READINGS ON DANTE.*
THE form in which Mr. Vernon has brought out his translation of the Purgatorio is another illustration of the increased study of Dante among us. The poetical versions of which Cary's was so long the standard example, however successful they might be in their attempt at reproducing the spirit and inten- tion of the poem, could never give that practical and exact assistance needed by students whose knowledge of Italian was perhaps limited, and, at any rate, not of a kind to help them in mastering the difficulties of the thought and language of Dante. And in spite of the merit of some of these transla- tions, they were apt to leave the reader more impressed by them as a triumph of ingenuity in a hopeless task, than as in any way doing full justice to the peculiar character of the original.
It was with the more modest but more practical aim of bringing the Commedia in the original within reach of ordinary readers, that Dr. Carlyle published his prose translation of the Inferno, and Mr. Butler followed with his translation of the other divisions of the poem. And now Mr. Vernon in these "Readings " gives us another work on the same lines, expressly meant to meet the same needs. The translation is careful and literal, the words, for the most part, chosen with taste and dis- crimination ; and in addition to this—and it is here that the book possesses a character of its own—Mr. Vernon has woven in with his text, wherever it seemed needed, a running com- mentary of explanation and paraphrase. The result is, that we have what is practically a set of lectures given to a class, with all the comments and elucidations that would naturally accompany such a bit of work. This method, though its tendency is to over-diffuseness, will be found to have the great merit of giving to beginners a more thorough understanding of the whole purpose and drift of the poem, and a stronger hold on its main lines, matters apt to get lost sight of in the struggle with the details and difficulties of each canto. Students will find themselves held up and carried through difficulties, where, if left only to the text and notes, they might feel in despair ; and to readers to whom the Commedia is more familiar, Mr. Vernon's sympathetic and graceful treatment will often be found to give a new vividness of insight and a fresher sense of grasp, even when passages are already well known. It is with a real feeling of gratitude that we would call attention to the skill and self-effacement which mark the book. Throughout, our thought and attention are entirely thrown on the poem itself ; so that it is with something of an effort that at the end we realise how much of the increased gain and enjoyment has been due to the means by which our end has been gained.
Another feature of these " Readings " is the use made by Mr. Vernon of the fourteenth-century commentator, Ben- venuto da Imola. This Commentary, which was originally given in the form of Latin lectures at Bologna, has been, until it was brought out last year by Mr. Vernon, almost inacces- sible. It has, of course, the interest belonging to a work so nearly contemporary, but it has, besides, a character of its own. It is often marked by shrewdness and good sense and
• Readings on the Paryatorio of Dante, By W. W. Vernon. London Mao• roam and Co.
touches of humour, gifts in which many of Dante's com- mentators are most woefully deficient ; and these qualities are sometimes combined with bits of criticism and explanation so quaintly obvious and commonplace, or so absurd and far- fetched as to be irresistibly funny.
It is, of course, impossible to give extracts of sufficient length to justify our estimate of the excellence of Mr. Vernon's work, but we may call attention to a few passages that bear out what we have been saying. Such, for instance, is the Belacqua episode, where the mingled humour and pathos are cleverly done justice to. And, again, in the story of Sordello, in the description of the Valley of the Kings, and in Cantos a, and xi., as well as in many other• places, the blended transla- tion and paraphrase leave little to be desired in spirit and accuracy. Mr. Vernon's power of carrying his readers through the more difficult and philosophical portions of the Purgatorio is well shown in the treatment of the great Cantos where Dante has elaborated with that marvellous power of complete- ness and compression the theory of love and free-will as lying at the root of all good and evil, the thought of which is worked out through the whole progress of the poem. Left to them- selves, students unused to the kind of thought and expression might find themselves puzzled and at sea, but with the careful comments and expansions of Mr. Vernon they can scarcely fail to gain some insight into Dante's great conception.
In a work of this kind, the choice of words to express as closely as possible the meaning of the original must often remain a matter of taste. But there are some instances where we cannot think that Mr. Vernon has done full justice to the beauty of Dante's language. Surely, in Canto xxx., 70, proterva and it piu caldo parityr dietro si serva are not completely rendered by "royally majestic" and "his strongest argument in reserve." Again, in the same canto, where Beatrice is likened to an Admiral who goes round to inspect the ships and men under his charge, ed a ben far la incuora, it jars on our taste to find it translated " and encourages them to be smart." The stately Beatrice was incapable of such a thing. Again, why spoil the beautiful passage where Beatrice is described as she unveils herself, Canto xxxi., 141, by intruding as a translation of ingombra the word " obfuscated "? In work where the language is, as a rule, so graceful, these slips seem the more marked, and coming as they do in some few other instances, in the midst of passages of great beauty, they are a real pain to the ear.
We cannot end without noticing the additional value given to these "Readings" by the frontispiece, the portrait of Dante in the Bargello, so well known from its reproduction by the Arundel Society. Mr. Vernon has had the advantage, too, of obtaining for his book an Introduction by Dean Church, which, though short, is marked by his unique knowledge of the subject and his happy suggestiveness of style.
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