L ' I N F E R N O

A SPIRIT RISES FROM ITS FIERY SEPULCHRE BEHIND FARINATA ‘VISIBLE DOWN TO THE TIP OF ITS CHIN’. IT
GAZES AROUND DANTE ‘AS IF IT WISHED TO SEE WHETHER ANYONE WAS WITH ME’ THEN LAMENTS [INF
C10 52-58].
CAVALCANTE CAVALCANTI:
INF C10 58-60 / DANTE INF C10 58-60 / KLINE
piangendo disse: «Se per questo cieco it said, weeping: If by power of intellect,
carcere vai per altezza d'ingegno, you go through this blind prison,
mio figlio ov' è? e perché non è teco?». where is my son, and why is he not with you?
CAVALCANTE CAVALCANTI *---- - *---- ? AGE : 70??
PLACE./.LANGUAGE ETC
FLORENCE.
DESCRIPTION
*
CAVALCANTE CAVALCANTI: FATHER OF GUIDO CAVALCANTI. SEE BOCCACCIO’S DECAMERON 6 9, WHICH CONCERNS GUIDO.
DANTE:
INF C10 61-63 / DANTE INF C10 61-63 / KLINE
E io a lui: «Da me stesso non vegno: And I to him: I do not come through my own
colui ch'attende là, per qui mi mena initiative: he that waits there, whom your Guido
forse cui Guido vostro ebbe a disdegno». disdained perhaps, leads me through this place.
GUIDO DE’ CAVALCANTI: POET, BORN 1250-1259, WAS FARINATA’S SON-IN-LAW & A PROMINENT WHITE GUELPH. HE
MARRIED FARINATA’S DAUGHTER, BEATRICE, DURING ONE OF THE ATTEMPTS TO FORGE PEACE THROUGH MARRIAGE
ALLIANCES. HE, ‘THE FIRST OF MY FRIENDS’, & DANTE ARE THE CHIEF POETS OF THE FLORENTINE SCHOOL OF THE DOLCE STIL
NUOVE STYLE OF LYRIC POETRY THAT SUPERSEDED THE BOLOGNESE SCHOOL OF GUIDO GUINICELLI. THE VITA NUOVA WAS
DEDICATED TO GUIDO. HE WAS EXILED WITH THE WHITES (A DECISION DANTE WAS PARTY TO) IN JUNE 1300 TO SARZANA IN
THE LUNIGIANA. ALLOWED TO RETURN TO FLORENCE, DUE TO ILLNESS, CAUSED BY THE UNHEALTHY LOCALITY, HE DIED IN
THE AUGUST & WAS BURIED ON AUGUST 29TH, BUT WAS STILL ALIVE AT THE TIME OF THE VISION ITSELF.
INF C10 64-66 / KLINE
His words and the nature of his punishment had spelt his name to me, so that my answer was a full one.
CAVALCANTE CAVALCANTI STANDS [INF C10 67], RELEASING MORE FIERY LIGHT.
CAVALCANTE CAVALCANTI:
INF C10 67-69 / DANTE INF C10 67-69 / KLINE
Di sùbito drizzato gridò: «Come? Suddenly raising himself erect, he cried:
dicesti ``elli ebbe"? non viv' elli ancora? What did you say? Disdained? Is he not still
non fiere li occhi suoi lo dolce lume?». alive? Does the sweet light not strike his eyes?
INF C10 70-75 / KLINE
When he saw that I delayed in answering, he dropped supine again, and showed himself no more. But the other one,
at whose wish I had first stopped, generously did not alter his aspect or move his neck, or turn his side.
DANTE DELAYS HIS ANSWER AND CAVALCANTE DROPS OUT OF SIGHT [INF C10 70-72].
FARINATA CONTINUES HIS PREVIOUS WORDS WITHOUT MOVING HIS HEAD [INF C10 73-75] AS DANTE MAY
QUIETLY VERSIFY.
DANTE:
INF C10 67-69 / DANTE INF C10 67-69 / KLINE
Di sùbito drizzato gridò: «Come? Suddenly raising himself erect, he cried:
dicesti ``elli ebbe"? non viv' elli ancora? What did you say? Disdained? Is he not still alive?
non fiere li occhi suoi lo dolce lume?». Does the sweet light not strike his eyes?
FARINATA:
INF C10 76-78 / DANTE INF C10 76-78 / KLINE
e sé continüando al primo detto, Continuing his previous words, he said:
«S'elli han quell' arte», disse, «male appresa, And if my party have learnt that art of return badly,
ciò mi tormenta più che questo letto. it tortures me more than this bed,
95