[97] Vid. the De Monarchia.
[98] Inf. 10, and compare the Vit. N. p. 334, ed. Fraticelli.
[99] Convito, i. 5.
[100] Ep. ad Kan Grand. §9,—a curious specimen of the learning of the time: "Sciendum est, quod Comœdia dicitur a κωμη, villa et ωδη, quod est cantus, unde Comœdia quasi villanus cantus. Et est Comœdia genus quoddam poeticæ narrationis, ab omnibus aliis differens. Differt ergo a Tragœdia in materia per hoc, quod Tragœdia in principio est admirabilis et quieta, in fine fœtida et horribilis; et dicitur propter hoc a τραγος, i.e. hircus, et ωδη, quasi cantus hircinus, i.e. fœtidus ad modum hirci, ut patet per Senecam in suis tragœdiis. Comœdia vero inchoat asperitatem alicujus rei, sed ejus materia prospere terminatur, ut patet per Terentium in suis Comœdiis.... Similiter differunt in modo loquendi; elate et sublime Tragœdia, Comœdia vero remisse et humiliter sicut vult Horat. in Poët.... Et per hoc patet, quod Comœdia diciter præsens opus. Nam si ad materiam respiciamus, a principio horribilis et fœtida est, quia Infernus: in fine prospera, desiderabilis et grata, quia Paradisus. Si ad modum loquendi, remissus est modus et humilis, quia locutio Vulgaris, in qua et mulierculæ communicant. Et sic patet quia Comœdia dicitur." Cf. de Vulg. Eloq. 2, 4, Parad. 30. He calls the Æneid, "l'alta Tragedia," Inf. 20, 113. Compare also Boccaccio's explanation of his mother's dream of the peacock. Dante, he says, is like the Peacock, among other reasons, "because the peacock has coarse feet, and a quiet gait;" and "the vulgar language, on which the Commedia supports itself, is coarse in comparison with the high and masterly literary style which every other poet uses, though it be more beautiful than others, being in conformity with modern minds. The quiet gait signifies the humility of the style, which is necessarily required in Commedia, as those know who understand what is meant by Commedia."
[101] Convito, i. 11.
[102] Convito, i. 13.
[103] G. Villani was at Rome in the year of jubilee 1300, and describes the great concourse and order of the pilgrims, whom he reckons at 200,000, in the course of the year. "And I," he proceeds, "finding myself in that blessed pilgrimage in the holy city of Rome, seeing the great and ancient things of the same, and reading the histories of the great deeds of the Romans, written by Virgil, and by Sallust, and Lucan, and Titus Livius, and Valerius, and Paulus Orosius, and other masters of histories, who wrote as well of the smaller matters as of the greater, concerning the exploits and deeds of the Romans; and further, of the strange things of the whole world, for memory and example's sake to those who should come after—I, too, took their style and fashion, albeit that, as their scholar, I be not worthy to execute such a work. But, considering that our city of Florence, the daughter and creation of Rome, was in its rising, and on the eve of achieving great things, as Rome was in its decline, it seemed to me convenient to bring into this volume and new chronicle all the deeds and beginnings of the city of Florence, so far as I have been able to gather and recover them; and for the future, to follow at large the doings of the Florentines, and the other notable things of the world briefly, as long as it may be God's pleasure; under which hope, rather by his grace than by my poor science, I entered on this enterprise: and so, in the year 1300, being returned from Rome, I began to compile this book, in reverence towards God and St. John, and commendation of our city of Florence."—G. Vill. viii. 36.
[104] Sacchetti, Nov. 114.
[105] Vide Ozanam.