Note 100 — DANTE.[1] (continued 2)

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."