New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-10-22
A NEW VIEW OF DANTE.
SUGGESTIONS MORE CLEVER THAN ACCU.
RATE.

ithAi'
DANTEs INFERNO 4 Commen tl,., by , Dem
pany
II Mr. Snider had carefully erased about 20 per
cent of the words ending In "esque" which he has
used he would have made IA better book III argues
a meagreness only Of language but OF the criti-
cal faculty TO repeat on every page ana IN the lace
Of every startling thought or picture suggested by
Dante that each IL grotesque. Besides. In nine
cases out Of ten the statement Is not true. IL Is
only the critic who Is grotesque.
Not that Mr. Snider lacks insight. His book Is
entertaining and suggestive in spite OF its manner
isms. His learning appears TO be drawn largely
from that royal commentator on Dante who goes
by the name of Phllaethes. But he has opinions
OF his own. and he supports them with ability.
For example he will not allow the ethical division
Of the Inferno" into three parts. lie makes two
Incontnencc and Malice and insists that the sup
posed division OF bcstiality exists only an adii-
tonal mark OF all the separate regions Of he'll 1T
is everywhere In the Inferno" he writes, which
is the putting OF the Beast in man uppermost. the
subsection OF the reason TO the animal Hence.
Dante has some form OF the Beast in every circle,
usually at the entrance. We shall soon see. IL
would be the very folly Of supcrnuiiy to have Il
special circle for Bestality and then t. have
beast In every circle" He denies that Dante. by
quoting Aristotle who had suggested the threefold
IT, on the contrary. Dante meant really 10 call the
attention Of his readers 10 the distinction In the
eleventh cantO between his view and that Of Arts
totle Dante merely cites Aristotle as the FIRST
source OF the ethical divisions OF the Inferno then
follows his own Improvement upon the Greek phil
osopher. For Dante. in the plainest manner posi-
BILE. makes two divisions Incontnencc and Malice
OF which the latter Is subdivdcd into Violence and
Fraud whereof Fraud H. still further subdlvdcd
into General and Special" The scheme thus de-
lneated works out well. furnishing at least good
an explanation Of the poem the one adopted by
other commentators.
Another point which Mr. Snidcr shows some
urgency is the supposed Tcutonic or. specn-
cally Morse and Gothic origin. Of much 81
Dantes imagery. He Tcutonc popular IDEAS
In the giants. In the CONCEALED aspect Of neither
most hell In the names and the numbering humor
Of the demons who set to punish the barrators
These creatures OF Dante's fancy the commentator
declares to be Gothic nends not derived from
classic mythology. not some commlnglod form OF
and beast. but a wild fantastic product OF
the imagination" or course this is only carrying
into details the notion that Dante's poem as a
whole bears some analogy 10 medieval cahe-
dral The suggestion has often been made but
1t does not seem plausible in detail II does
at mere hasty glance In the first place # is
by no means settled how far the sO-callcd Teu-
tonic mythology Is affair solely OF one branch
Of the Indo European race. Again. the almost
nsOublc problem Of the mixture OF races I'm the
Italian peninsula must cast doubt on every
effort to refer elements OF culture OF folklore
exclusively to any one source Nevertheless. Mr..
Snlder Is very positive about the demons in the
ditch Of the barrators. "They belonged doubtless
to the folk lore OF the time: probably ihey are
an outburst OF that hidden Tcutonc mythical cur
rent which runs. quite unconscIously through
Dante and through all medieval Italy" He may
be right In this. But the question Is really one OF
great difficulty. As long the dispute continues
respecting the Celtic origin OF nearly the whole
fabric OF Morse culture. 1t will be safe TO avoid
craftsmanship as TO the folk lore In Dante.
Curiously enough Mr.. Snider Is hardly more at
tached to Teutonic folklore than inimical to Celtic
romance The incident I'm the story Of Francesca
which Dante mentions. that the reading Of Tancelot
awoke her and Paolo to love. suggests some words
of censure that have n wide range. Mr.. Sndcr
more than suspects that Dantes vivldness here Is
due to personal experience. "Thc sympathy and
the secret throb Of terror in the whole narrative
point In the same direction. az well his denuncia
alton Of the book" And he remarks In another
place that "Celtism in literature. II that be the
right name for H. was the demon that seized
Francesca and her lover its victims. hence
Dante puts II into his Inferno and to-day the spirit
OF Dante puts II there Such II the lurd seductive
CLEAN OF the Celtic mythus In the darkness Of the
pit" In all this there Is an object which the
reader would hardly conjecture. Nor must we
forget that the same great seed-hed Of Celtic
romance is still fertile to-day. In Danes time
bearing with prodigousy increased productivity Its
crop OF novels OF Illicit love- all OF which the great
ethical poet has here typIcaly flung into his In
ferno" Lest this should not be plain enough, Mr..
Snder strikes another sounding blow the object
OF his dislike. speaking Of kind OF Cetlsm In
literature, very fascinating. but very dangerous
an element which Is still fostered and scattered
through Europe and the world by the French novel
Of Illicit love" This way Of fitting an old story
Of Mr. Sniders book. Speaking Of barratry which |
amounts In modern slang TO "boodng" he puts |
America alongside OF the old Italian republics for
this form OF official corruption. II is sometimes
startling TO the phases OF Dane's poem that
seem to this new commentator to be of contempor-
airy human interest pointed out with a sort of |
flourish But the method is after all one that |
enlarges the circle of those who should be at |
tracted by the "Dvina Commedia"
In view OF the principle which actuates MIR Sni- |
ders criticism. namely that Dante was ALWAYS con-
scious OF his own hidden meanings. and that every
incident Of his narrative must be scanned with that
thought In view. he certainly misses a very def |
mite case OF selfaccusaton on the part OF the noc
The example il worth citing because II applies IN a |
fact in Dante's biography. The poet was himself |
accused OF official corruption by the Florcntines
When he gets among the barrators he contrivcs q |
humorous drama divided by Mr. Snder into the re- |
CURED I've acts In which the actors the damned