ave links the Annunciation, Florentine calendar memory, and Cacciaguida's birth reckoning. Line 34: Ave links the Annunciation, Florentine calendar memory, and Cacciaguida's birth reckoning.
XVI.34 Ave links the Annunciation, Florentine calendar memory, and Cacciaguida's birth reckoning. Ave links the Annunciation, Florentine calendar memory, and Cacciaguida's birth reckoning.
XVI.37–39 The fire is Mars; the count dates Cacciaguida's birth by Mars returning to Leo.
XVI.37–39 The fire is Mars; the count dates Cacciaguida's birth by Mars returning to Leo. Line 38: The fire is Mars; the count dates Cacciaguida's birth by Mars returning to Leo.
XVI.38 The fire is Mars; the count dates Cacciaguida's birth by Mars returning to Leo. The fire is Mars; the count dates Cacciaguida's birth by Mars returning to Leo.
XVI.40–42 The annual race points to Florence's Saint John festivities and old urban divisions.
XVI.40–42 The annual race points to Florence's Saint John festivities and old urban divisions. Line 42: The annual race points to Florence's Saint John festivities and old urban divisions.
XVI.42 The annual race points to Florence's Saint John festivities and old urban divisions. The annual race points to Florence's Saint John festivities and old urban divisions.
Cacciaguida measures the smaller old Florence and condemns civic mixing through countryside, barratry, and medical analogy XVI.46–72
46Tutti color ch’a quel tempo eran ivi
da poter arme tra Marte e ’l Batista,
eran il quinto di quei ch’or son vivi.
Ma la cittadinanza, ch’è or mista
50di Campi, di Certaldo e di Fegghine,
pura vediesi ne l’ultimo artista.
Oh quanto fora meglio esser vicine
quelle genti ch’io dico, e al Galluzzo
e a Trespiano aver vostro confine,
55che averle dentro e sostener lo puzzo
del villan d’Aguglion, di quel da Signa,
che già per barattare ha l’occhio aguzzo!
Se la gente ch’al mondo più traligna
non fosse stata a Cesare noverca,
60ma come madre a suo figlio benigna,
tal fatto è fiorentino e cambia e merca,
che si sarebbe vòlto a Simifonti,
là dove andava l’avolo a la cerca;
sariesi Montemurlo ancor de’ Conti;
65sarieno i Cerchi nel piovier d’Acone,
e forse in Valdigrieve i Buondelmonti.
Sempre la confusion de le persone
principio fu del mal de la cittade,
come del vostro il cibo che s’appone;
70e cieco toro più avaccio cade
che cieco agnello; e molte volte taglia
più e meglio una che le cinque spade.
46All those who at that time were there
able to bear arms between Mars and the Baptist
were a fifth of those now living.
But the citizenry, which is now mixed
50from Campi, Certaldo, and Fegghine,
was seen pure in the lowest artisan.
O how much better it would be
for those people I name to be neighbors,
and for your boundary to stand at Galluzzo and Trespiano,
55than to have them inside and endure the stench
of the boor of Aguglione, of that man from Signa,
who already has his eye sharp for barratry!
If the people that in the world most degenerates
had not been stepmother to Caesar,
60but benign as a mother to her son,
such a one has become Florentine, changing money and trading,
who would have turned back to Simifonti,
where his grandfather went begging;
Montemurlo would still belong to the Counts;
65the Cerchi would be in the parish of Acone,
and perhaps the Buondelmonti in Valdigrieve.
Always the confusion of persons
was the beginning of the city's harm,
as food piled upon food is to your body;
70and a blind bull falls more headlong
than a blind lamb; and often one sword
cuts more and better than five.
Commentary
The translation keeps Dante's medieval civic diagnosis intact: a smaller old Florence between Mars and the Baptist, population mixing from nearby towns, barratry, failed imperial order, money-changing, forced urban migration, and medicalized civic confusion.
XVI.46–48 Mars and the Baptist mark the old civic space between pagan remnant and Christian patron.
XVI.46–48 Mars and the Baptist mark the old civic space between pagan remnant and Christian patron. Line 47: Mars and the Baptist mark the old civic space between pagan remnant and Christian patron.
XVI.47 Mars and the Baptist mark the old civic space between pagan remnant and Christian patron. Mars and the Baptist mark the old civic space between pagan remnant and Christian patron.
XVI.49–51 Artista is artisan here; the line keeps Dante's old-civic purity claim without softening its medieval exclusion.
XVI.49–51 Artista is artisan here; the line keeps Dante's old-civic purity claim without softening its medieval exclusion. Line 51: Artista is artisan here; the line keeps Dante's old-civic purity claim without softening its medieval exclusion.
XVI.51 Artista is artisan here; the line keeps Dante's old-civic purity claim without softening its medieval exclusion. Artista is artisan here; the line keeps Dante's old-civic purity claim without softening its medieval exclusion.
XVI.55–57 Barratry ties the civic catalogue back to public corruption and Malebolge terminology.
XVI.55–57 Barratry ties the civic catalogue back to public corruption and Malebolge terminology. Line 57: Barratry ties the civic catalogue back to public corruption and Malebolge terminology.
XVI.57 Barratry ties the civic catalogue back to public corruption and Malebolge terminology. Barratry ties the civic catalogue back to public corruption and Malebolge terminology.
XVI.58–60 The imperial/papal conflict is kept in Dante's medieval terms rather than generalized.
XVI.58–60 The imperial/papal conflict is kept in Dante's medieval terms rather than generalized. Line 59: The imperial/papal conflict is kept in Dante's medieval terms rather than generalized.
XVI.59 The imperial/papal conflict is kept in Dante's medieval terms rather than generalized. The imperial/papal conflict is kept in Dante's medieval terms rather than generalized.
XVI.67–69 The added-food image keeps civic mixing as Dante's medical-political analogy.
XVI.67–69 The added-food image keeps civic mixing as Dante's medical-political analogy. Line 69: The added-food image keeps civic mixing as Dante's medical-political analogy.
XVI.69 The added-food image keeps civic mixing as Dante's medical-political analogy. The added-food image keeps civic mixing as Dante's medical-political analogy.
The decline of cities and families is placed under mortality, lunar change, Fortune, and time-hidden fame XVI.73–87
73Se tu riguardi Luni e Orbisaglia
come sono ite, e come se ne vanno
75di retro ad esse Chiusi e Sinigaglia,
udir come le schiatte si disfanno
non ti parrà nova cosa né forte,
poscia che le cittadi termine hanno.
Le vostre cose tutte hanno lor morte,
80sì come voi; ma celasi in alcuna
che dura molto, e le vite son corte.
E come ’l volger del ciel de la luna
cuopre e discuopre i liti sanza posa,
così fa di Fiorenza la Fortuna:
85per che non dee parer mirabil cosa
ciò ch’io dirò de li alti Fiorentini
onde è la fama nel tempo nascosa.
73If you consider Luni and Orbisaglia,
how they have gone, and how Chiusi
75and Sinigaglia go after them,
to hear how lineages come apart
will not seem to you a new or hard thing,
since cities have their term.
All your things have their death,
80as you do; but in some it is hidden
because they last long, and lives are short.
And as the turning of the heaven of the Moon
covers and uncovers the shores without pause,
so Fortune does with Florence:
85therefore it should not seem a wondrous thing
what I shall say of the high Florentines
whose fame is hidden in time.
Commentary
The ruin of Luni, Orbisaglia, Chiusi, and Sinigaglia broadens family decline into the mortality of cities. Lunar shore-change and Fortune keep history moving under Paradiso's cosmic order rather than mere nostalgia.
XVI.82–84 Fortune remains a providential historical motion, not random modern chance alone.
XVI.82–84 Fortune remains a providential historical motion, not random modern chance alone. Line 84: Fortune remains a providential historical motion, not random modern chance alone.
XVI.84 Fortune remains a providential historical motion, not random modern chance alone. Fortune remains a providential historical motion, not random modern chance alone.
Cacciaguida catalogs old Florentine houses, offices, heraldry, pride, ecclesial profit, and new arrogant lineages XVI.88–123
88Io vidi li Ughi e vidi i Catellini,
Filippi, Greci, Ormanni e Alberichi,
90già nel calare, illustri cittadini;
e vidi così grandi come antichi,
con quel de la Sannella, quel de l’Arca,
e Soldanieri e Ardinghi e Bostichi.
Sovra la porta ch’al presente è carca
95di nova fellonia di tanto peso
che tosto fia iattura de la barca,
erano i Ravignani, ond’ è disceso
il conte Guido e qualunque del nome
de l’alto Bellincione ha poscia preso.
100Quel de la Pressa sapeva già come
regger si vuole, e avea Galigaio
dorata in casa sua già l’elsa e ’l pome.
Grand’ era già la colonna del Vaio,
Sacchetti, Giuochi, Fifanti e Barucci
105e Galli e quei ch’arrossan per lo staio.
Lo ceppo di che nacquero i Calfucci
era già grande, e già eran tratti
a le curule Sizii e Arrigucci.
Oh quali io vidi quei che son disfatti
110per lor superbia! e le palle de l’oro
fiorian Fiorenza in tutt’ i suoi gran fatti.
Così facieno i padri di coloro
che, sempre che la vostra chiesa vaca,
si fanno grassi stando a consistoro.
115L’oltracotata schiatta che s’indraca
dietro a chi fugge, e a chi mostra ’l dente
o ver la borsa, com’ agnel si placa,
già venìa sù, ma di picciola gente;
sì che non piacque ad Ubertin Donato
120che poï il suocero il fé lor parente.
Già era ’l Caponsacco nel mercato
disceso giù da Fiesole, e già era
buon cittadino Giuda e Infangato.
88I saw the Ughi and I saw the Catellini,
Filippi, Greci, Ormanni, and Alberichi,
90already in decline, illustrious citizens;
and I saw, as great as they were ancient,
the one of Sannella, the one of Arca,
and Soldanieri, Ardinghi, and Bostichi.
Above the gate that at present is burdened
95with new felony of such weight
that soon it will be jettison from the bark,
were the Ravignani, from whom descended
Count Guido and whoever afterward
has taken the name of high Bellincione.
100The one of Pressa already knew how
one ought to govern, and Galigaio already had
gilded hilt and pommel in his house.
Great already was the column of Vair,
Sacchetti, Giuochi, Fifanti, and Barucci,
105and Galli, and those who blush for the bushel.
The stock from which the Calfucci were born
was already great, and already were drawn
to curule chairs the Sizii and Arrigucci.
O what men I saw, those now undone
110by their pride! and the golden balls
made Florence flower in all her great deeds.
So too did the fathers of those
who, whenever your church is vacant,
make themselves fat while staying in consistory.
115The overweening lineage that becomes dragonlike
behind one who flees, and before one who shows his teeth
or purse, grows calm as a lamb,
was already coming up, but from petty people;
so that it did not please Ubertin Donato
120when afterward his father-in-law made him kin to them.
Already Caponsacco was in the market,
come down from Fiesole, and already
Giuda and Infangato were good citizens.
Commentary
The family catalogue is retained as a dense civic roll call rather than paraphrased away. Notes mark key heraldic, office, pride, ecclesial-profit, and dragon-lineage pressures.
XVI.94–96 The burdened-gate image points toward factional crimes and impending civic loss.
XVI.94–96 The burdened-gate image points toward factional crimes and impending civic loss. Line 95: The burdened-gate image points toward factional crimes and impending civic loss.
XVI.95 The burdened-gate image points toward factional crimes and impending civic loss. The burdened-gate image points toward factional crimes and impending civic loss.
XVI.100–102 Hilt and pommel signal knighthood and old civic rank.
XVI.100–102 Hilt and pommel signal knighthood and old civic rank. Line 102: Hilt and pommel signal knighthood and old civic rank.
XVI.102 Hilt and pommel signal knighthood and old civic rank. Hilt and pommel signal knighthood and old civic rank.
XVI.103–105 The heraldic device is kept concrete rather than explained into a family name. The bushel allusion is left compressed, pointing to Chiaramontesi fraud.
XVI.103–105 The heraldic device is kept concrete rather than explained into a family name. Line 103: The heraldic device is kept concrete rather than explained into a family name. Line 105: The bushel allusion is left compressed, pointing to Chiaramontesi fraud.
XVI.103 The heraldic device is kept concrete rather than explained into a family name. The heraldic device is kept concrete rather than explained into a family name.
XVI.105 The bushel allusion is left compressed, pointing to Chiaramontesi fraud. The bushel allusion is left compressed, pointing to Chiaramontesi fraud.
XVI.106–108 Curule chairs preserves the Roman civic-office register.
XVI.106–108 Curule chairs preserves the Roman civic-office register. Line 108: Curule chairs preserves the Roman civic-office register.
XVI.108 Curule chairs preserves the Roman civic-office register. Curule chairs preserves the Roman civic-office register.
XVI.109–111 The golden balls are treated as heraldic and civic rather than decorative only.
XVI.109–111 The golden balls are treated as heraldic and civic rather than decorative only. Line 111: The golden balls are treated as heraldic and civic rather than decorative only.
XVI.111 The golden balls are treated as heraldic and civic rather than decorative only. The golden balls are treated as heraldic and civic rather than decorative only.
XVI.112–114 The line keeps the ecclesial patronage abuse concrete.
XVI.112–114 The line keeps the ecclesial patronage abuse concrete. Line 114: The line keeps the ecclesial patronage abuse concrete.
XVI.114 The line keeps the ecclesial patronage abuse concrete. The line keeps the ecclesial patronage abuse concrete.
XVI.115–117 Oltracotata continues the overweening/arrogance field; s'indraca is rendered as becomes dragonlike.
XVI.115–117 Oltracotata continues the overweening/arrogance field; s'indraca is rendered as becomes dragonlike. Line 115: Oltracotata continues the overweening/arrogance field; s'indraca is rendered as becomes dragonlike.
XVI.115 Oltracotata continues the overweening/arrogance field; s'indraca is rendered as becomes dragonlike. Oltracotata continues the overweening/arrogance field; s'indraca is rendered as becomes dragonlike.
The little circuit, Hugh of Tuscany, Borgo families, Amidei, and Buondelmonte expose the origin of Florence's factional grief XVI.124–147
124Io dirò cosa incredibile e vera:
125nel picciol cerchio s’entrava per porta
che si nomava da quei de la Pera.
Ciascun che de la bella insegna porta
del gran barone il cui nome e ’l cui pregio
la festa di Tommaso riconforta,
130da esso ebbe milizia e privilegio;
avvegna che con popol si rauni
oggi colui che la fascia col fregio.
Già eran Gualterotti e Importuni;
e ancor saria Borgo più quïeto,
135se di novi vicin fosser digiuni.
La casa di che nacque il vostro fleto,
per lo giusto disdegno che v’ha morti
e puose fine al vostro viver lieto,
era onorata, essa e suoi consorti:
140o Buondelmonte, quanto mal fuggisti
le nozze süe per li altrui conforti!
Molti sarebber lieti, che son tristi,
se Dio t’avesse conceduto ad Ema
la prima volta ch’a città venisti.
145Ma conveniesi a quella pietra scema
che guarda ’l ponte, che Fiorenza fesse
vittima ne la sua pace postrema.
124I will tell an unbelievable and true thing:
125into the little circuit one entered by a gate
that was named from those of the Pera.
Everyone who bears the fair insignia
of the great baron whose name and worth
the feast of Thomas renews,
130from him received knighthood and privilege;
although today he gathers with the people,
the one who binds it with the fringe.
Already there were Gualterotti and Importuni;
and the Borgo would still be quieter
135if it were fasting from new neighbors.
The house from which your weeping was born,
through the just disdain that has killed you
and put an end to your glad life,
was honored, it and its allies:
140O Buondelmonte, how ill you fled
its wedding through others' urgings!
Many would be glad who now are sad,
if God had granted you to the Ema
the first time you came to the city.
145But it was fitting that, to that mutilated stone
which guards the bridge, Florence should make
a victim in her final peace.
Commentary
This passage covers this sequence: The little circuit, Hugh of Tuscany, Borgo families, Amidei, and Buondelmonte expose the origin of Florence's factional grief.
XVI.130–132 The bordered/fringed insignia points to Giano della Bella joining the popolo.
XVI.130–132 The bordered/fringed insignia points to Giano della Bella joining the popolo. Line 132: The bordered/fringed insignia points to Giano della Bella joining the popolo.
XVI.132 The bordered/fringed insignia points to Giano della Bella joining the popolo. The bordered/fringed insignia points to Giano della Bella joining the popolo.
XVI.133–135 The fasting image preserves Dante's food/appetite metaphor rather than smoothing it away.
XVI.133–135 The fasting image preserves Dante's food/appetite metaphor rather than smoothing it away. Line 135: The fasting image preserves Dante's food/appetite metaphor rather than smoothing it away.
XVI.135 The fasting image preserves Dante's food/appetite metaphor rather than smoothing it away. The fasting image preserves Dante's food/appetite metaphor rather than smoothing it away.
XVI.136–138 Disdegno is rendered as disdain, in keeping with the poem's disdain field.
XVI.136–138 Disdegno is rendered as disdain, in keeping with the poem's disdain field. Line 137: Disdegno is rendered as disdain, in keeping with the poem's disdain field.
XVI.137 Disdegno is rendered as disdain, in keeping with the poem's disdain field. Disdegno is rendered as disdain, in keeping with the poem's disdain field.
XVI.145–147 The mutilated stone is the damaged statue of Mars at the Ponte Vecchio.
XVI.145–147 The mutilated stone is the damaged statue of Mars at the Ponte Vecchio. Line 145: The mutilated stone is the damaged statue of Mars at the Ponte Vecchio.
XVI.145 The mutilated stone is the damaged statue of Mars at the Ponte Vecchio. The mutilated stone is the damaged statue of Mars at the Ponte Vecchio.
Cacciaguida closes with Florence at rest, glorious and just before the lily was reversed or reddened by division XVI.148–154
148Con queste genti, e con altre con esse,
vid’ io Fiorenza in sì fatto riposo,
150che non avea cagione onde piangesse.
Con queste genti vid’io glorïoso
e giusto il popol suo, tanto che ’l giglio
non era ad asta mai posto a ritroso,
né per divisïon fatto vermiglio».
148With these people, and with others with them,
I saw Florence in such repose
150that she had no cause for weeping.
With these people I saw her people glorious
and just, so that the lily
had never been set reversed on the staff,
nor made vermilion through division."
Commentary
This passage covers this sequence: Cacciaguida closes with Florence at rest, glorious and just before the lily was reversed or reddened by division.
XVI.151–153 The reversed lily marks public defeat and humiliation.
XVI.151–153 The reversed lily marks public defeat and humiliation. Line 153: The reversed lily marks public defeat and humiliation.
XVI.153 The reversed lily marks public defeat and humiliation. The reversed lily marks public defeat and humiliation.
XVI.154 The vermilion lily keeps factional blood and party reversal visible at the close. The vermilion lily keeps factional blood and party reversal visible at the close.