Note 14 — Chapter X · POETIC ACHIEVEMENT IN VERNACULAR

Book II of Dante’s unfinished De vulgari eloquentia has several passages suggestive of the preoccupations of his time and of his own bent: “Si poesim recte consideremus: quæ nihil aliud est quam fictio rethorica musicaque composita” (III, page 393 of the Oxford 1 vol. text of the Works); “magister noster Horatius” (ibid.); “grandiosa modo vocabula sub prælato stilo digna consistere....” (VII. 395); “ornativa vero dicimus omnia polysyllaba....” (VII. 396); “tota igitur ars cantionis circa tria videtur consistere: ... cantus divisionem ... partium habitudinem ... numerum carminum et syllabarum” (IX. 397).

For the three styles, see the indexes to ARP and to this volume.