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Document Title: The Early Italian Poets From Ciullo D'Alcamo to Dante Alighieri (1100-1200-1300) (the Princeton illustrated copy)
Author: Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Date of publication: 1861
Publisher: Smith, Elder, and Co.
Printer: J. Whittingham, Chiswick Press
Edition: 1

The full Rossetti Archive record for this transcribed document is available.

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more about this work
THE EARLY ITALIAN POETS.
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THE EARLY ITALIAN POETS

FROM CIULLO D'ALCAMO TO

DANTE ALIGHIERI

(1100-1200-1300)

IN THE ORIGINAL METRES

TOGETHER WITH DANTE'S VITA NUOVA



TRANSLATED BY D. G. ROSSETTI

Part I. Poets chiefly before Dante

Part II. Dante and his Circle



LONDON:

SMITH, ELDER AND CO. 65, CORNHILL.

1861.

Transcribed Footnote (page [iii]):

The rights of translation and reproduction, as regards all editorial parts

of this work, are reserved.

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Sig. b


WHATEVER IS MINE IN THIS BOOK

IS INSCRIBED TO MY WIFE.
D. G. R.,1861.
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more about Preface to ‘The Early Italian Poets.’
PREFACE.
I need not dilate here on the characteristics of

the first epoch of Italian Poetry; since the extent

of my translated selections is sufficient to afford a

complete view of it. Its great beauties may often

remain unapproached in the versions here attempted;

but, at the same time, its imperfections are not all

to be charged to the translator. Among these I may

refer to its limited range of subject and continual

obscurity, as well as to its monotony in the use of

rhymes or frequent substitution of assonances. But

to compensate for much that is incomplete and in-

experienced, these poems possess, in their degree,

beauties of a kind which can never again exist in art;

and offer, besides, a treasure of grace and variety in

the formation of their metres. Nothing but a strong

impression, first of their poetic value, and next of

the biographical interest of some of them (chiefly

of those in my second division), would have inclined

me to bestow the time and trouble which have re-

sulted in this collection.
Much has been said, and in many respects justly,

against the value of metrical translation. But I think

it would be admitted that the tributary art might

find a not illegitimate use in the case of poems which
page: viii


come down to us in such a form as do these early

Italian ones. Struggling originally with corrupt

dialect and imperfect expression, and hardly kept

alive through centuries of neglect, they have reached

that last and worst state in which the coup-de-grace

has almost been dealt them by clumsy transcription

and pedantic superstructure. At this stage the task

of talking much more about them in any language

is hardly to be entered upon; and a translation (in-

volving, as it does, the necessity of settling many

points without discussion,) remains perhaps the most

direct form of commentary.
The life-blood of rhymed translation is this,—that

a good poem shall not be turned into a bad one.

The only true motive for putting poetry into a fresh

language must be to endow a fresh nation, as far as

possible, with one more possession of beauty. Poetry

not being an exact science, literality of rendering is

altogether secondary to this chief aim. I say literality,

—not fidelity, which is by no means the same thing.

When literality can be combined with what is thus

the primary condition of success, the translator is

fortunate, and must strive his utmost to unite them;

when such object can only be attained by paraphrase,

that is his only path.
Any merit possessed by these translations is de-

rived from an effort to follow this principle; and, in

some degree, from the fact that such painstaking in

arrangement and descriptive heading as is often

indispensable to old and especially to “occasional”
page: ix


poetry, has here been bestowed on these poets for the

first time.
That there are many defects in these translations,

or that the above merit is their defect, or that they have

no merits but only defects, are discoveries so sure to be

made if necessary (or perhaps here and there in any

case), that I may safely leave them in other hands.

The collection has probably a wider scope than some

readers might look for, and includes now and then

(though I believe in rare instances) matter which

may not meet with universal approval; and whose

introduction, needed as it is by the literary aim of

my work, is I know inconsistent with the principles

of pretty bookmaking. My wish has been to give

a full and truthful view of early Italian poetry;

not to make it appear to consist only of certain

elements to the exclusion of others equally belonging

to it.
Of the difficulties I have had to encounter,—the

causes of imperfections for which I have no other

excuse,—it is the reader's best privilege to remain

ignorant; but I may perhaps be pardoned for briefly

referring to such among these as concern the exi-

gencies of translation. The task of the translator

(and with all humility be it spoken) is one of some

self-denial. Often would he avail himself of any

special grace of his own idiom and epoch, if only his

will belonged to him: often would some cadence

serve him but for his author's structure—some struc-

ture but for his author's cadence: often the beautiful
page: x


turn of a stanza must be weakened to adopt some

rhyme which will tally, and he sees the poet revelling

in abundance of language where himself is scantily

supplied. Now he would slight the matter for the

music, and now the music for the matter; but no,

he must deal to each alike. Sometimes too a flaw

in the work galls him, and he would fain remove it,

doing for the poet that which his age denied him;

but no,—it is not in the bond. His path is like that

of Aladdin through the enchanted vaults: many are

the precious fruits and flowers which he must pass

by unheeded in search for the lamp alone; happy

if at last, when brought to light, it does not prove

that his old lamp has been exchanged for a new one,—

glittering indeed to the eye, but scarcely of the same

virtue nor with the same genius at its summons.
In relinquishing this work (which, small as it is,

is the only contribution I expect to make to our

English knowledge of old Italy), I feel, as it were,

divided from my youth. The first associations I

have are connected with my father's devoted studies,

which, from his own point of view, have done so

much towards the general investigation of Dante's

writings. Thus, in those early days, all around me

partook of the influence of the great Florentine; till,

from viewing it as a natural element, I also, growing

older, was drawn within the circle. I trust that

from this the reader may place more confidence in a

work not carelessly undertaken, though produced in

the spare-time of other pursuits more closely followed.
page: xi


He should perhaps be told that it has occupied the

leisure moments of not a few years; thus affording,

often at long intervals, every opportunity for consi-

deration and revision; and that on the score of care,

at least, he has no need to mistrust it.
Nevertheless, I know there is no great stir to

be made by launching afresh, on high-seas busy

with new traffic, the ships which have been long

outstripped and the ensigns which are grown strange.

The feeling of self-doubt inseparable from such an

attempt has been admirably expressed by a great

living poet, in words which may be applied exactly

to my humbler position, though relating in his case

to a work all his own.
  • “Still, what if I approach the august sphere
  • Named now with only one name,—disentwine
  • That under current soft and argentine
  • From its fierce mate in the majestic mass
  • Leaven'd as the sea whose fire was mix'd with glass
  • In John's transcendent vision,—launch once more
  • That lustre? Dante, pacer of the shore
  • Where glutted Hell disgorges filthiest gloom,
  • Unbitten by its whirring sulphur-spume—
  • Or whence the grieved and obscure waters slope
  • Into a darkness quieted by hope—
  • Plucker of amaranths grown beneath God's eye
  • In gracious twilights where His chosen lie,—
  • I would do this! If I should falter now!....”
( Sordello, byRobert Browning, B. i.)
It may be well to conclude this short preface with

a list of the works which have chiefly contributed to

the materials of the present volume.
page: xii
  • I. Poeti del primo secolo della Lingua Ita-

    liana. 2 vol. (Firenze. 1816.)
  • II. Raccolta di Rime antiche Toscane. 4 vol.

    (Palermo. 1817.)
  • III. Manuale della Letteratura del primo Secolo.

    del Prof. V. Nannucci. 3 vol. (Firenze. 1843.)
  • IV. Poesie Italiane inedite di dugento autori:

    raccolte da Francesco Trucchi. 4 vol. (Prato.

    1846.)*
  • V. Opere Minori di Dante. Edizione di P. I.

    Fraticelli. (Firenze. 1843, &c.)
  • VI. Rime di Guido Cavalcanti; raccolte da A.

    Cicciaporci. (Firenze. 1813.)
  • VII. Vita e Poesie di Messer Cino da Pistoia.

    Edizione di S. Ciampi. (Pisa. 1813.)
  • VIII. Documenti d'Amore; di Francesco da

    Barberino. Annotati da F. Ubaldini. (Roma.

    1640.)
  • IX. Del Reggimento e dei Costumi delle Donne;

    di Francesco da Barberino. (Roma. 1815.)
  • X. Il Dittamondo di Fazio degli Uberti. (Milano.

    1826.)
Transcribed Footnote (page xii):

* This work contains, in its first and second volumes, by

far the best edited collection I know of early Italian poetry.

Unfortunately it is only a supplement to the previous ones,

giving poems till then unpublished. A reprint of the whole

mass by the same editor, with such revision and further

additions as he could give it, would be very desirable.

page: [xiii]
CONTENTS.
page: [xxi]
Sig. c
more about Poets Chiefly Before Dante.
PART I.

POETS CHIEFLY BEFORE DANTE.
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more about Table of Poets in Part I.
TABLE OF POETS IN PART I.
    I.

    CIULLO D'ALCAMO, 1172-78.

  • Ciullo is a popular form of the name Vin-

    cenzo, and Alcamo an Arab fortress some miles

    from Palermo. The Dialogue which is the only

    known production of this poet holds here the place

    generally accorded to it as the earliest Italian poem

    (exclusive of one or two dubious inscriptions) which

    has been preserved to our day. Arguments have

    sometimes been brought to prove that it must be as-

    signed to a later date than the poem by Folcachiero,

    which follows it in this volume; thus ascribing the

    first honours of Italian poetry to Tuscany, and not

    to Sicily, as is commonly supposed. Trucchi, how-

    ever, (in the preface to his valuable collection,)

    states his belief that the two poems are about con-

    temporaneous, fixing the date of that by Ciullo

    between 1172 and 1178,—chiefly from the fact that

    the fame of Saladin, to whom this poet alludes, was

    most in men's mouths during that interval. At first

    sight, any casual reader of the original would sup-

    pose that this poem must be unquestionably the

    earliest of all, as its language is far the most un-

    formed and difficult; but much of this might, of course,

    page: xxiv


    be dependent on the inferior dialect of Sicily, mixed

    however in this instance (as far as I can judge)

    with mere nondescript patois.

    • II. Folcachiero de' Folcachieri, Knight of

    Siena, 1177.

  • The above date has been assigned with probabi-

    lity to Folcachiero's Canzone, on account of its first

    line where the whole world is said to be “living

    without war;” an assertion which seems to refer

    its production to the period of the celebrated peace

    concluded at Venice between Frederick Barbarossa

    and Pope Alexander III.

    • III. Lodovico della Vernaccia, 1200.IV. Saint Francis of Assisi; born, 1182, died,

    1226.

  • His baptismal name was Giovanni, and his father

    was Bernardone Moriconi, whose mercantile pur-

    suits he shared till the age of twenty-five; after

    which his life underwent the extraordinary change

    which resulted in his canonization, by Gregory IX.,

    three years after his death, and in the formation of

    the Religious Order called Franciscans.

    • V. Frederick II., Emperor; born, 1194,

    died, 1250.

  • The life of Frederick II., and his excommunica-

    tion and deposition from the Empire by Innocent

    IV., to whom, however, he did not succumb, are

    matters of history which need no repetition. In-

    tellectually, he was in all ways a highly-gifted and

    accomplished prince; and lovingly cultivated the

    Italian language, in preference to the many others

    page: xxv


    with which he was familiar. The poem of his which

    I give has great passionate beauty; yet I believe

    that an allegorical interpretation may here probably

    be admissible; and that the lady of the poem may

    be the Empire, or perhaps the Church herself, held

    in bondage by the Pope.

    • VI. Enzo, King of Sardinia; born, 1225,

    died, 1272.

  • The unfortunate Enzo was a natural son of Fre-

    derick II., and was born at Palermo. By his own

    warlike enterprise, at an early age (it is said at

    fifteen!) he subjugated the Island of Sardinia, and

    was made King of it by his father. Afterwards he

    joined Frederick in his war against the Church,

    and displayed the highest promise as a leader; but

    at the age of twenty-five was taken prisoner by the

    Bolognese, whom no threats or promises from the

    Emperor could induce to set him at liberty. He

    died in prison at Bologna, after a confinement of

    nearly twenty-three years. A hard fate indeed for

    one who, while moving among men, excited their

    hopes and homage, still on record, by his great mili-

    tary genius and brilliant gifts of mind and person.

    • VII. Guido Guinicelli, 1220.

  • This poet, certainly the greatest of his time, be-

    longed to a noble and even princely Bolognese family.

    Nothing seems known of his life, except that he was

    married to a lady named Beatrice, and that in 1274,

    having adhered to the imperial cause, he was sent

    into exile, but whither cannot be learned. He died

    two years afterwards. The highest praise has been

    bestowed by Dante on Guinicelli, in the Commedia,

    (Purg. C. xxvi.) in the Convito, and in the De

    page: xxvi
    Vulgari Eloquio; and many instances might be

    cited in which the works of the great Florentine

    contain reminiscences of his Bolognese predecessor;

    especially the third canzone of Dante's Convito may

    be compared with Guido's most famous one “On the

    Gentle Heart.”

    • VIII. Guerzo di Montecanti, 1220.IX. Inghilfredi, Siciliano, 1220.X. Rinaldo d'Aquino, 1250.

  • I have placed this poet, belonging to a Neapoli-

    tan family, under the date usually assigned to him;

    but Trucchi states his belief that he flourished much

    earlier, and was a contemporary of Folcachiero;

    partly on account of two lines in one of his poems

    which say,—

    • “Lo Imperadore con pace
    • Tutto il mondo mantene.”


    If so, the mistake would be easily accounted for, as

    there seem to have been various members of the

    family named Rinaldo, at different dates.

    • XI. Jacopo da Lentino, 1250.

  • This Sicilian poet is generally called “the No-

    tary of Lentino.” The low estimate expressed of him,

    as well as of Bonaggiunta and Guittone, by Dante

    (Purg. C. xxiv.), must be understood as referring in

    great measure to their want of grammatical purity

    and nobility of style, as we may judge when this

    passage is taken in conjunction with the principles

    of the De Vulgari Eloquio. However, Dante also

    attributes his own superiority to the fact of his writing

    only when love (or natural impulse) really prompted

    page: xxvii


    him,—the highest certainly of all laws relating to

    art:—
    • “Io mi son un che quando
    • Amor mi spira, noto, e in quel modo
    • Ch'ei detta dentro, vo significando.”


    A translation does not suffer from such offences of

    dialect as may exist in its original; and I think

    my readers will agree that, chargeable as he is with

    some conventionality of sentiment, the Notary of

    Lentino is often not without his claims to beauty

    and feeling. There is a peculiar charm in the son-

    net which stands first among my specimens.

    • XII. Mazzeo di Ricco, da Messina, 1250.XIII. Pannuccio dal Bagno, Pisano, 1250.XIV. Giacomino Pugliesi, Knight of Prato,

    1250.

  • Of this poet there seems nothing to be learnt;

    but he deserves special notice as possessing rather

    more poetic individuality than usual, and also as

    furnishing the only instance, among Dante's prede-

    cessors, of a poem (and a very beautiful one) writ-

    ten on a lady's death.

    • XV. Fra Guittone d'Arezzo, 1250.

  • Guittone was not a monk, but derived the prefix

    to his name from the fact of his belonging to the

    religious and military order of Cavalieri Gau-

    denti. He seems to have enjoyed a greater literary

    reputation than almost any writer of his day; but

    certainly his poems, of which many have been

    preserved, cannot be said to possess merit of a pro-

    minent kind; and Dante shows by various allusions

    page: xxviii


    that he considered them much over-rated. The sonnet

    I have given is somewhat remarkable, from Petrarch's

    having transplanted its last line into his Trionfi

    d'Amore (cap. III). Guittone is the author of a

    series of Italian letters to various eminent persons,

    which are the earliest known epistolary writings in

    the language.

    • XVI. Bartolomeo di Sant' Angelo, 1250.XVII. Saladino da Pavia, 1250.XVIII. Bonaggiunta Urbiciani, da Lucca,

    1250.XIX. Meo Abbracciavacca, da Pistoia,

    1250.XX. Ubaldo di Marco, 1250.XXI. Simbuono Giudice, 1250.XXII. Masolino da Todi, 1250.XXIII. Onesto di Boncima, Bolognese,

    1250.

  • Onesto was a doctor of laws, and an early friend

    of Cino da Pistoia. He was living as late as 1301,

    though his career as a poet may be fixed somewhat

    further back.

    • XXIV. Terino da Castel Fiorentino, 1250.XXV. Maestro Migliore, da Fiorenza,

    1250.XXVI. Dello da Signa, 1250.XXVII. Folgore da San Geminiano, 1260.
    page: xxix
    XXVIII. Guido delle Colonne, 1250.

  • This Sicilian poet has few equals among his con-

    temporaries, and is ranked high by Dante in his

    treatise De Vulgari Eloquio. He visited England

    and wrote in Latin a Historia de regibus et rebus

    Angliæ, as well as a Historia destructionis Trojæ.

    • XXIX. Pier Moronelli, di Fiorenza, 1250.XXX. Ciuncio Fiorentino, 1250.XXXI. Ruggieri di Amici, Siciliano, 1250.XXXII. Carnino Ghiberti, da Fiorenza,

    1250.XXXIII. Prinzivalle Doria, 1250.

  • Prinzivalle commenced by writing Italian poetry,

    but afterwards composed verses entirely in Provençal,

    for the love of Beatrice, Countess of Provence. He

    wrote also, in Provençal prose, a treatise “On the

    dainty madness of Love,” and another “On the

    War of Charles, King of Naples, against the tyrant

    Manfredi.” He held various high offices, and died

    at Naples in 1276.

    • XXXIV. Rustico di Filippo; born about

    1200, died, 1270.

  • The writings of this Tuscan poet (called also

    Rustico Barbuto) show signs of more vigour and

    versatility than was common in his day, and he pro-

    bably began writing in Italian verse even before

    many of those already mentioned. In his old age,

    he, though a Ghibelline, received the dedication of

    the Tesoretto from the Guelf Brunetto Latini, who

    there pays him unqualified homage for surpassing

    page: xxx


    worth in peace and war. It is strange that more

    should not be known regarding this doubtless re-

    markable man. His compositions have sometimes

    much humour, and on the whole convey the im-

    pression of an active and energetic nature. More-

    over, Trucchi pronounces some of them to be as pure

    in language as the poems of Dante or Guido Caval-

    canti, though written thirty or forty years earlier.

    • XXXV. Pucciarello di Fiorenza, 1260.XXXVI. Albertuccio della Viola, 1260.XXXVII. Tommaso Buzzuola, da Faenza, 1280.XXXVIII. Noffo Bonaguida, 1280.XXXIX. Lippo Paschi de' Bardi, 1280.XL. Ser Pace, Notaio da Fiorenza, 1280.XLI. Niccolò degli Albizzi, 1300.

  • The noble Florentine family of Albizzi produced

    writers of poetry in more than one generation. The

    vivid and admirable sonnet which I have translated

    is the only one I have met with by Niccolò. I must

    confess my inability to trace the circumstances which

    gave rise to it.

    • XLII. Francesco da Barberino; born,

    1264, died, 1348.

  • With the exception of Brunetto Latini, (whose

    poems are neither very poetical nor well adapted for

    extract,) Francesco da Barberino shows by far the

    most sustained productiveness among the poets who

    preceded Dante, or were contemporaries of his youth.

    page: xxxi


    Though born only one year in advance of Dante,

    Barberino seems to have undertaken, if not com-

    pleted, his two long poetic treatises, some years be-

    fore the commencement of the Commedia.

    This poet was born at Barberino di Valdelsa, of a

    noble family, his father being Neri di Rinuccio da

    Barberino. Up to the year of his father's death,

    1296, he pursued the study of law chiefly in Bologna

    and Padua; but afterwards removed to Florence for

    the same purpose, and became one of the many

    distinguished disciples of Brunetto Latini, who pro-

    bably had more influence than any other one man in

    forming the youth of his time to the great things

    they accomplished. After this he travelled in France

    and elsewhere; and on his return to Italy in 1313,

    was the first who, by special favour of Pope Clement

    V., received the grade of Doctor of Laws in Florence.

    Both as lawyer and as citizen, he held great trusts

    and discharged them honourably. He was twice

    married, the name of his second wife being Barna

    di Tano, and had several children. At the age of

    eighty-four he died in the great Plague of Florence.

    Of the two works which Barberino has left, one

    bears the title of Documenti d'Amore, literally “Do-

    cuments of Love,” but perhaps more properly ren-

    dered as “Laws of Courtesy;” while the other is

    called Del Reggimento e dei Costumi delle Donne,

    “Of the Government and Conduct of Women.”

    They may be described, in the main, as manuals of

    good breeding, or social chivalry, the one for men

    and the other for women. Mixed with vagueness,

    tediousness, and not seldom with artless absurdity,

    they contain much simple wisdom, much curious re-

    cord