(1732)
Baldassare Lombardi (1791–92)
Luigi Portirelli (1804–5)
Paolo Costa (1819–21)
Gabriele Rossetti (1826–40) (
Inferno & Purgatorio
only)
Niccolò Tommaseo (1837)
Raffaello Andreoli (1856)
Luigi Bennassuti (1864)
Henry W. Longfellow (1867) (English)
Gregorio Di Siena (1867) (
Inferno
only)
Brunone Bianchi (1868)
G. A. Scartazzini (1874; but the 2nd ed. of 1900 is used)
Giuseppe Campi (1888)
Gioachino Berthier (1892)
Giacomo Poletto (1894)
Hermann Oelsner (1899) (English)
H. F. Tozer (1901) (English)
John Ruskin (1903) (English; not in fact a “commentary”)
John S. Carroll (1904) (English)
Francesco Torraca (1905)
C. H. Grandgent (1909) (English)
Enrico Mestica (1921)
Casini/Barbi (1921)
Carlo Steiner (1921)
Isidoro Del Lungo (1926)
Carlo Grabher (1934)
Ernesto Trucchi (1936)
Luigi Pietrobono (1946)
Attilio Momigliano (1946)
Manfredi Porena (1946)
Natalino Sapegno (1955)
Daniele Mattalia (1960)
Siro A. Chimenz (1962)
Giovanni Fallani (1965)
Francesco Mazzoni (1965–85) (
Inf.
I–VI, XI;
Purg.
XXXI;
Par.
VI)
Giorgio Padoan (1967) (
Inferno
I–VIII only)
Giuseppe Giacalone (1968)
Charles S. Singleton (1973) (English)
Bosco/Reggio (1979)
Pasquini/Quaglio (1982)
Robert Hollander (2000–7) (English)
Nicola Fosca (2003–6) (
Inferno
&
Purgatorio
)
NB: The text of the
Paradiso
is that established by Petrocchi,
Dante Alighieri: La Commedia secondo l’antica vulgata
, ed. Giorgio Petrocchi (Florence: Le Lettere, 1994 [1966–67]), vol. IV. (This later edition has two minor changes to the text of this
cantica
, which is thus essentially identical with the earlier text.) All references to other works are keyed to the List of Works Cited found at the back of this volume (e.g., Adve.1995.1), withthe exception of references to commentaries contained in the Dartmouth Dante Project. Informational notes derived from Paget Toynbee’s
Concise Dante Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1914) are followed by the siglum (T) . References to the
Enciclopedia dantesca
, 6 vols. (Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1970–78) are indicated by the abbreviation
ED
. Commentaries by Robert Hollander are (at times) shorter versions of materials found in the Princeton Dante Project, a multimedia edition of the
Commedia
. Consultation (without charge to the user) is possible at www.princeton.edu/dante .
INTRODUCTION
----
(1) Paradiso:
An Impossible Poem.
It is difficult to imagine what life must have been like for Dante, having to manage the details of everyday existence in his exile while his mind was occupied with details of quite another sort. Indeed, the subjects treated in the last
cantica
represent both implausible and daring choices for a poet (an awareness reflected in the title of the three-part Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s series for radio in 2002,
Dante, Poet of the Impossible
). In fact, it seems almost beyond human capacity to have written the
Comedy
. The whole poem might be considered an experiment in pushing back the boundaries of human expression, at times surprising even its creator. What is most surprising (and, to some, offensive) is the incorporation of subjects previously reserved exclusively for prose in an Italian poem: for example, moral philosophy (
Inf
. XI and
Purg
. XVI) and biology (
Purg
. XXV). However, this tactic becomes most noteworthy in
Paradiso
. There we find astronomy (
Par
. II, where Dante takes on the task of a Ptolemy or an Alfraganus); free will (Canto V, where he rehearses this topic so dear to Augustine); the theology of history (VI, Orosius); municipal politics (XVI, Cicero and Brunetto Latini); and angelology and its relation to astronomy (XXVIII–XXIX, the Pseudo-Dionysius). If the entire project of the
Divine Comedy
must have caused its author understandable anxiety, the choice of a strategy for making the part of the poem that is called
Paradiso
must have caused its
Baldassare Lombardi (1791–92)
Luigi Portirelli (1804–5)
Paolo Costa (1819–21)
Gabriele Rossetti (1826–40) (
Inferno & Purgatorio
only)
Niccolò Tommaseo (1837)
Raffaello Andreoli (1856)
Luigi Bennassuti (1864)
Henry W. Longfellow (1867) (English)
Gregorio Di Siena (1867) (
Inferno
only)
Brunone Bianchi (1868)
G. A. Scartazzini (1874; but the 2nd ed. of 1900 is used)
Giuseppe Campi (1888)
Gioachino Berthier (1892)
Giacomo Poletto (1894)
Hermann Oelsner (1899) (English)
H. F. Tozer (1901) (English)
John Ruskin (1903) (English; not in fact a “commentary”)
John S. Carroll (1904) (English)
Francesco Torraca (1905)
C. H. Grandgent (1909) (English)
Enrico Mestica (1921)
Casini/Barbi (1921)
Carlo Steiner (1921)
Isidoro Del Lungo (1926)
Carlo Grabher (1934)
Ernesto Trucchi (1936)
Luigi Pietrobono (1946)
Attilio Momigliano (1946)
Manfredi Porena (1946)
Natalino Sapegno (1955)
Daniele Mattalia (1960)
Siro A. Chimenz (1962)
Giovanni Fallani (1965)
Francesco Mazzoni (1965–85) (
Inf.
I–VI, XI;
Purg.
XXXI;
Par.
VI)
Giorgio Padoan (1967) (
Inferno
I–VIII only)
Giuseppe Giacalone (1968)
Charles S. Singleton (1973) (English)
Bosco/Reggio (1979)
Pasquini/Quaglio (1982)
Robert Hollander (2000–7) (English)
Nicola Fosca (2003–6) (
Inferno
&
Purgatorio
)
NB: The text of the
Paradiso
is that established by Petrocchi,
Dante Alighieri: La Commedia secondo l’antica vulgata
, ed. Giorgio Petrocchi (Florence: Le Lettere, 1994 [1966–67]), vol. IV. (This later edition has two minor changes to the text of this
cantica
, which is thus essentially identical with the earlier text.) All references to other works are keyed to the List of Works Cited found at the back of this volume (e.g., Adve.1995.1), withthe exception of references to commentaries contained in the Dartmouth Dante Project. Informational notes derived from Paget Toynbee’s
Concise Dante Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante
(Oxford: Clarendon, 1914) are followed by the siglum (T) . References to the
Enciclopedia dantesca
, 6 vols. (Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, 1970–78) are indicated by the abbreviation
ED
. Commentaries by Robert Hollander are (at times) shorter versions of materials found in the Princeton Dante Project, a multimedia edition of the
Commedia
. Consultation (without charge to the user) is possible at www.princeton.edu/dante .
INTRODUCTION
----
(1) Paradiso:
An Impossible Poem.
It is difficult to imagine what life must have been like for Dante, having to manage the details of everyday existence in his exile while his mind was occupied with details of quite another sort. Indeed, the subjects treated in the last
cantica
represent both implausible and daring choices for a poet (an awareness reflected in the title of the three-part Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s series for radio in 2002,
Dante, Poet of the Impossible
). In fact, it seems almost beyond human capacity to have written the
Comedy
. The whole poem might be considered an experiment in pushing back the boundaries of human expression, at times surprising even its creator. What is most surprising (and, to some, offensive) is the incorporation of subjects previously reserved exclusively for prose in an Italian poem: for example, moral philosophy (
Inf
. XI and
Purg
. XVI) and biology (
Purg
. XXV). However, this tactic becomes most noteworthy in
Paradiso
. There we find astronomy (
Par
. II, where Dante takes on the task of a Ptolemy or an Alfraganus); free will (Canto V, where he rehearses this topic so dear to Augustine); the theology of history (VI, Orosius); municipal politics (XVI, Cicero and Brunetto Latini); and angelology and its relation to astronomy (XXVIII–XXIX, the Pseudo-Dionysius). If the entire project of the
Divine Comedy
must have caused its author understandable anxiety, the choice of a strategy for making the part of the poem that is called
Paradiso
must have caused its
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