Paradiso
Canto XVI
Cacciaguida informs Dante, in response to his question, of the date at which he lived, and tells him about the population of Florence, then so much smaller than in Dante’s time; the city being contained in the space between the battered statue of Mars on the Ponte Vecchio and the church of St. John the Baptist. Cacciaguida goes on to enumerate the great Florentine families of his day and to tell of their decline, attributed by him to admixture of blood from outside the city.
The “great baron” (line 128), who made so many knights, is Ugo il Grande, Marquis of Tuscany. Buondelmonte was killed at the instance of Mosca (see Inferno, Canto XXVIII) at the foot of the statue of Mars. The arms of Florence, originally white lilies on a red field, were changed by the Guelfs to red lilies on white.
O THOU small dignity of noble blood!
If thou make men to glory in thee below
Here, where we faint, pursuing the true good,
Never will I account it wonder now;
For where desire warps not, being immune
(I mean in Heaven), that pride did I avow.
Truly thou art a garment shrinking soon;
So that, if naught daily to thee accrue,
Time goes about thee with the shears that prune.
With that which Rome permitted first, the You[i] [10]
(In which her citizens least persevere),
I now began to address that soul anew;
Whence Beatrice, withdrawn a pace less near,
Smiled, and seemed like to her who, standing by,
Coughed at the first fault told of Guinevere.[ii]15. In the Old French romance of Launcelot du Lac, the Dame de Malehaut coughed on hearing the impassioned speech of Guinevere.
“You are my father,” I said, “you fortify
My heart to speak out boldly all I will;
You lift me, so that I am more than I.
My mind with gladness from so many a rill
Brims, it exults that, being so full-stored, [20]
It can contain all, nor be burst and spill.
O tell me then, firstling of mine adored!
What ancestry was yours, and what the date
Whereof your years of boyhood could record.
Tell me of the sheepfold of St. John, how great[iii]25. “St. John” the Baptist: the patron saint of Florence.
It was then, and who in it were the folk
Accounted the most worthy of highest seat.”
As a coal quickens, at the wind’s soft stroke
Breathed into flame, so now began to glow
That light at the caressing words I spoke. [30]
And as to the eye its beauty appeared to grow
So with a voice more sweet and gentle made
But using not the modern mode we know,
He spoke: “From that day when was Ave said[iv]34. “From that day . . .”: from the Annunciation to the birth of Cacciaguida (in 1091), Mars returned 580 times to the constellation of Leo.
To the birth in which my sainted mother earned
Deliverance, and the burden of me shed,
Five hundred fifty and thirty times returned
This star to its own Lion, and with its face
Of fire beneath his paws rekindling burned.
My ancestor and I had for birth-place [40]
That last ward, first upon his onward way[v]41. “That last ward”: the Mercato Vecchio.
Reached by the runner in your annual race.
Of my forbears let this be enough to say:
Of who they were, and whence, ’twere seemlier
To hold one’s peace, rather than make display.
‘Twixt Mars and Baptist all who at that time were[vi]46. “Twixt Mars and Baptist”: see the Argument.
Capable of arms would in their number sum
But a fifth part of those now living there.
But the citizens, mixt now from Campi and from[vii]49-50. “Campi . . . , Certaldo and Filigne”: towns belonging to Florence.
Certaldo and Filigne, had their blood [50]
Then, to the least of craftsmen, pure of scum.
How much better it were to have that brood
For neighbours rather, and that your boundary
At Trespiano and Galluzzo stood,
Than, having them inside, the stench to aby
Of Aguglion’s churl and him of Signa, one
Who for a jobbery sharpens still his eye!
Had but that clergy, most degenerate known,
Not been to Caesar as a stepmother
But tender as a mother to her son, [60]
One, Florentine now, buyer and barterer,
To Simifonte had been made to pack,[viii]62. “Simifonte”: a stronghold in Val d’Elsa, annexed by Florence in 1202.
Where his grandfather plied for a mean hire;
The Conti in Montemurlo would be back,
The Cerchi in Acone parish still,
Nor Valdigreve a Buondelmonte lack.
Confusion of persons ever was and will
Be that from which the city’s woes derive,
As from superfluous food the body’s ill;
And a blind bull falls with more headlong dive [70]
Than a blind lamb, and often a single sword
Cuts sharper and with a wider sweep than five.
If Luni and Urbisaglia thou regard,[ix]73-75. “Luni and Urbisaglia” were fallen cities; “Chiusi” and “Sinigaglia” were in decay.
How they are fallen, and how Chiusi too,
And with them Sinigaglia, not so hard
A thing will it appear, nor strange and new
(Since cities have a term to which they tend)
To hear how families themselves undo.
All your affairs, like you, on death depend,
Though this some long-enduring things conceal; [80]
And briefly come your own lives to their end.
And as the moon’s heaven rolling in its wheel
Covereth and uncovereth without cease
The shores, so Fortune does with Florence deal.
Therefore no marvel shall appear in this
Which I shall tell of each high Florentine
Whose fame is hidden among Time’s secrecies.
I have seen Ughi and Catellini shine,[x]88-93. Old families that have declined or disappeared.
Filippi, Greci, Ormanni, and by their side
The Alberichi, all noble in their decline; [90]
Seen Soldanieri’s and the Arca’s pride
And the Sannella; houses old as great;
Ardinghi and Bostichi with them vied.
Over the gate, now burdened with the weight[xi]94. “Over the gate . . .”: in 1280 the Cerchi, leaders in party strife, bought the palace of the Counts Guidi.
Of a new felony, so fraught with shame,
That soon the ship will jettison its freight,
The Ravignani dwelt, from whom there came
Count Guy, and whosoever since hath ta’en
On him the lofty Bellincione’s name.
He of La Pressa knew how to rule men; [100]
And in the house of Galigaio were
The gilded hilt and pommel, even then.
High stood Sacchetti, Giuochi, pillared Vair,
Fifanti and Barucci and Galli, and those
Who of the cheating bushel blushed to hear.[xii]105. “Who of the cheating bushel . . .”: the Chiaramontesi, who disgraced themselves as salt commissioners.
Still great the stock was whence Calfucci rose;
And to the curule office still were drawn
Sizii and men of Arrigucci’s house.
O how great have I seen these, now undone
By pride! and, with the balls of gold made fair, [110][xiii]110. “The balls of gold”: on the shield of the Lamberti family.
Flowered Florence in the triumphs they had won.
Such were the sires of them who now, whene’er
Your church’s bishopric is vacant, keep
Prolonged consistory, and fatten there.
The insolent tribe that like a dragon leap
On him who flies them, but to him whose mien
Shows tooth or purse are milder than a sheep,
Was rising, though from small folk; Ubertin
Donato was but little pleased to know
His father-in-law had made him of their kin. [120]
Already to the market-place below
Had Caponsacco come down from the hill:
Giuda, Infangato, yet had worth enow.
I'll tell a thing true, though incredible:
One entered the small circuit by a gate[xiv]125-126. “The small circuit”: the old city walls. “A gate”: The Porta Peruzza.
That took its name from the Pear’s blazon still.
Each one who shares the fair arms of the great[xv]127-128. “The great Baron” is Hugh the Great (see the Argument), who died in 1001, on St. Thomas's day.
Baron, whose virtue and whose renown, revived,
The feast-days of St. Thomas celebrate,
Knighthood and privilege from him derived, [130]
Though that one now joins with the populace[xvi]131. The knight who “now joins with the populace” is Giano della Bella
Who for the escutcheon a gold fringe contrived.
Gualterotti and Importuni throve apace;[xvii]133. These families also fell from their high estate.
And, had they still abstained from neighbours new,
The Borgo now were a more peaceful place.
The house from which arose your weeping, through[xviii]136-141. “The house”: the Amidei. The bloody feud between the Amidei and the Buondelmonti divided all Florence for a long time. One Buondelmonte had forsakeh his betrothed, one of the Amidei. The “Ema” is a little stream.
The just wrath that hath murdered you and set
A term to all the joyous life ye knew,
Was honoured, and the houses with it knit.
O Buondelmonte, ill didst thou to flee [140]
Those nuptials, when another prompted it!
Glad had been many, who now must mournful be,
If God thy body had into Ema thrown
The first time that the city welcomed thee.
Yet fit it was that to that battered stone,[xix]145. “That battered stone”: the statue of Mars at the foot of which Buondelmonte was killed.
Which guards the bridge, our Florence should present
A victim in the last peace she hath known.
With these folk and with those who with them went
I beheld Florence in such peace immersed
That she knew no occasion to lament. [150]
With these I saw her people in justice nursed
And glory, so that never was espied
The lily upon a victor’s lance reversed,[xx]153. “The lily”: see the Argument.
No, nor by feud and faction crimson-dyed.”