propter hoc est necesse quod imitetur in omnibus. Videmus ignem imitari circulationem coeli, et tamen non imitatur ipsum in non moveri recte, nec in non habere contrarium suae qualitati:1 et ideo ratio non procedit. Et sic ad argumenta. Sic igitur determinatur determinatio et tractatus de forma et situ duorum elementorum, ut superius propositum fuit. § XXIV. Determinata est haec philosophia dominante invicto Domino, domino Kane Grandi de Scala 2 pro Imperio sacrosancto Romano,* per me Dantem Aligherium, philosophorum minimum, in inclyta urbe Verona, in sacello Helenae gloriosae, coram universo clero Veronensi, praeter quosdam qui, nimia caritate ardentes, aliorum rogamina non admittunt, et per humilitatis virtutem Spiritus Sancti pauperes, ne aliorum excellentiam probare videantur, sermonibus eorum interesse refugiunt. Et hoc factum est in anno a nativitate Domini nostri Iesu Christi millesimo trecentesimo vigesimo, in die Solis, quem praefatus 6 1 Conv. IV. xxiii. 11-35. "Secondo li quattro combinatori delle contrarie qualitadi che sono nella nostra composizione." Brunetto Latini. Tesoro. II. 31. "Come tutte le cose furo fatte del mischiamento delle complessioni." 2 Epist. X. "Magnifico atque victorioso domino, domino Kani Grandi de Scala." 4 Epist. VI. 4. Epist. VIII. 21. "Sacrosancto Romanorum imperio." "Sacrosanctum ovile." 5 De Mon. III. iii. 67. "Caritate arserunt." • Par. XII. 93. “. . . Pauperum Dei.” De Mon. II. xii. 4-5, and cf. III. x. 130. "Pauperes Christi." other in one point, it does not therefore necessarily imitate it in all. We see fire imitating the circling of heaven, and yet it does not imitate its not moving straight, nor its not having contrary quality and so the reasoning does not hold good. So much for the arguments. Thus is completed the discussion and exposition of the form and location of the two elements, as was above proposed. 2 § XXIV. This philosophical inquiry was held, beneath the rule of the unconquered lord, the Lord Can Grande della Scala, Vicar of the Holy Roman Empire, by me, Dante Alighieri, least among philosophers, in the famous town of Verona, in the Chapel of the glorious Helen, before the entire Veronese clergy, save a few, who, burning 5 with excess of love do not admit the inquiries of others, and, by virtue of their humility, poor in the Holy Spirit, lest they should appear to testify to the worth of others, avoid attending their discourses. And this was done in the year 13207 after the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, on Sun 1 Arist. De Gen. et Cor. II. ii. and iii. (330 a. 26–b. 7). Conv. IV. xxiii. 113-5. According to the four combinations of contrary qualities that exist in our composition." Latini. Tesoro. II. 31. "All things (save the stars. Ch. 32) were made from the combination of the qualities." 2 Epist. X. "To the magnificent and victorious lord, the Lord Can Grande della Scala." 8 Can Grande was appointed Imperial Vicar in Verona by the Emperor Henry VII., in 1311. + Epist. VI. 4. "The Holy Empire of the Romans.” Epist. VIII. 21. "The sacred fold." De Mon. III. iii. 67. "Burning with love." 6 Par. XII. 93. 66 ... Poor in God." "Poor of Christ." 7 Boccaccio tells us that Dante spent the years 1313-1321 in Ravenna, which he left only twice, in 1316 or 1317, to go to Verona, and early in 1321, to Venice. If Moncetti forged the Quaestio, and was the Dante scholar such a forgery would prove him to be, is it likely that he would deliberately have invented this visit to Verona in 1320, apparently for no purpose? The vague answer given by Luzio and Renier (p. 26) is that to interpret such facts, we require to understand Moncetti's purposes and be better acquainted with his life than we are! noster Salvator per gloriosam suam nativitatem, ac per admirabilem suam resurrectionem nobis innuit venerandum; qui quidem dies fuit septimus a Ianuariis idibus, et decimus tertius ante Kalendas Februarias. • Prompt. Euvres apocryphes du Dante, p. 41. “De quelque manière qu'on puisse compter les jours avant les calendes, c'est-à-dire le 1er février, il est impossible d'en trouver treize, si l'on part du 20 janvier." day, which our predestined Saviour bade us keep holy because of his glorious nativity1 and his marvellous resurrection; which day was the seventh after the ides of January and the thirteenth before the calends 3 of February. 3 1 No other writer is known to have fixed the birth of Jesus Christ on a Sunday. Dr. Prompt by a long calculation makes it fall on the same day of the week as Jan. 19, 1320. 2 Jan. 20, 1320, was, indeed, a Sunday. * Dr. Prompt, who finds the forger of the Quaestio to be a man devoid of any mathematical knowledge, says: "Howsoever one count the days before the calends, that is, before the first, of February, it is impossible to find thirteen, starting Jan. 20." Does not Dr. Prompt know that the Romans counted back from the Calends including the Calends, so that Jan. 31 was Prid. Kal. Feb., or a. d. II. Kal. Feb.? BIBLIOGRAPHY NOTE: With half a dozen exceptions the following titles are from Mr. Koch's Catalogue of the Fiske Dante Collection in Cornell University, by reference to which fuller details regarding these works may be obtained. 1. Texts. 1st Edition. (Moncetti.) Venice. 1508. 1843. Fraticelli. Opere Minori. Part 3. Florence. 1855. Same, 2d Edition. Florence. 1861-2. Moore. Oxford Dante. 1st Edition. 1894. Same. 2d Edition. 1897. II. Translations. English C. H. Bromby. 1897. Italian F. Longhena. Leghorn. 1843. G. B. Giuliani. 1878. III. General Works. Boffito, Giuseppe: Memoirs on Dante's Quaestio, in Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Science in Turin, 1902, Vols. 51 and 52 (Series II). Cinelli Calvoli. Notizia, etc., in La divina commedia. 1749; 1757-8; and 1760. Gardner. Dante's "Quaestio de aqua et terra." In Nature. Jan. 26, 1893. Giuliari. La filosofica disputa di Dante in S. Elena di Verona a' 20 gennaio 1320. In Albo dantesco veronese. 1865. Koch. The treatise "De Aqua et Terra." (In Athenaeum.) Nov. 13, 1897. Mazzuchelli. Notizia, etc. In "Prose e Poesie liriche di Dante." 1842-50. Vol. V. Poletto. L'opuscolo di Dante Allighieri De Aqua et Terra. 1883. Schmidt. Über Dante's Stellung in der Geschichte der Kosmographie. 1876. Stoppani. Lettera al prof. G. B. Giuliani. 1878. Torri. Bibliografia, etc., in L' Etruria. 1851. Toynbee. The editio princeps of the treatise. (In Athenaeum.) Oct. 16, 1897. |